Chapter 118 EDG doesn’t have any players that impress me——Lee Sang Hyuk
“Thinking about how SKT is still playing training matches now, I can’t eat enough barbecue!”
The factory director and Li Mufan and his party were sitting in a self-service barbecue restaurant with a good reputation in Nanjing;
He picked up a piece of lamb shoulder that had just been grilled and was still sizzling with oil and put it to his mouth. He sighed and put down his chopsticks again.
"Let alone training when eating, I think we are doing well too!" The chopsticks in Jack's hand kept going back and forth between the baking sheet and his own bowl, and soon there was a small mountain of meat in the bowl.
He sprinkled the condiments prepared in another condiment bowl and sat back in his seat with satisfaction.
"Too much is never enough! I feel like if they practice so hard, something will happen sooner or later!"
"Yeah, we just won the championship, so let's relax for a couple of days. Abu has already processed our visas after finishing the semifinals. There's nothing urgent now." Li Mufan also comforted the factory director.
"Hey! What you said makes sense!"
It’s not that the factory director doesn’t understand, it’s just that he’s always a little scared when facing SKT!
In the past year and a half, SKT has won one MSI and two S Finals championships in all world events. Its dominance in the LPL competition world is evident!
In the LCK Spring Finals just a week ago, SKT also swept Galaxy Battleship KT 3-0.
The factory director felt that he had already started to feel anxious at that time.
After thinking about it, the factory director decided not to take any vacation after finishing the celebration banquet, but to go back to the base for training.
However, he didn't mention it at the dinner table, because it would be too disappointing to continue talking about it; secondly, this additional training is purely voluntary, and speaking out on his own would inevitably become a kind of moral kidnapping, which might have the opposite effect.
"Yu Wenbo, what plate of kidneys is this for you?" Li Mufan looked up and saw Jack running back with another big plate, with six tender, plump and spicy kidneys on it.
"Three sets? Or four sets? I can't remember clearly."
Jack was busy placing the plate on the edge of the table, and couldn't wait to unload it on the baking sheet. He was still saying: "Oh Brother Fan, there are hundreds of people in this store, and you only have such a small appetite, doesn't the boss make a lot of money? Brother, come back and eat more for me!”
"Okay, then you eat, you eat, pfft-" Li Mufan pursed his lips tightly, his shoulders couldn't help shaking, and his stomach hurt from suppressing his laughter.
The girl next to him was not as bad as him. She frowned and reminded: "Are you eating so much to prepare for going back to bed at night?"
"Ah?" Jack stopped putting the kidneys on the baking sheet and said with a dull expression: "Tianye, what are you talking about? What are you talking about?"
At the same time, SKT training room.
As a team that advanced to the MSI main draw early, SKT, in addition to daily training, is also paying attention to information about MSI teams from various competition regions.
The data analysts and coaching team in the team will collect intelligence on these teams in advance, make statistics and study targeted strategies.
In this way, the players in the team only need to concentrate on training, and then accept and digest the knowledge points analyzed by the coaching staff.
This process is extremely efficient!
But for the stronger teams in the entire MSI, they asked the players and coaching staff to analyze the regional selection competition-that is, the video of the spring finals!
The workload is not very large.
In fact, at the beginning of this MSI, Riot Games added a play-in tournament, which started as early as today, that is, in the early morning of April 29, domestic time.
Ten competition regions, including LMS and North America, will participate to compete for three spots; plus LCK, LPL, and European division seeds, a total of six teams will participate in the MSI main event!
What SKT needs its players and coaches to study together is that besides them, there are two other regional teams that do not need to participate in the play-in rounds, which naturally includes the LPL.
"Brother Xianghe, this year's EDG looks a bit strong!" Blank Xiaohei commented while sitting on the small bench.
"Yeah." Faker rubbed his chin with his right hand and nodded slightly, but what came out of his mouth was: "It's just so so. After watching the LPL finals, there are no players that impressed me."
