LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

"Secondly," Mark turned to the next page, his eyes becoming somewhat complicated, even carrying a hint of undisguised helplessness, "it's a targeted nerf to the heroes. But... everyone, please look at this data first."

The screen flashed, revealing a densely packed table. It displayed statistics for all of SKT's matches during the second half of the Summer Split, since Xiao Yan's return.

The dozen or so top game designers and data analysts in the conference room all gasped the moment they saw the spreadsheet. A deathly silence fell over the room, broken only by the hum of the projector's cooling fan.

The left side of the table lists all the heroes Xiao Yan used in the Summer Tournament.

Lucian, Draven, Kalista, Vayne, Kai'Sa, Xayah, Ezreal, Varus, Ashe, Jhin... and even two unconventional bot lane picks chosen to complement the team composition—Syndra and Yasuo.

On the right side of the table are the win rate, KDA (kill/death/assist ratio), damage per minute, damage conversion rate, and CS lead during the laning phase (first 15 minutes) for these heroes.

Rows of glaring "100%" win rates are like insurmountable walls.

Average KDA: 15.4.

Damage per minute: An exaggerated number that surpasses the timeline, almost always the highest in the entire game.

Average CS during the laning phase: 35 CS.

"This...is this data that a human could produce?" a young designer in charge of hero balance stammered, pushing up his glasses as if he doubted his eyes.

Mark gave a wry smile, placing his hands on the conference table: "This is our biggest dilemma. When preparing nerf proposals, our first instinct was to nerf his best champions. Like that Kalista in the 20-minute speedrun of GRF, or that Vayne who got a pentakill."

"However, when we retrieved his Rank data from the Korean server's Challenger tier, as well as all the match replays, we discovered a devastating fact—"

Mark took a deep breath and said, word by word, "XiaoYan has no weakness in his hero pool. Or rather, his hero pool is a bottomless ocean."

"He's almost omnipotent. Whether it's an auto-attack-based AD carry that requires extreme movement and reaction speed, a skill-based AD carry that requires precise skill casting, or a teamfight-oriented AD carry that requires a good understanding of the overall game and finding good positioning, his proficiency is at an outrageous peak. He can even use Ashe, a champion without any mobility, to dodge all non-targeted skills through positioning under the enemy jungler's relentless targeting, and then turn the tables and get a kill."

"If we want to limit him by weakening champions..." Mark looked around at everyone, "then the only thing we can do is to nerf all the marksman champions in League of Legends."

Silence fell over the meeting room once again.

David frowned, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table: "This is absolutely unacceptable. League of Legends isn't just XiaoYan's game. If we nerf all AD champions' stats just to limit him, it'll be a catastrophe for AD players in other regions. Uzi and JackeyLove from the LPL, Ruler and Deft from the LCK, Rekkles from Europe... these top players will completely lose their stage because of our targeted nerfs. This will cause a global player riot and even destroy the entire bot lane ecosystem."

"Yes, that's so unfair," another senior designer chimed in. "We can't punish all the players who play the game normally just because one 'monster' has appeared."

"So, we've given up on the idea of ​​nerfing the hero mechanics." Mark nodded and switched the screen to the next page. "Since we can't weaken the heroes, we can only work on the 'environment' and 'pacing'."

Several equipment icons appeared on the screen, along with some basic setting values.

"We decided to try a different approach. XiaoYan's most terrifying aspect is his incredibly powerful snowballing ability. If he gets a kill or two tower plates in the early game, he can quickly turn that advantage into an equipment dominance and then take over the game around the ten-minute mark."

"Therefore, our second plan is to 'slow down'."

Mark pointed to the data on the screen and explained rapidly, "First, we'll nerf the stats of items that are easy to snowball in the early game. For example, we'll increase the price of 'B.F. Sword' and reduce the smoothness of 'Berserker Greaves' build. We need to delay the ADC's power spike by at least five minutes."

"Secondly, reduce the bounty for early kills while slightly increasing the natural economic growth of minions. This means that even if XiaoYan gets a solo kill during the laning phase, his economic lead will be reduced. We need to force the game into a macro phase, rather than engaging in mindless fights."

"Third, which is the 'Absolute Barrier' plan I just mentioned, is to strengthen the defensive towers. Combining these three points, our goal is clear—to forcibly extend the average match duration to over thirty minutes!"

David looked at the proposed changes, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"Very good. Since his early-game dominance is unmatched, we'll use the system mechanics to forcibly take away his early-game advantage. This will force SKT into late-game team fights. After thirty minutes, when everyone's items are complete, individual playstyles will be severely limited, and the team's margin for error will become the key to victory."

"That's settled then," David declared decisively. "Immediately implement these changes on the test server to ensure this 'slowdown' mechanism works perfectly in the World Championship patch. We want the world to see a suspenseful World Championship, not a one-man show by SKT!"

While Riot Games designers across the ocean were racking their brains and making great efforts to limit Xiao Yan, the LCK Summer Playoffs in Seoul, South Korea, had reached their peak.

Seoul, Samsan Gymnasium.

This is the venue for the LCK Summer Split Finals. Outside the stadium, a sea of ​​people stood, their red and black SKT support jerseys intertwined with their white KT support jerseys, resembling two armies about to charge into battle.

Yes, standing opposite SKT is the second-ranked KT team.

The atmosphere in the backstage lounge was surprisingly relaxed.

TheShy was wearing headphones, listening to music with his eyes closed, his fingers lightly tapping the rhythm on his knees. Peanut was joking with Wolf, the two laughing heartily. Faker sat in the corner, quietly flipping through a thick tactics manual, his eyes focused and deep.

Xiao Yan, meanwhile, leaned back on the sofa, toying with a support bracelet bearing the SKT team logo. His eyes were calm as still water, but a closer look would reveal a burning fighting spirit beneath that calm, like a volcano about to erupt.

"Coach," Xiao Yan suddenly spoke, breaking the silence in the lounge, "I heard that Riot Games has been making a lot of big moves on the test server lately?"