It is November now, and the 10th season individual competition has entered its most intense stage.
There were two semi-finals on the evening of November 1st, and Xie Mingzhe certainly would not miss it. He bought tickets directly in the game to go to Phoenix Star Domain to watch the game. Xu Changfeng defeated Ye Zhu 3:2, and Shan Lan defeated Gui Sirui 3:2. Both of them advanced to the finals of the 10th season individual competition.
The finals would be held at 8pm the next day, which happened to be a Saturday, so Qin Xuan and Yu Ke both had a day off. Chen Qianlin bought tickets in advance and planned to take the team members to the scene to experience the atmosphere of the finals in person.
The next morning, Xie Mingzhe woke up and turned on his laptop to check the official website. The official website had opened the championship voting channel, and the votes for Xu Changfeng and Shan Lan had exceeded 100 million, which showed how large the player base of this game was.
These two players already have a lot of fans, plus Xu Changfeng is Tang Muzhou's partner and Shan Lan is Nie Yuandao's apprentice, the two have also attracted a lot of support from club fans and passers-by.
When Xie Mingzhe opened the webpage, the votes of support from both sides were still increasing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few minutes, each side added hundreds of thousands of votes. This popularity is even more terrifying than the Earth Era Film Festival's most popular star vote.
At seven o'clock in the evening, everyone had dinner in advance. Chen Xiao chartered a car and brought Nirvana's friends to the stadium.
There were crowds of people outside the stadium, and there was a long queue at the ticket gate. There were young boys and girls in the queue, as well as some elderly people with gray hair, and even some people came to watch the game with their children in their arms. Many of the fans held up fluorescent signs, posters and other support items for their favorite players. It really deserves to be called a "national game."
Xiaopang rubbed his hands excitedly: "It's so lively! This is my first time to watch a final in person!"
Jin Yue sighed: "Next year, in the finals of various events, there may be some of our Nirvana athletes."
Chen Xiao patted his shoulder and said seriously: "It's not that it might happen, it will definitely happen."
The man's voice was firm and his eyes were full of confidence. Xie Mingzhe glanced at him and followed his words, "We should treat this year as a preview to get used to the atmosphere of the finals. Next year, we won't be too nervous."
Yu Ke complained: "You guys are not even professional players, yet you're actually thinking about the finals. You're so shameless!"
Chen Xiao laughed and said, "I'm thick-skinned. I got it from Xiao Xie."
Xie Mingzhe refused to take the blame and retorted, "I learned it from Brother Chen."
Chen Qianlin listened to the two of them arguing and couldn't help but think: You two are the same, so stop blaming each other.
It is good to be confident, but only rational confidence can help them achieve good results. It doesn't matter if you are just being polite, but you must have a clear mind and see your strengths and weaknesses at all times.
Xie Mingzhe has not missed any competitions during this period. He came to watch the finals in person just to see clearly how far he is from the top players in the Star Card Alliance.
The final of the tenth season, Xu Changfeng vs Shan Lan!
There were entertainment performances and animation shows before the game started. The atmosphere in the stadium was extremely heated and the cheers of the audience were deafening. Xie Mingzhe sat in the VIP room at the highest point, looking at the dark crowd in the stadium, and couldn't help but be infected by everyone's excitement.
The scene is different, it is much more real than watching the live broadcast in the game!
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the competition officially began.
The finals was a best-of-five match, in a blind-card mode. Xu Changfeng started off very aggressively, using the advantages of a double-acceleration deck with fast skill cooldown and strong attack to win two games in a row, taking the match point 2:0!
Such a start surprised everyone. After all, Shan Lan was strong enough to be defeated by Xu Changfeng.
The fans of Fenghua Club at the scene screamed wildly, almost celebrating Xu Changfeng's victory in advance. But Xie Mingzhe felt that Shanlan should not be defeated 3:0. Maybe Shanlan will adjust its strategy and win back a game?
The camera zoomed in, and the big screen showed the enlarged faces of the two players. Xu Changfeng looked relaxed the entire time, and Shan Lan didn't seem depressed at all after losing two games, and still had a faint smile on his face.
During the 5-minute intermission, the two players went offstage to adjust their positions. The camera followed them closely - there was a VIP viewing area next to the final stage, where a large number of familiar players from the professional league sat, including Tang Muzhou, Shen An, and the chief referee Nie Yuandao.
Xie Mingzhe had seen many photos of Nie Shen on the Internet before, but today was the first time he saw this great god in person.
