Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 352 Group First Place, Controversial Microphone Session
In just an ordinary Demacia Cup best-of-one match, Edg regained the support of many new fans!

Seeing the commotion at the scene, Yu Shuang also showed a surprised expression. She knew that the factory manager would receive a lot of support from his loyal fans, but she did not expect him to be so popular.

Such treatment was only available to a very small number of Riot Games' star players in Season 10.

For example, TheShy.

For example, Uzi.

It's quite unexpected that someone like the factory manager, who hasn't even played many games in a season, is so popular with the audience.

After a moment, as the cheers subsided, Yu Shuang continued:
"It seems that all the spectators here are really looking forward to our Clearlove. This is also Edg's first game of the season after the reorganization. I wonder what Clearlove thinks at this moment?"

"Thank you so much everyone! Thank you for your support of Edg. This time, we believe we won't let you down!"

The very official answer did not surprise Yu Shuang. She chose to continue asking, "So, my second question is about something that everyone is very curious about today: how did Mingkai persuade Uzi to join Edg? You know, these days, mentioning RNG immediately brings Uzi to mind."

"So, I want to know, did Edg make contact back in S9, or did they only start communicating during the S10 transfer window?"

Yu Shuang's face was full of innocence and cuteness, her big eyes were full of doubt, and she turned to look at Li Luo's face, trying to find a trace of emotion.

But she was still disappointed!
This question actually created a lot of problems when it was asked. If we say that the communication started in S9, it will cause a lot of conflicts, such as sharp questions like why RNG was eliminated in the round of 16.

However, Li Luo did not try to hide anything and chose to tell the truth.

"Well, I contacted Jian Zihao (Uzi) after I had a 20-game winning streak with Scout on the Korean server, or something like that. At the time, I was already the coach of EdgG. Iboy wanted to transfer, and Abu asked me about our team's AD carry. I casually mentioned that Jian Zihao was free right now, and that's how, by some twist of fate, we poached Uzi to EdgG."

"We also need to thank RNG manager Xu Xiao for his strong support. Without his support, it would have been difficult for Edg to complete this year's roster."

Shrimp and pork heart!

Li Luo's answer immediately caused an uproar at the scene.

Even Yu Shuang, who was standing to the side, gaped open and was stunned.

In an instant, countless question marks appeared in the live stream chat.

"???"

"???"

"???"

Countless question marks filled the entire screen, and everyone had a confused expression.

For a moment, everyone was wondering whether the factory manager was joking or telling the truth.
Did RNG really send Uzi away voluntarily?
The previous transfer rumors seemed to have come to an end when no one came forward to reveal anything, but countless RNG fans still don't understand why Uzi left.

But now, they understand!

Are you kidding me? In fact, even Yu Shuang thought Li Luo was joking, not serious.

After all, is sending Uzbekistan away such a big deal really that simple?

Edg can acquire Uzi without incurring a major financial loss?
Seeing that Li Luo was unwilling to continue on this topic, Yu Shuang had no choice but to change the subject, nodded, and then asked:

"Okay, one last question. Edg's roster has been completely rebuilt this year, so I'd like to ask on behalf of everyone: What are Edg's goals for this year?"

When one plan fails, another is devised.

One has to admire the questions the backstage director came up with; each question could lead to several controversial topics.

After thinking for a moment, Li Luo smiled slightly, a hint of childishness in his expression, and then shouted loudly:

"Your opponent is! Edg, the five-time LPL champions, five-time World Championship finalists, and six-time Demacia Cup champions!"

"Please enlighten me, world champion!"

boom!
The words fell!

The atmosphere was electric!

For countless times and for how long, these viewers hadn't heard the factory manager's witty remarks. Suddenly, without any preparation, upon hearing them, all that remained in their minds was excitement.

"Factory Manager!!!!"

"Pig farmers will never be slaves!!!"

Countless cheers and whistles echoed through the stadium once again, even more terrifying than before.

The sound waves surged forth, sweeping in!

Even in the live stream room, the screen was filled with 7777.

Yu Shuang stared blankly at this incredibly immature yet confident young man, momentarily stunned.

Amidst a cheer from the audience, the first interview with the factory director concluded successfully.

Li Luo left the stage and returned to the dressing room to prepare for the competition.

