Chapter 60: The World Is a Giant Make-Believe Operation!

“BLQG has some interesting ideas—they seem to be building a team composition centered around ultimate abilities.”

Regardless of joker’s actual skill level beneath his WE coach title, his analysis of the composition is far superior to the atmosphere guy beside him, Wanwa.

“A trio of champions with powerful ultimates—Prince, Jelena, and Kainan—can create devastating scenes in team fights if executed well.”

“NXG’s picks are pretty standard; it looks like JM has full confidence in his players.”

Confidence?

Trust in the players?

That’s just an excuse for the coaching staff’s incompetence.

Jiang Ming would never pick heroes for his players that rely on being able to outplay opponents in lane, win team fights solo, or gamble everything early and hide late—everything must be balanced and supported by team synergy.

First, the top lane combo of Eyu and Blind Monk—if the jungler Prince fails to protect or the top laner Kainan lacks awareness against ganks, this game’s Electric Mouse’s stats will head straight for a quintuple kill.

Meanwhile, in the mid and jungle, Fiddlesticks’ early laning strength is solid and can coordinate well with the Blind Monk.

Not to mention their late-game ability to carry the ball through enemy lines.

The bottom lane combo of Wei Lusi and Wind Lady may struggle to gain advantage against Ashe and Jelena, but holding the lane is no problem at all.

Conversely, when three heroes on a team heavily rely on their ultimates, can you guess how a stronger opponent will counter you?

Oh, it’s not even three—BLQG’s fifth pick, acting as the counterpick, spent ages thinking before going against the meta and selecting a seemingly perfect champion who can teleport to bottom at level six to help Ashe push towers quickly, then later assist Kainan in split-pushing with Card Master.

One can only say that WE’s world championship win has had an overly profound impact on domestic players.

For a long time, whether a mid laner had a “pants-card” as a secret tool became a standard for measuring a player’s skill.

The premise for picking Card Master to teleport bottom is that once you arrive, with Ashe and Jelena, you must be able to kill NXG’s Wei Lusi under Wind Lady’s protection.

Otherwise, if Fiddlesticks arrives in time or the early-powerful Blind Monk successfully ambushes you, Card Master’s level-six teleport to bottom becomes a self-sabotaging move.

With the purple side’s fifth pick finalized, both teams’ compositions were fully set.

Blue side NXG: Top Eyu , Jungle Blind Monk, Mid Fiddlesticks, Bottom Wei Lusi + Wind Lady.

Purple side BLQG: Top Kainan, Jungle Prince, Mid Card Master, Bottom Ashe + Jelena!

“Play well—this first match is your best chance to make a name for yourselves.”

With the composition locked, Jiang Ming had little else to say, merely offering his usual encouragement to the players.

“Hehe, don’t worry, Ming-ge—we’re gonna tear apart their top lane today!” Song Yuan patted his chest confidently.

The other four nodded in agreement.

If they underperformed against a mediocre BLQG team, it would be a betrayal of all their brutal training.

“Woo-hoo, JM!”

“Go NXG!”

“So cool.”

“We’re rooting for you.”

Leaving the arena, without any organized effort, Jiang Ming and his NXG team unexpectedly received some cheers from the live audience.

Since BLQG had no coach to shake hands with, Jiang Ming simply stood at the tunnel entrance and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd below.

Unlike the introverted internet-addicted teens in the scene, Jiang Ming—having lived two lives and streamed for over a year—knew exactly how to interact with fans.

…

“Move out fast, Lao Song—head up the river first and deny their vision in the blue buff area.”

“At level one, push forward a bit and try to bait out a skill.”

After a brief loading screen, Summoner’s Rift appeared before them. NXG’s five players, having trained professionally in exit timing and quick respawn, moved swiftly—on camera, their champions seemed to exit in perfect sync.

As team commander, Pang ran through the map with calm precision, marking key positions.

On the commentary desk.

Wanwa and joker, having done their homework, focused their attention entirely on NXG.

“Welcome back, viewers—we’re live at the match! The first game has officially begun: blue side NXG, purple side BLQG.”

“Before we start, please give both teams a round of cheers and applause.”

Though still awkward in language structure, Wanwa—aware of his strengths and weaknesses after years of experience in the City Hero Championship—was now consciously developing into a control-focused commentator.

“Woo-ooh!”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Clearly, it wasn’t just the commentators’ inexperience—the majority of the live audience had little to no exposure to esports.

Too shy to cheer loudly, yet unwilling to let the commentators face silence, a couple of bold college students’ shouts mixed with scattered applause marked the beginning of China’s LPL professional scene.

Oh, and don’t forget the LPL broadcast director—also inexperienced.

Even after loading finished and the champions had been walking toward their lanes for a long time, the camera still hadn’t switched to properly show the five matchups.

(Found an old relic—the pre-season OB screen. Truly a makeshift operation.)

On the big-screen OB feed now.

NXG’s mid Fiddlesticks was still on floor one; support Pang’s Jelena had wandered to floor two; while the jungler Blind Monk was facing off against the purple side’s mid laner.

“NXG has a slight edge in early exit speed, but BLQG is lined up in a straight snake formation—level one team fight is unlikely to happen.”

“Correct. By the third season of League of Legends, actual level one team fights have become extremely rare in professional play.”

“We see Prince has placed a flag into the brush where the crocodile is hiding.”

“Yes, Prince’s flag is one of the few early-game skills in League that can reveal vision,” joker added, eager to show off his League knowledge.

“On the right, BLQG’s level one Kainan started with Doran’s Blade, while the crocodile carried a large health potion, a ward, and a health flask.”

“Since the qualifiers, NXG has been the team most willing to invest heavily in vision control.”

“Hey, look at the movements of the blue side’s bottom lane heroes—BLQG’s river brush ward didn’t detect NXG’s invading heroes from the bottom.”

BLQG’s Ashe stood alone in the river and immediately retreated the moment she spotted NXG’s four heroes approaching.

Shi Zhenyu attempted to throw out a Sonic Wave.

Puff!

Hit!

“Oh! Sonic Wave landed directly on Ashe—BLQG’s ADC was careless with positioning!”

“Wow! NXG’s duo acted decisively—the support Wind Lady flashed in and applied Slow, Wei Lusi followed with a flash and E skill—Ashe tried to flash out, but the damage looks sufficient!”