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Chapter 518 The Aftermath of the Championship Victory: Dramatic Changes in the LPL!

On November 4, 2017, in the final battle of the S7 World Championship held at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, LGD swept SKT, the three-time world champions, with a score of 3-0, which almost no one expected before the match.

While handing SKT their first-ever best-of-five (BO5) defeat in the World Championship, LGD also lifted the first Summoner's Cup in LPL history, namely the World Championship trophy.

The MVP of this final, which is also the FMVP of the S7 World Championship, was awarded to Zhou Dian.

To be fair, giving the FMVP to Zhou Dian wouldn't be a problem.

However, in this 3-0 sweep in the BO5, the entire LGD team actually performed exceptionally well.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to sweep SKT 3-0.

Among them, Wei Shen and imp, the two center players, also performed exceptionally well.

Therefore, while Zhou Dian's performance in the finals was quite good, it wasn't to the point of outperforming his teammates.

At least, Wei Shen and imp have the potential to compete with him for this FMVP award.

However, from the audience to the commentators and the event organizers, everyone seemed to think that the FMVP should go to Zhou Dian.

In any case, Zhou Dian stood out in the final selection of FMVP, and the judges did not consider the other members of LGD at all.

It can only be said that everyone from the audience to the commentators to the event officials wants to see Zhou Dian achieve the feat of "a grand slam of FMVP in a single year".

If Zhou Dian performs exceptionally well in the finals, Riot Games will undoubtedly be keen to help him achieve this unprecedented feat.

LPL Spring Split FMVP, MSI Mid-Season Invitational FMVP, LPL Summer Split FMVP, World Championship FMVP!

For a player to win the FMVP award in four major tournaments in the same year and a single season is indeed more impressive than for a team to achieve a grand slam in a single year and embark on a "golden road".

At the S7 FMVP award ceremony, when Zhou Dian received the S7 FMVP trophy from the presenter, Guan Zeyuan, who was the LPL's temporary award presenter, not only said that it was "unprecedented", but also used "unparalleled" to describe Zhou Dian's "single-year FMVP grand slam".

At the time, the audience was immersed in the excitement of LGD winning the championship and the LPL region winning the championship.

No one felt there was anything wrong with Guan Zeyuan's somewhat arbitrary use of the phrase "there will be no one like him after him".

Looking back after the match, it seems there really wasn't anything wrong with it.

Any rational viewer can understand one thing.

That is, it is much more difficult for an individual player to achieve the "Grand Slam of FMVP in a Single Year" than for a team to achieve the "Grand Slam in a Single Year".

Skill and luck are both indispensable.

Even the slightest bit missing is unacceptable.

After all, in League of Legends esports, Riot Games can artificially adjust your luck, which means there are version changes.

Will any player be able to achieve Zhou Dian's "single-year FMVP grand slam" this year?

That's unlikely!

Even Zhou Dian himself would find it difficult to do this again!

As the saying goes, maintaining a business is harder than starting one.

A person is at their strongest before they achieve success.

After achieving success, it's inevitable to become complacent.

This is also human nature.

Of course, the objective laws governing things are one thing, and the psychological expectations of the audience and fans are another.

Even though they know how difficult it is to continue their success, LGD fans still hope that the LGD team can continue to win championships in the next year, that is, the S8 season.

Zhou Dian's fans are also hoping that he can continue to win FMVP and become the successor to the "single-year FMVP Grand Slam".

However, the old saying "it is harder to maintain an existing business than to start one" has been passed down through the ages, and the underlying principles and laws are not easily reversed!
The changes LGD has made in the new season have been unexpected.

It was beyond the expectations of all viewers, fans, and industry professionals.

A week after the final battle of S7, the entire LPL was still immersed in a joyful atmosphere.

We were immersed in a sense of pride that we were the number one region.

However, while the audience and fans are having a good time, the various LPL teams are going to be quite busy.

Because the 17 winter transfer window has already opened!

The winter transfer window is the longest and has the largest number of player movements of the year.

Every year during the winter transfer window, there are many player trades and signings.

And changes in the management personnel of various teams.

There have even been changes in the ownership of the teams.

This year's winter transfer window has undoubtedly seen the peak of changes in all aspects of the LPL.

LGD's victory at the S7 World Championship on home soil this year had the most direct effect of boosting the popularity of League of Legends esports in China.

At the same time, just when the number of League of Legends players in China seemed to be declining, it has once again attracted a large number of new players to join the game.

It also kept many veteran players who were gradually considering quitting the game from continuing to fight in Summoner's Rift.

The significant increase in tournament attention, the growing number of viewers and gamers, naturally leads to a direct boost in economic benefits related to League of Legends.

As a result, a lot of new capital began to flow in and invest in domestic League of Legends esports events.

Not only the LPL, but also the secondary leagues have seen a significant influx of new funds.

Of course, the majority of the revenue still comes from the top-tier LPL league.

Following the wave of Korean players coming to China during the 14 winter transfer window, before the start of Season 5.

The LPL at the end of this year has once again sparked a wave of investment.

The biggest change brought about by the investment boom during the 14 winter transfer window was naturally the influx of a large number of Korean players into the LPL and the significant increase in the salaries of professional players.

The investment boom during this winter transfer window has permanently altered the LPL ecosystem.

The LPL region will switch from the promotion and relegation system of the past few years to a league system after the start of the S8 season.

In layman's terms, this means that the LPL will cancel promotion and relegation next season.

This means that starting in 18, no LPL team will be relegated to the secondary league due to poor performance.

In the secondary league, no matter how good your team's record is, it is impossible to be promoted to the LPL.

If a new team wants to enter the LPL, the only way is through a slot trade.

