After the competition in the first half of the year, the officially released list of teams according to rank was, from top to bottom: Mojue, Dynasty, Without Fire, Frost Moon, Sky, National Grace, Interlude, Whisper, Sword Song and Graceful Beauty. A gap of 5 to 10 points existed between the top three teams, while the point gap between the fourth to seventh-placed teams were much closer. This was especially so for National Beauty, Interlude, and Whisper, which were within 2 points of each other.
The competition schedule for the second half of the year was very different from the one for the first half of the year. Firstly, there were four competition venues: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xi’an. The league set up venues in the east, west, south, and north, making it convenient for people to support their favourite teams. Secondly, the schedule was not as tight as the previous individual and partner competitions; each team only had one match a week, which would always be held on a weekend. This was to make it convenient for fans to watch the live broadcast.
Although the schedule was less packed when compared to the first half of the year, the pressure on the players had not been reduced in any way—— because the second half of the competition involved a point deduction system.
This competition still adopted the BO3 system, with points being calculated according to the number of games. Every win would earn them two points, while every loss would cost them two points. Losing a match 0:2 meant that four points would be deducted directly. It seemed that teams which did not possess many points were likely to end up with a negative amount of points in the near future.
On the morning of June 13th, the electronic version of the competition schedule was sent to the leaders of all major teams. Liu Xiang printed out the schedule and handed copies to all the team members.
Qin Mo took a look at the Mojue team’s schedule. In the first week of the competition, on the night of Saturday, June 15th, they would fight the Graceful Beauty team in the Beijing arena. In the second week, on the evening of the 22nd, they would be fighting against National Grace; the third week was in Shanghai, while the fourth week was in Guangzhou…
They would face different opponents in different venues every week. In fact, the psychological state and adaptability of the players was also tested by this. They also needed to look out for those who had bad stomachs or those who couldn’t adjust to different climates quickly.
Highlighting Mojue’s match schedule, Qin Mo instructed all the team members to save it on their mobile phones, before turning to Liu Xiang. “The next few games will be played at all four venues. I will be troubling sister Xiang to arrange the round trip air tickets, the members’ meals and the accommodations.”
“Don’t worry,” Liu Xiang smiled. “This is something I should be doing. The ticket to Beijing has already been booked, everyone will leave on the morning of the 15th.”
Qin Mo nodded, stood up and walked to the front of the training room. “Let’s take a break for now, and analyse our opponents for the first match.”
“But it’s Graceful Beauty!” Shen He laughed. “Winning them with a score of 2:0 is to be expected!”
“Graceful Beauty is currently ranked last in the league, they will be eliminated next season!” He Beiguang echoed.
The first-ranked team fighting against the last-ranked team, there would be no suspense in the match. However, Qin Mo didn’t think so. Glancing at the excited teenagers, he calmly rebuked them. “Don’t underestimate any opponent before the match. Arrogance is not a good habit.”
Shen He and He Beiguang immediately hung their heads in shame.
Qin Mo continued. “I want to give the newcomers more opportunities in this competition. I’m considering letting Qingyue lead the first game, A-Hong will take the second, and the third… if there is a third, Xiao Han will go fight.”
“If I lead, which lineup will I bring with me?” Zhu Qingyue asked gently.
“In the first game, Qingyue will team up with Shen He and Muran. Just play a slow-paced war of attrition, the both of you will assist Shen He, who will be both control and output. In the second game, A-Hong will bring Pei Yu and He Beiguang to play a fast-paced outbreak. If any of the games are lost, Qingyue, A-Hong, and Xiao Han will team up in the third game to ensure that our points will not be deducted,” Qin Mo explained.
“Then, you don’t plan to ban players?” Xiao Han couldn’t help asking.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qin Mo nodded. “It is not necessary.”
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***
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As the competitions for the second half of the year were based around the teams, the league only required the teams to participate in the competition according to the time and place on the given schedules. Teams who were late or abstained from the competitions would be punished. There were no rules in place for non-competition time, meaning that Mojue could return tomorrow morning after their match tonight.
However, Liu Xiang booked tickets for a 10:00pm flight tomorrow, certain that Qin Mo wanted to watch this week’s competitions in person.
After arriving at the hotel, Qin Mo allowed everyone to take a short break in the afternoon, before rushing to the competition site at 6:30pm in the evening.
During the team competition, all the team members from both sides would be here. Furthermore, as it was the weekend, the number of audience members at the competition site was far greater than that of the smaller events in the first half of the year. The scene was extremely packed, with many fans of the Mojue team holding up lightsticks to cheer for their favourite team.
