Chapter 1 Inching Forward

To the viewers in the official broadcast, the beginning of this match was quite boring.

It was a normal opening. No invasion, no level-one team fight. Just one side methodically clearing the jungle before invading and unleashing a set of skills to steal a few extra jungle monsters. What was interesting about that?

Those few monsters wouldn't create much of an economic advantage, maybe a hundred or two gold on the economy panel.

Moreover, the official commentators also felt it wasn't important. After all, a 1000 gold difference was considered even, and only a difference of around 3000 would be a significant disadvantage.

As far as this opening was concerned, the official commentators didn't think it would affect the win rate or direction of the game.

However, the two professional players on the Rabbit Tail Live side didn't think so.

From the beginning, they had foreseen the subtle difference of a few seconds in the jungle-clearing speed of the two junglers, predicted the invasion, and pointed out a series of chain reactions that would follow.

After the jungler was left with low health and had to go home, his team's top laner didn't dare to push the lane as much as before, and the slight advantage they had gained in the laning phase disappeared. Although neither side ganked the top lane, the laning situation had already changed.

The jungler who gained the advantage not only led in gold after eating the opponent's jungle monsters but, more importantly, in experience. Afterward, he went straight to the bottom half of the map to continue looking for opportunities to gank and invade.

Since there were no jungle monsters in the opponent's top half of the map, the opposing jungler could only clear the jungle and gank in the bottom half to make up for the lost development. Ganking the top lane would be too risky; even if successful, it might not be worth it. They might kill someone but not be able to clear any jungle monsters, and then the opposing jungler would steal all the jungle monsters in their bottom half. That would be a complete disaster.

In this situation, the jungler with the advantage completely grasped the initiative and could roughly guess the opponent's current actions. Coupled with the difference in skill between the two junglers, the initial slight disadvantage quickly snowballed!

The viewers watching the official broadcast didn't know any of this. They only saw the results: their jungler was caught in the jungle and left with low health, then tried to gank the bottom lane but was counter-ganked, and the bottom lane collapsed…

But they didn't know the underlying reasons, all stemming from those few seconds of slower jungle clearing at the beginning.

Once this weakness was seized by the opponent, it was one wrong step after another. The various "brainless" behaviors that the viewers saw later were not because the player was truly that bad, but because their movements had already been predicted. Forced to choose between a bad and a terrible option, they could only choose the slightly less terrible one, but that still couldn't salvage the situation and still made them look very stupid.

Viewers watching the unofficial stream on Rabbit Tail Live were amazed to find that the game was actually this good?

Previously, many people watched games just for fun. After a game, the only things that really left an impression were a few outstanding plays or two or three team fights that determined the victory, but these things were easily replaced, and forgotten a few hours later.

But the commentators on Rabbit Tail Live didn't focus on the team fights. Although they were also passionate when commentating on team fights, they focused more on analyzing the various layouts and preparations made by both sides before the team fights, how the stronger side tried to expand their advantage, and how the weaker side tried to find opportunities to break the stalemate.

The official commentators mostly stated the obvious, describing what was happening in the game, and focusing all their attention on the key team fights.

But the commentators on Rabbit Tail Live were completely different. They spent most of their time digging into the deeper content behind the current state of the game, analyzing the tactical arrangements and motivations of both sides, and providing in-depth explanations of the warding and the intentions of both sides' actions. The passionate team fight commentary was merely icing on the cake.

Various "666" comments flew across the screen as the Rabbit Tail Live commentators opened the viewers' eyes.

"So detailed! Too detailed!"

"Even warding and clearing wards have so much to them?"

"Using the experience from one ward to let the top and mid lanes reach level 2 first, guaranteeing their lane advantage? That's too detailed!"

"They even guessed that the opponent would invade the jungle, are they spoiler commentators?"

"No wonder they're professional players, their understanding of the game is so high!"

"I knew it! Why do some professional players sleepwalk, appearing in inexplicable places? Before, the official commentators always said that they were lost or made mistakes due to pressure. Now it seems like they weren't lost at all, that was part of the tactical arrangement, but they were caught and broken by the opponent!"

"This is professional play! Any tiny mistake will be seized and quickly amplified. Sometimes you don't make any big mistakes, but you just can't win!"

"Rabbit Tail Live is worthy of being President Pei's live broadcast platform, it's really professional! Goodbye official commentators, I'll only watch games on Rabbit Tail Live from now on!"

"The official commentators are all Platinum and Diamond level, what can they understand about the game? They're just repeating what's happening on the field. Some players are indeed beaten very badly, but that's also tactical targeting, it's a problem with the entire team, and can't be simply attributed to 'bad' or 'mistakes'!"

"I've been watching games for nothing all this time! What's the point of just watching kills and team fights? This kind of tactical game in the early stages, precisely allocating resources to a ward, a group of monsters, and seizing a few seconds of time difference to create a gold advantage of several thousand, that's the real charm of esports!"

The comments in the live broadcast room scrolled frantically, and it was clear that many viewers' understanding of the game had been completely overturned.

Previously, many viewers had the mistaken impression that games were nothing more than higher-level five-player ranked matches, just with stronger individual skills and better teamwork.

But after listening to the analysis of the details in the game by these two professional players, they realized that it wasn't the same thing at all!

In the game, the gap between top professional teams and ordinary professional teams is even greater than the gap between Diamond and Gold in ranked.

