After the interview, and not interested in staying to watch the evening game, the KT team took the bus back to the base.
Today is Christmas. The guys who just finished playing the game worked hard to decorate it and held a small Christmas party.
The two waves of 6 and 4 were all played in one day. The four teams confirmed to advance to the semi-finals of this year's K Cup are KT, DWG, NS, and GEN·G.
The predecessor of NS is the DYN team that just came up from the secondary league this summer. It was renamed after being acquired by the Korean food industry giant Nongshim Group.
I have to say that the boss of DYN is very lucky. He just happened to catch the last train of alliance, and he sold an LCK spot at a good price.
It is worth mentioning that after receiving sponsorship from the Kia Group, DWG also announced two days ago that they will officially change their name to DWG KIA next season.
Originally, many people thought that DWG, as the second-largest team in the LCK this year after KT, would find it difficult for the club to maintain its original lineup when the players' contracts expired after their players' high value. They would probably not be able to renew the contracts of outstanding players in the team with high salaries.
But it's different with Kia's title sponsorship.
Title sponsors are different from ordinary sponsors. Title sponsors will invest more heavily, and in DWG's official announcement, Kia will assist the club in brand management and operations.
Of course, despite receiving investment from Kia, DWG did not choose to keep Niubao.
Having money doesn't mean you have to spend it recklessly. How much is Lin Cheng's contract? If Nugu stayed in the LCK, he wouldn't be able to get a contract as exaggerated as the LPL.
In addition to Nongshim and Kia, another large group that entered the LCK with high profile is KB Kookmin Bank. They reached a cooperation agreement with the sandbox and SB will be renamed LSB next season.
This year’s LCK alliance process has indeed had a great impact.
Many large companies in South Korea have begun to invest with confidence and rush to join the game. Even many companies that have not acquired LCK seats have reached sponsorship agreements with the club.
With more sponsors, the club will naturally have money to buy people, and the players' treatment will also increase accordingly.
The weirdest thing in the transfer market this year is Hanwha. The headquarters started to increase investment in the alliance. As a result, Hanwha Club took the money but couldn't buy anyone, which is really embarrassing.
With all parties making such big moves, it’s not surprising that KT will spend so much money this year.
After experiencing the failure of Galaxy Battleship for two consecutive years, KT had given up hope of spending money to achieve results, but Lin Cheng's unexpected birth gave KT's senior management a glimmer of hope.
They all dream of competing with their rival T1 in League of Legends. The brand value created by T1 is enough to make all clubs jealous.
Even though they didn't make it to the T1 World Championship last year, they still received far more sponsorship than other clubs. Although this is inseparable from the operation of T1's top management, it is mainly due to the brand value of T1.
Therefore, KT headquarters is determined to keep the team's banner, Lin Cheng, no matter the cost, and vigorously recruit players to ensure results while also increasing business development efforts to speed up the pace of catching up with their archrivals.
Aside from the topic, KT has just advanced to the semi-finals and then the Kespa Cup semi-finals. KT ushered in a duel with NS.
Compared to when NS was still called DYN in the summer split, the lineup has changed a lot. Only Storm Triple Crown champion Rih and bottom lane AD player Deokdam are still in the lineup.
Nong Shim introduced the Black King Blank, who returned from Japan, as the jungler, the mid laner was newcomer Bay, and the support was replaced by Kellin.
Judging from the previous K Cup competition, Nongshim’s signings this year are actually quite practical.
Except for Bay, who looks a little hip-stretching, and Xiao Heimeng, who has returned to his peak and looks a bit like a younger generation. Although Kellin did not compete with Laifu when he was in GEN·G, he is actually more intelligent than Laifu when he is stable.
Of course, when delivering the goods, he delivered them more vigorously than Laifu.
Since GEN·G's champion support CoreJJ left, all the players in the support position are the kind of guys who appear to be ghosts and ghosts. Samsung fan Guan Zeyuan often complains about this.
In addition to the performance of the new jungler and support, Deokdam itself has a strong carry ability. This NS team only lost a small game to DWG in the previous K Cup game.
Of course, although NS is in pretty good shape, most people think that KT, whose status improved significantly in the last round, will easily defeat their opponents.
However, this is not the case.
In the semifinals of Wave 5, KT encountered a tough battle right from the start.
And Xiao Hei, who returned to the LCK, was amazing. In the early stage, Xiao Hei's Rock Bird was very insidious in the wild area and caught Xiao Peanut's opportunity to hand over skills to the jungle to complete a solo kill. Then he successively captured three lanes.
The effect is that KT never gets up to speed.
Not only KT viewers couldn't believe it, but even T1 fans couldn't accept it.
Xiao Hei has changed. Is this still the same Black King who used reverse GANK to blow up SKT in all three directions?
In the first game, under Xiao Hei's perfect rhythm, NS tenaciously defeated KT.
The second game was still tense, but because KT's lineup had little coordination, they lost the game again.
After losing two games in a row, KT seemed to suddenly wake up.
In the following games, KT's players began to exert their strength.
Rih's signature Sword Demon was continuously knocked out of the lane by Lin Cheng on the top lane, and good news kept coming from the top lane.
Chovy even allowed newcomer mid laner Bay to experience his terrifying suppressive power in the middle, and just like Lin Cheng Energ, he also completed consecutive solo kills.
Little Peanut was also stunned. Faced with the bloody explosion of Little Hei who had pushed him to the bench, he no longer chose the wild core brush and went straight to the carnivorous blind monk, chasing the opponent in the wild area.
On the other hand, Mr. Dai and Little Death in the bottom lane are a bit interesting. They first kill the opponent in lane, and then suddenly send them out for no apparent reason. They insist on not taking advantage and letting the opponent keep up with their development.
In the end, after adjusting, KT chased three games in a row, won the game with two teams chasing three, and advanced to the Kespa Cup finals.
KT fans are both looking forward to and worried now.
The expectation is because KT finished very tenaciously, allowing two to chase three, which showed their resilience and made fans believe that KT will get better and better in the future just like Lin Cheng said.
But worry is inevitable.
Compared with the devastation of the previous generation of KT, the operational decisions of this KT team seem very confusing. There are indeed beautiful decisions about pulling out towers and switching lanes, but at the same time, there are also free gifts like a gourd boy saving his grandpa after a cerebral hemorrhage.
Fans of other teams are gloating that KT's dominance is gone and their chance has come.
In fact, during the post-game review, KT's players also discovered the team's problems. Their current main problem is that their thinking is not unified enough. It is difficult for the five of them to react in a tacit understanding immediately when the battle situation changes rapidly.
Due to the different styles of the previous teams, the players' playing styles are different, and the players' judgment of the situation is not necessarily the same, so there is often a disconnect.
This situation can only be improved through a lot of running-in, and fortunately they still have a lot of time.
Lin Cheng firmly believes that KT is still invincible.