ARML CH79

January 15th marked the official start of the Season 10 preseason. The teams in the upper bracket concentrated their matches in the imperial capital, while the lower bracket’s venue was located in the southern Star City. The 9 teams in each bracket played an intra-group single round-robin, finishing within a week. The schedule was exceptionally tight, and the matches would be broadcast live simultaneously online.

Tianhuan’s preseason draw schedule was quickly sent to the group chat. Against Jingzhe on January 15th, against Binghun on January 16th, and facing Yueying on January 17th…

Yan Bin sent a row of crying emojis with a miserable face: “This is too much of a nightmare!” It was the rhythm of fighting three Bosses in a row right at the start!

Xie Xiaotian: “I’ve been abused by Brother Yang so many times, I’m used to it.” Xie Xiaotian: “So what if I get killed? I’ll resurrect and be a hero again~”

During the training where they were repeatedly tower-dived and killed by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo, the rookies of Team 2 had also honed a resilient mindset. Facing strong teams in this preseason, even though their chances of winning were slim, they would go all out.

Coach Lin said, “Don’t put too much weight on the preseason results. It’s mainly to give you the opportunity to play against experts. Just do your best and strive to get into Group A. I won’t scold you if you don’t make it; play with a relaxed mindset.”

Everyone in Team 2: “Understood!”

On the evening of January 15th, Tianhuan vs. Jingzhe in the preseason. Although the youngsters managed to hold out for over 30 minutes in both games, they were ultimately swept 2:0.

The internet was filled with curses. Under the official Weibo of the Tianhuan Esports Club, fans left comments expressing their doubts— [What does Tianhuan mean this season? Sending Team 2 to play the preseason?]

[I fucking set an alarm with excitement to open the stream, and as a result, I didn’t see Captain Chi, didn’t see Old Qin and Qu Jiang, but saw a group of Team 2 kids acting there?]

[Are you acting for your dad? Is it fun to string fans along? @Coach Lin]

[Is sending Team 2 to the preseason looking down on the opponent or thinking too highly of yourselves?]

[Tianhuan has floated away this time, directly floating to the stratosphere, using the preseason to practice troops here!]

[Hehe, you guys don’t understand Coach Lin’s deep meaning. Sending Team 2 up, if they lose, they can find excuses. If Chi Shuo led the team up and still lost, how embarrassing would that be?]

[I guess Chi Shuo playing would also result in a 0:2, so they let the kids of Team 2 take the blame.]

[Tianhuan is doomed this year.]

The official Weibo received thousands of cursing comments.

The Super Topic square for #Tianhuan Team# was engulfed in a toxic atmosphere, completely filled with curses directed at the coaching staff.

Ye Shaoyang glanced at the comments. Only a minority of rational fans were cheering for Tianhuan; the vast majority expressed disappointment. This was understandable; Tianhuan’s poor performance last season had already caused many to unfollow. Everyone had waited so long for this season, so it was normal for fans to find it temporarily unacceptable when Team 2 was sent to practice troops in the preseason.

But Coach Lin actually had well-meaning intentions. Team 1 had been frantically scheduling scrimmages these past few days. To avoid leaking tactics within the region, all the scheduled scrimmages were against foreign teams. They had just finished playing the Japanese region’s GOW the day before yesterday and scheduled the Korean region’s TIP team yesterday.

Scrimmages, reviews, summaries, researching tactics and strategies after the new season’s version update… Coach Lin was so busy these two days he didn’t even have time to look at Weibo.

The pressure on the youngsters of Team 2 was also immense. Fortunately, the coach said the match results weren’t important, emphasizing the confrontation with experts and accumulating major tournament experience. So they bit the bullet and continued playing.

On January 16th, Tianhuan vs. Binghun, they still lost. Thankfully, the loss wasn’t as ugly as yesterday’s. The score was 1:2, as they struggled to win one game. The internet was still cursing.

On January 17th, Tianhuan vs. Yueying, they lost 1:2 again. The anti-fans who hated the Tianhuan team gloated, so happy they were almost ready to light firecrackers for the New Year. The negative emotions accumulated by Tianhuan’s fans reached a peak, and some die-hard fans who previously spoke up for Tianhuan also began to backfire.

The topic #Tianhuan Is Incompetent# was directly flamed onto the trending searches.

[Congratulations to Tianhuan on a three-game losing streak, applause please!]

[Still letting Team 2 play, is @Coach Lin brain-dead?]

[I find Tianhuan especially hilarious this season. Sending Team 2 to practice troops in the preseason, buying an Omega player and putting him in the C position (center) of the promotional photo. Because their performance is poor, they can only rely on hyping themselves up, right?]

[So you guys bought an Omega to take home as a decoration, not even letting him play. Is he just placed in the middle to look pretty?]

[The little Omega brother is indeed good-looking. Spending 5 million to buy him back to shoot commercials can earn back the cost, this wave isn’t a loss. As long as the club makes money, who cares about match results?]

[Maybe this Omega is some boss’s relative; otherwise, why would a rookie get 5 million and not even play?]

[Been a fan of Tianhuan for 6 years, first time I’ve been this disappointed! You guys better hurry up and drop into Group B, then you can go home on vacation for the second round. Anyway, even if you make the playoffs, it’ll just be a one-round tour. Stop wasting time and hurry up.]

[Is Chi Shuo afraid of losing, simply deciding to retire and make way for the Team 2 rookies?]

[Congratulations to Captain Chi on early retirement.]

[Captain Chi retire soon +1]

Coach Lin sighed softly in his heart as he looked at the comments on the trending searches. His decision was indeed risky, but facts would prove his approach correct.

Ye Shaoyang and Cheng Xing were both rookies with no major tournament experience. Furthermore, the S10 season’s version updates were quite significant. With an extra 1 minute and 30 seconds of blank time at the start, even Chi Shuo needed to adapt to the shotcalling tempo of the new version.

They had been scheduling scrimmages with foreign teams these past few days to adjust their condition. There was no need to force their way into Group S during the regular season. It was better to go to Group A to buffer first, letting the rookies build enough confidence and familiarize themselves with the match tempo. Then, when they played against those strong teams in Group S later, their win rate would be higher.

The preseason only determined the groupings; the regular season was the main event.

The intense S10 preseason progressed rapidly at a pace of several matches per day.

The team rankings on the league preseason leaderboard changed daily.

In the lower bracket, the Beimu team, having brought in the ace mid-laner Sean Winston from the European region, was exceptionally strong and hadn’t lost a single game so far. The strongest in the upper bracket was Jingzhe, currently also maintaining a completely victorious record. Binghun ranked second, while Yueying ranked third due to insufficient synergy between Xu Zhuo and Xie Weiyu.

Halfway through the preseason schedule, Tianhuan ranked at the bottom of the upper bracket because they had encountered all the Bosses right at the start.

A week later, the dust settled on the preseason. Tianhuan played 8 matches in the upper bracket, with a final record of 3 wins and 5 losses, ranking 7th in net points.

The 1st to 3rd places in the upper bracket—Jingzhe, Binghun, and Yueying—entered Group S. The 4th to 6th places entered Group A. Tianhuan, right at 7th place, was helplessly assigned to the worst-performing Group B.

This was the first time in the 10 years since the establishment of the Tianhuan team that they failed in the preseason and were assigned to Group B.

On January 21st, the preseason officially concluded, and major teams began their second round of promotions. Other teams posted promotional posters with large text saying “Congratulations to Beimu on securing the first Group S spot” or “Congratulations to Jingzhe on rushing into Group S,” and fans joyfully shared them in celebration.

The official Weibo of the Tianhuan club couldn’t exactly say “Congratulations to Tianhuan on entering Group B,” right? So the promotional missy of the official Weibo brazenly posted: “The preseason has ended. Thank you to the fans for your attention and support for the Tianhuan team. Tianhuan is assigned to Group B. Although the results are unsatisfactory, our players will adjust their mindsets as quickly as possible and strive to play well in the regular season. Go Tianhuan!”

Group B was the “Underachievers Class,” the concentration camp for the 6 worst-performing teams in the preseason. Slight carelessness would result in collective elimination in the second round.

The official Weibo’s promotional text made netizens laugh. The topic #Congratulations to Tianhuan on Joyfully Reaching Group B# was once again flamed onto the trending searches. Many fans shed tears on the spot, and many anti-fans also took the opportunity to jump in and kick them while they were down, believing Tianhuan could just disband on the spot.

[Laughing out loud, Tianhuan has never disappointed when it comes to being disappointing.]

[S9 Playoffs one-round tour, might as well make S10 regular season a one-round tour!]

[Since S9 failed to win a prize, I still held out a fluke hope for you guys, thinking that after Old Nie and A Ning retired, you would change and play well in S10. And the result? Dropping into Group B, what should I say? Awesome, awesome?]

[I’m truly baffled. With this showy operation by the coaching staff, did they intentionally drop into Group B?]

[It’s not like Tianhuan lacks money, couldn’t they spend some to buy a few powerful players!! Look at Beimu, they spent 20 million to bring in a mid-laner from the European region. With Old Nie and A Ning retiring, go buy a marksman and support! Reluctant to spend money, putting up a bunch of rookies to fool your dad!]

[Upstairs +1. Tianhuan this season looks like a bunch of rookies at first glance; can’t figure out who is the starter and who is the substitute. Captain Chi’s level has also clearly declined. Anyway, not very optimistic.]

[Other teams buying players is to improve strength; Tianhuan only wants to improve appearances [Doge.JPG]]

[First time seeing a player in the C position of the promotional photo not play, really bought him just as a decoration!]

