1428 Victory

"Victory has already been decided. In the first round of the playoffs, Happy takes their home game win," The match wasn't truly over yet, but Pan Lin gave the announcement anyways.

Happy had won five points in the group arena and had won five points in the team competition so far, for a total of ten points.

As for Blue Rain? They had only won three points in the group arena. To win or tie the first round, they would have needed to not only win the team competition, but win it with at least two players left. Unfortunately, they failed to achieve this goal. With Bullet Rain down, Blue Rain had lost five players. Even if Song Xiao took down Su Mucheng and Qiao Yifan, it was impossible for Team Blue Rain to win this round's team competition.

"Coach Li, how about you give a rundown of this match?" Pan Lin asked.

"This match... how can I say it..." Li Yibo pondered, "Team Happy had completely grasped Team Blue Rain's tactical traits, limiting Team Blue Rain's performance by a considerable degree. We can see that the two opportunities seized by Team Blue Rain had actually been intentionally prepared by Team Happy. But you can't say it was entirely a trap. Those opportunities were indeed good opportunities for Team Blue Rain. It was just that they were met with hindrance during their execution and could not reach the desired outcome."

"Such as Wei Chen stalling Yu Wenzhou and Lu Hanwen?" Pan Lin said.　　

"Yes. Happy's strategy was actually very ambitious. It required an old general, who had left the pro scene seven years ago and only just returned, to contend with Lu Hanwen and Yu Wenzhou, two All-Stars. Let's think about it for a moment. If Wei Chen's Windward Formation had been killed earlier, or if he failed to stall both players, the match may have ended completely differently," Li Yibo said.

"If those imaginary situations really had happened, perhaps Happy might have countermeasures in place?" Pan Lin said.

"This we don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say probably? After all, it was a rather risky strategy," Li Yibo said.

"Oh, the match is now officially over. As expected, even though Song Xiao was in a 1v2, he came into the fight much much healthier than Happy's two players. In the end, he was able to win the 1v2, but it no longer has any effect on the final outcome of today's match," Pan Lin said.

"From the data we have on the team competition, Blue Rain had the advantage. After all, the team competition was their win. Unfortunately, if you look at the round as a whole, they lost," Li Yibo said.　

The two teams walked out of their player booths.

The two teams met in the center and shook hands.

Compared to the start of the match, the mood on both teams were now two extremes.

"You played very well. Thanks for the match," Yu Wenzhou maintained his calm.

"You played so-so," Ye Xiu wasn't polite at all.

"We'll see you next round," Yu Wenzhou said. If he were anyone else, it might sound like there was a hint of vengeance in his words. But coming from Yu Wenzhou, these words just sounded like he was stating a fact.

Next, Huang Shaotian.

"Hahahaha," Ye Xiu only laughed.

"What are you so happy about? You just barely won," Huang Shaotian remarked disdainfully.

"The championships are won by just a narrow margin," Ye Xiu said.

"Leave it for after you beat us!" Huang Shaotian said.

"That's next round's business," Ye Xiu expressed dully.

The teams passed by each other one player at a time. The two sides had simple exchanges. The winners weren't arrogant, and the losers weren't downcast. Happy's last player as their sixth player, Wei Chen. He shined the brightest in the team competition, doing what people considered impossible.

"Are you convinced?" Wei Chen shook Yu Wenzhou's hands.

"I've always been convinced," Yu Wenzhou smiled.

"Are you scared?" Wei Chen asked Huang Shaotian.

"What's there to be scared of," Huang Shaotian rolled his eyes. He had respect and gratitude towards Wei Chen from the bottom of his heart, but in terms of their interactions, there was no way he could be serious with him.

"Little demon, now you know the might of your senior!" Lu Hanwen was third in line. He was still going through puberty, and his voice hadn't deepened yet. He was shorter than the other players by a head. Wei Chen rubbed his head instead of shaking his hands.

"Amazing," Lu Hanwen nodded his head, "Let's see who'll win next time, senior!"

