LOL: What does it mean to torture players?

It has to be said that the authorities have indeed shown some skill in cleverly balancing all parties.

Of course, this also highlights the seriousness of the problem from another perspective.

They would rather make an exception for Su Mo and set up a supreme TOP 0 seat, and were determined not to leave a place for the North American region, as if that region had never existed on the map.

Su Mo tapped his fingertips and exited the funny list post, continuing to search the hot posts on the forum.

Soon, another eye-catching headline caught his attention - #S9 Global Finals Team Strength Rating#.

Su Mo clicked on it with great interest and found that the content was quite extensive, covering almost all the representative teams from the four major competition areas.

The rating gradient is clear, with S+ being the highest, followed by S, A+, A, B+, and B.

The first thing that catches your eye is the team ratings of the LPL region.

However, what is interesting is that there are entries for four teams in the LPL region, namely: EDG, EDG (without Mo), FPX, and IG.

Under the special "EDG (without Mo)" entry, there is a small note: "Specially refers to the EDG team when Mozige is not on the field."

This is the first time that Su Mo has seen such a meticulous and special rating method for a single player. No other team has ever enjoyed such an "honor".

EDG is ranked at the top level of S+, and the only one on par with them is the legendary team T1.

However, upon closer inspection, EDG's name is ranked before T1, which undoubtedly implies that in the eyes of the official, EDG's overall strength is slightly better than T1.

Su Mo's gaze continued to scan downwards, and the S-level area was occupied by three strong teams: GRF, FPX, and IG.

Among the A+ level teams below, there are DWG, EDG (without Mo), and G2.

According to the logic of this list, even if Su Mo does not play, EDG is strong enough to compete with G2, and may even win, but if they face DWG, they may be at risk of failure.

Su Mo did not take a closer look at the lower-level teams. After all, those teams had relatively limited influence on the top teams in the LCK and LPL regions.

As soon as this rating list was released, the comment section below the post, as expected, immediately turned into a battlefield filled with smoke.

This is normal. After all, the more teams are pulled out for evaluation at the same time, the more difficult it is to reach a broad consensus.

If we only evaluate the strength of one or two teams, it may be generally recognized among the fan community.

However, once the number of teams to be evaluated rises to five or six, it becomes extremely difficult to reach a consensus.

Putting more than a dozen teams with different styles and strong strengths together for comment at one time is almost equivalent to deliberately provoking disputes and igniting topics.

"Xiao Mo, are you concentrating on browsing the forum again?" A familiar and somewhat teasing voice came from behind him.

Su Mo turned around when he heard the voice, only to see that the factory director had quietly stood behind him with a smiling expression on his face.

Su Mo was startled by his elusive behavior and couldn't help but complain: "Hey, Director, can you make some noise when you walk? You're so sneaky, it's scary!"

The other people in the training room also stopped what they were doing and went their separate ways to rest. It seemed that they had just finished a round of intense training matches.

However, the factory manager himself did not participate in the training match just now. It was Jiejie who played, while he stood leisurely on the side, fiddling with his mobile phone with his head down.

Su Mo's mouth curled up slightly, with a hint of mystery, and continued: "Director, do you know where you rank in the official S9 top selection?"

Hearing this, the factory manager's lazy eyes suddenly lit up, and his body unconsciously leaned forward a little, and asked with obvious excitement: "How many? Tell me, how many people are in line?"

Seeing how anxious he was, Su Mo kept him in suspense, speaking slowly and drawn out his words to whet his appetite.

Then, he slowly uttered four words: "No. on the list."

Upon hearing this, the factory manager was stunned for a moment, then categorically denied it: "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Which inferior media outlet made up this list?"

Su Mo responded calmly: "It's official. Riot released it themselves. Do you think I would waste my time reading stuff from those idiot media?"

The factory manager still shook his head stubbornly, his face full of disbelief: "Impossible, don't try this on me, kid. Do you think I will fall for your trick?"

As he spoke, the factory manager couldn't wait to take out his mobile phone, slid his fingers quickly across the screen, and began to search carefully.

After looking for a while, his brows gradually furrowed and his facial expression became solemn, as if he finally realized that something was wrong.

“Tsk, this kind of list is full of toxic rumors, who would really care?” Although the factory director grumbled with pretended disdain, the word “care” was clearly written on his slightly turned-down lips and his twinkling eyes.

Suddenly, the factory director's eyes lit up as if he had discovered something new. He quickly turned the page back and read it carefully again. Then, he couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into laughter:

"Hahahaha! It turns out that you weren't on the list either! How dare you say that to me? Aren't you not on the list either? Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!"

