The evening matches fell into the "bladder curse" again, with each game lasting more than ten minutes. As a result, the last game of Group H was delayed until half past ten.
After watching the competition for several hours in a row, some players could no longer hold on and went back, but all the members of Nirvana still stayed in the VIP room to watch the game. Tang Muzhou also stayed to wait for the result.
In the commentary room, Wu Yue said: "I think many spectators are tired by now, but today's match in Group H is the most important. This match will not only determine the ranking of Group H, but also the opponents of Group A in the next round of the top 16!"
Liu Chen said: "I saw quite a few professional athletes staying backstage to wait for the results. Apparently, everyone is paying close attention to the match between Pei Ye and Gui Liu!"
On the big screen, the director cut the camera to the backstage, and the audience just happened to see Tang Muzhou and Xie Mingzhe talking together.
Fans posted comments one after another: "Did Tang Shen also stay to wait for the results?" "Fenghua's matches are all over, and the opponents for the next round have been decided. Tang Shen didn't go back so late, he must be concerned about his junior brother's opponent in the next stage!" "Good senior brother of the alliance, Tang Shen really has nothing to say about his junior brother!" "They have a really good relationship, I also want to have a senior brother like this..."
Tang and Xie were chatting when they saw their faces suddenly appear on the big screen. They were both stunned. Xie Mingzhe quickly let go of his brother's hand, pretending to be calm and waving to the audience with a bright smile.
Tang Muzhou also smiled slightly and waved in cooperation.
The picture of the two of them sitting together was so heartwarming that fans always felt like something was wrong, but they couldn't put their finger on it.
Until the director switched the screen, the contestants walked onto the big stage.
Pei Jingshan and Ye Zhu vs. Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu.
Pei Jingshan was the seventh season individual champion, Ye Zhu was the seventh season best newcomer award, Gui Sirui was the runner-up in the seventh season individual competition, and has a distinctive wild card hand; Liu Jingxu debuted in the third season, but did not win the championship until the eighth season. He created a unique monster card deformation playing style and is the most "late bloomer" player in the entire league.
Each of these four players is a top player with countless fans. Now they are competing on the same stage. The deafening screams immediately scared away the sleepiness of the audience in the live broadcast room, making everyone energetic.
The forum started to place bets: Who will be the first to advance? Who will be Xie Mingzhe's opponent in the next round?
There were mixed opinions in the live broadcast room——
"I think Pei Ye has a better chance of winning, after all, they have been partners in doubles competitions for many years. Xiao Gui used to be a partner with his master Zheng Feng, but this season, Zheng went to coach Wei Xiaotian, so he and Liu Jingxu formed a temporary team. Their cooperation is not as tacit as Pei Ye's."
"You can't say that. Guiji's team competitions have always been strong, and the team competitions are partnered by Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu. Both of them are attackers and have a great understanding of each other!"
"Yes, Xiaogui's joker and Liu Jingxu's monster have been working together for so many years, they must know each other's rhythm very well. Even if they are a temporary duo, don't forget that they have been teammates for four years and have won the championship in the team competition!"
"I vote for Pei Ye. Pei Shen and Xiao Zhu have won awards in doubles competitions. The Insect Card and Butterfly Card are more flexible than the Joker Card and the Monster Card!"
"That's nonsense! The monster cards can transform, and the joker cards can become invisible. They are as agile as insects and butterflies!"
Before the game even started, fans from both sides started arguing in the barrage section.
Xie Mingzhe could not see the bullet screen at the scene, but he could imagine the attention this game attracted.
He was not sure who would win. But to be rational, he really didn't want to face the Gui and Liu combination in the next round. It was not because he was afraid of Gui Sirui's joker cards, but because Gui Sirui's experience with joker cards was far better than Xiao Ke's. If he met the real founder of joker cards, Xiao Ke would find it difficult to withstand the pressure. Even if Xie Mingzhe wanted to hold on in the later stages, he might not be able to beat Liu Jingxu's deformed monster cards.
The monster cards before and after transformation are like two different decks. Gui and Liu cooperate well with each other, and the monster cards' tactics are unpredictable. Xie Mingzhe has to take care of the opponent's cards while taking care of Xiao Ke. He may be short of energy and lose sight of one thing while focusing on another.
Relatively speaking, the combination of Pei Jingshan and Ye Zhu is easier to beat.
Apart from Captain Pei's Insect Split and Spider Queen, which are more difficult to deal with, Ye Zhu's tracking and assassination tactics will be much easier to deal with as long as you think of a countermeasure and withstand the first wave of assassinations from the Transparent Butterfly.
The fate of the next round depends on the result of today's game.
The round of 16 is a knockout round, and if you lose, you are eliminated directly. Xie Mingzhe doesn't want to be eliminated so early, so no matter who his final opponent is, he will use the next few days to study and prepare seriously.
No wonder his master asked him to suspend card making. The opponents in the top 16 were too strong and he had no energy to make new cards.
***
The competition officially began amid warm applause from the audience.
Pei Jingshan and Ye Zhu vs. Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu. The first game was very intense. Both sides brought late-stage cards at the same time. Pei Jingshan successfully raised a dragon and raised a Spider Queen with explosive attack power. Gui Sirui summoned a ghoul after a large number of cards died.
This is also the first public confrontation between the Spider Queen and the Corpse Eater.
Late card vs. late card, the audience was particularly excited to watch, and Xie Mingzhe's eyes were also shining——
The ghoul, with full attack power, used one move at a time to kill all the insect cards that Pei Jingshan had split. However, the damage from the spider silk of the Spider Queen was also particularly terrible, and it killed all the remaining monster cards.
