Chapter 155

Perhaps it was because Old Deng had never stepped into the realm of the World Championship in his ten-year career, nor did he have any experience facing foreign professional players.

So, ever since entering the World Championship stage, the content of Old Deng's diary had "stopped updating," and no further relevant content had been triggered.

Ye Bo also didn't understand why Old Deng's diary would unlock new things at this time.

But having reached this point, he had already confirmed many things.

After all, what was recorded in the diary had already happened in reality; this S12 World Championship was indeed a close call for the entire team to stop at the quarterfinals.

The long-lost and familiar diary interface appeared.

【November 6, 2022】

【The last dance! I didn't expect that in my first year at the World Championship, I would witness such a wonderful final up close! Although I also successfully achieved the five-consecutive-win achievement, I'm still so lucky!】

【It's a pity I couldn't make the main roster this year, but the team leader said I could be promoted to the first team as a substitute next year. Anyway, RNG will definitely make it to the World Championship next year, right? I'm really looking forward to it~~】

【So what if no one is optimistic? Mr. Deft persisted for nine years, and he just did it! ———— Someday, I will definitely be able to do it too!】

【If nine years isn't enough, then ten, eleven...】

【So, I must hurry up and work hard, Ye Bo!】

【I have to practice a little more than others every day, and then a little more. Maybe that day will come a little earlier ————— Set a small goal: winning the championship within ten years counts as success!】

Looking at the rambling diary content, Ye Bo quickly captured the "key points" within it.

"DRX won?"

There was no record related to the match content in the diary.

After all, no one would write about those "tactics" and "designs" in a diary.

So Ye Bo didn't know who DRX had defeated in the final in Old Deng Bo's world.

However, through the "deduction" from the initial content, since the semifinals were also nearly wiped out, it meant that there were at least three LCK teams ————— which is to say, DRX most likely defeated either T1 or Gen. G.

Unexpectedly knowing the result in advance actually caused Ye Bo's expectations to shift.

After all, at the moment, in everyone's perception, among the remaining three LCK teams, DRX was clearly ranked last.

But if DRX ended up winning the championship...

After thinking about all this.

Ye Bo looked at the diary again, suddenly feeling a mix of emotions.

For such a long time, he had treated Old Deng as an "old friend" he had known for a long time, or even as "himself."

And the time of this diary entry was clearly the year Old Deng had just embarked on his professional career.

At that time, Old Deng probably didn't know that he would actually fulfill his own prophecy.

In the end, he really did end his professional career in his tenth year with that kind of ending...

"Wait."

"Theoretically speaking... isn't this year the tenth year?"

Ye Bo suddenly remembered something at this moment.

It was something he hadn't noticed before.

It was after the playoffs ended, when he had just won the Summer Championship and the system gave him the brand-new next-stage mission.

A piece of "small talk" mixed in.

【Do you still remember your goal from ten years ago ————— Now, it's still not too late.】

At that time, Ye Bo was too busy looking at the rewards and the new S-tournament mission, and didn't take this seemingly inexplicable sentence to heart at all.

But thinking about it now...

Could Old Deng Bo perhaps still be considered a "successful person"?

"Alright."

"It's still not too late, Old Deng."

Ye Bo seemed to be talking to himself.

Yet it was also as if he were inexplicably making a promise to the air, to an old friend.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the scene of the S12 World Championship semifinals!"

"Today, the first match is DRX versus T1 from the upper half! A peak showdown between the Mapo dual carries, two legendary veterans of the LCK!"

The upper half of the semifinals, although it could be said to be the most unequal match in terms of {pre-match expectations}, no one would be optimistic about DRX.

But without a doubt, this was also the match with the most buzz.

Ten players took the stage, and the pre-match promotional video was also playing amidst the alternating lights.

The pitch-black giant screen lit up.

Li Xianghe was the first to walk out of the darkness, and the narrator's voice suddenly rang out.

{The last time the World Championship was held at Madison Square Garden was in 2016, the year Faker won everything. }

"The road back to the finals has taken up too much of my time; this is the fifth year," Li Xianghe said in his usual flat tone, but his voice seemed full of murderous intent.

"I want to win again so badly."

The scene flipped, and Deft walked out.

It was a completely different style.

