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

After losing the match, the EDG players remained silent and quickly returned to the backstage area.

This match exposed too many problems, and everyone needs to discuss them quickly and find solutions.

"My bad, my bad." Li Xuanjun said with a guilty look, "I played too badly this game."

Flandre knew perfectly well that he was the culprit behind this defeat.

His teammates really did their best this game, helping him kill Yone twice at the start.

However, he failed to capitalize on the momentum and establish an advantage in the laning phase, and was still no match for his opponent!

This forced the team to clean up his mess by having their fattest player, Mingjing, go up against Yone.

However, this left Faker unattended, allowing Ryze to start roaming freely.

Saint Gun Bro felt like he was the only weak point in the entire game, and whoever he faced would be easily defeated!
Although Flandre wasn't there to carry EDG, dragging the team down like this is really unacceptable!

"It's okay, it's okay, just relax."

Abu patted Flandre on the back, "It's just one game, it's just starting another BO3, and this time the advantage is on our side."

Abu usually likes to put pressure on his players after matches. When he sees that a player's attitude is not right or that they have a problem with their thinking, he will usually speak up immediately.

But this time there's not much to offer in terms of output.

Standing on the final stage, everyone is bound to give their all. Although Flandre became the weak point, he actually did his best.
Instead of venting his emotions under pressure, Flandre should think about how to solve the problem.

"The main issue is still the Sword Demon," Maokai said. "It's starting to feel a bit tricky."

Aatrox is one of the highest priority heroes in this version, and under normal circumstances, he should become a popular pick for both teams.

However, T1's handling of the situation made Aatrox seem like a trap.

They dared not let go, nor could they take it.

"Then let's ban it," Meiko said, arms crossed. "Anyway, we blue side have enough ban slots."

"No, it won't work." Ming Jing shook his head. "It's not that simple."

In Mingjing's opinion, this loss was not the fault of Flandre or the hero Aatrox.

The real reason is the design and target audience of the T1.

T1 could have picked Lissandra to counter Mingjing's Akali, which would have been a 90/10 matchup, but they ultimately chose Ryze, who wasn't as strong a counter. The reason is quite simple: to counter Flandre.

Ryze can not only counter Akali, but also Aatrox.

Their draft ensures that either the mid or top laner can easily create an advantage against Aatrox. As long as they have an advantage, T1 will quickly rotate and support the lanes to transfer the advantage to the mid lane.

By suppressing Flandre, they naturally suppressed Viper as well.

Both mid and top carries were suppressed, and even with Ming Jing's extraordinary skills, it was difficult to reverse the defeat. After all, Akali is not a core hero and does not have the ability to lead the team to victory.

To put it simply, T1 found a breakthrough and figured out how to beat EDG.

Saint Gun's individual skills are certainly not bad. Although he may not be as good as top top laners in terms of mechanics, he has his own unique strengths in team fights and overall game awareness, and he often appears in the right positions unexpectedly.

Against other teams, Flandre is able to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, blending in the laning phase while showcasing his ingenuity and delivering outstanding performances.

But against T1, it's not so easy.

T1's young players are all incredibly skilled, resulting in a level of skill in this final that is among the highest in history.

Saint Gun's skill level seems somewhat insufficient.

After explaining the reasons, Mingjing continued, "Even if you don't pick Aatrox in the top lane and instead pick Ornn or Maokai, the enemy will still have other heroes to break through, and the result will be the same. In fact, it might even be less effective than picking Aatrox."

“That makes sense,” Maokai nodded upon hearing this. “Then do you have any ideas?”

If that's the case, then this situation seems unsolvable.

You can't exactly give Flandre a cheat code on the spot so he can easily beat Zeus, can you?

"Simple," Ming Jing chuckled. "We'll just play the same way they do it."

Just as Mingjing was sharing his thoughts, the MVP of the round was being displayed on the TV in the lounge.

The result was not unexpected; the MVP was ultimately awarded to Faker.

Although Yone played Zeus brilliantly, he was down 0-2 at the start and didn't deliver a decisive performance to win the game, thus naturally dropping out of the MVP category.

In contrast, Faker's Ryze didn't die once, achieving a perfect 100% team fight participation rate, while maximizing both damage output and damage taken, making him undoubtedly the top choice for MVP.

Everyone says Faker is getting old and has lost the sharpness of his youth.

