Chapter 45: TSM wants to scrim with us

At this moment, Ka Lao Si finally understood what it meant to suffer from happiness.

They had originally agreed to a three-day training match, but it ended after only half a day.

With two days left, where am I supposed to find a substitute?

The Europe Region originally didn't have many teams, and any team with a bit of skill that could be arranged has already been booked; the schedule is set, other teams are in a similar situation, and if we suddenly say we want to move it up two days, they definitely won't agree.

The two teams we haven't booked yet,

FNC and G2 already show signs of being bitter rivals; even if Ka Lao Si puts on a thick face and calls them, the other side might not even answer.

And there's SPY, which is set to face G2 soon; scheduling a practice match now would be inappropriate—if the two teams really tried to hold an intense scrim in the days before the tournament, the organizers would send someone down to check if you're trying to fix the match.

Training matches are conducted on the official match client; even if someone Alt+F4s mid-game, the staff will manually record it, and this itself is part of the organizers' anti-match-fixing and gambling measures.

Moreover, even if we give it ten thousand steps, looking at the current situation, SPY might not be able to withstand Liang Yan's domination, and would probably also be over in half a day...

Today's VIT is already third in the spring season; logically they shouldn't be getting crushed like this by our own kids...

Ka Lao Si couldn't help but glance at Liang Yan a few more times.

This kid is being too ruthless.

And he still says he's going easy...

Within the first five minutes he had already ganked all three lanes!

You call that going easy?!

Well, now nobody wants to play with us...

Ka Lao Si was worrying.

Tang Anna's voice suddenly sounded:

"Want to try contacting teams from other regions?"

She sat at her workstation, waved her phone at everyone, and added:

"TSM wants to scrim with us."

Everyone was startled.

Holy crap, a North American team actually came to us on their own?

"How could they..."

Ka Lao Si looked at Tang Anna half-believing, half-doubting.

"I know their coach."

Tang Anna said lightly, without further explanation.

Ka Lao Si, being savvy, didn't ask further— in this line of work, who doesn't have a couple of contacts only they know about on their phone?

"Are you sure we can book them?"

"No problem."

Tang Anna nodded firmly.

Then she gave Liang Yan a meaningful look and continued:

"If you think TSM isn't strong enough, I can also try contacting two LCK teams, but I can't guarantee success."

"You have LCK connections too?!"

Ka Lao Si was startled.

Wow, she's got quite the background—I underestimated her before.

By the way, is Anna's salary maybe a bit low?

Let's give her a bonus next month...

Ka Lao Si pondered to himself. Tang Anna didn't directly answer his question, only saying:

"Those two teams are both very strong, so the requirements for a practice opponent are relatively high; my suggestion is to first get a good regular-season record before reaching out, which would increase the chances of success."

Top-tier teams won't play with trash, and Ka Lao Si certainly knows the unspoken rules of these circles; having TSM as a backup has already put his mind at ease, and he was about to tell Tang Anna to keep the LCK option open and first contact TSM——

Suddenly, some empty-headed person raised a hand:

"Coach, I... I actually know a few Vietnamese team members... I mean, they're all professional teams from the Wildcard Region, and they're... not weak."

The speaker turned out to be the team's substitute support, Yudie; he stumbled through his words, and his youthful wheat-toned face flushed slightly.

Liang Yan looked over, somewhat surprised.

Just by looking at Yudie's face you could tell he's Southeast Asian, but Liang Yan only now learned he's Vietnamese; he's probably not an import, and various signs suggest Yudie is more like a local Asian who moved west with his family a few years ago, possibly becoming a lonely otaku due to school discrimination, only finding companionship in games, then accidentally discovering he had talent for playing rough, so he was sent to try pro regardless of outcome, and if it didn't work out he'd go home to inherit the family business... roughly speaking.

But this guy's presence within the team is really low.

In Liang Yan's impression, Yudie was only active for a few days before OG's bot lane duo joined; after Zven and Mithy joined, he immediately became a nobody.

However, as coach, Ka Lao Si should have been keeping an eye on Yudie all along.

However, when Yudie said he could also help contact Vietnamese teams, Ka Lao Si didn't show surprise, as if it were expected; and even though Yudie had mustered the courage to say he could contact strong teams in the Wildcard Region, Ka Lao Si just smiled and waved his hand:

"Great, thanks Xiao Yu, but we don't need it for now; I'll let you know if we do later, okay?"

Just as many in the LPL look down on the Ou Mei region, as the coach of the top team in the Europe Region, whether intentionally or not, Ka Lao Si likewise holds a certain degree of contempt for the Wildcard Region.

Moreover, the reasons are even more substantial.

Because the LPL was still being crushed by Europe at last year's S tournament, while his G2, although they played terribly in the just-concluded MSI, had never lost to a Wildcard team.

Those two points in the 2-8 record were precisely taken from Wildcard teams.

By the way, the Vietnam region at this time is called the Vietnam Championship Series A, i. e., VCS. A.

VCSA is not an independent region; it's a secondary league under the Southeast Asia Region (GPL).

Only in the S8 season did VCS, thanks to its outstanding Worlds performance, finally split from the Southeast Asia Region to become an independent top-tier league.

Now Vietnam doesn't even have its own independent region—how strong could a team from this backwater possibly be?

This is a stereotype held by people from all four major regions.

So Ka Lao Si subconsciously turned down Yudie's kindness.

However, he received some hints.

Even a minor assistant has their own network—wouldn't others?

Ka Lao Si stood with hands on hips, looking around at everyone:

"What about you—do you have any teams you can get in touch with?"

"Come on, everyone, show some initiative! The time to earn merit has arrived! Whoever can get in touch with a suitable training unit will receive an extra 500 next month!"

Five hundred euros is not a small sum either.

Liang Yan jabbed Lao Zhang with his elbow.

This is undoubtedly a good opportunity to solidify one's standing within the team; Lao Zhang, at least, is a well-known big streamer, and who knows—he might even be able to connect with domestic teams.

Lao Zhang instantly got it and started racking his brains.

Soon enough, he actually came up with a connection.