Chapter 93: Sweeping the Awards! A

Having just finished reviewing the day's scrims, Ye Bo turned on his stream to continue ranked training.

"What do you mean 'long time no see'? I only skipped streaming for one day. Mostly because the playoffs are about to start, so I need to prepare."

While Ye Bo was chatting with the viewers in his stream, the training room door was pushed open with a bang.

Ming Kai rushed in, looking excited, shaking his phone: "You're something else, little Ye Bo. You actually proved who the number one in LPL really is!"

He stopped in his tracks the moment he saw the glowing camera.

Ye Bo turned his head in confusion and pointed at himself: "Hm? Proved what?"

"Go check Weibo yourself," Ming Kai suddenly remembered the other party didn't have Weibo, and added, "It's on the official website too."

Ye Bo immediately went to the LOL official website.

As soon as he entered the homepage and focused his eyes, he saw a prominent, freshly posted announcement.

[2022 LPL Summer Split Best Rookie, All-Pro Team, and Regular Season MVP Announced]

[The 2022 LPL Summer Regular Season has successfully concluded. Following votes from the expert panel and public judge representatives, the 2022 LPL Summer Regular Season honors are announced as follows]

Ye Bo moved his fingers to scroll down and immediately spotted his own promotional photo where he was making a peace sign.

"Congratulations to (Ye Bo) for winning Regular Season Best Rookie!"

Because the Director had appeared on camera, the stream was already starting to go wild, and the surfing experts were also immediately reposting the blog post that had been published just two minutes ago.

However, looking at the voting results, the Best Rookie award was almost a foregone conclusion.

Ye Bo's vote share was clearly far ahead of candidates like Ard, Ji, and others; the combined votes of the bottom three candidates didn't even add up to his total!

It was an absolutely crushing victory!

Just like the LCK Spring and Summer Best Rookie awards, which were essentially internal competitions between T1's top laner Zeus and jungler Oner, these were comparisons without any controversy.

As a rookie, he had achieved eye-catching results and performance, completely overshadowing the brilliance of the other competitors.

Nevertheless, Ye Bo was still very happy.

After all, in every sense, this was the first "award" he had received in the true sense of the word.

At this moment, Ye Bo suddenly remembered something: "Hey, Director, does this... have a trophy?"

"How could it? You only get a trophy for the Annual Rookie award," Ming Kai shook his head, paused, and then said, "But the last one does."

Ye Bo felt a little disappointed when he heard the first half.

But after thinking about it, although the regular season awards were the only two league awards for the whole year (the playoffs only have the Grand Finals single-match awards).

The regular season Best Rookie is chosen from a small pool of rookies each year, so the competitive value really can't be considered too high.

But upon hearing the second half, Ye Bo suddenly became excited again!

He hurriedly scrolled down.

This announcement was clearly ranked by "competitive value," and ranked in the middle was the iron-clad second-most valuable award of every season—the All-Pro Team!

Ye Bo's breath hitched.

Because at the first glance, he discovered he was prominently in the first row!

"Regular Season First All-Pro Team: JDG.369, VI, Ye Bo, Eylove,"

It must be said, Tengjing has always been a master of balancing the scales.

They excel at spreading the love equally.

The five positions were occupied by the four teams at the top of the standings!

Among them, JDG, as the regular season leader, naturally occupied two seats, and the other teams were represented by the "best performing" players from within their rosters.

Theoretically, there was no problem with this list; it was very "reasonable."

It was just that it was clearly also quite controversial.

[Laughing my head off, Niao Niao First Team and Viper Second Team? Do you want me to pull up that Draven counter-match and take a look?]

[That's enough, why don't we pull up the historical head-to-head between EDG and TES? Even counting those two games, our Jackey's win rate is still 80%!]

[AD is truly the funniest position. I really didn't expect Uzi to make the Third Team. This is Tengjing for you, only voting based on traffic!]

[The person above is even more ridiculous. If it were really based on traffic, why would someone be a mid laner with no team? Xmm, do something!]

[EDG fifteen-game win streak, and only a First Team mid + Second Team bot + Third Team top/jungle? What kind of 2.5-team roster is this? The official's desire to hard-push this rookie trainee Ye Wen is just too obvious!]

This kind of roster selection inherently carries controversy; after all, some positions in a lineup become sacrificial, so the stats naturally don't look good, and there isn't much room for individual play.

But this absolutely does not mean they are slacking; it's just each team member doing their part.

A lineup where all five people want to carry is destined to be hard to make effective.

However, Ye Bo didn't know about these controversies, and he knew his teammates' strength very well.

Anyway, in his heart, his teammates were all First Team caliber—they were the best!

And as Ye Bo's fingertips continued to slide down.

