League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 479 Brother Tree, well, that's normal.

There's not much to say about the last two group stage matches.

The rankings of QG and their two opponents today are basically set and will not change much, so the matches are less intense.

In the morning, QG will be playing an all-Chinese match against IG.

IG was not a directly invited team, but rather qualified through the qualifiers.

But to be honest, if you're not a directly invited team, your chances of winning are actually very slim.

After all, points are earned by ranking in various competitions you've participated in over the past year.

The top eight teams in the standings, which are the teams with the best overall performance in various major competitions over the past year, are the only ones that can receive a direct invitation.

If you can't even get into the top eight in points, then your strength is limited.

Teams that advance through the qualifiers are similar to wildcard teams in League of Legends; they're basically just filling in the numbers.

IG's current eighth-place finish in the group stage proves this point; they almost didn't even make it out of the knockout stage.

In the afternoon, QG's opponent is TNC, a team also from Southeast Asia. They are ranked slightly higher than IG, placing seventh from the bottom in their group, and are also destined for the loser's bracket.

With seventh and eighth place being decided, the QG players weren't under much pressure. They sat in the rest room and even started discussing what to eat for dinner.

At this moment, Ame sat next to Chen Dongqing, staring blankly at the ground, deep in thought.

Chen Dongqing was scrolling through his phone when he saw something interesting and was about to share it with Ame next to him when he saw Ame's stunned eyes.

Chen Dongqing pondered for two seconds.

He did see content related to Ame while browsing Tieba.

Many people feel sorry for Ame.

Regardless of the circumstances, Ame can still be considered the best center in China right now, after all, Ame has already proven his strength through various competitions over the past six months.

Although Ame has the stain of losing the championship due to the reverse wave, you have to admit that before the reverse wave, it was his Morphling's high-angle water cannon that helped the team turn the tide against VP and helped the team enter the finals.

As the number one center, he stepped down and voluntarily took the place of the substitute.

Chen Dongqing has indeed proven his strength through this series of group matches, but it is still a pity for many players to leave Ame on the bench.

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, then smiled and asked the person next to him, "So, how about we go up and play a couple of rounds?"

Ame didn't react immediately upon hearing this. He paused for a moment before saying, "Huh? I'm going upstairs to play?"

"Yeah." Chen Dongqing patted Ame on the shoulder. "You're not chickening out, are you? You could easily crush those two teams."

Ame then looked at her teammates.

Xiao Ba laughed and said, "That's true. We can't keep you on the bench forever. Letting you go up and have some fun is fine too."

As for QG's other four teammates, there's no need to say more.

Although having Chen Dongqing as a teammate would increase their chances of winning and make it easier to get carried, Ame is, after all, their old teammate, and they have a deeper bond. So of course, they wouldn't mind letting Ame come up and play.

"Then let's go!" Ame wasn't intimidated anymore and laughed, "I'll go, I'll go!"

After saying that, Ame took out her backpack and began to organize her peripherals.

Chen Dongqing, on the other hand, leisurely stuffed his peripherals back into his backpack and lay back in his chair.

Now he's finally free.

Today's opponent was really weak; playing against them wouldn't have been very effective for training, and playing against them too often might even have negative side effects.

Anyway, he's already trained enough to leave the mountain, so it's always good for him to rest for a while.

Soon, Chen Dongqing sat in the lounge, watching Ame, who had been away from the competition for a long time, return to the stage.

Unexpectedly, the audience below the stage gave him a warm cheer.

Ame's playing style is quite aggressive and daring, which is why he has a lot of fans.

Ame was somewhat surprised by the cheers from the audience. He waved his hand sheepishly and sat down in his seat.

Different people have different interpretations of QG's roster change.

The average viewer would think this was just a routine rotation; with no pressure to qualify, bringing in the original players for a spin was no problem.

But those who are observant will interpret it differently.

As Ame walked onto the stage, the OG members narrowed their eyes, their minds racing with their own interpretations.

Ceb asked Ana beside him, "What do you think?"

"It's nothing," Ana said honestly. "It's just a normal substitution."

"No! Absolutely not!" N0tail said seriously from the side, "This substitution reveals a lot of information!"

Ana scratched her head and said, "Huh? What information?"

