Chapter 816: It's time for the beloved draw segment

In the LPL official livestream, host Ren Dong and two guests formed the draw commentary team. After chatting a while, the feed switched to the draw venue, where the two draw guests walked to the front stage and stood before the transparent glass cylinder holding silver balls.

Under the gaze of over a hundred million viewers worldwide, the S7 World Championship draw ceremony officially began in the studio at Riot's headquarters in Los Angeles.

This year's World Championship was held in China, and the two draw guests at this time were both from the LPL: one was AJ, the other Rookie.

Accustomed to seeing these two players in their team jerseys, seeing them now in white shirts on screen felt somewhat out of place.

But at this moment, no one paid attention to these details.

First up was the play-in group draw.

AJ stirred the play-in first-seed pool (i. e., the third-seed teams from the four major regions) twice, then began drawing balls; each time a team was drawn, the livestream played a roughly twenty-second team introduction clip.

After AJ finished assigning the four first-pool teams to groups, Rookie came up to start drawing... oh, sorry, drawing lots.

However, for the eight wild-card teams in the second pool, watching this draw broadcast felt just like watching a lottery draw.

The CNB crowd felt somewhat better, but everyone was still tense.

After more than ten minutes, the eight numbers were all drawn.

With the play-in group draw settled, cheers erupted in the VG training room, and everyone was happy for CNB.

The play-in group draw results are as follows:

Group A:

SSG (LCK)

GMB (LCL)

LYN (LLN)

Group B:

C9 (NA-LCS)

FB (TCL)

DW (OPL)

Group C:

FNC (EU-LCS)

YG (GPL)

KLG (CLS)

Group D:

HKA (LMS)

CNB (CBLOL)

RPG (LJL)

The list of play-in participants had already been published, so discussions of the twelve teams' strengths had been ongoing online for days, and the power rankings given by netizens from each region were largely similar.

Undoubtedly the strongest is SSG from the LCK region.

Predictions for second and third place differed between NA and EU fans: NA fans thought their own C9 was stronger, while EU fans naturally favored their own FNC.

But fourth place was also uncontroversial: everyone agreed that among the four first-pool teams in the play-in, the LMS region's third-seed team HKA was the weakest.

CNB being placed in the group with the weakest first-pool team was truly a big win.

What's more surprising for CNB was that the other wild-card team in their group was RPG from the LJL region!

In Xiao Duan's words, CNB's luck was like ancestral graves emitting green smoke!

After seeing the play-in group draw, the CNB crowd also felt quite good.

It's no exaggeration to say that CNB felt they could easily beat RPG just by picking any lineup; although they'd only watched one LJL regional final replay and hadn't studied RPG deeply, a single Bo5 replay was enough to get the gist, and it's well known that while Japanese people have the most otaku in the world, their online gaming ability is weak, their esports foundation is very shallow, and the general public prefers single-player games.

"Congratulations!"

"Hahaha, shared joy~"

The VG training match was filled with cheers and laughter.

Ka Lao Si couldn't contain his happiness for his new friend and posted directly on his Weibo:

【@IG_Rookie, NewBee!】

Netizens who knew G2 was currently sharing a roof with CNB naturally got it right away.

【Are the European bros one family?】

【NB: No, I didn't even make it past one round of the playoffs, what's it to me?】

【For CNB, Rookie truly is a draw master】

【Ba Xi netizens sent congratulations!】

【Don't get too excited early, watch out CNB might suck up all your luck→_→】

Who would have thought, that netizen's offhand remark actually came true.

After the play-in draw, the group stage draw began.

The twelve teams were divided into four groups of three, each leaving a spot for the teams that would advance from the play-ins.

AJ still went first, placing the four first-seed teams into the four groups; a few minutes later, the group leaders emerged:

Group A: FW, LMS first seed.

Group B: LZ, LCK first seed.

Group C: G2, EU first seed.

Group D: VG, LPL first seed.

Among the four first-seed teams, FW was undoubtedly the weakest. When these four teams were lined up, the other three were roughly equal in strength, while FW was like the oil bottle in a three-to-one setup.

Even the netizens on the PPT forum had self-awareness, saying, "Electro Wolf, although you're our pre-match face, you're not worthy to sit at the same table—go eat on the side with your bowl."

"FW might not actually be stronger than TSM; being a first seed involves some luck," even the honest Easyhoon couldn't help but comment, clearly not believing FW truly had the ability to lead a group.

Luck is also part of strength; other teams' mid‑season tournament rankings are higher than North America's—what can you do? Each group must have four regional first seeds, picking the tallest among the short, so it can only be the Lightning Wolf taking that spot~ Gangzi said in a teasing tone.

"Group A is great~" Xiao Duan grinned, eyes narrowed, looking at the broadcast screen where the first team drawn and placed under Group A was the FW team icon, his slit‑like eyes flashing with keen light, he continued: "Any LPL or LCK team drawn into Group A can basically be said to have a guaranteed advancement."

Tang Anna glanced at Liang Yan, wanting to hear his opinion.

But Liang Yan was staring at the screen, thinking, and didn't notice Tang Anna's gaze, nor did he voice any opinion.

As for Xiao Duan's words, Liang Yan thought otherwise.

As a veteran, Liang Yan had a deep impression of this year's World Championship; he not only knew the entire process from group stage draw to the finals, but also clearly remembered the general situation of the play‑in stage and which four teams fought their way out.

Of course, now that Liang Yan has rewritten the world line, this year's World Championship grouping is completely different from that of history; for instance, the original leader of Group A was EDG, but now EDG is merely a second seed, so it naturally lacks the qualification to be the leader, and the spot formerly theirs is not simply filled by this timeline's LPL first seed VG, but has been taken over by the LMS region's first seed FW.

It is obvious that the world line has undergone a serious shift, so the group situation will likely be completely different from what Liang Yan remembers.