League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 454 What a magnificent character!

Chen Dongqing would certainly not agree to a drunkard's request, because he felt it was too frivolous.

As the future number one carry for CN, AME's strength and talent are undoubtedly unquestionable. If Chen Dongqing were to steal someone else's carry position at this time, AME's confidence would completely collapse, and the future number one carry might fall from grace. This is certainly not what Chen Dongqing wants to see.

Of course, if AME were sober and made the same request to Chen Dongqing, then Chen Dongqing would actually consider it.

However, this is unlikely, since no one would voluntarily give up their starting position, especially the number 1 position, which is the focus of the entire game, when they are in a rational state.

After being rejected by Chen Dongqing, AME seemed to be severely injured. She let out a wail and then completely lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Chen Dongqing reacted quickly, helping the young man to his feet, and then, with the help of others, carrying him back to the base, which fortunately wasn't far away.

Chen Dongqing was both amused and exasperated by AME, so he simply gave up on playing on the computer, went back to his room, washed up, made a phone call to his girlfriend, and then went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.

The next day, when Chen Dongqing went downstairs, he saw AME again, who had returned to normal.

Chen Dongqing went up to him and joked, "What happened last night?"

AME clenched his fists, his face turned red, and his feet dug a three-bedroom apartment downstairs from the QG base.

Damn it, what was I doing last night?

My Morphling is no pushover!

Chen Dongqing didn't dwell on the topic, but just smiled and said, "It's just losing a championship, don't blame yourself too much. Look at us, Jian Zihao won two runner-up titles right after his debut. What did he say? 'Hard work pays off.' Keep practicing, and you'll win a championship."

Uzbekistan, who was yawning as he walked down, was confused.

AME glanced at Chen Dongqing, his expression somewhat complicated. He seemed to want to say something, hesitated for two seconds, and finally said, "Hmm!"

Chen Dongqing and Uzbekistan went out of the base for breakfast together, and then returned to their room. Chen Dongqing slapped Xiangguo awake to help him adjust his biological clock, and then packed his own luggage.

With the holiday here, Chen Dongqing certainly wouldn't stay at the base; he had to enjoy his vacation!

Chen Dongqing said goodbye to his teammates, then drove home to recharge with family.

This wave of family warmth won't last long, because in a few days they'll have to head to Hong Kong to prepare for training for the Asian Games qualifiers.

On the same day, CCTV News and other media outlets finally announced that esports had been selected as a demonstration sport for the Jakarta Asian Games.

The list of participants for each event was also announced.

LOL Project Team

Top laner: Chen Dongqing (ilex)

Jungler: Liu Shiyu (mlxg)

Mid Laner: Li Yuanhao (xiaohu)

Bottom Lane: Jian Zihao (Uzi)

Support: Ming Shi, Meiko Tian

Head Coach: Ji Xing (Abu), Assistant Coaches: Zhu Kai (KenZhu), Luo Sheng (Crescent)

The release of this list immediately caused a huge uproar! Major e-sports forums in China were quite surprised!

[What kind of lineup is this? QG's entire roster starting?]

Is this a case of not sharing the spoils with other teams?

[Did they get their brains eaten by zombies? Who cares about dividing the cake now? QG's five-man attack would definitely be the strongest!]

Indeed, QG's five players are skilled and well-coordinated; they don't even need training camp, they can just go for it.

[Haha, besides, didn't EDG get two portions? The substitutes and the head coach are both from EDG.]

Upon seeing this list, domestic viewers inexplicably felt relieved.

The gold medal is in the bag!

Meanwhile, in the Korean Peninsula...

When the Koreans saw this list, they were devastated.

Yesterday, looking at the All-Star lineup, the Koreans felt they had a chance, after all, their Asian Games lineup was quite well-balanced, bringing together the strongest top laner, jungler, mid laner, and bot laner.

As a result, China fielded its strongest team!

Have the Chinese lost all sense of shame? Sending an entire team directly into battle?

What's so shameless about that? They didn't break any rules.

