"Let us congratulate YM for securing victory in the final battle!"
The European commentator Vedius' voice was full of excitement. "They'll advance to the knockout round as the first place in their group!"
Kitty was still wearing Lin Yan's team uniform and looked like a die-hard YM fan. She raised her right fist and looked excited. "Although KZ regained some of their rhythm in the middle of the match, they made a huge mistake in the Dragon's team battle!"
The LCSEU studio was already in an uproar. Many of the audience members stood up and cheered for the winners of the match!
This was the last mid-season match in Berlin. The remaining semifinals and finals would be moved to the Zenith Stadium in Paris.
This also meant that many of the audience's live MSI viewing experience would come to an end.
"YM will have the right to choose their opponents in the semifinals first." On the LPL commentary platform, Mille's voice was tinged with joy. "This way, KZ will be in a passive position!"
"This is YM!" Doll was even more excited. "Strong teamwork and outstanding execution of tactics!"
On the other hand, KZ's crystal shattered and the bullet screen exploded.
[Good kill, YM!]
[Han Za was there before the match. Did they really think KZ could win?]
[Last year's World Championship Top 8 was swept. Do you think Little Peanut, who was defeated by YM, can take off?]
Khan's face was dark as if he had eaten Old Eight's secret hamburger.
He was numb.
They were at a huge disadvantage in the early stages. When they finally found their rhythm, they thought they could carry the match. Who would have thought that they would be destroyed by YM's ridiculous and unreasonable Dragon's team battle?
BDD unconsciously swung the heat pack in his hand and stared at the screen in a daze.
When YM released Canyon Vanguard in the middle of the match, he was tricked by Xiao Tian's camouflage. Blind Monk warned him with a set of Muay Thai that he had learned from Ancestor Saiwen and sent him back to the fountain.
This caused KZ to lose half of their tower defense ability. The middle tower was pushed to the ground and their field of vision was lost. This restricted Khan's solo carry ability.
Even after 20 minutes had passed, Khan was still unable to push down YM's second tower. BDD took 1/3 of the credit.
However, he was the only one to blame for this loss, not He Lu.
Even if Khan single-handedly took down one more tower, it would be useless. If he didn't single-handedly take the bottom lane to the high ground, his usefulness to the team would be limited.
At most, they would have absolute control over the little dragon pit. However, in less than 35 minutes, the Primordius Dragon that could influence the entire game had yet to be born. YM could completely give up the fight for the little dragon.
YM would still run over to Dragon at the 20 minute mark, and KZ would still make mistakes. Losses were inevitable.
In all fairness, BDD's ending performance was similar to Lin Yan's — they were both well-behaved.
It wasn't considered a trap, but it wasn't even close to being a carry.
The two mid laners had very little presence in this game. The key to victory was Jack's unsolvable development. That last hit that transcended the timeline and the luxurious equipment brought about caused KZ to be unable to withstand the damage.
Lin Yan took a look at the data panel after the game and realized that his damage output was indeed lower than Jack's. It was mainly because he replaced Jin Gong's position in the middle of the game to single-handedly defend against Khan at the bottom lane. He did not deal much damage even when Jayz was at his peak.
"Wuhu!"
After Jack looked at the damage output, he glanced at the KDA of the five people in the team and realized that he was simply riding on top of them. "The MVP is in my hands, I'm going to fly!"
"How can someone like you get the MVP?" Liu Qingsong was quite unhappy. "Supports really have no human rights!"
The criteria for the MVP selection in each division were different, but the one thing they all had in common was that it was very difficult for supports to obtain this honor.
After all, this position was sacrificed for the team. At the same time, they also had to take on the dangerous task of controlling the team's vision. In addition, supports had poor equipment and weak bodies. In the middle of the game, the average support in the Summoner's Canyon was usually a support assassin.
The highest death record in the Pro League was basically taken by the support position. It was evident from this.
Throughout the spring, Liu Qingsong had won the MVP award very few times.
Now that Jack was showing off, Torn Wounds naturally felt sour.
"Don't say that." Jack hugged Liu Qingsong. "It's my treat tonight. You can order whatever you want to eat."
"Really?" Liu Qingsong's eyes lit up, and he instantly forgot about the MVP award.
Mongoose began to speak sarcastically again. "Lin Weixiang is right!"
"What?" Torn Wounds was stunned.
Little Sleepy cleared his throat. "Liu Qingsong is simply Hengyang Grandet."
Now, even Jin Gong was stunned. Liu Qingsong still wanted to greet Mongoose with the Tortoise Fist, but the ubiquitous cameras next to them dispelled the idea.
Lin Yan shook hands with the five players in the KZ player's area one by one, then came to the center of the stage and bowed to the audience.
