Chapter 61: The whole of Jinxi Northwest has turned into a pot of porridge!

May 9.

The final match day of the group stage.

At 9 a. m., Xu Dongmen woke up on time.

Outside the window, the sunshine was bright; the first thing seen after opening the curtains was the Yellow Bank River.

As the morning sun rose, the river sparkled with rippling light, breathtakingly beautiful.

The hotel environment is top-notch!

"Dongmen, what time is it?" Da B also rubbed his sleepy eyes and sat up.

The two of them were staying in a standard room, sleeping in the same room.

"It's time to get up; let's go downstairs and eat something."

Xu Dongmen began washing up.

Professional teams waking up at 9 a. m.; QG can be said to be the only one in the LPL.

This was a rule set by head coach Pu Longyun after taking office; initially it required arriving at the training room by 9 a. m. to attend the morning meeting.

As for the schedule of esports players, this is absolutely a grave taboo.

When it was first implemented, everyone on the team complained bitterly, but after adapting, its scientific nature quickly became evident.

After the spring season opened, QG started with a 10-1 record, and the whole team gave off a feeling of being completely renewed!

"Going to bed early and rising early really works."

Xu Dongmen looked at himself in the mirror; his complexion was ruddy and full of vitality.

As someone who had grown accustomed to waking up at noon, after more than a month of early rising, he clearly felt his energy and focus had improved.

Previously, when playing matches during the day, he was always prone to drowsiness, with yawns nonstop.

Now, playing matches at noon, he is spirited and alert.

His biological clock is perfectly in sync!

"Ying Bi Ge, how much longer?"

"Coming, coming, I'm starving—I want to eat three buns and two fried dough sticks!"

Xu Dongmen and Doinb went downstairs together and met up with teammates in the restaurant.

After breakfast, they could still return to the lounge to play a game or two, digesting while awakening muscle memory.

The time came to 12 o'clock, and they set off fully prepared.

"Look, isn't that SKT?"

In the hotel lobby, Xu Dongmen and company encountered the SKT entourage.

They were also heading to the match venue.

"Bengi player, bad stop!"

Lin Ke showed no fear, directly giving Ben Ji two thumbs up in front of everyone from SKT.

In front of the crowd, Thejungle looked embarrassed.

QG left the hotel first, with SKT following behind them.

The two teams passed one after another through the streets, attracting many gazes.

As the esports capital, Upon Sea gathered a large number of LOL fans.

Many people held up their phones to film them, of course mainly to film Faker.

This guy's popularity is unprecedented in esports history, especially his international fame.

A true demon king!

"Holy cow, so many people even brought gifts." Da B noticed many SKT fans holding exquisite gift bags.

Just looking at the packaging, it's valuable!

"There's no way, you Li Ge are still you Li Ge."

Compared to Doinb, Xu Dongmen doesn't feel resentful, because he knows none of this came for free.

All the flowers and applause are earned through fighting on the stage!

If you can do it, you'll have it too.

"Hurry up, hurry up, the match has already started."

Today's first match: G2 versus SUP.

Two 1-7 teams, the battle at the foot of Heavenly King Mountain!

In the end, G2 still defended the honor of old Europe's white flag, overturning the scheming turkey on the ground.

Since advancing was already hopeless, this match was purely for fun, and hardly anyone took it seriously.

Second match: Flash Wolves versus CLG!

This is an important match that affects rankings.

Flash Wolves 5-3, CLG 4-4.

During the BP phase, head coach Chashao oversaw command, while the two deputy coaches, Warhorse and Niupai, handled specific matters.

They're all old acquaintances from the LPL!

"Flash Wolves have brought out Caitlyn again this round; are they planning to pick instead of ban?"

Uzi was very concerned about whether Stixay could get Caitlyn.

Unexpectedly, the blue side Flash Wolves did not snap up Caitlyn, and CLG likewise did not pick her.

Flash Wolves unleashed Ezreal Karma!

Xu Dongmen instantly understood: "Oh my, no wonder CLG didn't take Caitlyn; they surely already knew the opponent had this trick."

Ezreal Karma is one of the few combos that can directly counter Caitlyn Morgana.

