Chapter 81 The Main League Begins
To avoid randomness and chance, the main league adopts a double-elimination format.
Teams from sixteen regions will need to accumulate two losses before being eliminated. The key is that the competition will be divided into winners' brackets and losers' brackets.
The winners of the first round advance to the winners' bracket, while the losers advance to the losers' bracket;
The losers from the winners' bracket in the second round will also be placed in the losers' bracket, and if they lose again in the losers' bracket, they will be eliminated.
And so on, the final will be between the two teams that emerge victorious from each of the two groups. Before the final, one of the teams has never lost a single game, while the team from the loser's bracket that participates in the final has only lost once.
This format is like giving each team a resurrection shield; losing a game doesn't affect their chances of winning the championship.
For the YXG team in the past, they never needed this resurrection armor.
Since the team assembled their five-man squad, they have consistently made great strides in the winners' bracket.
Having fought their way up from the Star League, they have basically lost the concept of failure over the past few years. No other team has ever had the training resources and professional coaches of YXG's level. Even if a new team occasionally comes up with an unusual playstyle, it will be quickly figured out by the coaches of YXG's training research group.
Upon hearing the host announce the first round of the competition schedule, the other team members did not blame Zeng Ge for drawing a bad draw; instead, they were excited and eager to compete.
Bai Fan rested his arm on the back of the front seat and kindly comforted Zeng Ge, who looked pale and sickly.
"Don't be upset. I think it's good to play against JR in the first round. They are a newly formed team and their tactics haven't been revealed yet."
"Other teams may not be able to bring out their true strengths, but we can."
Zeng Ge smiled, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
At this moment, Lin Yuzheng was in a better mood. As the two passed each other, Lin Yuzheng patted Zeng Ge on the shoulder and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Don't worry, we'll win. Brother Zeng, I'm the male lead..."
Zeng's eyes held countless meanings. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.
The match is scheduled for 2 p.m. on the second day. According to the event schedule, both teams need to gather outside the venue before entering the venue together.
Standing on the high platform outside the competition venue, the YXG players' expressions were somewhat subtle, and even Bai Fan, who usually acts as a peacemaker, showed a look of being both amused and exasperated.
On the road opposite the platform, dozens of staff members from Giant Technology had boxes of support items neatly arranged behind them, generously handing out huge support bags to every passerby.
The bag contained headbands, T-shirt brooches, and blue and orange cotton dolls all worn by the JR team. At the bottom was a soft light board containing various expensive gifts, including high-end skincare and makeup products, fitness trackers, and portable neck and shoulder massagers.
Even these souvenirs are engraved with the JR team's logo and feature the team's classic colors, making it immediately obvious which team you're a fan of.
Of course, JR team wasn't the only one among the densely packed audience below the platform, but no one could resist the temptation of the free gifts. YXG team fans also secretly went to get one.
Looking down from the high platform, the entire area below was a sea of blue and orange, with almost no trace of YXG's support colors.
The manager of the YXG team was also in a rather awkward position at this moment.
If even a two-bedroom apartment carved out of his toes could be listed for sale on the market, he would become a billionaire.
What's even more awkward is that no one in the team started cheering or urging him to quickly arrange the same support items for YXG.
Everyone knows perfectly well that no team other than JR would engage in such a money-spending stunt.
While a cafeteria with scientifically balanced nutrition and a training ground covering an entire planet could at least be considered an investment in training effectiveness, this kind of extravagant support is simply throwing money down the drain.
Each bag contains a gift worth at least a thousand yuan, and at least two or three thousand bags have been distributed so far, totaling two or three million yuan. And all of this is just to get a few more clips of the JR team in the few seconds that the live broadcast of the event will briefly show, to increase the advertising effect a little bit.
The manager of the YXG team wiped the sweat from his forehead and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace at the camera.
Before entering the arena, the YXG team manager took a quick look at the JR team members.
Unlike the sallow and thin rural children he remembered, JR's players had muscles in all the right places, forming standard and powerful thin muscles, which could be seen as the result of long-term scientific training and diet.
For some reason, he felt a little uneasy even before the competition started.
YXG originally prided itself on its professional logistics and training team, but Mr. Fang could have easily hired a more experienced team, as he felt that JR's backup training was just as good.
Once inside the competition venue, they realized that the spectacular crowds outside were just the beginning.
Every corner the cameras could capture in the arena was covered with large advertisements for Juke. Looking down from the tower, the group even saw promotional banners for New Energy Mechs outside the Dragon Pit, the official competition venue.
The entire venue has tens of thousands of trees, with hundreds of giant trees topped with ribbons bearing the Giant Technology logo. Just as the background music for the event started, beams of light shot out from the two towers, projecting a demonstration animation of the Giant Technology escape pod onto the open ground where the beetle soldiers were about to pass.
Lin Yuzheng: "..."
He spoke faster than he thought, casually remarking, "The organizers of the main league are even more sycophantic than those in the sixth division. Why don't they print ads on Xiaolong too?"