【Ugh, how can these five people win? All five of our players are defeated by QG! And they don't even have any teamwork, they have absolutely no chance of winning!】

It's okay, trust Faker, he's the pride of us Koreans.

Let's practice our teamwork quickly. If we can improve our coordination, we still have a chance.

The biggest problem in competitions like the Asian Games or the All-Star Game is teamwork.

Everyone's individual skills are definitely top-notch, but they all come from different teams, each with different playstyles, operational strategies, and familiar combinations!

In this situation, the primary issue facing each national team is to quickly improve their teamwork.

For example, in Chen Dongqing's previous life, although the Chinese national team eventually won the gold medal, they were still defeated by the South Korean team four times in a row during the qualifiers and group stage. This was the result of insufficient teamwork.

But now that the entire QG team is competing in the Asian Games, the coordination problem no longer exists. They are the five best-coordinated players in the world!

In terms of individual ability, they are absolutely no weaker than South Korea!

It's normal for South Koreans to panic when faced with such a formidable enemy; anyone would panic if they encountered one.

And it wasn't just League of Legends players who were panicking; StarCraft players were panicking too.

In addition to the League of Legends players, CCTV also announced the list of StarCraft players participating in the competition.

Just like in League of Legends, only one person from the entire country will participate in the competition.

Clearly, in China, no one is more qualified to compete in the Asian Games than that man – Chen Dongqing (ilex).

Damn it, why is this guy here again!

Looking at the ID ilex, countless Korean StarCraft players couldn't help but think of Anaheim from earlier this year.

Seven Koreans ganged up on one Ilex player, but he managed to defeat all seven and win the championship.

Koreans tremble whenever they think of this painful past!

In the hearts of South Korean StarCraft players today, Ilex is like a demon king.

Hmm. It's actually not much different from League of Legends.

After all, both sides were numb from Ilex's attacks.

The difference is that in LOL, the opponent is gradually rendered incapacitated, while in StarCraft, they are rendered incapacitated in one fell swoop.

Will I get my clothes swapped again this time?

South Korean StarCraft players are filled with fear.

Meanwhile, our big boss, dragging his luggage and humming a little tune, went home to eat the meal his mom cooked.

However, this break was not going to last long. Chen Dongqing only stayed at home for three days before returning to the base and boarding a flight to Hong Kong again.

Because there weren't enough matches in Jakarta, the Asian Games esports qualifiers were held in Hong Kong.

On the plane, Chen Dongqing opened the large WeChat group he had created for the Asian Games and looked at the event information in the group files.

If you're only participating in one event, then this qualifying round isn't too demanding. Several teams will play one round, and the top three will advance.

But for crossover contestants like Chen Dongqing, it might be a bit more tiring.

In the League of Legends arena, seven countries or regions in East Asia are competing for three spots in the main tournament.

This is still the result of the intense competition in East Asia, which is why only three spots were specifically allocated. In places like Southeast Asia, West Asia, and Central Asia, they fight tooth and nail for just one spot.

Three from East Asia, one from Southeast Asia, one from South Asia, one from Central Asia, one from West Asia, plus the host country Indonesia's direct qualification spot, together form the top eight.

As for interstellar travel, it's similar. Chen Dongqing needs to fight his way into the top three in the East Asian hell circle to secure one of the three advancement spots.

Although both games have South Korea as a strong opponent, East Asia has three spots. Chen Dongqing doesn't need to defeat South Korea; he only needs to beat the Japanese and win against Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to easily advance.

All I can say is that it's not very difficult.

After learning the details, Chen Dongqing put away her phone, closed her eyes, and waited for the plane to land.

The plane landed in Hong Kong quickly. Head coach Abu and the players settled into their hotel and then immediately held a pre-match preparation meeting for the League of Legends team.

Abu stood at the front of the conference table, looking at the young faces entering the meeting room, and couldn't help but feel a little sentimental.

It's a good thing it's the Asian Games. In normal times, we wouldn't have such a rich war to fight.

