With all of Group B finished, TES advanced to the knockout stage with a perfect record.
And with so much happening today, post-match Weibo was absolutely buzzing.
"Brother Infinite Borders is genuinely insane. Across these six games, he didn't have a single bad one. Especially the one against PSG—he got targeted, and still solo-killed back with Syndra!"
"No joke, Syndra is Tu Bro's signature. I remember there was a long stretch this Spring Split where teams wouldn't dare leave it up."
"Bay isn't in the same tier as Brother Infinite Borders. According to inside info, the ones who asked for the rematch were them. PSG's bunch are disgusting—last MSI they were also the ones causing trouble by eavesdropping on tactics."
"Really?"
"Really. When Riot was checking the data, they asked PSG about the rematch, and PSG demanded it."
"People from that region are always sarcastic and shady in interviews. We're not even in the same league. If there's a leak like that, I believe it 100%."
"If it's true, weren't they just asking for it? Like a rematch could change anything. Brother Infinite Borders was already on a killing spree!"
"I've got inside TES news too. When Riot decided on the rematch, the China regional head personally went to the club to apologize for the oversight."
"爽爽爽爽爽—today was pure bliss!"
TL: 爽 - satisfying. So like saying, "Satisfying, satisfying, satisfying!" It just looks better in Chinese okay?
Besides celebrating TES topping the group and advancing, plenty of people were also discussing the rematch.
From 9:30 PM until after 2 AM, new threads kept popping up.
You could tell everyone was hyped about TES winning.
In truth, the mentality was the same for most people.
Even those who didn't like TES—when a domestic team performed well on the world stage, they still celebrated.
It was the region's glory…
But while everyone was talking about MSI, a post quietly rose to the surface:
"Does no one realize today is also the day Brother Infinite Borders plays in the Teamfight Tactics China Semifinals?"
As Douyu's number-one seed, Lin Fan had a direct pass into semifinals.
So he went straight into the semis.
By the rules, as long as you placed top two in semifinals, you advanced to finals.
And the person who made that post even attached the semifinal groupings.
Lin Fan happened to be in Group A—and Group A was stacked.
Not even counting the players who qualified through groups, the platform-track number-one seed Huya Yuntian was there, along with Bilibili's "Bicycle."
There was also a direct invite: the Light and Darkness global champion "Annihilation," and the TOC2 national finals champion "Apostate."
In that situation, if you could break out and take a top-two spot, the value of that result would be maxed out.
"Holy crap, if you didn't post this, I would've forgotten! Tu Bro plays TFT semifinals today at 5 PM."
"Honestly, Tu Bro's status is insane. Under the original schedule, once MSI matches finished, you'd just wait for the TOC3 global finals."
"Of course. If Tu Bro enters TFT, the topic value skyrockets. The matches haven't even started and the hype is already rising."
"If I were the organizer, I'd wait too. Sometimes the schedule really isn't fair—just like how TES withdrew and Riot came begging, and now they're even allowed to play online."
Once people remembered, discussion turned enthusiastic.
Compared to MSI, Lin Fan's upcoming TFT matches were even more entertaining.
No one actually expected him to win it all.
It was basically a fun interlude before the knockout stage.
A way to relieve pressure.
After yesterday's games, relaxing was only natural.
Even if he got eliminated, people wouldn't overthink it—he could focus properly on MSI.
And if TES won MSI online, the LCK crowd would completely lose their minds.
Watching the keyboard warriors melt down would feel amazing.
After everything over the past half-year, he'd probably vent all that anger on SKT…
After a night of discussion, "Tu Bro TFT Semifinals" quietly climbed into the top ten on Weibo trending.
At daybreak, the TOC3 China official account struck while the iron was hot and posted today's match announcement.
The Group A semifinals would be played at 5 PM.
They also released the Group A participant list.
The comments were honestly hilarious.
"Beat Tu Bro up! Make him go focus on real matches!"
