WeiXiao's mind suddenly started racing.
Were there no talented players in the LPL?
Actually, there were plenty.
The reason Korean imports were so popular wasn't a lack of domestic talent, but rather that most local clubs were simply unwilling to invest in cultivating rookie domestic players.
When it came to player development, China's scene really couldn't compare to South Korea's well-established eSports system.
Money was secondary when trying to nurture players.
The main reason was that spending that money carried a high probability of yielding no results.
And the key to that failure didn't lie with the players, but with those teaching them.
WeiXiao knew very well that a player's growth was heavily tied to their coach.
It was just that capable domestic coaches were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Most retired players were reluctant to take up coaching, and even when they did, it was hard for them to do a good job.
Sask was already considered a relatively outstanding coaching candidate among retired players.
Over the next while, WeiXiao kept glancing at Li Yao from time to time.
From WeiXiao's perspective, a good coach needed sufficiently strong mechanical prowess combined with a clear head.
WE currently had two coaches.
One was the head coach, sask.
The other was the draft coach from the spring split, a Korean who had now been demoted to assistant coach.
However, sask and this Korean didn't communicate much, and the Korean coach was basically coasting until his contract expired just to collect his paycheck and leave.
One could easily imagine the immense pressure sask was under.
Li Yao's appearance had indeed broadened WeiXiao's horizons, but he wouldn't bring anything up directly. After all, anyone could have a flash of inspiration; you couldn't treat a passing moment as permanent.
Whether Li Yao was up to the task required further observation.
……
Meanwhile, Li Yao was also considering his own next steps.
Though the days of rank grinding were exhausting, Li Yao felt this was indeed the most suitable training method for him at the current stage.
Li Yao had ambition.
And his ambition was not small at all.
The experiences of the "himself" in his dreams had set extremely high standards for Li Yao.
At the same time, it made Li Yao realize how far away he still was from his set goals.
As for whether he should quickly find a team to join and play in official matches, Li Yao's mindset was very detached and laid-back.
Although the dream was illusory, the feeling of "himself" fighting on the competitive stage within that dream was incomparably real.
Li Yao could also clearly feel the tournament experience brought by the dream.
Besides, the Summer Split had already begun, and every team's current roster was tending toward stability.
Unless a management team had lost their minds, no one would temporarily bench a starting roster that had been scrimming since the end of the transfer window just to trust a rank rookie who had appeared out of nowhere.
He would quietly and steadily improve his own strength, and when his abilities reached a certain level, opportunities would naturally come knocking.
Therefore, Li Yao didn't even want to go to the Academy team. Right now, he just wanted to simplify his life — ideally spending every waking moment outside of basic necessities grinding rank, digesting the harvest of those three years in the dream bit by bit.
However, Li Yao also knew he was dreaming a bit too vividly.
……
WE's opening match was a brilliant victory.
2-0, an easy win against TT.
At the same time, Breathe won the MVP in both consecutive games.
One game with a 7/1 Lee Sin, another with a 9/1 Lee Sin that styled on the entire enemy team.
The draft for the second game played out exactly as Li Yao had predicted: TT's first three ban slots all going to supports was a truly helpless move.
Even though they knew the Lee Sin was difficult to deal with, they had no choice but to let it through.
Because they couldn't play it themselves.
Were they supposed to let top laner Langx play Lee Sin?
He couldn't play it.
Langx, whose confidence had just been shattered at last year's World Championship, was not in good form.
Game one's Rumble went 0/6/1, and game two's attempt to counter the Lee Sin with a Volibear also ended at 0/4.
If a player's champion pool lacked the champions of the current patch, the coach would inevitably find themselves sitting on thumbtacks.
And when a team lost, the fans' first instinct was to swarm the coach, making coaching an exceptionally miserable profession.
With WE securing a smooth opening victory, WeiXiao was extremely satisfied.
However, WeiXiao didn't leave immediately.
Because in just two days, WE would face their first grueling battle since the start of the Summer Split.
