League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 480 The Fall of the Overlord

After the match, Chen Dongqing did not stay at the venue this time, but retreated with the team.

Their match was over in the morning, and they had nothing to do all afternoon, so they chose to go back to the training room to watch the game remotely.

Within an afternoon, the results of the remaining three matches in the winners' bracket were all determined.

QG, OP, and VP, the top three teams from Group A, all defeated their opponents and advanced to the second round of the knockout stage.

On the other hand, Group B was almost completely wiped out, with only EG, the top team in Group B, defeating their opponent and advancing.

Next, the four winners from today will be paired up, with QG facing VP and EG facing OG, for the second round of the winners' bracket.

Of course, the second round of the winners' bracket won't start so soon; they'll have to wait a day and a half.

The night passed quickly, and it was August 7th, the second day of the knockout stage.

The four losers from yesterday's winners' bracket will continue their matches in the second round of the losers' bracket today. They are:

Newbee (China) vs. VGJT (China).

TL vs TS (Mid)

Secret vs. VG (Mid).

Mski vs OpTic.

The loser's bracket has eight teams, including four Chinese teams, making it a thrilling segment.

The opening match was once again an all-Chinese affair, with yesterday's loser Newbee facing off against VGJT.

This all-Chinese battle was extremely close, with all three games lasting forty minutes. In the end, Newbee advanced and successfully entered the third round of the loser's bracket.

In the civil war, the Chinese team lost another key player.

Chen Dongqing sat in the lounge, feeling somewhat wistful.

On the first day of the group stage, VGJT joked with him, saying they'd see him in the finals.

Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the second round of the losers' bracket.

It's still not quite there.

The Newbee team, having narrowly advanced, breathed a sigh of relief, bowed deeply to the audience, and then retreated backstage.

Not long after, the second group of competitors took the stage.

TL, who lost to QG yesterday, will face TS today.

Speaking of Team Serenity, not only are they unfamiliar to viewers of major international teams, but also to many Chinese viewers.

Because this team doesn't have any superstar players, they fought their way through open qualifiers, domestic preliminaries, and now they've made it to Vancouver.

CNDOTA has never lacked grassroots teams. In 2016, Wings followed this grassroots path and miraculously won the Aegis of Champions that year.

There has never been a dynasty that won two consecutive championships in the history of TI. Every championship is extremely precious, and the legendary Wings is the most dazzling firework in the history of DOTA2.

TS is the spiritual successor to the legendary Wings.

Unfortunately, TS did not make it all the way to the end like Wings, finishing in 9th-12th place.

They were clearly outmatched in the match against TL.

As a grassroots team, it's too difficult for them to compete against a defending champion like Team Liquid.

Of course, this matchup itself was legendary enough, and even if they lost, they would still be honorable.

After TS was eliminated, they took a short break at noon, and then it was afternoon.

The third group match begins.

Secret vs. VG.

Meanwhile, countless viewers in China had already woken up. As soon as they got up, they saw the news that VGJT and TS had been eliminated, and then they saw the Chinese team take the stage. They were all a little flustered.

VG, you can't afford to lose again, can you?

The match began quickly.

After the laning phase in the first game, VG had a slight advantage in all three lanes.

At 17 minutes, after a skirmish, Secret traded kills with Lina and Batrider before buying back and securing the first Roshan. The bought-back Lina picked up the Aegis and then pushed mid with it. However, VG's carry Terrorblade had built Black King Bar (BKB) and managed to survive the push thanks to it.

Immediately afterwards, VG gained a huge advantage in 28 minutes by ganking the side lanes twice and initiating a perfect team fight!

At 56 minutes, VG made their strongest push, with Terrorblade (TB) taking Refresher Orb and storming the high ground. After destroying two lanes, VG wiped out Secret, who then typed GG, giving VG the first win.

Domestically, countless spectators popped champagne.

In a best-of-three (BO3) match, winning the first game is practically a guaranteed victory!

A comeback from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1? That's pretty amazing!

Ten minutes later, Secret changed their strategy, picking a three-core lineup of Clinkz, Skeleton King, and Zeus, which made them extremely strong in the laning phase.

During the laning phase alone, VG was unable to farm. Their position 4 Earthshaker tried to roam and save the team, but it did nothing and instead led to the death of their own position 3.

In just eight minutes, Da Laoshi gave VG an 8% chance of winning.

Da Laoshi is a real-time win rate analysis function for DOTA2 based on big data. It comprehensively evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of both sides by dividing heroes by strength and current economy, and it is generally quite accurate.

When the master gives a single-digit win rate like 8%, there's basically no chance of a comeback.

As expected, Secret easily won this game by focusing on the laning phase!

