LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 312 Playoff Chaos! "6 Undying, 7 Undying, 12 Undying"! The whole world is learning Wing Chun!

With the playoffs in both major regions officially underway.

There were no upsets on the first day of competition.

T1, the second-to-last team, defeated last year's runner-up DRX 3-0 without any suspense, while last year's champion EDG also defeated WE 3-0.

But the competition became more intense starting on the second day.

First up is LCK.

Although the Korean team didn't even make it to the finals of MSI this year, it's a pity that the European and American regions didn't get third place either. In the end, the fourth World Championship spot, which was already full for the LPL, was given to the LCK, so they still have four World Championship spots.

Therefore, in terms of the competitive pressure of qualifying for the World Championship, LCK is obviously much less competitive—after all, there are only six teams in the playoffs, and you just need to make it into the top four!

Leaving aside the severely weakened DRX with no players left, and T1, who are clearly already at their peak.

The biggest suspense remains KT vs. DK.

To be honest, everyone is more optimistic about KT.

After all, KT's performance in the regular season this year was strong, and they even beat GEN in the early stages of the summer split. If it weren't for T1 getting caught out twice before and after their roster changes, they could have even competed with Hanwha in the rankings.

In comparison, considering DK's entirely new roster, it's already quite an achievement that they made it to the playoffs.

"Hey hey hey, the watermelons are here~~~" Xun ran over carrying several basins of watermelons, inexplicably excited: "They're open, they're open! Brothers, cheer for Brother Xu!"

Beryl grabbed a bowl, scooped out a spoonful, and put it in her mouth, making her speech a little slurred: "Show, can we really win today? I feel like we might have to go to the qualifying rounds!"

However, just as he was about to check on his good friend, his attention was suddenly drawn to something else.

"Wow! This melon is really good today, sweet and delicious!"

"Horquel, have a bite!"

Deft hadn't even put down his black coffee when a spoonful of melon was shoved into his hand, but he immediately showed a satisfied expression.

Watermelons in South Korea are incredibly expensive, costing nearly 200 yuan each. Even professional gamers might not be able to afford to eat them every day.

The bot lane duo has been playing one game a day this summer, and they've both gotten quite fat.

Ye Bo took a bite and praised, "The taste is really good. Did you change the variety today?"

Xun immediately exclaimed, somewhat exaggeratedly, "Wow, that's Master Ye's observational skills! Only Master Ye noticed that today's watermelons are different!"

Saint Gun Bro jokingly said, "I'm not saying this to be mean, Xunzi, your Toad Kung Fu is getting more and more skilled. You can even lick my Master Ye's boots with this, right?"

"No! Really! Didn't you guys taste it?"

The perceptive Deft spoke up, "It seems... there are no seeds?"

Xun nodded vigorously: "Look, look, Saint Gun Bro, you still have a lot to learn from our Double C! The boss heard that everyone likes to eat watermelon, so he bought more than a dozen varieties to try. These watermelons are also super expensive!"

Saint Gun Bro deliberately laughed and sang a different tune: "That feels soulless. We eat watermelon for that Cosplay Peashooter feeling, right? Not being able to spit out the seeds is just so tasteless!"

Ye Bo nodded in deep agreement.

But then, Beryl suddenly seemed to trigger some key, and inexplicably excitedly raised her hand and shouted at the top of her lungs, "I know!!! This is, seedless is no good!"

"grass."

"Genshin Impact bro, maybe you should do less stress-relief grinding."

While everyone was chatting, the match had already started on the screen.

KT immediately revealed his hand.

BDD picked his once-famous mid-lane assassin, Qiyana, to counter Xu Xiu's mid-lane Neeko!
It is worth mentioning that.

Following the changes to the Statikk Shiv in the previous version, the playoff version has once again shifted the meta, making changes to strong heroes and many items.

Neeko's functionality has been weakened, with her ultimate ability now having a more noticeable "pre-cast animation" and "reveal time," significantly reducing the role of the support.

Meanwhile, many physical assassins and AD assassin equipment have also been enhanced!
Some speculate that this is because the designers noticed that traditional mage carries seemed to be dominating the mid lane again in the previous version, and that bot lane carries had been dominating for years, so they wanted to change the mid lane ecosystem.

However, some speculate that it's simply because assassins have been absent from all walks of life for a long time, and they want to give assassins a chance to reappear.

After all, this buff not only targets mid-lane assassins, but also many jungle assassin heroes, while weakening many popular warriors, which does seem like an attempt to change the overall meta.

However, it is quite obvious that this enhancement is still very conservative.

