762: Opening, Secret Weapon Appears!
When Gu Xing jumped off the bus, his first feeling was that it was very windy today.
As the World Championship entered its finale, Incheon, which was already in November, also entered the early autumn season. The daytime temperature basically hovered in the single digits above zero, so Gu Xing and others had to wear thicker clothes to keep warm.
But even so, when the bleak autumn wind blew wantonly, everyone trembled.
"Strange, I remember that Incheon was not so cold in autumn..." Chao Wei's first thing after getting off the bus was to stamp his feet, muttering a few complaints, and then go to see his teammates, "Brother Xing, can you adapt?"
Gu Xing pulled the zipper of his down jacket to the top, covering half of his mouth, and his voice became dull and vague.
"It's no big deal... It was much colder in the finals at the Bird's Nest last year than today."
This is the truth.
He was deeply impressed by this. A year ago, the imperial capital was filled with biting cold winds. The moment he held up the Summoner's Cup, his fingers were almost frozen.
Seeing Gu Xing talking about last year's championship, the VG training team members laughed out loud, immersed in that wonderful memory.
Chao Wei looked envious.
He also wanted to experience what it felt like to hold the Summoner's Cup...
Stop, stop, stop!
Chovy warned himself sternly in his heart.
He didn't dare to open the champagne too hard, and even thought it was a blasphemy to imagine holding the cup.
What if he offended the gods and was punished by the gods on the field today?
Most Han people believe in religion, and Chao Wei is no exception.
It would have been fine before, but now he is one step away from winning the championship. He would rather believe it than not, and play a cautious game.
Chovy thought about it and chose to change the subject.
"When the weather is cold, we eat rice cake soup to warm ourselves up... How about we try it after the finals?"
"Rice cake soup?" Gu Xing was immediately interested when he heard the word, "Sure!"
Ningbo, his hometown, is rich in rice cakes made of japonica rice. It is added to fish stews and soups. It is refreshing, chewy and tough.
Gu Xing hasn't tasted the taste of his hometown for a long time. He is quite nostalgic at this moment. Maybe he can find a similar feeling in Incheon.
It sounds outrageous, but when I think of the country where Incheon is located...
In this Ganges.
"Talk less," Jin Wenhe advised, "lest you get a lot of wind and have diarrhea before going on stage!"
Everyone kept silent and walked in the cold wind with their mouths covered.
After turning an intersection from the parking lot, you can see the final venue.
Incheon Munhak Stadium.
"Wow..." Kuro showed a shocked expression and couldn't help but say, "It's so big!"
Although he visited the final venue once during the rehearsal yesterday, he was still shocked by the grandeur of the Munhak Stadium.
The roof design that looks like sails and masts highlights the characteristics of Incheon's coastal city. The overall building is not high, but the edges and corners are obvious and dynamic, and the area is very wide, which brings a strong sense of oppression.
The entire venue can accommodate 50,000 people, and the scale can be seen!
Among all the stadiums in Han Country, Munhak Arena is also one of the best. It also hosted the 2002 World Cup KR vs. Portugal match - that match can only be said to be understood by everyone.
"I think it's not as good as the Bird's Nest." Jack covered his mouth to block the wind and said something next to him.
"The requirements are really high... This is already good," Gu Xing smiled, "Elbow, elbow, elbow, everyone work harder and strive to win the championship and get off work early!"
He led the members of the competition and training department to walk quickly into the Munhak Stadium, a venue that is destined to be recorded in the history of LPL and even League of Legends e-sports.
The stadium is now empty, but in two and a half hours, there will be a surging crowd and rolling waves of noise!
The four stands that can accommodate 50,000 spectators are now crowded with people, and the noise never stops. Even if the dome is opened to disperse the sound waves created by everyone, it is still noisy.
In the front row of the family area, Gu's mother was disturbed and rubbed her ears and muttered.
"Oh, it's so noisy..."
She likes quietness, and now she is not used to the various tones buzzing in her ears.
"But why are there so many of our own people around?" She was very puzzled, "I thought I was in China!"