"I still remember my classmate saying back then that there was someone in the class next door whose League of Legends rank was super high ————— that was the first time I knew about Faker."

"At that time, I really wanted to surpass him and become the best League of Legends player in school, even if it was just for one season."

"And standing on the stage of the finals, that was a plot that appeared in my dreams."

"This time, I don't want to leave before that."

Immediately after, the style of the promotional video changed abruptly, suddenly arriving at a yellowed scene that looked like a memory.

Time seemed to be rewound to ten years ago, showing the bond that the two had already formed ten years ago.

Both were at Mapo High School in Korea, separated by only a wall every day, and both entered the professional scene in 2013.

It was as if it were destined.

But the starting point was the same, yet the paths were different.

Finally, once again, they met under such circumstances.

Especially since Deft had already announced before this year's World Championship that he might retire next year, this was very likely his "last dance."

Under such an atmosphere.

It was as if this match had been added with a sense of "fate."

The match started soon.

T1 won the coin toss in the first game, took the blue side first, and also successfully demonstrated a key hero advantage for T1.

After the quarterfinals, everyone knew that Yone in the top lane was a comprehensive counter to Aatrox, whether in laning, team fighting, or split-pushing!

But even knowing this, among all the teams in the World Championship, only T1 could bring out Yone in the top lane.

So this became T1's exclusive BP advantage!

That is, regardless of whether they were on the red or blue side, they didn't have to ban Aatrox and Fiora!

If they were on the blue side, they could also force you to pick Aatrox in the first three picks, otherwise they would have to engage in a forced BP game of releasing two strong heroes of the version.

In the first game, T1 demonstrated this BP advantage to the fullest, forcing DRX to bite the bullet and pick Aatrox.

In the mid lane, Azir played against Sylas, and Zeka couldn't compete for lane priority either.

The result was that DRX had no lane priority in the upper half, which directly led to Pyosik being completely crushed in the jungle in the first game, which in turn led to the collapse of the rhythm, and they were completely pushed over in just 29 minutes!

"One to zero!"

"T1 almost suppressed their opponent throughout the game! Killing the match before 30 minutes!"

The result of the first match could be said to be within expectations.

It seemed like it should have been this way.

Even Ye Bo, after watching this match, doubted the diary content he had seen ————— after all, the gap shown seemed quite large.

"Could it be that Gen. G took down T1... and then DRX beat Gen. G?"

Until the first fifteen minutes of the second game, it was still the same.

In this game, DRX got the BP they wanted, getting Varus, Heimerdinger, Sylas, Viego, and other lineups the team was most proficient in, with at most a disadvantageous matchup in the top lane with Camille against Aatrox.

Although Kingen's Camille actually counter-suppressed Zeus's Aatrox during the laning phase.

But DRX was still at a disadvantage in all three lanes.

The reason was that T1 was a strong individual-strength team that played laning in all four lanes, while DRX had no advantage when directly facing the opponent head-on.

The turning point began with the lane transition phase starting at 15 minutes.

DRX, finally liberated in the bottom lane, suddenly carried out several waves of variations that could be called "God's hand"!

Even Ye Bo, who was in the God's-eye view, couldn't help but applaud.

And as Zeka's Sylas caught a mistake by Faker's Viktor on the side lane, he gained a matchup advantage.

Top laner Kingen's Camille even completed a solo kill against Zeus's Aatrox!

T1's rhythm suddenly suffered several consecutive deaths and began to spiral into collapse.

In the end, they fought for 45 minutes and lost the match because the Camille on the side lane was unstoppable and the operational space was completely out of scale.

"Wow... DRX's operation is really good." Ye Bo couldn't help but sigh.

"Huh, really?" Brother Shengqiang Ge shrugged: "I only felt that the top laner in this game was a bit criminal; Zeus's Aatrox feels like he's at my level, haha."

"Indeed... I also feel that DRX is a bit evil." Former commander Meiko also saw the clues: "How should I put it, it feels like they can always plan ahead, and then T1 just happens to want to fight that wave; the timing is really well-pinched."

"Alpaca and the others really have something to say this year!"

The EDG crowd had a special relationship with Deft, so they were still more inclined towards DRX in their hearts.

