You've only been playing for half a year, and you've already reached the finals?

"An 8,000 gold difference!" Looking at the gold difference at the top of the screen, Wawa couldn't help but laugh: "It's hard to imagine that this is an early-game lineup that has created an economic lead over a late-game lineup in just over 20 minutes."

“Yes,” Miller nodded emphatically. “EDG’s macro play in this game was absolutely perfect! It was a textbook example of defensive counter-attack!”

In the video, the five EDG players returned to base to replenish their supplies, and while the Baron buff was still mostly gone, they quickly rushed out of the fountain.

At this point, there's really not much to say. With the Baron buff and the help of super minions, it's just a matter of pushing forward.

Mingjing went to the mid lane alone, while his four teammates grouped up and headed straight for the top lane.

Ming Jing wasn't trying to split push, but the enemy lineup was quite strong at picking off isolated targets, and he would definitely die if he split pushed with Cassiopeia.

He was just pushing the super minions in the mid lane forward a bit.

After the super minion pushed across the river, Ming Jing made a small detour to the top lane to meet up with his teammates and push down the second top lane tower.

On DK's side, they can't even find anyone who can clear the wave quickly. A wave of super creeps has to be kicked by a Camille who hasn't bought Ravenous Hydra. She could be kicking it forever!

There was no other way; they had to send Syndra to guard the mid lane.

Without Syndra's push, EDG had no more worries about facing the enemy head-on. JieJie charged up his ultimate and then flashed and hammered the support Leona back to the high ground. Flandre's Aatrox activated his ultimate and rushed into the field, taking full damage!

With such a huge economic disparity, team battles are completely effortless.

Mingjing and Viper only needed to follow behind and contribute their damage output to easily crush the enemy!

"Three kills! EDG immediately rotates to mid lane, they're going for a push!"

"DK only has Syndra and Leona left, they can't hold off this push at all!"

Showmaker didn't retreat to the fountain; instead, he chose to defend the inhibitor turret to the death with his support.

However, with EDG's five players pushing forward, the two defenders' efforts were futile.

They kicked Syndra and Leona to death, then pushed forward and easily ended the game!

"Congratulations EDG!"

In the commentary booth, Wawa shouted loudly: "After winning this match, they also completed a double victory over DK, ending their group stage journey with a perfect 6-0 record, becoming the second team after T1 to advance with a perfect record!"

Ming Jing stared at the victory sign that popped up in front of him, too lazy to even look at the damage. He simply downed the water in his cup in one gulp before standing up and lightly fist bumping with his teammates.

The EDG team was quite adept at winning, and without much communication, they walked together to the DK players' bench.

Mingjing walked up to Showmaker, and the two lightly bumped fists.

"Well played," Ming Jing said in English. "Let's keep it up!"

For Ming Jing, DK is definitely the most memorable opponent. After all, since his debut, every time there has been a competition for international honors, he has ended up facing this team.

Two years have passed in the blink of an eye. This is the third time Mingjing has encountered DK in the World Championship, but the team has changed drastically, and the bot lane duo has completely left the team.

Beryl's departure was undoubtedly a heavy blow to DK, almost depriving the team of the ability to turn the tide.

This year, DK might not even make it to the finals.

Showmaker listened to Mingjing's words, his face filled with unconcealed dejection.

He certainly understood that DK's competitiveness had significantly decreased compared to previous years.

But their opponent, who had defeated them two years earlier, was still at his peak and was even getting stronger.

This is what Showmaker finds most unacceptable.

But that doesn't mean he'll give up.

Regardless, we must take the competition seriously until the very end.

Mingjing punched his way through the crowd, then bowed to the enthusiastic North American audience in the center of the stage with his teammates before turning and leaving amidst applause and cheers.

At the entrance to the backstage passage, but this interview had nothing to do with Ming Jing; they had already approached him for the previous two matches.

Mingjing was quite happy with this arrangement. It was rather troublesome to have to do interviews every time after a match, as it was just the same old formulaic questions and answers, which was really boring.

Back in the backstage lounge, he was greeted by his cousin, manager, and coach, who all gave Mingjing a thumbs-up.

"That was a really good game." The factory manager was extremely satisfied with his cousin. "His mechanics and rhythm were top-notch!"

Even if you only look at the highlights and stats, Mingjing's performance in this game was MVP-level. After all, in the dragon fight, he used R-flash to petrify three enemies and then used Eternal Frost to stun Camille, which can be said to have single-handedly decided the outcome of the team fight.

But the data cannot reflect Mingjing's greatness.

