You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 139 Eight-game winning streak to face RNG!

After IM lost the match against LGD, AJ looked quite relaxed.

Although this loss puts their team in the relegation zone, increasing their chances of having to play in the promotion/relegation matches.

However, AJ is not actually too worried about the team being relegated.

Playing a best-of-five series against a team from the secondary league, isn't that an easy win?
Since the LPL introduced this promotion and relegation mechanism.

For several years now, each season only one team has been promoted from the LSPL, and that team is the LSPL champion of that season.

As for the LSPL teams that play BO5 relegation matches against LPL teams fighting to avoid relegation.

Without exception, they all lost.

There wasn't a single winner.

This means that no LSPL team has ever been promoted to LPL through the promotion/relegation tournament.

Therefore, compared to losing this BO3 today...

AJ felt he shouldn't be made into an instructional video and publicly executed; that was more important.

What's a good tutorial for Zhou Shen laning against a tank hero who doesn't fight back?
It's neither entertaining nor educational!

For AJ, achieving this much in this BO3 regular season game is enough.

IM's strength is now far inferior to LGD's.

Even if he plays normally, he basically can't win the game.

As for the LGD team...

After defeating IM today, LGD's schedule for this week is now complete.

LGD only had this one match this week, so it was quite easy for them.

The following week will be the final week of the 17 LPL Spring Split regular season.

All regular season games will conclude next week, followed by the playoffs.

After returning to their base from the LPL venue, the entire LGD team immediately began training to prepare for their two matches next week.

With the playoffs approaching, there's no need to relax or rest at this point.

Just max out the intensity.

After the playoffs are over, there will be plenty of time to rest.

The day after the match between IM and LGD, at noon.

While having lunch at the base cafeteria, AJ took out his phone and opened D-site.

Then find "Top Lane Master" in your following list.

Then, with trembling hands, I clicked into the profile of [Top Lane Master].

A quick glance revealed that [Top Lane Ancestor] had not updated any new videos.

AJ immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

My guess was right after all.

If you remain in power and don't put up a fierce resistance, the material won't be too entertaining and won't be turned into an instructional video to be ridiculed.

However, AJ's guess was only half right.

If the material isn't visually appealing enough, Zhou Dian generally won't make it into a video.

However, there is a premise to this.

The problem is that the competitor doesn't have much traffic.

He makes videos to create interactive moments.

If the material is visually appealing, you can create interactive elements, but if the opponent in the material is a high-profile celebrity, then you can create even more interactive elements.

Of course, the prerequisite for making a video is that the matches in the footage you use are won.

Esports, since it has the word "sports" in it...

Therefore, winning the game is always the most important thing.

What's the point of sending messages if you've lost?
He's not that shameless.

Although we haven't seen [Top Laner] update his video, AJ's heart is still not completely at ease.

It wasn't until late afternoon that AJ finally felt completely relieved to see that the account 【Top Laner】 still hadn't updated any videos.

I'm sure I won't be made into a video and publicly shamed.

A few days flew by.

It's Thursday, April 13th.

The final week of the LPL Spring Split regular season will begin at 5 PM on this day.

LGD's match against Snake is also today.

However, it's the second match, which starts at 7 PM.

Of course, this 7 o'clock is only the theoretical start time.

The exact start date of the match depends on how long the first match lasts.

The first match was between OMG and IG.

These two teams are currently ranked third and fourth in Group A, respectively.

In terms of wins, they have fallen far behind the top two teams, RNG and LGD, and there is definitely no hope of catching up.

The two teams currently have the same number of wins.

However, OMG has a higher number of wins in individual games than IG, so they are currently ranked ahead of IG.

Today's direct confrontation will very likely determine who finishes third in Group A.

This third place in Group A is quite important.

In the first round of the playoffs, the third-place team in Group A will face the fourth-place team in Group B.

The team that finishes third in its group during the regular season will have the option to choose one side in the first round of the playoffs (BO5).

This can be considered a real advantage.

Neither IG nor OMG wants to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Securing third place in their group during the regular season would significantly increase their chances of advancing past the first round of the playoffs, giving them an extra game in the best-of-five series.
Therefore, the two teams engaged in a fierce battle.

Each side pulled out many "big moves" in the draft phase.

These "secret weapons" are often prepared for the playoffs.

But now that even making the playoffs is uncertain, what's the point of keeping them around?

Let's use it first and then see how it goes after we make it into the playoffs.

Ultimately, the two teams played three games, with OMG defeating IG 2-1.

With this win, OMG has essentially secured third place in Group A of the regular season.

After the match, Rookie looked somewhat dejected.

He recalled the high spirits he felt when he led IG to the S5 World Championship two years ago.

But after Kakao left, he was left alone as the head of IG, and he couldn't support the team all by himself.

Last year, IG was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in both the Spring and Summer Splits.

He broke his leg while playing C, but he still couldn't win a single BO5.
After Duke arrived this year, Rookie thought that with such a strong reinforcement, IG's performance would take off. However, the entire regular season of the Spring Split was a real disappointment for Rookie.

It seems like it still won't work!

Having entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in Group A, Rookie has a strange feeling that he's going to be eliminated in the first round again.

Seeing Rookie remain silent, Kid, who had just lost the game, trembled on the sidelines, too afraid to utter a word.

