“Nice!” As soon as the match ended, Yu Hao couldn’t help but clench his fist and shout.
This victory was clean and decisive, bringing a significant boost to their morale.
This was the true form of JW, the WPL Spring Champion.
With this win, JW still had a chance to advance to the knockout stage.
Though Tigers were disappointed with the loss, they knew the game was a matter of skill. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t handle the unstoppable Tortoise Warrior, and JW’s ability to seize opportunities was undeniable. They accepted the defeat with respect.
JW’s fans could finally hold their heads high.
After the match, it was time for the post-game interview segment.
Since it was the group stage, media teams from each region mostly focused on their own region’s teams and primarily interviewed them after the match.
The MVP of this game, Jiang Min, was the one interviewed.
During the interview, Jiang Min stuck to his usual “speak only when necessary” style, often leaving the host awkwardly unable to respond, earning him the title of “interview genius.”
When asked about his expectations for the upcoming matches, Jiang Min honestly said, “Just go with the flow, we’ll see how far we can go.”
This left the host feeling embarrassed. Shouldn’t teams participating in the World Championship be full of fighting spirit and aiming for the championship? Why did JW seem so lacking in motivation before even reaching the knockout stage?
In fact, Jiang Min was just being pragmatic.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure how far JW could go.
The team’s overall mentality had improved significantly, and there was potential, but when it came to facing the real top-tier teams, he wasn’t confident.
[“JW must have lost their motivation after losing the first three games in the group stage.”]
[“Not really, not really. Didn’t they play well today?”]
[“This is Group C, guys. They haven’t even faced any strong teams and are already getting wrecked. What will happen later?”]
[“JW should just go home early, so they don’t lose embarrassingly in the knockout stage.”]
The live chat was flooded with more people trying to stir the pot.
However, the JW players, who had their phones taken away, were completely focused on training after the match, completely unaware of the outside commentary. Only their social media manager, Ah Xin, silently cried while holding her phone, not daring to let the players see.
With this adjustment, JW went on to win two more matches in the group stage, finishing with a score of 3 wins and 3 losses, securing second place in the group and barely advancing to the knockout stage.
AFK, another WPL team, also advanced to the knockout stage as group runners-up.
At this point, the two WPL teams had at least made it to the next round, making progress compared to last year, when they were all eliminated in the group stage.
The quarterfinals would begin in five days.
This period of time was for teams to adjust and train.
Even after making it to the knockout stage, JW still struggled to get scrims.
Especially with top-tier teams, Van Da Di tried reaching out multiple times, but they all claimed their schedules were too full to play training matches with JW.
In other words, they refused to prioritize JW in their training schedule.
But the reaction from the top teams was understandable. After all, JW’s performance in the group stage wasn’t very impressive. While they performed well in the last three games, their first three losses had been quite ugly, making the top teams dismiss them as a threat.
Luckily, AFK and a few other mid-tier teams were still willing to scrim with JW.
Among the quarterfinal teams, the most popular contenders for the championship were the defending champions, European powerhouse NG, M-country’s traditional strong team LSG, and PH from Korea, known for their talented mid-laner DNA.
Meanwhile, BUG, once a top contender, was eliminated in the death group due to poor form.
Additionally, there were two teams from WPL, two teams from Europe, and one team from North America.
From this, it was clear that overall, the WOC professional league was still dominated by European and American teams, with other regions still catching up.
For the two WPL teams to make it to the quarterfinals was already a significant improvement.
Two days before the quarterfinals, the official drawing ceremony was held.
The top team from each group drew their opponents for the quarterfinals.
–
Certainly! Here’s the retranslated passage with the name “Fan Dadi” instead of “Van Da Di”:
—
AFK and JW are both group second-place teams, so they were only involved in the drawing process, and didn’t have to go to the live event for the draw ceremony.
Hao Qianyi, holding a cushion, sat with his teammates in the training room watching the live broadcast of the drawing ceremony. While eating fries, he said, “I’m glad we’re not group first. What if we get unlucky and draw a top-tier team? We’d be criticized so badly!”
“We’d probably just be called unlucky,” Wei Yabo said, taking a fry from Hao Qianyi’s box. “They’ll say we’re doomed and predict we’ll lose.”
Hao Qianyi, chewing on his fry, suddenly noticed something was off.
“Hey, we’re in another country, and you’re still stealing my food!” Hao Qianyi glared at Wei Yabo.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Wei Yafeng lazily grabbed another fry and said, “What’s the big deal? Whether we’re abroad or not, it’s still sharing, not stealing!”
Hao Qianyi groaned, “It’s all your fault! That’s why I’m always hungry!”
Normally, the event organizers provided the teams with well-arranged hotels and decent food. Fan Dadi, being considerate of the hardworking players, often brought back food from Los City for them, so there shouldn’t have been any issue with hunger.