Nie Yuandao was wearing a suit. This man had a particularly strong aura. Just sitting there, he seemed to be a head taller than others. His expression was very calm, and his handsome features, set off by his serious expression, made him look like a statue of a god that could not be desecrated.
As Nie Yuandao's face appeared on the screen, the screams of the audience almost blew the roof off. Nie Shen's popularity is really not exaggerated.
Shanlan was particularly well behaved in front of his master, with his head lowered, looking like a student who had made a mistake.
Nie Yuandao leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Shan Lan nodded continuously and listened attentively. Finally, Nie Yuandao smiled slightly, patted his apprentice on the shoulder, and seemed to say from his mouth: "Go, believe in yourself."
Xie Mingzhe had come into contact with Nie Yuandao in a game a long time ago. At that time, Nie Shen gave him the feeling of a very mature and stable man. Seeing him in person today, he was indeed not to be underestimated. This temperament is really something that ordinary people cannot learn.
Xie Mingzhe was particularly excited to think that such a great player might appear on the field next year!
Shan Lan returned to the stage with a confident smile on her face.
In the third round, Shanlan chose a map. He chose the "Cloud Walk" map without hesitation. It was a map made up of countless clouds, with many messy gaps in the middle. When the map was projected, the audience burst into cheers.
In the private room, Chi Qing, who had been following this league, said calmly: "This is a brand new game map, I have never seen it before."
Chi Yingying said: "Pure Aerial Combat Map, this should be specially made for Shan Lan!"
Chen Qianlin said: "Shanlan is the strongest player in aerial combat. Xu Changfeng is in great danger in this round."
Chen Xiao stroked his chin, thinking, "There are too many accidental factors in the ultimate kill map. It's very risky to do this. If he can't win this round, he will lose. Lao Nie must have just explained something to Shan Lan, so he chose this kind of map in the match point round."
Xie Mingzhe looked back at Chen Xiao in confusion: "Brother Chen, what is the ultimate killing map?"
Chen Xiao explained: "A must-kill map is a map with scene effects that have a 'must-kill' setting. For example, this 'Walking in the Clouds' map has a lot of gaps between the clouds, and the card must stand on the clouds. If you accidentally fall in the middle, you will die instantly even if your health is full. This kind of map is very challenging for the player's mental quality, and the positioning requirements are extremely high."
Xie Mingzhe suddenly realized that this map design was much more difficult to fight than his Flame Mountain. The Flame Mountain had frequent movement, but at least standing in the fire would not kill you instantly, and there would be opportunities to replenish blood and adjust. The cloud-based aerial combat map was different. If you were not careful enough to fall from the gap in the clouds, you would really fall from the sky to the ground. It was a heart-pounding game!
Shanlan chose this kind of fatal plan, he must have a clever way to deal with Xu Changfeng.
Xie Mingzhe stared at the big screen expectantly.
As soon as the third game started, Shanlan's style changed completely.
In the first two rounds, because Xu Changfeng's double acceleration flow would force the game to speed up, Shan Lan was exhausted from defending and had been playing very passively. But in this round, he directly attacked from the beginning!
Flying animal cards move the fastest. As soon as Xu Changfeng summoned the card, Shanlan's fastest flying geese combo knocked down nearly half of his health. Soon after, larks, cranes, and black eagles came out in groups. The visual effect brought by the flying birds in the sky was extremely gorgeous. Shanlan was indeed the "most beautiful" player in the competition.
His bird cards not only have powerful attacks, but also have excellent escape speed.
After a fierce attack by the flock of birds, they retreated at lightning speed under the protection of the peacock's open tail, cleverly avoiding Xu Changfeng's counter-control move. The rhythm was also perfectly controlled.
However, Xu Changfeng would not sit back and take a beating, and soon, he relied on the vines of the Green Wind Vine to turn the situation around - the long vines swung out violently, and directly rolled Shan Lan's key output card Black Eagle into the encirclement of his own plant cards, killing it instantly!
Shanlan took the initiative to attack, but ended up losing a card first.
At this moment, a shrill cry rang in everyone's ears, and then a huge golden eagle with golden eyes suddenly spread its wings and rushed towards Xu Changfeng's Green Wind Vine like the wind!
As the golden eagle opened its sharp claws, the Green Wind Vine was uprooted. Before Xu Changfeng could react, his vine was accurately thrown down from the gap in the clouds by the golden eagle and smashed into pieces!
