Chapter 367: 《Initial D-vision》!

The T1 members, having finished their final post-match interview, walked into the backstage area.

Zeus, who had just told the audience on stage that he had "only just learned that move," glanced at Ye Bo, who was sitting in the center of the backstage area surrounded by quite a few foreign players, before entering.

Although using that move was indeed a natural, spur-of-the-moment decision, he had certainly been somewhat "deliberate" in choosing Yone.

He couldn't even say why.

Perhaps he wanted to prove himself, perhaps he had always viewed that person as his "rival," or perhaps as a target to chase.

Ye Bo did not notice the gaze from the side; he was struggling to engage in social interaction using a mix of Chinese and Western languages, only stopping when the second round of the draw was about to begin.

The guest for the second round of the draw, Bang, walked onto the stage and exchanged glances with the host.

The live broadcast screen also displayed the grouping results for the second round.

[1-0 Match Pool]

V5, WBG, G2, GEN

T1, HLE, FNC, JDG

[0-1 Match Pool]

DK, NRG, BDS, GAM

TL, C9, MAD, LNG

"Damn, our Pool 1 is full of experts!" Xun exclaimed, unable to help himself. "It seems all our LPL teams are in Pool 1."

"Hey, hey, watch your manners." TheShy nudged him with his elbow.

Only after speaking did Xun suddenly realize something, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye at the LNG player seating area not far away.

He happened to lock eyes with the LNG members, who were glaring over in anger as if they had heard what he said.

After all, in the first round of the Swiss stage, all LPL teams had won, except for one.

It truly was a case of "whoever loses is the one who's embarrassed"!

The only saving grace was that LNG wasn't a first seed, and at least they lost in an internal civil war, not to some obscure North American fourth seed that would disband after the World Championship, so it wasn't that shameful.

The "draw pouch stand," prepared long in advance, had already been set up in the center of the venue, though it seemed a bit different from the first round's draw.

"How come it changed from drawing balls to drawing pouches?" Xun expressed his confusion again.

The [ball pool] that had been most common in previous years had been replaced by a pouch stand; the teams of various scores were "shuffled" by the host and placed on the stage, to be drawn by the guest.

In the past, when drawing black balls, the guest would stir them around in the pool, but this time, the pouch stand just turned its head, waiting for the host to finish placing them before turning back.

On stage, Bang had already begun to select a pouch, his palm circling the stand twice before grabbing one.

Unfolding it revealed the GEN icon.

"Is it GEN..." Ye Bo watched the opponent's avatar appear, his mind already beginning to ponder something.

Unfortunately, when the next black ball was revealed, it was the HLE avatar.

"They're going to have a civil war!" Beryl said from the side with some regret. "Sigh, it looks like we won't be able to play against Jianyou and Xingxun in the Swiss stage."

Deft, sitting nearby, also revealed a look of regret.

After all, GEN's "civil war attribute" was well-known, and it would still be difficult for HLE to defeat them.

V5's goal was naturally to go 3-0 in the Swiss stage and advance directly; playing the fewest matches meant exposing the fewest tactics—this goal also meant they were unlikely to be drawn against a 1-1 team.

Bang continued the draw.

Clearly, after the two LCK teams were drawn into a civil war right at the start, the pressure of the draw instantly lessened significantly.

WBG, following closely behind, had their luck explode again, being drawn against G2, who appeared to be the least stressful among the remaining teams.

Gala, Wei, and Liu Qingsong all clearly brightened up; Xiaohu wanted to laugh at first, but habitually glanced at TheShy, who was lagging on the left, and only dared to laugh out loud after seeing him smile as well.

"Then, for the third matchup, FNC, and their opponent..." Park Ji-sun watched as Bang drew from the remaining three pouches, drawing out the final syllable.

The remaining members of V5, JDG, and T1 backstage were also holding their breath, staring at the screen.

