Full-time: Starting from Ye Xiu vs. Faker

Chapter 442: Top Eight Draw, Reverse Second Smile (Part )

"To be honest, the rookie experience of you guys from Excellent Era is probably as legendary as that of a senior like you."

Watching the live broadcast of the two brother teams fist-bumping and saying goodbye with complicated expressions, Zhang Jiale complained to Ye Xiu.

He had wanted to vomit since the first time he learned that Happy had sent the half-grown kids from its second team to the LCS expedition.

"Not only that, it's far beyond that. I only played at the Royal Style level back then." Ye Xiu shook his head and pretended to be modest.

"Yes, it's really unfair to you that your uncle Ye's opponent in the first finals is just a bunch of losers like us." Lu Liang rolled his eyes. Of course, he could hear who Ye Xiu was secretly making fun of.

"You can't say that. After all, Qiu Fei and his team played against C9 in their first final. I think you guys are still slightly stronger than C9."

Ye Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled like a fox.

Joking aside, to be fair, the guys from Excellent Era did experience what can be described as the most fantastic rookie year in the field of e-sports.
They made it all the way from the qualifiers to the LPL quota, but had to drop to the secondary league due to club restrictions.

After frying fish for three months until they were all burnt, I suddenly got the opportunity to play in the top league in North America.

Originally I thought I was just going to see the world and the results didn't matter, but I actually made it all the way to the finals and became the object of fear and targeting for the entire LCS.

Then we made our way to the World Championship, and encountered what is arguably the most brutal schedule in lol esports to date.

Although no one plays two BO5s in a day, a total of nine BO1s are played throughout the day, and each team plays at least five, which is definitely the highest intensity among high intensity.

After all, we are facing three different opponents.

Then, under such circumstances, this team, which was still playing in the secondary league half a year ago and whose average age was just over 17 years old, has now made it into the quarterfinals of the World Championship.

They are one of the eight strongest teams in the world.

"With a resume like this, I'm afraid Lao Tao and Sister Chen will have to spend a lot of money next year to keep these children." Ye Xiu sighed.

"Be content. It's a blessing to be able to keep the talent. With the sponsorship that your team Happy has received, are you short of this little money for contract renewal? The league doesn't have a salary cap." Zhang Jiale rolled his eyes.

Looking at Happy and Blue Rain, which have a steady stream of talented people from generation to generation, and then looking at Fanhua, which has an obvious gap in its talent pool.

It can only be said that the wealthy family still has its foundation. Even if Baihua and Huangfeng join forces, the quality of the new generation of talents is slightly inferior to those of these two families.

Not to mention that they are currently focusing on LPL.

The oldest player in Xingxin's current team is the mid laner Ye Xiu, but they have Qiu Fei, who is at least at the level of the world's quarterfinals, to take over. Even if Ye Xiu retires, they will still be a world-class team contending for the championship in the future.

What about Fanhua? When Zhang Jiale, Sun Zheping and Zhao Yang retire, we can only wait and see which newcomers can take over these three positions.

This is the difference. Life is not easy, Brother Le sighed.

"But the kids have suffered a lot today. Not only did they have to compete in a high-intensity competition, but they also had to send off a brother team with their own hands." Lu Liang looked at the Excellent Era players, who didn't smile much even when they were standing in front of the stage and bowing.

"There's something even more troublesome... They have to play against G2 soon. If they win, it's fine. But if they lose, there will be another civil war in the quarterfinals. Are these guys really destined to fight in a civil war?"

Ye Xiu took a sip of water and frowned slightly.

The draw rules for the quarterfinals have been announced. To put it simply, the first and second place teams in the same group in the group stage will not meet in the quarterfinals, and the first place team in each group will play against the second place team in the group.

If Jia Shi can defeat G2 and take first place in the group, then everything will be fine. All four Chinese teams will be first in their groups, so naturally there will be no civil war.

But if Jia Shi loses and ranks second in the group, then except for G2 in the same group, the first place in the other three groups will be the Big Three.

By then, it will be another civil war, and one in which Excellent Era's hope of winning is extremely slim.

In the training matches, Jia Shi's winning rate against the Big Three was only about 10% to 20%, not counting the games where they used tricks.

