Chapter 79

Chapter 79 – 3v3 Group Stage (1)

At 7 p.m. New York time, the exciting 3v3 event was officially launched.

There were 20 teams in four groups playing a round robin and the Carnival only had five days. Therefore, the Miracle League changed to a larger venue. The 3v3 event had one main stage and three smaller stages with comprehensive electrical equipment. This way, the matches of the four groups could be carried out simultaneously. The online broadcast could also be split into four live broadcasts.

The official channel on the US side would only commentate on the important matches on the main stage. The other three stages would have live videos released and each country could select the ones they wanted to comment on.

At 7 o’clock, the main stage was the Group C match between South Korea team 2 and US team 1. These two teams were all strong teams with star contestants so the rating naturally wasn’t bad.

However, the domestic broadcast cut to the sub-game next door instead of showing the main match. The Chinese teams were playing on the sub-stages so the Chinese side would certainly broadcast their own events.

In Group D, Tan Shitian, Lou Wushuang and Liu Xiang’s team happened to meet in the Swedish team in the first match.

Sweden’s e-sports had been brilliant for some time and there were several world-class gods. It was the time when StarCraft dominated e-sports and StarCraft was more about individual players. There were many talented players who single-handedly killed famous players. Later, with the rise of team sports, there weren’t as many professional players in Sweden and the size of the league was small. Their position in the e-sports circle gradually declined.

At this year’s Carnival, Sweden’s strength wasn’t high but they were nationally selected players. Their level couldn’t be underestimated. Tan Shitian and the others were full of confidence but they weren’t careless.

After today’s dinner, Tan Shitian, Lou Wushuang and Liu Xiang had gathered to discuss their tactic for the first match. They clearly had a plan so their expressions were very calm as they entered.

The Carnival 3v3 group stage map was the league stipulated ‘City Square.’ This map was large in size and had a very wide view. It was the same for all matches and was fair to all teams. At the end of the quarter-finals, the matches would change into a three game, two win selection model. Competitors could freely choose a match that was beneficial to them.

***

In the live broadcast room, Yu Bing started to calmly analyze the lineup of both sides. “This time, the opponent is Sweden. The Sweden team had a combination of berserker, swordsman and black magician. A berserker is the fiercest class in a melee, a swordsman has very strong attacks and a black magician has many attack spells. This combination maximizes attacks and is very violent.”

“Our Chinese team 2 have the unmatched assassin Lou Wushuang, Tan Shitian’s bard and Liu Xiang’s healer. The blood kin assassin and elf bard are fragile classes with weak defense. They can be easily killed by the other side. The explosive ability and endurance aren’t great but the advantage is that this combination is very mobile.”

“Yes!” Kou Hongyi nodded with approval. “Tan Shitian’s bard has very high agility. Combined with the elf’s Flying Feather Steps, he can move through the map as rapidly as the wind. This team also has the most devastating killer in our Miracle League who is the best at assassination. The two of them are clearly aiming for the unexpected guerrilla tactic.”

Guerrilla warfare was one of the most common tactics in the Chinese Miracle Professional League. Tan Shitian’s guerrilla tactics with the Time team had broken down many giants. However, this normally involved a cooperation between Tan Shitian and Cheng Wei. Many domestic audiences wondered what his cooperation with Lou Wushuang would be like.

***

The match time arrived very quickly. The players on both sides entered the competition room and confirmed the data.

The Miracle World Carnival officially opened a separate  game server. All players had to register their IDs after verifying their identity on the first day. Since the IDs could only be English letters, Tan Shitian used Tenday, Lou Wushuang was Killer and Liu Xiang used XX.

The domestic audience could recognize these players when looking at the IDs but the Swedish players weren’t familiar with them. However, the classes could clearly be distinguished based on the different avatars.

The domestic audience wasn’t familiar with the Swedish players so when Yu Bing and Kou Hongyi commentated, they directly used their classes instead of names. This made it easier for everyone to understand.

“The captain of the Swedish team is a black magician. He is said to be a very good remote player and is also the commander of this match.” Yu Bing paused and said, “The commander of the Chinese team 2 should be Tan Shitian.”

Tan Shitian’s Tenday character had a captain’s mark on his head so Yu Bing could guess it.”

“Tenday, this name originated from Tan Shitian. Everyone knows that Sunday (English) is Sunday. Then what is Tenday (English)? In fact, Tenday isn’t 10 days. It is our Storytelling God: Ten Days (Chinese). ” Kou Hongyi said with a smile.

[…] This cold joke made many onlookers type a row of ellipses. Yu Bing was also speechless.

