Chapter 155 [Year], a semi-final showdown comparable to the finals!
Chapter 155 [Ten Years], a semi-final showdown comparable to the finals!
Perhaps it is because Lao Deng has never stepped into the field of world competition in his ten-year career, and has no experience of competing with any foreign professional players.
Therefore, since entering the world competition stage, the content of Lao Deng’s diary has “stopped updating” and no related content has been triggered again.
Ye Bo also didn't understand why Lao Deng's diary would unlock new things at this time.
But by this point, he had already confirmed many things.
After all, what was recorded in the diary has already happened in reality. In this S12 World Championship, almost all the members were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
The long-lost and familiar diary screen appears.
【XNUM X Year X NUM X Month X NUM X Day】
[The last dance! I didn’t expect to witness such an exciting final up close in my first year at the World Championship! Although I also managed to achieve five consecutive wins, I’m still very lucky! ]
[It’s a pity that I didn’t make the roster this year, but the team leader said that I’ll be promoted to the first team as a substitute next year. Anyway, RNG will definitely make it to the World Championship next year. I’m really looking forward to it~~]
[So what if no one is optimistic? Mr. Dai persisted for nine years and he did it! ————One day, I will definitely be able to do it too! ]
[If nine years doesn’t work, then ten, eleven years.]
[So, you have to hurry up, Ye Bo! ]
[I have to practice a little more than others every day. If I practice a little more, that day may come sooner. Let me set a small goal. Winning the championship within ten years will be considered a success!]
Looking at the mumbling contents of the diary, Ye Bo quickly grasped the "key points" in it.
“DRX won?”
There is no record in the diary related to the content of the game.
After all, no one would write about "tactics" and "design" in a diary.
So Ye Bo didn’t know who DRX defeated in the world finals of Old Dengbo.
However, through the "reasoning" at the beginning of the content, since the top four were almost wiped out, it means that there are at least three LCK teams - that is to say, it is very likely that DRX will defeat T1 or GEN.G.
Unexpectedly knowing the result in advance actually changed Ye Bo's expectations.
After all, at the moment, in everyone's perception, among the remaining three LCK teams, DRX is obviously ranked last.
But if DRX wins the championship in the end.
After thinking about these.
Ye Bo looked at the diary again and suddenly felt mixed emotions.
For such a long time, he has regarded Lao Deng as an "old friend" whom he has known for a long time, or even as "himself".
The time of this diary entry is obviously the year when Lao Deng just started his professional career.
At that time, Lao Deng probably didn't know that his words would actually come true.
In the end, it was in the tenth year of my career that my career ended with that outcome.
"and many more."
"Theoretically speaking, isn't this the tenth year?"
Ye Bo suddenly remembered something at this moment.
It's something I hadn't noticed before.
That was after the playoffs ended, when I had just won the summer championship and the system gave me a new task for the next stage.
A piece of "gossip" mixed in.
[Do you still remember your goal ten years ago? It’s not too late now]
At that time, Ye Bo was busy looking at the rewards and new tasks of the S game, and did not take these seemingly inexplicable words to heart at all.
And now think about it.
Maybe old Denbo can still be called a “successful person”?
"walk slowly."
"There's still time, Old Deng."
Ye Bo seemed to be talking to himself.
But it seemed like he was making a promise to the air, to an old friend.
"Dear audience! Welcome to the S12 World Championship semifinals!"
"The first match today is between DRX and T1 in the upper half! A peak showdown between the two legendary veterans from Mapo and LCK!"
The upper half of the semi-finals can be said to be the most unequal game in terms of {pre-war expectations}, and no one is optimistic about DRX.
But there is no doubt that this is also the most talked-about one.
Ten contestants took to the stage, and pre-match promotional videos played alternately under the lights.
The dark screen lit up.
Li Xianghe was the first to walk out of the darkness, and the narration voice suddenly sounded.
{The last time the world finals were held at Madison Square Garden was in 2016, when Faker won all the games.}
"It took me too much time to get back to the finals. This is the fifth year," Li Xianghe opened his mouth with his usual calm tone, but his tone seemed to be full of murderous intent.
“I want to win again so badly.”
The scene flipped, and it was Deft who walked out.
