Chapter 143: Eight-Team Melee, the Last Hope of the Region

On October 20, 2022, the S12 World Championship quarterfinals began.

The very first match was one of the most anticipated showdowns of the quarterfinals.

RNG versus T1.

"Welcome to the quarterfinal duel. I believe this is a 'rivalry' match that all of us LPL viewers have been looking forward to!"

"The two sides have clashed many times at the World Championship before. In fact, the S6 quarterfinals were held right here, right under our feet—the two teams played their quarterfinal match right here!"

"This is also the first time in six years that Xiaohu has sat in the same spot to face Faker. The mid lane matchup between the two will undoubtedly be the focus of attention!"

"During the group stage, our EDG team swept T1 twice, and RNG also took the top spot in their group. We hope they can defeat their opponents today and set a new record!"

After the casters finished their impassioned opening, the players from both sides took the stage.

Starting with the trash talk from the pre-match promotional videos.

It was clear that whether it was the casters or the audience, many were filled with "expectations of victory" for this match.

After all, T1 had just lost, proving they were not invincible.

And RNG had indeed defeated T1 at this year's MSI, securing their first victory against T1 in their ten-year history.

Just looking at it this way, it was hard not to say, "The advantage is with us!"

If RNG could create history today just like EDG.

One could imagine that for the LPL, it would absolutely be a day of festive gongs, drums, and firecrackers!

Ye Bo sat in his hotel room, staring at the pick-and-ban screen.

Behind him, Ming Kai was brewing ginger tea for him.

It turned out that catching the bug really did depend on one's constitution.

Not only did Ye Bo not catch it, but the team manager Ming Kai, who stayed with everyone every day, hadn't caught it either.

It was a pity that Ming Kai wasn't registered as a player, and the World Championship did not allow for last-minute changes to the roster.

Otherwise, given Jiejie's current poor physical condition, he might have actually had to come to the venue to stage a "head coach warming up" moment.

"Why are they still banning Caitlyn on the blue side? Can't they practice it?" Ye Bo muttered about RNG's draft.

"Here, here, drink it while it's hot, be careful it's scalding," Ming Kai said, carefully bringing over the ginger tea. "What do you think, little Ye Bo? Who are you favoring?"

With Ye Bo now the only pillar left in the team and the absolute core of the squad.

Ming Kai naturally had to take good care of him.

The good news was that he had plenty of experience in taking care of mid laners!

"It's hard to say. The first game is crucial. Since RNG is the group winner, their biggest advantage is getting the blue side more often, which has a huge impact in a best-of-five in this patch." Ye Bo picked up the tea and took a sip. "Add some sugar, Manager, it's a bit bitter."

"Coming right up~ Want me to massage your waist? Let me tell you, my massage technique is top-notch."

Because RNG had to waste a ban on Caitlyn, even on the blue side, it only served to neutralize the draft advantage.

And RNG picked a composition they were most proficient with.

Anivia mid plus Graves, Aphelios plus Thresh in the bot lane, and a Renekton top to anchor the mid-game—it was a very standard LPL system, and all were RNG's signature picks.

Yet, Ye Bo felt a bit puzzled.

Although RNG was on the blue side, given the champion pool restrictions, they didn't really have much of a draft advantage. Why would T1 let them take these picks so comfortably?

Soon, T1's fifth pick took him by surprise.

"Soraka!?"

Ye Bo looked at his notebook.

Among the information on supports, the name "Star Child" was not there.

This champion had been in the "sewer" for many consecutive years, especially in this year's durability patch, where she had almost gone extinct—because Soraka's W heal was a "fixed value," but it cost her a "percentage" of her own health.

With everyone's health pools increasing, in a sense, it was a massive nerf to the amount of healing Soraka provided to all her teammates!

And the appearance of such a champion meant—this was likely T1's secret weapon!

"Oh no! RNG seems to have fallen for it!"

Ye Bo mentally simulated the laning phase and instantly understood the reason.

Ming Kai was still looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"Manager, let me test you. What kind of counter relationship do you think exists between Soraka and Thresh?"

Ming Kai thought for a moment and mentioned aspects like range, poke, and trading health.

But he didn't guess it.

Counter-intuitively, although both were ancient champions, if anyone checked the matchup records, they would find—these two champions had never faced each other in a support matchup in any professional game before!

So no one would think to combine the two after seeing them.

