Chapter 379: Schedule
The first day of the group stage concluded with the domestic teams achieving two clean victories.
On the first day's schedule, the domestic teams played in the first and last matches, facing European and North American teams respectively, with no matches against Korean teams.
After a full day of competition, several teams and star players left a deep impression on the audience.
The mid-jungle duo of NRG, ER.
The mid-laner of IF, Hu Jing, and the player Luo Yongchang, known as Roy.
The mid-laner of the Korean team SOT, Frost.
The support player of the Korean team EMON, Muffy.
The mid-laner of the European team ONGAMING, Pure.
The player from the North American team, Turke.
At this stage, professional *League of Legends* teams still relied heavily on the individual skill of star players. While they would prioritize picking strong champions, their understanding of champions, strategies, and technical tactics had not yet reached a high level.
When watching the matches, the audience also focused entirely on those standout players who performed brilliantly and their signature champions. As long as there was a kill, they would cheer, without noticing too many tactical intentions or details.
The schedule for the first round of the group stage basically gave teams from each region a chance to appear, and all matches were Bo1, with each team playing one game per day.
After the first round, every team in the group would have played one game against each of the other three teams. Generally, securing two wins meant a relatively optimistic outlook for advancing.
In the second round of the group stage, the four-day schedule involved finishing one group each day, directly determining which teams in that group would stay or be eliminated. This phase was extremely tense and brutal.
After the first day's matches ended, although both domestic teams had won, the domestic teams actually became more nervous. After seeing the performances of other teams, they realized that these teams were not weak at all!
Several established strong teams from Europe and America performed better than expected; they were not the pushovers everyone had imagined. Meanwhile, the Korean teams showed significant improvement, even feeling much stronger than the European and American teams!
In fact, domestic teams had often arranged practice matches with Korean teams before, which could be considered a kind of esports tradition, continuing from earlier RTS and FPS games. After all, cross-region practice allowed teams to challenge opponents with completely different playstyles, benefiting both sides.
However, because the Korean server launched relatively late, Korean teams generally performed poorly when playing against domestic teams, with a significant gap in individual skill. This was why Hu Jing from IF had developed a dismissive attitude toward Korean teams.
But after today's matches, the managers of various domestic teams analyzed the performances of several strong teams and were surprised to find that the Korean teams had improved very rapidly!
The two Korean team matches today were both against European and American opponents. One was a personal showcase by SOT's mid-laner Frost, whose Orianna dominated the entire game; the other was MAD's support player Muffy, whose Alistar roamed across the map, establishing a huge advantage for his team in the mid-game.
This was a world of difference from the Korean teams' previous performances in practice matches.
The managers of each team began to take this seriously, studying several strong opponents. In particular, MG and NTClub, who were grouped with these two Korean teams, stayed up all night collecting data and analyzing the Korean teams' playstyles.
Based on the results of the first day, both China and Korea performed well, while Europe and America, aside from these established strong teams, performed poorly.
Of course, this was also related to the group draw. Each region had strong and weak teams. Today, it just so happened that the strong teams from China and Korea clashed with the weak teams from Europe and America, making the victories relatively predictable.
If the later matches featured clashes between strong teams, the results would be uncertain.
Currently, the strength of each region was basically in line with Chen Mo's predictions.
Overall, the domestic teams were the strongest, and this was beyond doubt. Because the domestic server for *League of Legends* had launched several months earlier and had a larger player base, the high-ranked players in the domestic server improved quickly through matches against skilled opponents.
If foreign players came to play on the domestic server, they would clearly notice that the pace in the domestic Challenger tier was faster than on foreign servers, and the players' mechanics were better.
Moreover, at this stage, the domestic esports environment was relatively clean. Hot money had not flooded in, and the esports players' minds were still relatively pure. These were a group of players with esports dreams. Although there was no particularly strict management system, they generally worked very hard, so it was normal for them to have a temporary lead in strength.
Whether in individual skill or team coordination, the domestic teams were clearly superior to those from other regions.
The European and Korean regions were similar in strength but had different styles. Korea leaned more toward mid-game pacing and team coordination, while Europe favored farming and team fights.
Both regions had deep esports foundations. Many *League of Legends* professional players had transitioned from other games, so their reactions and mechanics were excellent. Coupled with good team management and extensive practice, they improved very quickly.
As for North America, only a few established strong teams could compete with the three regions of China, Korea, and Europe.
This situation was also consistent with Chen Mo's expectations.
In fact, in Chen Mo's previous life, the S2 period could be considered an era of rising powers. Korea had NJSword, Europe had CLG.EU, China had WE and IG, and there was also the champion TPA. In reality, the gap between the top teams was not that large; it was more about differences in philosophy, tactics, and on-the-spot performance.
In the parallel world, it was the same. *League of Legends* was still in its development phase. Strong teams from each region were still exploring, and there were no regional leagues, so no region had achieved dominance.
The domestic server had launched several months earlier, and the number of domestic players far exceeded that of foreign servers. This was already a huge advantage. With the World Championship being held on home turf, if they still couldn't beat foreign teams, then these professional players might as well give up and go home to sell pancakes.
...
IF Team Training Room.
Hu Jing was watching the match replay of the SOT team.
SOT's mid-laner Frost was one of the top mid-laners in Korea. In this match against a North American team, he used Orianna to solo-kill his opponent once in lane. During the mid-game fight over the Dragon, he used a sneaky hidden ball to pull in four enemies, directly securing the victory.
After the first day's matches concluded, the domestic teams had somewhat set aside their contempt for foreign teams and began seriously studying their styles and playstyles.
The manager asked, "SOT should be our biggest threat in the group. How do you feel about his individual skill?"
Hu Jing watched the video intently. "Very strong. His details are excellent, his proficiency with Orianna is high, and his game understanding is good."
The manager asked, "So, do you have confidence laning against this Frost?"
Hu Jing said calmly, "Don't worry. This guy is strong, but compared to Chen Mo, he's far behind."
The manager was taken aback. "Really?"
Hu Jing smiled. "Frost's Orianna is aggressive in lane, and his mechanics are delicate, but I should be able to handle it. Whether I use Anivia or Karthus, I'm confident I won't fall behind in lane. Besides, our team is stronger. I just need to stabilize and wait for the mid-to-late game team fights; our chances of winning are high."