Thirty minutes before the match, in the OG rest room, the coach was arranging tactics and making final preparations.
Yu Ge played with the charm in his hand, noticed the gaze beside him, and looked back. Will smiled: “From your sister?” Yu Ge made a sound of agreement.
The analyst stood at the blackboard, drawing: “We’ve lost twice to TG before, and there’s been a lot of doubt and public opinion. I know you’re under psychological pressure. But TG is still a new team, and they’ll definitely lack experience in BO51. We mainly need to focus on TG’s bottom lane. Conquer has an aggressive style, and in my assessment, he’s a high-risk player. If you gank him a few times early game and disrupt TG’s bottom lane-centered rhythm, winning the match will be simple.”
Before going on stage, the coach was trying to ease the atmosphere. The team members laughed along, saying it was nothing, they’d seen it all before.
A Wen sat alone in the corner. Will exchanged glances with Roy. They walked over and sat down beside A Wen. Without saying anything, they firmly gripped his shoulders and patted him.
A Wen was already 24 years old. Among players who were mostly in their teens or early twenties, his competitive ability was visibly declining. A Wen had played for YLD for six years, always being the team’s stable carry.
Over those six years, A Wen had made it to many finals, always one step away from the trophy, but always falling short at the last moment.
Despite giving his all, the championship always slipped through his fingers.
Yu Ge knew him from their training days.
During last winter’s transfer window, A Wen contacted OG’s management through Yu Ge, willing to take a pay cut to play professionally for OG. He understood his professional career was nearing its end, but for his dream, he wanted to try one more time.
A Wen’s exact words were: [I’d rather be a substitute, rather work for free, just let me play in matches.]
When it was officially announced in spring that A Wen was joining the thriving OG, it caused quite a stir. There were doubts, shock, and countless speculations. The YLD label was basically stuck to A Wen, and YLD fans were both angry and sad.
If A Wen abandoned YLD, who had given him his chance, yet still couldn’t succeed at OG, he would face not just retirement, but also losing fans and mockery from haters. His reputation would be tarnished.
And tonight.
At this moment, on this stage, A Wen was staking his professional career on this final.
This was his last all-or-nothing attempt, his last chance to give it everything.
—
When it was time to go on stage, many spectators in the arena couldn’t sit still, the crowd was roaring. Following the countdown on the big screen, everyone chanted together:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1——
As the white smoke dispersed, the silver Dragon Cup slowly rose from the center.
The host emerged from the shadows: “Hello dear summoners and viewers watching the livestream, this is the 2021 League of Legends Professional League Spring Finals.”
“Today we will see which team claims the championship trophy. Let’s give our warmest applause to the two teams about to appear— “First, Team Occasion!”
The audience below waved their support signs frantically, the response was very enthusiastic. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” “OG! OG!!!!!!!! OG!! OG!!”
The host struck while the iron was hot: “And our second team today, also this spring’s strongest dark horse—Thorn Game!!!!”
The central screen began flashing clips from both teams’ past matches – Yu Ge wearing headphones giving intense commands, Chen Yuzheng getting a quadra kill while his teammates joked beside him, Will raising his arms in victory after winning a match, the five of them bowing together on stage after winning… …. …
Five or six cameras followed them around. Yu Ge squeezed the charm in his hand one more time before putting it in his pocket.
The two teams went up from opposite sides of the stage.
Following the usual procedure, the host introduced each player one by one.
Both teams returned to their computers, checking their peripherals. A Wen fell behind the group, turning back to look at the silver trophy in the center of the stage.
Before putting on his headphones, Yu Ge called out: “Duan Hongwen.”
A Wen tilted his head slightly: “Hm? Why suddenly use my full name?”
“Remember what I said when I brought you to OG?”
A Wen paused, “What…”
“I said I’d help you win a championship.” Yu Ge said calmly, without emotion, putting on his headphones.
A Wen smiled, trying to seem relaxed: “Yeah, that’s how you tricked me into coming, right?”
As the game countdown began, Yu Ge stared at the computer screen, testing the Q and W keys, “Today.”
The team voice chat went quiet for a moment.
A Wen: “What?”
“The championship I promised you.”
—
The data panels for both teams were shown on screen.
The commentators began their analysis: “The key point in today’s match is whoever gets the advantage in bottom lane early game will basically control the game’s rhythm. Both teams play with top lane absorbing pressure while focusing on bottom lane.”
Xiao Li continued: “Yes, we were just discussing in the rest room, both teams are focused on bottom lane. Conquer just debuted this year, and his mechanical skills are indeed impressive. We also commentated the semi-finals, and Conquer’s aggressive yet patient style left a deep impression. But in terms of experience, Fish definitely has the upper hand.”
Jun Hao: “In the trash talk, neither of them backs down from the other, they’re ready to go head-to-head.”
At this point, laughter rippled through the crowd.
Jia Wei: “It’s been half a month since their last match, both teams must have prepared plenty of strategies. For OG, or rather for A Wen, he’s always been questioned about his mentality in finals, so tonight’s match is very meaningful for him, whether he can break through his mental block depends on tonight.”
Jun Hao: “So, in tonight’s peak confrontation, will TG’s new generation team ascend to the throne, or will OG defend their dynasty? Let’s wait and see.” … …
The match officially began.
In the first game, while the commentators were still casually discussing the situation, suddenly, a fight broke out in bottom lane.
The director’s camera quickly focused there.
Chen Yuzheng mispositioned and was hit by the enemy support’s Q.
Both supports used heal, Chen Yuzheng hid behind minions while moving, left with just a sliver of health.
Yu Ge seized the opportunity to flash forward, followed with two auto attacks, maximizing damage, directly securing the kill.
The commentators exclaimed: “Fish is playing so aggressively today, getting first blood before three minutes?”