Given that assassin heroes are inherently "extremely high-risk," they are far from becoming the mainstream pick in competitive play, and few people choose them.

And KT clearly came prepared.

Since Neeko needs the Rocketbelt to enter the fray, it's impossible for her to build the Shattered Queen's Crown as a Mythic item. In addition, she is quite fragile, so she will face great pressure against assassin heroes throughout the game.

When it came to the team fight, Xu Xiu finally found an opportunity to "flank behind the enemy with a ward" and transformed to try to use Flash and his ultimate to initiate the team fight.

As a result, Qiyana launched her ultimate skill shockwave in mid-air, sending her flying 300 yards away!
"Brother Xu missed a crucial point!!!"

"Show off! Absolutely amazing~"

Two members of the "family group" inside the V5 base couldn't help but scream for him.

Fortunately, DK quickly regained their form after losing the first game.

In particular, the newcomers in the bot lane, Peyz and Delight, performed exceptionally well, dominating their lane matchups in two consecutive games.

With a powerful performance from top laner Zeus in 07, they finally managed to bring the series to a decisive 2-2 tie against KT.

"Show still has #@ cards," Beryl said, opening another large pudding in her mouth without stopping. "It feels like Show is really strong against Keeler this year compared to last year. He's starting to feel a bit like Gunner."

"Genshin Impact, are you praising me or insulting me?"

"I'll test it? Xerath, you're on the receiving end!"

Xun pointed at the screen with absolute certainty: "Brother Xu is stealing! He must have watched Master Ye's video!"

Ye Bo, however, became quite curious and began to analyze the situation seriously: "To be honest, Xerath has a pretty good chance against Cassiopeia, but the enemy team has a Rek'Sai who can catch him."

In the do-or-die situation, Cuzz chose the excavator that had always been "hyped up".

The reason it's considered boasting is because everyone says how strong this hero is in ranked matches, but in reality, he has only been picked a handful of times in competitions, some of which are from four or five years ago.

Beryl's description is quite apt.

Despite facing considerable pressure to defend against ganks in the mid-jungle matchup, Xu Xiu surprisingly demonstrated excellent awareness and defensive capabilities, repeatedly causing Cuzz to lose his rhythm and make unnecessary runs.

It really does have a bit of the "Mid Lane Holy Gun" vibe.

However, the two sides remained very close in this crucial match, with almost no kills occurring in the early stages.

Just didn't expect it.

Xu Xiu actually stood up for herself!
With low health, BDD deliberately feigned weakness and didn't recall, only preparing to retreat after taking another hit from Xerath's Q.

Xu Xiu didn't want to miss this opportunity, so she immediately activated her ultimate move, [Arcane Ritual]!
Cassiopeia only needs two ultimates to die, while the new Xerath can urinate five times with just his level 5 ultimate!
Even if the opponent uses Flash to dodge, there is still at least a 70% chance of a solo kill!

However, Xu Xiu didn't expect that she would still fall for it.

Seeing that her plan had succeeded, BDD's Cassiopeia suddenly turned around and revealed her fangs. She was waiting for the moment when the opponent's ultimate skill could not be "cancelled" immediately, which was equivalent to a "self-imposed imprisonment" moment, and then suddenly performed a "turnaround R flash" at the maximum distance!
Although the excavator travels a considerable distance around the line of sight, the two-second petrification is enough for the excavator to use QR to close the distance and then forcefully pursue!
But, it was at the very moment that Cassiopeia's R flashed and opened her eyes.

Xerath's first ultimate attack was aimed at "behind him"!
"What is Brother Xu doing?!" Xun suddenly screamed, "Reverse big!"

However, when he saw it clearly the next moment, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Why wasn't he petrified!?"

Beryl immediately laughed and mocked, "You've been exposed, Xunzi! You're a fake fan. You clearly haven't watched Master Ye's video, have you? I've even learned that trick!"

Xun, slightly embarrassed after his flattery was exposed, said, "Uh, why would a jungler like me watch Xerath videos? It's not like it's a Lucian tutorial!"

"Hey Xu Ge! Xu Ge is showing off his crazy hotness!!!"

Yes, this technique was actually demonstrated in Ye Bo's videos.

Xerath's ultimate ability causes him to cast spells "facing" the target location, and he can use the reverse R to change direction while casting—this is an example that Ye Bo gave in a separate video.

It's just very obvious.

BDD, like Xun, was unaware of this.

Cassiopeia turned around and flashed over, but failed to interrupt Xerath's ultimate. She was instantly killed by Xerath's two ultimates!

The excavator that landed from a distance with QR could only grit its teeth and fight one-on-one, and Xerath was still trying to outmaneuver it.