[Buying an Omega to be a vase, relying on commercials to make money, the club’s train of thought is truly novel.]

[Advising you guys not to play yourselves to death; it would be hilarious if you can’t even make the playoffs.]

[Congratulations to Tianhuan on relegation to Group B [Firecrackers.jpg]]

Chi Shuo’s Weibo was also flooded by fans. Under his latest Weibo post, there were over 100,000 comments. Half of them were cursing him, and the other half were urging him to wake up. There were even some multi-year veteran fans who began tearfully writing essays advising Chi Shuo that if it really wasn’t working out, he should just retire.

Negative news was overwhelming, but regardless of how the fans cursed, the grouping was already set. The powerhouse club Tianhuan, which had once reached the World Championship and taken the runner-up spot, had a death-sentence start this season, directly dropping into Group B.

Yan Bin privately told Coach Lin, “I’m sorry, Coach. We could have made it into Group A, but we didn’t perform well in the last match. Our net points were only 1 point short of sixth place.” If they had made it into Group A, they wouldn’t have been cursed at so miserably, but ultimately dropping into Group B was indeed unexpected.

However, the fact that Tianhuan’s Team 2 could make it into Group B of the professional league showed that the strength of Tianhuan’s main squad was much stronger than the outside world imagined. Then, when the main squad played subsequent matches, it would definitely be smoother.

Coach Lin patted his shoulder lightly and comforted, “It’s fine. I watched all the preseason VODs, and you guys played pretty well. Even against strong teams like Jingzhe and Binghun, you didn’t collapse, holding out for over 30 minutes before losing. Many people who don’t understand the game only look at the results and ignore the process. You don’t need to care about those comments on the internet.”

Yan Bin breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, “However, going to Group B also has its benefits; the initial pressure is lower.”

Coach Lin nodded, “Yes. There are too many rookies in Tianhuan this season. We always need to grind some mobs, level up, and accumulate some experience before fighting the BOSS.”

Tianhuan dropping into Group B not only provoked curses from netizens, but professional players also harbored many doubts. Zhao Xin’an directly typed a row of question marks in the group: “@Tianhuan Shuoyue Captain Chi, what’s going on with you guys??? Dropping to Group B, we won’t be able to encounter you in the next two stages of the schedule?” Chi Shuo replied: “Coaching staff’s arrangement.”

Chi Shuo answered casually on the surface, but discerning people all knew that Tianhuan this season would probably undergo major changes. This sink-or-swim approach also revealed the coaching staff’s determination.

The current Tianhuan might not be able to beat these strong teams yet. But what about Tianhuan after 1 month of leveling up in Group B?

Those who truly understood Chi Shuo never dared to underestimate the Tianhuan team. Even if they dropped into Group B, their wings were only temporarily broken; one day, they would soar again. Therefore, the coaches of major teams still didn’t dare to relax after seeing Tianhuan drop into Group B. They would continuously pay attention to Tianhuan’s matches in Group B.

The S10 regular season would officially commence on January 22nd. Every Thursday to Sunday were league match days. The prime time slots with better viewership ratings on Saturday and Sunday were arranged for Group S matches. After all, Group S consisted entirely of strong teams with large fan bases, and almost all star players were in this group.

The Group A average class and Group B underachievers class were scheduled on weekdays like Thursday and Friday. The viewership ratings for weekday match broadcasts naturally couldn’t compare with the weekends.

Tianhuan’s first match was at 7 PM next Thursday, and their opponent was the NTG team from Group B.

With a few days left to prepare, Coach Lin gathered everyone in the meeting room to begin pre-match analysis: “This NTG team is quite special; they are the secondary league champions who fought their way up from the qualifiers this year. People usually don’t pay much attention to the secondary league, but I watched their VODs from the secondary league. The mid-laner and marksman levels of this team are quite good. The jungler utilizes a utility tool playstyle, a typical Double Carry composition.”

His gaze swept across the room, ultimately resting on Chi Shuo: “This match is Shaoyang and Cheng Xing’s debut show. The coaching staff’s intention is that we also use a Double Carry composition to meet them head-on. Chi Shuo will sacrifice some economy, take a jungler with crowd control, and roam with Shaoyang. Let Shaoyang be the main damage output in the early game, and Cheng Xing will join team fights in the late game after farming up.”

Chi Shuo nodded: “Understood.”

Coach Lin looked at Ye Shaoyang, saying gently, “Shaoyang, you usually perform very well in scrimmages, so we have a lot of confidence in you. Handing you the heavy responsibility of damage output in your very first match, will the pressure be too great?”

Everyone turned to look at Ye Shaoyang. Ye Shaoyang smiled slightly, his gaze confident and resolute: “Thank you for the trust, Coach. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”