You actually want me to...

"I saw it, isn't it just T1, F...Father???"

Upon seeing this ID, JKL had no more complaints. He simply patted Roland on the shoulder with a heavy heart, then silently left, keeping his merits and fame hidden.

It's too cruel.

With this ID, it's not just a matter of 1 vs 4, it's a damn 1 vs 9 situation.

It's like seeing a blue plastic hat on the beach, and this guy picks it up and puts it on his head. At that moment, everyone on the beach looks at him with respect.

This is the spirit of the lone warrior.

Contest: Chapter 1: The stranger the angle, the more surreal the sight.

The playoff format for S11 is slightly different from previous years.

The double-elimination format can be understood as providing a resurrection option for the losers, but it can also be understood as the initial winner potentially becoming the biggest loser, since the one who wins all the way through loses just one match.

As for whether the competition format change is good or bad?

That's definitely a good thing. It increases the margin for error for the top two teams in the regular season standings, while also ensuring that only the truly strong teams can participate in international competitions. This format is invincible in the summer playoffs, but in the spring season, with only one spot available, it's just that this format is a bit ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the playoff group assignments and rankings are now completely clear.

The teams ranked from one to ten are TES, RNG, EDG, JDG, FPX, WE, RA, SN, iG, and LNG. The tournament adopts a progressive format from low to high. This means that TES, currently ranked first in the standings, only needs to play two rounds of matches regardless of the outcome. There are three possible outcomes: either they win the championship, they have to take a break, or they win the championship.

Based on this calculation, from a probability standpoint, they actually have a two-thirds chance of winning the championship.

It's really nice.

Because of the long schedule, Roland's daily life now consists of watching "Advanced Combat Records" and then getting wrecked in "Critical Contract". When he can't stand being wrecked anymore, he streams "Annihilation" (Chinese server) to calm down. Right now, he is happily playing ranked games and streaming on the Chinese server. Doinb from FPX is just as carefree as him.

Everyone's used to it.

[You've started working harder as the competition's broadcast date approaches, are you slacking off?]

[This guy's weird under pressure; the more tense everyone gets, the more outrageous his antics become.]

Is the support role really that easy? I still see this guy playing top lane in ranked games. Doesn't he need to practice support?

[Coincidentally, as long as the meta doesn't include enchanter supports, he really doesn't need to practice them. Besides, professional players definitely have extra things they practice, they just wouldn't stream it.]

To put it bluntly, it all comes down to grades.

If you have good results, there's no problem with your livestream; but if you don't, you'll inevitably face repercussions later. Roland understands all of this, but given the prevalent 1v9 environment in the Korean server, he does need a little buffer.

Nothing.

Kimchi is something that people from other countries can't understand in Chinese.

Even Chinese people can't understand Korean.

But the only thing that's conspicuous and easy to understand is English, which both sides can read, and that's really scary.

Moreover, no matter what, Roland, who had been poor before, would not give up on himself. In the current version of Earth Online, survival is extremely difficult and equipment inheritance is extremely difficult. Without the support of being a professional player, Roland would have virtually no chance of playing this game comfortably.

In particular, the price of ordinary buses varies depending on the city, performance, and power source, generally ranging from 30 to 80 yuan.

In some third-tier cities or relatively underdeveloped cities, ordinary city buses are used, and these buses generally cost around 60 to 80 yuan. In some first- and second-tier cities, due to improved technology, better bus performance, and greater environmental friendliness, many areas have switched to electric buses, so the price is relatively stable, but it still costs around 10 to 30 yuan.

It's fair to say that having your own means of transportation is a bit of a luxury on the journey of life.

Meanwhile, due to the arrival of the playoffs, the game version has successfully transitioned from version 11.5 to version 11.6, and the changes in this version are quite interesting.

In patch 11.6, all four junglers – Udyr, Hecarim, Lillia, and Olaf – were nerfed.

what does that mean?