When I watched my son's game in China, everyone around me spoke Mandarin, but when I came to KR to watch the game, everyone around me spoke Chinese. Didn't I buy the plane ticket and apply for the visa in vain?
"Where are the Han people? Why don't they come to watch the finals? Don't they like to watch it?" Gu's mother said it in the most puzzled tone.
Gu Pan took her arm and shook it, "Please... Two LPL teams are fighting in Han Country. How many locals can come to watch the game?"
Looking around, most of the KR people who came to watch the finals were relatives and friends of the Korean players. For example, Chao Wei's family formed a small cheering group to come and support.
In addition, there were very few Han Country spectators who came to watch the game. Obviously, they were mentally broken by the scene of "no Korean in Incheon". Before the game, there were a lot of posts about transferring tickets in the Inven forum, which really broke the defense of the Han people.
Even the number of people who came to watch the game today was not as many as those from Europe and the United States!
Although VG was nicknamed the European Killer during the journey of this World Championship, and sent off the 3rd, 2nd and 1st seeds of the EU Division in the three rounds of group stage, quarterfinals and semifinals, European audiences were still willing to buy tickets to watch this final.
No other reason, just because this was Gu Xing's last battle.
For the first person in the history of League of Legends e-sports, they are willing to come to the scene to accompany Gu Xing to complete his professional career.
"To be honest, Gu Xing has so many supporters..." Gu's mother looked around, her eyes full of support items printed with Gu Xing's cartoon image, and her tone was involuntarily stained with a bit of pride.
Shen Guanshan, who was traveling with him, sat obediently on the side, habitually silent, but his bright eyes had long been curved into a pair of crescents, and his eyes unconsciously glanced at the big screen on the scene.
There was still some time before the official start of the opening ceremony, and the director showed the specific career data of both teams and key players.
"Look!" Gu Pan was excited and shook his mother's arm vigorously, "I have contributed to this!"
Gu's mother looked around, curious, "Where is it?"
"The upper right corner of the big screen!" Gu Pan said with a little anger, "Can't you see such a big E+ mom?"
"The sponsor of our world championship!" She just wanted to show off.
"Oh..." Gu's mother dragged out her tone, "I think your brother is more conspicuous."
On the big screen at the scene, Gu Xing's makeup photo was extremely eye-catching - he stood sideways, one hand behind his back, and the other hand was forward in a challenge gesture, and the two golden stars on his chest were also exposed to everyone.
Next to the makeup photo, there are various data and honors.
2016, 2017 World Championship Champion, 42 wins and 4 losses, winning rate 3%, 202 kills, 61 deaths, 577 assists, 77
2017, 2018 MSI Champion, 27 wins and 6 losses, winning rate 8%, 155 kills, 44 deaths, 220 assists, 61
2016 Summer-2018 Summer total of five LPL championship trophies, a total of 185 wins and 23 losses, winning rate 9%, 1007 kills, 188 deaths, 2200 assists, 06
The title is even more plain and unpretentious.
The Goat
"...are the data so outrageous?" Gu Pan felt incredible.
"Of course," Shen Guanshan answered happily, with his head held high and his chest puffed out, "Do you still need to question Gu Xing's level?"
At this moment, the LPL live broadcast room was crowded with people, and they were also discussing Gu Xing's data performance.
[Brother Xing's card, Riot officially certified Goat! ]
[This is the flag of our LPL. Do you have such a flag in other regions? ]
[The question is, who is the deputy Goat? ]
[Of course it's me...Faker! Well-deserved executive deputy Goat! ]
[It's said that Brother Xing's MSI win rate is a bit lagging behind. How come it's only over 80%? ]
[It's probably because he lost more games this year, which directly dragged down his win rate... But then again, even if it's 80%, it's enough to crush the rest of the players]
Then the Riot director gave IG the absolute core data corresponding to it.
The one chosen was Rookie. After all, before this World Championship, only Song Yi-Jin had a certain degree of popularity in the international arena. He was definitely the best choice for IG to replace Dog Tag.
But in terms of data, Rookie is currently completely incomparable with Gu Xing!
