Chapter 734: Pig-Dog Battle

So the question is, why did Liang Yan say that again?

The netizens' pre-match discussion explained everything:

【Poor WE】

【I'm not 60e, but I also feel sorry for WE】

【Spring...... and also summer......】

【Repeatedly slamming into VG's copper wall and iron defense, resulting in broken heads and blood, I can't take it anymore】

【They don't even have a single league championship......】

【No matter from which angle you look, WE is truly pitiful】

【Otherwise, let Jiao Shen throw the match tomorrow and let WE win a game, anyway VG doesn't worry about not getting a ticket, let WE go up and win a championship to fulfill their dream, 60e will remember your kindness forever!】

【Even if WE makes it to the finals, they can't guarantee they'll get a spot】

The time was around 5 p. m. on August 25th; VG's members had already arrived at the venue, sitting in the backstage lounge, each holding their phones, browsing or watching the livestream; from the arena side, the crowd noise came in waves.

What is currently underway is the first match of the semifinals, EDG versus RNG.

The Pig-Dog Battle needs no words to describe its heat. The venue being sold out is beyond doubt; the LPL official livestream's real-time viewership hits a new high every game, even surpassing the viewership of last year's finals where VG faced EDG. This is mainly because VG's dominance has drawn increasing global attention to the LPL, and also because today's second game is VG's playoff debut.

Now the Pig-Dog Battle has reached a white-hot stage; both sides have already played four games, the score is tied 2-2, and they are now playing the deciding game.

These two teams are evenly matched in strength; even setting aside the championship issue, today's game concerns the allocation of the first S7 ticket, and S7 can be said to be an extraordinarily meaningful global finals for LPL teams. Therefore, to get as close as possible to a ticket, both sides naturally hold nothing back in today's battle.

Before this match, between the two teams EDG was the closest to a ticket, because EDG was the runner-up of the spring season, having more points base than RNG; even if EDG loses today's semifinal match, as long as they win the third-place match, unless the scenario arises where RNG wins the championship and VG is runner-up, otherwise regardless of whether VG or WE wins the championship, EDG can still secure a ticket to the global finals thanks to their spring runner-up plus summer third-place total of 140 points.

Of course, if WE eliminates VG in the semifinals, then EDG's third-place match opponent would be VG……but speaking of which, if this situation really occurred, since even WE can wipe out VG, why can't the stronger EDG wipe out VG again?

So no matter what, EDG's burden today is relatively lighter.

And RNG is not so optimistic; even if RNG wins today's match, if they ultimately fail to win the championship, they still cannot be certain of getting a ticket, because RNG's spring season result was fourth place, with only 30 points base, which is inferior to both EDG and WE.

But winning does offer a chance to directly obtain a ticket; for example, if the final playoff results are VG champion, RNG runner-up, WE third, EDG fourth, then the points of the latter three teams would be RNG 120 (30+90), WE 120 (50+70), EDG 110 (70+40); after that, RNG could secure the second S7 ticket by virtue of their higher summer season ranking compared to WE.

It sounds complicated, but it's really just elementary addition and subtraction; list out the various possibilities and a quick calculation yields the result.

For this ticket, the two teams fought today with their liver and brains smeared all over the ground.

Currently the two teams are tied 2-2, matching most people's pre-match predictions, but the process was unexpected, because right from the start RNG actually won two consecutive games to take two points, after which EDG chased back two games to tie the score; this plot had the on-site piggy and doggy fans exclaiming that their hearts couldn't take it.

And at this very moment, the deciding game has progressed to around ten minutes.

In the VG lounge, Easyhoon raised his head to watch the broadcast on TV, muttering: 'Surely they won't really let it become a two-to-three comeback, right?'

Liang Yan, hearing that, lifted his head and glanced, oh my, RNG is really about to be done for.

On the screen, just finished replaying a fierce clash in the bottom lane; the result of this exchange was a one-for-one trade, the difference being which side got the kill.

On RNG's side, Uzi's Frost Ice slew EDG's AD Big Mouth, securing the kill of iboy, who is called one of the three great genius ADs of the new generation.

On EDG's side, Meiko's Karma took down Ming's Dew Dew and successfully escaped, preventing Uzi from getting a second kill.

Support for AD exchange, usually speaking, RNG definitely came out ahead.

But don't forget, this is the Incense Burner patch version.

In this version, provided the AD's development keeps up with the timeline, the early-game impact of a support getting a kill is greater than that of an AD! Because you can finish the Incense Burner earlier!

Moreover, Uzi is playing Frost Ice this game, whose late-game ability is far inferior to iboy's Big Mouth, which dooms RNG to needing an early-game advantage.

However, now Meiko has taken a kill, allowing them to finish the Incense Burner two to three minutes earlier; with this item, iboy's lane pressure drops sharply, Uzi got a kill but cannot complete any finished item, not only failing to increase pressure but possibly even being countered by iboy, because the Incense Burner gives a huge boost to Big Mouth! Furthermore, EDG can also leverage Meiko's early Incense Burner to gain full advantage in the upcoming vanguard team tug-of-war!

The slight early-game advantage RNG built up has all been nullified by Meiko finishing the item earlier; this means RNG has lost the chance to establish a win condition in the early-mid game, and the longer it drags on, the greater EDG's lineup advantage becomes; one could even say that if this match doesn't end before thirty-five minutes, RNG might as well surrender.

RNG also realized the seriousness of the problem; Malaxiangguo began frequently visiting the bottom lane, hoping to let Uzi continue maintaining pressure.

Liang Yan, watching the livestream backstage, saw this and simply shook his head.

Malaxiangguo's decision was fundamentally wrong; at this point, if RNG still wants to win, Malaxiangguo should completely abandon the bottom lane, fully focus on accelerating the development of mid lane Xiaohu's Clockwork and their own Prince, and also shift their own build from tank items to full damage.

Because both sides are Incense Burner systems, with the core being supports, the meaning is that in team fights, whoever first instantly kills the enemy support will win!

To instantly kill a support relies on burst damage, not sustained AD output!

Clockwork and Prince are the only two heroes in RNG's lineup with burst kill potential, so their development should be prioritized above all!

But after all, the Incense Burner system has only just begun to become widely popular; whether RNG or EDG, their understanding of this system is not deep enough, so it's understandable that Malaxiangguo's thinking couldn't shift gears right away.

After this match, RNG also finally gained some insight.

It's just that the tuition they paid was rather high.