Chapter 251

When GEN's main crystal exploded into fragments filling the sky, the LCK commentary desk couldn't stop sighing.

The Roaring Emperor rested his elbows on the desk, unconsciously rubbing his bangs, his voice strained and annoyed: "How could it be like this..."

"The composition in the first game didn't have any problems; even if the ADC was swapped for another few major carry heroes, it would be hard to survive. It was clearly an advantage as long as the early-game rhythm stabilized!"

"But maybe it's because they hadn't warmed up in the first game; the top priority now is that GEN must adjust their state immediately. As the only remaining hope for our region in this MSI, they really need to wake up!"

Compared to the chattering Roaring Emperor.

The two people beside him, although their expressions were as dejected as possible, truthfully had no ripples in their hearts.

Xu Xiu and the GEN group had no intersection; on the contrary, he had a tiny bit of a bond with V5—after all, he had his old brother Beryl, with whom he had deep feelings.

Not to mention, even if personal emotional factors were excluded.

From the bottom of his heart, Xu Xiu had originally favored V5 slightly more!

Although, in fact, both mid-laners on the field had been bullying him in recent years, and if counted by frequency, Chovy from the same region had even more!

But Ye, an ID that had only experienced a short battle at the S-tournament, left an impression on him that was truly too profound.

It's just that even Xu Xiu truly hadn't expected that the first game would be so destructive.

And if it could be said that Xu Xiu was still somewhat worried about the situation in his own region, and still a bit heartbroken over the loss of this match.

The Scout beside him was actually a bit happy!

Don't misunderstand—it's not because he's happy that the LPL won.

It's simply because Scout came to show his face today to look for a job; clearly, the weaker the strength of the teams within the LCK region, especially the more obvious the decline in the mid-lane strength, the greater his opportunity naturally becomes!

Scout was just seeing T1 being sent home one after another by two LPL teams, seeing Faker's incomparably terrible performance, that he suddenly realized his opportunity had come!

He was even already dreaming.

If Faker is still in this state when he gets to the S-tournament this year, and T1 puts up another miserable S-tournament historical record... by then, he might even have a chance to return to T1!

The screams and cheers inside the Copper Box Arena didn't stop for a moment.

All of GEN lowered their heads and walked quickly back to the backstage lounge, and because the entrance was next to the auditorium, there were still many LPL fans crowding the front row of the auditorium, waving cheering banners and showing off their power toward them!

And when the GEN group just stepped into the backstage, lifting the curtain.

Opening thunderstrike!

Coach Score stood directly at the entrance, staring at everyone with a cold expression.

His face was full of expressions of hatred for iron not becoming steel, making all of GEN silent and afraid to make a sound, only daring to lower their heads and follow behind him.

"Damn it." Before the room door was even completely closed, Score immediately squeezed out the breath he had been holding for a long time from between his teeth.

"Ya, damn it!!!"

"What were you all playing in this game! How could you be beaten like this!?"

Let alone the outside audience.

Before the match, everyone in the GEN team except Viper also believed that the strength of both sides was about the same, and the advantage might even be on their side.

After all, one of the cores who beat them last year came to their side this year; it's purely a case of one growing and the other waning!

Who could have imagined that once they engaged, it would be such a completely one-sided situation?

Truly, shattering at a single touch!

"Why did you go to chase that at 6 minutes? Wouldn't it have been fine to just honestly take the little dragon! Why didn't you follow the tactics we laid out!"

"And the mid-game support was too obsessed with protecting the AD! With the opposing support and mid-laner roaming like that, if you, a Nautilus, don't move with them, of course the other side can find rhythm everywhere; how could this situation possibly be stabilized!"

"And Doran! Explain to me, what is the meaning of being solo-killed by Sylas while pushing the lane? You weren't at full health, what were you pretending for!?"

"Did you see that ID on his head!!!"

Super senior Score summarized it with a torrent of abuse, which was the only way he could vent his anger.

The GEN group, sprayed with saliva all over their faces, didn't even dare to respond with a single word.

He softened his tone slightly: "This game was just Viper and Chovy performing okay... as for Chovy, I can only say that K'Sante doesn't seem to be very suitable for us, but the good news is that we burned a lot of heroes in the mid-lane."

"Now I'll talk about the BP; in the next game, I don't want to see any more accidents!"

Score had the best attitude toward the two in the mid and bottom lanes; after all, these two were extremely stable carry cores in the league, and he trusted them the most.

Speaking of which, this MSI version isn't particularly compatible with GEN, which is very similar to T1.

Although Little Peanut was also born from playing jungle carries when he was young, his aged state nowadays means his jungle carry performance can't compare to Oner's.

And Chovy's most proficient heroes are well known.

When he plays heroes like K'Sante, Nautilus, Annie, and Lissandra, he's still playing them like Azir!

This point has to mention his "other self in the world"—Mr. Left Hand is completely different in this regard; playing this kind of functional mid-laner that doesn't require carry responsibility and runs away after dumping skills, it's as if he has an innate talent.

Doesn't even need to practice!

Of course, Left Hand is also not as good as Right Hand in the use of "Super Brush" heroes, which can be considered the most distinct difference in their playstyles.

However, Viper, listening to the coach talk about the fine-tuning of the BP, was a bit distracted for a moment.

He couldn't help but glance at the silent live broadcast screen on the big screen to the right.

The live broadcast screen was replaying several wonderful clips from the previous game, and watching the scene where Sylas was unstoppable in front of the high-ground gate, bumping everyone away and crashing into him, with a one-second black screen and absolutely no room for operation...

At this moment, Viper still felt lingering fear.

Today, he finally understood how other AD players felt when they were opposite them last year... this is just too scary!

Although he was a participant in every wave last year, when it was his turn to stand on the opposite side, the experience was completely different!

And this scene also appeared again at the Copper Box Arena.

For the LCK fans at the scene, it was undoubtedly another critical hit.

T1 lost last week, and even if they lost to two LPL teams in a row, they could still comfort themselves by saying: "It'll be fine when GEN comes!"

But, what if even GEN is bullied like this!?

This is their number one seed that has fought all over the world and is invincible within their region!

The Korean audience at the scene were passionately expressing their emotions in the LCK live broadcast room and on the Korean web.

【Damn GEN! They lost even worse than T1! Did I buy a ticket today to suffer!】

【Heh, I'm serious, if GEN gets 3-0'd again, I think the LCK can really die; what's the point of it? They only know how to be tough at home and then go out and lose face!】

【Hey, hey, hey, losing doesn't mean going straight home; this is a winner's bracket match, why are you so pessimistic after losing just one game?】

【Why? Fun fact, if GEN also loses twice in a row and goes home, the LCK will become the third-ranked region, second only to the North American trash in terms of speed of going home, and they won't even be able to keep the second-ranked region... this is basically the same shame as getting a bronze medal at the Asian Games!】

【Cheer up, GEN! The last face of the LCK depends on you!】

However, amidst a burst of cursing and pessimistic voices.

There were also positive supportive comments that inexplicably kept appearing on the screen.

【Believe in GEN! The first game was just them not having warmed up on the red side; they will definitely be able to fight back this game!】

【Don't just look at winning or losing; in fact, GEN only had those two mistakes in the last game. If there were no mistakes, V5 definitely wouldn't be their opponent!】

【If you ask me, GEN lost the first game on purpose! It's all tactics! They deliberately chose a trash composition in the first game to burn heroes, so the other side wouldn't have any heroes to use later, and they could just surrender the BP directly!】

【Indeed, even a well-known LPL commentator posted on Weibo saying that GEN definitely didn't exert their strength; this is respect from the opponent!】

【Yes, yes, yes! The person above is right! Our LCK is invincible! We are the number one region!】

In a corner of the stands.

While waiting for the start, one person was frantically tapping on the keyboard with two mobile phones, constantly switching between translation software and the live broadcast screen.

