Chapter 190: Global BP

After the annual festival, there was originally a Demacia Cup as the closing battle of the year, which is also the "touchstone battle" for new teams.

Several strong teams including V5, BLG, WBG, Top Esports, etc., all sent news that they were ready to appear with a full-strength lineup.

And this Demacia Cup can be called a historical "reform," adopting the "Global BP" mode with the LCK region's KeSPA Cup, which is called the most anticipated Demacia Cup.

Speaking of "Global BP," this is actually not uncommon in other MOBA competitions.

Simply summarized: "In a BO3 or BO5 game, regardless of enemy or self, as long as it is chosen, it will be defaulted to be banned and cannot appear in the next game."

For example.

If a player chooses Aatrox in the first game, it will be defaulted to be banned by the system in the second game, and no one can use it, and it doesn't need to occupy a ban position.

If BO5 is full—in one game, at least 50 different heroes will appear!

Compared to now, a BO5 game might just be choosing those ten or so heroes back and forth, directly adding five or six times the possibilities!

Whether it is the viewing quality of the competition or the imagination space, there will be earth-shaking changes.

Just look at the S12 competition.

Top lane Aatrox Gnar, jungle Sejuani Viego Maokai, mid lane Azir Seeing Akali Sylas, bottom lane Aphelios Jin Kesi Sivir, support Yuumi Renata...

Barrage viewers who watch the game can choose heroes if they go on stage!

Really speaking, Riot had this idea long ago. After all, there are quite a few "successful cases of other games" that can be borrowed, which is obviously able to increase the viewing quality of the competition.

It's just that, to rashly reform the traditional competition system that has existed for twelve years is definitely an extremely risky challenge.

It means unknown to the official, players, and audience.

But the promotion of this reform has to start from the LCK region!

The management personnel of the LCK league are bitter.

From the S8 season to this year's S12 season, the neighboring region has won four championships in five years, and the entire region is shrouded in huge haze from top to bottom!

S10's DWG finally managed to pull back a city, and LCK also took advantage of the trend to carry out "alliance," which is equivalent to officially changing to "commercial operation," and attached great importance to data such as competition viewing.

But this year's disastrous defeat has already caused a significant shock in the region!

Many voices appeared in major Korean forums: saying that no one would watch the new LCK season even if they were dogs!

The problem is that the overall strength of the region and the so-called genius players cannot appear out of thin air overnight.

The championship is not a result that anyone can control.

—Is there any way to improve "ratings"?

Yes.

The league management personnel thought of: "Improve the viewing quality of the competition" move!

If the competition is good enough, naturally someone will watch it, this is certain.

So the management personnel quickly submitted an application to the official, wanting to use their own off-season KeSPA Cup to try the "Global BP" competition system to see the feedback from the regional audience.

Riot is naturally very happy.

With LCK willing to use itself as an experiment, even if the feedback is not good in the end, it can't be blamed on the official.

And the LPL region heard about this.

As a "dead rival," they naturally didn't want to fall behind, and immediately followed up, also using their own competition-level Demacia Cup to try.

At the same time, the European and American regions, which are also "four major regions," watched the excitement and didn't think it was a big deal. Anyway, it was a secondary competition, and they immediately followed up to try.

This move made the secondary competitions that were usually not paid much attention to by major regions have great limelight and quite high attention!

What is a pity is.

Because on December 8, 2022, China officially announced the lifting of the epidemic control that lasted for three years, entering the era of comprehensive unblocking.

And it was during the first wave of concentrated outbreaks, several LPL teams immediately reported that everyone was recruited, including Top Esports, who had specially returned home early in the top 16 for personal safety, also all recruited on the eve of the Demacia Cup.

V5 was all normal.

However, He Youjun was really worried about the big treasures in the team. Once they were recruited, it would inevitably affect the truly important Spring Split later.

Finally, after communication and exchange with the players.

Everyone made a unified decision to give up participating in the Demacia Cup, which was not so important.

For the V5 members, the only regret was that they couldn't test this lineup on the field in advance—after all, no matter what tactics and lineups, they can only test their true level on the field.

