You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 119: Three consecutive wins, second place on the Spring Split MVP list!
After losing to LGD, VG suffered another defeat, and the gap between them and fourth place in Group B is widening.

If you can't get into the top four in your group, you won't make the playoffs.

Under the current LPL format, if you don't make it to the playoffs, you'll have to play in the relegation matches.

When the relegation match finally comes, a best-of-five series will decide life or death, and who knows what unexpected things might happen.

Nobody dares to say for sure that they will stay in the league.

If VG were to be relegated given their investment, it would be a huge joke.

With VG's performance so poorly, their two highly paid Korean players have naturally faced a lot of criticism.

VG's bot lane is notoriously bad, and fans have complained about it so much that they're tired of it.

Your two Korean mid and jungle players, Easyhoon and Bengi, are both S-series champions. With such high salaries, I don't expect you to lead your terrible teammates to a championship, but can't you even make it to the playoffs?

As a result, most of the criticism was directed at Bengi.

Last year, when Dandy was on the team, together with Easyhoon, they were able to lead the team into the S6 gauntlet.

The two champion junglers will inevitably be compared.

It's true that Bengi has two more World Championship titles than Dandy, but it's also true that Dandy's performance in the LPL is far superior to Bengi's.

In recent LPL matches, Bengi's performance has clearly shown a lack of carry potential, with him mostly playing a functional role.

Given VG's abysmal record, comments like "Bengi is nothing without Faker" quickly gained traction.

Viewers felt that VG had really been ripped off by spending a lot of money to bring in Bengi.

In contrast, VG's opponent today, LGD, has brought in their new top laner, Zhou.

That's a great deal!
At the beginning, many viewers felt that LGD might have wasted a lot of money and were a bit foolish to spend so much.

Even though Zhou Dian's debut against RNG was a stunning performance.

Because at that time, many club staff members revealed to varying degrees that [Top Laner] was asking for a very high price.

But after these recent matches, no one has mentioned Zhou Dian's higher price tag compared to other domestic players anymore.

If you have the ability, then you should be paid a high salary.

Compared to those expensive Korean players who only show up in the LPL but are actually in the LCK, LGD's signing of [Top Laner Lao Zu] is incredibly cost-effective.

Before LGD, I had contacted some club managers of Zhou Dian. Seeing Zhou Dian's performance in the LPL now, I have some regrets.

Why didn't I grit my teeth and ask the boss for more money back then, and just sign him directly?
Only IG's manager, Su Xiaoluo, feels increasingly uneasy as Zhou Dian performs better.

Damn it, [Top Lane Master], can you please stop carrying the game?!

He now hopes that Zhou Dian's recent outstanding performance is just a flash in the pan, and that he will fall apart once his talent is figured out.

However, Zhou Dian's fleeting beauty is destined not to be just a one-time occurrence, but rather a two-time one.
Instead, it will continue to appear.

LGD has two regular season matches this week.

Two days after the match against VG, on Saturday, March 18th, at 3 PM, LGD faced off against NB in ​​a regular season BO3 match.

After a long hiatus, LGD finally has another match on Saturday.

However, the timing was scheduled for 1 p.m., when foot traffic is relatively low.

After all, neither of the two teams facing off, LGD nor NB, are big-name teams.

The best time should still be reserved for the top teams in the LPL today.

At all times, LPL must prioritize viewership ratings.

Following LGD's match, there will be matches between RNG and EDG, two of the most popular teams in the LPL right now.

In fact, LGD's traffic has increased significantly recently.

LGD, as a long-established team, still has quite a few long-time fans.

Their previous record was poor, and even longtime fans stopped watching the games.

With such a good recent record, many of LGD's longtime fans have returned to watch the matches.

In addition, Zhou Dian's playing style is very entertaining, and he has gained a lot of new fans for LGD during this period.

Of course, winning the championship is always the only solution to gain a large number of followers.

The S-series champion goes without saying.

Even just winning the LPL championship can attract a large number of fans for the individual and the team.

Some viewers like to criticize "champion fans".

But then again, is it wrong to like the champion?

A professional player who hasn't won a championship can't possibly have a large fan base.

Of course, Uzi is an exception!

Uzi has yet to win a team championship in his professional career so far.

However, two runner-up finishes in the World Championship are still LPL's best result in the World Championship to date.

There's just one thing that's a bit strange.

