"Good morning. You've woken up."
In the morning, Max didn't expect someone to greet him. He immediately opened his eyes and saw the floating screen in front of him. On it, Lily's face was reflected crystal clear. She seemed to be in a living room, snacking on a chip while still in her bunny onesie.
At that moment, Max realized that he had fallen asleep while talking to her. He was embarrassed. Trying his best not to fall asleep seemed to have failed.
Raising his body, he faced her at eye level.
"Sorry. Did I fall asleep mid-call?"
"Un." Lily nodded and waved her hand, "Now that you've woken up, I can end the call. Good luck in your second-day tournament, Max. Bye."
"Bye."
[Video Call Ended.]
The screen disappeared with that notification.
'Good luck on my second day, huh?' He mused as he stretched his arms. A smile crept onto his face. 'Well, I have to do my best then. The fact she said that meant the announcement had been posted, huh? What a way to spoil my surprise.' He chuckled.
On Midnight Heist's Strike account, a new post was pinned. It was uploaded around 6 hours ago, right at 00:00 midnight.
At that time, Max was still sleeping. Lily probably also saw this post before he woke up, so she wished him good luck.
'Let's see...' He hummed and read the new post.
It came with an image listing 50 names that advanced to the second-day qualifier. And with the announcement came Midnight Heist management's reply to the protest on the first day. Max focused on that article first before reading the top 50 Tier 2 players.
The article unexpectedly started without any apology that players expected.
[Our system is flawless. Points earned are calculated based on MMR with the calculation of MMR/10.
The criteria to earn MMR are based on 4.
Individual skill, ability usage, stealing target/number of captures, and teamwork.
Based on the analysis data we gained from the Day 1 tournament, many players ignored teamwork and only focused on stealing targets or capturing thieves, leading players to earn low MMR and thus earn low points.
Having trolls as teammates will boost a serious player's points based on individual skill, thus not affecting the ranking.
Finding Puppeteer's Punchtube was easy. The man boasted more than 90 million subscribers, and each of his videos had more than 5 million views. Even the latest one, which was his gameplay in Day 1 qualifier, had 8 million views now.
Curious, Max looked at Puppeteer Punch's account. The last VoD had more than 500K views, which meant he had the average of more than 100K viewers in his livestream. For comparison, Max only had around 50K views in his last VoD and around 14K viewers yesterday.
"Woah." An amazed voice escaped Max's lips. "This guy is living my dream."
Rather than watching an edited video, Max chose to watch the VoD instead.
Calling Puppeteer a great streamer, cream of the top, wasn't wrong. His skill and the way he talked to his viewers were so engaging. He fast-forward it to the first game, watching it intently.
As soon as the game started, Puppeteer revealed his name and gained recognition from his thieves' teammates. The streamer took charge of giving the role to those who fit based on their equipment.
Following that, they went to their spots, donning the disguises they were instructed to choose. No one was in the escape route, and all entered the Bank, which was the chosen match for his first game.
Max watched the game unfold silently. Puppeteer gave out commands from a vantage point, controlling his teammates like puppets, just like his name. All his orders were meticulous and actually allowed his teammates to escape the police's radar.
They stole the target from the secure room easily and escaped by moving the target to different thieves by meeting at certain places. It was a good strategy.
In the end, Puppeteer got +121 points from the first game. His viewers donated many diamonds after seeing him streaming Midnight Heist after so long.
The game continued to the second one. He became a thief again and followed a similar strategy. His teammates already knew his name and skill, thus they followed his strategy without whining. Of course, one or two messed up, but he still won the game in the end.
Puppeteer's third game to the fifth game unfolded in a similar manner, no matter which side he got, thieves or police officers.
After watching them all, Max realized something.
"I can't do something like that."
Puppeteer didn't rely on his game mechanics and actually strategized. There was nothing to watch from the tournaments. And based on the video he just watched, Puppeteer was like a mastermind who controlled everything.
However, Max felt lucky having to see this before his match. Had he been oblivious about this, he wouldn't have had a chance to win against Puppeteer if they met as enemies.
'I can think of a few things to win against him. But all of it also depends on my teammates.'
Once again, he needed the blessing from the Goddess of RNG. Because if she gave him a curse instead, he might as well say goodbye to the tournament in his first match.
Looking at the corner of the screen, Max noticed it was now 9:07 AM. He rose from his seat and headed for his VR capsule.
It was time to prepare for the second qualifier.