“Welcome to the final showdown of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship…”
Today is a bright day, and the large stadium in the sports center is engulfed by a crowd. The orange-red sunset spreads across the sky, with birds circling above the sports venue. The opening ceremony is taking place inside the competition venue, and after the theme song of this year’s world championship has been sung, the players from both sides are about to take the stage.
“Don’t be nervous!”
Before taking the stage, teammates surround Jiang Mo, who is about to step onto the final stage for the first time, cheering him on.
Jiang Mo can’t help but laugh and cry. He can’t tell his teammates that he has stood on the finals stage before and even won the championship trophy.
“It’s okay, I’m not nervous.” Jiang Mo shrinks within the circle of his taller teammates, resembling a chick protected by its mother hen.
“Alright, alright, what’s going on here? Don’t scare him.” Da Tian reaches out and disperses the annoying bunch. “We’re about to go on stage, stand tall, don’t yawn in front of the camera, and stay focused.”
In unison, everyone says, “Got it!”
Strangely, as the day of the finals approaches, their nervousness and fear diminish. During the group stage and elimination matches, they would still feel nervous when going on stage. However, on the day of the final match, as they travel to the venue, they are unusually relaxed, even joking and playing around with their teammates.
They are well-prepared, and even facing the EK team, they have no reason to fear. They can’t let Coach A’Kang and Jiang Mo’s hard work go to waste; they are determined to win.
When Jiang Mo and Coach A’Kang discuss tactics, Xia Zeyu has formulated several strategies against Park Eun-kyung. A few days before the match, Xia Zeyu suddenly enters the meeting room and tells Jiang Mo and the coach that, in this world championship, he wants to give his starting position to Jiang Mo.
Jiang Mo thinks he misheard. From the summer season until now, even if Xia Zeyu is afraid, he has never taken the initiative to give his position to Jiang Mo.
“Why?” Coach A’Kang frowns. Although he thinks Jiang Mo has an advantage over Xia Zeyu in performance, he disagrees with Xia Zeyu’s decision.
Xia Zeyu says, “I’m not afraid to go on stage, and it doesn’t matter if the opponent is Park Eun-kyung. But I know that my current skill level cannot surpass Master Jiang Mo. We’ve worked so hard to reach the World Finals, and we only have five opportunities, each game is crucial for us. I don’t want to jeopardize
Xia Zeyu’s gaze is firm. “If it’s just a regular ranked match, I wouldn’t give the lane to Master Jiang Mo when facing Park Eun-kyung. But this is the World Championship. Missing this opportunity means waiting for another year. I’ve wasted a lot of time and only truly recovered after the summer season ended. If we can win this time, in the next World Championship, when I become strong enough to surpass Master Jiang Mo, I will absolutely not give him the chance to play.”
Moreover, during the quarterfinals, he had already proven himself. They are a team, and it doesn’t matter who goes on stage; as long as the team wins, they all contribute.
Coach A’Kang’s tightly knit brows relax in Xia Zeyu’s determined words, and he smiles with relief. “Xiao Yu, you’ve finally grown up.”
Jiang Mo mutters, “Surpass me?”
Xia Zeyu instantly softens, “No, I didn’t mean that.”
“No,” Jiang Mo smiles, “I’m happy you could say such things. So, let’s have you be the substitute for once. Even if I play in the starting lineup, your training shouldn’t be neglected. If I make a mistake, I’ll be relying on you.”
Xia Zeyu nods, “Got it.”
…
The early autumn evening breeze flows through the open-air arena. The stage lights up in the competition center, and the host Hong Liang’s voice echoes throughout the entire venue. Outside the sports center, pedestrians can hear the lively sounds coming from inside.
The players and coaches of the SVP team and EK team step onto the competition stage, and the host introduces each of them one by one.
The substitute players who have not played in previous matches cannot participate. The substitute mid laner, Xiao Xi, is too young and has too little tournament experience. The coach and manager initially planned to have him fill in as a substitute, but he wasn’t brought along for this World Championship. Xiao Xi understands the situation, realizing his limited abilities, and returns to the second team to watch the match with his teammates in the base.
SVP has a total of five main players plus a jungle substitute, and EK team is the same, with the substitute being AD.
The two teams stand face to face on the stage, with Jiang Mo positioned in the starting lineup, facing Park Eun-kyung on the opposite side.
Park Eun-kyung’s face lacks the usual fake smile, and he looks at Jiang Mo with a gloomy expression.
