Chapter 214: Advancing to the Semifinals! Playoff Chaos! Top Ten Players!

There is still some time between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, and the playoff teams are all busy with intensive preparations.

There are no changes to the tournament format this year; it remains the "Double Elimination" format adopted last year.

But it is very obvious.

This year's playoffs are vastly different from every season in the past!

Simply because of the birth of the Global BP (Ban/Pick) system this year, its power will increase exponentially in the best-of-five matches that only occur during the playoff stage!

Even in a 3-0 series, there will be at least 10 brand-new champions and combinations, and in the end, there might even be 30-40 more champions used.

This is undoubtedly a huge test for everyone.

As the first and second seeds from the regular season, V5 and JDG will be wearing "Guardian Angels" in the semifinals, waiting for their challengers.

The remaining teams are ranked according to their points.

However, it is slightly "a pity" that.

In the playoff bracket draw, BLG did not end up in the same half as V5, but instead drew into the bottom half where JDG is located.

The top half where V5 is located contains strong teams like TES and WBG.

V5 base.

Ye Bo stands skillfully in front of the small blackboard, while BeryL is beside him gnawing on an ice cream.

"The 13. patch updated today is the version that will be used for the playoffs."

"This is also the last patch for our spring split this year. The changes are quite significant, and 'Genshin Brother' and I have picked out a few key points first."

"The first is the rework of Yuumi and Azir."

The coaching assistant behind them presses the PPT play button at the right moment—that is the data collected by the two, which has been painstakingly integrated by the coaching staff.

"This! It's simply a huge relief!" BeryL, with ice cream in his mouth, cannot help but clap to celebrate.

Even though he discovered the joy of Yuumi after coming to V5, he still fully agrees with the rework of this champion.

This time it is a large-scale rework of all abilities!

The most criticized aspect of Yuumi before was that her "champion skill floor" was ridiculously high.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there wouldn't be a huge, fundamental difference in the game played by a professional player versus a Gold-tier player!

The core reason is the effect of the W ability increasing percentage {Adaptive Force}.

So for this rework, this effect was deleted directly!

Not only that, the crowd control on her ultimate is also gone, turning it into pure healing.

Furthermore, to limit Yuumi's habit of changing mounts at will—which was really unfriendly to ranked ADC players—the passive has been changed to a "Best Friend" mechanism that requires stacking, which is almost equivalent to binding her to the ADC.

At first glance, most people would definitely think this champion is ruined and not even a dog would play her.

However, BeryL has a different understanding.

Seeing the mechanism of the new Yuumi rework and the currently somewhat strange stats, he vaguely realizes that the champions who can synergize with her might actually gain even higher strength than before.

This is also a common tactic used by Riot designers.

Give a hard slap, and fearing that players will explode with anger, quickly offer a big sweet date to coax them, then slowly boil the frog in warm water with nerfs later.

"Speaking of this Yuumi rework, Meiko is the one who really lost out!"

Ye Bo thinks of the biggest victim of the Yuumi rework.

It is not because of the skin sales after the rework; after all, it has been two years, and the peak sales period has passed, so the impact won't be too great.

It is because of the Easter egg in Yuumi's ultimate.

Originally, the final chapter of Yuumi's ultimate would cast "7" ripples, and each ripple would move one step toward the "mountain peak."

Until the seventh ripple is fired, a Summoner's Cup would appear at the end.

This was an Easter egg linkage made specifically for Meiko's seven-year journey from his debut in 2015 to his championship in 2021. It was clearly a very unique design with a beautiful meaning.

The problem is... the new Yuumi's ultimate only has 5 hits!

Not only are there two fewer steps, but even the Summoner's Cup effect that would appear at the end is gone.

Those who don't know might think the championship was stripped away!

And these are actually another layer of "meaning" for championship skins—they are unique footprints left in the Rift, exclusive to one person and everything associated with them.

Thinking of this, Ye Bo cannot help but look forward to his own skin even more.

The subsequent focus is the mid-scope rework of Azir, which mainly focuses on adjusting the "champion power curve."

The designers have almost completely cut Azir's early-game combat power but accelerated his scaling speed, effectively turning him into a choice with more distinct characteristics rather than an "all-rounder."

Then there are the ones you don't even need to think about: stat nerfs for popular champions in this version like Aurelion Sol, K'Sante, Ashe, Caitlyn, and others.

"This change to Rumble might also need attention..."

"Hey, Mr. Ye, do you think there's anything to the buffs for assassins like Zed, Talon, Qiyana, and Fizz?"

"Hard to say for now, maybe there is~"

Patch interpretation is one thing.

But the specific performance still has to wait until the playoffs start to be verified in actual competition.

V5 waits directly in the semifinals, having nearly a week more than the earliest teams, and can also fine-tune their BP strategy in real-time based on the performance of the preceding teams.

This can be considered one of the advantages of the regular season winners.

After chatting, everyone starts a few practice games on the spot to explore the content just discussed.

They don't prepare to finish and rest until late at night.

However, just as they stand up.

Everyone sees He Youjun standing at the entrance of the training room, sitting on a small stool waiting, with a stack of things in his hand, seemingly waiting for them.

"Oh, Boss He? Why didn't you make a sound? Have you been waiting long?" Flandre, who is quite socially adept, walks up to greet him.

"Not long, not long, it doesn't matter, your training is the most important!"

He Youjun has actually been waiting for quite a while.

But he is all smiles right now, and one can tell he is in an excellent mood.

He can't help but be happy.

He invested such a huge cost this year, of course, he had high expectations for the team's results, but he really didn't expect this outcome!

Winning the regular season with an undefeated record is already a highly topical and legendary thing for V5, a team that once created a "0-16" winless season.

Not to mention that it even broke the global league record!

That European and American FPS giant that was negotiating a merger with He Youjun finally loosened up tonight for the first time, indicating that the matter of "whose team name to change" can be discussed further, not as hardline an attitude as before.

Clearly, this dazzling performance in the regular season won him the key bargaining power.

Thinking of this, He Youjun is incredibly glad for the decision he made back then.

Keeping Ye Bo at all costs and building the team around him is definitely the wisest investment he has ever made!

"We swept the regular season awards this year! Everyone is really just amazing!"

"After the Spring Finals are over, everyone should take a good rest and relax. Fly anywhere in the country, and the club will reimburse everything!"

Flandre jokes: "Boss, you're really popping the champagne early. The playoffs haven't even started yet, and you're already thinking about the Spring Finals~"

Xun, however, jumps up excitedly: "Great!!"

Ye Bo also jokes: "Now we have no choice but to win!"

The bot lane duo is clearly also very happy.

Everyone has been in a highly tense state since returning after the New Year, all working hard for that common goal, so hearing this good news is naturally worth celebrating.

However, He Youjun came not only because there were multiple happy events and he wanted to build rapport, but also because there was an important matter.

He hands a stack of beautifully crafted ballot forms to everyone.

"Top Ten... Players?"

He Youjun nods and explains: "Yes, this year is the tenth anniversary of our LPL region. Riot officials have organized a big event—the Top Ten Players will even have skins!"

Everyone knows that S13 is the tenth anniversary of the LPL region; after all, even the season's regional logo has been changed to the {10} dragon logo, which is also the theme of this year's promotion.

But they really didn't know about the skins!

"Prestige skins... Why does this name sound a bit strange."

"Oh, so it's just a chroma~~~"

Hearing that it wasn't an independent skin.

It was just taking the player's most iconic champion, one of their existing skins, and making a chroma color swap, which made everyone feel a bit more balanced.

After all, one has to fight hard to win a championship to get a skin; if one could be "voted" out inexplicably, both those who got skins and those who didn't would definitely be a bit unhappy...

Of course.

For some people who really want a skin but have almost no possibility of getting one, yet are very likely to be "voted" in, that is pure profit.

A solo champion is still a champion!

Let's see who dares to say a chroma skin isn't a skin!!

But after all, it involves the "true supreme honor" custom skins in the League tournament, so even a chroma is quite sensitive.