After this match between WE and LGD is over, EDG will immediately play against LGE.

No one took this battle seriously. After all, Edg could even crush FPX now, so there was no reason for them to lose to such a weak team.

Amid the intense pace of the competition, everyone took a break while watching the match between the two teams.

This season, WE lost two key players. The departure of Xiye and Dajizi left WE, one of the three major teams, with no choice but to face the same restructuring as Edg.

However, compared to Edg, whose main players are still intact, We has suffered a major blow.

First, they acquired Morgan, the top laner who was previously on JDG's second team, and then promoted JiuMeng, the ADC from the second team, to the first team to fill the vacancy.

Because they bought Li Ning's mid laner Plex, but because Plex's visa hadn't been approved, the mid laner was Ma from the second team.

When We took the stage, everyone realized that not only plex, but also Morgan and Poss were stuck on visa issues.

In previous years, a team like WE with an extremely incomplete roster would still be watchable, but today, with all the teams fielding their main players, it looks much more shabby.

Sitting in the lounge, Xi Ye shook his head repeatedly, seemingly feeling somewhat guilty about his former employer's current predicament.

In comparison, LGD's roster on the other side is incredibly luxurious.

First, the addition of Peanut, the jungler, more than doubled the depth of LGD's lineup, and Yuuki, the mid laner, is also a veteran with three seasons of experience.

The bot laner, Kramer, is also a veteran player who has been playing since 15. He has a lot of experience and his performance on the field is commendable.

As for the support and top laner, Lgd acquired Cult from Edg's youth academy during the transfer period, while the support player was chosen from their own youth academy support player, chance, to participate in the Demacia Cup.

Before the game started, We's support rate plummeted in the competition, and there was no significant change after the game started.

LGD consists of experienced players, and Peanut, who recently transferred, adapted quickly. After a brief exchange, LGD secured a 2-for-5 trade and took Baron Nashor, ending the game. In the standings, Edg and LGD each have one point in Group A.

After the two teams took to the field, Edg also returned to the stage. In this match against LGE, Scout was replaced by Xiye to practice tactics.

However, before the mid and jungle could coordinate effectively, Uzi and Meiko completely dominated the bottom lane.

Lge's ADC, chel1y, seemed to want to prove himself at level one, engaging in extreme ranged skirmishes with Zaozi.

This overconfident behavior immediately became the fuse for the explosion in the bottom lane.

In a classic slow minion push, Edg's bot lane secured level two and achieved a double kill.

After that, LGE's jungler Kai also came down and gave away a triple kill, and the game was no longer in doubt. The bottom lane pushed to the high ground in 12 minutes.

The MVP of this match undoubtedly went to Zaozi, and Edg secured their second victory, placing them first in the standings.

The third Group A match was between WE and fpx.

It was also a match without any suspense. Hanzi, who had been accumulating anger, went online and crushed We's top laner in a 1v1 lane. Xiaotian and Doinb coordinated their attacks and also made We's bot lane unable to function properly.

After this game, We had basically lost its chance to qualify and, like LGE, became a one-day wonder team in the Demacia Cup.

After a short lunch break, the third match began, with Edg facing off against Team We.

Whether it was because they had lost too many games or because Xiye was on their side, the entire WE team performed exceptionally well in this match. Even JiuMeng withstood the laning pressure from ZaoZi, and the game was evenly matched.

However, after fifteen minutes, We's biggest weakness was immediately exposed.

They will not operate.
More accurately, they know how to operate, but they don't play it as well as Edg, making it look like they're just playing randomly.

We didn't have the dragon, our jungle was invaded, we didn't have the Rift Herald, and even after the Baron was taken down by EDG, We only belatedly realized that we lacked vision.

Once EDG's operations team obtained the Fire Dragon Soul again, the outcome of the game was completely decided.

With three consecutive victories, Edg has secured its place in the quarterfinals, while the remaining spot will be contested between FPX and LGD.

If Edg throws the game to LGD, then even if FPX wins the match against LGD, FPX won't get a spot in the next round.

The world champion team's one-day exit from the Demacia Cup after strengthening its roster is likely to become the biggest joke.

However, Edg members are not bad people, and there is no need for them to do something so unethical for the sake of the Demacia Cup. In the fourth game against LGD, they still managed to end the game within 25 minutes, achieving a four-game winning streak on the first day.

