Chapter 871

A North American caster posted a tweet after the match:

【Thanks to EDG for giving NA a precious point—now NA is greater than LMS!】

North American netizens flooded in with likes, pushing the tweet to the top of the trending list.

As for how Taiwan netizens reacted, that's not important.

After losing to IMT, EDG's first-round matchup resulted in three straight losses, and with two teams in the same group already at 2-0, failing to advance was practically a foregone conclusion.

Aside from a few fan-circle fans still hosting "potluck parties" on Weibo, most EDG fans couldn't be bothered to complain—they just silently unfollowed and then left the group.

Overnight, EDG's official Weibo lost tens of thousands of followers.

Scout also earned a new nickname: "Lucian Three Kneels."

But all of that is beside the point.

EDG's loss to IMT brought plenty of amusement to everyone, but what people truly cared about most was today's final match.

G2 versus SSG.

The two championship favorites' first clash in this year's World Championship could be described as Mars hitting Earth—well, objectively speaking, only G2 is a championship favorite; while SSG, based on their godlike performance in the LCK promotion series, global fans were slightly more generous in their predictions, placing SSG in the "high probability of semifinals, low probability of finals" tier.

Regardless, the two teams' strength speaks for itself—this match naturally qualifies as the highest-level showdown since the S7 season began.

Even the VG squad stopped all training, each member opening their livestream to watch the match intently.

Indeed, it was a high-end showdown—even casual viewers could feel it, as the match exuded an unusual aura right from the ban/pick phase.

The camera cut to close-ups of the two coaches' faces: SSG coach Edgar wore a solemn expression, while Tang Coach looked about the same as usual—demeanor cool, eyes somewhat detached.

However, Liang Yan, who knows Tang Anna well, could tell from subtle details that although Tang Anna appeared as calm as ever, the slight tension at the corners of her lips betrayed a hint of inner nervousness.

Liang Yan naturally knew why Tang Anna was nervous.

Before this match decided the outcome, G2 and SSG both had perfect 2-0 records, and this was the final match of the C Group Stage first round; barring surprises, these two teams would likely advance to the second round and then face the other two teams in their group, where they'd still likely win—meaning that who would top the C Group and advance would almost entirely depend on the result of G2 versus SSG. And the importance of topping the group needs no elaboration—if advancing as the group's second-place team, the quarterfinals would inevitably pit them against another group's first-place team.

Normally, the first-place team is inherently stronger.

Last year's situation was entirely an exception……

According to netizens' analysis, many have now realized that the reason S6's World Championship saw a second-place group team with greater combined strength advancing was purely because G2 stirred the pot. Back then, G2 aimed to secure second place to increase their odds of drawing RNG—a first-place team from another group—in the knockout draw, so in the second round they deliberately fielded a substitute lineup, even pulling off the bizarre top-lane "disease escape" incident, ultimately achieving their goal of advancing as second place. When other strong teams saw G2 enter the second draw pool, they too avoided wanting first place to dodge a direct quarterfinals matchup against G2, and thus began playing along……This is obvious to many—it was practically blatant—but without evidence, Riot Games could do nothing about them.

In short, the situation at last year's World Championship was extremely rare, possibly even unique in history.

At least this year, it absolutely cannot happen.

As for this year's grouping—A Group aside, since SKT appears not to be giving their full effort—while B Group and D Group's top seeds have practically already been locked in.

B Group's Dragon Pearl, D Group's VG—these are two formidable obstacles.

Although LZ and VG are both first-time World Championship participants, behind the scenes, the teams have played so many practice matches that everyone already knows their strength inside out—no one wants to drop to second place, or else they'd face a 50% chance of meeting one of these two teams in the quarterfinals. Even if not weak, ultimately revealing all their strategies too early would be extremely detrimental to the semifinals and finals, so all teams with championship ambitions naturally want to avoid this at all costs.

In summary, the match currently underway is especially critical, as it may very well decide who claims first place in C Group.

After both sides used up their three bans, Blue Side SSG first picked Luo—the very hero who, in a previous match under massive disadvantage, pulled off a miraculous comeback against EDG and achieved immortality—followed by G2 locking in Xia and Shen.

Many teams seeing this were stunned.

G2's pick of Xia was inevitable, as they couldn't let SSG take Xia second and form the Xia-Luo combo—but why Shen?

Before G2 locked in their pick, the battlefield featured Zhu Mei, Wukong, Yanque, Fengnv, and Lu Xi An……Based on prior matches, these heroes clearly had higher priority than Shen—so why did G2 snag such an unremarkable champion?

Spectators watched on, filled with doubt.

SSG's second pick was equally surprising—they took Zhu Mei and Weiluosi, yet left the mid and top lanes open for the second round.

Immediately after, G2's final first-round pick was Yanque—another head-scratching choice—why not pick Wukong or Orianna?

Even if picking Wukong didn't guarantee Orianna in the second round, Wukong's priority is clearly higher than Yanque's, right?

SSG too—why would they rather take Zhu Mei than Wukong?

Many coaches watching this were already overwhelmed—two top-tier teams' version understanding seemed to differ from their own……

Was it a misunderstanding, or did both teams adjust their BP based on tactical styles to counter each other? No one could tell.

In the LPL Training Room, VG's team was similarly discussing. Zhu Xiaolong and Tabe, the two coaches, sat together staring at a computer screen, whispering. Although VG knows G2 and SSG very well, it's obvious SSG hid things during practice matches against VG, while G2 didn't hide anything when playing VG—but some strategic nuances weren't fully revealed, and besides, this is a match unrelated to VG; people only have a rough idea of how the two teams will play, but they couldn't possibly guess the exact champion selections.

Liang Yan sat silently in his seat, saying nothing. Even he could only guess it was likely a targeted adjustment, but couldn't be certain.

Entering the second round of BP.

SSG banned two junglers, G2 banned two mid laners. After both sides alternately banned two heroes each, G2 locked in Jiu Tong first.

SSG immediately locked in Feiji.

Then, as the countdown neared its end, SSG confirmed their final pick: Nal.

G2's last pick locked in Fengnv.