Chapter 8: I Called It—I Started It!

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Riot was indeed aware of this issue. In Season 3, they increased support gold income and addressed the insatiable demand for vision by introducing the Sightstone. However, when Riot designers tried to use the Sightstone to fill the gap in support economy, they clearly underestimated the bloodthirsty nature of Season 3. This emerald-green item, capable of holding four wards, was immediately torn to shreds by Zed's shurikens, Kha’Zix’s claws, and Ahri’s spirit fire upon its debut in Summoner’s Rift. In this version, later known as the “Assassins’ Reign,” the dawn that support players had eagerly awaited was mercilessly shattered by the cold edge of blades.

Returning to the match, a team with a vision awareness two or three seasons ahead secured an advantage. One can only imagine how difficult things must have been for QX’s five players.

At seven minutes, the top tier-one tower fell. By eight minutes, NXG five-man ganked, capturing the Outlaw and his ally, the Gem Knight, while also netting the jungler Olaf, who hummed a tune about jungle monsters.

Kills, tower pushes, dragon control!

In this modest LPL preseason qualifier, NXG showed their opponents what it meant to utterly crush them.

Vision was lagging behind, the jungle was fully exposed, and every so often, a piercing kill notification rang out from the side lanes.

QX’s captain did try to resist. But when he eagerly thought he had caught a lone AD carry and charged with his ultimate, the darkness of the vision blind spot betrayed him—Lux’s ultimate control and Lee Sin’s powerful kick pulled him back from his fantasy of saving the day.

By fifteen minutes, they hadn’t even had a chance to see the Baron.

With a terrifying scoreline of thirteen to one, QX decisively chose to surrender.

“Yeah, I’ve voted. This isn’t winnable.”

“I already voted, anyone who hasn’t, hurry up.”

“I voted!”

“Captain, don’t look at me; I initiated the vote.”

...

“Victory!”

As the purple nexus exploded, the cramped basement room erupted in the purest cheer from five young men.

“Woohoo, we won!”

“First battle, easy win.”

“Tsk tsk, we almost shaved their heads clean. We five are so strong.”

“Isn’t it possible they were just too bad? Not a single one could fight.”

“Hahaha, you guys didn’t see that Dragon Lady flash tower dive to trade, hitting minions instead.”

“The support was even worse. I could find their wards with my feet.”

“This is just an online match. Offline, I’d have to ask the opposing support if they even know how to play.”

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“By the way, isn’t vision supposed to be found with your eyes?”

“...”

Jiang Ming stood up and walked behind them, feeling both the purity of the current esports atmosphere and a great sense of relief.

He hadn’t chosen any long-established stars for his team. NXG was newly formed; strong players wouldn’t join, and he didn’t have the funds to poach expensive talent. Not only would that be poor value, but a bunch of bad habits would be worse than nurturing his own.

The youngsters before him weren’t the most gifted, but they were obedient.

“Hehe, Ming-ge, about that last kill—I really had no way to escape. The enemy was dead set on trading with me.”

“And just now, we were a bit rash with our words. We absolutely wouldn’t taunt opponents in the in-game chat.”

The five players, stepping out of the room after the game, suddenly remembered their team leader standing behind them, and their smiles faded.

NXG’s team rules strictly forbid players from trash-talking opponents...

“Good job, everyone!” Jiang Ming comforted them, choosing not to spoil the joy of their first win by being overly strict.

“Everyone get up and stretch, drink some water, and go to the restroom if you need.”

“Old Xu, got any drinks?”

“Sure, Ming-ge bought some 1982 Sprite. Want some?”

“Oh, cola isn’t really my thing, but 1982 Sprite? I definitely want a can.”

Of the 24 teams, NXG’s match finished first. Since the second round’s matchups still had to be drawn afterward, they had some time to wait.

Seeing the staff message in the group chat asking them to wait, Jiang Ming took the chance while everyone was busy with personal matters to pull up the replay of their last match and quickly review it.

“Ming-ge, do we really need to review this match?” Shi Zhenyu asked, confused.

After all, it was a total blowout. Was there really a need?

Reviewing!

This was a new term he had learned since joining Ming-ge’s team: recording and watching back ranked or duo queue matches to identify mistakes and improve.

But Jiang Ming usually used losses for review. Why today...

Leaning back in his chair, Jiang Ming explained, “Sometimes, even in winning games, you can see a lot — your own team’s weaknesses and the opponent’s mistakes.”

He moved the mouse to rewind to the moment heroes reached level one and took their positions near the river.

“For example, here, the purple side’s duo lane already appeared in our vision. That means their duo wants to get an early level two advantage. So, in the upper half, you could have just gone in right away. Many of your mid-game moves were wasted.”

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“Your memory of jungle spawn timers was also inaccurate. Shi Tou, your error was a bit too large!”

“Then there was the level three tower dive top lane—too sloppy. Any player with some experience would have avoided it, or even turned the tables and killed one of you.”

Song Yuan awkwardly scratched his face, secretly wanting to ask if “experienced player” included Jiang Ming.

In the review, Jiang Ming didn’t delve too deeply, focusing instead on team coordination, ward placement, and minion wave management.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Unlike later players who could easily articulate minion wave mechanics, the Chinese server at the end of 2012 was still in a phase where most players were exploring hero mechanics. Higher-ranked players simply had better awareness and mechanics.

More than twenty minutes later, the staff finally sent information about the second match in the WeChat group.

“The opponent is the Balanced Faction’s top-ranked duo queue team!”

“Pfft, I remember their highest ladder score was only about 2200.”

“How did they win the first game then...?”

“Looks like they matched against Crystal Scar.”

The level of competition in the inaugural LPL qualifiers was truly hard to gauge.

All teams were currently tied with one point each.

Both Balanced Faction and Crystal Scar were new servers barely a few months old, with few strong players.

Facing a team weaker than the previous War Academy’s second-ranked duo queue, NXG’s five players came down extremely hard.

By ten minutes, all three lanes were collapsing. Shi Zhenyu’s jungle support was not even needed; the solo lanes kept getting kills nonstop, leaving him lonely in the jungle, either negotiating a 300-yuan deal with the enemy’s little spider player or borrowing some money from Mr. Dragon.

At sixteen minutes, with an economic lead exceeding 10,000 gold, NXG’s heroes, backed by super minions pushing the high ground, overwhelmed the Balanced Faction’s server team, who surrendered before even twenty minutes, helplessly watching their nexus fall.

Post-game stats showed NXG’s team had 1.8 times more minion kills than their opponents—a figure that would later raise suspicions of match-fixing, but in 2012, this was normal for new server players.

2-0!

With two consecutive wins, NXG had one foot firmly in the LPL preseason playoffs.

...