LOL: What does it mean to torture players?

"With Nidalee already in the jungle, picking Nocturne? This Nocturne might be playing mid lane! I feel like I've seen this move somewhere before!" Wawa exclaimed.

Miller chimed in, "Back in S7, Mozi used Nightmare to counter Twisted Fate and Galio. That's the legacy of our LPL!"

DRX picked Quinn on the third floor and Draven on the fourth floor!
The chat room erupted in excitement:
"Trying to show off your limited skills at Shuimen?"

"Who told you to choose Draven? Did you submit an application?"

"You like picking Draven in front of Brother Shuizi, huh? Just you wait!"

"Is the pilot so arrogant? Does he not know who he is?"

Once the game started, there were some minor skirmishes in the early stages, and TES suffered a loss, allowing DRX to secure two kills.

The commentator suddenly sounded a bit pessimistic, but Su Mo felt it was alright.

Judging from the lineup, TES has the advantage, and this advantage is not small.

As long as the gap isn't too large, team fights are relatively easy to win.

In the mid lane matchup, Chovy's CS remained consistently high, leading by more than ten CS and continuing to widen the gap.

Ten minutes later, TES started to exert their strength.

They tower-dived to gank the bottom lane, and Nightmare activated his ultimate to cover his teammates, preventing Chovy's Twisted Fate from providing support.

Overall, however, DRX still has a significant economic lead, with a gap of 3,000.

Su Mo mainly observed two key areas: the top lane and the bottom lane.

The card has a significant economic lead, but that's not a problem, as this champion's carry potential is limited.

Although Doran's Quinn had a gold lead in the top lane, he did not continue to push forward from the top lane.

This is not good news for Quinn, although a disadvantaged Renekton is not strong in team fights either.

But Quinn is even worse. DRX's lineup lacks a frontline, so whoever gets engaged on becomes the frontline. Quinn has a hard time performing well in team fights with this lineup.

In addition, Draven was targeted and his development was very poor, so he never had a chance to get a kill.

If they continue playing like this, DRX will find team fights increasingly difficult.

As expected, DRX, who had the economic lead, started to be chased down and beaten by TES.

After a team fight, the situation reversed.

Doran started his Plan B: if he couldn't win team fights, he would split push.

However, TES has Nightmare! This hero is very strong at initiating fights.

After a back-and-forth struggle, DRX finally found an opportunity. Nightmare initiated the team fight with his ultimate, leading his teammates to take down DRX and secure the victory!
The child exclaimed excitedly, "Let's congratulate Top Esports on easily winning this crucial match!"

"This is our number one seed, Top Esports. They have inherited the spirit of EDG and are invincible!"

Miller laughed and said, "EDG is also playing in the World Championship. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to say that? I think it should be said that they inherited Mozi's will."

All the matches for today have ended, and LPL has achieved a record of three wins and zero losses.

LCK secured one win and one loss.

Currently, the situation in the LPL is very optimistic, with all four teams either winning 3-0 or 2-1, giving them a very high chance of advancing.

Online opinion is also very optimistic:

"We've got this in the bag, hahaha. Who said LCK teams are strong in scrims? Can they even beat my TES?"

"Let alone TES, JDG is now an insurmountable mountain for LCK."

"Four out of the top eight will advance, at least three out of the top four will advance, and then they'll all meet in the final. The script is all written!"

"The impact of Mozi's departure on the LPL is not as big as we imagined."

After finishing his meal, Su Mo prepared to go back to rest.

Just then, Jackeylove sent an invitation to join the group.

Jackeylove: "Brother Mozi, this is our TES group. Please come in and give us some pointers."

Su Mo: "Haven't you all won now? It doesn't seem necessary."

Jackeylove: "It's okay, just come in and have some fun, chat with everyone or something."

Su Mo felt there was no harm in it, so he chose to go in.

Anyway, he's retired, so there's no conflict of interest between us.

369: "Holy crap, Mozi is here?"

Jackeylove: "I've spoken to the coach, it'll be fine."

Knight: "Brother Mozi is awesome!"

Karsa: "Brother Mozi, which of the three LCK teams do you think is the hardest to beat?"

369: "It's definitely DWG."

Karsa: "Didn't DWG lose to JDG?"

369: "Anyway, it's hard to win against them in practice matches. We've played against them several times before."

Karsa: "A scrim is a scrim, and there are plenty of strong teams in scrims."

369: "That's true."

Su Mo didn't offer any opinion; having confidence is a good thing.

The following day, the final day of the first round of group stage matches were played, followed by a two-day rest period.

Based on Su Mo's past experience, these two days are the busiest time.

Because the second round of matches was very tight, with each group playing a match in a single day, it was a do-or-die situation, leaving no time for rest.

Go all out and advance if you can, otherwise go home.