Everyone: “…”
The audience cheered in surprise, and Xie Mingzhe sat up straighter nervously.
Kill instantly when the enemy's health is full, this is the terrifying thing about the ultimate killing map!
If it was him just now, he would definitely not be able to avoid the displacement, attack and strong control of Shanlan's "Golden Eagle" card. His character card, Walking in the Clouds, played against Shanlan and was simply completely defeated.
I have always heard that Shanlan is very good at air combat. Seeing it with my own eyes today, Xie Mingzhe was really shocked.
Just as he was thinking about it, Xu Changfeng suddenly summoned a familiar figure - Wang Zhaojun.
He actually brought Wang Zhaojun onto the stage, played a piece of music directly, and shot down the golden eagle flying in the air.
However, the next moment, Shan Lan immediately summoned Lin Daiyu and instantly killed Xu Changfeng's acceleration core card - Hyacinth!
The change happened too quickly, almost in the blink of an eye, and both of them lost two cards. The audience was confused, and Xie Mingzhe was also bewildered. It was not until the slow-motion replay was played that he figured out what was going on.
The commentator said: "It's Uncle Fatty's instant death card again! Wang Zhaojun and Lin Daiyu appeared almost at the same time, instantly killing their opponent's key cards and disrupting their opponent's rhythm of the game."
The male commentator echoed, "The instant death card made by Fatty Uncle appeared in the game of the Professional League Finals. This should be a memorable moment! Shanlan's Golden Eagle and Xu Changfeng's Hyacinth are both very critical cards in the deck. The two sides were forced to exchange one for one, and the game returned to the starting point!"
Yu Ke said excitedly: "Azhe, Azhe! You made these cards, so cool!"
Xie Mingzhe, however, had mixed feelings.
It has been two months since he made the instant-death cards. At that time, he was just a newcomer who could only make instant-death cards and open a shop to make money. Unexpectedly, now, the cards he made appear at the scene of the top professional league finals.
This made him both excited and moved.
If Tang Muzhou hadn't taught him how to use the instant death card, he wouldn't be where he is today. However, he didn't feel proud at all, because although he made the card, if it was him on the field just now, he wouldn't have reacted so quickly.
It was clearly a familiar card, but in the hands of the masters, he seemed to be unfamiliar with it. The speed of Lin Daiyu and Wang Zhaojun's moves just now, and the angles at which they aimed at their opponents' cards, were almost a perfect tutorial on how to operate a dead card.
The golden eagle flew so fast in the air, but Xu Changfeng was able to predict its movement, allowing Wang Zhaojun's sonic boom to accurately shoot down the bird card. The petals of the hyacinth were floating everywhere in the air, but Shan Lan was able to allow Lin Daiyu to instantly hit the petals themselves.
This is the true power of instant kill cards in a high-level game.
If it were him, in an intense match, his skills wouldn't be able to hit the target at all, right?
The more Xie Mingzhe watched, the more excited he became. This duel was truly exciting!
Even in an air battle map that was favorable to Shanlan, Xu Changfeng did not show any weakness. The two sides fought back and forth until only the last card was left. Shanlan used skillful operations to dodge Xu Changfeng's hard control in the air, and then used a counterattack to kill Xu Changfeng's last card and win back the game.
2:1, Xu Changfeng still has the match point.
In the fourth round, Xu Changfeng chose a map, and he picked an obstacle map - Forest Maze.
He chose this kind of map with many obstacles, obviously to prevent Shanlan's bird cards from using their fast attack speed to directly kill his core cards.
Many people thought that Xu Changfeng's home court should be stable. However, Shan Lan surprised the audience. He actually changed five cards in a row, almost completely changed the lineup system, took out two treatment cards to force the rhythm, and dragged Xu Changfeng to death.
The score on the big screen became 2:2!
Xie Mingzhe held his breath and dared not even blink, for fear of missing the wonderful scene.
In the deciding round, both sides brought out their best skills. Shanlan's new cards "Canary" and "Red Dragonfly" were put into play, and he also took out a "Woodpecker" card specifically for plants, which pecked a bunch of big holes in Xu Changfeng's tree.
What's even more bizarre is that the "Diamond Parrot" card he made has a skill called "Babbling", which is designed to show a parrot learning to speak. As soon as this card appeared, the whole scene changed. The colorful parrot flew while frantically muttering "Hello", "How are you?" and "Hello, hello!"
