In the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, the entire rng team was going through the registration procedures.
"Hi, brothers, long time no see!" Uzi, wearing a Hawaiian-style floral shirt and a pair of Nike slippers, greeted Su Chen and others who were walking towards him with a smile.
Behind him are Xiaohu, Xiaoming, Xiangguo and other RNG team members.
"If you come here one day later, it will be Golden Week. I remember the air tickets seemed to have doubled." Su Chen said with a smile.
"I can't help it. I have been participating in the sponsor's activities these past few days, and we rushed here today in a hurry." Uzi complained.
"There's really nothing we can do about it." Su Chen could also understand Uzi's resentment.
rng is considered to be one of the most successful teams in the LPL in the past two years. It has many more commercial activities than other clubs in the league. After all, e-sports cannot be used to generate electricity for love, and it still requires Qiami.
As the players who are the main targets of the contract, they naturally have to cooperate wholeheartedly.
Su Chen felt very fortunate about this.
YM actually became famous after winning the MSI, and countless big-name sponsors came to the door with their checkbooks.
But YM signed commercial contracts with Tengda, and there were not many parts that required the players to perform in person. It was a type of contract that had more money but less trouble.
Su Chen had already received all the endorsement fees after playing in the summer finals, and what he did specifically was authorize his own image rights.
In addition, several simple endorsement advertisements were filmed at the base.
It basically takes no trouble.
"The hotel arranged for this year's group stage feels good. I see there is a beach behind it, which is much better than the previous World Championships." Xiao Ming looked around.
"It just looks okay from the outside, but in fact the internal facilities are a bit awkward." Xiaotian immediately complained.
"Indeed, I almost had a heatstroke this morning." The left hand behind him also echoed.
"I saw the official tweet from fnc. It seems that all the air conditioners on the floors where the players live are broken. Are they being repaired now?" Hart said with a smile.
Su Chen took out his mobile phone and logged into Twitter using scientific Internet methods. Sure enough, he saw the updates posted by some of the participating teams in the group stage.
fnc: "On the first morning after arriving in Busan, there were some bugs in the caps player's room."
In the accompanying picture, Caps is sitting shirtless in front of the open refrigerator in the room, closing his eyes in a meditative posture, and accepting the cold air coming out of the refrigerator to cool down.
tsm forwarded this news: "It seems that you are not able to adapt to Busan's environment. Why not go back to Europe as soon as possible and enjoy the Mediterranean climate."
Before the group stage even started, Europe and North America had a classic exchange of words, which immediately heated up the atmosphere of the World Championship.
Even g2, who was still in the finals, jumped in and spoke confidently: "This is why we came to Busan a week late."
Compared with the usual live-action style in Europe and the United States, the East Asian division seems a lot more reserved.
The official tweets of ym and rng were just forwarded.
On lck's side, Samsung Geng showed the host's attitude and gave a warm reminder that the temperature in Busan has been high in recent days. I hope everyone can pay more attention.
kt introduced some of Busan’s attractions and delicacies, and suggested other teams to visit them.
Although their attitude was relatively friendly, they did not directly call out the organizer for the poor hotel arrangements. The pictures also showed the beautiful scenery of Busan, showing that the time has passed peacefully.
However, some netizens who were up to no good soon exposed it.
The lck team is currently not heading to Busan, but is staying at the base headquarters to prepare for the game. They did not stay at the hotel in Feiyuntai District like other teams in the group stage.
After all, it is a local battle, and it does have geographical convenience. There is no need to come in advance to prepare for the battle.
But this also made people from other teams feel a little uncomfortable.
"It's okay. When the Korean team is eliminated, it will be pretty quick to go home. You don't even need to book a plane ticket. You can get home in just a few steps." Someone mocked.
After rng completed the check-in procedure, he and ym had lunch at a nearby restaurant.
The coaching staff had to prepare the training room, so they did not participate.
Only 12 players and 2 translators went out together.
In the restaurant, after the group finished ordering, they chatted happily.
"You guys feel comfortable this year. Group A feels like you can qualify even with your eyes closed. It's not like our Group D, where the MSI Brawl is coming." Xiaotian pretended to be sour and teased Shi Senming.
"There is nothing we can do. Who allowed you to beat us in the summer split? Now you must be punished by God." Shi Senming said with a smile.
