Chapter 346: Battle for the First Division, Intercontinental Championship Begins!

Chapter 346 - The battle for the first division, the opening of the Intercontinental Championship!

After playing in Sao Paulo for a few days, IG returned to China.

A few days passed, but the shock caused in China was still unabated. Every day, many fans waited at the airport for IG to return.

Under the enthusiastic welcome of fans, it was already ten o'clock in the evening when they returned to the base.

"Riot really spent a lot of money!"

As soon as he returned to the base, Fu Manduo came over with a printed version update announcement.

"Let me see, Lee Sin and Shen are all weakened, and the price of Gargoyle Stone Plate is reduced... This? No, buddy, this thing is so powerful, why do you want to strengthen it??"

Ning Wang was dumbfounded.

In the spring game, the jungle position became the mainstream because of the two changes of Colossus's Courage and Gargoyle Stone Plate.

Even because of the problems of experience compensation mechanism and equipment mechanism of Slag Giant Jungle Knife, it is more suitable for Xiang Guo's fasting style.

Yuan Shen may be one of the few players in the world who still insists on jungle core and rhythm jungle.

I didn't expect to be targeted again after MSI.

"I'm used to it. It seems that Riot is really anxious."

Yuan Shen smiled.

It is obviously not conducive to the game ecosystem for one team to monopolize all the championships of international competitions.

In the past few years, Riot has made several changes aimed at IG, but every time IG can quickly adjust and win the championship.

This is certainly related to his foresight, but more of the reason is that the heroes of IG are too deep.

Even if new heroes are released, they can be trained very quickly, and the tactical system will not be restricted by the players' hero pools.

"Two consecutive championships in the S game, and now two consecutive championships in MSI. It really doesn't give me any way to survive. I'm anxious too!"

Baolan smiled.

"But it's interesting to be targeted like this, isn't it?"

Rookie shrugged.

Now there are very few players who can put pressure on him in the line.

Occasionally, there are a few who can compete with him, but they will be timid because the disadvantages in the jungle radiate to the middle lane.

And Yuan Shen thinks further.

Riot's goal now is very clear, that is to interrupt IG's winning streak.

Not only do they frequently change the version and even make subversive changes, they have even added a major competition.

The Intercontinental Series Asia Challenge.

This new event is held around July every year and is the last international competition in a year before the S game.

However, the rules of this national competition are different from all international competitions.. It adopts the nature of confrontation between regions, full of honor and disgrace between regions.

A total of thirteen regions around the world participated in the competition, divided into five different competitions based on maps.

There are three divisions in the Asian Challenge, namely: LPL, LCK, and LMS!

Each division will select the top four teams with the highest points according to the ranking of the spring season to represent their respective divisions to fight against other divisions!

In the semi-finals and finals, the qualifying schedule will not even be reflected, and the coaching staff of the entire division will make temporary arrangements and decisions!

Therefore, some people call it "Tian Ji Horse Racing", which depends on which coaching staff is stronger and which team has more big brothers...

The show effect is full and can be called explosive.

When playing BO5, the four teams from each division take turns to appear. It is full of possibilities and playability, and also full of an inspirational spirit called unity!

Obviously, even if there is no chance of winning against IG, this is a confrontation between divisions, and there is still an overall gap between LPL and LCK.

The results of last year's World Championships explain everything.

RNG and EDG fell to the LCK team one after another, and only IG dominated the world.

Even if it weren't for IG in the past two years, the overall performance of LPL would still be suppressed by the LCK division.

Intercontinental Championship is an international competition that brings the honor and disgrace of the division to the extreme. The three words "family" are no longer a joke here, but the biggest factor that really affects the victory of the game and even the championship!

The unique competition system requires the major divisions to unite.

It's useless for you to have a strong team. You must have four teams to be strong together to win the championship!

The teams selected for the Intercontinental Championship this year by LPL are IG, WE, RNG, and EDG.

The three strongest teams in S7 in history, and an IG team that has a butterfly effect and dominates the world because of the appearance of Yuan Shen.

These four teams are also the four teams that made it to the end of S7 in history.

In the last round of the bubble game, IG lost to WE 2-3 and unfortunately stopped at the door of the world championship.

As the champion of the spring game, IG has become the top brother of the LPL division!

As for the other three teams, they are also the giants of LPL.

Such a lineup also made LPL audiences excited.

The summer season opened soon, and the groups were re-divided according to the results of the spring season.

After a period of adjustment, IG's results were not as invincible as fans expected.

In fact, after the start of the summer season, IG did not have the unstoppable momentum of the spring season, and there are many reasons.

