"I haven't touched this game in two years, so I was definitely a bit rusty."
"I planned to end it in under five minutes, but it ended up dragging on for an extra forty-seven seconds."
The crowd fell silent.
Was this the ultimate flex?
The players on Team Thunder looked absolutely thoroughly sickened.
They came here today aiming for the championship.
Yet, in an arena with thousands of people and a livestream with over two hundred thousand viewers, they had been destroyed by someone who hadn't played in two years.
After this crushing defeat, Team Thunder's reputation was guaranteed to hit rock bottom.
Thor, their captain, refused to swallow the humiliation and spoke up publicly.
"We underperformed that round. In the second match, Team MRX won't get lucky again."
Kiki's sweet, clear voice echoed through the microphone.
"Team MRX still owes me ten kills."
When it came to trash talk, Silas Thorne never backed down.
"If your skills are garbage, stop making excuses. On the finals stage, there are only winners and losers."
The host turned back to Maeve.
"BDR, what are your thoughts on the next two matches?"
Maeve replied smoothly, "We only have one match left against Team Thunder."
The host looked confused. "Did you forget the rules? It's a best-of-three series."
Maeve stated, "We've already won one."
The host pressed, "So you're absolutely confident you'll win the second match?"
Maeve cast a predatory gaze straight into the camera.
The cameraman immediately gave her a close-up.
Maeve's voice was absolute ice. "If the format is best of three, my opponent won't get the chance to play a third."
The host was completely stunned.
He was choked up, unable to find a single word in response.
The live audience erupted in an uproar.
Today, they were witnessing arrogance on an entirely new level.
Demanding ten kills from a professional mid-laner in eight minutes was treating Kiki like an absolute noob.
If Kiki were that easy to farm, Team Thunder wouldn't have brought her to the finals.
The netizens who had dug into the archives might have somewhat believed it.
But the live audience, completely ignorant of BDR's legendary history, thought this female jungler from Team MRX was writing checks her skills couldn't cash.
The second match began swiftly.
As expected, the very first champion Team Thunder banned was Lee Sin, the highly mobile hero Maeve had just used to obliterate them.
She had played Lee Sin with such terrifying precision in the previous game that the entire Team Thunder roster now had severe PTSD.
A champion with that much mobility in her hands had to be banned immediately.
They thought banning Lee Sin would throttle Maeve's momentum.
To everyone's shock, she locked in Kha'Zix, the exact same jungler Team Thunder had used in the first match.
The host was baffled. "BDR actually locked in Kha'Zix. Forgive me, but I don't understand this play."
Maeve threw a wicked glance at the camera.
"This round, I'm going to give everyone a practical lesson on exactly how Kha'Zix is meant to be played."

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