The factory director's uncontrollable laughter, although he deliberately lowered the volume, still attracted the attention of others like a magnet.

Meiko walked over leisurely and asked curiously, "What are you two talking about? You seem so happy, why don't you share it so that everyone can have some fun too?"

The factory manager pointed at his phone screen proudly and said to Meiko, "Look at this, the reserved program before the S game, the top 20 players ranking list! Our classmate Xiao Mo is not on the list this time! It seems that Riot officials are not going to indulge him this time!"

Meiko glanced at the screen, but there was no surprise on her face. She just said calmly: "Oh, I just saw this. It seems that because Mozi played too few games in the summer season, the data is insufficient, so it is difficult to be included in the regular list."

The factory manager was relentless and continued to emphasize, "No matter what the reason is, he is not on the list this time. You can't deny that!"

Meiko stretched out her hand and swiped down the screen of the factory manager's phone a few times, while slowly saying, "Yes, Riot Games has arranged a special position for him as the top 0."

"TOP 0?" The factory manager was incredulous when he heard this.

However, when he turned to the bottom of the list and found that he could continue to scroll down, Su Mo's handsome makeup photo suddenly appeared at the top of the screen!

The eye-catching words “TOP 0” are so true!

Meiko added, "The emotional intelligence of Riot Games is probably not that low. If Mozi is not included in this list, the authority and attention of this list will definitely be disliked and questioned by countless players."

Su Mo watched all this quietly with a smile on his face, while the factory director's mentality at this moment completely exploded.

[Get Torture Points +30 from Clearlove]

The factory manager took a deep breath and finally recovered from the shock. He then started a crazy output mode: "I suggest that you don't make such a rubbish list in the future! What a double standard! It's simply shameful!"

Over the next few days, the originally quiet hotel gradually became bustling.

The participating teams from major competition areas around the world have arrived one after another and checked into this officially designated hotel.

Now that we all live under the same roof, the main purpose is to make it easier for us to invite each other to training matches and to communicate and test each other before the game.

Of course, as the host of this S game, the three teams from the LEC region naturally have the advantage of geographical location. Most of them choose to prepare for the game at the club training bases that they are more familiar with and convenient for.

At the same time, media reporters from various regions, like sharks smelling blood, began to "bomb" the major teams, especially the popular teams.

EDG is undoubtedly the absolute core focus of this media storm.

Almost every day, different media reporters come to make appointments for interviews, and sometimes we even have to receive several groups of people in one day.

Su Mo is the core of the core and has become the focus of all shots and questions.

Although most of the questions raised by reporters were similar, Su Mo still needed to patiently repeat his answers over and over again, maintaining the professionalism of a professional player.

Soon, the much-anticipated S9 World Championship qualifying stage officially kicked off.

Because the LCK region failed to successfully defend the S-League title last year, their third seed team DWG this year had to start from the qualifying round to fight for the precious qualification for the group stage.

Just as the battle of the qualifying round had just begun, the more exciting group stage draw ceremony was held as scheduled.

Although there are still four places that have advanced through the qualifying round that have not yet been finalized, this does not affect the draw.

We only need to use four temporary codes to represent these seats. When the qualifying matches are over, it will become clear which teams these four codes represent.

As night fell, EDG players gathered in front of the large projection screen in the training room, ready to watch the fateful draw ceremony together.

This can almost be regarded as an indispensable program before each S game, full of unknowns and excitement.

"Brother Mozi!"

"Good evening, EDG players!"

A clear and pleasant voice was heard, and Rita and Luo Xin walked into EDG's training room one after another. In Luo Xin's hand, she was holding a small camera steadily, and the lens was flashing with the light of work.

Upon seeing this, Coach Abu immediately greeted them warmly, "Hey, you're here. Please take a seat. The draw ceremony is about to begin."

Luo Xin adjusted the angle of the camera while smiling and saying, "Then I won't be polite, let's start filming! Just pretend I don't exist, just say whatever you want to say as usual, just be natural."

Indeed, during the previous S-League draw ceremonies, many famous scenes were often born, such as Xiaohu’s classic "two-part laugh" that year.

Therefore, each team's photographer will record the entire process of the team watching the draw, hoping to capture some real and interesting reactions from the players.

The EDG players have long been accustomed to this kind of shooting.

