Chapter 58

Jungle RampageBoard player’s ranked points: Diamond 2 – 72 LP!

Mid: …

At this moment, BLQG was exactly the state Jiang Ming had feared: only the AD, the highest-ranked player, had reached Master, while the other four teammates were all Diamond.

Facing the LPL broadcast cameras, with no standout personal image, no achievements, and all five players’ ranks listed as Diamond, the team was easily labeled a pushover by players.

Of course, this doesn’t mean Diamond-tier players from the S3 era were weak—each region had only fifty Master slots; excluding casual players who didn’t pursue pro careers, what little remained was split among professional teams.

But viewers are ultimately visual creatures; they don’t care that pro players’ ranks mostly reflect only one-region ranked points, or that Diamond 1 could easily climb to Master—they only know: your team doesn’t even have five Masters.

Especially when contrasted with Jiang Ming and his NXG team.

Joker flipped open the NXG roster profiles, his pupils shrinking slightly as he said with mild surprise: “Now, the individual profiles of NXG’s players.”

Top lane norsha, ranked points: Master 437 LP!

Jungle stone, ranked points: Master 777 LP!

Mid yihan, ranked points: Master 446 LP!

AD sorry, ranked points: Master 552 LP!

Support door, ranked points: Master 589 LP!

Under NXG’s daily grueling training intensity—physically cheating—the five players, originally not exceptionally gifted, achieved a qualitative leap in skill.

Not only did they break through their own rank ceilings, but all of them now ranked solidly in the upper-mid tier of Master.

The ranking points among the five also matched Jiang Ming’s impression of how hard each role was to climb.

Jungle Stone had the highest rank, followed by Support Pangran, who played with strategy, while Top lane Song Yuan, who spent his days solo-queueing like a lonely orphan, had the lowest.

The director’s camera paused briefly before each NXG player as Joker announced their current ranked points; the live audience erupted in shock, while the slightly delayed livestream chat flooded with endless comments.

【WOWWWW!】

【All Masters? What’s the point of this report?】

【BLQG’s highest-ranked AD is barely a Master gatekeeper—his score is nearly 200 points lower than NXG’s lowest-ranked Top, Song Yuan.】

【One Master with four Diamonds trying to fight five Masters? Only the matchmaking system could be this insane.】

【Friendly reminder: five Masters don’t guarantee victory—remember how PE got crushed in the qualifiers despite having five Masters?】

[Reported: NXG team is all afk!]

【Sob, this team doesn’t even need to buy gear—they’re already wearing it.】

【It’s not just about rank and skill—when you compare BLQG’s players to NXG on the right, haven’t you noticed the image gap too?】

【Ouch. Losing in skill is one thing, but now even our aesthetics can’t compete?】

【If this were Death Note, NXG’s five would be top-tier Qiangzhe aesthetics—BLQG… uh, probably cannon fodder who die in their first episode.】

How can you even compare?

On one side: disheveled, wearing cheap T-shirts, hair messy as if they hadn’t washed it since morning—loose cannons.

On the other: polished, composed before the camera, faces clean and neat—professional soldiers!

As the chat buzzed, the commentator booth paused—whether Joker forgot or did it on purpose—for over ten seconds before WaWa stepped in to introduce Jiang Ming.

“NXG’s entire roster is Master—did that shock you? Honestly, when I first got the data, I thought the director printed it wrong.”

“But NXG isn’t done yet—the camera now turns to the final member: our NXG head coach—JM!”

“Current ranked points: Master 899 LP—the #1 player in our server!”

【???】

【Suit??】

【Wait, where did this come from?】

【Suit! Tactical board! Am I really watching an esports match?】

【Alright alright, JM, you little brat, showing off for the viewers, huh?】

【Question: is it reasonable for a pro team’s head coach to be stronger than his players?】

【Reasonable? Why not? If the players can’t win, the coach just takes off his jacket and jumps in himself. (doge)】

【Don’t say it—but you’re right: JM stepping onto the field is the true complete form of this NXG team.】

[NXG: We don’t even bother stepping down to crush these roadside trash.]

【Let’s be honest—JM’s got this down perfectly. The suit, the tactical board—he’s nailed the pro coach aesthetic.】

【I’ve only seen this kind of scene before in football or basketball arenas.】

【Where are the people who doubted JM? Step forward!】

【WE fans are the funniest—they mocked JM for only dominating in ranked, claiming he’d get crushed in pro matches. But look: JM built a pro team better than any in China’s esports scene.】

【So far, no one in the LOL community dares say they understand pro play better than JM.】

【Duh—do you think any normal person could design NXG’s training schedule?】

Behind the scenes, besides the live audience and livestream viewers, another group was watching LPL’s official premiere.

Seeing the packed arena, viewer count exceeding targets, and the snowstorm of chat comments, LPL officials finally exhaled deeply.

After all, Tencent had poured massive promotional resources into promoting the LOL league—from city battles to countless prize tournaments—and if it flopped, explaining it to upper management would be hard.

Good thing—good thing. If the opening was strong, everything else would follow.

Based on current momentum, it had even surpassed their expectations.

“Putting NXG in Group A for the opening match? Perfect choice. JM really has a whole system of ideas,” said a middle-aged man in the room.

“Yes—from team uniforms to the head coach in a suit with a tactical board, to player image management—he’s imported the entire framework of traditional sports into our esports.”

“And NXG’s training schedule—less than eight hours of rest per day? JM actually dares to do it.”

“I think this setup is great,” said the official who had visited NXG’s base: “If we’re calling this the League of Legends Professional League, then ‘professional’ must mean standardized, professionalized.”

“JM’s NXG is already ahead of our official initiatives.”

“I’ve visited their base—no established Chinese clubs, not even WE or IG, compare.”