LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 228: Being young is good, everyone looks like a rookie
A short day of rest passed.

8 month 25 day.

The LPL Summer Season semi-finals have arrived as scheduled, with EDG vs. IG at 14:19 PM in the morning and RNG vs. WE at : PM in the evening. The finals are about to begin.

The EDG starting lineup, which LPL fans are most concerned about, was officially announced the day before.

Lin Ruo, who was prominently listed, returned to the starting lineup to compete in the semi-finals after nearly three weeks.

EDG fans couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then their expectations were high.

...

At noon on a sunny day, all EDG members arrived at Zhengda Plaza on time to prepare for the game.

Entering the lounge, Lin Ruo took off his coat and fanned himself, as the weather was a bit too hot today.

Nofe, finally having his own laptop, was in high spirits. He encouraged everyone, saying, "We are the Spring Split champions, which means as long as we win today's semifinals, we'll secure the second seed for the entire year and advance to Worlds first."

Hearing this, Ai Loli felt very happy just thinking about it, because he had never been to the World Championship.

This year's World Championship will be held in China, and the home atmosphere makes him yearn for it.

"But I heard that IG has been on a roll lately. They crushed OMG in the last semifinals. We can't let our guard down with our strategy."

"What are you afraid of? Isn't IG's weakest point the bottom lane? Brother Lin can easily defeat them in ten minutes."

A Guang clasped his fists and smiled.

Lin Ruo remained silent. The semi-finals had undergone the 7.16 version update, and there were still many changes in the lineup selection. For example, Sejuani and Gragas began to become permanent choices for the jungle position.

As for the bottom lane selection.

Since the popularity of the incense burner in Korean servers, Lulu and the big mouth's gameplay surprisingly did not cause much response in LPL, and it is still in the era of hard support dominance.

Lin Ruo didn't feel surprised at all.

Having experienced it, he naturally knew that the Censer playstyle would not truly become a must-ban or must-pick until the World Championship, and it is far from that case now.

The same is true in LCK.

Therefore, Kalista, Caitlyn, etc. are still the mainstream choices, and Xayah and Rakan can be added as a pair.

The only hero who benefited from the Censer version was Tristana.

But when dealing with IG, he only noticed one thing.

Today's starter is Duke.

IG did not use Theshy, and the two were still in constant rotation, unlike Ning Wang who had completely replaced Xiaohai Youshen in the starting position and sent him to be responsible for ordering food after the game.

Since he is dealing with Duke, Guang's pressure will naturally be much less.

After Lin Ruo finished thinking, he habitually closed his eyes and waited for time.

After spending more than an hour in boredom, the first semi-final finally began at around 14 p.m.

The huge competition venue was already packed with people at this moment, and all kinds of cheers and shouts gathered together.

"Hello, Summoners here and watching on TV, welcome to the 2017 League of Legends LPL Summer Split semifinals. I'm Guan Zeyuan."

"I'm Rita."

In the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan and Rita began their work for the day amid the anticipation of the audience.

What do you think of today's game?
More than ten minutes passed as the two of them discussed their opinions and analyzed the transition.

Amidst the sudden shouts, the contestants from both sides have already come on stage and sat down in their respective battle seats.

Guan Zeyuan straightened up after receiving the director's prompt. "Alright everyone, both players are ready. Without further ado, let's move on to the drafting phase of the first match of the semi-finals."

As the battle music started, the audience's attention was focused on the big screen.

"EDG on the blue side immediately killed Rakan, so there's a high probability that Xayah won't be able to play."

"That's right, IG should suppress Tristana to prevent EDG's early play of the bottom lane Censer."

"What should I press with my second hand?" the factory director pondered.

"Press Zac, there's a Zac King on the opposite side."

After listening to Lin Ruo's words, the factory manager pressed Zack's button half-believingly.

"You can press this button? Awesome." King Ning had never expected this and was forced to press the spider restriction button.

Later in the third hand, EDG chose to suppress Shen, weakening IG's single-lane strength.

IG killed Galio.

"Mid single Galio's roaming support poses a great threat. IG's move is flawless."

While Guan Zeyuan was speaking, EDG instantly locked down the policewoman on the first floor.

Mafa in the IG player's seat frowned.

Kalista was released, but EDG didn't rush to grab her, which made his plan of defending the bottom lane hero go awry.

"The opponent was certain we wouldn't play Kalista. Now Tristana's gone. If we don't play Kalista, we'll be heavily suppressed in the early game of the bot lane again."

The young King Ning said confidently, "Why not just play Kalista? I'll take advantage of them pushing the bot lane early on and gank them instantly."