But they are suddenly two completely different styles.
"I still remember that my classmates were talking about a guy in the next class who had a very high League of Legends ranking. That was the first time I knew about Faker."
"At that time, I really wanted to surpass him and become the best League of Legends player in the school, even if it was just for one season."
“Standing on the finals stage is something that only appeared in my dreams.”
"This time I don't want to leave before then."
Then the style of the promotional video suddenly changed, and suddenly came to a yellowed scene that looked like a flashback.
It was as if time had gone back ten years, showing the bond that had developed between the two of them ten years earlier.
The two were both at Mapo High School in South Korea, and were only separated by a wall every day. They both entered the professional arena in 2013.
It's like fate.
But the starting point is the same, but the path is different.
Finally, they met again under such circumstances.
Especially since Deft had already announced on the eve of this year's World Championship that he might retire next year, this may very well be his "last dance."
In such an atmosphere.
It seemed as if this game was given a sense of "fatalism".
The game starts soon.
T1 won the first game by tossing a coin, and was the first to reach the blue side, and also successfully demonstrated a key hero advantage of T1.
After the quarterfinals, everyone knows that top laner Yongen is an all-round counter to Aatrox whether in laning, teamfighting or solo play!
But even knowing this, there is only one T1 team in the entire world championship that can use Yongen as the top laner.
So this becomes T1's exclusive BP advantage!
That is, no matter whether they are on the red or blue side, they don’t have to ban Aatrox and Fiora!
If you are on the blue side, you can win and force you to play Aatrox in the first three picks. Otherwise, you will have to force a game by giving up the BP of two strong heroes in this version.
In the first game, T1 showed this BP advantage to the fullest, forcing DRX to pick Aatrox.
In the middle lane, Tsar attacked Sylas, and Zeka was unable to gain control of the lane.
The result was that DRX had no lines in the upper half, which directly led to Pyosik being completely defeated in the jungle in the first game, which in turn led to the collapse of the rhythm, and they were completely flattened in just 29 minutes!
"One to zero!"
"T1 almost completely suppressed the opponent! The game was ended before 30 minutes!"
The result of the first game was not unexpected.
It seems that this is how it should be.
Even Ye Bo, after watching this game, had some doubts about the contents of the diary he had seen - after all, the gap shown seemed to be quite large.
"Does it mean that GEN.G defeated T1, and DRX beat GEN.G?"
This continued until the first fifteen minutes of the second game.
In this game, DRX got the BP they wanted, getting Varus, Galio, Sylas, and Ruined King, the team's best lineup. At most, the only thing in the top lane was the disadvantageous matchup between Shen and Aatrox.
Although Kingen's Shen actually suppressed Zeus's Aatrox during the laning phase.
But DRX still has a disadvantage in three lines.
The reason for this is that T1 is a team with strong individual strength in all four lanes, while DRX has no advantage in facing the opponent head-on.
The turning point begins with the transition period starting from 15 minutes.
DRX, whose bottom lane was finally liberated, suddenly made several consecutive moves that could be described as "God's moves"!
Even Ye Bo, who was in a God's perspective, couldn't help but applaud.
And with Zeka Sylas catching a mistake of Faker's Viktor at the sideline, he gained an advantage in the matchup.
The top laner Kingen, Shen, directly completed a solo kill on Zeus's Aatrox!
T1's rhythm suddenly began to spiral out of control after several waves of consecutive deaths.
The final battle lasted until the 45th minute, and we lost the game because the sideline Shen was unstoppable and the operating space was completely out of scale.
"Turtle.DRX's operation is really good." Ye Bo couldn't help but sigh.
“Huh, is that so?” Saint Spear shrugged. “I think the top laner in this game is a bit criminal. Zeus, the Sword Demon, seems to be on the same level as me, haha.”
"Indeed. I also think DRX is a bit weird." Former commander Meiko also saw the clue: "How should I put it? It seems that they always plan ahead of time, and T1 just happens to be going for that wave of fights. The timing is really good."
“The alpacas are really having something to say this year!”
After all, the EDG players have a special relationship with Deft, and deep down they still prefer DRX.
