League of Legends: Reborn in Season 3, Tuning the Entire League

Chapter 145 All-Stars (The End)!

Off-site, the attention of both esports teams and ordinary LOL players was drawn to the Shanghai All-Star event.

The dominance displayed by LPL teams made them feel as if they had returned to the timeline of the legendary team M5 that burst onto the scene in Season 2.

With their boundless imagination, endless tactical strategies, and understanding of game mechanics, both teams are remarkably similar!
Of course, the current LPL teams are still superior in terms of individual player ability and execution.

In the first game, after neutralizing Jayce early on through lane swapping, the purple team accumulated a large amount of gold by quickly taking down towers and controlling dragons, accelerating Caitlyn's item upgrade.

Meanwhile, in the mid lane, Diana managed to kill Twisted Fate in a 1v2 situation, effectively neutralizing Ambition's Twisted Fate.

With a card that can't fly and a Jayce who explodes in the early game, OGN's lineup is practically crippled.

The remaining bot lane duo, naturally, could not escape this fate either.

With the outer turrets on both the top and bottom lanes destroyed, Caitlyn Annie stood in the mid lane and quietly harassed several Ferraris on the lane, pushing out 400 gold early on.

These two jungler and support duo are both incredibly powerful, capable of both controlling the enemy and dealing massive damage. If Insec's Lee Sin sees them in the jungle, he has to use his ward to escape; if he's even slightly slow, he'll be caught and killed on the spot.

In the middle of the game, the OGN players on the blue side did attempt a counterattack.

Faced with the Abyssal Scepter, knowing that going up would only be like scratching Diana, Anbixin first switched lanes with his Twisted Fate and Jayce, and went to the top lane to lane against Zac.

As a result, one problem was seriously overlooked.

That's Jayce underdeveloped. Against Diana, even if Jiang Ming didn't build a single armor item in the early game, he still couldn't easily survive.

One EQ combo, two cannon shots, right in front of the entire world of LOL viewers, and before even finishing the second part of Diana's W shield, you can see how big the difference is.

1.5 seconds!
From the moment Diana pushed the lane into the bottom lane's second turret, to MadLife's Thresh setting out in advance to try and rescue her, Jayce was already dead in less than two seconds.

"Oh my god, Diana's behavior is absolutely insane."

"Her stats need to be nerfed in the next patch. She can one-shot Jayce with two-thirds of his health in one combo, which is just too over the top."

"I think the first problem we need to solve is not the heroes, but the Prophet's Potion, which has a huge impact on the game."

"Once the dominant side gains the initiative, the existence of a Prophet's Potion can continuously erode the vision of the disadvantaged side. On one hand, there is a permanent buff effect, and on the other hand, it needs to be purchased again after death, which will undoubtedly further accelerate the economic collapse of the disadvantaged side."

As the matches progress, and given the reality that the OGN region, like the previous teams, is powerless against the LPL in the finals, Riot's design team is working diligently to address the balance issues that urgently need to be resolved on the field.

A single company cannot dominate the gaming market!
If all the games are one-sided victories, then what's the point of holding future tournaments?

Cut it! It must be cut!
Zed, Riven, Diana, Talon—these burst-damage assassins need a round of nerfs first. Talon's silence isn't enough; let's change it to a 99% slow effect first…

"Oh f***, I just started to like this kid, but he made me do more work, and now I don't like him anymore."

"Haha, don't you guys think it would be more reasonable to nerf the experience provided by the two jungle buffs instead of focusing on mid-lane heroes?"

"When most heroes are at level two online, the threat of a level three jungler is really too strong."

"But jungle economy is already scarce, and further reductions in the experience provided by red and blue buffs..."

"Hmm, we can add a set of jungle monsters to the jungle, so that junglers will have to focus more on their own jungle development, which can also reduce the LPL's level 3 tower diving behavior."

"Buddy, don't you think this workload is a bit bigger?"

Back to the game.

After the snowball effect began in the first game, OGN's lineup was easily torn apart by LPL.

