Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the first night of the competition, ATB's treatment was in stark contrast to the other teams. In the afternoon, the stadium was only 60% full. In the evening, the stadium was packed with people. The fans held up a large number of posters and fluorescent signboards. Their cheers and shouts almost broke through the clouds.
ATB did not disappoint the fans. They defeated MOK from Japan in a clean 20-point victory. The fans screamed excitedly. The Korean media even released a bunch of articles praising ATB's performance.
"Cui He, Pu Yuanxi, the world's best mid laner", "Han Chengyu is the world's best top laner", etc.
The fans were also reposting and celebrating. It was as if ATB had won the championship.
After the first day of the competition, the points of each group were tallied. Tianheng was temporarily ranked first in Group C.
The next day, Tianheng had a bye.
Everyone followed the coach to the hotel conference room. They watched the competition while listening to the coach's commentary.
In Group A, Bei Mu was up against the North American champion team, FNO. Unfortunately, they lost in a 12-point victory. Mitchell and Xiao En, the two world-class mid laners, knew each other in private. In a crucial team battle, Mitchell seized the opportunity to kill Xiao En. Ye Shaoyang realized that Mitchell's strength had improved significantly since the World Singles Competition.
The duo of Allen and Angus in the bottom lane improved rapidly. They were on par with Cheng Xing. They had gone through an entire season of training and were no longer the kids who were beaten to tears by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo in the international server.
In Group B, Jingzhe was up against AMT, the champion team of the European region. Although Fang Zhengqing and Xie Yuan worked together to make a lot of exciting plays and equalize the score to 11/11, the jungler Vanessa seized the opportunity to ambush and steal the dragon in the final deciding game, turning the situation around.
Coach Lin commented, "Although Vanessa is a newcomer, her playstyle is very fierce. Her master used to be the best jungler in Europe. AMT is indeed the strongest dark horse in Europe. It's a pity that Jing Zhe lost."
Chi Shuo said calmly, "Jing Zhe's double carry is very strong, but his jungler's strength is average. Once the jungler collapses, it's hard to turn the situation around. "
To everyone's surprise, | Yue Ying had actually defeated HER from the European Region in Group D.
Yueying seemed to be very good at counterattacking in the final game. In the past, they had defeated Bei Mu in the final. This time, Xie Weiyu and Translation: Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo. Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo in the game. Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo in HER in HER Xu's... . Xie Weiyu. Xie Yuan Team. com. is Yueying Translation. Xie Translation Liu's.
After the first round of the competition, there were many opinions in the country.
Based on the current groupings, Tianheng was in the best position in the group stage. Their three opponents were not particularly strong. Jing Zhe was in the worst position. FLD was the runner-up of the North American division, AMT was the champion of the European division, and TIP was the runner-up of the Korean division. It would be extremely difficult for Jing Zhe to advance.
An expert in China predicted, "Four teams from China will compete in the international competition. I predict that Bei Mu and Tianheng will enter the top eight. Jing Zhe and Yueying will be eliminated in the first round of the group stage."
This blogger had tens of millions of fans. It was said that he was a Chinese overseas. His Weibo name was "Toxic Milk". Every year, he would predict the results of the international competition. His predictions were very accurate.
After Bei Mu and Jing Zhe lost in the first round, a new streamer who had recently appeared publicly mocked them. "The players from China only know how to fight among themselves. They're sending themselves to death one after another in the international competition. How embarrassing!"
When the netizens saw this trending topic, they all criticized him. "Is A Yuge's successor here?" "I remember the last streamer who mocked professional players, [A Yuge], was almost beaten out of the industry by Little White?" "At least they have the ability to participate in the international competition. You only know how to flame people online!"
The new streamer realized that his method of attracting traffic by insulting professional players did not seem to work anymore. The netizens who were especially good at insulting people in the comment section clicked in … Were they all Ye Shaoyang's fans?
Sure enough, after [A Yuge] was beaten up by Little White, the streamer's path of insulting professional players became difficult. The new streamer was disheartened and admitted defeat and deleted his Weibo.