N0tail said, "Obviously, they know that their early game is too weak after ilex came on, and this is not a problem that can be solved in a short time. Moreover, this version needs early game strength the most! So they had to bring on their former carry Ame to see how it goes."

"If nothing unexpected happens, they will definitely choose the core of the early game attack to test Ame's early game attack ability and observe the difference between him and Ilex."

Ana was slightly puzzled.

But Ame's early game performance isn't great either. Like Ilex, he's a late-game carry.

But before he could even speak, QG proactively chose the Airplane Sprite build on screen, seemingly confirming N0tail's idea.

Ana was speechless for a moment.

Seeing this, N0tail's lips curled up slightly. "I don't know why, but I'm becoming more and more confident."

As for the result of the match shown in the video, it was, of course, uneventful.

QG and Ame are both incredibly strong teams, so it's safe to say that unless they make a major mistake, they're unlikely to lose.

Therefore, Ame deliberately chose the Gyrocopter and Io combination in this game in order to speed up the pace, win as beautifully as possible, and get off to a good start for his TI8 debut.

The result was not unexpected. Ame faced his own team and played ruthlessly. In one game, he dominated the lane and quickly ended the game. In another game, he entered the jungle with a slight advantage, left the jungle with a significant advantage, and then quickly ended the game.

QG easily won both matches, raising their points to 13 and further solidifying their first-place position in the group.

On the other hand, IG is in a slightly worse situation. After seven matches, they have achieved four draws and three losses. With four points, they are slightly ahead of the Independent Nations team Winstrike by one point, ranking second to last in the group and on the verge of elimination.

In the afternoon, QG faced their final group stage opponent, TNC.

QG showed no mercy, easily crushing their opponents in two matches, finally ending the group stage of this tournament!

At the moment the group stage ended, the rankings of the eighteen teams were also determined.

Winstrike, who finished last in Group A, and paiN Gaming, who finished last in Group B, were both eliminated. All the other teams advanced to the knockout stage.

In other words, all six Chinese teams that came to TI have qualified!

QG and Newbee advanced to the winners' bracket, while VGJT, IG, VG, and TS fell into the losers' bracket.

Compared to last year's four winners' bracket and one loser's bracket, it can only be said that the overall strength of CNDOTA this year has declined slightly.

Of course, what is reassuring is that although the overall strength may decline, the strength of the top players will definitely rise!

The top team, QG, is currently ranked first in Group A with a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses, and has now become one of the favorites to win the championship!

At the moment the group stage ended, QG's opponent in the first round of the knockout stage was also determined.

According to the rules, the first-place team in Group A will face the fourth-place team in Group B, TL.

TL, as the defending champions, have come to TI8 with the same roster that won the championship last year, making them incredibly strong!

Last year, they defeated three Chinese teams in one fell swoop and lifted the Aegis of Champions at TI7, making countless Chinese players call it a nightmare!

However, their performance in the group stage this year was less than ideal. Due to factors such as form and rhythm, they did not play well in several matches, and were defeated 0-2 in all their matches against strong teams, which resulted in them finishing fourth in the group and barely making it into the winners' bracket.

TL expressed their dissatisfaction with this, stating that they are determined to regain their form and advance successfully in the knockout stage!

Unaware of TL's grand ambitions, QG immediately returned to the backstage lounge after the match and began practicing.

With only one day of rest between the group stage and the knockout stage, the time is tight, so they need to make the most of their practice time!

In particular, the team's offensive coordination is still somewhat raw, and this needs more practice.

Hmm? Something's not right!

In today's training match, Chen Dongqing played the Phantom Assassin, and his rhythm was incredibly smooth, gaining a huge advantage in the early stages of three consecutive games!

Especially the choice of ultimate move location, he would often suddenly shout Xnova to fly to a dark spot on the map, and every time he flew there, he could actually catch someone!

After the other side typed "GG" for the third time, Xiao Ba finally couldn't take it anymore and came over to ask, "Brother Shu, what's going on?"

"Huh?" Chen Dongqing took off his headphones and said, "What's going on?"

Xiao Ba asked again, "Why are you suddenly so energetic today?"

At this moment, Xnova also turned around, showing his curiosity about the question.

As Chen Dongqing's assistant, he could clearly see the changes in him today!