"Is that so?" Xiaohu suddenly realized.
People at the two tables suddenly laughed.
Only Uzi clenched his fists and his face gradually turned red.
"It still depends on how the qualifying rounds go. It would be really fun if g2 were also assigned to Group D," Casa laughed. "It shouldn't be that miserable."
"Whether you come or not doesn't affect the overall situation," Su Chen shrugged indifferently, "It seems that we have beaten these three teams in the MSI. It's just a second battle."
"That's right, I was still thinking that if I didn't finish the group stage, I would send Samsung home." Xiaotian agreed.
rngWhen everyone heard this, they burst into laughter.
"It would be good to qualify in the group stage. Samsung can make it to the quarterfinals no matter what. After all, it was the world champion last year and the runner-up of this year's MSI. How can it be in the top 16?" Uzi shook his head repeatedly, "Don't look down on lck too much.
Okay."
"We will see the results in the group stage then." Su Chen smiled confidently and did not explain.
When talking about the playoffs, everyone also mentioned the situation on the third seed IG.
ig arrived in Seoul three days ago to prepare for the National Day qualifying round.
According to pdd, ig has been under closed management these days and has to play nearly 15 hours of training matches every day, so it is very full.
"We just arrived in Busan today and made an appointment with ig for a training match in the evening. I feel like they are quite active," Uzi said.
Su Chen nodded, but didn't ask ig why he didn't ask ym for a training match.
The relationship between the clubs is on the one hand. Meng Ma also mentioned that the playing styles of ym and ig are relatively similar. Even if the two teams play training games, they can't practice any BP routines. They just have three lines fighting brainlessly.
On the contrary, the style of the operation team like rng is somewhat similar to that of lck, and IG can learn a lot from it.
Knowing ig's attitude towards the qualifying rounds, Su Chen also knew that they should be guaranteed to qualify.
Originally, the qualifying rounds were not difficult for the third seeds from the four major regions.
Among the 12 qualifying teams, except Hong Kong team g-rex, who may advance to the second round with the second pick.
Unless the boss makes his own bet on c9 and g2, it is impossible to fall into the second round of the elimination stage as the second pick in the group.
As long as ig doesn't collide with c9 and g2, how can b05 in the elimination stage lose to teams like Japan, Türkiye, and Oceania?
Therefore, the so-called ig finalist adventure that is ridiculed on the Internet is just purely a matter of fun.
…
After lunch, everyone returned to the hotel.
In the lobby on the first floor, many fans who had read the news on Twitter immediately gathered around.
"Onyuni, that's jkd!" A Korean girl in fashionable dress excitedly held her companion's hand and ran to Su Chen, looking at him nervously and shyly.
Then he said in jerky Chinese:
"I... am your... disciple..."
"I understand, thank you." Su Chen replied in Korean with a smile. Then, with the girl's surprised eyes, he signed his team uniform and handed it to her.
The young lady whose wish came true cheered and celebrated with her companions, with little stars almost popping out of her eyes.
"Oppa is so handsome!"
The enthusiasm of the female fans also caused Xiaotian Zuozuo and others to switch to the pickled fish mode again. It seems that most of them are Korean and Chinese fans. How can such a good thing happen?
But Su Chen just felt bored, and after casually dealing with the fans, he took the elevator upstairs.
In the training room, Meng Ma led the coaching staff to arrange everything properly. After adjusting the curtain, he turned on the projector and explained the changes to the World Championship version.
"The 8.19 version has been updated in the Korean server today. You can log in to your Korean server account later to check." Meng Ma pressed the control switch and started playing the file produced by him and the coaching staff.
Consistent with Riot's style over the years, Riot will officially weaken the teams with the most outstanding performance in the second half of the year to a certain extent in the S8 World Championship version.
The designer's machete struck ym on the head again.
In the 8.19 version, Akali's w [Xia Formation] has canceled the mechanism to avoid defense tower damage, the energy consumption of q [Cold Shadow] in the early stage has increased, and the cooldown time of the ultimate move "Dazzling Death" has increased.
Under the new version, Akali can still appear, but her suppression in the top lane has been severely reduced, and the possibility of swinging in the middle and top lane has been reduced.
At the same time, heroes such as Sword Girl, Sword Girl, Qinggangying, and Crocodile were once again weakened to varying degrees.
