October 30th, TG flew from Guangzhou to Beijing to prepare for the final match.
The night before the match, the Hunter’s Bridge in Guangzhou, the Bund in Shanghai, and the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan all changed to TG’s team colors.
The scene was so spectacular that it attracted countless onlookers, becoming arguably the most impressive official support display in history.
November 4th, Beijing National Stadium, the Bird’s Nest.
Fans from across the country lined up at the venue entrance, waiting for security checks and ticket verification.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, the final warm-up began. The audience seats were completely full, without a single empty spot.
Looking around, TG support items were flickering everywhere, including specially made light boards dozens of meters long spelling out “Thorn Game.”
After the opening ceremony performance, as stirring music rose and suddenly stopped, the central LED screen showed an effect of stone shattering. Riot’s logo appeared as a deep male voice sounded.
Legends Never Die
When the world is calling you
In an instant, everyone started screaming.
After a ten-second countdown, highlights from previous World Championship teams appeared, showing dazzling confrontations mixed with commentators shouting themselves hoarse in Chinese, Korean, and English. In just over ten seconds, the passion and brutality of esports was displayed vividly.
After the short film ended, the lights suddenly dimmed, leaving the venue in darkness.
The audience seats rustled with movement as people whispered to each other.
The screen scene changed to a spacious room where PPE and TG’s ten players sat in chairs, being interviewed.
Each person got a long shot, alternating between the ten Chinese and Korean players.
In front of the camera, Ultraman was still a bit shy, rambling to the director: “A few years ago I was still eating instant noodles in internet cafes, now I can actually play in the finals, it feels like a dream, so unreal.”
Killer rubbed his nose: “I know many people don’t think highly of us, so I really want to win a championship to prove ourselves.”
Thomas: “Before becoming a pro player, the most regrettable finals was S7, when there was no LPL team in the Bird’s Nest. At that time I thought, one day I want to become a pro player too, and then win a championship for LPL on home soil.”
Chen Yuzheng thought for a while, “Just skip it.”
The director beside him quietly asked: “You’ve made it to the finals, don’t you have anything you want to say?”
Chen Yuzheng smiled: “I do, but that sentence, I’ll say it after I win the day after tomorrow.”
…
…
After the ten players’ interviews ended, the screen began playing PPE’s match highlights from over the years.
After that finished, the lights focused on the right side of the stage, showing PPE’s five team members including substitutes and coach. Although they weren’t the home team, the audience still gave them enthusiastic cheers.
Next was TG’s documentary, showing each team member appearing on camera, with moments of joy in their shared glances and moments of dejection when they covered their faces alone. Dozens of seconds flashed by, stopping at the stage where TG defeated WR in the spring split.
The five somewhat innocent young men stood together, still a bit stiff during interviews.
As the camera swept across the venue, more than half the audience seats were empty. Though they were the victors, people below were leaving one after another.
Everyone was lamenting WR’s loss, no one willing to spare a glance at the rising new force.
Though the film was short, it recorded everything – TG’s wins, losses, countless mockeries, cold shoulders, becoming background characters again and again.
The final frame froze.
Zhou Dang at the commentary desk said one line: “Until one day, when you finally can climb onto that stage where all eyes are focused, and then…”
All images disappeared, and with Zhou Dang’s voice, only one line remained on the big screen:
“– At that moment under the spotlight, you will be remembered by everyone.”
Just as the white text on black background dissipated, the venue lights suddenly blazed, and Thorn Game’s flag slowly rose.
Five spotlights focused on TG’s five members.
After two seconds of silence, the whole venue erupted.
—
After the opening ceremony procedures finished, the ten players walked to their respective competition positions and began adjusting their equipment.
The host walked to center stage, “Dear audience and summoners watching through screens, hello and welcome to the League of Legends S11 Finals venue.”
Infected by the finals atmosphere, the live audience’s response was especially enthusiastic.
The host paused for two seconds: “I declare, the League of Legends World Championship Finals, now begins!”
The first game’s pick and ban phase quickly began.
The big screen showed both teams’ rosters side by side:
TG TOP: Thomas JUG: Van MID: Killer AD: Conquer SUP: Ultraman
PPE TOP: Kulia JUG: Satate MID: Moon AD: Kore SUP: Last
As the game entered the interface, the commentator said: “Hope TG gives it their all, shows their fighting spirit, shows their brilliance!! Go for it!!”
The first game officially began. PPE on blue side, TG on red side.
PPE’s five members grouped up and invaded TG’s jungle during level one, forcing out Chen Yuzheng’s flash and heal.
