League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 216 Another Champion!

When Chen Dongqing returned to Shanghai, it was already December 15th.

The LPL Spring Split starts on January 19th, and then you have to factor in the time for returning to the team a week earlier for tryouts, so the break in the middle is less than a month long.

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but lament that the awards ceremony and All-Star event had really wasted too much of his time.

It would be better if he were just an average player.

Like Gao Dewei, he took a break before September, which would be more than three months of vacation nowadays.

envious.

Chen Dongqing told Gao Dewei about this at the base, and Gao Dewei immediately learned the red temperature technique of Uzi.

Just as Chen Dongqing was preparing to pack his things and go home to officially enjoy his vacation, another problem arose.

"Chen Dongqing," Linko said as he entered the lounge, "I've invited you to participate in a fun competition. Want to give it a try?"

"A competition?" Chen Dongqing shook his head vigorously. "I'd rather die than go. I'm exhausted from all the competitions lately, I need to rest."

"It's not a League of Legends tournament." Linko took out his phone and said, "It's a Tencent Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) tournament, held in Shanghai. They've invited Dou Dizhu streamers to participate, and you're one of them. They sent the invitation to the club."

Chen Dongqing fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "When did I become a Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) streamer?"

"You know it yourself," Linko said, somewhat speechless. "Just tell me if you're going to participate or not. If you're not going to participate, I'll push you out."

"Hey, don't push me away." Chen Dongqing said cheerfully, "I actually want to go and have some fun."

Anyway, there's no need for training to play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game). You just go to the competition venue and play cards, and that's it. Just treat it as a pastime.

"Really going?" Uz asked doubtfully from the side. "With your terrible Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) skills, wouldn't it be a joke if you went?"

In Uzbekistan's memory, Chen Dongqing is still that generous spender, the philanthropic gambling king.

"What? What are you saying!" Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow: "Just wait until I bring back a championship to show you!"

Chen Dongqing went home first, where his parents treated him to a delicious meal, and the three of them enjoyed a happy time together.

After finishing dinner, Chen Dongqing sat at home with his parents and watched two episodes of TV, chatting about the fun he had in meeting Messi in Barcelona.

The group went to the Barcelona club the day after the All-Star game, where they were warmly received by owner Messi and each of them took a photo together.

"Why didn't you get me Messi's autograph?" Dad sighed with some regret.

Chen Dongqing had anticipated his father's response and cheerfully pulled a photo from his pocket. The photo showed three people: Chen Dongqing in the middle, with Neymar and Messi on either side of him, making him look quite impressive.

On the back of the photo are the signatures of N and M.

These football stars value their fans and are quite easygoing in private.

Dad glanced at it and happily accepted it.

In his father's eyes, the middle child was no less than the children on either side.

Seeing that he couldn't stay any longer, Chen Dongqing said goodbye to his parents and ran downstairs. His parents exclaimed that boys grow up and leave home.

Time continued to pass, and soon it was December 20th.

Having recovered from jet lag, Chen Dongqing arrived at a competition venue according to the address on the invitation.

This place is now the venue for the "Tencent Esports Games". Many of Tencent Games' mini-games hold competitions here, with the biggest one being the Happy Landlords tournament.

In the center of the venue, in the area designated for Happy Landlords, there are sixteen card tables, and a total of 48 players participated in the preliminary round.

Chen Dongqing had read the rules on the way here. They were currently in the preliminary round, which was all about scoring points. Over the next five days, a group of people would be eliminated each day based on their scores, until the final round began on the 25th when only three people remained.

Chen Dongqing entered as instructed and sat down at a card table. In front of him were two middle-aged men with receding hairlines; one look at their hair volume and you could tell they were expert Dou Dizhu players.

Across from them, two middle-aged men also observed the handsome young man in front of them, wondering where this guy came from.

So young, yet with so much hair, he's obviously just here to make up the numbers!

The two middle-aged men felt much more at ease, feeling that their advancement today was a sure thing.

However, inexplicably, as this handsome guy sat down at the table, several cameras slowly moved closer.

The two Mediterranean men seemed inexplicably tense, sensing that something was amiss.

And soon, the match began.