Therefore, this vote is considered fair and transparent to avoid gossip.

As for the fan vote, it is only through four channels: Hupu, Weibo, Zhangmeng, and Esports Manager, with 1 vote per person per channel.

That is to say.

Out of a total of 323 votes, the fan vote accounts for a mere 1%!

This time, it is not about who has more fans; the players' own votes and internal personnel hold the majority.

And the 79 candidates are all names that audiences have been familiar with over the past ten years of the LPL.

For example, the old WE era's Wei Xiao, Juan Mao, and Ruo Feng, and then there's PDD, Shen Chao, Xi Ka, Xiao Xiao, Zi Tai, and even the retired Korean imports Duke, Insec, Mata, Pawn, and Imp.

"Huh? I'm actually on here too!"

Seeing his own name among the candidates, Ye Bo was truly quite surprised.

Because looking at the list of candidates, he felt that as a rookie who had been playing professionally for less than a year, he seemed a bit out of place with the theme of "Top Ten Players."

Even Bin wasn't on this candidate list!

But fortunately, since he couldn't vote for himself anyway, Ye Bo didn't need to dwell on it.

"Clearlove must be checked! And Flandre, Viper. Oh, let's check Jiejie too, let him snag another skin!"

"Deft, you're here too! Then these ten aren't hard to scrape together~"

Ye Bo quickly checked off his own must-haves.

As the first team in the region to win two championships, it was obviously impossible for no one from EDG to be on the list—this was also one of the reasons Ye Bo made the list.

Of course, the real reason was still that Ye Bo's performance could only be described as "phenomenal."

Whether on or off the stage, it was the same!

His name was even personally added by the head of Tengjing, Jin Yibo.

"Master Ye, let me copy yours!"

Beryl leaned over to look at Ye Bo's list.

After all, he wasn't very familiar with the LPL, and he didn't have any connection with those ancient Korean imports.

He checked them off one by one: "Flandre, Deft, Clearlove, Jiejie, Viper, Meiko, TheShy, JKL, Rookie."

"Wait, it seems like one is still missing."

Ye Bo counted and found there were only 9, all of whom were the ones he was most familiar with.

"Oh! Almost forgot him!"

After everyone finished filling out their ballots, they said goodnight to each other and returned to their rooms to rest.

To be honest.

Even though he knew his teammates would definitely vote for him, Ye Bo wasn't sure if he had a chance to be selected.

After all, this was an internal vote, and it had nothing to do with popularity.

The ten spots were still very tight; just counting the starters who brought the LPL region an S-series championship, there were 16 people, not to mention the substitutes, and many others without a championship.

However, deep down, Ye Bo really hoped he would be selected.

It wasn't for the title of "Top Ten Players"—it was mainly for that "Prestige" skin.

To others, it might just be a recolored chroma.

To Ye Bo, that was an extra "outfit."

Back in the room.

Ye Bo opened his phone while washing up and getting ready for bed.

Seeing the trending news pushed to the top of the forum, he finally understood what He Youjun meant when he came to "bring good news" about them "sweeping" the awards.

The voting results for the Spring regular season were out.

First Team: Flandre, Kanavi, Ye, Deft, Beryl.

Second Team: 369, Xun, Knight, Ruler, Missing.

Third Team: TheShy, Jiejie, Scout, Elk, On.

Except for Xun, V5 dominated the First Team!

And even Xun was ranked in the Second Team, surpassing the two championship junglers Jiejie and Tian!

If Kanavi's stats hadn't been so eye-catching, they might have even swept the First Team and set a record!

There was even an award that made people laugh and cry.

"Best Spring Rookie"—Beryl!

This award was a bit of a bug.

All along, the standard for Best Rookie was "joining the LPL," and Viper had also received this award previously.

However, when Viper came that year, he didn't actually have any major achievements, and Griffin only dominated the league.

Yet this winner of one championship and two runner-up titles actually received the LPL's new season "Best Rookie" award!

These selection results naturally sparked quite a bit of public controversy.

