namisashimi

[namisashimi]

369: ‘Suffering is always by my side.’

source. profile by danneergou (丹尼二狗) for pentaq. images by yan wendi (梁文迪) and yicun (一村).

translator. in a rare moment of free time, i had the chance to watch IG vs. TES in the LPL regional finals; there was something so quintessentially LPL and yet so captivating about a team of rookies taking on the reigning world champions and the chaos that ensued. pentaq has always written these complex, sympathetic and yet strangely bittersweet portraits of LPL players and their struggles in pursuit of a dream, and this one is no different. i hope you’ll enjoy this one.

369 made a motion like climbing a mountain. "I don't know. But I will always be climbing, and I will always be moving forward."

What does the LPL stage mean to a professional player? Only just eighteen, 369 has yet to find time to think about this. All he knows is that ever since he joined TOP's LPL team last November, his life has been like riding a bullet train. Those things he once dared not even imagine - one by one, they have become reality.

"One day, I will be a professional player," 369 once boasted to his classmates; at the time, he was still a student and his account 菜鸟 (t/n: 'noob') was only Gold. Many years later, when he found himself standing on the Demacia Cup stage for the first time, looking at the tide of people below him, letting the audience's cheers for their opponent IG crash over him, "If these people were cheering for us, wouldn't that be even better?"

To listen to those cheers, he has already given up much. He said goodbye to his best friend, took on more stress and frustration, and faced his own inner demons head-on. Throughout this process, suffering has been his constant companion.

"When you play professionally, in a hundred days, maybe ninety-nine of them will be losses. And only in an hour of that one remaining day will you taste success." Little P, a coach for the academy team who watched 369's journey from the LDL to the LPL, felt that this was a road every player must walk. "All kinds of negative feedback are entangled with a player's career. For many of them, even up until they retire, they will have no way to understand this."

To an outsider, he might already seem gifted with extraordinary luck - he only spent one season on the academy team before being promoted to the main team. In the spring split, he was already a starting player; they finished third in the regular season, fourth in playoffs, and earned the chance to represent LPL at Rift Rivals. At only eighteen, this boy already had a chance that could change his life - but he had no time to celebrate; he had to hurry to the next battlefield.

"If I think about it, I've lived eighteen years. All the previous years were plain and faint; it seems only this one has a spark of light."

one. giving up, holding on.

No matter what, 369 has always said what he thought - even if, in that moment, it felt like everyone else was standing against him.

This was how it seemed in July 2018, the first time Little P saw him. At the time, Little P was the assistant coach for TOP's main team. Once, he and the team visited their academy team KOF to do a review of one of KOF's games.

During their analysis, this kid who always had something to say came to his attention. "To be honest, his analysis of the game was correct, but whether the team should prioritize top lane or bot lane was a stylistic decision, not one with a right or wrong choice. They were not trying to solve a problem, but rather having a debate."

What Little P remembered most from that day was how 369 kept asking him, "P Bro, do you also think this is correct? Do you agree with this?" While he noticed his strong desire to win, Little P also felt that he "relied too much on what others thought of him."

A little while later, Little P was transferred from the main team to KOF, and thus became 369's in-game mentor. But the first to have noticed 369 was Guo Hao, the TOP manager who instigated this transfer.

In April 2018, even as the main team played against Snake in Chongqing, Guo Hao elected to go to the LDL student and watch KOF. Because some impressive plays caught his eye, this player who went by 369 came to his attention. "The impression he gave me was someone with meticulous mechanics, who had guts and didn't panic. Even when left with a sliver of health, he would still use his positioning to juke skills." At that time, Guo Hao thought - this kid might be it.

Back then, 369 had only just joined KOF. Born in 2001, he grew up in Henan with his grandmother and little sister. His family and childhood experiences made 369 more independent, yet also more vulnerable to social influences. In the third year of middle school, he found he couldn't keep up with his studies, so he wanted to go to a vocational school. He thought to himself, "This way, at least I'll have some skills to support myself with." Afterwards, he went into a four-year automobile repair program, which included a guaranteed job assignment after graduation.

Attending vocational school really just meant he was playing League of Legends in a new location; he "felt that [he] couldn't see any hope." If he had followed this path, perhaps in four years he really would've become an auto mechanic.

Once, another player added him as a friend and told him that if he changed his ID to a certain name and played every day, they would pay him 30RMB a day. 369 was delighted to hear that League of Legends could earn him money and pay for more of his netcafe fees. "I had always felt quite disappointed in myself growing up, but playing this game, I suddenly had a reason to feel proud." At that time, he was around Diamond on Ionia.

Before he joined KOF, 369 had been a part of two different academy teams. One was LGD; the other was VG. Both experiences ended with little gained. While he as at LGD, he felt that "the team's attitude was very negative at the time," and after losing to ME in Hero of Cities (t/n: qualification tournament for LDL), he "didn't want to play any more." As for the half year he spent at VG, he once again used the term "couldn't see any hope" to describe it.

Always unable to see hope, always choosing to leave, and always reluctantly returning - this summarized the beginning of 369's career. After leaving VG at the end of 2017, he suddenly realized that he had been on the road to becoming a professional player for a year and a half, yet he had nothing to show for it. He felt that in that time, he "hadn't worked hard enough, wasn't determined enough."

So when he joined KOF, he gave himself two objectives. The first was very difficult - in July, before his birthday, he would reach Challenger; the second was even more so - to make it to LPL. At the time, 369 had better teams to choose from, but KOF's then-manager told him, "As long as you have the strength, then you will have opportunities." In the end, he chose to remain with KOF.

When he joined the team in April, 369 was remarkably hard-working and self-disciplined. He would get up every day at eight or nine in the morning, and play until one or two the next day. "Every time I lost, I would start looking for my own mistakes instead of being stubborn." By June, 369 had successfully made his way to KR Challenger, accomplishing his first goal. After reaching Challenger, he didn't play at first for fear he'd drop back down, but under his coach's encouragement, he broke into the top 50.

As the 2018 LDL season began, 369 was in perfect form. Combined with good results in scrims, he was full of confidence.

On June 29, in their first match, KOF lost 0:2 to SHA. On July 1, KOF once again lost to ME. On July 14, even after adjusting their team, KOF once again lost 0:2 to VTG. What followed was only another string of losses. Only after a month had passed did KOF finally earn their first best-of-3 victory. In the fourteen games of the summer season, KOF only won three matches.

In their first loss, what left the greatest impression on their ADC Photic was how after they left the stage, 369 tore off his glasses and squatted on the ground, not saying a thing.

As the season progressed, the pain of losing grew greater and greater, and 369's solo queue rank dropped from Challenger back to Diamond I. Once again, 369 almost gave up. As the summer season grew to a close, 369 and Photic returned to the base after one of their games and went upstairs to their room. The lights were off, and in the abject darkness, 369 called out Photic's name and asked him what he should do. As Photic was momentarily stunned, he continued, saying that nothing would keep him going, and he wondered if he should just retire and do something else.

"Are you stupid? There must be something wrong with your head." That night, Photic sat 369 down and ruthlessly poured chicken soup into his soul.

In the end, the person who truly changed 369 was their manager, Guo Hao. On August 25, Guo Hao and the TOP team arrived ahead of time to prepare to face Snake in Chongqing. Before their match, the main team used the second floor of KOF's building to practice. Meanwhile, the academy team gathered on the first floor, and Guo Hao had a simple chat with them about their plans for the future.

Guo Hao's words were very direct. He said to the entire academy team, "If any of you want to play in LDL next season, if any of you just want this salary, or if any of you think you should receive a bonus just for doing well in LDL, then you are not suited to be a part of our team." Then, he pointed at the second floor, where the main team were practicing. "Your goal is to defeat them, to get them kicked. After defeating them, then defeat the people they couldn't defeat. If any of you don't have this goal, then talk to me. You can leave the team now."

As he said that, 369 was sitting in the spot closest to Guo Hao. When he finished, tears were already in 369's eyes. "Those words must've hit home with him. Guo Hao had said some things he had always believed, but never dared to say himself," Little P recollected about those events, which he was also present for. Seeing 369's strong reaction to his words, Guo Hao invited him out of the building to have a one-on-one chat. What left the strongest impression on Guo Hao was that the moment 369 left the building, he hit the ground and started to cry again.

"At the time, I asked him what was going on. He said that previously, everyone would always say, Bai Hao (t/n: short form of 369's name, Bai Jiahao), you play so well. Next season, you'll definitely be on the main team. They all thought he could make it, and he even had this hope. But throughout this entire split, he's performed exceptionally poorly, he hasn't been able to climb in soloq, he hasn't even been able to learn new champions. So he felt he already had no chance."

In that moment, Guo Hao saw this child in his most vulnerable moment. He thought to himself about how moments ago, this person had been in tears at his very words, and he felt like this attitude "couldn't be faked." So Guo Hao chose to say something to 369 which, in retrospect, he realized were quite extreme words.

"If in this academy team, even you cannot go to LPL, then no one can."

two. friends, partings.

In the middle of 2017, a Jiangxi youth who'd made it to Masters on Summoner's Rift received an invitation to try out at OMG's headquarters. His father, who worked far away in Zhejiang, was worried, so he accompanied his son to Shanghai. The first time he saw the way the esports club looked in real life, the youth thought, "So cool."

The two weeks of his tryout at OMG passed quickly. Apart from his regular ranked games, he played eight scrims, losing more than he won. On the final day, one of the staff members told him to return home and wait for further instructions. At the time, he didn't realize this was a polite way of rejecting him. After he went home, his father showed him a conversation with the team, where they suggested that perhaps he should finish high school first. That night, he lay on his bed sadly, thinking to himself - perhaps it was better to work hard and study instead of thinking about this.

In the end, he still didn't "come to his senses." In the following year, as his rank grew better and better, while studying he secretly prepared his resume behind his parents' backs and sent it to the various large esports organizations.

It was only in March 2018 that the boy finally got his chance - his resume came to the attention of team manager for KOF. His mother and grandmother were firmly against interrupting his studies, but in the end, they were convinced by his father. His father, who was still working in a distant location, told him over WeChat that since he had chosen this path, he must keep to it and not give up halfway.

At the end of March, this boy came from Jiangxi to Chongqing and thus, officially began his professional career. A few days after he arrived, a plump little guy showed up at the organization. His first impression of the newcomer was that he was "straightforward." Since he was a newcomer as well, he was a little shy, but the other boy was exceptionally enthusiastic and greeted everyone. Later on, the two of them would sit next to each other.

This youth was Photic, and this late-arriving little plump guy was 369. In the following days, the two would become each other's best friends.

from left to right - photic, guo hao, knight9, and 369.

"At school, friendship is commonplace, but for professional players who have entered society, it is far too precious. Some players only treat each other as colleagues, while others think of it as just playing together, so there's no way to really become friends." In Little P's eyes, the way Photic and 369's personalities complemented each other allowed them to become friends. "Professional play isn't just five people playing in a five-stack together; it's five brothers-in-arms living together. If under these circumstances, you cannot find a connection with people, then it must be very lonely."

Friendship between boys often begins with rivalry - comparing their scores, comparing their records, comparing even the time they woke up. Every time 369 made a particularly stellar play, he'd ask Photic, "Isn't that impressive?" Photic might agree, but he would always respond, "Anyone can do that as long as they have hands."

Of course, they were also companions. The summer of 2018, Chongqing was so hot that "even wearing t-shirts and shorts, it was still unbearable." Every day, after they finished their practice at 5:30PM, Photic and 369 would always go to the nearby store to buy cold refreshments. The trip wasn't particularly long, and so as they walked, they would talk about their games and their lives, and then with 3RMB ice creams hanging from their mouths, they would return to continue practicing. When they finished practicing at midnight, the two of them would walk back to their room together. Before they slept, they would chat a little more; as for what they talked about, it didn't even matter to them.

That season of the LDL, KOF didn't perform particularly well. For these newcomers to the professional scene, facing the stress of a losing streak, those 3RMB ice creams and their nighttime boasts became one of their few good memories.

On September 2, KOF finished their last match in Chongqing. Photic and 369's first LDL season clocked in at 3-11, second from last in their region. After the regular season, the organization gave the players some time off; the main team got two months while the academy team got one and a half.

Before their vacation, 369 asked Photic if he were going home. Photic said he would not - he wanted to use the break to practice a little more, play a little better. At the time, he had never been Challenger in KR solo queue, and he set that as his goal. When their vacation began, 369 returned to Henan, and Photic remained at the headquarters. "I felt that if I went back for these two months, then perhaps I might disappear entirely."

He didn't expect that a few days later, 369 would suddenly message him on WeChat and tell him that he was coming back. "At that time, I was really lost. After thinking hard at home for a few days, a few things suddenly became clear to me. I wanted to come back and do them immediately." After he rushed back to the gaming house overnight, 369 spent his vacation practicing with Photic. After waking up at noon, they would train into the early morning; they'd play a few other games and then sleep. The next day, they'd start it all over again. Since there was no housekeeper to cook for them, they ordered take-out every day.

Putting aside everything to focus on the game for a month was practically a formative experience for these two teenagers. During that time, Photic often snuck peeks at 369's rank, trying to judge what the other's skill was like in the end. "He would never peek at mine, because I didn't have as much LP as he did." After half a month, Photic was still a few hundred LP away from Challenger, while 369 had brought himself back from Diamond I to Challenger.

Since a few staff members were still working during the holiday, their coach Little P learned about what was going on. When the vacation ended and they were organizing the team, the manager Guo Hao received a message Little P sent him of 369's solo queue rank - 700LP Challenger. He looked at the attachment and replied to Little P: "How about we let him come up?"

In November 2018, 369 officially received a training invitation from the main team; he had finally accomplished the second goal he'd set when he joined KOF. The day he left, he woke up early to pack his bags, then boarded a plane from Chongqing to Shanghai. On the afternoon of that same day, Photic woke up and looked at the bunk below him. His friend's bed was still there, but the keyboard and mouse on the practice desk had vanished. In that moment, he truly knew that 369 had left.

A few days ago, 369 had told him that he would be going to the main team, but Photic had thought it a joke, that it was just a lie for himself. When he realized all of this was reality, he could not stop himself from crying in front of his good friend.

"I am very happy you can play there, but right now, I really cannot be happy."

three. pain, change.

For 369 to go the main team, Photic's inner thoughts were in turmoil.

On one hand, he felt forlorn and lonely; he missed having a friend to talk to every night before bed. On the other hand, when he saw 369's excellent performance in the 2018 NEST tournament, he felt that he "had to play better in order to meet with him again." According to coach Little P's observations, after 369 left, Photic became much more focused.

On the other side, after coming to Shanghai and becoming a part of the main team, 369 was now experiencing something completely different. When he first arrived at the gaming house, Guo Wei assigned 369 and midlaner Knight9 to the same room, hoping that 369 would pick up on Knight9's focus and determination to improve.

Soon after, the "placement test" arrived. When the team attended the end-of-year 2018 NEST and Demacia Cup, 369 suddenly discovered that the teammates surrounding him were much stronger than he'd had before. He practically "lay down and got carried," and without even knowing how, he put up a good scoreline.

A greater stage brought more fans and more attention, and 369 began to secretly use Weibo to upvote the comments saying he performed well. One thing led to another, and when Guo Hao found out about it, he practically laughed until he cried. Later, he and 369 talked, and the other said, a little embarrassed, "Hao Bro, I might be a little overconfident. If you see me being too proud of myself again, please tell me."

Since they were in contact with the main team, after 369 left, the academy coach Little P would often tell Photic, who was still at KOF, what was happening to his friend. In the 2019 spring season, Little P told Photic, "369 cries quite often there." Near playoffs, Little P told him, "Recently, 369 has gone mental boom."

"That kind of mental boom was the beginning of suffering," 369 reminisced. From before the spring playoffs, to playing IG there, to once again meeting IG in the summer split, to being benched at Rift Rivals, to finally being benched against LGD in the regular season - 369 traced such a path. "If I said that perhaps there were twenty things that caused me pain this year, then maybe seventeen of them were in this timeframe." Later, because he'd dwell on the mistakes he made because of his despondent mental state, he couldn't sleep at night; he'd go to bed at 2AM and perhaps only fall asleep at 4AM. "Useless." He used this kind of language to describe himself.

From when he officially joined the main team to after the spring season, 369 and manager Guo Hao had more time to talk. They often chatted whenever they had time, and once they got started, they could go on for a few hours. From his chats with 369, Guo Hao got the impression that this child was rather "lonely."

"This kind of 'loneliness' doesn't mean that others weren't treating him well, but rather that he - how to put it - that he didn't entirely consider himself part of the team." Guo Hao recalled that once when they were talking, he told him two lines from On Chao Cuo. (t/n: a mildly famous text by Song dynasty statesman Su Shi.) The first was, "From ancient times until now, all those who have accomplished great things had not only talent, but also an unbreakable will." The second was, "Those would would call themselves gentlemen, who seek extraordinary success, must not think too much of themselves." These two lines and their meanings were the principles Guo Hao wanted 369 to realize.

The academy coach Little P had similar thoughts. After getting to know him, he realized that when 369 made some decisions, he would sometimes unconsciously try to protect himself. "When he was in the LDL, there was a period of time when he dropped from Challenger to Diamond I. Then, he told me he didn't want to play, because he was afraid that he would show unfavorable results on stage."

From despondence to pain, and the ensuing decline of his condition - this all reflected in his scorelines. In the spring playoffs match against IG, 369 played two matches before being switched out. "It was as if the barrels had exploded."

