Xu Xiu slumped in the chair, looking extremely dispirited.
Facing YM in this game, GEN had no ability to resist at all. They were full of flaws and were completely crushed.
He couldn't figure out what went wrong.
Ten days ago, the team had confidently stood out from the qualifiers and planned to show off their skills in this year's international tournament.
But now, with a record of 1 win and 3 losses in the four group matches, GEN G had one foot on the edge of the cliff.
If they lost one more game, they would most likely have to say goodbye to this global finals.
"Why did we become like this?" Xu Xiu couldn't understand.
The four teammates hadn't taken off their headphones yet. When they heard their midlaner's words, they were all speechless.
The high spirits at the beginning of the group match had long disappeared without a trace. Now, GEN looked decadent and powerless, trapped in a painful struggle.
Roaring King on the commentary platform was silent for a long time before he spoke, "There is not much time left for GEN G, we can only say that they need to adjust quickly and grasp the last hope of qualifying."
"I believe that with GEN's strength, there is no problem in qualifying," Crown said from the perspective of his old team, "TL's level this year is not as high as expected, and the same goes for MAD …"
This was the view of most of the Korean audience before the game.
It didn't matter if GEN couldn't beat YM, but what were the other two teams?
The second seed of LMS, whose bloodline had long been exhausted, were all free points.
However, up until now, most people were no longer that optimistic.
In an ideal situation, if TL won, MAD would lose to YM, and GEN would have to win two consecutive games to win the right to overtime.
And if YM chose to lose to TL … then as long as Liquid won against MAD, they could lock in a qualifying spot, and GEN would leave the stage of the group match early.
Some GEN fans who still cared about the home team even ran to the YM club's social media account and used broken English to ask YM to win against Liquid.
In the backstage lounge, Guo Hao looked at the computer monitor of his colleagues in the operations department and laughed.
The feeling of holding the fate of others in his hands was wonderful.
"Should we practice our lineup when we play against MAD next?" He asked Red Mi's opinion.
Now that YM had a record of 4 wins and 0 losses, it was already confirmed that they could advance from the group stage. It was just a matter of first or second place.
"Why don't we let Da Mei do it?" Jack held a glass of Sprite and wanted to slack off again.
"Okay, okay!" Lin Weixiang, who was nestled in the gaming chair, was very happy and nodded repeatedly.
"Then let's play a game by protecting the bottom lane," Red Rice saw that the team members were in agreement and did not object. "Lin Weixiang, do you want to play Vayne?"
When Brainless heard this, his facial expression could only be described as radiant.
Seeing this, Red Rice began to design a BP strategy against MAD. Although the opponent's skill level was not high, he still wanted to ensure the team's victory.
Next, it was a battle between liquid and MAD.
The Korean audience in the stands now supported MAD, hoping that this good brother who had not won a single game could help them win TL.
The result was destined to disappoint them.
With the help of the jungler, Teacher Omi directly opened the King Mode and cleared the game in one lane. In 17 minutes, Swordmei, who had the power of three phases + Blood Hand + Mercury Shoes, blocked the front of MAD's high ground.
MAD was like fighting a boss. In the end, four people were sent to encircle and suppress her. After sacrificing a life, they finally sent Erilya back to the spring.
But the Dragon was taken by the other TL members.
When Swordmei's resurrection armor came out, Teacher Omi would be completely invincible. MAD's lineup could not do anything to him.
After using the buff of the Dragon to flatten the opponent's two lanes, TL steadily returned to the city to resupply a wave of equipment and then came out to try to continue to advance.
After converting all their economy into equipment, MAD lost the last hope of a comeback.
Impact's Swordmei killed everything in her way and led her teammates to dismantle the opponent's main Crystal.
In the next game, MAD against YM.
One side was eliminated early, the other side advanced early. This game was far less exciting than the previous two games.
But it was exciting enough.
MAD did not expect to advance before coming to Korea. Now that they were really eliminated, they began to let loose. The mid laner, Uniboy, pulled out a mid laner, Rambo, and wanted to suppress Lin Yan's Enchantress by force.