After winning the S4OGN Summer Championship at the peak of his debut, Song Yi-Jin entered a long period of lows. He only made it to the World Championship stage in 2015, but that year, he surrendered during the National Day holiday and advanced to the top 16, which made IG lose face.
In the following two years, he missed the World Championship and didn't even have the opportunity to show his face in front of foreign audiences!
The only thing that can be shown is this year's Global Finals.
12 wins and 2 losses, 7% win rate in small games, 15-minute position economic difference +443 (1ST), experience lead +280 (1ST), last-hit lead +1 (1ST)...
To be fair, this data can be called terrifying!
Song Yijin is undoubtedly the pillar of IG. He is the most stable of the five players. He often takes the lead in opening the game when he has an advantage, and helps his teammates when he is at a disadvantage.
The four-character truth left by Xiaohai Youshen before he retired has finally been confirmed.
The middle lane is the boss!
"But there is still a gap," Ding Jun sat down next to a man in a military green down jacket in the front row of the viewing area, boasting, "I'm not bragging. You are not as good as me in selecting people. The chicken is just a gift from Kakao. It's really outrageous to think about it..."
The man was unkempt, turned his head and glanced at Ding Jun, speaking with a contemptuous attitude, "Nicola, don't you think you have spent so much treasure? Isn't it just by luck that you picked up Gu Xing? Jack Ai was snatched from me!"
He is Wang Sicong, the helmsman of IG. He has a good personal relationship with Ding Jun, and now he has no scruples when joking.
"Why didn't you say anything during S4 and S5? You are the biggest sucker in LPL!"
Ding Jun was not angry when his scar was exposed by the other party, but just laughed out loud, "Wu Suowei, you can mock me as much as you want, anyway, whoever doesn't have the S crown will be embarrassed!"
"Hehe, I have the Immortal Shield!" Wang Sicong glared and insisted on competing.
He didn't talk like a family heir with hundreds of billions of assets, but this was reasonable.
Wang Sicong saw Ding Jun smiling and not responding, and muttered to himself.
"Just wait, IG will definitely win the S crown... today!" He was full of confidence.
As soon as the voice fell, the player data interface on the big screen of Wenhe Stadium disappeared without a trace.
Replaced by the countdown number!
After a short silence, excited cheers suddenly broke out from the stands on all sides!
The audience was full of expectations, and shouted the countdown along with the numbers on the big screen.
Rio has put a lot of effort into the layout of the stage for the finals of this World Championship, and even the beautification of the countdown was not spared.
Each number has the characteristics of Riot's classic series of skins - for example, '10' and '9' are Project Zed and Lucian, and the next string of numbers is drawn through the battle animation.
When Lucian's double guns exploded, a woman appeared from the void in the screen!
Kassadin!
The number 8 behind her was also filled with dark purple void energy!
She activated R [Hunter Instinct] and turned into a phantom to shuttle through space.
The screen also moved forward.
The '7' logo appeared, and Kaisadin appeared in front of everyone wearing a girl group skin!
The shawl purple hair was braided into two buns, looking cute and lovely, and she started with Icathia Rainstorm!
The void projectile seemed to smash the screen, and then Akali, wearing a baseball cap and a belly-baring outfit, appeared with the countdown number!
She wore a mask and was agile. She held the sickle in one hand and the spray can in the other. She pressed hard and mist spread out, making Akali invisible!
Then the camera flashed by, and the charming and beautiful Evelynn appeared with her iconic nail cover. She turned on her ultimate move and tore the countdown number behind her!
The countdown number reached ‘2’ amid the cheers of the audience.
The opening hero of the Korean server appeared.
Ahri had a slender figure, and the audience exclaimed at the first appearance!
When the last moment before the countdown came, KDA Ahri opened the 9 tails behind her and sent a heart with pink bubbles to the audience in front of the screen.
The heart gradually enlarged and flew towards all the audience in front of the screen.
Finally, it hit the glass, making a crisp and extremely shattering sound!
When everything returned to darkness, the RiotGame logo appeared in front of everyone!