When the players went out for competitions, the team leader would confiscate their phones to prevent them from being affected by public opinion. Ye Shaoyang and the others did not know how the country was evaluating them. They still had to face an even more intense competition.
In the second round of the group stage, Tianheng met Team YNF from Africa.
They easily won this match with 20 points.
The level of eSports in the African region was about the same as the level of the domestic league. Tianheng did not need to use a particularly strong lineup to fight them. They could just treat it as a training match and win.
Tianheng won two consecutive matches with 20 points. Regardless of whether they won or lost in the third match, they had already secured a spot in the group stage and successfully advanced to the top eight.
Korean media: "Tianheng from Group C is the team with the best luck in the group stage. They can advance even without doing anything."
The Korean netizens commented one after another: "They're definitely not a match for ATB. We have the world's strongest mid laner." "You can't go far by relying on luck. I heard that Tianheng has an individual champion? At most, they'll make it to the top four. "
"Tianheng Lieyang was able to win the individual competition because our Choi and Park oppa did not participate in the individual competition. Tianheng Lieyang was able to take advantage of them."
Some people who understood Korean reposted the comments on the Korean Internet back to China, causing a large number of fans to be dissatisfied.
What did they mean by advancing without doing anything?
What did they mean by Lieyang's individual competition champion was picked up by them?
Tianheng's fans and Ye Shaoyang's fans were about to die from anger. They rolled up their sleeves and posted emojis on the Korean Internet.
In the end, a certain Korean Internet site was flooded with ^ _ ^ emojis. The Koreans were all confused: "??"
No matter how the outside world argued, the Tianheng team's mentality was still very stable.
Coach Lin was most worried that Cheng Xing would have problems. Fortunately, after experiencing the double baptism of the international individual competition and the domestic finals, Cheng Xing's mental fortitude had also reached a new level. In the group stage, Cheng Xing was not nervous at all. His performance was commendable.
Only then did Coach Lin completely relax.
The most crucial match in the third round of the group stage began on December 12th.
Tianheng welcomed Japan's GOW team in the group stage.
The team's captain was Fujita Naoya, the famous hero [Ninja], who was once Japan's number one jungler. They had met Chi Shuo when he participated in the S6 World Series. At that time, he was already very famous and had debuted earlier than Chi Shuo. It was rumored that he would retire after the S10 World Series. This should be his last tournament.
Chi Shuo leaned over to Ye Shaoyang's ear and said, "Fujita's playstyle is very calm. We met him in the International Server before. Do you still remember?" Ye Shaoyang nodded. "I remember. He's really good at [Ninja]."
Coach Lin said, "GOW is a typical jungler. To fight this team, we won't ban junglers. We'll bring out all of Fujita's junglers. The coaching staff has two plans. One is that Chi Shuo also picks junglers and PK Fujita head-on. Two is that Chi Shuo takes the tool and let Yangyang set the pace and attack the opposing team's mid lane first. What do you guys think? "
Chi Shuo said, "I choose junglers."
Ye Shaoyang did not hesitate. "Let's take junglers."
The two of them spoke almost at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled tacitly.
Ye Shaoyang said, "I believe that Captain Chi's junglers are not afraid of the Japanese junglers at all. We might as well face them head-on. There's no need to avoid them."
The current Tianheng did indeed have the strength and confidence to "face difficulties head-on."
This was also Tianheng's "headstrong" style.
December 12th, 4 PM. The last match of Group C, Tianheng VS GOW.
In the first round, during the BP phase, GOW targeted the mid laner crazily. Tianheng banned two supports and released all of their junglers. Commentator Yao Mu could not help but say, "GOW is a typical jungler team. Tianheng released junglers during the BP phase. Is this the rhythm of choosing to go head-on with the junglers?"
Brother Dong said, "Anyway, Tianheng has already qualified for the group stage. It doesn't matter if they go all out."
Fujita took the famous hero [Ninja]. Chi Shuo took the [Stealth Thief] as expected.