Rita sat down in the empty seat next to Su Mo, turned her head and asked softly, "Brother Mozi, which teams are your ideal group stage opponents? Are there any teams you don't want to face in advance?"

Su Mo pondered for a moment and answered frankly: "To be honest, I don't have a very in-depth understanding of the specific situation of the teams in other regions. I feel that since everyone can make it to the World Championship, their strength should be similar."

Meiko interrupted at this time, with a hint of fear in his tone: "I personally feel that the LCK's Griffin team looks particularly fierce this year. As long as we don't meet Griffin in the group stage, the other teams will be fine."

Iboy expressed a different opinion. He frowned and said, "I think G2 is a bit too magical. I feel like they have a chance to win against anyone, but at the same time they may lose against anyone, and their form is up and down. I would rather face a tough opponent like GRF in the group stage than be in the same group with G2."

Meiko blinked mischievously and said teasingly, "Boy, are you really traumatized by Perkz? If he knew you were so scared of him, he would be so excited that he would jump on your face and taunt you with crazy attacks."

Iboy curled his lips in disdain after hearing this: "It has nothing to do with that guy A-P. It's mainly because of the style of their entire G2 team... It gives people a very magical feeling, which is hard to predict."

Rita listened to the conversation between the two and couldn't help but remind them: "That... Although G2 is indeed very strong, but... they are the No. 2 seed of the LEC region, just like you EDG, they will be divided into a different group, so you will definitely not meet G in the group stage..."

When Meiko and Iboy heard this, their expressions froze instantly and they looked at each other awkwardly.

Meiko quickly turned to Luo Xin and said in a pleading tone, "Beautiful Luo Xin, please, please, can you help me edit out that part? I don't want this conversation to get out and be seen by others in such an embarrassing state."

Su Mo, however, fanned the flames and said, "Don't cut it! I think it looks more real and cute this way!"

Luo Xin stuck out her tongue playfully. Although she didn't say anything, her sly eyes showed her attitude - this wonderful clip must be kept!

On the big screen, the lights were focused, and the host walked onto the draw stage with steady steps and began to introduce the draw rules for this group stage in detail.

The rules are basically the same as in previous years: there are a total of 16 teams in the group stage, which will be evenly divided into four groups, with four teams in each group.

The core principle is that teams in the same group cannot come from the same division.

At the same time, the top seed teams of the four major regions (LPL, LCK, LEC, LCS) will be evenly distributed into four different groups as the seed teams of each group. The first round of draws will first determine the order of the top seed teams of these four groups.

The drawing guest appeared amid warm applause and walked towards the drawing pool where the nameplate of the No. 1 seed team was placed, ready to draw the first lucky winner.

Everyone in the EDG training room held their breath at this moment, staring at the screen intently, and a tense atmosphere filled the air.

The first sign with the team's logo printed on it was slowly drawn out by the guest who drew the lots and solemnly unfolded in front of the camera.

The host's high-pitched voice sounded: "The first No. 2 seed team drawn is - from the LEC region, G Esports!"

Next, the second lot is drawn.

"The second team is from our LPL region, EDG!"

The scene was filled with cheers from LPL fans, and the EDG players also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The third sign.

"It's from the LCK region, T1!"

The name of the legend attracted a lot of praise.

The fourth and final No. 1 seed.

"The final No. 1 seed is - from the LCS region, Team Liquid!"

At this point, the order of the number one seed teams in the four groups has been settled.

Next comes the more critical and exciting draw for the second seed pool.

In this pool, there are eight small balls representing the second seed teams.

"The first second seed team to be drawn is - GRF!"

Following the host's announcement, the name of the GRF team appeared on the big screen. They were drawn into Group A, which is the group where G2 Esports is located!

Seeing this, Meiko suddenly jumped up from his seat, waved his fist excitedly, and cheered, "Nice! Great! As long as we don't meet GRF in the group stage, we don't care about other teams!"

The drawing ceremony is still proceeding in an orderly manner.

"The next team is--JT!"

When they heard these two simple letters, everyone in the EDG training room couldn't help but look at each other, with a hint of confusion in their eyes.

"This JT...which division's team is it from?" The factory manager touched his chin and muttered softly.

Coach Abu explained at the right time: "It is a team from the LMS region. They are the No. 1 seed of the LMS region this year."

"Ah? The number one seed of the LMS region? Then... what about the veteran powerhouse Flash Wolves? Are they gone?" Meiko asked in surprise. After all, Flash Wolves has maintained a dominant position in the LMS region for many years.

