1580 Win Streak Pattern

The finals. Countless pro players and even ordinary gamers would dream of this ultimate PK stage, and now, the ones standing on that stage were Happy and Samsara.

After losing the first round, Happy had no room for error. But defeating Samsara in their home stadium, so far, not a single team had accomplished it this season. Samsara's stadium had become territory that no one in the Alliance could capture. Tyranny, Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, these powerful names had found only defeat here. The team that had come closest was actually Hundred Blossoms, in Round 38 of the regular season, ending their battle against Samsara with 4-6. And what they'd approached was only a tie… 

After leaving their city first, the upcoming matches would both occur in their defended fortress, and this round's fortress was undoubtedly the strongest. This round, Samsara had the advantage of map choice.

"This time we won't hold back anymore!"

But before the match, the one who spoke first was actually Happy's Ye Xiu. When he said this, his attitude was so confident and righteous that even the judge felt a bit embarrassed. Without context, one could actually believe that Happy had purposely let Samsara win in the first round.

How could that be true.

This was the playoffs, the teams were fighting for every inch of land. And moreover, this was the finals, the stage where ownership of the championship would be determined – even that description of the struggle didn't feel strong enough!

"Who will Happy send up first?" Looking at the large display screen, the pro players in the audience were all deep in discussion. If they went from habit, then it would definitely be Ye Xiu. All this time, Ye Xiu had fought Happy's first battle.

But if this arrangement became a certainty in the minds of the opponents, then if there was a sudden change or adjustment, then it would be a very surprising blow.

Among the pros, there was no lack of smart and resourceful people. In their minds, Happy may have used this arrangement all this time just so that they could surprise their opponents in a crucial moment.

And now, this was the finals, and Happy was down one game. They had no more path of retreat. If they didn't use this surprise tactic now, wouldn't they have wasted the set way of thinking that they'd built up in their opponents' minds over the course of this season?

"Ye Xiu." But in the crowd of pro players, someone spoke with complete certainty that Ye Xiu would be the first onstage.

Han Wenqing.

The one who understood Ye Xiu even more than the Happy players did.

Han Wenqing of course understood that Ye Xiu wasn't a rigid and unchanging person. As long as it was for victory, anything could happen when it came to Ye Xiu.

But at the same time, he also understood clearly, Ye Xiu wasn't someone who would shy away from responsibility at a crucial point. Ye Xiu's win streak exerted a great pressure on his opponents, but when the win streak became a fixed pattern, this pressure would gradually transfer to Ye Xiu as well. Once this pattern was broken, Team Happy would suffer the effects, so Ye Xiu had to maintain this pattern.

And it was exactly because of this that many people would think that not going first was a smart thing to do. This way, the pattern wouldn't be broken, and there would be no risk of it being broken.

But this would be deceiving the self as well as the enemy.

Now that Ye Xiu had solidified his win streak pattern to this extent, for him to suddenly change it, too many people would probably think that this was a sign of weakness. Even if there was very logical strategy to explain it, it couldn't completely eliminate the shadow over the heart.

A shadow over others, that didn't matter, but if Happy's own players had no way of dispelling this shadow, and it affected their condition, then there wouldn't be much difference between this and the win streak pattern directly breaking.

Comparing the two situations, there was greater opportunity if Ye Xiu continued to go first. And Han Wenqing still believed firmly that Ye Xiu had the bravery to take up this kind of pressure.

As expected!

Looking at the players onstage, everyone quickly realized that while the pros on both sides were showing signs of leaving the stage, only Ye Xiu took a step forward. 

"Who's coming to die first?" Ye Xiu asked Samsara. Happy's first player was still him.

Hua!

Applause.

The Happy fans, in this deadly Samsara stadium, desperately sent applause to their team and their captain.

Knowing that the mountain hid a tiger, yet advancing toward that mountain anyway. Just this bravery was worthy of great recognition. 

"Senior really is quite cunning!" But then, someone from Samsara spoke, unhurried, wearing a smile.

