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

Chapter 239: The Nameless One!

The League of Legends S3 World Championship is entering its final stage, and the esports enthusiasm accumulated throughout the year has reached its boiling point during the intermission before the finals.

In reality, internet cafes are packed, with invitations coming from all sides: "Have you played any games today? Let's go, let's team up and play a couple of rounds."

The sound of keyboard clicks and the welcome to Summoner's Rift intertwine to create the most exciting battle anthem of this summer.

On university campuses, some male dormitories have even collectively hung up signs such as "Do not disturb during the competition" and "If you support NXG, we are friends for ten years and through thick and thin."
The tens of millions of viewers of the finals sparked an e-sports craze for League of Legends, which extended far beyond male college students. Discussions about NXG and SKT frequently occurred in office buildings during lunch breaks and after meals. Strangers could even become each other's "big shots" in chat lists because you helped them win a ranked game.

If reality is like this, one can only imagine the magnitude of the storm on the internet.

In the esports forums, it seems that players who haven't had any matches to watch these past two days have been spending all their time surfing the internet on these forums. There are posts about match analysis, organizing offline viewing events for the finals, hero guides, and so on. Every post, no matter what it says, even if it's just a couple of screenshots from the live match, can attract countless onlookers.

Of course, the core of the discussion always revolved around the three words NXG.

How would you evaluate NXG's performance so far in this World Championship?

[An invincible warrior, great, needs no further explanation!]

[JM is simply amazing. Since the team's inception, they've won the Spring Split with a perfect record and only lost three games in the Summer Split. Judging from their current trend, they're poised to win the championship again with an undefeated record.]

[It's terrifying. I feel sorry for the other teams for a second. They've encountered such an all-around, flawless team this year. They can only think about how to compete for second place.]

A normal NXG does have weaknesses, but an NXG with JM in the lineup is invincible.

As a long-time JM fan, I've had enough of your attitude. If I remember correctly, you were the ones who mocked JM for not focusing on their core business and saying that running a team was a dead end at the beginning of this year.

[Haha, bro, don't expose them. Believe me, if NXG loses a game, these are the ones who will be the worst critics.]

[Extremely enthusiastic praise when they win, and a torrent of criticism when they lose—a common problem among Chinese fans!]

Fortunately, JM has a strong mentality and can maintain a humble attitude despite achieving such results.

[My profound saying, Master Yi: A true master must always maintain the heart of a student!]

A true master always maintains the mindset of a student!

Speaking of which, JM is probably going to be incredibly busy after the World Championship ends.

【So busy, what do you mean by that?】

[Player transfers! You all saw how much stronger IG became after acquiring NXG's top and support players and coach xiaoyan. If it weren't for Kid dragging them down and their terrible luck in the draw, the finals should have been IG vs. NXG.]

[That's true. If I were the owner of another LPL team, I would definitely buy players from NXG. I heard they have dozens of players like Xiyang in their youth training camp.]

[Um, dozens is a bit of an exaggeration; a minimum of twenty or so should be no problem.]

[Oh no! JM is getting busier and busier, he won't be able to play in the matches!]

[It doesn't matter, JM is a superwoman, she just needs to master time management.]

As the forum chat went on, it unknowingly veered off-topic. However, whether it was on Tieba or the TGA platform discussion forum, the consensus among LPL viewers was that NXG would definitely win the finals. The only difference was how many games SKT would play and how many more games JM would get to play.

……

The young man with the online name "Where is the Morality?" simply laughed off the mindless praise online for how strong NXG was, claiming that the five of them could easily crush SKT's players.

As a long-time fan of JM, he knew all too well the true talent of NXG's five players.

In Season 2, is 2200 to 2300 points considered high?

That's very high for the average person!
He is an extremely rare and exceptional master.

However, for professional players, it's not high; it can only be described as mediocre.

It's worth noting that JM, the top player in the Chinese server, once reached over 2,700 points. A difference of 300 to 400 points in high-ranking matches is likely even greater than the difference between 2,000 and 1,000 points in low-ranking matches.

