“It’s KG on the Blue team and Legend on the Red team! We start Worlds this year with a top game between Europe and China! I’m Qinghe, your host! And with me I got Stone and Lolo! We’ll be yourmentators! But that’s enough about us. Let’s dive right into Champion Select! KG is first to ban a champion!”


    “Yes! Let’s dive into it already!” Ouyang shouted back at the TV.


    On therge TV screen in the private booth rented by Ouyang at the NetCow Cafe, the Worlds stream showed the Champion Select for KG versus Legend. There was a live video feed of three people standing behind the caster desk on the bottom half of the screen. Qinghe stood on the far left of the table, with a TV behind him, while Lolo and Stone stood a bit further down the table. They were the two special guests.


    Everyone who’d watched the LPL at any time over thest few years knew who Qinghe was. He was the caster of the LPL! He had more experience castingpetitive games than any other casters! He knew how to share his knowledge of the game and get the fans excited! And the fans loved him for it. They loved his quick wits and sense of humour. There was never a dull moment when he was on the caster desk!


    The second caster on the desk was Stone. He yed League of Legends professionally back in Season 1. After leaving the professional scene at the end of Season 1, he started making guest appearances on the caster desk. The fans had weed him with open arms. He gave them insightful analyses and exined the thought processes of professional yers in an easy-to-understand manner. But this wasn’t why people wanted to see him on the desk. They wanted to see him on the desk for his unbelievable ability to deliver the caster curse! The Chinese fans called it honeyed words. Whenever he said something nice about a yer or team, disaster would strike them!


    The most famous case of his caster’s curse was way back in Season 3. Stone wasmentating on a match in the LPL. Heplimented the Blue team for the advantage they’d gotten in the early game. Not even half a minuteter, a team fight broke out. The Blue team lost this fight and with that the gold lead they’d built up over the first 20 minutes of the game. Then he praised the Red team for mounting a phenomenaleback. It wasn’t even 10 secondster that they gave away an uncontested Baron Nashor, the most powerful monster on Summoner’s Rift. With the buff gained from killing Baron Nashor, the Blue team took control over the game again. In the next team fight, Blue team’s Vayne popped off and got a triple kill. Stone was a little hesitant but still gave apliment. The caster’s curse struck again. Vayne was wandering through his own Jungle a minuteter and got caught out by two yers from the Red team and died.


    This still wasn’t the end. By the time Red team won, the caster curse had struck another four times for a total of seven times! Seven times in one game! This was still a record today! As a direct result of this game, Chinese fans had nicknamed Stone “Prophet Stone”.


    The third caster for the official Chinese stream of Worlds was Lolo. She was a vivacious young woman who enjoyed ying League of Legends in her free time. She also dabbled a little with streaming on Huya, mostly League of Legends games. She was most known for her asional guest appearances as a shoutcaster during the LPL, just like Stone. But there was a pronounced difference in what they brought to thementary. Stone was there to provide insights, game y predictions, and reasoning behind yer decisions. Lolo brought a more bubbly enthusiasm to thementary. She didn’t have the deep game knowledge that Stone did, but she more than made up for that with the entertainment factor she added to the shoutcasting. It also didn’t hurt that she had fantastic knockers and a preference for skin-tight low cut dresses. Beyond the lighthearted moments she added to thementary, she appealed to a very specific demographic of League of Legends fans.


    While KG and Legend were taking their time deciding which Champions to ban, Qinghe steered the conversation on the caster desk to the uing game. “We’ve already talked a lot about the different groups this year at Worlds, and who we believe will make it through to the next round. But we haven’t really talked much about the individual games yet.” He turned to Stone and nodded at him, smiling. “Let’s take a look at the game in front of us right now, shall we? It’ll start in only a couple more minutes. What do you think, Stone? Who’ll win this game? Which team gets your vote?”


    Prophet Stone grinned and took the bait. “Well, when I’m looking at the lineups of both teams, I have to say that Legend looks really strong this year. I think they will win this first game! Hehe.”


    “Oh, did you hear that guys?” Lolo giggled at the camera, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “Prophet Stone has spoken! We can all rx now, KG is clearly winning this one.”


    Qinghe startedughing, loud enough that it almost sounded fake. “Hahaha! Hahaha! You’re so right! Isn’t she guys? Lolo understands! Prophet Stone has spoken! We can rest easy! This game is KG’s to lose now!” He stepped aside and gestured at the TV screen behind him. Then he looked into the camera and said, “Let’s take a look at what some of you guys have to say about Prophet Stone’s prediction for game 1!”


    「HAHAHA my man stone is at it again」


    「Everyone, take cover! T-minus 30 seconds until the curse strikes!」


    「CARRY KG TO A WIN OH LORD PROPHET!!!!」


    「prophet stone carrying since season 2!!」


    These were the reactions the three casters were looking for. They knew the fans would eat up a simple joke like this. Besides, they didn’t want to give the fans false hope by saying they believed KG would win this game. Legend was a stronger team than KG. There was no way around this truth. They should have what it takes to win this game. It was to the point where even the three casters were hoping for a little bit of ck magic from Prophet Stone. It would be a great start to Worlds if KG could pull a big upset in the first game and beat Legend!


    ?


