"Vote! Vote!"
In Douyu 16101 live broadcast room, Smile was standing far away from the camera as he shouted crazily.
The live broadcast was a Summoner's Canyon Showdown.
WE0:2RW
In the third round of the competition, WE had already been beaten to the point of delirium. In the early stages of the game, a 3k economic gap had already been opened up.
"RW is unstoppable. They're going to win this match and advance into the top 6 of the playoffs!"
The deliberately lowered background noise couldn't cover the loud commentator's voice.
Smile's face was ashen and he looked like he had lost all hope.
In the bullet screen, WE fans were arguing with the other spectators.
[Thousands of words can be summed up into one sentence. Congratulations WE!]
[Why is White Crescent still in WE?
Can't you just leave?
You were able to enter the international tournament last year, but you can't even enter the bubble tournament this year. Damn you!]
[You can't blame the coach for this. Last year, 957 and his brother-in-law Xi Ye were in good condition. Even Kandi was able to play the role of a wild father. What about now?
Only Xi Ye is awake from time to time. Everyone else is acting up.]
[Forget it. WE's five years of rebuilding has begun. I'll learn from my son and hide for another four years. Call me when S12 comes!]
At the end of the regular season, WE relied on Xi Ye's superb performance to enter the playoffs.
In terms of the competition schedule, WE was in a very good position in the first half of the competition.
They first had to face RW, the third place team in the East. The remaining two teams in the same region were EDG and IG.
If they were lucky, they might be able to take down their old rival, EDG. They could complete a 1v2 and enter the semifinals and IG.
Even Teng Jing felt that this matchup in the second half of the competition was very attractive.
The WE homestay led by Smile was very optimistic about the team's chances in the playoffs.
In the end, they were crushed by RW right away.
Who would be able to withstand this!
In the middle of RW's seats, Doinb was excitedly twisting back and forth in his chair. His already thin face was full of wrinkles from smiling.
After defeating WE, they were going to challenge EDG next.
Everyone thought that the other party was a useless person who only looked good on the outside.
Whoever won would enter the top four.
On the other side, the TOP team, which had been forced to drop to third place in the Western Region after losing the last match of the regular season, defeated Suning and successfully entered the top six.
On the second day of the competition, they would face the second best team in the Eastern Conference, RNG. The winner of this match would face YM.
Lin Yan, who was on the plane, turned off the replay and said to Red Rice and Gouba, "I see that Crab and Cheyenne's appearance rate has increased a lot in the first round of the competition."
"I'm looking …" Gou Ba stared at his laptop screen, trying to organize all the data from the first two days of the playoffs.
They were now in the sky above Shanghai, preparing to fly north to Beijing.
In this playoffs, except for the final and the 7th anniversary ceremony held in Nanjing, the rest of the games were held at RNG's home stadium in Beijing.
During this period of vacation, they had rested enough and were now in high spirits. After boarding the plane, they didn't even feel sleepy at all.
All the members of the competition training department were looking through the recordings of the playoffs from the past two days.
Jin Gong, who was in the back row, frowned, "Crab seems to be very versatile right now. It really isn't easy to target him."
"Especially after he was strengthened." Red Rice said a string of words in Korean, which Jiang Chenglu translated into everyone's ears, "After Crab was redone last season, he was positioned between a warrior and an archer. Before he was strengthened, Urgot didn't have the damage of an archer, nor did he have the calmness of a warrior, so no one cared about him."
Jiang Chenglu also added fuel to the fire. The translator was very sincere and elegant. He came from the northeast and spoke with a rather funny accent. "In other words, the crab's position at that time was very awkward. It was stuck here."
"But after this strengthening, he has gathered all the advantages of a warrior and archer together."
Urgot's range was now longer than most warrior heroes. Although it couldn't compare to an archer's range of 350 yards, in terms of units, he was much stronger than a melee hero.
His basic stats were also quite impressive. He had 63 basic attack power and 39 basic armor.
What did this mean?
Compared to the famous tank Warrior Norton, he only had one point less attack power and the same armor!
It was enough to see how overpowered his fists were.
They had increased the stats of Urgot's 350 yard range to the level of the short hand Dreus.
Which normal person wouldn't play it?
Not to mention the pro players who were very sensitive to changes in versions!
In the two days before Jin Gong flew to Beijing, he had practiced twenty rounds of Urgot.
Although it couldn't compare to Old Ancestor Sai Wen's fifty rounds in one night, the eight Westerners had some understanding of Urgot's usage.
"It's mainly because he's too strong in the early and middle stages." He scratched his level three helmet, "He doesn't have any natural enemies."
