Since IG officially announced the return of TheShy and Rookie, the team's discussion热度 and exposure have gradually increased, especially as IG's top laner TheShy participated in many commercial activities less than a month after his return. For example, IG recently watched the "Football World Cup" matches as a team, during which they witnessed Argentina's "comeback from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 in a desperate situation." This scenario made the IG players collectively sigh, hoping that IG could be as resilient as Argentina in the third stage.

Of course, the host also asked the IG players after the match what their ultimate goal would be for the third stage. The answers from the IG players were quite interesting. Meiko hopes that IG can first advance to the knockout stage in the third stage. Many viewers joke that Meiko is a steady and cautious type, after all, IG was brutally swept 3-0 by TT in the second stage and missed the LPL playoffs. Now Meiko setting a lower goal seems reasonable. Rookie's goal, however, had a bit of a "troll" flavor.

Rookie said that IG's goal for the third stage is to avoid being "reverse swept" (letting the opponent come back from a 2-0 deficit). Rookie's statement sparked a lot of discussion among viewers, given that both the esports scene and the recently concluded World Cup saw such legendary comebacks. Many viewers wondered whether Rookie's "reverse sweep" comment referred to TES or Argentina. Earlier, Rookie also hinted during an interview that the entire IG team had listened to TES's hit song "Sudden Top," and many viewers joked that Rookie is great at stirring up drama.

Of course, the most domineering statement during the interview was from TheShy. He hopes that IG will not lose a single match in the third stage. To be honest, given IG's current LPL World Championship qualification points, they really need to win every match to qualify for Worlds. After all, the Relegation Group is a 4-into-2 format, and the Knight's Path is a single-elimination bracket. Most importantly, the rules for the LPL third stage playoffs have changed: teams that emerge from the Knight's Path do not have a "resurrection armor" (second chance). This means IG's future matches will be extremely difficult—losing one match could cost them a spot at Worlds.

Knight clears TES's name

Earlier, TES unexpectedly lost to a Vietnamese team, damaging the reputation of the entire LPL region. After all, in the history of both the LPL and LCK, TES is the first team to lose a BO5 series to a Wild Card region. Because TES kept making history in this negative way, many LoL viewers questioned the overall strength of the LPL, believing that the region only needs to focus on studying and countering BLG, while other LPL teams are not strong. These external criticisms also sparked complaints from BLG's mid laner Knight.

In a recent interview, Knight cleared TES's name by arguing that TES is actually a very strong team, but they had some bad luck and issues with their condition that led to the upset. At the same time, Knight stated that there are still many powerful teams in the LPL, and that the LPL is currently the strongest region in the world. Finally, Knight claimed that he is currently the best mid laner in LoL. Upon hearing Knight's remarks, many viewers joked that Knight still loves TES too much. Given how TES has embarrassed itself at Worlds year after year, anyone else would have distanced themselves from TES in an interview, rather than trying to defend them like this.

Conclusion

What do you think of IG's current strength? Many viewers joke that if TES qualifies for the S16 World Championship, it would be better to let IG go instead, since most people can guess the consequences of TES going to Worlds—they would inevitably create a new embarrassing history. Who do you think has a better chance of qualifying for Worlds, IG or TES? Knight calling himself the world's best mid laner seems reasonable to me, because based on the current MSI situation, as long as Knight can beat Zeka, he truly would be the best in the world.