Seeing the text and image in the last line clearly, his heartbeat almost skipped a beat.

[Congratulations on winning the Summer Regular Season Most Valuable Player (MVP)!]

Although he already had the spoiler from the Director, when he saw the content of the announcement, Ye Bo still couldn't help but feel his breath quicken.

In almost all sports, the MVP is the supreme "individual honor."

And among all the regular season awards, only the MVP has a trophy, which gives a glimpse into its value.

But when comparing it to the specific stats attached below, it didn't seem so surprising after all.

Total Kills: 217 (1st)

MVP: 17 (1st)

Damage Per Minute: 663 (1st)

KDA: 8.66 (1st)

Solo Kills: 27 (1st).

Every stat could only be described as dazzling!

Once you calculate the details of these stats, you realize just how terrifying they are!

Ye Bo played a total of 26 small games in the regular season and actually secured 17 MVPs and 27 solo kills!

This means that Ye Bo secured an MVP in nearly 70% of the games he played, and averaged one solo kill per game!

With stats like these laid out, even if Tengjing wanted to balance the scales, there would definitely be many people coming to smash the pot.

Below, for the sake of fairness, the official also announced the specific vote counts and rules for this category.

A total of 43 experts, consisting of LPL league representatives, LPL official broadcast team representatives, and media representatives, made up the selection panel. Each person had three votes, counted by priority: first-place vote 3 points, second-place vote 2 points, third-place vote 1 point.

And Ye Bo's vote count in this category was 120 points.

Which means at most only 4-8 people did not cast a "first-place vote," more than double the second place, selected with nearly a full vote!

Coincidentally, the delegation from Weibo Esports was exactly 6 people.

"Holy crap, Master Ye, these stats, you're invincible!" Jie Jie, who was also watching the stream from the side, turned his head excitedly.

"Well-deserved, just coasting is enough, brothers." Saint Gun Brother joked happily in his own stream: "This is the value of a regular season MVP, brothers. He can even carry us Third Team top/jungle to a win, awesome!"

"Indeed, indeed! Awesome!" Jie Jie chuckled, not caring at all that he had been pushed to the Third Team by Tian.

Ye Bo also happily looked at his lively stream.

[Is this the first rookie in all regions to win regular season MVP in their rookie year? Truly invincible!]

[It really is. Over there in the spring, Oner and Zeus performed better in the spring split, but the MVP went to Keria, and in the summer it was thrown to Ruler. This is like a mid laner scorpion pooping—one of a kind!]

[This is our region's rookie! Best Rookie + First Team Mid + Regular Season MVP, does your region have a rookie like this?]

[Haters, speak up! Honestly, it's absolutely well-deserved. The LPL mid laners have almost all been bullied, except for Knight who hasn't been solo killed yet. It's absolutely well-deserved!]

[Heh, regular season MVP has no value, Brother doesn't even bother to take it.]

[I'm a hater, but to be honest, Master Ye's mid lane position has a bit of an advantage. If Zeus and Oner were mid laners, they probably could have won in the spring too. You guys don't know that only 2 regular season MVPs weren't mid laners, right?]

[Damn! Just checked, looking back at the last 11 regular season MVPs, except for Knight, the king of domestic wars, who won it once, there really hasn't been anyone who won the championship that year. It seems like a curse!]

[Damn, I feel like Tencent is hyping Master Ye up a bit too high. I hope that after the intensity of the playoffs BO5, Master Ye can still perform stably when targeted, otherwise I feel like he's going to be liquidated.]

While waiting in the queue, Ye Bo also watched the discussion in the chat with great interest, though the topic seemed to be gradually drifting in another direction.

He curiously looked it up and found it was indeed true.

The LPL has established the "Regular Season MVP" award since the S7 season, and there have been 12 editions so far.

But among them, there were only 2 that were not mid laners.

They were VI in the jungle position and R in the AD position.

There hasn't even been a single top laner or support to this day, and the remaining 10 were all mid lane players!

Among them, Doinb and Rookie each won 3 times, Knight won 2 times, Xiaohu won 1 time, and Ye Bo won 1 time.

It's a monopoly by the "Three Saints, One Emperor, One King"!

Although someone who debuted early was absent, perhaps they put their energy into more important places; this cannot be unfairly criticized~~

And the topic of the chat's debate was: [Isn't this game just a mid lane game?]

Some say that in losing games, everyone might have their own problems, but in winning games, the mid laner must have contributed.

Some say that the jungler is theoretically as important as the mid laner, but if the mid laner isn't doing well, the jungler definitely won't have a comfortable game, although mid lane is still > jungle.

