YM versus Dragon Ball was on the second day of the quarterfinals. YM still had five days to prepare.
Facing strong opponents one after another made them unable to think of anything else. They could only take one step at a time and strive to go further.
Although Lin Ran had found a reverse version of the idea of hard auxiliary wandering and had practiced it several times with the training team, after all, he had not fought against the dragon balls with real swords and spears. No one knew whether the tactics would work on the field.
The only good news was that IG was still training with Dragon Ball in Guangzhou. Dragon Ball's coach, Jin Jingzhu, was fascinated by The Shy and Rookie's strong lineups.
Everyone in YM had a rough idea of what was going on by comparing their win rates in training matches with those in IG and between Dragon Ball and IG.
Day after day of training, time flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was already October 19th.
Guangzhou Stadium was packed with people. Red and white flags fluttered around the stadium. Many spectators had team logos on their faces and were holding support items for their team members and teams. They were here to cheer for their team.
WE versus SSG, the prelude to the knockout stage!
Before the match, the Chinese, Korean, and Western commentators all thought it would be a close match. After all, both teams were the third seeds of their respective divisions and should be of similar skill.
The two veteran teams were also very famous internationally. The number of viewers on the mouse platform easily exceeded a million. Coupled with the high popularity of the domestic broadcast platforms, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was the focus of attention.
YM, who was resting in the hotel, also wanted to see their brother team's performance during the training break.
Jack Classic's luck wasn't too good. The long journey of a month made his stomach feel very uncomfortable. Today, he had to go to the toilet to fight a bloody battle. Jin Gong and Little Tian had nothing to do, so they played a father and son solo game.
White Crescent used a projector to show the live broadcast on the big screen in the training room.
Ren Dong was still full of energy and his voice was loud.
"First of all, let us welcome …" He dragged out his words, "Team WE!"
Amidst the deafening cheers, the five players went on stage. After five years, WE was once again in the quarterfinals.
They were going to complete the breakthrough that WE 1.0 failed to complete!
Samsung, who went on stage next, also had fans, but the number was pitifully small compared to WE's. There was almost no cheering around the stands.
Cuvee once again revealed his classic expression. Other than him, no one knew whether he was crying or laughing.
Sect Leader An looked at the Red Rice coach opposite him. His crooked mouth revealed a smile full of righteousness. He looked very cheerful and not sinister at all. When he walked on the streets and took up a post, everyone would praise him as "the light of the righteous path".
Hong Mi's heart trembled, and a chill ran down his spine.
"… Red Rice is from Samsung, right?" Lin Yan, who was sitting on a chair and eating potato chips, suddenly asked.
"Yeah, he and Coach Edgar were both Samsung White." White Crescent was a little confused by Lin Yan's words. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing."
Lin Yan suddenly remembered the meme of Sect Leader An and the Samsung traitor that had been circulating in the eSports forums a few days ago. He immediately panicked.
There were quite a few triple-star players in this year's World Championship, and there was one in their team …
He put this superstition to the back of his mind and took a bottle of water from the fridge. The game had already begun.
No one had expected Samsung to give everyone a unique skill right off the bat — Summon Xialuo.
In the current version of Censer, Charlo alone was a T1 strength for each position. When combined together, it could only be described as terrifying.
Just like Callista, normal coaches wouldn't use it.
However, Coach Edgar was stubborn. When the YM players saw this scene, they thought he had been infected by the KT coach and the RNG coach of Summer Finals.
"Is this guy crazy?" Liu Qingsong couldn't understand what kind of playstyle this was. "He's not going to play anymore?"
Hong Mi's expression was as if his intelligence had been insulted. He didn't say anything and chose an unbeatable Phoenix Legend for his own bottom lane.
The results were obvious. Ruler and Corejj's bottom lanes were almost completely destroyed. Brother-in-law successfully took over the game in the middle.
At 28 minutes, WE took down the first city!
The live audience was even more excited as they waved their support sticks. The momentum was earth-shattering!
[WE is so strong. Isn't this too easy?]
[First of all, congratulations to the LPL semi-finals. Samsung is really lame. How can they beat KT in the bubble competition?]
[Charlo, I have to say that this coach's brain is really good. (thumbs up) Is he using the same model as Lin Weixiang?]
[LWX: What are you doing?]
The WE players looked relaxed when they left the stage. Kandy's mouth was almost crooked from laughing.
Charlo?
For free?
