The King's Avatar Chapter 1168-1169

Chapter 1168: The Best Choice

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

Steamed Bun had a lot of problems in the second half of the match, so they allocated a lot of time for review until the discussion finally quieted down. After that was the battle between Su Mucheng and Zou Yuan.

Even though it was a victory, and even though Su Mucheng was already a high-level player, they didn’t skip this match. No matter how good a player was, there would always be mistakes that exposed flaws during battle. Reviewing matches wasn’t just to help improve the person whose battle they were studying, it let everyone learn lessons. At the same time, they could further study the opponent. Thus, no matter whom they fought against, whether they won or lost, review was always beneficial.

Reviewing Su Mucheng’s battle was much easier and much lighter than reviewing Steamed Bun’s. While watching the replay, Su Mucheng herself was able to notice many things about her fighting, and she would then bring them up with everyone to discuss.

After the individual round was the group arena, and first up was the battle between Fang Rui and Zhou Guangyi. Wei Chen pushed up his sleeves, but it was unclear what he planned to do.

The battle began.

Zhou Guangyi’s Cold Seasons reached the center of the map, but Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea wasn’t there, so he began to look for him, all the way until the two returned to the center and began to fight.

“You played around too much in the beginning,” Wei Chen said coldly.

“We know each other too well, I had to make him think a bit more,” Fang Rui said.

“If he hadn’t had doubts in his heart, your cooldown method never would’ve worked,” said Wei Chen.

“Right.” Fang Rui nodded.

In the VOD, Fang Rui was having Boundless Sea play the cooldown method, showing the moment he qi blasted Cold Seasons.

“Not decisive enough!” Wei Chen sighed.

“Me or him?” Fang Rui asked.

“Him,” Wei Chen said.

“Well, of course,” said Fang Rui. “This is the value of my playing around earlier.”

“It’s impressive enough that it worked once, but it actually worked twice,” Wei Chen said.

“You guys don’t understand the depth of this match,” Fang Rui said.

Wei Chen made a disdainful face, but he didn’t retort, because Fang Rui spoke the truth. This battle was between two players that understood each other very well. It was more of a psychological contest than one of technical skill. Battles like this couldn’t be learned, not even by the most skilled players. Without that personal relationship, you couldn’t play these sorts of mental traps. And then, the technical skill was another level on top of the psychological warfare.

You couldn’t follow normal logic when looking at such a match. In the end, they just found some non-psychological points to look at, and they soon moved on.

After that was another one of Fang Rui’s battles, now against Yu Feng. In the eyes of the specialists, there were three highlights of the Happy vs Hundred Blossoms match. First was Fang Rui’s final Qigong Blast in this battle, next was of course Tang Rou’s 1v2, and finally in the team battle when they took down Yu Feng’s Blossoming Chaos.

Hundred Blossoms’ Captain Yu Feng was named the most tragic character of this match. In all three of the highlights, he was the victim. Boundless Sea’s Qigong Blast landed on the body of his Blossoming Chaos, Tang Rou’s 1v2 began by killing him, and he was the one who had been so dramatically killed in the team round…

One mischievous Glory player created a montage of these three highlights, set it to the music of “Why Am I Always The One Who Gets Hurt,” and posted the video online, where it quickly went viral.

Ye Xiu of course didn’t show this silly video. He selected the proper battle recording and the scene began to unfold before them.

“Too slow!” The recording had barely begun when Wei Chen suddenly let out this shout, startling everyone in the room, even Luo Ji in the laptop screen.

“Much too slow,” Wei Chen continued. “Every second after a battle begins is extremely valuable. If you don’t get in the right mindset as fast as you can, any small ripple can become the reason for defeat.”

In the VOD, Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea hesitated for about three seconds after the match began before he started moving.

Everyone stared blankly at Wei Chen. What he said about “every second after a battle begins” was inaccurate reasoning, even an idiot could tell he was nitpicking. But to everyone’s surprise, Fang Rui actually nodded in agreement. “You’re right. If not for that three second delay, Yu Feng and I would have met under slightly different conditions, and I might have been able to take the advantage.”

Everyone continued to stare blankly. Those three seconds of hesitation really affected the entire progression of the battle? Wei Chen wasn’t just nitpicking, he actually made a good point?

In the next moment, Fang Rui turned his head to look at Wei Chen. “Didn’t I tell you this after the match that day?”

“Mm, I was worried you’d forget, so I’m reminding you,” Wei Chen said, nodding.

The sound of one cough after another filled the room. Even just hearing this, everyone felt awkward, but Wei Chen was as calm as ever.

Only Ye Xiu was unaffected. He continued to watch the onscreen maneuvering, zooming out the camera view until both sides were visible, and then he began to zoom in again, finally pausing on one scene.