Chen Dongqing's flight today was almost entirely different from the previous two days!

"Hey, what's the big deal!" Chen Dongqing grinned. "You've already mastered it, do you even need to ask?"

"Huh?" Xiao Ba was dumbfounded. "How did you learn that? You weren't this good last night, and you didn't even play today, how did you suddenly learn it?"

Chen Dongqing didn't know how to explain for a moment, so he simply said, "Oh, I was watching Ame masturbate in the back today, and I learned how after watching for a while."

"Huh???" Xiao Ba was even more dumbfounded, his voice filled with confusion.

Not only was Xiao Ba stunned, but the other members of QG were also stunned.

Ame is especially stupid.

You think you can learn by watching me masturbate?

The thing is, I'm not even that good at it myself!

After much deliberation, everyone could only attribute it to Chen Dongqing's talent.

As for Brother Tree, that's normal.

That's why he's called an e-sports genius.

Upon thinking of this, everyone in QG smiled from the bottom of their hearts.

For the past few days, two questions have been nagging at QG's minds, almost becoming a source of anxiety for them.

One issue is the offensive problem of choosing a fighting core, and the other is the defensive problem of choosing a farming core.

But now, they've solved half of it so easily! This has made them incredibly excited!

With the offensive problem solved, everything else is easy to discuss!

The defensive issues only arise when playing against VP, so they're not critical and have plenty of time to address them!

Of course, what they didn't know was that Chen Dongqing had also solved the defense problem.

The day of training matches passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was August 6th, when the double-elimination tournament officially began!

The knockout stage rules are as follows: the first round of the loser's bracket is best-of-one (BO1), the grand final is best-of-five (BO5), and all other matches are best-of-three (BO3).

Because the BO1 schedule is fast, the first round of the lower bracket and the first round of the upper bracket will be completed on the same day!

Chen Dongqing arrived at the scene early in the morning to watch the loser's bracket match backstage.

Four of the eight teams in the loser's bracket are Chinese teams, which, in a way, is a different kind of CNDOTA vs World.

The rules for the loser's bracket are similar: the fifth-ranked team plays the eighth-ranked team, and the sixth-ranked team plays the seventh-ranked team. The general logic is that the highest-ranked team plays the lowest-ranked team in the other group, giving the higher-ranked teams some advantages.

Such rules inevitably lead to civil war.

For example, IG, who advanced from Group A to the knockout stage, faced off against VG, who advanced from Group B to the knockout stage in the first match of the knockout rounds. The best-of-one series decided their fate.

The first round of the loser's bracket is still quite exciting, after all, there are too many variables in BO1, and a strong team may lose the game with a small mistake.

In the first game, the IG players were clearly out of sorts, and both lanes were killed within just six minutes.

While dying once or twice in lane is acceptable in DOTA2, giving away one or two kills for no reason is really not good.

After gaining the advantage, VG didn't rush. They continued to coordinate and play steadily, gradually expanding their small laning advantage. They then used coordination to turn it into an even bigger advantage, eventually snowballing it and ending the game in one fell swoop!

VG has advanced! IG, on the other hand, became the first Chinese team to be eliminated in this year's TI.

Of the six teams, one has already left.

Countless Chinese viewers watched with trepidation as they focused their attention on the three remaining matches.

We can't afford to lose again!

The loser's bracket matches continued immediately afterward.

The next three teams took to the stage one after another and completed their life-or-death battles, including the Chinese teams TS and VGJT.

Fortunately, both teams performed reasonably well.

In their respective matches, they fought for forty minutes, with back-and-forth battles and many thrilling moments, but in the end, they each defeated their opponents and advanced to the next round!

Below the stage, countless audience members breathed a sigh of relief.

That's alright. Only one person will be eliminated in the first round, which is perfectly acceptable.

After the losers' bracket matches ended, there was no rest time; the winners' bracket matches followed immediately.

The first match of the winners' bracket is between the first-place team in Group A and the fourth-place team in Group B, which is QG vs. TL.

At this moment, Chen Dongqing was still backstage, discussing things with Ame.

"So, are you going to work today or not?"

Chen Dongqing didn't really want to play today. After all, he had been training day and night for the past few days and had a lot of pent-up energy, and he really didn't want to vent it on TL.

