Chapter 409: Analyst Joins the Team

Tabe, Wang Baiqin, former professional player, debuted in IG during the S1 period, initially an AD player, later switched to support, joined Royal (RYL) alongside Uzi in the S2 season, is the first-generation dog consort, a commanding genius support, and his highest honor as a professional player was being the S season runner-up.

Not mentioning his black history during the S5 period, in later generations Tabe was called the domestic first coach, his fame was considerable, and his ability was indeed not bad.

Liang Yan had some understanding of this person.

If I remember correctly, in the original history, Tabe at this time should have been coaching a decent team in the LMS region, and the team name seemed to be… HKA?

Seems to be that, a team from Hong Kong.

Moreover, they advanced to the S7 World Championship qualifier, but failed to qualify for the main event.

Liang Yan could recall this team, which proves that HKA's strength in the LMS region is still fairly strong, at least an upper-middle tier team.

Serving as HKA's head coach would be a decent job.

Especially since Tabe is still a newcomer to the coaching position, he should really buckle down, lead the team to achieve something to prove himself.

How could he show up here now?

Although the analyst position is also important, in terms of career advancement it is obviously far less impactful than the head coach role.

When a team achieves results, looking at individuals, the direct beneficiaries are naturally the players; a player's market value is directly tied to performance, and after the players comes whoever appears on various lists and, in most cases, takes responsibility for in-game BP—the team's head coach.

After that come the behind-the-scenes training staff, such as analysts and various assistant coaches.

Turning down a head coach position at a top-tier league upper-division team to come to VG as an obscure analyst…… Liang Yan really couldn't figure out what Tabe intended.

While Liang Yan was puzzled, after a brief introduction, Tabe stepped forward and extended his hands toward Liang Yan.

"Hello hello, Jiao Shen, I've long admired your name. To be frank, I came to VG just to learn from you; it's an honor to work with you!"

Now Liang Yan understood.

What a fellow, turns out he actually came for me!

Tabe's expression was a bit stiff; at a glance he didn't seem to like proactively warmly making acquaintances, but being willing to lower his stance in front of someone is itself a sign of respect. Obviously, Tabe clearly knows who the team's boss is, and he's also quite frank, coming straight to the point……

"Not worthy, not worthy……"

Liang Yan shook hands with Tabe, after a few modest remarks directly voiced his doubt:

"By the way, you weren't coaching at HKA before, were you?"

This question was also what Zhu Xiaolong wanted to ask.

The previous two days, Gao Jun came over with a résumé sheet to ask for his opinion; the sheet contained the data comparison of the three analyst candidates, and Zhu Xiaolong saw Tabe in it. Afterwards Zhu Xiaolong looked him up and learned that Tabe had signed a contract with HKA in January this year.

The other team members were equally curious; regarding Tabe, this LPL veteran support, they had heard of him, and even had match records against him.

Tabe, hearing this, smiled somewhat embarrassedly:

"Yes, for the past two months I was coaching at HKA, but it expired when the fourth round of the regular season ended."

Everyone was surprised; can it really be like that?

Zhu Xiaolong, who is a coach, however had an expression of sudden realization.

Simply put, when a coach signs a contract with a team, there are far fewer restrictions than for players, and the rules Riot sets for coach contracts are relatively lenient. In a nutshell, how long a coach's contract with a team lasts is entirely up to both parties' wishes. Moreover, coaches face almost no restrictions regarding transfers and renewals, which leads to situations across major regions where, during the regular season, a team's coach suddenly disappears or gets swapped; viewers unfamiliar with the scene might find it bizarre, but within the industry it's actually quite common.

Tabe then said:

"Originally I planned to renew with HKA, but last week Manager Gao approached me, saying this side lacked an analyst. After thinking it over, I felt that with Jiao Shen at VG, development would surely be better, so I didn't renew with HKA……"

It's only natural for people to seek higher ground; there's nothing blameworthy about that.

Tabe candidly answered Liang Yan's doubts, and quickly gained acceptance from the entire VG team; the training room originally had two vacant spots, the computers were already there, so Zhu Xiaolong on the spot assigned one to Tabe, and that evening Gao Jun hosted a dinner to welcome Tabe's arrival as a simple gesture.

Starting the next day, Tabe quickly dove into his role, beginning to take on some training-related work. Thus, Tabe can be considered officially onboard.

And the small missing piece in VG's roster was also filled in.

Of course, Liang Yan's status and speaking rights in the team will not be affected in any way by having an extra analyst, whether on stage or off; his absolute core position in VG is unshakable by anyone.

Otherwise, Lu Wenjun, who would have emptied VG's coffers for this, would be the first to object.

And as VG's performance became increasingly impressive, Liang Yan's value to the team became ever more fully demonstrated.

Of course, with Tabe's addition, Liang Yan's work also became much easier.

At least now he no longer needs to devote part of his training time to studying opponent footage; meanwhile, although Tabe only has a high school education, as a person from a scholarly Hong Kong family his English is quite good—otherwise he wouldn't have been invited by Riot to be a guest on the S season English commentary desk—so thereafter the tasks of browsing and organizing foreign online materials and updating the English version of Riot's official website can be handed over to Tabe.

Moreover, what an analyst can do goes far beyond that.

Purely speaking of professional ability, Liang Yan believes Tabe is absolutely not inferior to Tang Anna, whom he previously worked with at G2, and Tabe might even be stronger; however, Tabe is still new to this job, so he definitely lacks experience.

Moreover, Tang Anna has now been promoted to team head coach; with the help of Liang Yan's 'gift,' her growth will likely be even faster.

Overall, Liang Yan is still quite satisfied with the analyst that Gao Jun poached.

With the team's organization improving, he believes VG's overall strength will also advance to a new level at a faster pace.

Thus, the day after Tabe joined the team, the LPL battle reignited, and the spring regular season cross-group confrontation segment officially kicked off.