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

The final game of a best-of-five series always gets people's blood pumping.

As the battle anthem "Sliver Scrapes" began, amidst the rousing electronic music, both teams took to the stage for the last time.

"Here it comes! The decisive game!"

Wang Duoduo's voice was passionate and stirring: "This is the first battle song of this year's World Championship. The two sides will determine the first semi-final spot of the year through this final match. Let's see which side will have the last laugh!"

The burly Zeka sat in a chair, put on noise-canceling headphones to block out most of the noise in the room, and then took a deep breath to calm himself down.

It's no exaggeration to say that this was probably the most crucial game of his career.

But he wasn't as nervous as he was in the previous game.

Having experienced the previous match, he has gained confidence.

The people on the other side should be nervous now.

Zeka glanced to the side and saw that the DRX players were still arguing, clearly not yet fully prepared with their draft strategy.

After the referee confirmed the terms via headset, the draft phase of the decisive game officially began!
The bans in the decisive game were almost exactly as EDG had predicted before the match.

After all, by the fifth game, the bans for both sides were almost fixed, leaving little room for change.

On the blue side, DRX banned Lucian, Jarvan IV, and Sejuani.

Ban Mingjing's most proficient AD carry again, and then target JieJie.

On the other side, EDG took the opportunity to ban Aatrox and Caitlyn, and sealed Heimerdinger as their last pick.

"Now we'll see if they fight over the cat or not," Maokai muttered to himself, standing behind the four. "Anyway, whether they fight over it or not, we can still play."

DRX clearly didn't expect the cat to be released so easily, and was visibly hesitant at this moment.

However, it must be said that, judging from the level of competition between the two teams for bottom lane priority today, Yuumi is indeed not a high-priority hero.

The cat in professional matches is different from the cat in ranked matches. Its laning strength is actually not low. After all, it has strong poke ability and also has healing, making it a very annoying hero.

But compared to those top-tier laning combinations, it's still not good enough.

Against lane-hogging compositions like Karma, Heimerdinger, or Karlie, Yuumi's status isn't much different from in ranked games.

After much deliberation, they finally gave up on the cat and instead focused on taking down the tree.

By observing this large tree, it's not hard to discern their general strategy for this move.

It's obvious they're going to push the bot lane to its limit.

But this was exactly what EDG had anticipated.

Silas on the first floor, cats on the second floor, let's lock them in!

Seeing these two options, DRX clearly got excited and immediately locked in Akali as their second pick!

Once Akali is locked in, it will be difficult to find a suitable bot lane combination for the remaining position, regardless of which bot lane is chosen.

For lane combinations like Karma and Ezreal, if EDG picks one of them, they will inevitably ban the corresponding combination of heroes in the second round.

But DRX didn't hesitate much; they chose to lock in Ashe.

Ashe is a traditional lane bully and can basically hold her own against any AD carry.

"Ashes!" On the LPL commentary booth, Wang Duoduo, looking at the screen, warned, "EDG needs to be careful, this Ashe might be playing support!"

Although not commonly seen in the LPL, Ashe support has an extremely high pick rate in the LCK. It features lane dominance, vision control, and ultimate initiation, and is a derivative of Heimerdinger support.

"EDG will definitely realize this," Miller said, arms crossed. "The next question is what champion EDG will pick as their third pick."

957 glanced at the lineup and said, "How about we pick Sivir here?"

Sivir is a staple partner for cats, and when Ashe and Akali are available, Sivir is indeed a more suitable choice.

But as soon as 957 finished speaking, on the third floor of EDG, a hero appeared!
A twin-tailed loli character appears on the screen and locks onto it instantly!
"Jinx!" The three commentators exclaimed in unison from the commentary booth!

"The Flying God has begun!" Miller stood up, looking at the choices before him, and couldn't help but rub his hands together. "Jinx in the decisive game!"

LPL viewers have complete trust in Mingjing's Jinx.

But on the other hand, LCK's reaction to this choice was completely different.

The Jinx game in the decisive game of S10 left a deep impression on all Koreans.

At this moment, many people in the LCK Korean stream were spamming the chat with the word "fear".

Even the Roaring Emperor was a little scared at this moment, and said, "If it's Jinx and Yuumi, just use two marksmen to deal with them! Don't give them a chance to develop to the late game!"

DRX did indeed do that.

After entering the second round of the draft, with Kalista and Draven both banned, DRX chose to lock in Varus to pair with Ashe, thus establishing a double marksman bot lane.

Both sides traded blows, and the lineups were always well-matched!