“Yeah, right here.” Fang Rui pointed on the screen. “If I hadn’t hesitated for those three seconds, then I could’ve reached that fork there at two o’clock. From there, if I could lure Blossoming Chaos in, then the situation could have been much better.”

“Here?” Ye Xiu used the mouse to circle the position.

“Right,” Fang Rui nodded.

“Hm, right here…” Ye Xiu directly switched to a map of Life-Seeking Path and began to study it.

“What if Yu Feng circled around in the ten o’clock direction?” Su Mucheng asked.

“With his speed, he couldn’t catch up, I… Oh!” Fang Rui slapped his forehead. “I’m using Boundless Sea right now, not Demon Subduer.”

“So he still could’ve gotten you,” said Su Mucheng.

“Yeah…” Fang Rui nodded, but he was still studying the map intently, trying to think of another way.

“What about here!” Ye Xiu circled another position on the map.

“There, if Yu Feng took the path to the right, they would meet face to face. If prepared, Fang Rui could still maintain three steps of distance, but that’s still in the attack range of a Berserker. Whether or not he could actually break through and attack would depend on the exact conditions.” Wei Chen now began to give serious analysis.

“But even if he broke through, wouldn’t the distance to the next fork be enough to escape?” said Su Mucheng.

“If Qi Flowing Cloud were activated, yeah.” This time Fang Rui didn’t mistake the character.

“What if Yu Feng used Triple Slash?” said Su Mucheng.

“He’d have to predict my move first,” Fang Rui said.

The rookies listened quietly. For this kind of discussion, they would sometimes speak up, but most of the time their views and awareness couldn’t keep up. Every time they went through this review and study, everyone would notice many things. The ones fighting were Fang Rui and Yu Feng, but they could imagine putting themselves and their own characters in one of those positions, and figure out how they would act in such a situation. Through analysis, they could reach an analogous answer. Boundless Sea could activate Qi Flowing Cloud, Berserker could use Triple Slash, and other classes would have their own ways of boosting their movement speed here.

Just looking at a three-second hesitation brought forth analysis of so many potential changes. But everyone also understood that all of these situations had to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The important thing wasn’t being early or late by three seconds, the important thing was realizing and studying these changes. This was the significance of this review.

There wasn’t too much to look at in Fang Rui’s battle against Yu Feng, so in the end it finished quite quickly.

And then it was Mo Fan against Yu Feng. Everyone knew the results of this match, and there shouldn’t have been much to review. But Ye Xiu still played the recording of this match. Everyone couldn’t help but glance at Mo Fan, but this guy was as expressionless as ever. Only Qiao Yifan, who was sitting next to him, noticed how he was clenching his fists under the table.

Qiao Yifan was a bit worried. He didn’t know what Ye Xiu was thinking. Was he purposely trying to humiliate and provoke Mo Fan by replaying this match? That… didn’t seem too good, Qiao Yifan thought.

No one spoke. The recording quietly played, the screen splitting in half to show each character. Soon, Yu Feng’s Blossoming Chaos reached the center of the map, and Mo Fan’s Deception arrived soon after, hiding to the side.

“You chose a good position.” Ye Xiu finally opened his mouth.

Everyone nodded. Mo Fan, with his background of scrap-picking, was extremely skilled in choosing advantageous positions, no worse than any pro player.

“But sometimes, the best position isn’t actually very good,” said Ye Xiu.

Everyone startled a bit, and there was confusion in Mo Fan’s eyes.

“Because, when facing the best players, you aren’t the only one who knows the best position.” As Ye Xiu spoke, he switched the camera view to Yu Feng. “Blossoming Chaos’ position looks very random, but in reality, he’s carefully positioned a distance away from all possible ambush points. No matter where the opponent tries to launch a sneak attack from, he has enough space to deal with it.”

Ye Xiu snatched up the esports newspaper issue on the table and waved it around. “Zuo Chenrui said that Yu Feng stood heroically and that was worth 5 points. That wasn’t entirely mockery, his positioning was indeed excellent.

“Let’s look at his use of his camera view.” Ye Xiu switched the recording to Yu Feng’s camera view. The display followed Yu Feng’s control over his view as he turned.

“Do you see it?” Ye Xiu pointed to a position on the screen, right where Deception was currently hiding.

“The best position you had chosen was also where he was the most prepared for an attack,” said Ye Xiu. “If you tried to attack from here, it would be very difficult for you to get seize an opportunity.”

So that was the reason… As expected of senior! Qiao Yifan was sincerely happy. Earlier, he was truly a little worried that Ye Xiu’s goal had just been to shame Mo Fan. If that had been the case, he really would have been disappointed in him. But now, he saw that Ye Xiu was giving genuine feedback and advice on Mo Fan’s pitifully lacking performance in this match.

It was just a choice of position, but Ye Xiu used this to emphasize to Mo Fan what was different about the professional stage.

