LPL History

Chapter 258 Surprise Attack Breaks Three Stars, Forfeit to Protest Shows Integrity

The fact that Chinese audiences were turned away by Koreans on the grounds of fake tickets quickly caused a huge uproar on the internet.

The South Koreans' sportsmanship has once again been brought up by netizens, who are now relentlessly criticizing them.

But the Koreans didn't care about any of that at this point.

They even turned around and attacked China online, labeling Chinese people as "fakes".

Public opinion was in an uproar!
Zhou Li had already arrived at the WE.B lounge.

With half an hour to go before the start of the match, the team members were clearly aware of the current turmoil, and their faces showed visible tension.

Zhou Li kicked the factory and cursed angrily:
"It's understandable that they're nervous, but you're a seasoned veteran, why are you so nervous!"

He looked at the members of Team B.

Braised pork belly, strawberry, factory, U-Emperor, Nami, smile, curly hair.

Without Zhou Li and the current WE.A team, this merged team of EDG and WE could actually be considered the highest level in the LPL.

But as it turns out, even a team like this shouldn't dream of lifting the championship trophy in Seoul in 2014.

"Actually, you don't need to be nervous. I can tell you very clearly that you have no hope of winning today's match."

As Zhou Li finished speaking, everyone in the lounge looked at each other in bewilderment.

Tabe wanted to speak, but was stopped by Zhu Kai's gaze.

He couldn't understand why Zhou Li would say such things with a major battle imminent.

"I'm sure you've all seen what's happening outside. Today's match is no longer just a game. These Koreans will stop at nothing to win. Even if you gain an advantage in the game, they have a million ways to tip the scales back in their favor!"

"What should we do then? Should we just give up?"

The factory manager's face was filled with resentful anger.

This year has been incredibly eventful for the factory manager, filled with both experiences and sacrifices.

In order to achieve better results, he endured criticism and went to extremes.

Later, EDG was acquired, and Smile and Strawberry came to the club to rebuild the old WE. Clearlove was also ridiculed a lot on the Internet.

If it's really a matter of being less skilled, then so be it; at worst, you can go back and continue to hone your skills.

However, he found it unacceptable to lose the game to someone using such underhanded tactics.

Seeing the anger on the factory worker's face, Zhou Li was very satisfied.

What he feared most was that the factory's personality would become timid and hesitant at crucial moments.

"Fight! Of course we must fight! We absolutely have to fight! And we have to win!!"
-
Five p.m.

Amidst Jeon Yong-jun's roar showcasing his lung capacity, the match between Samsung White and WE.B has officially begun!
The shouts of support for Samsung White at the scene were like waves, continuous and endless!
Samsung White, carrying the last glory of the Republic of Korea, is determined to win this match!
Douyu live streaming room.

Ruofeng was giving a passionate pre-match speech, as if he were the one about to compete.

"The Koreans are so damn shameless! I really don't want to swear! I was initially very optimistic about WEB, but now that they've done this, honestly I don't know what they'll do next!"

As he spoke, Ruofeng's eyes reddened again.

"If I were still the captain of WE, I would never let my teammates suffer such injustice."

In fact, it's unclear when exactly, but calls for WE.B to withdraw from the competition began circulating online.

The Koreans are so shameless, it's simply outrageous.

At this point, they should have just forfeited the match in protest!

But clearly, WE.B doesn't seem to have such intentions, and the two sides have already entered the game.

"Samsung White still picked a fast-paced lineup that they're very good at, and this Looper even picked Singed to play top lane! To be honest, isn't that a bit disgusting?"

The Alchemist is actually a very unpopular champion in the top lane in the current version.

But if you say that Looper brought out alchemy because he looked down on WE.B, that's not really the case.

Alchemy is considered Looper's signature hero.

Conversely, no matter how skilled you are, the hero's strength and mechanics are what they are. Picking Alchemist in the semifinals can only mean one thing—

Looper came to play skin games with absolute confidence in his team.

"What surprised me was that WE.B also changed their style today, opting for an early-game lineup. I'm not entirely sure what Coach Tabe's reasons were behind this, but from my perspective, I don't think it was a good choice. WE.B is inherently a team that plays a macro-game, and changing their tactical style can occasionally be a game-changer, like when they defeated Samsung Blue in the group stage. But you've already used it once, and Samsung White is different from Samsung Blue; they're naturally good at fast-paced attacks. I wonder if it was due to too much pressure that they made this choice..."