The son of version Urgot has been strengthened again, the damage of q [Corrosive Charge] has been increased, and the basic armor has also been increased again.
Urgot, who was originally a jack-of-all-trades in the top lane, has now truly become a non-ban option in S8.
As long as you get this hero, you can greatly narrow the gap between the two top laners.
Such a change naturally triggered a lot of complaints, but the designer's reply was also fucked up.
[We are trying our best to avoid the deformed version of the warrior hero dominating the top lane in the S5 era. At the same time, we hope that all three lanes will have the ability to carry during the game. ]
In addition to trying to reduce the laning gap in the top lane through hero changes.
Rhythm junglers, Lee Sin, Rock Bird, including the aforementioned swing position Qinggang Shadow have all been weakened.
Herbivorous junglers, pig girls, trolls, etc. have received large-scale enhancements.
This is also the designer's intention, to forcefully slow down the pace of the game.
In addition, the core equipment of critical attack speed ADC heroes such as the Storm Sword has been reduced in price, and heroes such as Kai'Sa, Big Mouth, and Policewoman have been strengthened.
Among the elemental dragons, the gain attributes of the wind dragon and water dragon have been increased, which avoids the situation where both sides ignore the dragon in the early stage and focus on the Canyon Herald.
After listening to Meng Ma's explanation, everyone in ym was speechless.
Although I have already seen the version update announcement, from this analysis, Riot is completely targeting YM's fast-paced play style that mainly focuses on the top half.
"You don't need to pay too much attention to it. Similar changes have been made in the World Championships over the years, and this kind of change is about tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall. Although our dominance in the top half has been weakened, we have more tactical options in the bottom lane.
Some."
Kai'Sa's appearance rate dropped in the second half of the summer split, but after the World Championship version is updated, Kai'Sa will rise again.
's signboard.
"Indeed," Su Chen agreed, "and the removal of the four sisters in the top lane doesn't have much impact on me. I've already passed the stage of becoming the Jinchuriki of the four sisters."
"Speaking of strengthening the ad hero, doesn't it also mean that I am strengthened?"
Hearing what he said, Xiaotian suddenly laughed.
"Indeed, Brother Chen is an old adc."
"It's okay. Just let me play with Urgot. Leave all the enchantress and clockwork to the other side. I can't solve the problem with my pure armor." Left hand also said with a smile.
Seeing that the players were in good spirits, Meng Ma was relieved.
"Everyone will play on the Korean server this afternoon to get used to it. We will start training at 7pm, and we will continue at this pace until the beginning of the group stage."
"Who shall we fight in the first battle, rng?" Xiaotian asked curiously.
"RNG has already made an appointment with IG," Meng Ma said with a smile. "Tonight we will play a round of b03 with fnc, then tsm, and tomorrow I have an appointment with afs... In the past few days, the eight teams in the group stage will play one round one after another.
.”
"As the No. 1 club in the world in terms of strength, we still have a lot of reputation, and all the subsequent appointments are already fully booked," Meng Ma said with a smile.
"It's really different from when I was in MSI." Su Chen couldn't help but sigh.
When we were in Europe, the lck team directly rejected ym's request to play training matches.
At that time, their attitude was very straightforward. There was nothing to study about the LPL team, and playing training games might have revealed their own tactics.
But half a year has passed, and now all the teams in the division want to play training games with ym to study and learn their playing style.
This is the effect brought by the MSI championship and the Asian Games championship.
Strength is the basis for gaining respect.
…
With the beginning of the National Day Golden Week.
The qualifying round in Seoul, South Korea has also officially started.
As predicted before the game, the wild card teams in the playoffs are just the experienced babies of the third seeds from the four major regions.
IG in Group A won all four games in the first round, beating INF (Latin America Division) and DW (Oceania Division) in the same group, qualifying as the No. 1 seed.
The remaining three No. 1 seeds qualifying are c9, g2, and Hong Kong team g-rex.
In the second round of the knockout round, ig once again slaughtered the second seed dfm (Japanese team) in Group B, taking the lead in entering the group stage with a score of 3-0.
Then the other three No. 1 seeds broke out of the tight encirclement without any suspense and advanced to the group stage.
After the official conclusion of the qualifying round, Riot Games officially announced a data list.
This includes data such as average KDA per game, first tower rate, Baron control rate, etc.
And ig occupied the top of every list, showing an extremely ferocious state and triggering heated discussions.
