Chapter 1 Another Rehearsal

After another rehearsal, the three commentators stopped to rest and hydrate.

Thankfully, though the professional player had no prior commentary experience, his eloquence was quite good. After several hours of practice, his coordination with the two official commentators was already quite seamless.

Seeing the three resting, the iCL league director hurried over, stuffing materials into each of their hands.

"These are pre-match materials compiled by the back-end data team, including data on both teams and their players, as well as predictions for today's match Bp (Ban/Pick). Take a look beforehand to familiarize yourselves."

"And bring these materials with you when you go on stage, along with a pen. Don't let the commentary desk be as empty as it was before."

The director emphasized this repeatedly.

Previously, the official commentators had been ridiculed by viewers for not having any match information on the desk.

Actually, this criticism was rather unreasonable, because the iCL league had been broadcasting for a while, and the commentary desk had always been empty before, without any complaints from the audience.

But with the emergence of the second-stream from Tuwei Live, viewers saw that the Tuwei Live commentators each had a stack of materials and a tablet, and immediately started finding fault with the official commentators' empty desks.

The Tuwei Live commentators had such a high understanding of the game and meticulously prepared for the matches, diligently taking notes on key moments in the game with their notebooks. Did the official commentators, with their shoddy understanding of the game, not prepare or take notes?

This was a case of attitude determining success or failure! No wonder the official commentators' understanding of the game was so poor – it wasn't just a lack of ability, but a lack of effort!

Many viewers held this view, so this time the iCL officials dared not argue with the audience and made sure to do these superficial things well.

Of course, the data was definitely real and useful.

Having more data was never a bad thing. The more data the official commentators presented, the more it showed that they were well-prepared. After all, nothing was more convincing than a clear number.

In addition, the real-time data feature that had been prepared earlier was now officially ready to launch.

Everything was ready, just waiting for the afternoon's match to officially begin.

...

As it approached 5 PM, the iCL league live streams on all major platforms simultaneously connected to the match site's broadcast signal. Viewers received their "tickets" from the various live streaming platforms and tuned in on time.

Today there were still two matches. The 5 PM match was relatively unimportant, while FV team's match was scheduled for the prime time slot of 7 PM.

This arrangement took into account most people's viewing time. The 7 PM slot, especially on weekends, had the most viewers, so it was necessary to schedule a popular team like FV for that time.

For the iCL league officials, the first match was a good opportunity for the new commentary team to practice and adapt, so that they wouldn't be under too much pressure when commentating the main event of FV's match. If anything went wrong, it would be difficult to handle.

"Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the third week, second match day of the iCL Spring Split..."

The official commentators delivered the opening remarks as usual, but viewers in various live streams noticed some changes on the official commentary desk.

First, there was an extra person who had previously only been seen in the player footage, and second, the commentary desk was no longer empty. Like the Tuwei Live commentary desk, it was piled high with materials.

After the opening remarks, the host commentator introduced the new commentator to the audience: he was still a professional player, and this time he was temporarily guest commentating in order to better interpret the game and provide a better viewing experience for the audience.

Of course, "temporary guest commentating" was just a pretext to test the audience's reaction.

If the audience's feedback was positive, they could naturally make the professional player a permanent fixture. If the audience's reaction was negative, they could easily replace him.

In addition, the host commentator also introduced the "real-time data" feature, reminding viewers that they could click on the small bubble in the upper right corner to bring up the real-time data list, which, combined with expert commentary, could provide a better viewing experience.

Zhao Xuming also came to the venue today, watching the match from the audience while observing the reactions of netizens in the live stream on his phone.

"The official platform is copying Tuwei Live? Hiring a professional player as a commentator and doing real-time data? Can't they be any more thorough in their imitation?"

"There's no patent protection on this, so what's there to copy or not? Besides, isn't it all for improving the viewing experience?"

"I think it's better to admit mistakes and correct them. If the official broadcast continued to stubbornly refuse to change, that would be a big problem!"

"Indeed, this is healthy competition. There's nothing to criticize."

"Looks like I don't have to go over to Tuwei Live to watch the match today. The Wolf Fang Live client is more comfortable to use!"

The reactions of the netizens in the chat were generally positive, which made Zhao Xuming feel happy.

As planned, the host commentator briefly introduced the two teams in today's first match, then passed the baton to the professional player to make pre-match predictions and analysis.

The professional player was well-prepared, giving a comprehensive introduction from the perspectives of both teams' strategic reserves, star players, and the characteristics of the recent game version, based on the data displayed on the screen and provided by the real-time data feature.

The Bp (Ban/Pick) phase of both teams turned out to be very similar to what the professional player had predicted.

Because the team compositions were selected based on three factors: first, the strong heroes and compositions of the current version; second, the hero pools of the players; and third, the theoretical strength of the entire composition in terms of laning, team fights, and split pushing in the early, mid, and late game.