Others brought up practical examples, saying that all S-championship winning teams can be forcibly dug up in the "history books" for their "shortcomings" and "fifth-best player" of that year, but never once has the mid lane position of a championship year been considered a shortcoming.

However, Ye Bo had a different view.

The mid lane position is certainly very important.

Take the famous "Instant Noodle Theory" as an example: if both sides are of equal level, the noodles and the water are of course the most important.

But if one position is too prominent, it can poke a hole in your noodle bucket! Make your egg rot! Make your vegetable packet moldy!

Then even if the noodles and water are the best, what use could they be?

Therefore, arguing about which position is more important doesn't seem to have much meaning.

When it comes down to it.

As long as you are strong enough, strong enough to lead all other players in that position in every aspect, you can still forcibly carry the game and play a decisive role.

In reality, such people have indeed appeared in every position.

The game entered the queue; Ye Bo adjusted his thoughts, cleared his mind, and began to focus entirely on the match.

"Logging off, logging off, brothers! See you in the playoffs!"

At 11:00 PM, Ye Bo bid farewell to the audience and closed the stream, just as he was preparing to rest for a while in his gaming chair.

Ming Kai walked in again; looking at the timing, he must have been watching the stream as well.

Only, in his hands, he seemed to be holding something round.

Ye Bo heard the sound, turned his head to look, and saw a silver "disc"-shaped object; the surface of the disc had patterns of water ripples and canyon paths, and the bottom was engraved with a "Silver Dragon Head" with eyes wide in anger.

And in the center position, the word "MVP" was clearly engraved.

"Wow! This is?" Ye Bo looked at him in surprise.

Ming Kai tilted his mouth and smiled kindly: "Since there's no offline award ceremony this year due to the lockdown, the officials have to mail them out to everyone to take photos. I just contacted them and asked for a flash delivery to send it over first."

"If I didn't bring it to you first, I was afraid you'd have insomnia tonight and it would affect tomorrow's training~"

Ming Kai had just seen the change in Ye Bo's expression when he heard there was no trophy for Best Rookie, versus when he heard there was one for MVP.

He immediately thought of the joy and excitement he felt when he received his first trophy.

He acted on a whim and communicated with the officials to have the trophy, which was supposed to be mailed in two days, delivered tonight instead; after all, the base is in the Magic City.

Of course, the latter part of what he said was also true.

In the hearts of the EDG top brass, Ye Bo is now a treasure that would cause them heartache if he were even slightly bumped or bruised, and as the team manager, Ming Kai is naturally no exception!

Not to mention daily life, even if it's just excitement causing insomnia or staying up late, he would try his best to find a way to solve it~

Ye Bo was indeed very excited.

He took a deep breath, his lower lip trembling unintentionally, and accepted this "championship" that, in a sense, belonged to him for the first time.

The heavy weight fell into his hands, and he felt as if his mind had eaten a peppermint candy, cool and comfortable!

Ming Kai tactfully walked out of the room to let Ye Bo enjoy this beautiful moment alone.

[Congratulations! Re-entering the competitive arena, you have obtained your "first" trophy in every sense!]

[In the future, this might just be an insignificant award, but for you right now, this trophy will be the beginning of everything!]

[Now, let us return to the peak first!]

[Notification: "Basic Talent Special Training" has been unlocked.]

Ye Bo took the opportunity to open the hero collection interface directly.

Four shining golden avatars on the cover were incredibly prominent, but he didn't have time to admire them right now; he quickly opened and jumped to the newly unlocked interface inside.

The long-unseen detailed panel information popped up automatically.

[Old Timer: Ye Bo]

[Age: 32 (18)]

[Current Rank: Playoff-level First Team Mid-laner]

[Physical Talent: Average for a 32-year-old retired professional]

[Comprehensive Level: ?]

[Counterattack Points: 12138]

Ye Bo hadn't paid attention to the information panel for a while.

Looking at it now, besides the abundant counterattack points accumulated during the summer regular season, the only thing that had changed was the "Current Rank"; nothing else seemed new.

Ye Bo didn't know why the system popped this up automatically, so he checked the notification.

[Competitive state will fluctuate, and the body's various functions each year do not necessarily rise or fall together; this is an unavoidable problem for competitive players, which can only be maintained as much as possible through sufficient training volume.]

[Notification: "State Stabilization" has been enabled; when training volume reaches the level matching current talent, competitive state will no longer fluctuate downward.]

[Training volume required to maintain current talent: 28275/10000.]

Ye Bo was pleasantly surprised after reading it!

This fluctuation in state is not just at the "operational level," but of course, also includes "awareness" and all other levels.

He could indeed feel this so-called fluctuation in state, especially when using heroes whose proficiency had not yet reached its peak.