[It’s unbelievable that IG with such strength would be forced to compete in the playoffs, while teams like FW and Mad can directly advance to the group stage. Riot Games should really modify the competition system]
[The qualifying round is simply a personal show for ig players. Rookie and the shy’s dominance in the lane is so terrible. Such a team is only the third seed of lpl? 】
[Song Yijin is the number one mid laner in the world! Just wait to be beaten by him, I’m talking about your caps!]
[Now it’s the teams’ turn to panic, haha. After watching the qualifying rounds, fnc and kt probably don’t want to meet ig]
…
On October 8, after all four qualifying teams were born.
The second-round draw ceremony for the group stage begins at the League of Legends themed exhibition hall in Seoul.
I was the first to take out the first ball. After taking it apart, the note showed the ID of "c9".
"The first one drawn is c9, they will enter group a!"
The camera showed c9's mid laner Jensen Jianhuang. At this moment, he could no longer hide the smile on his face.
Although there is RNG in Group A, it is overall the weakest among the four groups. C9 has a good chance of qualifying as the No. 2 seed.
The second one drawn was g-rex. Knowing that they had no hope of qualifying, they had no reaction to this draw.
Unless you are assigned to the weak group A, g-rex's strength will be used to give points in the other three groups.
Instead, the camera showed ig. The player representative, Rookie, looked calm and knew what was going on.
Group ab is already crowded, group d has ym, and ig is automatically assigned to group c. This is a good sign.
"Great, ig has been assigned to Group C, which greatly increases their chances of qualifying!" Miller said excitedly during the off-site live broadcast.
Although there is South Korea's No. 1 seed kt in Group C, there are two remaining teams, and ig is not worthy at all.
Even if they can't beat kt, ig is very sure to qualify as the second seed. This is absolutely good news.
"But in this case, g2 will eventually go to group D. The predictions on the Internet have come true." Wawa smiled helplessly.
The final grouping of the s8 group stage:
Group a:fw,rng,pvb,c9
Group B: fnc, afs, 100t, grx
Group c:kt,mad,vit,ig
Group d:ym,geng,tsm,g2
The addition of g2 directly raised group d to another level, from a group of death to a group of hell.
[Hahahahaha, it made me laugh so hard. The top four MSIs were actually divided into the same group in the World Championships. The group stage directly became smaller MSIs]
[Ym, what kind of bullshit luck is this? You said you didn’t want g2 to come, but in the end, g2 really squeezed in. It’s amazing! 】
[perkz: I didn’t expect that my grandpa is back again! 】
[I have a very bold prediction. The final ones in Group D are g2 and tsm, and Samsung and ym are both in the top 16. Is this possible?]
[The people above are overthinking, have you ever seen the top 16 world champions go home? 】
After the final grouping of the S8 group stage was established, the official posts of the sixteen teams also released updates, gradually heating up the atmosphere of the World Championship.
Among Group D, which was watched by netizens who were gloating about their misfortune, g2 had the most optimistic attitude. They directly named the other three clubs and asked them if they had decided who would be the second seed.
But neither tsm nor geng paid any attention to g2, only ym replied with a meaningful smiley emoticon.
…
October 10, 4 pm, inside Busan Bexco Convention and Exhibition Center.
The s8 group stage has officially kicked off!
On the dim stage, as the countdown ended, LCK Roaring Emperor Quan Yongquan slowly appeared on the stage in a burgundy suit.
He raised the microphone, as if he was about to open a bow and shoot an arrow, bent his body to an exaggerated angle, and then shouted with all his strength.
"All Summoners, welcome to Busan City, are you ready for the 2018 LoL Global Finals?"
"After a whole year of journey, 16 teams came here with their dreams, hoping to win the legendary Summoner's Trophy and become the champions of the 2018 League of Legends Global Finals!"
"16 teams, 16 different journeys, everyone has experienced laughter and tears, writing their own story, but in the end, only one team will win the Summoner's Trophy!"
"Let us witness together the birth of the strongest one!"
"Tell me again loudly, are you ready!!!"
With his shouting at the top of his lungs, a sound that almost overturned the dome came from the entire venue.
Seeing that the atmosphere was already heating up, the Roaring Emperor stepped aside and directed the audience's eyes behind him.