To Su Mo's surprise, these past two days have become his busiest time.

"Mo, can I treat you to a meal? We at G2 need your help. If you're willing to come, the compensation is negotiable."

"Dear Mo, I am a member of RGE. May I meet with you? It will take up a little of your time, and I will pay you accordingly."

"The great three-time champion, Mo, on behalf of the UOL team, I extend an invitation to you to join us..."

"Brother Mozi, let's have dinner together and chat. When are you free?"

Now everyone wants to invite him to dinner, or even to provide on-site training guidance.

LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS, and even wildcards have all come, and they're very willing to spend money.

Online consultations have been constant.

Su Mo could only say that he was too busy to have time.

This situation does not seem to have occurred with other players.

Su Mo thought about it carefully and guessed it was because he was famous for his strategies and tactics when he was with EDG.

As everyone later learned, many of EDG's well-known systems were built by Su Mo.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, he is not only a three-time world champion and the greatest top laner in history, but also the strongest coach, so naturally they want to talk to him and learn something from him.

Two days passed quickly, and the second round of the group stage began.

First up are the Group A matches.

Group A features two key teams: G2 and SN.

These two teams are dominant in Group A. Of course, TL is also a spoiler. They are not entirely without a chance against SN and G2. If the draft is good and the players perform well, they have a chance.

As expected, both teams were disrupted by TL.

After defeating G2 once, TL defeated SN once more.

With both SN and G2 having one win and one loss, the two teams are tied on points and will enter a tiebreaker.

In the final tiebreaker, SN defeated G2, retaining their first place in the group.

G2 came in second.

#SN advances as group winners
It immediately appeared on the trending topics list.

"Nice! If SN can get first place in the group, JDG and TES are guaranteed to win!"

"I feel that apart from EDG, the other three teams will definitely be the top teams in the group."

"If EDG doesn't perform well and gets crushed by their own team in the quarterfinals, that would be interesting."

"There's no way around it, without Mozi, EDG is just a second-rate team."

Soon, Su Mo received a message from Perkz:
"Mo, you didn't even bless us to get first place in the group."

Su Mo: "I thought that with your championship-winning strength, winning first place in the group would be a piece of cake."

Perkz: "Haha, I didn't expect you to see through our strategy of deliberately holding back and finishing second in the group. I hope you don't tell anyone else."

Su Mo laughed. Perkz was really good at creating drama. He just hoped that when G2 was eliminated, Perkz wouldn't cry and could always stay optimistic.

The following day was the second day of the second round of the group stage.

Group B matches.

The highlight of this match is JDG vs. DWG.

JDG previously defeated DWG.

Neither team has lost to any other team, so it seems that JDG has a very high chance of competing for first place in the group.

Su Mo still waited until after get off work to check his phone and see how things went that day.

#Upset! JDG loses to PSG
#JDG's top spot in the group might be in jeopardy
The comments section exploded:

"What is JDG doing? How can they possibly lose to PSG?"

"I'm really speechless. They can't even beat a piece of trash like PSG."

"Go JDG! First place in the group!"

"Looks like we'll need to get a double kill against DWG."

#Currently airing, DWG VS JDG.

Su Mo discovered that the most anticipated match was often the last one.

I don't know if it was arranged by the authorities, but at this time everyone is definitely off work, so more people will watch it.

Su Mo can catch up too.

Sure enough, before the match started, Su Mo received a message from 369:
"Great Mozi, please bless us to get first place in the group."

Su Mo: "It's pretty strange that you guys could lose to PSG."

Zoom: "I underestimated them. I thought we could easily take them down, but I didn't expect them to be so skilled."

Su Mo: "Just don't continue to underestimate our opponent."

Zoom: "No, DWG is just a show-off. They're really strong in training, but they're just average in the main tournament. We won in the last round."

Su Mo didn't respond; he wanted to see what was going on first.

Su Mo went to the restaurant to eat, watching the show as she ate.

The players from both sides took the stage. DWG players seemed quite serious and unsmiling, probably because they had lost to JDG in the previous round.

In contrast, all five members of JDG were full of confidence.

Both teams are in position, and the draft phase begins.

This match is being commentated by Guan Zeyuan and Cat.

In the draft phase, DWG also picked Twisted Fate.

As soon as the card was shown, people in the live stream chat started spamming the comments:
"Still dare to play card games? Nightmare mode activated!"

"To dare to play Twisted Fate in front of LPL teams, you're too naive."

"We already have it this time."

"Is LCK out of talent? Besides Twisted Fate, they have nothing else to offer?"

Su Mo wasn't so optimistic; the Showmaker card was different from the Chovy card.

Chovy's choice of Twisted Fate seems to stem from the fact that other popular mid-lane champions in other versions don't fit into Chovy's champion pool, so he had to pick a Twisted Fate.

