Chapter 111: Hype Maxed Out! Who Cares About Participation?
In fact, there’s another hot search on the competitive section that’s been up for two days.
That’s the RNG vs EDG match.
Ever since Li Fan said “it’s all about participation” in that interview, it’s been stuck on Weibo hot search.
It hasn’t dropped down at all…
Mainly because it’s extremely active here, with comments and replies still pouring in nonstop.
Plus, with the LPL official deliberately fanning the flames, the popularity has naturally been explosive all along.
After all, the Summer Split has a lot of capital looking to enter, and in this situation, the higher the hype for the semifinals, the more advantageous it is for them.
After all, the match officially starts tomorrow.
More and more people are posting and replying in the early morning hours.
【You really think EDG is for real? This is just false prosperity; they’ll show their true colors when they face RNG in the semifinals.】
【Based on their current performance, RNG being the Spring Split champion is no issue at all. At this rate, Uzi will face his arch-rival Faker again.】
【Do you have any sense? Does anyone care when you call him an arch-rival?】
【Laughable, the three-time champion’s arch-rival is a 0-title?】
【You guys love to bring up Uzi’s rhythm, but so what? It still can’t cover up the brilliance of LPL’s number one ADC.】
【All professional players say Uzi is strong with top-tier dominance, but that doesn’t shut up you haters.】
【It wasn’t like this before; I can only say fan circle dogs have made the esports circle stink, and I won’t name whose fans here.】
【I’m just done with you; what the hell are you barking about? Unreal is just a rookie player, what’s wrong with that? Brainlessly hating just because he has popularity and hype?】
【Heh heh heh, the cheater is an RNG fan; just because he said “it’s all about participation,” they specially cheated to target Unreal, so I won’t say anything about that fan group.】
【Crush EDG and you fan circle fans wouldn’t be barking here!】
【Crush my ass, that fat guy isn’t worth a dime compared to Unreal!】
Fans from all sides are cursing up a storm, with almost all Spring Split top four teams joining in.
This is the first time something like this has happened since LPL was founded.
Gotta say, flame wars are the primary productive force for boosting popularity!
The Spring Split top four match reading count actually reached 250 million…
However, behind this seemingly chaotic public opinion field, pairs of eyes are scrutinizing the massive energy represented by this esports frenzy through data screens.
In Top Esports’ meeting room, though it’s late at night, the lights are still brightly lit.
“A league’s semifinals achieving this level of attention on a non-finals day, without any international events boosting it, just from pre-match hype…”
“This has already surpassed the regular season hype of many traditional sports.”
The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses, his tone laced with undisguised astonishment.
“The key is its user profile: young, highly active, strong willingness to pay, highly concentrated in online communities… This is exactly our target group.”
“Our previous valuation of LPL was still too conservative. I think we need to accelerate the plan; we must secure a spot in the Summer Split!”
“And if possible… I think we should buy out Unreal! His traffic is more explosive than all players combined! It’s not just in League of Legends, but all other games too; he’s the most suitable professional player for us.”
Similar scenes are playing out internally at other capital firms that were previously just watching.
It’s mainly too terrifying!
It’s already like this now… with the World Championship hosted domestically!
What kind of spectacle would it be if they won the World Championship?
A night of clamor and undercurrents surging temporarily calms in the morning light; this is merely building up for an even more terrifying burst.
For the countless audience members and fans following this match, this night felt exceptionally long yet extraordinarily quick.
Many people’s first action upon waking is to grab their mobile phone to check the time.
“Only eight o’clock?!” Similar wails echo from various corners.
There’s still a full six hours until the semifinals start!
For fans, these six hours feel harder to endure than an entire season.
The hype on Weibo, Tieba, Hupu, and other communities hasn’t faded with dawn; instead, it keeps heating up as more people wake up.
Pre-match predictions, lineup analyses, jinx posts and counter-jinxes are popping up everywhere.
【Rational analysis: Can EDG break through RNG’s “bot lane core” system?】
【Unreal vs Xiao Hu, a clash of new and old mid laners—who will dominate mid lane?】
【Clearlove level 2 gank bot vs Mlxg starvation flow jungler, classic pig-dog jungle game theory!】
【I’m an OMG fan; first lighting incense for WE, then sitting tight at five to watch the show!】
【The two o’clock match is great too; dark forces OMG and red WE, both full of youth!】
Event reservation numbers on major live streaming platforms are skyrocketing at a visible pace.
The offline atmosphere is equally heated.
Around the match venue centered on Shanghai Grand Plaza, though entry is still far off, plenty of people wearing the four teams’ jerseys are already gathering early.
Holding support hand banners, faces beaming with excitement and anticipation…
Among them, Yu Luo has already gathered nearly twenty or thirty people waiting nearby.
After all, semifinal tickets… are still hard to get.
At this time, scalpers are constantly asking if anyone wants to buy tickets.
No choice; once the match starts, tickets in hand are useless.
