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

Chapter 154 Three to zero, clocking out at lightning speed?
Suzhou, Taicang District.

With the increasing number of viewers of LOL, the LPL Spring Finals venue, which has been criticized countless times as just a warehouse, is now packed with people.

A female college student with the online name "Xiao V" carried two large bags and came to a shady spot.

He took out his phone and bombarded the group of friends he had arranged to watch the game with with his phone:

"Where are they? Where are they? I'm already at the door."

"Brother Crocodile!"

"ocean!"

"Tokisaki!"

"Wow, you guys aren't going to stand me up, are you?"

"Behind you."

The young man, nicknamed Crocodile, scratched his head and stood about four or five steps behind the girl.

He sent a message beforehand to avoid the embarrassment of mistaking someone for someone else.

later?

Little V turned around and immediately saw a burly figure standing by the entrance aisle, adorned with the blue and white NXG team flag.

"Tsk, Crocodile Bro?"

"You really do live up to your name; with a figure like that, you'd probably strip Langton naked first."

Before Little V could react, a delicate voice rang out behind the two, "Let me introduce myself, I'm Tokisaki from the fan group."

"You bumpkin!" Crocodile Bro curled his lip. "Who builds Randuin's Omen as their first item? I always build Black Cleaver and Sunfire Cape, okay?"

"By the way, which district are you all in?"

"I'm number 23, second row, section A!"

“I’m in section B, fourth row, seat number 11.”

"Oh ho ho, Tokisaki, I'm with you too! I'm also in Squad B, number 12."

"Is it possible that we all bought our tickets at the same time, and that our seats being close together is the normal situation?"

"Hey, stop arguing and help me distribute some support items."

Little V, with her hair in pigtails, stepped forward and grabbed the sleeves of the two of them, pointing to the various small flags in the bags they were carrying.

These support merchandise items were gifts she received with her purchases from the "Jm online store." She had accumulated too many over the past six months, and she thought she would bring them to the finals to share.

Looking at the thick stack of support merchandise he received, Crocodile Bro felt his hands go weak.

This is no longer the time to discuss just how rich Little V is. "Are you sure we can really finish sending out before we enter?"

"Probably... I think... haha, I'm not sure!"

The answer is, yes!
Unlike when Jiang Ming had to hire college students to distribute free support merchandise when the LPL first started, NXG is now one of the most popular teams in the LPL. It's no exaggeration to say that 90% of the people who came to the Spring Finals were there for them.

Forget about free support merchandise; people are selling it at high prices on the main road across from the stadium, acting as middlemen.

So when they learned that the three members of the Little V group were NXG fans and that the banners and stickers they were giving away for free, many audience members who weren't in a hurry to enter immediately surrounded them. They not only took the items themselves but also helped distribute them. With so many people, the two bags of merchandise were quickly sold out.

With this connection established, many viewers started exchanging ideas and conversations, centering around Xiao V and his group.

This scene outside the LPL match venue was faithfully captured by the on-site director and broadcast live.

……

The 13 LPL Spring Finals did not have any particularly creative opening ceremony.

Or to put it another way, in the current stage of various competitions with amateur production teams, being able to record some live footage before the finals, have a stage cosplay show before the competition starts, or have some not-so-professional college art students perform a dance is already considered to be far ahead.

The same applies to LPL.

Inside the venue, the montage of highlights from the months leading up to the Spring Split on the big screen, along with footage of the audience queuing to enter, finally ended, and the camera slowly panned downwards.

Wawa, Miller, and Xiao Cang appeared in the commentary booth.

"Alright, everyone, welcome to our live broadcast of the 2013 LPL Spring Finals."

"Now, let's give a round of applause to welcome the two teams that will be in today's finals."

"First up is Positive Energy, who defeated IPL5 champions and S2 legendary team WE in the semifinals!"

The baby's expression was a bit distorted, after all, sitting in the commentary booth and also having to do the job of a live host was a real test for his voice.

The five members of PE, dressed in white T-shirts, were already standing on the right side of the stage.

"Top Laner: Aluka, Jungler: jing, Mid Laner: Van, AD Carry: namei, Support: Sicca!"

On camera, the five men smiled and tried their best to show the style of e-sports athletes.

