Chapter 59: Steak the Coach: "His Jinx is definitely not as strong as his Jhin."

"Yeah, that's really how it is," Lin Weixiang said.

Hearing this, the five players from FPX exchanged glances with complicated expressions, as they actually felt like laughing.

"Hold it in, keep a straight face. Otherwise, when we step off the stage later, Coach Steak is going to yell at us, the fans are going to flame us, and EDG's fans are going to look down on us..." Liu Qingsong reminded everyone.

Everyone had to cross their legs and hold back their laughter, especially Doinb. He had the lowest threshold for laughter on the entire team, and it was fortunate that the observer wasn't focusing on him right now, keeping the audience's attention elsewhere.

Otherwise, his current state really looked a bit like someone trying desperately to keep from soiling their pants.

This made the young female referee standing behind the entire FPX roster extremely uncomfortable. Laughing was definitely out of the question, but suppressing the laughter was agonizing.

"Let's congratulate Lu Zisang on securing his very first pentakill in the LPL professional arena! Absolutely insane!" Miller shouted, his voice nearly cracking from the intensity.

This play genuinely shocked him, and he continued enthusiastically: "Intelligence! This is the kind of intelligence an ADC should have! A quality that transcends mechanics and game awareness!"

Wawa immediately chimed in: "I'd like to call him the mastermind ADC! Using the most meticulous thought process and the most precise accuracy to execute such a breathtaking play!"

"This pentakill was wonderfully taken, gorgeously taken, perfectly taken—Lu Zisang is a legend."

PDD naturally didn't hold back his praise either, because Lu Zisang's pentakill was genuinely stunning. The moment his Jhin raised the sniper rifle, everyone thought he would secure at most a quadra kill.

Yet he defied everyone's expectations, claiming the quadra kill and then following up with a W to secure the pentakill.

The atmosphere in the arena was exceptionally lively, and even the viewers in the livestream chat were infected by the hype:

"Whoa! So strong, simply too strong. I have to admit that when it comes to sheer IQ, Brother Falcon has never lost."

"I've watched his solo queue streams, but I never expected Falcon to perform even more astonishingly on the professional stage!"

"Congratulations to my Falcon on getting his first pentakill in the LPL arena!! Congratulations!!"

"I think I'm witnessing the birth of a rising star. Tonight's season opener will completely cement Falcon's reputation across the LPL!"

"FPX: A real family has to stay neat and tidy together."

"Brother GimGoon: In the end, he still showed me some respect."

"Has anyone noticed that tonight the entire FPX roster are stand-up comedians?"

"Hahaha, they're all trying to catch up with the Optimistic Clan!!"

If the chat was buzzing, the live audience was even more so. The first "keyword" of tonight's LPL Spring Split opener had already been born and was fermenting at a rapid pace.

On major social platforms like Weibo, the trending search lists immediately featured the keyword "Lu Zisang Pentakill," triggering massive discussions and comment threads.

Meanwhile, Lu Zisang's long-dormant verified Weibo account quietly began gaining followers...

"Nice! Nice! Nice!"

As Lu Zisang wiped out the entire FPX roster, the observer switched the camera feed to the EDG player lounge, where Clearlove was pounding his chest and stamping his feet, looking somewhat uncomposed.

"A pentakill! Lu Zisang got a pentakill! In his very first match on the LPL stage, he secured a pentakill, and in such a breathtaking fashion."

Clearlove muttered to himself, then couldn't help but chuckle: "Old Chen, Old Chen, did you see that? This is the player I, Mingkai, cultivated with my own hands."

Chen Dong: "Got it, got it. How many times have you emphasized this in the last twenty minutes?"

"?"

Clearlove raised an eyebrow: "Did I? Surely not."

The camera angle shifted back to FPX's side, where head coach Steak wore a calm expression, quietly sipping mineral water—this was already his third bottle.

Anyone passing by would have thought he was drinking hard liquor. Seeing this on the caster desk, Wawa couldn't help but remark, "Is Coach Steak drowning his sorrows in alcohol?"

"He's drinking mineral water, didn't you see Wang Leehom's picture printed on the label?"

Miller reminded him.

PDD blinked, momentarily confused about what was going on: "What does this have to do with Wang Leehom?"

"What, you've never drunk the mineral water he endorses?" Miller asked.

"Uh, drunk it, drunk it." PDD suddenly understood; probably no one hadn't drunk this brand of mineral water.

The game had reached a point where the live audience felt FPX practically had no chance left. Although their opponents were EDG—a team notorious for having a ten-thousand-gold lead and still getting reverse-swept—it was obvious that today's EDG had shed their old skin and were no longer the EDG of the past.

"It's a nine-one split right now. How is FPX supposed to pull off a comeback? I'm wondering, where is their win condition?" PDD gave his verdict.

As an official caster, Miller knew he couldn't offend FPX's fans too severely, so he explained: "Not necessarily, it hasn't reached a nine-one split yet, maybe eight-two at most! EDG's win rate right now is as high as eighty percent!"

"Look, EDG hasn't even destroyed all three sets of inhibitor crystals yet, right?"

"Oh, I get it! You mean it's only a nine-one split once all three inhibitor crystals are gone?" PDD asked.

Wawa shook his head repeatedly, explaining earnestly, "All three inhibitor crystals are destroyed, and their twin nexus towers are gone too, leaving only the naked nexus—that's a nine-one split."

PDD wore a rather peculiar expression. That's a bit... leaving only the nexus is considered a nine-one split? That's practically a guaranteed defeat.

Still, it made a certain kind of sense.

The rest of the game was pure domination—Jhin was massively fed, and the top-lane Camille was equally monstrous. Everyone on EDG was flying high!

What could FPX possibly do to play from here?

Ultimately, the opening match of the Spring regular season concluded at the 28-minute mark. As FPX's nexus shattered, EDG claimed victory in the first game of their LPL Spring regular season campaign!

"Let's congratulate EDG for taking the first map. Hopefully, in the upcoming match point game, FPX can properly adjust their mindset, refine their draft, and bring out something new to face EDG!"

Miller spoke first, and Wawa immediately followed up: "With EDG now fielding an all-Chinese roster, the vibe they give off is completely different. We no longer need to view today's EDG through the lens of the past."

"Now, let's hand the broadcast over to the analyst desk! We'll see you for the match point game!"

Finally, PDD added a concluding remark, and the official tournament stream transitioned to the analyst desk.

After the match, FPX hurried back to their player lounge, everyone carrying heavy expressions, lingering for as short a time as possible.

Back in the lounge, Head Coach Steak had been waiting for a long time.

"This game was pretty good!"

"We played well, there were just tiny, minor flaws. Everyone shouldn't carry any psychological burden; this is a best-of-three, and we still have a chance to turn it around."

Steak said with a smile: "I watched the previous game carefully, and it was my fault—the draft wasn't done well. After observing this game, we need to change our approach!"

"Jhin must go to the ban phase. Jinx can be let through." Steak stated.

Thinking to himself, surely his Jinx couldn't possibly be stronger than his Jhin?

...

(Second update, continuing!)