Zuo Wu: The lineup was confirmed on the 23rd, and on the 24th, Scout 's agency backed out, urgently notifying Tian to find a team.

Zuo Wu revealed that the lineup was confirmed on the 23rd ( ZIKA , Tian , Scout , Peyz , Hang ), and on the 24th, Scout 's agency backed out, urgently notifying Tian and Hang to find a team.

Zuo Wu discussed the transfer period events:

The agency prioritized handling LCK matters, and only after that did they come to Shanghai , probably arriving around the 19th. We were the first to meet with them, as we have collaborated with this company the longest. Their earliest incarnation was Griffin, and we had already bought players from them back then; Plex and Tarzan were both their players. However, Scout was not with them at that time; his agency was not this one.

This year's transfer period officially started in the early hours of the 21st, marking the real transfer period for the entire LPL . The biggest decision was made in the early hours of the 21st, which was discussed among several senior figures yesterday; once this was finalized, the entire domino effect would follow.

After the major decision in the early hours of the 21st, the century battle began, revolving around several Chinese players who had competed in the World Championship, which continued until the morning of that day (21st).

Prior to this, we had arranged to have dinner with Scout on the 21st to discuss lineup issues, and it happened to coincide with that day's meeting about the lineup. I talked with many players about their thoughts, and I also spoke with Tian . After gathering all the information, we arranged to have dinner with Scout to discuss the lineup.

A major battle occurred in the early hours of the 21st, with one team almost finalizing their entire roster, nearly settling on five players.

If the main player was not finalized, everyone else would be waiting. At that time, we discussed and presented Scout with three lineup options, with the support role basically positioned for Hang . GALA already knew he was leaving at that time, which was fixed, so what we lacked were mid, bot, and jungle roles. In the end, we summarized three roster options, with two junglers and two AD carries, and they discussed the combinations.

The junglers were Tian and Kanavi , and the AD carries were Light and Peyz . He was okay with all these combinations and told us his priorities were Tian and Peyz . Then we focused on forming the three rosters.

On the 19th, we had dinner with their agency and met. On the 21st, we started discussing terms, and the agency provided us with our offers and plans. We also confirmed the situation with Scout ; he could sign individually without bundling with other players, just ensuring all players were discussed well for everyone to sign contracts together. We were worried about things being settled, so we hoped to sign together.

We had no objections to the offer for Scout , but we were not very clear about communicating Peyz 's value, as the situation was uncertain. Being young is a disadvantage for overseas competitions, and we were concerned he might be shy. On the 22nd, we expressed to the agency our desire to contact player Peyz to understand him better, and the agency said they could arrange it.

Then on the 23rd, Hang had already received many team invitations, and he honestly shared some situations with us. So we realized this roster might not be formed, as even the support role was missing.

The agency also stated they could not arrange contact with the players directly, and by then it was too late to fly to Korea. By the night of the 23rd, we were still on the phone discussing, and we had more or less finalized the roster ( ZIKA , Tian , Scout , Peyz , Hang ).

I don't know what it means to reject their two offers; we were just discussing prices normally, bargaining, which was just a normal fluctuation, not a significant difference. The final price we discussed was even higher than their offer to us.

On the 23rd, because one or two players had finalized their desired teams, our roster ( ZIKA , Tian , Scout , Peyz , Hang ) was also finalized, as they wanted a better lineup that could not be realized.

By the night of the 23rd, everything was discussed and finalized, and we contacted Xiao Tian , then settled it. We thought about finalizing this matter that night. We had no contact information for Pey, so we could only talk with the agency and prepared for our company to sign something with them.

We printed the contract at their request at our Shanghai headquarters, then stamped it and scanned it to them. We had verbally confirmed it, but that contract only had our stamp, not theirs. We also contacted the players and called Tian over. I called Scout and said Tian had arrived, and the agency agreed, so he should come too.