The bottom lane was Kesha against Vayne. Everyone tacitly did not choose the tool bottom lane.
Since the beginning of the game, the two sides had been fighting non-stop. The heads exploded quite frequently, and the audience was very satisfied.
Tom, the commentator of the LMS division, said in an impassioned tone, "The fifth-class Ran flashed and stepped on Rambo's face. While killing the minions, the Phantom Chain followed, and then threw out a Q's Malice Mark!"
Uniboy had a very deep line. He did not expect Lin Yan to flash and kill him with only 70% of his health left.
His instinctive reaction was that YM's jungler was coming, but when he glanced at the small map, he found that Xiao Tian had already appeared on the map, thousands of miles away.
Lin Yan was alone in the middle lane!
Once he understood, Uniboy immediately decided to counterattack. He used W [Shattered Shield] to give himself a bar of health, then used E [Electronic Harpoon] to get himself to a dangerous temperature, and then used Q [Pyromaniac Feast] to burn him!
"Ran flashed back to his original position, drank a potion, and dodged the flames while attacking!"
The Phantom Chain was triggered, and Rambo fell into a state of imprisonment.
Lin Yan walked to the side, raised his wand, and used a normal attack.
Because he had just triggered Electrocution, and Rambo's W [Shattered Shield] was not cast at a dangerous temperature, his shield value was not very high. Therefore, he now had less than 40% of his health left.
Uniboy did not panic at all.
Lin Yan had already used a round of skills. Although he was not very healthy, if the opponent wanted to kill him, they would have to rely on normal attacks.
The reason why he first used W to trigger the 50-heat yellow line, and then cast Q instead of leaving the dangerous temperature bonus for Shattered Shield and increasing his shield value to ensure his safety was very simple.
He wanted to counterattack.
Lin Yan had already tried his best to avoid the flames, but Huang Wen's Pyromaniac Feast's damage output was quite high. Level 5 Rambo had a level 3 Q, and with the addition of the dangerous temperature damage, Little Temptress, who had been hit by the Electronic Harpoon, had less than half of her health left.
Uniboy knew that Lin Yan did not have Flash or W [Phantom Perplexing Track], so this was an excellent opportunity to kill him alone.
After ending the imprisonment state, he leaned forward and threw out an Electronic Harpoon!
Lin Yan, who did not have any movement skills, could not dodge. After taking the Huang Wen Harpoon, he was directly hit by Catoptric Deflection!
Little Temptress temporarily disappeared from the map for a second.
Then, two Lefrans appeared in Summoner's Canyon.
Uniboy was already prepared. He clicked on Little Temptress's attribute panel and looked at the movement speed attribute.
The slowing effect of the Electronic Harpoon had not disappeared, so he could easily distinguish the real one from the fake one.
The Lefran that was fleeing toward YM's tower was fake, and the real one that had been slowed was in front of him!
Uniboy raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a hint of a smile.
Was she planning to confuse him by walking in the opposite direction and make him misjudge the real one?
What a pity.
You've made a mistake!
From Uniboy's point of view, Lefran could not escape even if she had wings!
The legendary achievement of killing Lin Yan alone was about to be achieved!
Many Korean spectators in the stands were already screaming and cheering in excitement.
"Lebron, who is controlled by Ran, is in a very dangerous situation. Uniboy seems to be about to complete the solo kill …" Tom's voice rose, full of anticipation for what would happen next.
Little Temptress's HP was getting lower and lower. If the two sides continued to attack each other, Lefran's HP would be lower, so she would definitely be the first to die.
However, not only did Lin Yan not retreat, he moved even closer to the front. It looked like he was not afraid at all!
Just as Uniboy was about to confidently complete the kill, the ninth wave of Artillery Troops arrived at the middle battlefield.
Lin Yan did not say anything and aimed the Soldier Sniper at MAD's Artillery Troops!
Uniboy was shocked when he saw this.