Ye Bo also vaguely guessed something based on his understanding of the mechanics.

"If I'm not mistaken, Soraka should be a hard counter to Thresh, and she also counters Xiaohu's Anivia quite well."

"Because one E from Soraka can neutralize Thresh's two most important abilities."

Ming Kai listened, feeling bewildered by Ye Bo's explanation.

It wasn't until shortly after the game started that he witnessed what "counter" meant.

"Oner is coming bot for a level 3 gank!"

"Ming's Thresh first used his body to block Sejuani's charge for the ADC, then immediately flashed backward and threw out the lantern—the execution was seamless! It perfectly displayed his understanding of the duties of a tank support!"

The strength of Thresh lies in the fact that he has both the iconic "hook" ability of a tank support and the god-tier "ally displacement" ability of an enchanter support.

It could be said that he serves the roles of two types of supports at once.

But just as Gala turned back and frantically clicked that lantern to pick it up, it was as if he were possessed by something.

He just couldn't pick up that lantern no matter what!

All because under his feet, a purple 【Equinox】 was applying a continuous {Silence} effect.

There was no reason for Gala to take Cleanse against Soraka.

Furthermore, even if he had taken Cleanse, the silence from Equinox was a rare "continuously reapplied" effect, so it would have been useless anyway.

And in fact.

An ally picking up Thresh's lantern also counts as the ally "using an ability."

Therefore, a silenced person cannot pick up the lantern.

Moreover, Soraka's E ability is truly instant-cast, and the casting range is as long as 925 units.

This meant that Thresh had no right to save any ally from right in front of her!

Gala was slowed by Sejuani, then rooted in place by the Equinox, and finally frozen.

In the end, he was turned into a pincushion by Kalista and pierced to death!

"Ah... Gala is down!"

Viewers in the chat who didn't know the principle behind it all spammed, "As expected of the successor to the God!"

Of course, if it were just a lantern, it wouldn't be called a "counter."

At eight minutes, RNG went to great lengths to execute a four-man dive bot after baiting vision.

At the cost of sacrificing their top laner and giving up the Rift Herald, they wanted to snipe the bot lane.

Graves used his W smoke screen to block Soraka's vision, and Xiaohu's Anivia instinctively used Flash to follow up on his Glacial Storm, then W, then R!

They successfully caught the enemy's Cleanse cooldown and rooted him!

Thresh also used Hexflash to suddenly jump out, perfectly connecting his hook to hit Kalista!

Although {Cleanse} has the effect of {reducing subsequent crowd control}, as long as Thresh used his Q2 to fly in, used 【Flay】 to knock him back, and then turned to throw the lantern to bring the ADC over.

With four people diving, the enemy bot lane was clearly doomed!

But just at this moment.

Soraka, having forced her way out of the smoke screen, instantly threw Equinox under Thresh's feet.

Immediately, the icon for Thresh's Q2 ability turned gray!

That's right, Thresh's Q2 also counts as an independent ability cast, so naturally, it could not bypass the silence restriction.

Thresh not only failed to reach the battlefield, but he also couldn't bring his AD over.

Anivia and Viego had already chased into the tower.

Soraka and Kalista went all out, maneuvering and counter-attacking under the tower, while Thresh was still silenced and couldn't even throw the lantern in time!

"The result of RNG's four-man dive bot is that they actually got two people counter-killed!!"

"Top lane, Faker has already helped Zeus dive Breathe. Oner finished the Rift Herald and went straight to the top lane—that's a full-plating first tower! Breathe is suffocating!"

"It's over!"

The bot lane laning phase was completely unplayable.

If Thresh tried to step up to Flay, he would be slowed and poked for free by Soraka's Q, and long-range hooks were extremely hard to land.

He could basically only take a beating!

The bot lane tier-one tower was naturally pushed down in just 10 minutes.

"T1 is threatening the high ground. Xiaohu still wants to make a desperate attempt to flank by cutting off vision, but the moment his Glacial Storm landed, he was hit by Soraka's predicted silence! Xiaohu was deleted!"

"In that case, we should congratulate T1 on winning the first game on the red side."

T1 completed a red-side upset in the first game.

Ye Bo didn't have time to worry for RNG.

What surprised him even more was this preparation from T1, which was completely unexpected.

With over 160 champions, it was impossible for Ye Bo to know all the counter relationships and obscure mechanics between them—unless he had mastered the proficiency of those champions himself.

