On the 11th of April, the YM champion skin was released on the Chinese server along with the new version.
As soon as the Chinese server was loaded, a large black and red event interface appeared. A group photo of the YM players holding the Summoner's Trophy was hung on it.
The YM champion skin pack was priced at 388 RMB, including five types of skins and the "Command Flag" guard skin.
If you bought the skin alone, the price would be 79 RMB.
Fist had not produced a special signature skin this year to make money. They only added team members' signatures during the return to the city action. The price of this skin was reasonable, not very affordable, but not particularly bad either.
The YM players started the live broadcast again. Xiao Ming, who was far away in the RNG base, also connected to the microphone. As a former champion, he also had to promote the champion skin this time.
The live broadcast was full of viewers, and the gift bullet screen was crazy.
"Take a look, take a look," Lin Yan said cheerfully in the tone of a street vendor, "79 RMB. You won't lose out or be scammed..."
"It's definitely worth the money!"
Jack said from the side, "Look at the perfect original art of the skin, look at the cool black dragon special effects, and look at our handsome return to the city autograph..."
Xiao Ming, who was connected to the microphone with them, heard this and sneered mercilessly.
The bullet screen was also full of comments.
[Handsome return to the city autograph?
I want to laugh.]
[How can you say something like that?
My Shiba Inu's signature on the ground is better than Jack's.]
Xiao Tian was very narcissistic. "My signature is quite artistic, right?"
"Look at the slightly slanted horizontal line on the'T ', then look at the not so straight vertical line on the' i ', and the delicate little dot..."
Guo Hao passed by the training room.
"Gao Tianliang, my name was better than yours when I was seven!" The manager mercilessly exposed Phyllostachys Pubescens.
Mongoose's face turned red.
"Be reasonable, Jin Gong and my autographs are not bad, right?" Lin Yan was quite proud. "The three of your signatures are really ugly..."
Jin Gong immediately bought his champion's skin. Looking at the Gimgoon signature under Kenji's body when he returned to the city, he chuckled.
The promotional event for the champion's skin was attended by YM members and several anchors of the platform.
Pro player + streamer, this was practically a fixed combination for a live broadcast.
Because many pro players were very introverted after leaving the stage, a big streamer could liven up the atmosphere and prevent awkward silences.
He could also use his popularity as a pro player to promote the streamer.
Killing two birds with one stone.
However, the five contestants of YM who won the championship all had pretty good results. They were either former streamers or great onmyojis.
In this way, when paired with those streamers who could perform live, the effect of the live broadcast instantly exploded.
The five YM players received their respective heroes and changed into the champion skins to demonstrate to the audience.
Lin Yan tried out Lucian's skin. Just as he had expected, it was very smooth. It was slightly heavier than Project Source, but lighter than Professional Hitman.
"You guys should really try this skin. It feels really good." Lin Yan was very satisfied. Good texture and dazzling special effects meant that there would be more sales.
While he was at it, he decided to publicize it again.
Making money wasn't shabby.
[Want to trick me into buying a skin again?]
[So be it. I've already placed an order for the skin pack!]
[I tried customizing it. It feels really good. Project Source is a little brother!]
The live broadcast was full of laughter.
RNG base.
A little fatty suddenly jumped out of the camera in the lower right corner of Xiao Ming's live broadcast room, holding a bucket of skewers in his hand.
It was Ouze.
He looked at Xiao Ming's computer. The black and red Hammer Stone was swinging a lantern back to the city, high-fiving Draven in the shadow to celebrate.
Poking his head forward, Ouze clearly saw Xiao Ming's ID below Hammer Stone's return to the city.
[Xiao Ming, the person behind you has been standing for a long time. Let him play with the computer for a while.]
[Ouze is still eating skewers?
He still hasn't made up for the time he owes!]
"Shi Senming, do you eat skewers?" Ouze suddenly asked.
Xiao Ming had been talking to Jack with his headphones on. He didn't even pay attention to the bullet screen.
When he heard Ouze's voice, he was so scared that he almost threw his mouse away.
"You scared me to death …" Shi Senming glanced at the bucket of skewers and picked some mutton skewers and five flowers from it.
Ouze glanced and saw Jack's Draven champion skin on Xiao Ming's computer screen.
He smacked his lips and suddenly felt that the skewers in his hand didn't smell good.
A sour lemon taste filled his mouth.
After playing professionally for five years, Ouze wanted to carve his name on the skin, but he hadn't been able to do it until now.
