Volume 1 Chapter 9 Minority Obeys The Majority
A different playstyle from the previous jungler?
Even though being squeezed by the crowd, He Yu caught every single word You Ya Zhong said.
Team Tian Ze’s previous jungler was his brother, He Liang. And the man claimed that Team Tian Ze’s tactics did not change, but rather it suited his playstyle as the jungler. In other words, You Ya Zhong was trying to relay to others that because of He Liang’s playstyle, Team Tian Ze was not able to win a single championship.
He Yu could not imagine how his brother would have felt after hearing it. He decided to confront You Ya Zhong but at this point, but his brother held him back. He Yu turned around to see his brother shaking his head, disapproving of his intention.
You Ya Zhong continued, “He Liang is my senior, and a player that I respect a lot. During my time as a reserve player in Team Tian Ze for the past few seasons, I learned a lot from him. That is probably why after I became the main jungler for Team Tian Ze, I was able to eliminate a lot of the problems we faced. For this, I am extremely grateful to Senior He Liang. My contributions toward Team Tian Ze thus far were made possible by having him as my stepping stone. And his teachings played a big role in cultivating me.”
You Ya Zhong’s seemingly humble speech ended with tremendous applause from his fans with much recognition. But anger started to build up inside He Yu. So he’s saying that he’s managed to overcome the problems my brother could not?!
Don’t tell me Tian Ze wasn’t aware of the problems in the team that He Liang tried to resolve?!
Instead of calling them problems, they were his brightest talents!
In his five years of gaming career, He Liang was with Team Tian Ze throughout. For those five years, ten seasons, he never missed a single match, practice or exhibition game.
In a competition, no one could execute every move or had every detail done perfectly, playing flawless games. He Liang was no exception, and He Yu knew minor mistakes were inevitable. However, reports and comments were quick to emphasize on these flaws and He Liang was criticized for it. To He Yu, these were never his brother’s fault.
That so-called no teamwork, no synergy, mistakes, were evidently Team Tian Ze other player’s incapability to keep up with the game tempo. Complying to the majority, He Liang who was on the right game tempo was slammed for being too aggressive, risky and no chemistry.
Are they implying that He Liang should lower his standards, just to suit his teammates?
Do we really want to neglect outstanding talent just to cater to these claims?
Professional players were expected to strive to perform their best and break boundaries. In this case, should not Team Tian Ze other players follow He Liang’s footsteps and guidance, and try to keep up with him?
They did not.
In the span of five years, He Yu could only see his brother constantly putting in effort, constantly making adjustments to his playstyle, frequently blaming himself for not being better, yet his teammates seem to seek no improvement.
Their lack of ambition and sloppy attitude continued until He Liang left the team when You Ya Zhong took over, and the team won the championship.
Everyone agreed that He Liang’s dismissal, You Ya Zhong replacing him, was the right decision, or so they thought they were.
Not for He Yu.
He did not agree.
Although Team Tian Ze won a championship, He Yu did not approve of their way, and hated how they considered He Liang as the reason they could not achieve much. He Yu was disgusted by how Team Tian Ze professed their respect for his brother, but in fact were expressing denial.
The problem was, the team not having standards, and yet they chose to distort He Liang’s excellence as problems to the team. Such a shameless thing to do.
However, the atmosphere was joyous. Upon finishing his speech, You Ya Zhong passed the microphone over to Zhou Jin and everyone looked at him with anticipation. They were all ears for Zhou Jin to speak.
“Ya Zhong was very humble. As a professional player, every moment of our career is observed by everyone, there is nothing anyone will miss out. He Liang was my teammate for five years, his skills and abilities cannot be overlooked. In the earlier years, he played the highly regarded hero, Li Bai, and brought up the pick rate by seven percent. If anyone noticed, even with the increase in usage percentage, the win rate dropped by nineteen percent! Looking at statistics, his main hero, Li Bai was ranked as one of the worst heroes in the game.”
