Chapter 1231: Round 14 Finished
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The antagonizing glares from Happy's supporters shifted straight towards Samsara. From this, it could be seen just how powerful an existence Happy was in their hearts, and Happy's recent performances on the point rankings lived up to these hopes.
After losing to Tiny Herb in Round 8, Happy began their win streak. Starting from Round 9 until the recently completed Round 14, Happy had won six rounds in a row. Four of Happy's six perfect 10-0s had taken place within these six rounds, and their other two 9-1 wins were domineering enough too.
During these six rounds, Samsara had achieved three 10-0s, two 9-1s, and one 8-2. Comparing their total points gained in these six rounds, Happy actually beat Samsara by 2 points; it was needless to say the other teams as well. Happy had unexpectedly taken the lead in the Alliance. Let alone Happy's fans, no one would take Happy lightly. Those who had hoped for Happy to fall couldn't help but feel nervous. Happy's achievements were too far off from their expectations.
After Round 14, Happy had taken another 10 points, moving up one place in the rankings with 89 total points and stepping down on Hundred Blossoms, who had been in seventh. More importantly, outside of the playoffs zone, Happy now led the ninth place Void by 10 points.
Team Void was very disappointed. The thought of Happy suddenly being ten points ahead of them, despite having the same points just the round before, had never crossed their minds. They couldn't blame any one person. In fact, over the course of the match, there had been no lack of highlights, matching vulgar post-match comment: we performed well, but our opponents performed better.
To be more specific, Void's long-time nemesis, Su Mucheng, was as domineering as ever, giving Void a huge headache. This was practically something that Void had never found a good solution to in their many years of existence. Then, there were the team competition strategies. Happy took a huge risk but succeeded with a beautiful opening, while their carefulness at the end thoroughly destroyed any last thoughts from Void. They had utilized their home map advantage extremely well.
"We lost to Happy. I can only say that this isn't the end. I look forward to our next match together," Team Void's Li Xuan said, concluding Void's post-match press conference.
Happy versus Void, a clean sweep.
Samsara versus Heavenly Swords was an even cleaner one.
In this round, Tiny Herb, Blue Rain, and Tyranny, the traditional three powerhouses ended their matches 9-1 against opponents much weaker than them. Apart from them, Misty Rain beat Hundred Blossoms 7-3 after losing to both Void and Happy in Round 12 and Round 13.
Even so, Hundred Blossoms still held onto 8th with a total of 83 points, just inside the playoffs zone. On the other hand, despite winning this round, Misty Rain's four consecutive losses had lost them a lot of points. Misty Rain was still 10 points behind Hundred Blossoms, sitting at 11th with 73 points. Their hopes for playoffs were becoming dimmer and dimmer. It seemed to be proof that their unconventional playstyle didn't work in the pro scene.
Between the 11th place Misty Rain and the 9th place Void was Team 301, who lost 3-7 in their away game versus Miracle.
Team Miracle was currently at 14th place with 50 points. If not for the other new team Happy being so demonic, they would have certainly received much more attention. Up until now, as a newly joined team, Miracle was doing very well. They just happened to catch a good opportunity and fished up three experienced Excellent Era players. Their original lineup wasn't without its bright spots either. Guo Shao had received quite a bit of attention, especially out of all the new rookies this season.
Royal Style, who had previously been strong contenders for the playoffs, had thoroughly fallen. They had been beaten by Tiny Herb 9 to 1 this round and were currently in 12th place. Their position on the rankings didn't seem that bad, but what about their total points? With a total of 58 points, they were 15 points away from the 11th place Misty Rain, let alone the points difference between 8th.
Team Royal Style had been a team that had contended with Team Excellent in the finals of the Season 1 championships, but now they had fallen to such a level. But then again, the former three-time championship winners, Excellent Era, had been relegated and disbanded. In comparison, Royal Style was doing much better, at least they were far away from the relegation teams.
The two relegation teams, Bright Green and Seaside, had 27 and 23 points. The third to last place Team Radiant had 41 points. Their fates seemed to have already been decided.
Seaside wasn't too surprising. These past few years, they had always been struggling in and out of the relegations zone. However, Seaside used to have an All-Star player and character on their team. They had never swam in the playoffs, but they had been a solid mid-tier team.
