9. Post-match analysis
A big shot like Lin Jiang must have very high standards for his teammates, right?
Ah Deng played cautiously throughout the entire game, the messages his friends had sent him flashing through his mind:
"Be careful, a new broom sweeps clean, and since you're a jungler, he'll definitely try to give you a hard time from the start..."
"Don't let River get kicked out of the team, then you'll be finished..."
He tensed his back, a thin layer of cold sweat breaking out. When Song Zhixu was caught twice and he still couldn't get the rhythm, his arm trembled uncontrollably.
The captain will probably yell at me to death...
"A-Deng".
He tensed up instantly. "I'm fighting the Krugs! After that, I'll take the Rift Scuttler and prepare to control vision around Baron Nashor next wave! I'll also gank top lane while I'm at it!"
Hearing him ramble on like he was pouring out beans, Lin Jiang laughed. What he really wanted to say was, "Your blue buff got taken, so just go farm in the enemy jungle. I'll protect you."
Ah Deng was prepared to be scolded, but he didn't expect Lin Jiang to say that he would protect him and let him eat the enemy's jungle monsters.
He felt a warmth in his heart.
After clearing out the opponent's lower jungle, the pace of the game was suddenly brought back to a lot.
A Deng realized that Lin Jiang was actually a very strong person, but why didn't he play particularly strongly in this game?
Curious, he opened Lin Jiang's data panel and found that he actually had a great advantage, which could be seen from his last-hitting. However, he neither took the opponent's life nor provided much support. He simply trapped the opponent in the middle lane and slowly whittled him down.
Could it be...?
To verify his guess, Ah Deng sneaked over to the mid lane to help him scout. Lin Jiang glanced at him and said, "No need to come to the mid lane, just play at your own pace."
Just as he expected, Lin Jiang played in accordance with his rhythm to accommodate him. He didn't want to put too much pressure on his teammates, so he played conservatively throughout the game.
Ah Deng thought that Lin Jiang would come up and give them a hard time, letting them see the difference in strength between them.
As a result, the captain was constantly adjusting their pace...
As Ah Deng took the dragon, he thought firmly: When I get back, I'll tell his friends that they're all wrong. Lin Jiang isn't that kind of person at all!
Fifteen minutes into the game, the opposing mid-laner typed in the public chat: "Brother Jiang, what's this new strategy you're using? It's like Rong Momo, just stabbing without killing?"
Lin Jiang: You talk too much, especially about your line.
The opposing mid-laner appeared to be begging for mercy, but it was actually a feint.
Their jungler had successfully flanked and secured an excellent vision control, then used Flash and his ultimate. Even under such extreme circumstances, Lin Jiang managed to Flash out of danger with a mere 0.2 seconds' difference.
The enemy jungler: ? ? ? What kind of hand speed is that?
Lin Jiang: You have eyes.
Ah Deng, who was watching, was shocked: !!! Where did that eye come from?! There wasn't an eye in that spot at all!
The enemy jungler deliberately timed his ultimate (R) to disappear from vision, and even Ah Deng thought Lin Jiang was already dead.
As a result, he managed to dodge the enemy's gank by sheer speed despite being in the dark! After successfully escaping, he even lied and said he had vision, saving face for the enemy!
Ah Deng's heart was pounding faster and faster. He finally knew what it was like to be on the same team as a big shot. Watching the game normally couldn't give him a direct experience. Only from a first-person perspective could he understand the shock!
Lin Jiang truly deserves to be ranked among the top three mid laners in the LPL!
Ah Deng was filled with respect and unconsciously raised his standards for himself, always thinking that he should play better so as not to let Lin Jiang down after he had worked overtime.
After 25 minutes of play, the situation became clear.
Despite his best efforts, Song Zhixu was killed four times in the top lane, and the top lane collapsed within 20 minutes.
Jungler A-Deng didn't make any impact either, failing to gank much and falling behind the opponent in jungle tempo.
Although Lin Jiang has an advantage in the laning phase, he hasn't gotten any kills and is still AFK with a score of 0-0-1.
