Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 322 History Repeats Itself, Teammate Selection
The huge five-star hotel was booked out, costing a considerable sum for just one night, but clearly, these people were only the first group to attend the celebration banquet.

As time went on, more and more people came to the restaurant for the gathering, including but not limited to some big stars who are usually only seen on TV and Weibo, such as Lin Gengxin and Chen He, who are already associated with the e-sports circle. Even a few female stars came.

This also shows that as RNG's performance improved, the financial backing behind them became stronger, which also benefited the professional players, elevating their status.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and the celebration was over, they all left the hotel in high spirits, ready to get into their luxury vans to rest.

For the RNG team, although the three matches tonight were not very physically demanding, after a year of intense competition, they needed a complete mental break. Moreover, everyone delivered such a perfect performance this time, achieving both the Grand Slam and the title of defending champion.

When you finally manage to muster your strength and let your guard down, all that follows is endless fatigue and exhaustion.

This state is a nightmare for active professional players. Of course, given RNG's current state, they can take a few days off.

It wasn't until five days after winning the championship that the RNG team boarded a plane to China.

The treatment upon returning was different from when they arrived. They came as challengers burdened with a mission, but upon returning, they had become honored and had successfully defended their title, achieving a miraculous back-to-back championship.

RNG members were astonished when they saw the huge crowd of fans at the airport as soon as they got off the plane.

Putting aside the sheer number of RNG license plates covering the mountains and fields, the sheer number of young people blocking the airport's entrance speaks volumes about the scale of the event.

"Uzi is awesome!! I love you, Uzi!"

"Spicy hot pot, look here!!"

"Defending champions! Awesome!"

At least 70% of the audience were chanting "Uzi".

Seeing such enthusiastic fans, especially now that the players are about to lose control, the LPL officials and the airport decided to set aside a special area in the airport for RNG's fan meeting.

The time difference between South Korea and China is negligible, so the RNG members were happy to do so and started giving autographs or taking photos with fans.

Even so, by the time the RNG team returned to the club without stopping, it was already afternoon.

Although it's the off-season, everyone still has some belongings left at the club. With this long break, it's only natural to pack them up and go home for a vacation.

After packing up, Xiaohu and Letme said goodbye to Li Luo and left that afternoon.

Before leaving, Li Luo hesitated several times, but ultimately did not ask the question that was on his mind.

Mlxg and Letme's contracts have only one month left. On January 1, 2019, the S9 season will officially end, and they will become free agents in the league.

Of course, in her previous life, at this time, without Li Luo's intervention, Bai Xing also devised the famous "contract kidnapping" method, but the two of them were too stubborn and chose to retire.

Xiao Ming seemed to realize that the atmosphere within the team was a bit different, so he made an excuse to leave the base to clear his head, giving Li Luo and Xiang Guo some space.

For the RNG team, if we were to rank the most important members, then without a doubt, Uzi would be number one in terms of both order and importance.

As a partner, Xiaoming's importance is self-evident. He is crucial for maintaining the bottom lane's dominance. After all, changing a support means starting over and rebuilding the synergy, which is not appropriate at this time.

But if we're talking about the third most important person, it's neither Xiaohu nor Letme, but rather Xiangguo!

Xiangguo is RNG's jungler and one of the team's souls, but he is also the most special member of the RNG team.

If it's true that most people who like Xiaohu and Yan Junze are fans of the RNG team, and those who like UZI will also like RNG, then the number of people who like Xiangguo extends far beyond the team.

Whether you're a fan of EDG, WE, IG, or any other team, many people's love for Mlxg is unrelated to their favorite team. In fact, to exaggerate, even if you hate RNG, it's hard for you to hate Mlxg.

The relationship between RNG and Xiangguo can be compared to a very important example—Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times before finally winning his heart. Later, at the Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei frankly said that having Zhuge Liang was like a fish finding water. Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei were sworn brothers.

When RNG reorganized, they bought the King team just for mlxg. From the summer of 15 to 18, RNG unconditionally trusted this top-two jungler in the LPL. As a result, RNG's team strength continued to improve, which also rewarded mlxg's long-term contributions.