With the background music of "rise", the Samsung team walked out from the back of the stage. Leader An at the front of the team held the silver-white Summoner's Trophy.
"I would like to ask the champions of last year's S7, Team Geng, to return the Summoner's Trophy!" Roaring Emperor said loudly.
Under the applause of the audience, Leader An, surrounded by his teammates, slowly placed the Summoner's Trophy on the booth in the center of the stage.
And the camera immediately showed a close-up.
Different from the MSI Little Gold Cup, the Summoner's Trophy, which symbolizes the championship of the S tournament, has not been changed since 2014 and has been used until this year.
The winner of the S tournament every year will return the Summoner's Trophy at the opening ceremony of the following year.
The design of the Summoner's Cup is also somewhat different from traditional trophies. It does not retain smooth lines and single-toned materials. It looks a bit like a short staff in an RPG game.
The silver back is inlaid with blue crystals and runes, representing the energy source of the League of Legends world.
The entire Samsung team left the stage amidst applause, while Roaring Emperor approached the trophy, first stretched out his handkerchief and carefully wiped the surface of the cup, causing a burst of laughter, and then smiled.
"The road to Incheon is full of thorns, but I believe that the great athletes who arrive in Busan will definitely have the courage to overcome the thorns!"
"What I want to introduce to you now are the 16 teams that have advanced to the S8 global group stage!"
"Let's welcome Team A, Flash Olf!"
Under Roaring Emperor's passionate introduction, the spotlights lit up one by one in the aisles of the auditorium.
Representative players from sixteen teams appeared in front of the camera.
Lightning Wolf's maple.
rng Uzi.
fnc caps
ig’s rookie Song Yijin.
Everyone stood with their hands behind their backs, and when their names were read, the director would also give them a close-up, which caused a round of cheers.
When it was Group D's turn, the voices on the scene became louder and louder.
Leader An, Su Chen, senior brother, and Ah P all stood in a row, attracting the warmest cheers from the audience.
Excited spectators waved photos of the contestants, including Chinese spectators holding up banners with "YM Come on" written on them.
In the front there is the world champion Samsung who just returned the Summoner's Trophy, and in the back there is YM, the most outstanding team this year. In addition, g2 and tsm are also strong teams in the world. The popularity of the entire D group is also the highest in the game.
The other players in the aisle also looked at Group D with gloating eyes.
Among these four teams, no matter which two teams are eliminated, it will be good news for the other teams. They just have to wait and see what happens.
After the 16 teams appeared one after another, the live music changed again, and the director also cut into the S8 group stage promotional video.
In the picture, the scenery of Busan flies by, accompanied by the lyrical BGM of guitar playing.
The Roaring Emperor appeared in front of the camera, and he said with a hint of vicissitude:
"The LoL Global Finals has been held for 7 years, and only in the 2011 S1 season did LCK fail to reach the finals."
"Why?"
"Because that year, lck did not participate."
"In 2012, lck won the runner-up. In the next four years, it was champion, champion, and champion again."
"Not only that, every S-game final is a civil war between the LCK team."
"In order to comfort other regions, we have been saying that the gap is narrowing. However, it was not until this year that there were some changes in the international arena."
"MSI, Asian Games, LCK are no longer the final boss. We have suffered consecutive defeats, and the real challenge has arrived."
"In the past five years, LCK has won all the championships. This year's World Championship is held in South Korea. I think we should also work hard to win everything and continue this glorious history."
After the Roaring Emperor finished speaking these words, the screen changed.
Players from the three teams, kt, geng, and afs, also appeared on the screen one by one.
“Kt has gathered half of LCK’s team, including the best top laners Marin and Smeb, the honorable Pawn and Mata, as well as Deft who is at the peak of their value, and kt Night Watch score. They are the biggest favorites to win this World Championship.
.”
"Although Geng has had ups and downs this year and lost the MSI, they defeated Faker's SKT in the summer and grabbed a ticket to the World Championship. Why can't they win the Summoner's Trophy for the second consecutive year?
"
"It's hard to believe AFS's top laner Kiin's carrying ability in the game. Once they enter the World Championship, this team will become even better."
The scene changed again, with Roaring Emperor standing under the Busan night, looking into the distance.
"In 2018, will LCK win its sixth S-League championship?"
"Or is it the birth of a new champion?"
"History is constantly moving forward, let us witness it together!"