Countless domestic viewers were startled again, their previously calm hearts suddenly filled with apprehension.

In the third game, both sides changed their strategies. VG picked out NEC and Tiny to strengthen the lanes, successfully gaining an advantage in all three lanes and continuing to expand their lead.

However, VG didn't immediately notice that Secret's Ursa and Invoker had disappeared at the same time.

As mentioned earlier, Ursa's passive ability makes him deal more damage the more he attacks, making him the most convenient hero to defeat Roshan.

If you pair it with an Invoker who can increase attack speed, then it's a speedrun!

By the time VG finally realized it, the screen already displayed the message that Roshan had been killed.

Thanks to Roshan's economy and the protective effect of Roshan's Aegis, Secret managed to hold out for five minutes and overcome their early disadvantage.

At 30 minutes, VG attempted to ambush with Smoke of Deceit but were counter-ambushed, resulting in a disastrous 5-for-4 exchange. Ultimately, Secret's remaining Ursa soloed the second Roshan.

At 33 minutes, Secret, with the Aegis, pushed high ground and once again pulled off a perfect team fight.

VG players were unable to buy back and could only type GG, thus finishing in 9th-12th place.

Today felt like a day of suffering for CNDOTA. Five teams came in a grand procession, but only two remained when they left.

How far has this competition even gone? The knockout stage isn't even halfway through, and it's already almost over?

How can we fight like this?

Upon seeing this, countless Chinese viewers were devastated, with some even calling it the worst year for CNDOTA.

However, a small number of viewers still believe in the mystical rule that even-numbered years are destined to win the championship, and they believe that QG and Newbee will definitely go all the way.

Before we knew it, it was August 8th, the third day of the group stage.

This morning, the matches are still not in the winners' bracket.

Still in the losers' bracket.

The four teams that narrowly advanced from the loser's bracket yesterday will face off in a do-or-die battle this morning, reducing the number of teams to just two!

Only in this way can the number of teams in the losers' bracket match the number of teams in the winners' bracket.

The rules of TI have always been like this: for the strong teams in the upper bracket, it's a leisurely affair, with only one match every two or three days.

For teams in the loser's bracket, it's a hellish ordeal of life and death, with one back-to-back match after another, which can even break a player's mentality.

In the first match, Secret and Mski took to the stage for a fierce battle.

In the end, Secret narrowly defeated their opponent 2-1, successfully staying in the game.

Following closely behind, Newbee took to the stage again to face TL.

This match is somewhat interesting because these two teams had their final showdown at TI7 in Seattle last year.

At that time, TL swept Newbee in three games and lifted the Aegis of Champions at TI7.

Inside the rest room, Coach Xiao Ba clasped his hands together, a glimmer of hope in his heart.

He was part of the team that helped Newbee win the TI championship, so he still has some emotional attachment to the team and naturally hopes that they can go even further.

To be honest, judging from his experience coaching QG, TL shouldn't be that difficult to beat, right?

But the outcome was destined to disappoint him.

In two matches, TL swept Newbee 2-0, successfully advancing to the next round.

Newbee unfortunately finished in 7th or 8th place.

Upon seeing the result, Xiao Ba couldn't help but slump back in his chair and faint on the spot, cosplaying as Wu Jing.

Frustrated by CNDOTA.jpg

Countless Chinese viewers were also unable to accept it, and for a moment they felt only angina.

There are six teams in total: one team in the top 16, three teams in the top 12, and one team in the top 8.

Has CNDOTA really become this bad?

They swept the A-King title last year!

What kind of Dharma-ending Age is this?

Everyone turned their attention to the schedule.

This afternoon, the competition returned to the winners' bracket.

The only hope for CNDOTA2 rests on the last remaining team, QG.

But QG's opponent is VP, the only team that defeated them in the group stage.

It feels a bit like a delivery!

The lunch break flew by, and it was already afternoon in Vancouver, with the winners' bracket matches about to begin.

Chen Dongqing and his teammates sat down in the backstage lounge, swiping their fingers across the screen in front of them, looking at the discussions on the forum.

So much has happened in the past two days that domestic viewers are devastated, and online forums are filled with despair.

TI has been established for eight years now, and if you include the DOTA1 era, it can even be traced back to 2009.

For so many years, China has been the absolute hegemon of the DOTA2 world. In even-numbered years, China is sure to win the championship. Even if China loses the championship in odd-numbered years, it will definitely stage a scene of arrogant drama of CNDOTA vs the world. Even if China loses the game, no one will think that China lost shamefully.

This year, CNDOTA made history by having four teams directly invited. Including the two spots from the qualifiers, they occupy six of the eighteen teams, accounting for one-third of the total!