The only advantage they had was in the bottom lane, where the opposing bottom lane was only at a mediocre level, and the AD and support's coordination was poor. They were completely dominated by Chen Ju in lane, while Zhou Wen roamed to the mid lane and got a kill.
From a situational perspective, the economies of both sides are roughly equal, but the top laner's advantage is more significant than the AD carry's, so OT's overall strength is slightly lower than the opponent's.
Old Mao jokingly commented in the chat: "Ah Jiang, are you no longer capable?"
Lin Jiang smiled, not taking his words to heart, but Shen Ju next to him suddenly started yelling: "You can talk nonsense after you've won."
Mao: ? ? ?
Mao: No, Shenju, are you fucking crazy?
Song Zhixu and A Deng both gasped in shock, and even Zhou Wen stopped what he was doing and looked at Chen Ju.
Shen Ju immediately straightened the keyboard. Seeing that the argument in the live stream from that day was about to happen again, Lin Jiang called out in time: "Shen Ju, mute the other side."
After a two-second silence, Shen Ju actually deleted the words in the reply box and blocked the other party.
Teammates: !!! Shenju is actually so obedient!
The guy on the other side, Lao Mao, was also waiting for Chen Ju to start a flame war with him, but after waiting for a long time, the chat box remained completely silent.
Why do I suddenly feel a little out of sorts?
After being blocked, Shenju was like someone with cheat codes.
With his exceptional skills, he dominated the bottom lane and then went to the top lane. He showed no fear in front of the heavily fed Lao Mao, and with his excellent kiting ability and Lao Wen's support, he successfully turned the tables and killed his opponent.
Old Mao was pushed to the point of developmental gap by him and gradually ceased to pose a threat. The advantage gradually shifted to OT, and Lin Jiang successfully won the game.
The next two games followed a similar pattern. As the game progressed, Song Zhixu became more stable, Shen Ju's development accelerated, and even A Deng's playstyle became more proactive.
Lin Jiang was fairly satisfied with the results of this training match. He thanked Lao Mao and then went down to analyze the data with the coach.
In today's scrim, he discovered that Shenju seemed even stronger than he had imagined. Even in a version where AD carries were nerfed, he was still able to develop and find the best output position time and time again despite being in a disadvantageous situation.
Is this the real reason why OT was able to compete with strong teams last year?
Lin Jiang began to re-evaluate the situation. Looking at Shen Ju, who never spoke to his teammates in the training room, he suddenly asked the coach, "Is Shen Ju usually like this?"
The coach nodded. "He never listened to the instructions given by the previous captain. Every time after a practice match, the two of them would get into a fight."
This is quite different from what Lin Jiang remembered.
He remembered that when Shen Ju first debuted, he was not yet 17 years old, and his features were so handsome that he looked like the kind of young master that only appears in TV dramas.
He became an instant sensation upon entering the game due to his exquisite features, outstanding temperament, and overwhelming gaming talent, earning him the title of "Esports Prince".
He still remembers the first time he met Shen Ju in person.
He sat upright in his seat, so docile and otherworldly that he was pleasing to the eye.
That's why when the opponent deliberately targeted him and messed with his mentality during the game, Lin Jiang said without hesitation: "AD, go to my mid lane and farm the wave."
I just don't know what happened later, but Shenju suddenly became a different person.
He smashed the team's mid-laner's head, resulting in a league ban and the team's termination of his contract. For a full six months, he had no matches to play and no teams to take him on.
His personality became increasingly withdrawn, and in the end, only bottom-tier teams like OT were willing to take him on.
He did play very well at first and almost changed OT's fate, but soon he had a falling out with the team's mid laner, and his performance declined again and again. In addition, the importance of AD players decreased, and OT once again became the bottom team.
Lin Jiang looked away, chatted briefly with the coach, and packed up his notebook to wrap up today's training match.
Song Zhixu was joking around with his teammates outside when he saw Lin Jiang come out. He ran up to him excitedly and asked, "Captain, did I embarrass you today?"