The biggest reason is the version change.

After seeing IG's abnormal performance in the Spring Split and MSI this year, Riot changed the summer version several times. It's not that the version is not suitable for IG.

Originally, Riot wanted to target IG in the Spring Split, but they didn't expect to release three unstoppable heroes, Leblanc, Warwick and Mantis, which just made IG famous.

Now everything has returned to normal, strengthening the attributes of the little dragon, increasing the confrontation of the early bottom lane, adding tank equipment, and weakening warrior equipment, forcing IG to give up the top, middle and jungle play and return to the bottom half.

And IG's biggest weakness is Sima Laozei and Baolan in the bottom lane.

This is also their only weakness.

The version changes too fast, and IG has insufficient preparation time because of MSI, and has no time to adapt to the new version...

Due to various factors, IG's performance in the summer season is not as good as in the spring season.

However, they are still at the top of the LPL standings, and they should be able to advance to the S game without any accidents.

In this way, July 4th came quietly, and the IG team has boarded the plane to Kaohsiung, Taipei, China.

That will be the venue for this year's Intercontinental Championship.

That's right, this year's Intercontinental Championship will still be held in China.

This is the second international world championship held in China after the S6 MSI.

The four LPL teams are already ready.

Even if the entire division is exhausted, the home glory must be defended!

While IG went to Kaohsiung, the eyes of the outside world were also attracted by the Intercontinental Championship.

This year's important events came one after another, almost without stopping.

And for all LPL viewers, the three words "Intercontinental Championship" are of great significance. After all, it has always been said to be the first division, but in fact it is all IG that is holding up in the front.

Other teams still lose more than they win when they meet LCK teams.

The overall strength of the division is still much worse than that of LCK.

The title of the first division is more of IG's credit.

But as long as this Intercontinental Championship wins, LPL will become the world's first division in name and in reality!

Although it is only an Asian competition, the world's top two divisions, China and South Korea, are in Asia, and Europe and the United States are just making up the numbers.

The Intercontinental Tournament in Asia is also the most watched.

The Intercontinental Tournament officially started on July 8

International competition, sentimental bonus, honor and disgrace of the competition area, plus it is a home game...

No wonder all the audience pays so much attention to the Intercontinental Tournament.

The discussion outside is increasing day by day. During the few days of training of many teams such as IG, it has reached a terrifying heat.

Almost every day, people are discussing which team is the top horse, which is the middle horse, and which is the bottom horse in this year's Asian Tournament, three major competition areas, and twelve teams.

Tian Ji horse racing is full of fun.

As for the tickets for the Intercontinental Tournament, they have long been sold at a sky-high price, and scalpers have made a lot of money. In the past few days, all major forums on the Internet have been denouncing these unscrupulous scalpers.

At the same time, IG has landed in Kaohsiung, Taipei, and came to the official hotel.

The four LPL teams did not come together this time because there were too many people.

It was not until this time that everyone met each other, and it was inevitable that there was another round of greetings and courtesy.

This was also the first time for Yuan Shen to participate in this kind of international competition of the region, and everything he saw was very novel.

Especially the coaching team, various staff members, and analysts brought by the four teams.

For example, the analyst that EDG is famous for is extremely strict, and there is also the top coaching team of RNG.

Even those teams that were not selected for the Intercontinental Championship sent the most capable staff members and the strongest top players in their teams to play training games with the four LPL teams. If you are not capable in any aspect, you can find the top players who are good at that aspect to give you a 1v1 solo guidance.

Everything is filled with a "big family" atmosphere, which made Yuan Shen feel for the first time that the rise of the LPL region is really not without reason!

Just standing here, you can feel the feeling of being open-hearted and not hiding anything.

Everyone works together for their own region, and this feeling is really touching.

As early as the S5 World Championship, Yuan Shen and Mingkai Wei Shen had facilitated internal exchanges and sharing of training game experience in the division, but at that time they were more focused on working together for the first S championship.

They were still in competition with each other, so they did not share resources completely selflessly.

Including the way to deal with Iron Man, Wei Shen told them only after defeating LGD.

They were both teammates and opponents.

But this intercontinental competition was different. All the teams were united and worked hard for the LPL family.

But soon, Yuan Shen's joy disappeared and he became miserable.

Due to his strength, he was assigned by the LPL think tank, which brought together the coaches of the top teams of the entire LPL, to personally guide the junglers of the other three teams, including Mala Xiangguo, Factory Manager, and Kangdi, in 1V1 in the next day...

Yuan Shen gave a lesson on gank routes, anti-squatting techniques, and even operation reactions.

