novelhk Chapter 161 Group Stage Situation (4k)
Chapter 161 Group Stage Situation (4k)
"Shake hands, shake hands!"
The factory manager spoke up to remind the excited crowd.
Under the leadership of Shen Lang, several people walked towards the Gen.G battle seat.
Compared to before the game, the expressions on the Gen.G players' faces were obviously much uglier. They knew very well what losing this game meant.
"Played well."
Shen Lang smiled and spoke to Cuvee in Korean.
He had anticipated this result before the game started, so he deliberately learned a few Korean sentences online to cram.
Hearing this, Cuvee's expression became even uglier.
If the two teams are evenly matched and EDG wins the game in the end, then Shen Lang's words can be understood as a compliment.
But the reality was that he was beaten by Shen Lang from beginning to end in this game. No matter how these words came out of Shen Lang's mouth, they sounded wrong.
"Thank you."
Facing the camera, Cuvee was too embarrassed to get angry, so he could only force a smile and bowed to thank Shen Lang.
"You know how to disgust people."
The factory manager behind him hurriedly pushed Shen Lang forward, fearing that he would be beaten.
After the handshake, everyone came to the center of the stage, bowed and saluted, then walked off the stage and returned to the lounge.
"Awesome!"
Abu was very excited.
This game was the one he was most worried about in the group stage. Now that the team has successfully won the game and qualifying for the group stage is almost certain, as a manager, he naturally can't suppress his excitement.
"What did I say? Gen.G's strength is just so-so. There's really no need to be so nervous. If we really have the time, we might as well follow our EDG tradition and study our opponents in the knockout rounds first."
Shen Lang curled his lips.
Seeing his irritating appearance, Abu was powerless to refute: "You are the MVP of this game, whatever you say is right."
As he was speaking, the director quickly displayed the post-match data.
Without any suspense, Shen Lang's Irelia successfully won the MVP of this game. What was truly shocking was his output in this game.
The combined damage of the other four EDG players barely exceeds that of Irelia.
In sharp contrast, Cuvee only dealt more than 2,000 damage to Shen who was laning against Irelia in this game. As a top laner, and one who chose an offensive top laner, this amount of damage was obviously not up to standard.
"Tsk tsk, netizens used to always mock 4396, but now the more I look at it, the higher it gets."
Shen Lang said with emotion.
"Alright, alright, I know you're awesome, so stop poking people in the lungs. Today's game is over, and the intensity of our next game won't be that high. You can all take a break tonight."
Abu waved his hand and said generously.
"yeah!"
Everyone in EDG cheered immediately.
They haven't had much rest since the end of the summer season. Every day is filled with high-intensity training games and rankings. Now they finally have time to relax.
"No, it's fine if we're happy, but what the hell, what difference does it make to you whether you have a holiday or not?"
iboy complained to Shen Lang.
"What I'm thinking is that the intensity of the next game is not very high, so maybe we can let Ray play."
Shen Lang explained.
In the corner of the lounge, Ray, who was somewhat out of tune with the crowd, showed an excited expression on his face when he heard Shen Lang's words, and then looked at Abu next to him with anticipation.
Abu raised his eyebrows slightly. Since Shen Lang's performance on the court has been getting better and better, he really didn't think of replacing him.
If Shen Lang hadn't said it, he wouldn't even have thought that his team had a substitute top laner.
"Can consider it."
After a little thought, he spoke.
Ray clenched his hands in his pockets and cheered in his heart.
Although the coach only said that it could be considered, based on his understanding of Shen Lang, Shen Lang would definitely not be willing to play in the next game.
Everyone who knows Shen Lang knows that he is a lazy bastard.
If you can avoid training, then don't train. If you can avoid playing in a game, then don't play in a game.
As for whether coming on as a substitute would replace his position, he never considered that.
……
That night, Abu did not arrange another training match, and Shen Lang instead took his teammates to play PUBG.
Normally when people play PUBG, they may think it is just so-so, but at a critical moment like the World Championship, playing PUBG feels inexplicably fun. Maybe this is the theory of relativity.
