Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 346 The Demacia Cup begins! First match: FPX!

"To be fair, given Clearlove's current form, while I wouldn't say he's the best jungler in China, he's definitely in the top five in the LPL."

"The factory manager is amazing! Unlike those random streetball players, the factory manager is already very experienced. Isn't this a huge boost for him?"

"The hype upstairs is disgusting. Don't be fooled by how strong Clearlove is now; he'll be a pushover at Worlds."

"The composition of the person upstairs has been determined; turns out they're a Korean traitor. What are they pretending for here? WSND, NMSL."

"Haha, I was thinking LPL already has two championships, how come there are still Korean fans? Oh, you mean IG and FPX won because of Koreans? Never mind then."

"I'm not a K-pop fanboy, haha, LPL players are all trash."

As the post received more and more replies and remained pinned to the top, the comments gradually became distorted. Soon, the discussion shifted from the skill of the factory manager and the prospects of Edg in the new season to a battle between LPL and LCK, with countless Korean fans charging into the tower one after another.

Fans of other teams also seized this opportunity to join the fray, taking the moral high ground to condemn Edg for forming a super team, and even citing the NBA's Cavaliers as an example.

Passersby, cross-dressers, die-hard fans, rational fans, K-pop fans, and other gamers watching the show.
In just one night, all sorts of people created a legendary post with tens of thousands of views on the Back-to-Back Anti-Japanese Bar.

Some people exchanged insults and attacks, while others arranged to have a real-life offline duel.
The next morning, when the Tieba operations staff saw the post, they were stunned. Although they deleted the post and banned the Tieba forum immediately, countless screenshots from the previous night were inevitably leaked.

Even LCK players on the other side learned about the epic feat of the back-to-back last night and started discussing it on their own forums.

"Damn it, LCK hasn't had a championship in two years, and now the Korean server is letting a Chinese person reach the top?"

"This is utterly disgraceful. What are the LCK players doing? They might as well just disband their teams."

"Why don't LCK players team up like other teams now? They can't even win a championship by playing alone, so what's the point of playing?"

Seeing Champion7 reach the top of their own server, the collective sense of honor and twisted pride of LCK fans were instantly shattered into dust.

Just when the outside world was in an uproar, and the entire Edg team kept a very low profile, the Demacia Cup was finally approaching!
No one will keep an eye on an invincible god of war in ranked games. All eyes are on the upcoming final tournament of 2019, the Demacia Cup.

The S9 Demacia Cup was arguably the most controversial and fiercely competitive LPL tournament since the Demacia Cup was established.

There are many reasons, but the most important one is the personnel changes in various teams.

In Li Luo's world, RNG defeated Edg 3-1 to win the Demacia Cup this time. The last time RNG won the championship was last summer.

The Demacia Cup is like the NBA preseason. Some teams take it very seriously, using it to practice their lineups, train new players and starters for the next season, and try new playstyles. Especially after Edg clearly stated that they would field their first-team lineup for the Demacia Cup, almost all LPL teams in the league are fielding their full starting lineups.

Although no one said it aloud, everyone was secretly hoping to deflate EDG's arrogance.

Even FPX, who won the championship last season, and IG, who had a decent performance in the World Championship, did not continue their previous holiday this time and announced that they would field their first team.

Therefore, the seven strongest teams currently in the open are RNG, IG, FPX, Edg, SNG, Tes, and JDG.

Given this situation, the organizers are going all out to promote the Demacia Cup as it approaches this year. Before the opening ceremony, they even produced a promotional video, interviews, and news clips of spectators, just like they would for the summer season or playoffs.

When December 21st arrived, the 2019 Demacia Cup, which all LPL fans and viewers across the ocean had been eagerly anticipating, officially began.

Since the All-Star Game, there has been a period of no matches to watch in China. Countless viewers and players have been waiting anxiously for the Demacia Cup to begin.

The Demacia Cup will divide all participating teams into four groups: A, B, C, and D, with five teams in each group.

The first day alone had a very dense schedule, starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m., with a total of 20 best-of-one (BO1) matches.

Each team in each group will play against the other four teams once, and the points will determine whether they can enter the top eight.

After the official group assignments were completed, Edg finally had its first match after the restructuring.

On the morning of the 21st, at nine o'clock, after having breakfast at the base, everyone boarded Edg's bus and swayed into the Suzhou Yangcheng International Esports Arena.

Because the Yangcheng International Esports Arena is located in a much better location than the other LGD Esports Arena, next to Suzhou North Railway Station and Wanhui Building, it obviously attracts far more fans.

The venue was packed with people, with fans of all ten teams from Groups A and B gathering here to cheer for their favorite teams.

Looking at the countless spectators holding up RNG and Edg light sticks, Li Luo felt a surge of passion rising in his heart, even in the cold winter.

"We must play to our best in our first match!" Abu said with a smile as he walked into the lounge and saw everyone sitting down.

Abu didn't have to come to today's game, but since it's almost the end of the year and the other divisions don't have much to do, he came along to join in the fun.

"How do we draft? Mingkai's roster has already been submitted, now who's going to handle the coaching?"

Brother Zaozi asked the question that everyone present wanted to know.

"Let the tactics coach handle it; I'll be on the field doing the drafting and banning."

Li Luo was taken aback and then delivered the prepared explanation.

Apart from him and Abu, no one else knew that they had reached an agreement that Abu would return as Edg's coach once Edg could win the Demacia Cup.

Upon hearing Li Luo's words, everyone nodded and said nothing.

After all, the Demacia Cup is not the World Championship. In this competition, the draft picks can be done by simply replacing any player with another one.

In this round-robin best-of-one format, the strength of the individual players is the most important factor.

"The draw results are in, and our first match is against FPX!"

Edg's deputy manager, who had gone to draw lots, pushed open the door and walked in with the results, a hint of nervousness on his face.

"Today's four matches: the first is against FPX, the second is against LGD, the third is against WE, and the fourth is against LGE."

Wow!
Upon hearing the deputy manager's words, everyone raised their heads, feeling a sense of pressure.

Of these four teams, apart from LGE being an easy target for easy wins, the other three are all strong teams in the LPL, especially LGD and WE, which are ancient teams. Although they have declined somewhat, their strength should not be underestimated.

More importantly, Edg's first match after their reorganization is against FPX, the S9 World Championship winners. A win would be fine, but a loss would likely result in a deluge of criticism. "Relax, it's not a big deal."

Li Luo glanced at Saint Gun, who was sitting beside him, his body tense and taut, patted him on the shoulder reassuringly, and continued:
"Don't be nervous, just treat it like a normal ranked game. Khan, it's not like we've never encountered him in ranked games recently, just relax."

"It's okay, I'll carry you in the bot lane, no problem," Zaozi said with a smile, trying to comfort him.
"Me and I should be able to handle Liu Qingsong and Lin Weixiang. Just help him out in the top lane, Factory. We just need to play it safe and get through the early game."

Khan has transferred to FPX as their top laner, and FPX's official Weibo account has clearly stated today that Khan will be starting for FPX.

As a veteran top-tier top laner in South Korea, it's understandable that Flandre is nervous.

However, this is where the benefits of celebrities teaming up become apparent.

Upon hearing Zaozi Ge ask the factory manager to help him more, Shengqiang Ge's eyes immediately lit up with confidence.

"So, Li Xuanjun, are you any good? You're supposed to be a top-tier domestic top laner, what are you chickening out for?"

Abu, standing to the side, also made a sarcastic remark, but judging from his beaming smile, it was clear that he was teasing Flandre.

A harmonious locker room atmosphere is definitely a sign of a strong team.

At this moment, Flandre felt a surge of emotion, a sense of being valued, and said excitedly:

"Yes! With Mingkai helping me, what's Khan? I'll just go up there and solo kill him!"

Upon hearing Flandre's words, everyone in the lounge burst into laughter.

As 11 o'clock approached, everyone who was ready put on their peripherals and, led by staff, walked towards the stage through the staff entrance.

Along the way, Li Luo also witnessed for the first time what kind of group the factory manager's fans were.

In Uzi's world, most of his fans are male, who like skillful gameplay and believe that skill is king. As for female fans, they are few and far between.

But the factory manager's fan base was astonishing. When Li Luo looked up as he walked through the passage, he was immediately startled.

Most of the people holding up flashy signs like "Factory Manager, I Want to Have Your Babies" and "Clearlove, I'm Your Piglet" are young women.

At first glance, the young lady's slender, beautiful legs, all lined up as she stood up, were dazzling.

"Cough cough, factory manager, stop looking, or you'll drool," said Brother Zaozi, who had obviously noticed it as well, with a sour tone.

The fans nearby heard this clearly and burst into laughter, causing the group to quickly cover their faces and walk onto the stage.

FPX, as the top-ranked team, was introduced after EDG.

The FPX players, still in the tunnel, could hear the cheers and shouts of the entire audience even through the walls. The terrifying popularity of these star players was on full display and reached the ears of everyone in the venue.

"Edg is really hot this year. It seems that the gimmick of celebrities teaming up is really effective." Coach Zhanma said with a dark face as he looked at the fans holding up FPX light boards and chanting for Edg.

The FPX players beside him also looked visibly uncomfortable.

Keep in mind that they were the champions of S9. It's only been less than two months since the S-series tournament, yet the fans at the scene switched sides simply because Edg had gathered several big-name players.

RNG's fans mostly like Uzi, while WE's fans mostly like Xiye. Just these two alone have brought Edg's fanbase to an astonishing number. If we were to rank them by the number of fans, Edg would undoubtedly be number one.

"Brothers, cheer up! Let's go up there and steal Edg's thunder, let all the viewers know the strength of FPX!"

Although Jin Gugu was very sour, as the team leader, he still held back the urge to complain and encouraged everyone.

Following Kim Gugu, the FPX players began to appear, but it was obvious that because of Edg's earlier cheers, the cheers for FPX were much quieter at this point.

For viewers watching the game in external live streams, this strange feeling was even more pronounced.

"Welcome back! Thank you for watching the first day of the 2019 Demacia Cup. Hello everyone, this is Wawa."

"I'm Miller!"

In the commentary box.

The Haier Brothers duo sat upright at the commentary table like empresses dowager, smiling at the camera.

Normally, the Demacia Cup wouldn't need these top LPL commentators, but this year is special. All the teams are fielding their main players, and each team is generating a lot of buzz. Even the Spring Split in previous years didn't have this level of attention.

Therefore, Tencent Sports directly assigned its main hosts to be in charge of these high-profile matches, only sending second-tier commentators to give them experience when playing against weaker teams.

After a simple opening speech, not only the audience at the venue but also the viewers in the live broadcast room were stirred up by the two.

"Today's match is going to be very exciting. You know, the draw was strange. Everyone wanted to see Edg's first match of the season. And wouldn't you know it, I was right there when the draw happened and I saw Edg draw FPX," Wawa said with a strange smile, clearly still amused by what had just happened.

"It's a bit strange, it feels like fate that the two teams met in the new season."

"As is customary, let's introduce the lineups of the two teams for the first day."

"First up is our S9 champion, LPL team FPX. Today they're fielding top laner Khan, who just transferred from SKT, jungler Tian, ​​the S9 FMVP, mid laner Doinb, and bot lane duo Liu Qingsong and Lin Weixiang."

"On the other side is Edg, a veteran powerhouse with the most stars: top domestic aggressive top laner Flandre, jungler Clearlove, mid laner Scout, and bot lane duo Uzi and Meiko."

After Miller finished giving a serious introduction to the configurations of the two teams, the two commentators started chatting while the players were installing their peripherals.

"The first match is a clash of titans, which is very rare in the Demacia Cup. Both teams have a very high chance of winning the Demacia Cup based on their rosters. The only question is how well EDG is gelling together."

"Clearlove's current stats on the Korean server are terrifying. He's already a Challenger with 1780 points, and he's even ahead of second-place Dopa by almost 300 points. Based on his performance in ranked games, I'm still rooting for Clearlove today."

Wawa revealed a statistic that shocked all viewers who didn't follow the Korean version of the game.

(End of this chapter)