It's clear that Uzi and his four teammates won the runner-up title together, but many people are making it seem like reaching the S-series finals twice was solely Uzi's achievement.

Regardless of the circumstances, Uzi is currently at the top of the LPL in terms of fan base.

It seems that the only way for other LPL players to surpass Uzi in popularity is to win the World Championship.

After the commentators finished reading the lengthy advertising copy, the first draft phase of LGD vs. NB finally began.

The team NB was previously called QG.

In the summer of 15, QG, who had just been promoted from the secondary league to the LPL, fought their way into the finals of the 15 LPL Summer Split.

Ultimately, QG narrowly lost to LGD 2-3 in the finals, finishing as runners-up.

They almost created the myth of winning the championship right after being promoted!
After losing to LGD in the finals, QG also lost to EDG and IG in the subsequent gauntlet matches, and ultimately failed to qualify for the S5 World Championship.

Of the five starting players from QG who won the LPL runner-up title in the summer of 15, four are still with the team, except for Doinb.

In 16, QG changed owners and renamed itself NB. They immediately spent a fortune to acquire Uzi from OMG for a sky-high price.

NB, which originally aimed to win the LPL championship, self-destructed on the eve of the start of the 16 Spring Split playoffs due to the "breakup" between Doinb and Swift in the mid and jungle.

This also indirectly led to the classic "one-minute BO5" match against EDG.

Currently, the NB team is ranked fourth in Group B, just on the edge of the playoffs.

NB's performance in the Spring Split wasn't actually that good. If VG hadn't performed so poorly, they wouldn't have even finished fourth in Group B.

In short, they need to win more games to secure their playoff spot.

We cannot rule out the possibility that VG might suddenly find themselves playing the game and have a late-game surge.

In reality, based on NB's roster strength, their performance has not met expectations.

Because there are actually quite a few strong players in the NB team.

But the problem with NB is precisely that there are too many people using it.

The NB's first team now has as many as nine players.

Aside from Swift, who is the undisputed starter in the jungle position, there are two players rotating in each of the other four positions.

It really is a rotation.

With the regular season halfway through, all nine players on the NB first team have played in games.

It's a bit outrageous. Halfway through the regular season, NB still can't even field a stable starting lineup.

It highlights a state of chaos.

LGD is very confident of defeating NB, whose rotation is chaotic.

In the first game of the BO3, NB played top lane, with V starting.

The most memorable thing about V is that he looks very similar to 957.

Therefore, whenever there is an NB match, people in the live chat will make fun of his twin relationship with 957.

Aside from these, V's strength is actually quite good.

However, he also suffers from many common problems among LPL top laners: insufficient carry ability, and in most cases, he is just a blue-collar top laner.

There was no tactical system in the entire NB that revolved around him.

If a player like that encounters Zhou Dian, he's in for a lot of trouble!
Zhou Dian's Jayce completely dominated the top lane, then unleashed a barrage of attacks on all three lanes, leaving the NB players screaming in despair and saying they couldn't withstand the onslaught.

In the bottom lane, the longtime duo of Aishejiayi and Tianzai Mori couldn't withstand imp and PYL.

With advantages on both the top and bottom lanes, LGD entered their most comfortable rhythm.

In the end, LGD steadily won the first game.

In the second game, NB's coach made a bold move, replacing all three players on the top and bottom lanes, except for the mid and jungle.

There's no way you'd make so many substitutions in a single match.

They're playing with permutations and combinations here!

In the top lane, V was replaced by Skye, who had previously played top lane for the King team.

In the bottom lane, the two veterans, Ai Shejiayi and Tianzai Mori, were replaced by the young rookie duo of Lin Weixiang and Liu Qingsong.

Somewhat unexpectedly, in the second game, Lin Weixiang and Liu Qingsong fought back and forth with imp and PYL in the bottom lane, and neither of them was at a disadvantage.

However, NB's top lane had already been completely destroyed.

The Skye who came on is much weaker than V.

I don't know what the NB coach was thinking.

Perhaps feeling that V was no match for Zhou Dian, they decided to try a different top laner as a last resort.

Furthermore, in the second game's draft phase, NB's coach allowed Zhou Dian to pick Fiora.

Zhou Dian immediately locked in Fiora.

He's going to teach NB's coach a lesson about why they can't let him play Fiora!

