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

Chapter 294 Gaia!!

"Let me tell you, Zed beating Yasuo is like a father beating his son!"

"With his shadow clones' multiple dashes and his ultimate ability to dodge the wind, he can't even activate his ultimate! Besides, he's a physical warrior who doesn't have Zed's burst damage or the tankiness of a top laner. How can a squishy character fight against us, the Master of Shadows?"

After locking onto Zed, Wu Wukai caught a glimpse of Yasuo in his lane. He interacted with the chat while exchanging comments, his eyes and brows radiating confidence.

At the S3 World Championship, although they couldn't beat SKT, their mid laner who made it to the semifinals was still a top-tier professional player. As long as they didn't run into those few freaks, this retired god of war could basically dominate.

However, when the game loading screen lit up, the ID of Yasuo, the mid-laner for the purple team, appeared prominently on the screen—

Wu Wukai suddenly jumped up from his chair!

"Gaia!!!"

Similarly, in the slightly delayed live stream, viewers were stunned when they saw the string of English abbreviations under the cowboy's skin.

"JM!"

Wu Wukai leaped from his chair and pounced in front of the monitor, rubbing his eyes vigorously and blinking several times.

Confirmed.

It's definitely JM.

"Gaia!!! How could we be matched with such a monster?!"

【Hahaha! 】

[Hahaha, this is hilarious! Go ahead and brag, Chou Kai, why did you stop?]

[The enemy Yasuo is a noob, no doubt about it (doge)]

[Wuhu won the lottery! Using JM's main hero to lane against him, Chou Kai, in this respect you truly are a retired war god!]

[I knew something was off about the five pro players on the blue team; turns out the system put JM on the opposing team!]

[Oh ho, a much-anticipated tutorial match with the Wind Sword Master! Ugly Opener, I hope you can hold on a little longer!]

What do viewers of live streams like to watch the most?
Is the streamer dominating? Or is it some kind of amazing play?

No. While amazing performances may amaze viewers, the greatest joy often comes at the cost of the streamer's suffering.

The people who enjoy live streaming are always most looking forward to the moment when the men and women in front of the camera break down.

Right now, that man has appeared on the other side. I can only say that today's happiness will probably be completely taken by Chou Kai.

Not only was Chou Kai stunned, but Long in the top lane and Moon, the support, were also taken aback.

Inside the training room, you could almost hear a few people gasping for breath.

They were well aware that no matter how packed his business schedule was, Ming would always make time to play ranked games and participate in practice matches, and his passion for competition had never diminished.

In this vast canyon, how can you run into your own pro teammate so precisely in a regular ranked match? This fate is just too absurd to be true!

"Haha, Xiaolong crashed into Ming Ge! Come and see!" Spicy Hot Pot shouted to the others in the training room.

Death's Declaration was the first to run to the computer, and the others who weren't playing ranked games also gathered around.

"I don't think I saw Ming at the base today."

"He should be at home. Go Dragon and Moon, try your best to take down Ming."

"I bet a bag of spicy strips that they'll get really badly beaten."

Once the game loaded, the tense atmosphere of a typical high-level match, where players race against time to buy equipment and rush out the gate, vanished completely. As if they had planned it beforehand, the five players on the blue team simultaneously typed greetings in the all-chat chat:
pomelo: [Hi Ming-ge!]

San: [Ming-ge! Go easy on me! Please be gentle this time! (Cute JPG)]

Moon: [Hehehehe, Ming, watch me in mid lane this game! Level 2 guaranteed! (Evil grin)]

long: [Passing by silently, please ignore my journey]

In the Huya live stream room, Jiang Ming looked at the rows of familiar IDs scrolling across the screen, especially the particularly eye-catching "Ugly Open," and finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Get rid of this ugly kid!
Unexpectedly, after he stirred up the waters even more by flapping his wings in Season 3, this guy still chose to retire at his peak, just like in the original timeline, and plunged headlong into the blue ocean of live streaming.

This decisive action truly lives up to the legendary "innate live-streaming genius"—his innate business acumen is simply off the charts.

With his skill level, he could easily stick it out as a professional for a few more years and secure a decent player contract, but compared to the earning potential of the livestreaming industry? That salary would probably be nothing more than a fraction of what he earns. The runner-up who was thrashed 0-3 in his previous life and the one who fought a grueling five-game series and fell short at the semi-finals are essentially not that different.

Among all retired mid-lane players, in terms of individual talent and peak performance alone, Chou Kai is indeed in the top tier.