"Not even Kenan?" Jack asked from the side.
This was a classic long hand, Kenan's father who only had a 400 yard range in the past.
Shiba Inu felt that since Kenan could suppress Kenan, there was no reason why he couldn't suppress Urgot who had an even shorter range.
"No, his fault tolerance against Crab is too low." Jin Gong helplessly replied, "This thing is very tanky against the lane and W [Purify] has a shield. Swap health is also very disgusting. Once Kenan is killed twice, Crab can use the Unsealing Secret Book to exchange for Ignite and can even solo kill him."
"If you want to suppress Urgot from the lane, that's not realistic." Jin Gong directly said, "This hero is an overpowered one right now."
If Thain's increase in stats.
If he became the top tank, then Urgot would become the top tank's overlord.
"This hero is especially strong in the early and middle stages. Once he uses his big move to pull someone with low health, the fear effect after killing them is too disgusting!" Xiao Tian also joined in the discussion.
Jiang Chenglu translated all the team members' words to Red Rice.
The head coach thought for a bit and then said, "It does seem like this right now, but I have a way to deal with it in theory … …"
Until the plane landed at the capital's international airport, Lin Yan was still immersed in Red Rice's idea. His brain was spinning rapidly, simulating all kinds of possibilities.
Beijing was BMW's old base in China. The marketing department sent five cars to take the YM competition team members to Wukesong.
Because it was an away game and there were very few chances for substitutes to play, the only place that needed to be rotated was Jack's Edisi position. Therefore, Guo Hao only brought Lin Weixiang as a substitute this time.
The remaining four members of the youth team stayed in Shanghai to look after the house.
"It hasn't changed much since the last time we were here." Da Mei hugged his backpack and looked out the window at the bustling streets.
"What else could it be? You don't think there's a new building in the center of the capital every day, right?" Lin Yan mumbled and lowered his head to continue chatting with his girlfriend.
It was Chengzi, Not Tangerine: [In the semi-finals the day after tomorrow, someone you know will be there to support. Perform well!]
Lin Yan replied with a question mark, but he already had an answer in his heart.
Su Cheng definitely wouldn't have time to watch the semi-finals this time. Lin Mingdong had been busy with work as usual and had even gone to Hong Kong.
The person that Su Cheng said would be there to support …
The answer was obvious.
Sure enough, his girlfriend immediately sent another message: [It's my parents. Be prepared.]
Lin Yan didn't need to care about where Su Cheng's parents got the tickets. LPL always reserved some tickets for relatives of the two teams. As the boss of BMW China's marketing department, it was easy for Su Hongmin to get two tickets.
He suddenly remembered something. He turned off his phone and leaned against the car window, feeling hopeless.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Da Mei looked away from the window and saw the expression on his midlaner's face. He quickly asked with concern.
"… My girlfriend's parents are coming to watch the semi-finals."
Lin Weixiang blinked. "Isn't that a good thing?
At least someone you know will be there to support you. "
"I didn't say it wasn't a good thing." Lin Yan looked at Da Mei strangely.
This time, Lin Weixiang was confused. "Then why do you look so sad?"
"Oh, I'm just putting myself in Zhuo Ding's and Xie Huo's shoes. I feel what they're going through." Lin Yan let out a long sigh. "They must be under a lot of pressure to play against me, who has my parents-in-law supporting me."
"It's so hard!
I just don't know if anyone will cry this time. "He shook his head with a pained expression. It was as if he was apologizing to his opponent before the match.
Da Mei was silent for a long time.
"Lin Yan, can you be a little more shameless?"
…
The car was parked outside the hotel lobby. Teng Jing arranged the same rooms that YM used when they came to RNG's home stadium.
The only difference was the training room.
Since all the eight teams participating in the playoffs were in this hotel, Teng Jing had no choice but to book a few meeting rooms for the teams to use.
When Lin Yan checked in, he bumped into Suning and WE, the two teams that had been eliminated first.
The team leader and manager were checking out of the room. WE's players looked a little sad, but Suning's players looked quite happy.
It was mainly because of the difference in expectations.
WE was the team that participated in the global finals last year. Their goal this year was naturally to enter the international tournament, but this year, they couldn't even get a spot in the bubble tournament.
Before the summer tournament, Suning's team only had the goal of entering the playoffs. For them, reaching their goal was already considered a success.
Lin Yan looked at the depressed White Crescent and Suning's players, who were still discussing where to go during the off-season, in the same room. He could only sigh at the sadness and joy between people.
"Good luck, you guys."
Before White Crescent left, he waved at his old employer, YM. He wanted to smile, but he realized that the corners of his mouth seemed to be pulled. He could not raise it at a natural angle, and the smile he showed was extremely stiff.