That was none other than Suning.
As the runner-up of last year's Worlds, Suning had suffered a crushing defeat to DWG, but aside from huanfeng choking hard, Suning had still left audiences with plenty of positive impressions during the finals.
Whether it was Angel, the domestic mid laner who performed most brilliantly across all S-Worlds, or Bin turning the game around with his pentakill Fiora shaking his head, or SofM's jungle-dominating Lee Sin and Rengar — all of these proved Suning's formidable strength.
Suning had also performed very well in the Spring Split, making them undoubtedly a brutally tough bone to chew for the up-and-coming WE.
Therefore, WeiXiao planned to stay at the club base for the next two days.
Once Li Yao left the base to go grind rank, WeiXiao called sask over, and the two chatted for a long time.
……
Over the next two days, Li Yao's rank journey was far from peaceful.
Sask would wander over from time to time, asking Li Yao tactical questions under the guise of seeking advice, though it was actually more of a test.
Li Yao began to regret running his mouth so much.
He hadn't been trying to be a smartass back then.
It was mainly just a common flaw many people shared.
Namely, having fallen into certain pits oneself, one felt compelled to make the people coming after them fall into them too just to achieve inner peace.
On one hand, Li Yao's game understanding stemmed from his own match-reading ability — a talent pro players possessed to varying degrees, with some having stronger talent and others weaker.
On the other hand, it came from the dream; Li Yao's tactical entry points were extremely precise, and this approach was something the "himself" in the dream had "learned."
When sask finished another "test" of Li Yao and walked to the base entrance, he suddenly paused, rubbed the stubble on his chin, and muttered to himself, "I went to test him, not to ask for advice. That should... be right, shouldn't it?"
In his mind, he couldn't help recalling what Li Yao had said today.
It was an analysis concerning Mole's personal issues and extending to the entire WE team.
……
Inside the base, in the room where WeiXiao was temporarily staying.
"He really said that?"
WeiXiao frowned, deep in thought.
"If it were up to me to figure it out on my own, I definitely wouldn't have thought of this. But after that kid mentioned it to me, I thought back on it, and it seems the team does have this issue right now. Missing's shotcalling ability is actually quite good, but his voice isn't loud enough."
"And when he calls shots, Jiumeng occasionally voices opinions that clash with his."
WeiXiao pondered: "That's easy enough to fix; I'll just talk to Jiumeng later. Missing and Jiumeng actually have pretty different gaming styles. Missing leans toward being more steady, while Jiumeng tends to be much more aggressive whether in the laning phase or teamfights."
"Still, if Missing is the shotcaller, Jiumeng really ought to speak less."
"Also, Mole's individual ability is indeed quite good. His best trait is his ability to seize opportunities. According to what Li Yao said, could this exceptional knack for catching opportunities end up being a double-edged sword?"
"It's possible."
Sask nodded. "Mole's thought process is relatively simple; whenever he sees an opening, he goes in. Against weak teams, it's fine, but against strong teams, if the opponent is baiting, he's very easy to hook. Missing's voice isn't loud enough to pull him back, and if Jiumeng chimes in on top of that, his brain is probably going to overload."
"Then let's wait and see how the match against SN goes."
At this, WeiXiao paused: "Your cousin is truly extraordinary. If you get the chance, you can sound him out. How about letting him join the team as your assistant coach first? If he doesn't want to coach and only wants to play professionally as a player, just register him as a substitute and let him warm the bench in the main roster."
"Normally, whenever there are tactical or player-related issues, you can consult his opinions. To be honest, I'm not worried about your tactical competence, but you're too thick-skinned and often overlook the players' personal issues."
"I know that."
Sask sighed helplessly. He couldn't magically transform into someone with delicate sensibilities; his personality was already set in stone.
"But speaking of which, can he really not play professionally?"
Sask asked out of curiosity.
"Nothing is absolute, and I can't say for sure either, but I've looked at his match history, and I can only say it's very difficult, alright? Of course, if some team takes a fancy to him in the future and he's willing to go, the club will just let him leave."