A companion leaned over to see the original sentence in the translation software and instantly widened his eyes and shouted: "Holy cow! Brother, you're a KRD! You can still hype like this?"

But that person gave a relaxed "hehe" smile: "You don't understand~"

"Koreans are too easy to string along; if you say they can win, they really believe it~"

"You have to let them feel hope, then experience despair, then see hope again, and finally despair again; that's the only way to have fun! Our anti-pressure bar has a professional 'Stray Dog' group that specializes in this."

"Damn, high! Truly high!"

And don't say, under the wave of passionate and encouraging comments that inexplicably popped up in the live broadcast room and on the Korean web, many LCK fans really regained their confidence.

That's right, didn't they just lose one small game?

The BO5 has just begun!

Our LCK is invincible!

When the players from both sides returned to the stage, many LCK fans who had regained their confidence used all their strength to roar and cheer toward the stands. And Coach Score, who was walking in front with his hands behind his back and his head held high, felt his blood boil when he heard the cheers and encouragement in his native language.

He raised his hand and patted Chovy on the shoulder next to him: "Look, so many supporters who have traveled from our country are cheering for you; they didn't even care about the failure of the last game!"

"Bring out your true strength, Ji-hoon! Prove to them that you are the strongest mid-laner!"

"This game, only success is allowed, no failure; we GEN must defend the face of the LCK!"

Chovy, listening to the coach's pep talk, only dared to nod lightly with an arc that was difficult for the naked eye to distinguish.

All of GEN, hearing this, felt the pressure was immense, and of course, they all knew that this game could not be lost.

After all, a 0-1 start is indeed not scary... but 0-2 is very scary!

The players sat down and prepared.

The director's camera also cut to the official commentary desk.

The LPL commentary desk was still analyzing the hearty match just now, full of laughter.

Doll excitedly said: "V5's Caitlyn system seems to have a brand new best answer, Caitlyn-Neeko; it feels even more intimidating than last year's Caitlyn-Ashe!"

"I can only say that V5's ability to have such an indomitable performance after arriving at MSI is inseparable from their constant leading of this version, always walking at the forefront!"

The Hail Brothers partner Miller also added for his partner: "Of course, including our dear Brother Guan who just posted on Weibo predicting that GEN's strength this year definitely shouldn't be just like this, we still can't let our guard down..."

"Hey, the BP has already started here! GEN has swapped to the blue side for the second game, and they are still targeting the mid-lane with their bans!"

First round of bans—

GEN: Akali, Annie, Monkey King

V5: Xayah, Lulu, Tahm Kench

"The first round of bans from both sides hasn't changed much. Because the blue side wants to grab heroes and doesn't want to be swapped to an OP by the second-hand pick, they made adjustments, while V5 on the red side continues to use the BP targeting the bottom lane from the last game."

"GEN takes Sion with their first pick! V5 takes Lee Sin and Jayce with their follow-up!"

"It's worth mentioning that Lee Sin and Jayce have a lot of room for flex for V5! Jayce can flex top and mid, and Lee Sin even exists as a flex for top, mid, and jungle!"

The GEN coaching staff, seeing that the other side didn't grab the bottom-lane combination with their follow-up pick, was initially a bit pleasantly surprised.

And in their view, it was clear that they thought the possibility of Lee Sin mid was greater; after all, the impression left on everyone last week was deep enough.

However, the positioning of the mid-lane in this game was very important, so they still chose to stabilize with one pick.

"Let's pick the bottom lane first; the hero they banned feels like they want to engage."

Score, after all, was a former professional player, so he wasn't completely incompetent; looking at the other side's first-round bans, he guessed some of their intentions.

"Aphelios must be taken, pair it with Renata; it can play the counter-attack!"

Renata's appearance rate in the current version is very low, far from the glory of last year's S-tournament.

The reason is similar to the sudden demise of Varus.

In the hard-support version, Renata slightly lacks active means, and the shortcomings of her own weak laning ability have been infinitely magnified.

