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

Chapter 77: The Practice Match Against "SKT T2"! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

In his previous life, Jiang Ming had some free time and did some data analysis with a few friends. After watching all the matches of the LPL and LCK regions before S7, they roughly sorted out the differences between the two regions.

First, there's the systematic operation that's most familiar to ordinary players, namely resource conversion and rhythm control. The basics of systematic operation strategies can be roughly divided into three aspects: resource priority management, minion wave understanding, and jungle control.

Jungle control is easy to understand. It should be said that, apart from a few exceptional individual carry players, most junglers in the LCK follow a similar pattern.

This means blocking the enemy's jungle by maintaining vision control, thus compressing the opponent's development space and widening the economic gap between the two sides without simply pursuing kills.

The difference in understanding minion waves is the most intuitive part. Players on the field use the alternation between "slow push" and "fast push" to create minion wave pressure, forcing the opponent to make a passive choice between "defending the lane" and "team fight".

A typical example is Marin's (S5 SKT) top lane split push system. SKT likes to control the opponent through precise minion wave calculation.

The idea of ​​borrowing 22 seconds from heaven is precisely an application of understanding the minion wave.

In the final round of the qualifiers, when NXG played against PE, Jiang Ming used this tactic. Opponents who couldn't manage the minion waves were often outmaneuvered and killed.

When it comes to operations to the death, the biggest difference lies in resource priority management. The LCK coaching staff has a strict formulaic judgment on the priority of map resources such as dragons, turrets, and jungle.

For example, during the S5 to S6 period, the most common strategy in LCK was to "give up the first dragon in exchange for 1-2 turrets and jungle resource invasion", which often enabled them to build an economic snowball without bloodshed.

Another key difference is the discipline of LCK teams; once they know a resource cannot be contested, they will absolutely not take any risky actions. This is something that countless LPL teams cannot achieve.

It can be said that LCK has a long-term advantage over LPL in this regard. Even in the S12 and S13 seasons, LPL teams often lost because of their unclear choices in this area.

The NXG players accepted the above three points very well, which is the basis for their winning streak since entering the qualifiers. After all, they were playing against a group of opponents whose teamwork was not very good. Their resource priority management and understanding of minion waves were completely different from the team's discipline and fault tolerance. It was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

Risk aversion, loss mitigation capabilities, and the consistency of information processing and decision-making are the foundations upon which Jiang Ming has built the NXG team, whose individual capabilities are not particularly outstanding.

Of course, the gap between the two regions goes far beyond what has been mentioned above. For example, there are objective problems in areas such as vision control that needs to be updated in a timely manner for each season and for each team, tactical innovation and version analysis, and even psychological warfare between coaching staff and on-the-spot adjustments by players.

After spending time with teams from the early LPL season, Jiang Ming concluded that he had discovered the root cause of the problem.

In its early days, the LPL relied too much on individual skill. The "muscle league" valued individual heroism over teamwork, to the point that players would make outrageous statements like "I'm the one carrying the whole team." From WE to Royal Never Give Up, from EDG to RNG, the star power of players masked the flaws in the system.

Secondly, the lack of regulation in the esports environment and the various problems left over from the wild growth of the early days have resulted in LPL coaching staff generally having no say. Not to mention unconditionally obeying the coaching staff's arrangements, LPL has even seen star players frequently interfering with the draft phase.

Finally, we must acknowledge the outdated nature of the club's management model!

From youth training and development to daily management of players, and most importantly, actual training, there are indelible gaps between the two competition zones.

Can you believe that while the LCK region is already improving its adaptability by setting up "simulated scenario training" such as practicing comeback games where they are 5k gold behind at 15 minutes, the LPL region is still emphasizing "laning intensity"?
Regarding the root causes of the aforementioned problems, LPL only realized the key issue after S7. Fortunately, the entry of domestic capital further promoted the professionalization of the region and introduced the systematic youth training and industrialized management experience of Korean esports.

However, with external intervention, the story will certainly not proceed as it originally did.

Jiang Ming was confident.

While LCK still enjoys a leading position in the national esports environment, its own cutting-edge experience can also be used to drive the region's evolution.

"It's not the right time yet!"

The young man stared intently at the game's drafting interface.

One person's strength is limited. To change a region or even promote the development of the domestic e-sports scene, more people need to join in, and one must also be in a higher position to be qualified to participate.

"Ming-ge, Ming-ge."

The loud call pulled Jiang Ming back to reality: "What are we getting from the first floor?"

"Your Highness!" Jiang Ming was already prepared for today's training content, so there was no need to worry about the lineup.

SKT's second team is not well-known now, but even without Xiaofei joining, the other positions are more than capable of serving as practice partners.

Leaving aside Benji, SKT's top and bottom lanes are both top-tier talents.

Royal Club's UZI, nicknamed "Mad Dog," is incredibly confident in his individual abilities. However, during the S3 World Championship, he was still crushed in the bot lane by the combination of Piglet and Fumanduo. The stats were completely dominated in all three games, and UZI's sneaky tower-penetrating Q taught this talented LPL AD a lesson.

Regardless of whether Piglet's arrogant smile at the World Championship cost him his life, his laning ability is absolutely unquestionable.

Another thing worth noting is the ancient monster, Daiki, who appears on the road.

Perhaps due to the passage of time or the emphasis of different versions, many people have subconsciously overlooked a hidden contributor to SKT's championship victory.

As a veteran who will still be active on the front line of professional competition in 2025, many people probably only remember his outrageous behavior of almost always leading a North American team to the World Championship and then consistently supporting other teams.

However, in reality, during Season 3, Royal Club was defeated 3-0, and Jax's split-pushing definitely played a part in that.

NXG's next training focus will be on split pushing in the top lane, with more opportunities to clash with Da Mu, which will greatly benefit Song Yuan's individual skill improvement.

As for the claim that playing scrims with SKT will help them grow further... it's as if people can't analyze match recordings if they don't play scrims.

Speaking of this, Jiang Ming was somewhat looking forward to it. If LPL won the All-Star event in May with his intervention, would SKT still be able to secure a spot in the OGN World Championship?

There's not much to say about the draft phase in scrims. Unless there's a special request, neither side will usually ban meta heroes.

Just appoint Planck, Galen, and Galio as commanders of the army, navy, and air force, and that's it.

In terms of lineup selection, NXG was on the blue side, and Jiang Ming picked a standard tower-pushing, macro-management, and team-fighting combination: top lane Kennen, jungle Jarvan IV, mid lane Orianna, and bot lane Caitlyn and Janna.

In the early game, utilize the advantages of Caitlyn and Janna to quickly whittle down the tower's health in lane, creating an opportunity for the top, mid, and jungle to outnumber and gank the bottom lane to quickly take down the tower. This allows the tower's gold to be converted into crucial items for the two carries who desperately need to farm.

Meanwhile, with Kennen having around two items in the mid-game, he can take over the battlefield with Jarvan IV, and there won't be any issues with insufficient damage. This is a typical combination that can be played in the early, mid, and late game during Season 3, but it requires good teamwork.

SKT's lineup: Top lane Renekton, Jungle Elise, Mid lane Gragas, Bot lane Ezreal + Lulu!
Judging from the lineup, Jiang Ming is facing an extremely inexperienced version of SKT, both in terms of players and coaching staff.

Instead of picking Sona, who has stronger poke damage, they're picking Lulu to pair with Ezreal...

"In the early game, focus on laning against them and reduce the frequency of lane switching."

SKT, playing purple, revealed their last pick: Gragas. Jiang Ming gave the players a reminder before turning and heading to the viewing computer in the training room.

"Okay, Ming-ge."

"Brothers, let's go!" Pang Ran encouraged his teammates in the voice chat, a habit he had made a small part of his persona, whether it was a competition or a training match.

After a one-minute game loading delay, the OB screen appeared in front of Jiang Ming.

Both sides are laning normally.

Today's BO5 scrims did not involve any level 1 team fight design drills, or rather, almost no sane team would run into scrims to play level 1 team fight tactics with a high degree of uncertainty.

Jiang Ming moved the mouse and switched the system's default mid-jungle camera to the bottom lane.

Although it sounds arrogant, the unknown mid laner and Bengi mid-jungle duo from T2 in front of them really don't offer much training for Stone and his partner.

He only needs to focus on the top and bottom lanes.

"Ok?"

"You missed attacking the jungle monsters a couple of times, were you trying to gain an advantage from level one?"

Seeing the duo with guns in hand walking towards the line in the video, Jiang Ming, who was in God's-eye view, quickly understood what Xu Jing was thinking.

The female police officer and the female mages have long range, and if they can apply enough pressure at level one, they can indeed gain more initiative in controlling the lane in the bottom lane later.

pat!

The sniper rifle's basic attack A landed on a low-health minion, taking its gold into his hand. At the same time, as two other minions were on their way to being killed, Xu Jing instinctively controlled Catherine to pull the trigger again, and [Peacekeeper] ripped through the air in Summoner's Rift.

laugh!
As the pig stepped into the minion wave, preparing to last-hit, he frowned, watching the enemy Caitlyn's fluid maneuvers. "She simultaneously caught three low-health minions and even managed to brush past me while I was still stunned by her skill..."

call out!
With the smooth auto-attacks of the old Glacial Warrior skin, EZ steadily finished off the melee minions with his basic attacks. Then, the Prospector's Armguard in his hand shone brightly and flew towards the position where the blue team's AD was standing.

puff!

The sound effect of a bullet hitting flesh rang out.

However, the white shield that suddenly appeared above the policewoman's head negated the damage from EZ's energy blast.

"Why are you eating Q right away? Lao Xu, are you still not in the right mindset?"

After using E to block some of the damage from Q, Pang Ran asked curiously, "This is not a good sign if the enemy starts absorbing Q right at the beginning of the laning phase."

While EZ's attack range isn't as long as Caitlyn's, he possesses a Q skill with an extremely short cooldown, decent damage, and a good casting range. Hitting an enemy with Mystic Shot also reduces its cooldown. If you can increase your hit rate, Caitlyn won't have much of an advantage in early-game trades.

"It was predicted!"

Xu Jing's smile faded slightly as he gained a clearer understanding of the OGN duo that Ming Ge had emphasized as having "extremely strong laning skills."

He's pretty strong. He can quickly launch a counterattack after dealing with the minion wave and harassing the enemy, which makes him stronger than all the ADs we've encountered in the previous qualifiers.

"Prediction?"

"Ok!"

"Then be careful, we need to use this combination to gain an advantage."

EZ's on-the-spot reaction and skill prediction made the Xu Jing and Pang Ran brothers take him much more seriously.

However, to their surprise, little did they know that the opposing team, Zhu Rang and Fu Manduo, who had suffered a great loss as soon as they went online, were even more shocked.

Not only did the female police officer instantly take down three melee minions to whittle down his health, but her own Ezreal's Mystic Shot was also perfectly blocked by Janna's shield. Furthermore, the attack power provided by the residual shield effect was perfectly utilized by him, and his counterattack resulted in a headshot on Lulu...

"These two have great teamwork," Pig said, clicking his tongue.

Fuman recalled the positioning of Janna in his mind and said in an uncertain tone, "Besides the tacit understanding, I feel like the enemy support's positioning was as if they had predicted your next move."

"Are you kidding me? In the few seconds it takes for the two opponents to react, how could they possibly account for our reactions?"

"Step back, Caitlyn's Q skill cleared the minion wave, we won't be able to reach level two first."

It is no coincidence.

While the bot lane inadvertently showcased what a top-tier professional team composition looks like, the two top laners were also engaged in a passionate brawl.

However, when it comes to ignoring lane control and relying solely on individual skill, Song Yuan clearly did not gain an advantage.

"Damn, they can even control the distance perfectly!"

Song Yuan was getting a little frustrated. The opposing crocodile was very careful to maintain the distance from his basic attacks, which made it almost impossible for him to harass the enemy without taking damage.

The crocodile's occasional EQ skill interactions can even reveal the killing intent hidden deep within the opponent's heart.

"Ming-ge is right. Some people are just pure talent, which can replace several months of hard training."

"Damn it, I don't believe it. Not only do I have long arms to fight short arms, but I've also done so much stretching training. I can't handle a little crocodile like you."

Ohmu:......

"Sexy guy, find a chance to help me catch a bunch of them."

"So much pressure?" Benji turned to look at the road ahead, quite surprised.

"Ok!"

"Kennen's fundamentals are just too good. He's making it hard for me to stay in lane. I don't want him to take too much damage and I'll lose minions. If you don't come soon, my last-hitting will be ruined."

Staring at the game screen, watching the Yordle constantly moving back and forth in the bushes, DaMu, adhering to the fine virtue of a top laner who would never 1v1 if he could call the jungler "daddy," didn't argue at all.

The coach is right, the NXG team from the LPL region is incredibly strong.

Their players may not be that formidable individually, but their attention to detail in the online game is something that no other team can match at present.

(End of this chapter)