Valorant: I Am Still the World's Best

"The tide has turned against us."

Sharpshooter tumbled off his gaming chair and slumped to the ground, his face ashen and his expression dejected.

On the screen, the competition has progressed to Figure 3 – Asia-Pacific Suspended City.

With a score of 12-5, TE holds a significant advantage.

In this crucial match point round, all five members of TE survived, while Lev was left with only two players. By all accounts, this was a near-irreversible situation.

To be fair, Aspas's statistics in this match were still the best in the game, and his performance was extremely outstanding.

Especially in the second map, Sunset City, he almost single-handedly blasted through the TE.

On the other side, Kai also performed exceptionally well, firmly holding second place overall.

The two are evenly matched, with neither of them being inferior to the other.

However, viewers often only look at the result and don't care about the process.

"Why can't Sky Island win?!"

The sharpshooter looked up to the sky and howled in despair.

"Little Kai! No, Grandpa Kai, please stop killing! Give me a break! I'll have PRX pay for it later!"

[The army collapsed like a house of cards!]

[Little Kai isn't the only one who's open; the legendary Papahuna catcher has arrived!]

[And what about my Asia-Pacific dump truck issue? If the US calls, I'll just run!]

From now on, Kai is the sniper's father's killer! Everyone in the livestream who supports TE, get out!

Ultimately, TE defeated Lev 2-1 and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

The following day, the loser's bracket matches officially began.

FPX will face off against Fut, a team from Turkey.

A small incident occurred during the competition.

Fut is retaliating against a corpse again.

The team's star player, yesujey, nicknamed "Night Raider," has been targeting enemy corpses countless times.

Perhaps influenced by this veteran player, the Fut team has always carried a hint of necrophilia.

Fortunately, FPX performed admirably this time.

They no longer needed others to avenge them; they took matters into their own hands and got their revenge.

AAAAY grabbed Great Odin and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the corpses of Fut and the others, the sound of bullets echoing throughout the arena.

FPX defeated Fut 2-1 and successfully advanced.

Unfortunately, in the next group stage match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, they faced TH.

The two sides delivered an incredibly exciting refrigerator battle in the frigid winter harbor, a match you'll regret missing for the rest of your life.

Despite TH leading 10-2 in the first half, the game was surprisingly forced into overtime by FPX.

The back-and-forth battle continued until the very end, with the score at 15:17.

In the end, TH narrowly defeated FPX 2-1, eliminating this tenacious Chinese team from the competition.

Thus, the group stage, after a week of intense competition, has finally come to an end.

The list of the top eight has been officially released.

EDG, Fnc, 100T, and PRX await challengers.

And TE, GenG, TH, and LEV, who broke through from the group stage.

According to the tournament format, the four number one seeds will be drawn to determine their bracket groups and match-up order.

Seeds 1 and 2 are located in the same half of the zone, while seeds 3 and 4 are located in the other half.

Then, the number one seed chooses its opponent in the order of the draw.

On the night all the group stage matches ended, the captains of the four number one seeded teams were invited to the venue to draw lots.

Fnc drew number 1.

EDG drew number 2.

I drew number 3 from 100T.

PRX is number 4.

Boaster first gave a slightly apologetic smile to the CN fans in the audience, and then chose TE as his opponent without hesitation.

This result was not too surprising.

After all, among the remaining teams, TE is undoubtedly the one that is relatively easier to study and target.

Next up was Nobody.

He hesitated for a moment among TH, LEV and GenG, and finally chose TH, whom he had faced once before.

Woot's earlier statement in the livestream, "I hope to face Raven," has now become a reality.

Next, it was 100T's turn to make a selection.

To everyone's astonishment, team commander Boosito chose LEV as their opponent.

Although the "avoidance of opponents from the same region" rule is no longer in place for the quarterfinals, almost no team would actively choose an opponent from the same region if they had the option to do so.

Choosing a familiar opponent might increase your chances of winning.

However, all professional players know that viewers don't like watching intra-regional matches.

Regardless of the outcome, one team from this region will fall into the loser's bracket, and the pressure from public opinion will naturally follow.

But Boosito was determined to defy public opinion and unhesitatingly chose LEV from the same region.

As a result, PRX has no other choice but to face GenG.

The moment the lottery results were announced, all the live stream rooms exploded.

The audience immediately launched a fierce attack, with almost all the criticism directed at 100T.

[100T, committed countless misdeeds!]

[Boosito, are you really not afraid of getting criticized?]

[Haven't you had enough of playing the villain in EG's 23 drama? You want to get criticized more?]

[The lower half of the bracket is all internal conflict, speechless!]

With the final pairing results settled, the quarterfinal matchups were finally revealed.

Fnc vs TE.

EDG vs TH.

100T vs LEV.

PRX vs GenG.

Meanwhile, in the lounge of the TH Hotel.

Upon seeing the draw results, Woot unconsciously clenched his fists.

On the screen, the team names EDG and TH were listed side by side.

And in EDG's player roster, that name stood out particularly.

Raven.

The strongest player who is currently closest to the concept of 'Goat'.

"finally……"

Woot said in a low voice, his lips curling up uncontrollably, his body even trembling slightly with excitement.

Boo, standing next to him, glanced at him and said, "You don't actually want to go head-to-head with Raven, do you?"

"certainly."

Woot answered without the slightest hesitation.

He wasn't afraid because he drew a strong opponent.

On the contrary, the moment he saw the name Raven, his blood seemed to start flowing faster.

He had been waiting for this day for far too long.

From his first appearance on the field, Woot has been constantly compared to Raven.

More accurately, nowadays, any contestant who suddenly appears with the title of "prodigy" will inevitably be compared to Raven by everyone.

That name is like a towering mountain standing in the way of all geniuses.

Everyone looked up at it, trying to climb over it.

More often than not, the name Raven itself serves as the cruelest yardstick for those who come after.

You can be a genius.

But can you be more talented than Raven?

Woot knew, of course, that Raven was very strong.

That's why he wanted to win even more.

He doesn't want to become "the next Raven" in anyone's eyes, nor does he want to be defined as the shadow of some legend in comparisons.

He wanted to defeat Raven head-on under the watchful eyes of the entire world.

He wanted to step on the shoulders of this 23-year "world's best" champion to prove that he was also qualified to stand at the top.

I wanted to make everyone remember another name after that match.

Woot.