Plus the most important "resurrection" mechanism, it generally needs to be paired with heroes who prefer "fighting" to be more suitable—which is not consistent with the rhythm of the current major carry version.

Of course, Renata is indeed a good choice for playing the counter-attack.

And V5 was a bit hesitant at the third pick.

Beryl, seeing the heroes the other side had already revealed, directly suggested that he pick first.

"Maybe it's also seeing the opposing bottom-lane combination revealed, V5 surprisingly picked the support in the first round, locking in Thresh, which they have used quite a bit recently," Miller tried to analyze.

Entering the second round of BP—

V5: Ivern, Kindred

GEN: Zeri, Lucian

Because V5's top, mid, and jungle were completely undecided, GEN couldn't guess the other side's composition structure for a moment, so they simply went all out to ban ADs.

But at the fourth pick, V5 had already revealed their hand!

"Kai'Sa!? A very rare hero in this version!"

"Then V5 is going to play extreme engagement again this game! And how does it feel like it might be even more extreme than the last game! Lee Sin is highly likely to be mid!"

Picking AD at the fourth pick, GEN still didn't know what the other side's final counter-pick position was.

They could only continue to pick according to their own vision.

The jungler picked Viego first, and Score whispered in a low voice: "What do you want, Ji-hoon? Their Lee Sin is highly likely to be mid,"

"Pick one that you can lane well against; it's best if you can stand out during the laning phase this game, keep an eye on the other side, and then we will be very easy to play!"

Chovy thought silently, not answering immediately.

Finally, among three flex options, he locked in a hero that was also somewhat rare.

"Wow, wow, wow, it appeared, Chovy's Aurelion Sol! His specialty from the LCK Spring Split is here!" Doll exclaimed habitually.

"Can we still see this hero in the MSI version? Even Master Ye doesn't play it anymore~" Miller joked.

Ever since Aurelion Sol became popular, during the spring splits of major global regions in 2023, two players' Aurelion Sol were the most famous.

One was naturally Ye Bo, who played it for the entire spring.

The other was Chovy!

And his Aurelion Sol was truly one of the very few "Laning Aurelion Sols" that could achieve laning advantages, just like Ye Bo's.

It's just that ever since Aurelion Sol was slashed twice before the MSI version, it went from a version hot-pick to being ignored overnight.

Just as the commentary desk said, even Ye Bo doesn't play it much anymore.

Of course, Ye Bo not playing it isn't because this hero is really that weak—it's just that its priority is lower in the first few games, and he has better choices.

And the current version's major magic cores also include the reworked Azir and Orianna; although their pick rates are also very low, they are at least more common than Aurelion Sol.

So when Ye Bo saw the other side pick Aurelion Sol, he was still somewhat surprised.

However, it was more of a pleasant surprise!

This guy seems to be walking into the muzzle of a gun...

"Xun, what if I swap heroes, you play Lee Sin? I have a hero that's very good at laning!" Ye Bo asked his teammates for their opinions symbolically.

V5 was originally indeed prepared to flex Lee Sin to the mid-lane, cooperating with an aggressive jungler like Kha'Zix or Elise in the jungle, continuing to implement their "Beat the Turtle Shell" strong-attack rhythm.

But if it's against Aurelion Sol in the lane, Ye Bo had an even better choice.

He had the confidence to make a breakthrough from the "Laning End"!

It was very clear that his inquiry was indeed symbolic; Xun, having received the request from his big brother, didn't speak, just nodded wildly.

"V5 finally fills in Gragas; Gragas has no problem breaking Viego in the jungle, and the composition is also very compatible."

The compositions of both sides were determined.

"Blue Side: GEN vs Red Side: V5"

【Top: Sion vs Jayce】

【Jungle: Viego vs Lee Sin】

【Mid: Aurelion Sol vs Gragas】

【ADC: Aphelios vs Kai'Sa】

【Support: Renata Glasc vs Thresh】

(End of chapter)