Chapter 46: The LPL Pilot Broadcast

The blue side had the first ban and first pick.

Of course, the PE top laner didn't actually give the mid lane a first-round Zed.

Securing an LPL spot was certain, but losing a match inexplicably and getting severely beaten was hardly a pleasant experience.

Therefore, the first round went to locking in the early-game-dominant Elise, the Spider Queen, for the jungler.

With the selection phase alternating, the NXG lineup was already set, and the first and second picks swiftly locked in Caitlyn and Jarvan IV.

"They're taking Caitlyn to push towers down quickly, and Jarvan's standard can boost her attack speed. The mid lane looks like it's shaping up to be a team-fight-oriented mage," PE communicated and guessed among themselves upon seeing NXG's picks.

Sica shook his head. "We can't be sure yet. Anyway, try your best not to pick our mid laner before they do."

"What should we take?"

"Renekton and Miss Fortune, I suppose."

Miss Fortune!

This was a contingency plan prepared in advance by Sica and CiCi for their final match against NXG.

Their bot lane Nami wasn't particularly skilled at playing Vayne, so when facing a team with formidable team-fighting prowess like NXG, an AD carry capable of outputting massive damage in a short amount of time was the key to breaking the deadlock.

No matter how tacit NXG's team-fight synergy was, MF could always unleash a decent ultimate as long as she found the opening.

"It all depends on whether the opponents pull out their mid laner in the third or fourth picks."

"Seems doubtful. Isn't JM the boss of NXG? Since when does a boss leave the counter-pick slot to an employee?"

Clang!

"We are of one mind—aren't we?"

However, contrary to the expectations of the entire PE roster, NXG, situated on the purple side, locked in Shen on the third pick and then swiftly finalized their mid laner on the fourth pick.

The Nine-Tailed Fox—Ahri!

...

Just as PE was shocked by the early reveal of NXG's mid lane champion...

Tencent Sports, the organizer of the LPL league, was in the midst of broadcasting several ongoing LPL qualifier matches onto the Tencent Games Arena (TGA) platform.

Thanks to the YY platform's bold all-in bet on Jiang Ming's ranked-climbing campaign on the Chinese server, coupled with Tencent's own massive promotional efforts beforehand, the LOL client game—already growing increasingly popular propelled by the massive City League tournaments—was experiencing an unprecedented surge in new players.

This caught Tencent Sports' attention regarding JM, the top-ranked LOL solo queue player who was riding the crest of a wave ahead of everyone else;

Top three in Season 2 solo queue, creator of premium LOL tutorial derivative videos, combining game traffic attention with e-commerce, and finally, his resolute courage to dive into founding a professional esports team. All these combined left many Tencent executives, upon first learning the specific details, marveling at the astonishing vision of this student not yet twenty years old.

You must know that it hadn't been long since Tencent's senior management made the decision to pour heavy resources into promoting, supporting, and developing LOL in the direction of esports, and even fewer people were aware of it.

Who could have imagined that in a single player, they would witness more confidence in the LOL game than the company itself possessed.

Ultimately, the decision-making body was inspired by this to conceive the idea of an early trial broadcast of the LPL professional matches.

Indeed, the frantic real-time viewership numbers in the streaming room during YY platform's heavily pushed "JM No. 1 on the Chinese Server Climbing Campaign" recently were simply burning hot to look at.

An early trial broadcast also had its benefits. Not to mention pre-heating for the upcoming professional league, if any minor flaws were discovered during the trial period, they could be corrected in time.

Thus, with the TGA platform proactively joining forces with YY Live,

On the twenty-fifth, the homepage of both platforms suddenly displayed a brand-new special feature page.

"The LOL Professional League is coming, Preseason Qualifiers are fiercely underway..."

"Match Schedule: OMG vs. IG, LM vs. Dawn of Wings (WOA), NXG vs. PE! (Live)"

Inside the match stream room, countless bullet comments flew across the screen.

[???]

[Wait, are Tencent and YY out of your minds?]

[Moving the professional league out without a word, what happened to January 29th?]

[What decent folks broadcast a match without any promotion? Do you guys feel like you have too many viewers?]

[Uh, calm down, toxic bro upstairs. Looking at the title, it seems to be a trial broadcast for the preseason qualifier matches.]

[No wonder they didn't make a big fuss. If my old eyes had flickered just a bit faster, I might have missed it.]

[Wait, NXG's match has already started. Tencent, you inhuman bastards, why did you play the match scheduled for last first?]

Players clicking into the live stream only to see the draft phase already underway felt thunderstruck.

Well, a trial broadcast certainly lived up to its name. Not only were promotions and casters completely unarranged, but the match also kicked off instantly without warning. Tencent, you are truly invincible.

[Holy cow, look at what big treasure I've found. JM is actually playing personally.]

[Is NXG's record really this ridiculous? Five wins, zero losses, not dropping a single game?]

[Good grief, the brothers in the stream were just discussing whether JM would lose his shirt by starting an esports team, but with this kind of result right in front of us, it feels like they've really got something.]

[JM, you're the boss! You're the boss, man! Why are you playing professionally? Just let these players do the playing and honestly get back here to stream for us!]

[Woohoo, the blue side actually didn't ban Zed. Brothers, we get to see JM's Shadow Master performance again.]

[No way, I need to quickly notify my dying brother. This is highly likely JM's first professional match, a match of immense significance. How could we miss it?]

[Ah, why didn't you pick Ahri? I want to see the Shadow Master.]

[What kind of kid-tier Zed is that? Is he as pretty as my Ahri? JM, ignore these idiots, I want to learn ten thousand ways to play Ahri.]

Although Tencent had informed the participating teams beforehand that they would platform-broadcast the final two rounds of the preseason qualifiers recently, they hadn't specified the exact time.

Jiang Ming and the others naturally had no idea that their ultimate showdown against PE was currently being broadcasted.

"Woohoo, the opponent actually went for Ahri first! Van, what are you waiting for? Zed! Pick Zed!"

"Bro, I'll look down on you if you don't pick Zed. The Master of Shadows dealing with Ahri is practically holding her in the palm of your hand."

Provoked by NXG's early display of the mid lane champion and the frenzied instigation of his teammates, the last shred of hesitation lingering in Vans' mind was completely cast aside.

Pick it!

Damn it, the opponents are looking down on us, and besides, Zed is one of the champions he plays best.

If we lose this wave, we break even; if we win, it's massive profit.

"The unseen blade is the deadliest."

Watching the blue side with utmost confidence lock in the Master of Shadows, Jiang Ming curled the corners of his lips and said to Pang Ran on the fifth pick: "To catch a thief—she's the one."

Pang Ran nodded, moving his cursor over the head of a champion that looked like a purple garlic.

"It is a pleasure to meet you!"

——The Fae Sorceress, Lulu.

With this, both lineups were fully determined.

Blue Side PE: Renekton (Top), Elise (Jungle), Zed (Mid), Miss Fortune + Leona (Bot).
Purple Side NXG: Shen (Top), Jarvan IV (Jungle), Ahri (Mid), Caitlyn + Lulu (Bot).

What does it mean to use one's full strength?

It means the individual gives their all, and the draft is executed with absolute commitment.

The triple-dive system of Shen, Jarvan, and Ahri, combined with Caitlyn's fast pushing paired with Lulu's peeling—facing PE, a powerhouse team in the inaugural LPL, NXG truly "gave it everything" in order to gauge their own caliber.