But in fact, Faker still holds the top spot in terms of MVP count among T1 players.

The break time passed quickly, and both players took to the stage for the third time.

"The two teams were tied 1-1 before this third game, which is now a crucial battle! The team that wins this third game will be the first to reach championship point!"

In the commentary booth, Professor Guan was explaining the situation to the new audience: "Let's wait and see who will emerge victorious!"

At this moment, the live broadcast camera switched back and forth between the two players' seats.

After winning the game, the T1 players seemed a little more relaxed, and they all had smiles on their faces when they talked to each other.

In contrast, EDG's situation is slightly more urgent, with several people discussing incessantly, seemingly not having finalized their draft picks yet.

However, Ming Jing did not participate in the discussion this time. He simply lay quietly on the gaming chair, closed his eyes, and took deep breaths to calm himself down.

Under deliberate control, the chaotic thoughts in my mind were gradually thrown away, and even the pink noise and cheers from the audience gradually disappeared, leaving only the voices of my teammates.

This is the state of flow.

The state of flow is not unique to gifted individuals; almost everyone experiences moments in their lives when they unintentionally enter a state of flow due to intense concentration.

Back when the S10 finals were over, Kanavi shared with Mingjing that he seemed to have entered a state of flow during the final Elder Dragon fight.

In that instant, time flowed extremely slowly, and all the information around him was clearly visible, allowing him to punish the crucial ancient dragon.

However, Mingjing's unique characteristic compared to others is that he can actively control his concentration, thus entering a state of flow anytime, anywhere.

Previously, Ming Jing had always believed that this was his unique skill.

But after the last game, he realized it wasn't that simple.

In the last game, Faker demonstrated a much stronger ability than he did in the first game.

The laning phase, the pace of the game, and the team fights are all flawless.

Based on his opponent's action of closing his eyes to adjust his state before the second game, Ming Jing has reason to believe that his opponent must have also mastered the same method of actively initiating flow.

This made Ming Jing feel admiration.

Given Faker's talent, it's not surprising that he possessed this ability during his peak.

However, attention span gradually diminishes with age.

At 26 years old, Faker's skill level has declined significantly, yet he can still actively enter a state of flow, which is quite remarkable. It's hard to imagine how much hard work he's put in behind the scenes.

But that's precisely what makes the finals interesting.

Mingjing opened his eyes just as the referee's announcement rang out.

The Battle of Tianwang Mountain has officially begun!
"BP has started!"

"We can see that the two sides have switched sides again in this game! That's right, EDG is playing the loser's pick and has also chosen the red side! Let's see what preparations they have made for the red side!"

It can only be said that both teams today are a bit unlucky. After all, the Blue Alliance has been around for more than a year or two. During the MSI finals, the Blue side had a five-game winning streak.

As it turns out, today, both sides are vying to play the red side!

As for the bans, that's not hard to guess.

On the blue side, T1 didn't have many options and could only ban Galio, Akali, and Lucian, which was the same as the ban list in the first game.

Galio is also one of Faker's signature champions, but T1 chose to ban Galio in both games on the blue side.

The reason is not hard to guess: Galio is not strong enough in split pushing and cannot compete with Flandre.

T1's strategy today was very clear: break through Flandre and they would win.

On the other side, EDG, the red team, didn't have much to say about their bans. They honestly banned Caitlyn and Yuumi, and then banned Lena as their last pick.

"Now here's the question! The Sword Demon is outside, should Zeus choose him?"

Countless people focused their attention on the first floor on the left, eagerly awaiting the answer from T1.

Ming Jing stared at the screen, confident and composed.

He's not afraid whether T1 picks Aatrox or not.

He was certain that Zeus's swordsmanship proficiency wouldn't be too high.

After all, Zeus developed three techniques—Jayce, Gwen, and Yone—in order to fight against the Sword Demon.

If he has a high level of proficiency with Aatrox, why would he need to prepare so much?
Alternatively, Mingjing also has a way to deal with the Sword Demon.

If they don't choose, it doesn't matter at all. The red team goes first in the second round of ban/pick, so Mingjing can calmly decide whether to keep or discard the Sword Demon.

As Mingjing said, use T1's methods to fight against T1.

At this point, T1 is clearly deep in thought and has yet to make a decision.

Varus finally lit up on the first floor of T1 in the last two seconds.