Even from backstage, a quick glance around showed Xu Sizhe many banners cheering for Mojue such as, “Mojue will win”, “Good luck Twin Stars”, “Good luck Mojue”. Even Shen He, a little monkey, had many fans in the audience, much more than the number Graceful Beauty had as a team. As a captain, he felt uncomfortable.
Now, his feelings towards Qin Mo had gotten even more complicated. At first, he just hated Qin Mo. Now, besides still not liking Qin Mo, there was also the reluctance and helplessness of an ant regretting moving away from the shelter of a big tree, and even a strange sense of loss—— why could he not win against Qin Mo?
Ye Chao and Liang Ru were ready, and the display on the big screen changed to show the live broadcast room.
“Hello everyone!” Liang Ru smiled. “Welcome to the live broadcast of Peerless Jianghu’s three-player competition! I’m your official commentator, Liang Ru.”
“Hello everyone, we meet again. I’m Ye Chao.” Ye Chao added with a wave.
“First of all, I would like to say that the three-player competition is different from the small events in the first half of the year. There will be no championship, no group stage, or knockout process. Instead, all the teams will play a round-robin tournament for team points, and to prepare for the next team battle.” Liang Ru explained.
“The points are calculated according to the number of games,” Ye Chao continued the explanation. “Winning a game will earn them 2 points, while losing a game will cost them 2 points. Before the first game, captains will roll for points to decide who will take the lead. The captain with the larger number of points can choose to go first, or let their opponent go first. Going first gives the advantage of choosing three maps from the map library; going second allows you to ban or target people according to the lineup sent by the opponent.”
“To ensure the fairness of the game, the lead will switch in the second game,” Liang Ru added, “If the first two games end up in a 1:1 tie, the third game will have no advantages for either side. The map will be randomly selected by the stem, and both sides will have to send in their lineup at the same time without knowing the lineup of the other team.”
Ye Chao added. “Today’s game is the match between the team ranked first and the team ranked last after the first half of the year, Mojue VS Graceful Beauty. Mojue has dozens of points now, but Graceful Beauty only has… 2 points. This gap is really big!” Here, he paused for a few moments. “I can’t help but remember my high school years, where my class’ learning tyrant could get 148 out of 150, while I couldn’t even get 48 points,” Ye Chao ridiculed. “It really cannot be compared.”
Liang Ru coughed. “In the pre-match voting platform, 99% of the audience members bet on Mojue to win. It seems that today is likely to be a one-sided game?”
“If Qin Mo and Xiao Han play together, there can be no doubt that Graceful Beauty will be one-sidedly crushed,” Ye Chao smiled. “The important thing is that Xu Sizhe will definitely ban one of the Twin Stars, making it impossible for them to fight together. As for the strength of Mojue team without the Twin Stars, I think, it remains to be seen.”
“Then let us wait to watch the game. It will be 7:00pm soon, and friends watching the broadcast should stay tuned,” Liang Ru was very excited. “We’ll be right back after the advertisement!”
***
Not many players were watching the game in the backstage lounge. Aside from the Mojue VS Graceful Beauty match which was scheduled for tonight, all the other teams’ matches were scheduled for tomorrow. Some teams hadn’t yet arrived in Beijing, while others were resting in the hotel after their arrival. In the end, only the local team Dynasty was at the scene, along with Lin Shuangcheng and Song Changdong of Sword Song.
At 6:50pm, the official staff informed the captains of both sides to lead their respective teams to the stage. As Qin Mo passed by Lin Shuangcheng, Lin Shuangcheng couldn’t help but ask. “God Mo, are you going to cause Graceful Beauty to fall to negative points?”
“I don’t want to,” Qin Mo calmly replied, “but unfortunately they only have 2 points left. It simply isn’t enough to deduct from.”
“Our Sword Song will soon fall into negative point status,” Lin Shuangcheng sighed. “I really want to take half of Mojue’s points.”
Qin Mo took a glance at him. “You are so optimistic, so what if you have negative points? Wouldn’t you still be mischievously smiling all the same?”
Xiao Han coughed. Tightening his hold on Qin Mo’s shoulder momentarily, he whispered, “It’s time to go.”
Nodding, Qin Mo bid farewell to Lin Shuangcheng. Greeting Dynasty’s team members along the way, he led the team out of the lounge and onto the stage.
The lights on the stage were bright. The captains were also required to shake hands with each other before the match for courtesy’s sake. Stepping forward, Qin Mo took the initiative to hold out his hand, causing Xu Sizhe to shake it awkwardly. Still, as they exchanged pleasantries, he was faced with Qin Mo’s calm gaze… no contempt, no disdain, as if the two of them were just strangers.