The people who watched Yuan Shen's teaching up close for the first time were stunned and called him an expert...

During the Olympics last year, Yuan Shen learned a lot from Xiang Guo, but in just one year, Yuan Shen has surpassed them a lot.

Time passed in this atmosphere.

The eight teams from the LCK and LMS regions also checked into the hotel.

The next day.

July 5.

On this day, everyone was very energetic, and the fans and spectators were excited early in the morning.

Because today is the opening day of the 2017 Intercontinental Series Asia Contest!

Six BO1 matches a day.

On the first day, the LPL region will play against the LMS region, and all four teams have schedules!

Everyone got up early in the morning. The coaching team that fought all night last night has arranged the best BP lineup and tactical play for each of the four teams according to their different playing styles.

There is no better way to work hard than this.

Yuan Shen and others looked at the dozens of coaching team members, all of whom had blue eyes, and they couldn't help but feel a little moved.

It is this kind of LPL that is worth his efforts.

A dog does not dislike a poor home, and a man does not dislike an ugly mother.

Even when he was most desperate, he did not think of going to other regions as a foreign aid, and instead played in LPL.

Not to mention now.

Now that he has achieved success and fame, he thinks differently than before.

In short, the pattern has become bigger.

Because the Intercontinental schedule is too tight, and it is close to the summer season and even the world championship, there is no time to prepare in advance, and the coaches and think tanks are completely rushing to work overnight.

"Play well and strive for a good start!" Abu patted the shoulders of these young men and yawned.

Everyone nodded and rushed to the venue together.

Entered on time at 12 noon.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the venue was officially opened, and the venue that could accommodate tens of thousands of people was already full.

Because it was a local battle, the LPL staff had already been ready, and the major commentators and hosts had already prepared.

After a grand opening ceremony, the 2017 Asian Challenge officially kicked off.

The first match was between the LPL leader IG and the LMS leader AHQ.

IG lived up to expectations. Although they did not have the abnormal dominance of the spring season in the summer, that was also compared with the spring season. No team in history could match IG's dominance in the first half of this year.

Although AHQ was strong, it was still flattened by IG after a 30-minute battle.

So far, IG helped the LPL region get a point, which was also a good start!

The whole stadium was boiling, and the name of IG resounded throughout the world.

Then, it was the second game, RNG vs. M17.

Originally, everyone thought it was a sure win. After all, M17 had little chance of winning against the world-famous RNG.

The result was somewhat unexpected. Uzi did not play because of his hand injury. He did not cooperate well with RNG. The two sides fought for nearly 40 minutes, and finally M17 successfully turned the tables.

The battle became increasingly tense.

Fortunately, the LPL team performed well and won all the games, ending the first day of the group stage.

The next day, the LPL region played against the LCK region.

It was also the last day of the group stage.

The first game was played by EDG.

However, they met the No. 1 seed of LCK, LZ, and fought for 37 minutes, but still failed to win the game.

The most iconic pig girl of the factory manager blew up the jungle of Peanut, avenging the loss of the S6 World Championship, but Iboy was threaded by Pray in the bottom lane.

However, no one blamed them for anything.

After all, this is the strongest team in LCK, and it is normal to lose.

In the following schedule, other LPL teams are very powerful.

After yesterday's huge public opinion, Uzi returned to the starting lineup and successfully led RNG to win a game, defeating Samsung and helping LPL get a point.

IG also got a point.

Even WE, who were worried about their sometimes strong and sometimes weak performance before the game, played well in the most crucial game today. Conti suppressed Cuzz with explosive power, and Xiye's Yao Ji killed Faker alone, winning the LPL's victory in the final battle of the Intercontinental Championship group stage!

So far, the LPL team's group stage results have been completely determined.

6-2!

Temporarily ranked first in the group.

Everyone has set their sights on the last Intercontinental Championship group stage final battle, KT vs. FW.

The current LCK division record is 5/2. As long as they win this game, they can play a tiebreaker with the LPL division and strive to qualify as the first in the group.

As a result, FW is worthy of being the pioneer against South Korea. In the field of BO1, they completely defeated SKT, not to mention KT. In the end, they fought for 40 minutes and pushed down the opponent's base.

So far, the 2017 Intercontinental Series Asia Showdown Group Stage has come to an end.

The LPL region ranked first in the Asian region with an excellent score of 6/2, and directly entered the Intercontinental Finals as the first in the group!

The remaining second and third places are: LCK region and LMS region!

In the next day, the two regions will take the lead in the semi-final elimination match. Whoever wins will advance to the finals and fight the big boss - LPL on the top of the Forbidden City!