Chapter 1 Fight like a man or die like a dog!
August 20, 2016.
Seoul Jamsil Indoor Stadium.
The scene of the League of Legends Korean Professional League-Summer Finals.
As Centaur, Gem, Rock Bird, and Sivir were killed one after another, the captain who had just killed the River Crab and whose TP was still 10 seconds away from turning around could only circle back to the highland tower in his home lane from the jungle. KT quickly pulled out the blue Fang's tenacious second tower in the middle, the mood of the ROX Tigers fans at the scene instantly hit rock bottom.
After this wave of zero-for-four team battles, KT not only recovered its previously lagging economy, but even took a 1k lead. The balance of victory was already tilted towards KT!
In the spectator seats, KT fans cheered loudly. From 0:2 to 2:2, the KT they supported was about to complete the unprecedented feat of two to three in the history of the LCK playoffs!
In the semi-finals, SKT, the double champions of the global finals, were eliminated by this extremely tenacious KT in a tie between two and three!
In the player stands, the expressions of the players on both sides were also in sync with the fans present.
KT kept saying "Nice" in their voices, and every team member's heart was filled with joy.
The ROXTigers' team voice was full of annoyance.
Jungler Peanut kept apologizing. Just now, he was eager to tear apart KT's lineup and pursued Fly's Dragon King too aggressively. Instead, he fell into a situation where he was separated from his teammates and was the first to be killed by the focus fire.
Then relying on Ekko's flexibility and tankiness, as well as Bard and Jhin's long-range ultimate moves to retain players, KT fought a perfect teamfight, and it was he who personally destroyed the small advantage ROXTigers had.
The rest of the team members also looked disappointed. KT's resilience far exceeded their expectations. No one expected that this team, which they had beaten to a score of 2:0 in the regular season, would perform like this in tonight's Summer Finals.
At this moment, their first place in the regular season seemed to have become a joke.
The venue suddenly fell into a brief silence, and experienced commentator Quan Yongquan (Roaring Emperor) immediately spoke to warm up:
"It's really hard to breathe. Before the game, most of the audience thought that ROX Tigers would win this Bo5 cleanly, but KT's players showed us an exciting never-give-up spirit. ”
"Whether they are fans of both teams, or fans of other teams who are neutral, or LCK fans, I think everyone should feel lucky, because such a wonderful game further proves the strength of our LCK!"
"Now the balance of victory has tilted towards KT. They have two choices at this time: try to end the game in one wave, or switch to Baron."
"It's a bit risky to try a wave. After all, the captain's status is full and the flash is still there, so there is a possibility of being manipulated. Switching to the baron is undoubtedly a more rational choice"
On the high ground in the middle of the blue side, the captain of the top laner has placed two barrels in advance. In this wave of troops on the red side, only two back row troops are left, and the three consecutive barrels are easily cleared.
"Two minions were destroyed in a team battle. Are you playing like Gangplank?!"
"Axi, Flashlight, what are you doing? You don't have a TP and you don't follow the group properly???"
"Xiba! I have already said that the Chinese are unreliable. Why did Xiba replace Smeb?!"
Under such a situation, the usually elegant and easy-going Tigers fans couldn't bear it anymore, and some radical male fans even started to curse.
But they seem to have forgotten that the reason why substitute top laner Flashlight replaced starting top laner Smeb in the fifth game was because Smeb was the main war criminal in the third and fourth games.
In the first two games, Captain's 5/2/8 and Rambo's 4/1/9 were the key to ROXTigers almost sealing KT's victory.
But in the third and fourth games, with 2/5/3 Troll and 0/6/4 Shen, Smeb basically became the number one war criminal in the team.
It was not pleasant to be chased by KT for two consecutive games. The mentality of the top and jungle duo with the worst statistics was particularly explosive. Therefore, head coach Nofe decided to bring up Flashlight, hoping that he could help the team win tonight's summer finals.
In the 2015 Spring Split, 2015 Global Finals, and 2016 Spring Split, the Tigers lost to SKT three times with a score of 1:3, and missed the league and world championships.
This Tigers team has always been the white moonlight in the hearts of many LCK fans. Because they have no sponsorship, the team is so poor that they can't afford to turn on the air conditioner or pay the electricity bill in the summer and can only go to Internet cafes to train.
Even though they train in private houses with poor conditions every day, and even if they occasionally don't have enough to eat, they still maintain their original aspirations and give back to all the audiences who support them with love and sincerity.
This bad situation did not change until Flashlight, who left the team midway through the second half of the spring split due to family reasons, returned in the second half of the summer split.
The team has moved to a larger and more comfortable training room and has a new dormitory. The team members no longer have to make beds on the floor because of insufficient beds.
In the regular season, they went straight to the finals with a record of 16 wins and 2 losses, and locked in a ticket to the World Championship in advance. Flashlight's contribution was not small.
However, we are only one step away from the league championship. After working hard for so long, do we have to enter the World Championship as the second best?
KT’s team voice is on.
