Chapter 155: 【Ten Years】, A Semifinal Duel Comparable to the Finals!

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

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

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

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

After all, everything recorded in the diary had already happened in reality; this S12 World Championship was indeed a time when they almost all stopped at the quarterfinals.

The long-lost and familiar diary interface appeared.

【November 6, 2022】

【The Last Dance! I didn't expect to witness such a brilliant final up close in my first year at the World Championship! Although I also successfully achieved the "five consecutive wins" achievement, I am still so lucky!】

【It's a pity I couldn't make the main roster this year, but the team leader said I can move up 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 actually did it! ————One day, I will definitely be able to do it too!】

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

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

【I have to practice a little more than others every day, then a little more. Maybe that day will come a little sooner—————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 point" within it.

"DRX won?"

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

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

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

However, through the "deduction" from the initial content, since the semifinals were also almost a total wipeout, it meant there were at least three LCK teams————which is to say, it was highly probable that DRX defeated either T1 or Gen. .

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 three remaining LCK teams, DRX was clearly ranked last.

But if DRX ended up winning the championship...

After thinking through all this.

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

For such a long time, he had regarded 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 with that kind of conclusion in his tenth professional year.

"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 when the playoffs had ended, he had just won the Summer Split championship, and the system gave him the brand-new next-stage mission.

A piece of "small talk" was mixed in.

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

At the time, Ye Bo was too busy looking at the rewards and the new S-series mission to take this seemingly inexplicable sentence to heart.

But thinking about it now...

Could Old Deng 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 also felt like he was inexplicably making a promise to the air, to an old friend.

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

"Today, the first match is DRX versus T1 in the upper bracket! A peak duel between two legendary veterans from Mapo, the two legendary LCK players!"

The upper bracket of the semifinals, although it could be said to be the most lopsided match in terms of {pre-war expectations}, no one would favor 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 screen lit up.

Li Xianghe was the first to walk out of the darkness, and the voiceover rang out suddenly.

{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 me too much time; this is the fifth year," Li Xianghe said in his usual flat tone, but his voice seemed full of killing intent.

"I want to win one more time so badly."

The scene flipped, and Deft walked out.

It was a completely different style.

"I still remember my classmate saying 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 a decade 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 fated.

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 imbued with a sense of "destiny."

The match soon began.

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

After the quarterfinal battle, everyone knew that top-lane Yone 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 a top-lane Yone.

So this became T1's exclusive draft advantage!

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

If they were on the blue side, they could also force you to pick Aatrox in the first three picks, otherwise, you would have to gamble in the draft by leaving two strong meta heroes open.

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

With Azir against Sylas in the mid lane, Zeka also couldn't compete for lane priority.

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

"One to zero!"

"T1 suppressed their opponents almost the entire game! Killing the match before 30 minutes!"

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

It seemed it should have been like this all along.

Even Ye Bo, after watching this match, doubted the diary content he had seen————after all, the gap shown really didn't seem small.

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

It remained like this until the first fifteen minutes of the second game.

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

Although Kingen's Camille actually counter-pressed 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 team with strong individual strength in all four lanes, and DRX had no advantage when facing them head-on.

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

DRX, finally liberated in the bottom lane, suddenly executed several variations that could be called a "divine move"!

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 laning advantage.

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

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

Finally, after a grueling 45-minute battle, they lost the game because Camille could not be stopped on the side lane and their operational space was completely out of scale.

"Wow... DRX's macro play is really good," Ye Bo couldn't help but exclaim.

"Huh, really?" Flandre shrugged: "I only felt that the top laner played a bit criminally this game; Zeus's Aatrox feels like he's at my level, haha."

"Indeed... I also feel DRX is a bit eerie," former shot-caller Meiko also saw the clues: "How should I put it, it feels like they can always set up in advance, and T1 just happens to want to take that fight; the timing is really well-calculated."

"Alpaca and the others really have something going for them this year!"

After all, the EDG members had a special relationship with Deft, so they were more biased toward DRX in their hearts.

However, I don't know if it was because Ye Bo had "foreseen" the result of this match, but his perspective on the issues had changed.

He truly felt that this DRX was a bit different—at least compared to their performance in the quarterfinals.

Coming into 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 proactively put Aatrox on the ban list while on the blue side.

And the team compositions for this game seemed quite standard.

But after the second game finished, it was as if the "verification" of their tactics had succeeded; starting from the third game, DRX displayed completely different tactical strategies, accumulating a significant advantage before the 20-minute mark.