Blue side DRX: Top lane Gragas, Jungle Maokai, Mid lane Akali, Bot lane Varus and Ashe.

Red side EDG: Top laner Ornn, jungler Fryego, mid laner Sylas, bot lane Jinx and Yuumi.

Both sides adopted very similar draft strategies in this game, choosing tank top laners and focusing their core picks on the bottom half of the map.

The only difference is that DRX is stronger in the early game, while EDG has chosen a late-game lineup.

Looking at the lineup before him, the DRX coach patted Deft on the shoulder, "Our bot lane has an absolute advantage this game, now it's up to you. Believe in yourself, you're a very strong team, once you get past this, the championship will be within reach."

At the same time, Maokai and the factory manager also breathed a sigh of relief and closed their notebooks.

"You guys should know better than I do how to win this game."

Maokai said with a smile, "The rest is up to you. I hope you won't have any regrets."

"come on!"

"Keep it up! Stay focused!"

"The last one!"

The teammates started encouraging each other, preparing to face the final game in top form.

At the same time, countless North American viewers began chanting EDG's name in unison, their voices rising in a powerful, unified sound that could be clearly heard even through soundproofing.

North American viewers would never want to see EDG defeated by the virus.

Ming Jing closed his eyes, listening to the layers of sounds around him, taking deep breaths and slowly adjusting his state.

He was trying his best to strip away the pain and dizziness.

"Keep it up," Ming Jing whispered in response, then opened his eyes.

At that moment, the loading was completed, and both teams' heroes appeared in the fountain.

Mingjing bought a longsword and three health potions, then slowly walked out of the fountain. This lane matchup against two marksmen was incredibly strong; relying on Doran's Blade's sustain to lane was unrealistic, he could only rely on health potions to tank the damage.

But Ming Jing remained calm.

Varus and Ashe are both considered long-range AD carries, with a range slightly longer than the traditional 550 range of AD carries, but neither is as long as Jinx's cannon form.

that's enough.

With just a tiny bit of distance control, maintaining a stable lane position is no problem.

that's the truth.

The laning phase had barely begun when the two sides engaged in a fierce back-and-forth battle.

The DRX duo, relying on the pressure from their two marksmen, started pushing the lane from level one, trying to prevent Mingjing from getting the experience from the first three minions.

Ming Jing remained calm and composed, standing at the back and trying to avoid the range of the ice. He first exchanged a basic attack with Varus, then created distance and used the basic attack in cannon form to kite the enemy.

Swapping basic attacks with Varus is necessary because it will cause Varus to draw the minions' aggro.

The real test of their pulling skills comes later.

On DRX's side, the two marksmen went into the bushes to avoid the turret's aggro, and then pushed out again!

But just as the two of them emerged from the bushes, Jinx fired a shot right into their heads!
Beryl unleashed her W [Volley of Arrows], but Meiko was no pushover either. She quickly lowered her body to block the W for Mingjing, and then put herself back on top of him.

It's worth mentioning that the EDG duo used their respective championship skins in this match, which gave them a clear advantage in terms of momentum.

At this moment, the cat used another Q [Slacking Fish Missile] on Varus, and Mingjing seized the opportunity of the slowing effect to fire another cannon!
Although the bombardment caused him to be hit by a cold ice attack, it didn't matter.

Ming Jing has only been hit twice so far, but he has managed to auto-attack three times, including one shot that hit two people. With the help of minions, this exchange of blows was definitely worthwhile!

Deft frowned at the sight. Seeing this, he simply switched to healing, fully restoring the target's health while speeding up to attack.

This healing speed boost is crucial; both marksmen gain a movement speed bonus, quickly bringing Jinx into range.

Under the high burst damage of the Conqueror's Dual Blades, Mingjing lost almost a third of his health in a single encounter.

Fortunately, Meiko had a clear mind. She used her healing ability to counter the attack, then pressed W to lower herself, activated a passive white shield, and then re-entered herself, attaching the shield to Mingjing.

Mingjing executed a perfect play, switching to machine guns to fire the instant the DRX duo healers charged in, and only switching to cannons after his own healers had accelerated and created distance, using the range to turn around and fire another shot!
Although they were hit hard by the healing, the EDG duo handled it perfectly and didn't suffer any losses!

At this moment, the close-combat soldiers of both sides were still exchanging blows.

DRX ultimately achieved its goal, causing Mingjing and Meiko to miss out on the experience gained from the first three units.

However, the price paid was extremely high.