Because they got an early advantage over Chen Yuzheng, PPE kept engaging in the bot lane repeatedly.
But what PPE didn’t know was that regardless of advantage or disadvantage, when it came to fighting, Chen Yuzheng never followed any logic.
Seemingly annoyed at the enemy constantly targeting bot lane, when Chen Yuzheng was forced under tower to farm for the second time, in what looked like a moment of retreat, he suddenly turned and started counter-attacking.
Ultraman darted out from the side, landing a hook with his Blitzcrank, Chen Yuzheng immediately followed up with damage, the series of operations flowing smoothly, killing Kore.
Cheers erupted from the commentary desk: “PPE’s Kore probably got confused by Conquer, why is this guy being so aggressive against me??”
After dying due to overextending, Kore didn’t dare tangle with Chen Yuzheng in lane anymore. PPE adopted Korea’s traditional macro rhythm, with their jungler Satate starting to visit top lane. After Thomas got ganked several times, PPE slowly opened up the game.
Before they knew it, TG had fallen behind by three thousand gold.
After creating the gap, PPE decisively chose to start Baron.
Chen Yuzheng was just clearing minions in mid lane when he first noticed PPE doing Baron. Van had just left base, and by then Baron’s health was already half gone.
Actually TG had no vision and couldn’t see Baron’s health. Kai’Sa was hovering back and forth above.
Jun Hao was confused: “What is Conquer doing?”
Xiao Li worried: “If PPE steals Baron at this timing, it’s too painful for TG, the next push will probably be hard to defend.”
Just as the words fell, Kai’Sa threw an E skill into the Baron pit.
Then, the big screen showed red side’s Baron kill notification.
Jun Hao exclaimed: “What?? Am I seeing things?? Conquer stole Baron!”
This magical play stunned commentators from all regions, who began discussing excitedly: “Wow, what just happened? The Baron was actually blind stolen by TG’s AD, it’s unbelievable!”
Meanwhile, the audience below exploded in response.
In team voice chat, Van stared in disbelief: “Holy shit, that was insane brother Zheng, how did you do that??”
Being chased down by several PPE members afterwards, Chen Yuzheng remained very calm, “Don’t know, just threw out a skill randomly.”
After Chen Yuzheng stole Baron, TG directly took off.
Whether PPE was affected mentally by the Baron steal or not, their subsequent rhythm started falling apart, and the first game was quickly taken by TG.
Everything went more smoothly than expected.
Exceeding all LPL audience expectations, when facing PPE, TG’s condition could be called fearlessly invincible. After the first three games ended, TG was up 2:1 against PPE, first to reach match point.
Victory was within sight.
In game four, TG had a perfect start, leading with a huge advantage.
They had already won two games, they just needed to win this key game to end the finals.
At thirty minutes, PPE had lost two lanes of inhibitors.
The economic gap between the two teams kept widening.
The commentators were tense yet excited, looking dreamy: “TG’s advantage this game is too big, I can’t even imagine how they could lose, is it about to end?”
No one expected that this “can’t imagine how they could lose” jinx would directly kill TG.
Chen Yuzheng and Killer had a timing mismatch, going to enemy jungle to take blue buff, but got surrounded by four PPE members.
The two couldn’t stay calm, got too eager, and forcefully fought against three enemies.
Thomas and Ultraman arrived a step too late, and TG’s double carries both died in PPE’s hands.
This became a turning point in game four, as PPE sounded the horn of counterattack.
Relying on their tenacious endurance, PPE managed to slowly turn around their early game deficit through several small teamfight advantages. In the final mid lane clash, the enemy caught Chen Yuzheng’s tiny positioning mistake, directly pulling him out of the crowd and instantly killing him.
Before dying, Chen Yuzheng barely managed to trade for the enemy support.
The situation suddenly reversed.
The commentator shouted: “It’s over, TG completely fell apart this fight, Conquer shouldn’t have gone in.”
This game TG had a protect-the-carry composition. At such a crucial moment, Chen Yuzheng’s death was undoubtedly devastating for TG.
With Chen Yuzheng dead, the remaining members’ damage wasn’t enough.
At the player seats, Chen Yuzheng stared blankly at his darkened screen.
One second it was heaven, the next it became hell.
After finishing this teamfight, PPE’s members immediately rushed the high ground. TG’s remaining members really couldn’t damage the enemy’s tanky jungler and top laner, and could only watch helplessly as they destroyed the base.
PPE had come back from a huge deficit, evening up the score. TG had once again put themselves on the path to elimination.
