Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was already February 26th.
Luo Sheng had prepared in advance for the night's match. Early in the morning, he got the players up, had them brush their teeth and eat breakfast, then brought them straight into the strategy room to analyze LNG's recent match footage.
The focus was especially on the mid and top lanes.
After Ale returned to the lineup, LNG's tactics had clearly become far more flexible.
As one of the few true carry-style top laners in the domestic scene, Ale's individual strength naturally ranked near the top. Across the entire league, the only players who could consistently hold him down were TheShy and Bin.
That put significant pressure on Zoom in the top lane, though Wayward was itching to try.
He wanted to challenge those players who had already made a name for themselves in the league.
But TES had already secured a three-win streak, and Duke's performance had also been quite solid, making his starting position unshakable.
In reality, these five players on stage were already the five Luo Sheng believed to be the most correct choice.
After finishing the video review, he specifically reminded everyone to pay close attention to ward placement. Vision was extremely important—especially against a roaming mid laner like Doinb, where vision mattered even more.
However, since the match was scheduled for 7 p.m., the plan before that was mainly to let the players do some light training.
At the very least, they needed to get into match condition, so they wouldn't sit on stage with cold hands.
After lunch, at three in the afternoon, everyone boarded the bus to the venue.
As usual, the moment TES's bus arrived, it was surrounded by fans. Many people held up photos of JackeyLove or the TES logo.
"Let's go TES! TES must win!"
"Charge in, Shiba Inu!"
"Play well, JackeyLove!"
"Crush LNG! Rise of Kingdoms Bro, rise up!"
Lin Fan hadn't expected this to be JackeyLove's home ground, only to hear someone shouting his own nickname.
But his recent standout performances had indeed attracted a lot of fans—stepping up in critical moments.
When TES was at its darkest and most dangerous point, he had stood up to end the losing streak. Then he led the team to three straight wins, charging toward the playoffs. Just thinking about it was exhilarating.
Coupled with his good looks, it was only natural that he had gained a small but genuine fanbase.
If it were someone like Ice-Sealed Sunset, it would be understandable for fans to get wild, but when it came to those ugly-looking nobodies behind him, it was hard to understand why anyone would willingly get screwed over.
All that could be said was that hardcore idol fans had abnormal thought processes—definitely not how normal people thought.
Next, TES held a simple fan meet-and-greet.
Signatures were signed, photos were taken.
…
For the club, this period was a perfect opportunity to expand their traffic.
Before solid results were achieved, they needed operational methods to grow exposure.
Only after gaining visibility would clueless sponsors be willing to pay.
After all, you needed either results or traffic. Otherwise, TES wouldn't have built a so-called Galaxy Battleship—an all-Chinese roster. Capital's calculations were still pretty sharp.
Under Luo Sheng's lead, they then entered the arena, first going to the officially assigned lounge, then submitting today's starting lineup.
Knight stood at the back, eyes wide open…
Although the chance of him starting was low, he had trained hard during this period and delivered carry-level performances in scrims, so he still held onto an optimistic mindset.
I'm ready. The coach should give me a chance, right?
Against Doinb today, even if Lin Fan was in good form, he'd definitely lose a game.
Once a game was lost, Knight could go on stage.
The mid laners from the first three matches had been too weak. Today, with Doinb here, Lin Fan's flimsy shortcomings were bound to be exposed.
…
On the other side, in LNG's lounge.
The coach was, as always, laying out pre-match strategy. The atmosphere was relaxed.
After all, they were on a winning streak, and their standings were mid-table.
There was no playoff pressure.
Looking at the roster, LNG was clearly ambitious.
Their mid-jungle duo was Doinb and Tarzan.
Tarzan, formerly Griffin's jungler, definitely had real skill. Paired with Light and LvMao in the bot lane, the lineup could genuinely be called ambitious.
But like many other clubs, they loved treating people like dirt.
Back when LNG was on a losing streak, wasn't it because they paid everyone else's salaries except Ale's? At the end of the day, they were just bullying an honest guy.
Once an honest person snapped, of course he'd choose to fight back.
Thankfully, the club later made up the payment. Otherwise, Ale would've probably checked out mentally for the entire year.
"TES has been on a three-win streak lately. Their form's pretty good."
"It's alright. Their opponents didn't have much value anyway. TT and FPX don't need mentioning, and JDG was just so-so. Kanavi's form was bad, and without him it's almost impossible for them to win—no one else can really step up."
"True, but I think their mid laner still needs attention. His Syndra is genuinely strong. Ban it," Doinb said.
"Ban it?"
"Yeah. It's definitely a pocket pick. Letting him take such a comfortable champion isn't ideal. Laning pressure shoots through the roof. As for his other champions, I can handle them easily." Doinb spoke with confidence. As a World Championship–winning mid laner, he believed he lost to no one.
Any mid laner without a World Championship was trash.
This kind of newcomer just hadn't been studied yet. Once you researched and targeted him a bit, he'd fall apart.
"Alright. I've watched his match footage too. His Syndra really is excellent. Once he gets an advantage, he keeps roaming bot. In those two matches, mid lane was cracked open first, then he kept helping bot.
Once JackeyLove gets rolling, it's easy for TES to win."
"Exactly. With a Syndra that has lane priority, roaming is effortless. Better to give him Vladimir so he can't move, let Doinb take lane control and roam instead." Ale nodded in agreement.
As long as mid lane could move, his top lane would feel extremely comfortable. A three-man dive at five or six minutes and top lane would instantly take off.
The coach smiled after hearing the players' opinions. "Alright. Since you all think his Syndra is troublesome, we'll just ban it. If we can't handle a champion, we send it straight to the ban list."
"Gotta say, the way he plays that champion is really good. Even though Q got adjusted back, the E nerf hurt a lot. You only get one real chance in lane. Miss it, and solo killing becomes nearly impossible."
Although Doinb didn't play the champion himself, his understanding was thorough.
Without proper champion understanding, how could you play against Syndra?
While both sides' coaches were studying strategies, the Weibo versus OMG match had already ended. In the end, Weibo came out on top, defeating OMG 2–1 thanks to TheShy's Gwen.
As the 5 p.m. matches concluded, under staff arrangements, the 7 p.m. match was about to begin.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup