"Congratulations, YM!
After five rounds of fierce fighting, they finally defeated the first seeded ROX Tigers from the LCK division! "
Mille's voice was already hoarse. "After a year of ups and downs, LPL has once again entered the finals stage of the global finals!"
Lin Ran took off his soundproof headphones, and the sound in the stadium was instantly amplified several times and transmitted into his ears. Under the background music that symbolized victory, shouts and roars were mixed together. Lin Ran could even vaguely hear the sounds of sobbing and sobbing.
Xiao Tian excitedly rushed over. Jin Gong, Jack, Xiao Ming … the five YM teammates hugged each other tightly.
Phyllostachys Pubescens' mouth opened and closed. Lin Yan could not clearly hear what he was saying due to the extreme commotion in the stadium.
"Xiao Tian quickly regained his form after his slump in the fourth round." Mille tried hard to calm his excitement. "His performance as a spider in the final round was amazing. In the early stages, he boldly flashed and spun a cocoon. Then, he used Q to punish Q to help establish the top lane's advantage. In the end, he snatched the Dragon from Little Peanut and completely cleared his name."
"Their teamwork in the fifth round was quite good. Although they made a mistake in the middle of the game and Rat King seized the opportunity to counterattack, the Dragon's strategy in the end was too exquisite!" Doll was also praising his own team.
After a short celebration, the YM team went to shake hands with the ROX players.
The camera switched, and only then did the audience notice the expressions of the Tigers. Smeb's eyes were lifeless, Little Peanut was covering his face with both hands, and Rat King looked at the blood-red words on the screen, unable to accept the reality.
The Korean commentator said in a bitter tone, "The first seeded ROX Tigers, whom we had high hopes for, fell in the semifinals. However, their performance this year is already legendary enough."
"The five players are either facing retirement or being rejected by other teams. They don't have a big sponsor or a training base, and yet they still managed to become the runner-up of the spring competition and the champion of the summer competition."
"However, in eSports, the winner is king while the loser is always in the wrong. Tonight, YM is undoubtedly the team with the most outstanding performance. Congratulations to them for advancing into the finals. Next up, they will face the undefeated SKT."
Lin Yan shook hands with Gera, Rat King and Kuro one after another. Little Peanut, who was still lying on the table, stood up at the reminder of his teammates and gave Lin Yan a gentle hug with red eyes.
The members of YM filed out and came to the center of the stage, waving to the audience.
Little Peanut looked at the YM members who were receiving cheers and applause from the audience, and then looked up at the bright lights shining down from the dome of the stadium, his heart filled with melancholy.
"It's time for us to leave."
Smeb picked up his team jacket and patted his jungler's shoulder.
The five members of the Tiger Team left through another passageway. Compared to the main stage, this passageway was extremely dark. There was no applause or cheering. There was only the sporadic light of the spotlights in the distance.
The ROX players did not say anything. They knew that the five of them were about to part ways.
Smeb looked back once again. The dazzling lights on the stage were like brilliant fireworks soaring into the sky.
He had fantasized about defeating SKT in the finals and personally destroying Red Dynasty. However, everything had vanished with the loss of the final match.
He did not know if the lights in his dreams were more dazzling than today's.
"I know that some people might not like this team, but there won't be another team with the style of the ROX Tigers in the future."
Lin Yan and Xiao Tian were invited to an official interview.
The tall blonde female host looked twice the size of Xiao Tian. Phyllostachys Pubescens looked up and felt that she was a little intimidating. He quickly pulled Lin Yan's body and switched places with him.
"Congratulations on defeating ROX and entering the finals. Tonight's match was very intense. Both teams took turns to win, and the final winner was only decided in the fifth round. How did you adjust your mentality?"
After listening to Winston's translation, Lin Yan held the microphone and answered.
"Our opponents are all veterans. In terms of experience, they have more. However, there's a saying in our country that 'those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who wear shoes'. We're still young and can afford to lose. ROX's veterans are more pressured to win. After all, they don't have much time left in their careers."
"The second question is for the jungler, Tian." The female host turned to look at Phyllostachys Pubescens. "Your performance in today's final match was quite outstanding. What do you think made you perform better than Little Peanut in the final match?"
Xiao Tian pondered for two seconds and looked up at Lin Yan.
"Our team's mid laner helped me regain my confidence before the final match," he admitted frankly. "When I was in China, I often heard people say that my playstyle was like a certain jungler. However, I have to say that my playstyle is completely different from theirs."
