Chapter 286: A Major Shift in the Region

Ye Bo, who walked out of the trial grounds early in the morning, stretched his back and subconsciously pulled out his phone while squatting in the cyber-latrine to browse the foreign region forums.

Although LCK was quite clever in not broadcasting the Asian Games journey, such news obviously could not be hidden; news carriers on Korean forums quickly vaulted the firewall to bring the information back, and after one night, public opinion had already fermented.

At this moment, the entire Korean forum was completely permeated with an air of despair.

【Has anyone vaulted the wall to watch the match video? The team we were locked in a stalemate with, T1, actually got beaten 2-0 by them, and they almost didn't even beat the LPL second-team wildcard!?】

【Looking at it this way, WE > LSB ≈ T1, can a team of that level really beat our runner-up team?】

【Isn't it because T1 is too trash? LSB was originally just a roadside team; anyone who knows the comparison between the two regions knows that the LPL side clearly sent out their middle-tier horses to beat our bottom-tier horses!】

【Fun fact: T1 just beat DK a few days ago. I can only say that LSB's gold content is still rising, but LCK's gold content is still falling!】

【Haha, the most hopeless year.】

In fact, under normal circumstances, a match that isn't too important shouldn't make people feel desperate even if they lose.

The problem lies in the participating team!

LSB was a team that had been locked in a stalemate with T1 before!

And T1 is the league runner-up, one of the two teams participating in the MSI, and they just beat DK, who was temporarily ranked fourth in the league, currently holding a 3-0 record in the Summer Split.

Although even Ye Bo, who had been following LCK's results, knew that T1's 3-0 was actually quite "ugly"—not only were they all 2-1 narrow victories, but in several games, the opponents were the ones making mistakes.

But there's no help for it; the audience only looks at the results!

The psychological impact brought by this kind of defeat is like a team that stands out from their region only to go to the international stage, lose every game, go straight home, and even get trampled by all sorts of roadside teams, creating a new history.

Of course, it will inevitably bring a sense of "despair" to the regional audience!

It can only be said that for a team to be voluntarily called "the most hopeless year" by the usually optimistic esports audience, their performance is definitely a major contributor.

As for the three matches T1 played, Ye Bo watched them all.

It was the same as their expectations.

Being able to win was definitely due to the crucial performance of their top laner, Zeus; it could almost be said that whether they won or lost, he was "carrying every game," so it's no wonder he was able to defy the odds and break out of the Asian Games selection to become a starter.

Besides that, the performance of the jungler, marksman, and support was also excellent, almost giving the feeling of having a laning advantage in every game.

It is very clear that the new version's changes to Teleport and minion waves are indeed a huge benefit to T1's roster composition!

And the only reason T1's victories in these three games were "slightly difficult" was clearly the mid laner.

Even Ye Bo had to admit it.

The reason T1 struggled so much, and even nearly flipped over several times against weak teams—the "visible" reason was the drastic fluctuation in the mid lane's form, and the opportunities for opponents to seize weaknesses were basically all given by the mid lane.

It is also because of this.

The discourse regarding the mid laner that had been prevalent on the Korean web since the end of the MSI grew increasingly intense.

Almost everyone concluded that the mid laner was the one holding them back; as long as they replaced the mid laner, even if it was just with one who "doesn't feed," it would be an upgrade for T1!

Anyway, T1's other three lanes are so strong that they can just win through laning!

Ye Bo slid his finger to return to the homepage.

He subconsciously pulled down to refresh one last time, preparing to stand up and end his refreshing double-tasking squat.

But a newly refreshed repost suddenly appeared.

It made his movements freeze instantly!

"T1 Official Announcement: Faker is taking a break due to health reasons, the expected duration is uncertain, and substitute mid laner Poby will play during this period."

Ye Bo quickly browsed the original Korean post that had been published not long ago.

The repost comment section below was indeed full of cheers!

It was all mockery like 【The only dead weight is finally gone!】, 【Anyone watching the match knows we would have won long ago if the mid lane didn't feed; replacing him is really the right move!】, and 【T1 has finally come to their senses; our T1 is saved!】.

The rare few positive comments were things like 【Sigh, it seems an era has truly come to an end】.

To almost everyone at the moment, this announcement meant almost only one thing.

Faker is likely going to retire.

After all, rotation due to "health reasons" has always been the most common excuse and omen.

No one knows if it is truly a health issue, or because Faker's recent performance has indeed been very poor, and the management is taking precautions to start training players early to prevent greater lapses in subsequent matches, or even a true replacement!

Although everyone knows Li Xianghe is the absolute soul of T1—but this team is truly capable of doing such things!

T1 only looks at results!

A similar behavior happened back in 2020; during the 10-man+ super rotation that Danny created that year, Faker had already sat on the bench for a long time.

If it weren't for the fact that the rookie mid laner Clozer performed so poorly at the time, he might have replaced Li Xianghe directly that year!

And with Li Xianghe like this, the others in other positions are naturally even more so.

Once a player performs poorly, or the team's record is poor, they will definitely change players without hesitation; no one's starting position is absolutely secure.

In other words.

Perhaps even the four little ones on the T1 team might not "oppose" this move.

After all, as participants themselves, they naturally know their mid laner's state better, and they also know that if the team performs poorly, it might affect their own starting positions.

To take a step back.

Li Xianghe has indeed long reached the age where he should "retire."

The end of most veteran players' careers begins with poor performance on the field, leading to huge controversy, then being rotated to the bench, and finally silently disappearing or retiring.

Ye Bo also felt a bit of melancholy.

For his own part, he did not want to lose this opponent just like that.

He genuinely hoped the other party could adjust their state; the thought that he might not be able to face him in this year's World Championship was still a bit of a regret.

It's just that Ye Bo needs to focus on his own present first and walk his own path.

Time does not stop its pace.

Soon, it entered the scorching month of July.

The Summer Splits of all major regions are in full swing.

Compared to the drastic ranking changes in the LPL, the situation in the LCK Summer Split hasn't changed much from the spring—the only team whose ranking has changed drastically is, surprisingly, T1!

When Faker rested and stepped down, T1, although stumbling, was still the league leader with a 3-0 record.

But immediately after Faker was rotated, the team's record began a super "two-stage reversal"!

Starting from the initial 3-0.

By today, in mid-July, it has already become 3-5.