Not only the EDG players are happy today, but also the domestic fans.
The group stage has been going on for two days. The LPL teams have played a total of four games so far, and won all four games.
If this is already exciting, then LCK's dismal results will undoubtedly make netizens feel even happier.
The LCK region has played five games so far, but except for the opening match between KT and TL, they lost the other four games.
AFS0-2, Gen. G0-2.
The subsequent group matches for the two teams will be very difficult. Only two days into the World Championship, KT is already on the verge of becoming the last hope of LCK.
"This year seems to be the most promising year for LPL!"
The netizens in the forum seemed to be celebrating the New Year, and the entire forum was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
"Is it possible that all three LPL teams advance as first in their groups?"
"If nothing unexpected happens, EDG should be able to win first place in the group. IG's group is not under too much pressure and is likely to win first place. Now it all depends on whether RNG can perform better and defeat KT. The three LPL teams really have a chance to win first place in their groups and advance."
"It's still too early to be happy. Gen.G and AFS are not very strong, but KT is strong. The knockout stage is not a points system. If LPL wants to win this year's championship trophy, it still has to beat KT first."
……
Not only were domestic forum users discussing this crazily, Korean forums were also in an uproar.
It’s just that Korean netizens are more angry.
"How could the Gen.G players play like this? Why don't they just die?"
"Gen.G can't even beat a team like VIT. Don't play in the next game. Just swim back home."
"This is really abominable. If SKT had advanced to the World Championship, this wouldn't have happened."
"I thought Gen.G could beat EDG, but I didn't expect them to be beaten like this. It really brings shame to the LCK region."
"Gen.G is the shame of the LCK region."
It is obvious that AFS and Gen.G both lost two games, and Gen.G's opponents were even stronger, but all the firepower of Korean netizens was focused on Gen.G.
The reason is simple. Most Korean netizens don’t actually like Gen.G.
Although they successfully won the world championship last year, they won it from SKT, and SKT has the largest fan base in South Korea. These people have never liked Gen.G and believe that Gen.G stole the championship from SKT.
In addition, Gen.G's performance in this year's games cannot be said to be good, and its performance in the current world championship is very bad, so it naturally became the target of Korean netizens' emotional venting.
To put it bluntly, Gen.G's number of fans in Korea may not even be as many as its number of fans in China.
At least after winning the championship last year, Gen.G did gain a lot of fans like Guan Zeyuan in the country.
After today's game, Guan Zeyuan posted on Weibo to cheer for Gen.G:
"The group stage isn't over yet, and we still have hope of advancing to the knockout stage. We need to adjust our form in the next matches, come on!"
As a fan, there is nothing wrong with him doing this.
But in the eyes of many domestic netizens, his words are unpleasant no matter how you look at them.
Combined with his remarks during the commentary of the match between EDG and Gen.G, many people began to post mocking posts on the forum.
"When everyone in Gen.G thought the game was hopeless, only Guan Zeyuan, a true 'Gen.G player', thought they could still win."
“I really like what Guan Zeyuan said – Gen.G is not at a loss!”
"Thanos snapped his fingers, and Guan Zeyuan's mouth was still there."
"If it weren't for Colonel Guan's bad words, Gen.G might not have lost so quickly."
"Let me put this on the table. After Guan Zeyuan finishes his job, Gen.G will be eliminated in the group stage."
……
Amid the frantic discussions among netizens, the group stage soon entered its third day.
In the first game, KT faced MAD.
To the relief of Korean netizens, KT's strength is still online. They easily defeated MAD and won their second game of the group stage.
Next up is RNG vs. TL.
RNG did not disappoint domestic fans, and quickly ended the game in 27 minutes, successfully defeating TL with a crushing momentum, and also won their second victory in the group stage, temporarily tying their points with KT.
Up to this point, the teams in the LPL region still remain undefeated. Domestic netizens have begun to speculate which of the three teams, RNG, EDG, and IG, will lose the game first in the World Championship. There are even rumors that a bookmaker has opened the odds, with EDG having the highest odds and RNG having the lowest odds.
