Chapter 874: Why not go ask VG?

The battle between G2 and SSG ended, also announcing that the first round of matchups in the S7 World Championship Group Stage has come to a close.

By team, the first-round records that look best are naturally the three 3-0 teams: Dragon Pearl from Group B, G2 from Group C, and VG from Group D.

Among the three teams, people feel Dragon Pearl performed the best without question, winning all three matches in a crushing-opponent posture; but if one were to say which has the hardest record, there is no doubt it is G2, having defeated EDG then SSG, with intensity maxed out and gold content maxed out.

VG, on the other hand, looks somewhat hard to evaluate.

The opening match was played by VG, and they played very beautifully, leaving everyone satisfied.

But in the second match against MSF, they only slightly increased intensity, and VG immediately looked like they were suffering a setback in momentum; although they won steadily, it gave a feeling of winning with great difficulty. To put it plainly, everyone thought VG vs MSF should be like high schoolers vs elementary schoolers in a showdown, an obvious crushing; but when it actually played out, the feeling was like middle schoolers vs elementary schoolers—they won, but it wasn't pretty.

In the final third match against C9, they started massacring again, and the Foot God also rose up……

How is one to comment on this?

Even VG fans' moods are somewhat subtle, both hoping VG can find their LPL invincible-all-directions feeling in the second round, and also feeling uneasy, afraid VG might suddenly pull the crotch.

And in a widely accepted mainstream prediction received from netizens worldwide, the strength rankings of the major strong teams have become Dragon Pearl and G2 in the First Tier, while VG, SKT, and SSG can only be placed in the Second Tier.

Because in many people's eyes, even though VG also has a 3-0 record, they are not qualified to be ranked alongside Dragon Pearl and G2.

As for RNG, who beat SKT, netizens believe that match cannot prove RNG is stronger than SKT, but RNG does look slightly stronger than other teams, so they gave RNG a separate tier called the "R Tier".

Malaxiangguo knew about it and got very angry.

"What damn R Tier, is the R Tier not reverse gear!"

"Is this ranking based on buttocks?" Xiaohù couldn't help but complain, "SKT and we have the same record, both one win two losses in the first round, we even beat SKT, clearly we are Group A first, yet they think we are not in the same tier as SKT—what are they thinking?"

"But we lost to the Electro Wolves." Shīsēnmíng said with a grin, accidentally hitting everyone's sore spot.

Everyone suddenly had nothing to say.

Actually, the win-loss situation in Group A is quite subtle.

Europeans even had many netizens joking: 【SKT lost to RNG, RNG lost to FW, and FW lost to FNC……so do you get it now? The win-loss relation in Group A is a closed loop, so FNC is truly the boss of Group A!】

Of course, everyone knows this kind of talk is just teasing.

Because it's taking things out of context, not factoring in the most crucial element.

What is the most crucial?

It's that FNC only won one match, with a record of one win two losses.

FW is the same.

So no matter the win-loss relation, these two teams cannot possibly be the boss of Group A.

Why netizens think SKT is stronger than RNG also relates to this——RNG losing to lower-tier teams proves their state is not as stable as SKT's.

Moreover, anyone can see that SKT clearly hasn't gone all out yet.

Perhaps we'll see SKT at full power in the second round, because the qualification outlook for Groups B and C is already fairly clear, at least group first should be a sure thing, and SKT obviously wouldn't want to clash head-on with those two teams in the quarterfinals, so they are definitely aiming for group first.

Then some netizens ranked by region, and without doubt the best-looking is LCK, with three teams achieving seven wins two losses in the first round, where SKT and SSG each contributed one loss.

Next came Europe, with six wins three losses ranking second. European netizens naturally rejoiced and spread the news, only one win less than LCK, this record shows that the Europe Region's comprehensive strength is already very close to LCK, not far from the top region throne!

Third is LPL, with five wins and four losses, where EDG alone contributed three losses, severely dragging down LPL's performance, getting criticized harshly by netizens. Of course, EDG also paid the price for this: besides the official Weibo account going crazy and losing fans year after year, Changzhang, who reaches the quarterfinals every year, this year probably really has to endure a double quarterfinals exit—good news is that Changzhang this year probably doesn't need to take the blame, as the "Lucian Three Kneels" will finally bear it all.

Fourth is the Wildcard Region, with three wins three losses.

Fifth is the North America Region, with two wins seven losses.

Sixth is the LMS Region, with one win five losses.

Wildcard Region netizens are just like during New Year, excited and elated, joyful and prosperous, wishing they could set up a hundred eighty tables of a grand feast for the world.

——But the Wildcard Region doesn't have Bei Mei Sai Qu and LMS all present, so they're not ready to sit at the table.

Later that evening, Riot Games announced the Group Stage second round schedule:

October 12: Group B showdown.

October 13: Group D showdown.

October 14: Group C showdown.

October 15: Group A showdown.

Just like last year, the S7 Group Stage second round lasts four days, also each day completing all second-round matches for one group. This means shorter adjustment time.

From the end of the first round to the start of the second round, there are three days of rest, teams with later schedules get more training time, but since it's all intra-group matches, regardless of rest length, the four teams in each group are the same, so no one argues about fairness.

EDG hasn't given up, wanting to find their state back during this five-day rest period, to pull off a heaven-shaking great reversal.

Although fans have already lost hope.

EDG's first round was 0-3, even if they go 3-0 in the second round, the best result is a playoff, no direct qualification option.

But if they lose even one match, they'll be completely GG, not even getting to play the playoff.

If EDG can truly carve out a blood path in this nine-deaths-one-life desperate situation, they can naturally cleanse themselves completely, even wiping away last year's pulled crotch.

Because this is nearly an impossible task.

Miracles can't even describe it, only say it's a divine trace.

……

On the night the first round ended, EDG held another meeting.

"……I feel it's not just our state that's problematic, our understanding of the Worlds version might also be wrong. Everyone pool ideas, let's find the problem together, find it, then we can solve it."

A Bu frowned deeply, tone anxious, with a circle of blue shadow around the eyes. But in just a few days, this EDG leader, visibly exhausted to the naked eye.

Everyone sat on both sides of the conference table, you look at me, I look at you, no one spoke, finally all lowered their heads, either picking nails playing with fingers, or spacing out.

A Bu was angry, barely suppressing fury: "What's going on, nobody talking, really want to go back six bar zero return?"

It's zero bar six……someone silently corrected A Bu's slip of the tongue in their heart.

Maybe it wasn't a slip?

Who knows……

"Coach, you speak!"

A Bu turned toward Nofe, his Vision Ward sharp.

"Uh..."

Nofe hesitated, his heart full of Helplessness, but still mustered the courage to voice his thoughts:

"I think... why don't we go ask VG?"