Jiang Mo lifts his eyelids lazily, not wanting to look at Park Eun-kyung anymore, and his gaze falls on the championship trophy at the center of the stage.
The Summoner’s trophy, made of pure silver, with a top ring surrounded by blue gemstones and a lower ring engraved with the images of five summoners. They have their hands placed on their chests, holding identical blue gemstones, shimmering in the light. The trophy symbolizes being the world’s number one, captivating everyone on the field.
[“Ah, Ah, Ah, Mo Mo looks so handsome today! Their team jerseys are really good-looking. I’ve already bought two sets, planning to switch and wear them!”]
[“He’s the most handsome guy in the whole arena! His hair dye is so good; I can spot him at a glance. Even without height advantage, we can attract people with our face and hair color!”]
[“What a joke! In my heart, Wish has a presence of one meter eighty!”]
[“SVP, come on!!! Send the EK team back to their hometown! I’m really annoyed with that dog Park Eun-kyung!”]
[“I just want to laugh when I see Park Eun-kyung. The word “idi*t” is clearly written on his face. His forehead isn’t suitable for this hairstyle.”]
[“I heard that Louis also went to the venue. Can the director be smart and focus the camera on Louis? Let’s see his expression now.”]
[“Hahaha deliberately causing trouble, right? Park Eun-kyung, that coward, dares to step on others’ corpses during the game, but under the stage, he’s a coward. He still hasn’t responded to Louis until now.”]
The director and the bullet comments seem to have a tacit understanding. After the players go to prepare, the commentators analyze the game in the commentary box, and the camera suddenly shifts to the audience.
Among a group of LPL players, there sits a burly man with a height of one meter ninety, brown hair, black eyes, and well-defined features. If it’s not Louis, then who?
Louis holds the SVP team’s banner and, upon seeing the camera, shouts in fluent Chinese, “Come on, SVP, beat the EK team for me!”
Commentator Xiao Yang: “…”
The three commentators are forced to interrupt their analysis.
Commentator Chang Feng laughs, “Louis is really cute.”
[“Hahaha, isn’t he cute? If it weren’t for the camera, he would have definitely cursed ‘Park Eun-kyung is an idi*t’ out loud, right!”]
[“I’m laughing so hard. Thanks to Park Eun-kyung for bringing this friend! This is the first time I’ve seen a player from another team holding someone else’s team banner. He’ll definitely be scolded by the coach when he goes back!”]
[“Hahaha, I like Louis, this straightforward person. If I don’t like you, I’ll confront you directly!”]
…
In the player’s lounge —
Park Eun-kyung, infuriated, slammed the plastic cup on the table and pointed at the screen, cursing loudly, “What does Louis want to do?”
The coach of the Eel team and the coach of EK are old acquaintances, and the two teams have always had a good relationship. He was deceived. How could Louis treat him like this?
After being explicitly cursed by Louis, Park Eun-kyung immediately went to find out the whole story. He asked many people before understanding what “idi*t” meant.
He was fooled by that actor with a gentle smile.
Park Eun-kyung privately contacted Louis, explained the reasons, but Louis didn’t believe him and instead mocked him.
“You’re talking about Chi Yu? Can’t you come up with a believable excuse? He’s a Grand Slam actor. Why would he lie to you for no reason?” Louis, being Chi Yu’s fan, knows how good Chi Yu’s character is. How could Chi Yu do such a thing!
Even if Chi Yu called him an idi*t, he would accept it. After all, it’s absolutely not Park Eun-kyung’s turn to call him an idi*t!
“But that’s the truth!” Park Eun-kyung’s explanations were futile, so he called the translator to explain to Louis.
Louis treated it as a joint deception and simply didn’t believe their explanation. He was angry for several days, and when he saw Jiang Mo on stage just now, the anger that had been suppressed in his chest almost erupted.
It’s really despicable.
“You’ll be on stage soon. Stay calm.” The coach of the EK team reminded, “They want to mess with your mentality. Don’t fall for their tricks.”
“I know,” Park Eun-kyung took a deep breath, remembered that Xia Zeyu was standing in the substitute position on stage, and couldn’t help but smile, “Is SVP team here to make people laugh by letting a substitute play in the finals?”
EK coach: “I’ve told you several times, don’t underestimate this substitute. He’s better than Xia Zeyu.”
Park Eun-kyung sneered, “Better? Even if he’s better than Xia Zeyu, I can teach him a lesson.”
The EK coach raised his voice, “Didn’t I tell you before?!”