【As expected of our LPL, even a top-three support in history can only be the Best Rookie when they arrive!】

【To be honest, isn't it ridiculous that the Genshin fan and the Alpaca made the First Team? What highlight plays do they have? They're just riding Ye's coattails! V5 is definitely the Crown Prince team!】

【Anyone who can say that is a god-tier person; I can only say go watch the voice comms for the role of the Genshin brother!】

【Did you not see the Alpaca's season stat chart? Last in gold per minute among ADs, first in damage per minute among ADs! What more highlights do you need?】

【Heh, and you say my junior is a thief? If anyone is a thief, it's that guy! He got beaten up by Bin and still made the First Team! I'm not convinced!】

【Who is Bin? And even if he really stole a First Team spot, how come he didn't even make the top three teams~~~】

【It makes no sense. Weibo is sixth in the regular season, BLG is third, yet TheShy can make a team, while BLG only has their bot lane. You are all targeting my Banlangen!】

A chaotic battle of hidden fan identities ensued, as it was clear many were unhappy with the rankings.

But no matter how they argued, no matter which fan base they belonged to.

The mid lane was the only corner that didn't involve any controversy.

News soon leaked on the forums, spreading rumors about the "Top Ten Player Skins."

This instantly ignited the discussion.

【Hehe, isn't this just making the dumplings for the sake of this vinegar? I won't say who the event was opened for!】

【That's right—it was opened for my Master Ye! What are you going to do about the face of the number one mid in the country!】

【Already looking forward to the skin-stealing segment. My suggestion is... just use the FPX-LWX chroma! It will definitely sell out!】

【Congratulations to the following ten unlucky guys for getting the Top Ten "Really Trash" skins!】

【I feel like the LCK won't be convinced. They didn't even get skins for their tenth anniversary last year. I can already imagine the comments on the Korean forums.】

【If you're not convinced, hold it in! If you have the ability, go win it yourself at the S-series this year.】

【Hahahaha, won't Song Bin be triggered by this? He didn't even make the third team—but his own bot lane rookie did; he's been playing for three years and doesn't even have candidate eligibility—but Ye does! It's all about the comparison!】

Seeing the last comment.

Thinking of Chen Ze's personality, the corners of Ye Bo's mouth twitched.

"He's definitely going to be anxious."

Ye Bo clearly understood Chen Ze a little bit.

That night, Chen Ze, who had been surfing the web and saw these two lists, tossed and turned in bed all night.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got!!!

Although BLG did play poorly at the start of the Spring Split, their performance in the latter half was so strong, so why!

Chen Ze secretly made up his mind.

He must prove himself in the playoffs!

Unable to sleep, he lay in bed thinking of trash talk, trying every way to save face.

A week passed quickly.

The LPL Spring Playoffs officially began!

First were the matches between the fringe teams.

But perhaps due to the exploration of the new patch and the discomfort of their first Bo5, many unexpected matches occurred.

For example, TES, which was highly anticipated in the upper bracket—not only did they struggle against TT, but they were almost double-eliminated by OMG and nearly went home directly!

In the end, they relied on 369 and Xiaohu popping off to barely win 3-2.

Guo Hao and the rest of the TES executives were frantically taking heart medication backstage, just barely holding on to the top six.

However.

The personnel genius Guo Hao did notice this OMG mid laner, feeling that his performance was quite stable.

And when TES faced the top-six WBG.

Unsurprisingly, they were swept!

WBG, jokingly called the "God-tier Team," was still a bit unpredictable, but their state adjustment was clearly better than TES, and they took down TES 3-1 in a process that wasn't particularly pretty.

"TES's state really feels very wrong!" Miller said with some worry.

"Up to now, several major galaxy warships have found their most suitable playstyles, and even WBG already has a systematic approach; only TES is still playing very strangely."

TES spent quite a lot of money this year.

With this kind of investment, if they only had this kind of performance and couldn't even make the top four in the playoffs, none of them would be able to answer for it!

Guo Hao was worried.

He didn't know where the problem was, whether it was the coach or something else.

On the other side.

Daeny was actually worried too.