However, the Samsung players didn't seem to be affected by their coach's wisdom. They were still chatting and laughing.
The five-minute break was over in a flash. Both sides went on stage again.
"What is Samsung doing?
They took down Charlo but released Princes and Galio? "The commentators were dumbfounded when they saw this scene.
"Coach Edgar, the devil Lee Jae Gan?!" Ze Yuan was flustered. "He has to pay for his BP!"
【？
They released Charlo in the first round and Princes and Galio in the second round. How can Samsung be so stubborn?]
[Don't embarrass them. Samsung is advertising their own phone. This phone is as stubborn as a Nokia. Why don't you guys buy it?]
Red Rice's expression was a bit like an old man looking at his phone. After the BP in the last round, everyone said that Edgar was possessed by Firefox. He didn't believe it at first, but now he had some doubts.
Was this BP even made by a human?
In the current version, apart from Charlo, Callista, and any soft support, Galio, and a hero were the strongest. Princes and Galio were the kings of kings.
Although Big Mouth was banned by Samsung, WE successfully got a replacement for the system, Mouse. Together with Gem Knight, they planned to repeat the previous game and protect their brother-in-law in the team battle to win this game.
Kandy's mouth was like Angelina Jolie. Giving Version 2.0 for free?
Since he came to Guangzhou, his dark circles had been fading. If you didn't look carefully during the game today, you wouldn't be able to tell. It seemed that Guangzhou didn't give him a chance to practice, which seemed to indicate that he would be in good condition.
The lineup that Samsung got was average. It wasn't on the same level as WE. Lin Yan felt that WE was going to take the match point.
The match officially began. Prince Kang Di's level 2 invasion was detected in advance by the three stars' eyes. Sect Leader An controlled the Wine Barrel Grass Crouching Not Talking About Wude to launch a sneak attack with a set of skills. Cooperating with Corejj, who had long been on guard and rushed over to provide support, they beat Kang Di to critical health.
Su Cheng's eyes lit up. She recorded the setup.
All the LOL analysts in the world were the same. They all took things from their pockets. The current setup was created by you, but the next one would be mine.
Although it seemed like Samsung was going to be eliminated, this setup was still very useful. What if it could be used in the future?
Lin Ran furrowed his brows.
This anti-intrusion setup accurately detected Kandy's movements. Samsung had obviously done their homework before the game.
But why would they use Charlo, Galio, and Princes when they were prepared?
Lin Yan didn't understand. Did something go wrong?
Kandy was beaten to a pulp, but he relied on the fact that he was Princes. He felt that the steady Ambien Wine Barrel wouldn't invade his jungle in the early game. He still wanted to go back and kill Three Wolves.
Master An was indeed known for his steadiness, but in his opinion, Kandy was courting death if he dared to go into the jungle with that little health. Killing a person who was definitely going to die was considered steady.
He didn't hesitate to cross the river with Wine Barrel and invade WE's jungle. Then, he found Kandy at Three Wolves' camp. WE's flash and Q combo sent Kandy back to the spring.
Kandy lost his rhythm in the jungle. In the next few minutes, Kandy was invaded by Master An and WE's jungle completely fell.
Once the jungle fell, WE's bottom lane was also at a disadvantage. Rats + Gems weren't in a straight line, so Kandy couldn't help the bottom lane. Samsung's duo Verus + Zhannü suppressed them until they couldn't breathe.
9 minutes later, Ruler Emperor brought Corejj to flatten WE's bottom lane's blood tower. WE, with a 2.5K economy disadvantage, took on the vanguard team battle in the canyon. They wanted to use the strength of Prince and Galio to win back their disadvantage.
However, Samsung's members all flashed and escaped from Princes's Armageddon. They weren't forcefully stopped by WE.
"WE's entry was too rash. Corejj has Censer now. He's too strong!"
Ze Yuan's tone was filled with 6% genuine sorrow and 4% joy. WE lost the team battle that would determine the outcome of the game!
Samsung managed to trade 2 for 4 and took down the Canyon Vanguard. Master An's Wine Barrel was everywhere. He kept increasing the pace of the game. WE's team battles were all resolved by Wine Barrel's ingenious ultimate.
WE hadn't won a single team battle with Princes + Galio in the entire game!
33 minutes later, Samsung tenaciously turned the tables!
"Tsk …" Jack took a deep breath. "This isn't right."
"I think Samsung's pace is much faster than before. During the group battle, they only knew how to defend." Lin Yan swiped his finger across the takeout app and asked Su Cheng what she wanted to eat for dinner.