At Rift Rivals, however, 369 faced one of LCK's best toplaners, Nuguri. He had the advantage in the laning phase but could not capitalize on it once teamfighting broke out. Nuguri was an opponent he had always wanted to surpass, but during the spring split, Guo Hao had used Nuguri as an example to bring up a question: if Nuguri were so good, then why was their other toplaner, Flame, given the chance to play and even win?

After playing DWG and finishing the day's matches, their head coach BSYY returned to the scrim room to decide who would play the next today. In that night's scrims, the toplane player was Moyu - and without scrims, there were no games to play.

To help the main team prepare for Rift Rivals, Little P was transferred from KOF to the frontlines in Seoul. The day 369 was benched, Little P sat with him and watched all the games. What he remembered most from that day was that once, 369 patted him on the shoulder, said "P Bro!" and then sighed deeply.

"Honestly, sometimes you can't blame the players. He made it this far by doing things this way, so if you want him to change right away, that's practically impossible. You have to slowly find that balance. I think through this process, he can replace some parts of himself that aren't so good, and thus become a more excellent person and learn what it means to truly be a team." Seeing how 369 sighed to himself, Little P didn't offer him too much comfort, but simply told him, "Don't worry. This experience will be very valuable. But next time, if there's another chance, you must take it."

After Rift Rivals, Little P went back to KOF to continue his work with the academy team, but he continued to observe 369's LPL games. In the following games in the summer split, when he saw 369 choose counterpicks and choose strategies that would not put undue stress on his teammates, he felt very pleased.

"People have to experience things to learn." 369 didn't regret what he went through to gain this experience. "Even if I don't regret what happened, it still feels like a pity. Because I didn't do well, we didn't go further. If I had played better, perhaps we had a chance to make it to the finals."

four. epilogue.

After the new year, TOP's academy team moved to Shanghai; they were now in the same district as the main team, only five minutes away. Starting from when they moved until now, 369 of the main team and Photic of the academy team have met seven or eight times. The two of them go out for dinner and watch movies; each time, it's always 369 who takes the initiative to invite Photic. "To players on the academy team, the main team is something almost sacred," coach Little P said.

Guo Hao still talks with 369 from time to time, but now he more often takes the role of listener. Since he was a little overly strict with 369 before and noticed he was starting to evade questions, Guo Hao chose to take a different approach and allow the other to speak more.

Back to 369 - the last time I saw him, he seemed very calm, especially when talking about those things he'd experienced this past year that he wasn't entirely satisfied with. "If you asked me how I felt a year ago, maybe I would've had a lot to say, but now, after going through so much, it almost seems like none of that has left a serious impression on him." To him, 2019 can best be described as 'full;' it's as if even before the wounds from the previous fight have healed or he had a chance to look back, he found himself thrust into yet another battlefield.

And so it goes for most professional players. As Little P put it, those are the "negative feedback loops that follow their entire career." "Some things never really leave you; they will always accompany you, but you must hope you will not be affected by them. So it all depends on if you have a way to face them, if you have a way to become friends with yourself."

Did 369 find that? Perhaps he did; perhaps he is still on the road to doing so. When asked how he sees the things he experienced, he said they were "very interesting." "It's like if you talk about something sad that happened to you during school now, you will feel like it's very interesting. That pain no longer seems as deep as it once was."

And when asked how he felt now, he made a motion like climbing a mountain. "I don't know. But I will always be climbing, and I will always be moving forward."

#league of legends #source: pentaq #tes #i always feel that lpl rookies rarely get recognition #partially because there's so many of them and many of them don't make it in the end #and partially because there's so little information out there about them #so i'm really really glad pentaq writes these pieces so we can learn more #no tragic ldl tale will get me to displace cool in my heart though

[namisashimi]

Yicun: ‘League of Legends deserves to be understood by more.’

source. yicun special column (mirror) by danneergou (丹尼二狗) and yicun (一村) for pentaq. images by yicun.

translator. it’s been forever, but maya brought my attention to this article by the lpl photographer, yicun, on his experiences at worlds this year. it’s actually a really fascinating and very personal reflection, and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i did.

Because for those who don't understand, there's so much more excitement to be experienced.

From our first interview with him during the 2016 Mid-Autumn Festival, PentaQ has known this LPL photographer for more than a year. Since we didn’t meet him on the competitive stage, our understanding and knowledge of Yicun comes more from his photography - in it, you can find all that is League of Legends. That five-colored stage, that youthful, passionately shouting audience, the champions lifting their trophy and their glory, the losers crying in the corner, or even those busy passerbys coming and going.

Before the 2017 World Finals began, PentaQ published a series of 'Pre-Game Special Columns,' one of which was on Yicun. In that article, Yicun used photography to reminisce about how from when he first encountered League of Legends at All-Stars 2013 to now. After the finals, we once again contacted Yicun in hopes that we could hear his new feelings after the entire Worlds weekend.

And so, in the same place we saw the same old Yicun – dressed in athletic gear, full of life. From his arrival in Wuhan on 9/20 to his return to Shanghai on 11/5, he said this hectic yet fulfilling journey of a month and a half let him once again see the heyday of esports.

post-worlds memory: a heart under the giant championship cup.

the longest, yet the happiest worlds.

If I had to remember the last time I worked for this long, I would look back to Season 5 Worlds, two years ago. If I calculated carefully, it would only be shorter than this year’s by a few days – that was 9/26/2015, when I and some friends went to watch a concert by Rene Liu, then hurried to Paris.

A person in a foreign country will have a lot of boring moments, a lot of spare time – after all, that place is someone else's center stage, and where you live will not be that close to the players and the competition. But when this year’s Worlds came to China, my life had nothing else. Every day was Season 7 Worlds; there was no spare time, no leisurely moments – just focusing on one thing. Time really flew.

yicun in 2015: carrying his bag and his camera, he followed the world championships across europe.

Looking back on S5, the biggest feeling at the time was regret, but this year - perhaps some people might disagree with me, but I think SSG lives up to this championship. When I experienced this year’s Worlds, I realized the championship was not just determined by strength on paper, but rather by willpower. Sometimes, what we are battling with is not just skill and strategy, not just the player’s in-game performance, but rather their mental strength - in groups, SSG didn’t perform well and lost two matches in a row to RNG, but once they entered the playoffs, they became the team that wanted to win the most.

In competitive sports, ‘the one who is brave wins on a narrow path.’ In that moment, whoever could endure to the end won.

No matter what, looking back on that one and a half months - perhaps it was a shot that was both the longest and yet felt the shortest. It seems like only yesterday that I was preparing my luggage, yet now, the battle in the Bird’s Nest has drawn its curtains.

from short sleeves to long sleeves, from Wuhan to Guangzhou, to Shanghai, to Beijing - a month and a half’s ‘strange journey.’

from play-ins to groups, from excitement and worry to pity.

Most of the time, my photography plan isn’t officially set, but rather determined by myself. To me, photographing Worlds is a kind of mission, a kind of responsibility. It’s not that someone else is making me take these, but rather that I want to take them. To be honest, the official commission I received didn’t include Play-Ins, but I felt that anywhere that had LPL teams, I should attend.

Because I hoped that no matter what the result, even if WE could not make it out of Play-Ins, I could still faithfully chronicle this moment.

Throughout the entirety of Play-Ins, WE still had some stumbles. Apart from the LCK, this was almost a rehearsal for the performance of the other major regions, so even though the wind was calm, the waves were choppy. Compared to later rounds, I was more anxious during Play-Ins, because this was the first year this stage existed and many didn’t consider it a serious competition. As a result, I was all the more worried that WE might not make it out. However, even as I worried over this, I saw the analyst team working to help the LPL. At the time, the three teams had already come to Wuhan and started practicing, and we could once again see the strength of the LPL working together.

the play-ins were a part of we’s world championship experience.

Because my hometown is Huangshi, Wuhan was very close to home. I had originally planned to visit home after Play-Ins ended, but for various reasons failed to do so - I’m usually someone who returns home periodically, but this Worlds, after Play-Ins began I didn’t go home at all.

In the groups, EDG was truly worth pitying. They really had the ability to get out of groups. Sometimes, though, you just get unlucky; that’s all that can be said.

You see, in this year’s Worlds, the Western teams really are not weak. From certain standpoints, the Western teams and the SEA teams have a greater tactical ability than LPL teams, or even LCK teams. Asian teams are more stable in their basic mechanics, in their fighting and teamwork than the West, but when something unusual happens, or when there’s a patch change, our ability to react is less than those of other regions. We are too used to following our own tempo in the game. So, even if it’s just my own opinion, when EDG faced C9, perhaps they had yet to adjust themselves to their best form.

If you want to talk about pain, this year’s EDG was not as painful as that of the past two years. After all, that year was far more regretful. Speaking of something that left a serious impression on me: after EDG lost, Clearlove walked off the stage. At that time, he hadn’t yet gotten his mindset out of the game, and as he walked onto the stairs and saw me, he said something like this.

‘What’s left depends on WE and RNG.’

So, I want to say - our players have their own shared honor, and this honor, it all exists in each of their hearts.

even if i can’t go on, then please take my hopes with you and go forward. this is the honor of a region.

to touch hearts, to leave no regrets.

Quarterfinals and semifinals - one in Guangzhou, one in Shanghai. Comparatively speaking, the quarterfinals most touched our hearts, while the semifinals most caught our attention and left us with no regrets.

Of my entire Worlds photography journey, the quarterfinals were the most unforgettable. Here, whether they sadly left the stage or continued on, each team had their own story to tell.

For example, FNC vs. RNG. I had followed FNC for a long time, while RNG was one of our LPL teams. I liked both teams a lot, so I felt like I had returned to that quarterfinals in 2015, where FNC faced EDG. Another game was MSF vs. SKT. MSF performed incredibly well, and I really hoped they could win. To me, the quarterfinals brought all the highlights from the group stages together. In groups, even if you lost every game the first week, you’d still have a thread of life to cling to in the second week. Quarterfinals were different. If you lost, you lost - win or die.

Luckily, both our LPL teams took the win.

Ah, the quarterfinals. How many years had it been since we last broke out of quarterfinals? That was really a different feeling. In past years, my heart would always feel empty after quarterfinals, because our team was out. Semifinals, finals - those photos were all taken for someone else to see.

The position I gave myself was not just for Worlds, but also for the LPL. So once the LPL teams had all left, my heart would feel that ‘emptiness.’ Even in the Bird’s Nest, it was the same. I knew that in my life, I wouldn’t have many opportunities to take photos in the Bird’s Nest, but as the as the 11/4 finals drew closer, I was more willing to ‘pull myself out’ and experience the match as a spectator - it had been a very long time since I last watched a game as an ordinary spectator.

So if the end result of the quarterfinals were happiness, then in Shanghai, in what could truly be called the ‘esports headquarters,’ what we welcomed was the pain of the LPL teams being eliminated.

Compared to those of the last two years, this year’s results are, of course, slightly better, and perhaps even reminiscent of S4 - really, so close. Even though the Chinese teams didn’t make it to the Bird’s Nest, this year was still a successful year for the LPL. Even if we didn’t have the best competitive results, through our matches we had broadcasted the culture that belonged to us, that belonged to League of Legends. The people around me who played other games had begun to appreciate League of Legends; my friends from other careers, who had no relationship to the game, were also supporting League of Legends, supporting the Bird’s Nest, supporting the S7 World Championships.

‘fighting’ might be the best descriptor of the lpl. it implies ‘no matter who wins or loses, we will put in our best effort.’

After the semi-finals ended, many people said it was like the end of youth.

Hearing this, I felt comforted rather than miserable. Whether our youth had come to an end was not for us to say, but if you could wholeheartedly say something like that, it meant League of Legends had completely affected you, that it had become a part of your youth. Those who said ‘my youth has ended,’ congratulations. You have become adults. But if you are willing to wait, League of Legends is really just like you. It too is growing up.

So, I don’t think ‘youth has ended’ is a sad topic. No matter what, it proves ‘once, it existed.’

So, I don’t care ‘whether youth has ended or not,’ ‘whether the game was deleted or not,’ what I care about is if it really gives you happiness.

league of legends deserves to be understood by more.

Honestly, that day in the Bird’s Nest, before the game started I was worrying the seats wouldn’t fill up, and then the photographs would look ugly. But after Jay Chou finished his song and Legends Never Die began, I looked all around me and discovered I had already sunk into a sea of people.

During the finals, I mostly enjoyed the game from a spectator perspective. Because I spent most of my time in the audience, my photographs were largely of the whole venue; because the stage was so distant, I didn’t take many pictures of the players or match details. There was one photograph - during the most critical moment in the third game of SKT vs SSG, I caught the last rays of the setting sun. The second the setting sun passed through the Bird’s Nest, Faker secured first blood. I had a strange premonition: this could be Faker’s last first blood in this year’s World Championships.

the last ray of the setting sun filters through the top of the Bird’s Nest, alighting on the faces of the audience.

-- but since I’ve been talking so much, many of these questions have been brought up already. So I wonder, is it still important to discuss the final victory more?

I think back to six or seven years ago, maybe 2011 or 2012. I was still in Beijing then and had yet to take up a League of Legends-related photography job. I would often go to the Water Cube to swim, and no matter how many times I saw the Bird’s Nest, how many times I saw the Water Cube, I would never have thought that one day, we would be hosting an esports competition there.

And now, in this very moment, it is truly a golden age, a golden age that belongs to esports.

I began to photograph esports in 2006. In these ten years, I have been through the rise and fall of many games, and I have experienced many of what I felt were golden ages. When I photographed CS, I found like that was a golden age; when I photographed DOTA, I felt like that was also a golden age. But thinking about it now, for those of us in the gaming sphere that was definitely the case, but that’s only a small group of people who love games. It is still a very small circle.

Whereas now, I truly feel the real golden age is not just something that occurs within the community. It needs to influence more people, more people outside its usual sphere of influence, like your parents, like your friends, like those strangers who walk past you - allowing those beside us, who have no understanding of the game, to still feel the beauty of esports. This is something that League of Legends’ World Championships has accomplished.

these musicians from all around the world - in their creations is the best evidence of the golden age.

It’s just like the Kaiyung golden age in the Tang Dynasty. The development of our economy, the strength of our country - those were only internal things. What really radiated out and influenced the whole world was our history, our culture. This kind of intangible power is what endures.

League of Legends is the same way; it is not just a competitive sport. It has the positive energy of a competitive sport, the ability to excite people, but now and in the near future, we can still have more - music, movies, and even more forms of art. We will always be growing. We have not stalled.

In the past, when I photographed esports and games, I’d always have this desire to photograph ‘culture’ - at that time, I didn’t realize what I photographed was actually ‘culture.’

League of Legends deserves to be understood by more.

And to those who do not understand it, I say - there’s so much more excitement to experience.

yicun has many good photographs, but few are of him. this one, taken by ren yijun, is of him at the sixth anniversary celebration.

postscript: a moment for those who left.

'Taking photos is like being a historian. Even if they're not pretty, I still need to document them.'

'Even after so many years of photography, I wouldn't rate my skill too highly. I don't think I'm a talented photographer, but I do think I'm one with a sense of responsibility.'

'I don't take photos just to please people, but rather I hope they'll be like a slice of time, a truthful reflection of what happened.'

'I like photographs with stories. Only those have life.'

As a photographer, Yicun is constantly adjusting his own trajectory, constantly questioning what kind of photographer he wants to be, what kind of photos he wants to take. But his target has never changed: to chase the truth of a photo, to use the photo to tell a story.

So, at the end of this article, we've included some of Yicun's photographs. These represent the departure of the LPL teams from the 2017 World Championships, and in their moments, a story from Yicun's first-person perspective.

Of course, this kind of outcome may have left some people sad, but as Yicun wrote in his previous column, for some things 'the longer we wait, the happier we are when they are fulfilled.'

The night EDG was eliminated, after everyone had left, I went to their practice room and happened to encounter Meiko and iBoy. They were packing their things and preparing to leave. I noticed a commemorative coin left had been left on the desk; each player only got one, so it was especially precious. I asked them, why aren't you taking it? Meiko looked at it and said he was afraid that seeing it later would make him sad, that I should take it as a gift.

The day RNG was eliminated, Mlxg was the last to leave the stage. Even off-stage, he still sat taciturn in his seat, giving the impression that he had turned to stone.

11/14, after the final battle in the Bird's Nest, shouts of 'RNG' were suddenly heard on the stream. At that time, Ming sent me a message – he said, when he heard the audience shouting RNG's name, his heart felt 'empty.' In that moment, I could feel how his heart had stirred, how much he wished that the team appearing there was really RNG.

WE was eliminated in the quarterfinals. After the game, Condi kept smacking the hand-warmers against the chair, hitting it again and again. To him, that may have been a way to vent.

The night WE was eliminated, Mystic and his little sister were outside the hotel. To Mystic, China will always be a foreign country, yet he has made it his home for the sake of his dreams. When he meets his countrymen, his real family, that strong feeling of closeness will burst out.

In the end – thank you, Yicun, for making time for us.

#league of legends #source: pentaq #s7 worlds #yicun #i have a lot of feelings about this article #but mostly regret that it took me so long to translate #but i am very glad for yicun's positivity on lpl's worlds performance #and i hope he's right that league of legends is something greater than itself

[namisashimi]

The Gamer Youth from the Turn of the Century - Baolan

source. profile by danneergou (丹尼二狗) for pentaq.

translator. this needs a little context - baolan is the former name of ig’s support, megan. i started translating this article when it first came out in january 2017 but got too busy to finish it. i think i’ve jokingly referred to it a few times as the ‘baolan manifesto’ since it’s so long and dense (and no one cares about him). since he’s been doing very well in playoffs, i thought i’d pick it up again since it’s a truly fascinating look at both him personally and the path new players take to the lpl.

