When an Alpha is Marked by One of His Own Kind

Chapter 93

The entire esports community was tuning in to watch BLX's game.
For one thing, their opponent was a strong team from the LCK. For another, this match would determine if one more LPL team could qualify for the finals. And for a third, BLX hadn't done well in recent years. They'd never brought home a world championship trophy. Their fans were all obsessed with this win. Since BLX had fought their way into the world championship tournament, all their fans naturally wanted them to take home the grand prize.

BLX hadn't done so well in the spring tournament that year, but they quickly made some additions and added the promising newcomer Xu Xiao to their ranks. From then on, they instantly brought their team back into peak condition.

Now they were up against SLG of the LCK. Their game was considered a matchup of two seasoned, strong teams. No matter who won, no one would be surprised.

"BLX's game is about to start?"

In the gaming room at DG's hotel, Lu Zhe finished a ranked match and looked over when he heard the voices of a few foreign commentators from the projector in the neighboring room. He moved over just in time to see some sponsorship ads starting to run.

Old Wo got up and stretched, then picked up his ever-present thermos and unscrewed the lid. He poured the contents into his mouth, but only a weak trickle came out. Realizing he was running on empty, he wandered over to the water cooler while saying, "Is Crown getting ready to retire? I watched his livestream the other day, and it felt like he wasn't as aggressive as he used to be."

He was talking about SLG's mid-laner, who'd sat on SLG's bench for a year before becoming famous for leading SLG to two world championship titles. For a long time, Crown was known as the ideal mid-laner in the game of LoL.

The LCK wasn't exactly like the LPL. They valued a whole team's cohesiveness and rhythm above a single player's skill. For example, in the LPL, the best top laners were Wolf Cub, Xu Xiao, and Paopao. Some of them were aggressive, some were good at handling pressure, and some were support-type players. Each person's individuality shined through, and they were all strong in their own way. But in the LCK, each player's individuality may not have been as pronounced.

In earlier seasons of the game, most teams in the LCK played by the same book of tactics. In early-game, they held off their opponents and took their time developing their own champions. Then, they played to the strengths and advantages of the champions they'd picked up in the picks and bans phase. They let their advantage snowball from a small lead to a dominating one.

From the outside, these tactics made the LCK's teams look extremely impressive. But, truth be told, the players were interchangeable parts. They could have been swapped out for any other player, who could execute the same script.

And so, even when an LCK player was playing in peak performance, they would have a substitute ready to go.

Crown's current substitute was also a fairly strong mid-laner. In non-critical games, that kid could already be seen playing once in a while.

As a fellow mid-laner who'd faced off against Crown in the past, Qian Bao heard Old Wo's words and instantly chimed in, "He really isn't as aggressive these days, but his game awareness... ai, just look at his positioning in team fights. It's sick, you know? You'll see how sick he is when he cuts into BLX's back line. Speaking of which, I learned how to lurk in the underbrush from watching him play."

"Let's watch their picks and bans," Shen Qiao said. He finished up a game of his own, then got up to fetch a bottle of water from the fridge. Afterwards, he headed over to the armchair in front of the projector that was playing the game. He was pretty interested in seeing how his old teammates would play that day.