In the following two days, the top six would advance to the top four.
EDG faced off against RW.
Haro used all his skills and obtained the secret manual he got from his father, Old Ancestor Saiwen. He mercilessly dominated Little Fu in the jungle.
Both sides fought for five rounds. Little Fu Zhi's state was godly, and his players, Ryze and Zooey, were superb. They led the team to defeat RW and enter the semi-finals.
The caster's camera panned to Abu backstage. He was excitedly high-fiving a few members of the coaching team.
Entering the semi-finals in the summer tournament meant that they could get at least 40 bubble tournament points. They were one step closer to the international tournament.
Unlike the National Film Academy and Chivalrous Squad, there was no suspense in the competition between RNG and TOP.
RNG swept their opponents in just three rounds.
Even though Zoom used all of his skills, and even brought out his trump card, the captain, he still couldn't save the team from this disaster.
Mid laner Knight was completely restricted by Xiao Hu. He couldn't break out of the situation.
On the other hand, Old Dream and PPGOD in the bottom lane couldn't withstand the pressure from Ouze and Shi Senming. They kept making mistakes.
In this BO5, there were four kills in the bottom lane. It was a complete bloodbath.
At this point, the semi-finals of the LPL had been decided.
EDG's opponent was IG.
RNG would go up against YM.
On the night of the semi-finals, League of Legends' official Weibo account released a preview of the competition.
Lin Yan, Little Fu Zhi, Broiler, and the four mid laners took up the entire page. They were wearing their respective team's uniforms. They looked straight ahead and posed in their own makeup photos.
There was only one simple sentence: Who is the strongest mid laner in LPL?
The comments below were almost all taken up by YM's supporters. Currently, they were the biggest fan group in the entire League. They returned from the international tournament with a full load. The team's popularity had reached a terrifying height.
However, the fans of the other three teams didn't want to lose. The comments section exploded.
Teng Jing was very satisfied.
Although the previous goal of creating WE, EDG, and IG had not been achieved, RNG, IG, EDG, and YM were currently the leaders of the LPL league in terms of popularity and results.
There were no absolute upsets before the semi-finals. Teng Jing let out a long sigh of relief.
They used the gimmick of "2018 Spring Finals Replay" for the semi-finals between RNG and YM. It attracted a lot of viewers who rarely watched the competition and increased its popularity.
The official warm-up for the semifinals was in full swing.
On September 14th, the semi-finals officially began.
"IG completely destroyed EDG. They're ridiculously strong!"
Ze Yuan shouted himself hoarse on the commentary platform.
In the Summoner's Canyon, the three surviving heroes of IG were pushing forward.
Ray, who had been able to suppress Ah Guang, could only take a beating when facing The Young.
Facing the enemy's Urgot, The Young chose to use Sword Magician.
In the lane match, he used his strong lane skills to tie with Ray.
In the team battle, Sword Magician was much stronger than Crab in terms of DPS, recovery, and flexibility.
The mid laner Broiler was also in good condition.
Adding in the current mid laner environment, it was very suitable for him.
Song Yijin was best at two balls and one champ. In this version, Sindra and Lefran were strong mid laners.
Zooey was also one of his signboards. Akali's proficiency was also good.
The version bonus and his personal strength had improved. With the support of many factors, he completely suppressed his junior in the semi-finals.
EDG's strongest point had been crushed, and Ning Wang was doing whatever he wanted in their jungle.
The three games only took 80 minutes. IG's lightning-fast battles were terrifying and swept EDG out of the finals.
"Congratulations to IG for defeating EDG with a score of 3-0!"
Ze Yuan said in a clear voice. "They've successfully won the tickets to the finals at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park!"
Hao Kai started to ask for an oxygen tank again. His voice was hoarse. "After four and a half years, IG is back in the LPL finals!"
At this moment, the lackeys took off their disguises and showed their true faces. They calmly took out their rusty dog tags from their pockets and wiped them with a laugh before wearing them around their necks.
Fighting Shark platform had released the Medal of Honor for the teams this year. Before sending a comment, you could use the team logo of the club you supported as the prefix of your ID. It was mainly given to fans of the teams.
However, the conditions were more relaxed. It was free. Many people had several Medals of Honor from different clubs at the same time.
If someone had a sharp eye, they would have noticed that there was something wrong with the content in the live broadcast channel.
Ten minutes ago, many people used EDG's team logo to mock the eliminated WE team. Now, they were all using IG's dog tags.
This highlighted a traitor.
[Brother Meng, it's the New Year!]
[Damn, The Young!