If he's going to drag someone down, he should drag the VP down with him!

According to the rules, after they advance in this round, they will face the winner of VP's group, and the probability of them playing against VP is extremely high.

But this time, Ame refused to go on no matter what.

"I can accept playing in the group stage, but what's the point of me playing in the knockout stage?" Ame shook his head frantically. "Fine, fine, you play!"

Chen Dongqing shook his head helplessly and said, "Have you thought this through? After this first round, you might not have the chance to go on later."

Ame hesitated for a second, but finally said, "You should go. We really can't be careless in the knockout stage."

"Okay." Chen Dongqing then turned around and took out his peripherals from his bag.

It seems I'll have to find a way to hold this lump in for a while longer.

Let's put on a little act today.

The winners' bracket competition has begun! At the shouts of the host, the two winners of the first round of the winners' bracket took to the stage!

"First of all, let's welcome QG!" the host shouted, and the big screen at the venue began playing short videos of QG's players.

In this short video, the names, ages, positions, and nationalities of the five QG players will be clearly displayed!

During the short video, QG's players quickly took to the stage.

As the number one player, Chen Dongqing was at the front of the group, feeling the surging cheers from the audience.

It must be said that the outcry is indeed much louder than it was a few days ago.

Chen Dongqing's excellent performance these past few days has been recognized by many viewers.

The host then continued shouting, "Let's continue to welcome Team Liquid!"

In that instant, the cheers from the audience surged several levels, engulfing the entire stadium!

As a North American team, Team Liquid is naturally more familiar to Canadian audiences, and as the defending champions, they naturally receive more support!

"T! L!"

"T! L!"

Countless Canadian spectators in the stands waved their light sticks and repeatedly chanted Team Liquid's name, creating quite a powerful atmosphere!

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but feel helpless looking at the situation on the field.

Although their support has increased a lot recently, they still can't compare to a semi-home team like Team Liquid.

If we consider the audience's support as a progress bar, they have now reached at most 40%.

Chen Dongqing pursed her lips and sat back down in her seat.

The remaining 60% still needs to be figured out slowly.

The match began quickly!

Before the match, Chen Dongqing and the team had already discussed that they should keep their early offensive strategy as a trump card and try to win against TL using their old tactics.

Therefore, in the first game, with Sven and Terrorblade banned, Chen Dongqing chose to pick Faceless Void, focusing on building a three-item build before making his return.

On the other side, TL was also very familiar with QG's strategy, so their thinking was also quite clear. They chose to bring out a 3-4 combination of Ursa and Undying, forcibly increasing the strength of the offlane.

Countless viewers couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed watching TL's third and fourth lineup.

Patting Bear is generally used as a number one position for fighting, but it's perfectly fine to put it in the number three position.

In short, this hero has a dash skill that can slow down enemies, an attack speed boost skill, a passive skill that increases basic attack damage, and a status-based ultimate skill that increases damage reduction and tenacity.

In short, he's invincible in close-quarters combat.

As for the Corpse King, he's even more cunning. He has a ranged skill that can directly drain 4 points of an enemy's strength.

Strength is especially important in DOTA2 because it represents maximum health.

Having four points of strength drained is equivalent to losing 80 points of maximum health, and it will take a long time to recover.

Void, a champion with weak laning phase, is going to have a terrible time against these two melee overlords!

Clearly, although TL and QG are not in the same group, they have made ample preparations to compete against QG!

Seeing this, many people couldn't help but start to worry about QG.

How should we play this lane?

Soon after the minions went online, countless viewers squinted at them for a few seconds before realizing something was wrong.

Something's not right.

Why does it feel like there's not much pressure?

In the early laning phase, Chen Dongqing's micro-management was simply superb. By constantly kiting and controlling his position, he easily managed to last-hit several difficult minions with almost no cost.

They even managed to deny two of the opponent's last hits!

In the game DOTA2, laning ability is basically reflected in last-hitting. As long as you last-hit well, you don't even need to kill the opponent. Just denying a few of their creeps can easily give you a lead of hundreds of gold and a large amount of experience.

Although Chen Dongqing lost half of his health due to the last hit, it wasn't a big problem. He could easily recover the lost health with a large red potion, so it wasn't a loss at all!