Showmaker is good at playing card games, and DWG has a mature system and tactics.

Nuguri picked Camille in the top lane; there's actually only one fixed composition for Twisted Fate and Camille.

If Zoom can't hold on in the top lane, this combination will completely dominate him.

At the same time, the toothpaste did not choose Nightmare.

This is normal; Nightmare mid lane plays differently from traditional mages.

Toothpaste is better at playing traditional mages; he might not be able to master Nightmare mid-lane.

Moreover, it requires teamwork and team composition, which is not an easy task.

Entering the match screen, JDG came prepared, with Lillia jungler favoring to invade the enemy's F6 camp at level one.

Of course, many teams have used this tactic before, so DWG called for reinforcements to defend in advance.

JDG's response was to call up their top and mid laners and bot lane duo, attempting a 4v4 situation.

However, DWG was even more cunning; they chose to bring Camille over as well.

JDG definitely didn't expect this, because doing so would force Camille to use Teleport to get back to lane at level one, which would be very difficult for her.

However, from another perspective, Camille is not strong in the laning phase, and she needs to rely on the mid and jungle in this game.

Therefore, helping Nakano establish an advantage is actually helping himself, and this tactic is feasible.

DWG secured First Blood in the level 1 team fight because they had an extra player.

The game continued, and Showmaker began to demonstrate the differences between his cards and Chovy's cards.

Four minutes into the game, Showmaker's Twisted Fate went to roam to the bottom lane.

Although it ended in a two-for-two exchange, if he hadn't come, his teammates might have been at a disadvantage.

Most importantly, this move tricked Zoom into revealing its top-down strategy.

He originally had an advantage in the top lane, while Nuguri was at a disadvantage because he lacked a TP in the level 1 team fight, but now it's suddenly a 50/50 situation.

DWG began to allocate resources to help the top lane. BeryL made a clever roam, caught Kanavi, and helped DWG take the Rift Herald, allowing the top lane to take the first tower.

Once Camille gains an advantage, playing in the top half of the map becomes very comfortable.

JDG suffered a series of defeats.

Immediately afterwards, the combination of Camille and Twisted Fate began to exert its power, with Twisted Fate activating his ultimate and Camille using her ultimate to lock down the enemy.

Zoom is trapped and can only give away kills.

Twenty minutes into the match, a team fight resulted in a 1-for-5 exchange, with DWG emerging victorious and securing Baron Nashor, effectively ending any suspense in the game.

Of course, Su Mo saw more. Being 8,000 gold behind after 20 minutes was more important than the outcome of the match, indicating a significant gap in overall strength between the two teams.

Ultimately, DWG easily defeated JDG. Combined with JDG's earlier loss to PSG, DWG secured first place in the group, while JDG remained in first place.

#JDG suffered a disappointing defeat, advancing as the second-place team in their group.

It immediately became a trending topic.

Su Mo glanced at the comments below:

"JDG is really terrible. TES is teaching them how to play against LCK's Twisted Fate strategy step by step. Can't they learn it?"

"The toothpaste feels much better in my left hand than in my right."

"Don't play Jayce anymore, you won't win the game."

"That top laner on the other side is something else, Zoom, come on and make a difference."

Su Mo quickly received a message from Zoom: "It's a bit tough, DWG is still strong."

Su Mo: "The good news is that you won't be facing DWG in the quarterfinals."

Zoom: "Haha, yeah, I'd rather play against DRX and GEN, DWG is way better than them."

Zoom: "DWG will be handled by TES. I estimate that only they have a chance."

The following day, the third day of the second round of group matches, featured the Group C matches.

The biggest question is whether EDG can advance.

Overall, the outlook is relatively optimistic, given the current record of 2-1.

Inside the EDG rest area at the match venue.

The EDG team is waiting for the match to begin.

The first match was won against TSM, and now GEN and FNC are playing each other.

If GEN can beat FNC, EDG will be in a relatively stable position.

The factory manager was giving the team members a pep talk: "We're currently 3-1. Even if we can't beat GEN later, it's okay, as long as we advance."

Just then, Meiko said, "Wait a minute, it looks like GEN is going to lose. Things aren't going well."

Everyone looked at the screen. At this point, the match had been going on for 25 minutes, and the economic gap between the two sides was very small, less than a thousand.

At the same time, both mid-lane towers were destroyed.

The key issue is that FNC's lineup consists of Ornn in the top lane, Graves in the jungle, Orianna in the mid lane, and Senna in the bot lane.

It has much stronger growth potential than GEN!
The later the game goes, the easier it becomes. On the other hand, GEN's top laner is Renekton, jungler is Nidalee, and bot laner is Ezreal. In late-game team fights, they're basically just super minions. Judging from their lineup, at this point, GEN's team fights are already very difficult to win. (End of Chapter)