Although due to the sufficiently large training volume, he could achieve "instinctive" responses to the vast majority of situations and operations, resulting in very few frequencies and instances of fluctuation.

But in a top-tier match, even if it only happens once, it could affect the entire game!

And after unlocking this function, Ye Bo could more concretely "stabilize his state" by increasing his training volume!

Clearly, his training volume had long since far exceeded what was required for his "current talent."

This point alone was already very gratifying.

But this seemed to be just a bonus for unlocking the function, not the main course.

[Improvement Practice: Current Physical Talent (Can be improved!)]

[Special Training Practice: Unlock depth limit improvement for a specific ability (Requires physical talent to reach maximum value first)]

Ye Bo realized.

He finally knew why the detailed panel, which seemed to have no major changes, had to pop up first—because on it, there was something he had always "ignored"!

[Physical Talent: 32-year-old retired professional average]

This system had already confirmed that this was originally meant for the reborn Old Timer Bo.

Ye Bo had never been reborn, nor did he know the specific situation.

But based on the system's hints, it seemed that if one were truly "reborn," it should bring the "entire brain" back directly.

A bit like... moving a 10-year-old computer CPU + motherboard full set into a brand-new case and monitor?

But this presented a problem, a very big problem.

Ye Bo was not reborn!

So his basic physical talent at this moment was not the 32 years old displayed by the system, but 18 years old!

This was also why the [Comprehensive Level] in the detailed information had always displayed a "?"

Just like when Ye Bo unintentionally used his mom's account to start the game and was judged to start at Silver 1—it was likely a system identification error, a bug!

The more Ye Bo thought about it, the more excited he became.

What did this mean!?

32 years old → 18 years old improvement.

18 years old → ?

Did this mean that perhaps Ye Bo could reach a level that didn't originally belong to him through "Improvement Practice"!?

You have to know, Improvement Practice only provided a new mode scenario for the trial grounds.

Besides the basic consumption of counterattack points, no extra consumption was needed.

The [2 Legendary Essences] exchanged from the MVP trophy could only speed up this progress, but they were not a necessity.

After improving to the maximum value, the original Old Timer Bo could only recover to the best state of his younger self, which was most likely the state of "Ye Bo" within the next two or three years, clearly still far from the top-tier talent.

But the current Ye Bo was not!

More importantly, what would happen when he finished the recovery process and then went to special training to hone and break through that so-called "talent limit"?

Just imagining it.

Ye Bo was already starting to look forward to it.

He couldn't wait to return to his room, waiting for twelve o'clock to arrive for the reset, and enter the trial grounds for his first "state recovery."

The two weeks of intense first half of the playoff schedule had come to an end.

The final results exceeded many people's expectations, and even caused a few big news stories!

Among them, the hottest one was undoubtedly the "change" from BLG.

Because BLG lost the last game 2-0, their regular season ranking fell to 7th place, so they could only start from the first round of the playoffs.

The first opponent they faced was the OMG team that had defeated EDG in the summer season; Scout once again faced Creme, who had defeated him before.

Although BLG was miserably defeated by EDG, the public naturally favored BLG more; their "hard power" was still there.

However, that was not the point.

The point was—"BLG officially announced that Uzi will enter a rest state"!

On BLG's playoff roster, the substitute spot was given to the mid-laner FoFo, and Uzi was not on it at all.

Even when the playoffs started, he was already streaming and casting at home; he wasn't even in the backstage of the competition!

More importantly, BLG, having made the lineup change, actually started to fight their way up, showing a completely different competitive state.

The playoff version changed significantly; Bin and Weiwei were like fish in water in the playoff version, and it was precisely with this that they defeated WBG.

And Scout also seemed to gradually regain his state under the implementation of the new tactics, several times showing heroic performances, which seemed to prove the correctness of the BLG coaching staff's "cutting off the wrist to save the body."

At that time, the barrage was full of sarcasm, all shouting [Rejuvenation!], [Dreaming back to S11!], [EDG's guts are going to rot from regret!]

In the end, BLG fought five games against WBG and RNG respectively, defeated RNG, who was in terrible shape in the playoffs, and together with TES from the lower bracket, captured the last two tickets for the "Resurrection Armor" of the top four!

With this, the top four spots for the playoffs were set, and all defeated teams fell into the last breath of the regional qualifiers.

The next day, August 22nd.

The playoff semi-finals officially began!

And EDG's first playoff opponent for today had also surfaced.

It was none other than BLG!

I'm back, I'm back.

Took a day off to rest, only to find that writing is better!

Today is a guaranteed 6k recovery training, full resurrection starts tomorrow.

Thanks to the brothers for the monthly votes!

Thanks to the brothers for the support!

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(End of this chapter)