In the 8-into-4 elimination round, the match between Tianhuan and HER was the first, and Tianhuan advanced smoothly with a 3:0 victory.
The matches of other groups were also completed one after another in the following two days. Among them, Group A's first place FNO defeated Group B's second place TIP 3:1, successfully advancing to the semi-finals.
Group D's first place ATB cleanly defeated Group C's second place GOW 3:0, advancing to the semi-finals.
As the North American champion team, FNO's advancement was expected.
ATB's advancement was even more undoubted. As the team most favored by the media in this World Tournament, they were playing on home turf in Korea. The players were strong, and the fans' support was enthusiastic.
So far, ATB had three consecutive 2:0 victories in the BO3 group stage. In the 8-into-4 BO5 elimination match, they defeated their opponent 3:0, not losing a single game, which showed how dominant they were.
Tianhuan also had three 2:0 victories in the group stage and a 3:0 in the elimination round, matching ATB's record. However, in the eyes of the Korean media, Tianhuan "had too much luck." Being placed in Group C with weak opponents, 2:0 victories were nothing surprising.
Tianhuan officials made no response to this.
Three spots in the Top 4 were confirmed; one was still missing.
Everyone's eyes were on the last match of the 8-into-4 round.
Beimu, who qualified as second in Group A, faced AMT, the first place of Group B from Europe.
This match attracted a lot of attention, not only because the result would determine the semi-final list and subsequent draw, but also for two very important reasons—
First, Sean came from the European region. Playing against a European team would be highly controversial regardless of the outcome. Second, the captains of both teams were among the few female Alphas in the professional arena.
Zhao Xinping, strong in both warrior and marksman roles, had a calm and decisive personality with a steady and seasoned playstyle. Vanessa, the up-and-coming jungler from Europe, was a blonde, blue-eyed beauty, sharp and fierce when killing on the field.
The two female Alphas had countless fans worldwide and were extremely popular. Coupled with Sean being from Europe, this controversial match attracted widespread attention from e-sports fans around the world, setting a new viewership record for the S10 World Tournament.
Before the match started, the domestic blogger [Toxic Milk], who loved making predictions, analyzed on Weibo again: "I bet Beimu will win a difficult 3:2 victory. Although Vanessa is strong, it's her first time participating in the World Tournament, so she inevitably lacks experience. Zhao Xinping and Zhao Xin'an have won the World Duo Tournament, have rich tournament experience, and are calmer."
"If Beimu picks dual warrior side lanes, it's hard for assassins to kill warriors. Sean is a player with keen instincts, so killing the mid-laner won't be easy either. Vanessa will find it hard to start cutting Beimu's carries and can only invade the jungle. But Vanessa's jungle rhythm isn't as good as Chi Shu's; it will be hard to crush Beimu's jungle like Tianhuan did."
"Besides, Beimu is strong in all three lanes. Once they cut the enemy backline in team fights, the opponent can't fight back."
Seeing this blogger's analysis, Lin Feng couldn't help praising, "This Toxic Milk's analysis is quite professional. He probably worked in the e-sports industry before, maybe a coach or assistant coach?"
Tang Can scrolled down the Weibo page and whispered complaints, "Coach Lin, look at his previous analysis of Tianhuan."
Lin Feng leaned over to look. Not long ago, [Toxic Milk] wrote: "Tianhuan's best result this season should be reaching the semi-finals, at most runner-up. Xiao Xing and Lieyang are both rookies debuting in S10, severely lacking tournament experience. Although Lieyang's mentality was stable during domestic matches, playing away in the World Tournament brings huge pressure. Moreover, he just won the domestic MVP, and everyone's expectations are too high. Under such pressure, facing world-class mid-jungle duos, Lieyang and Shuoyue's coordination will definitely have problems…"
Lin Feng stopped reading and changed his tune: "Bullshit, not professional at all!"
Tang Can laughed. "His previous predictions were indeed quite accurate, but I think his prediction for our Tianhuan will definitely be wrong. Just treat him as a pre-match jinx, adding some debuffs to us to help us win the championship?"
Coach Lin sighed softly in his heart. Actually, Toxic Milk's prediction seemed reasonable on the surface. Ye Shaoyang had performed stably in domestic matches, and having just won the MVP award, would he make mistakes in the World Tournament?
Everyone had such worries.
Only Coach Lin knew how strong Ye Shaoyang's mentality truly was.
From the group stage until now, he hadn't made a single mistake! His condition had always been excellent, always keeping up with Chi Shu's rhythm immediately, as if he lived in Chi Shu's brain.
Tianhuan's three consecutive 2:0s in the group stage and the 3:0 suppression against HER in the knockout stage were all because Ye Shaoyang, the key mid-laner, never dropped the ball!
That was why the coaching staff dared to let Chi Shu play a utility jungler to support Ye Shaoyang's carry mid-laner in driving the tempo.
Coach Lin felt incredibly refreshed during every BP phase. You ban my jungler, I take a core mid; you ban my mage assassin, I take a wild core; you ban mid and jungle together? Sorry, you can't ban them all.
Tianhuan was the team least afraid of BP.