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

"They know they don't have an advantage in the laning phase, so they use the method of forcefully seizing lane priority in all three lanes to liberate their personnel, then simultaneously mobilize all three lanes to rotate and attack, leaving T1 scrambling to create space."

"This composition was specially designed; their drafting logic on the red side is very worth referencing!"

"And the person calling the shots for DRX is really amazing. To be able to carry out attacks on three lanes simultaneously and still be so methodical, there must be someone coordinating it."

As the team's shot-caller, Ye Bo could best see the differences within it.

Since he couldn't see the first-person perspective at this moment, Ye Bo didn't know who was doing the shot-calling.

Or perhaps, was it really just the DRX players' own explosive performance?

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

Just as DRX's situation was looking excellent.

An accident occurred, and it came in wave after wave.

"Stolen!!!"

"T1 couldn't contest the dragon while down in numbers, but Little Lu Bu's Varus, from a thousand miles away, stole it with one arrow! A crucial soul-point dragon!"

"In this case, the offensive tempo DRX built up can only slow down!"

"This is absolutely great news for T1, who have a scaling composition!"

Varus performed a "Shooting the Halberd at the Gate," stealing the crucial soul-point dragon from a thousand miles away.

This was undoubtedly a vital influence.

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

Therefore.

Holding a 5k gold lead, DRX chose to attack Baron Nashor at the 20-minute mark, where their economic advantage was greatest.

From a decision-making standpoint, this was completely fine; even if it just forced the opponents to come over and fight, there would be a chance to win it.

T1, of course, couldn't afford not to come.

And in the first half, DRX's team fight execution was enough to make everyone take notice.

The division of labor was clear; everyone held their key positions, forming an angled defensive formation that left no gaps for you to exploit.

"If DRX kills the Baron, they can counter-attack! They might even run straight up the pit!"

"The Baron has one thousand health left!!!"

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

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

With the Baron stolen, their massive advantage was almost wiped out overnight.

Following that was the infinitely magnified offensive pressure on their composition.

DRX, whose situation had been looking great and who seemed on the verge of achieving a "Red breaks Blue" opportunity, was turned around just like that.

The score had reached 1 to 2.

If it were an average person, their mentality would surely have collapsed after playing this game.

Victory had been so close.

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

This was when the uniqueness of this DRX team was highlighted.

They didn't seem to be affected at all; they just gave their jungler, whose mentality must have fluctuated in the last game, the less error-prone Maokai, and then the whole team continued to carry out the same draft and tactical strategy as the previous game.

And having come to the blue side, they seemed even more in their element.

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

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

There was no other reason—only because after Yone was banned, Zeus picked Fiora, which was also a comprehensive counter, to suppress the matchup.

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

"Isn't Fiora supposed to be good against Aatrox? How did it end up like this?" Jiejie asked, puzzled.

"It really should be a good matchup..." Flandre didn't know what to say either: "But Kingen's Aatrox is really a bit fierce, and this is Zeus's Fiora!"

"Zeka's Azir is also playing quite well; he can suppress Teacher Fei's Akali to this extent? I thought this guy only knew how to play assassins," Meiko joked: "If Master Ye played this, maybe there would be something to talk about in this game."

"Maybe, no need to switch," Viper added a remark that sounded nonsensical.

Ye Bo silently recorded something by himself.

Clearly, the variable in the top lane had become the key.

The two champions that countered Aatrox the most—Yone was never going to be given to you, and Fiora couldn't produce any results—directly led to DRX, returning to the red side in the fifth game, having one more bargaining chip in the draft.

And Faker's Akali in the fourth game, meant to "take instead of ban" in the mid lane, also failed to produce results.

Coming to the fifth game, the ban slots were already severely insufficient; one had to be let through.

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

Arriving at the fifth game.

Beryl also displayed one of his "achievements" from after the quarterfinal stage.

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

"This DRX composition, why is it a bit like EDG's quarterfinal composition, and the draft also seems a bit like it's targeting..."

His words didn't attract much attention at first.

After all, what EDG chose at the time were also common champions in the meta, and it was normal for them to be combined together.

But when they truly entered the game, more similarities were revealed.

"Pyosik with another clever counter-gank! A deception above the vision, Oner fell for it!"

"And this Maokai pick is absolutely the essence! In the first round, both sides were competing for top, mid, and jungle; by the second round of drafting, all bot lanes with mobility had been banned, and this Maokai is a huge threat to the backline!"

"In this game, Pyosik seems to be completing his redemption, with both top and bot lanes blooming! At the same time, Zeka's LeBlanc in the mid lane is forming absolute suppression against Faker's Azir!"

In fact, even as Ye Bo watched, he vaguely discovered the similarities between the two teams.