"Brother Shanjiu! You are too cautious!" Little Peanut put his hands behind his head and said with a thick smile on his face: "This EDG, even if I look at it, they only have one top laner who can barely compete. We’re on the line.”
"But that's it! Brother Xianghe can pick up any hero at random, and the highlight lens will be enough to compare with all the highlights in their career!" Little Peanut shook his head: "With my understanding of EDG, I only need to go If the jungle disrupts their rhythm, they will become a mess! ”
Little Peanut smiled at Huni: "Brother Chengxun (huni), I'm holding back the midfielder on the opposite side. I believe you can complete the suppression of Fan on the road, right?"
"..Huh?" Huni was distracted. He didn't know why the topic came to him. His status in SKT was not high. Seeing Faker, Bang and other seniors looking towards him, he nodded hurriedly and said, "No problem. No problem!”
Little Peanut shrugged at blank, with a relaxed expression on his face, and his eyes seemed to say: Look, it's very simple, right?
Xiao Hei took a deep breath, feeling helpless.
He knows that Little Peanut's confidence is his greatest advantage, and it is also what coach KKoma likes most about Little Peanut.
Confidence is the seventh piece of equipment for professional players!
kkoma once said this to everyone.
In fact, since Peanut joined SKT, Xiaohei, a jungler who was favored by coach kkoma the year before, quickly became the team's water cooler guardian.
Xiaohei played a total of 6 small games throughout the spring split, with a 100% winning rate.
It is worth noting that all Xiao Hei's appearances are to put out the fire after the team loses a small round!
And he did use his 6 small-game victories to help the team score a total of 5 big points!
With this kind of performance, I'm afraid many people will think: Doesn't it mean that Xiao Hei succeeds in putting out fires every time, which obviously means he is better than Xiao Peanut?
Why don't you change Xiao Hei's starting lineup?
Xiaohei himself thought so too.
So when coach kkoma pinned him to the water dispenser, he finally understood why Bengi still wanted to leave SKT after playing S6 even if SKT wanted to extend his contract with the maximum salary!
At that time, Bengi in S6 faced exactly the same situation as Blank today - he had saved the team from fire and water countless times, but the coach insisted on training another jungler.
At that time kkoma ignored bengi and favored blank!
But today, when KKoma loves little peanut, the only one who has to bear the pain of being benched alone is Blank!
Xiao Hei opened his mouth and wanted to remind everyone not to be too proud. Being too proud can lead to arrogance, complacency, and arrogance, and this is often the beginning of a team's decline!
But Peanut has already gone back to chat with Faker. The two are now very close to each other in the base. Faker even said that as long as Peanut plays the male gun, he is willing to choose Karma and Lulu to achieve each other's success!
I heard that when a former operator's operation declined as he got older, he would unconsciously approach another operator, wanting to regard him as his successor.
I wonder if Faker and Peanut have this wonderful relationship now?
Bang and Wolf in the bottom lane are two very confident people. They disdain all other bottom lane combinations in the world, and the honors they have received do support them in doing so.
Not to mention huni, I am the only one in heaven and on earth!
Blank has never seen such a crazy young man. He is far from the humble and steady character of SKT's first two generations of top laners Marin and Duke.
That’s all!
Blank calmed down and continued to pay close attention to the picture on the big screen.
No matter how proud or to put it mildly confident his teammates are, he has to remain humble.
Even if you are sitting off the court, you must study every opponent of your team, what tactics, what jungle strategies, etc.
Anyway, at worst, just go up and put out the fire!
On the second day after the LPL Spring Finals, everyone in EDG went their separate ways in front of the hotel.
Some said they wanted to go home, some said they wanted to spend the day with friends, and some said they wanted to travel alone and relax.
As a result, in the evening, everyone met again in the training room of Lingshi Road Base.
"What the hell, Brother Fan?!" Jack yelled and rushed in from the door: "Didn't you say you would go home and stay for two days?"