While Ruofeng was still rambling on, a level 1 team fight had already broken out between the two sides in the game.

WE.B's decision to adopt such an aggressive playstyle was clearly somewhat unexpected by SSW.

Although Samsung White is a fast-paced team, their fast attacks are not reckless brawls, but rather a series of interconnected offensive tactics achieved through extremely precise tactical arrangements.

Therefore, every step they take, though seemingly fast-paced, is actually a tactic devised after in-depth research into their opponents, a well-thought-out plan before action.

WE.B has chosen to initiate a level 1 team fight against their opponents zero times during the World Championship!

So Samsung White never expected that WE.B would choose to fight them in the first level team fight.

Faced with the aggressive invasion of WE.B, Samsung White made a decision and chose to exchange jungle areas with WE.B.

What they didn't expect was that this very decision would directly ruin the entire game!

Because every move WE.B made afterward hit them completely unexpectedly!

After WE.B swapped Samsung White's bottom jungle, they began relentlessly targeting imp and Mata in the bottom lane.

What's even more critical is that Samsung White was completely unaware of this beforehand.

As the team's leader, Mata has his own ideas.

His favorite thing to do is to let imp go free and then roam around to help the jungler dandy do something.

However, this time, before Mata could even make a move, Factory directly launched a high-risk tower dive in the bottom lane!
Although Samsung White was prepared, and the two sides essentially traded summoner spells in this exchange, making Clearlove's gank seem like a loss, Clearlove directly demonstrated his exceptional resilience in the bot lane.

He ganked the bottom lane four times in five minutes!

Faced with such a relentless gank from the factory, Samsung White's bottom lane finally managed to create an opening!
After eliminating imp and mata who were trying to gank the bottom lane, WE.B made a very bold move.

Koro1 in the top lane immediately chose to teleport to the bottom lane, and together with Factory and the bottom lane duo, they forcibly destroyed Samsung White's bottom lane tower. Then Nami and Curly immediately switched to the mid lane, freeing U-Emperor from being suppressed by Fat General.

Then, Factory prayed to the gods again and received a response from Zhou Li. He controlled the Lee Sin and used his R-flash to kick the fat general back under the tower, once again speeding up the pace of WE.B before Samsung White adjusted the lane swap!
This match was so exciting that it got the LPL viewers' adrenaline pumping!
Factory almost completely abandoned jungling, and was almost always either ganking or on his way to gank.

Such a sudden tactical change and fast pace clearly caught Samsung White, who were completely unprepared, off guard.

Samsung White was unable to adjust its tactics in time before WE.B launched a series of powerful attacks that breached all three outer towers.

Fifteen minutes into the match, the two sides had already traded thirteen kills, averaging almost one kill per minute!
WE.B also seems to have gained a significant advantage.

But at this moment, Zhou Li, who was born in the year 2010, was already frowning.

Only he and Tabe knew that although WE.B's offensive pace seemed fast, it had actually been slowed down.

The main reason for this is that Samsung White and its team are simply too good at seizing opportunities.

We can no longer use strength alone to measure Samsung's ability to seize opportunities.

It's safe to say that Samsung White will never miss a chance, as long as you give it one!
Even under such high pressure and fast pace, Samsung White was still able to find WE.B's minor mistakes, seize the opportunity to counterattack, and thus slow down WE.B's offensive rhythm.

This is also what Zhou Li was most worried about.

Because WE.B may seem to be in the lead now, but in reality, it has come at a very high price.

Especially the factory team, their play in this game can be described as a sacrifice.

WE.B currently leads in economy by 3,000, but Dandy, who is positioned against the factory, has an economy that is 1,000 higher than the factory!
Looking at the situation on the field, Tabe couldn't help but speak up:

"I always thought Samsung White was only good at offense, but now it seems that their players' adaptability and execution are really too strong! And every single one of them is a mechanical monster! No wonder you valued this team so much from the beginning, Brother Zhou."

Zhou Li didn't say anything after hearing Tabe's words.

After all, Samsung White is considered the strongest team in the history of the finals, and their strength is indeed terrifying.

Even from God's perspective, Zhou Li felt that Team B's performance today was already excellent.

But contestants are human after all; you can't expect them to be like machine programmers, making no mistakes whatsoever.

Even players with Samsung White ratings can make mistakes.