Zhao Yang retired, and Boundless Sea was sold. They had been mourned for a time. Seaside hadn't given up though. They could only respect Zhao Yang's decision to retire, but for Boundless Sea, they knew that as a mid-tier team, raising an All-Star level character as well as a suitable player was a big burden. And just a single All-Star was no longer enough to carry the team in the increasingly competitive Alliance. A God like Zhou Zekai was someone who could only be chanced upon. What's more, Zhou Zekai had a team of skilled teammates supporting him before winning the championships. In order to further solidify their dominance, Samsara even added in Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf to their roster.
Seaside's resources were limited. Pouring in their resources for a luxury like an All-Star was something they couldn't support. Selling Boundless Sea had been a show of their decision to walk a more steady path of improving the strength of the team as a whole.
Hope is beautiful, but from the looks of it, Seaside hadn't really improved. In these fourteen rounds, they had even lost to Bright Green, their brother who was just as bad as them and sitting at 23 points.
The post-match press conferences for these two terrible teams were cold and deserted. The remaining reporters who stayed had great opportunities to ask whatever they wanted.
Did Team Seaside have any plans?
When a reporter asked this question, Seaside's captain, Zhang Lintao, showed an expression of perplexion, mumbling and faltering through it without actually saying anything.
Compared to these departing weak teams, the fans paid more attention to those fighting for the championship throne. The most watched match this round was Wind Howl versus Thunderclap. The Alliance also chose to broadcast this match. In the end, Thunderclap continued with their steadiness in the team competition, winning 6 to 4. Thunderclap relied on their five points from their team competition victory to steal the win from Wind Howl. At the end of the match, there cameras zoomed in oneTeam Wind Howl's team captain,Tang Hao, kicking a bottle of water away as he returned to his seat.
Anyone could see that Tang Hao was unhappy with this match.
2 points in the individual competition and 2 points from the group arena, giving them a 4 to 1 advantage. Wind Howl went into the team competition in high spirits, but in their home game, Wind Howl was downed with their tails behind their legs against Thunderclap.
Did Thunderclap have All Stars?
Xiao Shiqin was obviously considered one, but in the group arena, he didn't win against Tang Hao. There was no one in Thunderclap who Tang Hao cared about, yet in the team competition, this group of nobodies crushed them in the map that their Wind Howl had chosen.
"This is a disgrace!!" In the post match press conference, Tang Hao fully expressed his dissatisfaction. He didn't point his fingers at anyone, but rather his discontent towards his team as a whole for losing to Thunderclap. Even if Thunderclap was at 3rd place, in Tang Hao's eyes, Thunderclap wasn't a strong team.
"If a loss like this happens again, I really don't know what we'll have to fight in the championships," Tang Hao said.
Becoming the champions was Tang Hao's goal and Team Wind Howl's goal. They weren't satisfied with just being frequent playoff visitors. But this season, Wind Howl's performances had been inconsistent. Their momentum this season couldn't even compare to last season's. After thirteen rounds, they were only at 6th with 86 points. Although they weren't far from the other teams above them apart from Samsara, this wasn't enough for Tang Hao. Even in the regular season, he hoped to reach the same heights as Samsara. But after fourteen rounds, Samsara had 123 points, while Wind Howl had 90 points, a difference of 33 points.
Samsara. Samsara was supposed to be their only opponents. Thunderclap? How could a sudden upstart stop Wind Howl's advance? But Thunderclap really did stop them. How could Tang Hao not be unhappy?
After fourteen rounds, although Happy's recent six round point total surpassed even Samsara's, Samsara still stood far above in the rankings with 123 points. Even the second place Blue Rain was only at 99 points, an entirely different tier than Samsara.
What was even more terrifying was that Samsara had gone through a devilish schedule in the early parts of the season. The teams that could threaten them had already fallen under their hands. Their upcoming opponents might try to study them, but the disparity in strength would only result in them giving their points to Samsara as expected. It was hard for people to think that these teams could drag down Samsara.
The suspense for this season was ending too fast, no?
Much of the media, players, and commentators expressed similar thoughts. Samsara's advance could not be stopped. There seemed to be no saving Bright Green and Seaside either. Those spots could be considered as locked into position. Then, next up, the only thing left to look at were the spots for the playoffs.
301, Void, Misty Rain, these three teams were outside the playoffs zone but they were still on the offense.
These three teams are going to need to work hard!
The people silently praised. If these three teams didn't put in more effort and make some chaos in the playoffs zone, this season's regular season would be too boring!