At the critical moment.

The excavator used Flash to dodge the Q skill!
Xerath seemed to have anticipated this, instantly flashing to close the gap. However, his Q skill did not "change direction" as expected!
"Yo!!"

Xu Xiu on the screen widened her small eyes.

Xerath's Q skill was dodged, and he even flashed himself into the excavator's mouth, so naturally he couldn't escape.

Haha ...

"Show! What are you doing, Nizai?"

"Brother Xu!! This is the real Brother Xu! Yes, yes!"

The V5 members inside the base were all stunned. Clearly, Xu Xiu had intended to use the "Turning Lightning" technique—but he misjudged it!
Ye Bo actually mentioned in the video demonstration that this move has a very high failure rate.

Because of the operating principle, you must instantly follow up with two actions: {reverse flash} + {right-click mouse to lock onto target} when Q has already appeared on the track.

Xu Xiu had only "just learned" it recently and was not yet proficient in using it.

Of course, KT still suffered a huge loss in this round.

Although the excavator managed to kill Xerath, it took too long.

The opposing jungler had already turned and headed to the bottom lane, helping the bottom laner to successfully dive the tower without any restraint!
Newcomer Peyz secured two kills and full plating for the first turret, then immediately teleported away. His incredibly solid teamfight play led his team to victory.

[Wuhu! Everyone's saying Brother Xu is awesome!]

[What's so impressive about him? This rookie AD carry is actually pretty good, isn't he? Come look for a job in the LPL next year, BLG wants him!]

[This is just plain bashing. We at BLG only want junglers, we'll take as many as you have, we won't take the rest even if they're given away for free~]

【Wait, hasn't anyone noticed that Brother Xu's Xerath is acting a bit strange? I've actually seen a few of these plays in Master Ye's videos, could it really be such a coincidence?】

The whole world is learning Wing Chun!

In the post-match interview, an excited Xu Xiu didn't hide his excitement.

He frankly admitted that he had indeed learned it from a video.
Although it is not stated explicitly.

But obviously everyone knows what kind of video it is!
The result between DK and KT can definitely be considered an upset.

After this match, the qualification situation for LCK has become relatively clear.

As for LPL
The unexpected surprises kept coming one after another!
First, TES was almost taken down by OMG, who were ignored by everyone.

It's unclear whether Rookie is cursed in the playoffs or OMG's mid laner Creme has become more confident in the assassin meta, but ultimately they only managed a hard-fought 3-2 victory thanks to the significant gap in overall team strength.

Next up is the highly anticipated EDG!

In fact.

Although it will be difficult for EDG to compete for the top two spots, they are definitely strong contenders for the third or fourth seed.

The reason is that entering the World Championship is based on "points". Apart from the Summer Championship champion who qualifies directly, even the runner-up has to compete with all the other teams in terms of points.

In contrast, teams like LNG and TES only started to exert their strength in the summer split.

After EDG acquired Uzi in the Spring Split, they finished sixth, and their current minimum points are higher than those of the two teams!
To put it simply, as long as EDG can make it into the top six of the playoffs, their combined spring and summer points will guarantee them a spot in the winner's bracket of the gauntlet, making them the top contenders for the third and fourth seeds!
EDG has already defeated FPX.

If they can beat TES, who are clearly in terrible form, they will have made it into the top six!
"Two to two!" Ye Bo excitedly cheered for his old teammates from afar: "Blue team is still in control, it's a sure thing!"

"As long as Coach Zhu doesn't do anything crazy, it's fine." Flandre clearly supported his old teammate: "The blue team's first pick shouldn't not pick Varus, right? Even I know they have to!"

"We got it." Deft seemed relieved.

To be honest, the changes to the Statikk Shiv have made the mid-lane Varus playstyle, which relies heavily on lane priority, less effective.

But the gameplay of AP Varus has been passed down!
There is no other reason.

Everyone has noticed that this thing's damage is a bit too explosive, especially when dealing with lineups with many front-line units, it can often achieve the effect of "Melting from a distance"!

Even without considering these factors, all three Varus builds are strong choices in the current version.

Especially considering this was a best-of-five series that went down to the last game, this hero was absolutely a top-tier (T0) hero.

that's the truth.

Uzi, playing Varus, a champion he was very familiar with, heavily suppressed JackeyLove's Ezreal, who was forced to be picked, during the laning phase. In the early game, EDG also gained a huge economic advantage of up to 4K gold thanks to their absolute lane dominance.

but.
Soon everyone realized something was wrong.

Because EDG clearly had a huge advantage, but they suffered repeated defeats in team fights!