Chen Dongqing was used to big events. Sitting at the poker table in the Dou Dizhu competition, facing countless cameras, he remained calm and collected, calculating the cards on the monitor.

That's right. Although it's an offline tournament, electronic devices are still used for the competition to facilitate shuffling and drawing cards, as well as for scoring.

It has to be said that offline and online are ultimately different. Online, there are card counters, so even if you miss a card sometimes, you can take a look to verify it.

At this point, it's obviously not possible; it all depends on you.

However, Chen Dongqing's card counting ability is master-level, so it has no impact on him at all.

Seeing that he had two 2s and a King, Chen Dongqing decisively took the landlord position. He then observed the cards played by both sides and realized that the player to his left wanted to play a single card, while the player to his right kept playing high cards, trying to force Chen Dongqing to self-destruct.

Chen Dongqing remained calm and played pairs to annoy the two opposing players. He only realized there were no bombs outside when a checkmark appeared on the outside.

So he directly took control of the game with two cards, then played a single straight, and then regained control with a big joker, finally winning the first game with a three-of-a-kind and a single card.

After the first round, the two bald men on the opposing team stared at Chen Dongqing with slight surprise.

They never expected that the young man opposite them actually had something!

The rhythm of this hand, starting with single cards only after the pairs were played, clearly shows that the cards were all planned out!

not simple!

The two men became more serious, and the game quickly progressed.

As the match went on, the two opponents quickly went from looking serious to being covered in sweat.

This young man has a really strong hand!

Although they occasionally manage to win a couple of rounds with good cards, Chen Dongqing's score is already far ahead when you look at the overall picture!

What's going on?

The first day of the competition ended quickly.

Chen Dongqing bowed to the two middle-aged men in front of him and said cheerfully, "Thank you for your kind words!"

The two middle-aged men sighed, "Impressive!"

Although they suffered a crushing defeat today, the good thing is that they lost evenly. Given that only nine people are eliminated each day, they shouldn't be eliminated today.

I'll try to win it back tomorrow.

Chen Dongqing put on a baseball cap, glanced at the standings, and then stepped off the field, just in time to see Lin Yuanhua standing not far away.

Chen Dongqing leaned closer and asked, "How long have you been waiting?"

Lin Yuanhua turned around, took Chen Dongqing's arm, and asked, "You just arrived, how did the competition go today?"

Chen Dongqing patted his chest: "Needless to say, second in the overall standings!"

"So lucky?"

"Is this luck?" Chen Dongqing said seriously, "I told you I came here aiming for the championship, and this championship should count as one of the hundred championships, right?"

"If you're so capable, then so be it!"

On the very night the first day of the competition ended, the official Weibo account of the Tencent Dou Dizhu Championship posted a special Weibo post showcasing the points rankings for the first round of the points-grabbing competition.

Chen Dongqing's name ranked second on the list, sparking numerous discussions on Weibo.

[Chen Dongqing? Is it that Chen Dongqing?]

[That can't be, right? Brother Tree isn't that powerful.]

[Impossible, absolutely impossible!]

Immediately, countless discussions ensued, with many fans tagging Chen Dongqing himself in his Weibo fan group, asking if it was him!

The Weibo fan group was established after winning the championship, which the club said was to establish good communication with fans.

Chen Dongqing enjoys interacting with his fans, so he's joined several groups and sometimes posts a few words in them.

Under pressure from fans, Chen Dongqing responded: "This is me, so what? My Dou Dizhu (a card game) skills, getting second place is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

This news caused a huge uproar, sparking widespread discussion throughout the esports community and even trending on social media.

Of course, the discussion wasn't particularly shocking, but rather quite amusing.

The idea of ​​a League of Legends player participating in a Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) competition during the off-season sounds like it would be very entertaining.

As for whether Chen Dongqing can really win the championship? Nobody believes it at all.

It's very blue.

Soon, the second round of elimination matches began.

Today, Chen Dongqing was sitting opposite an old man and a middle-aged woman. Judging from their appearance, they didn't look like the two balding men from yesterday.

But as it turns out, those two yesterday were indeed stronger. Today, Chen Dongqing played much more easily and fought his way through the competition, managing to finish the second day of the elimination rounds with the highest score!

