Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 265, Section 262: We are their nightmare.
Before the competition officially begins, let's briefly introduce the rules of this year's competition.

First, there's the S15 qualifying rounds.

Compared to previous years, this year's qualifying rounds have essentially been cancelled.

Riot Games disbanded and merged numerous smaller regions, creating a structure where the World Championship consists of five major regions, each with three basic slots, for a total of 15 teams.

The reduction in the number of teams has rendered the qualifying stage, which was used to select the top 16 teams in previous years, unnecessary.

Only one additional team is needed to fill the 16-team quota.

As mentioned before, the two fourth-seeded teams from the top two regions of MSI will compete in a best-of-five series to determine the winner.

The winner will be the last team in the top 16, while the loser will become an unprecedented, stunning team in the top 17.

This is the only qualifying match in this year's World Championship.

To put it bluntly, this year's World Championship didn't actually have a qualifying stage.

This so-called qualifying round is just a final spot-up tournament that begins at the World Championship.

It is currently evening on October 14th.

Because the LCP's fourth seed was so weak, it's no surprise that the team that ultimately made it into the top 16 was the LCK's fourth seed, T1.

In this do-or-die best-of-five series, GAM, the fourth seed from LCP, was almost completely outmatched and utterly crushed by T1, winning 3-0.

T1 was only the fourth seed in the LCK due to poor performance.

However, when facing the fourth seed from the LCP, they truly displayed a completely overwhelming strength.

Most viewers felt that the result was "completely unsurprising" and "boring".

This result is entirely expected.

As ordinary viewers, we are naturally more eager to see dark horses make a comeback and giants fall.

But in the end, no dark horse emerged, and the giant remained standing.

That would be a bit boring.

However, since no one had high expectations to begin with, no one dwelled on it for long. Soon, their attention turned to the Swiss round draw after the qualifying rounds.

After the qualifying stage, the draw for the round of 16 (Swiss round) will take place.

The Swiss round of 16 was divided into three pools.

First, there is a seed pool consisting entirely of the number one seed from each region, totaling five teams.

That is, five teams: geng, WBG, g2, cfo, and flyquest.

The second seed pool consists of five teams from each major region: HLE, BLG, MKOI, TS, and VKS. This is combined with the third seed from the region that won the play-in stage, for a total of six teams.

The third seed pool consists of the remaining five teams, including T1, who just won the play-in stage.

The rules for the first round of battles are very simple.

The number one seed has some advantages in the tournament format, as it will be directly drawn against the theoretically weakest third seed pool.

The remaining teams in Pool 2 will be drawn to compete against each other.

Teams from the same region will be avoided in the first round of the Swiss round, preventing internal clashes.

If a civil war breaks out, the order will be passed down to the next level.

第一轮就这样进行8场bo1的比赛，角逐出8支1-0的队伍以及8支0-1的队伍，接着进入第二轮。

However, starting from the second round, the principle of avoiding competition from the same region was no longer applied.

The competition will continue in this way until a team achieves 3 wins or 3 losses, at which point they will either advance or be eliminated.

Ultimately, eight teams were selected to advance to the final eight, along with eight teams that were eliminated.

This competition format sounds quite fair at first glance.

The number one seed should play against a weaker team in the first round to reduce the chance of an upset.

The third seed should face a strong opponent in the first round as punishment for your poor performance in the league.

But that's what I said.
There are differences even among the so-called number one seeds.

The same applies to the third seed.

Depending on the strength of the region, it's not necessarily true that the number 1 seed will always have an advantage when playing against the number 3 seed.

Don’t say anything else.

T1, who came up from the play-in stage, is still in the number one seed pool.

T1 has failed to win the league championship for many consecutive years.

Almost every time they enter the World Championship, they are seeded as a low-ranking player.

Theoretically speaking, they shouldn't be the strongest team in the LCK.

But every time there's a World Championship, no matter how much they feed or how many times they die, there are always so many people saying, "T1 is doomed this year."