However, a young player who had just debuted for a year had already gotten his own champion skin. How could he not be sour?
"Forget it, I'll give it all to you." Ouze instantly lost his appetite and turned on the computer.
Even though it was a rest day, he still decided to train hard. There were no mock competitions, so playing two ranked games to keep his hand in the game was also good.
He put aside the grand goal of being the S League champion and set a small goal first — to win an LPL championship.
From S2 until now, not only did he not win an S League championship, he didn't even win a league championship.
It was very awkward.
However, Ouze was very confident this year.
Factory Director, who had dominated the LPL before, was caught in a whirlpool of public opinion. He only played a few games at the end of the season and didn't seem to be a big threat.
As for YM and WE, even though his RNG team had been killed by them in the group stage, Ouze was confident that he could beat them if they met again.
This was because the version was already tilting toward them — Ruin + Hurricane Black Current ADC was all the rage.
As mentioned before, due to YM's unsolvable mid-game playstyle, Ouze was now facing a dilemma of how to get the completed equipment in the mid-game and join the team in advance.
Now, his fists were telling him that he didn't need to force the three-piece set. With just two pieces of Ruin, he could join the team and his combat power wasn't bad!
For Ouze and RNG, this was undoubtedly good news!
Now that RNG was firmly in first place in Group B, this was probably the closest Ouze had ever been to winning the LPL Silver Dragon Cup.
They only needed to win two BO5's and they would be able to win the LPL championship!
Thinking up to this point, Ouze was instantly filled with energy. He chose to buy Lin Yan's champion skin from Lucian and once again galloped through the canyon. It was still the same familiar pattern of four flat points on the ground. The sound of the mouse clicking was extremely rhythmic.
With the end of the promotional campaign for the champion skin, the LPL regular season rankings were also settled.
Group A's rankings from highest to lowest were: YM, WE, IG, NB, QG, and Snake.
Group B's rankings were: RNG, OMG, EDG, IM, LGD, and VG.
According to the rules, the top four of each group would enter the playoffs, while the bottom four would enter the relegation zone.
At the end of the season, Spicy Dance finally appeared. In the last four rounds of the regular season, she helped EDG achieve three wins and one loss. In the end, they were ranked third in the group by a small margin.
After LGD switched to Sword Immortal Jinoo, they also advanced triumphantly and won the last few games. However, they were still unable to fill the hole that the team had dug in the first half of the season.
Ranked fifth in the group, they had no choice but to run to the relegation zone. However, with their current lineup and momentum, any team in the secondary league would be unlucky to encounter them.
As a result, the opponents in each half of the group had been determined.
YM, OMG, IG, and IM were in the same half, while NB, EDG, WE, and RNG were in the other half. They would challenge each other from the back, and the final winner would meet in the finals.
On the 12th of April, YM's team members were led by Teng Jing Sports' staff to shoot a promotional video for the playoffs.
"Raise your hand a little higher …" The director with a long braid looked at the camera and reminded Jack, "A little higher. Put your arm on Jin Gong's shoulder!"
Big Head AD reached out and put his hand on Jin Gong's shoulder, looking like he was trying hard.
He had no choice. There was a height difference of more than ten centimeters between him and Jin Gong.
When the director saw Lin Yan and Xiao Tian laughing at his teammate, he glared and shouted, "Lin Yan, don't laugh. I'll give you a close-up shot later. Remember the movements well!"
Lin Yan was fiddled with like a marionette for more than half an hour. Fortunately, he was handsome and had a good style. He did not need to be tortured for too long to shoot this kind of promotional video.
When he left the green screen, Xiao Tian was still there being instructed by the staff to do all kinds of movements. His face had become even more square.
Su Cheng was sitting in YM's resting area. When she saw that Lin Yan had finished shooting, she hurriedly handed him a bottle of water.
Today, she was wearing a white shirt, jeans, and a black baseball cap on her head. Her figure was slim and graceful.
"Teacher Su, I'm so tired." Lin Yan took a sip of water and pressed himself against Su Cheng's body. "I need to hug for a while."
"Don't, don't, don't …" Su Cheng pushed Lin Yan's body with her soft white palms. Her voice was soft and hurried. "There are people behind us."
Lin Yan immediately straightened up and looked back.
Knight was wearing a black sweater, as if he had blended in with the dim resting area.
He sat there with a red face. Obviously, he had witnessed the interaction between Lin Yan and Su Cheng.
"Why are you here?"