Xie Mingzhe: “…………”
The imagination of the great god Shanlan is also beyond the sky. This noisy parrot can compete with Wang Xifeng's laughter.
Xu Changfeng, surrounded by parrots, was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
In the final round, Shanlan narrowly won, and in the end it was just a difference in skill.
All the fans who were judging the game jumped up from their seats and cheered excitedly. Shan Lan, who always loved to smile, also had tears in his eyes - champion, he finally won the individual championship!
Shan Lan shook hands with Xu Changfeng politely, then excitedly ran off the stage to hug his master. A rare smile appeared on Nie Yuandao's serious face. He gently hugged his apprentice and patted his shoulder to encourage him.
Many people stood up to congratulate, including Tang Muzhou from Fenghua Club, Lao Zheng who came to watch the game from Guiyu, Ling Shen from Temple of the Gods, Pei Jingshan and Ye Zhu from Dark Night City, and even Xu Changfeng who lost the game came over to congratulate them.
The competition in the Star Card Alliance was fierce. In the last five games, no one could have guessed the outcome until the very last moment. Shanlan won three games in a row from 0:2 to 3:2, which was really thrilling for the audience.
Xie Mingzhe watched everyone on the stage stand up to congratulate Shan Lan, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional. He could see that everyone's blessings were sincere. As Nie Shen's apprentice, Shan Lan has been surrounded by the aura of a great god since his debut, but at the same time, his master is too strong, and the pressure on him is also very great. He needs a championship to prove himself. He has been working hard, and now he has finally done it.
The pioneer of air raid flow deserves everyone's respect.
There was thunderous applause at the scene, and the great players all had smiles on their faces. Shan Lan's cheeks were red and he was smiling the happiest. His joy also infected Xie Mingzhe, who couldn't help but be happy for him.
That gentle and considerate Lan Shen won the championship of the 10th season individual competition. His air raid style is distinctive. If I meet him on the court next year, what will the result be?
Xie Mingzhe had a particularly great time watching today's five-game match. On the way back, he was still thinking about it, repeatedly recalling the details of the match in his mind, and thinking seriously about how to crack Xu Changfeng's acceleration style and Shan Lan's aerial attack style.
At this moment, a message appeared on the computer. It was from Tang Muzhou: "Did you watch the final?"
Xie Mingzhe came to his senses. Since he was in the car with his Nirvana teammates around him, he quickly typed a reply: "I saw it, it was very exciting! When Xu Changfeng was 2:0, I thought he had won, but I didn't expect Shanlan to win three games in a row!" After Xie Mingzhe sent the message, he remembered that Xu Changfeng was his senior's teammate, and felt that it was not appropriate for him to say so, so he quickly changed his words and said: "In fact, Xu Changfeng played very well today. He lost the last game purely because of bad luck. His skills were a little bit off and he missed the target."
"Shanlan is very strong. It's normal for Changfeng to win or lose against him." Tang Muzhou said, "You have to hurry up. You saw Shanlan's card changes today, right? He changed all seven cards, and completely overhauled the lineup. The card pools of truly powerful professional players are very deep, and there will be many lineups and playing styles to target different opponents. I think you should have learned a lot from this game."
"Not only the deck, but the map also gave me a lot of inspiration! This is the first time I've seen a death map, it's so thrilling!"
"I will be playing in the club team competition next week, and I will be busy. I may not have as much time to take care of you in the future. If you have any questions, you can leave me a message. I will definitely reply to you when I see it."
"I know! Brother, you don't have to worry too much about me. Fenghua's team competition is more important."
"The first team match next Friday night is Fenghua vs. Guijiu, and we need to prepare well. Can you and the players of the second team make an appointment for next Wednesday night?" Tang Muzhou said.
"No problem, I'll bring the new card with me."
"Then I'll wait for you on time at 8 o'clock on Wednesday night." Tang Muzhou sent this message, and then said, "The temperature will drop comprehensively tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, there will be a heavy snow. Remember to wear more clothes when you go out to avoid catching a cold."
"Brother, you too!" If Tang Muzhou hadn't said it, he really wouldn't have known it would snow tomorrow. This was his first year in the capital, and he wasn't familiar with the weather here. Tang Muzhou's reminder warmed Xie Mingzhe's heart. He returned to the club and checked the weather forecast. It turned out that there would be heavy snow tomorrow. He decided to stay at home tomorrow and not go out, just in time to sort out his thoughts on making cards.