Chapter 818

The group draw results are out, and each team can now schedule their practice matches.

The day after the draw, RNG was the first to set off for Wu Han, posting a Weibo when they departed; fans flooded the comment section with blessings, and despite the extremely unfavorable group draw results, the atmosphere was somewhat solemn.

At the same time, the LPL official sent a notice that the sparring partners were already on standby in Wu Han, and the ultra-large training room was also ready.

VG saw that and didn't delay any further, packing up their luggage that same day and taking the high-speed rail early the next morning. Additionally, when announcing the group draw, Riot released a new statement saying that this year's Worlds teams can bring at most two official substitutes plus one substitute. Gao Jun and Lu Wenjun calculated that, aside from the team's two official substitutes, the emergency substitute spot went to Gao Tianliang, who could follow the older brothers to witness the true Worlds, and Gao Tianliang was naturally thrilled.

VG also left so early naturally to scrim for practice matches.

Although the authorities arranged a sparring group for the three LPL teams, the sparring group could only accompany them until the group stage began; after that they still had to rely on scheduling scrims with other teams, and out of respect for Jinyibo, the three LPL teams naturally would reserve some slots for each other, but they couldn't keep scriming only against teams from their own region, so in the end they still had to schedule scrims with teams from other regions.

So they couldn't go too late, otherwise other teams' schedules would be fully booked.

VG had already departed, so G2 and CNB naturally couldn't stay any longer at VG's base.

On the morning of September 15, the three teams set off together from VG's base, taking the same high-speed train to Wu Han. However, since they hadn't booked tickets in advance, the nearly forty‑person group was scattered across several carriages.

The VG delegation had over a dozen people; only Fu Lan Duo and Sima Laozei had adjacent seats. After boarding, Sima Laozei saw Liang Yan and Tang Anna walking together, and without a word he pulled Fu Lan Duo up and gave their seats to that lovebird couple.

Fu Lan Duo deliberately shouted, "I'm not leaving—I want to be the lightbulb!"

Of course, Sima Laozei forcibly dragged her away.

The two eventually swapped seats with Liang Yan and Tang Anna.

As the joint delegation exited Wu Han Station, EDG also posted an official Weibo—but it wasn't a departure notice, rather an activity announcement for fans, stating that the EDG team would participate in an offline carnival event held in Liaoning's Huludao on the 16th and 17th.

Image: EDG participating in the Huludao carnival.

Although S7 Worlds is held in China, all participating teams from each region must follow the same centralized management requirements, and LPL teams are no exception: Riot requires all participating teams to arrive early in the host city, stay in hotels arranged uniformly by Riot, use the training rooms designated by Riot, and not train on their own at their home bases. (LPL is part of Riot, and Riot is a subsidiary of TX; LPL teams use the better training facilities provided by LPL, which is reasonable.)

In short, even though LPL is playing on home soil, they still have to go early.

Although there was still plenty of time before Riot's deadline for arrival, netizens didn't care about excuses—VG and RNG had already arrived, so why hadn't EDG shown up? Instead they went off to do a commercial gig, clearly showing they weren't taking S7 seriously.

Just looking at the publicity scale shows that this year's Worlds holds extraordinary significance for every LPL team—if they perform well, it's undoubtedly a huge opportunity, but if they mess it up, it becomes a huge crisis.

EDG pulling this stunt is not only brainless, but also incredibly bold!

LPL fans were left dumbfounded.

Even EDG's own fans couldn't help but lash out:

【So awesome, is this really Nationalelectric?】

【Everyone else went to Wu Han for bootcamp, and you're still taking commercial gigs?】

【Pulling this before the year‑end showdown really leaves nothing to say—I'm unfollowing.】

【You don't know squat—EDG is just trying to confuse the enemy!】

【Mingkai's never satisfied with just making the quarterfinals; this year he wants double the quarterfinals, right?】

【They probably realized they have no chance to win and started giving up.】

【I'm done—I literally give up! Worlds is about to start, and you're still going to some carnival? Mingkai?】

【VG already left today—where does EDG get the nerve?】

【You can tell EDG thinks the group draw is fantastic, with no pressure to advance—great, full of confidence!】

【Let me explain: this event looks like it's hosted by the Huludao government, but it's actually Xiao Zhi pulling the strings—because Huludao is his turf. What's the connection to EDG? Xiao Zhi has been doing proxy play since early on, and even before Changzhang debuted, he was the head of the proxy scene—you get it.】

EDG saw the situation was wrong and immediately shut down the comment section.

But they didn't delete the Weibo, clearly still wanting to promote their event.

The VG contingent settled into the hotel in Wu Han that Riot had booked; Gao Jun had other matters to attend to, so after seeing them off to Wu Han he took the high‑speed rail back that same night, while Zhu Xiaolong went out with RNG coach FireFox for a "mixer," looking to schedule scrims with any teams already in Wu Han. The two teams' players then hung out in the spacious training room, chatting about EDG's Huludao carnival participation, and all thought it was utterly absurd.

Malaxiangguo, legs drawn up on the gaming chair, said, "Just taking commercial gigs is bad enough, but they even posted a Weibo—I really doubt their management has any brains at all."

"I think the netizens are right," Xiao Duan said, grinning, "It's just that the group draw was too good—EDG feels no pressure at all."

Xiaohu followed up on Xiao Duan's point: "Hey, Jiao Shen, how's G2 doing exactly? You've been living with them for almost a week—have you been scriming?"

Xiao Duan replied, "Yeah, we've scrimmed quite a bit."

Xiaohu then asked, "Is it that they've won more, or that we've won more?"

Xiao Duan, not being clueless, chuckled, "You guess~"

Xiaohu asked a few more questions, but couldn't get anything out of Xiao Duan, so he gave up. Their conversation simultaneously sparked curiosity among the rest of the RNG roster—just how strong is G2 now? Compared to MSI, are they stronger or weaker?

But it's only curiosity, after all G2 isn't in the same group as them; if they were to face each other, it would only be in the quarterfinals, or even the semifinals—although the group situation looks very unfavorable, RNG's goal is not low at all. To minimize the chance of meeting VG in the knockout stage, RNG aims to win the group, because it's clear that VG is highly likely to advance as the D group leader, and if RNG can also advance as the A group leader, according to the quarterfinals rule that a group leader's opponent must be a group runner-up, the two teams could only meet in the semifinals. This reasoning applies equally to G2, since G2 also has a high chance of being the C group leader.

Of course, advancing as group leader is a goal RNG is striving hard for, not a guaranteed plan.

After all, there's such a huge roadblock tiger sitting there; even if VG were placed in group A, they wouldn't dare to pat their chest and say they could definitely step on SKT to advance as group leader.