Saying this, WeiXiao sighed softly: "It's been over three years since we last made it to Worlds. I really want to see WE make it to Worlds again, even if it's just the top sixteen. Top sixteen is still better than staying at home."
"This year, there's a chance."
Sask said with certainty.
……
The showdown between WE and Suning officially kicked off.
Li Yao was called over by sask once again. According to sask, the club had ordered KFC today — ordered a ton of it, far more than they could possibly finish.
Facing this kind of free-loading opportunity, Li Yao, whose diet had been extremely plain for several days, accepted it without hesitation.
Sask's drafting strategy followed the suggestions Li Yao had proposed.
He directly locked in Sett for Mole in the mid lane.
And he boldly picked Lee Sin for Beishang in the jungle.
If the mid lane was the heart of the team, then the jungler was the engine of the entire unit.
Regarding Beishang, WeiXiao's, sask's, and Li Yao's views were almost identical.
That was because Beishang belonged to a category of players with very distinct traits.
His strength was not weak; he could even rank near the top among LPL junglers this year.
Provided that Beishang was playing an AD-type jungler.
Beishang couldn't play AP junglers.
This was sask's biggest constraint during the draft phase.
Rumble, Diana.
These were the current patch's two tier-1 jungle champions.
However, compared to his other champions, Beishang's proficiency on these two could only be described as thoroughly inexperienced.
Sask was also baffled; Beishang had been practicing them, but he just couldn't get the hang of it.
From a drafting perspective, when a team couldn't play these tier-1 champions, there were only two ways to deal with it: either do what TT did in their previous match against them and helplessly let them have Lee Sin.
Or waste a ban slot and ban it themselves.
Sask didn't want to see either scenario.
So he took a huge gamble this game: picking the newly practiced Sett for Mole along with Beishang's Lee Sin!
They also gave Breathe, who was in good form, a pressure-heavy burst champion in Akali, while giving the bot lane Kaisa and Nautilus. The theme of this game was undoubtedly two words:
Dive!
And game one of this BO3 instantly hyped up the WE fans at the venue who hadn't been holding out much hope.
"Just keep the pressure on! Nice, well played!"
In the backstage lounge, WeiXiao watched Elk slaughtering the enemy, his expression excited.
Beishang's Rumble was indeed unpolished.
He failed to position properly twice and got instantly melted.
However, his ultimate placement was exceptionally good.
It was usually Sett who found the opening first, using his ultimate or E skill to restrict the opponents before Beishang followed up with his ultimate.
The execution difficulty of such an ultimate was minimal.
Coupled with Breathe winning his matchup against Bin in the top lane, the sensory experience this match gave the audience was quite stellar. The aggressiveness endowed by the composition allowed WE to sweep through Suning like a autumn wind scattering fallen leaves and take the first game.
Although Mole's stats weren't flashy, his Sett genuinely caught Suning off guard — especially during a mid lane play where he solo killed SofM 1v1 under the tower as the enemy tried to defend the lane. The prior anxieties of WeiXiao and sask were more than half-allayed.
They weren't as worried anymore about Li Yao's earlier concerns.
And this mindset persisted all the way until the mid-to-late game of game two.
WE once again secured a significant advantage in the early game.
They even pushed the bot lane all the way to the inhibitor turret.
However, right in front of the high ground, following a brief breakdown in communication, Mole's Sett — under the widening, horrified eyes of sask and WeiXiao — grabbed an enemy and charged straight into the enemy high ground tower.
The formation was severely disconnected, and the outcome could be easily imagined.
Following this blunder, WE's momentum completely broke down.
An impatient Mole forced several more engages and ultimately ended the game with an exaggerated 3/10 scoreline, allowing Suning to pull off a reverse sweep.
In the backstage lounge.
WeiXiao and sask looked toward Li Yao.
Li Yao was intently focused on dealing with the chicken wing in front of him.
KFC's Orleans grilled wings — Li Yao loved them.