Why is he so strong?]
[It's a pity that he died in the last wave. Otherwise, the second prince Haro wouldn't have been able to escape.]
[That's right. The Young is coming. Kill them all!]
The five teenagers hugged each other excitedly. Ning Wang's smile was full of ambition.
This year, he was going to prove himself!
…
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2018 League of Legends Summer Semifinals …"
"Today, another semifinal will be held. YM versus RNG!"
The commentators in charge of this focal battle were still the Haier brothers.
After the two finished reading the advertisement, they analyzed the current points of the two teams.
"YM and RNG are the champions and runners-up of the Spring Season, so they have 90 and 70 points respectively. The difference between the runners-up and runners-up of the Summer Season is also 20 points. According to our rules, if the points are the same, the team with more points in the Summer Season will be ranked higher!"
Mille was the first to speak. "In other words, no matter which team enters the finals, they will enter the S8 Global Finals in advance!"
"Yes, that's right. This will be the first ticket to the World Finals in our division!" Doll agreed.
This added a bit of tension to the atmosphere of the semifinals.
After all, if it wasn't necessary, no one wanted to play in a bloody and cruel tournament.
"First, I have to remind the audience that in version 8.16, the ecology of the top and mid laners has changed. Urgot and Cheyenne have risen and their strength has increased by quite a bit. As for Akali, after being nerfed, her ban rate has dropped!"
In the first few rounds of the playoffs, Akali's win rate wasn't high, only having a 40% chance.
After being nerfed, Absurd Stab's disadvantage as an Assassin was highlighted.
Once she couldn't ambush the enemy's back line, Akali couldn't be compared to a normal Mage in a team fight.
While the two commentators were discussing the changes in the League, the ten players and the coaches were already prepared.
"Are you nervous brothers?"
Jack was swinging back and forth in his chair, swinging his two thick legs. He was chewing gum as he looked at his teammates beside him.
"What is there to be nervous about?"
Liu Qingsong cracked his knuckles, "I'm just a bit new since it's been a while since I've played in an official match."
Lin Yan adjusted his soundproof headphones. Seeing that the camera was pointed at him, he waved his hand at the camera.
He saw Su Cheng's parents in the front row of the audience and took this chance to greet them.
This scene appeared on the big screen in the stadium, causing cheers and screams from the audience.
"The players are ready, let's turn the camera to the stage!"
As soon as Doll's voice fell, the sound of metal clanging rang through the stadium!
"YM has the first pick for the first, third, and fifth rounds of the semifinals. They immediately took the blue side and banned Cheyenne first!"
Red Rice knew that Cheyenne's strengthening was like a fish in water for Lettersmith.
Therefore, they didn't give him a chance and directly blocked him.
"RNG gave their first ban position to Qing Gang Ying!"
Xiao Tian's finger unconsciously moved the mouse wheel, "Should we steal it?"
"I don't think we need to use it this round." Red Rice knit his brows, "How about we give Lin Yan Akali first?"
"You're certain this hero can be released?" Lin Yan was a bit doubtful.
Although Akali's ban rate had plummeted, he was still someone who had used Absurd Sting to make a name for himself.
"Relax." Red Rice was behind Lin Yan and patted his shoulder, "I can help you get it."
"Then no problem!" Lin Yan was eager to use Akali.
The jungler on the other side was Casa, so their focus should be in the bottom half, playing the dog strategy.
This meant that as long as he could insta-kill Ouze, the team battle would be easy.
In this situation, Akali met his requirements without a doubt.
In the back of RNG's bench, the head coach Heart was discussing the BP with his players.
"Let's ban Ice, it's best if we don't release this hero now."
He was still afraid that YM would get it.
The RNG coaches had studied Jack's ranking record before the game and found that this person was simply a madman in Eich. As long as he could get Ice, he would definitely pick it.
It was obvious that Frost's priority had been raised to the highest possible level.
Since the Asian Games, Ice had become the number one jungler in Edisi and no one could shake her position.
Relying on her range advantage and W [Ten Thousand Arrows], her laning ability was quite strong.
Moreover, E [Eagle Soars the Sky] could give her teammates information on the enemy jungler's position.
At the same time, E [Magic Crystal Arrow] could be used first and second.
She was simply the perfect tool.
If Jack got it, not to mention Ouze finding it hard to suppress him, Casa wouldn't have a good time in the jungle.
This was a ban that had to be taken.
"YM's last ban in the first round is Blade Sis ….. Yi, are they going to pick Sword Demon?" Doll was surprised by this.
The main reason was that Blade Sis wasn't very strong right now. Ever since her big move and passive had been weakened, she was now in the T2 camp.