Park Eun-kyung turned his head, showing an expression of not wanting to deal with him.
The EK coach rubbed his throbbing forehead. Park Eun-kyung is top-notch, but his biggest flaw is not listening to advice. He had told Park Eun-kyung many times in the past few days not to underestimate Jiang Mo, but Park Eun-kyung just wouldn’t listen.
EK mid laner said, “Eun-kyung, he is Moo.”
Park Eun-kyung was stunned, looking at the mid laner, “Moo?”
The EK mid laner restrained the coach. He knew Park Eun-kyung’s temper. He had mentioned Jiang Mo during training, but Park Eun-kyung was too self-centered and unwilling to listen to anyone. He had to repeat it several times for Park Eun-kyung to remember.
“Do you forget? In the Korean server, he defeated you…”
“Hey!” Park Eun-kyung shouted, interrupting the EK mid laner.
The EK mid laner immediately changed his words, “After winning that match, he reached the top of the Korean server, and SVP team signed him. He became famous with your name. Fans in the LPL are praising him for defeating you.”
To say it this way, can only inspire Park Eun-kyung’s fighting spirit.
Reminded by his teammates, Park Eun-kyung recalled the name. It was just a game; he had lost during his ranking matches too, mostly due to unreliable teammates causing his defeats. That particular game did have pressure, but it wasn’t unwinnable. He admitted that Moo had some skill, but…
Defeated? He was just in a bad state, lost that one time, that’s all. Where did this talk of being defeated come from?
Why were all sorts of people trying to ride on his popularity?
The World Championship is the real competition; offline matches don’t count. He will defeat that guy on the World Championship stage.
…
About to go on stage, Chi Yu tore open a strawberry candy and put it in Jiang Mo’s mouth. Jiang Mo stood up, took the initiative to hug Chi Yu, pressed his forehead against Chi Yu’s shoulder, took a deep breath, using Chi Yu’s warmth and breath to boost his confidence.
“You must watch me.” He repeated this sentence every time before a match.
Chi Yu smiled, patted Jiang Mo’s head, and said gently, “I will.”
The match officially began, and the audience fell silent.
In the Ban-Pick phase, SVP was on the blue side with the first pick. Unexpectedly, Coach A’kang did not ban Park Eun-kyung’s jungle Lee Sin but banned the top lane Gangplank, mid lane Sylas, and Ahri instead. This surprised the three commentators in the booth.
In the usual matches against EK, both teams would ban Park Eun-kyung’s Lee Sin first. In recent years, Park Eun-kyung had not played this champion.
EK’s jungle was outstanding, followed by the mid and top lanes. The only weak point was the AD carry. By limiting the champions for the top and mid lanes, the pressure on mid and top could be relieved. SVP was willing to let Park Eun-kyung pick his highest win-rate Lee Sin. Jiang Mo had his own tricks to deal with Park Eun-kyung.
SVP gave the position to Xie Ning. What surprised the commentators and audience even more was that, on the side of EK, the backline, they picked the mid and top lanes without banning Lee Sin. Park Eun-kyung didn’t pick Lee Sin?
Jiang Mo chuckled. EK banned Fiddlesticks, which should be the coach’s decision. If Park Eun-kyung decided on this match, he probably wouldn’t ban any jungle champions.
By not picking Lee Sin, Park Eun-kyung implied, “Does picking the jungle position first mean you’ve lost? You gave me the position; I’ll give it back to you. I’m not afraid.”
When it was SVP’s turn to pick, Jiang Mo didn’t pick a jungle champion either. Coach A’kang quickly locked in the bot lane duo, and the opposite side didn’t pick a jungle champion either
.In fact, the jungle pick didn’t matter much. But Jiang Mo and Park Eun-kyung knew in their hearts that this Ban-Pick phase was their duel.
In the fourth and fifth ban positions, SVP and EK still did not ban Lee Sin. The commentators speculated that SVP would probably pick Lee Sin.
When it was SVP’s turn to pick, being the first pick, they had to make the final two selections. Jiang Mo locked in Kha’Zix
Kha’Zix’s drawback was his fragile nature. If he faced opponents with a lot of crowd control and protection, it would be challenging to engage, making him unsuitable for team fights.
Commentator: “Choosing Kha’Zix in the first pick position takes a lot of courage.”
Indeed courageous. The opponent’s jungle hasn’t made a selection yet, and they chose this champion in the first pick position. Aren’t they afraid the opponent will counter it?