Like the Gragas predicted R from back then, blowing away Renata who wanted to R-Flash.

In fact.

This was the hero that T1 finally found after losing to EDG in the first round using Thresh, following a period of searching and development by Keria.

It was precisely this ignored "sewer-tier" hero that undoubtedly became the key to T1's victory in the first match.

Being red-side broken by blue-side in the first match was fatal for RNG.

In the second match, the red-side RNG had to lock in bans for Yuumi and Caitlyn, leaving them with a mere single ban slot!

T1 utilized their draft advantage on the blue side to pick their most practiced five-man signature lineup, creating advantages in all three lanes during the laning phase.

Facing a team like T1, if you cannot secure an advantage in the early game, the subsequent lane swaps and macro operations become even harder to handle, and they quickly fell in under 30 minutes.

And so, we arrive at the third match.

RNG chose to bet on their top laner, banning Fiora on the blue side and first-picking Aatrox for the top lane.

But this once again played right into T1's hands.

At the same time, it confirmed that Ye Bo's previous conjecture was correct.

T1 picked out the secret weapon they hadn't been able to use before—top lane Yone!

You have to realize, EDG banning Yone in the second round previously was seen by everyone as a very inexplicable choice!

Yone is similar to Soraka; almost no one played them this year, and in the top lane, they only appeared once, and it wasn't even against Aatrox.

It really wasn't that Ye Bo didn't want to share the bottom line with teams from his own region.

But without a precedent on the competitive stage, Ye Bo had simply made his judgment based on his own understanding of the hero Yone.

He had no evidence and could not jump to conclusions.

Moreover, the two teams weren't on good enough terms to "reveal their cards to each other."

To put it bluntly, if you really listened to someone and banned Yone, and then the other side won without even picking it, wouldn't you owe that person a trophy?

Once the lineup for the third match was locked in, Ye Bo already felt things were looking shaky.

Because he could clearly see.

In the third match, RNG had already begun to be completely led by the nose by T1.

Ming immediately learned on the fly and countered by picking Soraka himself.

But his understanding of enchanter supports was truly terrible; he played Soraka like a tank support, and his record quickly hit 1-5, turning him into the "King of the Underworld."

Mid laner Xiaohu was under maximum pressure in lane, rushing Mercury's Treads and Crown of the Shattered Queen as his first items.

"Sylas can't build tank, Brother Hu!" Ye Bo, in front of the screen, was anxious.

As for Zeus in the top lane.

Despite being ganked repeatedly by Wei in a suicidal fashion, he still managed to solo kill Breathe's Aatrox while trailing 0-2!

The subsequent side-lane split push was a total collapse; Breathe's Aatrox couldn't even stand under his own tower, being teased by Zeus with dance steps that looked like a tango right in front of the tower!

Yone's super-high mobility and ability to stand and fight are simply a nightmare for a clumsy hero like Aatrox!

This match: Brother Breathe became Brother Suffocate; Xiaohu showed his first signs of being a single-celled organism; Wei became "Wei?"; Ming started competing for the title of the greatest Reaper in history.

The chat was filled with "Save Gala!"

Finally, at just 26 minutes.

T1 held a 15, 00 gold lead, securing 27 kills in 26 minutes, a massive disparity of 17 kills.

They completed a one-sided crushing victory.

"Three to zero. In that case, we congratulate T1 on being the first to enter the top four of this World Championship."

The tone of the commentary desk was obviously somber.

In such a three-to-zero match where there was almost no room to fight back, one could say there was a clear gap between the two sides from the draft to laning, and even to team fighting and macro.

Most importantly, it was just too different from the pre-match expectations.

Domestic forums almost exploded instantly.

【1020! It's today again! Just today!】

【Tell a joke: "Fated Rivals"】

【T1 playing RNG is like the seven captures of Meng Huo. Meng Huo says: "I play against him often, we are fated rivals!" Zhuge Liang says: "I don't have much of an impression of him."】

【Damn, it all matches up. Meng Huo also looked for foreign aid, the Rattan Armor Army, and won against Zhuge Liang once!】

【Only those with back-and-forth historical records are called fated rivals; those who always lose one-sidedly are called natural enemies!】

【Nine-year-old Zeus, looking at Faker on the screen, leading SKT to sweep RNG—eighteen-year-old Zeus, looking at Faker sitting beside him, together sweeping RNG!】

【Teacher Da Fei was trash in the group stage, but these two Akali games in the quarterfinals won me over. I am willing to return his name, Faker!】

【"This laugh in S8, laughed all the way to S9, S10, S11, S12, S13" (Video Link) 【2018 World Championship】 October 20 RNG vs G2】

The forums also had the classic post-match "digging up old posts" segment.