This means that the jungler's potential has been weakened, and jungle carry heroes have been nerfed into obscurity. Let's think about it another way: originally, a lot of people were supporting the jungler because they were given resources, and the jungler could one-shot the boss. Now, we find that the jungler has become the main carry, so will the other lanes still support him?

Then I definitely won't raise them anymore.

Not only will they not support you, but you will also have to take care of the several "daddy" players online. You need to ensure your own development, keep up with the level and keep up with the damage from Smite, and also be able to do things when there are no jungle camps to farm, so that you don't just wander around in the jungle.

OK, JDG has fallen straight into the sewers.

RNG, who had already advanced to the top three in the LPL standings, has now climbed to the top with this change.

From the beginning until now, the designers have predicted every move Roland made. Last year's World Championship jungle and support meta, this year, just before MSI, they directly nerfed both positions. What a balancing monster.

Of course, with the version change, new problems have emerged within the TES team.

In the top lane, long-range champions like Jayce and Lucian are proud, while short-range champions like Ornn and Cho'Gath are their shields. Do you, A-Le, dare to play them?

The jungle meta has been drastically changed, essentially reverting to the EDG meta of S7 from a few years ago. Haro, do you still dare to face the old playstyle?

same.

With the support role increasingly weakened by the initiation and tanky support roles, whether Roland can prepare to meet the challenges posed by the designers is a question they must confront.

Thinking about this gave Roland a headache.

It was while he was watching the video and getting a headache that a familiar thought surfaced in his mind once again.

In the playoffs, the competition is about which team adapts to the new version the fastest. So the first priority is to familiarize themselves with the new version. However, TES only has a limited number of coaches and analysts. Players from other teams will definitely hide their progress as soon as they start exploring new things, preparing to strike them in the playoffs. They are unpredictable.

Then...why don't they just avoid hiring players from their own region?

Thinking of this, Roland's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He even excitedly shut down the live stream, pulled out his headphones, and ran towards the location of the white crescent moon, leaving behind a blank live stream room where hundreds of thousands of viewers were completely bewildered and had no idea what had happened.

-------------------------------------

"Sending scrim invitations to NA, EU, and other regions? I can understand NA and EU, but other regions... isn't that a bit unnecessary?" White Crescent's eyes lit up as he listened to Roland's opinion. The LCK next door was afraid that they would steal their skills, and the various teams in the LPL were also wary of their threat, but NA and EU were different.

They're not from the same region for the Intercontinental Cup.

This plan has potential!

"No problem. On the contrary, under the new version's tone, the more entertainment-oriented the competition area is, the greater the surprises it can bring us. It's like a cat; different people see it from different angles."

"For example?"

"For example, I've always felt that this thing is pretty eerie. When I was a child, I saw a black cat riding a motorcycle, holding a pistol, and shooting off a mouse's ear. I still remember it vividly to this day."

White crescent moon: ? ? ?

Confrontation: Chapter Two: Don't ask, the answer is no.

A few days later, the LPL playoffs officially began.

Unlike previous years, this year's LPL Spring Split playoffs have attracted a lot of attention because this year's season is different from last year's. According to official sources, this year's MSI will be held as scheduled, which means that the winning team will have the opportunity to compete abroad.

That changes the nature of the situation.

While infighting among family members can be entertaining, it's definitely more satisfying to torment foreign friends than torment them.

Since it's a team that's going to be seen by the world, fans naturally hope that the team that goes out to compete is the strongest. Based on this idea, the viewership of the playoffs has been increasing all the way, and it even seems to be having its Nth spring.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the current TES.

As usual, whenever there was a slightly bigger match, the entire TES club, from its official Weibo account to its players and analysts, chose to remain silent, not making a sound at all during the first half of the playoffs.

And within the TES club.

At this moment, Roland and his team were preparing to start a training match with the C9 team on the other side of the ocean. Although C9's record in that region was somewhat disappointing, it did not prevent them from learning about the other team's understanding of the version.