The problem was that Hao Qianyi was like a bottomless pit—he could eat so much.
What’s worse, despite eating so much, he was still small and skinny, almost like a monkey.
The others could only attribute it to the fact that he was still growing.
“Alright, alright, stop fooling around. I’ll buy you some food later,” Fan Dadi, who was usually strict, softened his tone. He was aware that the team’s training had been tough recently and wanted to support his players more, but right now, he was feeling nervous.
“Thanks, Your majesty!” Hao Qianyi brightened at the mention of food and acted obediently.
“Let’s watch the draw, though. I wonder who we’ll face in the quarterfinals?” Fan Dadi said, silently praying that JW would draw a weaker opponent and make it to the top four.
“Ah, NG’s drawing now.” Someone in the training room suddenly called out.
On screen, NG’s captain, position 5, Cup, walked onto the stage.
Cup, with his typical European look, wore round glasses and an NG black-and-green team uniform. Seemingly calm and collected, Cup reached into the drawing box and pulled out a ball, handing it to the host standing next to him.
The draw rules for the quarterfinals are that when each group’s first-place team draws, they exclude the second-place team from the same group as well as any teams that have already been drawn.
This ensures that the first and second-place teams from the same group will not face each other again.
Therefore, AFK actually benefited from being in the death group, as it helped them avoid facing one of the top-tier teams, LSG, again.
The host opened the ball in his hand and used his usual trick to build suspense.
After all, the team drawing was the defending champion, the super-team NG, which had advanced to the knockout stage with a perfect record in the group stage. Everyone was eagerly anticipating which unlucky team would face them.
“….PH!” the host announced, revealing the name of the team written on the slip of paper inside the ball.
PH advanced to the knockout stage as the second-place team from Group D.
The performance of their players was commendable, though there were some new additions to the team, and the coordination still needed work. However, they gained momentum during the group stage and improved as they went along. With the consistent performance of their star player DNA, they became a strong contender for the championship.
At the moment, teams from the WPL region hadn’t yet reached the level of the top-tier teams in the world tournament. The other three teams were all composed of a mix of veterans and new players. Their performances in the group stage were stable, but nothing extraordinary, so not many fans believed they had what it takes to win the championship.
“Holy shit, PH?” Hao Qianyi suddenly became more alert.
“…This match should be very exciting,” Jiang Min said while stroking his chin.
“Hmm? Why’s that? I think PH’s form is average? Their opponent is NG! NG! Two-time world champions!” Hao Qianyi said. “NG should crush them, right?”
“Not necessarily,” Jiang Min calmly analyzed. “PH isn’t weak right now. They lost to us in R Country before, but that was because their mid-laner and two supports seemed a bit out of sync. However, the new position 5 player they added, I’ve watched some of their games, and he’s very strong.”
Anyone whom Jiang Min describes as “very strong” is undoubtedly impressive.
Hao Qianyi, who hadn’t paid much attention to PH’s matches before, immediately changed his opinion about their position 5 player.
Before, he thought the player was just a newcomer, less experienced than himself, and that he’d probably mess up in the World Championship.
But the player not only didn’t mess up but actually performed really well.
Hao Qianyi couldn’t help but reflect on himself.
It was only his second World Championship, so why was it so difficult for him to maintain consistent form?
“Two teams have drawn now, so our opponent will be either LSG or the MVP team from Europe,” Yan Junying said, also following the draw.
“Please no LSG, please no LSG!” The “suicide trio” huddled together, chanting like a mantra.
Axin, the social media manager, thought it was amusing and decided to record the players’ reactions to the draw. She planned to post it on the official Weibo account later.
The players had been in closed training and she hadn’t wanted to disturb them.
But it had been a while since the official account had been updated, so she figured she should post something to interact with the fans.
“Come on, if you’re aiming for the championship, you’ll face LSG sooner or later,” Yan Junying said with a look of disdain at his own team. “Not to mention there’s NG as well. How are you all going to play like this?”
The “suicide trio” ignored him and kept chanting.
The LSG captain stepped up to draw.
While teams could choose any player to do the drawing, all of them opted for their captain.
Why?
In many teams, the role of the captain is very clear.
If the result is good, the captain takes credit and steps down.
If the result is bad, then the captain takes the blame.
The captain is often, in reality, the team’s tool, fulfilling the various needs of the team members.
Of course, there are captains like Yu Hao, who hold real power and command respect from their teammates.
But in many teams, the captain is just a brick, moved wherever needed.
At this moment, LSG’s captain, position 3 Muffin, drew a ball and handed it to the host.
The host first made an exaggerated expression and then called out the name of the opponent.
“From the WPL region… JW team!”
The “suicide trio” of JW froze upon hearing that.
1You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you and Enjoy reading! ❤️ -TL: Ysiad
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