The battle between the two junglers was extremely fast in the jungle.
The early invasion and counter-invasion were extremely intense. Blue buffs were pulled out three times.
He Crab didn't want to let go of either jungler, but in the end, it was Chi Shuo who snatched the first crab. Ye Shaoyang's cooperation with him was obviously better than Japan's GOW's jungler.
In the first wave of Level 6, Fujita chose to crouch in the mid lane to ambush Ye Shaoyang. Chi Shuo went to the bottom lane and cooperated with Little Star and Qujiang to kill the opposing archer.
Ye Shaoyang had a keen sense of smell. At the same time that [Ninja]'s shadow appeared, he decisively pressed Flash!
Yao Mu said excitedly, "Beautiful! Yangyang's reaction is too fast. [Ninja]'s follow-up attack is out of range. There's no way to one-shot him! "
Brother Dong said, "After all, Captain Chi's [Ninja] is very good. Yangyang is very familiar with this hero's rhythm. He guessed that the opposing jungler might come to ambush him. He's always vigilant."
Ye Shaoyang escaped with a sliver of health. GOW's jungler failed to ambush him in the first wave. Chi Shuo's gank got first blood. Little Star and Qujiang both received the reward for assisting.
It was this small difference that Chi Shuo took advantage of. He snowballed and invaded the jungle.
GOW's defense was very tenacious.
However, 15 minutes into the game, Chi Shuo suddenly worked together with Ye Shaoyang. They cooperated with Old Qin to kill GOW's top laner and take down the top tower!
They thought that Tianheng would target the bottom lane after gaining the advantage. However, they agilely moved in the opposite direction and broke through the top lane first.
The top half of GOW's jungle had completely fallen.
Chi Shuo, who got the red buff, started to stick to the enemy. He went invisible and went around the enemy's mid laner. His teammates immediately gathered in the middle lane and took down the middle tower.
Tianheng's rhythm was getting better and better.
20 minutes into the game, Chi Shuo gathered his teammates to take down the dragon and take down the crystal in one wave.
In the second game, both sides sent out junglers again. Fujita chose the wild core [King of Fighters]. Chi Shuo took down [Sword Saint]. This hero was very fragile in the early game. Once he did not develop, he would be a little brother. Moreover, he had to farm small monsters to accumulate buffs. It was very difficult to control.
Chi Shuo had used [Sword Saint] in the national tournament. However, he did not use it many times because it was too easy to counter in the early game.
Therefore, in this game, Ye Shaoyang took [Saint Necromancer] to personally protect Chi Shuo.
GOW started the game very fiercely. They ran over to steal mana. Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang defended the jungle together. Ye Shaoyang cast a shield on Chi Shuo at the crucial moment, allowing Chi Shuo to escape with a sliver of health. Although the enemy managed to steal three buffs in this game, Chi Shuo only got one buff. His development in the early game was affected.
Therefore, Ye Shaoyang gave him a wave of creeps. Old Qin in the top lane also gave him a wave of creeps.
Xiao Xing and Qujiang in the bottom lane developed wretchedly, not giving the enemy's jungler a chance to kill Xiao Xing.
With the help of his teammates, Chi Shuo passed the development stage smoothly and began to roam to lead the team's rhythm.
Ye Shaoyang was level 6. When the enemy moved slightly forward, his [Saint Necromancer] decisively flashed over and sealed the enemy's mid laner. Almost at the same time, a white shadow darted out from the bushes and instantly killed GOW's mid laner. Then, it disappeared. It came without a shadow and left without a trace. It was as graceful as an immortal!
The cooperation between the two was as if they could take someone's head from a thousand miles away and escape unscathed.
Yao Mu said excitedly, "It's the familiar mid-laner coordination. Shuoyue and Lieyang's skills are so synchronized. This sudden ambush in the middle lane is too beautiful!"