Therefore, NXG's achievements today are entirely due to JM's unpredictable tactical guidance, as well as the hard work and sweat of the five NXG players.

To put it simply, the five members of NXG were fortunate to have met JM, and joined JM when he first formed an esports team and stayed until the end.

Similarly, JM must be very satisfied with the five members of NXG. After all, there are countless talented people in China's huge population, but few with great perseverance to risk their lives for success.

Yes, in Qingcao Hezai's eyes, NXG's training volume, which can be described as insane, is something that only people with great willpower could possibly endure.

It is likely that all of the above factors combined have led to NXG's current online popularity. They are an incredibly strong team with explosive results, yet they remain extremely humble.

He enjoys creating entertaining content and making the show interesting, yet he remains committed to the spirit of esports.

There was no handicap in the semifinals. Even in the final game, when victory was assured and it wouldn't have been a problem for the owner to not play, JM still personally took to the court, playing at his best to send his teammate home...

"There's an update on NXG, which you've been following!"

On the subway home, Qingcao Hezai, who was idly scrolling through his phone, suddenly paused.

NXG posted an update?

"It's probably a pre-match promotional poster or something."

With this thought in mind, NXG's unique promotional poster culture has been a frequent topic of conversation among fans since they entered the LPL.

One day, no poster was released before the match, and fans even urged them to update it. Later, they found out that the artist in charge of NXG's pre-match posters was also JM's classmate, and he happened to be taking an exam that day.

Speculation is speculation, but it doesn't affect one's moral character. I clicked into Weibo at lightning speed.

He knew all too well how quickly the seasoned veterans in the NXG team's die-hard fan group would dominate the comments section.

If I can't get a sofa, I'll at least find a stool to sit on.

I don't know why NXG's artist was so diligent this time. He actually finished it two days before the finals. Usually, he's such a procrastinator.

"Huh, why is it a video?"

Clicking into the homepage of the team's official account, the expected promotional poster did not appear. Instead, a video with a strange graffiti-style painting as its cover was displayed.

video?

They have a great relationship in the video.

It's worth noting that back when the All-Star promotional video was released, many of their fans were actually clamoring for JM Studio to switch to animation production.

Is this a return to old ways?
Instead of immediately clicking into the video, I first opened the video's comment section.

Sure enough, those old perverts in the group were all there.

Desert Spider: [I'm number one today, who wants to fight me!]

Tokisaki: [Wuhu, a warm second seat on the sofa.]

Little V: [It's a video! It's a video!] Little Confused with Unparalleled Skill: [Wow, do you guys live in the comments section? I see you guys every time.]

Desert Spider: [You don't understand top laners with a 100% teamfight participation rate.]

Looking at the banter among the comments section, I smiled knowingly.

Including himself, the rest of them should have been there from JM Live to the first NXG offline tournament.

After that, it was just a bunch of unfamiliar IDs flooding the comments section. It was no surprise that their NXG team was now a super team with a reputation that resounded throughout the entire LOL esports scene. It wasn't unusual for them to get thousands or even tens of thousands of comments on a single post.

Let's watch the video first.

Scroll down to find the video with the strange cover.

If he wasn't mistaken, the cover should be an abstract chibi-style group photo of NXG's initial five members, so much so that it's hard to tell who's who at first glance—it's a real parody.

The Nameless!
The subway signal fluctuates occasionally, and it took him a while to register the signal after passing through the tunnel.

After the video finally finished spinning, a puzzling title appeared on the screen.

"An unknown person?"

Where is the sentiment? My brain froze for a second. Are you talking about NXG?

That's not right either. Even in the early stages of their formation, because of the team owner JM, they received far more attention than other internet cafe teams in the secondary league at the same time.

Sure enough, as soon as the title appeared, a string of comments appeared above the video.

【? ? ? 】

You guys are serious about this title.

[Fine, fine, you have hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans and you're telling me you're nobody? What about the other LPL teams?]

[This is what I would call the most boastful statement of 2013.]

Qingcao Hezai quickly adjusted the filtering rate of the video comments. He always felt uncomfortable watching videos without comments, but the current number was a bit too much and would affect his viewing experience.

