mousepad-d2 Chapter 33: Quarterfinals, Against DK!
Chapter 33: Quarterfinals, Against DK!
"What on earth is this fire guy going on about?"
"That's really outrageous, damn it! They actually said the S10 champion top laner is inferior to him?"
"He's just a newcomer who's played a few impressive matches, and they're already praising him to the skies? That's ridiculous."
"This is LPL's weakness: arrogance and complacency."
"They always talk about winning three championships in four years, haha, let's see if they're still laughing this year."
"With only TES left in the LPL, if DK performs well, four LCK teams will reach the semifinals, and we'll reclaim our position as the strongest region!"
"To crush TES, you have to crush fire. Once you crush him, the rest of TES are trash."
"Nutty! It's up to you! Go for it!"
While LCK fans criticize Lin Jin, they also recognize his skill and give him enough respect. They hope Nuguri can take this seriously and demonstrate the difference in top lane performance.
LPL fans weren't really excited by Lin Jin's "passionate speech".
Three of the four semifinalists have fallen, and they even hope that Top Esports will die even faster, so that the LPL can be completely destroyed and rebuilt.
After the provincial world championships are over, with some marketing, and another invincible super team, next year will be the most promising year yet.
Of course, there are still some fans who persist in supporting the LPL and hope that Top Esports can salvage their last bit of pride and defeat DK.
They should at least try to make it to the semifinals.
…………
In the rest room, Lin Jin and his teammates were waiting for the match to begin.
Coach Fang was still using his left hand, while Gao Tianliang kept exchanging information.
His biggest concern in this game is the midfield and jungle.
Xu Xiu and Canyon, this championship-winning midfielder and fielder duo who have been playing together for many years, are not easy to deal with.
A few minutes later, a staff member came over and told us that we could go to the battle area.
Guo Hao clapped his hands:
"Alright, let's begin, brothers."
"One, two, three! Top Esports!"
"come on!"
After the encouragement, Lin Jin and his teammates arrived at the players' corridor.
As the top laner, he was in the first position, and the cameraman's lens was pointed directly at him, making him feel a little uncomfortable.
Opposite them, the DK team members stood in neat rows, waiting for the host to announce the program.
"Let's welcome TES's top laner...fire!"
Lin Jin waved and walked to the center of the stage, standing in the designated spot.
Despite it being his first time participating in the world championships, Lin Jin's outstanding performance has already won over many international viewers.
His appearance was met with a great deal of shouts and cheers.
LPL commentary booth:
"Brother Huo is very popular."
"Yes, Huozi performed exceptionally well in this World Championship."
"This knockout stage is crucial; it's a direct confrontation with Niu Guli!"
"The time to prove yourself has come, Brother Huo!"
Then the teammates entered one by one, with Jack Spicy Dance receiving the loudest cheers.
At the same time, when Xu Xiu of DK entered the arena, the shouts were deafening.
As the mid-laner of the S10 champion and a popular player in the global region, Xu Xiu is already a superstar player.
He waved to the audience with a smile on his signature large face.
After taking their seats, Jackie Chan joked:
"Who's going to carry today, guys?"
Mark laughed too: "Get ready to carry us, guys."
With his left hand, he mumbled, "Are you under pressure, Wenbo?"
Jack's Hot Dance: "I'm not under any pressure. I feel like the brothers are going to have a blast today, so I'm going to lie down for a bit."
Gao Tianliang said, "How should I put it? Let's just pick Draven first."
Everyone just laughed.
Lin Jin also said, "Holy crap, holy crap."
Gao Tianliang: "I'm ready to lie down."
The group joked around and quickly moved on to the business plan (BP) phase.
Because Top Esports had a higher group stage ranking, they had the right to choose sides first, and Coach Fang chose the blue side without hesitation.
Furthermore, during the ban phase, two junglers were banned consecutively.
Kindred and Graves both pressed the button.
The commentators found it strange that Graves could be banned first, and they could wait to pick him themselves.
Anyway, Gao Tianliang is quite skilled at playing Graves.
However, DK clearly also felt that the jungler position was very important, and thus banned two junglers.
Guan Zeyuan said, "In that case... we don't have enough strong heroes for the jungle position."
"How about Lee Sin? I think he's pretty good right now."
"Yeah, that's right. Before the World Championship, Lee Sin is always a champion that can be played, no matter what version it is."
However, Top Esports did not give their first pick to the jungler, but instead locked in Sylas.
"Oh? Sylas, very good, that's a move that shuts down the opponent's useful ultimate champions."
"Yes, many teams play like this now. I'll just pick Sylas. Anyway, he's a top mid-lane champion. I'm not afraid of whatever you pick."
"Left Hand, it's time to face Xu Xiu head-on."
After Top Esports picked Sylas, DK immediately locked in their top and jungle, showing no hesitation and picking whatever strong champions they could get.
With Aatrox and Vi in one hand, this lock-on is a bit difficult to deal with.
Coach Fang said, "The enemy team picked Vi. Xiaotian, you should pick support first, and jungler as the third pick. Our jungler and support should try to initiate team fights."
Gao Tianliang nodded and immediately selected Titan to avoid being caught by the opponent's double-lock-on composition of Vi and Titan.
After acquiring Titan, Coach Fang and Gao Tianliang discussed the jungler selection.
The Blind Monk and the Tree are still outside, but having Gao Tianliang play with the Tree is a bit abstract.
Coach Fang said, "How about Lee Sin? You're already quite skilled with him anyway."
Gao Tianliang was about to nod when Lin Jin suddenly suggested, "How about Piggy?"
"Aren't we aiming for jungler and support crowd control? Sejuani's frontline and crowd control would be even better."
"Wouldn't a mid-jungle duo of Sejuani and Sylas be even better?"
Coach Fang thought about it for a while, nodded, and decided on Pig Girl.
Gao Tianliang had no objections; he now trusted Lin Jin implicitly.
Guan Zeyuan: "Okay, Top Esports picked Sejuani and Nautilus as their second and third picks. This jungle-support combination is very solid."
"Yes, but will the damage be insufficient?"
"It seems like Sylas's damage output isn't enough in the early to mid-game. Or is JackeyLove trying to secure strong early-game objectives here, otherwise it will be difficult to contest for Rift Herald and Dragon?"
With a support champion like Nautilus, the ADC can actually pick a carry champion, such as Kai'Sa, Xayah, or Kalista.
However, it will be very difficult to gather resources in the early stages, so it depends on the priorities.
DK's third pick was Akali for the mid lane; that was their only option.
Basically, once you get to the knockout stage, it's all about mid-lane matchups.
Guan Zeyuan: "DK left their bot lane duo, should we ban them? Ban the support, sure."
After banning two support champions from DK, DK ultimately picked an ADC, Aphelios, and left the support champion for last.
The commentators all said that the counter bit of DK is essentially invalid.
When it was Top Esports' turn to pick their fourth and fifth champions, JackeyLove picked several heroes in a row and finally decided to take Varus.
You're Aphelios? Then I'll crush you in the early game with Varus.
As for the final move, Coach Fang looked at Lin Jin and said:
"Little Fire, what do you want to play?"