When the list was released, everyone thought that another golden age of Chinese champions was about to begin.

But the accident happened so fast that it caught everyone off guard.

Having only reached the quarterfinals, five out of six Chinese teams have already been eliminated, leaving only one Chinese player remaining.

It turns out that a golden age will not come; on the contrary, it is getting further and further away.

Don't worry, QG is still around, isn't they?

[Indeed, QG will advance as the top seed in their group, crushing TL 2-0, no doubt about it!]

But QG has obvious flaws; they just keep waiting for their carry to carry, which is very unhealthy.

QG plays okay against other teams, but they're really bad against VP, and the worst part is they're playing VP right away!

Sigh, this is tough. I hope QG can win.

Trust Brother Tree

I never expected someone to trust a League of Legends player.

My suggestion is to let Ame play when playing VP; he's really good at VP.

[Let's forget about it then. Constantly changing players won't help them adapt.]

Chen Dongqing scrolled down the screen, his expression completely unchanged.

"What are you looking at?" Maybe also came closer and looked at the content on Chen Dongqing's phone screen.

"On Tieba," Chen Dongqing turned the screen to the side and laughed, "It seems like people there don't have high hopes for us?"

"I'm not looking at that!" Maybe immediately turned her head away, avoiding it completely!

When he won a few minor championships, he did browse the forums for a while. He originally went there to see how other users were bragging about him, but as he watched, his opinion changed.

The main problem is that those people exaggerated it too much.

Phrases like "currently the best," "championship in the making," and "although he has no title, he has surpassed Miracle Bro" are enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Miracle is the mid laner for Team Liquid, the champion last year, and is referred to by commentators as a "next level player".

Of course, in their recent encounters, Miracle Bro has indeed lost to him; yesterday, he was even being stomped on the head and hacked at by his Blood Demon.

Such excessive praise can backfire; when they were double-killed by OG, all that praise turned into a boomerang.

A while ago, everyone was praising him as "the one who surpasses the miracle brother without a crown," but now he has been condensed into "Wu Guanchao."

Then he also got another nickname, Brother Chao.

His nickname is Maybe, pronounced Somnus, his real name is Lu Yao, and his nickname is Chao Ge.

The four names are completely unrelated, making him a unique case in esports history.

But in reality, what does this have to do with him? He didn't do anything from beginning to end; he just killed a few waves of Miracle Guys.

It was incredibly disgusting.

Baidu Tieba is a cesspool. Doesn't it affect your mood if you look at it every day?

Oh, if it's Brother Tree, maybe he really wouldn't.

The boomerang couldn't hit him!

That's infuriating.

Chen Dongqing laughed and asked, "So, do you think we have a good chance of winning today?"

"Of course!" Maybe grinned. "With Brother Tree around, we're guaranteed to win easily!"

Chen Dongqing glanced at Maybe and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Why do you look a bit like a mid laner from a certain League of Legends division?

Are all mid laners in this world like this?

"Alright, the match is about to start, let's talk about how to play today."

With only half an hour left before the start of the match, Coach Xiao Ba stepped forward to begin the final tactical discussion.

Chen Dongqing glanced at the message one last time, then turned off his phone and stuffed it into his backpack.

Everyone was quite serious at this moment.

VP is indeed a formidable rival to QG.

After all, they were the only team to win a single match against QG in the group stage.

In that match, VP's relentless targeting of Chen Dongqing became the key factor in their victory.

"If we pick a late-game champion and still can't withstand VP's early-game aggression," Xiao Ba frowned and said, "then we might as well pick an early-game champion and fight them head-on. Anyway, we've practiced our early-game aggression, so if we can even outplay them in the early game, our chances of winning are very high."

"I can handle it." A voice suddenly rang out in the lounge, it was Chen Dongqing.

Everyone turned their attention to the speaker and saw that it was Chen Dongqing.

Xiao Ba then asked, "What does 'can withstand' mean?"

"I mean," Chen Dongqing said with a smile, "I can handle VP's offense right now."

Why?

"Their offensive tactics only work against me once, and then they stop working the second time. I understand them very well now."

Are you serious?

"Trust me." Chen Dongqing's words were firm and resolute, and given his status, they commanded respect.

His words were certainly not unfounded.

After meditation training, he now has a thorough understanding of all of VP's tactics.

Using a late-game carry to counter VP is definitely the best option, because it guarantees that the carry can scale up and carry the game.

Coach Xiao Ba squinted and thought for two seconds before saying, "Okay, I believe in you."

Sorry, there are fewer today.

Tomorrow's chapter will conclude the BO3 match against VP.

(End of this chapter)