The truly amazing part was that he directed the entire team to execute a flawless defensive counterattack, leaving DK completely helpless.

"It's alright," Ming Jing smiled. "Actually, I could have done even better."

EDG ultimately didn't play enough defensive counter-attacks. Mingjing recalled the whole game and could still find many areas where they couldn't have done it perfectly.

"That's about enough," Maokai laughed. "It was just a backup strategy to begin with, how could it be perfect from the start?"

Ming Jing didn't deny it, but while his teammates were still being interviewed, he took out his phone, sat down in a chair, and immediately went to the Anti-Japanese War forum to eat some hot food.

The match had ended less than five minutes prior, and the hype was at its peak.

Mingjing clicked refresh twice, but the rating post hadn't even been published yet.

But that didn't stop netizens from posting freely, praising EDG's performance today to the extreme!
[Just joined, what's your opinion on Fei Shen's Cassiopeia performance this game? Cassiopeia R flashes three people.gif]

【God among gods! 】

[If you don't understand, just ask: Is EDG practically guaranteed the championship?]

If I had heard someone say this a few years ago, I would have immediately started cursing. But this year, all I can say is: there's really no problem with it.

[EDG's dominance is truly astounding! They really crushed DK's early-game composition with their late-game lineup?]

Let's play it safe, guys. The Koreans are really strong this year. Let's see how the games go.

Don't panic, just relax and enjoy watching Fei Shen's match!

Mingjing clicked refresh twice and saw that someone was reposting a post from the Korean website INVEN forum.

[Damn, today's match was disgusting. It was completely a mid-lane difference, wasn't it?]

[Syndra, picked second, almost got solo-killed by Cassiopeia in lane? Showmaker, you're something else!]

I'm seriously never watching DK's matches again. I don't see what's the point of watching a team that's so weak in international competitions.

[DK should just eliminate Top Esports in the quarterfinals and then obediently send either GEN or T1 to the finals in the semifinals. I really don't want to watch DK play against Phi anymore; it's disgusting every time I see it!]

【No problem at all!】

With DK losing to EDG again, Korean netizens are now completely enraged.

Although DK had lost before, they hadn't lost as badly, and DK was indeed the strongest. Even when they lost, fans would say things like, "Why didn't you come? Did you not want to?"

But DK is only the third seed this year, and they still lost like this, so there's really nothing to say.

Seeing the distraught state of the Korean netizens, Ming Jing found it rather amusing. He exited the thread, refreshed it a couple more times, and wanted to see if the rating post had been published yet.

But then, someone suddenly sat down next to me.

Tall and muscular, he was the perfect assistant to Zeka.

However, Zeka acted like a well-behaved child in front of Mingjing, simply greeting him respectfully and praising his performance.

"The group stage is easy," Ming Jing said with a smile. "You should have played in the first two matches against Europe and America. It's always good to get a skin, right?"

Currently, substitutes need to play two games in the group stage or one game in the knockout stage to get a skin.

In the first two matches, the team genuinely considered playing Zeka, given that G2 and EG weren't particularly strong teams, and Zeka's skill level was also quite high. However, Zeka declined, for a simple reason: the team's lead wasn't enough, and if he played and lost a match, it could potentially push the team to second place in the group.

Mingjing had already made it clear that this was impossible, but Zeka insisted.

"It's alright." Zeka shook her head repeatedly, her Chinese a little broken but still understandable. "Your victory is the most important thing!"

Ming Jing smiled and nodded, then said no more.

Soon, the teammates who went to interview also returned one after another. Without lingering, the EDG team members immediately packed up their things and left.

According to the rules, the draw for the quarterfinals will begin immediately after this match.

However, this situation is special, and the representatives of each team will not be required to go on stage for the quarterfinals, with safety as the top priority.

The lottery ceremony had already begun on the way back.

On Mingjing's phone screen, the qualifying results for the four groups are being displayed.

Group A: TES, DRX
Group B: EDG, DK
Group C: T1, C9
Group D: GEN, RNG
The South Korean team remained as stable as ever, with all four teams advancing to the quarterfinals. Their regional style of play meant they rarely suffered upsets in the group stage.

However, all four LPL teams were supposed to advance and have a showdown with South Korea, but unfortunately the virus came suddenly, and JDG suffered a great loss.

Host Sjokz and today's raffle guest, Doublelift, took to the stage together to begin the final and most important raffle ceremony of the year.

A hint of restraint could be seen on the senior brother's face. He first waved to the audience below the stage, and then put his hand into pool number one.

The four group winners will be drawn first and placed into two halves of the bracket. The four teams will have the first choice of side in the first game of the quarterfinals.