"Their group battle is a bit like EDG this spring. No matter what team they fought, they would give way to each other. They would only end the battle in the middle and late stages …" Su Cheng picked a bowl of mushroom chicken stew rice and nodded. "However, after watching this match, I think they started to plan their counterattack. In the middle of the game, they started to use their strong lineup to end the match."
"It's a bit like SKT." Mongoose pointed out the main point.
"If WE can win with Princes + Galio, Samsung has a high chance of winning this BO5." Lin Yan was worried for WE.
If WE couldn't win against Samsung even with their strongest system, then it would be very difficult for them to advance to the next round.
In the third match, WE banned Galio and brought out Little Pao + Karma in an attempt to open up the situation in the bottom lane.
However, Sect Leader An's Wine Barrel once again blew up Condy's jungle.
Even though Condy's dark circles had disappeared, his condition was visibly worse. He was nowhere near his peak condition during the Spring Season.
Lin Yan felt extremely lucky. Luckily, he managed to hold himself back a few days ago. The side effects of the dark circles were terrifying!
The match continued. Crown's Rock Sparrow even managed to loot a Killer Book in the middle of the game. He roamed around and mixed the floors. Xi Ye's Clockwork couldn't control his lane and was stuck in the middle lane.
The kill ratio was 10: 1 and the economy difference was 18,000. It was hard to imagine that WE could only get one kill from Samsung in a 36-minute match.
In a 1v2 chase, WE was forced to the edge of the cliff by Samsung!
"It's over. WE's mentality is going to explode." Jack shook his head. "They relied on Charlo to win the only match. Samsung's strategy is really good."
As a master of resistance, Jack understood this mentality very well.
In the first match, they used the invincible Charlo to give you a taste of your own medicine. In the second match, they gave you the system they were best at and defeated you head-on. Many players couldn't handle this kind of difference.
In the third match, they used their most stable lineup to fight fire with fire. After Samsung crushed them, WE's mentality was probably going to collapse.
The atmosphere in Guangzhou Stadium was tense. WE's fans stared blankly at the score on the big screen in the stadium. The smiles and cheers from two hours ago had long disappeared.
Red Rice saw that Condy was in a bad condition today. He placed his ban on the jungler position. He wanted to use this method to restrict Sect Leader An and minimize their disadvantage in the jungle.
However, he didn't have enough bans. He could only let Xi Ye steal Rock Sparrow and give it to Crown Galio.
Sect Leader An's Piggy Wine Barrel Mantis was banned and Princes was chosen by Condy. He forcefully took out Blind Monk from the sewers.
"Ah, this …" Lin Yan ate his Potted Rice and was surprised by this choice. "There's Excavator and Zach outside. He's not going to pick him?"
Blind Monk had been cut twice in the Summer League. With the rise of the herbivorous jungler in the team battle, he usually didn't have the chance to play.
"This is just to play the mid laner in the early game. Samsung doesn't care about WE?" White Crescent crossed his arms.
He finally understood. From Charlo, to Galio + Princes, to Blind Monk from the sewers, Samsung didn't treat WE as their real opponent. This group of people was sure that they would enter the semifinals.
Everyone in YM's training room looked at the screen in silence. WE was still fighting with their opponents. However, in the face of absolute strength, this kind of struggle was completely futile.
Sect Leader An's Blind Monk was really bad. When it came to using this hero, he was similar to Dumb Chicken and Little Spicy Dance. He belonged to the stable style that was very stable but not very fast.
The biggest difference between him and Old Ancestor Sai Wen was that his RQQ was never empty.
This was enough for Samsung. Even though Sect Leader An was muted, the other four teammates stood up and dominated the battlefield. Ruler Emperor was unstoppable under the protection of his teammates. Verus shot through the entire field.
When WE's last general fell in front of the fountain, many fans couldn't control their emotions. Tears streamed down their faces as they sobbed.
They tried their best to transmit their hoarse cheers to WE's players, urging them to persevere until the end. However, Samsung didn't want this match to continue. They cleanly removed WE's main Crystal and stopped the match at 43 minutes.
The commentator couldn't hide his disappointment. "Congratulations to Samsung for successfully advancing to the next round with a score of 3: 1. They will face the winner of RNG and MSF in the semifinals."