It wasn't anything like "shot-calling."

It was the attributes of the two teams.

Both teams had "one-trick" players who had to be targeted with bans; 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, both mid laners were players with extremely high aggression, the kind of playstyle where even if they played Azir, they would pull the laning phase to the limit for you.

It could be said that if the two teams swapped the attributes of their top and bot lanes, they would truly have the same attribute configuration!

And in this game, the DRX players all performed quite heroically, especially the top laner Aatrox—he actually completed a solo kill on Zeus's Gwen in the laning phase once again!

The game reached 19 minutes.

Although DRX only held a 2k advantage, this game was different from the last one; the composition didn't fear the opponent.

However, T1 wasn't so easy to defeat either.

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

During a retreat from a fake push, Azir suddenly and unexpectedly struck back, using Emperor's Divide to push back the wall of soldiers with lightning speed.

Successfully pushing back all three of the opponent's carries!

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

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

Yet, the foreshadowing from the early game appeared.

This Aatrox, because he had achieved a solo kill in the laning phase, not only had a level advantage but also held a terrifying lead with two items completed early.

And the second item was Maw of Malmortius!

T1's top laner Gwen, mid laner Azir, AD Varus, and support Karma—the AP damage was off the charts!

After a full set of skills was dumped on him, the Aatrox with Maw of Malmortius actually forcibly survived under the protection of {Lifeline}.

And Kingen, deep in the crowd, didn't retreat; he activated World Ender, spread his wings, and began swinging his precise Darkin Blade right in the middle of the crowd!

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

One slash of the Darkin Blade hit five people, then another slash hit the outer edge, and his health instantly pulled back up to half!

"This Aatrox!!!"

"Maokai blocks the path! Renata flashes her ultimate... T1 is about to explode! It's over!"

0 for 4.

And it was on the eve of 20 minutes, with 15 seconds left until the Baron respawned, a 0 for 4!

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 in such a way.

But it was also something no one could have imagined.

The game had only just begun.

The Baron respawned, and the five members of DRX started hitting it, but because they had just experienced a bloody team fight, the status of the entire team was not full.

Just as the Baron's health dropped to half, three TPs lit up in the T1 river jungle ward.

Among them was Varus's TP.

The Baron had 2, 00 health left, but at this moment, a blue trinket ward illuminated the inside of the dragon pit.

A control ward quickly disabled it.

This brief reveal of vision exposed the Baron's status.

Varus's Blighted Quiver, from a maximum range of 1, 00 yards, was released toward the now-blinded dragon pit——————

"Ah!!!!"

"They! Stole! It! Again!"

Every commentary desk was screaming at the scene unfolding.

"The third one! The third dragon stolen in this best-of-five! And it's the second Baron!"

"Why didn't you use Smite at 800 health!?"

"In this case, DRX's team fight was essentially a complete waste. T1 might even counter-push!"

T1, carrying the Baron buff, headed straight for the opponent's bottom lane inhibitor turret after leaving base, instantly turning the gold lead around.

The situation seemed to reverse in an instant.

However, the critical nature of the draft appeared once again.

T1's bottom lane consisted of champions without mobility or self-preservation abilities.

But LeBlanc and Maokai had incredible pick potential; the bottom lane duo was caught repeatedly, and their Flashes were forced out before the team fight even began.

Frankly, although Little Lu Bu's arrows were crucial several times in this best-of-five, his performance at other times was not impressive, and one could even say he made many mistakes.

Keria seemed completely silenced, as if he had met his "nemesis," remaining muted for the entire game.

More importantly, for 99% of teams, experiencing consecutive Baron steals in such a critical match would lead to a total collapse and loss of morale!

But DRX seemed to be different.

They showed extreme resilience in the deciding game; even under such immense mental pressure, they still quickly regained their smooth early-game offensive rhythm.

The turning point appeared in the side lane again.

"Wait! Top lane!"

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

"How did DRX have two TPs light up in the bottom lane so early! They TPed before Aatrox even made a move!"

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

DRX once again executed a "predictive" offense.

Of course, this wave was clearly Gwen's own fault, as a mechanical error occurred.

Not only did she fail to hold out for teammates to arrive after a bad trade, but she also seemed unwilling to concede, pushing deep to pressure Aatrox and getting caught in an ambush.

DRX headed toward the Baron again.

This time, they staged the classic scene of "Five Rs to Guard the Baron," doing everything in their power to keep the opponent away from the pit, and finally successfully secured their first Baron.

40 minutes, Elder Dragon fight.

