With only two days to prepare, Xie Mingzhe and Yu Ke seized every minute to practice the new lineup. Yu Ke even slept for only five hours for two consecutive days. He did not have time to watch the game on the evening of the 23rd. He only glanced at the results on the official website after the game.
Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan defeated the combination of Zhen Man and Shen An 2:0 to advance to the semifinals. Ling Jingtang and Xu Hang defeated the combination of Zheng Feng and Wei Xiaotian 2:1 to secure the second semifinal spot.
At 7pm on the 24th, all members of Nirvana arrived at the competition venue in advance. Today's match was the quarterfinals of the lower half. The first match was between Fang Yu and Qiao Xi and Pei Jingshan and Ye Zhu. When Xie Mingzhe and his teammates came to the backstage, they found that many professional players were watching the game, including the master and apprentice Nie Lan who had already advanced to the semifinals.
Xie Mingzhe greeted the familiar masters and found an empty seat to sit down. Just then, the Fenghua player came in. Tang Muzhou saw his junior brother and took the initiative to walk over to Xie Mingzhe and sit next to him, asking, "How are you preparing?"
Xie Mingzhe raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't you know my style? I'll have a surprise for you later."
Tang Muzhou chuckled: "I know, it must be another shock."
Everyone thought that since they were going to have a match today, the brothers should have avoided each other, but unexpectedly, these two were in a good mood to sit together and joke before the match, and it seemed that they didn't care much about the outcome of this match?
Soon, the game screen appeared on the big screen, and the duel between Fang Yu, Qiao Xi, Pei Jingshan, and Ye Zhu officially began. Xie Mingzhe leaned over to Yu Ke's ear and said, "Watch the game carefully and relax, but don't be distracted by their playing style."
Yu Ke nodded and stared at the screen with wide eyes.
In fact, it is difficult for him to be led astray. After all, very few people can imitate Fang Yu's style. To put it simply, it can be summed up in one word - drag!
The pace of the game played by Liushuang City is the slowest in the entire alliance. Water droplets bounce between the cards like playing bouncing. The water poison state slowly accumulates, causing the opponent to fall into a chronic death. Coupled with the powerful healing ability of the water shield, it is not so easy for Ye Zhu and Pei Jingshan to quickly kill the water card.
This game was a showdown between "fast" and "slow". Fang Qiao wanted to drag the game, while Pei Ye wanted to kill quickly. The players were particularly good at operating the details. Yu Ke admired as he watched, "Although they both played as a support, Fang Yu really paid attention to every detail to the extreme!"
When Fang Yu and Qiao Xi defeated Pei Ye 2:1, Yu Ke was convinced and whispered to Xie Mingzhe, "Fang Yu is really amazing. There are so many details in the operation. If it were me, I would definitely not be able to get the time and position so accurate."
Xie Mingzhe nodded in appreciation: "He is indeed a very careful player."
During the regular season in the first half of the year, Fang Yu was unexpectedly defeated by Nirvana with a score of 2:0 because he underestimated Nirvana. However, the same mistake will not happen to this player again. Since then, he has become more and more careful. Today's game was so meticulous that it could be called abnormal. The precise water control and connection made Ye Zhu and Pei Jingshan very crazy, so much so that Ye Zhu even felt a sense of relief after the game.
After the first game, Xie Mingzhe, Yu Ke, Tang Muzhou and Xu Changfeng came to the preparation area together.
The three commentators briefly summarized the previous matches and focused on the second match. Wu Yue said, "Next is the final match of the top eight, between Tang Muzhou and Xu Changfeng and Xie Mingzhe and Yu Ke. Please welcome the four contestants!"
Four people came on stage one after another, and the audience applauded loudly. Fans held up posters high. Fans of Fenghua and Nirvana wore their respective team uniforms and formed squares in the audience. Of course, there were also some fans who liked both brothers Tang and Xie and held up banners with their Q-version avatars.
Xie Mingzhe smiled and took Xiao Ke's hand to bow to the audience, then turned around and walked back to the swivel chair.
Wu Yue excitedly checked the pre-match predictions and said, "70% of the predictions for this match were for Tang Xu to win, while only 30% were for Xie Yu. However, in our doubles match, there have been many upsets. I remember that the last time A-Zhe and Xiao Ke played with Gui Liu, the support rate was only 35%, but they unexpectedly won in the end."
Liu Chen said: "There will be many variables in the game, especially Xie Mingzhe's tactics are very innovative. Will he bring out new cards? What will he bring as a hidden card? I am also looking forward to today's game!"
Wu Yue said: "The players are still testing their equipment, so let's go into a short commercial break. We'll be back soon after the commercial break!"
An advertisement was inserted on the big screen - it was the advertisement that a well-known electronic equipment manufacturer had recently filmed with celebrity contestants.
Because there were too many All-Star players, the previous commercials were played randomly, but today happened to be a battle between Master Tang and Master Xie, so the director cleverly brought out the commercial that the two of them shot together.
The screen was divided into two parts. On the left was Tang Muzhou, wearing trousers and a shirt, sitting at his desk. On the right was Xie Mingzhe, wearing a white sportswear and wandering on the street with a bright smile. Perhaps he saw something interesting, so he suddenly called his senior brother's communication device. Tang Muzhou, who was in the office, saw the caller's name and immediately raised a gentle smile at the corner of his lips.
The two connected the video, and each other's figures appeared on the holographic screen in front of them. Xie Mingzhe excitedly took the computer to show his senior brother the surrounding environment, while introducing his new discoveries to him. Tang Muzhou kept smiling and listened to him patiently.
The 15-second ad ended with a voiceover by Hsieh Ming-che himself. In his clear, young voice, he said earnestly, word for word: "XX optical computer, the latest high-tech holographic simulation projection technology, is definitely worth having!"
Audience: “……………………”
The two of them were very dedicated to the commercial! The clothes they wore were of the same color, and they looked very compatible together. The director was also very good at capturing the camera, and captured Tang Muzhou's gentle gentlemanly demeanor and Xie Mingzhe's youthful and energetic smile very beautifully, just like the male protagonists who walked out of an idol drama.
However, their match is coming up, and before the match they suddenly released an advertisement shot in which they collaborated - all the nervousness before the match is gone, okay?
Some people in the audience laughed secretly, and many fans in the live broadcast room jokingly filled the screen: "Buy, buy, buy, can't we buy one?" "I bought one last year. Since you two are so serious about shooting the commercial, I'll buy another one for my brother."
Some people also said weakly: "I think they are a good match in front of the camera, they have a strong CP feeling. This must be an illusion, wake me up!" "I think so too..." But these few comments that revealed the truth were quickly drowned out by the army of people buying, buying and buying.
The three commentators all had strange expressions after watching the ad. Wu Yue cleared her throat and replied, "Although Tang Muzhou and Xie Mingzhe have a good relationship and even worked together on the ad, they still have to be serious about the upcoming match. I think neither of them will give their opponent any leeway. This match between brothers will definitely be intense!"
Liu Chen quickly took over the conversation and said, "The four players are ready. The game has officially begun. Both sides will draw lots to determine the home and away order. We see... Tang Shen drew the first hand."
Tang Muzhou was lucky to get the first move, and the first game was his home court, which was very disadvantageous for Xie Mingzhe. His senior brother would definitely have special tactical arrangements at home, and once he lost the first game, the psychological pressure would be great, and it would be more difficult to cope with it.
Tang Muzhou was obviously well prepared. After getting the first move, he quickly submitted the competition map - deep in the jungle.
This is one of the forest series scene maps produced by Fenghua. It is a very difficult dynamic scene map. After the game starts, monsters will appear in the depths of the jungle at regular intervals, causing different negative effects on the entire scene.
A six-winged dragon flies over the scene, its huge wings blocking out the sun and plunging the depths of the jungle into complete darkness for 5 seconds.
Three-headed snake, makes all the cards in the scene group afraid, unable to release any skills for 3 seconds, and adds three layers of snake venom, losing 3% health per second;
Flame Rat ignites the entire jungle, causing all cards on the scene to lose 30,000 HP instantly, and causing cards with HP below 30% to die immediately.
Tang Muzhou's imagination is quite bizarre, probably because he watched too many "monster-fighting" cartoons when he was young. The design of this map really brought many viewers back to their childhood.
However, in the cartoon, the protagonist fights monsters, but in this map of the deep jungle, the monsters fight the cards, and the cards can't fight back!
The appearance of the three monsters will make the game more complicated, and the players will be under increasing psychological pressure, just like the bosses encountered in dungeons become increasingly powerful - from the initial light impact, to the group snake venom later, to the final appearance of the fire rat, which will launch an AOE attack on the entire scene, and once there is a low-health card, it will be killed instantly!
This map is also a kind of pressure on the commander's mental strength. Not only must he pay attention to the card situation of both sides, but he must also be vigilant at all times for the appearance of the monster boss in the deep jungle. This is recognized by all players in the league as one of the most difficult maps to play. Fenghua did not use this map in the regular season in the first half of this season, but he used this map to play the referee in the finals of the seventh season and won the game and won the championship.
During the two days of preparation, Xie Mingzhe looked through all the maps that Fenghua had used in the first half of the regular season. He didn't expect that Tang Muzhou would directly select such an ancient map from the gallery in his collection, and it was an extremely difficult dynamic map that had been used in the finals. Xie Mingzhe suddenly had a headache - it was just a doubles match from the top eight to the top four, was it necessary, brother?
Su Yang couldn't help laughing when he saw this impressive map: "God Tang really loves me. He gave me super VIP treatment and directly took out the map of the finals."
Players watching the game backstage: "..."
Is this how the word "love" is used? Who wants Tang Muzhou's perverted love? !
Xie Mingzhe didn't want it at all.
However, since Tang Muzhou thought so highly of him and took out the "Deep Jungle" map used in the final in the doubles match of the quarter-finals, Xie Mingzhe had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight.
After 30 seconds of countdown to the map release, both sides announced their decks at the same time.
This time, the director first zoomed in on the cards of Tang Muzhou and Xu Changfeng on the screen. Wu Yue scanned the deck and said with obvious surprise, "There are quite a few new cards in the eight decks, and I found... a lot of succulents?"
Liu Chen said calmly: "It seems to be an array of pure succulents."
Su Yang checked the names of the eight cards in amazement, and finally couldn't help but sigh: "They are indeed pure succulents! The two cards of cactus and lithops were seen in the previous group match of Group A. They were operated by Fenghua's newcomer Liu Ran, but the remaining six are all new cards."
Zichi Lotus, Guanghan Palace, Bingjing Yulu, Xiongtongzi, Taomeiren, Aloe...
Xie Mingzhe couldn't help but freeze his expression when he saw the row of succulents.
You've done enough! I made Lin Daiyu for the flower type, but you don't have to bring any flowers at all, right?
Su Yang said gloatingly, "It seems that Lin Daiyu's instant death of flowers has caused Tang Muzhou some headaches, so all the plants brought to this competition are succulents. We know that the Star Card World classifies plants into flowers, vines, trees, and succulents. Succulents are a separate category, and Lin Daiyu cannot trigger an instant death judgment on succulents."
Wu Yuejian was stunned: "God Tang is very serious today. He changed his entire deck... This is the first time that a pure succulent lineup has appeared in the history of the league. Will he also have succulents in his hidden cards?"
Liu Chen said, "It's possible. Let's start with the cards that have been revealed. There are four group control cards among the eight cards. Lithops's Fear, Snow Lotus, Guanghan Palace, and Ice Crystal Jade Dew are all ice-type control cards. The other four cards, Cactus, rely on long-range needles and normal attacks for output, Aloe relies on aloe juice to attack the opponent from a distance and stack poison, Bear Boy uses the heavy attack of 'Bear Paw' to cause single critical damage, and Peach Beauty is for healing?"
As he was talking, Liu Chen couldn't help but frown: "3 output, 4 auxiliary, 1 treatment? This ratio..."
Su Yang said: "This is the ultimate control style that Tang Muzhou hasn't used for a long time! Do you remember the Tuberose he used in the seventh season finals? It's a double crowd control auxiliary card."
Wu Yue was deeply impressed by this: "I remember, I heard that it was sold by Tang Shen later, right?"
Liu Chen also remembered this incident: "The full-level card of Tuberose was indeed sold, and it caused a sensation in the game at that time. It is said that Tang Muzhou made another replacement card?"
Su Yang said: "Take a look at the new skills of Zi Chi Lian Hua."
Everyone looked closely—double group control!
A dual group control skill that is very similar to Tuberose, with perfect data allocation, and the two group control skills complement each other.
"Zi Chi Lotus" is a succulent plant that grows in groups very easily. When the countless spherical rosettes are in full bloom, they will densely cover the flowerpot. Tang Muzhou used this design concept. When the Zi Chi Lotus is in full bloom, a large area of lotus flowers will overlap and spread out layer by layer, creating a group illusion; and each rosette will also cause the target to be hit to be immobilized for up to 5 seconds.
When these two skills are used together, the enemy target will not only fall into an illusion, but also be unable to move, becoming a target that is punished to stand still.
Xie Mingzhe soon realized this. Zi Chi Lian Hua has two group control skills, Bing Jing Yu Lu and Guang Han Gong have group freezing, and Lithops has group fear... With so many group control skills, it is obvious that the senior brother is going to carry out the control strategy to the end in this game.
Soon after, Yu Ke and Xie Mingzhe's decks were also announced.
In the last round against the Gui Liu combination, Yu Ke took a bunch of auxiliary jokers, and Xie Mingzhe was mainly responsible for output. However, in this round, the two actually switched back - Yu Ke's jokers were all output cards, while Xie Mingzhe took control cards.
Wu Yue said: "The cards that Ah Zhe brought are Song Jiang, Li Wan, Li Shishi, and Liu Bei... Well, they are all protective cards. Song Jiang takes damage and heals a single target, Li Shishi heals a group, Li Wan is immune to control, and Liu Bei is immune to control and must-die."
Liu Chen said: "Maybe Ah Zhe also guessed that Senior Brother would bring a lot of control cards?"
Xie Mingzhe did guess that Tang Muzhou might play a control game. After all, Fenghua's plant cards have countless control skills. But he didn't expect that Tang Muzhou would be so extreme. His open cards add up to 5 group control skills, and he doesn't even know what his hidden cards are. This is simply a rhythm of controlling the opponent to the point where he can't move.
Xie Mingzhe thought for a moment and brought the newly made control card "Wu Yong" in the dark deck. When necessary, he would seize the opportunity to counter-control. This was also the cooperation he and Xiao Ke had practiced. He also brought Yan Qing, who had very strong output ability and could attack in groups or alone.
The opponent thought that Xiao Ke was the main loss player in this game, and was targeting Xiao Ke's loss card. However, at the last minute, Xie Mingzhe suddenly took out a loss card, catching the opponent off guard. This was completely a psychological warfare.