And these deep, detailed tactical games are the most exciting part of the game.

They used to think that the official commentary was pretty good, but now, compared with the commentary on Rabbit Tail Live, the difference was like heaven and earth!

Many people not only sent small gifts, but also posted on various forums to promote the unofficial stream commentary on Rabbit Tail Live.

"Everyone, go to Rabbit Tail Live to watch the iCL broadcast! Two professional players are commentating, their understanding of the game completely surpasses the official commentators!"

"Too exciting, the two commentators are like directing the actions of the players on the field."

"These details can probably only be seen by the coaches and analysts of professional teams. We're so lucky to be able to see them!"

Soon, the unofficial stream commentary on Rabbit Tail Live spread throughout the entire *ioi* player base!

Previously, discussions about games were all about finding scapegoats, who made the most mistakes, whose stats were the worst, and then looking at who was the MVP and who had the best plays. In short, the topics of discussion were basically superficial.

But after this game, everyone was discussing the jungle-clearing speed, vision control, tactical choices, and so on.

After this game, the official commentators gave the MVP to the top laner, because statistically, the top laner's stats were the most impressive, and they performed well in team fights.

But the commentators on Rabbit Tail Live gave the MVP to the jungler. Because the top laner made a small mistake in the laning phase that led to a difficult lane, it was the jungler's invasion of the opponent's jungle that greatly relieved the pressure on the top lane, and then they snowballed the top lane through a gank and a counter-gank, which allowed the top laner to take over the game in the later stages.

Moreover, this jungler performed well in both the early game tempo and the mid-game team fights. Although the stats weren't very good, the few deaths were all for sacrificing themselves to keep people alive, which could be said to be valuable deaths.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Rabbit Tail Live awarded the MVP to the jungler.

Without the groundwork laid during the commentary, this MVP would seem a bit strange, after all, the jungler's KDA wasn't good, and there weren't any particularly outstanding plays.

But viewers who watched the entire game's commentary had no objection to this MVP selection. On the contrary, giving the MVP to the top laner seemed very inappropriate!

After the MVP was announced, various different voices appeared in the official live broadcast rooms of the iCL League on various live broadcast platforms.

"The MVP should be given to the jungler, those who know, know."

"The official commentators are no good, I suggest everyone watch the commentary on Rabbit Tail Live."

"Watching the official commentary, you can't notice all kinds of details, missing a lot of fun. Those who can really understand the game are watching Rabbit Tail Live, right?"

The platform's super moderators wanted to control it, but they couldn't, because there were too many people spamming!

Even if they blocked the keywords, the comments had a million ways to express "Rabbit Tail Live."

So, many people clicked on Rabbit Tail Live's iCL League live broadcast room out of curiosity, and after watching for a few minutes, they couldn't go back!

From pre-match tactical predictions, to BP analysis, to tactical arrangements in the game, to the players' on-the-spot reactions… the official commentators and the two professional players invited by Rabbit Tail Live were simply not on the same level. The difference was obvious at a glance!

…

At the same time, Long Yu Corporation.

Zhao Xuming had just finished talking with Zhu Yan on the phone and learned about the unofficial stream commentary on Rabbit Tail Live.

The vice presidents of these live broadcast platforms were anxious again.

Although the delay was gone, Rabbit Tail Live was still poaching people from them!

All major live broadcast platforms had a group of volunteers promoting them on their own initiative, and the viewers who went to Rabbit Tail Live basically wouldn't come back. The popularity was gradually decreasing, and no one could stand it!

Zhao Xuming was also speechless.

He originally thought that this matter was over. All major platforms would broadcast the iCL League together and reap their own popularity, and he could focus his main energy on other aspects of his work.

But now, there was another unexpected twist!

No matter how the iCL League developed, there would always be a winner, and that winner always seemed to be President Pei!

In the beginning, President Pei spent a lot of money to buy the exclusive broadcast rights to the iCL League, which brought a lot of popularity to Rabbit Tail Live, and also established the impression that "all the data on Rabbit Tail Live is real data" for all viewers.

After absorbing enough popularity, President Pei distributed the broadcast rights to the iCL League, and in the end, it was equivalent to getting the broadcast rights for free, and he also made a fortune.

Although the thirty-second delay didn't last long, it also left viewers with the inherent impression that "Rabbit Tail Live is faster," and poached a batch of viewers from other platforms.

Now that everyone was finally back on the same starting line, the unofficial stream commentary was a great success, and it was still going to continue to grab users from other platforms!

Of course, Zhao Xuming also knew very well that President Pei wasn't to blame for this.

President Pei just genuinely wanted to do a good job with the unofficial stream commentary, but he didn't expect the official commentary to be so bad that it would crumble at the slightest touch.

Ultimately, it was still because these official commentators were too useless!

They had such good resources and received generous salaries, and they basically didn't face much external competition, but their understanding of the game was completely surpassed!

Although it was a bit unfair to compare those Platinum and Diamond commentators with active professional players in terms of game understanding, the audience didn't care about that.

What the audience wanted to see was professional analysis. If you didn't have it, then sorry, we'll go watch someone else.

The more Zhao Xuming thought about it, the angrier he got. He spent so much money to support the official commentators, but in the end, they weren't as good as the unofficial stream that Rabbit Tail Live had temporarily put together. This was outrageous!