Zac's long-range E, combined with Annie's Flash and Ultimate, are both extremely deadly initiation skills. Even after building Zhonya's Hourglass, Jiang Ming's Diana can be used as a semi-initiator.

Jayce is underdeveloped, Twisted Fate's damage output is insufficient, and Varus has no room to survive.

For the next ten minutes, the game seemed to enter an infinite loop mode;
After clearing minions, initiating team fights, killing enemies, and taking towers, the purple team immediately disappeared after the minion wave disappeared. They looted the jungle and then returned to base to update their equipment and replenish their health. Then they did it again, two two three four.

At this moment, the audience was surprised to find that even though the LPL team's heroes went back to base, the minions on all three lanes that had been dealt with were still pushing towards the blue team. The five OGN players couldn't even take advantage of this gap to push back and take a tower or scout the dragon.

With his ultimate ability, Twisted Fate, the only card capable of split pushing, faces a very awkward problem: whether it's Zac or Diana, he can't beat anyone in a one-on-one lane, let alone push the lane to even touch the turret.

Eighteen minutes later, OGN's three outer turrets were destroyed.

At 19 minutes and 30 seconds, Jiang Ming once again instantly killed the Lee Sin who came to provide vision in the jungle. At the same time, he flashed and used E to hold MadLife's Thresh, and immediately used Zhonya's Hourglass to avoid Twisted Fate's yellow card stun. When his teammates flanked from the side, they directly eliminated four OGN players.

Only one Jayce with low health remained, and he ran back to the base!
Without the slightest hesitation, the LPL players, under the command of the mid laner, first took down the top and mid lane inhibitors, patiently waiting for the super minions to spawn and push forward before turning their attention to Baron Nashor.

At 21 minutes into the game, the LPL team cleared all vision in the top half of the map. When they saw Twisted Fate pushing the bottom lane and trying to put up a fight, the purple team, who had an absolute advantage, gave up on the idea of ​​taking Baron and turned around to rush into the high ground.

The Baron in Season 3 only provides attribute buffs and does not provide any bonus to minion pushing.

Fortunately, their current lead is not significantly different whether or not they have the Baron buff.

Zac and Annie initiated team fights, while Diana's incredibly fast QR combo danced a death dance in the crowd. With a smile and a Last Whisper, Caitlyn picked off enemies one by one, securing a triple kill in front of the inhibitor turret.

As for why it wasn't a quadra kill... well, the main reason is that the support Thresh's level was too low. A level 10 Thresh facing a level 16 Diana rushing in would be better described as melting in a second.

At 23 minutes, after eliminating four players and with Anbixin's Twisted Fate failing to stop them, the purple team ended the game in one fell swoop.

LPL takes the first game, leading 1-0.

Back in the lounge, the OGN members were somewhat silent, with the top and mid laners looking even more bewildered.

After the first game, TheShy felt like he had forgotten how to play Jayce.

Did the pre-team fight's EQ combo hit?

He hit, but it was useless. Zac, who was so tanky that his health bar was almost pixelated, was in front of him, and the damage from his empowered Q was less than the damage from a bar of soap on the enemy's body.

He thought of a term, Gua Sha, the ancient medical technique that South Korea has recently revived.

Yes, it's gua sha!

Unlike Shy's reaction, An Bixin's eyes revealed a look of doubt about his life path.

Watching videos from a third-person perspective doesn't give you such a direct feeling. After playing Twisted Fate against Diana in the first game, he finally understood why the mid laners from every team he had played against before almost all had that look of utter defeat on their faces.

He believes that after leaving the league and winning two BO3 matches in the All-Star game, his personal form has returned to its former peak through adjustments.

However, there is still a gap.

If facing Faker, a rising star in the league, he felt an all-around dominance from top-tier skills, then facing JM, he experienced a higher level of dominance.

That feeling of powerlessness, where everything from trading blows, last-hitting minions, controlling minion waves, to coordinating the movements of junglers and support teammates, is completely outmatched by oneself.