"I'm me. I'm … Tian. YM's Tian," Phyllostachys Pubescens said in a calm tone.
There were many international students and Chinese spectators who had traveled overseas to watch the match in the stadium. When they heard Xiao Tian's words, they cheered excitedly.
The Chinese live-stream channels exploded in an instant.
"Using the calmest tone to hold the fiercest cup?"
"Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian!"
"What can Improud do to me?"
Winston translated Phyllostachys Pubescens's words. Naturally, the foreign blonde host did not understand the double entendre.
"Last question. In the finals, you'll be facing this year's MSI champions, S3 and S5 global champions, SKT. They've won 12 consecutive matches so far. Do you feel pressured?"
"Just like what I said before, I feel that SKT is facing more psychological pressure." Lin Yan laughed. "Even if we lose, we'll be on par with LPL's best record in the S Tournament."
"However, SKT can't afford to lose. If we defeat three LCK teams in a row and lose the S Tournament title, I think they'll be crying in their beds in the middle of the night."
After the translation, the Western spectators in the stadium started to jeer. The finals were a battle between LPL and LCK. It had nothing to do with them. The spectators wanted to see the collapse of the LCK dynasty that had ruled for three years.
The next morning, YM boarded the plane from New York on the East Coast to Los Angeles on the West Coast. The flight distance was close to 4000 kilometers and took six hours.
"Before coming to America, I didn't even dare to imagine that we'd be able to stand on the highest stage of the S6 finals." Hao sat beside Lin Yan. He felt as light as a feather, as if he was in a dream.
Lin Yan was focused on reviewing SKT's match on his tablet. He casually replied, "Don't worry. You'll get used to it by this time next year."
Hao straightened his back and looked around at the YM members. Jack was half lying down and taking a nap. The blanket that covered his body had slipped down to his waist.
He moved his body and carefully tucked Jack in. Hao did not dare to be careless as the finals were approaching. JKL's cold before the group stage had scared him witless.
"Next year …" Hao moved closer to Lin Yan. "I'll be blunt. How many people do you think will be left in the team next year?"
"What do you mean?"
Lin Yan pressed the pause button. The screen paused at the moment when Faker used Victor to single-handedly kill Yue Lun's Spring.
"Two days ago, I heard from the staff of Fist that S7 will be held in our country next year," Hao whispered.
"… You're saying that the team will have a salary problem next year?" Lin Yan lowered his voice as well.
"That's right. If we don't produce results like we did in the S5 finals this year, it'll be fine." Hao took a sip of ice water. "This year, we're in the top eight and top four. We even made it to the finals. If our results are good, the domestic clubs will start thinking about how to win the championship next year."
"Once we win the S-League in China next year, we'll have an unprecedented amount of traffic. No team won't be tempted. What will they rely on to win the championship?"
"It'll be you celebrity players. Just wait and see during this winter's transfer window. Every club will definitely prioritize young players like you who have good results. When the time comes, your salary will definitely skyrocket."
Lin Yan replied. He looked out the window. The pure-white clouds that looked like cotton candy were just inches away.
"When the time comes, the sponsors behind us might not be able to keep all of our team members." Hao saw that Lin Yan was deep in thought. He thought that he had disturbed his thoughts and could not help but feel a little regretful. "Don't think about that now. Focus on the finals first."
"What?"
Lin Yan was puzzled by Hao's words. "I'm thinking if my salary next year is enough to buy a house in Shanghai."
"Next year's salary will be a few million?" Lin Yan began to calculate. "That should be enough for the down payment. What about social security?
Hao, the last time I asked you … "
Hao's face was full of helplessness.
After checking into the hotel, the travel-weary YM did not warm up their ranking matches as usual. Instead, they held a meeting to discuss strategies to deal with SKT.
"The first point is also SKT's weakest player this year. Top laner Duke." Su Cheng flipped open her notebook.
"Why do I say that SKT this year is weaker than last year? The problem lies in the top laner. In terms of individual strength and team integration, he's worse than S5's Marin.
"So far, in the 12 matches, Duke's participation rate is the lowest among the 16 top laners, only 52.1%.
"In the hero pool, he has played a total of 9 matches for the three heroes, Gnar, Troll, and Jess. Rambo and Kenan have played in two matches.
"The combination of these two statistics shows that Duke's role in the team is a solo carry." The main analyst sipped a mouthful of hot water. "Jin Gong, during the finals, you mainly fought with him on the side lane. Don't simply teleport into the team.
