Chapter 75 Group Match (I)
Qi Ji's voice was the same as usual, cold and quiet, with no major ups and downs in his tone, but just this short sentence made everyone present feel the absolute confidence and fearlessness emanating from him.
This incomparable aura made everyone stunned for a moment, and then everyone came to their senses and immediately realized it.
Yes, if it weren't for them entering the third group, and replacing them with any other team in the fourth round, the third group would just be an ordinary group, and it would be highly likely that the two Korean teams would qualify.
It was precisely because of their joining that this group became a veritable death group. The ones who should be afraid are not them, but the other teams!
After thinking it through, everyone was not so panicked.
The little pressure that Yuan Zhuo had felt in his heart was instantly transformed into excitement and motivation because of Qi Ji's words.
He looked at Qi Ji lovingly, who continued to eat quietly and calmly, and then looked at others, Yuan Zhuo's eyes were full of excitement and arrogance.
"That's right, what are you afraid of, just do it!"
Yuan Zhuo's words immediately ignited the fighting spirit in everyone's hearts, and Coach Wang wanted to take the opportunity to encourage everyone and strengthen everyone's confidence.
He called everyone over, and everyone put their hands together, and then shouted "Come on" in unison, while moving their hands down vigorously.
The schedule of the group stage is arranged by group. Everyone plays the first round first, and it must be completed in one day.
That is to say, each team needs to complete three BO1s against the other three teams in the same group on the same day. This is very stressful and challenging for the players and teams.
But challenges are the highlights. Tension, excitement, and motivation are always the eternal rhythm of e-sports competitions.
According to the schedule, MG's game was scheduled for the third day.
As long as Qi Ji is there, this game will always be the focus of the game. Coupled with MG's status as the defending champion and the death situation in the third group, almost everyone has focused their attention on today's game.
The organizers will naturally not miss such a good opportunity to increase the ratings. They directly arranged the game between MG and USD (the No. 2 seed in the Korean division) in the first game of the day. A strong BO1 match is about to begin!
Putting aside the fact that Qi Ji has been competing in the World Championship for many years, although the other four members of MG all had experience in the World Championship last year.
But last year they competed with a spirit of a newborn bull that is not afraid of tigers, and the mentality of "no loss if lost, and a big profit if won"
was different this year. This year they are the defending champions. They not only have the mission of winning the championship again and maintaining the glory of the region, but everyone also knows how important this opportunity is to Qi Ji, and they don't want to let him down.
It is conceivable that everyone's pressure this year is like a mountain pressing down on their heads.
After more than a year, Qi Ji stood on the stage of the World Championship again, and his mood was not as calm as it seemed.
Especially after he came on stage, the audience shouted his ID loudly, which made his heart tremble, but this trembling was not fear, but...long-lost excitement.
But Qi Ji also knew that the others were under great pressure, so when he sat down to adjust his headphones, he spoke again to help everyone adjust their mentality.
"Don't be nervous, everyone. We have analyzed before that USD's overall strength is weaker than ours. As long as we play normally, we will definitely win this game."
Of course, as the No. 2 seed in the Korean region and the world champion team of S4, USD also has their advantages, that is, not only is it rich in world championship experience, but it is also very stable and has a super strong ability to turn the tables.
There is only one young player in their team, who also participated in the world championship last year.
But at the same time, they also have a huge disadvantage - USD's soul mage Bank is Qi Ji's old rival, and their record in the world competition is 12:1 (number of games), so it is self-evident who is 12.
Some people even joke that Bank has "track phobia". When he meets Qi Ji, he inexplicably performs very poorly, but when facing others, he always wins more and loses less.
Psychological factors do account for part of the reason, but Qi Ji believes that the more important reason is that they have played too many times and he is too familiar with him.
In training and competition, everyone may change tactics, or have on-the-spot reactions in unexpected situations, but habits and thinking are difficult to change, so in Qi Ji's eyes, Bank is almost transparent.
