Chapter 552: Group Stage Ends

In the G2 lounge.

Perkz had already calmed down, got up, packed his bags, and with his back to everyone said:

"I can't stand it either; I'll remember this feeling, and when we face VG again, I'll make him eat those words."

Perkz walked to the door with his bag slung over his shoulder, suddenly stopped, turned his head, and glanced at everyone.

"We must fight our way into the finals to get revenge."

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then began packing their bags, but their movements were no longer listless, their expressions no longer looked like they had lost their parents, and their fighting spirit rekindled in everyone's hearts.

Tang Anna felt both grateful and ashamed.

She thanked Liang Yan for this provocation tactic; although the method was radical, it was indeed very effective on this bunch of hotheads—even Perkz was provoked—but now Perkz seems to have realized that Liang Yan deliberately said those words to anger him.

And she felt ashamed, as Zven said, Liang Yan is no longer a member of G2, nor the spiritual leader who led them to victory; it's their own team's affair, yet they still need others to worry about it, making Tang Anna feel that as a coach, she still has much to learn.

But having said that, that guy understands G2 too well; he knows exactly how to provoke these hotheads, as if he never left.

Carrying a full heart of unwillingness and the drive to prove themselves, G2 Zhong Ren left the match venue, returned to the hotel, and began a new round of training.

All their group stage matches have ended; what comes next is inevitably a more difficult showdown. Given the current situation, G2 is likely to face an extremely tough opponent in the knockout stage.

But in order to make Liang Yan regret saying those words, G2 Zhong Ren resolved that no matter how strong the opponent, they would trample over the opponent's corpses to reach the finals.

Then crush VG in the finals, and then wildly output on that guy's face!

Hehe, just thinking about it feels great!

……

On the evening of May 14 local time, the last match of the MSI group stage ended, with FW defeating GAM to secure the final spot advancing to the knockout stage.

As the final rankings of the six main event teams settled, forums across the world's major regions practically exploded simultaneously.

Naturally, the first to spark public opinion was that already settled ranking:

First place: VG, nine wins, one loss.

In this MSI group stage, VG's performance in the first round could be described as peerless; its sole loss came from a single game in the second round against KT, where after VG once again picked Galio and KT obtained an almost perfect Galio composition, VG fought for forty-two minutes before narrowly losing, ending the terrifying unbeaten streak in official matches since the start of this spring season.

But after that match, no one mocked VG, because everyone knew VG had already locked up first place in the group, and that game against KT was irrelevant to the rankings; moreover, the all-winning VG indeed needed some pressure games to hone themselves, so deliberately fielding a perfect Galio lineup was obvious to everyone.

Ending a winning streak is never a disgrace, but rather shedding shackles.

After VG lost to KT, Miller summed up after the match:

"Even an invincible SKT from the S5 season couldn't achieve a perfect record at that year's World Championship; compared to that, VG's performance is already outstanding. We believe that every great team needs a suitably timed defeat to remind itself:"

"You must experience failure in order to find your own weaknesses."

LPL fans not only were not disheartened, but instead sparked a bizarre celebration on Tieba and Weibo for VG finally losing.

Second place: KT, eight wins, two losses.

Looking back at the first day of the group stage, after KT lost to G2, the entire LCK forum resembled a beehive stabbed through, with posts like 'Six Eight Rome' and 'KT disband' flooding everywhere; even extreme fans declared that when KT returns home, they would drive a truck to block the entrance of KT's base. But KT underwent an astonishing transformation in the subsequent matches.

After losing to VG in the first round, KT knew shame and then bravery, rose up and chased, ultimately achieving a clean sweep in the second round—defeating FW, defeating TSM, defeating GAM, defeating G2, and finally, in the final chapter of the script, defeating the previously unbeaten VG.

Eight wins, including a perfect second round; this ever-victorious performance is an omen of championship in any MSI edition.

Thus LCK fans' emotions were like riding a roller coaster; in just a few days they went from 'wishing KT's whole team would burn their household registers' to 'KT's whole team's mom buying groceries would get a discount'—a huge shift.

KT head coach An Mo Li said a philosophically rich remark in the media interview after the group stage ended, which was wildly reprinted by major LCK media.

"To us, strong opponents like VG and G2 are like a mirror; after losing to them in the first round, we saw our ugly selves in the mirror, and they helped us find all our shortcomings, shaping who we are today."

Wow, LCK netizens all instantly reached climax, with Korean internet forums everywhere filled with extremely region‑specific humblebrags.

【Six Eight, on the first day of the opening I almost ate my monitor after playing G2, and now you tell me the second round was a clean sweep? These brats are definitely playing with our hearts!】

【Kekekeke, the guy earlier who said he'd rent a truck to go to the base—did you rent the truck? If not, you can return it—such a poor sighted guy is definitely a penniless ghost.】

【Coach, we can add meat to dinner now!】

【Let's win the championship; winning the championship will mean more money to buy meat!】

【Whether it's MSI or S7, KT deserves a championship. These kids have gone through lows, been told to disband, but they get stronger every match!】

【Mata's recent form is literally like returning to his S4 championship year; his roaming tempo surpasses that of G2 and VG's supports—championship is a lock!】

【The semifinals seem to be against G2, oh!】

【Too bad the semifinals aren't against VG, otherwise we'd directly send LPL's 'God' home!】

According to the MSI knockout stage grouping rules, the top ten in group stage points advance; then, based on the advancing teams' rankings, the knockout brackets are set: first vs fourth, second vs third, with the higher‑ranked team getting priority to choose sides in odd‑numbered games.

KT is second, while third place is precisely G2, which lost two matches in a row in the second round, finishing with a seven‑win, three‑loss record, its points overtaken by KT's perfect second round.

And fourth‑placed FW will face VG, led by the Demon King.

The netizens are already lying back.