Tian arrived first because he was nearby, so we handled the player contracts first, the league's player contracts. Then we heard the agency say that they couldn't sign today, stating that the contract needed to be translated into Korean.

Actually, all three people from their agency are bilingual in Chinese and Korean. We have cooperated many times, so I found this reason a bit strange. We were aware that they had a routine: 1. The contract needs to be translated into Chinese, 2. The lawyer needs to review it, 3. The stamp is not on hand. These were their three excuses.

I just hoped to finalize it, as Tian had already arrived. I contacted Scout , and he said the agency didn't need him to sign. We asked the agency again, but they said the player was unwilling to go. They had been trying to persuade him but couldn't.

The player told us to sign a letter of intent today and finalize the contract tomorrow. In the end, it turned into a letter of intent that didn't happen, and it directly changed to signing tomorrow. The letter of intent was still sent to us by their company, and they had already set the conditions, which they sent to us.

Gao Tianliang waited for a long time, and then they said he could go back first; they would sign together tomorrow. We didn't want it to drag on like this, but we couldn't make progress; it was impossible to continue the discussion. Gao Tianliang waited until three in the morning, and then we signed the letter of intent with him, which was initiated by Gao Tianliang's agency.

Because Scout and Peyz are bundled as the Korean double C, if Gao Tianliang didn't come, our roster would collapse, as there would be no jungler. So Gao Tianliang and they all knew our concerns, and we were also worried about the 369 situation happening again. I still modified the letter of intent according to Scout 's side and signed one with Xiao Tian (with a 24-hour time limit and some lineup restrictions).

Then everyone went back to their own homes. On the 24th, the Korean agent A said that other clubs had shaken the player's resolve, and they preferred to go to other clubs. Another Korean agent B gave me a new contract to stamp and scan; I spent the entire afternoon of the 24th working on this contract. The two of them had completely different stories; the Koreans said Scout just wanted to team up with Tian , and not to worry, they would definitely sign tonight. Another Chinese employee said he might consider some other teams. That Korean told me he wasn't in Seoul , he was in Busan , and he had his employee go to stamp it.

Then that Chinese employee said we are now at a disadvantage. I won't say anything too fake; he said that club over there offered 50% more money, and I blocked that. There were such statements, and later I also talked to the player, who said the situation on the other side was better.

The Korean director said the player found them himself, and they couldn't persuade the player, saying the offer from the other side was 70% more than what we had.

That's when problems arose, and we felt a lot of pressure; this was on the night of the 24th.

Zhu Kai: I told you about JDG. Scout at 11 PM on the 24th.

Left Mist: I think players hope for better income or a better roster during the transfer period; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Making such choices is completely understandable; we are not new to running a club, this is very normal. Let me first state my position.

I can't be sure about that 70%; this is what their agency told us, saying the opposing club directly contacted the player. There are chat records to back this up, it's not just talk. Then we thought about it and considered it; ultimately, aside from the fact that we couldn't match this price, which far exceeded our budget, we tried to impress him with a better roster at a slightly lower price, but we were already at a significant disadvantage. (Because by the early morning of the 24th, everyone knew about LNG's roster composition, the marketing accounts had already written about our roster, and others had also sent me congratulations.)

At that time, everyone thought Tian was confirmed, so many teams started to finalize their junglers. After several contacts with Gao Tianliang, he was really very professional and very good, and that day he also proactively reached out to us, worried we might be concerned, saying he would sign a letter of intent.

I think this was really on point; we immediately decided to contact his agency and let them find a team quickly. Because if we continued to drag this out, the win rate would be very low, and if we failed, Gao Tianliang would completely have no good teams left.

Moreover, they received news that the teams without money for junglers signed their junglers that night. We quickly reached out one or two hours before signing; we might just make it. Setting aside the signing aspect, the player definitely wants to achieve results; being first, we can't let the player down or delay him.

Originally, we had also scheduled to renew with Hang on the 24th, but we directly told him not to get off the train at Suzhou North Station, but to get off at Shanghai Station to discuss with the team.