Chapter 385: National Server Training for Pro Players
Of course, those clubs that didn't secure LPL league slots, though they grumbled about it, mostly still accepted the second-tier league slots. After all, this opportunity might not come again.
But a small number of clubs simply decided not to establish a "League of Legends" division. Since compared to the professional LPL, the second-tier league would have very low, or almost zero, viewership, these clubs felt the investment wouldn't match the returns, so they chose to wait and see.
As major clubs entered the scene, the value of professional players suddenly skyrocketed. Many high-ranked solo queue players and streamers all received club invitations, making going pro one of their options.
...
In the lounge, Chen Mo was still duo-queuing with Li Jingsi.
Li Jingsi said, "Do you think those club owners from before will still set up 'League of Legends' divisions? They didn't seem too interested in the second-tier league slots."
Chen Mo replied indifferently, "It doesn't matter whether they're interested or not, or whether they form teams or not. Right now, the domestic high-ranked players and related esports resources can support at most 10 LPL teams and 12 second-tier league teams. That means I only need 22 clubs; any more would be useless. Those clubs that gave up on the second-tier league slots will regret it soon."
Li Jingsi didn't ask further. She looked at the team composition. "It looks like we'll have to go bot lane."
Chen Mo asked, "Do you want to play marksman or support?"
Li Jingsi thought for a moment. "I'm a bit tired of marksman. I'll play support this round. You carry me."
Chen Mo said, "...Fine."
Chen Mo thought for a moment and picked a champion.
"Welcome to the League of Draven!"
...
During the World Championship period, all foreign pro players would train on the national server.
Chen Mo had specifically prepared national server accounts for these players. They were all in the Challenger rank, with all champions unlocked, allowing them to practice directly in high-tier national server matches. Of course, these accounts would be reclaimed after the World Championship ended.
Each account came with a name change card, so foreign pro players could freely change their names. This was to prevent high-ranked players from intentionally throwing games because they disliked a particular pro player, thus maintaining competitive fairness.
However, under the relentless digging of resourceful netizens, these pro players' IDs were still exposed one by one, and there was even a very detailed matching table.
It had to be said that these foreign friends were also very creative with their names. To make themselves look less like "foreigners," they racked their brains.
There were also some more confident players, like T, who directly used their in-game IDs. These were the ones who weren't afraid of being sabotaged at all.
Some pro players chose English names, like a certain word, since there were also some players on the national server who used English names.
But most pro players used Chinese names, probably to fit in and better disguise themselves as a random player. For example, the support player from the Korean team VSG, Pure, used the ID "Muffy." But wait, why was a support player always playing mid lane and marksman positions?
"VSG's mid laner Pure is getting screwed over. He's good at teamfight-oriented, scaling mid laners, but his teammates keep causing chaos, feeding like crazy, and not giving him any chance to scale lol."
"I'm dying of laughter. I feel like Pure's mental state is already shattered. He urgently needs to duo queue with his own team's jungler!"
"Hold on, holy crap, what am I seeing? This match is interesting. The Draven on the blue side is Chen Mo!"
"What? What? Chen Mo? He's playing Draven?"
"That's right. The bot lane duo on the blue side, one of them is NE, which is Chen Mo. The Vayne on the other side has the ID 'Mental Fortitude,' isn't that the best AD from North America? Turke from WBG."
"Damn, this match is going to be good. Where's the stream? I'm going to watch!"
...
Chen Mo didn't know that this match had already caught the attention of many big streamers. He just thought the enemy Kog'Maw's ID was a bit strange.
"Mental Fortitude"? That name was way too casual.
Li Jingsi was a woman of her word. When she said she wanted to be carried, she meant it. She directly picked a Soraka support, fully committing to the spirit of being carried to victory.
The enemy team had Kog'Maw plus Janna, a combination that could also be seen in competitive matches. Janna could provide some protection for Kog'Maw, and once Kog'Maw scaled up, he could completely take over the game.
"How should we play?" Li Jingsi asked.
Chen Mo said, "Kill the Kog'Maw."
Li Jingsi nodded. "Okay."
Both sides entered the lane. Clearly, the enemy Kog'Maw didn't realize the severity of the situation. After all, as the top AD from North America, Truke, even though he was using a scaling champion like Kog'Maw against an early-game powerhouse like Draven, didn't back down right away. Instead, he tried to hit level two first.
But Chen Mo's Draven clearly wasn't going to give him that chance. After landing a spinning axe auto-attack that broke Janna's shield, he immediately backed off, waiting for Janna's shield to expire before going in to poke again.