He had just realized what the enemy was relying on to fight.
Little Temptress's real and fake body switching was not to confuse his judgment at all.
Lin Ran wanted to continue moving forward and wait for the Cannon Soldiers to arrive. He wanted to use the Expurgator to eat them and successfully level up to level 6!
Since Little Temptress had not returned to the city to resupply before this, she ate all the EXP from the Soldiers.
Under normal circumstances, killing the first Soldier of the ninth wave of Artillery Troops would allow Lefran to level six.
This little soldier's Purifier had played a huge role!
At this time, YM's Artillery Troops had arrived, but Uniboy did not have the Soldier Sniper. All his skills were on cooldown and he could not kill the Soldiers to level up!
"Lebron is level six now!" Commentator Tom's voice was sharp and piercing. "Uniboy, you have to retreat quickly!"
After Little Temptress leveled up, she recovered close to 100 HP.
The most important thing was that she had learned an ultimate skill.
There was no reason for Rambo to win.
Uniboy wanted to retreat quickly, but Little Temptress had already used her R [Repeat Trick]!
Lefran's last skill was Q [Mark of Malice]. The duplicated mark hit Rambo first!
Uniboy clenched his teeth, used Flash, and continued to run down his own tower.
He knew that Lin Yan's Q [Mark of Malice] was about to finish its cooldown. After all, this skill and his W [Shatter Shield] had a fixed cooldown of six seconds. They were cast at almost the same time.
Since his W was about to finish its cooldown, Little Temptress's mark was naturally the same.
"Lebron took advantage of the fact that Rambo was still in range to throw a normal attack and then cast a Mark of Malice that had a slightly longer range. He wanted to trigger his ultimate mark to deal damage …"
Uniboy desperately pressed W and finally triggered the Shatter Shield effect when Little Temptress's normal attack and Q skills were about to hit him.
Because of the dangerous temperature, the defense of this shield was 50% stronger than the normal version!
Even so, when the damage was dealt, Rambo's HP was still emptied!
Lin Yan's damage was about five points higher than Uniboy's shield and HP.
Successful solo kill!
The audience at the scene sighed in disappointment.
From the bottom of their hearts, they wanted Uniboy to solo kill Lin Yan.
First, the Korean audience was unhappy when they saw Lin Yan beat up GEN and Xu Xiu. They were waiting for him to make a fool of himself.
Second, they were rooting for an upset. With MAD's skill, defeating YM would be the biggest upset in this group stage. Since the two teams on the field had nothing to do with LCK, the Korean audience would naturally support the weaker team.
However, things didn't go according to plan. Uniboy failed to solo kill and was humiliated.
The director even replayed the scene and tried to punish him.
"Brother Ran is really strong." The guest commentator of the LMS competition, Roast Char, couldn't help but sigh. "When he came up to fight, he clearly calculated what to do. As long as he can drag it out until this wave of artillery arrives, Lebron will definitely win."
"And did you notice that he's super detailed?" Tom praised. "After leveling up to level six, he first threw out the big evil mark, then used the Q skill … Because his other skills are on cooldown, Lebron has two skills, but he can only trigger the mark damage once. In this case, the big evil mark damage is higher than the level one Q, so he can maximize the damage by casting it first."
In the level one R [Repeat Same Old Trick], the two parts of the Q skill's damage were 70 + 0.4 AP, while the level one Q [Evil Mark]'s damage was 55 + 0.4 MP.
If Lin Yan used Q and then R, the damage from the Q's evil mark would be less than the RQ.
"You're exaggerating too much." Roast Char interrupted his partner. "When Brother Ran leveled up to level six, the Q skill probably hadn't changed yet. It's normal for him to use the big evil mark first."
In fact, Lin Yan had calculated it, but it just so happened that the skill refresh sequence was the R first, and the Q [Evil Mark] only changed after it was cast. It looked like what Roast Char had said.
The two commentators laughed and teased Uniboy, who couldn't hide his disappointment under the camera.
