Wa: It’s broken, I’ve become a cutting monster!

In the next few days, Shan Anyang kept running between home and the club. Although it was a bit tiring, fortunately with Lizhi's company, his life was still comfortable.

"For the upcoming VCTCN, let me briefly introduce the competition system."

After finishing a training match, Xia An gathered everyone for a small meeting.

"VCTCN is a new regional competition that Riot Games has added this year. The first stage will start on April 4 and last until May 5..."

Although Shan Anyang knew something about VCT, he didn't know much about it. When Xia An explained it, Shan Anyang was just like a primary school student who listened attentively.

Dan Anyang soon discovered something was wrong. Unlike the CSGO domestic league, the complexity of vctcn was extremely high. Dan Anyang didn’t even understand it the first time!

持续38的比赛，小组赛从4月5日一直打一个月到5月5日。这也是整个赛季最复杂的地方。

Before understanding the group stage divisions, you need to classify the teams according to their results in the China Starting Tournament.

EDG and FPX, who have qualified for the Madrid Masters, belong to the first echelon! When Xia An said this, Shan Anyang was stunned!

"FPX is at the bottom of the domestic rankings this season, but they are still in the top tier?"

Of course, Shan Anyang didn't say it.

DRG and TE, who also failed in the semifinals of the knockout round of the Madrid Masters, belong to the second tier. BLG and TEC, who failed in the breakout round, belong to the third tier...

Nova and JDG, who did not advance from the group stage but were not the last, belong to the fourth tier.

The remaining Tianlu, AG, and Wolf Team are in the fifth tier.

It’s no wonder that Dan Anyang couldn’t understand. Just the division of the teams into echelons in the group stage was enough to overload his brain!

Not to mention the more complicated group stage divisions...

Fortunately, after Xia An finished talking about the VCTCN group stage division, he explained it to Shan Anyang separately.

"To put it simply, the five echelons of teams are divided into two groups, A and O. One team in one group will challenge all the teams in the other group one by one..."

Compared with other international competitions, the complex grouping schedule of VCTCN can be more "relatively fair", with 30 games being held in more than 30 days of group matches!

The 31 days of the group stage are divided into 5 weeks. In the first three days of each week, two BO3 games will be held every day (except the fifth week), which means 6 BO3 games will be held in each week!

It just so happened that FPX played on the last day of the first season week.

FPX vs. Wol!

This is also the first official game after FPX's reorganization! It is also the first game for Shan Anyang to return to the professional arena!

After Shan Anyang revealed during a live broadcast these days that he had joined FPX, all the teams suddenly realized that the "Saying" who was flying around in the training game was Shan Anyang!

The entire VCTCN competition system is very friendly to weak teams, and they have ample time to learn experience and lessons from the games they have played.

For strong teams, there is also more time for other teams to study them, such as EDG...

Judging from the schedule where each team only plays one BO3 game per week, the weaker teams have ample time to conduct detailed research. So for a team like FPX that was at the bottom of the table last season, the further the game progresses, the stronger their advantage will be!

It is not fair at all for the teams in Group A. That is, every week at least one team in Group A will play two BO3s!

Take EDG as an example. In the first four weeks, EDG only had to play one game, but in the fifth week, EDG had to play two games!

Therefore, the TE and AG that EDG will face in the last week have already spent 4 weeks studying EDG's 4 games of BO3! So EDG will face huge pressure in the last week...

"Then didn't EDG suffer a lot in the entire vctcn?"

Shan Anyang asked in confusion. No matter from which angle you look at it, EDG can't gain any advantage.

"That's right, but this is not directed at EDG alone. As early as the 2023 Tokyo Masters qualification, in the VCT2023 League, European teams have already experienced what EDG is feeling now..."

Xia An explained with a somewhat helpless tone. There was no other way. VCT had always been like this. He knew how to fill the schedule...

Even worse than EDG is FNC.

Before that league, fnc had already won a world-class championship - the Sao Paulo Tour Championship. After returning to Europe, fnc was thrown into the same lengthy competition system without even having time to catch their breath, but they still achieved a perfect record of 9/0!

“So even if the competition system favors weaker teams, in the end it is still difficult to change the fact that the strong will always be strong.”

Xia An said this earnestly, which also sounded a wake-up call to FPX’s teammates!

Never rely on anything beyond your own strength!

Seeing that everyone seemed to be thinking about something, Xia An nodded and continued to explain the competition system.

"After a month of group matches, the top three teams from Group A and Group O will enter the playoffs..."

The second and third place teams in each group of the six teams, a total of four teams, will play two BO6 elimination matches. The losers will be eliminated directly and the winners will enter the next round of the winners' group semi-finals!

The two teams that advance to the winners' group semi-finals will face the first place winners of the two group matches.

"I saw that the first place in the group stage is guaranteed to advance to the winner's bracket semifinals, right?"

Shan Anyang finally caught up, and from this point on it was the same as the double-elimination system in CSGO competitions.

"That's right, so we have to try our best to qualify as the first place in the group stage!"

The playoff champion is the first place, the loser to the champion is the second place, and the loser's bracket winner is the third place. These three teams will qualify for the Shanghai Masters!

"The first competition week will begin next week. What do you think, boys? Do you have confidence?"

"Have!"

Everyone shouted in unison. At this time, the FPX members were no longer as lax as they were at the end of the season, because Shan Anyang’s joining gave them hope!

"I have prepared the training plan for this week. Let me tell you in advance..."

After Xia An finished speaking, he took out a small notebook...

"I won't be training for the time being. I'll focus more on tactical arrangements and studying the opponent as a supplement!"

"Dan, you should live in the club dormitory for the next few days."

"no problem."

Shan Anyang agreed immediately. He had already informed Lizhi. VCTCN was extremely important to him, so Shan Anyang had to respond with 100% of his strength.

Fortunately, Lizhi is also a former professional player and is very supportive of this.

"Okay, let's stop here for tonight. Have a good rest first. Starting tomorrow, you will know what devilish training is, hehehe..."