Assistant Hachani asked: "Do you want to try a wave? Except for Ike, we have no flash here, and Jhin and Dragon King don't have much health. If they are bombed by the captain's two barrels"
"Don't give any chance! Let's go and take down this big dragon. Ike will return to the city to TP and stop the captain on the outside and don't let him get close!" the old captain Score calmly commanded.
Thinking of the match against the ROX Tigers in the regular season, when the Chinese top laner on the opposite side used Captain and Sword Lady to create famous scenes several times and led the team to a clean sheet, Score was filled with fear.
Although that guy's play style is too aggressive and he dares to catch and die, his operation and damage calculation are too terrible. He must not be given a chance to operate. Taking the Baron is the safest way now!
"Concentrate, everyone, the door to the World Championship is already waving to us!"
"Understood!"
“We are coming to the World Championships!”
The execution ability of everyone in KT was very strong. They switched to fighting Baron without even looking at the high ground in the middle. Ekko returned to the city and quickly TP Baron pit, smoothly and smoothly.
"Ah! Are everyone in KT all bastards? Don't you even try this?"
"Axi! If KT really tries, Flashlight still has a chance to operate, but now... GG!"
Faced with KT's decision to switch to Baron in an instant, ROXTigers fans who were expecting Flashlight to turn the tide were even more heartbroken.
"Sure enough, I chose to fight the dragon!"
"This is indeed a decision that KT will make. They were manipulated by Flashlight too many times in the regular season, so they chose a more prudent decision."
The commentators in the commentary box were amazed.
At this time, the first ROXTigers soldier to die is still 27 seconds away from being resurrected, Gem is 30 seconds away, Rock Bird is 32 seconds away, and Sivir is 35 seconds away.
If it were another team, they probably wouldn't be able to refuse this temptation and would definitely try to end the game.
But KT just held back, they were afraid, afraid that the player with the ID "Flashlight" would turn the tide in a desperate situation with his extremely sophisticated operations and damage calculations!
There were exclamations everywhere, and even in the Huya LCK Summer Finals live broadcast room next door in China, the barrage exploded like gunpowder being ignited.
"Nima Bi, can you bear this? Have these B's ever quit?"
"I originally thought IM was stable enough, but I didn't expect there is someone in the LCK who is a hundred times more stable than IM. Whose general is this?"
"Ikko returns to the city with full health and then TP comes to resist the captain. Wouldn't the other four win by demolishing the tower? What the hell is KT trying to do?"
No matter how the outside world questions this wave of decisions, KT's five-man decision to surround and suppress Baron is already being implemented, and Baron's health is declining rapidly.
The captain has disappeared from the red side's sight, and Ike is still vigilant on the periphery. Once Flashlight's captain appears, he will quickly stick to it and will not give him the slightest chance to steal the dragon and make a comeback.
"Flashlight, let's do something!"
“It’s okay to throw a big move, give it a try!”
"Please, let ROXTigers win the championship trophy, even if it's just this once!"
With the expectations of the live audience and countless LOL players around the world, Flashlight moved!
After he replenished a curtain blade in the spring, he quickly pressed TP. The landing point was the line of troops that had just reached the middle grass position on the top road.
The top troops of both sides are currently fighting between the first and second towers of the red side, so this TP position cannot be seen by the KT side!
This is a gamble. As a captain who has reached the highest level in the game - level 17, once killed in battle, the resurrection time will be one minute.
And this also means that the captain's resurrection time will be out of sync with the other four members of ROXTigers. After KT wins the baron and quickly returns to the city, he can push up to the blue square high ground and even the front teeth without pressure!
"Let two chase three?"
KT's decision really doesn't give them a chance to survive.
In order to get this precious ticket to the World Championship instead of losing to the bubble game and fighting the equally tenacious SSG, KT's approach is undoubtedly the wisest.
TP landed, and Lin Qiguang controlled the captain to boldly stick to the red triangular grass on the road. There was a blue square's real eye there to ensure that his position would not be discovered by KT.
After resurrecting his life, the hot-headed man left his studies at Seoul National University and joined the impoverished ROX Tigers, bringing new changes to the team.
But who knew that KT would be so resilient? Even after losing two games in a row, they still managed to stabilize their mentality and win two games wildly, almost breaking Smeb's mentality and starting the battle of Tianwang Mountain.
Just like Smeb, jungler Peanut was also mentally disturbed, but the ROX Tigers did not have a substitute jungler, so all coach Nofe could do was to ask Lin Qiguang to take over. I hope his addition can help Peanut regain its form.
This summer finals championship trophy originally belonged to the ROX Tigers, perhaps because of his joining, changes occurred.
If this is the case, then he should defend it!
ROXTigers is already on the edge of a cliff. Once he makes any mistakes in this wave, there may be no chance of a comeback!
But.
"Either fight like a man or die like a dog!"
"Drag out the heavy artillery!"
"The roar of artillery fire!"
"Take a bath in the cannonball!" (End of Chapter)