Chapter 1254 Sacrifice Everything?

The topic of whether it was pragmatic or not would have been debated for a week during the regular season. But the playoffs' pace didn't allow for that at all.

With one match per day, there was barely enough time to watch, and every match brought new feelings. The pragmatic debate was instantly outdated. It was now the day of the first match of the second round, a home game for Team Samsara against Team Hundred Blossoms.

Having already lost a match away, Hundred Blossoms had nowhere left to retreat. But facing the incredibly strong Samsara, aiming for their third consecutive championship this season, Hundred Blossoms showed no fear. Led by Yu Feng, they aggressively launched an attack on Samsara on their home turf.

In the individual competition, both sides fought fiercely. One side went down as the other came up, the players changing like a revolving door. Neither managed to gain a significant lead, but in the end, Samsara still won 5-4.

Team Hundred Blossoms fell behind by one point, entering the team competition where life and death would be decided.

There was no conservatism, just the caution expected of a visiting team. On the edge of the cliff, Hundred Blossoms continued to be as proactive and aggressive as possible.

In the final round of the regular season, Hundred Blossoms faced Samsara. Again, it was an away game, and again they stood on the edge of a cliff, fighting fiercely for every point, finally securing a playoff spot by a single point.

However, in that match, Hundred Blossoms also aimed to win the team competition, but ultimately lost. In the first round of the playoffs, Hundred Blossoms experienced Samsara's different temperament in the playoffs.

This team, which had already won two championships, had gathered immense confidence. This made them extremely calm and composed in the playoffs.

They defeated Hundred Blossoms on their home turf without much fanfare, allowing Team Hundred Blossoms to clearly feel the difference in strength.

If they continued to play so steadily, Hundred Blossoms would have little chance of winning. Samsara's composure made it almost impossible to imagine them making any fatal mistakes.

The Hundred Blossoms players were somewhat dispirited that night. An opponent that seemed impossible to defeat made them feel down. But after one night, the Hundred Blossoms players adjusted their mental state themselves.

Since it already felt so difficult to win, what was there to be afraid of? Just go all out and have a lively match, and be done with it!

Yu Feng felt this atmosphere within the team. So, in this crucial away game, he simply abandoned all conservatism and let everyone fight to their heart's content.

Victory or defeat? Forget about it for now!

On the most brutal stage of the playoffs, use the strongest team, Samsara, to test just how far we can go!

The team competition was an even more spectacular and exciting all-out attack than the individual competition. Everyone in Hundred Blossoms gave their best performance, each with an outstanding show. But in the end, Team Samsara still emerged victorious.

Team Hundred Blossoms was eliminated, but in this defeat, Yu Feng saw unwillingness and regret on the faces of the Hundred Blossoms members.

"If my Demon World Flower's placement hadn't been interfered with!" Summoner Zhu Xiaoping slammed his thigh in frustration.

"My fault, if I could have given you proper cover..." Zou Yuan said.

"If my sneak attack had succeeded..." Assassin Zhou Guangyi said.

One match left them with many "ifs."

And these "ifs," for Hundred Blossoms at this moment, symbolized hope. Because they would have the opportunity, the conditions, to turn these "ifs" into reality.

"Next year, we'll be back!" Yu Feng said.

"We'll be back!" Zhu Xiaoping didn't slam his thigh, he raised his fist instead.

"We'll be back!" All the Hundred Blossoms players nodded solemnly.

Hundred Blossoms, who had fought desperately to get into the playoffs, ended their playoff journey after two rounds. They were regretful, they were unwilling. But Yu Feng felt that these were precisely their gains. Because of regret, because of unwillingness, they would have more motivation to become stronger. If the opponent's strength only made them feel despair, how could this team have the courage and confidence to fight again?

To have such a match, to have such teammates, was truly wonderful!

Yu Feng thought, he felt that he would definitely have an incredibly bright future, in the near tomorrow.

Team Samsara advanced to the top four, having completed the solid first step towards their goal of a three-peat.

The next day's major reports, of course, mainly praised the victors. In two rounds, two individual competitions, and two team competitions, Samsara won all, uncontested, taking the victory in the first round. For them, there was nothing to say but praise.

"Samsara's greatest enemy may be only an emotion called 'pride,'" one report stated.

And within the pro scene, who could snipe Samsara's three-peat once again became a topic. Just like who could end their winning streak in the regular season, it began to be talked about with relish.

Team Hundred Blossoms, who had ended Samsara's winning streak in the regular season, had been personally sent out of the playoffs by Samsara. So next, would another team say goodbye to the playoffs?

In the first round of the playoffs, the second match of the second round, Team Tyranny, hosted Team 301.