The audience cheered even louder, and even netizens who watched the live broadcast through the online platform could hear the excited shouts of 50,000 people after the sound was muted!
As the camera slowly pulled away, the whole picture of the stage was presented to everyone.
Kai'Sa, Akali, Evelynn and Ahri, wearing purple-based girl group costumes, appeared on the stage through virtual imaging technology.
And the real singers stood beside them.
During the World Championship, in addition to the news of the victory or defeat of each team, there was also a big news.
Riot is playing a girl group.
The name is K/DA, and the members are the above four female heroes, and they also specially created a series of skins.
As soon as the main MV "POP/STARS" was released, it set off a wave of enthusiasm in the League circle, and its popularity was even no less than the finals MV "Rise"!
Seeing that the girl group business is in full swing, Riot did not forget to add fuel to the fire and even let them present the opening performance of the opening ceremony.
Although in terms of the grandeur of the scene, K/DA, which also uses AR technology, cannot catch up with the Ancient Dragon that took off at the Bird's Nest last year.
But in fact, the cost is not less.
After all, the duration of a song is much longer than the Ancient Dragon that only glimpsed for a moment.
Riot's big money spent on production and promotion must be to sell more skins.
On some servers, it is estimated that the marketing cost is more than that of the champion team.
After the catchy "POP/STARS" chorus ended, the accompaniment had not yet disappeared, and a circular teleportation array appeared behind KDA's lead singer Ahri.
The azure rune energy kept emerging from it, like Ryze's R [Warp].
Ahri hesitated for a while before walking in on high heels.
The screen flashed forward, and when Ahri appeared again, her gorgeous and dazzling KDA suit had disappeared, leaving only the original skin.
She was a little confused, and the camera shifted its sight. Not far away stood 8 summoner statues!
And the summoner trophy was shining on the high platform in the middle, attracting all of Ahri's attention!
The fox took a cautious step forward, and saw the summoner statue slowly vibrating, and the energy core with both hands clasped in front of the chest appeared as the stone collapsed, and on it were the images of the championship moments of each team from S1 to S7!
Each statue presented the glorious past of a team, and then projected it to the audience through Ahri's eyes.
The cheers of the audience in Wenhe Arena suddenly rose eight degrees, obviously being reminded of the memories of the young boys who held the trophy back then.
The young Xpeke, the prison-type mid laner Toyz, the nose-picking version of Faker, the collagen-covered Imp, the cauliflower-headed version of Lee Sang-hyuk...
Then it was Gu Xing's two consecutive breaks!
Whether it is the changes in his teammates or the number of gold stars on his uniform, it can be judged that he won the championship year.
The only thing that remains unchanged is the bright and sunny smile on Gu Xing's face.
Shen Guanshan, who was sitting in the front row, held up his mobile phone to record the warm-up clip given by the fist, just as a precious memory for Gu Xing after he retires in the future, and he can take it out and look back at it when he is free.
After the championship moment of the S7 Bird's Nest, the ground also collapsed due to the violent vibration of the statue shaking.
The Summoner's Cup in the center emits a dazzling light!
Ahri didn't think twice and activated her R [Spirit Assault] to move forward quickly, holding the trophy tightly in her arms at the critical moment!
The next moment, the ground collapsed completely, and she fell down with countless rubble!
The light from the trophy became more and more blazing.
When the camera zoomed in, the characters who had appeared on the League of Legends stage since the S8 preseason stage appeared one by one in the light, leading countless viewers to recall a revolutionary season of League of Legends.
From Zoe who appeared in the preseason, to Kai'Sa and Pike who appeared in the middle of the spring season, from the reworked Irelia on the eve of MSI to Akali and Aatrox who appeared in a new look in the summer season...
Riot strives to make every hero launched or reworked in the season have a chance to appear, and fortunately, the designers did it.
Various innovative hero mechanisms have given the canyon ecology a new look, and the appearance of these characters is bound to have a profound impact on the future arena environment!
The light gradually faded, and Ahri, holding the trophy, was still falling.
The circular teleportation array reappeared, and through the screen, the other side of the teleportation array was the Incheon Munhak Stadium!