The live audience sent applause and screams to the YM team members. There were even domestic international students shouting Lin Yan's name loudly.
Most of them had studies to do, so it was very difficult for them to accompany the team they supported to Paris. They could only take one last look at the YM team members here.
The backstage corridor was noisy. Before Lin Yan could return to the waiting room, he was pulled back by Winston.
"Later, you still have to go on stage to choose your opponent for the semi-finals. You have about five minutes to prepare. You guys can discuss it with the coaches."
Lin Yan had his peripheral in his arms and was drinking water with his head tilted up. When he heard this, he gave Winston an OK sign, indicating that he had heard it.
He followed behind Xiao Tian and pushed open the door to enter the room.
Unlike the noise in the corridor, the waiting room was abnormally quiet.
Red Mi was holding a marker and looking at the Summoner's Canyon whiteboard, deep in thought.
Gou Ba and Guo Hao were still discussing something in low voices, while Jiang Chenglu stood behind Lin Weixiang and watched him play with Swordgirl.
"What's going on?" Jack's voice was very loud. "Even after winning the competition, you don't welcome us?"
"Chenglu, pour me a cup of Coke!"
He slumped into the chair and started ordering people around. "I want Coca-Cola, not Pepsi!"
Lin Yan was also a little thirsty. He ran to the beverage dispenser to get another glass of ice water, then asked Red Mi, "How is it? Have you thought about who you'll be fighting in the semi-finals?"
"Hm?"
Homme was still trying to reverse engineer KZ's early stages based on their mid-stage strategy for this competition. He only snapped out of his daze when he heard Lin Yan's words.
…
Sjokz walked to the center of the stage in her high heels.
She looked at the audience in front of her gracefully. "Summoners, after five days of competition, the 2018 MSI's group stage has come to an end. Only four teams will be able to enter the knockout round …"
Sjokz paused. "They are YM from the LPL division, KZ from the LCK division, FW from the LMS division, and Fnatic from the LCSEU division!"
The representatives of the four teams lined up and walked to the stage through the entrance.
Lin Yan and Little Peanut stood on the left, while Snakesnake and Ou Cheng stood on the right.
Seeing the local celebrity player, Ou Cheng, appear, the audience once again burst into deafening screams. It was as if they wanted to rip the dome open!
Sjokz smiled. She waited for the noise to die down before continuing.
"According to the new rules implemented by Fist this year, the team that wins first place in the group stage will have the right to choose their opponent in the semi-finals. Now, let's invite YM's representative, Ran, to choose your opponent from the third or fourth place."
Lin Yan came to the female host's side, and Sjokz put the microphone to his mouth.
"I choose …"
The audience's hearts were in their mouths. The scene in KZ's lounge backstage was very similar. Hiari took a deep breath, and his fingers curled involuntarily.
"He'll choose Lightning Wolf, right?" Assistant Sin frowned. "YM's style is very effective against FW …"
"I think so too." Hiari was about to choose FNC. KZ's bottom lane was up against the mid lane, and they would win if they crushed the mid lane.
As long as YM chose Lightning Wolf, it would be a win-win situation for everyone.
Standing in the middle of the stage, Lin Yan didn't continue speaking. Instead, he deliberately paused, and only spoke when he saw the constipated looks on the audience's faces.
“Fnatic。”
Ou Cheng opened his mouth slightly, clearly unprepared for this.
The audience's reaction was unusually intense.
The moment Lin Yan announced his choice, the audience let out cries of disbelief!
There were a lot of European audience members in the stadium. They were first shocked that Lin Yan had chosen FNC as his semi-final opponent, and then disappointed and angry.
Between Lightning Wolf and FNC, YM chose the latter.
What did this mean?!
He clearly thought they were noobs!
Did he look down on Europeans?
When Hiari heard Lin Yan's answer, his head buzzed, and he was completely stupefied.
"What did he say?"
Sin's face was ashen. "He said … he chose FNC."
"Ahhh …" Hiari was so angry that he wanted to smash the cup in his hand.
But after thinking about it, he gave up on the idea. Fist distributed disposable paper cups, which didn't even make a sound when they fell to the ground. It couldn't show his anger at all.
"Everyone's good!" He paced back and forth in the room. "Why does YM have to do this to disgust people?"
Khan clenched his fists. Seeing that the situation was completely opposite to what his coaching team had expected, his heart was filled with regret.
If they had won the last group match, they wouldn't have to be so passive.
"There's not much time to prepare." Sin looked at his boss who had fallen into a frenzy and reminded him, "There are only two days left before the semi-finals. We have to rush to Paris to shoot the promotional video …"
More importantly, the day after the Lightning Wolf was the day of the finals. Time was extremely tight.