"During the semi-finals, Looper slightly suppressed Duke. Once every ten minutes, he teleported to the bottom lane, giving away his lane advantage."
Xiao Tian scratched his head. Phyllostachys Pubescens had not trimmed his hair in the past month in America. His soft hair covered his eyes.
"Should I help Jin Gong train him?"
Su Cheng shook her head. "There's no need for that. SKT won't help Duke. He's been left to his own devices. Based on the data from the 12 matches, he only received 8 supports from his teammates in the first 20 minutes."
"The average is 0.75 supports per match. This is the lowest among all the top laners." Su Cheng saw Jin Gong and Xiao Tian looking at her. "In the first 20 minutes, Jin Gong received an average of 1.08 supports per match. That's even higher than Duke's."
"Isn't that a little too exaggerated?"
Jin Gong spoke in mutton skewer-flavored Mandarin. "I feel so much better now. There's a top laner who has it worse than me?"
…
Late at night, Lin Yan had just finished showering and was yawning as he leaned against the headboard of his hotel room. Xiao Tian was scrolling through Tieba.
The four-hour-long meeting was finally over. It was a rare moment of leisure before going to bed. Lin Yan was still flipping through the key points of the afternoon's discussion.
Other than top laner Duke, who preferred to carry solo, jungler Blank, nicknamed Xiao Hei, and Double Champion veteran Dumb Chicken were both keen on using Olaf, an invading map control jungler.
Bang, the bottom laner, was adept at using all the popular AD heroes in this international tournament. Ember, Ice, and Policewoman were all at the level of carry. Moreover, he knew how to play EZ. He was definitely a sea of heroes.
As mentioned before, EZ's strength in the current version was comparable to that of a sewer. However, as the top EZ user, Bang had repeatedly used EZ and won all of EZ's matches in the S6 finals.
Wolf, the Korean Warwolf, was a top-notch support with a combination of lane suppression and map control.
As for mid laner Faker, just like Lin Yan, he could not get Sindra. Among the other mid laners, he preferred Clockwork and Victor.
"Not playing Dragon King …" Lin Yan muttered to himself as he glanced at Li Xianghe's pool of heroes in the S6 finals.
He flipped through the information and found all the heroes that Faker had used since his debut.
There was no Dragon King.
Faker had never played this hero in a tournament.
Lin Yan clicked his tongue and lay on his bed, looking up at the snow-white ceiling.
He looked at the remaining points in his system. He had played a total of eight rounds of the best-of-five, and the weighted points were 50. He had accumulated a total of 1500 points.
He increased his version development ability to 92 points, and then his lane suppression ability to 91 points.
The 90 points increase in his ability was immediate. Lin Yan felt a flash of inspiration in his mind.
It was as if he had discovered something incredible.
Lin Yan planned to test it out when he woke up the next day.
In a good mood, he grabbed the tablet beside him and opened the third match between SKT and RNG. He compared it with the information provided by the main analyst.
At the 24th minute of the match, RNG was ahead of 5K in terms of economy, and the head-to-head ratio was 4: 0.
However, in the next 9 minutes, SKT used a perfect strategy to smooth out their economic disadvantage, and then sent RNG off with a wave of team battles.
When Lin Yan heard the news this afternoon, he felt that it was somewhat unbelievable. In his opinion, it was already quite impressive for the disadvantaged side to maintain their economic disadvantage through operations. How could SKT use operations to even out their economic disadvantage?
In the video, Bang and Wolf took the lead in the middle lane to put pressure on RNG at the 24th minute, while Faker and Duke were in the top and bottom lanes respectively. They chose to push the minions out and then return to the city to switch lanes, going back and forth repeatedly.
This maneuver allowed the two of them to be exposed to RNG for very little time. Every time they returned to the city, RNG trembled in fear. They did not know if SKT's top and middle players would suddenly appear in the middle lane to gather together and push forward.
As a result, RNG did not dare to push forward recklessly from the flanks, and their plan to push forward was stalled.
Two minutes later, RNG finally came to their senses and realized that they could not give SKT any chance to delay. They forcefully gathered together in the middle lane, intending to destroy SKT's middle tower.
However, from the moment the five RNG players appeared in the middle lane, SKT only used 8 seconds to gather everyone to defend the middle tower, and their speed of switching lanes to provide support was ridiculously fast.
RNG's forceful push had not only failed, but also killed looper. Then, SKT pushed the middle tower instead.
