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

Chapter 290 The so-called "students all over the world"!

"Oh? You've already gained the approval of your teammates? As long as the team is harmonious." Jiang Ming looked at the screen and responded to the daily life of G2 shared by Xiao Shitou and Shi Jing, who were far away in Germany.

"The mid-laner has good potential?"

“Perkz? I’ve encountered him in ranked games on the North American server. He’s definitely a very creative player,” he recalled, then changed the subject, “But Little Stone, you need to keep a close eye on your teammates. European and American players like to do fancy tricks, and when the team isn’t strong enough, those kinds of things can easily backfire.”

"Shi Jing, as the coach, you shouldn't be too biased towards Xiao Shitou. Try to treat all the other players equally."

Sitting in front of his computer, Jiang Ming was having a video call with the two of them. He listened to their experiences in their new team and occasionally offered his own advice.

Although the two are no longer members of NXG, they still called Jiang Ming as soon as they were able to establish themselves in G2, out of gratitude for his guidance.

Interestingly, during this call, Shi Jing, as the coach, complained and grumbled far more than the player Shi Zhenyu.

"Wow, Ming, you have no idea!" Shi Jing's voice was tinged with exhaustion. "During scrims, I really didn't favor Xiao Shitou in the draft and tactical focus. The problem is that those G2 players—no, the entire LCS region—are just too outrageous!"

God knows how he got through the past week.

As a player, Shi Zhenyu only needs to focus on training and competition.

As a coach, he has far too many things to worry about.

Ever since the leader had a private talk with him and finalized the transfer from the youth training camp to G2 to try leading the team independently, Shi Jing has worked very hard.

From repeatedly watching G2's and even the entire region's match recordings from the past year to meticulously analyzing the team's tactical execution, he hardly dared to stop for a moment.

However, it’s no use!

All efforts seem meaningless and worthless!
After Shi Jing forced himself to watch the entire LCS Season 3 matches, he felt like a million alpacas were stampeding through his mind.

Those match videos are completely useless for reference!
The players are purely relying on individual skill and brute force; tactical execution? Not a trace of it!
The draft picks were a complete mess, with the use of both advantageous and disadvantageous heroes being a complete jumble of issues.

As for team battles?

Ha! If this kind of performance happened in NXG, they would have been exposed and relentlessly criticized long ago. But in the LCS, it's commonplace? It's utterly outrageous!

"Pfft..."

Jiang Ming couldn't help but almost burst out laughing, and quickly clenched his fist to cover his mouth to hide the upturned corners of his mouth.

"Cough... I understand, I completely understand."

As a veteran player who witnessed the “wonderful” performances of the European and American regions from Season 3 to Season 4, I understand Shi Jing’s feelings all too well. Nowadays, in the two major LCS regions, apart from C9, which can barely be seen as having any rules, the abstract feats of the other teams in the competition are simply too numerous to recount.

Why do LPL viewers shout "European and American trash"?
Why did Chinese players collectively fall into a state of shock, "I can't understand it no matter how hard I try," after LCS won a few games against LPL in the World Championship in Season 5 by bringing in a large number of Korean players and improving its training system?

The root of all this is the result of the outrageous and absurd performances of the European and American regions over the past two years.

Oh, wait, I need to correct that.

Even after S5, only the European region truly rose to prominence. As for the North American teams?

I don't know what the league was thinking. It's a competitive sport that's being compared to a 9-to-5 work schedule. They've been clinging to the BO1 retirement format, a North American "get-out-of-jail-free card," year after year playing the most conspicuous comedic role in the world championships.

They were so bad it was outrageous—while teams from the other four major regions were locked in fierce battles in the group stage, playing against one team was like spinning a top in a frenzy, the North American team would still be the first to precisely hit the edge of the spinning top, prematurely ending their run…

So, when the NXG team disbanded and was reassigned to various competition regions, calling it "technical poverty alleviation" is not an exaggeration at all.

"How do you plan to proceed with the training?" Jiang Ming picked up his teacup, took a sip of goji berry tea, and said, "I'll give you some advice."

Since it was her own child who was given away, her family couldn't just ignore him.

Shi Jing chuckled, "That's exactly what I've been waiting for."

"Ming-ge, let me share my thoughts. Please see if there's anything that needs improvement."

