Chapter 136: Treta Championship! Street Fighter 5!
Several hot searches rocketed to the top, sending the news that Li Fan is that Honor of Kings mysterious master to the peak of discussions across the entire internet.
It was mainly too shocking; although they are both the same type of game, the gap between mobile games and PC games is still very large.
Games not on the same platform are as distant as being separated by a mountain.
The contrast after confirmation made this popularity exaggerated to the extreme.
The previous public opinion completely reversed, and Li Fan’s Weibo follower count welcomed another surge…
There are still many Honor of Kings players, and among them are the two most special groups: elementary school students and female college students.
This led to the comment section being filled with worship and road-to-fan conversions.
Not only did he not lose fans, but it instead made his esports genius persona even more solid, attracting attention from a large number of strength-admiring fans and multi-game player groups.
And this astonishing popularity quickly spread from online to offline, manifesting in a way that was beyond the expectations of the EDG club management.
In Abu’s office, he was on a phone call, his eyebrows slightly raised with a subtle expression.
“Yes, this is EDG’s Abu. Oh, Hammer Technology? …Mobile phone promotion?” Abu listened to the introduction on the other end of the phone and felt somewhat speechless. “Thank you for your company’s recognition, but… Li Fan is our League of Legends Branch’s core player; his main positioning and image are still strongly associated with PC esports.”
“Most importantly, we currently have no plans for him to take on product endorsements. Very sorry.”
After politely hanging up the phone, Abu couldn’t help but rub his brow. “I really didn’t expect this wave of popularity to even attract mobile phone manufacturers, and it’s a relatively niche brand. Li Fan’s commercial value is truly exaggerated.”
There were really many people calling today for cooperation.
Exaggerated to death!
In all his years in the profession, he had never encountered anything this outrageous.
But mainly, it’s because Li Fan personally has strength.
He can win matches… and is top-tier in other games too.
There’s no one like this in the professional scene.
And this year is also quite special.
The World Championship will be held domestically, and there is also a lot of policy favoritism.
The greater the popularity of League of Legends events, the more attention the official side will pay, and the more heavyweight the official representatives attending the World Championship opening ceremony will be.
That’s why so many companies want to get involved and take a share.
Li Fan really waited for a year that belongs to him.
If it were a few years ago, no matter how good he was at playing… no matter how talented, it would be impossible to achieve this effect.
With nothing to do, Abu stood up from his seat; he planned to go to the training room to check, as today was the last day at the base, and tomorrow they would take the plane to Brazil.
See how everyone’s preparations were going.
Abu pushed open the door to the training room; the training room was brightly lit, and a huge screen was playing match recordings from foreign regions.
The teammates were not sitting at their computers, but gathered in a semicircle, focusing intently on a small whiteboard ahead.
Coach Kuaisu Xing was standing in front of the whiteboard, quickly writing and drawing with the marker in his hand.
Abu did not disturb them and quietly walked closer, standing outside the circle to look at the whiteboard.
He saw that the whiteboard already listed several familiar team logos and core players’ IDs, with dense annotations next to them for tactical characteristics, commonly used heroes, and key nodes to watch out for.
The group stage schedule had only one match left, and one spot remaining: GAM and SUP.
But these two teams actually had a pretty obvious gap; GAM had a very high chance of taking that last spot.
After all, the Turkish league compared to the Vietnam league was established later, with insufficient player strength and tactical reserves.
However, although these two teams both made it in, they were not the teams that Kuaisu Xing was mainly studying.
The main team being studied was still the LCK region’s champion SKT; as last year’s World Championship champion, Kuaisu Xing here gave it sufficient attention, directly circling it with a red pen.
Although it wasn’t the champion lineup this year, each position had been strengthened.
After all, the mid and bot core trio had not changed.
Top lane brought in Huni, this extremely aggressive top laner.
Peanut is now LCK’s number one jungler; this SKT team successfully won the Spring Split championship, which is enough proof that this strength hasn’t been greatly affected.
Overall very strong…
This team is absolutely the number one enemy for winning this year’s Mid-Season Invitational.
Facing such opponents requires 200% attention, and not only that, but also studying them thoroughly.
Kuaisu Xing turned around, his gaze sweeping over the seated teammates, finally landing on jungler Ming Kai.