Ah yes, you heard right, the style of e-sports athletes.

The terms used to describe the LPL dream team in post-match interviews and segment broadcasts after the TV5 All-Star event.

Since then, all LPL teams have begun to revamp their image using NXG as a template.

Today, the NXG players got new hairstyles, and they immediately followed suit; tomorrow, NXG will update their team logo, and they'll work overnight to revise the visual design. They're practically the trendsetter in the esports fashion world.

However, this group of arrogant and confrontational team members, whose team name is "PE Positive Energy," has absolutely nothing to do with the demeanor of esports athletes.

In the recently concluded Spring Split regular season, halfway through the second round, PE and Royal Club members got into a verbal altercation during the match, resulting in PE being fined a whopping 10,000 yuan, though they haven't paid it yet.

The only team they can't really criticize is probably IG...

"Next, let's welcome the Nexus Vanguard!"

Top laner Song Yuan walked at the very front, until the last moment when viewers in the live stream were frantically complaining about the unfairness of a 6v5 situation. Then, Jiang Ming, dressed in a suit, stepped onto the stage, and thousands of audience members shouted in unison:
"NXG!" "NXG!" "NXG!"

Once everyone was standing, Jiang Ming led the way by waving to the surroundings.

He had originally designed entrance moves for the players, but considering that the LPL teams were on the verge of being ruined by his own actions, he decided not to get involved in the entrance process anymore.

Let's save things like Teamfight Tactics, Ginyu Force, Sailor Moon, and Armor Hero for the World Championship and have some fun with those foreign guys who can pull off even more amazing things.

Today, Xiaobai is a left-behind child at the base. It would be nice if one more person joined later, making a total of seven Calabash Brothers.

……

After a brief and uninteresting introduction, and with the classic LPL trash talk yet to begin, the three commentators engaged in some awkward conversation before the Spring Finals officially entered the draft phase.

Within the PE team:

Aruka: "Brothers, I'm starting to panic, what should I do?"

Jing-gege: "Don't even mention you, right now, in the entire LPL, oh no, in the entire LOL community, which team wouldn't panic when they face NXG?"

"It's okay, it's okay, take it easy. We've already made it to the finals. Back in the server championship, even when we were crushed by NXG, my Dao Heart wasn't broken. This is nothing." Xika chuckled.

Nami: "That's right, we've made it to the finals and received the 250,000 yuan prize money. For us, that's already a success, okay?"

"Waaah... Waaah, Zhu Jiawen, can you please stop talking about this? The champion gets double the prize money!"

"Hey, the prize money we get for first and second place is fixed, but the boss..."

"Cough cough!"

The pre-competition banter, fueled by pressure, gradually veered off-topic, and I don't know who started it.

Sika coughed twice and quickly steered the conversation toward BP.

"We're on the blue side in the first game, what's up?"

"Ban Jayce, ban Jayce! This champion is too strong in poke and split pushing; we can't let the enemy team get him."

"Let's ban Thresh too!"

"Should we add a praying mantis as the third one?"

"Ok, Ok."

One thing that PE and NXG are very similar about is that their team coaches are actually the players on the field. On the sidelines, Xiao Xigua is responsible for collecting data, while on the field, Xika, who plays the support role, is more responsible for the drafting and banning.

Jayce, Thresh, Kha'Zix!
These are three solutions they came up with after much consideration, and they were not the optimal solution for NXG's mid lane when JM was on the field.

Yihan in the mid lane is quite strong, but his skill with assassin champions isn't as impressive as JM's, so there's no need to specifically target him, especially since Riot Games has nerfed champions like Zed, Talon, and Diana.

Unfortunately, Jiang Ming, who got the purple side in the first game, banned Varus, Lee Sin, and Kennen.

With a tentative mindset, both sides selected their personnel very quickly.

The picks for the first game are as follows:

Blue team PE: Top lane Zac, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Zed, Bot lane Tristana and Sona.

Purple Team NXG: Top lane Rumble, Jungle Vi, Mid lane Ahri, Bot lane Corki and Fiddlesticks.

Yes, that's right. The first game was a probing tactic, but it wasn't NXG probing PE, but rather PE probing NXG. So Jiang Ming chose to expose a big treasure to PE.