"My idea is to use the time before the LCS promotion/relegation matches begin to communicate individually with a few players on the team, and then get a feel for their understanding of the game, their personal goals, and their strengths through daily training, before refining the tactical approach."

The issue of advancing to the LCS isn't really that big. With Little Stone's current performance, he just needs to focus more on team fight coordination, and defeating his competitors to secure a spot in the EU is practically a done deal.

Shi Jing is considering how to take it a step further. You know, it's not just Little Stone who has a non-compete clause; he, as the coach, also signed one. G2's advancement to the EU is only a decent result. If they want to make big money, they need to find a way to send this new team into the playoffs, and even the World Championship.

“G2 Club’s training team is basically non-existent. I communicated with the team’s existing staff and temporarily found someone to be an assistant coach to help me. The team’s daily training mode was very chaotic before. We copied NXG’s mode but didn’t do it well, which resulted in the players being too tired during training and not achieving much effect.”

Our NXG...

Jiang Ming's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't correct the other party's slip of the tongue.

Hmm, the main thing is the experience of having students all over the world, it's... pretty awesome.

"A steady and methodical approach is the best solution. What LCS teams lack is not individual player ability, but a standardized training system," Jiang Ming suggested. "If you prioritize establishing team discipline and systems, you've already achieved more than half the success."

"Yes, I'm already working on that. I've adjusted their training schedule. The European and American players are different from our NXG guys. Blindly increasing training time might not necessarily be very effective."

"The team structure and basic tactics explanations are all fine, it's just in the practice matches..."

"You want to team up with both the Black and White teams?"

"No, no, no, it's not about black and white. We don't need to fight them yet. The LSPL is about to start, right? Our club has formed a secondary league team, so we can just make an appointment with them." Shi Jing waved his hands repeatedly.

Playing a practice match against both the Black and White teams? Are you kidding me?!
Having spent every day with them in the youth training camp, how could he not know the strength of those few freaks?

The G2 team I'm currently coaching, even with Little Stone in the squad, is still in the initial adjustment phase. Sending them to fight in black and white is no different from sending a kid who's just started boxing to fight Taro in the ring.

Note that it's not Tyson, it's Taro!
You said that once the team has gelled, it would be fine to play against the Black and White teams in high-level matches, which would help improve the team's strength. But to try it at this stage is just asking for trouble and trying to quit your internet addiction.

However, when it comes to black and white, Shi Jing immediately had a plan for coaching G2 in mind.

Several European and American players have pretty good individual skills. We can develop a personalized solo queue training plan based on their individual hero pool and game weaknesses to improve their individual laning skills and proficiency with different heroes.

If team synergy isn't there, we can make up for it with skill. Since we can't get into team fights right now, let's start by using sheer power to crush those competitors from the secondary league in the laning phase.

……

After listening to Shi Jing's coaching plans, Jiang Ming also offered some suggestions.

The three chatted for a long time, until late at night in China, before finally hanging up.

Just as the two ended their video call, Song Yuan and Wu Zhiqiang, who had gone to North America to join C9, sent their heartfelt stories about their time with the new team.

The problems Shi Jing mentioned are not due to G2 being a secondary league team; in fact, C9, a quarter-finalist team in the World Championship, is not much better.

When Lao Song and his partner first joined C9, the biggest challenge they faced was how to integrate into the tactical system.

When the two were with NXG, Jiang Ming prepared a mature and distinctive tactical system for them, which was based on the trust and perfect cooperation among the five players, making them virtually invincible in team battles.

As the top laner, Lao Song mainly takes on the role of absorbing pressure and being the front line in team fights. Under normal circumstances, he doesn't need to do too much. Similarly, Yihan is the same. In NXG's system, he only needs to develop steadily and become another stable damage dealer in team fights in the mid-to-late game.

However, C9's tactics and playstyles are not exactly the same as what they know; they are completely unrelated.

One of the most troublesome aspects for the two is their extremely poor discipline during the laning phase, their lack of attention to controlling neutral resources on the map, or their slow reaction to this rhythm. Sometimes, the top and mid laners have already positioned themselves, only to find that their own teammates are still scattered in different locations in Summoner's Rift.

