On November 3, 2021, like the year before, the World Championship semifinals were being held at Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center.
To the immense satisfaction of the LPL fans, this was China's second consecutive year hosting the World Championship. Cheers rocked through the stadium, which was at full capacity, creating a scene that was more impressive than any other semifinals game had been in the past.
The fans were calling this evening "a sleepless night for the LPL," because both teams fighting for a spot in the finals were from China's LPL division. The two teams were equally important; it would hurt no matter who ended up winning or losing.
They were respectively this year's summer season champion and the LPL's first seed, TTC, and the LPL's second seed, the team that had accrued the most points throughout the year, PUD.
During the previous year's transfer period, both of the LPL powerhouses had experienced player turnover, but after half a year of working together, the team members had already become very well-coordinated. Originally, the LPL fans were all looking forward to seeing the two teams meet in the World Championship finals. Unfortunately, the random matchup outcome was quite disappointing, and they ultimately had to use "at least the LPL is guaranteed to make it to the finals" as a way of comforting themselves.
At eleven o'clock at night, pedestrians hurried past the stadium, wrapped tightly in thick jackets. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the stadium was unusually intense and lively as fans waved their banners high in the air and shouted furiously. The cries of "TTC" and "PUD" overlapped with each other, and it was impossible to tell which team had louder cheers. The three commentators' voices had already cracked countless times, and their faces were flushed as their blood raced with excitement.
This was forty-three minutes into the fifth game of the S11 World Championship semifinals.
The score of 2:2 hung at the very top of the screen, stimulating every person's heart. There wasn't a single dull moment in the past forty-three minutes. Neither team wanted to drag things out, but their back-and-forth confrontations still caused this round to last deep into the late game.
The last major team fight officially erupted at the Baron pit forty-five minutes in, when TTC boldly went for Baron Nashor to create a turning point.
Soft's secret new dad fan, Commentator A, immediately felt the urge to slap the table.
In this kind of situation where both sides were evenly matched, if a team decided to go for Baron first, weren't they freaking done for?!
Sure enough, PUD's ward caught sight of TTC's actions. Using his oh-so-fluent Chinese, Savior instantly roared in their team chat, "They're going, they're going~! They can't help but go for Baron~! They're finished~!!! Gege, gege, come over fast!!!"
98k: "I'll enter first. Where's their mid laner?"
XIU: "He's probably camping in some brush near the Baron pit. Support, go place a ward to see where LeBlanc is. Come, come, everyone come, I'm definitely going to beat that team's dog jungler into submission today—"
98k's Camille directly went in and engaged. But the second he rushed in—
Pine, who was in the middle of fighting Baron, suddenly pulled back his Ashe and shot his long-prepared ult straight towards Savior, stunning him on top of the pit!
Lu Boyuan's Graves dashed to the top of the pit. While the stun was still in effect, he coordinated with the ult from Yuan Qian's Gangplank to finish off Savior.
Xiao Bai followed close behind. "Damn, you didn't leave me an assist?! What kind of people are you guys... whatever, I'll wait for 98k to come up here. Watch how the world's best Leona can stun him to the point of tears..."