The ultimate lock-on composition of Vi and Ahri in the jungle, plus the ultimate engage composition of Rumble with Doom.

At the start of the match, PE was tricked by NXG and gave away the first blood.

With the help of her teammates, Vi started farming in the blue buff area and deliberately allowed herself to be seen by the enemy when passing the F4 camp, making PE mistakenly believe that the jungler was coming to the top lane to protect Rumble.

In the early game, Rumble had an absolute lane advantage over Zac in the top lane. Faced with Song Yuan's aggressive pushing, Aluka in the top lane chose to call on Jarvan IV to avoid being forced to fight him.

However, after consuming the red buff, Shi Zhenyu circled around his own jungle and returned to the bottom lane.

In preparation for the Spring Finals, he spent several days studying the jungle layout after the version update with several assistant coaches.

Rumble farms the Krugs. After he finishes his red buff, it would be a waste of time for him to gank Zac in the top lane. He can just circle back to the bottom lane and even if he can't catch the bot lane duo, he can still farm another set of wolves.

boom!
Despite being hit by Vi's Q ability after Tristana used Flash to create distance, Doom was still struck by Vi's first-strike fear.

The head was taken by plane.

After giving up first blood, PE became more cautious, choosing to let their lanes farm and try to delay their Tristana and Zac from reaching their item completion level.

However, NXG's offensive pace did not give PE much breathing room.

It was the same familiar situation: the top and mid laners proactively shared their experience with the jungler, and then, just before the seven-minute mark, at six minutes and forty-two seconds into the game, the situation improved.

NXG's mid and jungle players both reached level six and upgraded their ultimate abilities, while a wave of minions pushed into the tower in the bottom lane.

Vi initiated with her ultimate to lock onto the support Tristana. Penamei used her W to try to escape, but Ahri followed up with her RE to close the distance and charmed her into a kiss.

The apocalypse was controlled by Sona, and the fragile "Great Thunder Temple" Sona even died in front of Tristana.

A coordinated attack between the mid and jungle laners caused PE's bot lane to collapse instantly.

The jungler, Jarvan IV, was confident in his condition and tried to defend the tower, but he was hit by Ahri's second E skill. The remaining three heroes focused fire on him instantly, sending Jarvan IV back to the fountain. At seven minutes, the kill score was 4-0, and the bottom lane tower's health was only one-third remaining.

"Wow, perfect tanking. Every time I see NXG players tower diving, it's a pleasure to watch."

"Yes, the attack power of LPL turrets is like a tickle to them."

If NXG's lineup was just testing the waters with this bot lane tower dive, their true strength was revealed in the dragon fight at 9:30.

Facing the first dragon, PE, hoping to rely on its strong early-game physical assassins to get some kills, took the initiative to attack.

The Instant Shadow Killing Array locks onto the fox.

When Wu Zhiqiang's Ahri's ultimate skill was on cooldown, he used his first R to create distance and lure the PE jungler to go deeper into the enemy territory. Suddenly, he used his second R to move forward and, together with Vi, who suddenly swung her fist horizontally from the flank, focused fire on the Prince.

The Heavenly Overlord's Fierce Bombardment is Alluring!

While dealing with the Prince, the jungler, who had taken a lot of gold, abandoned his own AD and jumped out from the backline, using a silence followed by a fear to control three people in succession.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

The audience replaced the dolls, and the scene was immediately filled with exclamations of "Wow!"

"Perfect teamwork: Ahri and Vi take down one person first, Doom splits the battlefield, and Corki can output damage without pressure from behind."

"PE's team fight is a disaster! One for four!!"

Song Yuan: Meow meow meow, I, Rambo, haven't even put in any effort yet, how come the opponents have all fallen?
No way, that would make me one of those people who just sit back and win.

In fact, PE's execution capabilities did give Song Yuanlanbo a chance to shine.

If the blue team's lineup can reach the late game, there's actually a reason for it. Zac and Jarvan IV have extremely long-range initiation capabilities, Sona provides crowd control, and Tristana's long range is responsible for damage output and finishing off enemies.

Even Zed, who seems out of place, was a mid-laner carefully selected by PE after studying Jiang Ming's operational theories.

If you only consider the late game and ignore the early and mid-game, it's easy to collapse in one fell swoop and wipe out the entire team.