Abu couldn't help but glance at Ilex at the front of the line again, and he couldn't help but think of two and a half years ago.

At that time, ilex had just become the first Challenger in Season 6.

But EDG only glanced at ilex before turning to choose Aguang.

Because of A Guang, EDG missed out on this super top laner!

It's heartbreaking!

After QG's five starters plus substitute Meiko were all in place, Abu finally came to his senses, turned around and exchanged a glance with Snake Esports coach Zhu Kai, and then the meeting quickly began.

"Since the five of you just finished MSI, you're still on version 8.8," Zhu Kai said as he stepped forward. "So our primary task is to familiarize ourselves with the new version."

While QG's five-man teamwork is excellent and saves a lot of time in terms of practice, the downside is that their version information is too outdated. This is the only problem that the Chinese team needs to solve at present.

As for how to solve it?

"You've all probably seen the information about the new version; there are quite a few changes," Zhu Kai said. "Anything worth noting, feel free to discuss it."

Upon hearing this, countless question marks simultaneously appeared above the heads of the five QG players.

Xiangguo said directly, "To be honest, I haven't seen it."

"Huh?" Zhu Kai frowned. "You guys came back from MSI and didn't even check the patch updates? The mid-season patch has been out for half a month already."

Xiangguo frowned and said, "But our MSI only ended less than a week ago."

Zhu Kai asked loudly, "So how did you guys familiarize yourselves with the version after MSI ended?"

Uzi said, "Our coach always picks out the noteworthy aspects of each version update, explains the changes in win rates, and gives some predictions. We just need to listen to the coach."

Zhu Kai fell silent.

At this moment, Chen Dongqing laughed and said, "Oh? Don't you Snake Team players do this?"

Zhu Kaigeng fell silent.

Seeing Zhu Kai's expression, Chen Dongqing immediately understood.

That's why people say domestic coaches are really not good enough.

Some people can't even do something as basic as introducing the version to the players using data.

Not to mention the drafting and banning strategies based on the version and the players' hero pools; they probably don't even understand that themselves.

If someone who doesn't know the situation sees this, they might think the coach is an imposter!

Chen Dongqing debuted with QG. Coaches like Banbazi, who come from three major star teams, emphasize seriousness and rigor, and never compromise on this aspect.

This even led Chen Dongqing to a misunderstanding; he thought that's how a League of Legends coach should be, but it turns out that's not the case.

In some areas, you have to admit that South Korean coaches are the most professional.

The only advantage of domestic coaches might be that they can speak fluent and passionate Chinese, give their players a good pep talk, or hold a post-match hearing to question whether the players have entered a rebellious phase.

Chen Dongqing felt he had found the reason why the Chinese team had lost to South Korea and Taiwan in the qualifiers in his previous life.

Zhu Kai thought about it for a while and finally came up with a solution. He simply turned on the computer connected to the projector, then went to the official LOL website and found the website for version updates.

Starting with the first version of the season, which was 8.9 updated almost a month ago.

"This version is the most important. There have been many changes to mage gear."

As Zhu Kai spoke, he scrolled the mouse wheel to show the changes made to the mage.

The first thing that catches the eye is the change to Doran's Ring, a core item for mages.

The mechanism of restoring mana by last-hitting has been removed, and the base mana regeneration has no longer been increased. Instead, it provides 5 mana regeneration every 5 seconds.

Removing mana regeneration is tantamount to reducing wave clear ability. To compensate, Riot Games added a mechanism that deals 5 physical damage to minions when attacking.

This was clearly a huge loss, a major nerf to the mages' sustain in the first three levels of the laning phase. If mages in this version still use the previous playstyle, they will clearly feel that they don't have enough mana.

In addition, Riot Games also changed the Lost Chapter, increasing its price from 1100 to 1300 and its ability power from 25 to 40.

Chen Dongqing looked at the changes, habitually squinted his eyes, and began to think.

The intention behind these two changes is quite clear: to weaken mage carry heroes who rely on continuous mana regeneration to farm and sustain in lane.

