LPL History

Chapter 126: Zhou Lang Instructs on Livestream Etiquette, Cultivating a Golden Body of Taoist Etiquette and Planning a Breakthrough Strategy

His decisive action in severing emotional ties quickly made him shine on the professional gaming stage.

They first defeated Team WE in the LPL Spring Split regular season, causing WE to fall into a two-game losing streak after losing to EDG.

What devastated WE fans even more was that the two teams met again in the finals of the 2013 SWL Championship.

In the end, IG defeated WE with a score of 3:2.

This is because WE already had a win due to being the winner of the upper bracket; in reality, IG reversed the score from 0-1.

The reason EDG failed to reach the finals is that they were eliminated back in January when they were still called Royal Club.

IG's victory completely devastated WE fans.

They seemed to realize that their dynasty was crumbling little by little.

Enraged, 60e once again unleashed their signature move against the IG team – throwing water bottles!
The enraged IG members were quickly labeled as having extremely low manners by the 60e fans.

Like EDG, they became two major villains in Chinese esports.

Seeing that IG was taking away a portion of his traffic, Zhou Li naturally wouldn't agree to it.

Although I was paid to do things, that was only for guiding IG to defeat WE, not for making IG and EDG reign supreme together.

EDG's official Weibo account quickly updated with a video.

The video shows Zhou Li analyzing WE's various tactics and player habits at the IG club, and instructing IG players on how to counter and formulate tactics.

Once this video was released, the 60e fans went absolutely crazy!
It's one thing for EDG to end our WE's 48-game winning streak!

Now they even have to go and instruct other teams on how to defeat our WE!

They were eliminated early in the SWL competition, but they still had to help IG win the trophy that should have belonged to WE!
That's absolutely unforgivable!
Lu Benwei swallowed hard as he looked at the EDG official Weibo account and Zhou Li's Weibo account, which had been flooded with negative comments in a short time.

"Brother Zhou, isn't this a bit too harsh?"

He feels like the whole world is full of EDG haters right now.

EDG has become the biggest villain in the Chinese esports scene, hated by everyone.

Zhou Li wasn't worried about this at all.

Does he think he won't be bombarded with criticism by the 60e fans if he doesn't do this?
EDG gets criticized as long as they beat WE; that's the current state of esports in China.

Since I'm going to get criticized sooner or later anyway, I might as well get criticized sooner and capitalize on this wave of attention.

Once we win the world championship, there will be no black pieces left; the whole world will be filled with white pieces.

Zhou Li knew that Lu Benwei couldn't understand this kind of thing yet, so he simply said:

"The traffic is big enough. In two days, it will be the first time our EDG team will stream on 9001. Go and call Mad Dog over. We need to do some pre-stream training."

Zhou Li hasn't played much during the LPL Spring Split.

UZI has always been the one playing.

After all, we can't mistreat the poor puppy too much.

The puppy that had been competing was clearly in better shape.

Most importantly, it allows me to take a break.

This also led some 60e fans to feel that their typing on the keyboard on the internet had an effect, and EDG hid Zhou Lixue to avoid a public opinion storm.

And then this video was posted today—

It's easy to imagine how angry the 60e members will be.

It turns out that Zhou Li wasn't benched, but rather assigned to another team to continue targeting their beloved WE!
Watching Lu Benwei go to call for help, Zhou Li lay on the sofa, casually scrolling through his phone.

I was stunned for a moment when I saw a news item about the entertainment industry.

He thought for a moment, logged into his Weibo account, and started editing.

Five minutes later, Zhou Li updated his Weibo with a new post.

[Congratulations to TFBOYS on their successful debut! I've always loved these three boys, I absolutely adore them! As a loyal fan of TFBOYS, I've been following them for a long time, and today I finally saw the news of their debut, I'm so excited I can't sleep! I hope TFBOYS will have a bright future and will definitely become the pride of the Chinese entertainment industry! @TFBOYS.]

Seeing his newly posted Weibo post instantly flooded with comments from fans of the 60e, Zhou Li silently turned off his phone.

That's all he can do.

Although he knew that even if TFBOYS were gone, there would still be GFBOYS and CFBOYS.

There will also be those tanks dressed in limited-edition wedding gowns, and the green-hatted Brazilian tortoise ace commanders holding glow sticks next to the tanks.

But it was just a small favor after all.

Soon, the EDG team arrived at the training room.

Looking at the group of people whose spirits had been completely renewed, Zhou Li spoke:

"Today, I'm going to talk to you about how to build a positive image for our Reasonable Team through live streaming, and how to respond correctly when facing interviews in the future."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, the EDG members exchanged bewildered glances.

What positive image does EDG have left? They've been attacked so much by the 60e fans that their entire family is going to die.

Zhou Li clearly knew what everyone was thinking, and spoke up:

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. At present, public opinion is indeed not very friendly to us. But the more adverse the environment, the more you can maintain a good image. When netizens dig into your past in the future, you will become the object of people's admiration."

Seeing the skeptical expressions on everyone's faces, Zhou Li directly cursed:

"Damn it, just do what I tell you to do, why ask so many questions?!"