Therefore, Zed is actually used to help the team get through the early and mid-game with the Prince. Even if things don't go well later, he still has the ability to split push and steal towers.

I just didn't expect that against NXG's Fox + Vi lock-on system, there was absolutely no room for development.

When it comes to team fights, if Zed dares to enter the fray, what awaits him is a punch the size of a sandbag and charm, controlling him from start to finish until he dies.

In the Baron fight, Zac and Jarvan IV had clearly initiated perfectly, but Rumble unleashed his ultimate, completely cutting off the battlefield. Then, NXG's Ahri and Vi countered by charging in, and the backline couldn't survive at all.

"The little cannon was killed again, and the damage of the Deathfire Ahri has already increased. On the other hand, Zed is really helpless against a Corki who has built Mercury's Treads early."

"The purple team doesn't lack damage output. With the Zhonya's Hourglass, I think the base damage of the ultimate ability alone is higher than that of Zed in the mid lane in PE."

[I've never seen anything like it before. When did support heroes become so rich that they can buy Zhonya's Hourglass?]

In just 24 minutes, NXG swiftly won the first game.

However, just when the audience thought PE would ban Vi, PE still chose to let the Ahri + Vi combo through in the second game.

Countless viewers typed question marks in the live stream chat.

Is this a case of feeling like they can't win and preparing to finish the game at lightning speed with a 3-0 score?
Soon, the purple team's PE switched to the second game, and their hero selection provided the answer.

Fifth floor, private seating!
Mid lane Morgana!
Known as the "strategy terminator," this hero once helped Smile and Pangran defeat the Darius and Thresh duo in an All-Star match.

Many people showed expressions of surprise and delight.

PE is good. With Morgana's magic immunity shield, Ahri and Vi's control is essentially ineffective. And since she's a mid laner, Morgana's level and items are quite good, so there's no need to worry about Morgana's shield being too weak and being instantly killed by Ahri.

Strictly speaking, this is the first time NXG has suffered a loss in the draft phase!
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Countless eyes were focused on the man behind the five NXG players.

I wanted to see even the slightest hint of panic on the other person's face.

JM is so great and righteous!
Since its debut, it has topped the Rank charts with its free, comprehensive, and extremely high-quality tutorial videos.

A top university student, an all-star head coach and captain, and a "sports athlete" highlighted by TV, he practically monopolizes all the attention in the LPL.

This is something that those who want to join esports midway through their careers definitely don't want to see.

It's not about overthrowing or destroying him. LPL needs a benchmark figure like him. They just want to create an opening, a possibility to defeat this man.

Now is a good opportunity.

Unfortunately, Jiang Ming disappointed those people!
Panic?

No!

Can't understand?

No!

The man in the photo even has a very obvious smile on his lips.

surprise?

Why should I be surprised!

This was exactly what he envisioned when he first immersed himself in the esports scene: that under his influence, other teams would improve rapidly, achieve results to attract funding, and refine the rules ahead of time...

If you want to make money, you can do enough behind the scenes with your foresight. Why bother adding a professional player or even a coach identity to your resume, running between school and club every day?

Isn't the goal simply to reverse the distorted development of the League of Legends esports scene in the original timeline?

Congenital deficiencies, acquired deformities!
One sentence sums up the sordidness of it all.

So PE is overjoyed that he was able to quickly come up with a way to counter the Fox and Vi lock combo in the second game.

Additionally, from the perspective of one's own team.

NXG's winning streak has lasted too long. No matter how much psychological counseling they do, even the players themselves are advised to remain humble and not get arrogant.

However, just as flowers in a greenhouse cannot withstand a sudden rain, young bamboo that has not experienced the cold winter cannot grow strong.

A true champion's team learns to rise gracefully after countless falls, and forges an indomitable spirit through repeated trials.

Why was SKT so terrifying in the original timeline? If you only see the five-time champion dynasty but don't see the numerous times they were brutally beaten in the league and blocked from the World Championship, then you certainly can't understand it.

The current NXG has no shortage of victories and championships, but whether it can rise again after experiencing defeats is the key to whether it can become a powerhouse.

It's better to lose in the regional competition than to lose in the world championships.

