LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 292 Huge Changes in the Competition Area? The Heavenly Demon Puppet left by my master can't be refined! [Thanks to the Alliance Leader of "Shi Luo"]

Ye Bo stretched as he walked out of the training ground in the early morning, and subconsciously picked up his phone to browse the external competition section.

Although LCK cleverly chose not to broadcast the Asian Games, such news obviously couldn't be kept secret. Korean forums also had news aggregators who quickly bypassed the Great Firewall to spread the news back, and by the next day, public opinion had already taken hold.

At this moment, the entire Korean forum was filled with an atmosphere of despair.

[Does anyone have access to watch the match videos using a VPN? Our team, which was putting up a close fight with T1, was swept 2-0! We almost couldn't even beat an LPL wildcard team!?]

Based on this, WE > LSB ≈ T1. How can a team of this caliber beat our runner-up team?

[Isn't it because T1 is too trash? LSB is just a sideline team. Anyone who knows the comparison between the two regions knows that LPL clearly sent a mid-tier team to beat our bottom-tier team!]

[Fun fact: T1 just beat DK a few days ago, which only shows that LSB's prestige is still rising, but LCK's prestige is still falling!]

Haha, the most hopeless year ever.

In reality, under normal circumstances, even if you lose a game that isn't that important, it shouldn't be enough to make you feel hopeless.

The problem lies with the participating teams!
LSB used to be a team that fought T1 to a standstill!
T1, the league runner-up and one of the two teams participating in MSI, had just defeated DK, who were currently fourth in the league, and still had a 3-0 record in the Summer Split.
Even Ye Bo, who has been following LCK's performance, knows that T1's 3-0 record is actually quite "ugly" - not only were they all narrow 2-1 victories, but several of them were even due to the opponents making mistakes.

But there's nothing we can do; the audience only cares about the result!
The psychological impact of such a defeat is like a team that emerges from a regional competition to go to the international arena, only to go home without winning a single game, or even be defeated by various uncontested teams, thus creating new history.
This will inevitably give the audience in the competition area a sense of "despair"!
It can only be said that the team's performance deserves immense credit for being called "the most hopeless year" by the usually optimistic esports audience.

Ye Bo also watched all three of T1's matches.

Just as they expected.

The victory was largely due to the performance of top laner Zeus, who consistently carried the team regardless of the outcome. It's no wonder he was able to break through the Asian Games qualifiers and become a starter.

In addition, the jungler, marksman, and support also performed exceptionally well, almost always having an advantage in the laning phase.

It's clear that the changes to TP and minion waves in the new version are a huge boon to T1's team composition!
The only reason why T1 had a "slightly difficult" time winning these three games was clearly their mid laner.

Even Ye Bo had to admit it.

The reason why T1 struggled so much, even nearly losing several games against weaker teams, was "visibly" due to the drastic fluctuations in the mid laner's performance. The opportunities to exploit weaknesses were mostly given by the mid laner.

So it is.

Since the end of MSI, discussions about mid-lane players have been circulating on Korean online forums and have become increasingly widespread.

Almost everyone believes that the mid laner is a liability, and that changing the mid laner, even just to a mid laner who "won't feed," would be a buff for T1!

Anyway, T1 is so strong in all three lanes, they can win in lane!

Ye Bo swiped his finger back to the homepage.

Subconsciously, I pulled down the refresh button one last time, ready to get up and end my enjoyable dual-account squatting session.

The latest reposted thread can appear suddenly.

But this made him freeze instantly!
T1 officially announced: Faker is taking a break due to health reasons, with the expected duration uncertain. During this period, substitute mid laner Poby will take over.

Ye Bo quickly browsed through the original post on the Korean website that had just been published.

The comments section below, which featured the repost, was indeed full of praise!
The comments were all sarcastic, like "The only burden is finally gone!", "Anyone who watched the game knows that if the mid laner hadn't fed, we would have won long ago. The trade was really the right one!", and "T1 has finally come to their senses. There's hope for T1!"

The few positive comments were mostly similar to, "Sigh, it seems an era has completely ended."

To almost everyone at the moment, this announcement means almost only one thing.

Faker is probably retiring.

After all, rotating players due to 'health reasons' has always been the most common excuse and symptom.