At this moment, virtuality and reality finally merged together!
The sonorous and powerful rhythm drum beats resounded throughout the venue. Even though most of them were eliminated by the huge space, they were enough to arouse the passion in the hearts of tens of thousands of spectators.
The theme song of this World Championship, "Rise", was played, which brought the atmosphere to a climax again!
The director's camera slowly pulled away.
Netizens who watched the event through the live broadcast saw a high platform on each side of the main stage.
On the high platform, there were members of the IG and VG training departments!
The two teams that symbolize the strongest combat power of LPL this year will fight it out today!
In the sound of the exciting theme song, the two high platforms slowly moved from the edge to the center.
Behind the players, the flags of the two teams fluttered in the wind, and they looked solemn and murderous under the sunset of Incheon in early autumn.
"Rise!"
When the last syllable of the lead singer fell, the high platform stopped moving.
The players of the two teams were only ten meters apart, looking at each other with serious expressions.
Under the combined effect of the battle flag and the sunlight, TheShy's face was half covered with shadow.
He slightly tilted his mouth, and the composition looked both good and evil.
Gu Xing did not focus on Jiang Chenglu, but wandered around, from the main stage layout to the singer singing Rise, to the densely packed audience in the distance, all were taken in by his eyes.
He wanted to imprint everything deeply in his mind.
Because Gu Xing knew very well that he might never have such an opportunity to stand on this stage again in the future.
"First of all, let's welcome the team to the stage!"
Jeon Yongjun arrived before he arrived, and his loud voice was transmitted to everyone's ears through the sound effects, and he himself came to the center of the stage through the elevator.
"First, the third seed from the LPL region, the runner-up of the summer season, Invictus Gaming!"
"Top laner TheShy, jungler Ning, mid laner Rookie, bottom laner Lwx and support Crisp, as well as substitute West and head coach Kim!"
The Roaring Emperor waved his hand and introduced the IG members one by one.
When mentioning Lin Weixiang's ID, Jeon Yongjun obviously had a bit of brain overload, and the accent he read out at the end was very lame.
Lin Weixiang himself almost lived in Bengbu, with a beaming face and a grunting laughter.
"Next..." The Roaring Emperor took a deep breath and inhaled the cold air of Incheon into his lungs, "It's the number one seed from the LPL region, two-time world finals champion, Vici Gaming!"
"Top laner Smeb, jungler Virtue..."
At this point, the Roaring Emperor paused consciously, led the applause with a smile on his face, and called on the audience to fill the stadium with cheers!
The roaring voices in Wenhe Stadium are the best proof of VG's global popularity!
The team's winning performance in various international competitions in the past two years has greatly increased the team's popularity, and now it has turned into applause to give back to them!
"Happy birthday, Brother Xing!" A die-hard fan wearing the silver-white VG team flag shouted.
This roar caused a commotion in the stands, and then more and more audiences joined in spontaneously to send blessings to Gu Xing.
"Happy birthday!"
Gu Xing pursed his lips, smiling happily and relieved, and did not forget to bow to the audience to express his gratitude.
His birthday is November 1st, and it has been two days.
However, in order to prepare for the finals, Gu Xing had no energy to celebrate his birthday. He even declined the internal celebration of the competition and training department that the team leader Jin Wenhe wanted to organize spontaneously, in order to race against time to study the opponent and not want to lose the championship because of a short joy.
Seeing this scene, the Roaring Emperor was extremely satisfied and continued to shout louder, "Mid laner Kuro, bottom laner Jackeylove and support Caveman, as well as substitute player Chovy and head coach Homme!"
The message was clear.
Kuro was the starter and would participate in the first battle.
This was related to the pre-determined right to choose a side.
Everything was under VG's control!
As the VG training team members came out and introduced themselves, the waves of cheers and applause that filled the mountains and plains finally came to an end.
Jeon Yong-jun paused for a moment and continued his opening remarks.
"From Seoul to Busan, from Gwangju to Incheon, after a long journey of 5 weeks in the global finals, only two teams can stand on the final stage," he said emotionally, "and today, only one winner can laugh to the end!"