    In a private booth in the NetCow Cafe, Lin Feng and the others were engrossed in the stream. The ban phase hade to an end. The top tier meta champions in the current patch, like Mordekaiser and Gangnk, were banned. KG and Legend started choosing the champions they wanted to y. Most were standard picks. It was only the picks in Mine that really stood out. Legend’s Phoenix had decided to go with Lenc, and in response to that, KG’s Flintlock chose Lulu. Lulu was originally a Support champion. But in thest few patches, she had turned into a realistic pick for midne to counter assassins like Lenc.


    “I think Lulu is a smart pick. Don’t you guys agree?” Qinghe said. He looked at the other two casters and waited for them to nod. Then he continued, “Phoenix is a really good yer. You don’t want him to go Legendary on his Lenc. It was smart thinking from KG to go with the safe pick.”


    Stone looked at Qinghe and said, “KG doesn’t really have a choice here, do they? Phoenix is so good, you just have to be extra careful. The game would be over if he gets rolling on his Lenc. All Flintstock can do is y it safe.”


    “WOOT WOOT!” Ouyang cheered at the TV. He jumped up and down as he ran little circles around the others. “The prophet is doing it again! KG has won! Easy game! Let’s skip it and go straight to the second game!” He suddenly stopped running around andughing for a second, then added, “Let’s not skip it. I wanna see KG crush Legend! Haha!”


    Liu Yue shot up from his seat and joined Ouyang, “WOOT WOOT! Keepplimenting them Prophet Stone! We believe in you!”


    Lin Feng shook his head a little as he watched the others go crazy over Prophet Stone. If a caster curse really were a thing, KG wouldn’t need to pick Lulu. They could pick anything and have some fun… He looked at the two topne champions. Thatne deserved more attention. Demon had picked a top tier meta champion in Darius, while Fatty had locked in Gnar. Gnar versus Darius… Hmmm, I guess it’s doable. But it’ll be hard… He looked at the rest of the lineup, searching for something that would help KG bring this game home. Huh? Something looked off. There was something wrong with Blue team’s lineup. Gnar, Lulu, Rek’Sai, Tristana, and Nami… What are they doing? Where is their damage? Only Tristana can deal damage. But she’s ate game carry. What are they nning to do until then? Pray that Legend won’t kick their asses? Who drafted this teamp?


    ?


    《Wee to Summoner’s Rift!》


    The first game of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships was officially underway! The 10 champions spawned in their fountains. Both teams decided to do ane swap. This meant that the Toners would y in botne and the botne duo would go up to topne. Wards were ced all across the river, with a few just inside the other team’s jungle for some extra vision. When the Jungle minions spawned, the Toners both took the camp closest to theirne before recalling back to base, while the Junglers started on the Blue or Red Buff with the help of their Supports.


    The game ended up in a standardning phase. In the bottomne, both Gnar and Darius arrived before the first minion wave died. They got a couple ofst hits and were rtively even. Gnar had a slight advantage at Level 1 because of the range advantage of his auto attacks. Tian Tian quickly made use of this and started showing why people called him God Roundy. His positioning and ability to force Darius to miss minions was perfect. Darius tried to counter this by winding up and swinging his axe in a wide circle–Decimate! But Tian Tian sidestepped it and started throwing more auto attacks at the Darius.


    KG wasn’t falling behind at the start of the game. Theirnes looked to be doing ok, and Tian Tian looked especially good. The Chinese fans watching the official broadcast felt their hearts racing. Perhaps KG stood a chance! They quickly took to the chat to share their hopes with the other fans.


    「GOD ROUNDY FOR THE WINNN!!!!!」


    「gnar >>>> darius」


    「66666666!」


    「i love you roundy!!1!!1」


    「We can win this game! China number 1!!!!」


    「OMG this is soooo cool!!!!!」


    Tian Tian started pushing the minion wave towards Red team’s outer tower. The ward he’d ced at the start of the game timed out. His vision of the river above hisne disappeared. But there were still a few minions to kill, so he stuck around.


    Legend’s Jungler was Lee Sin. He’d spotted Roundy Round ce a ward down in the river near botne at the start of the game. He knew exactly when it would time out. So he adjusted his jungle route to it. The moment the ward disappeared, he walked down the river to botne.


    “Oh no! God Roundy you need to back! You’re going too deep!” Lolo cried out from the caster desk.


    Qinghe was the calm voice of reason. He said, “We don’t have to worry. Gnar has a hop and sh. It’ll be really difficult for Legend if they want to pick an early game kill on him. They’d better focus their time and energy on anotherne.”


    Lee Sin appeared from the river in botne. Darius used this opportunity to walk out from under his tower and towards the Gnar. Tian Tian saw this happen and quickly had his Gnar hop away–Hop! But the Darius was prepared for this. He shed forward, then swept the Gnar out of his Hop mid-air before hooking and pulling him back–Apprehend!


    The European fans in the Wembley Arena went wild with joy! This was a brilliant y from Demon! He’d perfectly predicted how Tian Tian would y and found a counter to it! There was nothing Tian Tian could do! He still had his sh, but there was also the Lee Sining for him. Everyone knew what was going to happen. Be it the fans cheering in the arena, or the Chinese fans feeling their hearts drop at home, everyone knew that the Gnar would die. Even Lin Feng knew. He slowly shook his head. This isn’t good.