The scene turned into a boomerang effect.

"The scene I've been crazily fantasizing about for five years is about to happen tomorrow! Go take revenge, RNG!"

"Where are you going? To step on Korea and win the championship!"

"Even if you guys trash talk all you want, it won't change the fact that my Brother Hu is the number one domestic mid laner in terms of honors, and the number one player in RNG's history!"

"Still counting honors here? If you really count honors, then the first are Corn and White3zz, you loser who has never broken through the top four in a World Championship, you only deserve to go out to sea with successful people!"

The first day of the quarterfinals left LPL viewers deeply disappointed.

But there was no time to feel sad for RNG, as JDG was the next to arrive on the battlefield.

And that evening.

JDG took the initiative to approach EDG, inviting them to a practice match.

The EDG members hadn't been able to practice for the past few days, and it was only today, the third day, that they could barely manage to conduct a practice match.

After all, their own match was coming up soon, so they had to practice no matter what.

But as expected.

EDG's performance on the first day of resumed practice could only be described as a disaster!

Meiko and Viper, the bot lane duo once known for their laning pressure, were now operating as stiffly as rusted gears.

Even against the bot lane duo viewed as JDG's weak point, they repeatedly fell behind in trades, couldn't exert the slightest pressure in lane, and even fell behind frequently!

Flandre's situation was slightly better; a low fever only made his movements a bit slower than usual, but the slippery awareness accumulated over years of competition still supported him in barely holding his own in lane, trading farm with 369.

The most surprising thing was that Jiejie, still running a high fever of 39. 4 degrees, was actually able to remain relatively stable while facing Kanavi.

Although he couldn't pull off the reverse-invasion performance from the playoffs, his ganking and counter-ganking were still on point.

Of course, this might also be related to the nature of the jungle position, which requires the most frequent interaction with the mid laner.

The problem was.

Kanavi's jungle-carry style isn't known for "counter-jungling," but for "farming leads," which was a relatively easy strategy to control.

But the day after tomorrow, if Jiejie were to face Canyon, who is world-renowned for counter-jungling.

Whether he could still put up such a performance, no one knew.

"I really don't think I can hold on," Jiejie said weakly in the voice channel, and the sound of him unscrewing a bottle of fever medicine could be heard through his headset.

Upon hearing this, Ye Bo immediately cut off the practice match: "Let's stop here for today! Everyone save your energy, I'll go tell Coach Homme."

On the other side, JDG coach Homme received the message from Ye Bo and seemed quite regretful.

He truly found that playing practice matches against EDG was very rewarding.

And after Ye Bo exited the custom room, he returned to his own voice channel.

"Sorry, it's our bot lane's fault, these few games were played too poorly," Meiko said, his hoarse voice thick with nasal congestion.

"It's mainly my fault, I couldn't react in time," Viper also felt a bit self-reproachful.

"Don't worry about it everyone, it's just a practice match~"

Despite the consecutive losses in practice matches.

Ye Bo's voice sounded as if he were still very confident.

"Let's just treat this as weighted training for now. By the day of our match, everyone's condition will definitely recover quite a bit!"

"When the time comes, we'll take off the bandages and break the seal right on stage, giving the opponents a big surprise!"

"We'll just treat this quarterfinal match as a fever-enthusiast exclusive game!"

The sudden dry humor caused coughing laughter to erupt one after another in the voice channel.

And Ye Bo's half-joking, firm tone also eased the miserable moods of the bot lane duo significantly.

In fact.

Ye Bo had already discovered during his research on DK in the group stage that this DK's bot lane was relatively the easiest position to break through.

EDG had actually already thought about how to win against this DK.

But now, with the current state of the bot lane duo, the original strategy targeting DK's bot lane was like a candle in the wind.

"I originally wanted to have a good go at Brother BeryL, what a pity..." Flandre's tone had a sense of finding joy in suffering.

"Me... too," Jiejie, who was currently swallowing "razor blades," followed up with a zombie-like voice.

At this moment, Ye Bo's voice in the channel sounded exceptionally loud, as if it had pierced through the walls and could be heard directly in the next room.