It's a bit miserable.

"To be honest, I think it's difficult for them to beat G2."

"G2 has almost adjusted now..."

……

Is it suspense?

It's really uncertain.

Excellent Era was hit with a total of three debuffs.

The first thing is exhaustion. I have played five games in a row, from three in the afternoon until almost two in the morning, a full eleven hours. I was either playing on the stage or reviewing and studying backstage.

Needless to say, the pressure is enormous.

Moreover, he had just finished a high-intensity game and immediately played another one, and his physical strength was almost at its limit.

Although young people do have better physical strength, G2 is not that much older. With a few dozen more minutes of rest time, they have a slight advantage in physical reserves.

Secondly, in terms of psychological pressure, there is no need to say much about Jia Shi's side. No one wants to fight a civil war again.

But it was different for G2. After entering the quarterfinals, their mentality began to relax.

Anyway, none of the six monsters in the other three groups seem to be easy to bully. Even SKT, the little brother that was beaten up by G2 in the spring, now seems to be a team that can fight back and forth with Fanhua.

The difference between the first and second group seems insignificant.

Anyway, no matter who is number one or number two, as long as they don’t make it to the semi-finals, they will be criticized so much that they can’t get up again.

And the game against FW was won relatively smoothly, which made them more stable.

Under this premise, G2 has gradually regained its form.

Wanting to win can only be described as extremely difficult.

The reality is that there are indeed no extraordinary miracles.

After the overall condition improved, G2 basically won all the way on the laning side.

While the bottom lane was winning steadily, CAPS in the middle lane was shocked that Qiu Fei could actually fight him back and forth, but that was all he could do.

Trying to counter-suppress CAPS is basically a dream.

As for the top lane, the biggest gap between Bin and the real super top laner, besides being easy to catch, is his ability to break through a single point, especially after some signature heroes were banned, his ability to break through a single point is still not up to par.

When G2 was in a slump before, he couldn't even beat Bai Shu, let alone now.

Compared to the previous game, in this game, G2 further demonstrated the value of their noble MSI runner-up title and played even more smoothly than the previous game.

It feels like the king is returning.

Therefore, the European audiences watched with joy and offered their—

Greetings to all generations of ancestors.

Wouldn't it be better to fight earlier?
Do you know how high our blood pressure is these days when we watch the game?

During this period, EU audiences are really challenging the limits of their psychological endurance every day.

Especially in the four days of the second stage of the group stage, one European team was defeated every day, which was like a ghost story. Even the total wins were only three.

Even G2, the strongest team, had to play two extra games to get a ticket to the quarterfinals. The LEC audience was so angry that they had a heart attack. During this period, I don’t know how many people publicly announced that they would stop being fans of LEC.

Of course, the game is in its rising stage, and there are still only a few people who directly abandon the game.

But apart from the lame LEC, isn’t there still a powerful and reliable LPL to support?

Isn’t it the NBA where the whole world watches Americans play?
In addition to those who have stopped being fans, the remaining LEC fans are also calling for the club to quickly buy players from other regions, especially LPL.

Some clubs that "listened to the advice" even prepared sky-high annual salaries of several million euros and were ready to travel thousands of miles to China to rescue their players.

As for G2, adjust yourself well. We guys won’t wait for you to come back.

What? You've adjusted?
late!

Unless G2 can continue to win in the quarterfinals, their public opinion environment is unlikely to get any better.

But no matter what the public opinion environment is like, as long as G2 doesn't think so and go to check social media, it is estimated that it will not be affected much in China.

This game ended abnormally quickly. After struggling for nearly thirty minutes, Excellent Era finally lost to G2 in the crystal.

From now on, they are destined to face another civil war, and it will be a BO5 civil war.

Looking at the dejected children, Wu Xuefeng was busy comforting and encouraging them one by one, while sighing in his heart:

Today's experiences have had a great impact on these children.

But if this can help them grow faster, it would be worth the trip.

As for the ensuing civil war...

Just leave it to fate.

It was nearly three o'clock in the evening, the night was quiet, and the audience had long since dispersed. Naturally, all the subsequent ceremonies were kept simple.