The atmosphere in the live broadcast was very lively and relaxed.
Anyway, MAD was already confirmed to be eliminated. Winning or losing was not important. Wan Wan also didn't care.
After the solo kill, Lin Yan naturally opened up the middle lane. Rambo, who didn't flash, was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. He couldn't resist at all.
He called the jungler and support. As long as he used the Phantom Chain to tie Rambo up, he would get a kill.
Lin Weixiang was steadily developing in the bottom lane. After Vayne leveled up, she was also very strong against Kesha. She used a set of three rings to attack, and Voidlady couldn't take it anymore.
But there weren't many kills. Lin Weixiang fought for 15 minutes before he got his first kill.
He turned around and saw that his team's top, middle, and jungle had already gotten 10 kills.
Big Eyebrows was very unhappy. "Didn't you say that you'd give me the stage before the game?
Why are you guys killing each other? "
"What can we do?" Lin Yan was quite helpless when he heard this. "Why don't you come to the top lane and join the team?"
The outbreak of the early battles was at the top of the Summoner's Canyon. The bottom lane was like a paradise. He couldn't even give Big Eyebrows a kill.
Lin Weixiang looked at his equipment: Ruin + Attack Boots + Two Short Swords.
He felt that Vayne had a certain level of combat power with this equipment, so he took Liu Qingsong to MAD's top, middle, and jungle to fight.
The battle soon broke out.
Big Eyebrows' Vayne was indeed a unique skill. She was quite skilled in her controls. After activating her R [Final Moment], she rolled on the ground and dodged Jess's QE Enhanced Cannon. Then, she used her E [Devil's Judgement] to push back MAD Troll.
Her controls were very smooth.
In the end, Troll blocked his position with an E [Ice Pillar]. Rambo's R [Constant Temperature Burn] poured down, instantly lowering Big Eyebrows' HP.
In the end, MAD Jess first activated W [Super Charge], then switched to hammer form, flashed up, Q [Sky's Leap]. Bang bang bang bang, three hammer strikes, and then finished it off with an E [Thunder Strike].
Lin Weixiang used healing, but he was still killed by Jess's hammer.
"F * ck … Is this for real?"
He didn't understand. Jess and Rambo were both 03. How could they kill him with this level of development?
"League of Legends designer!"
Big Eyebrows was indignant and shouted in the team voice chat, "Ball, give the ADC a way out!"
After this death, until the end of the game, Lin Weixiang's record was a loss.
"It's really f * cking ridiculous," he watched MAD's base explode into fireworks, muttering when he took off his headphones. "Liu Qingsong got five kills, and I, Vayne, only killed three people in the whole game?"
He originally thought that when he came up to play Vayne, he would play four to one and let the starting players be his dogs.
Who would have thought that it turned out to be one to four!
MAD was like a lunatic. When he saw Vayne appear in his field of vision, he ignored the other YM players and rushed up.
Vayne was responsible for attracting the firepower for her teammates. After she died, she just had to watch Lin Yan and the others destroy MAD.
"Is there any justice!" Lin Weixiang was very sad and angry, cursing the designer of the fist a thousand times in his heart.
The next game was the focus of attention.
Liquid against GEN.
This game would not only determine whether GEN G could continue to have a chance to advance, but it was also closely related to the battle for the first place in Group A.
If TL won this game, GEN would be declared out of the competition.
YM's last game would be against Liquid. If YM won, they would lock in the first place in the group, and if they lost, they would have to play another game.
"They replaced Master An?" When Lin Yan returned to the lounge, he saw the familiar face appear on the stage again.
Red Rice was not surprised. "Haru's performance was very poor. They had no choice but to let Master An come over for two games and try to break into the knockout round."
There was no time for Haru to adjust to the rhythm of the game. The team was on the edge of the cliff, and Edgar could only trust the veteran.
Ahn Bixin's appearance set off a wave of cheers in the Busan Convention and Exhibition Center.
This was like a stabilizing force for GEN.
With him by her side, she felt more at ease!
