Hu Die Lan
Chapter 340 All-Star Competition
After politely waving to the audience with the victorious Yu Feng, he stepped down from the stage.
The individual competition ended with Team One earning 2 points and Team Two earning 1 point, leaving Team Two temporarily behind.
Although it was just an exhibition match, the audience still leaned towards one side or the other, naturally supporting whichever team had their favorite players. Chen Guo, for example, resolutely supported Team One, which included Su Mucheng.
During the short break, the holographic projection and electronic screens replayed some of the highlights from the earlier matches.
A few minutes later, the second round, the team elimination match, began. The audience whispered, discussing possible formations for both teams. The first players for both sides had already taken to the stage.
Team One's first player was none other than Excellent Era's current ace player, Sun Xiang.
The projection of One Autumn Leaf was met with cheers from the audience. All-Stars were All-Stars. One top player and character after another stirred the blood.
Team Two sent out Lin Jingyan of Team Howling.
Sun Xiang's skill was no less than Tang Hao's, and One Autumn Leaf was definitely a stronger character than Delerro. Tang Hao's victory against Lin Jingyan was also beyond dispute. On paper, Sun Xiang should have won this match even more decisively.
However, beyond the factors on paper, one had to consider the mental state of the two players.
These two had both suffered somewhat embarrassing defeats in the Rookie Challenge, one being "underestimated" and the other being told he was "still green." Especially Sun Xiang, who had dug a hole for himself and then been mercilessly mocked by Han Wenqing. Only two days had passed, and if he hadn't adjusted his mentality, it could affect the outcome of the match.
The two began fighting. Lin Jingyan played as cunningly as ever, while Sun Xiang showed some problems. Firstly, the mockery and embarrassment he had suffered the day before were deeper, and secondly, young people rarely had the mental fortitude of veterans. Although his strength on paper was slightly greater, the outcome was still determined by his performance on the field. Sun Xiang's performance in this match was simply not praiseworthy. In the end, One Autumn Leaf fell when Lin Jingyan's Dark Forest Thug still had a quarter of his health remaining.
Sun Xiang silently retreated from the stage, met with boos from the audience. Chen Guo mocked him without any politeness. If this had been yesterday, she wouldn't have been so excited, but after hearing many of Ye Xiu's stories, Chen Guo now had no good feelings towards Team Excellent Era. This fully demonstrated that Chen Guo was a fan of the players first and the team second. Now that she had discovered that the relationship between the player and the team was not good, and the team was not in the right, she had decisively switched from being a fan to a hater. As for Sun Xiang, who had been brought in to replace Ye Xiu, how could she still have any expectations? Seeing that he hadn't helped Team One gain an advantage, she immediately looked down on him.
After accepting a few interviews, Sun Xiang hurried off the stage. Team One's second player was Li Hua of Team Misty Rain, using the ninja character Dark Forest Scary.
Li Hua was also a player known for his fast operations and varied actions. Such a player was the nemesis of old players like Lin Jingyan whose skills were declining. In addition, Dark Forest Scary had full health, while Dark Forest Thug only had a quarter of his health. In the end, Lin Jingyan lost this match without dispute.
Team Two's next player was Zhao Yang of Team Seaside, using the Qi Master Vast Sea.
The Qi Master was a versatile class with strong offensive and defensive capabilities, support, and burst damage. It was an easy class to pick up. However, at the level of professional players, the advantage of being "easy to pick up" was no longer a consideration. No matter how difficult a class was, it would be played to perfection at this level. An easy class to pick up might not necessarily be able to be played excellently.
The two entangled in a fierce battle, perfectly demonstrating the characteristics of their playstyles and characters. Neither side made any obvious mistakes. In the end, Zhao Yang defeated Li Hua by relying on the foundation laid by Lin Jingyan in the previous match.
Team One's last player in the elimination match was Tang Hao of Team Hundred Blossoms. Tang Hao had successfully achieved an "upset" the day before and was at the peak of his excitement. Facing Zhao Yang's Vast Sea with low health, he defeated him without much effort.
Then Team Two's final player appeared. It was Xiao Shiqin of Team Thunderclap!
This arrangement surprised the audience somewhat because everyone knew that Xiao Shiqin excelled at team command and tactical planning. Players could not appear repeatedly in the All-Star match, so Xiao Shiqin should have fought in the team match. With so many stars in the team, anyone should have been stronger than Xiao Shiqin, right?
But despite their doubts, the match had already begun. As expected, Xiao Shiqin was indeed no match for the up-and-coming Tang Hao in a one-on-one fight. Even though the character Life Extinguisher in his hands was stronger than Tang Hao's Delerro, he was still suppressed. The Mechanist class, which relied heavily on positioning, was completely restricted by Tang Hao.
