Chapter 170: Defend Europe

Local time, afternoon of October 1.

The two Group A matches were scheduled for the later part of today's program, so G2 Zhong Ren didn't need to leave early; after dinner they returned to the training room, playing ranked warm‑ups while occasionally opening the live‑broadcast page to check the match progress.

The first match was the Group B game between Flash Wolves and C9; it was the first match since S6's opening to exceed one hour in length. Both sides showed a determination to fight to the bitter end, battling for over 70 minutes. Some viewers with weak kidneys had to run to the toilet twice before seeing the outcome, and in the end C9 won thanks to their late‑game composition advantage.

Now FW understands why they got crushed by G2 in scrims.

——It's not that G2 is too strong, but that we are too weak.

The LMS First Seed had never even played against the NA Third Seed; on a certain PPT forum, lamentations spread instantly, and netizens felt the sky had fallen.

The second match: Snake versus SKT.

Unexpectedly, Snake pulled off another upset, defeating SKT to secure their second group‑stage win.

In the LPL livestream, the three LPL commentators shouted excitedly:

"Congratulations, Snake!!!"

"We won!! Oh my god, Snake Snake!! No one expected that, while our region's first seed EDG was in a slump, it would be the third seed Snake who kept bringing us huge surprises!!"

"Wow, really, Snake played incredibly well this game!"

"Yes, and they not only played very well in the game, but even in the late game they were not inferior to SKT in macro play, and their entire champion pick was excellent; Coach Zhu Kai has something going for him!"

"Indeed, Coach Zhu Kai truly deserves to be called the domestic pride of coaches; in champion select, he showed no weakness against the renowned double‑champion head coach Kkoma."

The EDG fans in the livestream were feeling sour:

"If you want to congratulate, just do it; why drag EDG into this?!"

After the match, Liang Yan thought it would be a hassle to congratulate everyone individually, so he pulled Fu Lan Duo, Ke Li Si Tuo, and Lao Zhang into a small group chat and sent his congratulations there.

Soon he received their smug replies:

"Keep it up, bro—we've already succeeded in resisting the cold; now it's your turn."

"We can all beat SKT; you guys shouldn't just rush through ROX?"

Liang Yan replied with: a smile emoji.

The third match was SPY versus TSM; as expected, TSM won without much effort, and G2 Zhong Ren could only sigh. The bottom lane duo Wen Xi and Mi Xi even drew crosses on their chests, bidding SPY farewell in advance……

That's a bit harsh, but objectively speaking, once SPY fell into Group D their fate was basically sealed; European netizens didn't hold high hopes for them, and after the match they flooded SPY's official Twitter with comments saying:

"Come on, winning just one match would already be not disgracing Europe's honor……"

"and things like that."

Seeing these comments, the SPY manager felt even more heartbroken.

Looking at H2K's group, he couldn't help but resentfully lament the unfairness of fate.

But in the end he still posted a tweet openly:

"We gave it our all; the opponent's strength exceeded our imagination. @G2, keep it up—hope that as Europe's number one you can defeat ROX and bring glory to the region!"

At that time, G2 Zhong Ren were on their way to the venue when Ka Lao Si, who had been surfing at high intensity for twenty‑four hours, received a mention and immediately replied:

"@Splyce: Defend Europe's glory, we have no choice but to do so!"

While posting, he also gathered the G2 crew together for a pose, took a photo, and posted it along with the tweet.

Upon arriving backstage at the venue, SPY had already left, so everyone went straight to the makeup room, freshened up, then returned to their resting room to sit and wait for the match to start.

At this moment, the fourth match was already entering its final stages.

This match was RNG versus SSG.

The commentator was Guan Zeyuan.

Although Guan Zeyuan no longer even bothered to maintain his Taiwanese citizenship while desperately trying to pocket three stars, RNG had fallen too far behind early on and ultimately could not turn the tide, losing after over thirty minutes.

Tang Anna bluntly commented on the spot:

"Malaxiangguo isn't suited to play Nidalee; although he's also an aggressive jungler, he truly isn't fit for Wild Core–type champions—his desire to make plays is too strong, and he doesn't prioritize clearing jungle or his own development, making it impossible for him to play Nidalee well."

Liang Yan said nothing, but he deeply agreed.

Tang Anna's analysis was completely correct; Malaxiangguo loves to make plays too much, and even when there's no opportunity he forces one, wasting too much farming time.

Of course, RNG's management also bears responsibility here, since RNG's absolute core must be Uzi; perhaps the coach's instruction to Malaxiangguo was simply to guarantee Uzi's development at all costs, even to help Uzi gain a certain advantage.

In short, the result was that the Leopard Woman's own development was merely average.

But the Leopard Woman is only useful if she has an advantage; she must vastly out‑jungle other junglers to gain a huge lane advantage, thereby achieving the goal of controlling the game's tempo.

Playing like this, Malaxiangguo simply won't work.

Specifically in this match, what showed up was that RNG's Leopard Woman + Snake Woman mid‑jungle was blown up by SSG's Scorpion + Ryze.

Looper's Jayce dealt 33% of the team's damage share, and was also the only teammate with a positive kill‑death ratio at the end of the game.

By comparison, the mid‑jungle looked awful.

One was 1‑3.

One was 1‑4.

Xiaohu's Snake Woman contributed only 16% of the team's output all game, being relatively invisible in lane and team fights, but RNG fans' reflex is to blame the jungler regardless of the score—if the jungler didn't do his job and didn't give Uzi a big lead, the whole team collapses.

Malaxiangguo had already been flamed badly when he lost to EDG in the summer finals; he's grown used to it, and besides, RNG's management won't let him publicly argue with fans, lest it harm the club's image, so Malaxiangguo can only stay silent.

Ka Lao Si seized the opportunity to kick them while they were down, quickly posting a Weibo:

"Congratulations, SSG!"

The RNG official account began playing dead.

After the match ended, the RNG members silently returned to the hotel, then sat quietly in the training room for a long while, when someone suddenly said:

"How about we scrim against Snake?"

Snake had just beaten SKT, and the whole match displayed a lineup and playstyle that were extremely strong, clearly reflecting their own unique understanding; the proposer meant that perhaps we could steal a trick, learning from Snake how to play in the LCK.

The management was immediately tempted.