LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 373 Initial D: District! "Revenge" or "History Repeating Itself?"

After their final interview, the T1 members walked backstage.

Just now, Zeus, who had just learned the routine on stage, looked at Ye Bo, who was sitting in the center of the backstage area, surrounded by many foreign players, before entering the room.

Although using that move was indeed a natural and spontaneous decision on the spot, his choice of Yone was at least somewhat "deliberate."

He couldn't explain why either.

Perhaps it was a desire to prove oneself, or perhaps one had always regarded that person as a "rival," or rather, a goal to be pursued.
Ye Bo was unaware of the stares from the side and struggled to engage in social interaction using the Chinese Bridge, a language that blends Chinese and Western elements, until the second round of the draw was about to begin.

Bang, the guest who drew lots in the second round, walked onto the stage and made eye contact with the host.

The group results for the second round of the competition were also displayed on the live stream screen.

[1-0 Battle Pool]

V5, WBG, G2, GEN
T1, HLE, FNC, JDG
[0-1 Battle Pool]

DK, NRG, BDS, GAM
TL, C9, MAD, LNG
"Wow, our pool number one is full of pros!" Xun exclaimed, looking around. "It seems like our entire LPL is in pool number one."

"Hey, watch your manners." Holy Gun nudged the other person with his elbow.

Xun suddenly realized something after he finished speaking, and glanced at the LNG players' bench not far from his seat out of the corner of his eye.

Just then, the LNG team members, who seemed to have heard what he was saying, glared angrily at him.

After all, all LPL teams won in the first round of the Swiss round, with only one team losing.

It's truly an embarrassing situation for whoever loses!
The only redeeming thing is that LNG wasn't the number one seed, so at least they lost in an internal battle, not to some unknown North American fourth seed who might even disband after Worlds. It's not as humiliating as it seems.
The venue, which had been prepared for a long time, had set up a "lucky draw platform" in the center, but it seemed to be a little different from the first round of the draw.

"Why did you switch from drawing balls to drawing bags?" Xun asked again, puzzled.

The usual "ball pit" has been replaced by a "lucky draw platform." The teams with different scores are placed on the platform in a "random" order by the host, and then the lucky draw guests draw lots to select them.

In the past, when drawing the black ball, the guests would spin around in the pool a few times. But this time, the brocade pouch platform simply turned its head away, and only turned back after the host had finished placing the balls.
Bang has already started choosing the lucky bag. He circled his palm twice on the stage and grabbed one of the lucky bags.

Expanding it reveals the GEN icon.

"Is it GEN?" Ye Bo looked at the other party's avatar as it appeared, and his mind began to wander.

Unfortunately, when the next black ball was revealed, it showed the image of HLE.

"They've gone to fight in the civil war!" Beryl said regretfully from the side. "Sigh, it seems the Swiss team won't be able to take down Jianyou and Xingxun."

Deft, standing next to him, also showed a hint of regret in his eyes.

After all, GEN's "civil war nature" is well known, so it will be difficult for Hanwha to defeat them.

而V5的目标自然是瑞士轮三场3-0直接出线，打最少的场次就能暴露最少的战术————这个目标也就意味着大概率不会抽到1-1的队伍。

Bang continued with the draw.

Obviously, the pressure of the draw was greatly reduced after the two LCK teams were drawn into an all-LCK match right from the start.

WBG, who followed closely behind, had another stroke of luck and was drawn by G2, who seemed to be under the least pressure among the remaining teams.

Gala, Wei, and Liu Qingsong were all visibly happy. Xiaohu also wanted to laugh at first, but he habitually glanced at TheShy, who was stuck on the screen to the left, and only dared to laugh loudly after seeing that TheShy was also laughing.

“So, the next group to face off is FNC, and their opponent,” Park Ji-sun said, drawing out the last syllable as she watched Bang draw from the remaining three bags.

The remaining members of the three teams—V5, JDG, and T1—were also watching the screen with bated breath.

The team logo, which was unfurled, was in red lettering similar to that of the other three teams—unfortunately, it consisted of only three letters.

"FNC's opponent is JDG, the second seed from the LPL region!"

There was an uproar backstage.

The uproar wasn't about this particular pairing, but rather about the last remaining naturally formed pairing.

However, the unpredictable lottery draw on stage continued.

Bang grabbed one of the last two bags.

The flag label that was poured out was T1!

"Alright! The final matchup is T1 vs. V5! And T1 will have the first choice of side!" the host announced loudly.

"This is a similar result to last year's World Championship group stage! T1 and V5, these old rivals, will meet again in the group stage. Will this new Swiss-system competition be revenge or a repeat of history? Let's wait and see!"