However, I don’t know if it’s because Ye Bo “predicted” the outcome of the game in advance that his perspective on the problem has changed.
He did feel that this DRX game was a little different - at least compared to their quarterfinal performance.
In the third game, T1 returned to the blue side.
They also found that Zeus's Aatrox seemed to be a little bit lacking, and after DRX banned Yongen, they took the initiative to ban Aatrox on the blue side.
The lineups of both teams in this game seem to be pretty standard.
But after the second game, as if the tactics had been "proven successful", DRX showed a completely different tactical strategy starting from the third game, and accumulated a considerable advantage before 20 minutes.
"I understand!" Ye Bo suddenly shouted as he watched.
"They knew they had no advantage on the laning side, so they freed up players by seizing lanes in three lanes, and then simultaneously mobilized three lanes to rotate attacks, forcing T1 to run around and open up space."
"This lineup is specially designed. Their BP strategy for the red team is worth referring to!"
"DRX's commander is really amazing. They can attack three lanes at the same time and still be so orderly. There must be someone coordinating the team."
As the team commander, Ye Bo was the one who could best see the difference.
Since the first-person perspective could not be seen at this time, Ye Bo did not know who was giving the command.
Or was it really the DRX players' own explosive performance?
However, no one can predict the changes in Summoner's Rift.
Just when the DRX situation was looking very good.
Accidents happened, one after another.
“Got it!!!”
"T1 was unable to fight for the little dragon due to the reduction in personnel, but Xiao Lu Bu's Varus was thousands of miles away and snatched it with one arrow! It was the crucial waiting dragon!"
"In this case, the offensive rhythm established by DRX can only be slowed down!"
"This is absolutely great news for T1's development lineup!"
Varus performed a "Shooting the Halberd at the Gate" move and grabbed the key dragon from thousands of miles away.
This is undoubtedly a crucial impact.
DRX knew that the game would become increasingly difficult as the dragon was snatched away, so they couldn't force a team fight with the dragon soul, and they didn't have the ability to end the game with the Ancient Dragon.
and so.
DRX, with 5K economy in hand, chose to attack Baron Nash in the 20th minute when they had the greatest economic advantage.
There is absolutely no problem from a decision-making perspective. Even if you just force the opponent to come over for a team fight, there is still a chance to win.
Of course T1 can't not come.
In the first half, DRX's handling of team battles was enough to attract everyone's attention.
The division of labor is clear, and everyone stands at the key point, forming an angled defensive formation, leaving no gap for you to escape.
"DRX can counterattack as long as they kill the Baron! They can even directly counterattack and go to the pit!"
"The dragon has 1,000 HP!!!"
"Pyosik used his punishment too early again! The dragon, which had less than 100 health, was snatched by Varus again!"
"Second time! This is the second dragon of this game! This will also be the clarion call for T1's counterattack!"
The big dragon was stolen, and the huge advantage was almost wiped out overnight.
What follows is that the offensive pressure of the lineup is infinitely magnified.
The situation was very good, and DRX, which seemed to be about to have a chance to "break through the blue", was overturned.
The score has come to 1 to 2.
If it were an ordinary person, his mentality would definitely be a little broken after this game.
Victory is so close.
But it was just two dragons, just two punishments, that almost pulled people from heaven to hell in an instant!
This is when the specialness of the DRX team is highlighted.
They didn't seem to be affected at all, except that the jungler, whose mentality must have fluctuated in the previous game, got a big tree that was not prone to mistakes. Then all the members continued to implement the BP and tactical strategies of the previous game.
And when they came to the blue side, they seemed to be more at ease.
The fourth game lasted less than 28 minutes and the team successfully won the game with a score of 4-14!
The first war criminal in this game is top laner Zeus again!
The reason is simple - just because Zeus chose Fiora, who is also an all-round counter, to restrain the opponent after Yongen was banned.
But he was beaten by Kingen's Sword Demon in full time! "Shouldn't Sword Princess be able to beat Sword Demon easily? How did it turn out like this?" Jiejie asked puzzled.
"It should be easy to beat him." Saint Spear didn't know what to say: "But Kingen's Sword Demon is really strong, this is Zeus' Sword Princess!"