301 had suffered a crushing defeat in the previous round at home. Everyone could already see that 301's European-imported tactics, only refined for half a season, had a greatly reduced chance of creating opportunities in the more cautious playoffs. Moreover, their opponent was Team Tyranny, several incredibly experienced veterans, plus the extremely meticulous tactician Zhang Xinjie, and Team Tyranny's current style was no longer just blindly rushing forward, but emphasized defense. All of the above greatly limited 301's performance.

This dark horse, originally favored by countless people, was ultimately the most disappointing team in the playoffs so far. The first round was like this, and this round was still like this.

6-11...

Compared to the first round, 301's progress was only that they had gained one more point.

"Good tactics, go back and practice hard!" After the match, when the players exchanged greetings, Zhang Xinjie said to Bai Shu, 301's foreign aid this season.

Sarcasm? Disdain?

Bai Shu obviously didn't understand Zhang Xinjie well enough, and completely misinterpreted the meaning of Zhang Xinjie's words. Actually, understanding Zhang Xinjie's words was very simple, just the most pure and direct literal meaning. Bai Shu's thoughts weren't that simple, because of the loss of the match, because the tactics he brought completely failed to deploy, Zhang Xinjie's praise of his tactics as "good" after the match sounded so harsh.

Bai Shu was a little unhappy, and prepared to retort a bit. Trash talk was a global language common throughout the world.

"Thank you for your guidance." But before he could speak, Yang Cong, the captain of 301, who was walking in front of him, grabbed him, and then responded to Zhang Xinjie for him.

Obviously, Yang Cong knew Zhang Xinjie's personality very well, and also anticipated the reaction that Bai Shu, who didn't understand Zhang Xinjie's personality very well, might have when he heard these words, so he prevented it in time.

Bai Shu paused slightly, but didn't say much, expressing his obedience to Yang Cong's attitude, and silently completed the post-match greetings. It wasn't until he returned to the preparation room that Yang Cong explained to him that Zhang Xinjie's words really had no sarcasm at all, and were simply stating a fact.

"Keep working hard!" Yang Cong patted Bai Shu's shoulder.

Bai Shu lowered his head and thought for a while, but also realized that the tactics that had only been refined for half a year really had many shortcomings. After half a season, the novelty had been lost for the teams in the league, and in the more brutal competition environment of the playoffs, running into a wall was indeed inevitable.

"Keep working hard!" Bai Shu raised his head, responding to Yang Cong, his eyes full of determination.

Yang Cong smiled. As a player from the third season, his professional career wouldn't be too long. Core, main force, these positions would gradually move away from him. Stubbornly refusing to retire would instead become a burden to the team.

301's future would no longer be created by him, Yang Cong. The person in front of him, Bai Shu, was the one who would shoulder 301's future. And in Yang Cong's view, Bai Shu was an excellent player worth entrusting, and he was quite glad that the team could pull off such a brilliant move, actually digging up such an excellent player from a foreign league.

Besides the Glory Alliance, how many Glory experts in this world have they never seen, never fought against? Yang Cong couldn't help but think.

If there was a chance, I really want to see them all! Yang Cong thought, while also feeling a bit melancholy. He didn't know if he would still have this opportunity.

301 became the second team to say goodbye to the playoffs. And Tyranny, who had been underestimated in the regular season, seemed to have been reorganized in the playoffs. 301, who had given countless teams a headache in the second half of the regular season, ultimately ran into a bloody mess in front of Tyranny.

This is Team Tyranny's true strength! Many reports stated.

"True strength," these four words always gave people a feeling of epic grandeur. After Team Tyranny finished the first round, their support rate soared countless times. Many people had already begun to predict that the competition for this year's championship would still be between Tyranny and Samsara.

And the reports that day, besides the content and commentary of last night's match between Tyranny and 301, also included some predictions and views on tonight's match.

Team Happy away against Team Blue Rain!

Three days after the end of the first round, the two teams reignited the flames of war. The Happy haters flocked out of their caves, wanting to see what kind of commotion Happy, who had fought so hard and so pragmatically to win in the first round, could stir up in this round's away game.

"In this round, with Blue Rain as the away team, I believe there will be no more big trees to shelter Happy, right?"

The tree smashing Troubling Rain was still the most eye-catching meme of the first round. The Happy haters especially loved to bring this up to prove that Happy won by luck, won by chance. It was just a pity that after biting this topic so many times, Happy didn't suffer much, but Huang Shaotian gritted his teeth and cursed these Happy haters a hundred times over.

"That brat, don't let me run into him!" Huang Shaotian often muttered these three days. "Brat," of course, referred to Mo Fan, but saying "don't run into him" was the opposite, Huang Shaotian desperately hoped to meet Mo Fan again.

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August new atmosphere, two updates to start!
Hu Die Lan