The professional player already had a good understanding of these two mid-to-lower-tier teams, and with the data provided by the officials, he accurately predicted the compositions of both teams. Often, as soon as he mentioned a hero, the player on the field would lock it in.

After the match began, the host commentator described the situation on the field, the team fight commentator was responsible for commentating on the exciting team fights, and the professional player interspersed his understanding of the current situation between the comments of the other two commentators, analyzing the next moves from the perspectives of both teams.

For example, how the dominant side should expand their advantage, and how the weaker side should avoid fighting and exchange resources.

Although the coordination of the three commentators occasionally had minor flaws and instances of talking over each other, the overall effect was still very good.

After the match ended, Zhao Xuming opened the iCL league live streams on major platforms and various forums again to check the feedback from netizens.

"Thumbs up for today's official commentary!"

"The two old commentators are still very good. They have perfect control of the rhythm, and the team fight commentary is very exciting. Combined with professional analysis, today's commentary didn't make me want to switch channels at all."

"Some people used to dislike these old commentators for not understanding the game, but now it proves that we really can't do without them. We need them to set the rhythm."

"It turns out that the so-called 'professionalism' on Tuwei Live isn't that difficult to achieve. The official commentators can achieve a similar level by pulling in a professional player and preparing some data!"

"Indeed, the official commentators are better in terms of eloquence and excitement!"

"A lot of people were praising Tuwei Live to the heavens before, and they even praised them for putting a notebook on the commentary desk. What about now? The official commentators aren't bad either?"

Looking at the netizens' comments, Zhao Xuming couldn't help but feel pleased with himself.

Look, look!

Immediate results!

Sure enough, professional players' understanding of the game is never bad. Tuwei Live brought in two professional players as commentators just to gain an initial advantage. How could they keep suppressing the official commentators?

Zhao Xuming couldn't help but relax, put away his phone, and continue to watch the rest of the match in peace.

...

Soon, the first match ended with a score of 2:0.

Although this match wasn't a key battle, it was clear that there was a gap in strength between the two sides, and the weaker side didn't put up much resistance before tapping out with a "gg."

This was also Zhao Xuming's current concern: the gap in strength in the entire gpL league was somewhat severe. The top-tier FV team was in a league of its own, followed by SUG, and then there was a gap before the other teams.

There was no way around this, because the domestic ioi scene wasn't doing well. There was little fresh blood, and it was difficult for the teams behind to catch up, so this kind of gap in strength might continue for a long time in the future.

But for Zhao Xuming, this wasn't a particularly serious problem, and it would definitely be resolved in the future as the gpL league rapidly developed.

Even if he was anxious now, this problem couldn't be solved quickly. What's more, Zhao Xuming had more important work to do.

After a brief transition, the main event of the day, FV team's match, was about to begin.

The director had already given the data of the two teams in the second match to the commentary team earlier. During the commercial breaks, the three commentators were taking the time to familiarize themselves with this data.

The professional player, flipping through FV team's champion selections in recent matches, said confidently, "In recent matches, FV team has basically been switching back and forth between two sets of tactics."

"Although the heroes they chose in the past few matches were different, their tactical choices didn't deviate from these two sets of tactics."

"If there are no surprises today, they should still use one of these two sets of tactics."

The host commentator asked, "Isn't FV team known for their complex and diverse tactics?"

The professional player nodded, "They are indeed known for their complex and diverse tactics, but the current situation doesn't require them to reveal too many tactics."

"Since FV team is playing against relatively weak teams, they can keep winning by rotating these two sets of tactics, so there's no need to reveal other tactics at all."

"Anyway, our club's habit is like this: the 'ultimate move' will only be used in truly crucial matches."

The host commentator was very happy: "If that's the case, that would be great. As long as FV team continues to use this mature set of tactics, our commentary will be very easy."

Because the two sets of tactics that FV team currently uses most often had been studied many times by the official data team, and almost everything was understood, from champion selections to tactical choices during the match.

If FV team continued to use this set of tactics, then these three official commentators could say all the things they had prepared in advance, achieving the effect of "spoiler-type commentary."

Plus the very exciting team fight commentary, they would definitely be able to beat the commentators on Tuwei Live!

The three commentators hurriedly brushed up their skills and were full of confidence in the upcoming commentary.

...

After a short break, the second match arrived as scheduled.

The FV team members entered the arena, greeted by a thunderous applause and cheers from the audience.

The number of viewers and the amount of comments in the major live streams also increased significantly.

As a champion team that had won the World Championship not long ago and was maintaining a perfect winning record since the start of the Spring Split, FV team occupied almost 80% of the iCL league's traffic, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the iCL league's sugar daddy.

Seeing how supportive the audience was, the three commentators were also eager to show off their skills in front of the audience.

Soon, the match entered the BAn (Ban/Pick) phase.

"Since the official start of the iCL league, FV team has maintained its undefeated record. Can they continue to maintain their undefeated streak today? Let's wait and see!"