To put it bluntly, it's like having your card's ultimate ability completely removed; you want to fly but can't, and if you try to fly, you're completely outmatched.

Frankly speaking, this type of player is more difficult to deal with than the previous style of player.

After all, I can call on teammates if I have good skills, or at least have a duo lane come to the mid lane to put pressure on them at level one, or have the jungler give up a buff or something, trading stats for skill.

However, with someone like JM who possesses exceptional skills and an absolute leading edge, he truly had no way to counter him.

"Coach, let's continue to focus on the top lane in the second game." An Bixin looked relieved. "I'll be the second support."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was quite surprised.

This means that they've completely given up on competing with JM in the mid lane.

Come to think of it, if you pick a tempo-oriented card in the last game, it's not a big deal if you get solo killed in lane, the key is that you have no tempo at all. If you can't fly when you're being targeted in the top lane, what about the bottom lane?

The policewoman kept pushing the line, and as a result, the card was removed by Diana and the R key was pressed into the ground from beginning to end.

Reach nodded, quite satisfied with Anbixin's decisive leadership in the mid lane.

Having problems isn't scary; what's scary is not being able to see yourself clearly.

"However, after this All-Star game, Chanyong will probably be leaving the mid lane!"

Faced with a series of younger players who completely outclass him, the 24-year-old veteran will eventually have to leave this stage.

"Cheer up! We were just tricked in the first round. We still have some tricks up our sleeve."

Reach encouraged the team, saying, "Don't be discouraged. Now we just need to win the next two games."

"Fight to the bitter end, win the second game, stage a comeback, and victory will ultimately be ours!"

……

After the halftime break, both teams returned to the field.

Following their near-sweep victory in the first game, LPL viewers were even more enthusiastic, with the decibel level of their cheers soaring. The cheers stretched from the players' tunnel all the way to the stage, creating a powerful and imposing soundscape.

The five members of OGN couldn't understand Chinese, but that didn't stop them from understanding what the audience was shouting.

The more excited the audience was, the more frustrated the five OGN players, who were switched to the purple side in the second game, became.

After a brief preparation, the BP page reappeared.

In this game, the blue team, LPL, locked in Jayce first.

"Oh my, Jayce? PDD is going to play a tutorial game."

Jayce was taken from the first floor, and OGN secured the top-mid duo of Kennen and Ryze.

"Kennen and Ryze, a very solid top and mid combination, I just don't know what combination JM will consider to counter it."

"Hey, Gragas, it's really Gragas! The original champion of JM's creation skill Flash technique!"

"JM has a near 100% ban/pick rate in the LPL."

……

"Ryze and Kennen swapped. Kennen does have a longer range in the mid lane, but his Q skill is too easy to dodge, and it feels like he can't suppress Gragas's development." "LPL implemented early vision control, and Jayce's development in the first three levels was very comfortable."

"Insec came to counter-gank early, but LPL made a tactical adjustment. Mingkai's Hecarim did not plan to gank at level 3. He even leveled up his Q twice. Random players feel that they can learn from this move."

"As his level increases, Ryze with Sapphire Crystal is finding it harder to withstand Jayce's damage output."

"PDD went in for a strong attack, applied Ignite, he's trying to get a solo kill!"

"No, Jess was just responsible for pressuring the enemy's health. Mingkai's men used Sprint to flank them."

The All-Star finals venue was packed with cheers.

As the second game progressed, the cheers from the LPL audience reached new heights in every crucial round.

First blood, dragon, tower, and then the desperate fight in the first team battle of OGN was easily resolved by Gragas' ultimate.

For them, victory in their own region is just around the corner.

Compared to the previous match, OGN showed exceptional resilience in the second game. They played it safe in lanes and didn't give their opponents many opportunities. Furthermore, the jungler and support duo's warding defense was almost non-stop.

If viewers who had just entered the live stream didn't look at the economic panel, they might have exclaimed in surprise, "As expected of the finals, the two sides are really evenly matched."

A give-and-take situation?

Maybe.

The viewers in the OGN broadcast room had already become numb.