"I watched it at home. My parents have to go to work and I'm the only one at home." Li Mufan spread his hands and said, "It's better to come back to the base and live broadcast, so as not to live broadcast at home and be complained by neighbors and disturb the residents!"
"What about you? Didn't you say you were going to go hang out with your friends for two days?" Li Mufan asked curiously.
When they were separated in the hotel, Jack said he wanted to get together with some of his good brothers from his previous live broadcasts. He had just won the championship with UZI, so he could have a good time!
"Don't mention it! They're just pigeons. The live broadcast task is too heavy to leave, and my girlfriend has a date at night. Let's forget it! I also thought about it, why don't I come back and start the live broadcast!" Jack rolled his eyes.
The two of them were just getting warm in the training room when Meikun and Scout filed in. Counting the director who came back early to rank, there were no less than one of the five starters.
Abu came over to take a look at it in the evening and nodded with great satisfaction.
Seeing that everyone was either practicing customization or waiting for the rankings, he clapped his hands to signal everyone to pay attention.
"Your professional attitude is very upright! Very good!" Abu's high-pitched voice was not pleasant, but his happy tone could be heard.
"These two days should still be considered your holidays, take a good rest and catch up on your sleep!" Abu said loudly: "Our flight to Brazil at noon the day after tomorrow is officially economy class, and I have upgraded you all to first class!"
"Well done, Brother Bu!" Jack gave him a thumbs up.
"Don't interrupt!" Abu pressed down with his right hand and continued: "Pack your suitcase for me in advance. The weather there is different from ours. I will check it later and send it to you. Don't leave your ID card or passport. Forget it, don’t lose it in these two days, otherwise it will be a bit troublesome to replace it.”
"Okay! That's it! I've ordered a midnight snack for you, have a rest and continue later!" Abu pointed in the direction of the canteen.
After everyone cheered for a while, Abu waved to Li Mufan again: "Mufan, come over here. I have something to tell you. Others, you go and eat first!"
Li Mufan scratched his head and remembered that Abu had asked him to return to the base half a day early to talk about something, and it seemed that was what he wanted to say now.
However, he had no clue about this and had no idea what Abu wanted to say.
The two walked out of the training room and did not enter the airtight and soundproof conference room on the other side of the same floor. Instead, they went up to the third floor.
Li Mufan followed Abu around two corners and walked up a flight of stairs to the stairs leading to the top floor.
"Come on, it's quite cool up here at night!" Abu took out the key and opened the iron door at the stairway.
As soon as Li Mufan stepped over, he felt a cool breeze blowing on his face, a bit like a summer night.
"How is it?" Abu raised his eyebrows: "The environment here is not bad, right? You can also see the stars at night, but there is no such scenery in the city center."
"Haha, that's good!" Li Mufan walked on the roof and stretched. The view here is wide and the air is good. He felt a lot more relaxed when he stood up.
But he didn't believe that Abu called him to come up just to look at the stars.
Sure enough, Abramovich first chatted with Li Mufan about daily life, how was his life in EDG, how did he view the team's future performance, etc.
Then the conversation suddenly changed to another topic.
"Mu Fan, your contract is for half a season, which means it will end during the summer transfer period!" Abu laid his hands on the guardrail around the roof and looked back at Li Mufan.
"That's it." It's coming, it's coming! Li Mufan looked calm and calm on the surface, but in fact, he had already been stirred up in his heart.
"The summer transfer period this time is from May 1st to May 20th. In principle, during MSI, you can contact other teams for contract invitations." Abu's eyes were shrewd, and he stared closely at Li Mufan. On the body.
Without letting Li Mufan say anything, Abu immediately said: "I never mince words with my own people, nor do I play emotional cards. I will tell you directly. We can talk about the contract renewal now!"
"With the Finals FMVP trophy awarded for the first time by LPL in your hand, I'm sure every team manager is waiting for the clock to ring at twelve o'clock tonight to send you a scary big one. Contract!”
Li Mufan nodded to himself. Although he was usually obsessed with training and health care, he couldn't understand these things. After all, he was an experienced LPL veteran.