Still that sentence, training matches only have reference value.

As for Ye Bo's regret.

Besides missing a chance to compete for the trophy, he was actually quite interested in this "Global BP"...

Soon, the Demacia Cup and KeSPA Cup started fighting.

After a week of fighting.

The Demacia Cup was finally won by 【BLG】, which appeared with a full-strength lineup.

The KeSPA Cup was won by 【HLE】, which appeared with a full-strength lineup.

And the unexpected result is—the four major regions, almost without exception, received good reviews!

Except for a few traditionalists who don't like change.

The vast majority of new and old audiences all expressed unified praise for the "Global BP" competition system!

The reason is nothing else, the audience only looks at the final presentation result.

Indeed, it is good to watch.

In the secondary competitions of major regions, even unpopular heroes like top lane Olaf, Riven, jungle Rengar, Ivern, mid lane Zed, Talon, etc., appeared!

Isn't this better to watch than 8 out of 10 games being Jin Kesi vs Aphelios?

And if it is a traditional competition system, these unpopular heroes, unless they eat some huge version bonus, why would they have a chance to appear?

Only under this competition system, everything is possible.

Riot official was very surprised by the opinions collected.

But Riot also quickly realized that perhaps this is a once-in-a-lifetime reform opportunity!

After all, the result is what they want to see.

The design team makes so many repeated adjustments every year, the ultimate goal is to let more heroes appear on the competition field.

Even within Riot, there is a "KPI indicator"—using the number of heroes appearing in the World Championship every year to evaluate the annual assessment of the balance team.

Finally.

After an all-night discussion by Riot's senior management, a conclusion was reached.

On the second night after the Demacia Cup and KeSPA Cup ended, Riot Games released an official announcement on the official media accounts of various regions:

【Riot Games: For a brighter future】

【We have received feedback from global audiences on the new rules of various regions, and encourage major regions to use the "Double-sided Fearless Draft" mode during the Spring Split stage. For whether subsequent international competitions this year will continue to use it, we will also continue to receive feedback from players】

Once this announcement was issued, the entire League of Legends esports circle was shaken!

Netizens also responded fiercely.

【Change! Is a good thing!】

【I super! Nong! Nong is really right!】

【Demacia Cup looks cool, support, it's best if S-series can also use it, I really have watched Azir vs Orianna for almost ten years】

【I don't approve! The ancestral law cannot be changed! This is not as good as going back to S3, the fifth game self-selection reproduces the battle of double Zed】

【Mixed joy and worry, feel the professional players are under a bit of pressure, the biggest drawback should be that when playing to the fourth or fifth game, many underworld scenes may appear.】

【The mixed ones should get out! MD, playing professionally earns millions or tens of millions a year, you tell me you can only play three or four heroes? Can only say that if there are players eliminated by this competition system, they should have rolled far away long ago!】

The audience held their own opinions.

After all, it was just an experiment in secondary competitions, and no one knows what the effect will be when it goes to the first-line main competition and in the hands of those strong teams.

But all professional players are truly "some are happy and some are sad" about this competition system.

Especially some of the famous "Pokéball-type players."

Can only say.

Only when the tide recedes can you know who is swimming naked.

After the Demacia Cup, there was also the first "Weibo Cup," which adopted an "invitation system" to bring major LPL teams to participate.

And it also used the Global BP mode.

Since this competition is an "online competition," V5 was very willing to participate and wanted to practice soldiers.

But the Weibo Cup, as the name suggests—is a competition held by the Weibo gold master behind WBG.

And this competition... actually didn't send an invitation to V5, which clearly had huge traffic!

Even when V5 operations personnel took the initiative to visit and expressed their desire to participate, they were politely told "Sorry, the competition spots are full."

Of course, not only V5, JDG and Top Esports were also not invited.

Finally, no accident. 【190-

WBG, a completely rebuilt team, has won the championship of the Weibo Cup!

WBG's only "opponent" in the Weibo Cup was BLG.

This year, WBG brought in former DWG and former T1 coach Daeny to serve as the head coach of this luxury battleship.