What surprised the commentators and the audience was that EK didn’t lock in Lee Sin or any other champion. Instead, they locked in jungle Graves
Both Graves and Kha’Zix require items, and in the early game encounter in the jungle, Kha’Zix has a passive advantage.
[“Why pick Graves? I thought we would see Park God’s Lee Sin! SVP gave the opportunity, why not take it?”]
[“Because Park God is confident. His Graves is also formidable. The early 1v1 matchups are fifty-fifty, and EK’s lineup has crowd control. The support is a female tank. Dreaming of Kha’Zix diving into the AD carry is impossible. Kha’Zix is not good in team fights; if he can’t burst down squishies, he’s useless.”]
[“Stop calling him Park God, it’s annoying. Did Park God change his name to idi*t?”]
[“Hahaha, is this joke too much to handle?”]
Seeing Park Eun-kyung’s choice, Xie Ning laughed, “Brother, is he trying to seek revenge?”
Moo defeated Park Eun-kyung using Graves, so is Park Eun-kyung trying to regain some face on the stage? Teaching Jiang Mo how to play Graves?
Tang Zi commented lightly, “Idi*t.”
Indeed, foolish, not making good use of the opportunity.
Impulsiveness is the worst in a match.
However, no matter what Park Eun-kyung picks, Jiang Mo has a way to counter it.
Hero counters exist, but when a King and a Diamond player face off, hero counters cease to exist.
On the blue side, Jiang Mo chose to start in the upper jungle with the blue buff. Before the start, the support Li Yuan quickly left the base, inserted a ward in the opponent’s upper jungle at the red buff location. From the exposed vision, it could be judged that Park Eun-kyung did not choose to start in the top jungle today.
Jiang Mo quickly cleared the jungle monsters to level up. Tao Zi picked a mid-lane enchantress, Viktor as the opponent. At the beginning, he pushed the minion wave forward. After Jiang Mo finished clearing the upper jungle monsters, he retreated to his own defensive tower. He circled around and followed Jiang Mo towards the opponent’s red buff. Graves was currently clearing the F6 monsters.
“Mid lane missing.” EK’s mid-laner spoke.
On the minimap, the opponent’s jungle figure appeared. Jiang Mo’s Kha’Zix jumped up to deal damage. Graves remained calm. Before finishing the monster, he used his E skill to create distance from Kha’Zix. Unexpectedly, the enchantress suddenly appeared, W-ing forward, and the E skill’s chain locked onto him.
Kha’Zix and the enchantress appeared simultaneously. When Graves used his displacement skill, the enchantress’s predictive chain had already been released, accurately hitting Graves. The chain’s lock requires time, and once out of that range, it won’t control. Graves had no choice but to flash. If he got locked down, with both of them attacking him, he could very well be taken down for first blood.
“Where were you?” Park Eun-kyung said angrily.
EK’s mid-laner explained, “I was on my way, but they acted too quickly.”
He didn’t expect these two to appear simultaneously, their coordination was too good. Even though he was closest to the upper jungle area, when he went to support, Park Eun-kyung had already used his flash. Trying to catch up for a counter-attack was not possible. They didn’t give the chance for a counter-attack. After taking Park Eun-kyung’s flash, they retreated. Graves flashed over the wall, too far away. When he came over, the enemies had already left.
Commentator Chang Feng: “Wish and Tao Zi’s coordination is too good. This is the first time I’ve seen them so in sync since the summer split. They both went top simultaneously, one blocking the positioning of Graves, forcing out his skills, and the other predicting it early. Well played!”
Park Eun-kyung’s Flash was gone. Just now at F6, Jiang Mo seemed to be fighting Park Eun-kyung, but his main goal was to intimidate Park Eun-kyung, further delaying his economy. Jiang Mo used his skills to take away the jungle monsters that Park Eun-kyung was attacking halfway and also took the river crab on the top lane.
Park Eun-kyung had a healthy amount of health; at this point, he definitely didn’t recall. After taking the river crab, he squatted in the top lane’s tribrush. Meanwhile, Graves had finished clearing the Krugs and was rushing to the top lane. Before entering the brush, he took a full combo of damage from Kha’Zix. Kha’Zix had no intention of killing him; he just used a combo and jumped away.
At this point, Xie Ning also knew that Graves was coming. She retreated, there were no resources left in the upper jungle, and there were no opportunities for ganks in the top and mid lanes. Graves could only recall and buy items.