As for why, although they are both old rivals, bank cannot see through him as clearly as Qi Ji sees through himself, the outside world speculates that there is a fundamental difference between the two people's talents and understanding of the game.
Of course, no matter what, in Qi Ji's eyes, bank is a very good player. They have met in the world arena since S2. This year is also his last year. Because he announced before the game that he would retire after the world championship, he hopes that he can get good results in the last world championship and draw a perfect end to his career.
Facing the old rival who is about to retire again, Qi Ji's heart inevitably produces some sympathy, but unfortunately there is only one champion, and he is destined to retire with regrets.
Qi Ji's comfort is always like magic. As long as he opens his mouth, no matter how anxious or nervous everyone is before, they can slowly relax under his comfort.
After debugging the headphones, Cheng Xiaowa took a deep breath and shouted in the headphones.
"Okay, I'm not nervous, come on everyone!"
With his crisp and energetic cheering, the BP began.
BO1 is not only the most exciting competition system, but also the most difficult competition system to do BP. Facing a competition with only one chance, do you hide some tactics or go all out?
Hiding may accidentally lose, and going all out may expose your tactics too early, so how to control the scale of BP is also part of winning the game.
Of course, the ideal situation is to have enough tactics, use one set, and there are still countless sets, so that the opponent can never see through you, and the chance of winning can be greatly improved.
Fortunately, MG has quite a few tactics, but they don't know how much USD has prepared. All the answers will be revealed in the game.
As the blue team, MG took the lead in banning a soul mage and two soul snipers that the opponent's players are good at.
In the past two years, USD's soul sniper has become their most stable output point. Whenever they are at a disadvantage, they will choose to drag until the soul sniper develops and finally use it to turn the tables.
USD's BP is indeed a bit difficult to do. If they follow MG's lineup last year, they only need to target MG's soul thorns and soul support, and limit the performance of melt and wawaya, and their chances of winning will be quite good.
But now with Qi Ji's joining, the variables have increased, and they have increased exponentially.
Therefore, when doing BP, USD was a little hesitant. In the end, in the first round of BP, MG's soul method, soul thorn, and soul support were banned.
This BAN made Yuan Zhuo laugh.
"Tsk, they are scared, hey, it's all because our Qi Shen is too powerful."
The opponent was afraid before the battle, and everyone's mood was involuntarily relaxed a lot, while Qi Ji was as cautious as always.
"Okay, don't relax too much."
With his reminder, everyone immediately tightened their skin, but not as nervous as at the beginning, their hearts were pounding, and their mentality was just right.
A few minutes later, the BP game between the two sides ended and the competition officially began.
Facing an old rival, although he could feel the opponent's preparation and efforts, Qi Ji still relied on his understanding of the opponent's soul method and gained a big lead in the laning at the beginning.
But the opponent did not give up and continued to send his own soul thorns and soul assistants to support the middle lane.
Fortunately, with Yuan Zhuo, Qi Ji would never be alone. With his excellent operation and Yuan Zhuo's strict protection and excellent cooperation, MG's mid-lane advantage was further expanded.
And MG also radiated this advantage to the entire map, allowing them to gain vision and military advantages in competing for all major resource points.
As a veteran team, USD calmed down after finding that they could not break through in the middle lane, and immediately turned their focus to another direction, namely MG's bottom lane.
But unlike in China, where they would occasionally slack off because the game went too smoothly, this was the world championship, and it was their first game of the world championship. Cheng Xiaowa and Zhu Yu were very cautious.
Although MG's bottom lane suffered some casualties due to the opponent's frequent tactics such as four-on-two, other teammates would take the opportunity to obtain other resources and advantages, so MG was not at a disadvantage overall. When
one plan failed, USD did not choose to give up, but decided to go back to their most stable old way.
They let the powerful soul tank go to the side lane to push the tower alone, in exchange for economy, and also to buy more development time for the soul sniper, hoping that they can turn the tables in the later stage like before.
Sure enough, after choosing this tactic, USD adopted a policy of avoiding battle. Whenever they met MG people, they would just dodge away, and if they couldn't beat the resource group, they would just let them go.