The unfolded team flag featured red lettering similar to all three teams—it was just a pity it was three letters.

"FNC's opponent is the second seed from the LPL region, JDG!"

A wave of commotion broke out in the player backstage area.

The commotion was naturally not about this specific matchup, but about the final, naturally formed pairing.

However, the draw process on stage continued without suspense.

Bang grabbed one from the last two pouches.

The flag label poured out was none other than T1!

"Alright! The final matchup result is T1 versus V5! And T1 will have the priority for side selection!" the host announced loudly.

"This is a result similar to last year's World Championship grouping! T1 and V5, these old rivals, meet again in the group stage, and this time, in the brand-new Swiss stage format, whether it is revenge or history repeating itself, let us wait and see!"

"Next is the draw result for the second group of 0-1 teams."

The subsequent draw results continued.

But the viewers in the chat were clearly no longer in the mood to watch, sparking intense discussion.

[Wait, what? How come T1 gets side selection? What kind of bullshit rule is this!]

[Don't forget where this is; I bet those two on stage discussed this under the covers!]

[Stop with the conspiracy theories; if they were really rigging the draw, would they draw their own civil war? Shouldn't they have drawn JDG or WBG for V5?]

[You don't get it, do you? If you draw that for V5, what can you actually get out of them? You have to use a rotation of teams to exhaust V5's tactics! Anyway, even if they lose, there's plenty of room for error—the civil war is to ensure one GEN gets in to continue the exhaustion; look, they even specially gave GEN side selection!]

[This really isn't a conspiracy theory; it's mainly because Korea has been beaten like this this year, and they were even kicked down to bronze at the Asian Games. I truly don't believe they aren't pulling something; even if they didn't plan to do it originally, they have to now!]

[Fun fact: In the first round of the Swiss stage, the blue side had a 100% win rate in eight matches, not losing a single one!]

[Holy crap, Brother Xu!! Brother Xu looks like he's about to die!!]

It is worth mentioning that for this Swiss stage, except for the first round, the side selection rule for the subsequent 2-5 rounds is: "Whoever is drawn first has priority for side selection."

Regarding this rule, it was also a rule that all players were informed of as a "change" by LCK officials only after arriving at the competition venue.

The tournament rules originally released by Riot were actually: coin toss (or other equivalent methods).

As it turned out, the LCK organizers not only canceled the "ball drawing" method for the draw, but also abandoned the simple and crude tradition of flipping a coin, choosing the "other equivalent methods" mentioned in the parentheses.

The value of priority side selection is not necessarily that important in a Global BP format—but in the Bo1 and Bo3 formats of the Swiss stage, it is absolutely crucial!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it grants a massive advantage from the start!

However, after the draw results for the lower bracket were released, attention shifted in a different direction.

[Swiss Stage Round 2] Matchup Results:

(The team listed first has "priority side selection")

GEN vs HLE, G2 vs WBG, FNC vs JDG, T1 vs V5

DK vs LNG, NRG vs MAD, BDS vs C9, TL vs GAM

In the large player backstage area, some were happy and some were sad.

As for V5 and T1, which were inevitably the most high-profile matches, the expressions of the members of both teams didn't reveal much, they just glanced at each other from far away.

It was as if both sides were prepared for this result, and there was only surprise.

In any case, the most miserable one was definitely DK.

Xu Xiu slumped on his chair with a look of despair, never expecting that he would be able to draw that one and only LPL team again while in the 0-1 pool.

As for the draw results for WBG and JDG, there is naturally no need to say much.

After all, with the luxurious rosters of these two teams—it's not like anyone could actually fail to beat European or American teams, right?

The members of the various teams, having fought hard for a day, set off back to the hotel to rest, preparing to face the matches that would continue tomorrow.

The Swiss stage ran from 1 PM to 10 PM; because they had to watch the matches of potential opponents, the V5 members who played in the opening match were all feeling mentally exhausted at this time, and they all took a nap in the car.