In the past few years of booming live streaming industry, if you have the talent and the ability to create engaging content, achieving financial freedom is truly not a difficult thing.

"Let's see..." Jiang Ming thought to himself, "If there's a chance, I still have to mentor this kid. I don't want him to do something stupid like in the original timeline, inciting fans and dragging himself and the whole industry down with him."

This isn't because he's overly compassionate.

The incident involving Chou Kai back then has long since gone beyond the scope of personal behavior.

Instigating fans to engage in cyberbullying was like adding insult to injury for the already fragile image of the e-sports community at the time, and it also cemented the stereotypes of "chaotic," "low-quality," and "internet addicts" in the minds of outsiders.

Players' chaotic private lives, gambling, PC games, girlfriends transferring to other teams... In the original timeline, the LPL was a complete shoddy operation! The management's control over the players was practically nonexistent, they were utterly powerless against media storms, and their public relations were a complete mess.

To some extent, it is this short-sighted approach of letting things drift and focusing only on results while neglecting management that has caused the atmosphere and reputation of the competition area to deteriorate again and again, creating a vicious cycle.

Of course, don't the neighbors have these problems too?
Of course!
Not only does it exist, but in some distorted competitive environments, its extent is even greater than that of the LPL.

But the harsh reality is that others manage to "handle" these messy issues, along with the problematic contestants themselves, in a relatively respectable way. Their commitment to maintaining the industry's image and their ability to restrain contestant behavior, regardless of the methods used, is undeniably effective. You have to admire that.

Since both sides were chatting in the public chat, neither side attempted to invade the enemy jungle at level one.

After all, in high-level games, everyone runs into each other all the time, and it's just a small group of top players. The kind of "smurf" behavior that takes advantage of opponents typing in the public chat or dancing and taunting in lane is ultimately a minority.

Jiang Ming's Yasuo started with a Doran's Blade. In a later version where Yasuo was nerfed to a pulp, he might have opted for a more conservative Doran's Shield to weather the early game. But in Season 4, where Yasuo was practically invincible upon release, Jiang Ming was a warrior born for aggressive play, so he didn't need to worry too much in the early game. Besides, today was the highlight of his first livestream of the new season, and he had to show off his Yasuo skills! Thousands of eyes were glued to his stream.

As soon as the minions spawned, Jiang Ming, controlling Yasuo, rapidly clicked the mouse, making the hero sway nimbly like the wind on both sides of the minion wave. His eyes were sharp as he stared intently at the figure of the enemy Zed—he was testing whether Chou Kai's Zed had leveled up Q or E at level one.

Swish!
A cold dart flew through the air, accurately taking down three low-health melee soldiers.

The answer has been revealed: the signature skill of the humorous darts player!
A barely perceptible smile appeared on Jiang Ming's lips.

Sure enough, the players in Season 4, having just emerged from the early days, hadn't yet fully grasped the intricate skill counters between heroes.

Or perhaps... during the time "Chou Kai" spent playing in casual games after retiring, his already subpar professional player discipline had already plummeted to rock bottom.

"Let's go with the wind!"

The moment Zed unleashed his Q, Yasuo, who had been lurking behind the minion wave, made his move!
Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
[Step Forward Slash!]

The sword light darted rapidly among the soldiers, each movement making the sword strike even more ferocious!
Jiang Ming didn't covet the full damage increase from the fourth hit. The moment he landed after his third slide, the mouse had already precisely locked onto Chou Kai's Jie!

EA!

Sword and fist collide! A clean and crisp basic attack followed by a forward slash deals damage!

Without the slightest hesitation, Yasuo activated his E skill again, gracefully stepping over the minions he had left behind and making a graceful retreat.

Looking at the health bars of both sides: Zed's health bar instantly evaporated by nearly a third! On the other hand, Yasuo only lost a negligible amount of health after his passive shield was broken!
【hiss! 】

[Wow, is a level 1 Yasuo with E skill this good?]

[The Stomp Slash has four damage boosts, each increasing damage by 25%. The streamer just demonstrated it three times, and adding a basic attack does indeed result in extremely high damage.]

[Is that the key point? The key point is Lao Ming's trading technique, okay? You just see him E-ing around in the minion wave, and the enemy Zed only gets one auto-attack, and his health bar drops.]

[(Laughing and crying) I think this new hero is super fun when using E on minions.]

