Chapter 16: Ming Kai’s Blind Monk!
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[Holy crap!]
[He went straight to Diamond II?]
[Damn, as expected from someone ranked among the top three on the ladder. After these placement matches, he might jump straight into Challenger.]
[I don't know what you're all so surprised about. Challenger goes to the top fifty players on each server. JM was ranked second before the reset, so I think giving him Challenger outright would be perfectly reasonable.]
[Go, Brother Ming! Knock Clearlove down! The first Challenger in the Chinese server has to be one of our Ming Family soldiers.]
A streamer taking down a professional player—just imagining it was thrilling.
YY naturally learned about Jiang Ming's stream almost immediately. The moment they saw his rank after the ladder reset, the executives understood exactly what he had in mind.
“Old Xu, send him the offer directly.”
“Give him the traffic!”
“Put his stream on the front page first. Tell the publicity department that tomorrow I want to see announcements about the first Challenger in the Chinese server plastered across every major platform.”
“Exactly. This isn't the time to haggle over details. Even if JM refuses to change his ID, simply streaming his climb to the top will generate terrifying levels of attention. There's no need to keep tugging at every little thread.”
“…”
As the platform began promoting the stream, more and more viewers flooded into Jiang Ming's room.
After several City Championship tournaments, the reach of Tencent's core social platform, QQ, combined with the inherent quality of League of Legends, had already made the game a nationwide phenomenon.
Internet cafés across the country blazed with light late into the night. Even if only a tenth of those people clicked on YY's streaming pop-up, the number would still be horrifyingly large.
…
“Let me explain how the rank points are calculated. In the new season, every player's ELO rating will be compressed and then mapped onto the new ranking system. The rough formula is: new hidden rating equals old ladder rating plus 1,200, divided by two. In other words, the new season still has a hidden rating, and that hidden rating often affects the actual skill level of the opponents you're matched against.”
“Above 2,200 points, you'll generally be matched with players ranging from Diamond II to Challenger.”
“Between 2,000 and 2,200, the level is roughly Diamond V to Diamond II.”
“From 1,800 to 2,000, it's Platinum V to Platinum I.”
Jiang Ming queued for ranked play and explained everything to his viewers while waiting for the match to begin.
Unlike later years, when high-ranked players would largely migrate to the Korean server, the LPL had yet to suffer the devastating defeat at the 2013 All-Star event. The high-level environment on the Chinese server was still fairly decent, and plenty of players continued to compete on their home server.
[It's true. My old ladder rating was 2,120, and I was placed in Diamond IV. After the placement matches, I should have a real shot at pushing for Challenger.]
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[I'm jealous of the expert upstairs. Damn, couldn't Riot give us a few more slots? Only fifty Challengers per server is way too few.]
[That's what makes it valuable. I heard that when the season ends, Challenger players even receive exclusive gifts from the game company.]
[If you don't think you're strong enough, go compete on one of the later servers. Server One is definitely going to be a battlefield full of monsters.]
[Brother Ming, why don't you talk about the ladder ratings for Gold and Silver? Are we not worthy? (Angry)]
Seeing that message, someone in the stream immediately joked:
[Sorry, but anyone below 1,800 points doesn't have the right to speak loudly!]
[Oh, so we don't have the right to speak loudly? What rank are you, then?]
[(Screenshot) Diamond I on the Kinkou server.]
[Tch, Diamond on a suburban server. If you're so good, come to Server One and reach Gold first.]
[Please carry me, big brothers. Your little sister is beautiful with a sweet voice. I don't expect Challenger—just help me reach Diamond.]
Seeing the chat veer off course, Jiang Ming quickly stepped in to guide it back.
“Ahem. There's no need to argue, everyone. Climbing is what matters. During today's stream, I'll put together a list of the best champions for climbing in every position.”
The moment he said that—and with the match starting at just the right time—the chat instantly quieted down.
At the beginning of the new season, countless players were eager to throw themselves into their placement matches. Now that Jiang Ming had said this, how could they possibly think about anything else?
For a while, gifts flew across the stream without pause.
[In Response sent the streamer an Excavator.]
[Free Shipping to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai sent the streamer two Excavators.]
[Happy Fat Otaku Water sent the streamer one hundred Health Potions.]
“Thank you to Brother In Response for the Excavator. Thank you to Free Shipping to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai… And thank you to all the big brothers for your gifts!”
A dirt-yellow tractor rumbled across the screen, accompanied by the chugging sound of a diesel engine. The noise filled the entire room, and Jiang Ming was somewhat taken aback.
This was not yet the era when expensive, fabricated gifts filled the screen. The Excavator, the most valuable gift on YY, cost one hundred yuan each. Normally, it was rare to see even one appear over several days. Most gifts consisted of scattered flowers, applause, and Health Potions costing one yuan apiece.
…
“Oh? We got matched with that JM guy?”
At the WE base, Fleece quickly glanced at the chat channel during his ranked game and spotted an extremely familiar ID.
Smiling, who was duo-queuing with him, looked puzzled. “Our ratings are all about the same. How did we end up in the same game as this freak?”
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The matchmaking system was designed to ensure that both teams were generally comparable in skill. So why had it suddenly placed three of the highest-ranked players together today?
“Because I'm on the other side…” Suddenly, Clearlove, seated opposite the two men, spoke in a low voice.
At the end of the season, he had been the number-one player on the Chinese ladder.
“Then it makes perfect sense.”
With the number one player on the opposing team, pairing several other high-rated players against them—and giving their side a mid laner at roughly top-three level—was perfectly normal.
“This is a good chance to test how well JM has adapted to the new season. Clearlove, gank mid more often. Stay away from our bottom lane.”
“I will!”
Clearlove glanced at his team's lineup. Their mid laner was cool from OMG, whose skill level should be roughly comparable to his own. This game would give him plenty of room to make an impact.
“The blue side didn't ban Zed?”
The players on the purple side found it strange. Did the blue team not know that JM was on the other side? Was that why they had left the Master of Shadows open?
Zed had been live for nearly a week. Among high-ranked players, a common opinion had begun to circulate:
“Zed is an extremely polarizing assassin. If he fails to gain an advantage early, the game can easily turn against him, and his weakness in team fights limits him considerably.”
That might be true for players who were not yet proficient with him. But JM was a monster who had already mastered the new champion on his second day and put on spectacular performances in games around 2,300 rating. Leaving an untouched new champion in his hands—wasn't that a little too reckless?
“Hey, Clearlove, you guys really aren't banning Zed?” Fleece poked his head over to ask.
Influenced by Jiang Ming's instructional videos, players across the Chinese server—ordinary and high-ranked alike—had begun to regard JM as the first Zed player in the country.
“cool thinks he can handle it…”
…
In the ranked game, the champion bans flew by.
Blue side bans: Kassadin, Shen, Jayce!
Purple side bans: Evelynn, Thresh, Orianna!
The game entered the champion-selection phase. Blue side's first pick immediately secured Lee Sin in the jungle for Clearlove.
“Clearlove is picking Lee Sin!”
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