High vision control costs inevitably come with economic costs, and the current seemingly balanced situation is actually a tactical illusion achieved at the expense of the jungler and support's development.

Jiang Ming employed a meticulous, piecemeal tactic, using a jungler gank to secure first blood and create an opening. He then used the vision advantage in the upper half of the map to call in his jungler and top laner to lower Kennen's health.

Although the two sides rarely clash directly, it is through this subtle and effective control of resources that the blue team has gradually widened the economic gap across all lines.

The mid-game dragon fight was lost because the AD carry was killed by Gragas first, resulting in the death of two players and a loss in a team fight. After that, the purple team realized with horror that they could not win no matter what.

Even if you arrest someone and they die, it's still a loss.

If we don't gank, it's like slowly whittling down jungle resources and destroying towers—a death sentence.

"All I can say is that once an LPL team gains an advantage, their relentless pace, giving you absolutely no chance to breathe, is truly despairing."

"JM is directing his teammates to ambush again. MadLife has died repeatedly and doesn't have enough gold to clear vision in his own jungle."

"Aigu, it can only be said that there is a difference in strength. The same operational style of play, but our five OGN representatives are like naive children in front of JM's LPL."

"Now we can only rely on the players' performance; Kennen's ultimate can hit even more targets..."

"Ah, Jayce fired again, Gragas threw QR straight into the crowd, all our heroes are low on health, Hecarim used his ultimate and charged in."

Amidst the agonizing cries of the Korean commentators, Mingkai's Sunshine Rainbow White Horse charged into the high ground, signaled by Jiang Ming's Exploding Barrel.

At 23 minutes, all five players on the purple team were eliminated.

In 26 minutes, the five LPL heroes, bathed in the blood of Baron, easily destroyed OGN's inhibitor, and then their Nexus.

"Won!"

"Let's congratulate LPL!"

"2-0, it's over, LPL has destroyed OGN's base."

Behold my divine might, invincible!

I've proven myself to be the world's best jungler!

[Wuhu, I knew we were the strongest.]

[A comfortable 2-0 victory, sigh~ another win when I wake up.]

[It's a pity that after the All-Star game, we'll never see these five players play together again!]

Hey, why bring this up? Let's just have fun and cheer now. We'll talk about the league later.

On the main stage, it was clear that the players' reactions were much more intense than those of the commentators.

Even though Pang Ran was trying his best to remind his teammates to destroy the base first, when there were only 200 health points left, Ming Kai and the others couldn't contain their excitement and got up first, taking their hands off the keyboard. Fortunately, Jiang Ming, who was drunk but very sober, was there, and the two of them took away the last bit of health from the crystal.

When Jiang Ming took off his headphones, PDD next to him was already so excited that he started practicing his Mantis Boxing in front of the camera.

Unlike Mingkai, who at least had an IPL5 championship as a consolation prize, Mingkai, who had virtually no achievements with IG last year, now has an All-Star championship. Let's see who dares to question the value of his title as the best top laner in the LPL.

As soon as Pang Ran left his seat, he was embraced by an excited Ming Kai and a smiling face.

Jiang Ming was a step behind his teammates, and as he watched them and the audience laughing, his own smile grew even stronger.

Won!

The original All-Star game, which was considered the origin of all evil in the LPL, has been completely changed by him.

……

The spotlights on the dome of the venue flashed frantically, the audience banged their glow sticks together, and the cheering slaps formed a surging wave of energy, all focused on a few young people in the center of the stage.

"Quickly, send out all the tweets that you've prepared beforehand."

"Ok!"

Seeing this, Hu Qiming, the person in charge of the LPL league, did not hesitate and waved his hand to order his subordinates to take action quickly.

As it turns out, he was right to choose JM as the league's star player.

This year's All-Star event was absolutely perfect. The atmosphere at the venue was fantastic, and the number of online viewers repeatedly broke records. Most importantly, the championship was kept at home, preventing all the preparations from going to someone else.