Now, you can call him by a new name: Megan.

Ask anyone – playing botlane for IG is not an easy task, especially in 2016. That year, IG's botlane often changed: Rain, Kitties, Marge, Ben – even their starting midlaner Rookie was forced into playing ADC for a game. 'Finding a strong, reliable, promising botlane pair' is the conundrum IG's manager Su Xiaoluo has spent the spring and summer splits bitterly trying to solve.

At NEST at the year's end, IG allowed their fans hope for an answer – their 'Baolan + Jackeylove' botlane successfully helped their team defeat LGD and win the championship. Of these two, Jackeylove had long made his name as 'China's Best Draven' and 'High Elo KR SoloQ Player,' while the support Baolan was a new player who was born in 1999, only just jumped from TGA to LPL, and had barely played 10 matches in 2016.

On January 6th, we met this true newcomer in the IG team house. This unhappy rainy day, Baolan accepted our interview while on his bed, dressed in his IG uniform and wrapped in blankets. Perhaps because he'd never had this kind of one-on-one chat with a stranger before, Baolan spent most of his time with his head lowered, almost talking to himself. If we reached a subject he found interesting, he would show it with a simple smile or by speaking slightly louder.

An eighteen-year-old boy's story cannot be too complicated, and Baolan is no exception. He dropped out of school to play professionally, struggled bitterly in the TGA, seized the opportunity to come to the LPL, and in the even more furious competition desperately adapted to finally achieve his dreams.

'Dreams are that which can always excite you,' Baolan said to this journalist.

It sounded like his answer was describing a process, rather than a tangible result.

a childhood without worry.

Seventeen years ago, Baolan was born in Yingtan. This place is so tiny that without an detailed description, you wouldn't even know it's in Jiangxi Province. Before boarding that plane to Tianjin and embarking on the first step on his professional journey, Baolan lived, grew up, and spent his childhood here, as carefree as any other child.

'The air was very good there.' Baolan's description of Yingtan was minimalistic. Compared to the busy major city – Shanghai – now surrounding him, 'air quality' was the only exceptional trait he could bring up about his hometown.

Normally, there are two requirements for a glowing childhood: good grades and sensible parents. And it was just Baolan's luck that he lacked neither – in elementary school he always had exceptional grades, to the point where he didn't even have to do his homework to be the teacher's favorite and was always the center of attention among his peers; as for the other, he had the kind of mother almost every youth would wish to have.

This mother allowed her son to play games in netcafes in elementary school, and she even took on the responsibility of transporting him and his friends there. Her reasoning for this was exceedingly straightforward: 'Because his grades were good, I thought it wasn't an issue. If he wanted to play he could.' These words of course showed the love a mother has for a son, but also showed the progressiveness born of long years of business experience.

Under these circumstances, Baolan advanced smoothly into middle school. But the talent and intelligence he once had was not enough for the increasingly complex classes, and more importantly, he still didn't do his homework. His grades slipped, turning his childhood from 'glowing' to 'ordinary' and his good fortune to disaster.

'I was done.' Saying this, the expression on Baolan's face was like that of a toplaner who had just eked out a 10cs lead over his opponent before dying to a sudden gank and being forced to watch a wave of minions die to his tower.

Because of his grades and attitude towards learning, Baolan was exiled by his middle school teacher to the back row of class, like falling from the technologically advanced Piltover to the slums of Zaun. Suddenly, he realized he was between a rock and a hard place – on one hand, from Baolan's perspective, being in the last row was 'bad;' on the other hand, the frustration he had learning made it hard to muster the enthusiasm to regain his glory, and besides, he was starting to develop some nearsightedness and even seeing the blackboard from the back of the class was a hard task.

'I didn't want to be that kind of person, but I was at the back of the class. So I didn't interact much with either the good or the bad circles in class. It was very lonely.'

Most of the time, Baolan only spoke with his tablemate, and he wouldn't talk about games. Just like his distaste for the 'last row of class,' he thought games were a 'bad element' and not something students should talk about.

You could imagine that if Baolan's parents didn't have such a practical and effective discipline style – then having gone from 'genius' to 'loner,' he would have faced resentful scolding from his parents for failing to meet expectations. Luckily, his mother once again showed her consistently lenient and noble-minded ideas: 'If he's not good academically, then he should try something else.'

Baolan begin to search for a new path: go, piano, guitar, art … even the hulusi (t/n: a niche chinese instrument). Saying this, he mimicked a rather proper playing posture.

'My mother often said I needed to learn things. I tried practically everything, but I couldn't find a passion for any of it. When I saw something fun, I'd be briefly very enthusiastic and really want to learn it, but after a while I'd find it boring and give it up.' This persisted until he encountered League of Legends – the first thing that could make Baolan settle down and study it at length.

'At the time, only League of Legends could make me not give up halfway, and it had a very high skill ceiling.'

the abyss of the tga.

It's hard to imagine, but even though Baolan has already become a professional player, he still doesn't think playing video games counts as a proper career. When he goes home for the new year, he'll rarely bring up what he's currently doing to his relatives. In the beginning, he walked into this world simply to mediate his own loneliness.

When he first encountered League of Legends, Baolan would play every day, watch videos, and while losing think to himself, 'I shouldn't have played that so poorly.' At the time the ladder was ranked by MMR. 1200 points was the default; if you won you gained points and if you lost you lost points. At his lowest point, Baolan dropped to 800 points. 'Should've been bronze, that rank.'

When he thought he had stagnated, Baolan was suddenly re-inspired after watching highlights of the Korean support Madlife; this also decided which role he would main. 2012 happened to be the year Madlife first showed himself. This support's boundless genius led him to be called 'M-God' and his team MiG to be nicknamed 'Madlife is God.' After finding his first League of Legends idol, Baolan tried support and found his game ability increased immensely: even when winning a game would only give him 3LP, he went from Platinum V to Diamond V in a week, then reached Diamond I in another week, and finally Challenger.

'I didn't know then that you could decay from Challenger. I was so happy when I reached Challenger, but after seven days, I discovered I'd dropped back to Masters.' After that, Baolan left the Bandle City server for the first server, Ionia. At the same time, his sudden improvement showed Baolan an opportunity, and he decided to leave school, try a new path, and expand his horizons.

There are many ways to become a professional player, and the most 'straight-forward and easy' one is to join a TGA team and play with them in TGA (now known as City of Heroes), and go step-by-step to higher and higher levels of play: LSPL, LPL, Worlds. Of course, this requires you to have enough skill and luck.

In 2014, Snake fought their way from TGA to LSPL, then from LSPL entered the LPL. In 2016, IM promoted from LSPL to LPL, then from LPL made it to Worlds. This kind of 'success in many short hops' miracle seemed to be happening every day, but these 'good things' weren't guaranteed to happen to you. Survival bias tells us the 'dead' say nothing.

For the teams that participated in TGA, this is even more true. Every round of TGA includes more than thirty teams from all parts of the country; only two of them can join the LSPL. The high probability of elimination and the clustered matches made the TGA competition very cruel: perhaps some team would have just defeated a strong enemy, but within half a day, they'd have to face their own elimination from the tournament. For those who hoped to go pro, TGA was like a boundlessly deep sea they were trying to find a treasure in. It was just that difficult.

Of course, the inexperienced Baolan never considered this, and he quickly came to a decision. Thus, that mother who once brought her son to the net cafe to play games now sat with him on a plane from Jiangnan to Tianjin, where he joined a local team for a 3000 RMB salary.

What Baolan didn't expect was that just as quickly as his first professional journey began, it ended. For a few special reasons, the team Baolan joined in Tianjin disbanded quickly. Baolan didn't even have a chance to play in a proper match. Of Tianjin and that team, his only impression was being in a small house, unceasingly, unceasingly playing soloq.

That is the truth of many TGA teams: an owner with too much money to spend, players with only dreams and no skill, an organization that's only in it for fun, and an endless series of sorrows and joys, meetings and partings.

Afterwards, Baolan met Zoom. At the time, he was a part of a Ningbo team called BOE. Zoom took care of Baolan like a big brother and Baolan listened to everything he said. Afterwards, they also met Gear – a young man who had chased his dreams from Hong Kong to the mainland. The three quickly became friends so good you could say they 'wore the same pants.'

baolan's former 'big brother' - zoom.

'At the time, we thought the three of us could definitely get into the first division,' Baolan said very emphatically. But in actuality, Baolan didn't even have the chance to start on BOE, because 'that person (the starter) had a higher soloq rank than I did.'

Although the team's overall skill wasn't bad and it had his good friends, being entirely unable to play made Baolan anxious. At first, he thought, 'Doesn't matter, as long as I play well, I'll have the opportunity to start,' but the end result was: he, who had not played a single game with BOE, chose to leave, leaving Zoom and Gear behind, for a team that would let him play – a Hangzhou team, not too far from Ningbo, called MSC.

'From when I started with him (Zoom), I was always a sub, up until I left him and played a starting role for another team.' This departure was almost a means to 'prove himself.' In a team, players with close relationships are often very competitive, and by taking a starting position, Baolan hoped his own performance would tell his good friends Zoom and Gear: he, too, had the abilities of a starter.

the midlaner from hong kong - gear.

Instead, reality gave Baolan a vicious slap to the face. In that year's City of Heroes province-level competition, Hangzhou MSC encountered Ningbo BOE; Baolan met Zoom and Gear as opponents. In that match, toplaner Zoom played Darius, midlaner Gear played Lissandra, and they practically abused Baolan and his team 2v5. In that game, Zoom's Darius scored a pentakill.

After the game, MSC lost their chance to advance, and Baolan's spirits were low to the point where he didn't even say hello to his former teammates. 'After losing the game, I directly went back. That day it was raining, rain is the most tragic thing.' As he said this, a thin drizzle still fell outside the window.

Prepared to do whatever he could, Baolan circled back and forth in TGA for two years. In these two years, he went to Anhui, to Tianjin, to Hangzhou, to Ningbo. Every half year, he'd play in TGA; every half year, he'd lose.

But to him, no loss had as much of an impact on him as this one. Finally, after changing to yet another TGA team, Baolan couldn't take it any more. He stood in front of his boss and very steadfastly pronounced his feelings that he 'absolutely could not play any more TGA.'

After failing in the groups again, he hoped he could be recommended into the LPL. If he didn't have enough qualifications for that, LSPL would do.

'In all my years of playing TGA, every time I lost the boss would tell me: 'You're still young, you have to play TGA, practice harder, learn more.' Their words surely had some use for me, but I still felt...' Baolan stopped here. After a few moments of silence, he started talking to himself: 'Ah, there's not much to say. If I hadn't played so many years of TGA, perhaps I wouldn't be able to play in the LPL.'

Faced with the two years of his TGA career, it's hard for Baolan to not sink into this kind of ambivalent thinking. The unreliability of TGA and the difficulty of performing well always made it hard for him to find his confidence, but at the same time, he couldn't deny that those two years of chaotic fighting had helped him grow. Furthermore, he simply didn't want to look back on those years; his departure had an air of 'fleeing in panic' to it, because he 'just never wanted to experience again that feeling, that feeling of loss, that feeling that came every half year, that feeling of gambling.' Here, he used three descriptors in a row.

Luckily, he came to the LPL. Looking at how things have been going, everything is still okay.

the stress of the lpl.

LPL is the top-tier circuit in China. This place has the greatest exposure, the craziest fans, and the highest level of play; this place is every Chinese player's dream. For Baolan, who came from city-level competitions, being able to enter the LPL is very lucky. At the same time, he still missed how on the TGA stage, both sides' players would crazily yell 'Nice!'

In June 2016, at the beginning of the summer split, Baolan came to IG. Su Xiaoluo introduced him thus to the team's coach: 'This kid is not bad.' Because he wasn't old enough to participate in the LPL, Baolan was placed in IG's youth training team to practice and improve. At the time, IG's botlane issues were becoming increasingly serious. When Chris talked about that iteration of IG, he said that the Korean soloq king Rain was playing unreliably because there had been some problems in his family, and at the same time Kitties, who had been IG for a long time, was equally unreliable. To resolve that problem, Chris called in Tabe, hoping the competition would let Kitties return to form, but the final results were not exactly ideal. The roster changes and Tabe's inclusion caused the entire team to go through a trial-and-error phase, and they faced a lot of negative public opinion.

To IG, Baolan represented possibility; to Baolan, IG was his only chance. Before coming here, he had already thoroughly analyzed every LPL support.

'For some teams, I just didn't have a chance. VG's Caveman was a new player, and he wasn't too bad. There wasn't a chance EDG would lose Meiko, and LGD's Pyl had played with them for a long time.' Baolan used the most simple terms to approximate the chances he'd be able to start. In the end, IG was the choice where he had the 'highest chance of playing.'

For a young man who hadn't even hit 20, this kind of thought process was a little rigid. But it could undeniably find the best opportunity for a player to seize his already limited chances, and no matter what, it was very practical.

'Wherever I go, I give myself an objective. When I was in the TGA, I thought one TGA support was very good, so I would follow his soloq summoner name and check it every day to see how he'd climbed. When I went to MF's secondary team, I made the first team's support my objective. Every time I woke up and saw him, and I'd be motivated enough to play a whole day of ranked; then I'd go to bed very tired. For a while, I thought Tang Chi Sa's support Liu Qingsong (t/n: now Pinus) was very good, so I'd watch his ranked games every day and found he was really very good.' When Tang Chi Sa was relegated from LSPL, the support Lqs and his ADC Lwx showed up on Newbee's main roster, and these former TGA opponents once again met in the LPL. Like a sieve, LPL catches the best players in the secondary leagues and city-level competitions.

'Actually there are still very talented players in the TGA, but they haven't had an opportunity yet. I don't think I'm particularly talented – I'm just lucky.'

When talking about LPL's young support talent, EDG's Meiko is an unavoidable topic. From being discovered in the TGA to being moved to the LPL, to quickly meshing with EDG and becoming a top-tier support domestically, and then becoming winner of countless championships, winning MSI, becoming a part of the Worlds ranking... 'Meiko and I are about the same age, but I haven't even seen the glory he's received. If I'd call RNG's Ming someone I can look up to, then Meiko is a god.' When the topic of Meiko's almost legendary career was brought up, Baolan very naturally showed signs of envy.

'Of course there are some differences, but it's not just because I think he was lucky. He plays well, and on top of that he's lucky, so he can get what others cannot.'

'Will you take the initiative to go make friends with these players you respect?' this journalist asked.

'I'd prefer it if I can play well and then have people take the initiative to make friends with me,' Baolan replied.

July 24, 2016 – Baolan first entered the stage as IG's support; the ADC who joined him was Marge, and their opponents were Snake. In TGA circles, there was a popular saying: If you play in the LPL, if you're always a sub and don't have a chance to start, maybe you will never have the chance to start. If the team gives you a chance and it doesn't go well, you will never have a second chance.

'So, many players won't take the risk of playing in the LPL. They'd rather stay and keep playing in TGA,' Baolan said.

In the end, in that best-of-3, IG went 1-2 and lost in the end. At the end of the game, Baolan thought, 'It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It was like we were all still human.'

In the first game, Snake had an immense lead in the early-game. SofM's Graves straight-out bought a Runaan's Hurricane, but at 35 minutes in the game, IG took a teamfight and turned the game.

In the second game, both teams played a slower game, and at 29 minutes in, Snake took the game after gaining a teamfight advantage.

In the third game, Snake had a small advantage in the mid-game, and at 28 minutes in, miscommunication between the initiator and the carries caused IG to lose regrettably.

In the three games, Baolan played Braum support, and allowed Marge to successfully and safely farm in the botlane, so at the very least, he was not a liability.

After this set of games, Baolan played increasingly often until Jackeylove joined the team and IG's botlane went from 'regularly surviving' to 'able to get a few small advantages.'

'I want to prove with him that we're the best, but that will probably take time. We're a little competitive among ourselves and try to see who plays better.' On his lane partner Jackeylove, Baolan had this kind of assessment.

Besides Jackeylove, another teammate who had a close relationship with Baolan was their jungler Kid. Beginning with Baolan's arrival in IG, Kid, who shared a room with him, took on the role of an older brother, just like Zoom did in the past. 'I've never spent any money when I'm out with Kid. Every time, he'll pay for me and invite me to eat.' Of course, Kid also has his own problems – such as snoring really loudly when he sleeps.

'In the future I'll try to sleep earlier, or at least sleep before he does.'

In the two days before this interview, Baolan had gone through a few sleepless nights: during the day, he'd play ranked until very late, and at night he'd lie in bed and be unable to sleep, then wake up and play more. But the reason for this were not the loud noises from his roommate, but rather that he was seeing the goals ahead of him.

'Because Ming has more LP than I do, a lot more, one or two hundred. So in the past few days I've been feeling like I can't sleep, like I have a rock in my chest. Yesterday I finally accomplished my goal and had 2LP more than he did. That night I slept very well.'

After all, he's still understandably a new player, and in the LPL, the stress is unending. In the new 2017 season, Baolan changed his summoner ID: Megan.

epilogue: those who are eternally in conflict.

Like Baolan, Zoom and Gear found their own ways out. The one regret is – they never managed to make it out of TGA by playing.

Zoom went to MF in the LSPL, where he was called the 'strongest toplaner.' After MF merged with WY and changed names, he once again appeared on the 2017 LSPL stage as the toplaner for DS.

Gear left the mainland, and went back to the LMS to join HKE (Hong Kong Esports). There, after one season (Summer 2016), he continued to play as their starting midlaner in 2017.