Ming Jing paid special attention to this.

Ming Jing didn't really care about his opponent in the draw, since his goal had always been the championship, and he didn't care whether he was drawn into the same half of the bracket as T1 or GEN.

As long as you're not in the same half of the bracket as TES, it's considered a success.

The eldest brother was incredibly quick; he swiftly pulled out a sphere and opened it.

It's just a coincidence that the first ball went to EDG!

Ming Jing licked his lips, somewhat looking forward to it.

There's a two-thirds chance we'll see if a South Korean team comes from the same half of the bracket!
Come as you say.

The eldest brother drew another fortune stick, which gave Mingjing a satisfactory answer.

Gold background with black lettering—it's LCK's number one seed, GEN.G!

The North American audience immediately erupted in applause, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

The top seeds from China and South Korea have been drawn into the same half of the draw, making a fierce battle inevitable!
The eldest brother shrugged at the camera and then continued drawing lots.

There's not much to say about the next two draws. Doublelift successively drew T1 and TES, placing them in the lower bracket.

Number one against number one, number two against number two, it's very fair.

Of course, this is all on the premise that all four teams can win in the quarterfinals.

That depends on who their opponent is.

The eldest brother took a few steps and reached his hand into pool number two.

This is the real key draw, since there are three Chinese and Korean teams in Pool 2 as well.

For the LPL, the best draw would undoubtedly be to assign the two Korean teams, DK and DRX, to T1 and GEN, eliminating half of the Korean teams themselves!
Of course, the possibility is not high.

Watching the senior brother dip his hand into the glass tank and stir it, the guy with the holy gun next to him started praying, "Give me a C9, give me a C9!"

The group stage will follow the principle of avoiding teams from the same group's half of the bracket, meaning that two teams advancing from the same group will not meet before the final.

T1, who are in the same group as C9, are in the bottom half of the bracket. This means that C9, who are in the top half of the bracket, have a 50% chance of falling into EDG's hands.

Looking at the draw in front of him, Mingjing laughed and said, "If it really is C9, then we can let Zeka go up and get a skin."

The EDG members chuckled upon hearing this.

indeed.

A glimmer of hope appeared in Zeka's eyes at that moment.

The revenue share from champion skins is quite substantial; without any risk, no one can refuse such a generous reward.

But as the senior player opened the rubber ball in his hand, the EDG members shook their heads helplessly.

"DRX!" JieJie laughed when he saw the selection: "I got Scout, haha."

The North American audience below the stage also laughed and cheered.

During this year's World Championship, the team that has been in the most contact with EDG, besides DK, is DRX.

Beryl lost to Phi for two consecutive years.

Deft, the former bot laner for EDG, is playing.

Also included is Scout, who just left EDG.

Scout and EDG had a falling out, which is common knowledge among esports viewers worldwide.

After all, Scout spent the entire last year as a substitute for EDG!
I never expected these two teams would actually face off?
Unfortunately, no team representatives took the stage for this year's draw.

Otherwise, I can't even imagine Scout and Phi shaking hands on stage.

Meiko looked at the draw in front of her and crossed her arms, laughing, "Lee Ye-chan is probably quite serious right now."

Meiko was right.

Inside the DRX training room, Deft, seeing that their opponent was EDG, exchanged a glance with Beryl, the support player beside him, both of them looking helpless.

But Scout was now extremely serious.

For him, there was an absolute reason why he couldn't afford to lose this match!

In the live stream, the senior disciple continued drawing lots.

This time, it's still a South Korean team.

DK.

On stage, upon seeing the result, Sjokz explained, "According to the principle of avoiding teams from the same group in the same half of the bracket, DK, which comes from the same group as EDG, will not be in the upper half of the bracket, so the result will be carried over according to the rules!"

As Sjokz explained the rules, changes appeared on the big screen, and DK slid to the bottom half of the bracket, entering the T1 pairing.

With this draw, the quarterfinals draw is now officially complete.

Looking at the matchup in front of him, Flandre thought for a moment: "Does this mean there will be an internal war?"

Ming Jing nodded, "Yes, there are."

Next, the eldest brother finished drawing his lot as usual.

First, RNG was signed, but due to the avoidance principle, RNG was also relegated to the lower half of the bracket and became TES's opponent.

C9 ultimately became GEN's rival.

The knockout stage matchups have been officially finalized!
At this moment, the large screen at the venue was already displaying the division of this year's knockout stage.

Upper bracket: EDG vs. DRX, GEN vs. C9
Lower bracket: T1 vs. DK, TES vs. RNG (End of this chapter)