The economy of both sides became bigger and bigger, and the hearts of the MG players became more and more stable, and victory seemed to be just around the corner.
However, more than ten years of competition experience and his own keen insight told Qi Ji that things might not be that simple.
After taking a look at the development of the soul sniper on the opposite side, Qi Ji operated his own hero soul to eat the soldiers while his brain was running fast.
Right now, they do have a higher chance of winning, but if the game drags on, it may not be the case. USD's Soul Sniper is still developing well. If they are allowed to drag the game to six pieces of equipment, and they make some mistakes in the later team battles, and the opponent happens to play well, then there is a high probability of a comeback.
Although this is a low-probability event, the charm of e-sports is to turn the impossible into the possible. Qi Ji is unwilling to take any risks. They must end the game as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, he looked at the vision eyes they had arranged on the map, as well as the opponent's position, and began to command.
"Tianya will push the second tower in the middle first, and Xiaowa and Zhu Yu will push the lower high ground directly after pushing the lower middle tower."
Cheng Xiaowa, who originally planned to return after pushing the second tower in the lower lane, exclaimed.
"Ah, isn't this too radical, Qi Shen? They are likely to surround us from behind!"
Qi Ji explained quickly, aiming for this effect.
"It's okay. You go lure them out. Yuan Zhuo and I will TP to the triangle bush in advance. They probably haven't checked that ward. Tian Ya is also going to go to the bottom lane after destroying half of the health of the defense tower. Let's do a counter-encirclement." After
Qi Ji explained this, everyone understood. He was going to make a plan to lure the enemy, and now it depends on whether the opponent will follow suit.
Of course, this does involve a lot of risks. Once one link fails, they are likely to lose this team battle and affect the subsequent situation.
But high risk means high return. Once USD is pegged, they will have a great chance to wipe them out and win the game in one go.
There are pros and cons, but everyone unanimously chose to trust Qi Ji, so the plan began.
First, Qi Ji and Yuan Zhuo showed up near the farther top lane, making the opponent think that they would not be able to support the bottom lane in time.
After pushing down the second tower in the bottom lane, Cheng Xiaowa and Zhu Yu, who were supposed to go home to replenish their equipment, continued to push forward, as if they wanted to push down the highland tower in the bottom lane.
This choice is actually not uncommon. Sometimes when one's side has a huge advantage, they will indeed make more aggressive decisions.
Duan Tianya was pushing the second tower in the middle lane according to the plan. At the same time, Qi Ji and Yuan Zhuo, who disappeared in the mist, had their double TPs turned on. Everyone was holding their breath waiting for the other side to hook up.
Just when Cheng Xiaowa and Zhu Yu had destroyed most of the highland towers, USD Soul Thorn and Soul Mage really came from behind, wanting to cooperate with the three teammates under the tower to kill Cheng Xiaowa and Zhu Yu, and buy another three minutes of development time for their own Soul Sniper.
At this time, Qi Ji and Yuan Zhuo, who had just TPed in place, directly killed them from the flank and froze them to death.
At the same time, Cheng Xiaowa made a fake retreat, and suddenly flashed in the opposite direction to freeze the opponent's Soul Assistant. Zhu Yu's output immediately followed, and the opponent's Soul Assistant also died!
Qi Ji and Yuan Zhuo, who quickly dealt with the opponent's Soul Mage and Soul Assassin, also rushed to rescue Duan Tianya who was deliberately entangled with the opponent's Soul Sniper and Soul Tank. When he was only a little bit of blood left, Qi Ji controlled the Heroic Soul in his hand, leaped forward and instantly killed the Soul Sniper who was no longer protected by his teammates.
In the end, amid everyone's cheers, USD's Soul Tank managed to escape and returned to the fountain to recover.
But he alone could not withstand the attack of MG's five people. In the end, USD's Heroic Soul Tower exploded. After a fierce battle of 43 minutes, MG finally defeated this powerful and unyielding veteran team and got a good start in the world competition!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
