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

Chapter 231 Semifinals, let's call it a 50/50 affair!
Although Xiaomi believes it has given Jiang Ming and his NXG project sufficient attention, compared to its competitors who have been quietly lying low, this level of attention is actually too conservative.

While the Xiaomi team was still discussing things in the meeting room, Lin Jingyi, who had returned to China from the semi-finals, was already waiting at the base entrance the next morning, ready to welcome the third batch of partners who were interested in investing in NXG next year!
The visitors from Hong Kong have rather unusual backgrounds, and Lin Jingyi currently only knows that their surname is Huo...

Jiang Ming temporarily relinquished his domestic responsibilities, partly to cultivate his senior's ability to handle things independently, and partly because he considered that the club was likely to fall into a limbo when negotiating cooperation at this stage.

Given NXG's current level of attention, a top-four finish at the World Championship is far from sufficient. Investors are well aware that their concern is that if NXG were to suffer a surprising defeat before the finals, the esports market's attention would inevitably suffer a backlash.

Such concerns are perfectly normal, and Jiang Ming wouldn't blame others—after all, no one in the world dares to say they can definitely win the championship.

So instead of staying in China and arguing with those investors, it's better to stay in Los Angeles for some peace and quiet. Before NXG's big spender shows up and dares to go all in before they win the championship, the safest option is undoubtedly to win the S3 championship.

By then, the price for cooperation will be much higher than it is today.

Without the distractions of club operations, Jiang Ming was able to personally participate in the players' training.

Their training targets remained the same: the Black and White Team 2, who took turns "increasing the intensity" of their training sessions.

The training camp lasted for more than ten days. At first, everything was fine, but in the second half, they couldn't beat the opponents no matter what they did. The five players on the first team developed a psychological shadow. If it weren't for their belief in winning the championship, they probably wouldn't have been able to persevere.

Of course, once they reach the semifinals, there are no other opponents for them to face. No matter how good their relationship is with IG, they are still direct opponents in the semifinals. Even if they can arrange practice matches, both sides will be wary of each other and have a hundred tricks up their sleeves, so they won't be able to practice effectively. That would just be a waste of time.

Royal Club and SKT should have been able to make an appointment, but for some reason, it was as if the three teams had agreed to all decline White Crescent's invitations, which were meant to give their first-team players a mental makeover and help them dominate the other four teams.

"Well, there's no other way, guys. If you want to vent, go all out in the semifinals."

Fortunately, the semi-final venue, the Galen Center, was also very close to their hotel, so the NXG team didn't have to worry about trivial matters like changing hotels.

During the S3 tournament, teams did not need to cooperate with Riot Games to film pre-match promotional videos. Most of the news materials related to the World Championship in China came from LPL league and media interviews.

Interestingly, it's hard to tell whether it's because domestic esports media editors are exceptionally talented, or because history has an incredibly strong ability to be corrected.

During the preparation stage for the semifinals, an interview with Wait, the mid-laner of Royal Club, suddenly went viral across the internet.

Host: [WaiTe, what are your thoughts on the upcoming semifinals? Are you confident of advancing and facing IG or NXG in the finals?]

Wheat: [Of course I'm confident. Having come this far, it would be a huge shame to fall in the semifinals.]

Host: [Second question: Currently, many viewers online are ranking the players for each position in this World Championship, and Royal Club's five players are ranked quite high... What are your thoughts on your fourth-place ranking in the mid lane?]

Fourth in the mid lane?
Isn't that the weakest of the four?
Waiter looked displeased and said, "I think that as far as the mid lane is concerned, I have no objection if JM is ranked first, but as for the second, third and fourth positions... we'll have to see who performs better."

The host followed up, "Oh, so could Waiter comment on Faker, the mid laner from SKT, whom you're about to face?"

Waiter was about to blurt out "one-handed crushing," but remembering the information he had obtained from NXG during the training match, he toned down his words and uttered the response that would later become a classic quote:
"Well, it's about 50/50—I often get solo kills against them in scrims."

The interview has now come to a temporary end.

In fact, there was a follow-up to this brief conversation, with Waiter, who has a fairly high EQ, adding that he believes the other side, like JM, did not go all out in the training match.

However, unscrupulous editors eager to generate viral traffic will naturally not release the second half of the content immediately, but instead choose to upload the original video with the beginning and end cut off.

This move immediately excited the audiences in various regions who had no matches to watch during the semi-finals' break.

Viewers from LPL to OGN, LCS, and even Southeast Asian regions have joined the discussion, with posts flooding various esports forums.

[Oh ho, the mid lane rankings for the four teams in the semifinals?]

[JM ranked first, who agrees and who disagrees!]

[Tsk tsk, you stole the spotlight. Even their fans wouldn't dare to challenge for first place.]

[Wait's Waiter's comment about "50/50" that's quite insightful, considering Faker is hailed as OGN's rising star.]