She could be picked, but her strength wasn't high and she rarely took bans. She was mostly used to counter Sword Demon. This was why Doll guessed this.
But Heart was deep in thought.
He realized that Red Rice had dug a hole for him.
It had to be known that Blade Sis was publicly recognized as Sword Demon's mother. Even though Erilia had been cut once, Sword Demon had also been cut many times.
Originally, Heart wanted to send Urgot to the ban position at the end of the first round. That way, if the opponent used Sword Demon, they could still pick Blade Sis to counter.
If YM chose Blade Sis, Heart had told Xiao Hu that Yasso, who had practiced countering Erilia, wouldn't be at a disadvantage in BP.
But now Blade Sis was gone.
If he banned Urgot, then he wouldn't be able to deal with Sword Demon.
If he released both Sword Demon and Urgot, then the situation would be even worse.
This was because Sword Demon's proficiency in the two solo lanes in RNG wasn't high.
There was no other way, it was all Lin Yan's fault.
Xiao Hu and letme's training speed for these kinds of Warrior Heroes wasn't fast.
They had practiced Sword Demon before, but who would have thought that Lin Yan would force them to redo it.
They had to practice it again.
In the end, their proficiency wasn't enough to bring them to the professional stage.
If they had to choose, it would affect their performance.
This was good. Sword Demon and Urgot had two heroes, but they only had one ban position left in RNG.
"If it really doesn't work, we can only ban the stronger Urgot ….." Heart's brain quickly turned.
Facing YM, their ban position on the red side was too tense.
Qing Gang Yin who had strong opening abilities and could do whatever he wanted, Ice who had strong detection and mixing abilities, as well as the top lane overlord Urgot …..
If they all blocked, they didn't have enough bans, so it could only be described as being stretched thin.
"Li Yuanhao, how about we try Akali?"
Heart could predict Red Rice's thoughts and knew that the other side banned Dagger Girl to give them pressure. They wanted to give Lin Yan a chance to get Akali first.
He had a deep impression of Lin Yan's Absurd Thorn, but the situation forced them to do this.
"This is a best of 5, if we can take care of Akali in the first round, the following BP will be much easier!"
Li Yuanhao was wearing his tactical goggles again.
Hearing his head coach's words, he thought about it before finally agreeing.
"Give me a hero that can take care of him in the mid lane. I'll tie him down and not let him roam."
Heart agreed.
"RNG banned Urgot in the end and YM snatched Akali!"
In the cheers of the crowd, Doll began to brag, "Brother Ran is showing off his confidence!"
"RNG chose Troll and Crow, this is also a very beautiful choice!" Mille praised.
Neither side banned Crow or Troll, Swein's biggest enemy. Heart was already prepared and quickly took them down.
It seemed like the BP didn't suffer a loss.
"YM took Sword Demon and jungler Zhao Xin, so the top, middle, and jungle positions are all set!"
RNG's third choice was to support Tam.
When this protective support was revealed, Lin Yan knew RNG's plan.
The other side wanted to use an iron barrel formation to protect Ouze.
Even if Lin Yan's Akali entered the game, RNG would use pillars to block the other YM members. At the same time, Tam would swallow Ouze to protect him.
Like this, they would completely destroy his Akali.
Red Rice was still directing the BP. "We'll ban Verus and Kesha."
Of the current first class ADCs, the only one who could support Tam other than Ice was Verus.
Now that Eich had been banned and Red Rice had banned Verus and Ouze's Kesha, the threat of RNG's bottom lane was much weaker.
Heart had banned Hammer Stone and Bull's Head, the two characters who were good at tearing down others.
"RNG's fourth choice was Dusk, so they can steal a substitute ban and destroy YM's Dusk and Luo combo!"
Heart had already done their best, they couldn't give YM too much of an advantage.
"Luo and ….. Ash!"
Doll couldn't help calling out in surprise, "YM has taken out something new!"
Mille revealed a smile, "It really isn't new ….. Edisi WXZ, who has a 100% win rate, used Ash two weeks ago."
There was a burst of laughter from under the stage.
"But this is their first appearance in the playoffs, it's worth our attention!"
"Look at RNG's last choice, they took Shen!"
"Then we'll shake the crow for Little Tiger to use!"
The lineups of both sides were as follows.
Blue YM: Top lane Sword Demon, jungler Zhao Xin, mid lane Akali, bottom lane Lu Jin + Luo.
Red RNG: Top lane Shen, jungler Troll, mid lane Crow, bottom lane Lu Xia + Tam.
"Let's wait for the semifinals to officially begin!"
Summoner's Canyon had descended!