Xiangguo rose to fame at a young age with the King team and won the Best Newcomer award. In fact, when he joined RNG, he and Xiaohu were already the most anticipated rising star duo in the league. Later, Xiangguo changed his playstyle several times in RNG. It is no exaggeration to say that he has been constantly adapting, accommodating and cooperating with the team to become stronger. And from then until now, it has been four years.

RNG unconditionally trusts Mlxg, and Mlxg reciprocates with unconditional and continuous transformation.

Starting around the S7 World Championship, Xiangguo gained a well-known nickname: the starving jungler.

In his previous life, Xiangguo was the one who made the biggest changes for RNG.

Sometimes things are just cruel. What's best for you might not be best for the whole team, and what's best for the team might require everyone to make sacrifices.

Everyone in RNG has made compromises and transformations for the sake of tactics, and Xiangguo is a typical example.

He was the absolute core of the team in S6. After UZI returned, they worked together several times to find the best playstyle for the team, but it may not be the best playstyle for him personally.

He was the most popular RNG player in S7, but after Karsa arrived in 18, he didn't complain at all and continued to work with the team to integrate, just like when Uzi first arrived. Once again, he created the playstyle that was theoretically the most suitable for RNG in 18, but it was still not the most suitable for him.

He was willing to make changes because he loves the RNG team, and he understands that these changes are necessary for the team.

His phone case is full of RNG merchandise. He loves the team and he loves victory. He is a very pure person when it comes to winning. As long as I can win, I don't care about anything else.

Although Xiangguo was a rotation player in S8, he played in almost every game of RNG's crucial battles and won the vast majority of those games.

During the S7 All-Star campaign, Xiaohu inadvertently let slip that Xiangguo would only play for another one to two years at most, which may be the reason why RNG resolutely brought in Karsa in 18.

When Xiangguo was streaming this year, he felt unwell on the way and was escorted to the hospital by xdd. Later, Zz1tai also went to see him. At that time, he was only streaming for a few hours a day, which was far from the minimum training time for e-sports players.

In this life, under Li Luo's guidance, Xiangguo's health has improved significantly, which has allowed him to maintain such a high level of performance even after the end of S8. Keep Xiangguo!

This is what Li Luo has been thinking about these past few days.
Although Xiaotian, as a substitute, is the S9 MVP in history, Li Luo can also see that Xiaotian did not win the MVP because of his strength. Rather, it is because his tactical synergy with FPX has reached a certain level, and under the guidance of the tactics, he has shown his most dazzling brilliance.

Otherwise, considering only their synergy with the current RNG team, Xiangguo might have 95%, while Xiaotian only has 70%.

"Play for another year?"

As the sun set, Xiangguo, having finished his livestream for the day, sat calmly with Li Luo on the base's balcony, watching the sunset.

"I can't fight anymore. If you really want to fight, you can fight in my place."

Xiangguo's smile remains as pure and simple as ever, like that of a child who never grows up, revealing his truest thoughts.

"You know, the jungler position is different from your AD position. Even the top junglers have very short careers. Even Bengi became SKT's substitute jungler in S6, only appearing in crucial games. How about we promote Tian to the main team and I'll be his substitute?"

When it came to being benched, Xiangguo was very frank, so frank that it seemed the person he was referring to was neither the two-time champion jungler nor the best jungler in China.

He just wanted to win; that's how simple and pure he was, so much so that he was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the team and his teammates.

Hearing Xiangguo's words, Li Luo was also taken aback, and then swallowed the words he was about to say.

What Xiangguo said wasn't a lie.
Of the five positions in League of Legends, the other four are alright, but the jungle position is truly a place where a so-called "king" is chosen every year.

Ambition, who had just won the S7 championship with Samsung, became a substitute the following year. Benji, the three-time champion, joined VG and the team was relegated. Peanut, whose aggressive playstyle shocked the world, became worse and worse. Ning won the championship and played for two years before retiring from the competition. Tian was the most outrageous, and he started to sleepwalk in the second season after winning the championship.

In the version changes, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Riot Games will definitely create a jungle carry version this year that is even more overpowered than Season 10.

At that point, the jungler will need to lead the team's early and mid-game rhythm and coordinate the entire team to launch attacks.