“Conquer seems to have misplayed just now, he E’d right into the enemy support’s Q.”
At eight minutes, OG had a 2500 gold lead.
This was a dramatic advantage in professional games.
After Yu Ge reached level 6, he called mid lane down. The two set up vision and caught Chen Yuzheng alone pushing the wave in bottom lane.
The two coordinated briefly in voice chat, with clean coordination – one crowd control, one flank, swiftly killing Chen Yuzheng.
Chen Yuzheng was now 0-3.
Jun Hao joked, “Conquer’s being a bit careless, if he gets caught out one more time, he might as well quit the game.”
“Honestly, he’s getting completely crushed.”
Viewers on the streaming platform started spamming question marks:
[Is this the genius AD who was hyped as peak level from debut? Pretty laughable.]
[Damn, what a useless AD, stop feeding stop feeding, you’re making people stupid.]
[Classic Fish destroying noobs.]
[Conquer is getting completely outclassed by Fish…]
On the big screen, just as the support returned to lane after buying items, OG’s bottom lane not only didn’t retreat but even called their jungler for a tower dive.
Automan fell alongside Chen Yuzheng.
TG’s bottom duo was sent straight back to base.
Van arrived just in time to secure dragon. Top lane’s TP lit up, along with mid lane, three people gathered near the dragon pit.
Yu Ge started pinging signals.
Roy finished blue buff and quickly joined the front line.
Chen Yuzheng and Automan weren’t even respawned yet. TG realized all five enemies were nearby and wanted to retreat, but OG had already engaged.
OG stubbornly fought TG 3v5 and ended up getting wiped, completely falling apart.
As the game neared its end, OG secured all the Barons and dragons.
TG fell behind by almost 10,000 gold2.
In less than half an hour, the game ended with TG suffering a perfect game.
(0 kills, 0 towers, 0 objectives.)
—
During the break, in TG’s training room backstage, the atmosphere was heavy.
The manager stood with hands on hips, scolding the team. Actually, getting angry at players during matches wasn’t appropriate – it not only created additional psychological pressure but could also affect their upcoming performance. Losing one game normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but TG had played terribly, barely putting up any resistance.
Coach: “Your coordination was terrible, especially you Conquer, what’s wrong with you today? Why is your condition so poor? What were you thinking when you took that Q earlier? Why didn’t you use flash immediately?”
The others hung their heads during the lecture. Chen Yuzheng was pale, saying nothing, looking to one side.
“Don’t give me that attitude, Conquer!” The team leader’s voice suddenly rose, “You had the most obvious problems throughout the game, and instead of thinking about what went wrong, you’re throwing a tantrum? Do you understand what it means to suffer a perfect game? If you keep performing like this in today’s finals, our whole season’s efforts will be wasted, do you understand?”
Yu Nuo sat in the corner, looking at Chen Yuzheng’s face, suddenly realizing something. … …
The second game quickly began.
TG’s three lanes made fewer mistakes, playing much better than the previous game.
Both sides traded back and forth several times, but at mid-game, Chen Yuzheng was caught by Yu Ge while clearing vision.
Then he died twice more in bottom lane.
OG had chosen a late-game composition, and due to Yu Ge’s perfect performance, their late-game carries got their items ahead of schedule.
TG couldn’t deal with Yu Ge’s damage output. Despite fighting hard for twenty minutes, they were still pushed to their base and lost their inhibitor.
Once again, the problem was in bottom lane.
In League of Legends finals history, there had almost never been a reverse sweep from 0-2. Now that TG had lost two games straight, the outcome seemed decided.
The team leader couldn’t even get angry anymore, going to the corridor to smoke. The coach sat in front of the LCD screen, watching the recent teamfights.
The atmosphere remained depressed, with Killer and Van hanging their heads.
Chen Yuzheng curled up alone in his chair, legs propped on the sofa edge, head lowered lazily, playing with a water bottle in his hand.
Suddenly, a girl’s gentle voice sounded beside his ear.
“Chen Yuzheng?”
He looked up, startled.
Yu Nuo bent slightly, asking very seriously: “Are you feeling unwell?”
Chen Yuzheng didn’t speak.
They were very close, Yu Nuo avoided his gaze and explained: “I saw your face didn’t look good earlier, I thought you might have low blood sugar. There’s a hospital nearby, I went to buy some glucose solution, want to drink some first?”
He still remained silent.
She had been rushing for time, afraid of being late, and had been running the whole way. Now her face was red and hot, and she couldn’t help but pant slightly. Yu Nuo felt embarrassed for a moment, thinking she might have been meddling. She took out a juice from the bag, “The glucose solution doesn’t taste very good, if you don’t want to drink it, I also bought this—”
Chen Yuzheng took the glucose solution from her hand. Tore open the packaging and drank it down.
Yu Nuo sighed in relief.
She didn’t dare disturb him further, put the juice beside his hand, and quietly went back to her own seat.
As the third game was about to begin, after the analyst gave his final instructions, the TG members stood up from their chairs and started walking out one by one.
When Chen Yuzheng reached the door, he paused, “Yu Nuo.”
Yu Nuo was slightly startled.
This was the first time he had called her name.
Chen Yuzheng stood there, looking at her. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke, “Thanks.”
- In League of Legends, BO5 stands for “Best of 5” and is the longest match type i.e., taking the most stamina, that is usually only seen in tournament knockout stages and sometimes in the grand finals. A BO5 match can take between two and five hours to complete, depending on the game. ↩︎
- Just for anyone who doesn’t play LoL/similar games, they’re buffs that, when killed, makes the team stronger / allows them to buy better items / allows them to push harder towards objectives. Being able to take all the barons/dragons will make it much easier to win. ↩︎
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