In less than 13 minutes, Zhou Dian's Fiora had already cleared the top lane, destroying two outer turrets in NB's top lane.

After that, Fiora ran rampant on the side lanes, killing anyone who came, and killing two at a time.

With Fiora's immense crowd control, the rest of LGD could easily secure various map resources.

Ultimately, LGD secured Baron Nashor thanks to Fiora's split-pushing, thus ending the second game.

When NB's base crystal exploded, the commentator Wawa exclaimed, "Let's congratulate LGD on defeating NB with a score of 2-0!"

"LGD has achieved another three-game winning streak. In the seven games that Zhou Shen played, LGD achieved a magnificent record of six wins and one loss. I feel that if LGD continues like this, they will win the Spring Split championship!"

As many viewers began discussing the match online, referring to Zhou Dian as "God Zhou," more and more commentators also started calling him "God Zhou."

"I say, that's way too much!" Miller quickly said. "There's a big difference between the regular season and the playoffs!"

After a pause, Miller added, "But I think LGD is still pretty much guaranteed to make the playoffs right now!"

"That's obvious!" Wawa said with a smile. "LGD won today's match, bringing their record to six wins and four losses, putting them tied for second place in Group A with OMG!"

At this moment, the highlight moments of the previous match were displayed on the big screen, and the MVP of the second game was about to be announced.

"Okay, let's see who the MVP is for the second game!"

"I think there's no doubt about that."

"As expected, it was given to Zhou Shen's Fiora!"

Miller continued, "After this game with Fiora, I think no team will dare to defy Zhou Shen's Fiora pick again!"

"I reckon Zhou Shen's Fiora will be buying houses with the ban slots!" Wawa said with a smile.

Besides LGD fans, VG fans were the happiest after defeating NB.

Currently, VG's most realistic goal in making it into the playoffs and escaping the relegation zone is to catch up with NB.

The top three teams are too far ahead of VG in terms of performance; they definitely can't catch up. They can only try to catch up with NB.

Every time NB loses another game, VG gains a better chance of escaping the relegation zone.

While VG fans are relieved that NB lost today, they are also incredibly envious of LGD.

LGD was previously ranked last in the entire LPL, but now they've climbed to second place in Group A, so their playoff spot is practically guaranteed.

If only VG could find such a talented newcomer from somewhere!

Actually, it's not just VG; fans of many teams are now quite eager for the Zhou Dian title.

In the current LPL landscape where blue-collar top laners abound, Zhou Dian stands out somewhat too much.

A little after three in the afternoon.

On the bus back to the LGD base.

Zhou Dian's teammates are egging him on to treat them to a meal.

“Xiao Zhou, you’re second on the MVP list now, why don’t you treat us all to a meal?” PYL was the most enthusiastic.

In today's match against NB, Zhou Dian played Jayce in one game and Fiora in another, earning MVP in both games.

After winning these two MVPs, Zhou Dian's MVP count surpassed Scout's, placing him second on the MVP leaderboard, second only to QG's current mid-laner, Doinb.

In the past, although the LPL would select an MVP player for each match, there was no MVP ranking list.

Starting with this year's Spring Split, the LPL has added several regular season awards.

The most important one is naturally the regular season MVP.

As a result, an MVP leaderboard was created.

By the end of the regular season, the player ranked first on the MVP list will naturally be the Spring Split Regular Season MVP.

The ranking rules for this MVP list are very simple: it is based on the number of MVP awards a player receives in a single game during the regular season.

After hearing PYL's words, Zhou Dian's eyes lit up and he said, "Captain Ping, how about this, once I win the regular season MVP, I'll definitely treat everyone to dinner!"

“It’s okay, it’s the same now. I believe this regular season MVP will definitely be yours!” PYL immediately said.

Compared to other players on the MVP list, Zhou Dian played three fewer BO3 matches, yet he has already ranked second, only two MVPs behind Doinb in first place.

In PYL's view, it's only a matter of time before Zhou Dian surpasses Doinb.

He didn't just say that offhand.

"Team Leader Ping, taking on honors through loans is not a good idea!" Zhou Dian still wanted to do his best.

However, PYL ignored his comment and instead started egging on his teammates and coach.

“OK, OK, the villa tonight!” Zhou Dian voted immediately.

There's nothing I can do. I just received a six-figure salary, so even my ultimate weapon, "crying poor," is no longer effective.

(End of this chapter)