[Oh ho, I wonder what the Korean viewers think. A rising star who can challenge JM is actually going toe-to-toe with the third-ranked mid laner in the LPL.]

[It's just a scrim, who's really going to play seriously... Oh, TSM will, never mind then.]

[TSM: (Clown JPG)]

OGN viewers were outraged by the claims on the forum that Faker and Waiter were evenly matched, and many bypassed internet restrictions to leave comments on the relevant posts.

"Faker will definitely crush his opponent easily, and the semi-final will surely be a clean 3-0 victory."

"As for JM—our new generation demon king of OGN, we will let him experience his strength in the finals." "The ship of the new era has set sail. JM is just a remnant of the old era. The throne will surely be controlled by our OGN region in the future."

A nineteen-year-old remnant of the old era?
Okay, if you think so, then so be it.

The online debate was naturally unwinnable, and as time went on, the S3 semifinals match day soon arrived as scheduled.

September 28th, 5 PM in Los Angeles.

The sunset on the coast cast a captivating red hue, casting a unique charm on the stadium's walls, which shared the same color.

Just last October, this venue witnessed the birth of the S2 World Championship.

Now, the battle for the finals has reignited, but the original finals venue has been relegated to this year's semi-finals stage after witnessing the birth of the champion.

At this moment, the sports center, which can accommodate nearly 16,000 people, is already overcrowded.

"Hello, fellow Summoners of League of Legends, good afternoon!!!"

After a brief heavy metal music performance, the host, dressed in a red outfit, rushed onto the stage alone. Although he was holding the microphone far away, it still caused the audience sitting in the audience to experience ringing in their ears.

"Welcome to our live broadcast of the League of Legends 2013 World Championship semifinals. This is the Garen Center in Los Angeles."

"Last year, right here, we witnessed TPA defeat AZF to claim the championship ring, and now, in the semifinals over the next two days, she will again watch the semifinal winners go to Staples Center..."

The host raised two fingers of his right hand, gestured towards his eyes, and then raised his voice again, "Now—"

"Let's welcome the two teams facing off in the first match of the semifinals!"

"SK telecom T1, and Royal Club!"

boom!
A deafening cheer erupted from the crowd as members of both teams made their simultaneous entrance.

The 2013 semi-final showdown between Royal Club and SKT T1, featuring a modified version of the match, has begun.

Thanks to pre-match online discussions about whether the mid-lane match between the two sides was truly evenly matched, this semi-final match garnered immense attention. Even while the live stream was still in the draft phase, the peak number of online viewers had already surpassed the previous quarter-final BO5 peak.

In the first match, to everyone's surprise, SKT, who usually play it safe, launched a fast attack.

While the top laner picked Kennen, the mid and jungle players chose a combination of Lee Sin and LeBlanc. On the other hand, Royal Club played a teamfight-oriented macro strategy with Orianna and Vi paired with Lissandra in the top lane.

A few minutes later, the match officially began.

In the first game, both players were highly focused, and both sides were extremely cautious in their trades and probing attacks.

So much so that the first blood didn't occur until nine minutes into the game.

As it turns out, Feifei's combat power with LeBlanc exceeded expectations. In a mid-lane skirmish, the commentators exclaimed that they couldn't understand how Feifei could deal with a long-range poke attack that knocked out Orianna's health. Bengi, who was always by her side, immediately arrived.

Using his incredibly slow ward-hopping technique, he used an R-flash to kick Waiter off the turret.

What's even more ingenious is that Bengi, even risking being badly damaged by the turret and having to sacrifice some jungle time, waited for Faker's abilities to recharge before securing the first blood on Orianna.
Of course, the initial 400 gold coins, once in the hands of a man named Faker, proved to be of unimaginable value.

Gaining control of the mid lane meant that the mid and jungle had opened up the game. With LeBlanc's unparalleled agility, Faker began to roam all three lanes with Lee Sin.

Yes, it's about the mid laner roaming with the jungler. During the offseason after the quarterfinals, Koma realized that his jungler wasn't a carry-type player, and forcing the opponent to farm would only backfire. It was better to feed the extra resources to the mid laner.

As for the jungler roaming needed for the situation, the mid laner can fill in for it.

No one expected that a Lee Sin could play a move that allowed him to start with red buff at level one and immediately give up the first blue buff, and at thirteen minutes, he almost caught up with the support in level.

However, it was precisely because of this that the Demon King, now completely free of his shackles, revealed his fangs.

In just fifteen minutes, LeBlanc, who had roamed the top, mid, and bottom lanes four times in a row, had a score of 3-0-2!

With the two dragons controlled in the early game, SKT's mid-game gold lead suddenly widened to a massive 4,000.

In the first game, after only 29 minutes, Royal Club, who fielded a late-game lineup, still couldn't hold out until the end, and SKT quickly destroyed their base.

(End of this chapter)