Titan’s monitor glowed with the ESL Premier League’s official announcement. Seeing Green Tipped Bananas listed among the other teams felt surreal. For weeks, their world had revolved around scrims, solo queue, and fine-tuning strategies. Now, it was time to step into the spotlight.
The ESL Premier League wasn’t just another tournament. It was a proving ground—the first real test of how they stacked up against the best.
Titan pulled the team into their Discord call for a rundown.
“Alright, here’s the deal,” Titan began, sharing his screen. “This is what we’re up against.”
National ESL Premier League:
Format: Weekly, online, best-of-three round-robin.
Teams: 12 teams total, 8 invited and 4 qualifiers.
Advancement: Top 6 teams move to playoffs.
Prize Pool: $5,000.
Hai let out a low whistle. “Best-of-three round-robin? That's going to be a lot of prep.”
“Yeah,” Titan replied. “We can’t afford to be unprepared. Every series matters.”
The screen shifted to the team list.
- TSM
- Counter Logic Gaming (CLG)
- Rock Solid
- CompLexity Gaming
- Against All Odds (AAO)
- HKEGG
- Green Tipped Bananas
- LowElo
- WHALE
- jpak and friends
- Team Liquid
- unRestricted eSports
The call fell silent for a moment as everyone absorbed the list.
“This is stacked,” BladeSong finally said. “Like, holy crap. We’ve scrimmed half of these teams, and they’re insane.”
“Who’s the favorite, you think?” Hai asked. “CLG? TSM?”
“TSM,” BladeSong said without hesitation. “Reginald’s been trash-talking nonstop on Twitter, but, I mean… he backs it up. They’re fast, aggressive, and they don’t let you breathe.”
Titan nodded. “We’ve played them in scrims. They don’t give you time to think. If we’re not sharp, they’ll run us over.”
“And CLG?” Balls asked.
“Completely different style,” Titan said. “They don’t rush you. They suffocate you. Their vision game is ridiculous, and sainvicious’s shot-calling is top-tier.”
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Hai chimed in. “Yeah, CLG feels impossible to break when they’re ahead. They’ll just bleed you out.”
Titan shifted his focus. “What about Rock Solid?”
“Scrappy,” BladeSong said. “Remember our finals series? All of their players have too many pocket picks. Super hard to plan around. You never know when they might pull out something crazy.”
A silence lingered before BladeSong added, “UnRestricted’s the wildcard, though. We haven’t played them yet, but everyone’s hyping their roster as the next big thing. If they are as good as people say…”
Nior typed into the chat: “They are.”
Everyone paused, reading the message.
“You’ve seen them play?” Hai asked.
“Watched DontMashMe and Doublelift on stream. Insane mechanics.”
Titan exhaled. “Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
The team spent the next hour discussing matchups, strengths, and weaknesses. Titan took careful notes, jotting down insights from their scrims and speculation about teams they hadn’t faced yet.
In particular, on 4 rosters who he knew to be the top contenders in the original timeline:
Team Solo Mid (TSM) – TheRainMan, TheOddOne, Reginald, Chaox, Xpecial
Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) – HotshotGG, saintvicious, bigfatlp, Chauster, Elementz
Rock Solid – Voyboy, LOCUST, scarra, Imaqtpie, rambo
unRestricted - Pobelter, Lapaka, NyJacky, DontMashMe/Doublelift, and Jsura
Another team Against All Odds (AAO) diverged from the original timeline with the inclusion of Reckoner in mid. Titan made sure to document every detail in his notes.
Hours passed until, one by one, the team logged off for the night. Titan lingered, deep in thought. He navigated to his Status screen and scanned the familiar interface.
Titan’s Status
Name: Alan Zhong (Titan)
Role: Mid Lane
Overall Rating: 61 (+2)
Template: Caps
Titan let the number sink in. It wasn’t flashy, just two points higher than before, but it marked progress. Every small gain meant something. He scrolled down to the Quest Log, eager to see what new objectives the ESL Premier League had triggered.
New Quests:
Make the Cut:
- Finish the ESL Premier League regular season in the Top 6 to advance to playoffs.
- Reward: +1500 Template Points.
Top Dog:
- Defeat TSM, CLG, Rock Solid, or unRestricted in a series.
- Reward: +500 Template Points per win.
Standout Performer:
- Achieve a KDA of 5 or higher across three consecutive games.
- Reward: Unlock a Silver Badge.
Rising Brand:
- Stream 50 hours during the ESL Premier League and hit 500 average viewers.
- Reward: Unlock a Silver Badge.
Titan read through the list, his mind already ticking. Make the Cut was a straightforward but critical goal—they had to secure a playoff spot. Anything less would be a failure. Top Dog added an edge to their matches against the tournament favorites, and Standout Performer was a personal challenge he’d relish.
The last quest, Rising Brand, caught his eye. Branding wasn’t something he’d thought about much before, but the ESL Premier League brought new visibility. If they could build a fanbase here, it’d only strengthen their position in future tournaments.
Titan closed the menu and leaned back, letting out a long breath. The numbers, the quests, the team analysis—it was a lot to take in. But rather than feeling overwhelmed, he felt a spark of determination.
“This is just the beginning,” Titan muttered. He stood up, stretched, and shut down his PC for the night. Tomorrow, the grind began in earnest, and he was ready to take the next step.
