This time the S game is held in LCK, which is good news for everyone in LPL. After all, the time difference between the two sides is very short, only about an hour, and the difference in diet is not that big either.

The TES club took a half-month vacation. After the vacation, Lu Yi reunited with his teammates again, but this time it was in the LPL competition venue.

"Yishen, he's here." At the entrance of the venue, everyone in TES was waiting.

Lu Yi took a quick look and found that everyone was there.

The warhorse called out, "Let's go in."

Led by the war horses, everyone entered the competition venue.

It's very quiet in here because it's not a game day. We are here to attend the departure ceremony today.

Arriving at the door of the backstage lounge, Lu Yi heard a lot of noise inside, and there must be a lot of people.

I pushed the door open and saw about 10 to 20 people inside.

"Yishen!"

"Oh! The doctor is here!"

"Welcome to God Yi, hahaha."

Lu Yi took a quick look: Bin, ELK, Kanavi, Zuoshou, Scout...

People from BLG, JDG and LNG are all here.

The TES team walked in and started chatting with people from other teams.

369 found Lu Yi and said, "Yishen, how do you play top lane in the new version?"

Lu Yi spread his hands and said, "I'm the mid laner. You're asking me this? You should ask Shan Ji."

369 glanced at the pheasant and hesitated to speak.

Meiko teased, "It seems like you're a little disgusted, hahaha."

Shan Ji patted his chest and said, "69, if you have any questions, just ask. I can answer them for you."

369 paused and said, "Let's talk about it next time."

“Hahahaha…” Everyone laughed so hard.

At this moment, the door was pushed open again, and a staff member stood at the door and greeted, "Everyone, it's almost time, it's time to go on stage."

Hearing this, all the people from the four LPL teams stood up and walked towards the door.

On the other side, on the stage, the host was welcoming the contestants:

"Now let us welcome the four teams representing our LPL region to participate in this S game, starting with the number one seed Top Esports!"

The TES members came on stage, and the audience was so excited: "Top! Top!"

The TES players were wearing the latest team uniforms, and the director also gave close-up shots so that the audience could see the details.

The host continued, "And then the second seed, BLG!"

BLG members came on stage and were welcomed by the audience.

"Third seed, JDG!"

"Number four seed LNG!"

After the teammates of the four teams came on stage, Zhan Ma, as the representative of the coaches, went up to speak, and naturally he gave a speech that he had prepared in advance.

Then Lu Yi, as a representative of the contestants, went on stage to speak.

After all the procedures were completed, the departure ceremony was over.

The players of the four LPL teams left the competition venue together and headed straight to the airport.

"Ahh! Taobo! Taobo!"

"Yishen! Yishen!"

"Brother Shuizi, I'm your fan!"

"Come on JDG! Win the championship!"

"Brother Bin, hold the cup."

After getting off the bus, the four LPL teams received a warm welcome, with hundreds of fans waiting there.

After taking photos with fans, the four LPL teams finally entered the airport.

Finally, after an hour's flight, everyone arrived at their destination.

After getting off the plane, I went straight to the hotel.

After getting the room card at the front desk, Lu Yi found his hotel room, packed his luggage, and then looked at his mobile phone.

Someone is chatting in the group [2023S LPL Expedition Group]. This group was just formed by Zhan Ma, and all the people from the four LPL teams were invited in.

Lu Yi clicked on the group message and took a look.

Zhan Ma: "After packing, let's go out and find a place to eat. We are four teams together. From now on, we are all comrades-in-arms. We must take care of each other."

LNG, Gala: "Are you and Yishen comrades? That's so cool."

TES, Shanji: “If you don’t understand something, you can ask me.”

BLG: On: "Can you teach me how to play support, Brother Shan Ji?"

TES, Jackeylove: "You underestimate Shan Ji. There is nothing he dare not teach."

TES, Meiko: "As long as you praise him a few words, he dares to teach you how to have a baby."

Lu Yi laughed and thought that everyone was very talented.

Ten minutes later, at the call of Zhanma, everyone left the room, gathered together, and went to find something to eat.

Because they lived on the third floor, everyone chose to go down the stairs directly, which was faster than taking the elevator.

As soon as he arrived at the hall, Lu Yi found that it was very lively and there was a large group of people there.

"Master Yi!" Suddenly, one of the blond men with sparse hair noticed Lu Yi and walked over happily.

"Caps!"

