You actually want me to...

"They played quite well, only losing the first game to FPX."

What's the situation with netizens online right now?

"A cause for universal celebration, with various people jumping up and down in front of the LCK official Weibo account." At this point, White Crescent seemed to suddenly remember something and fell silent.

"You guessed it too, didn't you? S7 switched identities back then, so we are them now, it feels familiar, doesn't it?" Beneath the calm words lay a nightmare-like undercurrent.

remember.

S8 is the mountain climb, S9 is the phoenix rebirth, and S10 is the cycle of old and new. Doesn't that sound pretty good?

But what about going forward?

The ascension of the new emperor in S3, the ten-man Samsung team in S4, the peak T1 in S5, and the Korean-style internal battles in the finals of S6 and S7—each of these represents the despair experienced by players during that period.

How pathetic the LPL was back then.

In the World Championship, even winning a single BO1 game can generate hype in the region.

Winning a best-of-five series is an absolute euphoria.

Tragically, in the five years from S3 to S7, LPL's victories were few and far between, burying generations of gamers.

"So, what should I be proud of? Just because of this one victory? In my opinion, this game was just us taking back what we had lost, and that's far from enough!"

From the very beginning, Roland never underestimated any LCK team.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen Thresh, which has such a high margin for error, in the match against T1; instead, he would have directly picked Pyke, which theoretically allows him to kill more easily.

We have never underestimated it, so how can there be any talk of arrogance?

"You're suddenly so serious, are you sure you haven't been possessed?"

"Oh ho? You actually found out. Okay, I'll lay my cards on the table. I'm actually a time traveler from the future, and I know all sorts of events that will happen in the next year. I suggest you send me money now as start-up capital. Once my system awakens, you'll definitely be rich and powerful."

"Alright, it's definitely me, no doubt about it. But why are you so obsessed with money? Your income should be enough for several years."

"Coach, you don't know the value of money until you're in charge, oh wait, you're in charge now! Never mind then." Upon learning that White Crescent had a wife and daughter, Roland simply shut his mouth and stopped talking.

"Alright, since that's the case, then it's fine. Go do whatever you need to do."

"Alright." Having received the order to retreat, Roland didn't hesitate and left immediately. He preferred chatting with his teammates to joking around with the coach. Mainly because White Crescent, as a coach, no matter how approachable he was, still carried an innate, overwhelming aura when working. If he couldn't answer White Crescent's questions, he would be the one who suffered.

On the other hand, seeing that the player's mentality was fine, White Crescent decided to ignore it. In the end, it was the coach who benefited; he saved himself the trouble of providing psychological counseling and instead had more time to study his opponent.

It wasn't until Roland came out that JKL and the others looked up at him briefly before looking back down at their phones. This was because it was all too common; they had frequently encountered similar psychological counseling sessions in their previous teams, perhaps even more often.

"So fast?"

"After all, I didn't ask anything. It's not like I haven't seen the peak performance before. This game was just so-so in the end."

"That's true. They've all seen me climb mountains before, so this competition is nothing compared to that."

"Get lost. With your mountaineering skills, you'd only rank second in my eyes at best." Looking at the smug JKL, Roland decided not to tolerate it.

"You're kidding me. Besides us, have you ever seen any other S-level champions win their first title?"

"I might actually have seen it before."

"Then you're living in a dream."

"You're right, but it's a shame if you never dream of some dreams."

"cut."

Metamorphosis: Chapter Seventy-Two: That's all

After the first day of competition, FPX and TES became spectators on the second day, even gathering in a small room to party while watching the live stream. Although the match was streamed online, the players were in the same venue, and both teams stayed at the same hotel, so there were no distance barriers whatsoever.

"What do you say for today? How about we take a gamble?" It's rare to watch a live stream with other teams, so it wouldn't be fun without some kind of wager. Roland thought for a moment and then decisively started today's game.

"Okay, which team should we bet on?"

"Let's bet directly on the score. The winner takes all, and if there's no winner, the bookmaker takes all."

"Reasonable."

Under relatively fair rules, the entire FPX team, including the other TES members, happily placed their bets. IG's situation was a little easier to predict, since IG's performance fluctuated visibly. But for JDG, Roland really made a fortune.

If EDG is destined to always reach the quarterfinals in international competitions, then JDG is destined to consistently underperform. Knowing the course of history, he was quite certain that IG would be eliminated 0/3, while JDG would barely advance 2/2.

In fact, when history repeated itself, countless viewers and players were still stunned by IG's performance.

After the S10 Spring Split, IG's performance can be roughly described as follows:

Broiler Chicken: 2020 Mid-Season Cup

Shoe King: Ranked Match

Bottom lane: Matchmaking

Shyman: Infinite Power

Or to put it another way:

IG's four-core lineup: Rookie Syndra and his three balls

IG's three-core lineup: Rookie's Azir and his two Sand Soldiers

IG's dual-core lineup: Rookie's Orianna and his ball

IG's single-core lineup: Rookie with his Sight Ward, Sight Ward, Foresight Modifier, and Watchtower.