However, the biggest difference between the two sides is that Samsung White can keenly perceive every opportunity and execute it immediately with all five players!

For example, Koro1 just finished pushing the bottom lane and then teleported to the top lane to defend against Looper's split push.

As a result, his teleport had just lit up when Looper's teleport was almost simultaneously lit up on the ward that Samsung White had placed behind the four B team members in the mid lane!

At the same time, the mid-lane Fat General was also teleported!

What is the level of synergy between these two people?
The two players landed within 0.5 seconds of each other via teleportation!
It was this one decision by TP that gave Samsung White an instant opportunity. In a fraction of a second, they made a decision and executed it!

This resulted in a five-on-four situation targeting WE.B in the mid lane!

Fortunately, WE.B had accumulated enough advantages beforehand, and even in a five-on-four situation, they managed to achieve a two-for-two exchange!

However, if the team with the advantage trades two for two, it's essentially a loss for them!

If the two sides are evenly matched at this point, or if Samsung White has always been able to gain an advantage in the early stages, this opportunity is enough to determine the outcome of the game.

Fortunately, this time even the goddess of fate seemed to disapprove of the Koreans' underhanded tactics and chose to side with WE.

At 26 minutes, Imp's mouse took the initiative to find Nami's policewoman, trying to steal a few hits.

Unexpectedly, after both sides exchanged four attacks, the policewoman landed four critical hits! This completely stunned Imp!
WE.B seized the opportunity instantly. Koro's Maokai used Flash to lock down the enemy, helping WE.B achieve a 4-for-1 team fight!
WE.B then secured Baron Nashor and destroyed Samsung White's mid-lane inhibitor, widening the gold gap between the two sides to 7,000!
Even so, Samsung White put up a tenacious resistance.

Even at the 35-minute mark, they narrowed the economic gap to 3,000 again and pushed back WE.B's high ground!
At 37 minutes and 7 seconds, Samsung White, having pushed down the high ground and preparing to retreat, was given an opportunity by Factory, who had suddenly sensed something!
He kicked the fat general's clockwork back!
But the fat general remained calm in the face of danger, and used his ultimate move to pull in three people from WE.B, including the female police officer, and then activated his invincibility!

imp's rat used its ultimate ability from the back row, directly targeting the low-health policewoman.

But luck smiled on Nami once again!

When she had only thirty drops of blood left, the policewoman managed to lock her health!
Then, relying on the Bloodthirsty Sword, he managed to raise his health back up!

With the policewoman alive, Samsung White was put in a passive position. Although the fat general's ultimate move was very well executed, he was still out of position!
Even after his invulnerability ended and he used Flash, he was still killed by the policewoman's headshot auto-attack.

Then, the factory manager risked his life to forcibly keep the retreating Samsung White team from leaving!
Thirty-seven minutes and thirty-seven seconds!
At 7 o'clock sharp, WE.B scored a 5-0 team fight, and then ended the game!
In the Korean live stream room.

The Koreans are absolutely furious!

No one expected that Samsung White, who had been performing incredibly well before, would lose to an LPL team!
However, compared to anger, those who understand the game better feel more regret at this moment.

Quan Yongjun was complaining non-stop in the live broadcast room at that moment.

"Wow! SSW really had some bad luck in this game!"

Objectively speaking, Samsung White did have some bad luck in two key team fights.

First, the female police officer landed four critical hits in a row with a 50% critical hit rate, allowing WE.B to stabilize the situation in the mid-game.

Then, in the final team fight, they locked down the enemy with only 30 HP left.

If the policewoman had been killed in action, the team that would have destroyed the base wouldn't have been WE.B, but Samsung White!

And everyone could see that WE.B pulled out all the stops in this match.

This is a best-of-five (BO5) match, and Samsung White has plenty of time to adjust and respond.

Judging solely from the abilities demonstrated by both sides in this match, Samsung White is definitely stronger than WE.B!
Just as Jeon Yong-jun and Kim Jae-young were expressing their regret, comforting netizens, and looking forward to the future, Zhou Li suddenly posted a message on Twitter that caused an uproar throughout the entire e-sports community!

[In protest against the Korean side's malicious actions of accusing Chinese fans of buying fake tickets, refusing to allow Chinese fans to enter the stadium to cheer for our team, and creating an extreme home-field advantage, I, on behalf of the entire WE.B team, choose to forfeit the remainder of today's match!]

(End of this chapter)