DRX actively engaged and zoned from the front; the Aatrox in the river, like a demon god descending, charged ahead and swung his blade, simply unstoppable!

And just at this moment, Li Xianghe displayed astonishing decisiveness.

Seeing that they couldn't fight from the front, he commanded three people to stall while the jungler and AD attempted to steal the dragon, and he and the top laner TPed to the bottom lane to backdoor!

After that Baron steal, the bottom lane inhibitor had been broken once!

He used this to force the opponent to defend; once they defended, a gap would appear in the front dragon pit, allowing them to avoid the weak period and open up space for the fight!

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

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

The jungler had lost countless dragons.

But he alone defended this last, most critical dragon.

Caitlyn's trap array perfectly blocked the path, Oner forced a Flash to steal the dragon but failed and gave himself up in return——————but the bottom lane duo went to interrupt the recall at the cost of their lives!

"Only one Aatrox TPed back! Only one Aatrox!"

"The two nexus turrets are like thin paper in front of Gwen and Azir! Aatrox shouldn't be able to stop them! He shouldn't—Oh my god!!"

"Kingen!!!"

Aatrox used a side EQ to dodge Azir's Shurima Shuffle, then countered with a forward Q-Flash-Auto.

The full-damage Aatrox executed Azir with one sword strike.

The remaining Gwen still wanted to force a kill, but due to her lack of growth, the Maw of Malmortius had become an insurmountable barrier.

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

Turning around to look... the other three members of DRX, besides the support, had not even used the Baron buff to recall quickly.

Instead, they went straight for the opponent's nexus!

This could only mean they believed the support and Aatrox could defend the base, otherwise, this move would be handing the base over on a silver platter.

But this action undoubtedly confirmed just how calm and clear-headed DRX was at this desperate moment.

The three of them pushed straight toward the undefended line.

They pushed the nexus down at 42 minutes!

"The Last Dance! DRX stood until the end!"

"This was simply a spectacular match comparable to a final! No one could have predicted the direction of this game!"

"Deft's dance is not over yet! They are heading to the final stage, waiting for the winner of the bottom half to face them!"

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

Both inside and outside the arena, everyone was deeply moved by this moment.

The old teammates within EDG looked at Deft, whose eyes were red on stage, and were also moved to tears.

The camera then switched to the T1 player booth.

Zeus, who was in the World Championship for the first time and was undoubtedly the biggest culprit of this best-of-five, was at a loss, biting his nails incessantly.

Keria covered his face with trembling hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

Only Faker looked calm, though no one knew the true turmoil in his heart.

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

Or perhaps, it was the inability to reach the final stage to complete his revenge against that opponent...

The livestream chat instantly became a chaotic mess, with trolls and haters swarming out.

【Is this the invincible T1 in S-series best-of-fives? How come they are sweating so much against DRX? Hehe~】

【Beryl just specializes in destroying you, Keria! He executed you in the semifinals last year, and has done it for three years in a row!】

【I heard this was the new version of the "complete" T1, yet they were runners-up all year? Oh, this time they aren't even runners-up!】

【This shitty designer, this version is really boring, didn't you notice that the Blue side basically wins every time?! It's a coin-flip championship, right?】

【Hey, I have to say, EDG won two games from Red side in the quarterfinals, you know.】

【Back then, the ten Samsung players used their own power to seal the Demon King, and later scattered as stardust across the world. Now, nine stars have fallen, leaving only the last one. This star wandered from the peak to the valley and climbed back up from the valley, facing the Demon King who returned to break the seal. Perhaps he was pushed back step by step, even crushed, but at the final moment of fate's choice, he asked the gods. At this moment, the nine stars of the past were behind him; he stood up again, picked up his sword, and stabbed the Demon King, putting an end to this wandering journey!】

【Congratulations to Mr. Deft for the breakthrough!】

Ye Bo looked at the various expressions of the T1 members and couldn't help but sigh.

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

After all, this was T1, and it was T1 in a best-of-five, the T1 that had brought countless regrets to the LPL.

In the group stage, they were still in the exploration phase, but by now, it was clear that everyone had undergone earth-shaking changes, making for a completely different gaming experience.

But there was no doubt.

DRX deserved to win this game; in fact, if it weren't for those few dragons, the score would never have been 3-2, nor would it have been so intense.

Ye Bo saw it very clearly.

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 the mood and thoughts of the old "Deng Bo" from back then before he wrote that diary.

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

Of course, before that.

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

Tomorrow, they still needed to overcome the powerful opponent standing in their way——————GEN. !

And this best-of-five also brought Ye Bo a lot of inspiration and ideas.

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

(End of chapter)