Chapter 123: Primary School Exam

A few hours before the EU third-place match began, the LPL had already played two qualifier matches.

The first match, IM easily defeated VG 3-0.

Immediately after, the second match saw IM face the second-round qualifier boss, WE.

The two sides went to a fifth game.

IM, likely exhausted from eight straight matches in a day, ultimately lost the deciding game, missing out on the S6 World Championship; the winner of this Bo5, WE, would then face the final qualifier champion Snake the next day.

After the second Bo5, the IM players were drenched in sweat and looked pallid, making netizens feel sorry for them. Although IM is a new team, its predecessor was EDG's second team, so it can be said to be part of the EDG family; consequently, in the minds of one of LPL's largest fan groups, the 'piglets,' IM is like EDG's son.

Seeing their 'son' treated unfairly, the piglets naturally grew angry, and after the second qualifier match they swarmed the official Weibo accounts of Riot and LPL.

This is indeed a problem with the format, so Riot and the LPL officials could only feign ignorance, while secretly beginning to deliberate cutting one LPL qualifier slot to prevent such incidents from recurring.

However, Bo8 and Bo10 ultimately lack a bit of significance.

In Liang Yan's view, this matter is unlikely to become a classic legend like the Bo10 of another timeline; it will probably die down after a while.

As for tomorrow's qualifier final, setting aside personal wishes, Liang Yan objectively also believes Snake has a higher chance of winning; he chatted with Fu Lan Duo on WeChat, and it's clear Fu Lan Duo is also confident that winning will be no problem.

As for yesterday's LPL summer final, Liang Yan didn't watch it; he only heard that a fairly famous guest was invited to commentate, and the match result was the same as in another timeline: EDG crushed RNG 3-0.

Liang Yan knows without watching that RNG's loss must be due to a jungle-mid lane gap plus a BP gap; he recalls that although UZI doesn't quite sync with the current meta AD, his personal ability is evident, so laning shouldn't be an issue; even though the top laner Looper is old, facing A Guang he still experiences no pressure, so the problem must lie in the jungle and mid lane being crushed, which then drags down the whole game.

Changzhang is too good at civil wars.

Meanwhile, Scott may not yet have much popularity at this point, but his ability is beyond doubt.

Moreover, EDG is indeed the LPL team with the most solid theoretical foundation; RNG has already been figured out by them.

Liang Yan has no interest in watching the LPL final because their version understanding is one-sidedly copying LCK, while the other side is far too outdated and limited by the champion pool, offering little reference or study value; if he really wanted to watch, he might as well watch LCK.

The LCK playoffs have already finished.

However, Changzhang and UZI are world-class players, and besides them Mata and Looper also have considerable fame, so there are still many European and American viewers watching the LPL final; added to the world's largest player base, the LPL summer final's viewership crushes that of all other regions, including the LCK summer final.

The current popularity of LoL domestically is terrifying, as evidenced by this.

From the perspective of European and American viewers, this period is actually quite enjoyable; setting aside Riot's antics, everyone just finished watching the LPL 'pig-dog' showdown, and then our side's final showdown immediately began, with exciting matches every day, indeed thrilling.

Today's third-place match actually lacks major suspense, just as netizens predicted before the start; ultimately H2K defeated UOL 3-1.

"Congratulations H2K!!"

The casters cheered loudly on stage.

H2K fans were overjoyed.

"Although it's unpleasant to leave one's fate in others' hands, for H2K's supporters, all they need now is to pray that G2 doesn't crash tomorrow, and H2K will likely secure the second seed."

"Yes, but this season SPY is practically the embodiment of a dark horse, so my personal view is that anything is possible."

"Then let's wait together for tomorrow!"

……

At the same moment.

G2 Zhong Ren were strolling along the banks of the Vistula River.

This was their third day in Kelakefu; the time was past eight in the evening, there weren't many pedestrians on the road, and the group walked leisurely along the riverside path.

The third-place match was also held here, so over these days G2 and H2K have had training match records, giving them some understanding of H2K's level; thus, when they learned from the internet that H2K had defeated UOL, G2 Zhong Ren were not surprised.

It appears H2K also played a few training matches against SPY, but it's unknown what their win rate was.

Regarding the upcoming final, Liang Yan feels no nervousness, but the others aren't as calm as he is, because whether it's AP, the bottom lane duo, or even Lao Zhang, none of them can claim rich experience in big tournaments; among the four, only AP won a championship in the spring split, while the other three have no final experience at all, and tomorrow they will step onto a height they've never reached before, so nervousness is inevitable.

Liang Yan's lack of nervousness stems entirely from his confidence in himself.

Ka Lao Si, however, feared that these youngsters would overthink and lose sleep, so he specially took the group out for an evening stroll to relax.

It still had an effect.

The pair walking ahead chatted about the scene from yesterday's shooting of the pre-match promotional MV, with Zven imitating the tone of SPY's bottom lane AD player Kobbe, saying:

"Zven hasn't won a championship, and neither have I; why is he called the league's top marksman while I'm not? Tomorrow I'll tell everyone I'm stronger than Zven."

What's most amusing is that Zven not only mimicked the tone perfectly, but also the Danish accent is very similar—because both are Danish (Denmark produces ADs, pun intended).

Mithy was teased by his partner into hysterics, then also imitated the tone of SPY's support Mikyx to trash-talk:

"I don't think G2's bottom lane is strong; even though they've even suppressed Rekkles, I believe that's because Firrrrrre inadvertently applied gank pressure on Rekkles, not because G2's bottom lane itself is formidable. When I was in FNC, I knew Rekkles' mentality has always been unstable."

"Wahaha..."

Zven burst out laughing,

"This kid had better never think of returning to FNC, or Rekkles will beat him to death, hahaha."

"Who says otherwise? Moreover, I think once the official releases this clip, Rekkles will probably curse him on Twitter."

"No, he'll first be tower-dived by Rekkles' fans."

"That's too awful, hahaha..."

Laughter kept coming from ahead; AP, who had originally been exchanging jungle-mid lane insights with Liang Yan, couldn't help but be drawn over, sprinting two steps to pounce on them from behind:

"What are you two chatting about to be so happy? Bring me in!"

"I'm not telling you."

"Tch, I heard it all, Zven, do that again..."

Liang Yan smiled, watching the backs of the few people ahead.

Tang Anna hesitated, slowly approaching.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"For you, is playing in the EU match really as easy as a college student doing a primary school worksheet?"

"Do you even believe the trash talk?"

In the trash-talk MV filmed yesterday, Liang Yan's original line was: "Beating SPY will be as easy as a college student doing a primary school worksheet."

Tang Anna took a look at Liang Yan's profile, as if judging whether he was lying.

Liang Yan wore a calm expression.

But in his mind he was thinking, it's pretty much like a high schooler doing an elementary school test.