Lin Yan did not set off from YM's base with his teammates today. In the morning, he and Su Cheng went to Wanda Plaza for a walk. Then, they took a taxi to the shooting location. He did not know that Knight was also there.
"… The finals are tomorrow. Hao asked me to come out and relax." Knight's voice was still muffled.
The awkward atmosphere from his interaction with Su Cheng just now lingered.
Lin Yan could only nod and say dryly, "Good luck."
Knight looked embarrassed. It was as if he wanted to say something but stopped.
"What's wrong?" Lin Yan noticed this detail.
"Um … Are you going to watch my competition?" Knight finally mustered up the courage to ask.
Lin Yan hesitated for a moment.
To be honest, there were still ten days until the LPL semi-finals. The club's players were also in a state of half-vacation. It was not a problem for them to spare an afternoon to watch the LSPL finals.
However, Lin Yan did not think it was that interesting. He would rather use this time to sleep.
He was about to refuse when he suddenly felt a pain in his waist.
"Ouch …" Lin Yan could not help but whisper, "Okay, I'll go with you guys tomorrow."
"That's great!"
Knight's eyes suddenly emitted a strong light. At this moment, Lin Yan thought that his left hand had obtained a golden legendary.
Knight jumped up and paced back and forth. Then, he took a bottle of water and ran to find Phyllostachys Pubescens, who had just left the green screen to take a break.
"Teacher Su, aren't you being too harsh?"
As soon as Knight left, Lin Yan immediately turned to question Su Cheng. "Your elbow almost made me suffocate."
"Huh?" Su Cheng's face immediately showed some worry. "Are you okay?"
She did not play in the NBA and had never practiced her elbow skills. She was just testing her strength and did not hold back.
"I'm much better now."
Lin Yan grabbed his girlfriend's slender arm and rubbed the tip of her elbow. She was already thin and did not have much flesh on her arm. This elbow must have hurt.
"But why did you want me to promise him?" Lin Yan remembered the purpose of Su Cheng's elbow.
Su Cheng glanced at Xiao Tian and Knight who were laughing and playing in the studio.
"Do you know that he sees you as a teacher?" Her ponytail was a little messy. She held onto it with one hand and took off her baseball cap with the other.
"I know." Lin Yan took the cap from his girlfriend. It was stained with the refreshing scent of shampoo. "Does it matter?"
Lin Yan had taught his left hand a lot in the past six months, so it was reasonable for him to call him a teacher.
"You're so stupid …" Su Cheng sighed and took off her hair tie. Then, she gently tucked her hair behind her ears, leaving two strands in front of her ears to cover her soft and delicate ears.
"Students naturally want to be recognized by their teachers. He invited you to watch the finals tomorrow. It's just like parents and teachers accompanying you during the middle school exams."
Su Cheng's goal was to be a teacher, so she had a firm grasp of her students' psychology.
Lin Yan nodded, not fully understanding. Lin Mingdong wasn't in Suzhou during his middle school exams, but all the teachers were waiting outside the school gates to ask how he was doing.
Lin Yan learned from the evil little sorcerer and put himself in their shoes. He finally found a point of empathy.
So that's how it is … Tomorrow is like the middle school exams for Zuo Hanfeng?
Then he should go and watch.
Su Cheng's two fair arms waved gently in front of Lin Yan. Her fingers deftly moved and combed the loose strands of hair.
After twirling the hair tie twice to determine the position of the ponytail, Su Cheng took out another strand of hair and tied it around the tie.
Lin Yan looked from the side and felt that the back of his girlfriend's head was very round.
After tidying up her hair, she took the baseball cap from Lin Yan and put it on. Then, she pulled her soft ponytail out of the cap.
Lin Yan didn't know if other girls would have a unique charm when they tied up their hair, but he was sure that Su Cheng did.
The next morning, Lin Yan woke up as usual. He changed into sportswear and went out for a morning jog.
When he went downstairs, he saw Lefty squatting in the corridor with his back facing him.
"What's wrong?"
Lefty was startled, but when he saw that it was Lin Yan, his shoulders relaxed slightly.
"I'm a little nervous." Lefty was very nervous.
"It's okay. It's just the LSPL finals. What's there to worry about?"
Lin Yan waved his hand generously. "You beat your opponent like they were noobs. Trust me."
But he was someone who had experienced the S6 finals. How could his mentality be compared to Knight's?
This sentence obviously didn't relieve Knight's psychological pressure. Lin Yan put his hand on Lefty's thin shoulder and patted him twice.