Brother Dong said, "Fujita is in the bottom lane. He wanted to kill Xiao Xing, but Qujiang blocked the critical damage. Fujita got Qujiang's head. Our support swapped the enemy's mid laner. This time, Tianheng profited! "
Following that, Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo began to roam frequently and gradually controlled the rhythm of the game.
Ye Shaoyang sealed one, Chi Shuo killed one.
Wherever they went, they killed. It was like a demon king patrolling the field.
The two's skills were synchronized as if they were controlled by the same person.
Fujita was undoubtedly an excellent player, but he was indeed old. In a crucial team battle, his reaction time could not keep up. Chi Shuo circled around to kill the enemy's archer. When Fujita wanted to circle back, Cheng Xing had already blinked away.
Tianheng successfully won the team battle in a 5v4 and ended the match.
20. Tianheng defeated GOW.
Tianheng's five players stood up and shook hands with the opposing team.
Fujita stood up and shook Chi Shuo's hand. He said emotionally, "MOON, you're very good. After so many years, you've still maintained the state of an S6. You're even calmer than before."
Chi Shuo said angrily, "You're very good too."
Fujita smiled and said, "I'm going to retire. This stage has always been the world of young people."
Chi Shuo listened to him with mixed feelings.
Esports was indeed an industry that relied on youth. Once one got older, one's reaction time would slow down. In an intense match, even a 0.1 second error could affect the outcome.
One day, he would also retire.
But he hoped that when the time came, he would retire with no regrets.
He would fight with Yangyang until the last moment, and then leave this arena that he loved so much with Yangyang.
Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang looked at each other, then walked up and gave Fujita, a veteran player who had been competing for six years, a friendly goodbye hug.
At the competition venue, the announcement of Tianheng's first place in the group battle appeared on the public screen.
The Chinese viewers were jubilant, and the livestream was also flooded with "Tianheng is awesome" comments.
Watching Tianheng's competition was so satisfying. They played every match with great confidence!
They never hesitated when they were in a team battle. They attacked when they needed to and retreated when they needed to. The five of them cooperated well, unlike some clingy teams that made people anxious.
Tianheng in the international competition was already a very well-rounded team with no weaknesses.
Tianheng, come on, charge!
Yao Mu smiled and said, "Congratulations to Tianheng for winning all three matches in a row and advancing to the top eight!"
Brother Dong said, "Some countries' media said that our Tianhuan Squad was too lucky in this year's group battle. Actually, luck is also a kind of strength. Only a strong team can grasp good luck!" Yao Mu said, "That's right. Opportunities are only given to those who are prepared. I hope that Tianheng will continue to work hard in the next knockout round and achieve good results! "
The final result of Group C was that Tianheng was first place, and GOW was second. They were qualified to advance.
Compared to Group C's "no suspense", the competition in the other groups was particularly intense.
In Group A, the American champion team, FNO, won three matches in a row and was first in the group. However, Beimu and Korea's TOC both had a record of 1 win and 1 loss. The match between these two teams would determine the final list of qualifiers.
Ye Shaoyang was also present to watch this match. Both teams were in a stalemate in the early stages of the match. Fortunately, Beimu was good at grasping opportunities. Big and Little Zhao killed TOC's archer in a group battle, while Xiao En single-handedly killed the opposing team's mid laner. Beimu ended the match with 20 wins and advanced to the top eight.
In Group B, Jing Zhe was faced with a situation where he was surrounded by strong opponents. In the end, he was unfortunately eliminated in third place. The teams that advanced were Korea's runner-up, TIP, and Europe's champion, AMT.
In Group D, Korea's champion team, ATB, advanced without a doubt with a perfect record. Cui He and Pu Yuanxi performed well and each obtained a quadruple kill. Europe's HER, who placed second, advanced.
The top eight teams were confirmed. China, Korea, and Europe had two teams each. North America and Japan had one team each. Jing Zhe and Yueying were eliminated in the group stage of the World Competition.