"Zeka is pretty good at playing the Aztar. How could he suppress Fei's Akali like this? I thought he only knew how to play assassins," Meiko joked, "If Master Ye plays, maybe this game will be interesting."
"Maybe, no need to change." Viper followed up with something that sounded nonsensical.
Ye Bo was silently recording something by himself.
Obviously, the variables on the road become the key.
The two heroes that are most effective against Aatrox, Yongen will never be used against you, and Fiora will not be able to have any effect - which directly led to DRX returning to the red side in the fifth game, and having one more bargaining chip on the BP side.
In the fourth game, Faker's "stealing" of Akali in the middle lane was also ineffective.
By the fifth game, there were seriously insufficient Ban slots, and one had to be released.
In the end, T1 chose to release the Sword Demon and banned Akali and Sylas.
It's the fifth game.
Beryl also showed one of his "results" after the quarterfinal stage.
On the LPL commentary desk, Guan Zeyuan, who has always had a good memory, seemed to have realized something and muttered to himself.
"DRX's lineup is a bit similar to EDG's quarterfinal lineup, and the BP seems to be targeting them."
His words did not attract much attention at first.
After all, the heroes EDG chose at that time were all common heroes in the version, so it was normal to combine them together.
But when it comes to the actual game, more similarities are revealed.
"Pyosik's clever counter-camp again! The deception above the field of vision, Oner fell for it!"
"And this Treant is absolutely the best choice! In the first round, both sides were fighting for the top, mid and jungle positions. In the second round of BP, all the bottom laners with displacement were banned. This Treant is a huge threat to the back row!"
"In this game, Pyosik seemed to be redeeming himself, with both the top and bottom lanes blossoming! At the same time, Zeka's Leblanc in the middle lane absolutely suppressed Faker's Tsar!"
In fact, even Ye Bo himself could vaguely discover the similarities between the two teams.
It's not like "command" or anything like that.
It's the attributes of the two teams.
Each team has a special player who must be good at banning heroes, but on EDG's side, it is Ye Bo alone, while on DRX's side, it is distributed among Aatrox, Akali, Sylas, and Galio.
At the same time, the mid laners of both sides are also extremely offensive players, and even if you are playing as the Tsar, they will give you the full play in the laning phase.
It can be said that if the two teams swap the attributes of the upper and lower lanes, they will have the same attribute configuration!
In this game, all the DRX players performed very bravely, especially the top laner Aatrox - he actually killed Zeus's Gwen again during the laning phase!
The game lasted 19 minutes.
Although DRX only has a 2K advantage, this game is different from the previous one, and the lineup is not afraid of the opponent.
However, T1 is not so easy to defeat.
Despite being at a disadvantage, Lee Sang-hyuk led his team to find an opportunity.
In the midst of a fake retreat, the Tsar suddenly counterattacked and pushed back the Forbidden Guards' Wall with lightning speed.
Successfully pushed back the opponent's three Cs, upper, middle and lower!
"Faker pushed back three people! Two of them landed and quickly used flash!"
"But the Sword Demon didn't dodge! Kill the Sword Demon! Kill the Sword Demon!"
However, the foreshadowing in the early stage appeared.
This Sword Demon, because he had made a solo kill in the laning phase, not only had a level advantage, but also had a terrifying development of having two sets of equipment in hand in advance.
And the second item is the Great Drinking Demon Sword!
T1 top laner Gwen, mid laner Tsar, AD Varus, support Fan Li, AP damage is off the charts!
After a set of skills were used, the Sword Demon who released the Starworm was able to survive under the protection of the {Savior's Spirit Blade}.
Kingen, who was trapped in the crowd, not only did not retreat, but activated the Great Annihilation Rising Wings, and swung the precise Darkin giant blade directly in the crowd!
The Starworm's {all-round bloodsucking} and {shield} combined with the huge amount of bloodsucking of the Great Annihilation.
A Darkin's sharp blade chopped down five people, and then a fan of swords cut the outer seam, and their health instantly increased by half!
"This sword demon!!!"
"The tree blocks the road! Renata flashes and uses her ultimate. T1 is about to explode! It's over!"
0 for 4.
Moreover, it happened on the eve of 20 minutes, and the big dragon would be refreshed in 15 seconds, so it was 0 for 4!
