LPL History

Chapter 141 A Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire: When the Winds of Change Meet, the State Grid's Flag Shatters, and a Thousand Points of Attack
In the hotel lounge.

Zhou Li is holding a meeting with the entire EDG team.

The small blackboard was now covered with Zhou Li's dense annotations.

"This year's World Championship has a total of fourteen teams participating! Our LPL region has two teams, namely us and OMG."

"There is one team each in the wildcard region, the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan region, and the Southeast Asia region."

"In addition, there are three teams in each of the Korean OGN region, the European region, and the North American region. I divide these teams into three levels: ignore them, pay attention to them, and treat them with caution."

Zhou Li pointed to one of the teams on the small blackboard.

"TSM, the Shockwave team, ignore them."

Zhou Li erased TSM directly from the blackboard.

UZI looked a little confused and asked:
"What is a shockwave?"

Zhou Li paused for a moment before realizing he had said it offhand.

Regarding UZI asking me what a shockwave is.

"It's just bragging, a metaphor for someone who isn't very good but has a lot of popularity."

Seeing UZI nod seriously, Zhou Li continued:

"C9 is worth paying attention to. They achieved a record of 22 wins and 3 losses in the North American Summer Split, winning the North American championship with an absolute advantage and being called the pride of North America."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, everyone's expressions turned serious.

"But don't worry too much. The strength of this team is that they can always come up with something cool. Don't worry, they can't beat us when it comes to being cool."

C9's capabilities are primarily reflected in tactical innovation and teamwork.

While EDG may not be as good as their opponents in terms of teamwork, they are far ahead in terms of tactics and laning ability.

Zhou Li then erased C9 from the blackboard.

“GMB, a European team, is also one of our opponents in the group stage.”

Upon hearing "GMB," everyone perked up.

As a top European team, Gambit has defeated Korean teams multiple times in international tournaments.

"This is a team centered around the mid laner and jungler. You may know more about him because of his mid laner Alex, but I believe Lu Benwei's mid lane matchup will be fine."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Lu Benwei chuckled.

Wow, bro! You have great taste.

"The player we need to pay the most attention to on this team is their jungler, Diamondprox. Mingkai, playing against this team depends on your performance. You can watch more of Diamondprox's games when you have time, and take Lu Benwei with you to roam more. The reason I don't mention Lu Benwei is because he doesn't have the brains. Just focus on playing well in lane."

Diamondprox, whose Chinese transliteration is "呆萌" (dāiméng), is known as the "European Jungle King" and is even called the "Grandmaster of Jungling".

GMB's mid and jungle players can be considered legends among professional League of Legends players.

The tactics pioneered by these two are still in use in League of Legends today.

At the time, Daimeng's understanding of the jungler role was arguably ahead of all other junglers.

He was the first to use jungle Xin Zhao, jungle Evelynn, jungle Udyr, and jungle Shyvana in a League of Legends competition.

Most importantly, he pioneered the counter-jungling strategy, showing players worldwide how jungling is actually played.

He also pioneered the famous tactical jungle-support duo roaming strategy with his support.

It's worth noting that SSW later won the championship during Season 4 by utilizing a jungler-support duo roaming strategy.

Although SSW is very strong, it owes much of its success to the jungler-support duo roaming strategy.

Later, Daimeng and Alex, the mid laner of M5 at the time, pioneered the mid-jungle duo roaming strategy, which helped them win the IEM6 World Championship.

As for Alex, he was the first to use AP Master Yi in a League of Legends match and pioneered many strategies for playing mid lane with different champions.

For example, he played Kha'Zix in the mid lane and even got a pentakill using Kha'Zix in a match.

It can be said that M5's rapid rise to prominence was due to the presence of Damon and Alex.

However, Zhou Li isn't worried about GMB because if they meet in the group stage, a careless approach could catch them off guard. If it's a best-of-five series, EDG might not face much pressure against them.

However, in a best-of-five series, EDG doesn't face much pressure against them.

However, Zhou Li knew that although GMB spent a lot of money, in fact, in Season 3, this team was somewhat unaccustomed to the version.

In Season 3, the era of assassins, GMB still preferred to play lineups that relied on traditional mages and tanky top laners.

