Chapter 21: My G2's

There are still two days until the summer season starts.

The entire G2 team entered the tense pre-match preparation phase, with Ka Lao Si everywhere arranging scrimmages, filling the players' schedules with practice games.

Lao Zhang played scrimmages to sync with the team while also doing 'recovery' training.

Liang Yan racked his brain recalling several popular top laners from the S6 Summer Season, secretly told Lao Zhang to find time to practice them, while he himself pondered the new patch and worked hard to improve his relationships with teammates, gradually increasing his presence to pave the way for future 'control'.

Occasionally he would also be sent by Ka Lao Si to play a practice match; such opportunities were rare, so Liang Yan tried to perform perfectly in each game (meaning: trying to crush opponents to show himself).

He did this because Liang Yan wanted to be the big brother within the team.

This is also necessary.

Now this G2 team, just with this starting lineup, already has the strength to charge into the S6 quarterfinals:

As for the mid laner AP, needless to say, even if he switched positions later he could lead the team to dominate Europe and even win an MSI championship; although he often goes off-track, his ability is flawless.

The duo poached from OG were the semifinals of last year's S Series, and their floor is also secured.

The jungle position is just a bit lacking.

CyanideFI hasn't played a match in a long time, so his strength has surely declined severely, but Liang Yan has already reserved his starting spot, so this legendary elder just needs to be a decoration.

The top lane is truly hopeless.

Expect is the team's genuine breakthrough.

However, with the mid and bot double C double C propping things up, it won't be too bad; this starting lineup can easily reach the S6 quarterfinals, and with Liang Yan added, we can even push for the finals.

But wanting to go further and win the championship would be difficult.

So Liang Yan brought Lao Zhang over, planning to train him hands‑on to fill this gap.

How things will turn out in the future is uncertain, but ultimately it's up to people; even if they can't win the championship in the end, a newcomer being able to pull a new team to that height would be enough for Liang Yan to make a name for himself.

By then Liang Yan will want to take a good look at those LPL powerhouses that didn't even reply to his emails, to see what expression they'll have.

Getting revenge like this is really satisfying.

Liang Yan is already a bit impatient, his mind wanders even while playing ranked.

It seems the LPL summer season has already started?

Liang Yan searched online.

Sure enough, the LPL summer regular season began on the 26th of last month.

But the region that kicked off earliest worldwide is not the LPL.

The LCK started one day earlier than the LPL, firing the first shot of the summer season; Liang Yan even glanced at it that day—the opening match was Dragon Pearl (LZ) versus AFs, which was somewhat worth watching.

The EU's opening day is June 2.

Coincidentally, it's likely Riot arranged it on purpose, with the first match being G2 versus OG.

At this point it's already past six in the evening on June 1.

There are about 22 hours left until the start.

Ka Lao Si said last night that he had hired an analyst for everyone, supposedly a woman, but she hasn't arrived yet.

Right now Ka Lao Si is sitting alone in the coach's seat, pulling his hair while looking at the screen, probably considering tomorrow's tactical lineup.

Pulling his hair takes quite some effort.

Ka Lao Si's hair isn't very thick to begin with; Liang Yan watched with trepidation, truly afraid he'd pull his own hair bald.

But it's impossible for Liang Yan to go over and help—let alone that his current status isn't enough; even if Ka Lao Si would listen, Liang Yan wouldn't give him any reminder.

Saying this sounds a bit spiteful, but Liang Yan genuinely hopes G2 loses tomorrow's match.

Otherwise, how would he get a chance to play?

If one doesn't look out for oneself, heaven and earth will destroy them—so let's be a petty person just this once.

Liang Yan reined in his wandering thoughts and brought his focus back to the current match.

What he's playing is European server ranked.

Counting from the day he got the account, it's been exactly a week; because it's a special account with very high hidden rating, he has now climbed to the Champion tier.

He plays on the European server because the vast majority of European players are here, and Liang Yan wants to further familiarize himself with the atmosphere of this region.

Actually, after playing two practice matches against S04, Liang Yan already has a sense of how strong this region is.

These days in ranked he's also run into many opponents with pro IDs; after several encounters, Liang Yan can't give a good evaluation, only saying that this EU, one of the four major regions, has a lot of water.

For Liang Yan, European server ranked is basically like fishing no matter the game; the opponents probably sense it too, as people often ask him which team he jungles for.

Liang Yan didn't hide it either, straightforwardly saying 'I'm from G2.'

The questioner was instantly astonished:

【Ohhh! CyanideFI! I'm your fan!】

Liang Yan was rather speechless, thinking, 'Did you guys forget G2 still has a jungler?'

But he was too lazy to correct them, so he let those people keep their misunderstanding.

Then rumors spread that CyanideFI's comeback status was godlike; CyanideFI also saw these remarks online and felt it was very strange.

After joining the team these past few days, CyanideFI's training has consisted only of playing practice matches, occasionally watching videos to learn, and he hasn't touched ranked at all.

So he's puzzled, wondering how these rumors came about.

……

After dinner, G2's practice match against UOL continued.

Liang Yan then played two more European server ranked games; he was really getting sleepy, so he quit the European server, opened the Korean client, and prepared to play two higher‑intensity games to perk up.

Just as he queued up for a match, Lao Zhang rolled his chair over:

"Hey Liang Yan, I feel something's off."

Lao Zhang deliberately lowered his voice, his face showing an uncertain, doubtful expression.

He had just finished a practice match.

Today he played a total of 8 training matches, overall performance was okay, now Ka Lao Si let him come down to rest, swap Expect in.

Liang Yan heard that and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Lao Zhang hesitated a moment, turned his head to look at teammates who had already started the next match's BP, looking like he wanted to speak but stopped, as if he had something hard to say.

Liang Yan, however, understood at a glance.

Because he was like that when he first arrived these past two days.

"Do you feel the intensity is a bit low?"

Liang Yan asked with a smile.

Lao Zhang glanced at him in surprise, then nodded:

"You feel the same way?"

"I've noticed it for a while."

Liang Yan glanced at the teammates, patted Lao Zhang on the shoulder:

"Let's talk about it later."

Lao Zhang nodded, returned to his seat with a face full of joy, then couldn't help but glance at Liang Yan again, unable to keep the smile from his lips.

Although Liang Yan didn't say it outright, Lao Zhang's suspicion was confirmed.

The professional intensity here is indeed low.

At least compared to the LPL, it's not on the same level.

In fact, Lao Zhang had already sensed this during yesterday's tryout.

At that time, he had just gotten off the plane, his mental state was poor, he couldn't focus at all, yet he still easily crushed his opponent online.

"How can he be so bad?"

Lao Zhang back then also felt embarrassed to say it, only assuming the other side wasn't playing seriously.

However, after these eight training matches today, from laning to the whole game, the intensity hasn't changed much compared to yesterday!