Unfortunately, as LPL slots have become increasingly valuable, and LGD's victory at the Bird's Nest this year has further boosted their value.

Currently, an LPL slot is worth several thousand W, or even more.

Playing in the secondary league, the revenue compared to the LPL isn't just halved, it's practically negligible. If they get relegated, the team owners will suffer a huge loss!

Other team owners come to invest to make money, not to do charity.

Given that almost all team owners have this demand, it was inevitable that the LPL would switch to a league system and abolish promotion and relegation.

Thus, in the fall of 17, VG and RW, who were promoted from LSPL, became the last two teams to be promoted to LPL through the promotion and relegation mechanism.

In addition to the twelve teams that were already in the LPL during the 17 Summer Split.

By the time of the new S8 season, which is the Spring Split of 18, the LPL will have fourteen teams.

This number will only increase in the future, not decrease!

Speaking of this, we have to mention PDD's YM team again.

The 17 LSPL Summer Split was originally the last chance for secondary league teams to be promoted to the LPL.

However, Team YM failed to advance from the relegation stage for the fourth time in a row.

This inevitably raises suspicions that PDD's team might be involved in match-fixing.
After all, an LPL slot is incredibly valuable these days.

With the promotion and relegation system abolished, YM, which failed in its last attempt to enter the LPL, quickly dismantled the team, selling off all its talented players.

This only fuels suspicion that the YM team was fixing matches in the past.

Of course, these things can only circulate and be discussed among the audience.

Who can tell what's true and what's false?

Everything else may be fake; only the benefits in hand are real.

Following LGD's victory at the Bird's Nest, LPL slots have become even more valuable, and LPL events have become even more profitable.

During the winter transfer window at the end of the year, all the major teams also began a large-scale recruitment drive.

After all, even though there's no more promotion or relegation, there's no need to worry about being relegated to the second division if the team performs poorly next season.

But you need to achieve results to make more money!
Aside from established teams, other teams with weak foundations, as well as newly joined LPL teams, will find it difficult to attract fans if their performance is poor.

At a time when the LPL audience is expanding dramatically, achieving some results would be twice as effective with half the effort, making it easy to attract fans.

Investing in incremental markets is the best way to maximize returns.

By the time the market reaches a mature, established phase, the fan base of each LPL team will be stable, and no new fans will be coming in.

Even with good grades back then, you couldn't attract many fans, so the cost-effectiveness of investing money was low.

If that happens, I estimate that many LPL teams will stop investing money and just give up and drift along.

Anyway, we can't be downgraded.

They might even find a scapegoat to take over, sell their LPL slot, and make a fortune before making a clean getaway.

Of course, that's all for later.

At least for now, all LPL teams are showing unprecedented enthusiasm for investing money.

The two newly promoted teams to the LPL are VG and RW.

VG team goes without saying; they entered the LPL during the wave of Korean players coming to China at the end of 14.

A large amount of money was invested back then.

They have continued to invest in bringing in new players.

They only stopped investing in the team after being relegated in the Spring Split this year.

Of course, VG only stayed in the secondary league for half a year.

In just one summer season, VG seized the last chance to upgrade and fought their way back into the LPL.

After all, even though VG was relegated, they retained the same roster they had when they were in the LPL.

With two high-paid Korean players, Easyhoon and Swift, VG's salary level is unparalleled in the LSPL, far ahead of other teams in the secondary league.

It's not surprising that they were able to fight their way back from the second division!
With Easyhoon and Swift as their two core mid-jungle duos, VG only needs minor adjustments for the new season.

VG's two Korean mid and jungle players have very high salaries, which makes it difficult for VG to make strong signings in other positions.

After all, each team can only have two Korean player slots, and VG has already filled theirs.

Domestic players with strong skills command exorbitant prices, far exceeding the cost of comparable South Korean imports.

After experiencing relegation once, VG's strategy for the new season is more inclined to play it safe and steady, and they are unwilling to gamble again.

Meanwhile, RW, another team that was promoted to the LPL, began recruiting players as soon as the winter transfer window opened.

First, they signed former EDG top laner Mouse.

Then they brought in Flawless, a Korean jungler, from IM.

They then signed former OMG marksman Smlz.

Finally, there's Doinb, the former JDG mid-laner who won the 16 LPL Spring Split regular season MVP and is known for his "self-contained system".

Apart from the support player Killua.

The original roster of RW team, which rose from the secondary league to the LPL, has been completely replaced.

Replacing four veteran players at once demonstrates RW's ambition to achieve results in the new season.

The team features two Korean players in the mid and jungle positions, with Doinb and Sima Laozei as their two carries.

The top lane also features EDG's carefully selected player, Mouse, a high-quality blue-collar player with rich experience in handling pressure and who has played in the World Championship.

This roster configuration has led many to consider RW a strong contender for one of the three World Championship spots for the LPL region next season.

Of course, they are only strong contenders for a spot in the World Championship.

Aside from a few Doinb fans who like to tout RW's "own system," no one thinks RW will be a favorite to win the LPL championship next season.

From the audience's perspective, how could RW possibly beat LGD?
Let's not even talk about the Grand Slam LGD team, saying that would be bullying RW.

Take RNG for example, and IG, where JackeyLove is about to return. Can RW beat these two teams?

It might be difficult for them to even qualify for the World Championship next season!
More rational RW fans have realized that it will be extremely difficult for RW to make it to the S8 World Championship next season, which is the S8 season.

Because, even excluding a few long-established teams that have always been competitive.

RW is not the only ambitious emerging team.

Besides RW, several other teams have also been actively recruiting players during this winter transfer window.

The competition in the LPL region will become more intense than ever before in the next season after this winter transfer window, the S8 season!
(End of this chapter)