In the four games, Li Luo played two Spiders and two Gragas, and his performance in each game was outstanding.

Edg didn't reveal many tactics. Apart from their operational strategy in the game against We, they won the other three games by relying on individual skill.

After the match, Edward Zhu excitedly went to the lounge, waved his hand, and led everyone out for a celebratory dinner.

Today's decisive victory certainly deserves a celebration.

……

In the blink of an eye, the group stage of the Demacia Cup has come to an end.

By December 23, the top two teams from groups A, B, C, and D were determined.

They are:
Group A: Edg, fpx
Group B: JDG, Tes
Group C: RNG, IG
Group D: Sng, Rw
According to the match-up schedule, the quarterfinal match-ups are determined in the classic format of A1 vs. B2, and A2 vs. B1.

Edg's opponent is none other than Top Esports, who has recently acquired Karsa.

The Demacia Cup has an extremely favorable schedule, with four days of rest after the group stage before the quarterfinals begin.

but.

For all the teams, the first round of the group stage is enough for them to discover the strength and weaknesses of their rosters this season.

In particular, several teams that are playing very closely need to make tactical adjustments in the next few days in order to maintain the performance of the teams that follow.

For the past three days, all the teams have been arranging practice matches.

The most sought-after team was none other than Edg, who had won all their group stage matches!

From being underestimated before the tournament to being eliminated 4-0, from a roster of veteran players to the most promising lineup, Edg changed everyone's perception in just a short time.

Four!

one day!
As the first team to appear in the Demacia Cup quarterfinals, Li Luo officially stepped down as coach over the past three days, and Abu, who is still the manager, took over!
Abu, who has returned to coaching, is extremely skilled. In addition, he is now the manager of EDG and holds great power. From top to bottom, the team's morale has risen to a whole new level.

During this period, the official team also released some videos.

For example, the hero's mic call, which is loved by all fans.

Edg was among them in the match where they defeated FPX.

This segment of the hero's mic call also revealed the current team atmosphere of Edg.

As the factory manager said, it was RNG's manager, Xu Xiao, who sold Zaozi to Edg.

In the mic call, Zaozi repeatedly considered things from the team's perspective, taking into account operations, which was something many fans hadn't thought of. Considering the factory manager's position within the team, this mic call immediately sparked countless criticisms.

Who would have thought.

How could RNG's manager be so stupid as to let Uzi out? This is absolutely outrageous, utterly absurd.

Meanwhile, many haters who had been touting him as a "team-destroying maniac" on Baidu Tieba and Weibo have also fallen silent.

The incident involving the "team-destroying maniac" happened quite early, so many new viewers are not very familiar with it.

The fact that the Omg incident caused such a huge uproar back then is largely due to the fact that the factory manager was an indispensable part of it.

When Uzi first joined OMG, it seemed like he dominated all lanes, except against EDG and LGD (these two teams were indeed very strong at the time, with Pawn and Imp being quite formidable). The turning point came when the top and jungle lanes started to decline.

Back then, it was the Korol meta. Veteran players should know how strong Korol was at that time (because Korol made EDG the only Chinese team to defeat SKT in a best-of-five series). In that meta, Smite Teleport Hecarim was really awesome, and he was basically a must-ban or must-pick. However, Gogoing didn't play it particularly well, and Gnar wasn't one of his strengths either.

Later, as the team's situation worsened, Cool complained to Clearlove about his situation and said the classic line, "The world's number one braggart." Unexpectedly, Clearlove was streaming, and from then on, this meme spread.

This incident later escalated into a major conflict between Wu-Zhuangtai's fans and Dog's fans. In fact, the two had roughly the same number of fans at the time, since Wu-Zhuangtai's solo kill against Faker is still a meme that many people still rave about. However, in the end, Dog's fans won, and Wu-Zhuangtai was criticized as being idiotic.

When QG came to that, most players knew about the feud between Kim Ah-sung and Swift, which ended in a best-of-five series in a second. In the semifinals, Doinb simply refused to play, and then the team disbanded.

So most players wanted to see Edg make a fool of themselves and see the little dog continue to cause trouble despite the uneven distribution of resources.

What left these people speechless was that the atmosphere at Edg was surprisingly harmonious.

(End of this chapter)