Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 274, Section 271: See you at the arena.

Finally, after the draw, the schedule for the entire knockout stage was finalized.

First, the upper half.

The two matches in the upper bracket are GENG vs G2 and HLE vs BLG.

The two matches in the lower bracket are WBG vs CFO and KT vs T1.

Because all four South Korean teams advanced, the final draw results showed that the competition was fierce in both halves of the bracket.

After all, no matter how well you position yourself, it's difficult to completely avoid these four South Korean teams.

This is especially true for BLG, the second seed from the LPL.

First, you have to play a match against HLE, and if you advance, you'll most likely have to play another match against GENG.

To reach the finals, they need to face both HLE and GENG teams.

These two teams do indeed appear to be the two teams in the best form in the LCK right now.

Although T1 and KT don't seem weak either.

However, compared to GENG and HLE, it still falls short in some respects.

This means that BLG is taking the most difficult path.

They will likely have to put in much more effort than other teams if they want to reach the finals.

Before the match began, the BLG players gave an interview and shared their thoughts on the group draw.

The left hand said: "Since the goal is to win the championship, it doesn't matter what the group is like. After all, the champion should be the strongest team of the year, and the strongest team is the one that can beat all the other teams."

"We are confident of making it to the finals."

BIN's statement was even more audacious: "I think we can meet WBG in the finals. This year belongs to LPL."

BIN's persona has always been that of an LPL warrior and a talkative madman.

His remarks today have left everyone with the impression that "it's typical of BIN," "it's something he would say," and "his public persona is stable."

Normally, at this time, a large number of people who simply hate BLG and BIN would come out to attack him, and the internet would probably be in an uproar.

However, LPL's biggest hope does not lie with BLG now, which has led to a group of people who always like to target BIN not doing so today, contrary to their usual practice.

Only a small number of people are making fun of "BIN's words".

Ultimately, people's attention has shifted away from them.

Whether LPL wins or LPL loses.
In the eyes of most viewers, the helm that controls the fate of the LPL is not in BLG's hands.

Naturally, he didn't pay much attention to what Bin said.

In the end, it all depends on how well WBG performs.

Different audience members are hoping for different outcomes on stage.

Different contestants carry the expectations of different audiences.

Go and fulfill the expectations of your supporters, and achieve your own shining moment.

That's where the value of being a player lies.

And now, the stage continues to move forward.

Soon, the quarterfinals officially began.

Because WBG is in the lower bracket, the two matches, GENG vs G2 and BLG vs HLE, need to be played before them.

Although I'm not playing in the competition myself, every team in the other half of the bracket could be my opponent in the finals, so it's essential to keep an eye on them.

Even if some teams are eliminated, those that are not eliminated may reveal some of their own tactics and demonstrate some new understandings.

Some of these understandings may also be very useful.

"We're already studying our opponents in the finals."

That's probably what it means.

With this purpose in mind, the WBG team watched both matches of the upper bracket in their training room.

The final result of the competition was somewhat expected, yet also slightly unexpected.

First of all, GENG won against G2 as a matter of course.

Among the top 8 teams, CFO and G2 can be considered the two weakest teams.

Both teams advanced with some close calls.

They are significantly weaker than the other teams in the top 8.

G2, one of the two weakest teams, faced GENG, one of the two strongest teams, and naturally, they were crushed without any suspense.

The bad news is
G2 was really bad; they basically failed to execute GENG's tactics even slightly.

The tactics that GENG is currently employing are not much different from those they used in scrims against CFO.

In fact, some of the lineups they practiced during scrimmages with the CFO were not used in this match.

GENG is clearly treating G2 like a novice, hiding their tactics.

And they actually hid it.

This is not a good sign for WBG.

However, they had probably guessed the outcome when they saw the schedule, so they weren't too disappointed.

I just thought, "I knew it."

However, the good news is that in the other match in the upper bracket, BLG won against HLE.
The score was 3:2.

It wasn't really an upset.

It wasn't a particularly strange result.

Without WBG, BLG is LPL's biggest hope and LPL's number one seed.