"Maybe I should just give up my starting jungler position on IG. I guess I'm really not that good at jungling!" Kid thought to himself.

The match between IG and OMG went the full three games, with each game lasting over forty minutes.

It's really long and tedious.

By the time the match ended, it was already past 8 p.m.

After the third game between IG and OMG ended, the LGD players in the rest room all breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn, I've been waiting for too long.

They arrived at the LPL venue around 6:00 AM, meaning they had been waiting for almost two hours.

By the time the post-match interviews are over and LGD goes on stage to play, it will probably be around 8:30.

Although we left the base after having dinner.

However, there is a possibility that the game will start soon after arriving at the venue.

Zhou Dian was afraid that eating too much would affect his performance in the competition, so he didn't eat much.

Who knew these two teams would play a best-of-three series for over three hours!
Zhou Dian was getting hungry while waiting.

So Zhou Dian took a banana out of his backpack and ate it.

Bananas are a high-quality fruit that can quickly replenish energy.

Many athletes like to have bananas during halftime to replenish their energy and stamina.

Seeing Zhou Dian eating a banana, Eimy unceremoniously reached into Zhou Dian's backpack and took out the only banana left inside.

"Damn! You ate so much for dinner, are you eating again?" Zhou Dian said with a laugh.

Eimy took a big bite of banana, mumbling two words:
I'm so hungry!

Meanwhile, in the lounge next door at Snake.

Snake's manager, Zuo Wu, is giving a final pre-match pep talk.

Snake is currently ranked sixth in Group A, which is last place.

It looks like they'll most likely have to play in the relegation matches.

It's worth noting that before the Spring Split started, Snake's goal this year was to qualify for the S7 World Championship, which was held on home soil.

However, as the regular season progressed, their goal became "to stay in the LPL and avoid relegation in the Spring Split, which would be considered a success."

Zuo Wu made a boastful promise to the boss during the offseason.

The pressure is immense these days.

If Snake really gets demoted under his management, then he can just pack his bags and get out of here.

Furthermore, it's unlikely that any team will hire him as a manager in the future.

So, Zuo Wu really doesn't want Sanke to play in the promotion/relegation matches!
Even if Snake manages to avoid relegation in the end.

However, his "lifelong reputation" in the industry has been ruined.

Snake still has two regular season games left, so they still have a chance to make it into the top four of Group A.

Because the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place finishers in Group A all have very similar records.

After Snake replaced their starting mid laner with Zz1tai, their recent performance has been decent.

In addition, IG has recently suffered a losing streak, so IM and Snake, who are ranked fifth and sixth in Group A, are only one game away from IG.

However, both IM and Snake have a significant gap in net wins per game compared to IG, making it clear that they cannot catch up.

For Snake to overtake IG and move up to fourth place, they need to secure their last two wins while hoping that both IM and IG falter and fail to win their remaining matches.

Obviously, that's unlikely.

Therefore, reason tells Zuo Wu that Snake's most realistic goal now is to surpass IM and rank fifth in Group A in the last two regular season games.

Although at the end of the regular season, the fifth and sixth place teams in Groups A and B will have to play in the relegation matches.

However, the fifth-place team in the group only needs to win one best-of-five series to successfully avoid relegation and stay in the LPL.

The sixth-placed team in the group needs to win two consecutive best-of-five matches to avoid relegation.

It goes without saying which one is more difficult to avoid relegation.

When the staff informed the Snake players to prepare to go on stage, and the five Snake players got up and left the rest room, Zuo Wu was still giving the players a pep talk.

Judging from their expressions, they wished they could chase after the contestants all the way to the main stage and continue to cheer them on.

However, for the competition itself...

Most importantly, it depends on the raw strength of both sides.

Things related to energy and spirit are useful.

But not much!
Only when the strength of both sides is roughly equal can mental fortitude play a role in changing the course of a battle.

When the gap in strength between the two sides is too large, no matter how much fighting spirit you have, it's useless.

This is exactly what happened in the Snake vs. LGD match.

The gap in overall strength between the two teams is now too large.

The five members of Sanke returned to the rest room just over thirty minutes after leaving.

Excluding the time consumed before BP starts and the time used by BP.

The net duration of the first game was only twenty-six minutes.

Snake was basically crushed by LGD from start to finish.

Therefore, during the break, Zuo Wu didn't have the energy to motivate the team members.

What’s the use!

However, as it turns out, Zuo Wu's pre-match pep talk did have some effect.

Without that encouragement, LGD destroyed Snake's base crystal in just 22 minutes in the second game.

Using a simple calculation method.

Zuo Wu's inspirational words can help his teammates last an extra four minutes in a game.

Being crushed by LGD in two consecutive games completely extinguished Zuo Wu's ambition to improve his ranking.

Let's just focus on preparing for the promotion and relegation matches!

The BO3 match between LGD and Snake lasted less than 50 minutes, almost breaking the record for the shortest BO3 match in this year's Spring Split, which is indeed quite fast.

The match was scheduled to start at 8:30, but it ended before 9:40.

Many viewers joked that LGD was considerate of their audience, ending the match early so that viewers wouldn't miss the subway.

After defeating Snake, LGD achieved an eight-game winning streak in the regular season.

Riding their eight-game winning streak, they will face RNG in their final regular season match the day after tomorrow, vying for the top spot in Group A.

(End of this chapter)