But once it comes to the World Championship, T1 is different from before.

They started their comeback again, displaying a level of strength unlike anything they had shown throughout the previous year, overcoming all obstacles to finally win the championship.

This is the same script for the past two years.

Anyone who draws T1 in the first round will definitely feel like they're incredibly unlucky.

According to some gacha games, this is considered poisoning the gacha pool.

Before the play-in stage ended and the Swiss round draw began, Xiaohu and his team were all praying.

"If we get a T1, that would be disgusting. We'd be facing the strongest opponent in the first round."

Liu Qingsong also said: "If we get drawn against a T1 team, that would be really outrageous. As the number one seed, our biggest advantage in terms of the rules is that we are more stable in BO1 matches. If we get drawn against a strong team in BO1, that would be really bad luck."

Only Shimamura Yuna remained relatively calm about it: "There's nothing wrong with playing T1 in the first match. I don't think we can't beat T1. If we can win against T1, it will greatly boost our confidence."

Xiao Hu sighed: "That's true, but losing the first game would be quite demoralizing. If we can win 1-0 first, and then play T1 in the second and third rounds, even if we lose, it won't feel as bad as losing the first game."

Everyone has different expectations for the lottery, and each person has different ideas.

However, the final decision on how to draw lots is not up to them.

Amidst everyone's tense yet somewhat expectant mood, the first round of the Swiss round draw officially began.

An officially invited guest stepped onto the stage, and in front of him were three containers.

The three containers correspond to three different seed pools, and each ball inside contains a tag with the team's name written on it.

According to the rules, the invited guests need to draw a team from the first seed pool.
"Now, please draw the first team from the number one seed pool."

Guided by the host, the guest mysteriously took the ball out of the container and opened it.

Then, the labels were taken out and shown to the audience.

"The first team, WBG."

It was like some kind of divine intervention.

The number one seed pool clearly had 5 teams, but the guest drew WBG in the first draw.

This also means that they will be playing the first match of the Swiss round this year.

After that, the guests drew the remaining 4 teams from the first seed pool one by one.

In this way, half of the first five matches of the Swiss round have been decided.

The next step is to draw teams from the No. 3 seed pool in turn to determine the match schedule for the first 5 games.

And that is the real key.
"Now, please have the guests draw the first seed team, number three."

Upon hearing this, everyone at WBG immediately tensed up.

That was just a meaningless draw; it only determined the order of the first round of matches.

This round of draws will truly determine who they will fight against.

Now, everyone except Shimamura Yuna is praying in their hearts.
"Don't draw T1! Don't draw T1!"

It's not just that they're afraid of getting T1.

At this very moment, in T1's training room, the T1 players were watching the draw and praying incessantly.
"Don't get WBG! Don't get WBG!"

It's true that the number one seed is never easy to beat. But that's just the way it is.

For T1, apart from GENG and WBG, there's really nothing else to care about in this seed pool.

The other three number one seeds, though called number one seeds, are utterly worthless to T1.

Even though they are the fourth seed from LCK.

This is the confidence of being the fourth seed from the strongest region.

At the same time, it also reflects the confidence of a five-time champion.

Under the principle of avoiding teams from the same region in the first round, it is impossible for T1 to be drawn against GENG.

Then all they need to care about is the WBG team.

so.
"No, it must not be WBG, it must not be WBG."

Neither side wanted to face the other in the first round.

Both sides were praying.

then
The guest, in front of everyone, took out the ball.

The first ball.

This ball represents WBG's opponent.

The first team I drew was...

The guests slowly spun and twisted the ball they had drawn, taking out the slips with the team names written on them.

The first team is
T1's thought is: I don't want it to be me.

WBG's idea is: it shouldn't be T1.

But in the end, when the guest took out the sign and looked at it himself, he smiled with relief.

At that moment, both hearts jumped simultaneously.

They all knew what had happened.

"It's T1!"

As the guests revealed the labels they had drawn, it was indeed T1.

This time, things completely exploded.