Top laner Fudge (Australian), an esports giant, is nearly 2 meters tall and has a strong physique. He is good at team-oriented heroes and his style is like his physique. Most of the time, he plays the role of a tank. Because of the height difference with another team, they were known as the tallest team in the LOL esports scene in their previous life.

Blaber (American), the 2020 LCS Spring Split MVP, has the best damage taken and teamfight participation rate in the entire LCS, and is the best in his position. He is the best of the best, the Silver Master in Iron. As for how strong he is?

Sorry, I don't usually watch LCS, so I didn't know.

Mid laner Perkz (Croatian), the only designated CJB (Croatian player) on the entire internet, who will eliminate a championship favorite every year if they enter the World Championship, the true soul of the former G2, the successor of the optimistic family, the first closed-door disciple of Twitter governance, when he plays well he plays incredibly well, when he plays badly he plays badly he plays badly he doesn't know what to do, a mysterious man.

The bot lane duo's names are too long to type out, but they're not important. They're nothing special, just a blue-collar AD carry and support. The only difference is that one is Danish and the other is Canadian.

After assembling the five nationality buffs, C9 has gradually become a key target for TES to observe.

Because they are so good at creating interesting and unconventional strategies, TES even developed two new junglers from their strategies, and what's even more outrageous is that their strength is actually quite good.

Since it's a custom game, both sides only have three ban slots.

Considering that both sides were testing out their lineups, TES simply banned a land, sea, and air composition, while C9 banned a Yordle three-item composition, and the two sides immediately began the draft phase.

Looking at the familiar ID on the opposing mid lane, Roland thought for a moment and said:

"Coach, um, could you...?"

"Don't ask, the answer is no."

Without any hesitation, White Crescent rejected Roland's advances. It wasn't that he didn't want to let Roland play dirty, but every time Roland tried to play dirty, it would end up with both sides acting inappropriately, wasting valuable training time. The LPL playoffs were already a third of the way through, and if they didn't catch up to the expected pace soon, they might be forced to fight fatigued in the playoffs.

Seeing that the white crescent moon wouldn't budge, Roland could only sigh helplessly and look back at the computer screen.

then:

TES: Morgana (first pick) + Sett and Tristana (second and third picks) + Jinx and Gragas

C9: Kai'Sa Udyr (first and second picks) + Crocodile Ryze (third and fourth picks) + Kennen

Yes, it's that outrageous.

During this period of continuous scrimmages, TES saw something else special: the core of patch 11.6 could be temporarily identified as how both sides would handle the champion options after Hecarim and Udyr were banned, and how the top lane would deal with the challenge of Gnar.

This training match is a test of the experiment's results.

"You know, it would be so much better if these designers didn't do so many unnecessary things. They could learn from our domestic advertisers and just state the main point. Why do they have to be so meticulous with every version update?" Roland has been exhausted lately. He has to play in training matches, follow up on version analysis after the matches, keep his teammates in good condition and mentality, and then find ways to deflect those inexplicable opinions on the internet.

Do you think it's easy for him to earn a living?

“Indeed, if it weren’t for your suggestion to play practice matches with other regions, there are some things that we might not have been able to discover from our perspective.”

It's undeniable that the Chinese version is usually decoded very quickly in ranked matches.

However, given the large population base at that time, if we disregard that aspect, we would find that professional thinking and perspectives were already limited by the item builds of those dozen or so heroes, with virtually no innovation.

Moreover, although the research and development is fast, it is subject to time constraints that can be gradually lifted. In other words, the initial speed is not fast, but the subsequent research and development is very rapid. Other regions (except the Korean server) are exactly the opposite.

"Therefore, I have reason to suspect that the designer is Thai."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Because only by being immersed in Thai advertising for many years can such a unique talent be cultivated."

The remaining four members of TES: ...