Compared to Group A's first match, Group B's match between MLG and SSK naturally wouldn't be as one-sided as Team God's victory over the Thai Giants in the Wild Card Zone.
Both teams were veteran teams that had participated in the S Series World Championship many times.
Not to mention SSK, MLG also had Spoon, one of the seven king-level mid laners. There were even rumors in the European LCS division that Spoon was in great form this season, almost catching up to Europe's number one Wizard King, Phoenix.
Regarding this point, there were similar opinions and voices within the industry.
This was because Spoon's performance in the Nightingale-Nightingale Dark Battle that had just ended not too long ago was equally stunning. His individual skills and overall team battle abilities were impeccable.
As for MLG's overall performance, just the fact that they were able to defeat Legend in this year's Spring Tournament was enough to explain everything.
Therefore, before the match in Group B began, many players in the audience were still discussing:
"MLG's momentum this season is quite strong."
"Even against SSK … it's not like they have no chance of winning, right?"
"SSK isn't completely invincible. If MLG performs well, they really have a chance of winning this match."
Many of the local players were still fantasizing about what would happen if SSK was defeated by MLG, and the Taiwanese Assassin team defeated MLG in Group B as well …
Who knows, they might even eliminate SSK in the group stage?
F * ck me, that's just too awesome!
However, reality proved that such fantasies could only exist in fantasy.
Thirty-one minutes.
The match in Group B ended.
On the field, the purple team, SSK, had secured the victory of this match.
…
If one had to describe SSK's performance in this match, the only word that could be used was "steady".
In this group stage match, SSK didn't seem to have performed exceedingly well. Even their ace mid laner, Han Shihao, was forced to play a standard Clockwork Demon after Enchantress was banned. He didn't do anything that would shock the entire audience.
The other four members of SSK also performed in an average manner.
But it just so happened …
In this match, SSK's purple division was slowly building up their advantage, slowly and steadily taking control of the rhythm of the battle. Little by little, they were able to force the blue division into a corner.
From the beginning to the end, the blue MLG team had been trying to find an opportunity to regain the rhythm and turn the tables.
However, they did not find an opportunity.
"SSK's crowd control is too strong —"
In the commentator's seat, Shi Hang, who was the live commentator today, could not help but sigh.
His tone was filled with respect, admiration, fear, and all sorts of complicated emotions.
He himself was a core member of the LPL's Team Rapids. Compared to an ordinary commentator, he had a deeper understanding of SSK's frightening ability to control the field in this match, as well as the pressure they exerted on their opponents.
If it was their Rapid Water Battle Team …
They would probably end up like MLG, slowly being pressured by SSK until they couldn't breathe and eventually losing the competition.
Mo Sheng, who sat next to Shi Hang, also added,
"Moreover, it feels like SSK hasn't even used their full strength yet."
"F chose to fight with Clockwork, but it's not even his best hero —"
These words made many of the audience below the stage nod involuntarily, feeling sympathetic in their hearts.
Indeed.
They all knew that as the world's number one mid, F was actually best at strong heroes such as Enchantress, Little Fishman, and Tribulation. In this match, he played Clockwork and did not show much of his individual ability.
But in the commentator's seat, Shi Hang shook his head.
"You can't say that."
"F may not have gone all out in this match, but if we're talking about the heroes that F is good at … Clockwork is one of them."
In the entire world of professional esports, it could be said that every top professional mid player had one or two strong heroes that they were best at —
For example, in the Chinese server, Team God's mid, Morning Star, was recognized as the world's number one card back then.
Another example was Team Dark Light's mid, Lightless Heart. His mid, Yellow Chicken, was also superb and was almost always banned or picked by his opponents in the LPL.
Shi Hang himself was most familiar with Little Fishman and Katana.
Europe's number one wizard, Phoenix, became famous with the battle of Ice Bird.
Korea's Team Fate's Moon, on the other hand, was a steady player. Clockwork, LuLu, and other team battle heroes were almost the most feared by his opponents.
However, for these few world-class top midlaners, other than the few heroes they were best at, although the rest of the heroes could also play to the standard they should have, compared to the heroes they were best at, their performance would still pale in comparison.
This was the problem of the depth of the hero pool.
Every professional player had their own hero pool, big or small, deep or shallow.
But at least there was a limit.
But F was an exception.
It was recognized in the esports circle that as the head of the Four Emperors, F- Han Shihao, his hero pool in the mid position was almost bottomless. In various competitions, even if the opponent team used two or three bans to target his mid, it still did not have any effect. The former could casually change to a new hero and still play perfectly and impeccably.
Top individual strength.
Plus his bottomless hero pool.
There were almost no more than three such mid players in the entire esports circle.
But —
Shi Hang's eyes sparkled a little, and he swept his gaze over the audience in the front row of the stage without batting an eyelid.
On their national server …
But there's still that guy who can reach this level.
… …
After the two matches in the morning, the audience still wanted to watch more, but they still got up and left the stadium. They talked about the two matches that had just ended in the morning, while heading outside to find a place to eat lunch. After filling their stomachs, they would come back in the afternoon to watch the remaining four matches of the day.
In the front row, Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao, An Xin, and Su Xue also got up from their seats to find a place to eat lunch.
However, Su Xue had a lunch gathering with DouYu TV's staff, so she couldn't join them. She had no choice but to part ways for the time being.
Even though Su Xue had left, Lin Feng quickly found Ceng Rui, Zhang Hao, and the other members of the Shanghai High School Esports Club, as well as Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Yang Fan, who had been sitting on the other side of the stadium.
As soon as everyone met up, the team's size swelled by two or three times. They greeted each other warmly and warmly. It was quite a lively scene.
Since they were all gathered together, they naturally had lunch together as well.
Zhang Hao, who lived nearby, recommended a restaurant that was said to taste good. Therefore, the large group of people went directly to the restaurant according to the address.
As they walked down the street, everyone laughed and chatted with each other.
When the topic shifted to the morning's match, Ouyang brought up something that caught everyone's attention.
"Oh, right!"
"Didn't Rourou, Old Yang, and I sit together to watch the match today?"
"But the people sitting next to us are all Japanese. They've been whispering to each other the whole time."
"Damn! I didn't think MSI would even bring Japan!"
*****
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