“SKT, old opponents but this year’s them are a bit different.” Kuaisu Xing’s voice was very serious at this moment. “Everyone’s first impression is definitely the mid lane Great Demon King Faker; his personal ability and champion pool are beyond doubt. Li Fan needs to cope with full effort.”
“But this year, what we really need to be wary of is their jungler! Peanut is LCK Spring Split’s MVP; his joining completely changed SKT’s early rhythm.”
He pulled up several clips from SKT Spring Split match recordings, fast-forwarding to key nodes.
“Look here, and here… Peanut is extremely skilled at aggressive playstyles, with sharp instincts and precise mechanics.”
“Peanut’s Lee Sin, Olaf, Graves are all weapons that can directly collapse the opponent’s jungle. His style…” Kuaisu Xing paused, his tone heavy, “emphasizes early suppression and jungle invasions very much. From a certain perspective, his style somewhat counters Ming Kai.”
This is also something Kuaisu Xing is currently worried about, because mid-jungle are bound together, but the early rhythm operation mainly relies on the jungler.
If Clearlove gets suppressed by Peanut, the mid lane matchup will inevitably fall into disadvantage.
In that situation, winning the match would be extremely difficult.
The training room instantly quieted down a bit.
Ming Kai subconsciously touched his nose; his emotions at this moment were very complex.
At last year’s World Championship, Peanut used Lee Sin to kick him from heaven to hell, thoroughly turning his pre-match claim of proving who is the world’s number one jungler into a complete joke.
It was undeniable that the suffocating feeling of his own jungle being counter-jungled to pieces really made it hard to breathe.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Kuaisu Xing was right; Peanut’s invasion-filled playstyle was a bit like chaotic fists beating the master to death, leaving him somewhat at a loss, temporarily unable to think of a suitable counter method.
“Peanut’s early attack desire is too strong; vision suppression and counter-jungling are done very well. Playing jungle against him puts enormous pressure.”
Clearlove did not avoid the issue; as a veteran, he clearly understood the importance of knowing the opponent and self-analysis.
“No problem, mid-jungle duo… I think ours is still stronger than SKT’s mid-jungle duo!”
Kuaisu Xing looked at Li Fan’s fearless newborn calf demeanor and finally showed the first genuine smile of the day.
This was the momentum, especially when facing strong enemies like SKT; a confident, even slightly arrogant core could often unleash greater potential from the team.
So what about Faker! So what about Three-time Champion?
Wasn’t it all fought from being a rookie?
Kuaisu Xing was still very optimistic about Li Fan’s future.
“Good! That’s the confidence we need!” Kuaisu Xing forcefully patted Li Fan’s shoulder. “If mid can hold steady or even gain an advantage, our tactical options will be much more plentiful!”
Scout couldn’t help but sneer upon hearing this.
Wait until you actually lane against him in a match, then you’ll know how terrifying he is.
The more happily you talk big here at the base now, the more you’ll be harshly taught and know how much of a clown you are when you meet him in the match.
Even he himself had zero confidence facing Lee Sang-hyeok…
As a former SKT substitute who had personally trained alongside Faker, he knew better than anyone present the absolute strength and bottomless champion sea behind that ID.
Although Li Fan’s playoffs performance was very eye-catching, Scout didn’t think Li Fan was stronger than him; if he went up, his performance would be better than Li Fan’s!
For players not as good as himself, facing Faker would definitely mean getting completely crushed in minutes.
Scout was immersed in his imagined scene: Li Fan being mercilessly crushed by Faker in the match, then himself coming out to save the team.
The corners of his mouth even unconsciously curved into a pleased arc when suddenly he felt a cold gaze firmly locked on him.
He snapped back to attention and looked up to meet Kuaisu Xing’s fierce eyes, his scalp involuntarily tingling.
“Lee Ryeo-chang! What are you doing?!” Kuaisu Xing’s voice suddenly rose sharply, sounding especially piercing in the quiet training room.
“We’re in a meeting! Exchanging tactics! Do you think it’s boring? Do you think there’s no need to listen?! You’re just a substitute, what are you putting on here? What are you pretending to be?”
Kuaisu Xing spoke Korean rapidly and fiercely, perfectly embodying the strict, almost harsh senior-junior hierarchy of the Korean esports scene.
In front of him as both coach and senior, Scout as player and junior was completely suppressed in momentum at this moment.