“Why? He Liang’s playstyle was too risky. Even with minimal mistakes, one could easily lose the game. The matches all of you play probably allow room for mistakes, but in professional matches, a minor mistake might cost us the game.”
“So, we tried to help He Liang make some adjustments. To be honest, it was not very effective, and we all felt pity for him.”
“You Ya Zhong is different.” Zhou Jin patted You Ya Zhong as he acknowledged him. “Like what he mentioned, being He Liang’s reserve, he observed that despite the effort, He Liang could not overcome the problems. In the end, it was You Ya Zhong himself that managed to solve those issues. Last year’s Autumn League was his biggest confirmation. I believe his potential in the future is vast and bright, and let’s hope he’ll help Team Tian Ze collect more trophies!”
“Good!” People around complemented as applause thundered. Once again, He Yu felt the urge to confront and was again, held back by his brother. Only this time with much more force.
Looking at his brother, He Yu asked, “You find this acceptable?”
A year ago, He Yu heard his brother crying along the corridor. And ever since then, he tried to refrain himself from reminding his brother about it.
Yet now, knowing how Team Tian Ze felt and treated his brother, He Yu wished he could take things into his own hands. He felt for his brother, hoping if only tonight’s opening match, his brother would be Team Tian Ze’s opponent, using his hero Li Bai and proved them otherwise.
Zhou Jin comments on He Liang’s hero Li Bai, had an obvious motive of misleading others with prevarication.
It was true that He Liang’s playstyle was risky, with little room for mistakes. Most players tried imitating his playstyle but failed, only to pull down the win rate for hero Li Bai by a large margin. These were facts.
The question was how was it related to He Liang? He Liang was capable of excelling at this playstyle and his main hero, Li Bai was flawless. How was it possible to compare these noobs with He Liang?
It was absurd.
Furthermore, in the past, Team Tian Ze did not ban He Liang from playing hero Li Bai. It just shows that the team was confident and dependent on his Li Bai. What took away the opportunity for He Liang to display his specialty was the BP system in competition. Once their opponent started banning He Liang’s Li Bai, he lost the chance to exhibit his talents.
Nonetheless, there were still a lot of jungle heroes that were explosive and aggressive, but Team Tian Ze restricted He Liang from using them.
It was obvious that those moves were meant to reduce the chances of Li Bai being banned, but still, in the latter parts of most leagues, Li Bai was still being banned.
By banning He Liang’s Li Bai, it meant that his Li Bai was respected and feared by opponents.
However, Team Tian Ze insisted on their point of views and opinions regarding He Liang’s risky playstyle with this hero.
Although there were people who hated how they badmouthed He Liang, they all shut up when the team arose as the champions last season. That trophy was more convincing than any facts that laid around.
As for He Yu, he too had no doubts regarding Team Tian Ze’s skills. Being able to win a championship, Team Tian Ze must have had the ability to do so.
What He Yu cannot accept was their attitude towards his brother. Just because of a championship, they should not flaunt and comment arrogantly. It was truly blatant of them.
Seeing You Ya Zhong and Zhou Jin happily receiving much attention, ever looking so proudly, He Yu could not forget how his brother used to weep alone in the corridor. He dared not imagine how his brother was feeling. Just about then, his brother pulled him away from the crowd.
Grinning, You Ya Zhong began clapping in support of the speech Zhou Jin gave. Sweeping through the crowd, he saw a familiar silhouette leaving.
That… You Ya Zhong stopped smiling for a moment. He recovered himself and tilted towards Zhou Jin.
“I think that is He Liang.” He told Zhou Jin. Surrounded by the crowd and without the microphone, their conversation could not be heard by others.
“Yes, I knew all along.” Zhou Jin replied emotionlessly. “Serves him right. That arrogant bastard. Our team is better off without him.”
“Haha.” You Ya Zhong laughed.
To the crowd, they just seemed to be having their nice relaxing private conversation.