"Toxic Milk", the blogger who previously predicted that Tianheng and Beimu would advance to the top eight and that Yueying and Jing Zhe would be eliminated, posted a comment on Weibo. "My prediction is very scientific. Jing Zhe is very unlucky this year. He was placed in the group of death, and it's difficult for him to advance. Yueying's top laner and archer are very strong, but the jungler and mid laner still need to work hard. The teams in Group D are very strong in the mid laner and mid laner, so it's expected that they would be eliminated. "
The netizens expressed one after another, "Blogger, you can predict the results of the top eight to advance to the top four again!"
"Tianheng is first in Group C, and they have a good chance of winning against Europe's HER, who is second in Group D; Beimu is second in Group A, and they will fight against Europe's AMT, who is first in Group B. However, don't forget that Xiao En is also from Europe. She is very familiar with the habits of the European teams. Beimu is very strong in both sides. It won't be easy for Vanessa to kill Zhao Xinping. The battle between the two world-class female A players is very exciting. Personally, I'm more optimistic about Beimu. After all, Sister Xinping has more experience than Vanessa. "
A netizen left a comment and asked, "Then do you think Tianheng has a chance of winning?"
"Tianheng," Toxic Milk replied, "I think the best result for Tianheng is that they will be the runner-up. ATB is too strong. The five players from last season's champion team did not change. Tianheng's Lieyang and Fanxing are rookies who just debuted this season. They don't have much experience in major competitions, so the chances of them defeating ATB are not high. "
However, Tianheng's fans were still full of hope.
After all, Tianheng was a team that often created miracles.
Moreover, Lieyang was not an ordinary rookie.
He was the God of Pentakill in the first game of his debut, and the Demon King of the mid laner in the final game of the finals. He was the MVP of the S10 season, and also the champion of the World Individual Competition.
Wasn't it underestimating a player like him too much to predict based on the standards of a rookie?
After returning to the hotel, Ye Shaoyang saw Yueying and Jing Zhe's group in the lobby. Jing Zhe and Yueying's trip to the World Championship had ended early, and everyone had mixed feelings.
Ye Shaoyang walked up and hugged Xie Weiyu tightly.
Xie Weiyu smiled and said, "It's okay. We'll just treat it as a trip abroad to increase our experience in major competitions."
Ye Shaoyang patted him on the shoulder and asked, "When are you coming back?"
Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo looked at each other. Old Xu smiled and said, "We're not going back yet. Anyway, this season is over, and there's nothing to do when we go back. We might as well stay here and be your practice partners."
Xie Weiyu nodded and said, "Yeah, your opponent for the next round is HER. We met them in the group stage. They're from Germany, and their tactics are quite unique. I've discussed it with Brother Xu, and I've also asked for the coach's approval. We'll stay here and play in the mock competition with Tianheng. We can help you guys and improve ourselves at the same time. "
Beside them, Fang Zhengqing came over and said, "What a coincidence. We'll be staying here for a few more days too. Why don't we practice together?"
Ye Shaoyang felt a warmth in his heart. He looked at them and said, "Thank you."
Xie Yuan smiled and said, "You're welcome. We need to be paid for being your practice partners."
Chi Shuo looked at him and said, "Don't worry, I'll pay for your meals for the next six months. I'll help you gain five kilograms."
Xie Yuan said, "… Is this revenge or payment?"
The group of people around them laughed.
Fang Zhengqing patted Chi Shuo's shoulder lightly and said, "Although we've never had a tacit understanding, I'm rooting for you guys this time. Do your best."
Xie Weiyu also said to Ye Shaoyang, "Yangyang is the most handsome Omega in my heart. He'll definitely beat Korea's Pu Yuanxi. We'll stay here until the day of the finals. We'll be there to cheer for you guys in person."
Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo looked at each other.
On the road to realizing their dreams, they had many opponents, but they also had many friends. They were very glad that so many friends were willing to stay and help them in this international competition.
There could only be one champion in the end, and someone was destined to be eliminated early. However, those who were eliminated did not harbor any resentment. Instead, they were willing to stay and cheer for the others who were still in the competition.
If Tianheng could reach the finish line, it would be the glory of the entire Chinese competition.
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