But after a two-second flash, just before the lock window closed, they finally managed to switch Varus to Aatrox and quickly lock on.

"I've chosen!" The child felt immense pressure upon seeing this choice.

Choosing the red buff and releasing the Sword Demon seems completely wrong.

But to be fair, T1 won the last game in the same way.
Seeing T1's hesitation, Ming Jing's confidence grew even stronger.

At that moment, Maokai's voice came through: "So, have we made our choice?"

Ming Jing nodded slightly: "Choose."

As soon as he finished speaking, Graves on the first floor of EDG quickly lit up!
This decision caused an uproar among the audience.

Graves jungle is completely out of EDG's playstyle. Graves, who was picked after Aatrox, is destined to be a top laner.

Graves vs. Aatrox – this pick would have been perfectly fine a year ago, since Flandre won the championship last year with Graves and even specifically chose a Graves skin.

However, the dark horse Graves top laner clearly angered the designers. Before the World Championship was even over, the designers updated the version and nerfed Graves, reducing the AD bonus of critical strike projectiles from 30% to 20%.

Furthermore, the mid-season update downgraded the core item for crit-based Graves, the Shieldbear, to legendary status, causing crit-based Graves to completely disappear.

Graves is currently only viable in the jungle with the armor penetration build, but he is quite strong and has been banned or picked in about 60% of the time at Worlds this year.

EDG is still stubbornly picking a crit-based Graves top laner, which is completely going against the meta!
At this moment, the live stream chat was filled with comments, most of which expressed confusion.

Have we reached the stage where we believe the contestants will leave no regrets?

Even if you want to avoid regrets, you should wait for the decisive game! What's the point of this crucial match?

[I'm truly speechless at Maokai's idiotic draft picks. Last game he picked a lane that was at a disadvantage in all three lanes, and this game he directly picked a Graves top laner to annoy people. If EDG loses today, he'll be the first one to blame!]

[Is Maokai the first culprit? Why else would they pick Graves? It's just to prevent you from snowballing in the top lane, right? Fine, they nerfed him, but they weren't going to carry anyway. If he doesn't feed the enemy team in the top lane, that's a success!]

[That's true, in my opinion, there's something special about that technique!]

Although the later comments were exaggerated, they were indeed on the right track.

In Flandre's champion pool, if there's one champion who never collapses under any circumstances, it's Graves.

Even if the crit-based Graves build gets nerfed, and even if you don't have the right Mythic items, it doesn't matter.

As long as Flandre picks Graves and stands there, any targeting by T1 will become meaningless.

That alone is enough.

Then you can leave it to your teammates.

After picking Graves, EDG didn't hesitate and immediately locked in the bomb.

The strategy behind this bomb pick is quite simple: withstand the heavy pressure of the T1 duo in lane while adding AP attributes, thus creating the widest range of hero choices for the counter pick, Mingjing.

From now on, everything can be left to Mingjing!
The subsequent draft phase progressed rapidly. T1's second and third picks still locked in the ultimate lane bully combination of Varus and Karma, while EDG countered by picking Rakan, who has strong engage potential, as their third pick.

In the second round of bans and picks, EDG banned Ryze and Azir, and then locked in Sejuani as their jungler as their fourth pick.

With few options left in the mid lane, T1 opted to lock in Sylas and Maokai.

With the lineups for both sides now largely determined, Colonel Guan glanced at the choices made by the first nine players on both sides.

Blue side T1: Top lane Aatrox, Jungle Maokai, Mid lane Sylas, Bot lane Varus and Karma.

Red side EDG: Top lane Graves, Jungle Sejuani, Mid laner undecided, Bot lane Garen.

"Well then, it's up to Fei Shen now," Guan Zeyuan said with a hint of anticipation. "Let's see which hero he'll use to deliver the final blow!"

Guan Zeyuan believes that EDG must have had a reason for going to such lengths to give the mid-lane counter pick!

Fei Shen's choice at this moment will certainly not disappoint!
The camera then panned to the EDG players' bench, where Mingjing was seen nodding.

"Choose," Ming Jing said, raising his head slightly. "No problem!"

"Are you playing Answer Ball here?" Meiko complained as she moved her mouse across the mid-lane champion list, quickly finding and locking onto a champion.

"One sword kills evil, one sword calms the soul!"

Yone is back!
After a brief delay, the cheers from the audience erupted into a raging torrent! (End of Chapter)