No one knows whether it's really due to physical reasons or because Faker's recent performance has been truly terrible, so the management is taking precautions and starting to train him in advance in case there are even bigger mistakes in the later games or even a real replacement!
Although everyone knows that Lee Sang-hyeok is the absolute soul of T1, this team is really capable of doing this kind of thing!
T1 only considers results!

A similar incident occurred 20 years ago, when Danny implemented a 10+ player rotation system, and Faker spent a long time on the bench.

If it weren't for the terrible performance of the rookie mid laner Clozer, he might have replaced Lee Sang-hyeok back then!

If Lee Sang-hyeok was like this, then the others in the other positions were naturally even more so.

If a player performs poorly, or if the team's record is poor, they can be replaced without hesitation; no one's starting position is absolutely secure.

In other words.

Even the four young players on the T1 team might not "oppose" this move.

After all, as direct participants, they naturally have a better understanding of their own mid-laner's performance and know that if the team performs poorly, it might affect their starting position.

Take another ten thousand steps back.

Lee Sang-hyeok has indeed long reached the age where he should "retire".

The vast majority of veteran players reach the end of their careers by underperforming on the field, attracting huge controversy, being rotated into substitutes, and eventually disappearing quietly or retiring.
Ye Bo also felt a little sad.

As for himself, he didn't want to lose this opponent just like that.

He genuinely hoped that his opponent could adjust their form, and the thought of not being able to play against them in this year's World Championship was still somewhat regrettable.

However, Ye Bo needs to focus on his present moment and walk his own path first.

Time marches on relentlessly.

The sweltering month of July arrived quickly.

The summer tournaments in all major regions are in full swing.

Compared to the dramatic changes in the LPL rankings, the LCK Summer Split has not changed much from the Spring Split – the only team with a significant change in rankings is T1!

When Faker took a break, T1, despite some stumbling, was still temporarily leading the league at 3-0.

But right after Faker was rotated out, the team's record immediately took a dramatic turn for the worse!
Start with an initial 3-0.

By mid-July, the score had become 3-5. Not a single win!
It was a truly unwinnable game!!!
While there are strong teams like GEN, there are many more bottom-ranked teams!
No one expected this outcome.

Isn't it said that the mid lane is the only breakthrough point? Why not bring in a mid laner who won't feed, and let the side lanes break through on their own and win easily?

And in fact.

The newly added player, Poby, has indeed been a consistent contributor. He has almost never been seen dying, and his playstyle is so stable that it's almost unbelievable, to the point that you sometimes forget about him altogether.
Meanwhile, T1's other three lanes still maintain their strong matchup capabilities, and they still have various advantages in the laning phase.

But, just can't win!
Losing in all sorts of fancy ways!

With T1's defeat, only Hanwha and GEN remained, putting up a close match. In the first round, Hanwha even won against GEN, with Canyon dominating Peanut in the jungle, whose performance was still lackluster after returning from MSI.
By comparison.

Due to the transfer activities during the mid-season transfer window, the LPL rankings have changed dramatically compared to the Spring Split!

The first is WBG, which actively initiates transactions.

The promise made by Coach Danny to Xiaohu has actually yielded quite good results within the team.

It's unclear whether the better synergy is between the players or between the coaches and players—but the current facts prove that WBG has surged from the edge of the playoffs in the spring to the top three in the league!

Of course, it's also possible that the importance of top laners has increased in this version, and WBG's TheShy happens to be a player who "emphasizes laning" extremely, making him a sharp ace in the coach's hands.

BLG is another team known for its aggressive top laner.

Indeed, it has been proven that after replacing Wei, BLG immediately embarked on a super winning streak, even suppressing JDG, who were not adapted to the version!

The momentum looks even stronger than WBG's!
Every time a match is won, the live chat is filled with comments exclaiming: "Trump was right!"

In addition, there's LNG, whose form is gradually returning; TES, whose coaching and mid-laner changes haven't made much of a difference; and EDG, currently in the middle of the pack.
The LPL schedule is longer than the LCK schedule, and the playoff rankings are not yet clear enough. All teams are still focused on building their strength and fighting hard.

"Holy crap! A sneak attack!"

"I'm dead, let's quit. The pressure of laning against Master Ye is too great, it feels even greater than laning against Brother Jiang."

