Chapter 885

"Perkz has entered the support range, Mithy engages directly!

"A Q-flash knockback on Ruler, then looping behind to knock him back toward Perkz, while Perkz simultaneously puts the champion skin on Mithy!

"GorillA chains the cow head but it's immobilized and useless! The cow head with ultimate active is too tanky—turret damage on him turns into tickling!

Ruler dies again, his development completely collapsed—let alone pulling out a three-item build for late-game support, even the key mid-game support equipment, Blade of the Ruined King, has become hopelessly out of reach.

Perkz, however, shows no sign of stopping, relentlessly pressing the advantage: strike while you're weak, take your life.

Around eleven minutes in, Ambition finally goes on the offensive, coordinating with Nal in the top lane to gank and kill Expect's Jesse, after which the two engage and initiate the Herald. GorillA realizes staying in the bottom lane is pointless, so he returns home and runs up to join the fray.

Perkz and Jankos, however, appear in the bottom lane, the two penetrating deep into SSG's jungle, emerging from the gap before G2's bottom second turret.

Jankos lands a skill shot that flushes Ruler out of the antisocial grass bush; Perkz, unreasonably, charges forward with Justice Charge Fist, and the Bronze Shield (taunt) begins to charge.

The most infuriating thing about this version of Galio is that when his W skill begins charging, you have no idea whether he'll flash or not.

And because Galio's W-flash is an instant-cast ability, there's literally no room for mind games—if you don't want to gamble, the only correct response is to flash decisively.

If Galio doesn't flash, you've just wasted a flash for nothing.

The problem is, sometimes flashing doesn't even guarantee evasion.

The moment Ruler flashes out, Perkz flashes right after and pulls him back.

Jankos's skill shot is still on cooldown, but he can use the pincer to substitute for triggering the mark; as for the missing damage, it's utterly irrelevant—GorillA is inherently fragile, and Ruler's development is so poor it's absurd; at this point, his level is two below Jankos, the jungler, so one full combo from both of them is enough to instantly kill Ruler.

At the first turret, Zven's GorillA begins turret diving.

Mithy's cow head, however, has returned home, following the resurrected Expect Jesse as they head out to the top lane.

"G2 made it clear they want me to take their first blood tower, yet they won't even give me the first turret!"

"This……isn't that a bit too greedy?"

"But SSG really has no other option—we can only take one Herald."

"How could there be no way?"

"Because Perkz went back to base, his ultimate still charged in hand, and his teleport just came off cooldown."

"……Then there really is no way."

"To be fair, Galio this champion is still too slippery—I truly can't understand why SSG would give him to G2."

"Maybe it's because there are other, more pressing points to handle……"

During BP, SSG banned the Prince, banned the Wine Barrel, thinking G2 would struggle to find a suitable champion to synergize with Galio for engage.

Yet no matter how they thought, they never expected G2 to pull out a Leopard Woman, freeing up the support position, and picking a Cow Head to pair with Galio!

This move is indeed ruthless, and no one could have anticipated it beforehand.

……

At the moment G2 took the first blood tower, the broadcast cut to backstage—SSG Head Coach Edgar sat before the computer, expressionless, gazing at something relatively calm.

This game is already lost.

Coach Edgar is thinking about what comes next—wondering what exactly is still missing in the tactic he personally developed and tailored for this team, to the point that they're still getting torn apart so badly in the early game; wondering how many cards G2 still has hidden……wondering, if G2 holds such powerful cards, then what about VG? How many must they have?

After losing this match, SSG can only advance as the second seed from Group C, and in the knockout stage draw, they must draw the first seed.

G2 avoids same-group teams, so SSG's chance of drawing VG is one in three.

Edgar let out a light sigh, feeling a bit headachy.

He truly doesn't want to face VG in the quarterfinals.

If possible, he'd rather draw Dragon Pearl from the same region……

Based on recent scrims against Dragon Pearl, looking at this region's first seed, it seems somewhat lacking in ambition, with research into new tactics already stalled.

……

Over thirty minutes later, SSG's nexus exploded into a firework.

The Group C showdown finally came to a close, final result: G2 first, SSG second.

Global netizens heatedly discussed.

European netizens naturally rejoiced, as the doubts born from G2's previous loss have all vanished like smoke—no matter how you look at it, G2 remains a world-class top-tier team, absolutely deserving of being among the championship favorites!

Moreover, after G2 advanced as group first, unless tomorrow's Group A showdown sees SKT lose to RNG and G2 then draws SKT in the quarterfinals draw, G2 will have over an 80% win rate against any group's second-place team!

In other words, the semifinals are set!

On the other hand, the second seed MSF also secured their ticket yesterday—three European teams, two already in the quarterfinals—this showcases the combined strength of the European region, proving the European LCS has truly returned to its peak!

Every European feels a glow on their face; across the Western internet, one can everywhere see European netizens riding on North American netizens' faces, wildly outputting—truly satisfying and just.

On the opposing side, LCK netizens had long anticipated this result, so their reaction is mild. Although SSG performed valiantly in the play-in stage, they're merely a third seed—how could they possibly suppress last year's world champions and take first?

It was inherently difficult; failing to achieve it is no matter.

Thus, after SSG lost the play-in, Korean netizen reaction was mediocre—LCK netizens only hope SSG's luck isn't that bad, and that in the quarterfinals they don't end up in a civil war with their own region's teams.

What if they truly do run into each other by accident—what then?

【Just bad luck on three stars, otherwise wouldn't they still want to reach the semifinals?】

Many LCK netizens said exactly that.

……

Later that evening, G2 concluded all interview activities and returned to the hotel.

Liang Yan stood by the window watching Riot Games' bus enter the parking lot, turned around, took two masks and a hat from the wardrobe, put on his jacket, and went out.

Fu Lan Duo lay on the bed scrolling through girl group dance videos, gazing at the closed door, making a tsk sound, yet her eyes gleamed with envy.

He pulled out his phone and sent a message in VG Team One's small group:

【Brothers, the damn Foot God went out to flirt with girls—come play side mahjong, let's play cards】

Everyone responded in kind.

Not long after, the sound of cracking mahjong tiles came from Room 404.

It won't disturb others' rest, because everyone on this floor is staying with LPL teams; EDG indeed came back early after their match, but by now they've already packed their luggage and left the hotel, probably afraid of running into an awkward situation if their groupmates return.

There are a few people in the RNG team who know how to play mahjong and enjoy it, but they have a match tomorrow.

However, Uzi still showed up; Little Fatty sneaked in furtively, finished one game, his hands were itching terribly, and he kept urging Xiao Duan to stand up and let him touch two rounds.

Tabe secretly sent a message to the RNG manager.

Not long after, Firefox rushed over hastily, but dared not speak loudly, kindly persuaded for a long time, and finally convinced Uzi to return to the training room.