He is almost undisputed as the best mid laner in China, somewhat controversial as the best top laner, and currently the strongest bot laner and support in China, a position that is even more controversial.

Almost every member of BLG can be considered "the strongest in CN", but there are controversies surrounding them.

The point of contention is that he has no achievements to prove himself and no respectable honors to silence those who question him.

But that's what I said.
Undoubtedly, before Shimamura Yuna, this was almost the strongest team that could be assembled domestically.

This is the ultimate lineup assembled by LPL with all its might.

However, there are many reasons why people are not optimistic about such a top team.

On the one hand, the LPL's overall performance this year has been poor, and people are losing confidence in the concept of an all-Chinese team. When it comes to League of Legends, people think of it as "a Korean game" and "Chinese people can't do it."

Even if you're the strongest CN team, that won't work.

How could the five strongest Chinese be better than the five strongest Koreans?
The overall atmosphere is one aspect of the pessimistic outlook.

Another aspect is that BLG's performance itself was indeed not very good.

The constant changes in junglers and the ups and downs in performance, with many teams starting strong but ending weak, make it hard for viewers to believe that BLG is a team with the strength and hope to win the championship.

To put it bluntly.

Even at their peak last year, BLG failed to win the championship.

How can BLG, which looks even worse than its peak form last year, possibly win the championship?
What makes them worthy of winning the championship?

Where can you tell if there's a possibility of winning the championship?

It really doesn't seem realistic no matter how you look at it.

In addition, even as BLG's performance declined, people kept talking about BIN, stirring up trouble off the field.
A combination of factors has resulted in this team having a very poor reputation.

There might have been some LPL fans who were simply hoping for good results from the LPL and spoke up for them.

But after WBG appeared, even LPL fans stopped speaking up for them.

To put it bluntly, hoping BLG will win the championship is less worthwhile than hoping for Shimamura's path to gold.

BLG, which was at an absolute low in public opinion, was so belittled by viewers who disliked and hated them that it seemed like they couldn't win against anyone.

Before the match against HLE, the Chinese internet was filled with comments like, "Just wait for Curse to unleash BIN's spinning top and that's it." However, BLG ultimately won 3-2, a somewhat thrilling victory.

As proven by facts, their strength as the current all-Chinese super team in the LPL is undeniable, regardless of the slander they receive.

Even if they're not in great form, it's still a match where "anyone could win or lose" against HLE.

And they won that match.

This was a very tough match.

The entire process left WBG, who were gathered in the training room watching the match, on tenterhooks.

Several times, it made people wonder, "Is BLG finished?" or "Is this the end for them?"

But in the end, BLG withstood the pressure and successfully defeated HLE to advance to the semifinals.

Seeing this result, everyone at WBG breathed a sigh of relief.

BLG's advancement is good news for WBG no matter how you look at it.

Whether it's the simple sense of unity among teams from the same LPL region.

Or perhaps we should hope that BLG can outplay the others in the next round.

In short, even if BLG loses, it's best not to lose too decisively; they should try to play it close and even.

Their performance in this round was very satisfactory.

Currently, BLG's form seems to have improved significantly, and it even gives the impression that it's not impossible for them to beat GENG in the next round.

Even if they can't beat GENG, BLG's current form will force GENG to reveal their tactics and give their all to advance to the next round.

Neither GENG nor BLG will hold back against either of them.

They went all out against each other, exposing their tactics to one another, which was beneficial to WBG no matter what.

of course
The prerequisite is that WBG can reach the finals.

After the upper bracket matches are completed, the lower bracket matches will begin immediately.

Although in terms of strength, the two matches in the lower half of the bracket are not as exciting as the two matches in the upper half.

Whether it's WBG vs. CFO or T1 vs. KT.

One of these two matches was a complete and utter stomp, with the outcome completely predictable.

The other match is a clash of titans that, on paper, seems slightly weaker than BLG vs HLE.

However, despite the lower bracket's overall level of excitement compared to the upper bracket, the lower bracket still garnered several times more attention.

The reason is that the lower half of the bracket has two of the biggest internet celebrities in the current League of Legends esports scene.