In particular, whether the bottom lane can gain an advantage depends more on the lane control and pressure of the mid and top lanes, as well as the jungler's aggressiveness.

The Dragon Soul that will be changed in S10 will almost certainly appear in the S9 version.

Each season's new version changes will bring countless new junglers to the forefront, while also causing veteran junglers to fall from grace.

Adding to RNG's style of play, by the mid-game, the jungler has absolutely nowhere to farm gold. Only when Xiangguo risks his life to counter-jungle can he avoid becoming a mere utility player.

At the same time, the jungler also needs to cooperate with the support to place wards. Whether it's the dragon, the baron, or the herald, the jungler needs to go and guard them in advance.

Therefore, Riot Games compensated the jungler by making the first major item, the jungle item, cheap and easy to use, with high stats and certain special effects, thus ensuring that the jungler has enough say after completing the first major item.

Moreover, jungler slots are very limited. In a match, once a jungler is responsible for vision control in the jungle, it means that out of six slots, one is for the jungle item, one for boots, and one for a control ward, leaving only three slots.

When the average player has around 3000 gold in major items, jungling is extremely difficult, often resulting in players becoming poorer the more they play.

From all these perspectives, Xiangguo's words were not just made up.

"I have no intention of leaving RNG, but I want to take a break for a while"—this is a true reflection of Xiangguo's feelings.

Meanwhile, four days after leaving, Letme expressed his intention to retire.

As an ordinary top laner, he is already quite satisfied to have won two championships with his reputation for withstanding pressure.

During the S8 season, many people blamed him for RNG's poor performance, believing that he was inferior to TheShy, Wunder, Cuvee, and even top laners from wildcard regions. Therefore, under the dual pressure of public opinion and contractual obligations, he chose to retire after the S8 season.

Now, Letme has probably exhausted all his potential in his professional career. Just like in his previous life, after winning two championships, he chose to retire and retire with RNG in order to give newcomers a chance to rise to the top.

Meanwhile, in the period before the All-Star Game, before the offseason, the transfer window for various clubs also opened.

After RNG defended their championship title, the popularity of League of Legends increased dramatically. According to statistics, not only did a large number of new players flood into the Chinese server, but also a large number of players entered the Korean, North American, and other servers.

After Riot Games announced the upcoming release of League of Legends Mobile, the influence of League of Legends has visibly increased across all age groups, and more and more large capital is preparing to enter the market.

For these investors who are unfamiliar with esports, acquiring or directly investing in a team is undoubtedly the best option.

Aside from RNG, which was protected from malicious poaching by Wang Sicong and Bai Xing, other major clubs that received funding also began to fiercely compete for players in preparation for next year's S9, spending heavily to recruit them.

At this critical juncture of capital competition, a strange situation has emerged.

Leaving aside the skyrocketing value of LPL's "ADC" position players, junglers, who used to be the least valued and had the lowest rank requirements, have now become highly sought-after.

The top laners who followed closely behind also saw their market value increase exponentially.

The reason is simple: the fist needs to be strengthened in these two areas!

Before S8, or even S7, there was not much understanding of esports in China. Most teams were just figuring things out as they went, so each club had a different management style and player development approach.

In this situation, of course, whichever company is stronger and which club has better results will be the one that everyone will follow and imitate.

In Seasons 3 and 4, whether it was Team WE's IPL5 championship or Royal Never Give Up's two championships, the ADC position was undoubtedly the core. This led to major clubs pursuing ADC players, and the ADC position became a relatively important position in solo queue games.

In South Korea, the top, mid, and jungle players all performed exceptionally well in the four championships of S3, S4, S5, and S6. As a result, LCK has gradually begun to produce top-tier top laners, junglers, and mid laners, while the AD position is generally average.

But now that most clubs have guessed that Riot Games will definitely try to weaken RNG, it is only natural that everyone thinks the bot lane will definitely be weakened, and the top and jungle, which are furthest from the bot lane, must be strengthened.

After the version trend indicator arrived, from the first day the official announcement of the start of the transfer period, a series of big news in the e-sports circle seemed to have a chain reaction, shocking all the onlookers.

(End of this chapter)