Lin Yan's palm seemed to transmit a warm current that seeped into his body through his thin jacket.
Lefty felt his body and mind relax unexpectedly.
"I can do it, I can do it …" Lefty blinked, took two deep breaths, and gave himself a psychological hint.
He was now under a lot more pressure than Lin Yan was at the time.
The finals' opponent, Suning Team, was not much different from the IM team that Lin Yan faced last year. However, the two were separated by a year, and the strength of their teammates was completely different.
Who was Lin Yan at the time?
Jin Gong, the old Dean, and the three under the wilderness were all freaks of talent. Although Suning's AD in the LPL was average, it wasn't a big problem for him to play in the secondary league. If there was a mistake, Lin Yan would be there to support him.
It could be said that YM was completely relying on him at the time. It would be strange if they didn't advance.
YMA's current lineup wasn't strong enough to crush Suning.
On one hand, there were few young prodigies. On the other hand, it was because YM had transferred a lot of fresh blood from the first team. Jack and Prophet were directly transferred from the second team to the LPL.
The heavy burden of carrying the team was basically on Lefty.
Fortunately, the LSPL was weak. Otherwise, they might not have made it to the finals.
Lin Yan finished his lunch and followed YMA's bus to Jing 'an Sports Center.
As soon as he got off the bus, Lin Yan felt a familiar smell in the air. In front of him was still the same familiar stadium.
A year ago today, he and his four teammates had also won the first championship trophy of their careers here and stepped onto the LPL stage.
A year later, he had become famous at a young age and was here to play the role of an exam teacher.
"Do you want to sit in the lounge or …" the coach of the second team came over to ask him.
Lin Yan followed the YMA team into Jing 'an Sports Center.
He remembered the first game of his career. Su Cheng was sitting in the audience, watching him win his first MVP.
"I'll sit in the audience. Do you have a ticket?"
Lin Yan didn't want to go to the lounge. He remembered that the facilities were not perfect at the time and the viewing experience was very average.
"Yes, yes, yes." The coach of the second team took out a ticket from his pocket and handed it to him.
Every team in the LSPL finals had a certain number of family tickets, which came in handy now.
"I'll watch from below the stage. Don't be nervous. Just play as usual." Lin Yan said to Knight before he left.
Knight reached out to rub his messy hair and nodded vigorously.
Lin Yan entered the venue and bought a bottle of water. Then, he followed the information on the ticket and found his seat.
There were two chattering little girls sitting next to him. They looked like students.
One of them looked up and saw Lin Yan. Obviously, she recognized him. She raised her eyebrows and stared, raised her hand to cover her mouth, and screamed in a low voice. She only needed two round things to complete the three-button combo.
"Can you take a picture with me?" The other girl's eyes flashed and she took out her phone from her bag.
After the group photo and autograph session, there was still a quarter of an hour before the match began.
Today's finals would be commentated by Ze Yuan and a female commentator named Rita.
After a short warm-up period, the match began directly.
In the first game, Left Hand used Ryze to deal with Suning's mid laner, Jayce.
Due to the characteristics of the hero, Left Hand did not open up the situation in the mid lane. The team's rhythm was stagnant because of this.
Suning's top laner, Langxing, was similar to Jin Gong. It looked like he was also an old dean who used his personal strength to make a name for himself in the LSPL.
However, in the middle of the game, Left Hand's Ryze began to wander around frequently. He repeatedly used his big move, Warp Realm Jump, to coordinate with the jungler to get four packs of two support.
Suning's duo team died twice in a row. The team was in a mess.
"Knight once again squatted in the jungler's jungler in the jungle!
A series of combos was executed smoothly and directly killed him! "
Ze Yuan shouted loudly. The audience below the stage cheered enthusiastically.
Only then did Lin Ran realize that YMA had quite a number of fans.
"How do you know about YMA?" He whispered to the girl who took the picture with him before. "Is it because of Knight?"
In his impression, LSPL events did not attract much attention. Many viewers only watched the S League or LPL.
"Previously, it was because this was YM's second team. As YM fans, it was reasonable for us to support the second team's younger brothers, right?"
The girl replied. "But after that, we became fans of Knight. He's really strong."
Lin Yan did not expect this to happen.
The fans of the home team would actually support the second team of the youth team?
"He'll definitely play LPL this summer, right?" another girl asked.
"He will. I believe in him." Lin Yan nodded.
On the screen, a sudden team battle had begun. YMA's top laner had two deaths. They were retreating quickly to preserve their strength and avoid losing the Dragon.