Baolan came to IG, putting on an entirely different uniform and picking up new teammates. When you become stronger, it's impossible to not leave your current environment. This requires you to say goodbye to many of the people you don't want to leave; this is a conflict.

But doesn't every young person live in this kind of contradiction?

To Baolan, the contradictions in his heart are not just those. He used to believe that 'those who look strong should be really strong,' but now he feels 'those who don't look that good might be truly good.' For example, he brought up SKT's ADC, Bang. Because he 'was in Faker's shadow, it's rare for people to say Bang is very good, and there are very few people who discuss him, but he always plays very well.'

On the other hand, he always desires a few external, self-serving things, like the recognition of others and fans. In fact, when he was analyzing the support players of each LPL team, 'popularity' was something he paid heavy attention to. 'I feel like veteran LPL players are not likely to be swapped out, perhaps because of their fans, or maybe it's because they're the core of the team and can't be changed.'

Whether it's better to be 'someone who looks good,' or “someone who doesn't look very good, but is very good,' Baolan didn't have any answers.

But a fish and a bear's paw cannot coexist, and he will eventually face this kind of choice. Of course, this is something every young person will encounter.

At the end, this journalist asked Baolan, 'If you weren't playing professionally, what would you want to do?'

'I would want to be a waiter, I think waiters are good people. When we go to The Bund to eat, I always feel like waiters are very impressive people, they can always give you what you need the most, and their attitudes are very good.' This kind of answer is very unusual, to the point of being somewhat nonsensical.

But this at least proves that Baolan is very young and still very childish. He still hasn't experienced the kind of life-or-death battle between WE and IM, he hasn't had to struggle in relegations like OMG, he hasn't left the domestic stage like EDG and battled for the world championship.

But when these 'hasn't yet' eventually turn into reality, I believe Baolan will have even more stories for people to tell.

editor's note.

At 'The Hero's Heart' competitive event (t/n: donation event), we saw IG, who were just coming back from winning NEST. Their manager, Su Xiaoluo, mentioned that they hoped we would interview IG's young player Baolan.

When we talked about why, Su Xiaoluo said, 'As a manager, the most common question many young players will talk to me about is salary and benefits. When he tried out for IG and played a few competitive matches, Baolan's salary was actually very small. After NEST ended, I brought up giving him a raise, but he didn't seem to care about this, and told me 'I came here to play.''

When he was 14 and League of Legends first showed up in his life, he chose this professional path, and without even hitting 17 he'd played two years of city-level competitions. In IG's weakest moments, he joined the team as a rookie, rich with potential and yet very young. As a manager, in this impulsive time, to find such a pure player in the generation of young players is a very lucky thing.

As we walked into Baolan's world, we discovered not only his pure love for the occupation, but also the loneliness and confusion so common with young people.

The biggest difference between young esports players and regular students comes from the different people they meet at this most critical point of life, and the way they understand society is different from that of those who go through school before walking into society. Compared to Baolan's chance to become a superstar, we're more interested in how these young players can find their identity in esports.

The experience of spending two years in TGA without any results can make someone ashamed to talk about their job to their relatives and make them call video games a 'bad thing.' The strength of other players in the same team can cause someone to undertake absurd training burdens; Ming's ladder position can cause them to not sleep at night, but instead wake up and chase LP; Meiko's professional journey can make them lonely, yet unable to take the initiative to meet these other players, instead hoping to prove themselves and have them want to meet him.

Before leaving, I noticed on the desk in the IG base, there was a copy of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. The book describes how the 16-year-old protagonist, Holden, was born in an affluent middle-class family, but after being expelled from school for the fourth time, began to go into the world of adults and discovered the hypocrisy of this world. His idealism made him cynical, but he had to make compromises to continue to survive, making his life always in the midst of contradictions.

Abusinesswoman mother and the complicated feelings he had in this new world are just a few similarities between the real Baolan and the novel's protagonist, Holden. I don't know which fan sent this book to be signed by Baolan, but for this book to appear here, there's something to think about.

The road forward is long, and I hope this professional career will give him all he seeks, and teach him the truth of life.

#league of legends #source: pentaq #i really wanted to get this out before the ig vs edg series #but i thought it was tomorrow rip ;w;

[namisashimi]

23 - Cool’s Virtual and Real Lives

source. cool’s birthday interview by thirteen (十三) and dexter for pentaq. images by thirteen.

translator. cool’s birthday was august 12th, and pentaq did a lovely interview with him for it that i just had to translate. it’s long - more than four thousand words - but i think it’s really worth reading for his reflections on his life, on his professional career, and on his future.

In the professional scene, age is always a sensitive and delicate topic for a player.

Following the official rules that 'only those 17 and up can play professionally,' players born in the 00s began to take to the stage in 2017. Looking back, players born in the 90s who continue to battle on the competitive stage are few and far between.

On August 12, 2017, LGD Cool crossed into his 23rd year. As a veteran player from 2012, we always speak of him with complicated emotions. On one hand, we deeply love that youth who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Faker on the international stage; on the other hand, we have to wonder if time has already sapped him of his talent. With the passage of time, these highlights and low points have become a part of Cool's 23 years.

the 23-year-old cool.

At 23, some people have only just left the school grounds, and perhaps broken up with a girlfriend of many years; at 23, some people have only just graduated and found a job, either satisfying or unsatisfying. As a professional gamer, Cool's 23 years did not contain these 'everyday' experiences. After giving up school, the game became his way of getting to know the world – it let him meet different people, explore different cities, and became the medium that connected him to the outside.

Are you the kind of person who has a birthday ritual?

COOL. Actually, I'm not. I don't want my birthday to be too fancy. But if my friends want to use this as an opportunity, it doesn't have to be particularly grand. A simple get-together would be perfectly fine. As someone who spends most of their time practicing, this kind of chance is rare.

Werethere any birthday gifts that left a lasting impression on you?

COOL. I don't know if this counts as a birthday gift, but during Season 5, some of my fans very carefully gathered all the little details of my on-stage appearances into a scrapbook and gifted it to me. Flipping through the scrapbook reminded me of the past and made me feel like I was someone who still had a story to tell.

We've noticed that you have a good relationship with your fans. In your opinion, what do your fans mean to you?

COOL. I'm very lucky to be loved and supported by them just for playing this game. If I had never started playing, perhaps no one would know who I am. I'm very grateful to them for always supporting me, and all I can offer in return is to play seriously. Sometimes, I feel like they're not even fans at all – instead, they're like friends who like watching you play and who think you're a pretty good person, so they support you. There's not that much distance.

If you divided up the years of your life into several chapters, how would you split it up?

COOL. 16 and below would be one part – clueless, muddle-headed, all I did was play games. At the time, I was somewhat of a leader in the netcafe, and there'd always be a group of friends playing with me. But I remember there was a time – it should be around when I was 7. My family didn't let me play, so I quit gaming. I lived in a big courtyard and there were many children there, so I'd play hide-and-seek with them. But later on, I encountered games again and realized they were really fun to play, so I went back.

What about the second chapter? After the age of sixteen.

COOL. If I had to use a few words to describe the second part – they would be self-confidence, focus, investment, and lack of distractions. Because when you're always winning, it's easy. You enter into a very natural, very fluid state of mind. But after this passes and you encounter some bumps, you suddenly have to adjust to your surroundings.

But in my heart I knew good things will always return; they will always continue.

When you left home to play professionally, did your family object?

COOL. My dad was very strict. Apart from the holidays, he wouldn't let me play. When I could play, sometimes he'd go to the netcafe to call me back for food. There, he'd see by surrounded by a bunch of others, so maybe he thought, oh, my son has so many people watching him play. Maybe he could feel a little proud.

My mother didn't like me playing games and thought I should study instead. But I was always an average student. So many people know how to study – I'd never be exceptional there. But I could make money by playing the game – enough to take care of myself – so I kept playing.

When I made the choice to go professional, my parents didn't particularly worry about me.

Do you think there's a generational gap between you and people who are much older or much younger than you are?

COOL. The generational gap between people really can't be measured in years. For example, sometimes I can talk with people much older than me; sometimes I can talk with people much younger than me. Within ten or so minutes of meeting someone, I can usually tell if we can carry on a conversation. Nowadays everyone gets their information from the same sources, so if you want to talk, you can usually talk.

Do you have any standards for making friends?

COOL. Not really, well – I'm afraid if I say something then no one will want to be friends with me. (laugh) So if I can get along with them, that's enough.

As a professional player, does reaching the age of 23 give you pressure?

COOL. It really seems like I've become 23 in a flash. Even though I say that, I've never felt like I'm getting old. As for stress, I don't really feel it. It's all based on my love towards the game, or how invested I am in it. A younger player just has more energy to invest in the game; because they are young, they don't have to think as much. Older players have to think a little more, consider things more thoroughly, pay more attention to game details. So, if you are someone who has always put their heart into the game, age is really not a factor.

When you were young, what did you think you would be doing at 23?

COOL. Not much, I never considered it at all. If I weren't playing the game, perhaps I would be working. But from the very beginning, I never thought of what I would be doing at 23. I didn't think there was anything I would have to be doing at 23. I just thought I should do what I liked to do – like right now, playing the game is something I like to do.

At 23, many people will face some very real problems – the stress of finding a job, or of their family forcing them to date and get married. We can call these the everyday man's concerns. Do you have any of these in your immediate life?

COOL. I haven't thought about them. My family doesn't pressure me on these fronts. Perhaps because I'm rather independent, they listen to me and respect my opinions.

When do you think you'll start thinking about these problems?

COOL. 30.

Up until this point, what has given you the greatest sense of accomplishment?

COOL. It should be changing my mentality. I was always someone who had a very strong desire to win – but sometimes, wanting to win can be counter-productive. I would get anxious and become easily affected by the opinions of others.

But now, I feel like it doesn't matter if I'm anxious because I really want to win, or if I try to do something to change other people's impressions of me. The people who don't like you will never like you, and you don't have to try to change their minds. Just being yourself is enough. This is something I have been thinking about recently. On some fronts, I am still maturing.

At 23, is there anything for which you feel regretful?

COOL. Regrets? There's many, of course.

Then share two or three of them.

COOL. In the past, I was rather quiet and not particularly communicative. But because I have been gifted with many teammates – teammates I played competitively with, teammates I stood back-to-back with – I felt I should hang out with them more. Since practice takes up so much time, I'm regretful I don't have the time to talk with them.

Do you think friends and teammates are equivalent?

COOL. It depends on who in the team can get along with you best. That's not to say that if I get along well with one person, the others can't be my friends. This is just a measure of understanding.

In your career, who are your VIPs? Who are the people who have changed your life the most?

COOL. When you win, when you perform well, you feel like you're surrounded by VIPs. The people who bring me good luck can also be counted as VIPs. In general, my previous teammates, my previous coaches, and my previous fans, and the fans who support me until now, are all my VIPs.

Would you consider your career the dividing line between being young and old?

COOL. This is a complicated feeling. I feel like I'm still young, but I've already played professionally for five years.

So what part of you do you consider young?

COOL. My ability to still talk with the modern youth.

And which parts make you feel old?

COOL. Professional players will stay up late almost every day. I've accumulated a lot of small annoyances from staying up all night – sore hands, headaches, dizziness. These small things will make me feel like my health is bad, but I've been paying attention to them and trying to keep up good habits.

a five-year competitive career.

Back to that summer – back to those summers as the leader of the netcafe, to those summers where you believed you could make a name for yourself in League of Legends, to that summer where you left a note in the sand in Santa Monica, those summers of frustration. Perhaps those summers are merely fleeting glimpses in Cool's memory now, but they still made up his five years in the professional scene.

How did you enter this field?

COOL. Playing League of Legends was actually the suggestion of my netcafe friends. Actually, I wanted to play DOTA because I thought DOTA took more skill, and I even practiced it for two weeks. Some of my friends who had previously played (t/n: i’m not sure what game 信长 is supposed to be; google suggests it’s nobunaga’s ambition) and moved to DOTA even tried to pull me into some of their competitive teams. But all my friends at the netcafe were playing League of Legends. I thought it was cartoonish and didn't take much effort – you just spammed four skills continuously and you'd go godlike. But everyone kept inviting me to games and I couldn't just decline. After playing for a while – I don't even know when – it suddenly became a very mainstream game.

What was your first team?

COOL. The first team that contacted me was Ehome. At the time, you'd only be considered very good if you had 2400 ELO or more. I was around 1600 points, so when they talked to me I had a feeling of 'I can be chosen even at 1600 ELO? I should feel proud of myself.' But in actuality, I probably didn't even meet the baseline for being a professional player, and I didn't have any particular desires towards playing professionally. I just thought, if I could play I'd play. If I couldn't, I'd just go home, and if some team invited me again, I could come back.

Under these conditions, I went to various small teams, and in the end, I came to OMG.

When did you start thinking of yourself as a real professional player?

COOL. As this profession expanded and became more regulated, and more and more people liked and paid attention to you, everyone felt like professional gamers slowly became more and more of public figures – so approximately at the end of Worlds in 2013.

In 2012, you had been a part of so many teams. Did you ever expect to make your big break on OMG in 2013?

COOL. No, but when I first started playing the game, I thought I would definitely make a name for myself in this game, and I would definitely be seen.

Do you still remember your first competitive match?

COOL. It should've been with NA. (t/n: a team in 2012, not north america) After playing the online qualifiers, we advanced to the offline games. In those days, many competitions would be divided into online and offline portions, and after the online part, you'd play the offline ones in a different location. For example, today you might compete in Zhejiang, and after qualifying you'd have to play in Shanghai. My first competitive match was in a netcafe, and you could trash-talk the other team. I was really nervous then, so I didn't – even though before I'd like to trash-talk my opponents, but when it really came down to it, I chickened out.

I'm someone who needs to focus when they play, and I always had this feeling that people were arguing behind me, so I couldn't be very focused. We lost that game, and I did very poorly.

What about some early games that left a strong impression on you?

COOL. WCG in 2013. The finals were in Kunshan, Zhejiang Province, and the inside of the building was shaped like a 田 character, and the main stage had glass booths. I really enjoyed the closed feeling of being in those glass rooms – it felt like I was playing alone. That year, we made it to the finals in the end. The location was very hot, and I think there was even a fan who was so excited they passed out.

There was another match that left a very strong impression on me – that happened to be against LGD. (looks at the LGD staff next to him) That was the S4 regional qualifier, and the score was 1:1. Whichever team won the next match would represent LPL at Worlds.

At the time, we hadn't done well all year. Before the deciding game, I told everyone we could win, and it seemed like everyone had settled their feelings and gone to welcome the next match. That match was incredibly stressful. LGD's botlane was XQ and PYL, I was playing Ahri in the midlane. The key to that game was a play around dragon. I made a decision on the spot, and after we won that teamfight, we took dragon, we found our rhythm, and we won the game. I mention this game because, if that hadn't happened, the games afterwards – the 50hp nexus against Fnatic, the 3:0 victory against a Korean team – none of them would've happened. This was a match that was easy to forget, but it was very important.

Your first championship?

COOL. I think our first championship was at Super Brand Mall, where StarWars8 was held in 2013. (t/n: omg won against ig for the championship) There was a staircase on the ninth floor, and after we won we took a photo there – at the time, we were all very different.

The first time you won LPL, what did it feel like?

COOL. We won, and we were very happy. After working hard for so long, after fighting for so long, we finally took the championship. It didn't feel easy.

Was attending Worlds in 2013 your first time leaving the country?

COOL. Before, I had never experienced leaving the country. S3 was my first time doing so, and I was very worried at the time. I didn't know what it would be like out there or what our opponents would be like. But after arriving, I had a lot of confidence in myself. I felt like my midlane was very strong, and no matter who I faced, I felt like I should win. After the first match, though, I started feeling worried again.

What left a strong impression on you at that time?

COOL. The first time we went to the beach in Santa Monica, we wrote S4 there – we hoped that in S4, we'd come back here.

In 2013, OMG was just a no-name team. At the time, what were your goals? Whenever you reached them, how did they change?

COOL. In our first competitive season, we didn't think of the strong teams as our objectives. Even though WE and IG were both strong teams with long histories, we thought of facing them as learning experiences – if we could win, that would be best.

When we gained a spot at Worlds in 2013, our thoughts were – to bring glory to our country. Or really, we'd be happy with whatever teams we managed to beat. At the time, we knew the Korean teams were very good, and our objective was actually to not lose to any non-Korean teams. My own goal was to win against each midlaner, since the patch was pretty suited to me.

And after that?

COOL. For Worlds, the first time (t/n: 2013) we made it to quarterfinals, and after we lost, I felt like getting this kind of result at our first Worlds was pretty good – although maybe it's because we lost, we could only tell ourselves that.

A year later, we once again gained the right to fight at Worlds. This time, I had an even stronger sense of mission and desire for national glory, so I didn't want to set my objectives too low – semifinals or second place. In the end, we made it to semifinals.

After that and the retirements of my teammates Gogoing, Loveling, San, and Pomelo, my goals changed. They were no longer as high, because I needed to gain synergy with new teammates. At the time, the results weren't very good, and my feelings were rather hurried. I felt like I had the ability to do well, but my results weren't up to that standard. So I felt truly frustrated.

Speaking of low points, what time period was the hardest for you?

COOL. Spring 2016. At the time, I was under a lot of pressure – pressure from myself, pressure from my organization, pressure from the outside world. It was the first time I had been under this kind of pressure.