In this domain, anyone can have the same background and knowledge as you. The best choice might actually be the worst because everyone knows it’s the best choice. As a player who likes to use sneak attacks, it’s crucial that you understand this point…

Chapter 1169: Third Round

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

They finished discussing positioning. Next was the judge giving a yellow card to the calmly waiting Mo Fan, forcing Mo Fan to make adjustments, but the judge felt his actions were unacceptable, so he gave him another yellow card, and Mo Fan was disqualified.

“Mucheng, you talked to him about the rules already, right?” Ye Xiu asked.

“I did,” Su Mucheng said with a smile.

“Alright, then that’s that.” Ye Xiu nodded. He didn’t ask Mo Fan to report anything, and simply ended the discussion of this battle. “Let’s look at the next battle.”

The next battle was Tang Rou’s thrilling 1v2. Because it was her own battle, this time Tang Rou participated in the discussion more. She wasn’t like Steamed Bun, who couldn’t figure out the situation. Her clarity of thought allowed her to gain the most from reviewing her own match.

After the group arena was the team competition. Every confrontation, every player’s performance, from both Happy and Hundred Blossoms, was taken apart and evaluated in detail.

They spent the entire morning in review, which was already a relatively short amount of time. In this competition, there really wasn’t much they could analyze. Ye Xiu’s defeat of Zeng Xinran, Fang Rui’s two battles, Mo Fan’s battle, there wasn’t much content to look at. Furthermore, this was Happy’s big victory. A victory generally meant that there were fewer problems to study. Even though the opponent’s mistakes could also be analyzed, the priority was generally figuring out one’s own problems so that they could be fixed. For example, Hundred Blossoms’ Zeng Xinran revealed the problem of nerves, but this wasn’t something that Happy needed to focus on.

On the other hand, their complete defeat in last week’s match against Samsara revealed many of their problems. The review that Happy did last Monday after that match lasted from morning all the way until night.

They finished review in the morning, so the afternoon was spent training as usual. The life of a pro player was this sort of dull repetition. Every day, they basically did the same thing. The burning passion was left to Saturday night to be released.

On days without matches, ordinary gamers could only wait around, looking back on previous matches and anticipating the next ones. In the second round, Happy vs Hundred Blossoms garnered a lot of attention, but to the viewers, the live television broadcast of Thunderclap vs Void was also a very high-level match.

In this match, Thunderclap took an early lead with Dai Yanqi in the individual round, but then they cleanly lost the next two individual battles as well as the group arena.

Losing 1 to 4, with so many consecutive defeats, it seemed as though Thunderclap was on the brink of collapse and Void would earn a big victory. But to everyone’s shock, Thunderclap pulled off a huge comeback in the team competition. They defeated Void and won the 5 points of the team round, and in the end won the match 6 to 4.

Such an exciting plot was definitely worth live broadcast, but in the end, the live commentator was distracted during the whole thing, occasionally turning the subject to discuss Happy vs Hundred Blossoms. There were indeed some viewers that objected to this.

There was much commentary on the Happy vs Hundred Blossoms match, but the specialized media outlets needed to present comprehensive reports. Esports Weekly, for example, didn’t neglect their analysis and discussion of Thunderclap vs Void.

All of the reporters and special commentators unanimously pointed out Thunderclap’s biggest change this season: they had become more confident.

They won 7 points in the first round and 6 points this round. With 13 points, they were currently in 7th place, not a bad start. If they maintained this stable performance, then it wouldn’t be a problem for them to earn a spot in the playoffs.

Their performance in the team competition received particular attention. Before, Thunderclap relied on their Master Tactician Xiao Shiqin, who had more of a chance to shine in the team competition. Now that he returned this season, he joined with his former teammates who had grown on their own, as well as new arrivals, to smoothly create a solid, unified team. Team Parade and Team Void, who had fought with Thunderclap this season, both expressed how difficult it was to face Team Thunderclap in the team competition.

Of course, some people said this was because Thunderclap didn’t have Xiao Shiqin last season, so their skill in the team competition had gone down. This season, with Xiao Shiqin’s return, Thunderclap was merely regaining its former ability. This view compared the current Thunderclap with the Thunderclap of last season, and said that if they compared the current Thunderclap to previous years where Xiao Shiqin was present, then it’d be more difficult to say which was better.

The pro scene was filled with such endless debates. After Happy’s huge victory, there were people who looked back at their earlier performance, when they were swept in the first round, to find problems.

One match they were swept, one match they won big. These sort of up and down results were the best evidence of an unstable condition!

Regarding this kind of debate, they needed the third round to give them an answer.

One week passed, and the third round of matches were upon them. With the first two rounds to pave the way, the third round seemed much more exciting. Happy had a big loss and then a big win, so how would they perform in this round? Thunderclap was doing well as a team, could they maintain their win streak in the team competition?