In the break room.
After quickly reviewing their recent mistakes, Killer grabbed his hair in extreme frustration, saying dejectedly: “If Conquer and I hadn’t gotten caught and died just now, it would already be over.”
The team leader took a drag of his cigarette: “There’s still one game, we still have a chance.”
Chen Yuzheng got up from his chair, went out to wash his face, water droplets running down his face. He stared at himself in the mirror.
Opening the door to go out, Yu Nuo was standing at the entrance.
She looked at him hesitantly: “Are you okay?”
He made a sound of agreement, lowering his eyelashes: “I’m fine.”
The two stood in wordless opposition. Knowing Chen Yuzheng was blaming himself, Yu Nuo took his hand, “Chen Yuzheng, look at me.”
He obediently looked at her.
“Whether we win or lose later, I won’t be disappointed.” Yu Nuo’s voice was firm, “I will never be disappointed in Conquer.”
Chen Yuzheng actually smiled slightly.
The battle song had already started playing out front.
Before going on stage, Thomas took several deep breaths, Yu Nuo hugged Chen Yuzheng, saying softly: “Good luck.”
Ultraman and Killer’s footsteps stopped as they turned back, waiting for Chen Yuzheng up ahead.
Chen Yuzheng looked at her: “Do you believe in me?”
Yu Nuo looked up: “Hmm?”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
She nodded, letting go of him, “Okay.”
Chen Yuzheng held a cup of water as he joined Ultraman and the others.
Yu Nuo stood in place, watching his retreating figure. The “Conquer” on his back was outlined in golden light.
From far away, she watched him walk step by step toward the stage. Finally, he disappeared at the end of the tunnel.
Deafening cheers erupted.
Yu Nuo suddenly had a feeling like she was in another world.
Half a year ago, she had stood at OG’s break room door, listening to music, searching for Chen Yuzheng on Weibo for the first time.
In those photos, the flowers and applause didn’t belong to him. Chen Yuzheng carried his mouse and keyboard alone, a lonely figure at the end of the corridor. No one paid any attention to him.
But this time, under everyone’s gaze, he stood on the stage at the peak of professional play, finally becoming the focus of all attention.
—
After battling through four grueling games, the final game of the BO5 was often the most crucial, and also the most testing of players’ resilience.
Especially for TG, the BO5 finals seemed like a curse. Every time at the end, they were always just a little short, just missing the championship trophy.
Watching the ten players from both teams return to sit at their computers, every single audience member held their breath.
Cheers for TG resonated through the venue, each shout louder than the last.
At the commentary desk.
Jun Hao sighed: “Honestly, I’m so nervous my hands are starting to shake.”
“It’s fine if you shake, as long as TG’s players don’t shake later.”
Xiao Li: “Game four was really such a pity, hope TG’s players don’t let it affect their mentality, for this final game, just treat it like a regular BO1, don’t leave any regrets.”
The deciding game.
PPE relied on lane swap tactics to gain a slight advantage in the early game.
But TG constantly looked for picks and roamed, seeking teamfight opportunities in the mid game, quickly turning the situation around.
After dozens of minutes, both teams played almost perfectly, trading back and forth, producing countless clutch plays.
Both teams’ compositions were suited for late game. After forty minutes, they were still at the same starting line.
This game’s quality was so high it was even recorded in League of Legends history. As time passed, the fifth game had already exceeded sixty minutes, becoming an incredibly tense bladder game.
If either side made the slightest mistake, all their previous efforts would be wasted.
In the final few minutes near the game’s end, the two teams erupted in one last teamfight at the Baron pit.
The commentator shouted painfully: “Conquer be careful, someone’s coming from behind, run quickly!”
But it was still a step too late, Chen Yuzheng couldn’t catch Ultraman’s lantern, dying to PPE’s jungler.
With the enemy carry dead, PPE quickly started Baron.
Everyone on TG knew clearly that at this point, if they lost this Baron, their chances of turning it around would be practically zero.
Killer commanded: “Wait for my CD, let’s fight them one last time.”
Van’s Gragas barrel scattered PPE’s formation, Ultraman threw down his ultimate.
PPE’s top laner also died.
Making a split-second decision, TG took over this Baron.
Both sides were missing people, Kore went to the side to eat fruit and restore health. After reforming their formation, they continued fighting TG.
This teamfight around Baron lasted three or four minutes, with TG and PPE taking turns dying and respawning. One teleport after another, the venue atmosphere was pushed to its peak.
The dragon was started three or four times.