"What are you guys thinking about? I feel like right now, the advantage is completely with us!"

"Think about it, getting sick early means the cooldown is over early. If we got sick in the semifinals or even the finals, that would be truly scary. But against this DK, we can definitely win even with low health, this is the best arrangement!"

"The people on other teams haven't gotten sick yet at this point, look, isn't that an advantage for us!"

Such a tricky angle truly left the other four red-faced teammates stunned.

But thinking about it carefully, it actually seemed to be the case.

The only prerequisite was—they wouldn't fall in the quarterfinals.

"Master Ye, you are too good at comforting people; it would be a real pity if you don't become a coach in the future." Holy Gun Brother grinned in front of the screen.

"I won't be one, I don't make soup~~"

Ye Bo replied jokingly, then returned to a serious expression.

"You know I never lie. Actually, I've already figured out how to beat DK over the past two days; this time I am ten thousand percent sure!"

"And I have a strong premonition that as long as we can win this match, we will be very close to that championship trophy!"

"Believe in me, brothers!"

Without a doubt.

Ye Bo's display of such confidence truly conveyed immense confidence to everyone.

The team's previously somewhat low spirits gradually began to soar again.

"Alright, everyone go get some rest. The more you recover, the easier it will be to win!"

The voice call disconnected.

Only then did Ye Bo's confident smile slowly fade as he lowered his head to look at his notebook.

It was clear that his certainty was still quite a distance away from being "ten thousand percent."

But Ye Bo had to say it.

Because he knew his teammates needed confidence right now, and as for these fearless worries and pressures, it was enough for him, the healthy one, to shoulder them.

Of course, Ye Bo hadn't told a baseless lie.

He flipped the tactical board over; hidden beneath the dense red markings was all the hard work and thought he had put in over the past few days.

The difficult problems on the competitive stage.

Could all find their answers within Summoner's Rift.

Timing it well.

At twelve o'clock, he entered the trial grounds again, and Ye Bo began his individual review and analysis of the three matches T1 played today.

The next day, the second quarterfinal match began.

Unexpectedly, JDG successfully secured the first victory from the red side after a 40-minute grueling battle!

This was clearly a much better start than RNG's yesterday!

And in this, there was indeed quite a bit of credit due to EDG, or rather, Ye Bo.

Ye Bo had shared his views and understanding of "Yuumi" with Homme without reservation.

In his view, Yuumi was indeed very strong; this was beyond doubt.

But for some teams—releasing Yuumi might be easier to win against than not releasing her!

Take the supports of the four Korean teams this time, for example.

The supports of Gen. and DK belonged to the type who lacked a strong desire to make plays and didn't have many ideas of their own; they were "supports" in the truest sense of the role.

For such players, taking Yuumi was a match made in heaven, especially for someone like Lehends who often got lost and died while warding; taking Yuumi was an enhancement that covered their weaknesses.

But T1's Keria and DRX's Beryl.

These two were completely different.

Their roles within the team were more like a "spear" and a "brain"; they were essentially a second jungler.

And by giving them Yuumi, one could potentially restrict their team's overall tempo by binding them to the support position.

JDG used exactly this line of thinking to save a ban slot on Yuumi, using it instead to fully target the mid and top lane champion pools.

With this, they successfully took the first game!

In the second game, they moved to the blue side, and JDG pressed their advantage, with Yagao and Kanavi executing explosive mid-jungle synergy.

Unfortunately, DRX clearly changed their look in the second game; after giving up the red side and banning Yuumi themselves, they suddenly displayed astonishing teamwork, managing to create a brilliant game of wits during several key mid-game decisions and slowly widening the advantage!

After another 40-minute grueling battle, DRX seized an opportunity to pick off 369, who was lost while split-pushing, and turned to start the Baron!

However.

The most terrifying thing for a summoner happened———

"Kanavi stole the Baron!! Pyosik used Smite too early! He used it too early!"

"And JDG can press the advantage here, 369 is teleporting behind them!"

"Two to zero!!!"

"JDG has already secured three match points! They are only one step away from the semifinals! Just one last step!"

From LPL casters and streamers to the audience in the chat, everyone was cheering with joy.

【Could it be?】

【Haha, who said tank supports aren't good? They're amazing!】

【Don't blame the champion if the player isn't good enough!】

【Where are those who called my JDG a fake strong team? Stand up! Speak!】

Three match points; it could almost be said they had already won.