"Unfortunately, WE'll have to bid farewell to this year's international stage …" Ze Yuan coughed twice to suppress his emotions. "Samsung's performance today was indeed better. I hope the five players of WE won't be discouraged. We'll fight again next year!"
The spectators couldn't accept this result. The proportion of WE's fans was quite high. Many of them were old fans who had followed WE since the ancient WE 1.0 era. As they grew older, they wanted to see WE take one step closer to the Summoner's Trophy, even if it was just one step.
They still remembered the internet disconnection incident in the S2 quarterfinals. However, this time, WE's skills were really not as good as theirs.
In five years, in one game, WE'd once again stopped in the quarterfinals.
Xi Ye's tears streamed down the field. Last year, he was only one step away from the international stage. This year, his team successfully entered the knockout stage. However, he wasn't satisfied with the results of the first round.
Red Mi stood at the entrance of the players' passageway with his hands on his hips. He looked at his team members' sad faces as they bowed and shook hands with the winners of Samsung. His heart was in turmoil.
In the one year that he had been with WE, his team had successfully entered the international stage. It was already a great achievement.
However, Red Mi felt that there was no need for him to stay. Through this international stage, he knew that if WE didn't recruit new talents, their strength wouldn't improve next year.
This team had already touched their ceiling. Red Mi longed for more valuable and challenging work.
Master An's smile after the game was very sincere. The members of Samsung were full of confidence as they prepared to face their next opponent. They felt that they had already grasped the last key to this version.
[WE'll never be able to separate from EDG, right?
Two years' quarterfinals against three years' quarterfinals?]
[Could it be Ancestor Saiwen's curse?]
[Hohoho, the first in the group can't beat LCK's inferior team?]
[Han Zha, don't shout. Let's see if my RNG is good enough for Samsung!]
[You think you can win with just RNG?
Samsung wasn't even afraid of WE's Galio and Princes. They only used Charlo in the losing game. Wouldn't they have swept them if they played normally?]
Samsung used a clean victory to reestablish everyone's understanding of them. The third seed in the LCK division, the team that was forced into a corner by TSM in the group stages, was not as simple as they seemed.
The Korean forums were even more popular that night. From last year's international stage to this year's mid-season and continental stage, LCK had lost to LPL in a row. Samsung's clean victory undoubtedly boosted their confidence.
Reviving LCK's glory became a hot topic among the Korean netizens.
However, YM obviously didn't have time to study Samsung's evolution. After all, they would only meet in the finals, and there were still two tough matches before that.
October 20th, a day with a subtle meaning.
Lin Yan woke up early in the morning. He was still watching BDD's ranking videos on his tablet. At 10.30am sharp, he went downstairs to the restaurant to find some food to fill his stomach.
This way, the food in his stomach would be almost fully digested by the time the match started at 4pm. At the same time, Lin Yan's condition would not be affected by hunger.
At noon, YM left the hotel and took a bus to Guangzhou Stadium.
This was the venue for the closing ceremony of the Ninth Sports Meet. In recent years, many celebrities had held concerts there, and it was considered one of Guangzhou's landmarks.
When they arrived at the stadium, there were still two hours before the opening time, but the stadium was already filled with people.
LPL's first seed versus LCK's first seed. Before the match, the commentators and the audience thought that this was the most interesting match in the quarterfinals. The tickets sold by Barai Network were sold out in less than a minute. This was enough to prove the audience's enthusiasm.
They changed their team uniforms, put on makeup, accepted interviews, submitted their equipment for inspection, and listened to White Crescent's final speech in the waiting room …
Everything was carried out in an orderly manner.
There was still 15 minutes before the match started. Under Winston's lead, YM's players and coach went backstage to wait.
Opposite them was the Dragonball team. The atmosphere in their team was very good. Rascal and Rat King were chatting in a friendly manner.
This was when the Siberian came in handy. He acted as a temporary translator.
"Brother Zhong Ren, drink more water."
Rascal respectfully handed over a cup of ice water. Rat King took the cup. "Did I ask you to get water?"
"Do you think I can't get water myself?
Do you think I'm someone who can't even get water? "
Rat King's three questions made Rascal speechless.
However, as a senior, Pray was an approachable and honest person when he wasn't angry. He patted the newcomer's shoulder heavily.
"Your Brother Zhong Ren is joking. Go get a cup yourself. This place is hotter than Jeju Island. It's easy to get thirsty."
Rascal heaved a sigh of relief and took the cup to get the ice water.
There wasn't any useful information. Lin Yan was very disappointed.