In the end, Xiao Shiqin was defeated. Tang Hao helped Team One reverse the match. Team One ultimately won the team elimination match, earning two points. Team One continued to lead with a score of four to one. However, the team match in the third round was worth five points, so although Team Two only scored one point in the first two rounds, they could still achieve a major reversal by winning the final team match.
There was another short break with highlight replays. The audience savored the elimination match between the stars and finally realized that on paper, Team One was already slightly better. Sun Xiang and Tang Hao, these two second-year rookies, had already reached the level of gods, while the three players from Team Two were indeed slightly inferior to them.
Of course, Sun Xiang had failed to make a good start and lost the first match, earning him some contempt. On the other hand, Tang Hao's one-on-two victory at the end earned him the most attention at this All-Star Weekend. After all, he had defeated All-Star-level players.
After the break, the most important part of the entire All-Star Weekend finally arrived: the team match in the All-Star competition. Such a mixed battle of stars could only be seen in the All-Star match. The previous one-on-one matches could be encountered in the regular season matches between two teams.
As for the players on both sides, everyone already knew them through the process of elimination. The only question was who would be the substitute.
After the twelve players took the stage one after another and answered the host's meaningless questions about their confidence in achieving final victory for Team One or Team Two, they went to their respective competition stages.
The randomly selected map was loaded into the arena, and the arrangements for both sides were immediately displayed.
For Team One, the five starting players were Zhou Zekai of Team Samsara, Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian of Team Blue Rain, Chu Yunxiu of Team Misty Rain, and Su Mucheng of Team Excellent Era. The substitute player was Jiang Botao of Team Samsara.
For Team Two, the five starting players were Wang Jiexi and Deng Fusheng of Team Tiny Herb, Zhang Xinjie of Team Tyranny, Li Xuan and Wu Yuce of Team Void. The substitute player was none other than Han Wenqing of Team Tyranny!
Han Wenqing, an absolute offensive player, was actually a substitute. This arrangement surprised everyone. But after looking at Team Two's lineup, everyone understood why Xiao Shiqin had gone to fight in the elimination match.
Team Two had two tactical masters. With Zhang Xinjie present, they could naturally let Xiao Shiqin go to the elimination match. And the final six players left on Team Two for the team match happened to be the classic double team combinations from six teams: Wang Jiexi and Deng Fusheng's one moving and one still, Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie's one attacking and one supporting, Li Xuan and Wu Yuce's Double Ghost combination. There was no doubt that Team Two's playstyle would be very varied.
As for Team One, they had a clear offensive lineup.
Except for Yu Wenzhou's warlock, there wasn't a single support-type character among the remaining five players. Huang Shaotian's swordsman Flowing Tree, Zhou Zekai's sharpshooter One Autumn Leaf, Chu Yunxiu's elemental mage Windy Rain, and Su Mucheng's gunner Dancing Rain were all thoroughly offensive classes. Only the substitute Jiang Botao's Spellblade Empty Waves had decent crowd control with his wave swords and wave formations.
However, from the perspective of the attack formation, the attacks of Team One's players ranged from the farthest to the nearest, from single target to area of effect, making it an all-around offensive combination. This attack lineup was not randomly arranged.
As for the auxiliary or crowd control classes that were important in team battles, there was no way to have them in the All-Star match. After all, the players and characters who were more likely to win popularity were definitely offensive types. It was like how forwards on a soccer field were more eye-catching than defenders. And the All-Stars were chosen in this way, so they certainly didn't have the clear thinking and coordination of a team. In the end, they formed a purely offensive lineup with obvious flaws, but there was no way to avoid it.
In comparison, Team Two had included the few support and control-type experts in the All-Stars. Their lineup was more perfect.
After the commentators quickly analyzed the lineups of both sides, the audience couldn't wait to boil over. The organizers and broadcasters obviously understood that this was the climax of the entire All-Star match and were building the atmosphere slowly and deliberately. After the atmosphere reached its peak, the team match of the All-Star competition officially began.
Ten famous top characters from each class in Glory entered the battle. The commander on Team One's side was Yu Wenzhou, while Wang Jiexi's commanding skills on Team Two's side were also impressive, but he gave way to Zhang Xinjie. The two tactical masters became the first two to clash. This match was full of highlights.
Team One arranged their formation and charged straight in to take the initiative. Team Two showed their intention to strike later, scattering their five players and making their own arrangements in the map, waiting for Team One's players to come forward.
Such tactical intentions could not be revealed to the opponent, of course. But in this All-Star match, there was a flaw. Because of the holographic projection!
On the players' competition stages, a window for viewing the holographic projection was specially set up. Although it allowed the players to appreciate the advancement of this technology, at this time, the tactical intentions of Team Two were completely exposed from the overall view of the holographic projection. This was an oversight in the initial use of the holographic projection. They only focused on promotion and broke the rules of the competition.