"Little bastard!" Wei Chen cursed inwardly. He obviously knew that if he had to fight Lu Hanwen several times, he would definitely lose more than he won. In today's match, from a PvP perspective, he had been killed by Yu Wenzhou and Lu Hanwen. He had done what he had hoped to accomplish. He had achieved his goal, so he had succeeded, but in terms of winning... let alone him, the team competition had been won by Team Blue Rain.

The final outcome was a difficult problem for the Alliance. They weren't sure who to give the MVP award to.

Team Blue Rain had won the team competition, but Team Happy had won the overall round. From the overall flow of the team competition, it could be seen that Happy had no intentions of winning. Their goal was to win as many points as possible in the team competition. From this perspective, Happy had been more successful in the team competition. They had achieved what they wanted. However... how could they ignore the actual outcome?

From pure numbers, Huang Shaotian was excellent in the team competition. Whether it was the damage he took or the damage he dealt, he was number one in both categories. His contribution in the team competition was obvious. However, the first problem was that Happy had reached their goal in the team competition, and the second problem was that Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain had half his health knocked away by a tree in the group arena. No matter how it was spun, that should be considered a big mistake.　

As for Happy's players? Wei Chen's performance in the team competition had been astonishing, being the decisive factor there. However, he had died early in the match. There were many other deciding factors later that he wasn't a part of. He also didn't appear in the group arena.　

For the group arena, Happy's Mo Fan performed spectacularly, but he didn't participate in the more important team competition.

As a result, the two sides had their pros and cons. In the end, the MVP award was given to Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu had completed a 1v2 in the group arena too. It was just that Mo Fan being a rookie beating Huang Shaotian to complete a 1v2 made his performance more eyecatching.　

In the team competition, Ye Xiu wasn't as stunning as Wei Chen, but he had been the deciding factor in multiple crucial moments.

"Maybe we're just too used to Ye Xiu's amazing performances, so we always forget about him?" In one of the reports for this match, Ye Xiu had been described as the MVP who won the award without batting an eye.

This round's performance didn't garner Happy too much praise. In the next day's Esports Weekly, Happy's victory was described as "a successful exploitation of the new competitive format".

This comment came about mostly because Happy had exposed their intentions in the team competition, revealing that they would win the overall match through points. The team competition had always been the most important part of a match. Happy had lost the team competition, yet still won the overall round, which was quite unusual to many people. The new competitive format had been used in Season 9's playoffs as well, but it was the first time this sort of situation had occurred.

"In the home game, they took advantage of their group arena fluke to win the overall round, but in the following two away games, does Happy have enough courage and enough confidence to face them?"

Another report commented in this way.　　

The group arena win was regarded as a fluke, obviously because of Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain losing half his health from a tree. This sort of situation would obviously be treated as an accident. Happy's win had been built upon this fluke.

Next, two away games...

This seemingly normal statement was actually filled with malice. As long as Happy won the next match, this first round would be over. But the report stated two away games, indicating that Happy would certainly lose the following one.

The Happy haters found quite a bit to talk about because of this match. But before Happy's next round began, the next day's first round fourth match came knocking down.

In the fourth match, Tiny Herb played against Thunderclap, winning 10 to 9. In addition, the point distribution for this match was identical to the point distribution for the Happy vs Blue Rain match. Tiny Herb won the group arena 5 to 3, but lost the team competition 5 to 6. However, the total points tallied to 10 to 9, Tiny Herb's win.

Was it on purpose?

Was it by luck?

No one knew.

The discussion point was the same for two matches. The results were the same, but the responses were different. It was easy to think that the evaluations were unfair. In the numerous reports, Happy's match against Blue Rain was pulled out, comparing the differences between the two matches to explain that despite the same outcome, Happy's had been intentional, while Tiny Herb's had not been.

"In the group arena, Tiny Herb earned a tremendous win, and it was not through luck."

"In the team competition, the home game Thunderclap played powerfully, but Tiny Herb didn't rely on their group arena advantage. Instead, an intense confrontation between the two teams unfolded. In the end, the 5 points obtained was a result of their intent to win."

"The goals and attitudes that the two teams displayed are conclusive."

The evaluation of Tiny Herb and Thunderclap became a comparison between Happy and Tiny Herb. The reports were scared that if they didn't explain their thoughts clearly enough, their reputation would be damaged.