In fact, as the fight progressed, it was TL's third and fourth units who were struggling against xNova's silence and began to retreat to eat trees and heal.

Seeing this, many viewers couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Ilex's laning ability is just too good!

So far in TI, he has only suffered losses against VP; he has almost never matched TL!

With the laning phase going this far, the audience was relieved.

In the game DOTA2, a player's individual skill surpasses the strength of the hero.

With Void Spirit and Silence, and Ursa and Undying, if you can achieve this slight advantage, then you've already won.

With a third-position Ursa and Undying, the team can basically be considered a training dummy in the late game.

Once Void gets a Mask of Madness or a Maelstrom, he can dive into the jungle, farm three items, and then come out to kill the two right in front of them. They won't dare to say a word.

However, the audience still underestimated QG's level of madness.

Five minutes later, Chen Dongqing took two steps back, taking medicine to replenish his blood while waiting for the debuff status on his body to disappear.

One is the Corpse King's power-draining debuff; once the time passes, the drained power will recover on its own.

One is the passive ability of the PawBear.

The bear's basic attack creates wounds on enemies, increasing the damage of the next basic attack. The more basic attacks you use, the more wounds you accumulate, and the higher the damage of your basic attack becomes, stacking infinitely!

This stacking method allows Ursa's theoretical damage output to reach infinity; given enough output environment, it can even kill tanky opponents.

He could even be paired with a hero who increases attack speed, and kill Roshan at level one!

This debuff is the most terrifying; Chen Dongqing must wait for it to dissipate before he can lane.

After all the debuffs on him disappeared, Chen Dongqing finally recovered to full health. He stepped forward again and entered the laning phase.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the two melee fighters opposite had also recovered about 70-80% of their health. As they watched the Void Return, the Corpse King went up and drained another four points of power.

Chen Dongqing didn't care and continued to step forward, exchanging a basic attack with Pat-Pat Bear.

The layers of wounds on his body had already faded, so the patting bear's claw didn't cause much damage.

Instead, the hammer blow from the void summoned a clone from another timeline.

With level 2 and skill 3, Faceless Void has a 16% chance to summon a Stand user, allowing him to attack the enemy again, dealing an additional 20 damage and stunning the enemy for 0.65 seconds.

Moreover, this Stand user can continue to summon nested Stand dolls.

So, the substitute's basic attack triggered the 16% chance again, summoning another substitute that attacked Ursa once.

Void's basic attack dealt a total of 3 times the damage of a basic attack plus 40, and also caused a 0.65*2 stun effect, visibly reducing Ursa's health by a large amount!

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow.

Two triggers in a row? That's pretty lucky!

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, took a step forward during the interval between normal attacks, and then launched another attack towards the Bear Hammer!

Luckily, the passive skill was triggered again.

Two more basic attacks landed instantly on Ursa, controlling it for another 0.65 seconds!

At this point, Ursa's health had dropped to below half!

What kind of luck is this?

Chen Dongqing was startled and immediately said, "Get him!"

As they were talking, Chen Dongqing immediately activated his second skill, Time Dilation, to summon a time field that slowed down the Ursa.

Then, xNova immediately understood and silenced all the damage skills.

The hero Silencer lacks crowd control in the early game, possessing only decent poke damage, so in this wave, he can only unleash all his damage potential.

But that was enough. After the silence was gone, Ursa's health was still dropping, rapidly declining to one-third.

TL's offlaner was completely numb from those two hits from Faceless Void. He quickly rolled backward, hoping to get back to the sidelines to heal under the protection of his teammates.

But at that moment, Chen Dongqing also used [Time Travel] to teleport and followed closely behind, recovering the health he had just lost, and then slammed his hammer into the bear.

This time, luck seems to have run out; it was just a normal attack.

Chen Dongqing remained calm and chased after the bear, delivering another blow with his hammer!

It still doesn't work.

The bear had a little over 100 health points left and had already run back to the tower.

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow, and then another one.

This time it finally worked.

Another substitution attack, a single hammer strike dealt two normal attack damages, instantly depleting Ursa's health and sending it to its death!

"Huh? What's going on!?" MindControl, the offlaner for TL, couldn't hold back any longer. He stood up, raised his arms, and directly expressed his confusion.