"GMB's top and bottom lanes are relatively weak in laning. Lu Benwei, tell me, what should we do in this situation?"

Lu Benwei was replying to UU's messages with his head down when he heard Zhou Li's words and looked up blankly.

"Um... I'll choose B."

"Fuck you, you're playing multiple-choice games now? You're such a jerk! Is UU in Los Angeles too? Let me tell you this upfront: if you go to see UU during the World Championship without permission, get the hell out of here!"

Lu Benwei looked embarrassed and somewhat aggrieved.

"Wow, Brother Zhou, do you think I, Lu Benwei, am that kind of person? I just told UU that we can't meet during the World Championship, and she got angry, so I'm just comforting her."

He raised his phone to prove his innocence.

“Lu Benwei, that’s where you’re wrong,” Tabe said. “Brother Zhou said that women only slow down our sword-drawing speed.”

"Of course you'd say that since you're getting married soon."

Although he said that, Lu Benwei still wisely tossed his phone aside.

"Brother Zhou, I'm planning to marry UU. Could you explain this to me later?"

Zhou Li glanced at Lu Benwei.

"Serves you right for getting along so well with Sun Yalong."

Zhou Li had never been able to understand this before.

Why do so many women like to date professional esports players?

Regardless of whether those women's faces are natural or not, even if they've had plastic surgery and paid such a high price, why would they be so foolish as to jump into the world of ugly men in the e-sports circle?

Later, Zhou Li finally understood it.

Because men in the e-sports circle are not only rich, but also easy to fool.

The more conservative ones stop after scamming one person.

For those who are less settled, around 18 or 19 years old, they might find a boyfriend or husband who plays esports, use his money to invest in assets, and put their own name on the deed, then endure it for four or five years.

Then, wouldn't she transform herself into a modern, independent, and wealthy woman?
If you really can't stand it, that's fine too. Anyway, these guys don't brush their teeth or wash their faces when they wake up in the morning. They just sit in front of their computer desks and can stay home for weeks.

Going out to wash your hair and get a manicure can help alleviate the boredom of life.

sisters!

Esports pros are the perfect dating partners! Absolutely amazing!
However, Zhou Li was too lazy to deal with such troublesome matters.

One is willing to hit, and the other is willing to be hit; who cares what they do?

Zhou Li tapped the blackboard and continued:

"FNC, the top seed from the European region, is also a veteran powerhouse. They're worth paying attention to. What we need to watch out for is their mid laner, xpeke, who excels at assassin mid laners. The whole team is very good at early-game push tactics. However, if we can counter xpeke, they're relatively easy to deal with."

"Samsung Ozone, trash, ignore it."

"Najin Sword, the OGN Spring Champions from Korea, is considered a favorite to win by most people, so we can pay attention to them. We won't be facing any of them in the group stage, so we won't analyze them for now.

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

It's important to know that Korean teams are the ones that LPL fears the most.

Why did these two teams only receive a passable rating?

Tabe couldn't help but speak up:

"Brother Zhou, does this mean we didn't take the level of the team seriously enough?"

"Yes, I have."

Zhou Li simply erased all the team names on the blackboard, leaving only one team.

"SKT T1! They're also our opponent in the first round of the group stage. We'll be cautious."

As Zhou Li finished speaking, everyone present felt somewhat puzzled.

Although SKT is also a Korean team, and even won the OGN Summer Championship.

Mid-laner Faker even created a memorable moment in the match with a double Zed duel.

However, this team is still a newcomer in South Korea, and its competitiveness in South Korea is not as good as Najin and Samsung in the eyes of most people. So why has it become the only team that needs to be treated with caution by Zhou Li?
"Brother Zhou, is SKT really that strong?"

Tabe couldn't help but ask.

Faced with everyone's doubts, Zhou Li simply smiled.

"You'll know once you try."

EDG's first opponent in the group stage is SKT.

Faced with this SKT team, Zhou Li was at a loss as to where to begin and offered analysis to the players.

The 2013 SKT team can be described as a perfect combination of tactics and individual skills.

The era of the Great Demon King has begun.

The synergy between mid laner Dafei and jungler Benji has become a textbook example in esports.