But, I don't know if it was because Ye Bo had "predicted" the result of this match in advance, which caused his perspective on looking at the problem to change.

He did feel that DRX was a bit different in this game ————— at least compared to their performance in the quarterfinals.

Coming to the third game, T1 returned to the blue side.

They also discovered that Zeus's Aatrox seemed to be lacking something, so after DRX banned Yone, they took the initiative to put Aatrox on the ban list on the blue side.

And the lineups of both sides in this game seemed to be standard.

But after the second game was finished, it was as if the "verification was successful" tactic, and from the third game, DRX showed a completely different tactical strategy, accumulating a considerable advantage before 20 minutes.

"I get it!!" Ye Bo shouted suddenly while watching.

"They know they don't have an advantage in laning, so they liberate personnel by forcibly seizing lane priority in all three lanes, and then simultaneously mobilize the three lanes to rotate and attack, making T1 run around and open up space..."

"This lineup was specially designed; their BP idea on the red side is very worth referring to!"

"And the person commanding DRX is really amazing; this kind of attack that needs to be carried out on three lanes at the same time, and still be so methodical, must have someone coordinating it."

As the team's commander, Ye Bo could best see the difference.

Since he couldn't see the first-person perspective for the time being, Ye Bo didn't know who was in command.

Or, was it really just the explosive performance of the DRX players themselves?

However, no one could predict the changes within Summoner's Rift.

Just when DRX's situation was looking great.

An accident happened, and it was wave after wave.

"Stolen!!!"

"T1 couldn't compete for the dragon while short-handed, but Little Lu Bu's Varus, from a thousand miles away, stole it with one arrow! A key soul-point dragon!"

"In that case, the offensive rhythm DRX built up can only slow down!"

"This is definitely great news for T1's scaling lineup!"

Varus staged a "shooting a halberd from the gate," stealing the key soul-point dragon from a thousand miles away.

This was undoubtedly a crucial influence.

And because DRX knew that dragging it out would make it harder and harder to play, and the dragon was stolen, they couldn't force a team fight for the dragon soul in advance, nor did they have the ability to end the game with an Elder Dragon.

So.

DRX, holding 5k gold, chose to attack Baron Nashor at 20 minutes, when their gold advantage was greatest.

This was completely fine in terms of decision-making; even if it was just to force the opponent to come over for a team fight, there was still a chance to take it.

T1 certainly couldn't not come.

And in the first half, DRX's team fight handling was enough to make everyone look sideways.

The division of labor was clear, everyone stood at key points, forming a defensive formation with an angle, leaving no gaps for you to drill through.

"DRX just needs to kill Baron to counter-attack! Or even run directly to the pit!"

"Baron has one thousand health!!!"

"Pyosik used Smite too early again! The Baron, which had less than 100 health left, was actually stolen by Varus again!"

"The second time! This is the second dragon in this match! At the same time, this will also be the horn for T1's counter-attack!"

Baron was stolen, and the huge advantage was almost wiped out overnight.

What followed was the infinitely magnified offensive pressure of the lineup.

DRX, whose situation was looking great and seemed to be able to achieve a "red breaks blue" opportunity immediately, was turned around just like that.

The score had reached 1 to 2.

If it were an ordinary person, their mentality would definitely have collapsed after this match.

Victory was clearly so close.

But it was just two dragons, just two Smites, almost pulling people from heaven to hell in an instant!

This highlighted the specialness of the DRX team.

They didn't seem to be affected at all, just giving the jungler, whose mentality must have fluctuated in the previous game, a Maokai that was not easy to make mistakes with, and then everyone continued to implement the BP and tactical strategy of the previous game.

And having arrived at the blue side, they seemed even more like a fish in water.

In the fourth game, in less than 28 minutes, they successfully took back the match with a big score of 4-14!

The first culprit of this game was again the top laner Zeus!

The reason was none other than ————— just because Zeus, after Yone was banned, chose Fiora, which was also a comprehensive counter, to restrain the matchup.

Yet he was actually beaten up by Kingen's Aatrox throughout the entire period!

"Isn't Fiora good at playing against Aatrox? How did it become like this?" Jie Jie asked puzzled.

"It should indeed be good to play..." Brother Shengqiang Ge also didn't know what to say: "But Kingen's Aatrox is really a bit fierce; this is Zeus's Fiora!"