The timing was almost perfectly synchronized. Just a second before, in the All-Star arena in Shanghai, Ma Fanshu's congratulations to the LPL Dream Team for winning the first All-Star championship had barely faded when Tencent posted the victory tweet and celebration on the homepage of its own regional client.

[Peak Glory! LPL Dream Team Returns in Triumph!] (Player photos included)
"In the recently concluded 2013 League of Legends All-Star event in Shanghai, our LPL Dream Team successfully defeated their opponents 2-0, winning the title of the strongest team in the region. At the same time, they secured an extra spot for the LPL region in the S3 World Championship. This is a fearless journey for the fearless players, and a glorious moment for the LPL region!"

[A nationwide carnival! The Battle Night Celebration is about to begin!]

"To celebrate this grand event, from May 31st to June 2nd, League of Legends will launch the [Battle Night] [All-Out Carnival] event. During this time, Summoners only need to log in to the client and complete a game to have a chance to win a permanent skin chest for free (probability)."

"At the same time, during the Battle Night, players can enjoy double gold and double experience, with the alliance helping players grow!"

"Furthermore, starting today, the heroes used by the LPL Dream Team in the All-Star event (including the individual skills competition) will be free for one week, and each hero will also have a skin selected for a limited-time trial event."

"On this night of battle, the flames of war are reignited, and the legend continues—Summoners, see you in the Rift!"

Tencent News, Weibo's trending topics, TV5's quick match updates, and various esports forums are all disseminating the final results of the All-Star event at an alarming pace.

"..."

Some players who weren't watching the live stream and were busy battling in the Rift only realized the event after seeing the pop-up notification in the client after their match ended.

Holy crap, the All-Star Game is already over?
Will LPL win the championship?

There's a celebration going on! That's great!

Wow, a complete 2-0 sweep!

Are our teams in this strong?
These players, who originally had little interest in the event, were attracted by the highly relevant "Battle Night" event that popped up in the client, which brought the popularity of this year's All-Star event to a new high.

……

Inside the NXG eSports Club in Qixia District, Nanjing.

Sitting in her office, Lin Jingyi watched the live stream on her computer while constantly exchanging messages on her phone.

Xiao Zhang, the PR representative, said: "Sister Lin, are we really going to keep praising the other members of the All-Star team on the forum?"

"The MVP should clearly be Ming-ge..."

Lin Jingyi: "Don't ask too many questions. This is something Lao Jiang specifically instructed us to do. Remember to control the comments in our fan groups and on the official Weibo account, and try to guide them in a positive direction such as teamwork leading to victory."

"Focus more on Xiao Pang."

To be fair, she would have found Jiang Ming's actions difficult to understand in the past.

However, when the game ended and she was interviewed after the All-Star game, the young player, as the core of the team, did not hesitate to give credit to her teammates. When the live broadcast room and social media comment sections were flooded with praise, she suddenly realized her mistake.

Some things cannot be forced; striving for them in vain will only make you a laughing stock.
Some achievements need no introduction; your brilliance will never be overshadowed.

Who is the MVP and who is just an easy win? The cruelty of esports lies in the fact that whether it's the data presented on the live streaming platform, the real-time trending list on social media, or the highlight moments pushed by news clients, it all ultimately reflects the value of each player in the matches that have already taken place.

If you don't have the corresponding strength, your boasts will eventually dissipate like bubbles.

But when praise from the outside world is overwhelming, a true wise person will choose to remain humble.

After finalizing the promotional plan, Lin Jingyi switched to another phone specifically for business.

She strictly separates the team's peripheral operations from the management of physical stores, handling them with different equipment.

With their own boss becoming the top seller at the All-Star event and generating buzz, one can imagine the sales growth that online and offline snack stores, as well as peripheral clothing stores, will see.

Lin Jingyi (Manager): "The NXG team captain's All-Star tournament commemorative edition is now available for sale."

"Don't mark too many inventory quantities. If you're out of stock and someone asks, just say you can pre-order."

"Okay, Sister Lin!"

(End of this chapter)