Instead of joining the audience's discussion, the young man chose to continue watching with his questions in mind.

Crunch!

The video camera slowly zooms in from a dusty, slightly dilapidated iron door, and with the creaking sound of the door opening, a dark and damp basement comes into view.

The walls were mottled, with some plaster peeling off to reveal the yellowed bricks underneath. A few flickering incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling, their dim light barely illuminating the small space.

The video is a bit shaky and the image quality isn't very good. It's clear that the author recorded the scene casually—at least not with professional equipment. The fact that the opening gives a clear visual impression suggests that a skilled person did some post-production adjustments.

"In a corner of the city, there is a place that is not a magnificent stadium, nor a green field filled with cheers and applause, but a simple basement. This is where the dream of a League of Legends team began."

"What exactly is esports?"

The narrator in the video suddenly asked a question, seemingly directed at the audience in front of the screen, yet also seemingly at himself.

The scene changes in the next second:
The camera panned across several old computers in the basement. On the wall opposite the monitors were the players' ranking scores: 2179, 2300, 2265... Among them, the 2700 with the prefix JM and a red 2080 were particularly eye-catching.

Several young people in t-shirts sat on cheap plastic stools, leaning forward and staring intently at the screen. The only sounds in the room were the clicking of keyboards and mice.

Yes, it's the kind of plastic stool you only find in illegal internet cafes in rural areas.

The photographer didn't immediately capture the contestants' faces. Instead, he turned the camera to different locations in the basement. There were two cardboard boxes in the corner by the door, which served as trash cans. On a small square table to the right were some white lunch boxes. The camera zoomed in and the remaining lunch boxes seemed to still have a little bit of steam.

Just finished eating...

Several packets of meat floss cakes were scattered next to the lunchbox, and beverage bottles were placed haphazardly, looking somewhat messy, but not dirty.

On the wall, a slightly wrinkled poster of the team's rules and regulations stands out—"NXG Team Schedule!"

Upon seeing this, the video's comments section exploded.

[Hooray! Key element discovered!]

This is where the dream began, the NXG underground five.

[Um, were the five NXG guys' rank scores really that low at the start?]

[That seems so. I watched JM's stream before, and their average rank was only around 2200-2300.]

[Damn, so describing him as an unknown nobody isn't an exaggeration at all.]

That's why JM is so amazing; he transformed a group of players with mediocre talent into world-class powerhouses.

[I think you're wrong about what you said earlier. They do have talent... but it's the kind of talent that comes from hard work.]

Narrator begins again:

"At the beginning of the team's formation, these young people who came to try out with dreams couldn't even explain what esports was. NXG could not provide them with a formal training environment or a seemingly unsystematic training system. The dark and damp basement, the bland boxed lunches, the cheap instant noodles, along with their visibly ordinary talent, all silently foreshadowed that this team was destined to be a flash in the pan."

"Ahhh, what are you doing? Didn't I say I couldn't come this time? I can't come!"

"Can't come? Why can't we come? I told you a minute ago that we were going to fight this team fight. You went to farm lanes greedily, and now you're blaming us?"

"I just feel..."

"What do you think? If you think you're right, why are you still stuck at 2,100 points?"

"You xxx!"

"Why don't you accept it?"

"Not satisfied? Let's duel..."

As the narrator's voice faded, a young man who had been sitting and training suddenly stood up and started arguing with his teammates.

However, because the voice and face were altered, the audience did not know his identity and could only make a rough judgment based on his physique.

[Tsk, this is the true nature of internet addicts; they're just a bunch of good-for-nothings who ran away after graduating from junior high.]

[This is so true. In esports, if you disagree, just flame. The reason I disliked NXG before was because I thought they were too fake. They're all a bunch of lousy gamers. Who the hell talks to you nicely? If you disagree, just fight!]

[Here, I'm specifically naming two teams that almost clashed in the LPL Spring Split.]

[When NXG first started, the players were no different from us, so I thought it was my problem.]

Looking at it this way, JM is amazing! How did he manage to turn this group of mediocre, not-so-good-mannered internet addicts into what they are today?

(End of this chapter)