In the third game, IG played against FNC.
IG won easily.
For domestic audiences, these few days are really like the Chinese New Year. The game looks like they will be won, and the situation in the group stage looks clear. No wonder some people expect three teams to advance to the knockout stage as the group leaders at the same time.
In the fourth game, 100T played against GRX, and 100T won.
In the fifth game, EDG played against VIT.
After careful consideration, Abu decided to let Ray replace Shen Lang.
In fact, it doesn't matter whether he wants to or not. Unless the other three teams in Group B can threaten EDG's ranking, Shen Lang will definitely not play. After all, deliberately not playing in the game is considered a bad behavior in the eyes of the system, and he can also get system rewards.
What’s interesting is that during the BP phase, when Nofe habitually asked the top laner what hero he wanted to play, Ray was a little surprised at first, but then made a decision quickly.
Choose the knife girl!
Facing an opponent like VIT, there is really no need for Shen Lang to appear on the field. Perhaps in the eyes of many people, the other EDG players on the field are just supporting roles, with Shen Lang as the "Tsar" and the four sand soldiers. But that's only because Shen Lang's performance was too brilliant, so the other players seem to be insignificant.
In fact, the others are quite strong.
Ray's Irelia quickly gained an advantage in the laning phase and successfully killed VIT's top laner when he reached level 6.
He was very satisfied with his performance.
But in the eyes of EDG fans, this Irelia is still a little lacking.
Shen Lang just chose Irelia in yesterday's game, and Ray chose her again in today's game. It is hard for fans not to make comparisons.
Ray was quite fierce in foreign battles, and his operation with Irelia was also very impressive, but in the eyes of the audience, they did not have the elegant feeling of Shen Lang.
"Ray plays Irelia, while Weiwu plays Blade Dancer."
Some viewers commented like this.
This game lasted 28 minutes and EDG successfully won the game. Thanks to Irelia's outstanding performance, Ray successfully won the MVP of this game.
Back in the lounge, Ray looked at Shen Lang lying on the sofa with excitement, as if he wanted to prove something.
however……
Shen Lang merely looked up when everyone returned to the lounge, and then continued to play Honor of Kings.
Instantly, an unknown feeling of frustration surged into Ray's heart.
The joy of victory is gone.
He still regarded Shen Lang as his biggest competitor, but he didn't know since when Shen Lang no longer regarded him as a competitor.
"Maybe... it's time to leave EDG."
Ray sighed inwardly and actually began to think about leaving EDG.
As long as Shen Lang is there, he will never have a chance to stand out. He can only be a water dispenser manager on the bench, waiting for the time when Shen Lang is unwilling to play, so that he can get a chance to play.
What’s interesting is that although EDG successfully won the game, in the handicap of who would lose the game first, EDG’s odds instantly went from the highest to the lowest.
The dealers are not stupid either. Based on the previous games, they have seen through Shen Lang's character and know that Shen Lang will basically not play again if EDG is able to qualify stably.
EDG with Shen Lang and EDG without Shen Lang are completely two different teams.
……
The final match was between Gen.G and C9.
Through the previous games, many people were not optimistic about Gen.G. Shen Lang's idea was still correct. As long as they keep winning the games against the LCK teams, their golden body will gradually fade, and domestic netizens will also realize that LCK is not as scary as rumored.
But even though they were not optimistic about the team, Gen.G actually defeated C9 with a crushing force.
The situation in Group B suddenly became mysterious.
EDG will definitely advance, but the next three teams have exactly the same scores, with VIT beating Gen.G, Gen.G beating C9, and C9 beating VIT.
Now the most important factor affecting whether they can advance is not their own strength, but the transcendent EDG.
After yesterday's game, there were still some Gen.G fans criticizing EDG, but after today's game, these voices disappeared instantly, and these people even started to say good things about EDG.
It's not that they have a change of heart, but they are really afraid that Shen Lang will play again when Gen.G faces EDG next time.