The group of people immediately quieted down.

Although there are many haters of EDG now, Zhou Li knows that it is not difficult to clear his name.

In the esports community, most people are actually fans of the champion.

However, to ensure the club achieves greater international impact after its image is restored, it is essential to improve the professionalism of its players.

The main mission of the historical record is to save the LPL.

Enabling Chinese esports to reach a wider audience and gain more attention is undoubtedly an important part of this process.

If esports players want to reach a wider audience and become mainstream, they absolutely need to improve in areas beyond just the game itself.

Previously, Zhou Li had been making new team uniforms for EDG and getting his hair cut and styled, all for this purpose.

We can't expect someone's kid to say in the future, "Mom, I want to play esports."

As a result, when the parents, who are unfamiliar with the esports scene, open their phones, all they see are one-eyed guys with flamboyant hairstyles who spout nonsense about sex toys. How could they possibly agree to that?

2013 was the year when League of Legends was just starting out in China.

The contestants earn relatively low salaries, have not achieved much, are young, and their personalities are not yet fully formed.

Players at this stage are relatively easy to control and change.

In a few years, this path will definitely be unworkable.

Therefore, Zhou Li felt that it was perfectly acceptable to give it a try now.

The contestants don't understand the importance of brand value, so he, as their boss, definitely needs to remind them.

For esports players, their physical stature and physique are quite different from those of traditional athletes.

Although it's said that being bad at esports is the original sin, playing well brings fans and traffic.

Moreover, putting aside the live broadcast, many people are too lazy to even watch the interviews.

But that only shows that interviews with esports players are really not very informative.

Looking at the neighboring competition zone, one person reaped the biggest benefits from the interviews.

Showmaker Xu Xiu.

Although he gained such huge exposure because he won the championship.

But how many editions of League of Legends has it been held now, and how many world champions have been crowned?

Aside from Lee Sang-hyeok, the e-sports saint, why is Xu Ge remembered by so many people even though he only won one championship?

While some champions have faded into obscurity, others have been forgotten. From Samsung and SKT's alternating championship runs to T1's era of two titles and one runner-up finish, DWG became a crucial link in continuing the LCK's glory.

The phrase "It is our duty to rebuild the glory of LCK," coupled with a determined look in his eyes, made Xu Xiu a household name.

Even if he loses the game the following year, he still leaves behind the words, "Failure is always the way of life."

Even though Xu Xiu's career declined later on, and he only made it to the top 16, many people still liked him despite just a few words in the interview.

That's the charm of interviews.

In fact, from my own observation of the LCK region, not only Xu Xiu, but many LCK players have said a lot of memorable quotes.

But is it because the LCK players have a much higher level of education than our LPL players?
Everyone here is young and has started playing professionally, and their educational level is at least semi-illiterate.

How come you LCK people can always come up with such memorable quotes the moment you open your mouth?

Is my LPL just full of wall-like players and neurotic bin?

In fact, LCK trains its players at the beginning of each season.

First-year contestants will receive contract training from lawyers from law firms, as well as interview skills training from professional journalists.

Reporters will then use various examples to emphasize:
It is the responsibility of professional players to actively communicate the tournament process and winning factors to fans through interviews and to clearly express their own thoughts.

For participants who have competed for two or more years, training in the use of social media platforms, media relations, and even financial literacy and investment is required.

These contents may seem unrelated to esports, but for esports players, as public figures, this is actually a required course they must learn!
Just like BLG later on, why were they hated by so many people?

Just look at Bin shaking his head, opening his mouth and proclaiming himself the world's best top laner, the successor to Faker, saying Jax can win, getting up at 5 a.m. to complain about foreigners, confidently asking, "Do you think I'll lose?" and so on.

However, when they reached the World Championships, their performance was disappointing.

Zhou Li felt that Bin had gone mad, probably fantasizing every day about making bold statements, and that one day when he actually won the championship, all his words would become classic quotes, and then he would settle scores with those haters.

But the reality is that you still can't win the championship, and all those words you say will only bring more criticism to the team.

Is this what you call being true to yourself?
That's called being brainless.

Therefore, whether it's a live broadcast or an interview, the players' words and actions have a significant impact on the team's brand effect.

No LPL team has yet realized this problem, and their vision is still limited to winning prize money in various cup competitions to generate revenue for the team.

But now that EDG has taken this step, it will naturally bring about some changes to the LPL ecosystem.

The lecture on Zhou Li lasted for the entire afternoon.

For these EDG players, this content was inevitably a bit boring and tedious, making them somewhat drowsy.

Fortunately, at such times, Zhou Li's trolls and Zhu Kai's pointer would fire simultaneously.

This first lesson on team brand management and player personal image management has come to a very perfect end.

At the end of the class, Zhou Li looked at Lu Benwei.

"Everyone else must keep what I just said in mind and put it into practice in their daily lives. Except for you, Lu Benwei."

When Zhou Li called out his name, Lu Benwei was taken aback, then laughed.

"Wow, he truly is my good brother, Lu Benwei!"