Lu Yi recognized him at a glance, G2's starting mid laner, Caps!

Behind him followed the other G2 players. Lu Yi had a general impression of them, especially the God King, BrokenBlade.

In addition to G2, there are players from two other teams in the LEC region. Although they are not very familiar with Lu Yi, they all know Lu Yi.

"Yishen."

"Yishen, long time no see."

"Yishen, do you still remember?"

"Yishen, can we take a photo together?"

It suddenly turned into a fan meeting.

Lu Yi had no choice but to take photos with everyone one by one. After he finished his work, he looked back and found that all his teammates were gone.

Looking around, I suddenly found that the LPL people were already waiting outside the door.

Lu Yi hurried over and said, "What's going on? I thought you guys had left."

Shan Ji complained: "Yishen, you are too popular. It feels like there are fan meetings wherever you go."

Lu Yi said: "It's not that exaggerated, it's just a friendly exchange."

Ah Shui responded: "I think I should not go out with Yi Shen in the future, otherwise the efficiency will be very low, and people will stop us and take pictures wherever we go."

Everyone left the hotel together and prepared to find a place to eat.

Since there are several Korean players among the four teammates, it is not difficult to find a place with good food, as this place is very small.

Led by Tarzan, they came to a luxurious hotel that specializes in seafood.

After entering, we started looking for a place to sit. More than 20 people had to be divided into several tables. The tables here were all small, usually seating four people.

After sitting down, everyone started ordering food.

Suddenly, Meiko, who was sitting next to Lu Yi, reminded him: "Shen Yi, look over there, Faker!" Lu Yi looked over there and it was true!
Just a dozen meters away, Faker, wearing casual clothes and glasses, was sitting with three young men, all of whom were members of T1. At a table next to them were T1's coach Kkoma and substitute players.

"What a coincidence?" Lu Yi felt it was magical that they met in such a place.

This time the S game is held in LCK. For the participating teams of LCK, the biggest benefit is probably that they can stay in their own training bases for training without having to stay in a hotel.

Lu Yi guessed that T1's training base was probably nearby, and the T1 members came here to eat.

Lu Yi was observing, and suddenly Faker looked over here. Then he pointed and started communicating with his teammates and coach, so everyone in T1 paid attention to this side.

Meiko muttered, "Are they saying bad things about us?"

Lu Yi smiled: "Not really, the quality of T1 players is quite high."

Suddenly, Kkoma stood up and walked over with the T1 players!
"Here they come! They are coming!" Meiko warned in a low voice.

Kkoma walked over to Lu Yi and greeted him, "Player GodYi."

Then he looked at the Warhorse Coach next to him: "Warhorse Coach."

Zhanma and Lu Yi stood up and greeted, "Coach Kkoma, Faker, and everyone from T1."

Faker took the initiative to extend his hand, and Lu Yi shook it.

Then Faker took out his phone and said, "Can we take a photo together?"

"No problem." Lu Yi stood next to Faker and they took a photo together. Faker gave a standard thumbs-up gesture with a polite smile on his face, and it was obvious that he was an expert at taking photos.

At the same time, Lu Yi noticed that right next to him, A Shui took the initiative to find Gumayusi and shake hands. Although the two of them were greeting each other verbally and seemed quite "cordially", their eyes were already confronting each other and neither of them was willing to give in.

After some greetings, everyone from T1 went back.

When Lu Yi returned to his seat, Meiko exclaimed: "Faker seems so friendly and is becoming more and more mature."

Lu Yi looked at Ah Shui: "Wenbo, what's going on between you and Gumayusi?"

Ah Shui didn't understand: "What's going on? Nothing, just shaking hands."

Lu Yi smiled: "It feels like you two are competing with each other, but it doesn't matter. If there is any grudge, we can solve it on the field."

Meiko muttered quietly, "Yishen, this Gumayusi seems to be very flamboyant. Every time we met before, he would mock Wenbo in various ways. I guess it's because of this."

"I don't understand. He can't beat us every time he meets us. How can he have the nerve to mock us?"

Lu Yi responded: "It's normal, that's my personality."

Soon, the waiter brought the food and everyone in TES started to enjoy it.

After dinner, the four LPL teams went back to the hotel together.

Zhanma took everyone from TES to a room next door.

There are several computers in this room, which have been set up. Zhan Ma said:

"This room will be our training room from now on. Let's get started now. You guys should play ranked matches first to regain your touch."

