League of Legends: League of Unknowns

During the interval, the host was keeping the audience occupied while waiting for the game to resume. The host displayed either the sound or silhouette of a LOL champion, and those who could guess right would be given a small prize.

“I wonder why they are so excited over those little gifts,” Someone from the Demacia Café muttered.

“Right!? What’s so great about Teemo’s hat? Have they never considered its color?” Mao asked reciprocally.

“Do you think Captain Yu will be alright? I hope the defeat in the last game will not give them mental strain.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t be affected!”

“It’s difficult to say. They are facing Team Daemons, you should know how darn strong that team is.”

“That’s right. Hades’s Riven was absurd in the last game. If he continues such performance into the next game, it’s going to be extremely tough for TeamSkycrown.”

The customers from Demacia Café quickly engaged in a heated debate.

***

At the backstage, Luocheng was sitting at a corner contemplating what would be the best lineup to use in the next match.

“Luocheng, your phone is ringing.” Li Meiqi nudged him and passed over his phone.

Luocheng took it and peeped at the caller ID.

“Guess where I am now?” A sweet, excited voice came through as soon as he answered the call.

“You’re here?” Luocheng was a little surprised.

“That was a quick guess!” Yang Qianqian’s voice immediately toned down. She was slightly unhappy that Luocheng had been able to figure it out so swiftly. She didn’t provide the slightest clue when they were on the phone the night before.

Qianqian had indeed come here with Yang Ying. The latter had taken some time out of his busy work schedule so that he could come watch Luocheng’s important match. Of course, he had done that mostly due to his sister’s part-persuading and part-threatening request.

How could Luocheng tell right away? Well, it was actually difficult not to, judging by the deafening cheers echoing behind Qianqian’s voice.

Luocheng looked toward the crowd from the backstage and searched for the girl who was also on a mobile phone like him. However, it’s hard to locate his girlfriend when the number of girls with long hair in the auditorium was this vast.

“I didn’t make it in time for the first game. I heard that you saved the world once again. It’s too bad I didn’t get to see it.” Qianqian wished she had arrived earlier.

“We lost too much in gold. Though we had anticipated a difficult game, it’s a different story to actually overcome Team Daemons on the stage.” Luocheng nodded.

Luocheng was still searching. The arrival of Qianqian and Yang Ying gave him a mental boost. He believed that not only new friends from the Demacia Cafe but also old acquaintances from Shanghai University E-Sports Club must be in the auditorium as well. Players from Fudan University should be around somewhere as well. He remembered seeing Lin Siyong sitting in the front row in one of their previous games. Not only that, familiar faces from other well-known university teams had entered his vision successively too.

“That’s good enough. You know what? Before this, most people only knew that you were good at LOL and could compete with the professional players but not many could have imagined that you would be on the LPL stage competing against the best team in China one day. It’s that Team Daemons! Wang Qin, Zhong Xiaoyun, and Zhao Kesong had their jaws dropped to the ground when they heard the news. They were never a fan of professional E-sports but nowadays, they would stay in front of the computer whenever your game is broadcasted live. They even showed off during our class reunion, bragging about how they had teamed up with you to beat other classes in the past…” Qianqian couldn’t hide her joy.

After Qianqian entered the hall, she realized that almost everyone was talking about how exciting the previous match had been. She was especially thrilled when she heard someone mention Luocheng’s Anivia.

Like most girls, Qianqian loved to hear compliments that were directed at her partner. Although Team Skycrown had lost the first match, Qianqian could tell that they must have put up a respectable performance. Their hard work for the past two years had definitely paid off.

“Don’t stress yourself too much, you guys did well,” Qianqian comforted Luocheng. She was here for another reason.

Luocheng could easily submerge into his own emotions when he was being overly tenacious. He had once locked himself up for more than 10 days and had played LOL the whole time other than eating and sleeping. That happened last year after he had finished the infamous game against Team Sky.

This game against Team Daemons was very vital to Team Skycrown, and in the face of such a powerful enemy, Luocheng would want to win the second game at all costs. Qianqian was worried that he might once again fall into his own abyss of emotions. She knew that was exactly the reason why Luocheng had quit competitive E-sports the first time.

It was best not to grip too tight onto things that were beyond one’s control.

Qianqian understood that it would be too harsh to ask Luocheng to completely let go of what had happened a year ago. There was no way she could ever feel the pain he had had to go through after the tragedy. She could only hope that Luocheng did not carry the past on his shoulders as a psychological burden.