After losing three consecutive head-on team battles, the 4000-point economic deficit has long been completely reversed.

"How could they lose this round too!?"

Saint Gun Bro was completely baffled, utterly unable to understand.

"JieJie engaged four people! MeiKou followed up with crowd control, and Uzi's ultimate even bound the second part of the crowd control, and the brother even flashed and used E to follow up with Q!"

"You still couldn't win after all that?!"

In the wave in front of the Baron Nashor gate, EDG had all their players at full strength and delivered a performance that could be described as a "perfect team".

But the three big, fleshy lumps on the other side didn't lose much health.

Even JackeyLove, who flashed to E and then followed up with Q, wasn't instantly killed!
NO Damage!

Even if you initiate a team fight well, if you have five people but fail to eliminate the enemy team instantly, then from another perspective, you're essentially handing yourself over to them.

TES immediately turned around and counterattacked, instantly killing the jungler and support, and EDG was immediately routed.

"how"

Deft frowned, sensing that something was amiss.

On the screen, Uzi is also biting his hand with a blank expression.

Ye Bo had already figured it out: "Uzi seems to have absolutely no idea how to play AP Varus."

Yes.

Uzi completely "can't play" Varus!

To be more precise, even he himself didn't expect that he couldn't play AP Varus.

AP Verus's focus is on printing.

The mark is simply a matter of attacking three times with an A skill followed by another skill, or waiting for the mark to spread after using R before using a skill.

It's that simple.

But if you look closely at Uzi's gameplay, you'll find that in team fights he always unleashes all three abilities simultaneously with REQ, or he rushes QE to poke, and then starts repositioning.
The problem is that AP Varus's QE combo deals almost no damage when used alone!

Uzi felt he was too familiar with the champion, so he didn't practice the AP Varus output techniques.

Playing entirely based on experience and habits.

Even the most fed AP Varus can't do much damage with just basic attacks.

Congratulations to TES! After a grueling five-game series against EDG, they have advanced to the top six!

"It's really tough. The outcome for these two teams could very well affect the points standings for many other teams in the playoffs!"

"Regarding the post-match damage... well, it seems like Xiaogou's damage was a little low in this game."

Although many people failed to notice the clues.

But as soon as you see a Varus who starts with a 3-0 score and whose damage at the end is almost the same as a pure tank top lane Ornn, it's a different story.

Everyone knows exactly where the problem lies.

[How can an AP Varus built with a 4-protect-1 strategy deal this little damage? Is he even human?!]

[I'm a novice who just learned this skill in three days, and I just watched a slow-motion replay. Uzi has absolutely no idea how to play AP Varus!]

[What a huge investment! Playoffs, best-of-five, do-or-die match, and they're just here to practice heroes?]

[What's most terrifying is that last month I commented in the live chat that he didn't know how to play AP Varus, and I got flamed for three days straight. I can't believe a month has passed, and even after Ye Shifu's video was released, he still can't play him!!!]

[Coach: "Can you play AP Varus?" Uzi (Isn't that just building AP and relying on W's on-hit damage?): "Of course I can!" — I'm sure Uzi has never actually read Varus's skill descriptions carefully!]

[Six Unyielding! Seven Unblemished! Eight Unlit! Twelve Unblemished!]

A newcomer to esports saw a video of Uzi and asked, "Who is this guy? Why is he so popular?" Someone else immediately reprimanded him, "You don't even know him? This is the eternal god, Uzi!" The newcomer then asked, "What are his achievements?" The answer was, "He drove away the lousy AD carry from the championship team EDG before!" The newcomer eagerly asked again, "Can he drive away this lousy AD carry now too?!"

Because of this loss, EDG fell directly into the loser's bracket of the gauntlet, which is equivalent to losing their chance to revive in the gauntlet.

But what's even more painful is actually LNG.

TES finished eighth in the Spring Split, barely managing to get a few points.

But the LNG Spring Split was a complete disaster, a true zero-point swim!

TES has advanced to the top six. If LNG loses to them, they will likely miss the gauntlet because they don't have enough points in the summer split to make it into the top six!

LNG is now essentially standing on the edge of a cliff.

Fortunately, during the final battle the next day, his breathing seemed to suddenly return to normal, and he took turns spinning the tops with the two brothers, Da Huang and Qing Tian.

With Scout and Tarzan, who were also burning brightly again, they delivered a crushing 3-0 victory, kicking the struggling TES into the gauntlet!

Scout, with a sinister expression that seemed to convey "full of anticipation," made no one else at LNG dare to relax.

Because right after.

They are about to face another major battle, which can also be described as a "grudge match" — V5!

(End of this chapter)