Full-time: Starting from Ye Xiu vs. Faker

Chapter 484 Times have changed
Li Xianghe still remembers the scene when he first saw the name Zhang Jiale.

That was in a small internet cafe outside Mapo High School. There was no LCK league, and League of Legends was just a newly launched game with an uncertain future.

They are not shining professional players, but two ordinary high school students who are barely able to make ends meet.

He was working as an online game worker in a small internet cafe, collecting materials for a large guild. Because the economic system of Honor of Kings had completely collapsed, he was forced to make a desperate attempt to challenge League of Legends, a new game that had just been released.

Although young people are not lacking in talent and understanding, it is difficult for them to make rapid progress purely through self-reliance. When they wanted to find some strategies, they found that the player community in South Korea is as bad as their sportsmanship.

The two young men gritted their teeth and had to run to the player community in neighboring China to look for strategy tutorials despite the huge debuff of language barriers.

It was also here that they met those tough guys who were called the three pillars of the national server by the Chinese people.

Among them, Zhang Jiale, who represented the bottom lane, only took two highlights that added up to no more than five minutes to make Kim Hyuk-kyu completely decide to nail himself to the AD position.

The functional position that has always been regarded as a damage supplement for mid-to-late-stage team battles can actually play with such a charming and influential style of play.

This makes the whole country and even the whole world yearn for it.

Even Li Xianghe, who does not play in the bottom lane, would subconsciously sigh at the heroism, delicacy and strength displayed in every detail of the operation by this nearly 30-year-old man named Zhang Jiale.

At that time, they were unknown players, and he was one of the strongest players who had transformed from the world's strongest e-sports game.

Let alone replacing others, even becoming a professional player was not something the two teenagers could imagine for the time being.

The gap between them and Zhang Jiale may not be smaller than the geographical distance between them.

The first time they saw the real Zhang Jiale was at the Los Angeles airport. At that time, they had leapt from internet-addicted teenagers to noble league champions, and Zhang Jiale also created a miraculous championship journey with his flowers.

Their positions seemed to have suddenly reached a height where they could look at each other at eye level.

But the boys were obviously not mentally prepared to adapt to such a change, so when Deft saw his idol that day, he immediately went up to him, stated his identity and asked for a hug.

Li Xianghe could clearly feel the surprise and relief in the eyes of the man in his thirties at that moment.

Because of their status as fans of Deft and Faker, the two teams quickly became familiar with each other. The old guys in Fanhua were not arrogant and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

After they separated that day, the two young men were eager to meet their seniors on the field.

Precisely because we are fans, we are particularly eager to prove ourselves in front of our idols.

That was because the top players from each country had not yet been able to rank themselves in the international arena. No one knew the strength of the teams in other regions, so they were naturally fearless.

But in the end, until the end of that MSI, SKT was not able to compete with Fanhua in the main competition. The only small-scale confrontation was easily won by the opponent. The private training games between the two teams were even closer to a one-sided massacre.

In fact, Li Xianghe could feel that the other party really wanted to stay and let them perform, and he could even feel a hint of guidance, which could be said to be giving them enough face.

But we just can’t win. The gap is too big, in terms of strength, environment, and management IQ…

Finally, SKT, the hope of LCK, failed in the semi-finals and was beaten 2-2 by G and sent home in disgrace. Then, G was easily beaten - by Fanhua in the final.

The gap between them cannot be measured simply by the outcome of six small games...

The third time is now. It was not until the S-League that Lee Sang Hyuk was finally able to face his respected predecessors, former idols, and current demons in a truly equal manner based on strength.

And this time, there seems to be an extra indescribable flavor.

The whole world is saying that LPL is invincible, and LPL seems to have eliminated all foreign opponents who dared to challenge them one after another.

Especially in the quarter-finals, all the group matches were successfully advanced. The once-invincible LCK lost the first and third seeds in a short round, leaving only SKT as the lone seedling.

The pessimism of other regions, the bleak situation of LCK, the journey of LPL...it seems that everything points to a fixed ending.

Except SKT themselves.

"Fight in waves, there is no need to waste time. Seniors are not afraid of a protracted war." He gave a brief order and rushed up the hill first with a team of soldiers bathed in dragon blood.

There, there was only Sun Zheping's Jyra, who tried to delay time alone, but under the attack of SKT's four players and the dragon, she was quickly killed by the tower dive.

The kill ratio between the two sides in the first game was fixed at 19:11.

Li Xianghe was not surprised by this ending.

From a tactical point of view, Fanhua's first game was almost lost.

They did not come up with anything new in the first game, but instead tried out the lineup ideas and tactical choices that they had used in the semi-finals.

Naturally, this tactic was easily cracked by SKT, who had been studying Fanhua seriously for half a month.

Under the restraint of the lineup, although Fanhua still showed outstanding personal ability and fighting will in the first game, under the suppression of SKT based on tactical advantages, strong discipline and tactical execution,
They didn't find any good opportunities to break through.

Several weeks have passed since the last match, and SKT's progress is far from limited to the tactical field.

Just as several LPL players discussed, this is a team that is evolving at an alarmingly fast speed.

After losing the first game, the five members of Fanhua did not seem to be as uneasy and frustrated as the audience or commentators on the scene. They didn't even frown and hurried back to the lounge with their teammates.

Although they lost the first game, we can still see a lot about SKT's current player strength, discipline and other non-tactical strengths from this game.

They will plan the next round of tactics based on this information.

Looking at his back, Li Xianghe's mouth corners raised an inexplicable arc.

This is his first and only small victory against Fanhua so far.

Unconsciously, the boy who could only learn some skills by reading slices of Flowers and Blood Scenes and tutorials on a garbage machine in an Internet cafe,
I have finally grown to the point where I can fight them head-on and defeat them.

But it’s not enough, Lee Sang-hyuk thought.

At this point, there is only one thing that can comfort his ambition.

champion.

(End of this chapter)