Upon hearing this, the factory manager couldn't help but laugh: "Haha, I really didn't expect that, even a strong team like Flash Wolves can still make mistakes and can't even get the first place in their own division."

He paused, then added in a relaxed tone: "But anyway, this JT team shouldn't be a big threat to us."

The tense atmosphere of the draw continued and soon entered the third round, which was the draw for the third seed pool.

The C9 team was drawn out and entered Group A, in the same group as G2 and GRF.

Su Mo looked at the lineup of Group A and commented thoughtfully: "I feel that the configuration of Group A has already tasted a bit like the group of death."

The factory manager waved his hand dismissively and retorted, "C9 is not as good as before. They only qualified as the second seed of LCS this time."

Su Mo held a different view. He analyzed seriously, "But based on the experience of previous world championships, although C9 may often lose to TL in their own league, once they are on the stage of international competitions, their performance is often better and more stable than TL."

"Is that so?" Upon hearing this, the factory manager showed a skeptical expression on his face.

"GAM!"

Group B, the group that EDG is in, also welcomed a new member.

"GAM? Isn't this a team from the wildcard zone?" The factory manager was stunned at first, then the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise up, a relaxed and happy smile appeared on his face, and suddenly he felt the pressure of qualifying for the group stage suddenly reduced.

"FPX!"

Immediately afterwards, LPL’s second seed FPX team was also drawn!
They were divided into Group C, which is the group where the legendary team T1 is!

What’s even more coincidental is that there is already a strong team from Europe in Group C - FNC!

Meiko looked at the lineup of Group C and couldn't help smacking his lips. He commented: "Why do I feel that Group C is also an absolute death group? It seems that none of the teams in it are easy to deal with."

Su Mo nodded in agreement: "Indeed, the strength of the teams in Group C is quite good. The intensity of the competition is probably comparable to that of Group A."

He paused and added his own opinion: "In fact, I feel that the biggest problem at the moment is that most of the relatively weaker teams seem to have been assigned to our Group B. This will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in the competitive pressure of the other groups."

When Jiejie heard this, a trace of worry appeared on his young face: "Then...will this result in us not being able to learn much valuable things in the group stage, thus affecting our performance and condition in the knockout stage?"

The factory manager retorted disapprovingly, showing the experience and cunning of a veteran: "You kid, you should look at the problem from another angle. The competition pressure in our group is low, which is a good thing. In this way, we can retain more tactics and routines in the group stage and not expose our cards too early. In addition, the strong teams in other groups will not be able to analyze too much valuable content from our group stage games."

After listening to the factory director's "high-sounding remarks", Su Mo couldn't help but give him a thumbs up, with a hint of ridicule in his tone: "Great, factory director! When it comes to sneaky tricks and hiding tactics, you are the best!"

The factory manager had a smug smile on his face when he heard the first half of the sentence, but when he suddenly heard the words "stealing", the smile froze on his face instantly.

Luo Xin and Rita next to them couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh secretly.

The factory manager originally wanted to "reason" with Su Mo and explain that what he did was not called stealing, but tactical reserve.

However, considering that Luo Xin's camera was still faithfully recording everything, he finally wisely chose to stop and remain silent.

The draw ceremony continued and finally came to the drawing stage of the last seed pool.

This pool contains code balls representing the four teams that successfully advanced from the qualifying round.

Although the specific names of the four teams cannot be determined at this moment, using four temporary code names is sufficient to complete the entire drawing process.

When the last code ball was drawn, the group stage grouping was settled.

Coach Abu stood up, clapped his hands, and concluded: "Okay, everyone, now our group stage grouping has been completely determined. We, EDG, are in Group B. Our current opponents are JT from the LMS region and GAM from the Vietnam region. There is another team, and we need to wait until the play-in rounds are over before we can determine who it is."

He paused and continued his analysis: "From the current situation of the play-in round, there is a high probability that our last opponent in the group will be DWG from LCK. DWG can be said to be the strongest team on paper among all the teams in the play-in round. However, considering the relatively limited strength of the other two teams in our group, even if we are drawn to DWG, the pressure on us to qualify from the group should not be too great."

Upon hearing this, the factory manager showed an irrepressible joy on his face and cheered, "It seems that there is no pressure for us to advance to the group stage! Next, we just need to focus our main energy on studying and targeting the top teams in other groups. I have to say that our luck in this S game is quite good!"

Su Mo took out his cell phone and glanced at it casually, and found that the LPL expedition group was bustling with activity.