At the 29th minute, the battle between the two sides broke out. The five RNG players were eager to snowball and lure SKT out to fight with them. However, the experienced defending champions were not fooled at all. They used Karma to wear them down, and in the end, it was a 1v1.
However, Duke, who was in the bottom lane, did not teleport to provide support. Instead, he single-handedly pushed down RNG's next tower.
At the 33rd minute, Faker pretended to return to the city from the bushes in the middle lane, tricking RNG's defenders to leave, and then pushed down the top tower.
In the next 9 minutes, SKT, through their switching lanes, had a head-to-head ratio of 2: 1, and the number of towers they had defended was 3: 0. RNG's economic advantage was gone.
Lin Yan watched the recording twice and felt his scalp go numb.
SKT was like a ghost. Their strategy was ridiculous. They were able to even out the disadvantage in the early game. What would happen if they were even in the early game?
The defending champions had a deep understanding of the game's version. In the next two days, the analyst team repeatedly studied SKT's playstyle and found that their playstyle was almost the same as YM's.
In general, they used the jungler as the arrowhead to invade, the middle lane to provide support, and after gaining the upper hand, they would constantly attack the bottom lane, controlling the first blood tower and the Dragon. Then, they would snowball and finally take down the Dragon to end the match.
This was the answer to the S6 version, the wealth code.
On the 27th of October, SKT and YM went out to film a promotional video. This was also the first time the two teams met after the draw for the quarterfinals. Both teams' performances were quite friendly.
During the filming, Faker seemed to have noticed that Wolf and Lu were overweight and did not buy drinks for themselves. He liked to steal their cola.
This angered Wolf. He was known as SKT's only Brother Li, Li Zaiwan. He cosplayed as a Wine Barrel, shaking his body as he attacked Faker.
Los Angeles was the second largest city in the United States. It was a bustling city with many tourist attractions. However, the finals were approaching and they were not in the mood to enjoy it. They hurriedly finished filming and went back to continue training.
It was worth mentioning that the training matches before the finals were held. From the group stage to the semifinals, each team only needed to avoid opponents in the same half of the group.
However, the eliminated RNG and ROX had already boarded a plane and left the United States. Only SKT and YM, the two finalists, remained in the United States.
There was no way for the two teams to arrange for a training match. This would expose their tactical intentions in advance.
They wanted to arrange for a match with the teams in their respective countries. However, they were separated by oceans. The exaggerated physical delay was enough to ruin their plans.
Left with no other choice, the two teams usually practiced in ranking matches. Occasionally, they would find a few teams in the North American region who were not on holiday to play a training match.
Lin Yan had been secretly practicing black technology with his teammates during this period. The results were remarkable.
For a week, there were no matches to watch in the other regions. They were discussing the upcoming finals on various forums.
The Korean netizens were quite optimistic. In their eyes, SKT was like an invincible god. It was impossible for them to lose the finals.
After all, in the two years of S3 and S4, LPL and LCK had both ended in crushing defeats. They had a natural sense of superiority.
The Chinese netizens were also generally pessimistic. SKT's 12-game winning streak had replicated last year's brilliant performance. The rational netizens in the forums felt that YM could, at most, obtain a victory like KOO, who was last year's runner-up.
"As long as the final score isn't 0: 3, I can accept it. YM has defeated two LCK teams in a row. They've already done their best."
"I think YM is going to lose. In the last match, they fought ROX until the fifth round and did not use any trump cards. I don't think they have any tricks up their sleeves. SKT has been winning all this time. Who knows how many big moves they have hidden."
"I'm just a passerby. Indeed, YM didn't have much to criticize this year, right?
Nobody had high hopes for them before the League of Legends. It's good enough that they made it to the finals. "
"Just one win is enough. Don't let SKT win all the matches. They'll be disgusted. It's too bad I'm not in America. Otherwise, wouldn't I be able to put laxatives in SKT's takeout kimchi?"
"There's no suspense in betting on who will win or lose. Let's bet on who will solo kill who in the mid lane. Ran has 13 solo kills in 14 matches, while Faker has 10 solo kills in 12 matches."
When it came to the mid lane matchup, the passersby in the forums started to speak up. There were more people who guessed that Faker would win, but there were also many who chose to believe in Lin Yan.
From his debut in LSPL to the finals of S6, Lin Yan's performance was obvious to all. He had won over a group of fans with his strength.
The day of the finals had arrived.