"Zeka's Azir is also played quite well; he can suppress Teacher Fei's Akali like this? I thought this guy only knew how to play assassins," Meiko joked: "If Teacher Ye came up, maybe this game would have something to say."

"Maybe, no need to change." Viper followed up with a nonsensical sentence.

Ye Bo silently recorded something by himself.

Clearly, the variables in the top lane became the key.

The two heroes that restrained Aatrox the most, Yone would never be released to you, and Fiora couldn't produce any effect ————— directly leading to DRX returning to the red side in the fifth game, having one more bargaining chip in the BP end.

And Faker's Akali, which he "replaced with a grab" in the mid lane in the fourth game, also failed to produce results.

Coming to the fifth game, the ban list was already seriously insufficient, and one had to be released.

In the end, T1 still chose to release Aatrox, banning Akali and Sylas.

Arriving at the fifth game.

Beryl also showed one of his "achievements" after the quarterfinals stage.

On the LPL commentary stage, Guan Zeyuan, who always had a good memory, also seemed to see something and muttered to himself.

"DRX's lineup, how is it a bit like EDG's lineup in the quarterfinals, and the BP also looks a bit like it's targeting..."

His words didn't attract much attention at first.

After all, what EDG chose at the time were all common heroes of the version, and it was normal to combine them together.

But when they really arrived in the match, more similar points were revealed...

"Pyosik's spiritual counter-gank again! The bait above the vision, Oner fell for it!"

"And this Maokai pick is absolutely the essence! In the first round, both sides were competing for the top-mid-jungle, and in the second round of BP, all the bottom lanes with displacement were banned; this Maokai is a huge threat to the back row!"

"This game Pyosik seems to be completing his redemption, with both top and bottom lanes blooming! At the same time, Zeka's LeBlanc in the mid lane forms absolute suppression on Faker's Azir!"

In fact, even Ye Bo himself, looking at it, vaguely discovered the similarities between the two teams.

It wasn't anything like "commanding."

It was the attributes of the two teams.

Both teams had masters who had to target-ban heroes, it's just that on EDG's side it was Ye Bo alone, while on DRX's side it was distributed among Aatrox, Akali, Sylas, Heimerdinger...

At the same time, the mid laners of both sides were also players with extremely strong aggressiveness, a playing style that would pull the laning to the full even if they played Azir.

It can be said that if the two teams swapped the attributes of the top and bottom lanes, it would really be the same attribute configuration!

And in this game, the DRX generals all performed quite bravely, especially the top laner Aatrox ————— during the laning phase, he actually completed a lane kill against Zeus's Gwen again!

The match reached 19 minutes.

Although DRX only held a 2k advantage, this game was different from the previous one, and the lineup was not afraid of the opponent.

However, T1 was not so easy to defeat.

In a disadvantage, Li Xianghe led the team to find an opportunity.

During a retreat from a fake push, Azir suddenly struck back, pushing back the Emperor's Divide with lightning speed.

Successfully pushing back all three carries of the opponent!

"Faker pushed back three people! Two people landed and quickly used Flash!"

"But Aatrox has no Flash! Kill Aatrox! Kill Aatrox!"

However, the foreshadowing of the early stage appeared.

This Aatrox, because he had achieved a solo kill during the laning phase, not only had a level advantage, but also had a terrifying development of two items in advance.

And the second item was Maw of Malmortius!

T1's top laner Gwen, mid laner Azir, AD Varus, support Karma, the AP damage was explosive!

A set of skills smashed down, and the Aatrox with Maw of Malmortius actually forcibly survived under the protection of {Lifeline}.

And Kingen, who was deep in the crowd, not only didn't retreat, but opened World Ender, soaring and spreading his wings, directly slashing the precise Darkin Blade in the crowd!

The {Omnivamp} and {Shield} of Maw of Malmortius superimposed with the massive lifesteal of World Ender.

One Darkin Blade hit five people, and another slash hit the outer seam, and his health instantly pulled up by half!

"This Aatrox!!!"

"Maokai blocks the road! Renata's Flash ultimate... T1 is going to explode! It's over!"

0 for 4.