If you play well, the boss will be willing to pursue you. In ancient times, this may have been the leader looking for generals. This is an eternal truth.
Abramovich can be considered open and honest, and he didn't say anything like, "Oh, you haven't achieved world-class competition results yet, and others won't offer you a high salary!" ’ Such bullshit.
What Abu said is that others will also send you a big contract.
"Of course I hope you can stay here, but I want to ask you first about your future plans, whether to make a lot of money or to achieve results!"
Li Mufan was shocked. After all, Abu, the manager, was not a free man, and he was starting to manipulate him.
"If you want to make a lot of money, I will try my best to get you the biggest contract you can get now, and I will use EDG Legal to help you handle the contract, no matter who the contract recipient is." Abu Chen He said: "If you want to achieve results, I think EDG, which just won the spring championship, is the most suitable team in the LPL for you!"
"I won't take advantage of you. The price we offer won't be the highest, but it will definitely be the same salary as a star player in the league!"
Abu's words were quite clever, but it must be said that they were very attractive.
The salary of any player is linked to both strength and performance. If you have strength but no results, your salary will not be too high; if you have results but no strength, the club may not renew your contract in the end!
And now Li Mufan is the former.
If he chooses the first option proposed by Abramovich now, he will need a big contract, but in the end he will go to a team that is not very competitive as a whole. Maybe if he doesn't get results after the last season, his contract will definitely be significantly reduced in the second year!
Choosing the second option and staying in EDG is the best option for Li Mufan if he wants to achieve results now.
First, he and the rest of EDG have been working together for the entire spring split, and they have achieved results such as the LPL championship; second, the contract given by Abramovich also paid the same salary as a star player, and did not take advantage of him.
After all, Li Mufan's performance throughout the spring was indeed outstanding. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the number one top laner in the LPL!
But it has not yet been tested in the World Championships and cannot be recognized by everyone.
Seeing that Li Mufan was still thinking, Abu immediately dropped a bombshell.
"Three million and a half million! Half a year! The contract is still for half a season, and it will only be signed until the end of this year!"
After finishing speaking, Abu turned around, facing the outside of the building, and said in a leisurely tone: "To tell you the truth, the big boss didn't plan to invest so much money in the players this year, so I tried my best to save him in the end. I’m asking for a maximum salary.”
Seeing that Li Mufan didn't say anything, he thought he was not satisfied with the salary.
"To be honest, 3.5 million is not much. There may be bosses in LPL who will offer you more money! But I still think staying in EDG is your best choice!" Abramovich analyzed: "First of all, our A six-month contract may be a bad thing for you, but it’s more likely to be a good thing!”
"If you perform better in MSI or the World Championship this year, then when your six-month contract expires, you will undoubtedly be able to get a higher contract! But if your performance is not as good as it is now, the team may offer you more money after half a year. It will go down, these bosses are not fools." Abu smiled and said: "I think you will fight better, so this 3.5 million is only temporary, what do you think?"
Li Mufan is still digesting the shock brought to him by Abu's words!
A few months ago, his last contract quote was 50,000, which increased 70 times four months later!
An astronomical figure that he had never imagined was placed in front of him!
At this price, I can buy two houses in my hometown, right?
He had no doubt that Abu told him half-truths. In fact, according to what he learned about the salary in the industry, it was almost this price.
Even more top players like Duke, the transfer fee to IG is almost 10 million, but even if divided into half a season, it is only 5 million!
What's more, Duke is a top laner who already holds the world championship!
So regardless of the amount or the very convenient time period of half a year, the terms Abramovich gave himself are quite good.
But what is more critical to him is the right group of teammates in EDG.
He had no reason to refuse.
After a while, seeing Abu turn around with an anxious look on his face, Li Mufan looked at him squarely and nodded solemnly: "I think it's great to be in EDG, and I also want to compete in the World Championship with my brothers!" (End of Chapter)< br>