That evening, looking at the new points ranking announcement posted by the official Weibo account of Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game), and seeing Chen Dongqing ranked first, everyone couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Could he really win the championship?

Then came the third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day.

Chen Dongqing's score fluctuated, but he never fell out of the top three.

Time flew by and it was December 25th, Christmas Day.

The Dou Dizhu tournament has finally reached its final stage.

The three finalists have their scores reset to zero, and the battle begins afresh!

There were an unusually large number of spectators at the game today.

Chen Dongqing sat at the final poker table, glanced at his two opponents, and then exchanged a look with the balding man to his left. Both of them read surprise in each other's eyes.

Chen Dongqing never expected that the Mediterranean uncle she met on the first day was actually a master, and that he could actually make it to the finals!

Just like the previous days, it was still a nine-game match, and the fierce battle began quickly.

Once you get to the finals, the level will be much higher, and it will be difficult for Chen Dongqing to maintain complete control of the situation.

At times like these, luck plays a significant role, but Chen Dongqing has always been lucky.

He remained calm and played his cards steadily in the first five rounds, keeping the score close among the three sides.

It went on until the sixth inning.

The system deals the cards automatically: the two Jokers and four 2s.

Chen Dongqing was startled, but quickly regained his composure and casually called for the landlord.

That's a bit of an exaggeration!

In this situation, Chen Dongqing's focus shouldn't be on how to win, but rather on how to trick out more bombs.

He thought for a moment and decided to play his single cards first, since he had too many single cards in his hand and needed to arrange them into a sequence.

After playing a few cards, Chen Dongqing regained control of the game with a two, then played another straight, leaving him with only seven cards in his hand.

Seeing this situation, the next player, seeing that the 2 that had been missing had finally come out, decisively threw out a bomb of four 4s, and then played a pair to give another farmer a straight.

Then, another straight was played, revealing a pair of Queens.

But while the two farmers were waiting for 2, Chen Dongqing was also waiting for Q.

The instant Chen Dongqing made his move against Q, he immediately concluded that there were no more bombs outside.

He decisively played the two kings, followed by three 2s and three 3s, then played a single card, easily ending the game.

With the King and Queen doubling their points, and four 4s doubling their points, plus the landlord taking two points from each other, Chen Dongqing completely drained the other two players' points!

The game is over!

Next, he just needs to play steadily, without fighting or grabbing, and rely on his huge points advantage to easily win the game.

After nine rounds, the champion of the Happy Landlords Star Tournament has been crowned!

There were no cheers, no dry ice, and no fireworks this time, but Chen Dongqing felt a strange sense of honor as he watched the host hang a bronze medal around his neck.

[Hidden Mission: Win the Happy Landlords Championship! Completed!]

[Reward: 3000 points!]

Upon receiving the system message, Chen Dongqing couldn't help but chuckle again. The system was always good at shirking its responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the fans watching the game for fun were completely bewildered.

Is this guy really capable of winning the championship?

Outrageous!

After the match, a Tencent Sports host came up and pulled Chen Dongqing aside for an interview in front of the GG sign. The host clearly knew Chen Dongqing's background, so the questions he asked were quite unusual.

"As a professional League of Legends player, why would you participate in a Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) competition?"

Chen Dongqing listened to the question and laughed, "I'm currently in my off-season, so I need to find something to do. The competition invited me, so I came."

The host then asked, "But we noticed that your Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) skills seem to be quite superb, allowing you to stand out among a group of professional players and win the championship. Under what circumstances did you develop this level of skill?"

Chen Dongqing scratched his head and said, "Actually, I only play a few rounds every day. I don't play Dou Dizhu for very long. As for why I won the championship, it's probably just luck."

He spoke quite modestly; after all, this isn't the LPL, not their own league, so it's best to be cautious.

After the interview, Chen Dongqing left the venue with his medals and Lin Yuanhua, counting his championships along the way.

Spring Championship, MSI, Summer Championship, World Championship, SOLO Tournament, Dou Dizhu Championship

"Counting them up, we already have six championships!" Chen Dongqing exclaimed happily. "A hundred championships is not a dream!"