None of the WBG members had many smiles when they left the stage; everyone was clearly not complacent because of this victory.

Because everyone knew they won this match not because they played well, but only because the opponent played too poorly!

The process of winning could even be called "ugly"!

And Daeny's mind was clearly clearer than Guo Hao's; he vaguely felt the problems that existed in both of their teams.

The "compatibility" problem!

Da Ni believes that Xiaohu is simply not suited for this TES team.

The reason is that both Xiaohu and Breathe belong to the "blue-collar" player category, making it difficult for them to shoulder the heavy responsibility of being a primary carry, yet their ADC playstyle is too unstable to support a "protect the one" system.

At the same time, regarding his own WBG.

If WBG wants to focus on the top side of the map, like BLG does—since Gala in the bottom lane also requires resources to be funneled to him, the mid laner must be a team-oriented player to share the pressure.

Da Ni actually approves of Rookie quite a bit.

It's just that Rookie paired with Weiwei has a very strange compatibility; there is absolutely no chemistry!

Rookie can play any type of hero, but his most proficient playstyle requires a relatively aggressive jungle presence to be effective, and Weiwei clearly does not fall into that category.

As for the team's other substitute jungler, Karsa, the two of them played a mid-jungle synergy that focused on protecting the mid lane during their time on V5, which is also incompatible with the current WBG's need for resources in both the top and bottom lanes.

The only solution seems to be having Rookie play a team-oriented style.

Da Ni has tried that too, but after all, that is not the opponent's greatest strength, and he would become somewhat indistinguishable from the crowd, which in turn leads to insufficient intensity in mid-jungle confrontations.

In short, it's a dead end on both sides.

Regarding team-oriented playstyles, Da Ni believes the best active players at executing this are Yagao and Xiaohu.

"Axi ba."

Da Ni rubs his temples with a headache, cursing that Manager Shi of WBG under his breath; he is simply stupid!

He vaguely senses that his team's current state won't take them very far.

Sure enough.

In the semifinals, WBG faces V5.

After a spring season's gap, the encounter produces a situation even more one-sided than the season opener!

"Congratulations to V5 for defeating WBG 3-0 once again! They are the first to advance to the winners' bracket semifinals!"

"Next, we'll see who the challenger from the bottom half of the bracket is. BLG first swept their way through with a big win over LNG, and now they are challenging JDG again; the two sides were evenly matched in the regular season!"

"It is worth mentioning that JDG seems to have changed their tactical strategy during the playoffs."

"In any case, we look forward to this 'Battle of the Little Kings' providing us with a brilliant match!"

Da Ni is in the back room, rubbing his curly hair.

He knows very well that V5's evolution speed this season is far beyond theirs, and this outcome is within reason.

Although there is still the losers' bracket to play.

But the two teams in the bottom half of the bracket are both very strong, and Da Ni feels that the spring journey is nearing its end, already thinking ahead about the team's situation and direction for the second half of the year.

And the developments in the bottom half of the bracket are somewhat unexpected.

JDG's first playoff match, a system they newly developed for the 13. patch, does not seem that effective when facing BLG—because it wasn't designed to counter them in the first place.

Who would have thought that what was meant to be a practice run would end in a crash!

Bin, feeling incredibly energized, acts as if he's eaten gunpowder, wanting nothing more than to shove his gaming chair into 369's nostrils in the top lane!

Wei also carries out Tabe's precise strategy, dead-set on protecting the top lane and engaging in a direct confrontation against Kindred.

Starting with JDG's priority side selection, BLG successfully executes a "red breaks blue" strategy, immediately establishing a huge advantage.

In the end, after a passionate and grueling battle, BLG prevails.

They defeat JDG 3-2!

"Congratulations to BLG!"

"This 'Battle of the Little Kings' was truly intense! Both sides traded blows, and BLG successfully claws one back!"

"However, JDG fans don't need to worry; the double-elimination format allows for a margin of error, and they will next face WBG in the losers' bracket."

"Look forward to the upcoming LPL winners' bracket semifinals—V5 versus BLG!"

(End of chapter)