This combination is too classic, to the point that even in S13 many bot lanes still use it.

"OK, we'll find a chance to practice it next time too." Wu Zhu also loves this combination.

Any combination that can push lane and suppress opponents is his favorite.

"Wait, Lightning Wolf is going to change tactics!"

On the BP interface, when CLG's bot lane gave up Caitlyn and picked Lucian, Lightning Wolf pulled a rug-out-from-under.

They picked Bard as their last pick.

"Mid lane Karma!"

Xu Dongmen and Doinb exchanged a glance and both started laughing.

This is what they first used in scrims, which is Xu Dongmen's so-called Lulu backup.

Obviously, Lightning Wolf also learned this trick.

International matches are like that; aside from raw strength, what's competed is version adaptability and learning ability.

No team is perfect; you must absorb other teams' strengths to continually improve yourself and increase your tactical repertoire.

"Thresh Ezreal, with mid lane Fan Mom, makes a pretty decent protective lineup."

"CLG's bot lane also got their signature Soraka; this bot lane is winnable."

"But CLG actively swapped lanes…"

Another lane-swap game, both sides rarely picked soft supports, yet they avoided laning.

That means it's time to test fundamentals!

"What is Mimidan doing?"

"Why does the top laner get 20 less CS in a lane-swap?!"

Everyone helped the national army capture the war criminal.

This lane swap was improvised; both top laners stayed in lane 1v2 under pressure, without following the jungler into the jungle.

The result was that CLG's top laner Ekko could clear waves with his Q ability, while Mimidan's Poppy could only sniff experience.

If it were just the top laner behind by 20 CS, that would be fine, but Karsa also made a mistake in shot-calling this game.

He had his teammates forcefully take the dragon while the bottom tower was still standing, giving Ekko more room to develop!

Most importantly, it also caused the team to fall far behind CLG in tower-swap speed.

CLG destroyed both top lane towers, while Lightning Wolf only took one outer tower in the bottom lane.

One mistake, and the whole game is lost.

Soon CLG broke the next tower, while Lightning Wolf couldn't do anything about the top tower.

Ekko can defend easily.

Defensive towers 1 vs 3!

Plus, SwordArt got caught and killed after wandering lost in the jungle, making the gold deficit jump straight to 3K.

"The wolf flavor is too strong."

Xu Dongmen shook his head; falling behind by 3K right at the start of the lane swap is absolutely unacceptable.

"Obviously, Karsa was affected by the previous match!"

On the commentator's desk, Mi Le pointed out the root of the problem.

In the previous match, Lightning Wolf vs. QG, Xu Dongmen controlled the first dragon at around six minutes, then proceeded to chain-control five more dragons with green lights, killing the game just past thirty minutes.

After yesterday's match ended, Karsa clearly reviewed the replay.

He is imitating Xu Dongmen's playstyle!

"You can't blame him entirely, but what's the point of mid lane taking Fan Mom and just sitting there farming?"

Xu Dongmen always speaks up for the jungler.

Indeed, the fact is that even Huhi's Ryze was roaming, while your Fan Mom is still farming mid lane.

With such a big early disadvantage, Lightning Wolf can only hope to turn things around in team fights.

However, their protective system is nowhere near comparable to QG's.

Not only do the two carries fall short in damage, but the mid laner responsible for protection is also far behind.

Maple played Karma like Ryze, building him with a Time Walk development path.

"That's definitely doomed; this Karma is eyesore painful to watch. If I were playing it, I'd still have a chance." Da B instantly called it, still holding a grudge from being solo-killed by Zed last time.

"The top lane gap is also huge." V added a sentence.

"Wait, if CLG won this game, are the two teams tied again?" Xu Dongmen calculated the points.

"Yes!"

Tian Zai Mo Ri gave an affirmative answer; he has always been monitoring the standings.

The match lasted 37 minutes; Lightning Wolf lost to CLG, suffering a double elimination in the group stage.

Both teams' records reached 5-4, tying for second place!

Of the four teams that have secured qualification, aside from QG's first-place spot being unshakable, the other three still have a chance to compete for second.

The entire Jinxi Northwest has descended into chaos like a pot of porridge!