Even Ye Bo thought so.

Because DRX's draft hadn't made any major changes for two consecutive games, it seemed to give the impression that this was all they had.

"What champion is this!?"

"Heimerdinger!!"

"Beryl actually picked Heimerdinger support!?"

A super niche champion, far more so than Soraka, or at least on par with Nunu, appeared in DRX's bottom lane selection.

When DRX was already standing on the edge of a cliff, they pulled out a support choice that no one could fully understand.

Heimerdinger support—this isn't even about professional play.

Before this, in any rank of solo queue, picking this support would inevitably be considered throwing or trolling, and the AD carry might have already wanted to go AFK!

Yet, this champion appeared so brazenly as the final pick for DRX, who were standing on the edge of the cliff.

And even more terrifying was.

This champion produced an effect that no one had expected.

The strategy for how JDG won the first two games was simple: they almost completely abandoned the bottom lane, letting their weakest point "trade" with the opponent's relatively weak point, and then looked for opportunities in the top half of the map.

Of course, it was clear their strategy hadn't been executed perfectly.

Because being dragged into forty-plus minutes for two consecutive games proved that their top-mid-jungle confrontation didn't have a clear advantage either.

But this game was different.

When the director cut the camera to the bottom lane———in just four and a half minutes, the first turret plate in the bottom lane was already in jeopardy!

Ashe was already one of the AD carries with the strongest early-game pushing power, and combined with Heimerdinger's three turrets, the pushing power could only be described as terrifying.

The opposing Miss Fortune and Nautilus had no pushing power at all and were only left to be unilaterally poked.

Because every time Missing's Nautilus tried to hook, it was instantly blocked by Heimerdinger's sharp little turrets!

It was enough to make someone's mentality start to crack.

Even more uncomfortable was Kanavi.

After pushing the bottom lane, DRX frantically coordinated with their jungler to invade Kanavi's jungle while simultaneously harassing the mid lane.

The description from the casting desk was very apt.

"This Heimerdinger... it really plays with the same vibe as the mid-lane Nunu from a few days ago!"

"The two have an uncanny similarity!"

Both achieved a tempo breakthrough that was impossible to counter through an extreme, tier-breaking lane priority.

No one expected Nunu.

And the same was true for Heimerdinger.

DRX successfully took the third game on the blue side.

Then came the fourth game——————the balance had been broken.

The suddenly appearing Heimerdinger was nearly unsolvable; there was no way to find a counter-method immediately, so it had to be banned.

Because of this, JDG had no choice but to let Sylas, Akali, Aatrox, Sejuani, and Maokai all through.

DRX successfully obtained Aatrox and Akali.

The support was still a niche choice: Ashe!

This support had only been used once by EDG in the first game of the group stage against G2.

It didn't seem to have attracted much attention afterward.

After all, in everyone's eyes, there was already a significant strength gap between the two teams in that game, and it wasn't won by relying on the bottom lane; it was simply because Sylas had too large an advantage, tearing the game apart.

But DRX had once again proven the capability of Ashe support.

Constant vision probing, constant hidden arrows; every single one could lead to a wave of tempo.

It was clear that Beryl's understanding of Ashe was far above Meiko's.

"69 got hit by an arrow!"

"69, what about your W!"

In this game, 369 picked Fiora to counter Aatrox from the red side, yet he didn't produce the slightest laning advantage.

JDG's biggest hidden danger finally manifested.

The laning in the top lane!

But a champion like Fiora clearly couldn't have much synergy with the jungler.

Even with a recognized counter-matchup, 369 not only failed to gain the slightest advantage in lane, but was even outplayed by Kingen several times in a row!

DRX won the fourth game easily, leveling the score at 2-2.

"Stay steady, you must keep your composure."

Homme was in the back room doing his best to soothe the players.

But it had little effect.

The pressure of coming back from two games down to win three is too great; by this point, DRX was already on the side of the scale with the advantage.

Homme's drafting ability was still on point, however, and he made a final strategic play during the critical moment.

"JDG has to fight for their lives now too." Ye Bo, in the hotel, vaguely sensed the opponent's intentions.

"Ashe and Heimerdinger are both huge threats, which means their ban slots aren't enough; they can only choose to snatch an Ashe for themselves, but that's destined to let a lot of other heroes through, and it seems like neither of the two people in JDG's bottom lane plays these heroes very well."