"Next are the draw results for the second group of 0-1 teams."

The subsequent lottery results will continue.

But the viewers in the live chat had clearly lost interest in watching and started a heated discussion.

【Wait, why does T1 get the right to choose sides? What kind of rule is this?!】

[Don't forget where this is. I think those two in the stands planned this all along, right there in bed!]

[Stop with the conspiracy theories. If it were really a lottery, would they really be able to draw teams from their own internal conflicts? Wouldn't that mean V5 would get a JDG or WBG draw?]

[Don't you understand? What can V5 possibly achieve by giving them a free draw? The strategy is to take turns attacking and wearing them down! Even if we lose, there's a huge margin for error—our internal battles are to ensure GEN gets in and continues to wear them down; you see, we even gave GEN the right to choose sides!]

This isn't a conspiracy theory. The main issue is that South Korea was thrashed like this this year, even dropping to bronze at the Asian Games. I really don't believe they wouldn't do something. Even if they didn't intend to, they have to now!

[Fun fact: In the first round of the Swiss system, the blue team had a 100% win rate in all eight games, without losing a single one!]

[Holy crap, Brother Xu!! Brother Xu looks like he's going to die!!]

It is worth mentioning that, except for the first round, the rule for choosing sides in rounds 2-5 of this Swiss round is: "Whoever is drawn first has priority in choosing sides."

This rule was changed by LCK officials after all the players arrived at the competition venue.

The original rules for the World Championship tournament, as announced by Riot Games, were: a coin toss (or other equivalent method).

As a result, the LCK organizers not only canceled the "drawing the ball" method for determining the draw order, but also abandoned the simple and crude tradition of flipping a coin, opting instead for "other equivalent methods" (see parentheses).
The value of the right to choose sides may not be that important in the global ban/pick system — but it is absolutely crucial in the Swiss-system BO1 and BO3 format!

It's no exaggeration to say that they had the advantage of perfect timing from the start!
However, after the draw for the lower half of the bracket was released, attention shifted.

[Swiss Round 2] Match Results:
(The team whose name appears first has the 'first choice of side')
GENvsHLE, G2vsWBG, FNCvsJDG, T1vsV5
DKvsLNG, NRGvsMAD, BDSvsC9, TLvsGAM
Backstage, some contestants were happy while others were sad.

As for V5 and T1, who were bound to be the most anticipated match, the expressions on the faces of the two teams were not revealing anything; they simply glanced at each other from a distance.

It was as if both sides were prepared for the outcome of the battle, except for the unexpected result.

Anyway, the one who's most worried is definitely the DK.

Xu Xiu slumped into a chair, utterly dejected. He never imagined that he would draw that one and only LPL team from a 0-1 deficit.
As for the draws for WBG and JDG, there's no need to elaborate.

After all, with the star-studded lineups of these two teams, surely no one could possibly lose to a European or American team?
After a day of intense battles, the team members headed back to their hotels to rest and prepare for the next day's back-to-back matches.

The Swiss rounds ran from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Because they had to watch their potential opponents' matches, the V5 members, who were playing the opening game, were all a bit tired and took a short nap in the car. Ye Bo also took the opportunity to relax for a while.

The Swiss team's test lies in this.

The back-to-back schedule is too intense, with almost no time for adjustment. It's a continuous series of matches, and if any problems are discovered at the last minute, it's very difficult to make adjustments on short notice. Therefore, it puts a great test to each team's preparation for the rest period before the World Championship.

If someone makes a big mistake right from the start, and we rule out the possibility of misinterpreting the version, it can basically only be attributed to laxity and insufficient preparation during the off-season!
He deserved to be sent home after losing three quick games.

Fortunately, V5 was definitely well-prepared.

Relaxed, Ye Bo opened his phone and started browsing posts. He first logged onto the foreign websites he had been frequently visiting recently, and unsurprisingly saw his own ID on Twitter's trending topics.

However, the content was something he was unaware of while on the field.

Behind-the-scenes tidbits of Swiss Racing: How did YE shock other professional players?

Ye Bo saw the footage captured by the backstage camera and saw Zeus replicating his Yone gameplay on stage.

The comments section below, filled with messages from netizens from various countries, was bustling with activity.

No wonder Showmaker looks like a child next to him. So why doesn't the LEC produce a genius like him? After all these years, we still only have one Caps!

【You're right, but that's just how YE is: a mid laner who can play top lane, a mid laner who can control the jungler, a mid laner who can direct the bot lane, and a mid laner who can play mid lane!】

[Oh no, it suddenly occurred to me that if V5 actually wins the championship this year, wouldn't that mean the Koreans have succeeded? Then YE will truly become a Seoul resident!]