Chen Yuzheng, who had just respawned, immediately rushed out from fountain. He pinged signals on the minimap, calmly commanding: “Thomas, hold them back later.”
“I’m almost out of mana, can we go in?”
Chen Yuzheng stared intently at his computer screen: “Trust me, ten seconds, I can kill them.”
Both sides were entangled, in complete chaos.
Chen Yuzheng cleared the minion wave, walked to near the river, quietly entering the fight, constantly positioning while looking for opportunities.
“Watch the enemy mid laner and jungler’s positions.”
Thomas adjusted his breathing, gripping his mouse tightly.
In team voice chat, Chen Yuzheng gave the command. Gangplank with his last sliver of health threw his ultimate into PPE’s grouped members, barrels and fire coming down, instantly leaving PPE’s members at low health.
“Ultraman!” Chen Yuzheng shouted.
Ultraman instantly understood, giving him a shield as Chen Yuzheng charged forward without hesitation.
Killer anxiously shouted: “What are you doing!”
Chen Yuzheng: “Sending them on their way.”
In an instant warfare erupted, Chen Yuzheng’s Kai’Sa flew in and began slaughtering everyone. The commentators at the desk all watched dizzily, rapidly commenting on this ultimate teamfight.
“Kore engages from the front, gets instantly taken down by Conquer!! Enemy jungler gets stunned, Conquer kills them one by one, takes them down in pairs!!!”
As kill notifications kept appearing on screen, the venue ignited with them.
Jun Hao spoke until he was almost out of breath, nearly passing out himself.
Seeing the situation turn bad, Kulia immediately tried to TP back to defend base. But it was still too late – Chen Yuzheng and Killer coordinated to take down the enemy mid laner and jungler.
Thomas’s TP also lit up, and the three gathered in mid lane, grouped up to destroy the inhibitor towers and nexus turrets, coordinating with minions to frantically hit the crystal.
Every point of damage struck countless hearts.
The audience below had already started getting excited, collectively counting down PPE’s nexus health – last hundred, last fifty.
On the competitive stage, victory and defeat come in an instant.
PPE could no longer turn the tide, staring blankly at their monitors.
It was over, finally over.
The commentator trembled, already unable to wait to announce: “Five seconds left! Four seconds!! TG has won!!! They’ve defeated Korea’s first seed!!! We!! Are!! Champions!!!”
Jun Hao shouted with all his might: “A thousand grinding blows still leave them standing strong, let the winds blow from all directions!! Congratulations to TG’s new king’s coronation!!!”
When the victory music finally played.
The entire audience stood up from their seats, raising their arms, calling TG’s name like an avalanche.
Killer seemed to still be in a daze, feeling everything before him was unreal.
It all felt like a dream, until Ultraman pounced over shouting, “We won!! Brother Killer!!! We are the champions!!!!”
Killer suddenly snapped back to reality, jumping straight up from his seat to embrace him.
The female commentator choked up at one point, while the male commentator’s voice also carried tears as he proclaimed passionately: “We’ve finally waited for this day, the national flag will rise in the Bird’s Nest! TG has done it!!!!! LPL are champions!!!!!”
All the venue lights shone brilliantly, confetti fragments floated down like rain, golden rain falling in the Bird’s Nest. The coach and team leader rushed up to embrace TG’s five members.
Hundreds of cameras swept across each TG member.
Some were laughing, some were crying, they all lifted the trophy above their heads together.
This young and impetuous team had finally, at this moment, shocked the whole world.
At this time, various livestream rooms and Weibo exploded.
[Cry!! Everyone fucking cry with me!!! You’re not Chinese if you don’t cry.]
[TG amazing TG66666666666]
[Congratulations to TG’s new king’s coronation!!!!!]
—
After the match ended, tens of thousands chanted TG.
At the awards ceremony, Riot officials came on stage to give medals to each person.
The final FMVP went to Chen Yuzheng.
Before the host could even announce his name, fans below waved light sticks, collectively calling out “Conquer”.
The scene was incredibly spectacular.
Riot’s Vice President smiled, hanging the medal around the young man’s neck.
The host smiled beside him asking: “Before the match you said in the promo video that there were some words you’d only say after winning the finals, so can you say them now?”
Under countless gazes, Chen Yuzheng took the microphone.
The venue gradually grew quiet.
All cameras focused on the stage as Chen Yuzheng suddenly smiled. Then, his low voice carried to every corner of the Bird’s Nest, while also being broadcast to every viewer around the world:
“Someone once said, she hoped that one day, Conquer would be remembered by everyone.”
“So today, I came to fulfill her wish.”
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