Chapter 380: The Final Eight Decided, Old Friends Meet!

At high noon, the final suspense of the Swiss Stage is about to be revealed.

Compared to LNG and DK, who both drew "relatively weak teams."

WBG's subsequent draw luck was truly abysmal—they actually drew the strongest team in the 1-2 pool outside of the LPL and LCK: TL!

You must know, this TL is no longer the North American team led by Big Brother Doublelife from a few years ago; it has now completely undergone a blood transfusion and rebuild.

It is a "blood transfusion" in the truest sense!

Because the current TL is a "Full-Korean Squad" as pure-blooded as it gets!

The top laner is SKT's first-generation top laner Impact, and the support is GEN's first-generation champion CoreJJ; these two are also "local players" holding American green cards—just like the "Korean-American" marksman Yeon, they do not occupy an import slot.

This is also due to the "custom rules" Riot specifically set for the North American region because they have had zero achievements in the last decade.

Other regions look at either the place of debut or the place of registration; only North America is unique in looking at: "real-time nationality."

The ones occupying the import slots are the mid laner Haeri and the jungler Pyosik.

That’s right.

It is precisely that jungler from last year's runner-up DRX, and also the former teammate of the current V5 bot lane duo!

At the same time, the head coach of this TL is even the former SKT top laner, the first FMVP top laner in World Championship history: Marin!

This is a true Full-Korean Squad where all six members from top to bottom flow with pure Korean blood, and even have "four World Championship titles" sitting at the helm.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the LCK's {fifth seed}!

If it weren't for their own bad draw luck, having drawn T1 in the first round, perhaps they wouldn't have fallen to a 1-2 situation.

"Can you do it, Xiaohu?" Saint-Gong-Ge looked at the WBG members walking onto the stage, looking even more nervous than if he were playing himself.

Beside him, Ye Bo was also sweating for them.

It’s not that everyone doesn't believe in them.

It’s mainly because when TL played against T1 in the first round, they fought a hard-fought battle for nearly 40 minutes; they were even leading in score until the end of the game, and only lost to T1 due to a small mistake in the final wave—a "regrettable loss."

Compared to WBG's 1-14 near-shutout yesterday, it is truly hard not to be worried.

Fortunately, League of Legends has never been a simple exchange of sizes where {if A beats B, and B beats C, then A must be able to beat C}; it can even be said to be completely unrelated.

Facts also proved that V5's training for WBG over these past few days had been effective!

"Pyosik still wants to gank mid... but Xiaohu is making moves!!"

"Xiaohu completed a counter-kill under the tower! No, it looks like a double kill!!"

"Don't mistake the tiger for a Hello Kitty just because he isn't roaring! Xiaohu has stepped up this game! His laning style is completely different from the past two days!"

"Is this still Xiaohu!?"

Pyosik’s attempt to cause trouble in the mid lane failed, and he had originally intended to give up.

But Xiaohu actually made an "abnormal" play—he actually took the initiative to turn back and "lure" while at very low health!

If it were him from a few days ago, who prioritized self-preservation and stability above all else, one could say he absolutely should not have made such a play.

But he actually pulled it off!

And while the good news from the mid lane didn't seem to widen the gold gap, the situation had clearly begun to change.

This is also a place that many people "overlook."

Sometimes you feel that even if you play aggressively it's hard to get a kill, so it's better to just play cowardly and farm steadily—but many times, once your opponent realizes you are aggressive enough, they will inadvertently become cautious, or even timid.

It is precisely this indirect influence.

That often transforms into the key to victory at critical junctures!

"Hong Chang-hyeon is still like this after all..." Beryl sighed and shook his head as he looked at his former teammate.

When Pyosik was at DRX last year, he was a very "brainless" jungler, heavily reliant on the support's remote control and commands.

Now that he is the big brother at TL, without anyone to devise strategies for him, he easily gets lost once he fails to enter his own rhythm.

And these—are also the countermeasures Beryl taught the WBG members yesterday.

There’s no helping it.

Although they were teammates before, Beryl now feels that he is an LPL player after all.

【I told you P-kid was the burden of last year's Worlds, the only Round of 16 DRX is about to be born~~~】

【Wait, no? Is the rumor about Master Ye giving Xiaohu special training true? How did he really change! Is this really Xiaohu!】

【Evolution of the Tiger! From crawling zone → breaking the cocoon to become a fly!】

【Where are those who said WBG would kneel when seeing a Korean team before the match? Stand up for me!】

【^^, making a fuss over beating a skin-wearing fifth seed, you'll be quiet once you draw DK at 2-2】

Although they defeated TL, the expressions of everyone on WBG did not relax.

They all knew that the real hard battle might still be ahead.

And when the second round of draws took place, with LNG and G2 both drawn separately, leading to the final natural assignment of matchups.

Both WBG and DK felt their hearts skip a beat.

"The final natural matchup is set: it will be WBG versus DK!"

"The final seat for the quarterfinals, the last round of the duel between the fourth seeds of the two major regions! Let us wait and see tomorrow!"

That night.

Ye Bo once again conducted "special training" for Xiaohu.

"ShowMaker's laning style is a bit different from other LCK mid laners..." Ye Bo pondered the memory of the match against DK in his mind: "Right!"

"He's a bit like you were before, Brother Hu!"

"..."

Xiaohu didn't know if the other party was insulting him.

But, because DK had just beaten WBG in the Play-ins not long ago, and it was even a landslide victory.

At this moment, Xiaohu clearly lacked confidence.

And in Ye Bo's view, to let Xiaohu display his proper strength, the most important point was to keep him confident and believe that the opponent wasn't that strong.

Ye Bo thought of a "Psychological Suggestion Method."

"Brother Hu, imagine it, imagine you are Faker, and then you are playing against the 'Xiaohu' on the opposite side!—Believe me, ShowMaker is really about the same as you right now!"

Xiaohu obediently closed his eyes.

But after just a moment, he shook his head blankly: "It doesn't work, I can't imagine it at all, I can't project myself into that!"

"Then, try projecting yourself as me?" Ye Bo continued to devise strategies.

After hearing this, Xiaohu closed his eyes again, then shook his head even faster.

"Even less so. As soon as I close my eyes, I only project myself into the scene of me laning against you."

Ye Bo felt like it was a bit troublesome.

He brainstormed in his mind.

If every mid laner leaves him with such memories, then is it possible?

"I've got it!" Ye Bo had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"You can try projecting yourself from Uzi's perspective!"

"Imagine, now you are Uzi, and the ShowMaker sitting across from you tomorrow is 'Xiaohu'..."

Don't you know.

This really worked!

Compared to Li Xianghe and Ye Bo, who had no intersection in daily life and only had "painful memories" of laning against each other on the field—Uzi was Xiaohu's long-time teammate for many years, and Xiaohu was incomparably familiar with him.

It was full of immersion!

The even better news was that although the two were teammates and not laning against each other, it really did have a bit of a "suppression" psychological effect.

【The Last Day of the Swiss Stage】

LNG and G2 both defeated the two European and American teams, C9 and MAD, without any surprises, and were the first to advance to the quarterfinals.

And as for the final closing match, which was also the ownership of the last quarterfinal seat.

Everyone in the arena was full of anticipation.