FPX, Doinb: "Ahhh? We, FPX, are in the same group with T1 and FNC? Why is this happening? Help!"

IG, Ning: "With this group, won't it be easy to beat them? Only T1 can fight a little bit, as for FNC, won't it be easy to beat them?"

FPX, Lwx: "That's easy to say, if you can do it, come on!"

IG, Ning: "If I can switch groups, I will definitely switch with you! If we can get rid of T1 in the group stage as soon as possible, we can lock in the championship position in advance!"

IG, Baolan: "Ahem, the above remarks only represent Gao Zhenning's personal opinion and have nothing to do with the overall position of our IG team."

IG, Rookie: "That's fine, Ning Wang! Go up there and fight five of them alone, and beat them!"

FPX, Doinb: "Didn't you guys notice? The Group B that EDG was drawn into is so easy! I feel like if it were me, I could do it! We can advance to the next round with our eyes closed!"

EDG, Clearlove9: "We can't help it. We are the No. seed of LPL. This is the special treatment of the No. seed. I can't envy it."

The following period of time was filled with intense and hard training day after day, all in order to make the best preparations for the upcoming group stage.

A week passed quietly as the team members engaged in intensive training and tactical discussions.

The qualifying round of the competition has finally come to an end!
The four teams that finally succeeded in breaking through the siege from the qualifying round and advancing to the group stage are: DWG from the LCK region, CG from the LCS region, SPY from the LEC region, and HKA from the LMS region.

In this way, the final complete list of the four groups in the S9 World Finals group stage has finally been completely determined:

Group A: G2, GRF, C9, HKA
Group B: EDG, JT, GAM, SPY
Group C: T1, FNC, FPX, CG
Group D: TL, AHQ, IG, DWG
After the final places for each group were decided, there were only two days left for each team to make targeted preparations.

The much anticipated S9 World Finals group stage has finally officially kicked off!
Inside the competition venue, in the spacious and bright lounge backstage, the EDG players sat upright, waiting attentively for the game that was about to begin.

According to the schedule, the opening match of this S-League group stage will be between the host LEC region's third seed SPY team and the LPL region's first seed, EDG!

Coach Abu stood in front of the players, giving them his final instructions in a serious tone: "Everyone, this will be EDG's first official game in this S League. Show your best competitive form! Although our opponent SPY is not particularly strong on paper, we must not take it lightly! Not only must we win, but we must win beautifully and show the momentum of our LPL champions!"

Su Mo turned his gaze to Jiejie beside him, and keenly noticed that the young jungler had a hint of subtle nervousness on his face.

After all, this was the first time in his career that he stepped onto the S-League stage, and one can imagine how excited and nervous he felt.

"Xiao Jie, relax and don't think too much," Su Mo said gently to comfort him, "Just treat this game as an ordinary training match we usually play."

Jiejie nodded vigorously after hearing this, with a hint of tension in her voice: "Yes, Brother Mozi, I, I'm fine."

The factory manager was standing by, encouraging them in his own unique way: "Take out the hero you are best at, most confident in, and most aggressive in, and go up and destroy the opponent's jungle area and beat them up completely! Let them see the true strength of the No. 1 seed in the LPL region!"

Su Mo couldn't help but smile after hearing this and said jokingly, "Hey, Director, you are the No. 1 seed of LPL, and you are going to beat the No. 3 seed of LEC. What's the point of bragging about this? Don't let the fight go back and forth, that would be embarrassing!"

After a while, Coach Abu looked at his watch and reminded, "It's almost time, we should get ready to go on stage. According to the process, we will have a simple debut session first, let's go up together."

So, everyone in EDG put on their uniforms, stood up, and prepared to make their debut on the S9 stage.

Walking out of the lounge, Su Mo discovered that quite a few people had gathered in the contestant passage outside.

The contestants from all major competition areas have changed into neat team uniforms and gathered in twos and threes, talking in low voices, waiting for the moment to appear on stage.

"EDG! Brother Mozi!" A familiar and loud voice came through the crowd.

Su Mo looked in the direction of the voice and saw Doinb and the FPX players walking towards them with smiles on their faces.

Su Mo also responded with a smile: "Hey, isn't this Brother Silver Coin! This time you are assigned to the true death group, you must play well, and don't let me lose sight of you FPX players in the knockout stage."

Doinb heard this, still looking optimistic, smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay, we don't ask for too much, and qualifying as the second in the group is also considered a success!"

At this time, the IG team members also walked out of their lounge and headed straight towards the LPL team gathering area. (End of this chapter)