Moreover, unlike the previous Swiss reels which were neither particularly effective nor particularly impactful, the best-of-one (BO1) results were different.

This match was a true best-of-five series that would decide the fate of the team.

The competition hadn't even started yet, but the pre-match marketing had already begun in earnest.

On one hand, she is described as "Japan's once-in-a-millennium e-sports prodigy," "the savior of LPL and the hope for the future," "the navigator of League of Legends for the next decade," and "Faker's successor."

On one hand, he is a "living legend," a "legendary mid-laner with five S-series championships," "the highest mountain and the longest river in esports," and "the ruler of League of Legends for the past 10 years."

Both sides are phenomenal performers, and both sides are super internet celebrities.

When these two teams play against each other, it's bound to be hilarious and generate a lot of buzz.

In esports competitions, who wouldn't love watching the battle between internet celebrities?
Everyone is now hoping that the two teams can quickly advance from the quarterfinals to the semifinals for a highly anticipated ultimate online celebrity battle, a best-of-five series.

But no matter how much we hope, that's not going to happen right now.

Compared to the potential "T1 vs WBG" final battle between internet celebrities, the CFO vs WBG match was rather uneventful.

Although there's the topic of "Shimamura Yuna after changing teams vs. her old teammates," it should be quite interesting.

But the cruel truth is...
The international attention given to CFOs is entirely due to Yuna Shimamura.

After Shimamura Yuna left, the team was no longer cared about except by local fans.

Even something as seemingly interesting as a "battle against one's former employer" left the audience indifferent.

I just felt that this was a sure thing, a complete stomp on noobs.

I just hope Shimamura Yuna can resolve the CFO issue quickly and move on to the next round.

Compared to the others, viewers are more concerned about KT vs T1.

Because these two teams seem to be closer in strength, T1 might not necessarily be able to beat KT.

Suspense makes the competition interesting.

Suspense makes a competition worth watching.

The two quarter-final matches in the lower half of the draw were, in general, just the prelude.

However, the CFO role is clearly seen as a more uninteresting and uninspiring prelude.

They themselves are aware of this.

He knew that apart from his local fans, no one paid attention to him.

They all just wanted to lose 0-3 to Shimamura Yuna as soon as possible.

But
Others may not have high hopes for them, but they cannot doubt themselves.

If you don’t steam the steamed buns, you’ll lose your breath.

If we just let them have their way, wouldn't that be really annoying?

Even if you lose, you have to lose gracefully and coolly.

With this in mind, the CFO and his team privately met with Yuna Shimamura the day before the competition began.

While catching up, I also said some harsh things to her.

"Don't underestimate us. When the time comes, our two top laners will take turns playing and easily crush you."

"That's true, Shimamura-nee. You'd better be careful. If our car flips over tomorrow, you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

Yuna Shimamura felt somewhat helpless about the trash talk her former teammates were giving her.

"Okay, I understand. I will do my best."

The two sides stared at each other for a moment.

For some reason, the group on the CFO's side seemed to sense that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, and suddenly they couldn't help but laugh.

Shimamura Yuna had no idea what they were laughing at, so she could only look at them helplessly and sigh.

After a while, the atmosphere finally cooled down.

HongQ was hesitant about whether or not to say something at this moment.

He wanted to wish Shimamura Yuna well, saying, "I hope you can win the championship this year."

But I always feel that, as an opponent, saying this to Shimamura Yuna now seems to be a blow to their own morale and an attempt to surrender before the battle even begins.

Even though he knew very well that the chances of winning tomorrow were almost nil.

After much deliberation, he ultimately chose to express his meaning in a more tactful way.

"No matter who wins tomorrow, I hope we can go all the way to the end, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Shimamura Yuna nodded: "Yes, I will."

"Whether I win or you win."

So you actually thought we had a chance of winning?
HongQ thought this to herself, but said nothing.

Just smiled slightly.

Then he said goodbye to Shimamura Yuna.

"See you on the field then."

"Okay, see you at the stadium."

(End of this chapter)