After experiencing a five-game winning streak at the end of the regular season, everyone now looks like a rookie to him and he is not afraid of anything.

Mafa looked at West. Whether to play or not was more dependent on the players' opinions.

"Let's play. We can't let them get ahead of us in the bottom lane against EDG, otherwise we'll be in trouble. I'll use the hard support to catch them from behind." Baolan, whose current game ID is still Megan, analyzed.

West nodded reluctantly.

IG quickly locked Kalista on their own first floor, and then took down the jungler Gragas.

It was EDG's turn, and Cho'Gun and Thresh quickly locked on.

First, he is a strong choice in the current top lane, and second, he is an excellent hero to pair with Caitlyn.

Nothing less.

"So IG locked up a bot on the third floor to counter Thresh. It seems like they really have a plan for the team that holds onto the bottom lane."

Rita was very surprised by this choice.

IG is indeed an aggressive team, playing unconventional tactics from the start.

"The game came to the second ban phase. EDG suppressed the Crocodile, seeking to create a safe situation for the Big Z in the top lane. IG suppressed the Jarvan IV, limiting EDG's jungle options."

Guan Zeyuan continued.

EDG banned Kuchi in the last ban position.

"What do we press?"

While Baolan was still pondering, Rookie blurted out, "Press Taliyah, or they'll be surrounded again."

In the last move, IG successfully defeated Rock Bird, and then locked the Troll King.

Duke's masterpiece made him famous in the S6 World Championship and is also the hero he trusts the most.

Trolls are particularly effective against tanks, and IG is still preparing to single-handedly push the tower in the top lane.

Sejuani, Syndra.

EDG responded quickly and made a decision to strengthen its mid-term team fighting ability to create a better C-position appearance space for the policewoman.

With IG locking in the final Snake Lady, the lineups of both teams were officially finalized.

"Band/P is over. On the blue side, EDG has a single Cho'Aaron in the top lane, a single Sebastian in the jungle, a single Syndra in the mid lane, and a Caitlyn and a Thresh in the bottom lane."

"Red side IG, top lane Troll, jungle Gragas, mid lane Cassiopeia, bottom lane duo Kalista and Blitzcrank."

Guan Zeyuan finished broadcasting the hero information, paused, and said, "Well, the competition has begun. Which team will advance to the finals first? Let's prepare for today's game together."

The voice just fell.

Ten people from both sides quickly entered the Summoner's Rift.

"The enemy has robots, and they're definitely going to attack in a group, level one invasion. We shouldn't use scattered defensive positions to give them a chance. If we gather together, we'll be able to fight back even if a fight breaks out."

Under Lin Ruo's orderly command.

At the beginning of the game, the five EDG players left the fountain and went straight to the bottom lane, crouching in the grass.

On the IG side, as Lin Ruo expected, they attacked together, but their target was the top lane, which was completely opposite to EDG's defensive position.

The two sides narrowly avoided a potential large-scale conflict, and ended up with each side hesitating and returning to the city.

At 1 minute and 40 seconds, two EDG players in the bottom lane helped the factory manager to clear the red buff.

Lin Ruo stared at the minimap. When the troops arrived, the IG duo also did not appear in his sight.

Are you also helping to open it?

Lin Ruo had some doubts in his mind, but he couldn't think too much about it.

From God's perspective.

The IG duo was indeed wandering around the blue buff area, but they did not do anything to help.

The blue buff was safe and sound, and Ning Wang's Gragas did not appear in the lower jungle area.

"IG is playing a tactic of pretending to build a plank road while secretly attacking Chencang. It seems like the duo didn't go online to create the illusion of starting at blue, but in reality, King Ning is already in the upper jungle area and has already reached red."

Guan Zeyuan pondered and said.

This approach has a clear purpose.

That is, the level 3 King Ning will definitely rush to the bottom lane to make a surprise capture.

This wave of actions will likely determine the outcome of this game.

After a while, both sides came online.

In the bottom lane, facing the robot's first hook, Tian Ye twisted his body to avoid it and then moved forward.

Lin Ruo earned a few basic attacks, which dispelled the IG duo's fantasy of trying to suppress the opponent at level 1.

After successfully grabbing the second position, quickly push the line of troops to the bottom of the red team's tower.

Ning Wang, who had defeated F6, had already arrived at the bottom jungle area. Looking at the situation in the bottom lane, he kept saying, "Let them push the line. Save your health. I'll be there soon."

His goal was to eat the blue buff and go straight to Gank. As long as EDG was still in front of the tower, the action plan was half successful.

(End of this chapter)