It was because there was a match where we made a call – doesn't matter what it was, just that there was nothing wrong with it. But in-game, I hoped my teammates would go in with me, and I said for everyone to go in, but maybe I didn't consider everyone's actual situations, so my teammates and I were doing different things. Because of this miscommunication, we lost a game we should've won. Public opinion was, 'Because you went in alone.' So I was very miserable. I really wondered - why was this game was so hard? How did we end up not on the same page?

After we lost the game, I faced doubt. Because I was doubted, I lacked self-confidence. Because I lacked self-confidence, I would think too much about these things – it was a vicious cycle.

And how did you break out of that?

COOL. I'm naturally not the type who'll be too bothered by losses. In this process, I never thought too highly of myself, but I also didn't let myself go, because I believed I had ability. Under these circumstances, I just thought about where the problem was.

Afterwards, I thought that maybe my decision was correct, but I hadn't coordinated properly with my teammates. Then, while taking into consideration the results of our games, I slowly shrunk my own position within the team – for example, if it really seemed like in this match, we won through teamwork, I would slowly try to shrink myself, to integrate with the team. Though small corrections like this, I slowly went from thinking about things on a personal level to thinking about them on a team level, and found the place I should have within it.

So do you think League of Legends has gone from an era where individual skill was most important to an era where the team is most important?

COOL. Yes.

Weixiao once gave a speech where as he kept talking, he started to cry. Afterwards, we asked him why he cried, and he said that only when he saw those pictures of when he was playing professionally did he realize how many years it had been, and that without even knowing it, he'd experienced such a long career. What about you? In these five years of your professional existence, what have you learned?

COOL. I think five years of esports have taught me what a team is – no matter what, if you are in a team, you need to always think of them first. You need to find a balance and not force the entire team to revolve around you. Through the process of 'facing doubt, then believing in yourself,' these experiences have taught me that I must continue to do what I think is right and not be influenced by outside voices.

What is the greatest place you have grown in in these years?

COOL. I think it's attitude. As these years have gone by, so many things have happened – when you win, people will think everything about you is good. When you lose, all kinds of critical voices will follow you around.

To expand on that, we previously talked to some coaches and discovered that LPL is a rather reactionary environment. For example, if you played well today, everyone would be like 'Cool 666, Cool we're sorry.' But if you didn't carry tomorrow, or if you didn't play well, people would immediately say you're donezo. What do you think?

COOL. I don't have the ability to change this personally, so I try to avoid these situations. In the past, I read the Beiguo forum on Tieba quite often, but in the past two years, I've done so less. Now I prefer to read Zhihu. (t/n: 背锅 beiguo is basically chinese /r/leagueoflegends; it has a high shitpost concentration. zhihu is basically chinese quora.)

As a player who has experienced success and defeat, and who has been both praised and flamed, how do you view these things?

COOL. Surprisingly, I now think that I want to win even more than I used to. Because in the current environment, there isn't that much of a gap and I'm still okay. But sometimes on stage, the desire to win will affect you. But I think recently I've been doing okay, and if I can do better in the future, that's good enough.

When you're trying to adjust your mentality, what do you usually do?

COOL. I'll try to distract myself, watch some movies, relax, and do things unrelated to the game, like adjusting my habits – it's actually very useful. Going to bed earlier and having a well-disciplined lifestyle is very important.

What are your plans for the future?

COOL. I feel like in my plans, I don't think about what's going to happen in the future. If we lose, for example, if our current objective is to make it to playoffs, I will spend all my energy thinking about just that – I don't want there to be a retreat path. If we lose, then I will accept it, and I'll think about what to do when it happens.

When we talk about old players retiring, everyone has a different viewpoint. For example, Clearlove said that when he feels like he can't play anymore and that he's dragging his teammates down, that'll be his standard for retiring. What about you?

COOL. If I don't have love for the game and if I don't have faith in myself, I will think about this question.

afterword.

In the professional scene, age is always a sensitive and delicate topic for a player.

This journalist interviewed Cool in a coffeeshop by Shanghai's Hongqiao World Arts Center. After the interview, Cool pulled aside one of the LGD staff members to take 'candid' shots of him. If we put aside his professional career and the path his life has taken, Cool gave off the same impression as any other person his age – young, energetic, full of curiosity about the world.

If we talk about his five-year career – once seeking glory for his country on the international stage, once falling into a valley after his teammates retired – the highlights and lowlights, the honor and doubt, Cool is like a very experienced veteran. These are the experiences gaming has given to Cool. This is what created the 23 years that belong to him.

#league of legends #lpl #source: pentaq #lgd #i just want cool to be happy

[namisashimi]

LPL Pre-Season Interviews - Pyl

source. pre-season interview by danneergou (丹尼二狗) and shisan (十三) for pentaq. images by huohuo (霍霍).

translator. another interview from pentaq’s pre-season interviews. if you’re interested in more, you can read my translation for cool’s interview here, and linda’s translation for rookie’s on her twitter.

After 2015, a lot happened in LGD – the debuts of 'Jungle King' Eimy and 'Mage King' Punished, Weiless's injury, and the constant threat of relegations. As the team captain, Pyl bore responsibility for it all and worked hard to resolve the team's problems. Compared to his nickname of 'Esports Noblewoman,' Pyl is more of an indispensable mechanical bearing for LGD, performing important duties both in and out of game.

How does Cool joining the team feel?

PYL. Pretty good. His style suits our team quite well.

Why does his style suit the team?

PYL. Because we chose him after a lot of consideration, and he's also played for quite long. We approved of both him and his playstyle, and he integrated into the team very quickly, which is also good.

Does he shotcall?

PYL. He will, he's naturally someone who'll talk in-game.

To what extent does he lessen the stress on you?

PYL. Actually, I'm not the primary shot-caller in the team, but I'll talk a bit more. But I've never been the central person who gives suggestions. After his arrival, in the midlane he'll give different opinions, and in the midgame he'll also point out his own ideas. These will bring a few changes to us.

What's Weiless doing now?

PYL. He's sitting in our base, playing ranked.

LGD's prospects look pretty good. We all have a positive outlook for the summer split. How do you feel?

PYL. I'm also very positive. Considering our current performance, I hope we can keep working hard. Our summer split should be pretty good.

First, set a small goal.

PYL. Summer split finals.

LGD's current toplane is very strong, Cool has integrated into the team quickly, and the botlane has always done well. So what about jungle? How is Eimy doing?

PYL. He may have had a period last year where he didn’t do well, but through working together with the team for a year, he's been adjusting himself and finding how to better help the team. Maybe in our team, the jungler has to work a little harder. He always has to help teammates and make hard decisions on whether to farm or to gank. But Eimy has slowly grasped these tricks in the past year.

Honestly, Eimy can be considered a prodigy of sorts. We don't really think he's a particularly weak jungler.

PYL. He's actually the kind of person who gets stressed out on-stage, but now he doesn't. It's not like scrims - after losing a match where he didn’t perform, he'll be a little lost next game. If something unexpected happens, like the other team making some decisions he didn't think of, he'll really panic, give up his previous advantages, and also not talk. Now he's adjusted much better. Even if he's at a disadvantage he won't have that kind of tension. Honestly, whether from the perspective of skill, age, or general hard work, he’s a very good player.

In many of our eyes, Pyl is the kind of person who'll dictate the team atmosphere and can be counted on as the team's bearing. How do you view this?

PYL. I guess that's about right. Because I'm comparatively older, I started playing when I was rather young and have changed teammates quite often. In the beginning, there were also many places where I wasn't good enough, and my older teammates would tell me, as time goes on, as you get used to more teammates, you’ll have absorbed more knowledge. I'll bring this knowledge to my other teammates. I personally like chatting with my team so I've already gotten used to this.

#league of legends #lgd #source: pentaq #i have nothing to really say here i just like pyl a lot

[namisashimi]

LPL Pre-Season Interviews - Cool

source. pre-season interview by daneergou (丹尼二狗) for pentaq. images by huohuo (霍霍).

translator. meant to translate this before the first week of lpl summer, but got distracted. this interview is part of a series including many different players; you can read linda’s translation of rookie’s pre-season interview as well.

Cool is an old player, old to the point he has the same history as Faker. But while Faker transformed into the 'Unkillable Demon King' in 2013, after his glory in S3 and S4 Cool was only derisively called 'Old Man Cool.' In 2015, OMG's results were utterly awful, and while old-school players like Gogoing chose to retire, Cool continued to struggle on. In the spring of 2016, OMG constructed a new roster with both Icon and Cool mid, but by summer, Cool had fewer and fewer opportunities to start. The spring of 2017, Cool joined NB, and after a split, in the summer he came to LGD.

From 2013 to 2017 - if esports were a college, Cool would already be a senior. Yet his hopes and desires for his career have let him continue on.

This spring, you joined NB and in the summer, you came to LGD. Does rapidly changing teams like that affect a player's abilities?

COOL. In terms of personal impact, I feel like if your own abilities aren't enough, there won't be that many opportunities to transfer teams. What's more important is that no matter what team I transfer to, the most important thing is whether this team suits me and I suit the team. That's what I think is most important.

You mentioned how team and player have to suit each other. Why did you choose LGD?

COOL. Actually, it was LGD that chose me. Of course, I’d also watched LGD's games. When I was at NB, I'd seen LGD's problems. In the previous split, they were in relegations; their results were not particularly attractive to me. But from an in-game perspective, I felt like my joining their team could help them, and they could also help me. This is what I saw from a game perspective.

Your performance so far on LGD has been pretty good. In the few matches of the Demacia Cup, you played rather beautifully. How did you manage to so quickly integrate into the team?

COOL. I heard some fans talking, they said 'it takes two months to integrate with a team.' But I think since I don't have any personality conflicts, I don’t need that long. As for the games, primarily we might’ve just been lucky. Everyone had just gotten back from vacation and we worked fairly hard, our practices were very sincere. Second, after winning everyone had more faith in each other; otherwise we couldn’t have gotten these results.

Could you choose three mid players in the LPL you think are pretty good, or which you personally recognize?

COOL. Honestly, I don't think I can definitively pick out three players, because all the midlaners in the LPL right now are quite good. And if I pick out three people, it’s not like I’m saying those are three I can’t challenge. Within the game, there exist the problems of personal condition, play, and team synergy. For example, when I was with NB, I felt like I didn’t perform at my best, and I feel like other mids might also face this kind of thing. So I think choosing three is a little too harsh.

So one of the reasons is that you believe there isn't a mid in the LPL you can’t beat at all?

COOL. Yes.

As an older player, how have you maintained your state of play or your professional attitude? After such a long time, how have you grown?

COOL. My love for the game and the unceasing support from my fans. I've been playing in the professional scene for quite some time, and people might deride me as 'Old Man Cool,' but my mentality is still good. I feel like my greatest growth was over a time period – it was when there was the most gossip about me. That was the hardest to endure, but after it passed I feel like my mentality has improved. To be able to join the 'always positive' team has helped me a lot, and I'm very happy for this experience.

You might’ve noticed that the retention rate of LPL mids is pretty low. Because midlane is very important and there have been waves of Korean imports, veteran homegrown midlaners like you are very rare.

COOL. Uh-huh.

Did you learn anything from watching MSI?

COOL. I'm the kind of person who focuses more on whether I personally have played well, so I subconsciously resist watching others play. But I also really want to win and I hope I can also stand on that stage one day. So while I didn't pay too much attention to the MSI games, I did watch the final game as well as WE's match against G2.

I think if you really want to talk about ability, I feel our region falls short not in ability but rather in everyone's teamwork – actual teamwork and synergy, not just one person saying this is what we should do, but everyone unanimously agreeing that this is a valid move and working together to do it.

I've also experienced this myself – in the LPL it's okay, but on the international stage, against stronger opponents, it's easier for this to be an issue. For example, against teams from Europe. When we fought against European teams previously, they might lose in the beginning but after a few days of adjustment, they'd quickly be able to beat us in scrims. I think this is the strength of others, as well as what they're strong in.

You and Faker have the same history and you are someone who was recognized by Faker. Have you thought about retiring?

COOL. Faker and I are from around the same time period, and we both left an impression in S3 and S4. But like in this set of games, Faker also has times where he doesn't perform well. Even though he didn't do well, he still continues on. I believe it's not that if you don't perform, you can't play, because I've never thought I couldn't keep playing. That's why I haven't retired. I can only admit - I know where I don't do as well, I will fix these problems. I still have reason to play on.

#league of legends #lgd #source: pentaq #so i translated the nickname 老状态 as 'old man cool' but it's really not accurate #it's a pun off cool's chinese nickname 无状态 but it just sounds awkward no matter how i try to work in the substitution of 'old' for 'no' #i really love cool and i'm glad he's on lgd now even though they haven't been very successful #he seems to be really happy and good friends with pyl

[namisashimi]

EDG vs SS (Week 6) Post-Game Interview: ‘I was reincarnated.‘

source. broadcast post-game interview, post-game press conference interview by xingyin (星吟) for pentaq.

translator. i have two midterms coming up, so of course i had to translate clearlove’s interview. kill me.

the first translation is from the on-stage interview that occurs on the lpl broadcast after the game; you can watch the video here.

Welcome to the post-game interview! I'm your host, Luoxin, and first, congratulations to EDG on their victory! We've invited the top-jungle duo here for some questions.

CLEARLOVE. Hello. (waves) I'm EDG's jungler, Clearlove ... 7. (laughs)

And you even added the seven specially!

MOUSE. Hello, I'm the toplaner, Mouse. (laughs)

Today the chat wasn't filled with 666, but rather 777. Of course, our 'rookie' jungler made his debut today – tell me a little about how you're feeling!

CLEARLOVE. Mm, well. Before the game I was still very nervous, after the game, pretty okay. And my teammates were really helpful, they carried me for two games.

Of course, Mouse also performed very well. But we want to ask Clearlove7 – Little7 classmate – how he felt about his performance. You said you thought it was about average, right? But on the whole, how do you feel EDG has changed after adding 'new blood' like you? (t/n: she calls him 小7同学, where 小 is 'little' and 同学 is 'classmate.' since she uses the 小7 nickname a lot, i'm going to translate it as 'little7' when it comes up.)

CLEARLOVE. ...are you asking me? (Yes.) Uhh, it's a change in style. Because I have more experience, and our Meiko and Scout said they wanted to stop losing, so I felt like I had to lead them to victory.

Is there anything Mouse would like to say to this? Our 'rookie' jungler said he's got a lot of experience.

MOUSE. I was just about to say that. (laughs) A new guy saying he's experienced.

CLEARLOVE. I was reincarnated.

In the second game, we saw the enemy team's two toplaners came to meet Shen, but didn't hit you, they just hit the tower. How did you feel then?

MOUSE. I wanted to keep them from getting the tower, because our team had delegated all the tower-protecting duties to me. So I wanted to protect that tower.

Then Little7, when they were taking the tower and you were around Baron, what were you thinking?

CLEARLOVE. I thought at that time, all we could do was take Baron. But we took Baron very slowly, because we had three ocean drakes and a cloud drake. If we'd had four mountain drakes we would've been able to rush it.

So the dragon spawns weren't on your side, right?

CLEARLOVE. Right.

In the third game, you were also very 'carry'! Of course Mouse also did well, he really styled on everyone with Camille. Here I want to ask you two what your thoughts are after the match.

CLEARLOVE. Uh, Snake plays really tactically. All three games, they wanted to split-push. So after we lost the second game, we decided to play a 1-3-1 splitpush composition for the third, and it worked pretty well.

MOUSE. I think because Zzitai used to play top, he understands how to splitpush well, and that's why they really like splitpush compositions. But we also have tried that style in scrims, so we could use it to fight them.

So you've put a lot of thought into this, right? I see Little7 has something he really wants to say.

CLEARLOVE. Huh? Uh, we haven't really studied it, because our pick-bans are done by our coach. So I can only say our coach planned the picks and bans well.

So your coach researched them well, right? You guys don't do too much research yourselves.

CLEARLOVE. Uhhhh. We just, we study our direct lane opponents.

Last year, I remember Clearlove once said, 'I've studied Sofm completely!' Meeting up against Sofm again after a year, what's changed?

CLEARLOVE. He's still a very strong farmer, so as long as you can keep him from clearing, he'll be a lot less useful.

Mouse, do you have any words of encouragement for the new player, Little7?

MOUSE. (laughs) Use your – uh, just do your best and work hard! (he pats clearlove on the back)

CLEARLOVE. Actually, usually my teammates call me Seven-bro (t/n: seven哥). I think this ID makes people laugh a lot.

MOUSE. It's not Seven-bro, it's Saiwen-bro. (laughs)

translator. second interview is the press conference interview; i’m going off the pentaq account of it, which you can read here.

In the second game, the enemy team took the nexus before EDG could recall. Could you explain what was happening at that time?

CLEARLOVE. Starting Baron then was already a very risky decision. After our toplaner died, we knew the other team would definitely not let us back, so the game was pretty much over. All we could do was plan for the next game.

As a 'rookie,' were you nervous playing?

CLEARLOVE. Before the games, I was pretty nervous, so I didn't talk too much with my teammates. After the game, I felt like I'd returned to my own stage, and after getting back to form I didn't have too much pressure, so I feel like I played okay.

In the first game, you chose the rarely-played Rek'sai, and you also picked Fervor of Battle as your keystone. Why?

CLEARLOVE. Rek'sai will have a little more damage with Fervor of Battle. I wanted to target the enemy jungler, and our coach doesn't worry about my champion pool, so he let me pick Rek'sai.

In order to waveclear, Shen will usually choose between Titanic Hydra and Sunfire Cape. In the second game, Mouse built both. Is there a reason for that?