When everyone saw this, their eyes were filled with disbelief.
DRX, a team that no one was optimistic about, has already stepped half a step onto the finals stage.
Even Ye Bo, who knew the result in advance, never expected that this BO5 would develop like this.
But no one could have imagined it.
The game has just begun.
After the Baron was refreshed, the five DRX players started fighting, but due to a bloody team fight, all members were not in complete condition.
Just when the Baron's health was reduced to half, three TPs appeared at T1's river jungle ward.
Among them is Varus' TP.
The big dragon still had 2000 health left, but at this moment, a searchlight blue eye illuminated the dragon pit.
The True Eye's vision quickly blocked it.
It was just this brief moment of vision exposure that revealed the Baron's condition.
Varus's withering arrow, at the extreme distance of 1,200 yards, was fired at the dragon pit whose vision had been blocked.
"what!!!!"
"Got it again!"
All the commentary stations were screaming at this scene happening.
"The third one! The third dragon snatched in this BO5! And it's the second Baron!"
"Why don't you pay the penalty when you have 800 HP?!"
"In this case, DRX's teamfight is completely in vain. T1 may even push back!"
T1, with the buff of the big dragon, went straight to the opponent's bottom lane high ground after coming out and instantly overtook the opponent economically.
The situation seemed to reverse in an instant.
However, the criticality of BP emerges again.
The T1 bottom lane hero has no displacement or survivability.
But Ahri and Maokai were very good at finding opportunities, and the two players in the bottom lane were found opportunities one after another and were forced to flash before the team fight.
Frankly speaking, although a few arrows of Xiao Lu Bu were crucial in this BO5, his performance at other times was not impressive, and it can even be said that he made many mistakes.
Keria's voice seemed to have completely lost its spark, as if she had met her "nemesis", and the whole audience was silent.
More importantly, if it were 99% of the teams, they would be devastated and their morale would be greatly disrupted if they experienced the Baron being stolen repeatedly in such a crucial event!
But DRX seems to be different.
They showed great resilience in the deciding game. Even in such a difficult situation, they still quickly regained their smooth offensive rhythm in the early stages.
The turning point appeared again on the wing.
"Wait! Get on the road!"
"Zeus was crippled! And he gave up Gwen's W! In this case...what!"
"How come DRX's bottom team had two TPs in advance! They were tanking before the Sword Demon made his move!"
"The jungler who was protecting Gwen just reacted, but the people who TPed to the ground had already surrounded and blocked her way. Gwen was about to be killed first!"
DRX once again launched a "predictive" attack.
Of course, this was obviously Gwen's own fault, as she made a mistake in her operation.
Not only was he unable to hold on until his teammates arrived after exchanging blood, but he seemed to be unwilling to accept the defeat and moved forward to suppress the Sword Demon, but ended up falling into an ambush.
DRX once again headed for the Baron.
This time, they staged the famous scene of "Five Rs Guarding the Baron", desperately preventing the opponent from approaching the dragon pit, and finally succeeded in getting the first Baron.
40 minutes, Ancient Dragon Group.
DRX took the initiative to start a team fight and block the road head-on. The river sword demon, like a devil descending from the earth, took the lead and swung the blade bravely, which was simply unstoppable!
And at this moment, Lee Sang-hyuk showed amazing decisiveness.
Seeing that it was impossible to fight head-on, he commanded three people to contain the enemy in the front, letting the jungler and AD try to steal the dragon while he and the top laner TP to the bottom lane to steal the home base!
After the Baron was robbed, the high ground in the bottom lane was broken by another wave!
He used this to force the opponent to return to defense. Once they did, a gap would appear in the dragon pit in front. In this way, he could avoid the weak period and create space for combat!
Unfortunately, fate cannot always be on T1's side.
This time, the Withering Arrow failed to grab the fourth dragon.
The jungler lost countless dragons.
But they only guarded this last, most crucial dragon.
The policewoman's trap formation blocked the road perfectly. Oner forced a flash to steal the dragon but failed and ended up losing himself instead——————but the two players in the bottom lane risked their lives to interrupt the return to the city!
"Only one Sword Demon TPs back to the city! Only one Sword Demon!"
"The two Fang Towers are like thin paper in front of Gwen and the Tsar! The Sword Demon should be unstoppable! Wuwo should go!!"
"Kingen!!!"
The Sword Demon used EQ from the side to avoid the Tsar's push, then used Q to flash A.
The full-damage Sword Demon killed the Tsar with one sword.
The remaining Gwen still wanted to kill by force, but due to his own lack of development, the Great Drinker had become a hopeless obstacle.
The Sword Demon completed a 1 vs 2 fight in front of the Front Tower.
Turning around, we saw that except for the support, the other three members of DRX did not take advantage of the Baron BUFF to quickly return to the city.
Instead, go directly to the opponent's crystal!
This can only mean that they think the support + sword demon can defend the home, otherwise this move will be giving away the base.
But this move undoubtedly also confirmed how calm DRX was and how clear their thinking was at this critical moment.
The three of them pressed forward towards the opponent's unguarded front line.
Flattened the crystal in 42 minutes!
"The last dance! DRX stands to the end!"
"This is an exciting game that is comparable to a final! No one could have predicted all the directions this game would take!"
"Deft's dance isn't over yet! They will be heading to the final stage, waiting to face the winner of the lower half!"
The moment T1's main crystal collapsed, the five DRX players jumped up instantly and hugged each other tightly.
Whether inside or outside the stadium, everyone was deeply moved by that moment.
Several old teammates in the EDG team also shed tears when they saw Deft with red eyes on the stage.
The camera then switched to the T1 player seat.
Zeus, who was entering the world championship for the first time and was undoubtedly the biggest culprit in this BO5, was at a loss and kept biting his nails.
Keria covered her face with shaking hands and burst into tears.
Only Faker looked calm, but no one knew what was really happening inside him.
Perhaps it is the regret of being eliminated in the semi-finals again.
Or maybe, it is impossible to go to the next stage and complete revenge on that opponent.
The live broadcast room suddenly became lively, with trolls and haters coming out in full force.
[Is this the invincible T5 in the BO1 of the S game? Why is it sweating even when playing against DRX? Hehe~]
[Beryl is only targeting you, Keria! Last year, we executed each other in the semi-finals, and we have been doing this for three years in a row! ]
[I heard that this is the new version of the complete T1, but I was the runner-up all year? Oh, I'm not even the runner-up this time! ]
[This shitty designer, this version is so boring, didn’t you notice that the blue side basically wins all the time?! Damn coin toss champion, right?]
[Hey, I have to say this, EDG won two games in the quarterfinals]
【Back then, the three stars and ten sons used their power to seal the Great Demon King, and then turned into stardust and scattered everywhere. Now, nine stars have perished, and only the last star remains. This star has been displaced from the peak to the bottom and climbed up from the bottom, facing the Great Demon King who returned to lift the seal. Perhaps he was defeated and even defeated, but at the last moment of fate, he asked the gods for help. At this moment, the nine sons of that year were behind him. He stood up again, took up the sword and stabbed the Demon King, putting an end to his wandering! 】
【Congratulations to Mr. Dai for his breakthrough! 】
Ye Bo looked at the various people in T1 and couldn't help but sigh.
In fact, he really wants to meet T1 in the finals.
After all, this is T1, and it is T5 in BO1, the T1 that has brought countless regrets to LPL.
The group stage is still in the exploratory stage. At this point, it is obvious that everyone has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the game experience is completely different.
But there is no doubt about it.
DRX deserved to win this game. Even if it weren’t for those dragons, the score would never be 3 to 2, and it wouldn’t be so tense.
Ye Bo saw it very clearly.
This DRX team is definitely not as weak as the outside world thinks.
And the opponent may even be evolving after this battle.
And when Ye Bo finished watching the game, he finally understood what old Dengbo felt and thought before he wrote that diary.
But even now, he would still say that.
Before that, of course.
No matter how shocking the battle in the upper half was.
Tomorrow, they still need to overcome the powerful opponent standing in their way—Gen.G!
This BO5 also brought Ye Bo a lot of inspiration and ideas.
He is full of fighting spirit for tomorrow's challenge, or the final obstacle.
(End of this chapter)