LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 303 Featured Changes! The Great Annihilation Sword Demon!
The rules for this year's Intercontinental Challenge are the same as last year's, with no major changes.

The top four teams from each region's spring season will represent their respective regions in the competition.

The top four teams in the LPL Spring Split are: EDG, RNG, IG, and RW.

These four teams have all performed very well at the start of the Summer Split, which has reassured LPL viewers.

"Everyone, cheer up! We're determined to win this year's Intercontinental Championship!"

A slightly shrill voice rang out, and Abu stepped forward, his voice strained. He was the nominal head coach of the Asian Games national team and a veteran figure in the e-sports circle.

After all, the LPL league hadn't even been established yet, and he was already working as a coach for WE, so his qualifications speak for themselves.

During last year's intercontinental competition, he also led the four teams to work together and discuss tactics.

"In the next few days, we need to work together and cooperate closely. Our opponent is the LCK region, and we will strive to win this year's Rift Rivals championship!"

"Let's have a meeting first to thoroughly understand the version. This time, we'll trouble Coach Maokai to explain the version to everyone."

Coach Maokai then turned on the projector in the training room and distributed some modified data to everyone.

"This Intercontinental Rivalry tournament will use version 8.13. Riot Games has not made any changes to the game mechanics, and the overall gameplay remains largely the same."

"The emphasis remains on early and mid-game aggression and team fights. The strength of popular heroes in the current version of the Summer Split has not changed much, but there is one character we need to pay attention to."

The hero appearing on the projected screen is the newly reworked Aatrox, the Shadow Demon!

"This hero needs to be taken seriously? I remember his win rate was ridiculously low, and he was nicknamed 'Little Riven'?" Spicy Hot Pot immediately spoke up, making a vivid analogy.

The reworked Aatrox does indeed resemble Riven in terms of skill animations.

The Q skill can be used in multiple stages, the W skill provides crowd control, the E skill allows for movement, and the R skill grants various buffs.

Even the passive ability that adds extra damage to basic attacks is exactly the same; it's practically modeled after Riven.

"The win rate is indeed low, so Riot released a patch yesterday to buff this champion," Maokai emphasized.

"Oh? That'll have to wait until the next version."

"That's what the poison coin said from the side."

"No, no, no... Riot Games released a hotfix," Maokai said.

The players then realized that hotfixes are different from regular patches; they are plug-and-play.

"In the hot patch, Aatrox's stats were comprehensively buffed, so I predict this hero will become a popular pick in competitive play because his ultimate ability, 'Destroyer,' has a resurrection ability."

"In this way, Aatrox can act as a semi-frontline in team fights, and more importantly, this hero can be played in the mid or top lane."

After losing a best-of-three series to IG, RNG, led by Maokai, has become particularly focused on any champions that can be used flexibly.

After all, in his view, unless Riot Games makes significant patch changes, the main theme of professional matches will be flexible gameplay for a long time to come!
The reworked Aatrox only strengthened his resolve!

Riot Games is intentionally blurring the lines of hero roles, breaking the old pattern where a hero could only appear in a fixed position!
"But this hero is a melee warrior, it's hard for him to farm in the mid lane, right?" Xiaohu raised his doubts.

Maokai nodded and then explained, "Aatrox's three Qs are all AOE, with a larger range than Riven's Q, and the skill deals extra damage to specific areas." "This means that this hero has a very strong wave clear ability! With a strong wave clear ability, plus the resurrection effect of the ultimate, the margin for error when diving towers in the side lanes after clearing the minion wave will increase dramatically."

"This kind of hero combination is almost unstoppable when tower diving!"

When Maokai articulated this understanding, it was almost like feeding the team members; they naturally grasped the meaning immediately.

Everyone here is a top player in the league, so they all have a good understanding of the game.

The next period of time will be dedicated to training for their respective teams, and teams from the LCK and LMS regions have already arrived in Dalian.

The three competition zones will undoubtedly be fully prepared to compete for the championship.

However, LMS is just a supporting player; the overall competitiveness of their region is only so-so.

The main theme of the Asian Intercontinental Championship is still LPL vs. LCK.

July 2nd! The highly anticipated Intercontinental Competition officially kicked off!

There is no harm without comparison.

Last year's intercontinental competition was held in Taiwan, and the venue was actually a university auditorium. The audience seating was even made up of folding chairs, which can't even be described as stingy.

Then look at the events held on home soil, even those that aren't as prestigious as intercontinental competitions, they can still create an atmosphere of grand narrative.

Tencent Sports directly leased the stadium at the Dalian Sports Center, a total of 18000 seats. All tickets were sold out, and the venue was packed!
The timing of the intercontinental competition is particularly clever, as early July falls right in the middle of summer vacation.

High school graduates, for example, have already gone out and had their fun, and are now in a state of idleness.

The college students have already had their party, and those who have the most free time are now in a long vacation standby state.

This one group alone was enough to fill up most of the audience seats, not to mention some typical idle rich guys!
Intercontinental competitions are team events, which means that whoever loses will be embarrassed.

No one wants to be the one who loses face, so naturally, they can only try their best to adjust their state and adapt to the new version more quickly through training.

At this moment, the host has already taken the stage. It is still the official host of Tencent Esports, the first man in the LPL region to show Lee Sang-hyeok, 'The Unbreakable Grip' Ren Dong!
He still sported his signature slicked-back hair, and strode confidently to the front of the stage in a blue suit.

"This is Dalian. Summoners, both at the venue and watching on screen, welcome to the 2018 Asian Games!!"

"Last year, after a hard-fought battle, the LPL region finally won the championship in Kaohsiung at the inaugural Asian Games."

"This year, the LPL region will once again host eight strong teams from the LMS and LCK regions to compete for supremacy!!"

"Today's participating teams include familiar faces as well as newcomers participating in the Intercontinental Competition for the first time... Now, let's welcome the teams to the stage!"

"First up is Machi, the fourth-place team in the LMS Spring Split!"

Ren Dong has a deep, resonant voice, and he shouts with great passion.

As is customary, the audience should also respond with enthusiastic applause to express their passion.

However, the scene fell into a long silence, and the viewers watching the live broadcast even thought that their sound system was broken.

(End of this chapter)