Making it impossible for the legal system to process funds or clear transaction lines is the biggest blow to them.

However, no one was nerfed in this round, and QG was not a victim either; they simply wanted to weaken the mage carry.

"From these two changes, you should be able to see the purpose of the fist, right?" Zhu Kai's eyes darted around, and he said, "Xiao Hu, you explain it."

Xiaohu was suddenly called upon, and he paused for a second before saying, "It's actually quite obvious; they want to weaken core mages and increase the competitiveness of the mid lane."

"That's right!" Zhu Kai said with a relieved smile, "That's exactly what Riot Games meant! Besides these changes, items like Hextech Gunblade, Luden's Echo, and Twin Shadows, which are strong in the early game, have received minor price reductions and buffs. This is all to enhance early-game competitiveness! So Xiaohu should pay attention to his mid-lane champion pool."

If it were at this point, Banbazi would definitely list the popular mage heroes in this version and have Xiaohu practice them.

Since Zhu Kai wasn't prepared, the QG team had to fill in the gaps in their imaginations.

But thankfully, it's still possible to fill in the blanks in one's mind.

The most popular heroes in this version are Syndra, LeBlanc (who has been reverted to her old version), and Taliyah, who are strong in the early game.

Fortunately, Xiaohu is only not very proficient with one hero, LeBlanc. With more practice over this period, it shouldn't be a big problem.

"Apart from that, there's nothing much," Zhu Kai continued. "There are some changes to the jungle, but these aren't as important as the mage changes. You can take a look for yourselves."

The jungle changes are the same as those in patch 8.10, which was released about two weeks ago.

Chen Dongqing glanced over and frowned.

Is this really not important?

First, there are changes to the jungle.

In addition, the jungle item has also been slightly modified, with a new attribute added: [Provides 120 bonus experience upon killing the first large jungle monster].

The experience gained from the first six jungle camps has been reduced, but the experience from the first jungle camp has been increased, and the experience and gold rewards from the Rift Scuttler have also been significantly increased. Overall, if you control the Rift Scuttler, the experience gained in the early game won't change much.

But the premise is that you have to control the river crab first. If you don't control it, you will fall far behind in experience!

This directly results in a significant weakening of jungle strategies that rely on quickly reaching level 3 to gank or tower dive.

For example, if you spend a lot of time diving the enemy tower and manage to trade one for one with the enemy top laner, that would have been a huge win in previous versions. But in the current version, if the enemy jungler controls both river crabs, you're doomed.

This is what has a real impact on QG, since Xiangguo rarely clears the jungle, and he rarely even takes the river crab. His main strategy is to quickly reach level three and then take down the enemy.

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, but ultimately remained silent.

But now that things have come to this, there's no point in him saying anything; it's better to let the five of them adapt and adjust on their own.

Seeing that the QG players below the stage remained silent, Zhu Kai grew even more confident and spoke loudly, imparting his understanding of the Snake team and his own version of the game to the QG members. After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and shouted, "Everyone, go eat first. After we finish eating, the scrims will begin. This time, many LPL teams will be our scrim partners, so you don't need to worry!"

After saying that, Zhu Kai waved his hand and left the training room with Abu and White Crescent.

It wasn't until this point that the QG members stared at each other blankly, unsure of what to say.

"Is Zhu Kai really that trash?" Xiangguo couldn't help but complain, "He talks about the unimportant things all the time, and glosses over the important ones."

As a jungler, Xiangguo certainly knew how significant these jungle changes would be, but he hadn't even finished reading them before Zhu Kai flipped to the next page, which made Xiangguo quite dissatisfied.

"It doesn't matter." Chen Dongqing shook his head with a smile. "It's just a qualifier anyway. Once the summer season starts, we'll just wait for Coach Cui to explain it again, and that'll be it."

Immediately afterwards, the Chinese team members entered into a series of intensive training matches.

It has to be said that, judging from the scrims, the strategy that QG often used during MSI, which involved a push-push utility player and a jungler who was somewhat reliant on fasting, was no longer effective.