The barrage of question marks was so dense that I couldn't see anything.

The training rooms on both sides were filled with sounds of "Ah?"

Everyone was in disbelief at what had happened.

I find it hard to understand.

Statistically speaking, the chance of the two teams being drawn together is only one in four.

It's neither high nor low.

But the fact that they happened to draw the same number together gives one a feeling of destiny.

The expressions in both training rooms simultaneously turned serious.

They all started thinking about their next move and how to win.

Both sides are under a lot of psychological pressure.

One side is T1.

T1 lost to CFO during MSI. At that time, the other members of CFO were still unknowns, and they mainly won the game thanks to Yuna Shimamura.

Now, Shimamura Yuna has gone to the LPL, transforming from the LCP's number one seed team into the LPL's number one seed.

With her joining, WBG will most likely be an enhanced version of its CFO.

In other words, the opponent we face has become stronger.

At the same time, they themselves became weaker.

During MSI, Dolan was in excellent form, even dominating a two-time world champion top laner and T1 legend Zeus at one point.

At the time, T1 was the second-place team in the LCK to enter the World Championship.

However, T1's current players are not only in poor form, but they are also not as adapted to the current version of the game.

They are currently only the No. 4 seed, having barely made it into the World Championship through the qualifying rounds.

The Dolan people call him Han 69, which means he is a Korean 369.

He occasionally has a burst of brilliance, but most of the time his performance lives up to the nickname "Han 69".

In this version where you can't switch lanes to avoid the opponent, how Shimamura Yuna will beat him in lane is something he doesn't even want to think about.

In conclusion, from T1's perspective, the current WBG is essentially an upgraded version of the CFO.

It's an enhanced version of an opponent you couldn't beat to begin with.

But I am a weakened version of someone who was already weak.

How can this inspire confidence and make people believe they can win?
On WBG's side, Shimamura Yuna is genuinely unafraid.

She has already played against T1 this year and won.

In her view, there is nothing to fear about an opponent you have already defeated.

Not to mention, she believes her current teammates are no worse than those on T1.

But just because she wasn't afraid doesn't mean her teammates weren't.

Few of the veterans in the LPL dare to say they don't have a psychological aversion to T1.

Even if they are slightly stronger on paper, even if the pre-match analysis suggests they should win.

However, they felt that if the opponent was T1, then things were a bit unpredictable today.

They always felt that T1 was like the big boss in that game, seemingly weak and trash, but only because they hadn't reached their limit yet.

If we really reach a dead end, then it's time for the second stage.

Some people on T1's side are afraid of WBG and feel they can't win.

Some people on the WBG side were also afraid of T1, their legs were shaking.

In fact, both coaches have already started to do psychological work.

"Oh, bad luck. We ran into WBG in the first round. They're probably the strongest team we could draw out of the four."

But it's okay, I don't think there's anything we can't win, right?
Playing the strongest team in the first round isn't a bad thing. It'll give us a chance to get into a rhythm.

The coach's words seemed somewhat weak.

Everyone knows whether this is a good thing or not.

Such an explanation only sounds like self-comfort.

It can only be considered a means to calm emotions.

Something like, 'Although bad things have already happened, there's no point in complaining, so just accept it.'

but
At this moment.

At this time, when the atmosphere in both training rooms was a bit tense, there was one person in each of the T1 and WBG teams who was truly emotionally stable.

When faced with a somewhat somber atmosphere among their teammates, these two people said different things, but the meaning was almost the same.

Yuna Shimamura: "Even if they are T1, it's nothing special. They are strong, but we are stronger. It's their bad luck to run into us, so there's no need for them to feel any pressure."

Faker: "Similar things have happened many times in the past, but the final result is often more favorable to us."

In the World Championship, T1 is always the team that performs better.

Therefore, it is they, not us, who should be worried.

They'll feel incredibly unlucky to be drawn against us; we're their nightmare.

so.
"Let their bad premonitions/nightmares come true."

(End of this chapter)