After finishing a combo, Jiang Mo recalled a step ahead of Graves, quickly completed his equipment, and took the enemy’s red buff in the bottom lane. Tao Zi’s enchantress had been waiting in the river brush. Seeing that Graves started attacking the river crab, Jiang Mo quickly arrived. Tao Zi took the first move, Graves used his E skill to dodge the enchantress’s chain, but he couldn’t avoid Kha’Zix’s jump. EK’s mid-laner rushed over to help, wanting to save Graves from the hands of the two. Graves escaped with a sliver of health, and Kha’Zix leisurely finished off the river crab that Graves had attacked halfway. Graves did not survive the escape; he was burned to death by the red buff.
—First Blood
A long-distance First Blood ignited the atmosphere in the live broadcast room.
[“Is this your undefeated myth? First Blood?!”]
[“Cool! Died beautifully!!!”]
[“Is this the Park Eun-kyung I know? Haven’t seen him in a few days, why is he playing so cautiously?”]
[“Ah, ah, ah, Tao Zi, you’re really making your mom proud today! Thank you, Master Wish!”]
In the next two waves, Park Eun-kyung was harassed again by Jiang Mo, thwarted by Jiang Mo. Despite having Smite, he could still secure the jungle monsters, but no one likes it when someone suddenly pops out to fight or steal your things while you’re in the middle of jungling. It wasn’t just Kha’Zix; the mid-lane enchantress sacrificed several waves of minions to follow up with frequent harassment. If it wasn’t Kha’Zix, it was the enchantress. It was annoying.
Moreover, the enchantress wasn’t in vain. When the opponent came to gank, his own teammates certainly wouldn’t just stand by. Throughout the match’s rhythm, Park Eun-kyung got caught, the mid-laner came to help, Jiang Mo and Tao Zi ran away, and the mid-laner made a pointless trip, not gaining much minion gold. Calculating it, Tao Zi didn’t sacrifice much.
Park Eun-kyung was again ambushed by Jiang Mo in the brush, but this time it wasn’t just a hit-and-run. Unbeknownst to Park Eun-kyung, Jiang Mo took several of his jungle monsters, got a slightly higher economy, updated his equipment, Kha’Zix’s passive advantage kicked in. This time, he was solo-killed by Jiang Mo.
Seeing the kill notification on the screen, EK’s team was shocked.
“Eun-kyung, what’s going on?” EK’s top-laner asked unconsciously.
Park Eun-kyung shouted, “Sh*t up!”
[“Did you guys feel it? Park Eun-kyung is having a tough start. While jungling, someone always counter-jungles. I wanted to gank, but there’s a mantis
[“Wish: I didn’t mean anything else; I just wanted to tease you and then run. Come on, try to fight me! Can’t kill me, huh? If you die, hehehe!”]
[“This playstyle is so cheap, but I like it. I love seeing Park Eun-kyung’s annoyed face.”]
[“This is the first time I’ve seen Park Eun-kyung so frustrated. It’s messing with his mentality.”]
Park Eun-kyung got fired up, not bothering about jungle monsters anymore, and started hunting for Kha’Zix everywhere in the jungle. However, Kha’Zix didn’t appear in the jungle; instead, he started showing up in the lanes, going from top to mid and then to bot after catching his top lane teammate.
When Park Eun-kyung went to block someone in the lane, Jiang Mo timely cleared the jungle resources again, repeating this cycle until the dragon fight. It was only after EK team lost the dragon team fight that Park Eun-kyung fully woke up.
He fell into the opponent’s trap. They deliberately played it dark, aiming to mess with his mentality.
Unable to keep up in farm, SVP wanted to fight EK in the early game, relying on the superior equipment advantage to win several team fights.
EK wanted to restrict Kha’Zix’s harvesting, but with Xie Ning and Li Yuan soaking up damage and sacrificing themselves, Jiang Mo calmly held his ground. He always seized the right moment, stealthily jumping out to kill either Graves or the AD carry, and then stealthily leaping away.
Already at a disadvantage, losing one damage dealer before a team fight, who could endure that?
During the crystal explosion, Park Eun-kyung’s face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
As the players left the stage to rest, the two teams clashed, and Park Eun-kyung shouted from behind. Jiang Mo stopped and turned to look at him.
“The first game was my negligence, but I won’t give you a chance anymore. Be mentally prepared; I’ll let you know who controls the jungle.”
Park Eun-kyung said something in Korean that the translator was about to convey to Jiang Mo.
However, Jiang Mo spoke first.
He lightly pulled the corner of his lips, a faint smile on his face. “Idi*t.”