The attention that these two teams received was a result of their performance in the first two rounds. But in the third round, neither of them would be in the spotlight. Because in this third round, there finally appeared a match that was an unquestionable pinnacle of showdowns. As much as people discussed Happy and Thunderclap, nothing could steal away their attention from this match.

Glory Professional Alliance Season 10 Round 3, Team Samsara vs Team Tyranny.

The champion and runner-up of last season, a collision like Mars crashing into Earth appeared in the very third round of matches. What match could rival this? None, none at all!

Even the pro players themselves were paying close attention to this match. After all, they were group of people that loved Glory the most, of course they loved to see exciting matches.

Right before the third round of matches began, in the Tiny Herb prep room, Liu Xiaobie was fiddling with his phone. This caught the notice of Captain Wang Jiexi.

In an instant, Liu Xiaobie’s expression became strained. He attempted to hide his phone away, carefully and stealthily.

“What are you doing?” But in the end, Wang Jiexi still asked.

The prep room instantly fell silent, and quite a few looked over at them. Everyone knew what Liu Xiaobie was trying to do. This guy just wanted to check on Samsara vs Tyranny in the breaks between their battles. Everyone was curious about how that match would play out.

But even if the captain were curious, he would certainly restabilize his mindset. He wouldn’t let himself be distracted during a competition, and of course, he wouldn’t want his Tiny Herb teammates to be distracted, either.

“Turn off your phone.” Wang Jiexi didn’t ask further, and merely spoke in an ordinary tone.

Liu Xiaobie, dejected, took out his phone and turned it off.

Wang Jiexi’s gaze swept over everyone, and the players couldn’t help but stand up when he looked at them. “This match, our opponent is Bright Green. Although they aren’t a very strong team, we can’t drop our guard.”

“Right,” everyone answered.

“Good, let’s go!” With that, the Tiny Herb players walked out of the prep room. Liu Xiaobie felt at the phone in his pocket, but in the end, he left it in the room.

Focus on the match!

This is what he told himself. He lifted his head, straightened his shoulders, and followed the pace of his teammates.

All of the matches going on at the same time were affected by this pinnacle match. Even at the pre-match press conferences, many reporters went on a tangent to ask about players’ views toward this match.

In Happy’s pre-match press conference, one reporter hoped that Ye Xiu would make a prediction. After all, Ye Xiu was very familiar with the old veterans of Tyranny. And as for Samsara? The account One Autumn Leaf, did those ties even need to be discussed?

“Tell us! Just give us a prediction of points?” The reporter hounded Ye Xiu for an answer.

“10 to 0,” Ye Xiu said.

“What!” All of the reporters were in shock. Such a big point difference! Which team did Ye Xiu favor so much?

“Who’s 10 and who’s 0?” someone immediately asked, sensing that there would be a story in this.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ye Xiu said with a laugh.

“Doesn’t… doesn’t matter?” Everyone was stunned. What did that mean?

“How… how can you just say this doesn’t matter?” said the reporter who had hounded for an answer.

“You were the one who said to just give a prediction,” Ye Xiu laughed.

“I…” The reporter was speechless, and could only stare blankly as the Happy players left the conference.

Happy’s opponent this round was Radiant. After two rounds, they finally met an opponent that wasn’t that strong. Some people were already saying that real gold was revealed under fire, this match wouldn’t say much. They needed a strong team to test Happy’s true colors.

“Who does he think he is!” The Friday issue of Esports Weekly had lots of predictive discussions, and this one in particular made Chen Guo rather unhappy. As she waved the newspaper around, she fiercely wrote the reporter’s name into her memory: Cheng Jianbo.

“This is nothing!” Ye Xiu couldn’t help but laugh at Chen Guo’s indignation. “This just says that, to some people, we as a team are already stronger than Radiant, and so we shouldn’t be compared to them.”

“How childish!” Chen Guo said.

“Yes, it’s extremely childish,” Ye Xiu agreed. He looked around at everyone gathered in the prep room.

“I’m sure that everyone’s already aware of this week’s analyses of Radiant. They’re never a team that places very highly on the Alliance leaderboard,” said Ye Xiu. “However, they definitely aren’t a team that can be defeated easily. Focus on the match, and don’t think about anything else.”

In the first round, Happy was swept, and they suffered a lot of discussion. In the second round, they won by a large margin, and once again were subject to a lot of discussion. All of this discussion tended to pile up and add pressure on players, and sometimes this would negatively impact a player’s condition. This was especially true for rookies, who didn’t have much experience in dealing with this.

“Understood!” But for now, everyone gave Ye Xiu a spirited reply.

In the third round, Team Happy fought against Team Radiant. And after 1 hour and 23 minutes of fierce fighting, the final score hung in Radiant’s stadium: 3 to 7, Radiant’s victory.

In the prep room before the press conference, Tang Rou said to her teammates, “I’m sorry…”