"Don't let a League pro sit on your TFT streamers' heads and take a dump. Hurry up and eliminate Tu Bro!"
"Yuntian hard-carries and massacres Tu Bro!"
"Yuntian might be tough—I trust Apostate more."
"This group has a lot of strong streamers. Tu Bro won't have it as easy as he did on Douyu."
"Honestly, these TFT streamers are probably annoyed too. The organizers delayed for over half a month just to wait for one person. I heard there's even tactical coordination targeting Tu Bro…"
No matter whether people believed in him or not, the hype kept fermenting.
Domestic attention gradually shifted from MSI to the TFT qualifiers.
Mainly because today's MSI slate was Group C.
Three teams—G2 crushed everyone, and the other two fought for second.
Not nearly as interesting as watching Tu Bro run the TFT gauntlet.
Sure enough, the moment Lin Fan started his stream, a huge wave of viewers flooded in.
In the blink of an eye, his popularity broke five million.
And this wasn't even prime time.
At night, with match hype added, hitting ten million would be easy.
Douyu finally stood up—now they had a true pillar-level superstar streamer.
They wouldn't be constantly suppressed by Huya anymore.
"This is kind of interesting. How do I make my character die after getting in here? That trap teleports you up."
"It used to be reflex training—mechanics. Now it's turned into a puzzle game."
I Wanna was genuinely addictive.
Before, if your reactions weren't enough, you'd die in every ridiculous way and suffer nonstop—viewers would laugh their heads off.
But once you could clear stages easily, it got boring.
Games are like that.
Too easy and they aren't interesting.
Too hard and, aside from a few masochist players, most people quit.
So developers have to find a balance.
I Wanna introducing puzzle mode was basically a concession.
The old mode was too insane—only streamers played it for laughs.
Regular players wouldn't go looking for that kind of suffering.
Now, with puzzle mode, whether your mechanics are good or bad, you can progress step by step.
It's all brain power.
"No, wait—if it's like this… how am I supposed to die?" Lin Fan stared at the black-and-white screens in deep confusion.
"Hahahaha…"
"Go find a tofu block. That's a good choice."
"It's over—my brain is crawling out of my skull. It itches, it itches!"
"Watching this, I finally know Tu Bro has games he can't play."
"Isn't it simple? Go from here to here, then wait for the brick to fall and crush yourself."
Lin Fan thought for a long time and still couldn't figure it out, so he kept staring at chat.
Then he saw that message, and his eyes lit up.
"Oh, so that's the route?"
"Then I jump here and wait for the brick to smash me?"
He controlled the character, hopping across, dodging obstacles, and reached the spot.
After waiting a moment, a brick fell from above and successfully crushed him.
"Beautiful, brothers. There are a lot of pros in chat. This game is really fun—play a few stages and time just disappears."
"I actually want to keep playing, but I've got semifinals soon. I need to get myself ready so I can enter match mode right away."
The moment he said that, the chat spammed like crazy.
"I'm crying. So Tu Bro actually warms up before matches."
"Man, I suddenly don't know what kind of creature Tu Bro is anymore."
"If that's the case, Tu Bro's League ceiling is still really high. He can get even stronger."
"Doesn't matter. After today's matches, Tu Bro won't waste time on TFT anymore."
"I agree. If he were in Group B, he might fight for top two. But in Group A, the difficulty is huge."
Amid the discussion, Lin Fan queued up ranked.
He gambled on Sett…
Then instantly went eighth, lost over 70 points, and got off.
What the hell.
"In this meta, even if the augments fit and the cards are high-roll, you still can't play punch comps. 'Strongman' is just too weak. Late game, even with 9 Ragewing, it's still worse than Shapeshifter Dragonmancer Shyvana, or Adventure Xayah's ceiling."
"Honestly, with Riot changing it like this, one-cost carries can't function. The fun drops a lot. In Set 4, Chosen Duelist Yasuo was the peak of one-cost carries. The moment you hit Chosen Yasuo, you knew you had LP."