I have to say, at least in the Weibo Cup, they really did look like they had been reborn.

Daeny seemed to have plenty of room to maneuver under the global draft format, frequently using unconventional tactics, battling BLG for five games, and finally winning to secure the trophy!

And this WBG's top and mid from Incheon, combined with Karsa, the old V5 mid-jungle, plus the bot lane of Gala and Liu Qingsong, the old RNG and FPX foundation.

The traffic was visibly explosive!

The Anti-League forum affectionately calls this WBG: 【The All-God Squad】.

It can almost be said that they are the team with traffic and attention levels on par with V5 for the new season, perhaps even higher!

This is also understandable.

After all, if you really had to name a "traffic player" on V5, at most there is only Ye Bo.

【This is our All-God Squad! Invincible!】

【Oh? You almost flipped over against a predetermined champion, and you're the "invincible" team that even those galaxy battleships don't dare to call themselves?】

【How bold! Who are you calling a roadside invitee!】

【Brother Bin, why have you already lost the solo tournament + team tournament + Weibo Cup before the spring season has even started? Didn't the BB space say you were going to win the championship this year? Is he lying to us!】

【Don't be biased, isn't the Demacia Cup championship a championship?】

【Our All-God Squad is aiming for S13 this year. If BLG can play a 3-2 against our All-God Squad, with a little adjustment, we at least have the strength of a runner-up!】

【Stop the nonsense, Brother Bin said no adjustments are needed at all. WBG is just taking advantage of the global draft bonus. Maybe there won't be a global draft by the time the World Championship patch hits! Let's see if we don't mess you up then!】

With the Weibo Cup over, the Spring Season officially enters the countdown.

All the team players have also started to get busy.

In addition to nervously preparing for this brand-new, subversive tournament format, they also need to cooperate with the officials for various promotional material shoots for the new season.

A thick competitive atmosphere has already begun to permeate.

And when it came time to shoot the promotional photos, many "invisible changes" began to appear.

Average players just snap a few photos and call it a day.

But Ye Bo, under the director's firm demands, stubbornly posed in over a dozen different ways, and was also asked to make "cool," "optimistic," "mocking," "smiling," and other expressions.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was auditioning for an actor!

When it came to shooting the promotional video, it was even more obvious—Tencent Games intends to establish Ye Bo as the benchmark for the new generation of the region.

In almost every shot involving "three or more people," he is in the center C-position.

From the perspective of Tencent Games' senior management, this is natural and logical.

Although old traffic players like TheShy, Rookie, and JKL are still around, they are visibly at the end of their careers.

They are far from being as "promising" as the just-turned-18 Ye Bo.

But, if you stand from the perspective of the fans of these old traffic players.

They are becoming increasingly unhappy!

Isn't it just a championship?

My idol has one too! What's so great about it!

As it happens.

The Spring Season schedule has been officially announced—the first opening match is 【WBG vs V5】!

Weibo, Tieba, and Xiaohongshu have been arguing for a week, giving sharp reviews of the tiers of each team for the new season.

It also adds a lot of heat to this match, which was already destined to be the center of attention.

【To be fair, V5 can only be ranked third at most in the new season ratings, right? Ye Wen's signature champions have no draft advantage at all!】

【Ranking third is no problem, but I want to ask, who exactly is ranked second and first—can you let their mid laner come out and say something?】

【Knight, Rookie, Scout, Yagao, Xiaohu: "Damn it, can you fans stop dragging me into your bragging? You're not the ones being liquidated!"】

【Rational analysis: JDG, V5, WBG are in the first tier; BLG, TES, LNG are in the second tier; EDG is barely in the third tier? The rest are just pure trash!】

【Let you fanboys be proud for a while longer! Wait for the opening match, and we'll show you what the All-God Squad is!!!】

Regarding the upcoming Spring Season opening match and the brand-new tournament format.

The V5 members were not too nervous or anxious.

Top laner Flandre was originally the first-generation inventor, researching various technologies, even before TheShy.

As a veteran, "champion pool accumulation" has always been his strength.