Standing up to vent emotions halfway through a match has always been part of the DOTA2 culture.

The most famous one is the Roaring Celestial. After he fought three opponents and killed one of them and survived, he stood up and shouted loudly at the other side: "Three against one and you got killed? Do you even know how to play?"

But in the past, people usually only showed their true colors after they had an advantage or after making a cool move.

It's actually quite rare to see someone get back up after being solo-killed, like today.

Of course, he can't be blamed for this.

Chen Dongqing's five basic attacks triggered his passive four times, similar to a level one Tryndamere having half a bar of rage, chasing you down and slashing you five times, landing four critical hits, and killing you. You'd be just as frustrated if you were in his shoes.

Chen Dongqing also saw his exasperated opponent. He stood up, pointed to his right hand, and then made a shrugging gesture, indicating that he had no other choice.

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience below the stage, with many exclaiming that Chen Dongqing was truly a chosen one.

In fact, Chen Dongqing was also quite helpless.

He had already said that he was going to hold back his big move this game, and that he would definitely keep his offensive strategy hidden until the very end.

But the result was something he never expected—these passive knocks.

This wasn't because he was particularly skilled! It was purely due to good luck! Hopefully, the other teams won't overthink it!

Of course, the other teams probably wouldn't think much of it.

Backstage, OG and VP watched Chen Dongqing's crazy performance and were both amused and exasperated.

Level 4 Void, five hammer blows and four passives, right? Who can beat you?

It's fortunate that their opponent wasn't them this time, otherwise they would have been anxious too.

Losing a game for no reason, who can stand that?

That's right.

At this point, both teams knew that if ilex's Void Spirit gained such a huge advantage during the laning phase, then QG had already won the game.

The result of the match was as expected.

After Chen Dongqing finished the laning phase with a significant advantage, he didn't rush to extend his lead. Instead, he let xNova roam and pass the advantage to his teammates, while he stayed in lane alone, farming both lane and jungle to quickly develop.

Once the Void Mask's three-piece set was available, Chen Dongqing easily won the game with two ultimate moves!

One to zero!

In the second match, Chen Dongqing didn't have any luck this time, but his teammates stepped up again.

Fy and xNova worked closely together, helping Maybe's Bloodseeker in the mid lane to be freed up first.

Once Bloodseeker gets going, his pace is unstoppable; he's a hero who can dominate all three lanes.

After being liberated, Maybe took over the game directly. This time, Chen Dongqing didn't even need to come out of retirement. Maybe led the team to destroy TL's defense!

Ultimately, Chen Dongqing's first wave of attacks wiped out TL and secured the Roshan's Aegis, completely extinguishing TL's hopes of victory.

However, since the match was a best-of-three series, the TL team, having already lost one game, was now on the brink of defeat. So they did not surrender, but fought to the very last moment.

In the end, after wiping out the entire team, Chen Dongqing destroyed TL's base with a single blow, winning 2-0 and advancing to the semifinals of the winners' bracket!

Meanwhile, the defending champions TL have fallen into the second round of the losers' bracket and are preparing for a do-or-die battle!

Backstage, the members of both OG and VP watched the match and were at a loss for words.

To be honest, they only saw two things in this game.

Ilex was very lucky, and Maybe's Blood Mage was very strong.

And that was it.

It has absolutely no reference value.

Perhaps it has some value on a metaphysical level.

Ilex used up all his luck this time, so his luck won't be so good next time he plays us, right?

The VP players shook their heads helplessly and prepared to go on stage.

Ranked third in Group A, their opponent is Newbee, the second-place team in Group B, who is also a Chinese team.

The winner between these two teams will become QG's opponent in the winners' bracket semifinals.

Countless Chinese viewers watched with bated breath and great anticipation.

They also hope that Newbee can defeat their opponent just like QG, thus meeting in the winners' bracket semifinals.

Unfortunately, they are destined to be disappointed this time.

VP really went all out this time. They fought Newbee for three games and ultimately prevailed 2-1, advancing to the winners' bracket semifinals.

Thus, the first matchup of the winners' bracket semifinals has been officially determined.

QG vs. VP!

This chapter was written much faster; TI is a side story after all, so it won't take too long to finish.

(End of this chapter)