The next second, Xiaolong, who had been facing away from them, turned around, with a piece of fireproof cloth in his mouth. The hard cloth clearly showed the new material technology that Juke was about to launch.
Bai Fan quickly reached out and covered Lin Yuzheng's mouth: "You can't say that, you're not allowed to give the organizers ideas."
Almost every corner of the venue was filled with merchandise featuring GGI Tech elements. The organizers' clever touches were evident one after another, their faces beaming with pride that they were more creative than the sixth division.
YXG team manager looked up at the sky.
The organizers of the main league are far more knowledgeable than the organizers of events in less developed regions. They certainly wouldn't decorate the stadium like this for a small profit; they must have received an advertising fee that they couldn't refuse.
He couldn't guess how much money President Fang had spent; he estimated it would be a terrifying astronomical figure.
Of course, this number might not be much to them.
So sour, the gap between teams is bigger than the gap between a person and a dog.
What should have been a match between two teams has turned into what looks like an internal exhibition game within Giant Interactive Group. Anyone who didn't know better would think it was a training match organized by JR himself.
As a showdown between the newly crowned championship seed and the long-standing champion, this match attracted unprecedented attention across the entire Star Alliance. The number of viewers watching the live stream of the first round alone exceeded that of last year's winners' bracket semifinals.
The number of comments in the official live stream was now refreshing to the point where thousands were flashing by every second. The organizers extracted the comments with the most likes in real time on the right side and created a small floating demo board.
[If I were a member of YXG, my mentality would probably have collapsed by now. I can't even imagine how they'll feel when they fight the dragon. I really couldn't hold back when the dragon turned around.]
[Organizer: Mr. Fang, do you think my kneeling is professional?]
[This is a lesson the organizers of the main league taught the sixth division a lesson they've learned. Watch closely and learn from it.jpg]
We still don't know exactly how much Fang Ge spent on advertising.
[Having such a large balance in your bank account must be tiring, I suggest you transfer half to me, I'm willing to sacrifice myself to help Fang Ge share the burden.]
[I'm so regretful I'm slapping my thigh at home. If I'd known I could get a fan gift bag just by strolling around outside the venue, I would have definitely taken the day off to go for a walk.]
[Actually, it would have been possible to catch a ticket even now, but I didn't manage to get one, so I had to watch the big screen outside the venue with other audience members. Right now, GK is organizing staff to distribute water and food, and I got two big bags of snacks. I still have a bunch of hot lamb skewers in my hand.]
[Received, already departed]
[Waaaaah, after a year, we finally see Pei Pei back in the news! Our muscular hunk is going to carry the team like crazy!]
[What? You've changed your tune and aren't including me? Didn't you all organize a group to protest against Pei Jiahang's team six months ago? Why are you suddenly all excited and looking forward to it?]
[Can I say this? Actually, there wasn't much to criticize in this whole thing. I remember one player, during an early stream, secretly smoked a few cigarettes behind the camera, and his entire family's IDs were exposed... Everyone went a little overboard back then...]
[+1, they've never changed their tune. It's always been the paid shills of a certain top team bashing them, with the paid shills leading the charge and eight hundred marketing accounts following suit. Hilarious, the manipulation has always been so obvious.]
Finally, this comment was displayed at the very top of the demo area. Zeng Ge took a deep breath, turned off the terminal, and decided to avoid seeing it altogether.
The essence behind the war of public opinion is still money, and he has clearly lost the battle for public opinion.
It's okay, he can win it back in a real mech competition.
No matter how fancy JR's moves are, the difference in skill level is the key.
As Bai Fan counted down, the five members of YXG flew out of the tower at high speed.
They never doubted that they could win this big game; at most, it would be a bit difficult. The most important thing was to bring out JR's tactical reserves and suppress JR in the following years.
Zeng Ge led Lin Yuzheng to launch the first attack on the opponent's isolated long and short blade positions. The clash of blades against each other often ignited the most primal fighting spirit and could also tear a gap in the opponent's team.
Lin Yuzheng could see the Giant Technology promotional banner on the treetop from his angle, cursed angrily, and his long blade was delayed by a moment.
However, the opposing long-blade and short-blade players did not choose to fight back, but instead retreated under the cover of their teammates.
The next ten minutes were the same.
YXG relentlessly attacked, while JR never engaged in direct team fights with them; even when they did, it was always a brief skirmish.
Zenger held up his shield, and a fine layer of sweat quickly appeared on his forehead.
He realized that despite launching an offensive for so long, they hadn't made any effective breakthroughs. YXG hadn't even gotten a single kill after all that fighting, hadn't gained an advantage in the lanes, and JR had even managed to take a dragon.
Unlike Lin Yuzheng's cheers in the team voice chat, Zeng Ge quickly had a terrifying thought in his mind—
It was almost as if JR was deliberately letting them win.
Is it possible that since they want to utilize JR's tactical reserves, JR's coach also has the same idea?
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