"Whether it is the new king of the dragon slayer who ascends the throne, or the unprecedented three consecutive championships in the S game to build a golden body of the dynasty, let us wait and see!"
Gu Xing led the team to the soundproof room, took the warm baby from the staff and kept turning it over, so that every slender finger can enjoy the temperature bonus and become flexible.
Under the referee's prior debugging, the computer has already logged into the client's custom room.
Gu Xing stared at the string of characters of VG Virtue, his eyes full of nostalgia and sadness.
"Brother Meng, work harder, it's the last game!" Jack gritted his teeth and tried his best to vent in the arena.
"Go, go, go!"
Gu Xing listened to the passionate words of encouragement from his teammates in the microphone, and the sentimental emotion in his eyes disappeared in the blink of an eye.
He has prepared for this BO5 for countless days and nights, just to win it with all his might!
Gu Xing does not want to retire with any regrets!
With the referee's order, the BP interface appears in front of the players of the two teams!
On the LPL commentary desk, Miller and Wawa Zeyuan's three-piece set remains unchanged.
"Wow, the civil war in our LPL division has begun!" Wawa opened the finals with a familiar habit, "IG has the priority to choose the side in this final. They will ban Irelia first when they get the blue side..."
Miller continued to express his understanding.
"Although Irelia is weak in team battles, she firmly restrains Jayce and Aatrox in terms of position. Maybe IG thinks it is worth blocking her!"
Hongmi's arrangement is very simple, moving Qinggangying to the Ban position.
Gao Zhenning used Camille in the game against KT and performed very well, so VG dare not neglect it.
Next, Jin Jingzhu banned the Ice Girl who restrained the Enchantress, trying to free up Song Yijin's hero pool.
However, Hongmi did not give him any chance and immediately blocked Song Yijin's signature Enchantress.
"Huh?!" Zeyuan was very sharp-eyed and found something wrong at the first time, "VG on the red side banned like this, so Akali and Syndra, the two OP heroes in this version, must have released at least one..."
"Could they want to open two, and each team can choose one?"
Even Wawa felt that it was not right, "It doesn't make sense, how can Syndra fight Akali in the laning phase?"
As long as Akali is upgraded to level 6, RE will come to face her, and it will be useless even if Syndra throws QE to stun her. The Stray Thorn has enough pursuit methods to assassinate the non-displacement Ball Girl!
The strength of the two sides is not comparable at all!
Jin Jingzhu tilted his head, obviously also very confused.
However, after thinking it over, he still followed VG's thinking and turned around to ban Luo, so that Duan Deliang would not take advantage of the situation and get this powerful support in the first or second pick.
Just as the commentator and Jin Jingzhu guessed, VG did plan to open two positions, and the third ban position was dedicated to Jayce.
"Akali is really released!" Wawa couldn't believe his eyes.
Jin Jingzhu's chubby face was full of smiles, urging the players to quickly lock Akali.
Without his reminder, TheShy also knew how important Akali was, and locked her without saying a word.
VG also locked it in seconds.
Aatrox and Justice Colossus!
"Galio?!" Miller hissed softly, "VG's ancestral hero, maybe it should be paired with Xingge's jungle core!"
Jin Jingzhu didn't care.
What if I give you Kindred?
I have Akali in my hand, what can you use to fight me?
Considering that IG had no suitable tool player to choose in the middle lane after picking Akali, the jungler had to make up for the control and initiative, and there was no way to replace banning Kindred with grabbing. Kim Jeong-soo had to give Xin Zhao to Gao Zhenning, and then make up for Kai'Sa.
When it was VG's third pick, the audience called out different names of the same hero.
"Kindred!"
"Mirror Claw!"
"Kindred!"
Amid the noise, VG's hero selection frame locked the character in seconds!
The gentle tone of the sheep spirit was enough to calm the restlessness in the hearts of countless people.
"Never one"
The next moment, the ferocious wolf spirit roared in a low voice, "the other!"
Holding the soul of the child, coexisting with the child!
It was Kindred!