MOUSE. I felt against Camille, I needed some damage to win against her, and if you only build tank you'll still get beat up. So I wanted some damage to trade with her.

Mouse, when you were 1v3 in the toplane, why did you decide to do that? Why did you think you could win that?

MOUSE. Because I realized when they hit me, I barely lost any health, while I did a lot of damage to them. So I turned around and fought them.

Clearlove, after joining the team, has there been any change in the shotcalling? Does this have any impact on the team's fighting style?

CLEARLOVE. Meiko is still the primary shotcaller. I'll provide him information, such as the enemy jungler's movements. Otherwise, I don't think there are any differences.

Today, Clearlove's ID was Clearlove, not Clearlove7. Why didn't you change your ID?

CLEARLOVE. Because on the roster, the ID hadn’t been changed from Clearlove. To change it, I'll have to wait until summer split, so please wait for my play in the summer.

Clearlove, do you feel like your performance today was satisfactory? How many points would you give yourself?

CLEARLOVE. If it's out of ten, I'd give myself enough to pass, because I feel like my expectations for myself are very high. If I didn't carry, I'd give myself 6 points.

How will you arrange Clearlove and Fireloli's chances to play in the future?

COACH. Clearlove7 is a very experienced player. He hasn't been a part of the team's practices until recently, but his current performance is still very eye-catching, and his future performance should be better and better. On the other hand, maybe because Clearlove7 has too much name recognition, Fireloli hasn’t had much momentum, and his performance isn't as good as it was before. Who gets to play will depend on the current situation and each player's performance.

In the first game, Meiko was on a killing spree as support. As an ADC, what did you think?

ZET. I didn't realize he'd gotten that many kills, so I don't know what to say.

As someone who joined EDG recently, what does Zet think is the difference between Clearlove and Fireloli?

ZET. Today was the first time I've played with Clearlove7, so I don't have much to say. But I feel like Clearlove7 is someone who can direct the entire game, while Fireloli will sacrifice himself to help the team.

Last week, when we interviewed Snake's manager, Zuowu, he said he'd take a bite out of EDG. Today EDG did win with a 2-1 score. Could you evaluate Snake's performance today?

CLEARLOVE. Snake was very tactical today, because they wanted to play a 1-3-1 splitpushing teamcomp. The first game, our midlaner, jungler, and support worked together to get a large advantage early, so we quickly closed out the game. In the second game, they played quite well, and they managed to use the 1-3-1 strategy very thoroughly, so we couldn't do much to them and lost. In the third game, our coach considered their tactics and plans and the fact that we could also play this style, so we also played this kind of teamcomp and made it so they couldn't pick anything else. In the third game, we performed pretty well and won. All in all, I feel like Snake played very well today.

Clearlove, why do you think EDG lost the second game?

CLEARLOVE. First, there's my personal mistakes. I didn't expect that Kha'zix would go to my blue directly, causing us to give Kha'zix so many kills early and giving a lot of pressure in lane. The second thing is our team didn't have the ability to start fights, so next time we face that kind of teamcomp we'll have to pick some way to force a fight.

Was the loss in the second game because there were communication problems?

CLEARLOVE. It wasn't really a communication problem. My teammates told me Camille was MIA, but I made a bad decision, and didn't expect Kha'zix to come that quickly. They forcefully killed me. As a result, I lost my priority in my jungle, and then their 1-3-1 composition made us very helpless.

#league of legends #lpl postgame interview #edward gaming #edg #source: pentaq #this was actually a super cute interview to translate #it's always nice when you watch the post-game interview and they're having fun and laughing

[namisashimi]

OMG vs EDG (Week 6) Post-Game Interview: ‘I’d give Juejue 10 points, if not more!‘

original source. broadcast post-game interview, post-game press conference interview by xingyin (星吟) for pentaq.

translator. i’ve been too busy to do longer translations recently - just been doing post-game interviews in the reddit discussion thread when i catch the games. however, i had some spare time today and saw a comment saying ‘omg’s interview today was a little troll,’ so i figured why not.

this post has two interviews - the first one is on-stage and occurs during the lpl broadcast. you can watch the video here.

Hello, welcome to the post-game interview. I'm your host, Yu Shuang, and I'm very happy to have LPL's very own fill player, Juejue, for an interview.

First, you just won such an exciting game! Are you happy? JUEJUE. EDG is also a very strong team, and because our midlaner was banned for a bo3, I played and we won very unexpectedly. So I'm quite happy.

Then in the future, will you be the sub midlaner or even the starting midlaner?

JUEJUE. If I perform well, we can consider it. (laugh)

In the first game, you brought out Zed. Playing Zed requires a lot of familiarity with the champion, so have you been secretly practicing it for a long time?

JUEJUE. Uh, in ranked I'll put mid as one of my roles, so I play a lot of mid.

You played both Jayce and Zed very well today. In all three games, Jayce was a very good pick – do you think Jayce is a tier one pick in mid and top right now?

JUEJUE.Jayce has a very strong laning phase, and if he's at an advantage he's really frustrating to deal with.

I'm sure a lot of summoners will be working on their Jayce skills. Next, in the first game, your team traded zero for five at thirteen minutes. Why did you choose to start a teamfight at dragon then?

JUEJUE. Because the other team had gathered around there, and I was hiding in the botlane bush. I went and got a lot of AOE damage off, and then we decided to fight.

Did you feel like the team was doing exceptionally well today?

JUEJUE. All my teammates were really 'carry.' (t/n: he says carry in english.)

In today's matches, you guys really played out OMG's fighting style. Did you find success as OMG’s midlaner because you’d played jungle and understand how to work together with a jungler?

JUEJUE. Uh, World6 and I would talk a lot and discuss what was going on.

Last question – we know your team's ‘cooking auntie’ makes great food! When you get back, will she give you extra chicken legs? What's your favorite dish?

JUEJUE. If we win, usually she'll add dishes. And I like to eat Sichuan-style boiled beef.

translator. the second interview is the post-game ‘press conference’ interview, which happens off-stage and includes the whole team. i’m going off pentaq’s account of the interview, which you can read here.

Juejue, did you have any particular expectations for yourself before the game?

JUEJUE. We received the news that our midlaner would be suspended suddenly before the series. EDG is a very strong team, and our midlaner couldn't play, so we had a really casual manner going into the game and ended up doing well.

Smlz, you played Kog'maw twice in this series. What's the benefit of Kog’maw this patch?

SMLZ. Lulu is rather strong this patch, so we wanted to bring out Kog'maw and see if he could synergize well with her.

What were the factors in letting Juejue play mid?

COACH. We made this decision because we didn't have any other choice. The only other person on our roster who could play was Juejue, but luckily he was pretty good at mid.

This split, Xiyang has started playing champions that are both tanky and can do damage, instead of the low-income, blue-collar frontliners he used to play. Why?

XIYANG. I felt like we wouldn't be able to win today, so I played casually.

In the past few weeks, OMG has controlled elder dragon very tightly. Could you talk about your reasoning and what particular strategies you have around using the elder drake buff?

WORLD6. When I'm in control of the tempo of the game, I'll focus on controlling neutral objectives, and my teammates will also remind me to take care of neutral objectives.

After winning, is there anything you'd like to say to Icon?

JUEJUE. If you don't work hard I'll play mid instead.

Juejue, how would you grade your performance today?

JUEJUE. The first match was alright, in the second and third games I didn't do that well.

Smlz, you got a quadra kill with Kog'maw today. How did you make the decision to teamfight then?

SMLZ. From that position, with Lulu's shield, I felt like we could win 4v5.

Who's today's MVP?

SMLZ. Juejue.

Juejue, you were very bloodthirsty today. Why?

JUEJUE. Because I wanted to prove myself.

World6, when you made a mistake at Baron in the third match, what were you thinking?

WORLD6. I was afraid they'd steal Baron, so I wanted to kill the enemy jungler.

What would the coach give Juejue's performance today?

COACH. Of course I'd give him ten points. After all, he stepped in as a substitute and even managed to win the game. Under this situation, of course I'd give him ten points or even more, because he exceeded all the responsibilities given to him.

Will you consider letting Juejue play mid in the future?

COACH. Of course, we'll respect his own decision. His previous performance hasn’t been entirely satisfactory, but I feel like World6 and Juejue aren't actually that different in terms of skill. Juejue gets stressed more easily and doesn't play as well. Because he was playing as a sub in the midlane position, he didn't have as much pressure, and this should also be a learning experience for him.

Juejue, you did very well today. Did you play these midlane heroes before, or did you only pick them up recently?

JUEJUE. In ranked, I'll often play mid.

#league of legends #lpl postgame interview #oh my god #source: pentaq #the comment i saw on this interview summed it up as 'where am i? what am i doing here?' #also the term juejue used for jayce with a lead is actually 变态 which means perverted #you might recognize it as 'hentai' in japanese #but it's often used as slang for 'annoying' or 'frustrating' like it is in this context

[namisashimi]

Cool: 'I joined Newbee for my unfinished goals.'

original source. interview by pijie (皮杰) for wanplus.

translator. i guess i’m a newbee fan now. there’s a few other new interviews with cool - e.g. esportsfocus has one of their own - but i’ve decided to be lazy and only translate this one as many questions are similar.

Today, Cool ended his four years with OMG and joined Newbee. Before the official announcement, Wanplus journalist Pijie contacted this home-grown veteran midlaner to discuss the reasons behind his decision and his experiences this past year – 'I have yet to achieve my own goals.'

Cool seems unlikely to stop his journey forward. He also chatted with us about his thoughts on himself in S7, his new team, and his view on the LPL.

Nice to meet you, Newbee Cool! We were just informed you joined Newbee, so let's talk about how that feels first!

COOL. It feels pretty good. To me, it's more like a kind of breakthrough.

What do you mean by it being a kind of 'breakthrough'?

COOL. It's partially about self-confidence, and partially what people refer to as 'mentality.' I feel like going to a new environment is not only fresh but also very exciting.

Leaving OMG must have been a difficult decision. Why did you choose to leave the “Forces of Darkness”?

COOL. It definitely was a hard decision, but I really sought a new breakthrough. Whether it was OMG or Newbee, the communication was good so I had this new opportunity.

Before leaving OMG, you took a long break. During this period, how did you prepare for the new season?

COOL. During my break I was always playing KR soloq to maintain my professional skill, but I had a rather relaxed attitude. Since I'm coming to a new environment, I'm worried about whether I can fit into the team without any problems, but I hope our results will be good.

Out of so many teams, why did you choose Newbee?

COOL. I'd previously tried out with Newbee and gotten along with everyone, and I felt their game understanding and tactics were very good. I'd also paid attention to their games last season, and I've always thought this is a team with great potential and a very proper attitude. I also think by joining them, I can help improve Newbee.

This will be your first time playing with a Korean player on your team. Will communication be a problem?

COOL. Before joining, I thought communication would be a big problem, but after actually talking with my teammates, I found it was rather smooth. There weren't any problems with basic communication, I was actually very surprised (laugh).

What kind of role do you feel you'll play in your new team?

COOL. I feel like teams are a 'whole,' and they won't change their identity just because I joined them. I will fulfill the responsibilities of a midlaner and work hard with everyone else, both in-game and out of game.

What are the team's goals?

COOL. At the moment, our goals are to make a sprint upwards in the LPL standings, and see what we can do in S7.

Most people haven't been too optimistic about the LPL this transfer season. What do you think about the coming year?

COOL. Although people don't have high expectations for the LPL even though transfer season hasn't ended yet, I'd rather say that when everyone's pessimistic about the future, there will be surprising results. I still have a lot of confidence in my own ability, and I believe in Newbee. I think Chinese teams will do very well in the future.

We all know you're a veteran player now. Why do you continue to play? Do you have the same motivation?

COOL. Compared to the 'fresh meat' now I'm an old veteran, but I don't think older players can't perform well, I don't have this kind of feeling. I continue to play because I'm still very enthusiastic about this game, and at the same time, I haven't achieved my own goals. I hope I can still represent a team with fighting spirit and perform well as a midlaner.

Many home-grown midlaners have had questionable performances recently. As a representative of the Chinese midlane, can you explain why?

COOL. Yes, I've definitely looked a little lost in the past year as well. I feel that for a midlaner, self-confidence is the most important thing. Recently, everyone has likely lost a lot of matches so they've had some serious blows to their confidence. But every player, not just midlaners, will experience this, and I'm personally working on fixing my mentality at the moment.

What's your greatest regret in leaving OMG? What are the goals you hope to accomplish with Newbee?

COOL. My greatest regret – well, you know, OMG's food is really nice (laugh). I hope Newbee's food won't lose to that, haha. Actually more of my regrets are about the game and competitive play, where I couldn't perform as well as I should've.

Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans who have supported you all this time?

COOL. Here I want to say a little more. People have cared about me a lot since S3, and honestly the fans have paid more attention to my next move than I have, and I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to say too much. But I really put a lot of thought into what my next step was going to be. I'm very thankful to them for encouraging and supporting me through a whole year where I had few opportunities to play… If there's time please come to my stream for giveaways! (Is it your 'little squares'?) Yes.

In the end, Cool made an agreement with Wanplus that he'd work hard in the new season and find himself again.

It's hard to predict what kind of results Newbee and Cool will bring to the audience, but when an experienced veteran joins a mature organization, there must be a good reaction. We're excited to see how this veteran will fulfill his own professional goals, and we also hope Newbee will achieve the results they want.

#league of legends #source: wanplus #i'm such a shameless cool fangirl tbh #watched the entire recording of his stream last night and started crying when he played this fanmade video of his past accomplishments #also i'm still laughing that his response was 'this is a good video maybe i'll gift them one of my worn socks'

[namisashimi]

Deft: ‘Thank you to the fans, I will miss Meiko.’

original source. interview by hu qinhua (胡亲华) for esports magazine (电子竞技杂志).

translator. this is the final interview i’m translating from esports magazine’s series of post-demacia cup edg interviews - here’s clearlove and pawn. long interviews and player features are my favorites to translate. as always, you can read and support the original writers on their weibo, or if that link doesn’t work, there’s a duowan mirror. now that this is done, i can hide in my bunker for off-season roster rumors. :^)

Deft: ‘Thank you to the fans, I will miss Meiko.

Deft's departure gave Demacia Cup the air of a farewell ceremony. All good things must come to an end, and that man who once turned a game with a pentakill was still leaving. As the game finished, the fans started chanting 'Jin Hekui! Jin Hekui! Jin Hekui!' and some fangirls even shed tears – because they all understood that after this match, EDG Deft was no more. Before he left, Deft said in an interview with Esports magazine: 'I heard them shouting my name, I thank my fans very much.'

a goodbye with a hundred conflicting feelings.

11/11/2014 – Deft officially announced he joined EDG. In those two years, Deft's objective has never changed, and he has always been moving towards the goal in his heart. Deft said, 'This time, I'm most reluctant to leave Meiko and Clearlove.' One is the person who protected him, and one is the person who has taught him so much.

With that victory, your career with EDG has ended. What are your feelings now?

DEFT. After winning the final game, my heart is conflicted. I'm very happy we won, but I have many reluctant and complicated feelings.

Today, you received two awards. They were Best ADC and MVP of the Year. After you went off-stage, why did you give the MVP award to Meiko?

DEFT. When I went off-stage, I just happened to see Meiko and wasn't thinking much, so I gave the award to Meiko. (laugh)

Actually, after last night's matches, Meiko was interviewed on-stage and said a few things he wanted to say to you. Did you see that interview?

DEFT. I did see it. I remember he said that I wanted to leave, so he wouldn't force me to stay.

When he said that, his eyes were red and many of the fans in the audience were crying. When you accepted the award today, you were also tearing up. Is there anything you want to say to Meiko?

DEFT. (after thinking for a long time) I want to thank him, I will miss him.

What about your other teammates? Your toplaners Mouse and Koro1, your jungler Clearlove, your midlaners Pawn and Scout – in your eyes, what kind of people are they?

DEFT. Mouse went from failing at support to making his return in the toplane, he has the kind of spirit that isn't fazed by loss. In competitions, especially big competitions, Koro1 shows his strength, and he's worth believing in. Pawn and I have been teammates for a long time and we both spent time on Samsung, so we have a lot of mutual understanding and synergize very well. Scout came from SKT's training, and on him I see my past self. His desire to win makes me really want to help him. Clearlove, I don't have to say too much about. His nature is to be a very hard-working player, and I have learned a lot from him.

On 11/11/2014, you announced you had joined EDG. Why did you choose EDG?

DEFT. After leaving Samsung, I often talked with Clearlove and Aaron over the Internet, and I discovered their goals and my future plans aligned, so I decided to join EDG.

After today, EDG Deft will no longer exist. Why did you leave EDG?

DEFT. I don't know how much longer I can maintain my current level. Considering the uncertainty of the future, joining an all-Korean team with better communication is a kind of insurance for my future performance.

'the fans gave me the most unforgettable memories.'

Amidst cheers from fans, the announcer declared this year's MVP award belonged to Deft. From the audience shouts of 'Jin Hekui, keep fighting!' welled up endlessly; on the stage Deft's eyes were red. But as Deft spoke, the fans went from holding up signs and shouting to wiping silent tears from their faces. On this scene that left countless people moved, Deft said: 'This image is stuck in my mind. The fans have given me the most unforgettable memory.'

What left the greatest impression on you during your time with EDG?

DEFT. Before, I would've said that winning MSI left the strongest impression. But after today, after winning that last match with the fans shouting my name from the audience and telling me to keep fighting – this image is stuck in my mind, and it's the one that's left the greatest impression.

In these two years, what are the things that have moved you the most and made you the most miserable?