Zhou Li continued:

"You're beyond saving, like hazardous waste in a landfill, with no chance of being recycled. Your greatest value lies in leveraging your unique strengths. But remember, there are certain red lines you can't cross."

Watching Zhou Li leave, Lu Benwei pondered for a long time before finally asking Tabe:
"What did he mean by that? Was he praising me?"

Tabe replied bluntly:

"He already said you're hazardous waste, why are you still deceiving yourself?"
-
May 1st. Nothing much to do today, just practiced Latin dance.

[On May 8th, our EDG team held its first live stream on YY90001, receiving a warm welcome from our fans (60e), breaking all previous viewership records.]

May 14th, nothing to do in Latin.

On May 17th, the dance was Latin.

[May 27th, the team's performance is improving steadily. Xiaogou has been trained exceptionally well by Death's Declaration; I'm too lazy to even play. It's more comfortable to be the boss and relax.]

[On June 1st, Children's Day, Xiaogou, being a child at heart, couldn't resist being mischievous on this special day and ended up losing to the PE team. Xiaogou got his head pierced by bullets in the bottom lane. I had Death's Declaration give him a proper Children's Day present.]

[June 7th, the last match of the Spring Split regular season, against WE. It seems Uzi wasn't quite satisfied with the Children's Day gift he received last time, as he delivered an impressive 2-6 record. EDG lost to WE, and the 60e fans went wild, flooding EDG and my personal Weibo accounts with celebrations. They even thought I'd been benched by EDG. The playoff semifinals are also set: IG vs. OMG, and we'll face WE again in the semifinals. Seeing the 60e fans' excited pronouncements, I'm already enjoying it. But for a moment, I'm also a little conflicted, unsure whether to praise Uzi.]

On June 10th, just before the playoffs began, I went to Yancheng again.

6 Month 16 Day!
The 2013 League of Legends Pro League Spring Split playoffs have officially begun!
The top four teams in the regular season will advance to the playoffs, where they will face their respective opponents in a best-of-three (BO3) series.

The winners from each group will advance to the final tournament for a best-of-five (BO5) championship battle.

The top two teams in the regular season standings, EDG and OMG, qualified for the S3 World Championship China Qualifier.

In fact, this competition format is somewhat outrageous.

The factors that determine whether you can enter the S3 World Championship have nothing to do with the champion, but rather with the regular season standings.

Fortunately, under Zhou Li's guidance, the EDG team also demonstrated strong competitiveness in the regular season.

Even though Zhou Li didn't play much for the team afterward, they still achieved second place in the regular season standings and qualified for the S3 World Championship China Qualifier.

As for the Spring Season champion, besides the trophy, there is a champion's prize of 500,000 yuan.

For Zhou Li, money was not actually that important.

After all, this is the first championship since the establishment of the LPL, so EDG will naturally do their best to win it.

7 PM!

"Hello viewers in the live stream! You are now watching the 2013 League of Legends Pro League Spring Playoffs! The two teams facing off are our WE Esports Club and EDG Esports Club!"

"I'm commentator Miller!"

"I'm a doll!"

"I am the Joker!"

In the commentary booth, it was the familiar trio again.

The stands were still filled with overwhelming red support!

Miller, feeling the enthusiastic atmosphere, smiled and said:

"Today's elimination match will directly determine which team will advance to the LPL Spring Split Finals! In fact, the two teams just faced off in the last round of the regular season not long ago, with WE winning with a score of 21:12! And now, only two weeks later, they are going to face off again! Coach, what are your thoughts on today's match?"

Upon hearing Miller's question, the Joker replied in a serious tone:

"I think WE has a very high chance of winning today."

There was a very noticeable break in the shouts of the WE fans present.

Because of what the Joker just said, they had a very strong sense of déjà vu, as if they had heard it somewhere before.

WE's performance in the regular season wasn't outstanding, but they still maintained a certain level of dominance.

Although their winning streak was ended early by EDG, they suffered two consecutive losses against IG later on.

However, they gradually adjusted and, even though they no longer had the same winning streak as before, they still won more than they lost.

This also gave the 60e some confidence.

Especially after defeating EDG in the last round of the regular season, the 60e fans who got their revenge were happier than if it were Chinese New Year.

In the commentary booth, Joker was still sharing his unique insights.

"After all, the two teams just played against each other, and I was commentating on that match. It was clear that there was a significant gap in strength between the two sides! WE has developed a variety of tactical systems, and the players' performance has been very stable. On the other hand, I can only say that EDG lacks experience in major tournaments, especially in a best-of-three series like this. In a best-of-one series, sometimes pulling out some unusual strategies might work, but in a best-of-three series, I believe that with WE's rich experience, they can handle anything."

Hearing Joker's words, Doll smiled and said:

"Coach, what's your prediction for today's score?"

This time, Joker thought a little before speaking. He considered it for a moment and then said:

"I think it's most likely to be 2-0, but it could also be 2-1, because if EDG suddenly comes up with some strategies, they might be able to steal a point from WE."

(End of this chapter)