However, Suning was relentless. They wanted to keep YMA in the narrow jungle!
"YMA's not going to be easy to escape. Suning's Fan Mother is speeding up too quickly …" Rita had just expressed her concern when the situation changed in an instant!
"What is Knight doing?
Is he going to turn around and attack Suning's team with only a sliver of health left? "Ze Yuan's eyes widened as he looked at the OB screen.
"He controlled Ryze to use Spell Surge to stack Surge Mark …" He raised his voice. "Knight used Blink to dodge Verus's big move!"
"The shield effect of Seraph's Embrace blocked Nanqiang's first wave of damage. Ryze used Spell Surge again and spread Surge Mark to Suning's team …"
The next moment, Ryze cast Overload and detonated Surge Mark on Suning's team!
All enemies with Surge Mark would be hit by Ryze's Overload and their damage would increase by 50%!
Ryze's left hand's development was perfect. This combo directly reduced Suning's team's health to less than half!
"YMA decisively chose to counterattack!
Suning's going to be defeated! "Ze Yuan shouted excitedly on the stage." This Ryze is crazy! "
The audience also seemed to have been triggered by Ryze's Overload. Cheers instantly filled Jing 'an Sports Center!
"YMA took down Dragon cleanly. Rolling Snowball got the first kill!"
Left Hand stood up with a paper cup in his hand. Before returning to the lounge, he glanced at the audience.
Lin Yan knew that he was looking for him. He waved his hand and gave him a thumbs up.
Knight smiled like a child who had just received praise from his teacher.
In the second game, Left Hand took down Lucian and taught Suning's mid laner how to play the game.
In the whole game, Left Hand completed six solo kills. Three of them were solo kills. He directly blew his opponent into a sieve.
His score was fixed at 1406. It was a perfect score to crush the MVP.
"I always feel that Knight's playstyle is very similar to that of a certain professional player …" Ze Yuan said before the third game began.
"Ran?" Rita immediately smiled. "I'm also a fan of his."
"Not only is the hero pool similar, but I think the two mid laners from the same YM are very similar in terms of playstyle, thinking, and so on."
In the third game, Left Hand took out the classic Sindra and established a lane advantage with the help of the jungler. Then, he radiated the advantage into the jungle. After squatting down the opponent's jungler, he went to the side lane to set the pace.
Similar, too similar!
Not only the commentator, but the live audience and the audience in the live broadcast room also found that Knight's playstyle in all three games revealed a hint of Lin Yan. It was as if he had been possessed!
[WDNMD, Golden Left Hand is possessed by Lin Yan?]
[GG, this Sindra is directly leading the way!]
After two losses, Suning's players' mentality was about to collapse. With the addition of Sindra, the situation collapsed instantly.
YMA easily took down Dragon and steadily pushed forward to destroy Suning's base!
"Congratulations to YMA for winning the 2017 LSPL Spring Season!" Ze Yuan's voice was loud and clear. "They will also get the ticket to the LPL!
We will see them again this summer! "
Knight jumped up excitedly and hugged his teammates tightly. Golden rain fell in an instant, pouring over the heads of the five young people!
Lin Yan applauded and congratulated them. Left Hand's performance in the three games was remarkable. He won the game in the most reasonable way. It was definitely worthy of praise.
Relying on his excellent performance in the three finals, Knight won the LSPL Finals MVP without any suspense!
After the game, the host, Xiao Yu, placed the microphone next to Knight's mouth. The championship trophy lay in the boy's thin arms.
Left Hand's face was flushed with excitement and his eyes were sparkling with tears.
"For you, is there anyone you want to thank for winning this championship?" Xiao Yu asked with a smile.
"I want to thank Brother Ran. Thank you for your daily teaching. Thank you for comforting me this morning. Thank you, thank you for coming to watch my game …" Left Hand pursed his lips and looked below the stage.
The live broadcast director found out that Lin Yan had come to watch the finals and quickly moved the camera to scan the audience.
In the end, they found Lin Yan in the third row of the audience.
There were many YM fans here. They supported Left Hand because they loved him. Now that they saw their favorite player appear, the live audience burst into enthusiastic cheers.
Seeing himself appear on the big screen, Lin Yan could only wave and greet the audience.
Left Hand, who was being interviewed on stage, continued, "I want you to see my improvement. I'm no longer the confused Knight in the Demacia Cup …"
He spoke word by word. His voice was much clearer than before. His expression was serious. "I will follow in your footsteps and see higher places to become the next you."