This year’s World Championship opening ceremony was held at the Wansai E-sports Center in Seoul, South Korea. This season was divided into four regions: China, South Korea, North America, and Europe. Each region had three teams that qualified to participate, totaling twelve teams, namely:
China: Black Rose (BR) team, Apocalypse (AP) team, and Scattered Clouds (SC) team;
South Korea: ACE team, MTG team, and UG team;
North America: LGG team, OB team, and NTP team;
Europe: RD team, SWW team, and TTT team.
The tournament was divided into two stages. The first was the group stage, where the twelve teams were split into four groups according to the draw. Each group consisted of three teams that competed against each other in a round-robin format. The team with the highest win rate advanced to the semifinals, and in case of a tie, the team with the highest score won. After the group stage, the winning teams from Groups A and B, and the winning teams from Groups C and D will compete in the semi-finals. The winning teams will qualify for the finals.
As in the past, this year’s tournament featured some dark horses as well as some old favorites, making the drawing of lots a crucial part of the tournament. In other words – strength will also depend on luck.
Three days after arriving in Seoul, all twelve teams finally gathered at Wansai E-sports Center for the highly anticipated draw ceremony. Media from various countries have already focused their cameras here, while countless e-sports fans have been eagerly waiting in front of their computer screens for the moment when all will be revealed.
“Please send representatives from each team to the stage for drawing lots,” said the host in fluent English.
“You go,” said You Jing, turning to Lin Xiao at the Black Rose team bench.
“Go where?” Lin Xiao asked, puzzled, as he was drinking water.
“…The host said to prepare to draw lots into groups.” Xiao Li glanced at him speechlessly. “But your English level is a bit lacking, Lin Xiao.”
“What do you mean lacking? It’s good enough.” Lin Xiao swept a glance and got up from his seat, “I’m going then.”
You Jing nodded. “Go ahead.”
When Lin Xiao came on stage, representatives from the other teams only gave him a cursory glance. Although many people have seen him when studying battle videos, there were only a few that he could say he really knew – Apocalypse‘s Yan Duzhou, Scattered Clouds‘ Zhang Fengyu, and ACE team’s Devin.
Speaking of Devin, Lin Xiao took a closer look at him. He was as tall and handsome as ever, enough to cause a wave of high-pitched screams from female fans as soon as he appeared on stage. He was probably the only one representing a team as a coach rather than a player, but he made this whole thing appear logical and natural.
If he were still here, he would definitely be even more popular than this guy. Lin Xiao muttered to himself inwardly as he glanced toward someone else standing next to Devin. His ambiguous smile became more intense; oh right, he almost forgot there was such an acquaintance.
Jiang Minjun, who represented MTG on stage, felt the gaze and turned his head just in time to meet Lin Xiao’s strange smile. His heart jumped subconsciously, but in the blink of an eye, he recognized the team uniform. He raised his eyebrows and walked over with a half-smile: “Hello.”
Lin Xiao also smiled at him very politely: “Hello. To meet you.”
Jiang Minjun said in fluent English: “It’s been a few years since the Black Rose team has participated in the World Championship, and I never thought that I could actually have the honor of meeting them this year.”
Lin Xiao continued smiling: “Me too, me too.”
Jiang Minjun said, “I heard that your team’s ghost priest is very strong. I’m looking forward to a face-to-face confrontation.”
Lin Xiao replied, “Me too, me too.”
Jiang Minjun glanced at Yan Duzhou standing beside him and arrogantly raised his eyebrows, “Our Korean e-sports players don’t have any age-related issues. We won’t give you as many opportunities as in the National League. I hope you won’t go home too early. Of course, if you need it, maybe we can show some mercy to your team so that the defeat won’t be too embarrassing.”
Lin Xiao: “Me too, Me too.”
“…” Jiang Minjun finally realized something was wrong and his face darkened, “You don’t understand English at all!”
Lin Xiao: “Me too, Me too.”
Just when Jiang Minjun was about to lose it completely, Yan Duzhou, who had listened to the whole conversation, couldn’t bear it anymore and pulled Lin Xiao aside, saying, “He’s provoking you.”
Lin Xiao innocently said: “I know, am I also not provoking him?”
Is this considered provocation? Yan Duzhou was speechless, but looking at Jiang Minjun’s furious appearance, he had to admit that this so-called provocation was indeed very effective. “…What do you want to say? Let me translate for you.”