Her purpose for telling him about the good old times was to remind him of the very reason he had started to play LOL. He was doing this out of his pure love toward MOBA, toward E-sports.

He had done enough to reach this stage of the LPL, fighting on even grounds against Team Daemons, and Qianqian wanted him to realize that.

“Don’t worry. Like I have promised you, the same thing will never happen again.” Luocheng’s assurance chased away the dark cloud that shrouded Qianqian’s mind.

Luocheng hung up and glanced toward the stage.

“What’s the matter, your little girlfriend called to console you?” Meiqi asked.

“Something like that.”

Luocheng appreciated Qianqian’s concern, but regardless, he did not plan to let the second game slip away no matter what.

The five members of Team Skycrown put the first game behind their minds and were poised to play the second game. They walked up the stage and took their respective seats.

The voice of the commentator Bao Jun was once again heard in the auditorium. He clearly hadn’t gotten over the first game and made another quick recap.

“What kind of fantastic performances will these two teams bring to our audiences this time? Even I can not sit tight now,” Bao Jun commented.

Bao Jun no longer commentated alone in the second game. This time, there was another female emcee with a crisp tone. Her name was Li Hua and she seldom made personal videos, usually only appearing in important matches like today. Despite the low exposure, she was still able to amass great popularity among the fans. Her voice perfectly inherited the charm of the former top female commentator, Yi Qin, and not many male players could resist her pretty voice which was complemented by her elegant outlook.

“Why can’t you sit tight?” Li Hua asked teasingly.

Bao Jun didn’t mind the playful banter and explained, “I have watched a lot of professional matches, and most of the time, both teams would play out carefully and usually have low kill rates, which make the games slightly boring and repetitive. But that’s not the case in Team Daemons vs Team Skycrown. Every teamfight between these two spells excitement! Do you still remember the Level 1 teamfight where…?” Bao Jun narrated animatedly as Li Hua coordinated well to lead the audiences’ focus onto the upcoming match.

In fact, the atmosphere would still boil over the roof without the commentators’ excitement. Both teams were two of the hottest teams in the LPL now, the clash between the two giants was destined to create glaring sparks.

In this upcoming match, would Team Daemon bag a 2 to 0 score against their opponent and regain the second place in this LPL season? Or would it be Team Skycrown that defended their ground and leveled the match at 1 to 1?

***

The background music blasted through the speaker abruptly and the audience could clearly see that the game had now entered the banning phase.

Team Daemons was decisive and immediately banned Anivia first. Before they could find any effective strategy to counter the Anivia Support, they would not release such a dangerous champion into the game.

Team Skycrown was equally swift to deny them of Riven. They were determined not to let Hades select this champion again. He was too big a threat to their squishy core. It was a death sentence whenever Riven used her Flash to charge in.

Both teams had shown clear intentions from the start, banning the two most outstanding champions from the last game used by the respective team captains.

The subsequent bans were less straightforward. Both teams were just trying to grab the champions that would strengthen their lineup the most.

As compared to the previous seasons, the formation in this patch was less varied because the optimum item build for most heroes had yet to be developed.

The hottest top-solo picks were Shyvana, Rengar, and Dr. Mundo. It was like a zoo up there, only those beasts could survive the ferocious top lane now.

In this match, Da Luo finally got to pick his favorite Dr. Mundo. He had always equipped Mundo with a Teleport so that Team Skycrown could adopt the 4-to-1 split push strategy and become more flexible.

This time however, he decided to forgo the Teleport and picked Ignite instead. Without Ignite, it was highly possible that he would be bullied heavily by Charon. When both players were evenly matched, the Ignite skill could make a lot of difference.

For their second pick, Team Skycrown selected Lee Sin. This champion was obviously a Jungler after the Mundo pick. Team Daemon decided not to rush the Jungler position after Team Skycrown took Lee Sin, and so, they selected Karma and Ezreal!

In the past, Karma had been one of the least used champions for several seasons. A lot of players had questioned the need of this hero in LOL when they first learned about her at level 30.

Thus, the appearance of Karma stirred quite a bit of commotion among the crowds.

After the most commanding Support of this patch, Leona, had been banned, neither of the teams had selected the next best choice, Thresh or Annie. It was a shock to many that Mephistopheles had selected Karma as their unconventional Support.

“Is he being serious with this pick? It’s like he is provoking the Fighting Hawk, saying that you are not the only one being creative with Supports around here!”