It can be said that SKT in S3 was not just Faker's legendary performance, but also the pinnacle of teamwork in League of Legends.

This is why Zhou Li needed to bring Mingkai and Curly on board before the World Championship.

Especially the jungler role.

Many people say that without Benjamin Butler, there would be no Faker.

This statement is biased, but it must be acknowledged that these two are the best mid-jungle duo in the entire history of League of Legends esports, complementing each other perfectly.

Zhou Li recalls that OMG had defeated SKT in their first group stage match, earning them the title of "Anti-Korean Vanguard" from fans. OMG's victory in that match stemmed from their early lane swap strategy, which targeted the top lane and hindered the development of SKT's top laner, Impact.

Even so, SKT still demonstrated their formidable strength, and it wasn't until nearly forty minutes into the game that they finally lost.

When the two teams faced off for the second time in the group stage, OMG was almost completely overwhelmed by SKT.

In the first game, OMG was able to win because they chose to switch lanes at the start. The bot lane duo pressured DaMu's Kennen so much that he didn't dare to even think about gaining experience. When the minion wave reached the tower, Lingyao's Lee Sin arrived and directly dove DaMu.

Then Lee Sin stayed in the top lane. At four and a half minutes, Kennen was still only level one, and the top lane turret had already fallen.

This kind of tactic is not very replicable.

But EDG could actually replicate that in the first game.

However, Zhou Li did not choose to do so.

Zhou Li knew that even if he won a game against SKT in the group stage using this strategy, it wouldn't make much difference in future matches.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to let EDG face SKT in a normal matchup, so as to gain a clearer understanding of the abilities of SKT's players.

Season 3 can be considered the year with the biggest gap between the LPL and the Korean region.

In terms of both game understanding and individual skill, OMG and Royal Club at the time were completely outmatched.

Zhou Li must make EDG understand this correctly.
-
[EDG is a traitorous team, get out of China!]

[EDG is trash. They took up WE's World Championship spot and got utterly crushed by Korean teams.]

[Wasn't Zhou Li very arrogant domestically? Why didn't he even dare to play in the World Championship?]

EDG owes WE a championship!

[Can't even beat South Korea's third seed, what a disgrace.]

Why didn't EDG's plane crash? If it had crashed, there wouldn't have been any more embarrassment.

Haha, this is State Grid!

Stop cursing! Are you trying to ruin Chinese esports?!

9 month 17 day.

The first day of the group stage of the S3 World Championship has concluded.

On the Chinese internet, EDG has been relentlessly criticized.

Because in their first match against SKT, after a grueling 40-minute battle, they ultimately lost to SKT, the third team from the OGN region.

Although EDG defeated GamingGear.eu in the subsequent match, beating a wildcard region is hardly a significant achievement.

As the team with the most haters, EDG's loss to SKT has been brought up and talked about extensively.

After all, in most people's eyes at this time, SKT is not strong, even though they have won both of their group stage matches.

Faced with the warm greetings from fans, the atmosphere within the EDG team seemed to have plummeted to rock bottom.

Zhou Li, however, didn't seem to care much and even took his teammates out for a bowl of hot beef noodles.

The team members felt Zhou Li's tolerance and magnanimity, and tears streamed down their faces as they ate their beef noodles.

This time, the curse of beef noodles did not work.

On the second day of the competition, a revitalized EDG team defeated Lemondogs from the European region and TSM from the North American region.

SKT, on the other hand, continued their winning streak, maintaining a perfect record of four wins.

With this, the first round of the S3 World Championship group stage has come to an end. EDG will have three days of rest before the start of the second round of BO1 matches.

However, these four days of rest were clearly difficult for EDG to endure.

The news of EDG's loss to SKT spread like wildfire during this period.

With the embellishment of the 60e fans, EDG has been portrayed as a team of traitors, and several EDG players, including Zhou Li, have even been stripped of their citizenship by the 60e fans.

9 month 21 day.

Riot Games Studios.

EDG will face SKT in the second round of the group stage.

One hour before the start of the match.

Zhou Li's Weibo account, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly updated with a new post.

[Dear fans, after so long away from the arena, your dad is back!]