At this moment, they heard cheers from the spectator stands across the wall.
"Ten, nine, eight …" The audience looked at the countdown on the big screen and shouted in unison.
When the countdown reached one, the spotlights on the stage focused on the center. The silver-colored Summoner's Trophy appeared in front of tens of thousands of audience members!
"Good afternoon, Summoners. Welcome to Guangzhou!"
Ren Dong walked onto the stage with a smile. "Since yesterday, the intense elimination matches have begun. Today, we'll be competing in the second half of the bracket …"
"Let's welcome the teams!"
"First up is the 2016 Global Finals Champion, the 2017 LPL Summer Champions — Young Miracles!"
"Top laner Gimgoon, jungler Tian, mid laner Ran, bottom laner JackeyLove's support Crisp, and their substitute player LWX and coach Crescent!"
Lin Yan stood in the middle of the team. He looked up and saw the audience holding up all kinds of signboards and cartoon characters. The excited cheers rushed into his ears like a wave.
…
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2017 League of Legends Global Finals. Hello everyone, I'm Doll."
This kind of competition was naturally accompanied by the oldest commentator. Doll and Mille stood on the stage and sang the same tune. Their skillful eloquence pushed the atmosphere to a climax.
"Yesterday, we witnessed WE's elimination at the hotel." Mille took the lead to lead the conversation back on track. "It fully proves that there are no weak teams in the world. Everyone's strength is not static. Samsung's understanding of the version is indeed ahead of WE's."
"That's right. Yesterday's match is the second day of the quarterfinals. We LPL also need a victory!"
The officials did not do anything fancy. After the referee confirmed that the equipment of the ten players was correct, he announced the start of the match.
With a clang, the BP panel appeared on the big screen.
The audience was as passionate as the weather in Guangzhou. They waved the signboards in their hands, creating a deafening sound that pierced through the clouds!
"YM has priority to choose the side. They chose the blue side for themselves and went up to take down Jess!"
White Crescent was not stubborn and had no interest in challenging Khan's strength.
If they could not solve the problem, they would just ban it.
The red side, Dragonball, blocked Callista as usual.
"YM, send Dusk to ban and break up the legendary Phoenix duo!"
Dragonball banned Kenan as usual.
White Crescent gave the last ban to Wine Barrel.
Jin Jingzhu thought for a long time and decided to release Galio and ban Liu Qingsong, who was very good at.
He felt that there was still Little Pao outside. It was not a big problem to give Galio to Lin Yan.
"Let's give Xiao Tian Princes first. Let's see what they want to use."
White Crescent placed the focus of this series on the clash between the top and mid laners. The jungler's BP priority was naturally very high.
"Dragonball, send out Verus + Zane. It's a very good bottom lane choice from lane to team fight!"
"YM chose Lulu and Little Pao. This duo's lane play is not weak either …" Doll nodded and said justly. "And Lulu has the possibility of being swayed …"
Dragonball gave the last slot in the first round to Excavator. If Cuzz did not choose a hero, he would be forced into an awkward situation where there were no heroes available in the second round.
White Crescent saw the opposing hero's choice and was slightly relieved.
Just as he expected, Cuzz chose Piggy over Excavator.
The reason was very simple. Rexey's fighting ability was stronger in small team fights in the early and mid stages.
Dragonball also played the top and mid laners. This was their best tactical system.
The second round of BP began. Both sides targeted the positions of the unlocked heroes.
Jin Jingzhu banned Karma and Jeweled Knight. They were the support of the few remaining Censer outside.
Even though YM chose Lulu, Jin Jingzhu still felt that there was a trick.
Lin Yan used a combination of mid laner and soft support to protect Jack with a double shield. YM had played this system many times, so he was naturally on guard.
White Crescent, on the other hand, banned Nar and Rock Sparrow. This was also the specialty of Dragonball players.
"Dragonball's fourth choice, give BDD Galio first!"
Doll frowned. "Dragonball's lineup has the ability to protect and rush. It looks very perfect."
"Let's see what YM will choose in the last two hands …"
"Take Troll first. This way, we can deal with Galio's super high tank in the team fight." Mille nodded in approval. Then, his eyes suddenly widened.
"Huh?" He and his partner Doll said at the same time.
The audience below the stage also exclaimed in surprise!
"YM took out Hammer Stone!" Mille was in disbelief. "What's going on?
They gave up on Censer and soft support! "
His unconventional choice of support in the bottom lane shocked everyone!