Chapter 201
LZ advanced.
After witnessing all this in the hotel training match, everyone on IG couldn't help but wail.
Although it was expected before the game that C9's chances of winning against LZ were even lower than their match against Samsung yesterday.
But when it really happened, everyone was inevitably disappointed.
To put it bluntly, in S7, no one wanted to face LZ, the world's No. 1 team that couldn't even beat SKT, and the official favorite to win the championship this year... Although everyone on IG shouted slogans loudly before the game, they inevitably had some luck.
Now that the luck mentality has been broken, everyone realized that they... were not as strong as they thought.
"Okay, let's continue training. Now that we have determined our opponents, we can also conduct targeted training."Su Xiaoluo waved her hand, with a look of sadness and disappointment that could not be concealed.
If possible, who would not want to go to the Bird's Nest?
That was the grandest stage in seven years, and IG had also had fantasies before... The training continued, and the public opinion on this day also took a sharp turn for the worse.
For IG to play against LZ,���All LPL viewers, commentators, and even officials were extremely disappointed. As for LCK and other regions around the world, they were just watching the fun. A European host even joked on Twitter:
""Yesterday's IG was invincible, today's IG covered their faces and cried..."
This sentence is a true portrayal of the domestic audience, but there is no way, the schedule is this schedule.
On the road to winning the championship, if you don't beat the strongest team, this championship... will lose its gold content.
Time passed, and two days passed in a flash.
On the second day, in the BO5 between SKT and MSF, SKT was somewhat shocked to advance.
Why is it shocking... One is that SKT's promotion process is far from as smooth as everyone imagined.
When facing the MSF Rabbit Team in the quarterfinals, SKT was once 2/1 and was on the verge of elimination, but in the end it relied on super strong ’s team awareness, and Li Ge, who fought hard as the Blood Horse C, chased two games in a row, pulled the entire BO5 to the fullest, and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.
On that day, MSF, a previously unknown rabbit team, became famous in one battle. Just as they said in the quarterfinals promotional video, if they beat SKT, they would be famous all over the world.
Although they failed to beat SKT this time, and the 2/3 record once forced SKT into a desperate situation, when they return to China, everyone in MSF will definitely take off completely.
Honor in defeat.
On the other hand, SKT can still advance under such circumstances, which really shocked everyone in the world.
This team... is it really invincible?
The S-League is always invincible. As long as SKT participates in the S-League, they will never fail to win the championship!
How terrible!
SKT's advancement also indicates that the two LCK teams with the biggest global popularity and the strongest strength have both advanced to the semi-finals.
Now... there is only one place left for the semi-finals. On the last day of the schedule, after a tense BO5, RNG, the most popular all-Chinese team in China, did not disappoint everyone's expectations and successfully advanced with a score of 3/1.
It became the second LPL team after IG to break through the quarterfinals and advance to the semi-finals.
So far, the four teams in the semi-finals of the 2017 World Finals have all been settled, and the schedule has been automatically arranged.
RNG vs. SKT.
IG vs. LZ.
This is a list... Just looking at it will make all the teams, regions, audiences and fans around the world despair.
When RNG returned from the Guangzhou Gymnasium and met with IG at the hotel, the two sides looked at each other in silence.
There were many things to say, but they didn't know how to start.
In the end, they could only nod to each other.
"Come on."
They said goodbye.
That night, all the IG players boarded a plane and landed in Shanghai.
It was also that night that the country completely entered a carnival stage.
After two years, the LPL region will not break through the quarterfinals, but once it breaks through, it will be two teams!
The LPL twins, against the LCK twins.
This year's semi-finals is a battle between China and South Korea!
Of course... They are called the LPL twins, but in fact, RNG's reputation and popularity are far stronger than IG.
All-Chinese class, all-Chinese class, in the final analysis, RNG is the one that everyone expects.
Whether it is from popularity, strength, or the configuration of star players in the team, RNG crushes IG in all aspects.
Even if IG had a glorious time a few days ago, as long as RNG advances, everyone's eyes will fall on RNG.
Some IG fans felt very aggrieved, and some said half-jokingly and half-sadly:"Looking at the movement outside, I thought that only RNG would advance to the LPL this year..."
Play Behind the smile, there was some sadness and helplessness.
It was just... there was no way. IG's previous foundation was too poor. Compared with RNG, they were like young people who had just become adults, while RNG was a 30-year-old strong man who had already fought in countless LPL and international competitions and won various honors.
If they wanted to turn the situation around, they had to do better than RNG... Otherwise, even if they had the same results as RNG, everyone's attention would be on the latter.
That night, RNG collectively ascended, and the announcements of the LPL twin stars and the China-Korea War were all over the sky.
Globally, the Twitter charts were dominated, and domestic Weibo and other major media software were also dominated by these news.
The popularity of S7 has reached its peak.
The attention is enough to be calculated in billions.
On the same night, IG took a low-key flight and landed in Shanghai, continuing the previous crazy training.
After the quarterfinals, there was a break of less than a week, but for IG and RNG, they had no chance to rest.
The closer it was to the final battle, the more intense the atmosphere of suffocation and excitement became.
When the time came to October 28th.
This crazy tension finally broke out to the extreme.
Because today... October 28, 2017, is the opening day of the 2017 World Finals semi-finals!
Early in the morning of this day, IG and RNG, who had arrived early, took a bus to the venue of this year's S semi-finals, the internationally renowned super stadium.
Shanghai Oriental Sports Center!
The suffocating tension made them ignore the huge crowds of spectators outside and enter the venue to prepare.
At the same time, countless fans across the country, all audiences around the world, even major anchors, official personnel, and anyone who has anything to do with the e-sports circle have already set their sights on the Oriental Sports Center.
No matter how much everyone argued before the game, how deadly the schedule of the top four was, the contradictions and gaps between IG and RNG fans... RNG fans mocked IG for its low popularity, and IG mocked RNG for not being able to beat SKT.
But when this day really came, all fans and audiences of LPL put aside all their prejudices and gave the best wishes and visions to the two teams today.
The twin stars who have been looking forward to it for an unknown period of time gathered in the semi-finals... At this moment, they are not fans of any team, they are fans of the entire LPL region! Work together and face the outside world in unison!
This is the unity that the LPL region has never had before, but now it has really happened. Everyone hopes that the two teams that are fighting outside and the generals who are fighting for the LPL outside can... return triumphantly.
Time passed, and when the clock reached three o'clock, the Oriental Sports Center was dark.
The semi-finals...officially begin!