【Don't even mention it, bro. Sometimes when I'm max level and have my E skill active, with practically no cooldown, I can just drift away and end up under the enemy tower without even realizing it. (Facepalm)】

The live stream was instantly flooded with amazed comments.

Jiang Ming glanced at the chat, chuckled, and began to speak with a hint of instruction: "As someone who plays Zed a lot, here's a little tip. Against Yasuo, Zed actually has a tough time before level six. For those who aren't very proficient, it's best to max E first, then Q. Avoid fights before level three, and don't engage in direct combat when there are many minions. Especially avoid the habitual WQE poke like you would against other champions—Zed's clone has a similar cooldown to Yasuo's Wind Wall, and if your shuriken gets blocked, you're basically giving away free kills. It's best to wait until Yasuo uses E on minions to get close, then use Zed to cast W behind him, and immediately switch positions to unleash a QE combo..."

[Good host, no problem host.]

[I'm so upset, everyone else is teaching how to maximize your skills, but only Lao Jiang considers us clumsy players, even showing us how to lane without much practice.]

After all, if Zed's shurikens miss, he's practically half-useless. Maxing his E at least gives him some close-range damage.

[Hilarious! Laoming, you really don't treat the opponents like human beings. You're playing Yasuo, but you're telling everyone how to play Zed. Are you giving a live lesson on the negative aspects of esports Confucius?]

On the other side of the game.

"Ugly Kai," who had suffered a silent loss, grimaced exaggeratedly at the camera, looking as if he were in excruciating pain.

Of course, seven parts of it was acting, and only three parts was real pain.

As a seasoned veteran of live streaming, he knows exactly what the audience wants to see. Facing the ID "JM," there's naturally pressure, but certainly not to a terrifying degree. This "painful mask" is all carefully designed emotional seasoning for the audience.

He knew perfectly well that he was likely to get thrashed in today's game. But what if... what if he actually managed to find an opportunity to win? That would be an incredible windfall!

The platform's moderators had tipped him off before the match even started: JM was having his first live stream of the new season on Huya, and it was generating a lot of buzz. If he could secure this top-tier viewership in this high-profile match, the platform promised to fully support him and help him become a pillar of the platform's future streaming business.

He really didn't expect Yasuo's level 1 EA combo to be so brutal. He could still manage to take damage while tanking minions. Riot's new champion's stats are just too high.

The shock that was about to happen was yet to come.

Logically speaking, for a professional player, no matter how high their understanding of the game is, they need a certain number of matches to get started with a new hero and even master it. Being able to use and play the hero is different from being able to carry the game. But this logic seems to be non-existent in JM's case.

The Yasuo on the other side, wielding his sword in his right hand, moved back and forth in the minion wave at such a high frequency that you had no idea when he would E in to trade blows with you. And that passive—even when it seemed like there was still a little time left, the opponent would always manage to suddenly erect a white shield just as they were about to come forward to cause trouble.

After a while, he managed to reach the relatively strong level three of Zed, but his health was mostly depleted and he had used up all his health potions.

Wow, is this the kind of mastery the esports Confucian has over a new hero?

While we were still debating whether Yasuo was a bad champion, JM was already dominating a top-four mid laner in a high-elo game with the Unforgiven.

[The champion mid laner completely dominated the top four mid laners, is that really so strange? (doge)]

[I've learned something new! Turns out, the wind from the Q skill doesn't necessarily have to be thrown out for it to work.]

[Ten seconds, my god, ten seconds of wind! Designer, look at the monster you've created! JM's Q skill's whirlwind is so strong, Uzi can't even last-hit minions.]

I still think this shield is overpowered. Yasuo can tank the minion wave and still gain a huge advantage in trades, which is ridiculous.

JM's W skill was excellent; every time he traded blows, Chou Kai's darts were perfectly blocked.

I'm itching to play a game of Yasuo in ranked.

[Brothers ahead, don't go—see them off!]

Wu Wukai was no longer in the mood to pay attention to the teasing in the chat. In just a few minutes, he had been completely focused on the laning phase and was now covered in sweat.

Did JM's livestream debut generate enough traffic?

Damn, I'll be thankful if I don't become a laughing stock after being solo-killed by a level 3 player.

Swish!
"The power of this sword grows stronger with each strike!"

Suddenly, the low chant of the wandering swordsman from Ionia reached his ears once more.

The profound secrets of the Gale Sword Technique are beginning to emerge!

Several low-health minions had already appeared in the mid lane without anyone noticing.

(End of this chapter)