Seeing the corpse-eating ghost approaching the Spider Queen, fans' hearts almost jumped into their throats.
Everyone knows that the Ghoul is a melee card and the Spider Queen is a ranged card. Once approached, the Spider Queen with extremely weak defense will definitely be killed instantly by the Ghoul.
At this critical moment, a small transparent butterfly suddenly appeared behind a tree in the distance.
Ye Zhu's Transparent Butterfly relied on invisibility to survive in the chaotic battle and flew flexibly to a distance - at the moment when the ghoul opened its mouth, the Transparent Butterfly suddenly summoned its skills and pulled the Spider Queen to its side.
The ghoul's skill missed, so he teleported to the Spider Queen far away, spit out spider silk, and instantly killed the ghoul!
The audience applauded enthusiastically, and Xie Mingzhe couldn't help but applaud: "Xiaozhu's call is really timely." Tang Muzhou praised: "He and Pei Jingshan have been partners for many years, and they really work well together."
In the first game, Pei Ye won.
In the second game, Pei Jingshan did not bring the Ghouls, but Liu Jingxu brought the Demon King. An unexpected group of monsters transformed and killed all of Ye Zhu's butterflies instantly. They established a card advantage from the beginning and maintained the advantage until the end.
1:1, both sides tied, due to equal points, an extra game was played.
The only extra match in the group stage also became a crucial match to determine the fate of the four teams!
Bai Xu sat up straight and stared at the big screen - his opponent was the first in Group H, and like Xie Mingzhe, he was also waiting for the result.
Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath and stared at the live broadcast screen.
The extra game was a system random map, and the map that was randomly selected was the "Daughter's Country" in the map library, the map that can make the baby pregnant.
The audience burst into laughter and complained: "How does Azhe feel?" "Whoever has the best baby will win. If they win, they will beat Bai Xu. If they lose, they will beat Azhe!"
Ye Zhu usually said that the cards made by Xie Mingzhe were annoying, but in this competition, he was more active than anyone else in making the cards give birth to babies.
He actually drank the water from the Zimu River quickly and copied a transparent butterfly baby as small as a thumb!
The result is that Pei Ye's combination of original tracking and assassination tactics turned into double tracking.
Two transparent little butterflies chased the joker and monster cards, and summoned the group instantly twice in a row, directly killing the two Key cards on the opposite side.
Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu lost regretfully.
So far, the doubles group stage has ended. Pei Ye and his team advanced as the first place in Group H and will face Bai Xu and Yi Tianyang in the next round. Gui Liu and his team advanced as the second place and will meet Xie Mingzhe and Yu Ke in the knockout round of 16 to 8.
It was already 11 o'clock in the evening, the game was over, and Xie Mingzhe was in mixed feelings.
What is supposed to come will eventually come.
The combination of Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu, whom he did not want to face, appeared in his list of opponents in the round of 16.
Tang Muzhou glanced at his junior brother's expression, then whispered in his ear, "You have to change your mindset when fighting Gui Sirui, otherwise it will be hard to win. Although Xiao Ke has improved rapidly, it will be as easy for Gui Sirui to deal with Xiao Ke as it is for the Ghost King to deal with a little ghost."
Xie Mingzhe nodded helplessly: "I understand. I'll go back and think about it carefully."
Everyone saw Xiao Ke's progress, but whether in terms of strength or psychology, Gui Sirui, the founder of the joker school, was a mountain that Yu Ke could not overcome. As Tang Muzhou said, using jokers in front of Gui Sirui was simply showing off one's skills in front of an expert and asking for trouble.
But Xiao Ke only knows how to play the joker card. If he is asked to give up the joker card and temporarily control the plant card and character card, he will not be proficient enough.
What to do?
Xie Mingzhe frowned and thought for a long time.
On the way back in the car, he suddenly thought of his senior brother’s words, “Change your thinking.”
——Yes, change your thinking!
The combination of him and Xiao Ke has always been Xiao Ke's ghost card main attack, Xie Mingzhe to assist, control the field or assist in assisting the attack. In the group stage, they have always relied on novel tactics to win.
So, when fighting against Gui Si Rui, can we change our fighting style?
The more Xie Mingzhe thought about it, the more excited he became. He pulled Xiao Ke aside and said, "Xiao Ke, are you willing to put down the losing cards like Qiao Sheng, Lian Cheng, Nie Xiaoqian, and Hei Wuchang, and use the controlling joker card to assist me?"
Yu Ke was stunned: "Joker assist?"
Xie Mingzhe nodded seriously, "That's right." He looked into Xiao Ke's eyes, his voice full of determination, "When playing against Gui Sirui and Liu Jingxu, I want to change my strategy. I will be the main output, and your joker will assist me. I want to try it out. If I play the output, can I beat the top players in the league with my operating skills?"
——The novel tactics and unexpected hidden cards were indeed the key to his victory.
——But Yi Tianyang had also reminded him that he couldn't always rely on hidden cards to win unexpectedly. It might be okay once or twice, but the third and fourth time, wouldn't the opponent have skills specifically reserved to defend against your hidden cards? The opponent wasn't stupid!
Before the team competition begins, the deck will be announced, and all of Nirvana's cards will be known to the opponent. There will no longer be new cards that no one has seen before. Everyone will stand on a fair stage and compete in tactics, awareness, and operation. At this time, what should he do?
It's time to practice controlling the output cards!
The author has something to say:
Azhe is an all-around player, and improving his control skills is also very important.
He's already pretty good, but I want him to be even better. To be a truly great player, not just a great card maker.