Previously scalped to two or three thousand, now just making a small profit is fine.
And sure enough, plenty of people are willing to shell out for it.
Mainly because two or three thousand is hard to swallow, but over a thousand they can grit their teeth for.
Semifinals… miss it and you can only watch the replay!
Meanwhile, at each major team’s base, the atmosphere is far more serious and tense.
In EDG’s training room, the whiteboard is densely covered with RNG’s recent match tactical points and player habits; Kuaisu Xing is giving the rundown.
The players just finished their morning warm-up training, showing no fatigue, only focused solemnity.
The real challenge has arrived.
The previous opponents were relatively weak; crushing them was normal.
But today’s team… rich tactical reserves, not lacking star players, puts huge pressure in the semifinals.
Because RNG’s bot lane has extreme penetration power, and with the match synergy mostly in place, EDG’s weakest link is actually bot lane.
“Everyone, get your heads in the game; five PM is when we test the results of our recent efforts.”
RNG’s base is the same.
Feng Ge holds a notebook, constantly emphasizing laning phase details and mid-game resource group vision control.
Uzi sits at his station expressionless…
But Xiao Hu looks worried.
This match today puts a bit too much pressure on him.
That video from a few days ago really put a debuff on him.
Both teams have relatively ample time since it starts at five PM.
Meanwhile, WE and OMG teams have already headed to the venue.
One PM, the venue starts ticket checks; fans who’ve been waiting ages surge in like a tide.
Two o’clock sharp, amid rousing theme music and cheers from the full audience.
LPL Spring Split playoffs semifinals first matchup WE vs OMG officially kicks off!
…
Three and a half minutes, EDG has already gotten off the bus and entered the venue.
At this point, the WE vs OMG match has entered a white-hot phase.
The overall score is at 2-0; if OMG loses this one, they’ll be 3-0 swept.
But this game has reached thirty-four minutes with neither side holding a clear advantage.
As for lineups, both sides have late-game heroes.
WE’s Vladimir, OMG’s Orianna…
Both sides are playing extremely cautiously; whoever errs now gets wiped out.
Precisely because of this, they retreat immediately if they lose any resources.
In this situation, it drags on another seven minutes!
Finally, at Baron Nashor, Orianna lands a perfect ultimate successfully catching three!
Instantly, OMG fans in the arena jump up in excitement.
Suppressed for two games, finally… finally winning a game.
The comeback from 0:2 starts with this one.
However, cold reality quickly douses them.
Kang Di fully unleashes his ferocity this game; picking Elise turns her into the top-tier assassin, firmly controlling the match rhythm from the start.
At three and a half minutes, Elise sneaks silently to bot lane, cocoon precisely hitting OMG’s support, teaming with Mystic’s Ashe damage to easily secure first blood.
WE fans’ cheers instantly overpower OMG fans’ support.
And this is just the beginning.
At six minutes, Kang Di visits mid lane, clamping with Xi Ye’s Syndra; icon’s Orianna desperately positions but ultimately gets burst down by Elise combo and Syndra damage under mid tower.
Two waves of rhythm in a row, OMG’s bot and mid both fall into disadvantage.
World Sister’s Reksai in the jungle faces an Elise already ahead in level and gear, completely losing initiative, constantly countered vision and compressed.
“Kang Di is Kang Di again! His Elise is on fire today!” Ji De shouts excitedly. “OMG’s rhythm is completely disrupted like this!”
WE gives OMG no chance to breathe.
After gaining advantage, they show strong snowballing ability.
In contrast, OMG’s comeback momentum from the previous game seems utterly shattered; operations start faltering, and communication seems problematic too.
Twenty-seven minutes.
With over ten thousand economy lead, WE’s five converge mid lane, easily crushing OMG!
WE 3:1 OMG!
“Congratulations to WE! They cleanly defeat OMG 3:1, advancing first to the 2017 LPL Spring Split finals!” Su Xiao Yan’s voice echoes through the venue speakers.
Red WE flags wave wildly onsite, fans’ cheers deafening.
Backstage, EDG players also watched the match’s final phase via the lounge screen.
“WE is in great form today; Kang Di’s rhythm is maxed out.” meiko says, eyeing the WE players hugging in celebration on screen.
“Yeah, playoffs intensity ramps up right away; WE isn’t goofing around like in regular season.” Clearlove nods at the big screen too.
This WE team now is completely different from their regular season version…
“Next up is us!” Abu stands and pats everyone.
On the other side, RNG’s Feng Ge is also motivating the players.
Because in bo5, the first game is crucial; beyond probing, securing that key point makes the momentum totally different.
On stage, WE players are bowing to the audience.
Under stage, the undercurrents of EDG and RNG are surging ever more fiercely.
The arena atmosphere peaks again at this moment!
The WE vs OMG battle has ended.
Now, all eyes are on the upcoming EDG vs RNG!
So who is the real “all about participation”?