That line hit a lot of players with nostalgia.
Fortune Set 4 was the one version everyone remembered fondly.
It showed how good Set 4 was.
Compared to it, other sets felt like trash.
Set 4 should've been the beginning, but it ended up being the peak.
In the second game, the lobby was Duelist Mirage, so Lin Fan gambled on Yone.
Duelist Yone was genuinely strong—once he hit three-star, it was slaughter.
He pushed level 9 and found Yasuo.
With the brothers together, they rampaged.
He secured first place and made back the points from that eighth.
"Yep, the feeling is back. From this game onward, I won't lose a single one!"
"???"
"???"
"Tu Bro is planting a flag again!"
"It's almost time. I hope we see Tu Bro in the finals."
In semifinals, it was still online.
Only finals would be played offline.
The match started at 5 PM.
The rules were: five games total, top two by points advance to finals.
Third through sixth go into a tiebreaker round, still with a theoretical path to qualify.
Seventh and eighth are eliminated.
Scoring was simple: first place gets 8 points, second gets 7, and so on.
As it approached 4:30, Lin Fan received the official message and entered the room immediately to wait for the match to start.
The moment he joined, people began greeting each other.
Apostate: "Tu Bro, that Douyu Cup finals was beautiful. I really didn't expect Mirage Pirates to take first in the end."
Annihilation: "Take it easy on me today—let me qualify, yeah?"
Random 1: "So many bosses here… I'm trembling."
Bicycle: "Tu Bro, why not go back and focus on MSI?"
Lin Fan quickly typed back: "Seniors, please show mercy—just don't make me go eighth every game."
Before matches started, the little pre-game chat was pretty fun.
Viewers watched with interest.
Mainly because Lin Fan wasn't just a League pro—he played TFT well too.
He'd stormed all the way to MSI, crushing games and building a huge fanbase.
So even these TFT veterans had to choose their words carefully when chatting with him.
They were afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting flooded after the match.
That "meeting a big streamer" mindset was hilarious.
"Don't let their flattery fool you. Once the match starts, they'll try to kill me. I can't let their sugar-coated bullets shatter my Dao heart."
"I'm telling you—my plan is clear. Just brainlessly prioritize attack speed."
While chatting in the room, Lin Fan also analyzed opponents with his viewers.
Half an hour passed quickly.
The referee typed into the public chat: go?
Everyone replied with 1.
Very quickly!
The match began.
After a short loading screen, the Little Legends appeared.
It was time.
He said he was going for attack speed, but in reality he sprinted for a Giant's Belt.
Belts are great for winstreaking—whether you build Zeke's Herald or Sunfire Cape, it's winstreak insurance.
Both items are flexible and fit into almost any comp.
Then the PvE drop gave him a Chain Vest.
No need to think—use Bruisers as an early bridge, Astral to print money and maintain the streak.
He still hadn't locked a final comp.
For augments, he took an economy one—Interest.
This game was about infinite money, pushing levels, going high-pop for a higher ceiling.
But then—unexpectedly—three Volibears showed up in a row.
Lin Fan started thinking: a max-HP Volibear might actually be good.
Even after nerfs, his backline access was still absurd.
Go.
If the items weren't right, he could always try to fix it later with Treasure Dragon.
Once he clearly started leaning Volibear, others noticed and casually tried to hold copies to block him.
But against a player blessed with dog-luck, holding cards doesn't help.
By 4-3, Lin Fan already had eight copies.
He thought for a second, then spent 20 gold rolling down.
Not only did he find a Yasuo—he also hit three-star Volibear.
Everyone ran to Lin Fan's board and spammed question marks.
What the hell.
It's not that they didn't hold—everyone was holding some.
And he still found the last Volibear?
They were dizzy.
Not only did he hit it—he even found a Yasuo…
With Interest economy stacked, a fully online three-star Volibear, and top-tier board quality the entire time…
Game one: he seized the initiative and took a full-HP first place.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup