LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 483 Should the Asian Games also be a bit of a torture?

LPL is the champion!
As golden rain fell from above, the stage lights illuminated the scene, igniting endless jubilation in the vast Dalian Gymnasium.

The players from the four teams, like all the spectators present, were celebrating the birth of the champion, a glory that belongs exclusively to the LPL.

After a brief interview, the four teams, along with their coaches, stood together in the center of the stage for the final intercontinental championship award ceremony.

The awards ceremony was officiated by the head of Tencent Games and the president of Riot Games China Operations. Accompanied by hostesses, they first shook hands with each contestant and then presented them with their medals.

The awards ceremony passed quickly, just like the fast-paced final.

All everyone needs to know is that the champion of the second Intercontinental Cup still came from the LPL region.

Besides that, all that's left for the so-called LCK region are two runners-up, which is absolutely a huge disgrace, without exception, because their second runner-up was even uniquely shut out in a version where they were completely shut out.

It's one thing for a team to be swept, but what's worse is that four teams were swept.

Without a doubt, they were the most miserable runners-up in history, which made the North American region, which was also swept by the European region in the finals, not so sad anymore.

After all, although we were thrashed in the finals, at least we put up a good fight in the group stage.

Unlike LCK, there are no back-and-forth battles; it's just a one-sided sweep that makes you think it's some kind of bot game.

Without comparison, there is no difference. This comparison may comfort some people, but it may also cause others to break down.

Watching the triumphant trophy-lifting ceremony at the Dalian Gymnasium, countless viewers in the LCK livestream were heartbroken, and some left as soon as the match ended.

All that's left is endless abuse and condemnation.

[This year in international tournaments, we were already crushed by the LPL, but what's even more frightening is that we've lost to the LMS, and even to Europe and North America. And then there's the Vietnam we lost to.]

You should add a prefix, because these were all losses by KZ.

[Is there any difference? In my opinion, the other teams might not necessarily win against FW or G2 either.]

[It's proven that our LCK is now a garbage region; the draft picks are bad, and the players are bad too.]

[Hmph, everyone here bears some responsibility for KZ making it to Worlds this year.]

[Isn't KZ's qualification for Worlds a sure thing? They're the Spring Split champions. Besides, even if they can't beat KT and AFS, you don't expect SKT to stop them, do you?]

This year's SKT is a complete mess. They didn't even dare to play in the finals. In the past, they would have definitely played in the earlier stages, but today they preferred to let KZ play, which shows that they are also worried about their poor performance.

[Stop talking, anyway, LCK is finished. Our top priority now is to withdraw our hosting rights for the World Championship. We can't let LPL have an internal finals showdown like the one at the Bird's Nest in Incheon.]

Even after the finals ended, the live streams remained popular, with nearly a third of LCK fans criticizing the entire region's performance.

If you ask where the other two-thirds went, do they not have mouths?
Of course there is.

Because the other two-thirds either vented their anger on Korean online forums or teamed up to attack the official Weibo accounts of the four expedition teams to hurl even more insults.

Based on their performance in this intercontinental tournament, no team was able to refute the online attacks and criticism they received.

In today's world, playing dead is no longer the appropriate way to resolve a crisis.

Because LCK viewers don't just talk like LPL fans; they actually take action.

In less than two hours after the finals ended, the KZ base, which was the biggest target of public opinion, received countless razor blades, and even had several trucks blocking the road.

The entire surface is painted with conspicuous red spray paint. KZ, get out of LCK.

The other three LCK teams were clearly not much better off, suffering the same fate as everyone else.

In order to end the public opinion crisis as soon as possible, it is necessary to take some practical actions.

For example, KZ suffered greatly from this, due to their poor performance at MSI, and there has been no improvement since the beginning of the Summer Split and up to the current Rift Rivals.

Sensing the need for action, KZ's management swiftly announced the dismissal of head coach Sin that evening.

This is partly to make Sin take the blame, but also partly a genuine desire to resolve internal team issues and allow the team to start afresh.

However, most LCK viewers don't buy it, because in their view, the decline in the players' performance is the real reason for KZ's current state.

After all, even the worst LCK teams in the past wouldn't lose to Europe and America. Now that something like this has happened, it's unbelievable to just blame a coach.

Even so, KZ's public opinion crisis was eventually alleviated to some extent.

Because at least they told all LCK fans that they were trying to make changes.

Whether it can transform or not, that's a matter for the future.

This move prompted SKT to quickly follow suit, firing Nofe without hesitation.

Previously, they didn't kick players because of the high release clauses, but now SKT can't care about that anymore. The team really needs to change, and they also need to send players out to take the blame for the team's poor performance.

Nofe is the best answer. As someone who is constantly criticized by SKT fans, firing him will definitely alleviate most of the public opinion crisis.

Ultimately, Nofe survived for more than half a year with SKT, but was eventually kicked out.

With tears in his eyes, he left SKT overnight with a large, cold termination fee to seek a new life elsewhere.

As for KT and AFS, there were no personnel changes.

The changes that KZ and SKT need are mainly due to their poor league performance, but KT and AFS are not in such a bad state right now.

Therefore, what they need to do more is to summarize their mistakes and strive to perform better and better in the future.

In the current LCK league, SSG, which had a poor performance in the Spring Split, has shown signs of a comeback after changing its name to Gen. In addition, GRF, the secondary league champion, suddenly emerged and dominated the early stages of the Summer Split. The pressure to compete for the championship is no less.

...

Was Nofe fired?

Because the match ended so quickly, all four teams were even able to buy tickets to return to Shanghai after the meal. On the flight back to Shanghai, EDG, who had just won the championship, also quickly received the news.

Due to the crushing defeat at this Intercontinental Cup, it's clear that a major upheaval has occurred in the LCK.

Lin Ruo, who didn't care much, was currently browsing the forum full of valuable content, and the ratings and quotes were no longer of any value.

During this period, it will depend on netizens' photo editing skills.

The Intercontinental Cup had only ended less than half a day ago, and all sorts of memes and jokes had already sprung up like mushrooms after rain, seemingly without end.

For example, there's the "trying their best" meme, where the logos of the four LCK teams are photoshopped onto a fallen anime character, along with a classic quote: "Sorry we couldn't get the LPL players to give their all." There's also the "KZ's lightning-fast party membership" meme, where a photoshopped image is used to award party membership certificates to all the KZ members.

In addition, the overconfident KT team, who dared to volunteer to be the first to challenge EDG, has also been turned into all sorts of novel images and texts.

The forum was full of outrageous and ridiculous things, and Lin Ruo laughed out loud with satisfaction.

Besides, there's also the truly pitiful KZ, which has evoked pity in many people on the anti-KZ forum.

The reason is simple: KZ is truly in a terrible situation.

Losing from MSI all the way to the Summer Split, and now losing from the Summer Split to the Rift Rivals, anyone in that situation would have their mentality completely broken.

Knowing KZ's future fate, Lin Ruo didn't believe that changing coaches could change the current predicament, but that didn't stop him from feeling a little sorry for KZ.

It's really too tragic, especially considering his good friend Peanut is also involved. He definitely needs to be comforted.

If Peanut can't stay in LCK in the future, I suggest he come to LPL. Lin Ruo can introduce him to LGD.

Then help LGD buy a strong top laner, such as that guy from Suning named xiaoAL, I heard he will change his name to Langx in the future.

Ahem...

Lin Ruo landed in Shanghai around 22 PM and rushed back to the club. She didn't forget to do a live stream during the remaining hour.

I've been working too hard lately.

He went to Dalian to prepare for the Intercontinental Championship and didn't stream for four days. He'll have to make up for it later.

It wasn't about receiving any gifts; Lin Ruo was mainly worried that his true fans would feel lonely and isolated without him around.

After all, he is a beacon of light for his true fans.

Look, as soon as the live stream started, a large number of loyal fans rushed over.

Lin Ruo could vaguely feel the absolute enthusiasm of her true fans from the comments.

[Damn it, why didn't Lin Dog stream for four days in Dalian? Just because of the Intercontinental Cup? What are you pretending for? Do you really need to prepare hard for playing against LCK noobs?]

[Indeed, Lin Gou is slacking off again. To be honest, can those four LCK teams put even the slightest bit of pressure on you?]

[You slacker, don't think we'll forgive you just because you came back overnight to stream after winning the Intercontinental Cup.]

[This is so unfair! They had so much time to stream, yet they didn't even stream for an hour in Dalian. What's wrong? Is there no internet in Dalian?]

[Unless Lin Gou streams all night tonight, I won't forgive him. Also, don't ask me why he's streaming all night; I'm working the night shift tonight.]

Expecting Lin Gou to stay up all night is like expecting a sow to fly.

...

Looking at the comments, Lin Ruo deeply understood that the audience really understood him.

Indeed, staying up all night is impossible; there's no way to have any good results from staying up all night.

Do you think I'm still that kid who stayed up all night grinding for points to win the 100,000 yuan prize? No, not anymore. Men change their minds once they have money.

Taking advantage of the remaining time, Lin Ruo didn't hesitate and completed all the game tasks that were required.

First, log in to CF and play a few games to collect the daily rewards. Because of the Intercontinental Tournament, Lin Ruo originally planned to reach the King of Guns rank as soon as possible.

When he returned four days later, he was still at the Glory Gun King rank, but he was not far from the Gun King rank, which was only one major rank away. Lin Ruo was confident that he would achieve his goal within a few days.

In addition, there is Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition. Since taking over management during the last crisis in Luoyang, Lin Ruo, who hadn't been online much for four days, naturally handed over the management responsibilities to a group of college students.

This time, their command was quite good. Not only did they advance into Sili to set up defenses ahead of time, but they also captured Hulao Pass despite the disadvantageous distance between Xia Santian and Luoyang. During the advance, they crossed the bridge at Luocheng and occupied more positions.

This was much faster than the usual speed at which they paved the road to Sili and confronted each other.

In addition, on the Guanzhong battlefield, after capturing Chang'an in Hebei and securing territorial protection, the Jianghan Allied Forces did not stop their advance.

On the contrary, they not only pressed on to the nearest city, Lantian, but also adopted a strategy of capturing cities to advance further. A large number of Jianghan players poured into Guanzhong, which effectively helped the subsequent advance.

Seeing that the situation was not problematic and was even moving towards victory, Lin Ruo felt relieved.

During the four days I didn't log in much, I had been using a power-leveling service to control the account. With the boost from the fully-leveled account with extremely high combat power, my kill count never dropped.

After completing all the game tasks, it quickly became nearly midnight.

As is customary, right after the broadcast ended, before Lin Ruo even had time to wash up, Abu rushed into the training room, clearly having something important to say.

Of course, the so-called regular season is not a big deal. Although there are many games later, they can handle it. Lin Ruo can even play half of the games without playing and let Haro play.

However, what Abu wants to mention is still the competition. Since it's not the remaining LPL Summer Split regular season matches, Lin Ruo probably knows which competition it is.

The Asian Games are coming...

"This year's Asian Games will feature League of Legends as a demonstration event, and I happen to be the head coach of the League of Legends team for this Asian Games."

Abu briefly explained what happened, stating that, entrusted by the State Sports Administration, he, as the head coach, would be in full charge of this Asian Games.

He was responsible for everything, including player selection and business plans.

Abu never expected that this day would come after he hadn't coached for two years, but in terms of achievements, he is indeed the only domestic coach at present.

Mingkai, who just won the MSI championship, is still a newcomer to the sport. He is not qualified to rely on Lin Ruo for support. Not to mention the other Taiwanese and Korean coaches.

So it's understandable that Abu was chosen, but there are some issues with the selection process.

Ultimately, this point must consider the current best form of the players, and that best form undoubtedly belongs to EDG...

The pressure of the regular season in the summer split wasn't actually that great, but with the Asian Games just a month away, the pressure on the teams is quite high, especially considering the need for them to gel as well.

After giving the notification, Abu thought for a moment and then turned to look at Lin Ruo and Tian Ye: "You two are definitely selected as the jungler and support, so get ready for the training camp these next few days."

GimGoon and Scout are not Chinese, so we need to select players from other teams for the top and mid positions, as well as the AD position.

Indeed, although EDG has swept all the championships so far this year, and the newcomer iboy has performed well, the question remains whether iboy should be selected to facilitate teamwork.

Abu felt he should reconsider carefully.

(End of this chapter)