"Hey Master Ye, when exactly did you secretly practice this new version of Rumble?"

Inside the V5 base, Ye Bo is having his daily SOLO training session with Holy Gun Bro.

This has become a regular part of their training program recently.

The reason is simple: it must be admitted that Li Xuanjun's current playstyle is increasingly geared towards teamwork and utility, and his laning ability is no longer a strength compared to his younger self, which is somewhat fatal in the current version.

So naturally, Ye Bo, who has the strongest laning ability in the V5 team, often exchanges and practices laning experience with the opponent.

Fortunately, in terms of laning techniques, top lane and mid lane are the two most similar among the four lanes in League of Legends.

Compared to the duo lane in the bottom lane, where junglers prioritize farming monsters and strategic thinking, the mid and top lanes, being solo lanes, are essentially not that different.

"It's alright, it's not that difficult. The key points are just the ones I used just now~" Ye Bo replied cheerfully.

"Look at him, Master Ye is so humble even with his Heavenly Spiritual Root talent! Greatness needs no further explanation!" Xun, with his lightning-fast coordination, remotely flattered him from the back seat: "He can even do Rui'er, he's practically a god!"

"Just wait and see if I poke Brother Chuan's butt next week, and that'll be it!"

Xun's performance wasn't really a hard-hitting shot.

After version 13.10 at the Mid-Season Invitational, there were two more major updates, version 13.11 and 13.12.

The focus of these two versions is on two reworked heroes: {Iron Maiden} and {Mechanical Enemy}.

This is actually a trend that Riot Games' design team mentioned in their preview video released at the beginning of the season, starting from Season 13:
Starting with Season 13, League of Legends will slow down the release of new champions and focus more on reworking older champions with outdated mechanics.

Nearly two-thirds of the season has passed, and only two new heroes, Milio and Bloodhound, have been released, while five heroes—Aurora, Yuumi, Neeko, Riel, and Rumble—have been reworked.

The new Rumble clearly has a much higher skill ceiling and will definitely become a highly contested target in the top lane.

The new version of Ruier, through the designer's deliberate modifications, has the potential for new positioning.

This gives Ye Bo's [Echo of Glory] talent a great deal of room to shine.

Of course, aside from Rumble being a viable mid-lane champion in the old version, which Ye Bo used to expand his champion pool for training, he practiced non-mid-lane champions like Riel using extra practice time in the training grounds.

After all, by allocating some of his spare training energy to exploration and practice, he can save his teammates a lot of time.

"Wow, T1 is going to lose again!" Beryl, who was watching the game, shouted from the sidelines, "How can they lose to the last-place team?!"

"They've finished their first round, it looks like they're 3-6 now, do they still have a chance to make the playoffs?" Xun, always eager for drama, asked, "Does that mean they'll miss the playoffs if they lose two more games?"

"Does this mean we really won't see them at Worlds this year? I haven't had enough of playing for T1 yet."

If V5 can win their match against their old rivals BLG tomorrow, they will secure a playoff spot with an 8-0 record, so they certainly have the right to say that.

Ye Bo took out his phone and looked at the discussions about the latest match on the forum.

The pinned picture shows the four little ones after losing all their money—their eyes seem to have lost their light, and even their gazes have become somewhat empty.

The contrast before and after is huge!

The sentiment in the comments section is also completely different from what it was a month ago.

[Poby: Damn it, why can't I refine the four high-level Heavenly Demon Puppets left behind by Master?!]

[Haha, Dr. K, who knows everything, started wearing a smirk in the second game. Zeus maintained a grinning face for a few rounds, but eventually couldn't laugh anymore and looked like he was about to be tortured.]

[Actually, the funniest part is that Zeus's first-person perspective also starts switching screens, and he starts catching the traitor too, it's hilarious! What a boomerang, folks!]

[At the beginning: Hehe, the old bastard who dragged us down is finally gone! The flawless T1 is here! ———Early game: Something seems off? Let's try adjusting it again! ———Mid game: Oh no, why isn't my Fei-ge back yet? ———Late game: Dad! My dad! When are you coming back to save us?! !!!]

Stop wasting time and effort on other people's matches! Tomorrow is the real battle for LPL supremacy! BLG is going to build a dynasty!

[Holy crap, check Weibo! Bin is trending!]

(End of this chapter)