The LPL Second Stage playoffs are about to start. The official recently revealed the regular season All-Team lineup. BLG swept all honors, with players from all five positions making it into the First Team. This is unprecedented in LPL history—previously, the officials would distribute the honors among different teams. However, in the Second Stage, JDG, TES, and AL all struggled, and their players' performances lagged significantly behind BLG's.

In addition to the full First Team selection, Knight also secured the regular season MVP, and the Best Coaching Staff award went to Daeny and his team. The remaining Second and Third Team spots were all distributed among teams ranked 2nd to 4th. Interestingly, among the four candidates, TES jungler Tian didn't even make it into the Third Team. If we only looked at the first round, Tian would definitely have been in the First Team, but he underperformed in the second round, being comparable to junglers in the Relegation Group.

LGD AD trash talk explodes

Besides announcing regular season honors, the LPL official also invited the captains of the eight playoff teams to participate in a trash talk segment before the matches. This year's pre-match taunts were not very aggressive, especially for the top-four teams in the Summit Group, who were relatively "humble." Most of the captains basically said things like "let the Relegation Group see the strength of the Summit Group." The Relegation Group was comparatively more "arrogant," especially LGD's young master, who directly taunted JackeyLove.

"Can you still lift those two axes, big brother? The LPL now needs daring young players to take over. I'm telling you: you are the challenger." Oh wow, is the Summit Group challenging the Relegation Group? That's interesting. JackeyLove's response was rather plain: "It's been 468 days since our last match. After so long, let's see your strength." TES has been unstable recently—they won't really lose to LGD, will they?

Lehends announces retirement next year

The LCK Second Stage group matches will end in three days. NS defeated DNS 2:1 in their last match, securing their fifth win of the stage. Lehends, who returned to the starting lineup, gave an interview after the match. When asked if this was his last season, he said: "There's a high possibility that this is my last season. The team's primary goal right now is to make it to the World Championship."

Making it to Worlds is the team's goal, but Lehends also has a personal one. He hopes that "fans will think of me as a player who performed well when they support me. That was my original dream when I became a pro." Honestly, Lehends' dream isn't really demanding. Although he's struggling now, he was genuinely great in previous years—he has an LCK title and an MSI championship. Fans should recognize that, right?

T1 hopes to enter playoffs in the top two

After NS's win over DNS, T1 played their 17th match. Facing KT, T1 swept them 2:0 for their 13th win. BDD is truly Faker's biggest fan—he always gives Faker some free wins at crucial moments. Aside from top laner Perfect, who performed well against Doran, the rest of KT looked poor. Doran was really abstract; after watching two games, he was both terrible and decent at times.

In the first game, his Rumble went 0-4-2 and got carried. In the second, his Olaf had a mediocre laning phase but played well in teamfights. After this win, T1's chances of entering the playoffs in the top two increased. Their only competitor now is GEN. Both teams share the same number of big wins, but T1 leads by one small win. In their final match, T1 must win 2:0 to secure the spot; otherwise, if they tie in big and small wins, GEN holds the head-to-head advantage.

Conclusion:

Lehends, born in 1998, is now 28 years old. To be honest, his age is indeed quite high, and his career is essentially in its twilight. Over the past two seasons, his form has declined significantly. In a region like the LCK, where new talents constantly emerge, if he continues playing, he'll probably only end up on a second team. Retiring after this year is already the best choice.

So, do you think T1 can sweep BFX in their final match?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!