Preparing for JingDong Gaming

Lin Heng lost the solo against TheShy's Riven.

TheShy's grasp of when to attack was absurd. In the end, Lin Heng had been just one hit away from winning, but a loss was a loss.

Lin Heng silently rated TheShy's current mechanical skill at around 93.

In terms of mechanics and laning alone, he might have reached around 97 in his prime.

When he saw the 100-yuan red packet Lin Heng sent out, Ning said in an exaggerated tone, "Hey, I've got to grab a big one."

Lin Heng realized that he had absorbed five skill points faster in those few solos than he would have in four or five ranked games.

He immediately pulled TheShy into more games with other champions.

Fiora. Lost.

Gangplank. Lost.

Varus. Lost.

Renekton. Lost.

"Oh man, Brother Lin just lost all the red packets he won earlier. That's classic gambler's mentality. You're still going?"

King Ning gloated from the sidelines as if he were the one who had beaten Lin Heng 5-0.

But TheShy turned to look at Lin Heng beside him, deep in thought.

As the one laning against Lin Heng, TheShy had felt his growth most clearly during the solos.

With each game, he had found it harder and harder to keep up.

In the sixth game, they played a Ambessa solo. Lin Heng won, but only by the narrowest of margins.

He could feel that he had absorbed almost all five skill points, with only a tiny bit left at most.

Sylas. Won.

Aatrox. Won.

Rumble. Won.

"Holy crap??? I wouldn't give you a hard time for winning on the others, but if you can win on Ambessa and Rumble, you've got real skills. Holy crap, TheShy, you weren't going easy on him, were you?"

Ning looked at Lin Heng in disbelief.

"Going easy? No, I wasn't. Lin Heng, impressive." TheShy took off his headset and gave Lin Heng a thumbs-up, with no intention of continuing the solos.

He had simply said that Lin Heng was impressive. His limited Chinese made it hard for him to explain how quickly Lin Heng had improved over those ten or so solo games.

All he knew was that, in his current form, he couldn't beat Lin Heng anymore.

There wasn't much point in continuing the solos.

"Holy crap, nice going. You've become the solo king," Ning said, patting Lin Heng's arm.

Then he spoke again in a highly exaggerated tone. "All right, I declare Invictus Gaming's first solo tournament a complete success, with Brother J taking the championship. From now on, you're the god of support mechanics. The LCK has Dr. K, and we at Invictus Gaming have Dr. J."

He put heavy emphasis on the "J" (gou), making it sound particularly funny. Perhaps it was a lingering effect of livestreaming.

But everyone was already used to his slightly exaggerated way of expressing himself.

Ning had become the team's mood-maker. His carefree attitude and habit of saying whatever was on his mind also removed a lot of obstacles when the team reviewed their games.

Naturally, Lin Heng was delighted to feel that he had fully absorbed the skill points.

During the solos just now, he had clearly felt his reactions becoming sharper and his use of the intervals between minion attacks becoming more practiced.

His health management, skill cooldown management, and damage calculations had all grown more precise.

The solo tournament ended while it was still fairly early. After joking around for a little while, everyone went to play ranked.

Danny, meanwhile, pulled Lin Heng aside to study JingDong Gaming together.

Over the time they had spent together, Danny had discovered that besides his formidable champion pool and playstyle, Lin Heng had another major advantage.

He knew the habits of many active LPL players very well and could often suggest strategies tailored to them.

For example, when they played Weibo Gaming, he had pointed out that the team's biggest weakness was that they didn't have enough players who could deal damage.

And Elk, their strongest damage dealer, often made highly aggressive moves and positioned himself very cockily.

So they targeted Elk, with considerable success.

Against Anyone's Legend, he had emphasized laning, because both their solo lanes and bottom lane were very average at it.

That had led to a global composition built around four players protecting an Ashe carry, a lineup that sounded like a joke.

This time, facing JingDong Gaming, Danny wanted to hear what Lin Heng thought of them as well.

Just as Danny thought Lin Heng would once again find a player to exploit as a point of attack, Lin Heng said directly:

"We counter JingDong Gaming very well, because their team has one very clear weakness."

"How so?" Danny asked.

"From what we've seen so far, their team doesn't have a true shotcaller. Their top laner, Xiaoxu, is the kind of player who's suited to quietly focusing on her own play. She's not really suited to shotcalling.

"Junjia can shotcall small-scale plays from the jungle, but maybe because of his personality, his calls usually fail to account for his teammates, the composition, equipment, or damage.

"So he often looks as if he's charging in to feed.

"HongQ is young, and his mechanics are decent, but his mentality is easily affected by how the game is going. He lacks decisiveness and isn't suited to shotcalling.

"Gala has played professionally for so many years and has always focused on his mechanics. Asking him to shotcall now is like forcing a duck onto a perch. And once he starts shotcalling, his mechanics noticeably suffer.

"The only one who could be considered a shotcaller is Vampire, but to put it bluntly, he can't command the team. His personality isn't direct enough, and that's his weakness."

As he listened to Lin Heng analyze each of JingDong Gaming's players, Danny stroked his chin and thought quickly.

Although the LPL had introduced a system that let coaches communicate by voice during the first split, a game lasted a long time, and coaches couldn't keep calling the shots throughout.

Besides, most of what a coach could tell the players had already been said before the match.

Things on the stage could change unpredictably and drastically at any moment. A team needed a player who could adapt on the fly and manage his teammates' mental states.

"And another thing..."

Lin Heng continued sharing his thoughts.

"Coach Tabe is very good. His greatest strength is that he can correct some of his players' flaws and help them bring their strengths to the fullest—in other words, play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. But he has a weakness too: he's a little too cautious, often unwilling to gamble, and somewhat formulaic.

"Now that he's taken over JingDong Gaming, I don't think their results will be too bad. But the season has only just started, and he hasn't had time to coach these players yet.

"In other words, the current JingDong Gaming is a team with very obvious weaknesses. We can face them without any pressure.

"They'll soon notice the shotcalling issue, or perhaps they already have, but it'll take some time to fix."

Looking at Lin Heng's confident expression, Danny said, "But they beat Top Esports 2-0 yesterday. Gala still has what it takes."

It was as if he were saying they must never underestimate a team capable of beating another 2-0. Besides, Danny had coached Gala before and understood his ability to carry games in the late game.

But when Lin Heng heard Top Esports mentioned, his expression turned strange. "Naiyou is on Top Esports, right?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Tsk... I wouldn't lose to an opponent like that."

Lin Heng suddenly said this out of nowhere.