On the other side, Elder Brother looked serious.
He knew what this BO1 meant.
Since S1, he had not broken out of the group stage.
As long as he won this game, he would step into the top eight!
Lin Yan texted with his girlfriend while watching BP.
Xu Xiu got Zooey in this game, while Master An got Olaf.
Although Tianshan Tong was a poke player and did not match well with Olaf, who relied on rushing, they were strong in small-scale team battles. There were few jungler combinations that could compete with these two.
Elder Brother continued to play Lucian, while Ruler could only play Ember.
When the game started, there was thunderous applause in the stands. Many spectators were cheering for GEN, hoping that they could win this important game.
Perhaps because of the significance of this game, both sides were very stable at the beginning and did not invade. They just made a few defensive moves and retreated.
The first official battle took place at the five minute mark.
Master An predicted the movement of TL's jungler with his own sense of smell and asked Xu Xiu to help in the bottom half.
But Liquid's jungler used Flash and escaped from the hypnosis bubble.
GEN's jungler could only retreat, but TL came back.
Both sides' support roamed to support, and the top laners all dropped to teleport!
But because this was a battle that broke out in Liquid's jungler, TL's support Boulogne arrived first.
In the early stages of the small-scale team battles, Bloom's role was ridiculously strong. With a passive from one person, the GEN in the team battle was completely defeated.
"No, why do we have to fight?" Jack crossed his legs. He couldn't understand what GEN was trying to do.
Although Olaf was very strong in the early game, in the face of Boulogne's stun control, he could not fight at all without a big move.
"I think GEN has a problem with their thinking," Jin Gong commented. "They insist on learning how to play the early game, but they really don't have to do this."
"Since they're already on Ambition, why don't they just play the late game?"
The current version was early to mid game, but GEN obviously could not adapt to it.
In that case, they might as well continue to play according to their own style and continue to defend and counterattack.
The iron turtle mentality did not work well against YM. After all, Lin Yan and his teammates' ability to seize opportunities and end the game was too strong. GEN could not hold them back.
But in this game, GEN was facing Liquid.
Although Liquid's performance in this year's group stage was not bad, their strength was not very high. After gaining the advantage, they often made mistakes.
If GEN was really determined to play defensive counterattack, they might be able to take advantage of Liquid's mistakes and win in the middle and late game.
It could only be said that YM was the first to meet GEN in the two round-robin matches, which gave them too much pressure and disrupted the team's tactical arrangement.
After this encounter, Master An was obviously a little panicked.
The other four members of GEN were also stiff and did not say anything.
Especially Xu Xiu.
After being beaten by Lin Yan in the previous game, he had not recovered. At this time, his head was stiff and he was not very clear-headed.
TL naturally got the advantage and began to snowball little by little.
In the top lane, Teacher Big Wood withstood the pressure of Cuvee, so that GEN could not find a breakthrough.
After Master An was promoted to level six, he wanted to cooperate with them in the mid lane and kill Liquid's mid laner first.
Xu Xiu forced himself to calm down and hit the hypnosis bubble. An Bixin followed up with damage and took the kill.
But as soon as he appeared, the big brother in the bottom lane made his move.
With the support Boulogne, he directly jumped over the tower and killed the duo of GEN.
Chi Di covered his forehead, his eyebrows were full of annoyance.
GEN's biggest mistake occurred at the 9 minute mark.
Liquid's team took the lead in attacking the canyon with the help of the bottom lane combination.
Master An felt that he had a big move, while Xu Xiu's Zooey could continuously poke from the side. Chi Di's big move was also used as a deterrent.
It seemed that GEN could take the fight.
But there was a problem with their cooperation.
After Xu Xiu's hypnosis bubble hit Liquid's mid laner, Chi Di's Q [Dancing Grenade] accidentally hit him.
He woke up at once.
Liquid's team immediately counterattacked.
Liquid's mid laner, who was not killed in one shot, burst out with good damage in this team battle. The big brother glided and flew up, the two guns in his hands kept pointing at GEN's players.
