Rise

Lin Feng chuckled. These guys have no clue how lucky they are. They’re getting all the perks of belonging to a professional team with none of the downsides, and the whole thing is free! He was coaching them while Ren Rou took care of everything else in terms of management. All the five players from the esports club had to do was work on their game. To improve as quickly as they possibly could! They didn’t even have to think about strategy or what champion to play, he did that for them. It couldn’t be any easier for them!

This was exactly how the professional teams and esports orgs worked these days. After the competitive League of Legends scene had matured, there was a lot of money going around. Team owners woke up one morning with more than enough funding to expand their organizations. There was now enough money for support staff. They already had managers, but now they could start investing in coaching staff and analysts. The coaches made all the decisions. They decided who would play in a tournament, what strategy the team would go for, and which champions the players would use. All that was left for the players to do was focus on improving their play and being in optimal condition when the next game started.

Lin Feng didn’t have this luxury back in Season 1. Not that many people played League of Legends during those days, and there really weren’t many professional players and orgs. There was no money for support infrastructure around the teams. No coaching staff to tell them how to play. All they had was a team owner, someone who spent most of their time seeking out potential sponsors and convincing them to throw money at the team. They also had a manager who took care of the logistical things, like arranging scrims, booking travel and accomodations, and buying food. The rest was up to the players.

From analyzing the game to staying up to date with the latest patches. They researched their opponents and prepared their own strategies. Lin Feng and his team handled all of that back in Season 1. They had to coach themselves. That’s what Lin Feng drew on for what he was doing with the esports team. As far as game knowledge and tactics went, Lin Feng was good enough that he could be considered about half of a professional coach. Sure, it was a given that he didn’t have anywhere near enough experience to join the coaching staff of a professional team. But it was more than enough to help the esports club prepare for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament.

The five players on the esports club team sat side by side. Lin Feng walked behind them, back and forth. His eyes caught everything, from how they sat in their chair to the smallest mistakes they made in the game. And he was sure to point them out as bluntly as he could. There was no time to be nice about it. They had to be ready when the Shanghai 16 School Tournament started!

“Tang Tang, you have a minimap for a reason! Go to your settings and make it bigger, maybe then you can keep an eye on it!”

“Wei Dong, Tang Bingyao isn’t going to bite you. Stop running away from her! Support her goddamnit!”

“Liu Yue, quit it with the bullshit roaming. Maintain vision and move in when there’s an opportunity! Don’t walk around the map admiring the trees and the rocks! If you can’t find an opening to gank, force one!”

“Chen Ze map awareness! Come on dude, what did we talk about last game? If you pick Teleport, use it. Hey! Chen Ze! Listen! What did I just say? Teleport!”