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

Chapter 146 The Death Declaration Punch Incident!

The All-Star event concluded perfectly. With comprehensive promotion from Tencent's platform and mainstream media such as TV5, various event highlights, player interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and other content continued to generate a wave of online buzz, even showing a trend of forming a long-tail effect. Related topics directly occupied the top five spots on the social media trending list.

The public was thoroughly impressed by esports events and the energy possessed by young people.

How could a game competition attract so much attention?

The enormous influence of the esports industry has drawn attention from all sectors of society. On the day of the League of Legends All-Star Finals in Shanghai, more than seven million people watched the game live in mainland China alone.

If television viewership data is added, the total number of viewers reached is expected to exceed ten million. It's worth noting that this figure is close to the 1420 million real-time viewership across both television and online platforms in mainland China during the same period of the NBA Finals.

This means that esports, as an emerging event IP, has reached the same scale of its core audience as traditional sports events.

At the same time, the phenomenal spread further confirms the consumption potential of the post-90s generation!
The massive number of viewers attracted the attention of countless people outside the gaming community, and Tencent's stock experienced a mini-boom as a result.

If the parent company is like this, one can imagine what it's like for LPL, which is managed by Tencent Sports. As a result, countless businesses are chasing after LPL league advertising slots. In this new era, no one can refuse the market of this huge number of young people.

Some went even further, diving headfirst into the world of esports.

Yes, the esports market is still in the exploratory stage and can only be considered a small pond. As an emerging field, the compatibility of esports traffic with the traditional consumer market still needs to be confirmed through in-depth data verification and market research.

As a key figure in the competition, Jiang Ming and his NXG team naturally reaped significant benefits.

The surge in sales of online and offline merchandise is just the tip of the iceberg. After the event, the TGA platform launched a 24-hour loop playback mode, replaying the entire All-Star game.

His outstanding performance and unique professional demeanor led to a significant increase in his public profile.

It has become widely known within the industry and is gradually showing signs of expanding beyond its original scope.

A figure originally known in the e-sports circle is gradually penetrating the public eye.

As Jiang Ming gained wider recognition, the numerous buffs he had accumulated for himself along the way began to take effect.

For example, during the few days of the competition, some family education scenarios have seen new changes. With TV5 broadcasting the event for three consecutive days and featuring post-match interviews to establish role models, many parents have begun to abandon the traditional teaching of "only studying hard and making progress every day" and instead, taking Jiang Ming's All-Star event as an example, have helped their children who were addicted to online games to find a balance between academics and interests.

Having received official recognition, Jiang Ming is now considered by parents to be the perfect "other people's child."

On the surface, the attention garnered may not bring him much substantial economic benefit for the time being, but as LOL expands further into other esports circles, this positively positioned identity can help NXG avoid many obstacles on its path to growth.

Of course, fame comes at a price.

As the topic gained more and more attention, more and more people wanted to ride the wave of popularity, and discussions about LOL and the five members of the LPL dream team gradually deepened.

With the deliberate digging of those with ulterior motives, Jiang Ming and his NXG team, whose style differed from that of the LPL and even the entire league, naturally became the primary targets.

Furthermore, given the stark contrast between the performances of PDD, WeiXiao, and MingKai in their previous teams and their All-Star performances, viewers from other regions suddenly realized that all evidence pointed to this young man who held multiple roles as a player, head coach of the Dream Team, and club owner.

As a result, the other regions that lost the game began to study LPL, or more precisely, they began to study the playstyle of the NXG team.

From the players' solid fundamentals, vision and tactics, disciplined management, to lane management and incredibly tacit teamwork, the All-Star team was thoroughly outmatched by teams from all regions. I even went so far as to find LPL match videos and study them one by one.

Among them, OGN, which suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of LPL in the finals, sparked a wave of anti-China sentiment.

The imitation wave sparked by the All-Star event is just the beginning. As some teams take the lead and learn NXG's easily imitated tactical concepts, other teams in the same region will inevitably follow suit in order to avoid being eliminated.

Imagine if they got on track two years ahead of time, before capital entered the scene, and in a highly competitive environment with a group of young people still dreaming of esports, who knows how many monster teams would have emerged in the entire League of Legends scene.