And it was 0 for 4 just before 20 minutes, with 15 seconds left before Baron refreshed!

Everyone who saw this had eyes full of disbelief.

This team, DRX, which no one was optimistic about, had already stepped half a foot onto the stage of the finals.

Even Ye Bo, who knew the result in advance, really didn't expect that this BO5 would progress like this.

But it was also something no one could have expected.

The game had just begun.

Baron refreshed and the five DRX members started to fight, but because they had experienced a bloody team fight, everyone's state was not complete.

And just as Baron's health had dropped to half, three TPs lit up on T1's river jungle vision.

Among them, there was Varus's TP.

Baron still had 2000 health left, but at this moment, a blue scanning eye lit up inside the dragon pit.

The vision of the Control Ward quickly blocked it.

Just this brief exposure of vision revealed the state of Baron.

Varus's Blighted Quiver, from a limit distance of 1200 yards, was released towards the dragon pit whose vision had been blocked ——————

"Ah!!!!"

"Stolen! Again!"

All the commentary stages were screaming at the occurrence of this scene.

"The third one! The third dragon stolen in this BO5! And it's the second Baron!"

"Why didn't you use Smite at eight hundred health!?"

"In that case, this team fight for DRX is equivalent to being completely in vain... T1 is even going to counter-push!"

T1, holding the Baron buff, went straight to the opponent's bottom lane high ground after leaving the base, and the gold instantly completed a reversal.

The situation seemed to reverse in an instant.

However, the criticality of BP appeared again.

T1's bottom lane had heroes without displacement and life-saving abilities.

But LeBlanc and Maokai's ability to find opportunities was extremely strong, and the two in the bottom lane were found opportunities one after another, and their Flash was hit before the team fight.

Frankly speaking, although Little Lu Bu's arrows were very critical in this BO5, his performance at other times was not bright, and it could even be said that there were many mistakes.

Keria's performance was even more completely muted, as if he had encountered a "nemesis," and he was silent throughout the game.

More importantly, if it were 99% of teams, experiencing Baron being stolen continuously in such a critical match would lead to a collapse and chaos in the military heart!

But DRX seemed to be different.

They showed extremely strong resilience in the final game, and even in such a difficult state of mind, they still quickly found the smooth offensive rhythm of the early stage.

The turning point appeared on the side lane again.

"Wait! Top lane!"

"Zeus is beaten to a pulp! And he used Gwen's W! In that case... what!"

"Why did two TPs light up on DRX's bottom side in advance! They TPed before Aatrox made a move!"

"T1's jungler protecting Gwen just reacted, but the people who landed from TP have already surrounded and blocked the way... Gwen is going to be surrounded and killed first!"

DRX once again launched a "predictive" attack.

Of course, this wave was obviously Gwen's own crime, and there was a mistake in the operation.

Not only was the health exchange so bad that he couldn't wait for his teammates to arrive, but it was as if he was unconvinced, going deep to suppress Aatrox and give him a position, resulting in falling into an ambush.

DRX went to Baron again.

This time, they staged the famous scene of "Five R guarding Baron," regardless of everything, not letting the opponent get close to the dragon pit, and finally successfully took the first Baron.

40 minutes, Elder Dragon team fight.

DRX took the initiative to start a team fight and block the road, like a demon god descending into the river Aatrox, taking the lead and wielding the blade bravely, simply unstoppable!

And just at this moment, Li Xianghe exerted amazing decisiveness.

Seeing that he couldn't fight head-on, he directed three people to contain them head-on, let the jungler and AD try to steal the dragon, while he and the top laner TPed to the bottom lane to steal the base!

After that wave of Baron being stolen, the high ground of the bottom lane had been broken once!

He used this to force the opponent to return to defend; once they returned to defend, there would be a gap in the front dragon pit, avoiding the weak period in this way and opening up the combat space!

Unfortunately, fate could not always stand on T1's side.

This time, the Blighted Quiver could not steal the fourth dragon.

The jungler lost countless dragons.

But only guarded this last, most critical dragon.

Caitlyn's trap formation perfectly blocked the road, Oner forcibly used Flash to steal the dragon but failed and sent himself away ————— but the two in the bottom lane went to interrupt the return to base with their lives!

"Only one Aatrox TPed back to base! Only one Aatrox!"