"No, you're serious, officer?" Lin Yuanhua said with a laugh from the side. "You don't really want to win a hundred championships, do you?"

"That's hard to say." Chen Dongqing grinned. "Six a year, then you'll have enough in ten years or so. Alright, alright, let's go home."

"It's only 3:30 PM, why are you in such a hurry to go home?"

Chen Dongqing smiled wickedly: "My parents are at work today, they're not home."

Lin Yuanhua: "."

Just as Chen Dongqing and Lin Yuanhua rushed home and began their battle, news of Chen Dongqing's victory started to spread online.

Despite everyone's skepticism, Chen Dongqing surprisingly won the championship, and the hashtag "#ChenDongqingDouDizhu" even made it into the top ten trending topics.

Meanwhile, countless people were participating in the discussion on the Anti-Pressure Bar, and even many fans outside the e-sports circle clicked in just to join in the fun.

"No way, they really won?"

"I'm moved to tears. Brother Shu is no longer the charitable gambling king."

Fun fact: Brother Tree hasn't done charity work in a long time; he's been making money from his Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) livestreams lately.

"Damn, Brother Shu really learned it, I'm impressed."

"I can only say that Brother Shu's gaming talent is truly exceptional; he dominates no matter what he plays."

"It is suggested that QG establish a new Happy Landlords (a popular card game) division."

"The thought that this guy will still dominate after returning to the LPL makes me even more resentful. Why are there such terrible players in this world?"

After the Dou Dizhu tournament ended, there were only two weeks left of the holiday.

For the past two weeks, Chen Dongqing hasn't caused any trouble and has been staying home quietly.

During this period, Chen Dongqing could clearly see that his parents were gradually becoming more and more annoyed with him.

At first, her parents would bring her breakfast before going to work, but later, when Chen Dongqing woke up, the house was always empty.

Time quickly came to June 12th.

Chen Dongqing returned to the base with his luggage in the morning, but unexpectedly, he was the last one there.

"You're here?" Banbazi greeted Chen Dongqing and said, "Since you're here, let's get ready for the meeting and talk about the new season."

Chen Dongqing nodded, first going upstairs to throw his backpack on the bed, then taking out his mouse and keyboard and huffing and puffing as he went downstairs to put them on.

During this time, Coach Cui had already set up the projector and projected the PPT onto it.

Chen Dongqing turned off the lights as he came in to make the projected image brighter, and then sat down in his seat.

While the coach was still preparing, Chen Dongqing turned his head and asked, "How have you been feeling at the club lately?"

As a newcomer, Gao Dewei arrived at the club very early, a week in advance.

"It's alright," Gao Dewei said. "It's just that getting up so early is a bit unusual."

Chen Dongqing smiled and said, "I understand, it's unavoidable."

At this point, Coach Cui finally spoke, and the meeting officially began:

"Compared to the version used in the World Championship, there are now far too many versions left, and there have been numerous changes, but you should all have noticed this recently."

banbazi quickly flipped through the slides, listing some of the major changes made during the S7 preseason.

However, it's worth noting that Coach Cui's Chinese has improved significantly.

Although the two coaches were able to communicate normally in Chinese, they still needed Doinb or translator Zheng Yi to translate some of the more difficult words.

But now, because of Doinb's departure, the two Korean coaches have been intensively studying Chinese for the past two months, and their professional attitude is admirable.

The changes are varied, including those to the jungle, equipment, and assassins. Chen Dongqing had already experienced these changes during the All-Star Game.

"These changes to the assassins all have one thing in common," Coach Cui said, "that is, their burst speed has slowed down."

Previously, LeBlanc could instantly unleash a full combo with QRW or QWR, but now she needs to wait for the Q skill mark to cast.

Previously, Rengar could jump in and land two Qs in a row, killing someone in the time it takes to land two auto-attacks, or even killing them instantly upon landing. But this kind of maneuver no longer exists with the Frog Q. The minimum casting time for landing two Frog Qs is now available.

The same principle applies to champions like Talon and Katarina.

It seems like the assassin class has been drastically reworked, giving them more potential, but in terms of instantly killing squishy targets, they've actually been weakened.

AD also gained more room to survive—at least you can use Flash now.

