Chapter 522: Lopsided Support Ratio

The two teams for the second match of the MSI opening day schedule had already taken their seats in the player area, and when the ban/pick phase was about to begin, the real-time support rates for both sides were locked in.

That extremely disproportionate ratio left everyone stunned.

"Oh shit!!"

Commentary guest—a star player from the Brazilian regional league—instinctively blurted out a profanity.

The large on-site screen displayed the final support rates for both sides:

99% to 1%!

That lopsided ratio plunged the venue into a brief silence, followed by a burst of teasing whistles.

The FW players sitting on stage could faintly hear the commotion, and they all felt puzzled, wondering what was happening.

On the commentator desk, Sjokz exaggeratedly covered her mouth; although she had always been fond of Liang Yan, this number still exceeded her expectations:

"Oh my God! This is absolutely the most brutal support‑rate ratio I've ever seen!"

The commentary guests burst into laughter:

"Could this 1% be made up of Flash Wolves players' families, or die‑hard anti‑Korean zealots?"

Sjokz laughed and said:

"It could also be fans of VG's longtime rivals in the LPL voting."

MarkZ shrugged, eyes on the large screen where the support‑rate bar was almost entirely blue, and said:

This ratio isn't strange, Sjokz, because this result aggregates votes from viewers worldwide. But you should know that VG represents a region with over a hundred million registered players. Moreover, you should also know that, as you just said, G2 still possesses strong strength even after Firrrrrre's departure; consequently, the question of whether Firrrrrre can continue to dominate the jungle internationally after leaving G2 has been debated by global viewers for half a year. By leveraging this MSI, we might get an answer, although the true answer will not be revealed until S7.

Sjokz giggled a few times:

"I'm just curious… uh, never mind."

She actually wanted to say she was curious how the LMS region's viewers voted, but realizing this was an official broadcast facing a global audience, she held back.

Meanwhile, countless meddlesome LPL viewers had already flooded into the LMS stream.

At this moment, the official LMS region stream's comments were as follows:

This support rate is really awesome, laughing until I burst.

I'm dying laughing, but who's that 1%? Is it char siu or family members voting?

Everyone gets it, right? We all voted for VG to win so that Flash Wolves wouldn't look too bad when they lose.

This support rate is fair enough; we're originally from the wildcard region.

That 1% is too much; FW can't handle such expectation—suggest voting it down to 0%.

It's fine; the tradition in LMS is that the whole of Taiwan supports only me.

Is Jiao Shen's support rate from the "three minors"? Did he found League of Legends?

At least half of that 99% are European "godfathers" who were beaten into submission by Jiao Shen last year.

Little Jiao, please spare me—don't kick Karsa back to his hometown, okay?

Again, internal strife over dragons, external war against bugs—who's still looking forward to this?

What's MMD (FW top laner) shaking over there? Seeing Sheng Qiang Ge's hand not move—is that it?

I'd only be scared if the ratio were 50/50; that 1% Flash Wolves is the true form—get ready for an upset!

To be frank, compared to the LPL region stream's comments, the locals' remarks actually look pretty cute……

LMS commentator A then said:

"Uh…… this is 99 to 1. To be honest, after commentating for so long, I know Firrrrrre's international influence is huge, but this number really is…… a bit…… too disrespectful (wry smile)."

LMS commentator B's tone was helpless yet tinged with teasing:

"It's fine—what does this mean? It means our FW has zero psychological burden! Think about it: if 99% of the world thinks you'll lose, just taking one head is already a gain. Karsa is probably thinking right now: no problem, later I'll go into the jungle and wrest that 1% of dignity back!"

LMS commentator C burst out laughing:

"Even though the opponent is that Jiao Shen, we still ought to have a dream, right?"

The other two commentators, however, couldn't bring themselves to laugh.

The ban/pick phase began for both sides, with VG on blue and FW on red.

Blue side's first three bans: Shen, Xiao Yu Ren, Ashe.

Red side's first three bans: Galio, Kled, Kennen.

【Damn, banning Shen and Fiora—this is to keep MMD from getting any farm.】

【They've telegraphed an early‑game focus.】

【Agreeing with the post above, VG banning Ashe makes it easy for their jungler to act in the bot lane early!】

……

LPL stream.

Wawa: "Wow, in the first round of bans, both sides combined banned a total of four and a half top‑laners (Galio counts as a flex pick)—what's going on? Jiao Shen said the 7.8 and 7.7 patches weren't that different, so why is top lane so influential now?"

Miller: "Whenever it's Worlds, top‑lane influence spikes—that's Riot's usual pattern."

Guan Zeyuan: "Um…… the group stage has just started, so I feel we can't draw conclusions yet, but if we look at the play‑in stage, the current patch does have a few breakout top‑lane champions—most notably Kennen, plus Rumble; the second tier is Shen and Xiao Yu Ren, but Jiao Shen isn't wrong either, since these champions have all seen play in our playoffs, especially Shen and Kennen, whose pick rates have indeed risen significantly compared to the regular season—these are all signs."

"Let's see what VG picks first—Rumble or male gunner I feel we should contest one, or Lulu could work too, but no matter what we choose, the opponent will surely take the other two."

"Lulu's better, I think…… Varus?"

"Huh? Why pick Varus first? Feels unnecessary."

"Exactly, there are plenty of ADs, and Shuijing Ge's hero pool is fine."

From the LPL commentators' perspective, looking at the regular season, Gangzi's hero pool is indeed deep—he basically pulls out a new champion each time he appears.

Moreover, the two ADs of VG had discussed it before the game, and taking into account that the opponent was FW, Sima Laozei ultimately gave the MSI debut opportunity to Gangzi.

Coincidentally, Gao Jun wanted the team to play sharply this game, so picking a very late‑game hyper‑carry AD would be unsuitable; instead, it happened to match Gangzi's hero pool perfectly.

The roster framework is basically set; Liang Yan plans to focus early on the upper half of the map, so he advises Zhu Xiaolong to look after the bottom lane during ban/pick.

Zhu Xiaolong's main strategy is to heed advice; he directly snatched the currently best usable AD from Gangzi, which is Varus.