"I'll contact a team for you to play a training match now. It should be easy to get an appointment."

Lu Yi sat in front of the computer, turned it on and started playing ranked games.

Half a month passed quickly, and the S-League qualifying round began!

As strong regions, LPL and LCK do not need to play in the qualifying rounds, which are mainly played by wildcard regions.

As a result, the attention to the qualifying round is relatively low, and many viewers don’t even know the teams in the qualifying round.

For the players, the qualifying round has no reference value.

After the qualifying round, the Swiss round will follow!
The Swiss round schedule looks complicated, but it is actually very simple. Its core purpose is to prevent strong teams from being eliminated too early, so through the results of each round of competition, teams with similar strengths are put together in the next round.

If a team can get three bars and zero at the beginning, it can directly advance to the knockout stage.

Teams that cannot get three bars and zeros will be screened in rounds based on their scores. Starting from the fourth round, the teams with the worst results will be eliminated, and finally eight teams will enter the knockout stage.

The qualifying round lasted for a total of six days. After the final qualifying spots were decided on the sixth day, the Swiss round draw ceremony began!

The TES members gathered together to watch the draw ceremony.

Zhan Ma greeted, "The grouping of the Swiss round is actually not that important. If you win the first round, your opponent in the second round will be the other team that won the first round."

"If we win the second round, our opponent in the third round will also be a team with two bars and zero points, so we will definitely be matched against a strong team in the end."

Shan Ji muttered, "Hey! If that's the case, then if we lose in the first round, then in the second round we will face other teams that also lost in the first round? Then if we keep losing, then it will get easier and easier."

Meiko couldn't hold it in any longer: "Yes, if you keep losing, your opponents will become weaker and weaker, but you will be eliminated, big brother."

"Oh! My problem is that I didn't think enough." Shan Ji suddenly realized.

Everyone in TES looked at each other in bewilderment. It seemed like Shan Ji was serious. No way, was it so exaggerated?

On the screen, the host comes on stage and starts introducing the rules.

Some rules have not changed. For example, in the first round, the number one seeds from the major regions will not meet together and will be separated.

Of course, it is possible to encounter it starting from the second round.

After introducing the rules, the guests came on stage and started drawing lots.

The first step is to draw the number one seeds from the four major regions.

"TES!" the host read out the three familiar letters.

TES became the first.

Of course, the order doesn't really matter.

"GEN!"

“NRG!”

"G2!"

Four No. 1 seeds have been determined.

At this time, Meiko muttered, "Who is this NRG? I have no idea who it is."

Zhan Ma introduced: "The number one seed of the North American division, you may not know the others, but their ADC in the bottom lane is called FBI, you should have heard of him."

Shan Ji laughed: "FBI? What the hell? Such a straightforward ID."

The drawing of lots is still going on, and four teams will be drawn in the second round.

So the left side of the eight BO1s in the first round were drawn.

The next step is to draw out the eight on the right, the first one is TES’ opponent!
Everyone in TES fell silent, and the guest drew a lot and spread it out.

"FNC!"

Meiko muttered, "FNC? I think Rekkles is still on this team."

Zhan Ma nodded: "Yes, it is."

Meiko sighed: "When I first met him, he was a high-spirited teenager, but now he's a sloppy middle-aged man. Have you seen his recent photos? His beard has grown a lot longer."

Shan Ji sighed and said, "Yeah, time flies."

Lu Yi laughed: "How long have you been in the industry? When Rekkles debuted, you were still in elementary school."

The draw ceremony continues. Due to the rules, there will not be any strong matchups in the first round, so the intensity is generally good.

GEN even drew a team from the wildcard zone, which is really enviable.

After the draw ceremony, the schedule for the first round was determined.

Because the competition is held in LCK, the first game will naturally be played by the LCK team.

T1 vs. TL!

Meiko muttered, "Hey, I remember that all the unknown players in TL are from LCK, right? No wonder they chose to let T1 play against TL as the opening game."

Shan Ji smiled and said, "Haha, that's all they can do. It doesn't matter. Victory will definitely belong to us, Topsports!"

Zhan Ma said, "Okay, now our opponent has been determined. We still have two or three days left. Let's hurry up and train to get a good start."

So everyone resumed training. Although the opponent was not strong, they also took it seriously. Zhanma sorted out FNC's games and selected some typical games for everyone to study together. (End of this chapter)