"These changes have resulted in two extremes in high and low ranked games, with win rates showing two completely different trends."

Coach Cui said, showing a slide with two coordinate system graphs: "This is the win rate change of Rengar and Kha'Zix in Korean server ranked games."

"Below Platinum rank, these two heroes haven't changed much; their win rates have only increased slightly."

Banbazi continued, "But above Platinum rank, the win rate of these two heroes has increased significantly. In fact, in Diamond to Challenger rank, these two heroes have occupied the first and second places in the jungler tier rankings, respectively. Liu Shiyu must learn these two heroes."

After the changes, the playstyles for Rengar and Kha'Zix are completely different from before.

Take Rengar as an example. In the past, Rengar couldn't clear the jungle, so he mainly focused on invading and ganking. But now, with the AoE skill "Frog Q", his jungle clearing ability has changed dramatically. Although he still can't compare to champions like Nidalee and Olaf in terms of jungle clearing, the jungle respawn rate has slowed down now!

The buffed Rengar, who quickly improved his jungle clearing ability, is a perfect fit for the current jungle meta, making him the meta pick.

The reason why their win rate doesn't change much in lower ranks is because they're still using the old playstyle and haven't yet grasped the strength of the new Rengar; they need more time to learn.

However, in higher ranks where players have a strong ability to learn, the new Rengar has completely dominated ranked matches. Once Rengar clears jungle camps quickly, his dominance is too strong. He has high levels, high tankiness, and high damage, making him simply unstoppable.

As for Kha'Zix, it goes without saying that the new version of Kha'Zix's evolved ultimate skill is a counter-jungling monster. However, in lower-ranked games, it is difficult for either the jungler or the laner to execute a good counter-jungling combo, so it is usually left as a substitute.

"Besides that, there have been many changes in other positions as well," the coach continued. "Leaving aside the current meta monster Camille, the existence of the [Courage of the Colossus] rune has significantly altered the top lane meta, with some engage-oriented tank champions making a comeback."

To put it simply, in patch 7.1, Poppy was nerfed drastically because of this talent. Her passive shield duration was reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds, and her ultimate damage was reduced from 200 + 0.9 bonus attack damage to 100 + 0.45 bonus attack damage – a complete drastic reduction!

But even after the nerf, Poppy remained a Tier 1 top laner, precisely because this Colossus's courage was just too outrageous.

Chen Dongqing nodded; he understood the logical chain following the resurgence of the Tank Heroes.

If tanks are strong, Fiora will appear even stronger, especially now that Camille has joined the fray.

"Anyway, the current top and bottom lanes haven't changed much from before," Banbazi said. "You can still play the same way as before; the main changes are in the mid and jungle."

"inGodV, I've noticed you've been playing ranked games a lot lately. You should have no problem with the meta champions, right?" the coach asked.

"No problem, I've been practicing a lot lately." Gao Dewei ignored the coach's slip of the tongue and nodded confidently.

Ah Wei has always had good gaming talent, and having a large pool of heroes has never been a problem for him.

The biggest problem he faces right now is how to get rid of the traces left by Doinb in this team.

Doinb's roaming playstyle is a perfect fit for QG, a team with two dominant top and bottom laners. Now that he's joined, he seems somewhat out of place.

"And also, Liu Shiyu's role as a jungler isn't as important as before in this version, which is a good thing for us."

Banbazi then said a lot more, before closing his notebook and laughing, "Anyway, all the problems will be exposed during the practice matches. The practice matches will officially begin after lunch."

Xiangguo raised his hand and asked, "Who is our opponent in today's practice match?"

"Of course, it's our old friend, KT!" Banbazi smiled.

When writing about competitions in other games, I was actually a bit conflicted. Should I write in more detail or in a more general way?

Writing in detail feels too superficial, while writing in a rougher style doesn't feel satisfying enough.

This chapter is a small attempt at a crossover competition. Brothers, you can comment on today's Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) competition. I will combine my own thoughts and give my opinion.

P.S.: I'm moving house in a few days, so I won't have time to write anymore. To ensure I can keep updating during the move, I need to save up some drafts these next few days, so updates will be a bit less frequent (minimum 6,000 words). Please understand, brothers.

(End of this chapter)