It's heating up! WE, your nightmare is back!

To play it safe, Mafa kept West in the starting lineup, with Lu Chen on the bench.

After all, West had played with the team for most of the Summer Split and had even beaten WE once in the third-place match.

Maybe they wouldn't even need Lu Chen to step in?

With that thought in mind, IG finalized their starting lineup.

Although Mafa's thinking was sound, the first game dealt him a brutal blow.

Mystic's Xayah finished with a score of 5-0-8.

Meanwhile, West's Tristana went 0-3, and Baolan's Lulu went 0-4.

At one point, the gap in creep score between the opposing laners even exceeded sixty!

They had been completely outclassed in the bot lane.

Fortunately, West finally held steady in the second and third games, while Rookie stepped up in spectacular fashion.

An 8-1-6 Lucian game, followed by a 10-0-6 Corki game. Two flawless performances brought them two straight wins!

Then came game four.

West was crushed in lane again. Both he and Baolan finished 1-5, bringing the score to 2-2 and forcing a do-or-die final game!

By this point, IG was starting to panic.

"Lu Chen, you're in for the next game," Mafa said, his expression grave.

Back in the lounge, West looked utterly dejected. He leaned against the wall, unable to say a word.

"All right." Lu Chen wasted no words, simply nodding calmly.

Ning Wang sighed and patted Lu Chen on the shoulder. "Damn, man, I'm sorry. We still need you to carry us through the deciding game, even after I promised I'd take you to the World Championship."

Lu Chen patted his shoulder in return and smiled. "Same difference. You got me to the regional qualifier, didn't you? I'll win you guys a ticket to the World Championship."

Baolan finally smiled as well, shaking off his earlier despondency. "With Lu Chen here, we'll be fine."

Rookie's expression relaxed too, as though a considerable weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Soon afterward.

At the venue.

Remember, Godlike, and Rita stood at the commentary desk.

"All right, welcome back to Wukesong!"

Rita stared intently at the big screen, seemingly waiting for the ID she had been longing to see.

It wasn't just her. Remember and Godlike were watching the screen expectantly too.

After all, they had learned yesterday that the organizers had lifted the ban.

At last, both teams' lineups appeared.

"IG has decided to make a substitution!" Remember was the first to cry out. "Their AD carry, West, is being replaced by Chen Yu!"

"It's him!" Even Godlike grew unusually excited. "After most of the Summer Split, we finally get to see Chen Yu onstage again!"

Rita said nothing. She simply gazed at the big screen, transfixed.

Displayed on it was: IG West↓--IG Chen Yu↑.

In an instant, the entire crowd erupted.

"CCCCCC!"

"Cue the battle anthem!"

"I'm getting fired up!"

"This is IG's final form! WE, your nightmare is back!"

"C God! Go slaughter them!"

"I'm tearing up. It's been so long, I thought I'd never get to see C God play another match. Sob, sob."

"C God: Do you have any idea how I've spent these past two months? I've slaughtered everyone on the Chinese and Korean Servers until nobody wants to play with me!"

"C God! Get that World Championship ticket! I want to watch you slaughter the LCK teams!"

"I want to see that flanking Twitch pentakill from the regular season again! Aaaah!"

"C God, lead the boys on one more run!"

"I saw the official announcement yesterday. Why didn't he play the first four games? You just had to make C God play the deciding game, huh?"

At that moment, WE's fans collectively fell silent.

The thing they feared most had proved unavoidable after all. The young demon king who had stunned countless viewers during the regular season was back!

Just seeing that ID was enough to put them under pressure.

And it wasn't only the fans.

Across the stage, all five WE players stiffened.

"That guy's coming back in?" Mystic leaned back slightly and instinctively swallowed.

"Looks like it," Condi replied, equally rattled.

957 and Xiye handled it better, but only marginally.

None of them had forgotten that Best of Three!

"Don't panic!" Coach Redmi said sternly. "We only need to win this one game! No matter how strong he is, he hasn't played for most of the split. There's no way he'll be fully adjusted to the meta!"

"Really?" Mystic blinked.

If he remembered correctly, that match where they had been beaten into despair had been that guy's very first competitive appearance.

Did a monster like that even need to adjust to the meta?

In any case, nothing they said could change the fact that Lu Chen was coming in.

Both sides entered the pick-and-ban phase.

WE immediately banned three AD carries: Draven, Twitch, and Kalista.

IG took the exact opposite approach, completely ignoring the bot lane and spending all their bans on top, mid, and jungle.

The tables had turned.

Remember chimed in at just the right moment. "As we can see, WE is still extremely wary of Chen Yu. They're showing him plenty of respect with those bans!"

After that, both teams proceeded with their picks as usual.

Only when it was Lu Chen's turn did Mafa seem to rediscover his rhythm, asking that familiar question. "Lu Chen, what d'you wanna play?"

Lu Chen glanced at the Xayah and Braum the other side had picked and said evenly, "Caitlyn."

"All right." Mafa nodded immediately, without the slightest hesitation.

And so, accompanied by her signature voice line, Caitlyn's portrait was locked in.

"Let's make this fun!"

With that, both lineups were finalized.

Blue side, WE: Maokai top, Kassadin mid, Jarvan IV jungle, Xayah AD carry, and Braum support.

Red side, IG: Shen top, Syndra mid, Olaf jungle, Caitlyn AD carry, and Alistar support.

"IG's lineup looks very different from the previous games," Remember said. "Especially in the top lane."

"That's right," Rita agreed with a nod. "Previously, IG picked highly aggressive top laners like Jayce, Jarvan IV, and Renekton. This game, they've gone with Shen instead. Clearly, they've changed their strategy."

Godlike smiled as well. "Honestly, I've been looking forward to watching Chen Yu play for ages."

"You

're a C God fan too, huh?" Remember teased.

"Of course." Godlike made no attempt to hide it. "His playstyle really is a treat to watch."

As they spoke.

The loading screen disappeared.

"Welcome to League of Legends!"

As the system announcement rang out, the players on both sides entered the game.

"Here we go!"

Remember shouted, "Both teams have entered Summoner's Rift! Who will come out on top today? Who will claim that final ticket to the World Championship?"

"Let's hope these two teams give us a true clash of titans!"

At once, deafening cheers rose from the crowd again.

Soon.

All ten players rushed out of the fountain and headed toward the jungle.

Since this was the deciding game, both sides were extremely cautious. They spread out in the classic defensive line, with no intention of fighting at level one.

"What do you think? Should I clear from top to bottom this game?" Ning Wang asked.

"Sounds good." Lu Chen nodded. "We'll definitely be pushing bot, so you can come down to countergank."

"All right, I'll start red, then." Ning Wang guided Olaf toward the red buff.

They arrived in lane.

Compared with West's cautious approach in the previous games, Lu Chen's style was completely different.

Since they hadn't leashed for their jungler, Lu Chen and Baolan both reached lane early.

That was effectively an open declaration to WE that their jungler was starting red and would be playing around bot.

Caitlyn stood almost ahead of the minion wave, seemingly waiting for WE's bot lane to arrive!

Before he had even reached the lane, Mystic could already feel the immense pressure building. The hand gripping his mouse began to sweat.