Basically, it was as if everyone except Rookie was acting like they weren't human. Under these circumstances, JKL was found to be completely bewildered while watching the game and ended up trending on social media, although most of the comments were joking about why he didn't run with Rookie in the first place.

"Tsk tsk tsk, has IG really fallen this low?"

"Ever since that GIF of the gods descending to earth came out, this team has had more and more problems. To put it bluntly, the era of mechanically skilled players is over, and those mechanically skilled players from back then are not as good at mechanically playing anymore. In addition, the players' hero pools have become problematic, so even a god can't save them."

Everyone here is a professional player, especially players like Doinb and Karsa who have an almost magical ability to analyze a team's situation. They could spot IG's problems almost instantly.

"What about JDG..."

"That's normal. JDG was in the same boat last year anyway."

"That's right, wait a minute, don't change the subject! The house wins all, send me the money now!"

"I can't log in to WeChat or Alipay... How about next time?"

"It's okay, I support QQ Wallet too. If that's not possible, you can even give me Happy Beans in return. I'll accept it all. Don't delay, send the money now!!!"

“凸(艹皿艹)”

While people can somewhat understand IG's situation, JDG completely ruined their own career. Strictly speaking, there isn't much deep-seated animosity between the LPL teams. Even between WE and EDG, it's mostly the older generation of players who are still holding grudges.

As for the new players, who cares about these things?

Everyone is here to chase the championship, and they're all playing for money. They might even transfer to another team next season. Nobody knows if the person you're criticizing now will suddenly become your teammate next year. So, under normal circumstances, most players have pretty good relationships.

But JDG is different.

They genuinely manage to alienate team after team, including casual viewers, through all sorts of disgusting methods and words. After all, there's no other team in the entire LPL that can simultaneously disgust its audience and lament its lack of fans.

To put it bluntly, V5's reputation might even be better than JDG's. They're just bad, but they're bad in a fair and square way.

Watching JDG take a point by defeating IG, and then rely on Duke's miraculous comeback to win a game and force their way to the next round, the players in the room felt it was quite outrageous.

"Honestly, if JDG had played at this level in the semifinals, we might have already won the championship this year." Doinb could only manage to squeeze out this sentence after watching the match for a long time, because it was really too ugly.

"You're kidding me. Even if you came, we'd still beat you three to one."

"That's not necessarily true. Our Young Master Si sees you as nothing."

"What a coincidence, even we Golden Left Hands treat you like a piece of cake."

"We also have the AD carry who won the S9 championship."

"We have the AD carry who won the S8 championship."

......

Watching the two "monkeys" constantly comparing themselves, the remaining players from TES and FPX exchanged glances and then sighed in unison, their actions remarkably synchronized.

They're all grown up, why are they acting like two little kids? What's there to argue about?

[If it really comes down to a fight, we'll definitely win!] That's what both sides thought.

After a friendly chat, the two groups returned to their rooms to prepare for the next day's competition. Now that the winner of the second day had been decided, the schedule for the final day was quite clear.

Three heroes battle Lü Bu.

FPX, TES, and JDG are ganging up on GEN.

Fortunately for TES, they were matched against GEN, with fans from the entire region supporting them. FPX, on the other hand, were paired with JDG, giving them a chance to avenge their semifinal defeat. Both sides were quite satisfied.

"That damn monkey, is he really that confident he can meet us in the finals?"

"If JDG continues to perform like this, I'd believe you if you said FPX could easily beat them. As for us... I don't even have the image of losing in my mind."

"Indeed, but next time I suggest you say this kind of thing during the trash talk segment. Saying it in private will make you look like a coward."

"Get lost!" JKL laughed and shooed away the support player in front of him, then turned to look at the messages on his phone, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

After all these years with the team, it's impossible for him to feel nothing at all after IG's loss. We don't expect IG to become incredibly strong, but we at least hope they can maintain a decent position. Today's three losses have truly shattered the aura that IG has always projected.

"Are you alright?" Seeing Jack staring blankly at his phone, Flandre took the initiative to come over and ask.

"No, just some reflections."

"That's quite normal. It's a bit hard to accept when a team you've known for years suddenly leaves, but you'll be fine soon."

"Indeed, but what about you?"

"Me? I don't really feel anything."

"Ok?"

"Almost all of my teammates from back then, except for me and Xiejian, have been to the World Championship. So rather than me feeling sorry for them, they should be feeling sorry for me."

"So, that's why you've always maintained this state?"

After hearing this, Flandre frowned silently, then slowly relaxed, looked at JKL and smiled, "Yeah, it was all his own choice."

Aren't you tired?

"I'm tired. People always mature eventually, just like I've let go of a lot of things now. But what has kept me going until now is simply because I was once a teenager, and I had a grudge that I couldn't stand holding back, that's all."