"The two nexus towers are like thin paper in front of Gwen and Azir! Aatrox should not be able to stop it! Should not... I go!!"

"Kingen!!!"

Aatrox used a side EQ to dodge Azir's push, and then used Q-Flash-A.

Full-output Aatrox bestowed death upon Azir with one sword.

The remaining Gwen still wanted to forcibly kill him, but because of his own insufficient development, Maw of Malmortius had already become a desperate barrier.

Aatrox completed a 1v2 in front of the nexus towers.

Turning his head to look... the four DRX members, except for the support, the other three actually didn't use the Baron buff to return to base quickly at all.

Instead, they went straight to the opponent's crystal!

This can only mean that they believed the support + Aatrox could guard the home, otherwise this move would be handing over the base.

But this move undoubtedly also confirmed how calm DRX was at this desperate moment, and how clear their thinking was.

The three went straight to the opponent's undefended line.

Pushing the crystal flat at 42 minutes!

"The last dance! DRX stood to the end!"

"This is simply a wonderful match comparable to the finals! No one could have thought of all the directions of this match!"

"Deft's dance is not over yet! They are going to walk to the final stage, waiting for the winner of the lower half to fight!"

The moment T1's main crystal collapsed, the five DRX members jumped up instantly and hugged each other tightly.

Whether outside or inside the field, everyone was incomparably emotional at this moment.

Several old teammates in EDG looked at Deft, whose eyes were red on the stage, and they were also a bit teary-eyed.

The camera then switched to the T1 player seat.

Zeus, who entered the World Championship for the first time and was undoubtedly the biggest culprit of this BO5, was at a loss and kept biting his nails.

Keria covered his face with trembling hands and burst into tears.

Only Faker looked calm, but no one knew the real fluctuations in his heart.

Perhaps it was the regret of stopping at the semifinals again.

Or perhaps, it was the inability to go to the stage behind and complete the revenge on that opponent...

The live broadcast room instantly became a mess, and the trolls and haters swarmed out.

【Is this the invincible T1 in the S-tournament BO5? Why are they sweating so much playing a DRX? Hehe~】

【Beryl specializes in executing you Keria! He executed him in the semifinals last year, three years in a row!】

【I heard this is the new version of the complete T1, but they were runners-up for the whole year? Oh, this time they aren't even runners-up!】

【This shitty designer, this version is really boring, didn't you notice that basically all blue sides win?! Tmd coin toss champion, right?】

【Hey, I have to say this, EDG's quarterfinals were two games of red breaking blue, wow.】

【Back then, the ten sons of Samsung used their own power to seal the Great Demon King, and later turned into stardust and scattered everywhere. Now nine stars have fallen, leaving only the last star. This star wandered from the peak to the valley and climbed up from the valley, facing the Great Demon King who returned to break the seal. Perhaps retreating step by step, even already defeated, but at the last moment of fate's choice, he asked the gods, at this moment behind him are the nine sons of the past, he stood up again and picked up the sharp sword to stab the Demon King, drawing a period to this wandering!】

【Congratulations to Mr. Deft for breaking through!】

Ye Bo looked at the T1 crowd and couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, he really wanted to meet T1 in the finals.

After all, this is T1, and it is T1 in a BO5, T1 that has brought countless regrets to the LPL.

The group stage was still in the exploration stage, and coming to this time, obviously everyone had earth-shaking changes, which was a completely different match experience.

But without a doubt.

DRX should have won this match, and even if it weren't for those few dragons, the score would never have been 3 to 2, nor would it have been so scorching.

Ye Bo saw it very thoroughly.

This DRX team was definitely not as weak as the outside world thought.

And after this battle, the opponent might even still be evolving...

And when Ye Bo finished watching this match, he finally felt what kind of mood and thoughts Old Deng Bo had before writing that diary entry.

But even if it were changed to now, he would still say that sentence.

Of course, before this.

No matter how shocking the battle in the upper half was.

Tomorrow, they still need to cross the powerful opponent blocking their eyes first ————— Gen. G!

And this BO5 also brought Ye Bo a lot of inspiration and ideas.

He was full of fighting spirit for tomorrow's challenge, or rather, the final obstacle.

(End of chapter)