"To be able to win consecutively for so long, everyone feels that it only gets harder and harder. If another win can be gotten under these circumstances, the morale boost to your own team and the blow to the other team reaches a peak. On the other hand, because the win streak has gone on for so long, everyone has recognized the difficulty, so perhaps too many people have already made mental preparations for the streak to be broken, right? Even if the streak was broken, I imagine it wouldn't hurt your team's morale too much either," said Samsara's vice-captain Jiang Botao. "You have this double-edged sword, yet the side facing you has already been blunted, while the side facing us is as sharp as ever. Senior, you have sharpened a good sword!"

"It looks like you recognized this pretty clearly!" Ye Xiu also smiled.

"What I know more clearly is this: the side of Senior's sword that faces us is, in fact, not that sharp. A win streak is only a record. Five wins, ten wins, a hundred wins, in reality, it doesn't have any impact on the outcome of the upcoming match. It's like flipping a coin. If it came up heads last time, everyone feels that it's a bit more likely that it'll come up tails the next time. But actually, every time you flip a coin, the chance of heads is always the same, 50%. The chance of flipping 10 heads consecutively is the same as the chance of flipping any other sequence of outcomes."

"This is a very complicated math problem, you can't draw a conclusion lightly! In a bit, come over and learn from the outstanding student in our team. As for right now, are you ready to meet your death?" Ye Xiu said.

"No, no. It's not me." Jiang Botao smiled, and took two steps back.

And at the same time, the stadium display lit up with the rosters of the two teams for the group arena. And onstage, Samsara's first player walked forward from the rest of the team.

Whoa!

Instantly, the stadium was filled with shocked exclamations.

Zhou Zekai!

It was actually Zhou Zekai. Samsara's first player in the group arena was actually their core player, the one currently called the number one of Glory, Zhou Zekai.

"Oh…" Ye Xiu was also caught off-guard, and then he glanced at Jiang Botao and smiled. "It looks like you guys are pretty cunning too."

"Likewise." Jiang Botao smiled as well.

Jiang Botao had clearly laid out all of the implications and deceptions hidden beneath Ye Xiu's win streak pattern, but Samsara still didn't back down. They actually sent out their strongest player to deal a strong blow to Happy's spirit, just like many teams had tried before.

But they had made this arrangement while knowing all of the depths of Ye Xiu's win streak. This was psychological warfare at a higher level. They were using their powerful self-confidence to pressure Happy. And this kind of confidence came from their past championships, from their huge lead throughout the regular season, from their two 2-0 victories in the playoffs, from defeating Happy in their away game. 

They thoroughly used their advantage and their situational lead. Without doubt, Samsara was not a team that had only outstanding skill and no brains.

Jiang Botao, huh?

Ye Xiu smiled. The opponent before him was Zhou Zekai, but his gaze still lingered on Jiang Botao.

"The younger generation is worthy of respect," Ye Xiu said.

"Thank you for the compliment." Jiang Botao smiled modestly.

"It looks like I have the responsibility to show you guys how fearsome we seniors are!" Ye Xiu said.

Jiang Botao continued to smile, and didn't respond. After all, he wasn't the one going onstage right now.

"Little Zhou, don't get too confident," Ye Xiu said to Zhou Zekai.

"I won't." Zhou Zekai shook his head and walked toward Samsara's competitor booth.

"Good luck, Senior!" Jiang Botao shouted to Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu lifted his head to look at the roster on the display, and nodded in satisfaction. "The next one is you! I like this arrangement very much."

"Senior should focus on the upcoming match first!" Jiang Botao said.

"Don't worry, just wait for me." He actually said that kind of sentence to the opponent. The judge looked like his world was being fundamentally changed. And then, Ye Xiu also walked toward the competitor booth, while the rest of the players quickly left the stage. Round 2 of the finals, first battle of the group arena, was just about to begin. Players: Happy's Ye Xiu versus Samsara's Zhou Zekai.

One was the past, one was the present. Both called the number one players in Glory, they now met onstage. Today's face-off was already off to an extremely thrilling start.