Chapter 442: Battle Day

The two promotion/relegation matches ended, and the spots for the LPL Summer Split were also set.

GT and Snake will disappear from the LPL Summer Split stage; the spots they vacate will be taken by the LSPL Spring Split champion team Suning (SNG) and DAN, which earned promotion by winning the promotion/relegation matches.

The heated online debate sparked by Snake's relegation continued to ferment, and various big and small pieces of sensational news began circulating online, such as claims that the promotion/relegation system would be abolished, that big capital was about to enter the scene, that many teams would be bought out, and so on.

Amid this lively atmosphere, VG, which had been watching from the half‑area champion's seat for a week, was also about to face its first playoff match.

Moreover, the global regional playoffs were in full swing, and today was a time when key matches were concentrated.

Liang Yan glanced at the schedule; aside from his own match against WE, there were three best‑of‑five series worth watching today.

The first match was the LPL semifinal; the Pig‑Dog Battle kicked off the curtain on Battle Day, scheduled for 2 p. m.

Next was the LCK final, which began around 4 p. m.

Then at 6 p. m. VG played WE.

Finally, around 11 p. m. late at night, the Europe third‑place match began.

Although the Europe third‑place match did not feature G2, the team Liang Yan cared about most, it did have the Miracle Squad MSF—the rabbit team that had nearly beaten SKT in S7 in the timeline Liang Yan had experienced—and for this legendary squad, Liang Yan remained quite interested.

Moreover, it was not impossible that he himself would encounter MSF in S7; even though Liang Yan knew MSF's near‑victory over SKT in S7 came from a clever trick, the trick was merely superficial—if MSF lacked genuine skill, such a trick would be just flashy showmanship, and to truly gauge an opponent's real strength, this kind of high‑intensity match was the best research material.

……

The venue for the LPL semifinal remained Zhengda Guangchang; since VG's base was in Shanghai, they naturally needed no advance preparation, so the team kept playing practice matches against KT, who had been sharpening their blades before the final, until around 2 p. m., when KT requested a truce and went offline to prepare for the final.

After all, they had spent a season playing practice matches together; even without friendship, they could be considered old acquaintances, and everyone in VG unreservedly sent their wishes, hoping KT could break the curse of being the perennial runner‑up and win a championship.

KT then took VG's blessings and went to prepare for the showdown against SKT, while VG, with time still early, had no need to rush to the stadium; after Zhu Xiaolong announced free time, everyone went their own way—scrolling forums, listening to music, or taking a nap—in short, each had their own means of relaxing.

Liang Yan's mood remained calm as usual; he felt no need to deliberately relax, so he opened the LPL livestream and happened to see both teams' players appear.

Tabe silently pulled over a chair, sat beside Liang Yan, and opened the conversation:

"The Pig‑Dog Battle—online, it seems more people predict RNG will win."

"Normal."

Liang Yan smiled and said,

"If it were right after last year's World Championship, more people might have supported EDG, but now the two sides are about equal……

Originally, right after S6 ended, EDG's reputation was somewhat better; although Changzhang had produced world‑famous memes at the World Championship like 4396, Horse‑Flying Arrow, and Why Not Ult, netizens later calmed down and could understand—Changzhang was getting older, so occasional slip‑ups were normal, and player issues wouldn't affect the whole of EDG.

Meanwhile, a series of incidents caused by RNG's manager Sanshao—including being swept 0‑3 by G2 and getting mercilessly mocked—had caused RNG's popularity to plummet, with half its fans fleeing; a sober calculation showed the loss was even worse than EDG's.

Yet nobody expected that EDG would soon stir up a big controversy shortly after the spring began.

The Blitzkrieg Poland incident was truly disgraceful; EDG lost far more fans in this wave than RNG did.

Meanwhile, RNG this season shouted the slogan of an all‑Chinese lineup; even though everyone knew it was a commercial move, many viewers were still willing to buy into the sentiment, so RNG regained a large wave of support.

As a result of this give‑and‑take, EDG's popularity ended up lower than RNG's.

After the ban/pick phase, the live cheering from both sides' fans clearly reflected this gap, with the noise generated by RNG's fans being noticeably louder.

And in the real‑time audience support data, RNG led EDG by a wide margin of 70 % to 30 %.

Tabe shook his head and said with a sigh:

"But I think RNG will find it hard to win; EDG knows RNG too well. The dream of an all‑Chinese lineup winning the championship is beautiful, but achieving great results is difficult, especially this year."

Liang Yan turned his head slightly in surprise to look at Tabe, and indeed wanted to hear the opinion of this person who would later be hailed as the first domestically produced coach.

"How would you say that latter part?"

Tabe hadn't expected Liang Yan to be interested in this topic; he felt a pleasant surprise, thought it over seriously, and began his analysis point by point:

"One reason is that our domestic esports industry started too late; strictly speaking, I believe China's esports industry only truly got underway after the LPL league was established, and it has only gradually grown alongside the LPL's development.

"We've only had a few years, whereas in South Korea the legal framework related to esports is already highly refined, the whole esports industry has become industrialized, and its professional level far exceeds ours.

"Even setting other things aside, just in the cultivation of youth‑training players we are far behind them—we really lag by a lot.

"In this situation, saying we should field an all‑Chinese lineup might work for playing in the LPL, but trying to compete at an international tournament would be extremely hard. What's worse, our youth‑training can't keep up, because the promotion/relegation system puts huge pressure on everyone—who dares to boldly bring in newcomers? But if newcomers aren't practiced, they can't rise, which is a real headache.

Tabe shook his head, sighed once, and said no more.

After listening, Liang Yan showed a thoughtful expression.

"You mean the promotion/relegation system should be abolished?"

"I didn't say that!"

Tabe wasn't sure whether Liang Yan was livestreaming; after experiencing the S5 incident, he had become extremely sensitive to speaking in front of a camera, to the point of being somewhat jumpy.

Liang Yan smiled and did not pursue the question further.

Whether the promotion/relegation system should be abolished—this question, placed in the present, admits of no doubt: it must be abolished, otherwise capital dare not enter the scene, teams dare not nurture youth‑training, and the matches would just keep recycling the same few playstyles and champions, with nobody daring to try something new.

However, in later times, this decision by Tengjing (the esports authority) drew criticism.

But in Liang Yan's view, as long as League of Legends maintains its popularity, those problems that draw criticism are not actually problems.