Chapter 197: Quarterfinals Draw (1)

【……】

Liang Yan was packing luggage in the hotel.

He suddenly received a WeChat message from Fu Lan Duo on his phone.

Six inexplicable dots.

Liang Yan instantly understood, froze on the spot, then immediately dropped what he was doing and ran to the training room.

He had just appeared at the doorway when everyone looked over, speechless.

Liang Yan instantly dazed, he walked over to Lao Zhang.

"Not…… did we win?"

Lao Zhang nodded heavily:

"We won."

"Holy shit……"

Liang Yan let out an exclamation, and in an instant many ideas popped into his head.

Snake had not previously communicated with this side of G2, or perhaps the two teams' management had exchanged some words, but overall the players did not know Snake's plan.

But after all, they had played many practice matches, so they basically knew each other's strengths inside out.

So when Snake lost its first match to FW today, everyone already began to doubt Snake.

By the time the fifth match against C9 ended, this doubt had turned into certainty.

So Liang Yan didn't watch the last match, went back to his room to pack his luggage; the quarterfinals aren't being held in San Francisco, and after finishing the B group matches today they would have to fly out.

But the result surprised Liang Yan greatly.

Snake actually won.

"What's going on? Could the other side also……"

Liang Yan asked Lao Zhang.

Lao Zhang glanced at the Riot livestream team already waiting outside the door, ready to come in and film the draw ceremony, shook his head, and said softly:

"I don't know; anyway I can't tell. If it's really like that, all I can say is that SKT is too good, leaving no trace."

Liang Yan also asked the two bot lane teammates, but their answers weren't very reliable either.

But if SKT wasn't also acting, how could it be possible?

Snake never even thought about winning!

If SKT isn't acting, how could Snake possibly win?!

So even Liang Yan was dazed.

What on earth is going on?

Puzzled, Liang Yan went to his seat, sat down, turned on his computer, and prepared to look for the cause in the match recordings.

Liang Yan had just opened the officially uploaded match video when Lao Zhang suddenly reminded him:

"Let's look later; the draw is about to start."

It had been nearly half an hour since the B group's last match ended.

The quarterfinals draw was about to begin.

Liang Yan had no choice but to temporarily suppress his curiosity.

The Riot livestream team came in, found a good angle in the corner, set up their equipment, and pointed the camera at the G2 members in the training room.

Aside from Perkz, who went to the venue to represent the team, everyone else was here.

In this hotel, the same scene appeared in the training rooms of the remaining eight teams; each quarterfinal team had a Riot livestream team following them.

In the upcoming draw segment, their reactions to the draw results will be faithfully recorded by the official cameras; some will become material for later promotional videos, and some might even appear directly in the official draw broadcast.

The draw ceremony took place at the group stage venue, and the guest responsible for the draw was the legendary AD player from the North America region, WildTurtle.

Image: WildTurtle player

WildTurtle had still been playing for TSM last year, but this year he joined the IMT team together with Huni, a practice player who had guarded Samsung's water dispenser for two and a half months during the S4 era, hoping to form a galactic warship to challenge the S6 World Championship.

Unexpectedly, Huni turned out to be all show and no substance, having only reputation but no ability, ultimately causing WildTurtle to fail to even obtain an S6 ticket.

If we were to assign blame, this would probably have to be chalked up to EDG from S5.

However, WildTurtle seems to have already emerged from the shadow of being badly let down by EDG, and now he comes onto the stage bearing his signature bright smile.

At the same time, each of the eight qualifying teams sent out a representative player to the stage, where they were now standing in two rows on either side of the steps behind WildTurtle.

On the left side of the steps were the representatives of the four teams that finished first in their groups, corresponding to the four silver balls in pool one:

Group A: ROX

Group B: Snake

Group C: H2K

Group D: RNG

On the right side of the steps were the representatives of the four teams that finished second in their groups, corresponding to the four silver balls in pool two:

A: G2

B: SKT

C: EDG

D: SSG

The two North American hosts on site took turns introducing the eight representative players, then explained the quarterfinals draw rules.

The most important draw rules are two:

First, the opponents of the teams in pool one must be from pool two.

Second, the two teams from the same group in the group stage will be avoided from meeting before the finals.

Under these two rules, it means that the teams in the upper and lower halves of the knockout bracket are each from different teams.

The draw hasn't started yet.

Liang Yan entered the LPL livestream; from the screen he saw Fu Lan Duo standing on the left stairs representing the team's entry, and could tell this guy still looked dazed.

Indeed, anyone would be dazed by this; if it were Liang Yan, he'd be dazed too.

But if Liang Yan were really substituted, this wouldn't happen at all, given his strength—the opposing side could never lose this match.

Looks like Snake is still one move off.

The scene before him changed, and the lottery guest walked to the No. 1 pool draw table.

The draw is about to start.

Liang Yan gathered his scattered thoughts, focusing his attention on WildTurtle's hand as it lightly stirred inside the transparent glass cylinder.

He felt somewhat nervous.

The qualifying teams and rankings from the group stage have changed, so Liang Yan cannot confirm whether the quarterfinal draw result from another timeline would repeat in this one.

Over the past six months, under his reconstruction, G2 has gained the strength to contend for the championship.

But it also depends on the draw luck.

If the draw luck is terribly bad—for example, facing Snake in the quarterfinals, SSG in the semifinals, and SKT in the finals—if it's such a hell‑level dungeon, then Liang Yan really would have no way out.

Therefore, Liang Yan's mood at this moment is inevitably somewhat tense.

The livestream chat was filled with dense barrage; although it didn't affect Liang Yan's viewing, it also subtly added a few more degrees of tense atmosphere to this draw.

WildTurtle scooped up the first silver ball and slowly opened it.

Liang Yan's pupils contracted.

Immediately, the training room's external speakers blared the host's loud announcement of the result:

"RoyalNeverGiveUp!"

The G2 Zhong Ren in the training room exchanged glances, their eyes all hinting at fervor.

WildTurtle scooped up the second ball.

"H2K!"

The G2 Zhong Ren were first stunned, then the erupting cheers almost lifted the training room's ceiling:

"Ohhhhhhhhh!!!"