[Yoshi! Yoshi! Seoul is about to be taken over by YE!]

[Are you envious of the life upstairs? After all, the S-series will never be held in Japan, and YE will never conquer Riben~~~]

[Incorrect. They already captured it last year. After all, the US occupied the area 78 years ago, and YE captured Atlanta and San Francisco last year!]

[Heh, you can all laugh. V5 has already been exposed, hasn't it? Zeus learned it in a flash! They'll pay it all back with interest!]

Ye Bo was happily scrolling through Twitter, watching the online battles between netizens from different countries.

I also came across a tweet from Riot Games during the journey.

I clicked in to take a look.

The official Riot Games account on the external website posted a pinned tweet today showcasing the results of the first day of matches, featuring a picture of themselves winning MVP in the first game.

RiotGame: {Swiss Round Day 1 Results! The first MVP mid laner has returned! Can Faker, Chovy, and Knight catch up?}
Talk about it.

Riot's PR department and design team are not "on the same page".

The design team has always preferred to specifically weaken the strongest teams in order to create a highly competitive "version balance" and avoid a situation where one team dominates.

After all, this is the only way to highlight the value of their work!
But regardless of the country, all the publicity departments want is "traffic"!
So, in almost all sports, the most universal and best way to gain popularity is to "create idols".

Above all that is a "forbidden secret technique"—"Competition to Create Gods"!
It's like comparing LeBron James and Michael Jordan in basketball, or Messi and Ronaldo in football. These are all natural topics with high visibility. Just putting them there will naturally spark all sorts of controversy and discussion, without even needing any physical confrontation!

Obviously.

Riot Games' official marketing department also intends to establish a new professional benchmark for League of Legends, aiming to create a "competition" for creating legends within the LOL world.

And the ID YE is simply the best carrier!

Whether it's the still-fighting former god Faker, or the failed attempts to create gods in the past few years by Knight and Chovy, they can all be participants in this topic.

Unfortunately, the creative abilities of netizens on foreign websites are still far behind those in China.

Ye Bo browsed around for a while, but in the end, he logged onto Bilibili to find some fun.

Then, he discovered that his favorite content creator on YouTube had updated!

The video title is absolutely outrageous!

Initial D: District

Ye Bo clicked on it instantly, and the cover image that hit him almost made him lose his composure.

Xu Xiu's iconic "staring" photo at the camera was photoshopped onto Malzahar's head and it looks perfectly natural!

Meanwhile, "Fujiwara Takumi," with Xu Xiu's face photoshopped onto him, sat by the window of an AE86, watching helplessly as "Haraki," with Beryl's head photoshopped onto him, got into a black Mercedes-Benz with Ye Bo's head photoshopped onto him.

Xu Xiu, sitting in the corner, looked heartbroken, sad, and indignant.

The perspective shifts to the second day.

When the two met again, Beryl, looking "shy," was gazing at him.

Yuan: "Xiu, what am I to you?"

Xu: "You? You're my U-Love-Me!"

Original: "So I'm milk tea!"

Xu: "No, you actually got into Uncle Ye's Mercedes. All I want now is..."

"Inhale! Slurp!"

"Suck it in!!"

Then "Grasshopper" began to twitch his upper head and suddenly thrust forward, while the background music kept playing a bizarre "Shiba Shiba!" in the background, and lasers shot out from his eyes to suck up the "policewoman's" head shell, firmly pulling her to the spot!
This is actually a classic recreation of the match.

Because of that match, Malzahar had no chance to kill Yone by the mid-game, so he had no choice but to shift aggro, and in the end, he relentlessly targeted the support Caitlyn to drain her ultimate.
What are you laughing at?

Ye Bo laughed so loudly that he woke up the people in front of him. Xun and Holy Gun Bro turned around and took a look, and immediately burst into laughter as well.

Even Deft was standing there, his lips twitching wildly, a smile he was trying so hard to maintain but couldn't quite manage.

Beryl, who was sleeping the soundest, couldn't resist her curiosity and peeked out sleepily.

Then: He saw himself being sucked by Xu Xiu while lying on one side.

"Fuck!!"

"What kind of hellish work is this?!"

The lights at the V5 Hotel base didn't go out until very late that night.

Fortunately, to accommodate the tournament format, the teams that played the opening match the previous day will play the last match on the second day, which gives them a little more time to utilize.

10 month 20 day.

The second round of the Swiss group stage began as scheduled.

However, no one expected that someone would do something big right from the start!
(End of this chapter)