"Prepare, prepare now!" Hiari was furious. He didn't like anyone now.
His body was burning with anger. "What kind of shitty room is this? It's so hot even with the air conditioner on?"
His team members didn't dare to make a sound. Sin, who still wanted to keep his job, could only smile. "Yes, yes, yes. This room is not good."
Although Sin felt that the room was cold, the manager was already like this. Why wouldn't he listen to him?
Sjokz, who was standing beside Lin Yan, was stunned for a moment. Lin Yan's pronunciation was perfect. She was sure that she didn't hear wrongly.
"… The results of the semi-finals have been revealed!"
She calmed herself down. "On the first day, YM will be against FNC. On the second day, FW will be against KZ!"
"Now, representatives of both teams, please come to the center of the stage and shake hands!"
Ou Cheng also came back to his senses and strode towards Lin Yan.
The two of them shook hands and put on professional fake smiles at the same time.
"Ahhhhh, so handsome, so handsome!" Ou Cheng's female fans screamed in a low voice.
"… Crush YM!" However, a European who looked like G Fatty didn't care about the face. He took the lead and shouted loudly.
"Crush them!!"
The sound of agreement swept through the audience!
The group of international students who supported YM was extremely small at this moment. They couldn't make any waves at all!
Lin Yan didn't care about the audience's reaction. The louder these Europeans screamed, the harder he would hit them in the semi-finals.
…
On the night of the end of the group stage, YM rushed to Berlin Brandenburg Airport with the other three teams who were continuing their journey in the mid-season competition.
On the other hand, the Liquid and EVS teams could stay for another night and return home the next day.
They left in a hurry. Lin Yan went back to the hotel and was busy taking photos and exchanging team uniforms.
Elder Senior received the team uniform with Lin Yan's signature and handed him a short-sleeved shirt with TL's horse-shaped logo.
"See you in Korea in four months." He was full of confidence.
Lin Yan picked up his phone and took a photo with his arm around Elder Senior's strong arm. He asked casually, "North America's Civil War Fantasy God is TSM, right? Are you okay with a different team?"
"Tsk …" Elder Senior's face was full of disdain.
"The Civil War Fantasy God isn't a team, it's me." His expression was unruly.
"Sure, I'll see you in Korea." Lin Ran bumped fists with him. He folded the uniforms he had collected and put them into his suitcase.
"Check your backpacks and suitcases. Bring everything!"
As soon as Elder Senior left, Guo Hao knocked on the YM members' rooms one by one. He even caught Jack and Liu Qingsong, who were secretly eating pork knuckles.
"We'll be landing a little late tonight. Everyone, adjust your condition. It's best if you go to the hotel, wash up, and lie down to sleep!"
Guo Hao was unusually cautious as the crucial elimination round was approaching. He was afraid that something would go wrong.
Lin Yan stuffed the clothes in his suitcase into it. The suitcase was just the right size, but he didn't expect to receive so many signed team uniforms in the past few days in Berlin.
In the end, Lin Yan had no choice but to put some of the clothes in Guo Hao's suitcase and hurriedly left the hotel to catch the plane.
After less than two hours of flight, YM and the other three teams finally arrived in Paris.
As usual, the investor, BMW, sent a car to pick them up. Lin Yan put his suitcase away, opened the back door, and sat in. He then heard Mongoose complaining.
"Why did KZ keep staring at us when we were on the plane?"
Lin Weixiang eagerly squeezed his way over. When he heard Phyllostachys Pubescens, he explained, "Isn't it simple? He can't wait for us to die."
"Don't tell me KZ is really prepared to play FNC in the semi-finals?" Lin Yan could not help but laugh when he thought of this. "Pfft pfft …"
Today, when Red Rice told him that they were going to play FNC on stage, the two of them smiled in unison.
They knew that KZ wanted to play FNC. Both teams' styles were to meet force with force in the top half.
However, Khan, Little Peanut, and BDD's strength was definitely world-class and could crush the European team.
YM's strategy was very simple, which was to do their best to prevent KZ from getting what they wanted.
They would let Lightning Wolf, who was against Han Qixia, test the Korean team's trump card.
During the elimination round in Paris, the hotel arranged for Fist to stay in was of a good standard. Lin Yan could see the Arc de Triomphe from his room from afar.
However, it was already very late. Lin Yan could not be bothered to admire the beautiful scenery outside the window. After taking a shower and drying his hair, he began to catch up on sleep.
Early the next morning, the four teams headed to the Eiffel Tower to film the semi-finals' promotional video and pre-match interviews.
The first group meeting before the match was scheduled for the afternoon.
Red Rice's first sentence shocked everyone.
"Jack, don't practice EZ for the next two days in the qualifiers."