Zhou Li's Weibo post caused an earthquake on the internet!
The 60e fans had almost forgotten about Zhou Li, the discarded pawn of EDG.

As a result, Zhou Li suddenly appeared, immediately reminding them of their painful youthful days.

Originally, the 60e fans were jokingly commenting on EDG's official Weibo account about how EDG planned to betray the country this time.

Now that Zhou Li has appeared, his Weibo comment section has been flooded with messages.

【No, what are you doing jumping out here again, you clown?】

Zhou Chu is putting on an act again.

[You don't actually think you can beat SKT after not playing for half a year, do you?]

[I laughed. Has EDG given up entirely?]

[I actually feel quite sorry for Zhou Chu; he was clearly pushed out by EDG to take the blame this time.]

[He's a complete clown. He was benched by EDG for so long, and now that he's being used as a scapegoat, he's acting all high and mighty.]

Seeing his comment section instantly flooded with comments, Zhou Li began replying.

【Huh? What do you mean?】

What do you mean by making me take the blame?

[No way, EDG wouldn't be that bad, would they?]

【What should I do then? I won't play!】

I don't want to be a traitor!!!

I expressed my reluctance to play, but the club said they would blacklist me if I didn't play.

How could EDG do this?! This is so inhumane!!

[Does anyone know what I should do right now? Help me!]

Zhou Li's reply in the comments was quickly captured by fans, who then began spreading the screenshots of Zhou Li's comment on Weibo.

[Haha, I'm dying of laughter! Everyone come look at the clown!]

[Zhou Chu is really something else, he's panicking like crazy right now, hahaha.]

All I can say is that evil people will be punished by other evil people.

[This was absolutely hilarious; it's probably the most entertaining episode in the esports scene this year.]

Amidst the collective euphoria of the 60e members, it quickly came to 6 PM.

"Hello viewers watching the live stream! You are now watching the second round of the Group A matches in the 2013 League of Legends World Championship! The two teams facing off are EDG Esports Club from our LPL and SKT Esports Club!"

"I'm commentator Miller!"

"I'm a doll!"

In the commentary booth, Miller and Wawa appeared visibly nervous, clearly not optimistic about the outcome of this match.

"The two teams have already faced off in the first round of the group stage, where SKT defeated EDG."

“Yes,” Wawa nodded and said, “SKT, although they are the third team in OGN, their strength in the group stage was really strong! Samsung, also from Korea, clearly didn't have as good a time in Group B as SKT. They lost to both FNC and GMB, and their chances of advancing are very uncertain. As for Group A, SKT and EDG are currently in first and second place respectively. If EDG can beat SKT in this match, then I think their chances of advancing to the quarterfinals are really over.”

“That’s right,” Miller continued, “This is the second time the two teams have faced off, and we’re looking forward to seeing what changes EDG can bring. We might have to wait until the game to see the tactical changes, but right now, we see that EDG has already made a personnel adjustment!”

"In the ADC position, EDG has brought in an old friend we haven't seen in a long time, Lion!"

Upon hearing the ID "lion," the doll laughed.

"He is indeed an old friend. In my memory, it seems like I haven't seen him for a whole summer season. But to be honest, Lion has always left a very deep impression on me."

Miller jokingly pressed on:

"When you say 'deep impression,' are you referring to what happened on or off the field?"

"Well, it's both on and off the field. There's no denying that Lion's individual skill is truly outstanding."

Miller then spoke up:

"Actually, I received news about Lion just a day ago, but it was from outside the venue."

At that moment, the director focused the camera on Zhou Li, who was making his first appearance.

Seeing Zhou Li smiling and waving at the camera, netizens started commenting.

The clown even has the nerve to say hello.

Haha, come see the scapegoat!

[My heart aches for my brother; he was treated like a fool by EDG.]

At that moment, Miller's voice also rang out.

"It turns out that Lion is the mysterious owner behind EDG."

For a moment, the comments section of the live stream fell into a brief vacuum.

Immediately afterwards, a screen full of question marks flashed by.

Until someone posted a comment.

What happened? Why are there so many fewer comments all of a sudden?

[Dude, if six billion people are all out there playing clowns, who's going to watch the game?]

(End of this chapter)