Now, mid laners have seen the emergence of early-game mages like Syndra who need to take on the role of a carry.

The jungler position is quite interesting, with more changes than Chen Dongqing had imagined.

The reason is simple: it all comes down to censorship.

This version of the river crab is just too bloated; it has to be controlled.

But here's the problem: in this version, the river crab spawns every two minutes, and by then, junglers are almost always only level two.

At this point, if you don't go for the river crab, the other side will definitely do it. With both sides fighting each other, it's easy for the junglers from both sides to meet in the river at level two.

In addition to this, there is another crucial factor—the river crab has a built-in protective shell, giving it naturally high armor and magic resistance. A crowd control skill is needed to break this shell before the crab's armor can be reduced. (This version had armor and magic resistance; it was later changed to a shield.)

In this context, heroes with strong two-tier combat capabilities and crowd control abilities immediately stand out in the current version.

Xin Zhao, the Camille, has suddenly become a popular jungler in this patch.

If the jungler has strong individual skills, there are also champions like Nocturne and Graves, which are good choices.

Fortunately, Xiangguo's champion pool is still pretty good. Apart from Graves, which he doesn't like to play, he has no problems with the others and quickly got used to the version.

It's not just Xiangguo who's affected by the censorship; the entire QG team is too.

Even because of this small change to the river crab, both teams focused on the river crab fight in the early game. QG would often engage in a 3v3 river crab team fight in the upper river within two minutes because of a single river crab, and then quickly crush the opponent.

In some practice matches, the opposing team even GG'd in just two minutes to start the next game.

The Asian Games coaching team, watching QG's terrifying training match results, couldn't help but nod in approval.

Riot Games originally buffed the Scuttle Crab to slow down the jungle's pace, but in QG's hands, the pace actually sped up, which is quite unconventional.

Understand the version, become familiar with the version, and ultimately become the version, transforming the version into the way you want it to be.

Having a player like this under your command is truly reassuring!

The training days passed by one by one, and soon the preliminary rounds were approaching.

At this moment, Chen Dongqing's behavior aroused the doubts of his teammates.

"Aren't you supposed to be playing in the StarCraft qualifiers?" Meiko asked疑惑地, "Don't you ever train? You're just playing League of Legends all the time."

Upon hearing this, the QG teammate next to him immediately showed disdain.

You look younger now.

Training? When did Chen Dongqing ever need that?

Chen Dongqing simply smiled and said, "StarCraft doesn't matter; League of Legends is more important."

Upon hearing this, Tianye was deeply moved.

Is this a choice to forgo a StarCraft gold medal in order to win a League of Legends gold medal?

He is strong, humble, considerate of the team, and even willing to sacrifice his personal interests for the team.

What a great personality!

Clearly, Tianye misunderstood.

Chen Dongqing's statement that "interstellar travel is irrelevant" does not mean he is giving up the gold medal in interstellar travel.

Chen Dongqing meant that it didn't matter whether he practiced StarCraft or not, since it was all just torture anyway.

5 month 30 day.

The day before the League of Legends qualifiers, the StarCraft qualifiers finally began.

Because StarCraft matches are always fast-paced and are best-of-one (BO1) matches, the qualifiers will be completed all at once today.

Chen Dongqing will face six opponents today.

Before the competition, the Asian Games organizers, who were responsible for registration information, finalized Chen Dongqing's participation information and race selection.

Race, of course, goes without saying; it's still random.

Once the information of the contestants from the seven East Asian countries or regions was confirmed, the competition began quickly.

Chen Dongqing glanced at the schedule and realized that he would need to play in his first match.

As for his opponents, they are quite interesting as well.

Unfortunately, the two favorites to win gold at this Asian Games, China and South Korea, met directly in the first match of the qualifiers.

CHN.ilex vs. KOR.Maru

Maru, hailed as the last glory of the fourth race, the Korean T, and the true Human Emperor, is the Martial Saint ByuN, the successor to Lu Bu's INnoVation.