Needless to say, the two young junglers have always been under huge competitive pressure, so they are definitely more self-disciplined than anyone else.

And Ye Bo is the person least resistant to practicing new heroes.

Although it is not hard to foresee that he will definitely be the biggest "target" in this tournament format.

Ye Bo is still somewhat excited and expectant.

As for the bot lane, Deft's situation is similar to Flandre's. It's hard to say if he has anything particularly invincible—but there are definitely no shortcomings in his champion pool!

The only one who is slightly uncomfortable is Beryl.

After all, this guy has always been known for "meditation training." Once this tournament format is implemented, he must also increase his training volume to practice more heroes.

But the most critical thing is.

Up to now, this V5 lineup has not yet been verified by the competitive stage.

Including V5's supporters, and even the players themselves, they are all a bit unsure.

Except for Ye Bo.

He is as super confident as ever!

Because he firmly believes that their team is a very good team, and even though they are still in the adjustment phase, they have already produced quite a few chemical reactions.

The eve of the opening match.

Ye Bo, who finished the last training match, stood up to pump up his teammates.

"Invincible, brothers! Just play like this!"

"The first MVP tomorrow treats us to a meal~~~"

Flandre leaned on his shoulder and joked with a smile: "It's over, even the most steady Master Ye is popping champagne. Why do I have a premonition that there are flags everywhere behind me?"

Xun, who is the starter, jokingly raised his hand: "Uh, did you say what to eat when treating us? I won't be bullied if I treat you to something cheap!"

"Don't be afraid, Master Ye treated us to Shaxian snacks for the first time! Coach Clearlove ate three big bowls!"

Deft watched everyone joking, smiled gently, and leaned back against the chair to stretch the stinging pain in his waist.

He likes the atmosphere of this team very much.

Everyone gets along happily, has a lot of fighting spirit, and has a strong sense of purpose.

Beryl, with dark circles under his eyes, howled: "Tired! So tired! I haven't done my daily commissions for three consecutive days... Master Ye, you are a devil!"

Everyone returned to their rooms to rest.

Ye Bo glanced at the time; there were still more than ten minutes until twelve o'clock.

His consciousness immersed, he was still born on the Dragon Pit wall, which is also the place where he usually sits and daydreams with Seeing Akali.

On the bluestone-paved ground, Seeing Akali was swinging the kunai adorned with silver chains—the moment she saw the figure appear, she almost reflexively let go!

"You're late today."

Before her voice fell, pink-white cloud leaves suddenly shook down from the tree next to her.

A girl wearing a star-patterned nightgown hung upside down from the branch, the stardust falling from her hair tips shining brightly. Just looking at her face, one could feel she was a quirky character.

"Oh!! You're finally here!"

She dangled her legs and stuck her tongue out at Seeing Akali behind her, shouting strangely with a long tail: "Ninja sister's wooden man game is super—boring—!"

"The troublemaker wants to review the hidden weapon lesson, doesn't she."

Seeing Akali threw out three shurikens, wanting to pin Zoe's bubble skirt.

Zoe, however, condensed the starlight dancing on her fingertips into a cotton candy cloud, cleverly blocking it, and made a playful grimace at her.

Ye Bo walked to Seeing Akali's side and sat down with his legs dangling.

Smelling the faint violet-scented breeze and the warm breath approaching, he enjoyed the rare leisure time.

Staying in the pot for a while seems to wash away the fatigue of a day's training and instantly fills him with motivation to move toward the goals ahead.

A sweet scent of cotton candy drifted from the right side.

And suddenly, a tugging sensation came from both arms at the same time.

"You have to accompany me to practice the angle of the Portal Jump today!!"

"The fourth form of Falcon Dance still has force points that haven't been corrected."

It seems it doesn't look that harmonious either.

Ye Bo saw that Seeing Akali was usually alone in the pot, which was quite boring.

After some struggle.

He finally chose to summon the second level-seven "Hero in the Pot": Aspect of Twilight - Zoe.

Now it seems that this troublemaker has indeed brought a bit more vitality to the pot.

(End of chapter)