However, Jiang Ming couldn't care less about those things. After finishing the All-Star game, he had a brief chat with his senior and the representatives sent from above about his vision for the future of esports, and he drew up a grand vision of a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan.

However, to put it simply, the domestic e-sports scene is only just beginning to take shape. It will be a long way to go before it reaches the level of later generations, and it is not something that can be supported by just one game like LOL.

Honor of Kings, PUBG, DOTA2...

His idea was to rely on his more than ten years of leading experience. As long as he didn't make any stupid mistakes, after taking the lead in the first step, he could set a benchmark in the minds of players. Even if he didn't dominate the top spot forever, it would be easy for NXG to stay in the first tier of esports clubs.

Furthermore, the key is to use League of Legends as the foundation and continuously expand outwards to form a positive cycle.

After receiving a verbal promise, Jiang Ming did not linger in Shanghai and set off back to the base.

……

"Only three left?"

The first thing Jiang Ming did upon returning to the base was naturally to find out about the club's youth training situation. Whether they could make a big profit by selling youth training contracts in the second half of this year and even in S4, without considering super-rich sponsors, was crucial to the expansion of their base next season and the further development of their business.

After learning more, Jiang Ming was somewhat surprised that, despite being subjected to intense NXG training upon entering, only three people had managed to escape with buckets, far fewer than the ten or so Jiang Ming had previously estimated.

"Putting everything else aside, the first batch of contestants have pretty good willpower." Mo Ziye compiled the tracking and evaluation data of each contestant and handed it to his boss.

NXG's first step in youth training actually didn't involve much; it was all about enduring pressure, enduring pressure, and more enduring pressure.

Newcomers must undergo a three-day extreme stress test.

First, you play against a team from morning till night, until you're dizzy from the sheer brutality. Then, in the evening, you have to do specific ranked training, which involves playing heroes that test your fundamentals and proficiency.

The following day, the training focused on systematic fundamental skills, including 200 sets of timed last-hitting drills for online positions, strategic route planning for more than four unconventional jungle resource areas for junglers, and skill release and positioning coordination training for supports.

It's fair to say that when Mo Ziye set the workload for the newcomers, he never intended for them to pass.

By the third day of the settlement, 99% of the trainees faced a decline in their basic KPI scores, rather than an increase. Those who could persevere under this invisible pressure of elimination truly deserved a decent evaluation.

Of course, there is probably another reason why they were able to persevere;
That is, players who can reach the Diamond/Challenger rank in the game during this period, apart from a few talented players with family support and self-discipline, most LOL players have experienced a long period of resource-scarce growth environment, such as the strong ones who survived being chased by their parents for thousands of miles and whipped.

This group of athletes generally has a good ability to withstand pressure.

After all, we survived days of eating instant noodles in the basement and not knowing where our next meal would come from, so why would we be afraid of NXG's training where we can eat our fill every day?

For this group of people, the high-intensity basic skills training did have a deterrent effect, but the effect was only so-so.

While the esports industry is still exploring its business model, players choosing a professional path generally demonstrate a value pursuit that transcends utilitarian considerations—the so-called esports dream. This interest-driven career choice is a major reason why Jiang Ming is so eager to expand youth training and bring these exceptionally talented and determined players under his wing. Even if they're not the best, aren't they better than those useless players who only care about their game and give up when they can't win?

"Let's go see our newlyweds."

After a quick glance at the information, Jiang Ming didn't rely on it too much. The evaluation of information and data can only be applied to some rigid information. A player's creativity, overall situation and even professional mentality are things that he and the subsequent club youth training managers need to constantly observe with both eyes.

……

"No, what are you doing? I told you I wanted to eat some red wine first, wait for me, wait for me, why didn't you listen?"

"I heard you. You're too slow, okay? I think we can win. Why did you eat jungle monsters before the team fight?"

"I'm having a nightmare. How am I supposed to get to the backline without taking the red buff and slowing down the enemy? Do you expect me to give you a 1-3 Vayne to flank?"

"And I was too slow. Wasn't it because you were greedy in the lane in the last team fight that you died first? We had to wait a while for the dragon fight where we had a huge advantage, right?"

"I was greedy for lane? What do you mean by greedy for lane? I just didn't see Lee Sin coming from my vision... I think I understand correctly, it doesn't make sense to a Diamond 2 jungler like you."