What made Lao Song even more speechless was that C9, or rather the North American teams as a whole, basically didn't have the concept of tactical planning revolving around the top lane. Eighty percent of the teams were still stuck in the stage of being influenced by WE from the end of S2 to the beginning of S3, and their thinking was seriously outdated.

In NXG, although he mostly only needs to withstand pressure and take on the role of the front line in team fights, NXG's offensive system is mostly built around the top, mid, and jungle. At the same time, Xiao Shitou never misses out on the support he needs. Occasionally, such clever top-jungle synergy can help him gain an advantage in lane or at least stabilize the situation.

C9's original jungler was practically a humanoid creature, single-mindedly focused on going to the bottom lane, leaving the top laner to fend for himself. If it weren't for Yihan's mid laner occasionally ganking the top lane, Lao Songzhen felt that this champion top laner would have been utterly disgraced in his very first scrim with the new team.

His poor early development also indirectly affected his performance in team fights. As an initiator and front-line tank, without enough equipment, he was easily killed in one fell swoop when his teammates couldn't keep up.

Like Lao Song, the mid laner also faces considerable problems. When he was with NXG, Jiang Ming would pair his chosen heroes with a good jungler and support during the draft phase, so there was no need to worry about output space in the mid and late game. As long as he and Xu Jing didn't stray too far from Pang Pang and Xiao Shitou, they could generally perform well.

However, C9's support player is too unconventional. I don't know if he was influenced by Pangpang during the World Championship, but he often abandons the AD carry and roams around alone.

If he were just roaming properly, that would be fine. Normally, cooperating with the jungler to set the pace would be a good thing for the whole team. But unfortunately, this guy isn't very bright. He often fails to protect the AD carry, roams like he's just wandering around, and inexplicably steals experience from the mid laner.

During the practice match, the two players played with great frustration, a stark contrast to Xiao Shitou's excellent performance in G2.

Finally, if it weren't for the substitute "Hai Zhangmen" trying to switch to jungle and unexpectedly creating a subtle chemistry with the two, regaining his rhythm and delivering a brilliant performance in scrims, C9's sponsors might have doubted that they bought two "high-quality fakes" from NXG instead of championship players.

Jiang Ming had actually anticipated the predicament the two were in.

In fact, the strengths and weaknesses of the five members of NXG have always been quite obvious.

Advantages: Excellent teamwork, strong execution, and high discipline.

Weaknesses: Not exceptionally talented, lacking the ability to achieve breakthroughs in specific areas.

At NXG, the five of them worked together as one, perfectly masking their weaknesses.

However, once they are dispersed to other teams, these shortcomings become insurmountable obstacles. They must either achieve another breakthrough in their individual abilities or rebuild NXG-level synergy with their new teammates. They must choose one of the two.

However, the prerequisite for building trust is communication.

For Lao Song and Yi Ran, the culture shock was a minor issue; the real hurdle between them and their teammates was the language barrier. In the North American team, daily communication and tactical coordination were primarily conducted in English. The two "academic underachievers" had pitiful English skills, unlike Xiao Shi Tou, who already possessed a certain level of English proficiency. Not to mention the assistance of Shi Jing, who served as the team's translator, communication problems naturally and severely impacted teamwork.

In the tense moments of a match, a simple instruction that is not clearly communicated can lead to the defeat of a team fight.

For example, the former jungler marked the location of the enemy's key hero on the map and called out to the two players in English to flank them. However, because Lao Song and Yihan were too slow to react to the English commands, they missed many of the best opportunities to attack.

During daily training, when coaches explain tactical details and analyze game videos, they often struggle to fully understand the intentions of North American coaches. They can only barely keep up by relying on simple gestures and secondary translations from teammates, which greatly reduces training efficiency and hinders their integration with the team.

No matter how well the top and mid laners coordinate, they just can't seem to get along with the jungler.

The once solid top, middle, and jungle system was shattered into pieces.

It would be a miracle if someone could perform well under these circumstances!

In contrast, Shi Zhenyu, playing for G2, secured his core position in the team by playing against teammates from the secondary league and leveraging his "personal connections" – it wasn't that the jungler had to accommodate the laners, but rather that the laners actively focused on the jungle, naturally leading to his impressive performance.

(C9's former jungler's inner monologue: So the top, mid, and jungle couldn't coordinate, and now all the blame is being placed on me? They just benched me?)

……

(End of this chapter)