[Only a rivalry with back-and-forth historical results can be called a nemesis. One-sided losses are called a natural predator. Could Meng Huo have been called Zhuge Liang's nemesis?]
RNG's crushing defeat undoubtedly slapped the LPL Audience hard at the height of the LPL's dominance.
That slap hurt badly, but everyone in the LPL felt it was still barely acceptable.
Until two days later...
When Luo Zhen braved the risk of "winning the championship" to attend in person, sitting among 13,000 spectators to welcome the start of the EDG versus DRX match, true despair appeared!
2:3
After going up 2:0, then losing three straight games, it seemed EDG's curse had not been broken by their S11 championship. The quarterfinals curse still clung to every part of EDG.
This blow was even harsher for LPL viewers than RNG's loss.
If RNG's defeat had been due to a lack of accumulated strength,
then EDG's defeat had been a complete collapse in mentality and willpower.
[Looking at it now, the biggest pity isn't RNG getting swept 3:0, nor EDG getting reverse swept. It's that DK and GENG met in the quarterfinals.]
[DragonX beat RNG in the Play-ins, beat TES in the Group Stage, and beat EDG in the Elimination Round. T1 double-killed EDG in the Group Stage and swept RNG in the Elimination Round. So who exactly is the vanguard against China?]
[TES, the Second Seed that lost to Vietnam and went home in the Round of 16; RNG, the "most promising year" team that got swept; EDG, who got reverse swept by the LCK Fourth Seed. This was supposedly the strongest LPL World Championship lineup ever? Don't make me laugh.]
[Fate was one second slower than me. I beat fate three games in a row. Has Deft started walking the Path to Godhood