Feng Xianjun walked onto the stage with a stiff business smile, secretly thanking his luck: It's a good thing that no celebrity guests were invited to draw lots, otherwise those big shot guys would definitely not have the patience to wait until three o'clock.

Because it was the first session, there was a lack of "famous players" who could come up as representatives to draw lots, so after a long struggle, the draw for the quarterfinals was simply done by Tencent Esports boss Feng Xianjun himself.

He is not very well known among the audience, but his overall reputation is still very good.

After all, he has been very diligent both in the Honor period and the Tencent Esports period.

Let a top player like him from Tencent Esports come to draw the lottery, and his level is completely sufficient.

In fact, Feng Xianjun had thought about imitating the top 16 tournament and finding a big-name star to take part in it. Anyway, as long as Tencent Esports needs people, there are countless stars who will rush to take advantage of the popularity even if they have to create their own characters.

But in the end Pei Yunteng waved his hand and let Feng Xianjun do it himself.

Tencent Esports doesn't need to attract that little bit of traffic right now. If it attracts some unknown creatures and further turns esports into a fan club, it would be tantamount to chronic suicide.

And the facts have proved that it is better not to invite this star.

There was no dissatisfaction in the live studio because the person on stage was a man in his 40s or 50s:
"I feel sorry for Old Feng for three seconds. He is so old and has illnesses, but he has to stay up with young people until so late."

"I guess Lao Feng has been looking at the clock repeatedly since eleven o'clock: Should it be over? Should it be over? Why hasn't it been over yet at two o'clock?"

"Let's not talk about that. I hope Lao Feng can draw a good lot. But judging from the current distribution, it seems that no matter how you draw, it will be the same."

"Yeah, two games against LCK and one against Excellent Era. The three LCK seeds all seem pretty strong."

"Maybe the younger brothers of SKT are easier to play against? I wonder if the mid laner named Faker has any sequelae from that time he hit the wall."

……

Apart from those who made fun of Feng Xianjun's health, most people were more concerned about the outcome of the next draw.

It's already three o'clock in the morning. Not everyone can stay up all night in Glory.

In the midst of their tiredness, only important information like the draw results could give them a little warmth.

Feng Xianjun also knew the current situation. Without any nonsense, he started drawing lots directly.

The first step is to draw the first pool of the group.

"First draw in the upper half... G2! Second draw... Fanhua!"

"The first draw in the lower half... Blue Rain! The second draw... Happy!"

Without any delay, the first teams of the four groups were selected by Feng Xianjun one by one.

Anyway, there will be no conflict within the same group when drawing the first place in the group.

It was not until he reached out and touched the ball pool for the second place in the group that the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

G2 Lounge.

"Please, draw a better lot!" Jankos clasped his hands together and muttered to himself, never stopping.

Perkz on the side mocked him: "Who will be considered a good draw?"

The only two teams left for them to be drawn as second place in the group are three LCK teams, all of which seem difficult to deal with and can fight back and forth with the LPL teams in this group.

Which one is the best lottery?

Jankos thought about it, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Don't forget our little brother!"

How can we forget SKT?
At the MSI in the spring, they easily shut out SKT, causing Faker to collapse on a chair and cry.

Although SKT strengthened its team in the summer and resolved some internal conflicts.

But judging from the first game of the group stage, their fighting power has improved relatively, but it seems that's just the way it is.

At least they can't beat SKT as usual.

If they are drawn, G2 should have the greatest chance.

Although CAPS and others felt that this was a bit too optimistic, they could not find any logical flaws after careful consideration.

Although SKT's double C is indeed powerful, Xiao Ma and A-P are also powerful.

More importantly, the two teams played against each other quite a lot in the spring, so they could make countermeasures more easily.

Compared to the other two LCK teams, drawing SKT is indeed a good draw for G2.

"SKTSKTSKT...Please give me an SKT!" jankos muttered.

It is not known whether his prayers were really answered. As Feng Xianjun drew the first ball from the pool of second place in the group, representing the ball that would enter the G2 game, he opened it and took out the note inside.

SKT’s signature red team logo appeared prominently on the note.

In the first group, LEC’s No. 2 seed G faces LCK’s No. seed SKT!

At that moment, Jankos slapped the armrest of the chair with joy and jumped up.

(End of this chapter)