One team battle for four!
Liquid's team established the early game advantage!
The big brother was so excited that his neck was red and he shouted something in the team voice chat.
The stands of the Busan Convention and Exhibition Center were silent.
After taking down the canyon vanguard, Liquid's team slowly pushed forward.
They tried to control their mistake rate, not wanting their opponents to seize the opportunity to counterattack.
And GEN was completely panicking.
They began to fight blindly, and when their vision was not controlled well, they fought against Liquid's team.
"They are really going to enter the knockout round." Lin Yan was filled with emotion.
TL had expanded their economic lead to 8k.
Everyone knew that GEN's momentum was gone.
The Korean audience in the stands looked at the big screen with eyes that had lost their spirit.
At the 26 minute mark, TL killed Cuvee by grabbing and gathering at the Dragon's pit. They wanted to use Baron Nash to make an issue out of it.
"We can't let this Dragon GEN go!" Roaring Emperor's voice was hoarse. "We have to take the team battle!"
GEN's lineup was not that strong in the late game. If they let go of this Dragon, Liquid's team would probably be able to slowly expand their economic advantage and end the game.
Sect Leader An clearly knew this as well.
He took his teammates straight to the Dragon's pit.
The two sides launched a desperate battle in the upper river.
Senior brother did not drop the ball at this critical moment.
He flashed to avoid being hit by Zooey's hypnosis bubble, and then used Slide to avoid Olaf's axe.
Holy Lance Baptism!
Luthian's muzzle was on fire, and he poured all the bullets on GEN's team!
Five against four, Liquid's team, who had the advantage in numbers, succeeded in eliminating their opponents!
Once they took down the Dragon, victory was close at hand!
At the 30 minute mark, the two sides started the final battle in front of the high ground.
Although Xu Xiu hit TL's mid laner with her hypnosis bubble, the super long distance shooting star was blocked by Boulogne's anti-theft door!
Senior brother's Lucian Slide moved forward, and at the moment when the strong attack broke out, Zooey's health bar had disappeared!
"GEN is going to be defeated …" Roaring Emperor's voice was full of bitterness.
On the big screen, the surviving players of Liquid's team kept dismantling GEN's few defense towers!
In the backstage lounge, Edgar covered his face and did not dare to look at the game anymore.
GEN's die-hard fans in the audience cried out.
The moment GEN's Crystal exploded, Doublelift took off his headphones and jumped up. He hugged his teammates tightly, and the smile on his face became bigger!
After seven years, he entered the knockout round again!
GEN's player did not say a word, and pulled out all the external connection cables with a sad face.
An Bixin looked up at the stadium. The colorful lights were flashing, but none of them belonged to him.
He did not expect that his journey in the global finals would come to an end.
"I can only congratulate TL team. They have confirmed their qualification in advance, while GEN's group stage has 1 win and 4 losses, and they have been eliminated in advance," Roaring Emperor said with a forced smile. "I also hope that Doublelift can continue to move forward this year."
"Their performance is worthy of this knockout round."
Crown turned off his headphones and sighed softly.
Looking at the five players on the stage, he knew that the team would be rebuilt next year.
Leader An was likely to leave the arena.
This time, whether it was the pressure of public opinion or the judgment of his own heart, they were all insurmountable obstacles.
GEN did not have any exit ceremony.
After shaking hands with TL, they left quietly with the peripherals under the boos of the Korean audience.
Liquid's team enjoyed the stage alone. They kept celebrating until the staff reminded them to rush back to the lounge.
They did not take away the peripherals.
In the next game, TL would face YM to compete for the first place in the group.
It was probably because he was too excited that he had just qualified. Senior brother obviously did not play well in this game, and all kinds of sudden deaths dazzled the audience.
Jack dominated YM's last group stage, operating Ember to continuously set a new record.
In the end, his record was fixed at 1209.
Perfect data.
"YM will participate in the next knockout round as the first place in Group A, and TL will be second in the group!"