DEFT. The most moving moment was today, when the fans were cheering for me. Whenever we lost at Worlds and I'd go home to see the other teams still competing, those were the worst times.

I interviewed some of the fans here – many came here specifically for you. In the two years you've been with EDG, you not only gained brotherly bonds but also so many fans that support you and are very worried about you. To these fans, do you have anything you want to say?

DEFT. I thank them very much. Today was very touching, and they left me with my most unforgettable memory. I won't forget my original goals, and I will continue to work hard and keep fighting and show my fans an even better performance.

Lastly, is there anything you'd like to say to the EDG family you've been with for two years?

DEFT. Even though I'm leaving EDG, I hope EDG will still retain their level, and I hope that in the future we'll meet again on the big stage.

Will you come back to China to see them?

DEFT. If I have time, I will definitely come back to China to see my former teammates and fans.

If goodbyes don't make you red in the eyes, perhaps they'll still make you blush. In his two years with EDG, there have been ups and downs. Deft – and Meiko, and the other members of EDG, and the fans of EDG have laughed together, cried together, worked hard together, gotten excited together. This is an unforgettable memory of youth. There is no such thing as a play that never ends, and as the curtain falls, Deft leaves to pursue his new goal and EDG hopes they can once again climb the peak. Someone with a dream never lacks for courage, and we wish the best for Deft, and the best for EDG.

image credit to 1cun.

#league of legends #demacia cup #source: 电子竞技杂志 #honestly i've never been very good at translating song lyrics because they're so context-dependent #and i was very confused by that line until i looked it up and realized it was from a song #i still think a lot of things in this article came off more elegantly in the chinese #whereas my english ends up sounding a little awkward as i try to fit in lots of adjectives and descriptors

[namisashimi]

Clearlove: ‘I have never thought about retiring. I attended Demacia Cup for Deft.’

original source. interview by hu qinhua (胡亲华) for esports magazine (电子竞技杂志).

translator. this is another in a series of interviews conducted by esports magazine after edg’s demacia cup victory - i translated pawn’s interview earlier, although it’s actually the last chronologically. you can read the original chinese on weibo or if that link doesn’t work for you, on this duowan mirror.

Clearlove: ‘I have never thought about retiring. I attended Demacia Cup for Deft.’

Clearlove has always been someone to talk about. From seizing the championship at MSI 2015 to defeat in America [t/n: should be Europe] at Season 5 Worlds, from the loner who seeks defeat atop eighteen straight regular-season victories to the loser once again in America at Season 6 Worlds, Clearlove and EDG have spent these two years riding the roller coaster of public opinion. When they do well, he is that dependable, precise, decisive farm director; when they don't, he's the 4396 throw master. After the Demacia Cup, Esports magazine interviewed Clearlove and heard what he had to say on those 'subjects.'

mitty's 5/10 finals performance.

In the Demacia Cup finals, we not only witnessed EDG's fifth continued victory, but also the long-awaited 'father-son match.' Towards Mitty, Clearlove displayed a 'stern father' attitude: 'He's also a good jungler now, so I have to be a bit more strict with him.'

First, congratulations on being re-crowned Demacia Cup champions. Could you evaluate your performance in these three games against IMAY?

CLEARLOVE. In the first match, IM played very strategically, and their composition was teamfight-focused and crowd control-heavy. So we had a hard time during teamfights, and they gained many advantages because of this. But in the end, because of a few small mistakes, they gave away their earlier success. In the second match, they were counterganked by my Evelynn many times, so I got a lot of kills in the early-game and had the chance to assassinate their carries. Teamfighting was better and winning was easier. In the third match, we had a teamfight-oriented, late-game composition, so we had a lot of confidence that if we stalled late, we would definitely win. But we made a few mistakes earlier, else we would've finished earlier.

During the games, did you specifically go after Mitty?

CLEARLOVE. Not really. On this patch, I'm still pretty clear on the jungle counters, so I only target heroes, not people.

How would you rate your performance and Mitty's performance out of ten?

CLEARLOVE. If the maximum score is ten, then 5/10 for Mitty, 7/10 for me. (laugh) The losing side's score naturally should be a little lower, and my own performance still had some problems, so I'd give it seven points.

Are there any 'friendship' points in that 5/10?

CLEARLOVE. No friendship points. He's also a good jungler now, so I have to be a bit more strict with him.

We all know Demacia Cup is Deft's final battle with EDG. During this competition, was the team atmosphere any different from normal?

CLEARLOVE. Honestly, there wasn't much different. Once on stage, everyone will focus on the game. But we were particularly eager for the championship and hoped we could leave on a good memory.

Does this competition have any particular meaning for the team?

CLEARLOVE. We've won Demacia Cup five times in a row. I feel like this is a special meaning.

Deft and Pawn are both leaving. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?

CLEARLOVE. Pawn is a prodigy in the midlane, and I hope he will find a team that suits him and perform even better. Deft and I have the same personality. No matter which team he joins, I think he will be a world-class player. Like Deft said, I hope we can meet again on the highest stage in the future.

What kind of impact do you think their departure will have on EDG?

CLEARLOVE. Right now, our midlaner Scout's performance is very impressive. He has gotten better and better, and he does very well, so I feel Pawn's departure will not make a significant difference. Deft and Meiko only reached this point after working together for two years, so finding an ADC to replace Deft in the short term is practically impossible. So even after we find a suitable ADC, we still have to look at their synergy with Meiko.

'the more people look down upon me, the more motivated i am.'

After the Season 6 World Championships, Clearlove was the subject of much controversy, but he didn't defend himself. When he returned to China, he chose to quietly go home to rest and rarely showed in the public eye. After twenty or so days, he finally revealed himself and spoke on what happened during Worlds: 'I admit I performed poorly. Next year, I will turn that controversy and criticism to motivation and become stronger.'

Let's talk about the Season 6 World Championships. Compared to the regular season, your performance and results in the group stages weren't very good. Why?

CLEARLOVE. During the group stages, our group's teams were a little weaker than those in other groups. So we were a little cocky, and pride comes before a fall.

Your team was unable to break through the round of eight. Where do you think the problem lies?

CLEARLOVE. We lost primarily because we performed poorly, and in the matches against the ROX Tigers, I admit I played very badly. But apart from this, I feel we also had many other problems. Next year, the club will solve these problems properly, and I will perfect my own ability, change my style, and let myself become better than before.

Worlds must not have been a good memory for you. Many commenters were viciously pressuring you. Did you ever think about retiring?

CLEARLOVE. I have never thought about retiring. Because the more people look down upon me, the more motivated I am and the more I want to prove myself to them. It's true that I played very poorly this year, and my hope is that next year I will play better. To me, every failure is a way to grow. This defeat has taught me many things – after all, I'm a single person, and I'm not a robot. I can't do many different jobs at once, and next year I will dedicate myself to the jungle role and let the club and other players take care of other things.

So you're saying that this year, apart from just jungling, you were also responsible for many other things?

CLEARLOVE. Shotcalling is one part of it. Apart from that, I also participated in many of the coaches' discussions about picks and bans, and when my teammates were in a bad mood, I'd talk to them. Because of this, I had less time for myself and my personal ability declined. For someone like me, if I can focus entirely on jungling next year, I think I will still be a world-class jungler.

How do you feel about the criticism you received after Worlds?

CLEARLOVE. I accept it entirely. I know I did not perform well at Worlds, and being criticized is only natural. Those who like me will still support and believe in me. Those who don't like me, or who flame me for performing poorly, I can also accept because what they said was the truth. This controversy and criticism is helpful to me. I will take them to heart and turn them into motivation next year, and become stronger for it.

At the same time, there are many thoughtful fans supporting and encouraging you. Have you seen that?

CLEARLOVE. I definitely know they believe I can perform better next year. I'm very thankful for them and my ability to bring myself back is in part because of their encouragement.

After Worlds, you disappeared from the public eye. Where did you go?

CLEARLOVE. Home to rest and fix my mental and physical condition. Originally, I had planned to rest for a while, but when I heard Demacia Cup would be Deft's final match, I rushed back to prepare for Demacia Cup. I only practiced a few days before coming here.

After Worlds, what kind of changes in your attitude did you experience?

CLEARLOVE. Most people who watch the games will only look at the results and only care about who wins and who loses, or who played well and who didn't play well. But in my opinion, throughout Worlds I still improved. Not making it out of quarterfinals in Season 4 and 5 was because I was very good, but my mental state affected my ability and I couldn't perform at my best. This year, my attitude was more mature, but my own ability didn't match up, so we were defeated. I feel that my objective is very clear – I just need to improve my own ability. If I can do that, we will be the best.

During that time, the only information we had of you were your match histories. You played a lot of Lee Sin, and yesterday and today you played Lee Sin. Were you trying prove yourself?

CLEARLOVE. To be honest, my Lee Sin play this time was still pretty average and I still haven't practiced this champion that much. In the future, I will work harder to practice this champion and make more decisive decisions. I feel like that's what I lack.

in like a tiger, out like a snake.

For EDG, the end of Demacia Cup also meant this year's competitions had come to a conclusion. Clearlove said, 'To me, this year started strong and ended quietly. I used to think I played very well and was very satisfied with my performance, but at the final step, I played badly.' This year is about to end, and the next year is yet to begin. From our chat, it's not hard to see that he's still entirely optimistic about next year.

When I saw you, you seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

CLEARLOVE. I did a lot this year. Apart from using a lot of my time and energy, I also think my health has declined, so losing weight is to be expected.

Next month, you'll be representing LPL at All-Stars. What do you think about the team of Mouse top, Weiless mid, and Uzi and Mata bot?

CLEARLOVE. To be honest, I think no matter who's on the team, it's an opportunity to prove myself. I'll prepare well for it and hope to play like I want to.

Will you have any special practices for All-Stars?

CLEARLOVE. After a few days we'll meet in Shanghai to practice. There's also been an update and we'll play and learn the changes in the new patch.

After All-Stars, do you have any plans?

CLEARLOVE. Rest for a while and properly prepare for the spring split. But honestly, I'm rather tired and I want to properly rest for a while.

For your team, the end of Demacia Cup represented the conclusion of this year's competitive matches. Could you summarize it?

CLEARLOVE. As a team, we reached a previously unattained achievement, and being able to win eighteen straight regular-season matches is still very important to our team. As for me, this year started strong and ended quietly. I used to think I played very well and was very satisfied with my performance, but at the final step, I played badly. I can only describe it this way.

Since you lost so much weight after Worlds, many fans felt bad for you. Do you have any words for these fans?

CLEARLOVE. I hope they won't worry about me. After all, I'm already 23 years old and I will take care of myself properly. In esports, history is written by the victors. I hope what they see will be the me that goes godlike on the rift, the me that plays the game seriously, the me that wins the matches. This is what I want to show them, rather than having them pity me.

Hatred comes hand-in-hand with fame. In esports, the winners are king and the losers nothing, and the already 23-year-old Clearlove has grown used to the ebb and flow of public opinion. He knows what is wrong and what is right, what should be forgotten and what should be remembered. When we pull aside the layers upon layers of controversy, what we find is a player who tries to win with all he has.

When we finished the interview, it was already past midnight. Clearlove rubbed his eyes and said to me, 'You've worked hard.'

#league of legends #demacia cup #edward gaming #source: 电子竞技杂志 #there's a lot of really cool literary references and proverbs in here i struggled to translate to english #for example 'the loner who seeks defeat' is a reference to dugu qiubai of wuxia fame #and 'dependable precise decisive' refers to 稳准狠 from a mao zedong quote #with a lot of the idioms clearlove uses i translated them differently in different situations #like 虎头蛇尾 i translated literally with the snake and tiger references but also explained it as starting strong and ending quietly #anyways the tags have become my translator's notes now since i don't like interrupting the flow of text unless it's actually important

[namisashimi]

pawN: 'I had a good time with EDG, and I like life in China.'

original source. interview by hu qinhua (胡亲华) for esports magazine (电子竞技杂志).

translator. demacia cup was a tearful experience for many edg fans, and esports magazine did a series of post-game interviews with edg members i really wanted to share. you can read the original chinese on weibo, or if that link doesn’t work for you (weibo has login requirements) there’s a mirror on qq.

pawN: 'I had a good time with EDG, and I like life in China.'

After Demacia Cup, the usually low-profile Pawn found himself the subject of much 'observation.' Some said he was abandoned because of his back injury, some said his absence from the Cup was because of discriminatory treatment, some said EDG only remembered Deft and forgot about the past General Pawn, some said there were disagreements between EDG and Pawn... Baseless speculation ran amok on the Internet, even being exaggerated and twisted for ulterior motives. Perhaps Pawn, not proficient in Chinese, didn't even know how deeply he had been pulled into this maelstrom of rumors.

In order to hear Pawn's own thoughts and to reestablish the original sequence of events, this Esports magazine journalist left Beijing and rushed to Shanghai. Upon reaching EDG's base, I was told Pawn was currently packing his bags... and so, with complicated feelings in my heart, I conducted this in-depth interview with Pawn.

attending demacia cup as an award presenter.

Demacia Cup was not only Deft's final match with EDG, but also Pawn's final match with EDG. But Pawn said: 'Because my back injury had not healed and also in order to perform better next year, before Demacia Cup, I had already decided to rest for a while, so I wasn't in the announced roster. When I went to Demacia Cup, I attended as an award presenter.'

As an award presenter at Demacia Cup, you had to speak in Chinese for the entire process. This must not have been an easy task.

PAWN. To be honest, I should've had everything memorized, but I was so nervous I forgot a lot, and for some lines I could only look at my script and read them. Because I had a script, speaking in Chinese wasn't that hard for me.

Why did you insist on using Chinese?

PAWN. This might be my last time speaking on-stage in China, so I felt using Chinese was more appropriate.

When you stood on the award platform, did you hear your fans shouting your name?

PAWN. Because it was my first time acting as a presenter and giving someone an award, I was a little nervous and didn't pay too much attention to what the fans were saying.

Well, now you know they were shouting your name.

PAWN. Even though everyone knows that I might return to Korea to play professionally, the fans are still willing to support me. Thank you very much.

Previously, you said in your fan group that you could not play at Demacia Cup because 'something need do.' Was this 'something' referring to being an award presenter?

PAWN. Yes.

Everyone knows that Demacia Cup would be yours and Deft's last match with EDG. But in this this tournament, Deft played and you did not. What were the reasons for that?

PAWN. Because my back injury had not healed and also in order to perform better next year, before Demacia Cup, I had already decided to rest for a while, so I wasn't in the announced roster. When I went to Demacia Cup, I attended as an award presenter.

During the award ceremony, people were shouting your name, but you weren't in the guest seats.

PAWN. I didn't know that during the award ceremony they'd ask for me... I'd been sitting for too long and my back hurt a lot (laugh), so after informing the organizers and the club, I went back early to the hotel to rest.

Has your back injury gotten any better?

PAWN. At the very least, it will take around three months of rest and treatment before noticeable improvement. I'll still have to get a check-up on it again back in Korea, but right now playing the game while using medication isn't a problem.

There's a photo of you sitting in the empty guest seats watching your teammates play on-stage. When you were watching the game, what were your thoughts?

PAWN. At the time, the other guests and I all went backstage and our team members were preparing for the match. After waiting for them to get on stage, I went back to the seats in the audience. I was simply focused on watching the match and didn't have any other thoughts.

the back injury is the primary reason for not playing.

Because of his back injury, Pawn had to return to Korea for an extended period of time for treatment. When he returned to the team, Pawn's injury had reached the point where he could not endure high-intensity scrims and matches. Because the club hoped he could improve with more rest and Scout needed time to meld with the team, Pawn rarely played during the summer split.

Before this year's summer split, you were always one of the primary team members and the 'general' of the team, and at last year's MSI you defeated Faker and helped EDG win the MSI championship. When you look back at those days when you were running free on the battlefield, how do you feel?

PAWN. I miss those days a lot.

You didn't play much this summer split. Why?

PAWN. First, before the summer split, there was a time when I returned to Korea for treatment for my back injury. When I returned, the club hoped I could have better rest. Also, because the team had two midlaners, perhaps the club considered that with my health issues, if there was a problem during the World Championship things could get complicated fast. As a result, they wanted to let Scout meld with the team quickly so even if I couldn't play, Scout could, because we wanted to win Season 6 Worlds.

Going from last year's MSI champions to barely playing during the spring split – do you feel like there's a big jump?

PAWN. Of course there's a difference, because I wanted to play but the team wanted me to rest, and certain circumstances at the time didn't allow me to start. It wouldn't be honest to say I didn't have any objections to this situation, but the club and I always kept good relations.

How did you spend your time without competitions?

PAWN. I went back to Korea to rest for a while and received some simple treatment. During the summer split, I practiced between treatment and waited for a chance to play.

playing at season 6 worlds was entirely the coaches' decision.

In the Season 6 Worlds group stage, Pawn once again stood on that stage he had been away from so long – this was still the decision of the coaching team. As for his own performance in the group stage, Pawn said: 'Apart from a few bad performances, the other matches were all right.'

Duringthe Season 6 Worlds group stage, what did the club consider to allow you to play again?

PAWN. Because I had decided to rest and recover for a while, Scout played at the beginning of the summer split. In the second half of the split, we switched off, and at the end of the season, after consulting with me and considering my condition and the stability of the team, the coaching staff decided to let Scout play the playoffs. But because Season 6 Worlds was an international-level competition and I had expressed that I really wanted to play, after much consideration the club arranged for me to start. Their plans at the time were for both midlaners to play the same number of games in groups and to decide who would play in the playoffs later.