Besides, the lineup was countered in the second game. Who says we were bound to lose?
Of course, it will definitely be difficult to fight.

After giving instructions on a few key points, Jiang Ming returned to the backstage area.

……

In the second game, PE completely changed their playstyle from the start. Not only were their side lane heroes more stable, but their Morgana in the mid lane also used her E and W skills to push the lane aggressively against Ahri.

The main point is to prevent you from easily going to the side lanes to create opportunities.

Meanwhile, Jing in the jungle, whether due to pressure from his teammates or a deliberate sacrifice, started buying wards to protect the side lanes four minutes into the game.

With Ahri's charm disabled and the players' individual skill not overwhelmingly superior, it can be said that NXG's performance today was the biggest predicament they have encountered in the main tournament since its formation.

Some people who love a good show exclaimed – NXG was attacked in the early stages, the tide has turned!

PE is going to win!
"win?"

"Win the championship?"

"Are you kidding me? We've been dragging this out for so long in the early game, and you only have a 700+ gold lead. What makes you think you can beat NXG?"

Faced with the players' outrageous remarks, the professional players watching the LPL Spring Finals couldn't help but laugh.

Do you want to see how many times PE's attacks have been repelled? They spent so much effort killing two people, only to have a defensive tower destroyed in the process.

The same goes for team fights. If the enemy team is tightly grouped up and doesn't target you, they'll just focus on your AD carry. What can you do?

If Xiaolong can't win, he'll give up and trade resources for other lanes without hesitation.

If you dare to split your forces, that person will dare to retaliate.

With the jungler and support moving together, and with Janna providing protection, Vi's survivability is greatly enhanced.

Gradually, players were surprised to discover;
"I just can't take down the NXG turret!"

"They're incredibly good at defending."

"This is outrageous! The economy just won't take off!"

"Moreover, Morgana may be restrained, but the problem is that the two lock-on duo still have the ability to pick off single targets!"

"The execution is outrageous. Both were split pushing in the top lane, but Aruka was caught and killed three times, while Song Yuan, PE sent a whole division and only managed to kill him once."

"By the way, the others managed to get hold of a baby dragon the time they died!"

"Strange, strange, so strange! It clearly looks like PE is in the lead, but NXG's economy is just stable there, and they can't pull ahead at all!"

"Ugh, if I were on the PE team, I'd be so frustrated. Who are these guys on the other side? They're like tigers on offense, but like turtles on defense!"

"Yes, it's a tortoise shell!"

Players outside the arena feel this way, and so do the PE professionals inside.

You can counter Ahri and Vi with Morgana in team fights, but they don't want to engage in 5v5 team fights with you. If a few people are holding the lane, the minion wave will be gone if you're not careful.

They couldn't push through, and the minion wave was being cleared much faster than they could reach the tower.

Ah, why isn't there a buff for strengthening minions?

With a roar from who-knows-who, the mid-game came to an end. PE's top laner Renekton and jungler Lee Sin's power spikes were gradually worn off, while NXG's heroes had unknowingly reached their full potential.

Thirty-two minutes in, a team fight at Baron Nashor!

Because the mid lane was distracted by the minion wave, PE, whose vision of the dragon pit was behind, was able to successfully initiate a fight.

Vi initiated with her ultimate on the AD carry, baiting out his magic immunity shield. Ahri then flashed and E'd Morgana, who immediately flashed away. The others followed the mid laner and focused fire on Morgana.

"Seconds!"

Morgana got instantly killed!

"PE died suddenly during a team fight at Baron Nashor."

Nobody knows what happened, and no one can explain exactly how NXG did it.

PE, who had been leading for the entire game, lost a team fight, and their economy was quickly pulled away, leading to their base being pushed down.

Two to zero!
The situation has taken a dramatic turn; the final spring tournament is about to end.

　To explain, the Spring Finals were already accelerated. I originally planned to finish writing it today since there wasn't much suspense, but due to some work issues, I was in meetings all day, so I'm still a bit behind. I can't go into the specific reasons, but I can only say that some people are scum in human skin. If things are resolved tomorrow, the veterans can also get some rest. However, it's no problem for them to officially enter the youth training camp and make a name for themselves tomorrow, starting the transfer sales saga.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)