The collapse in the fifth game seemed to follow a logical progression.

In a desperate situation, Deft resolutely and confidently pulled out Draven, pairing it with Beryl's Braum to force a difficult lane matchup, clearly having already figured out the capabilities of the opposing AD.

Logically, JDG only needed to mindlessly target the bottom lane, and it should have been easy to gank.

But... Kanavi had to help the top lane!

And as if it weren't bad enough, by the fifth game, Yagao's eyelids were already struggling to stay open.

Just six minutes in, Yagao's Sylas was caught by Zeka's Akali in a fleeting moment of opportunity, resulting in a solo kill in the mid lane!

Then came the second solo kill.

The third solo kill, the fourth solo kill!

Zeka pulled off four solo kills in the lane while "diving the tower" in a single match!

This is absolutely an incredibly rare occurrence on the professional stage.

The moment JDG's crystal exploded, the sky fell for many fans.

【I told you this JDG is just a fake strong team! Where are the people who just told me to talk? Come out and talk!】

【My god, won't Zeka's market value increase tenfold after this BO5? Does his salary even equal a fraction of Yagao's?】

【Doesn't BLG regret letting others go! And they spent a lot of money to get Scout, I almost want to laugh.】

【Yagao tried his best in the first few games too, but there was no way in the last game; don't even talk about Yagao, I bet even if you called Scout over, he'd get solo killed too!】

【Huh? You can drag my junior into this too? You guys better not be too ridiculous!】

【Scout? "Dead-scout"! I can only say Yagao doesn't deserve this; the quarterfinals are still better than being at home, why don't you go to the World Championship first~】

【It's over, now there's only a half-health EDG left; we won't all be in the quarterfinals this year, right...】

【If it were before, I would definitely think the person above is a fool, but in this situation now...】

The DYS crew in the secondary broadcast room were very emotional about this.

"This has to be the most insane reverse sweep in the history of the S-series I've ever seen! DRX really doesn't seem weak at all!" Xika said as such.

"Indeed, this seems even more insane than that time Brother chased down FNC..." Sun Yalong couldn't stop talking about Brother: "Is this Mr. Deft's first time entering the semifinals?"

"Brother Sun, you're being unfairly critical; I remember he entered once when it was Samsung Blue, so this should be the second time?"

"Oh my, Mr. Deft is crying; he's really broken through his inner demons now, heh."

Ever since the S4 semifinals for Deft.

In 8 years, 5 quarterfinal appearances, he hadn't broken through the quarterfinals even once.

Breaking through again after eight years, and in such a way of coming back from two games down, the sentimental Deft shed tears on the scene.

The old friends of EDG in front of the screen in the hotel were equally moved.

Everyone was sincerely happy for him.

And Ye Bo's emotional fluctuations were no less than anyone else's.

It's just that his bond with Deft wasn't very deep; his thoughts were more influenced by the impact of the opponent's performance in this BO5.

Ye Bo had to admit that he had also underestimated DRX.

The opponent's ability to adjust, team resilience, and the drafting strategy that was clearly decided upon through on-the-spot improvements were all unexpected.

Especially — this Heimerdinger!

For two consecutive days, the support picks from T1 and DRX that had never been seen before all had unpredictable effects, even truly deciding the outcome of the battle in one fell swoop.

This drew Ye Bo's great attention.

In such a drafting environment, a change in a single ban slot could potentially lead to earth-shattering changes; the two consecutive BO5s were the best interpretation of this.

Ye Bo's focus on the support position was indeed a bit low, mostly relying on communication with Meiko and using the other's seasoned experience to make judgments.

But now he seemed to have discovered that something was a bit off?

Fortunately, it wasn't too late.

And the "drafting groundwork" that Ye Bo had been laying since the very first match of the World Championship also began to take effect.

Whether it was the habitual neutralization of Caitlyn or the forced breaking of Yuumi, all were adding weight to EDG's drafting confrontation and strategic game.

At the very least, EDG would not face the same situation as RNG and JDG, being tied down by two ban slots the entire time.

These, undoubtedly, would also become the most important strategic points of this World Championship.

With this, the quarterfinals were halfway over.

Yet, LPL only had one lone seedling left in EDG.

At this moment, it was just like that moment in the past, but the plot this time was vastly different from last year.

Another lonely night of staying up until dawn.

The third day of the quarterfinals had already arrived right on time!

(End of chapter)