LPL History

Chapter 76 The Flames of Esports Begin, the Rat King Arrives to Test His Strength (Please Read On!)

With WE successfully entering the top four of the OGN Summer League, Tencent quickly launched a high-intensity promotional campaign in China.

League of Legends has only been around for a short time in the country.

WE's achievements in international competitions naturally attract Tencent's attention and promotion.

Most importantly, Zhou Li's Lee Sin play in that game was simply the best promotional material.

Zhou Li's brilliant plays with Lee Sin were made into various highlight reels, which went viral on the internet.

On gaming platforms like Duowan Box Forum and Yezi Pig, any website related to League of Legends features highlights of Zhou Li's gameplay.

Ultimately, Tencent even placed it directly on the homepage of its client application.

Title: World's First Holy Monk Shocks Foreign Gamers!

As soon as League of Legends players log into the game, a pop-up window will automatically play a series of maneuvers performed by Zhou Li, such as his Roundhouse Kick, R-Flash, and Zhou's Triangle Kill.

It completely stunned some newbies who had just started playing.

Some players who joined earlier launched a counterattack against Dota players online.

After all, at this time, LoL players were being looked down upon by Dota players.

"This is how we do it in LoL! Do you guys in Dota ever do this?"

"Dota players only last-hit minions for an hour, and once they activate Black King Bar, they can stand still and output damage for 10 seconds."

Lee Sin became the first hero most players bought.

With such widespread publicity, the blind monk's name was no longer Li Qing, but Zhou Li.

League of Legends players now start interacting in the chat box as soon as they enter the game.

Holy crap! What incredible hand speed!

Please, I just bought this Zhou Dynasty gift set, can I play with it?

I'm a primary school student, let me play with you.

[On the second floor, they only play with Zhou ritual items; if you don't give them to someone, they'll give them away.

Can I play with the Zhou Li (周礼)?

Meanwhile, WE's semi-final matchup garnered a great deal of attention.

Even novice players who are still learning how to play against AI have decided to be ready to watch WE's matches on time in front of their computers.

WE's opponent in the semifinals is the Korean team Najin Sword.

Another matchup is also an all-Korean battle between the Azubu Frost and Azubu Blaze brother teams.

In other words, out of the four teams, three are Korean teams and only WE is a Chinese team.

At this point, the Korean teams had actually surpassed the European and American teams in terms of strength.

If we say that the establishment of LPL in 2013 can be considered the e-sports元年 (first year) of League of Legends in China.

2012 can be considered the first year of esports for League of Legends in South Korea!

They have demonstrated a certain level of dominance this year. According to the original timeline, the Korean team Azubu Frost would have won the final championship, marking a key moment in the rise of Korean teams.

The good news for WE right now is that their semi-final opponent, Najin Sword, is arguably the weakest of the three Korean teams.

The Najin Sword team consists of:

Top laner Maknoon has an extremely aggressive playstyle and is skilled with champions such as Renekton and Jax, making him the team's core carry.

He and jungler Watch have extremely similar playstyles. When the top and jungle coordinate, it often results in either the enemy team or themselves being wiped out.

Mid laner SSONG is a player with a style similar to Ruofeng, focusing more on team support.

Najin Sword's bot lane consists of support Cain and ADC player Pray.

In Zhou Li's opinion, Najin Sword's bot lane is in no way inferior to WeiXiao and JuanMao in terms of strength.

When talking about Pray, one cannot help but mention his other nickname.

The Rat King.

In the minds of many veterans, Imp was only the number one rat, while Pary was the true rat king.

This first-generation ADC player from South Korea transformed Twitch, a previously unpopular champion, into a must-ban champion for opposing teams.

There are still two hours until the match starts.

Najin Sword base training room. "Bang bang bang!"

The jungler, Watch, banged on the table, making it shake.

"Damn it! Why can't my Lee Sin pull off a play like that?!"

As a professional player, he has played twelve games against bots that day.

The goal was to develop that skillful Lee Sin play, thereby giving the team more flexibility in the draft phase.

However, after twelve games against bots, his R-flash still occasionally went wrong.

Furthermore, there are significant issues with the angle of view.

The move Zhou Li made in the game, where he used an R-flash to smash his opponent like a bowling ball, almost became his mental obsession.

If a mistake is possible, it should never be used in a match.

Look at CLG's jungler, he's still being mocked by Summoners all over the world, who say that Europeans can't play Zenyatta and that they're only good at wielding crosses.

And the so-called Zhou's Triangle Kill has never been successful even once.

Top laner MarkNooN walked over and said:

"No need to practice anymore, just break it off directly."

Watch sighed, but didn't express any of the frustration in his heart.

As professional players, why can that guy dominate the field with Lee Sin, while I, a jungler, can't even replicate his plays?
"Damn it!" Watch rubbed his hair in frustration. "What kind of monster is that guy? How did he do that?"

“Alright,” mid laner SSNOOG walked over and said, “Stop worrying about it. I’m the unlucky one, okay? Is Lee Sin the only thing he’s good at? Instead of imitating his Lee Sin, you should think about how to help me gank mid lane more in this game.”

With Zhou Li's outstanding performance in OGN, the Korean teams that had not previously paid attention to him have thoroughly investigated him in just one day.

Of course, the main reason is that Zhou Li himself has not played many matches.

However, the more the Korean teams reviewed these few matches, the more astonished they became.

In terms of support, the support awareness of a card master is even stronger than that of the so-called world's number one card player, Ruofeng.

Unlike Ruofeng, this person's cards are also very strong in online play.

In terms of development, Anivia in the quarterfinals was just the tip of the iceberg; TGA's Karthus also achieved a CS count that was beyond ordinary people's comprehension.

Furthermore, it can fully leverage the role of the large core in the later stages.

In terms of skill, his mastery of the Blind Monk alone is unmatched by any professional player, to the point that no one has been able to replicate it in AI matches.

What the Korean teams found most unbelievable was that such a talented player could only play as a substitute in WE!

This shows just how terrible the e-sports environment is in China!

There's simply no way we can compare to South Korea!

If Zhou Li were Korean, they would have discovered this genius long ago.

Of course, they still need to go through the baptism of traditional Korean virtues and endure the bullying within the team first.

After all, how is steel made?!

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!
If bullying doesn't kill you, then you can bully others!
On the way to the competition venue, the Najin members were still having a heated discussion.

"We absolutely have to ban Lee Sin, but what about Twisted Fate, Karthus, and Anivia?"

“Watch can look for opportunities to gank mid when he's already level two; he really likes to push lanes in the early game.”

"We must play aggressively and not give him too much room to develop safely."

"What if he plays Twisted Fate? Global rush is WE's signature tactic."

The group argued back and forth all the way to the meeting hall.

Meanwhile, the group of us were preparing to leave the hotel.

Where is Abu?

As soon as Joker asked the question, Abu came running over, his face pale and his steps unsteady.

It's obvious they've practiced archery a lot.

Just as Zhou Li was about to look away from Abu's face, his expression suddenly turned strange.

The Records of the Grand Historian has turned a page.

(End of this chapter)