Scout opened his mouth, wanting to defend himself, but under Kuaisu Xing’s sharp gaze, he ultimately swallowed his words, lowered his head, and didn’t dare make a sound.
Because he knew the more he explained, the worse it would be for him!
Now in China… if this were in Korea, that moment of zoning out just now wouldn’t just be a scolding; there would be hands involved.
“Speak! Weren’t you full of ideas earlier? What were you thinking down there? Zoning out on what? Do you think my analysis as coach is wrong? Or do you think you’re already invincible in the world and don’t need to listen to this?”
Seeing Scout like this, Kuaisu Xing’s anger flared even more; he directly pointed at his nose and scolded.
“Attitude! I feel like you no longer have your initial attitude. Are you so rebellious now? Think that being a substitute means you don’t need to listen carefully? Means you can zone out?”
Scout’s head hung lower and lower from the scolding, his cheeks somewhat hot, but he tightly pursed his lips and remained silent.
He felt unconvinced and aggrieved in his heart… At the beginning, Kuaisu Xing’s attitude toward him wasn’t like this at all…
It completely changed after losing matches in the second half of Spring Split.
But in the face of Kuaisu Xing’s absolute authority, he could only choose to endure.
“If you don’t want to listen, then get out!”
Seeing him still not speaking, Kuaisu Xing completely lost patience and abruptly waved his hand toward the training room door.
If this were Korea, he’d have him kneeling in minutes!
Scout’s body stiffened for a moment, then he abruptly stood up, quickly walked to the door, pulled it open, went out, and gently closed the door behind him.
Abu watched the scene before him without saying anything.
As a coach, absolute authority is necessary; no one can challenge the coach’s authority.
After the small interlude of Scout being kicked out, the atmosphere in the training room clearly became oppressive and tense.
Kuaisu Xing also adjusted his state, no longer dwelling on emotions, but explaining the remaining analysis points more practically and efficiently.
Including breakdowns of FW’s Maple and Karsa mid-jungle synergy mode, and contingency plans for GAM’s potential chaotic impact.
Simply put, don’t take these lightly; don’t think just because your strength is greater than these teams that you don’t need to care, because that will definitely lead to very serious consequences!
The reason League of Legends matches are interesting is not just strong prevailing, but also the weak defeating the strong… You don’t know the result until the last moment of the match.
“Alright, today’s tactics meeting ends here.”
“After going back, everyone digest the key points for your respective positions again. Departure tomorrow!”
Abu stood up at this time and said to everyone in the rest room.
The next morning at dawn, vehicles heading to the airport were already parked outside the EDG base.
The teammates carried their luggage and boarded one after another; the atmosphere was still very good, after all, they were going abroad to see what the foreign scenery was like.
Scout kept his head down, sitting silently in the corner…
At the same time, EDG Esports Club’s official Weibo posted an expedition update on time:
“Ride the wind and waves, fearless forward! EDG League of Legends Branch officially sets off today, heading to the 2017 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational host location—Brazil! Journey begins, give it our all, fight for LPL region’s glory! 『 Go EDG 』 『 Go EDG 』”
“Thanks to sponsors @Shuangfeiyan @361° @Dongpeng Special Drink for their strong support of EDG!”
As soon as the Weibo was posted, it immediately ignited the fans’ enthusiasm.
【EDG go! LPL go!】
【Charge charge charge! Bring back the champion!】
【Fan Shen! It’s up to you! Crush SKT!】
【Clearlove stay steady, we believe in you!】
The long journey finally reached its end.
After one transfer, a full twenty-five hours of flight; when the entire EDG team dragged their exhausted bodies and luggage onto the bus to the hotel arranged by official Riot.
Almost everyone looked listless.
In the entire bus, only Li Fan was the exception.
After all, as soon as he got on the plane, he entered endless training mode; teammates were very supportive, directly practicing a four-star Tristana, and having rested, his condition was naturally good.
People with cheats really are different from you all!
So now he curiously looked out the bus window at the exotic Rio de Janeiro street scenes.
When the bus slowly stopped at the entrance of the officially designated hotel, his gaze was instantly drawn to a noisy area next to the hotel lobby.
That was a temporarily set-up small stage area, with a backdrop printed with “Treta Championship 2017” text and cool posters of classic characters like Ryu and Chun Li.
“Street Fighter 5 match?” Li Fan’s eyes lit up…