Having returned to the competitive stage, how did you feel?

PAWN. Because it had been a long time since I'd played on-stage, I told myself I had to do well.

Are you satisfied with your performance in the group stage?

PAWN. Apart from a few bad performances, the other matches were all right.

After that was the round of 8, and EDG pulled the ROX Tigers. Since you had performed fairly well in the group stage, why did you not play in the quarterfinals?

PAWN. First, the coaches thought that during practice, Scout had performed better. Second, at the time Scout's synergy with the rest of the team was a little better, so they chose him to start.

In the end, EDG regretfully ended their journey at the quarterfinals. What do you think the problem was?

PAWN. Primarily it was because of the picks and bans, but also because during the games, our team made many mistakes. ROX Tigers also made mistakes, but our team didn't take advantage of them, so we lost.

thank you to those who have fought side-by-side.

Two years – not too long, not too short. With EDG, Pawn experienced days of not only fighting side-by-side with his teammates, but also days of painstakingly awaiting the chance to play again. 'There have been many bright moments, but also points of disappointment and discontent. But on the whole, it's been a good two years,' Pawn said. 'Thank you to the teammates who have fought by my side these past two years.'

Tell me about EDG from your perspective.

PAWN. There have been many bright moments, but also points of disappointment and discontent. But on the whole, it's been a good two years.

Who do you have the best relationship with in EDG?

PAWN. It's hard to say because all the Chinese and Korean players in the team have very close bonds. If I had to say, it would be Meiko and Koro1.

Who do you want to thank most?

PAWN. I want to thank the coaches and translators who have worked with me these past two years.

When we interviewed Clearlove a few days ago, he said you were a prodigy in the midlane. So, what is Clearlove like in your eyes?

PAWN. First of all, Clearlove is a very capable and strong player. But at international competitions, maybe because of nerves, he's unable to express that strength. If he can solve these problems, he definitely has a chance at the championship.

After you were subbed out, Scout became EDG's starting midlaner. Is your relationship with him good? What's your opinion on him?

PAWN. Scout and I are friends but also rivals. I have always thought I am the strongest midlaner. But Scout also has very impressive abilities.

What about the other players? Your toplaners Mouse and Koro1 and the botlane of Deft and Meiko – in your eyes, what kind of people are they?

PAWN. Mouse will often receive many tips and suggestions from the other team members, but in some respects this may have resulted in him not having enough self-confidence. If he can solve his confidence issues and experiment and practice more in soloq, he has a chance to be an outstanding toplaner. Koro1 has gone back-and-forth between starting and benched, and I hope he can steady himself and keep playing. The two in the botlane are a very strong duo, and their performance has always been very impressive.

In the two years you've been with EDG, do you feel like you've gained more than you've lost?

PAWN. If you compare the two, I've gained more. The competitions I've won with EDG these two years are great rewards to me. And I've had two years of experience living in another country.

What are the most unforgettable and most regretful things you experienced?

PAWN. The most unforgettable experience should be last year's MSI. The most regretful thing would be not making it out of quarterfinals at two World Championships.

whether returning to korea or not, the goal is s7 world champions.

As the two great generals of EDG, Deft and Pawn both chose to leave EDG and want to return to Korea. Perhaps they may choose different teams, but they have the same objective – to win the world championship.

Like you, Deft also chose to leave EDG. Did you two discuss this?

PAWN. We have always been talking to each other and will discuss which teams are most suited for us to join, but right now we haven't made decisions yet.

What are your plans for the future?

PAWN. Whether I return to Korea or not, I want to win the Season 7 World Championships.

In a ranked game, you said 'I love China.' What do you like about China?

PAWN. I think China is a country very suited to living in.

Will you come back to China in the future?

PAWN. If I have a chance, I will return.

In the eyes of many fans and players, no matter where you are, you will always be that scintillating'Buddha.' Is there anything you want to say to these fans and players?

PAWN. To those fans who have named me 'Buddha,' I'm not sure if I understand the origin of this nickname.. But I think it's not bad. I'm very thankful for their support, and when I return to Korea I will definitely continue to work hard and use my good performance to repay my fans.

Pawn very earnestly answered every question I had Xiaojing translate for me. Every now and then he'd laugh happily, and there were also times where he'd knit his brows. But most of the time, he was still that stoic 'Buddha.' From start to finish, Pawn kept a straight posture, and in the interview he repeatedly mentioned that one of the reasons why the club kept him from playing was the hope he'd be able to recover his health. After the interview finished, we walked together to the main foyer of EDG's base. Pawn waved hello to Xiaoshen, who was walking towards us, casually picked up the fried chicken on the table and happily started eating it, and he didn't forget to ask Xiaojing to ask me if I wanted any.

In the two years he was with EDG, Pawn not only showed us his strength but also the professional attitude befitting a pro player. No matter what the rest of the world might tell us, the conflict between Pawn and EDG may very well have been the conflict between Pawn's own desire to play and the club's desire for him to take care of himself.

image credit to 1cun on weibo.

#league of legends #demacia cup #edward gaming #source: 电子竞技杂志 #it's been a while since i translated anything and i've been feeling like changing the format of how i translate as well #so you might see a lot of changes on this tumblr layout and so on #that is if i stop being lazy

[namisashimi]

YM vs OMG Post-Game Interview: ‘Next season we can’t get relegated again!’

cyn: ...sorry omg, but it’s hard to believe you after you’ve broken my heart so many times. :< happy i can finally stop worrying about this this season, though, and i hope i’ll have many more interviews to translate next year!

as usual you can find the original source on pentaq.

In the team, Xiyang's always been a blue-collar, low-economy type of player. In today's first match, you picked Gangplank. Can you explain why you chose that?

XIYANG. Actually, I've played Gangplank many times in practices, but never had a chance to bring him out before.

Gangplank has shown up a lot recently. What do you think is the primary reason for him being picked in competitive?

XIYANG. He's pretty powerful, even though he's somewhat weak in the early-game, he's very strong in the mid to late-game. He has damage and the ability to split a teamfight.

In the first two games, you won easily, but YM caught up and brought the score to 2-2. How did you feel when that happened?

JUEJUE. Losing two games in a row was a little stressful.

What was your team's plan going into the final match?

JUEJUE. In the final game, Kog'maw's late-game is very strong, as long as he can farm reasonably well early he's fine.

In the second game, Icon played Syndra. We all know Xiyang's Syndra is top-tier, so could you evaluate the performance of your teammate on her?

XIYANG. It was pretty good, much better than before.

And in comparison to your Syndra?

TEAMMATE. His Syndra was taught by you!

XIYANG. No, no, I've never played her in scrims, but I play her a lot in solo queue.

In the fourth match, you had Baron stolen, but in the final match you still chose to start Baron yourself, why did you make this decision?

JUEJUE. Because the enemy jungler was dead and my Elise had execute and smite, so it couldn't be stolen.

What's your plan for the next season? Do you have greater goals?

ICON. We can't get relegated again. Playoffs? Worlds? [laughs]

YM is one of the stronger teams in LSPL. After five games against them, what does Xiyang think of their team?

XIYANG. YM's top and jungle are too disgusting, this is the first time I've run into this kind of constant tower-diving.

In the final match, you guys chose to play protect-the-ADC and Smlz picked a champion like Kog'maw. Did you previously plan to do this?

SMLZ. Yes, we picked away Braum in order to pick Kog'maw later.

Xiyang, what do you think were the reasons your team lost the third and fourth matches?

XIYANG. We lost our first outer tower very early, and afterward we always had to deal with Trundle or Renekton split-pushing, so the game stalled out.

Xiyang, you picked Poppy three games in a row. What do you think her strengths and weaknesses are on this patch?

XIYANG. Against most conventional toplaners, Poppy has an easy match-up.

Smlz, what do you think about Five, who has spent this year assiduously protecting you?

SMLZ. He's pretty good, better than the average support.

Five, last split you said you hoped Smlz would take more. Did your hopes come true?

FIVE. It's all right, he will communicate in games.

#league of legends #lpl postgame interview #oh my god

[namisashimi]

LGD vs OMG (Week 10) Post-Game Interview: ‘Urgot is easy to gank.’

cyn:  lgd and omg both having to play relegations stresses me out, but at least they had a fun match at the end of the season to unwind! as usual, you can read the original source at pentaq.

Today, Smlz chose a very unpopular champion, Urgot. Imp, what do you think of this pick? Were you under pressure laning against a crab?

IMP. Urgot is very easy to gank, as for laning, there's always a certain pressure when you lane against Smlz.

Many teams will target-ban Rumble and Gnar against Marin. In the second match, you chose Tahm Kench. Was that something you had specially practiced to synergize with the team? What do you think of this champion?

MARIN. Usually I won't use champions I haven't practiced before. This champion is pretty good If there are a lot of fights and skirmishes because he can get to the fight quickly.

Across the world, the botlane duo with the highest win-rate in professional play is Sivir and Karma. Pyl, what do you think of this?

PYL. This duo has a very strong laning phase, but out of laning phase Karma doesn't have a huge advantage.

In the next patch, they're adding a first blood bonus to towers, and Vayne's tumble is effective at taking down towers. Imp, do you think we'll see Vayne more often?

IMP. She's a champion I have always been practicing, but she'll still be rare to see next patch.

In the West, they'll pick champions like Zilean and Tahm Kench to protect more vulnerable botlanes. Weiless, we've seen Tahm Kench today, do you think we'll also see Zilean in the LPL?

WEILESS. Most likely. There's a few teams who would like this kind of champion, such as EDG.

It felt like Weiless was always being targeted in these two games. How did you protect your champion's development?

WEILESS. In the first game, Diana can choose to take jungle camps instead of laning, because Diana can develop quickly. In the second match, Ahri can have the jungler come in to kill the opponent.

Intruder, you've been playing a lot of high-damage, carry-oriented junglers like Kha'zix, Hecarim, and Lee Sin. Are you planning on picking any tanky junglers?

INTRUDER. I'll pick tank champions as the team needs them, but most importantly I've been doing well with these damage-oriented champions in scrims.

I've heard Evelynn with protobelt does a lot of damage. Intruder, have you practiced this champion?

INTRUDER. I've played Evelynn on my own many times, but I haven't used her in scrims. Maybe I'll try her next time.

#league of legends #lpl postgame interview #lgd gaming #i'm kind of sad now

[namisashimi]

OMG vs RNG (Week 9) Post-Game Interview: ‘I built crit in game three because I thought I could auto more.‘

cyn: i spoke too soon about omg not winning anything. figured i’d translate their post-game interview as well. c:

Xiyang, your Maokai was very good in these matches. In this patch, there are lot of viable toplaners – why did you choose Maokai?

XIYANG. Actually, I haven't haven't used Maokai in scrims this week, because I didn't expect to be able to get him. If I can get Maokai in a competitive match, I'll play him.

Five, how do you feel about winning over RNG?

FIVE. Very happy.

What was the main reason you won against RNG?

FIVE. Our later performance was pretty good, and we stole a few dragons.

Icon, in the third game you stole the dragon. Who made the decision to do that?

ICON. Both of us wanted to try to steal it, and I just happened to get it when I tried.

Right now, champions like Gnar are very strong in the toplane. Compared to these champions, what are the late-game advantages of picking Maokai?

XIYANG. It's just that Maokai is more tanky, other toplaners just don't match up to his tankiness.

In the third match, why did Smlz choose to go for a crit build instead of an armor pen build on Jhin?

SMLZ. I felt in the third match there would be more chances to auto.

Smlz, when the enemy team wasn't very tanky, you built Lord Dominik's, and when your team was very tanky, Uzi bought Mortal Reminder. Why?

SMLZ. Getting grievous wounds was because there were a few champions who could heal.

Juejue, your Lee Sin is very flashy. Was it the coach's decision to pick him, or did you want to play him yourself?

JUEJUE. I use Lee Sin often in scrims and the results aren't too bad. In the third match I wanted to try him, he pairs well with Leblanc.

#league of legends #lpl #lpl postgame interview #oh my god #i should translate more interviews tbh

[namisashimi]

LGD vs WE (Week 9) Post-Game Interview: ‘Lissandra is a team-fighting champion.’

cyn: i feel like i’m betraying my omg fan roots by translating lgd interviews when they win. not my fault omg just doesn’t win. :< as always you can read the original interview on pentaq.

Weiless, you solo-killed Xiye in the first match. Syndra and Leblanc are both high-burst champions, so when Xiye was the one who made the first move, why did you decide to fight it out?

WEILESS. After he traded with me our health bars were about the same, so I thought if he dared to W I could kill him with Q-R. When he approached me in that last second, I had already prepared my Q so if he came near he'd die.

After losing so cleanly in the second game, how did LGD re-stabilize their mindsets?

PYL. Actually it was all right. After 15 minutes we already felt the game was just about done and we were ready to go to the next match, so we didn't really have any lingering regrets about that game.

It seems like LGD often starts doing well late in the regular season. What do you think of this?

PYL. I also don't know, it just happens that we lose a lot early in the season while everyone performs better later in the season, and it just so happens that other teams with lots of points aren't playing as seriously, so we win more.

Weiless, did you choose Lissandra today because you've practiced her a lot, or because she's strong on this patch?

WEILESS. Lissandra is a team-fighting champion on this patch. She's a useful pick against the majority of midlaners in the 6.14 and 6.15 patches.

Today you won against the surging WE. Imp, how do you feel?

IMP. I haven't thought too much about it. Too tired now, I didn't get much sleep last night.

What was the main reason you could win against WE today?

IMP. Because I personally played very well.

Your jungler also performed very well. How do you feel and what hopes do you have for your future performance?

INTRUDER. I feel good. In the future I want to improve my gank and countergank abilities.

Next week you face RNG. How do you feel about facing MLXG?

INTRUDER. Maybe our jungler isn't as good as him, but my teammates are all pretty strong, so I believe we can win.

Weiless, why did you bring Cleanse on Lissandra?

WEILESS. The other team had a lot of CC and a few point-and-click stuns, so if I E'd into a teamfight it would be easy for them to CC and kill me. But if they CC'd me they'd have to get closer to me, and then I could flash-ult into a lot of people and win teamfights easily.

I saw Imp was playing ranked at 4AM this morning. Did you rest before the match?

IMP. I slept for two hours at 8AM.

Pyl, there's a rumor that the team is cursed is lose all 1PM games. Can you tell me if this curse was broken today?

PYL. In the past, we'd usually still be a little dizzy at 1PM, but last night everyone went to bed early [t/n: this seems to contradict what imp just said?] because we wanted to get this win. I'm pretty happy, I guess the curse is broken.

t/n: there are actually multiple post-game interviews - one is conducted on stream, and the others are by third-party interviewers like pentaq and posted on chinese social media. since i didn’t space out during the stream like i usually do, i caught the on-stream interview and translated it. due to time this is really loose and paraphrased and there may be mistakes.

How has Weiless's return changed the team?

IMP. Little Wei used to be very impulsive and made us worry a lot but he has changed a lot, I'm very happy he's back.

Getting baron stolen was kind of awkward. Condi wasn't there, but Xiye stole the baron. Afterwards your team made a bunch of mistakes. How did you recover from that?

IMP. After they stole baron a lot of us got caught and died, but we told ourselves we could win teamfights.

LGD seems to making a miracle run, but in the second game you did very poorly. How did you get in the right mindset after it?

IMP. Well, last year was bo2, and we'd win the first and lose the second, so this is just our habit from last year.

#league of legends #lpl #lpl postgame interview #lgd gaming #world elite #i can finally dig out my lgd keychains again

[namisashimi]

LGD vs VG (Week 9) Post-Game Interview: ‘If you’re successful in lane, you should help your teammates.‘

cyn: lgd is giving me false hope again. i figured i’d capitalize on that by translating this post-game interview with both vg and lgd.

Weiless, your play and performance were both very good today, and you now seem to focus on roaming and helping your teammates. Is this a change in your personal style?

WEILESS. Yes, there's been a definite change in playstyle. This kind of playstyle is more suited to our team. As for my performance, it could still be a little better. If you’re successful in lane, you should roam to help your teammates more often.

Kog'maw shows up quite frequently now. Are you under a lot of pressure when you have to face him in lane?

ENDLESS. Kog'maw is strongest in teamfights. If you trade in lane with him when his W is on cooldown, it's all right.

In the first match, you brought out Kha'zix. How would you describe your jungling style?

INTRUDER. My style is to help winning lanes and protect their advantage. Comparatively speaking it's safe and not risky.

Previously, Loong had never picked Lissandra. Why did you choose to draft her today?

VG COACH. Because we've used this champion in scrims before, and she's a very flexible champion, so we felt she fit our team rather well.

Weiless, in the second match you picked Varus. Was this pick because of the team composition, or did you want to prove yourself?

WEILESS. Our top and jungle were both AP champions, so we needed an AD midlaner and in scrims I'd only used Varus, so I picked him.

Are initiation ADCs like Jhin and Ashe the primary choice now?

ENDLESS. Which ADC to choose still depends on your team's playstyle and composition. Sivir is also a utility ADC, and the strongest ones are these three.

The fans are all very worried about Weiless's hand injury. How is your health now?

WEILESS. My hand still hurts, but it's still something I can endure. I can still finish the rest of this year's matches.

The summer split has entered the final scramble for points. What's your projection for your team?

VG COACH. Everyone in our group has very good scores, so we're still under quite a bit of pressure. I hope our team can perform better in the future.

#league of legends #lpl #lpl postgame interview #lgd gaming #vici gaming #i've been super busy recently with work and haven't really had the time to work on translations #by the way if anyone reading this is good at javascript i could use a senpai #:<