The healing was interrupted, and Varus was forced to reduce his health to half, while even Ashe's health was low!
In contrast, Jinx had 60% health left after using the healing potion, and with three health potions in hand, her condition was quite ideal!
"Can't hold them back! Can't hold them back!" Miller grinned from ear to ear at the sight: "The bot lane is still too solid!"

In this match, EDG only lost in the bottom lane matchup.

If the bottom lane can hold its own and allow the game to smoothly transition into the late game, then there is absolutely no reason to lose this game!

The two sides continued to clash in the bottom lane for the remainder of the game.

However, EDG's duo's handling was still textbook-level. Mingjing used the advantages of the cannon form, as well as the shield and healing provided by Yuumi, to hold off the two without falling behind.

Occasionally, when a barrage of icy arrows comes flying at her, Meiko will use her W ability to lower herself and block it.

The only potential problem with this laning strategy is that Mingjing doesn't have enough mana and can't secure lane priority at all.

If this trend continues, Jinx will eventually find herself with no mana and being pinned under the tower.

Fortunately, EDG was prepared. JieJie had no intention of starting the game and instead opted for a standard quick level 4 push to protect the bottom lane.

Although the enemy Maokai is strong at tower diving, Fryeko farms quickly and is close to his own bot lane, allowing him to position himself there a step earlier. DRX will not have a chance to tower dive.

that's the truth.

The game was already three and a half minutes in. After clearing six jungle camps, JieJie was guarding the bottom lane when he actually encountered a large tree that was swaying and walking into the jungle.

The junglers from both sides met and exchanged a few blows, but stopped short of a fight and then went their separate ways.

The DRX marksmen's stable lane control did not translate into tower dive kills this time; it only resulted in a river crab.

Limited returns.

Because EDG executed a perfect trade, and DRX's bot lane duo was also low on health, they had no choice but to recall to base to replenish their supplies after pushing down the lane.

Given the strength of their bot lane matchup, this result is clearly a failure.

Although Ming Jing was behind in last-hitting, he felt no pressure at the moment. He even had two red potions left. He went home and bought an Extraction Sword, taking his greed to the extreme.

The duo of marksmen is only strong in the early laning phase. As Jinx and Yuumi level up, the pressure from the duo of marksmen will only decrease.

The situation will begin to reverse the moment both sides reach level six, and Ming Jing has absolute confidence in this!
Of course, the situation may not allow him to smoothly advance to level six.

After all, things can change in an instant in professional esports, and something big can happen at any time.

Ming Jing had only been online for a short time, and the director was just about to show everyone some of Ming Jing's tower dives when a dispute broke out in the mid lane, forcing the director to quickly switch the camera to that area!

In this mid-lane matchup, Scout's performance was still perfect. He made good use of Akali's counter to Sylas and maintained a health advantage.

Scout is currently in stealth mode thanks to a smoke grenade, Akali is wielding her passive scythe, and a low-health cannon minion is beside her.

If Sylas dares to come up and greedily attack the cannon, he will definitely get hit!
If it were Zaka from the previous game, seeing this situation, he would definitely have released the siege engine.

But in this game, he had a different idea.

Zeka calculated Akali's energy, then decisively stepped forward and destroyed the sports car with a single basic attack.

Sure enough, Akali appeared quickly and charged at him with an A followed by a Q!
Zeka was prepared, using W [Kingslayer Strike] to heal himself up, and then quickly using E to create distance!

But Scout's execution was precise. Akali used her E [Falcon Dance] to accurately hit Sylas, who was in the E skill's displacement state, and then quickly followed up with the second E!
Zeka's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of his chest, but he didn't stop. He threw a Q Chain Whip in front of himself, and both hit Akali perfectly.

On the other side, Akali also used her second E to kick Zeka in the face, but before she could use her passive to auto-attack, Zeka quickly flashed back to the tower.

Scout's Flash was quick enough to catch up, and Akali quickly followed with her Flash, slashing Sylas's back with her passive [Dragon's Mark].

However, it did not result in a fatal blow.

Sylas had only a dozen or so points of health left and survived the attack.

Scout is pressing Q repeatedly, but he only has 90 energy points, while a level 2 Q skill requires a full 115 energy points, so he can't use it in a short time.

This was exactly what Zeka had anticipated.

Zeka was focused on Akali's energy bar in the top left corner. Just before Akali's energy was about to return to 115, he turned around and threw a second E [Strike] at her.

The second E hits precisely, followed by a passive slam, and then another barrage from the turret.
Even though Akali's health was still relatively good, she obviously couldn't withstand this damage and was killed by the turret's shot!

"First blood!" (End of Chapter)