In order to prevent him from completely ruining the atmosphere, Yu Bing completely changed the topic. “The World Carnival’s 3v3 mode isn’t the same as the professional league. The contestants’ data will be zero after logging into the game room. We can see that all players’ stat points have been reset and the equipment has to be selected from the stadium’s equipment library. This type of competition system achieves absolutely fairness between the two parties.”

“Well, the professional league is based on the strength of the contestants and there can’t be a situation where a loss is due to the equipment. Both sides should have the same starting point. The equipment in the library is the same and the variety of choices is very rich.” Kou Hongyi went on to say, “Let’s see how they choose the equipment and stat points for this match.”

Changing the points and equipment according to the opponent would make the match more flexible.

Tan Shitian’s hand speed was extremely fast. In five seconds, he had added all 500 stat points into agility.

Yu Bing wasn’t surprised. “Captain Tan also plays with this build in the domestic league. He will add the elf bard’s agility to the highest and the lack of attack will be supplemented with equipment. I guess that he will dress in an attack set.”

As soon as the words were spoke, Tan Shitian on the screen selected the ‘Gale Suit’ from the equipment library. This was the elf set with the highest physical attack, wore a crit ring and necklace and chose the Frost Covenant weapon.

Kou Hongyi was a bit surprised. “He changed his weapon? In the domestic league, he always used the Elf Bow, which is the most aggressive bow. The weapon he chose today doesn’t have a high attack but the advantage is that big moves will cause a deceleration effect due to the ice.”

The Elf Bow and Bright Heart, these were the weapons commonly used by Tan Shitian and Cheng Wei in domestic competitions. The information of these two weapons were complementary. Cheng Wei’s staff had very strong control so Cheng Wei could assuredly choose the bow with the most powerful attack.

Today he replaced his weapon. It was clearly because of a change in tactical thinking.

Yu Bing couldn’t help feeling admiration. “Tan Shitian is very clever. Previously, he had Cheng Wei to help him control the field. Now that isn’t possible so he can only control the field himself. That’s why he chose a weapon with the deceleration effect. He can take full advantage of his long attack distance.”

Li Cangyu watched the game from below the stage and couldn’t help raising a thumb to Tan Shitian in his heart.

On the heavyweight field of the world series, many young players would be nervous and play abnormally. This young man could be so calm and change according to the situation. It was rare for young players to react sharply and courageously. Tan Shitian was only 19 years old and to be honest, he was several times more mature than Cheng Wei, who was the same age. Cheng Wei should follow him to learn more.

***

There were two minutes of preparation time before the match. The players quickly selected their equipment and added their points.

Yu Bing followed the flashing images on the screen and quickly explained. “The information of Captain Lou is also released. His stats are the same as the domestic games. His clothing increase attack while his ring and necklace increases agility. The weapon chosen is… Blood Demon.”

“Blood Demon?” Kou Hongyi laughed. “This is the pair of daggers commonly used by Lou Wushuang. The black daggers have a red shine and looks beautiful. Of course, he uses the beautiful pair of daggers to kill people.”

Yu Bing cotinued saying, “Liu Xiang has increased the spiritual stat. The weapon chosen is ‘Big Angel’ which increases the healing amount but her clothing is the angel race’s highest defense ‘God’s Words’ set. This should be Tan Shitian and Lou Wushuang’s decision to help protect her life, since the opposite side would definitely come to attack her.”

“Yes, the opposite side is the violent attack combination of a swordsman, berserker and black magician. The situation will be better if they kill the healer and it becomes 3v2. Liu Xiang will be under a lot of pressure so she chose the defensive clothes.”

***

Under the stage, Li Cangyu was giving a live explanation to his apprentice. “You should carefully ponder on how Lou Wushuang added the points.”

Xiao Han stared serious at the big screen and asked, “Did he increase his attack and agility stats in the ratio of 3:1?”

The relieved Li Cangyu rubbed his little apprentice’s head. “To be able to analyze the proportion of points from the final data, your math isn’t bad.”

Xiao Han was very happy but then his expression changed. “Master, you previously told me that my method of putting all points in attack means I won’t have enough agility. In fact, I put points in attack because I wanted to use my equipment to supplement my agility.”

Li Cangyu shook his head. “It is useless to choose agility clothing without having the points to supplement it. Look at Lou Wushuang. He added points to agility. At the same time, his ring and necklace also add agility, making it easier for him to cooperate with Tan Shitian. Otherwise, his speed won’t be able to keep up.” After a pause, he continued, “If he was with his brother Zhang Shaohui, he wouldn’t need to do this. He made adjustments to his stats based on today’s teammates.”

“Oh!” Xiao Han nodded thoughtfully.

These great gods were really amazing. They could immediately adjust their stats when the teammates were changed…

Xiao Han had played Miracle for many years but his understanding was very shallow. He would follow his master to study in the future.

Xiao Han silently made up his mind as he stared seriously at the big screen.