Lin Jiang glanced at Shen Ju, and when he noticed that Shen Ju was also looking up at him, he smiled and said, "It's alright, not too embarrassing."
Song Zhixu got into the swing of things; he could actually feel that he had improved in these few games.
He clung to Lin Jiang, wishing he could be tied to the other's waistband.
"Captain, Captain, are we going to have another scrim match with them tomorrow? Am I still playing against Lao Mao? Captain, I feel like I'm not so afraid of him anymore. Did you see that gank on top lane by the enemy jungler earlier? As soon as I saw Lao Mao's fake move, I knew the jungler was coming, and I was right..."
The training room was filled with his incessant chatter, a stark contrast to the silent Chen Ju.
He opened the team chat and was about to quietly play ranked games when a shadow suddenly fell over his head—it was Lin Jiang's notebook.
"Here are some training suggestions I've compiled for you. You can take a look when you have some free time."
Shen Ju caught the notebook and saw the first message: Play duo queue with Lao Wen more often.
He chuckled.
Old Wen has his own training methods and doesn't like playing duos with him. He's also used to playing solo, so they hardly ever communicate in private.
Lin Jiang knew nothing about him or OT.
He tossed the notebook aside and silently entered the game.
When he was selecting a hero, he received a message from Lao Wen: "Hey, Shenju, the captain told us to play more duo queue so we can try some new strategies. I think he makes a good point. Do you want to try it with me?"
Shen Ju's fingers paused for a moment.
His gaze fell on the notebook Lin Jiang had left him, where, below "play more duo queue," there were several other suggestions:
Hide your opponents before entering the game.
If you're unhappy, you can argue back, but remember to block me afterwards.
Take more rest; your wrist is under a lot of strain.
...
Don't stay up late, dark circles under your eyes don't look good.
Eat more of the food your aunt cooks and less instant noodles; you're still growing.
Lin Jiang's ten pieces of advice to him turned out to be very practical.
Shen Ju looked at the instant noodles he had just made and didn't even realize that he had become accustomed to withdrawing from social circles, even subconsciously detaching himself from daily routines like eating.
What happens when a person completely isolates themselves from the group?
Shen Ju didn't know.
He just felt as if someone was pulling him back, preventing him from falling.
...
After Lin Jiang handed the notebook to Shen Ju, he called Song Zhixu to the balcony alone. Song Zhixu was a little scared. "Captain, why didn't you call them? Why did you only call me?"
Lin Jiang leaned against the balcony and stared at him for a long time before suddenly asking him curiously, "How does it feel to die twice in a row when you're level 5?"
Song Zhixu's face flushed instantly, and he stammered for a long time before staring at him with teary eyes like a puppy, "Captain, have I embarrassed you?"
“No,” Lin Jiang suppressed a laugh, “Old Mao asked me to ask you. He said he hadn’t seen such a clear-headed yet foolish top laner in a long time, and he was a little curious about what you were thinking at the time.”
Now Song Zhixu not only blushed, but even the back of his neck turned red.
He knew his own actions were incredibly stupid, but knowing it was one thing, hearing it from Lin Jiang's mouth was quite another.
He masked his discomfort with a smile, looking at him with a pitiful expression. "Then, what about the captain? Does the captain also think I'm the biggest problem in the team...?"
Lin Jiang replied, "No, not at all."
The biggest problem in the team is actually the jungler, so much so that even Lin Jiang himself isn't sure if he can train him well.
"However, you do have a very serious problem."
Song Zhixu perked up his ears.
Lin Jiang suppressed a laugh, "Can you change your ID? Old Mao was just saying, 'Why did such a good player choose such a stupid ID?'"
Song Zhixu scratched his head awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Captain, I'll change it when I get back."
Lin Jiang nodded, indicating that he could leave.
During evening training, he was carrying a coffee past Song Zhixu's spot when he saw that Song's ID had changed from "This Road Will Collapse" to "Sheng Wei Fanfou" and he spat out his coffee with a "pfft".
"Song Zhixu".
"arrive!"
"Come out with me for a moment."
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