"So what if I'm a Diamond 2 jungler? My rank is my own problem. Let's stick to the facts. You're the one who got cocky and fed, so why are you comparing yourself to me?"

"Don't bother explaining if you're bad at the game; the noob is still pointing fingers at his teammates."

When Jiang Ming and Mo Ziye arrived at the training room door, the sound of their heated argument pierced through the thick soundproof glass.

Mo Ziye's face darkened and his brows furrowed. Damn it, this guy is trying to ruin my job. This is my first time managing the youth training camp since taking office, and the club boss has only been away from the base for a few days. He comes in and starts putting on a show of players arguing with each other. Isn't this just telling people that he's not capable?

"Don't worry!"

Seeing that Mo Ziye was somewhat annoyed and was about to rush into the training room, Jiang Ming stopped him.

He said in a nonchalant tone, "Let's see."

Through the glass, Jiang Ming could see the two people arguing. One was strong and the other was thin, and their distinctive appearances quickly made him recognize their names.

MLXG, Death Declaration!
Well, if it's these two, he wouldn't be surprised if they started arguing.

Besides his extremely reckless style and unique jungling gameplay, Mala Xiangguo's extremely low emotional intelligence is also one of his trademarks. He often argues with his teammates because of his actions during the game.

As for Death Declaration, he is an even heavier figure, an easily angered and irritable man who, relying on his physique, would often stage an offline version of Jingwu Men.

"Nima!"

Just as they were thinking, perhaps because their bickering had reached an emotional breaking point, Death Declaration immediately took off his headphones, stood up, clenched his right fist, and was about to swing it at Spicy Hot Pot's round face.

"Fight! Keep fighting!"

"I'll cover your medical expenses, but think it over. After I punch you, you'd better get out of here."

"And you have to think about whether there will still be a place for a player with a bad reputation for beating teammates in the entire LOL community in the future."

Just as the fist was raised high, about to be thrown, Jiang Ming's cold voice rang out in the room.

"Ming... Brother Ming!"

"Brother Ming."

The other three people, who had been stunned by Death's actions, quickly greeted the club boss after regaining their senses.

As for Death's Declaration, his fist froze in place, looking at Jiang Ming who had already arrived in front of him, at a loss.

"me……"

After that initial burst of energy subsided, the anger quickly transformed into a hint of regret.

Jiang Ming glanced at the two who were clashing, his lips moved slightly but before he could say anything, he stopped what he was doing and stood still.

"Old Mo, you handle it yourself."

"Okay, I'll take care of it right away."

With this sudden incident, Jiang Ming had no choice but to postpone getting to know the youth training camp players up close.

However, he wouldn't doubt the competence of the youth training manager he chose because of this; letting the other party solve the problem was to uphold the other party's authority as the manager of the youth training camp.

Otherwise, if the boss has to do everything himself, what's the point of paying them salaries?

On the other hand, these 15- or 16-year-old youth training players are at the age of youthful vigor, so it's perfectly normal for them to have some friction. One has low emotional intelligence, and the other has a bad temper; it just so happens that sparks and dynamite can ignite at any moment.

Of course, Death Declaration has a bad temper, but he's not a bad person at heart. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had friends in the industry willing to lend him money. The most famous domestic violence incident in the original timeline was just yelling and shouting, without actually hitting him. His early overreactions stemmed more from the conditioned reflex formed by childhood domestic violence—during his addiction to online games, he was beaten by his father in various ways, which eventually led him to develop a liking for solving everything with his fists.

In Chris's own words, he actually stormed into the door during the incident!

After reaching a certain age, I learned to control my temper, and I regretted it several times when I looked back after finishing the old man's cup.

Death's behavior pattern is typical among the young people in the e-sports industry, reflecting the growth difficulties some players face in terms of psychological development and professional ethics.

How to train a flawed player is also a key indicator of a club's maturity.

If a problem arises, just solve it. You may not have experience the first time, but you'll gain experience in dealing with such unexpected situations in the future.

After all, even if his NXG youth training camp is a makeshift operation, it still needs to be set up before it can continue.

Jiang Ming chose to completely hand over the on-site handling authority to Mo Ziye, without glancing at the two of them again, and turned to walk towards the club staff office area in another building of the club.

(End of this chapter)