Chapter 852: You seem quite idle

They were researching new tactics; it wasn't convenient to have a practice match with VG.

Liang Yan thought for a moment before realizing that EDG's response to Zhu Xiaolong inadvertently revealed a layer of meaning: "Our new tactic is very strong; if we scrim with you, you'll study it thoroughly, and later in the elimination rounds we won't be able to use it."

Liang Yan sighed in admiration.

As expected of EDG, they haven't even played a group match yet, but they've already started researching the elimination stage.

……

The practice team had checked out last night, there were no opponents to arrange here, VG had no practice matches to play, so everyone did their own free ranked training.

Liang Yan finished a few games, opened the tournament website to glance, the fourth match had ended, the fifth was underway: LCK's first seed Dragon Pearl versus NA's first seed TSM, Dragon Pearl already had a huge lead, and it looked like it would finish soon.

Liang Yan opened the reports of the first two matches and took a look.

In the third match, SKT took down FW when the game was close to forty minutes.

Although the match report made SKT's win look hard, Liang Yan could tell from the report that SKT actually won relatively easily, which is their usual winning pattern.

In this match, SKT was at a disadvantage for the first twenty-plus minutes; at twenty-five minutes both sides fought a dragon teamfight, SKT traded two for three and won the fight, gradually pulling the tide back; then in the later macro play, which is SKT's strength, FW naturally couldn't match up—even with a compositional edge they fell step by step into SKT's rhythm, constantly led by SKT; at thirty-four minutes, SKT used their vision advantage to set up early, initiated a teamfight, traded one for four to decisively beat FW, then took the dragon; after that, FW lost all morale, offered little resistance for a few minutes before SKT destroyed their base.

It's obvious that SKT's early disadvantage was purely due to a huge compositional disadvantage; Galio had exerted a massive intimidation effect before the twenty-minute mark, making SKT hesitant to act rashly, but after twenty-five minutes Galio's suppression of AP compositions began to wane quickly, and SKT started organizing counterattacks.

So, even during those first twenty-plus minutes, the match's tempo was actually under SKT's control; during that twenty-minute advantage period FW never managed a significant breakthrough, so it's no surprise they couldn't hold up later.

Picking Qingying was purely for show……

Liang Yan was speechless for a moment, silently revising his estimate of FW's strength in his mind; it seemed he had overestimated this team—they couldn't beat SKT like this, so there was no point in watching further.

The fourth match was RNG versus FNC.

I don't know if it was inspired by VG's mid laner Lu Xi An, but RNG played boldly, picking Lu Xi An plus Taurus in the bot lane. RNG naturally couldn't pull off the Taurus incense burner trick, so this is a non-incense-burner system.

FNC was timid, but not wrong; they picked Miss Fortune plus Lulu.

As a result, the lane was crushed outright.

Seeing Uzi, Ognar (Rekkles) was like a mouse seeing a cat—he was timid beyond measure in lane, letting Uzi dominate him at will.

And Uzi is exactly the kind of player who gets fiercer the more timid you are, with ever more impressive mechanics; the opponent gave him ample space to thrive, and he didn't disappoint his fans' expectations, securing a solo kill in just four minutes.

Then Malaxiangguo added fuel to the fire, arriving just as the mid laner was about to hit level six and recalling; they teamed up to dive the tower and kill Ognar again.

Uzi started 2-0 and then began to wildly roam.

Unfortunately he went too far, perhaps overly eager for a Godlike; after taking down mid lane at 7-0, Uzi went top to clear a wave, the enemy jungler came to gank, Uzi didn't flee, bringing Smite and directly engaging, hoping to 2v3 outplay the opponent, but failed and lost his kill streak.

This was actually a big play.

Fortunately FNC lacked the courage to take Baron, so even though Uzi gave up a kill, it didn't matter much, and RNG still won smoothly.

Liang Yan felt a bit short of breath seeing this play in the match report; one can imagine the state of mind of the FNC coach watching backstage.

He would probably be so angry as to slam the table and shout:

"Why didn't you take Baron!!"

Yeah, why?

Liang Yan raised his eyebrows, curled the corner of his mouth, took out his phone and sent a WeChat to Tang Anna:

【Is your third seed also this timid in the EU LCS? I remember last year they weren't like that】

Tang Anna should also no longer be at the venue watching the match, and she quickly replied:

【No, when we played them in the summer split they were quite daring; I don't know why they were so timid against RNG today】

【What a pity, they actually had a chance to turn things around……】

Liang Yan replied with a sentence, then immediately changed the subject:

【By the way, can you come out later?】

【What for?】

【Nothing much, just chat, treat you to a late-night snack, a cup of milk tea or something】

【You seem to have gained weight lately……】

【？？？】

【Yes】

【That's my reason for refusing you】

【……You seem pretty free?】

Tsk.

Liang Yan put away his phone.

Then he stretched contentedly.

Just chatting a few sentences of meaningless small talk, yet it made him feel satisfied.

Love really is a wonderful thing.

……

Around six in the evening, as the tournament website updated the score to Dragon Pearl 1:0 TSM, the spectacular first day of the S7 World Championship group stage also drew to a close.

Apart from the earlier MSF versus C9 match in Group D, the five games that have ended so far were either one-sided stomps or strong teams hiding their trump cards; the outcomes basically matched global netizens' predictions of this year's S7 teams' strength.

In other words, there were no major upsets.

The excitement was naturally intense; from the moment VG's opening match saw the Cleaver team crush AHQ's strong lineup, global netizens' enthusiasm was stirred, and the whole planet's internet fell into a frenzy of "S7 has begun!"

But for those outside the five major leagues, it always feels like something is missing.

If it's always like this, then you five major leagues can just play among yourselves; we wildcard regions can have fun in our own leagues—what's the point of coming to Worlds to suffer?

Not to mention gaining no benefit, we also get gang‑beaten by all the major leagues, losing face.

This is the mindset of many wildcard region netizens to some extent, so after watching the excitement they inevitably feel a bit desolate.

They can't help but look forward to——

When will our wildcard region also produce a truly strong team that can go toe‑to‑toe with the major league squads? We don't dare dream of a championship, but at least making the quarterfinals would be nice—so the major leagues know that even a wildcard region, if it gives it its all, can snag a sweet fruit for them to enjoy!

Such longing, or rather vision, whenever the S tournament arrives, it will repeatedly turn in the hearts of Wildcard Region netizens with bittersweet entanglement.

Unfortunately, just as LPL netizens yearn for the S tournament championship, making it into the quarterfinals is, for Wildcard Region netizens, equally a very distant luxury.

What's even more heartbreaking is that now the LPL has a team like VG, and it truly seems to have seen the hope of winning the championship.

So where is the hope of us Wildcard Region folks then?

……

China time, past seven in the evening, the group stage's first day schedule concluded smoothly; the final match, CNB steadily and firmly took down GAM, securing the second victory for Group B into their pocket.

For Ba Xi netizens, this is naturally good news.

However, worldwide, this match did not stir any waves.

【Clueless chickens pecking each other, what's there to watch?】

After the region's big brother TSM was crushed by Dragon Pearl, the psychologically twisted North America cultists said as such, as if belittling the Wildcard would make them appear strong.