He perfectly inherited the skills and strengths of his two predecessors, and also has his own strengths.

Although Chen Dongqing didn't play StarCraft in his previous life, he still knew this person.

This person had appeared in Chen Dongqing's field of vision twice.

One instance was in 2018, when Maru swept all his opponents to win the gold medal in the StarCraft II event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

The second time was on February 13, 2023, at the StarCraft II finals of the 2023 IEM Katowice, where Maru lost 1-4 to Chinese player Oliveira, unfortunately missing out on the championship.

That's right, he was the biggest backdrop on Li Peinan's road to victory.

Chen Dongqing licked his lips and rubbed his hands together, eager to get started.

I heard you're undefeated?

Come on, let's spar a couple of times before we talk!

Meanwhile, Maru looked at Chen Dongqing, also eager to get started.

I heard you won the championship last year by defeating seven opponents in one go?

That's just because I wasn't there!

I will rebuild the glory of Korean StarCraft!

Both contestants stepped onto the stage, and the competition began quickly!

Unfortunately, Chen Dongqing was randomly assigned to the Human race in the first game.

At this moment, several athletes from the League of Legends (LOL) competition also arrived at the audience.

Tianye looked at the two on stage and said with a hint of worry, "Is Brother Shu really up to the task? I heard that Maru on the other side is really strong!"

"Don't worry." The QG team members didn't seem too concerned. "No matter how strong he is, he can't beat Chen Dongqing."

In the video, the actions of both Terran players have begun.

Chen Dongqing quickly realized in the game that Maru was different from other human races.

Chen Dongqing compared Maru to Lu Bu, his opponent in last year's final.

Lu Bu's operation is actually very conventional and follows the procedures. He usually holds back his punch at home and then throws it out.

However, Maru's operations tend to be more of a tug-of-war than a strict process, and its dynamic operations are excellent.

In this game, Maru saw that he was at a disadvantage in the early skirmishes, so he decisively changed his strategy and prepared to play in the late game as soon as possible, building four bases as quickly as possible.

Chen Dongqing watched the enemy's tactics with a cold smile on his lips, completely unfazed.

You don't actually think you can defend against my attack, do you? Didn't you consult your Korean seniors?

Chen Dongqing wasn't in a hurry. This time, he adopted Lu Bu's operational strategy, accumulating a powerful and overwhelming punch that filled all three lines of the population before unleashing it from all three!

Chen Dongqing's APM instantly soared to 900+, and he commanded the three lanes of minions with ease, displaying a variety of skillful coordination!

Maru's defensive forces were utterly powerless against this attack, suffering a crushing defeat in just one encounter!

Maru stared blankly at the situation, which had deteriorated rapidly in almost a minute; he didn't even understand what had happened.

What's going on?

Why is the opponent's attack so strong?

Maru has no fewer than a hundred ways to deal with a human's punch.

But this time, all his methods failed.

If you defend the top lane, the bottom lane will collapse; if you defend the bottom lane, the top lane will collapse; if you defend both lanes, the middle lane will collapse; if you defend all three lanes, all three lanes will collapse!

You'll always lose if you fight head-on with the same forces. And after you lose in the head-on battle, you'll be surprised to find that while the enemy is fighting you head-on, they are also operating on two other fronts, crushing your other forces as well!

It felt like there were two extra hands controlling the machine!

No matter how hard you try to defend it, it's pointless.

This simple punch shattered Maru's confidence in the game, making him rethink the world.

Could it be that my predecessors lost when facing this kind of opponent?

In the end, the match came to a close, and Maru, facing a base full of Marines, could only grit his teeth and type GG.

game over!

I originally intended to finish the preliminary round storyline in one chapter, but I ended up going a little overboard, so I'll have to leave it for tomorrow.

I have to go to the hospital again tomorrow to get the last enhanced MRI done, and then show the doctor the results from the past two days. This trip is going to be a bit complicated, so the post might not be very long.

(End of this chapter)