Lin Xiao smiled and said, “Tell him that this year, we won’t rely on our ace players and will only use newcomers, but we can still crush them the same way.” After saying that, he gritted his teeth and said word by word to Jiang Minjun: “Wait for me, I will give you some color to see see!”
Jiang Minjun was so stunned by what he said, that what Yan Duzhou translated didn’t even reach his ears, only feeling how this inexplicable English sounded so familiar. Suddenly, something flashed through his mind, and he almost shouted: “It’s him!”
That’s right, it was that LovelyGhost! This completely unintelligible English was totally this guy’s style! Just as the IP check had shown, this guy was really a player from the Black Rose team!
Jiang Minjun had just recovered and was about to say something when the drawing ceremony finally officially began at this moment. He could only temporarily suppress his own thoughts.
“Focus on the game and stop thinking about other irrelevant things.”
A voice came from behind him. Jiang Minjun turned around and saw Devin looking at him quietly. He sneered disdainfully. “Devin, as ACE‘s coach, you should take care of your own team first.”
Devin was accustomed to his disrespectful attitude and calmly smiled. “Be careful not to lose.”
Jiang Minjun scoffed contemptuously.
At this time, the three Chinese teams had completed the draw, and it was now South Korea‘s turn. The current grouping status was as follows: The Apocalypse team was in Group A, Scattered Clouds team was in Group C, and Black Rose team was in Group D. Fortunately, the same region did not end up in the same group, avoiding a situation of internal competition. It could be said to be a stroke of luck.
Jiang Minjun glanced at the grouping of the Black Rose team and chanted to himself, “Group D, Group D, Group D …”… ” When he put his hand into the box and took it out, he was overjoyed to see the eye-catching “D” letter.
Being placed in the same group, he will definitely crush them! As a member of the MTG team entering the World Championship from second place in Korea‘s region, Jiang Minjun had absolute confidence in his own team’s strength. He turned around and wanted to continue challenging Lin Xiao but found that the opponent had already returned to his seat as if nothing had happened. This made him suddenly choke on the anger trapped inside him.
At the Black Rose team’s seats, the players have been paying attention to the final grouping situation. Seeing Lin Xiao return, Xiao Li was the first to ask, “The person was a player from South Korea, right? You talked for so long, do you know him?”
Lin Xiao responded: “I know him. You also know him, he is that Jiang Minjun.”
Xiao Li paused, then said with a look of displeasure on his face: “Damn it, what do you have to say to this person?” After a moment, he remembered something, and his face changed to a suspicious expression: “Wait a minute! Do you know English? How did you communicate with him?”
Lin Xiao smirked and said, “Like I said, I know enough.”
Xiao Li choked on his words and asked again: “So, what did you guys talk about?”
Lin Xiao smiled, “He actually provoked me just now, so I told him that even if we don’t use our ace players, like Captain You, we can still crush them.”
Looking at the distinct words “MTG team” in the column of Group D, Xiao Li laughed: “Absolutely!”
You Jing’s voice suddenly drifted over, “I wasn’t scheduled to play in the group stage anyway, right?”
Lin Xiao smiled fondly: “So, there is nothing wrong with what I said, Jing Jing.”
Xiao Li wailed: “Captain You, please keep him under control! It’s fine if you call each other privately, but bringing it up all the time is so cringy. Don’t bully people like this!”
Just as he finished speaking, the host’s voice came through the speakers from all directions, lingering in the entire venue.
The draw for the group stage was officially over, and the specific group session has been displayed on the big screen for all to see:
Group A: Apocalypse Team (China), LGG Team (North America), TTT Team (Europe)
Group B: ACE Team (South Korea), SWW Team (Europe), RD Team (Europe)
Group C: Scattered Clouds Team (China), UG Team (South Korea), OB Team (North America)
Group D: Black Rose Team (China), MTG Team (South Korea), NTP Team (North America)
Except for two unfortunate European teams being placed in the same group, teams from other regions were lucky to be separated. Among them, the ACE team and the RD team were seeded teams from their respective regions, and both were placed in Group B, which sparked a lot of heated discussions.
Overall, Lin Xiao was very satisfied with the current situation, especially with the grouping of MTG, as he shared the same thoughts as Jiang Minjun. It was much better to meet in the group stage than be eliminated before they even met. Otherwise, where would he find him to slap him in the face?
Looking down on veteran players? Then let this veteran player educate and teach this junior!