***
The game officially began at 7:00pm.
Qin Mo and Xu Sizhe both sat at the commanding positions of their respective teams. Qin Mo rolled 88 points, but Xu Sizhe only rolled 8. Seeing this, the audience watching the live broadcast couldn’t help commenting: “Feeling distressed, this score is just a tenth of god Mo’s!”
“Graceful Beauty’s strength is not even a tenth of Mojue’s!”
“Their accumulated points is also not even a tenth of Mojue’s…”
The audience gave Xu Sizhe sympathetic looks.
Qin Mo was given the priority to choose. As he had played several friendly matches with both Dynasty and Sky before this, he was already very familiar with the rules of the three-player team competition. He did not hesitate to allow the opponent to go first, forcing Xu Sizhe to select three maps and send a lineup.
It took Xu Sizhe a long time to submit his choice of maps—— all three maps were plain maps with no obstacles.
The players sent included Xu Sizhe’s own summoner, Tan Xi’s assassin, an auxiliary, a healer and a swordsman.
He has originally assumed that Qin Mo would definitely ban his summoner. That way, he could allow the assassin and the swordsman to bring a healer into battle.
However, after Qin Mo banned two of three maps, he did not choose to ban a player, instead moving on to Mojue’s lineup selection.
Seeing this, Xu Sizhe was very surprised. Even Ye Chao couldn’t help commenting on this matter: “Qin Mo did not use his second-mover advantage of banning a player, which means that Xu Sizhe will be unable to ban anyone from Mojue’s lineup. Perhaps he intends to send out the Twin Stars?”
“En, it’s possible.” Liang Ru replied. “If the team going second doesn’t ban anyone, the team going first will not be allowed to ban. This gives teams with a trump card combination a greater initiative when going second. As long as they don’t ban players, both sides can send their strongest lineup.”
Just as they said this, Qin Mo sent a lineup that surprised the audience—— He Beiguang, Shen He, Li Muran, Zhu Qingyue, Liu Hong.
He hadn’t intended to send Twin Stars at all.
Xu Sizhe’s expression was dumbstruck—— he really didn’t understand Qin Mo’s methods!
Having been slapped in the face, Ye Chao and Liang Ru glanced at each other awkwardly. Still, Ye Chao quickly adjusted his expression. “In the end, we aren’t Qin Mo, so not being able to guess his lineup is very normal! Mojue not fielding Twin Stars when the situation allows for it means that Qin Mo and Xiao Han will be taking a break. Is this scientific?”
“Perhaps it is because there isn’t a need to take out the strongest lineup against Graceful Beauty,” Liang Ru replied helplessly. “It… shouldn’t matter if the two of them take a break.”
“That’s true!” Ye Chao agreed. “Graceful Beauty doesn’t have the strength to force out the Twin Stars combination. Well, let’s take a look at the final lineups of both teams. Since neither side has elected to ban players, Graceful Beauty has sent a combination of a summoner, an assassin, and a healer, while Mojue is sending in a combination of an auxiliary, a summoner, and a healer—— oh, this is a two-guarantees-one strategy!”
“Both Qingyue and Muran will be protecting Shen He, who is in charge of controlling the field as well as dealing damage,” Liang Ru explained. “But the other side also has a healer, so it will be a difficult fight.”
“Although Graceful Beauty has two outputs and relatively strong firepower, Mojue has both an auxiliary and a healer.” Ye Chao added. “It won’t be easy to kill anyone under the condition of two-guarantees-one. I predict that this will be a very slow war of attrition, where both sides can only work out details and look for opportunities. No one can kill each other in a second.”
Seeing this lineup, Xu Sizhe felt his head hurt. Since Qin Mo and Xiao Han were not on the list of players, he had assumed that Qin Mo would definitely send Liu Hong as the main output, with either Pei Yu or Li Muran to support her. Unexpectedly, Qin Mo actually handed the heavy responsibility of being the output to Shen He.
Using one output to face three players, is this some kind of joke? Even if you brought along a milk dad and an auxiliary, isn’t it just dragging the time before your death?!
Taking a deep breath, Xu Sizhe commanded. “Follow my instructions later, kill Shen He directly!”
“Okay!” Tan Xi nodded.
The team matches have finally started~ Looking forward to it!!! (๑✧◡✧๑)
Thank you for the chapter 💜💜💜
Yes, finally it’s started, long battle chapters 😭
Kill shen he directly??? What kinda tactic is that?? There’s a healer and an aux to protect him and that’s your target??? At least take down one of the supports first..