The coaching staff's confidence came precisely from Chi Shu and Ye Shaoyang, two players with perfect synergy and extremely few mistakes.
Sometimes Coach Lin couldn't help but marvel that Chi Shu truly had an eye for talent. Back when Ye Shaoyang was still the streamer Xiao Bai, Chi Shu said "He will be my best partner." Unexpectedly, this sentence came true!
Regardless of how the outside world questioned Tianhuan, Tianhuan's coaching staff was full of confidence.
We, Tianhuan, are going to win the championship.
So what if they are rookies? Underestimating a rookie like Yangyang shows your short-sightedness!
Coach Lin put away his phone in a good mood and turned his gaze to the live screen.
The match between Beimu and Europe's AMT was exceptionally fierce.
In the first game, Beimu picked a marksman for the bot lane. Vanessa roamed quickly to gank, targeting Zhao Xinping repeatedly. Zhao Xinping found it hard to farm, and the bot lane collapsed directly.
This showed the suppression ability of Vanessa, the "Mad Jungler" of the European region, against marksmen.
In the second game, Beimu switched to dual warriors, actively invading the jungle and stealing Vanessa's Blue Buff. At Level 6, Zhao Xinping flashed to delete the opposing marksman, while Zhao Xin'an attacked simultaneously, coordinating with Beimu's jungler to kill the opposing top laner.
Both of Beimu's side lanes got kills. Zhao Xinping calmly snowballed the economy, joining teammates to invade and crush Vanessa's jungle, quickly ending the game.
Ye Shaoyang sat with his teammates in the hotel conference room, munching on melon seeds while watching the match. Seeing this, he couldn't help saying, "Girls playing e-sports are also very cool!"
In his world, it was rare to see girls playing in professional e-sports leagues.
But in the ABO world, there were 6 genders in total. Zhao Xinping and Vanessa, two female Alphas with different styles of professional play, were greatly admired by Ye Shaoyang.
In the third game, both sides fought until 25 minutes. In the final team fight, Zhao Xinping carried her greatsword and flashed to flank, cutting down Vanessa who was hiding in the grass preparing to gank. Zhao Xin'an and Sean acted simultaneously, deleting AMT's marksman and mid-laner. Beimu wiped out AMT directly with a perfectly coordinated team fight!
In the fourth game, AMT fought back, roaming frantically to gank early game, leveling the score to 2:2.
Ye Shaoyang applauded as he watched. "Very intense fighting. Beimu's jungle seems to have become stronger too?"
Chi Shu commented calmly, "In the domestic matches, Beimu's jungle was crushed by us. They also know their weakness lies in the jungle and started focusing on defense. Once Big and Little Zhao defend the jungle together, plus Sean's frequent roaming support, it's not easy for the opponent to invade."
Ye Shaoyang nodded. "Mn. We learned a lot from Beimu, and they also accumulated experience in jungle defense from us. I think Beimu has a high chance of winning the fifth game."
Chi Shu said, "Hope they can make it to the semi-finals."
In the deciding game with blind picks, Beimu brought out their strongest system: Zhao Xinping's [Rose Blade] and Zhao Xin'an's [Blade's Will], while Sean chose the "splitting" mid-laner [Dark Witch].
This match was fought fiercely. In the early game, Beimu pushed around the mid lane, and Sean drove the rhythm well several times. In late-game team fights, Big and Little Zhao coordinated tacitly, flashing to flank simultaneously from two directions, instantly cutting down AMT's mid-laner and marksman.
With only Vanessa left, AMT couldn't kill the warriors who had built defensive items.
Beimu won the game 3:2!
Domestically, the comments under blogger [Toxic Milk]'s Weibo post exceeded six figures. Countless netizens said: "Someone knife this prophet quickly!" "Toxic Milk's prediction was too accurate; Beimu upset AMT to enter the semi-finals!" "The score really was 3:2, and dual warriors really won the deciding game. Are you really a prophet?"
Netizens also asked him to predict the semi-final draw results.
Since the European champion AMT was unexpectedly eliminated and Beimu entered the semi-finals, there were two China teams in the Top 4. If they drew each other, it would be a civil war between China teams.
[Toxic Milk] predicted: "I think the draw result might be Tianhuan vs. FNO, Beimu vs. ATB, and then Beimu has a high probability of being eliminated. If it's the other way around, Tianhuan vs. ATB, Beimu vs. FNO, then Tianhuan will be eliminated. Anyway, ATB has absolute dominance this season; whoever meets them is unlucky."
Netizens left messages asking: "Do you think ATB will be the champion?"
Toxic Milk replied: "I can't see the possibility of ATB losing. Playing on home turf in Korea, all 5 players are very strong. Timing, geography, and people are all in their favor. Unless the internet disconnects during the finals?"
Many netizens believed his prediction and no longer held hope for the China region.
But many others believed that until the last moment of the match, no one could be sure of the result. They continued to cheer for Tianhuan and Beimu on the official Weibo.
On December 17th, the four teams reaching the semi-finals—Tianhuan, Beimu, FNO, and ATB—sent their captain representatives to draw lots. The captains of the four teams met for the first time in the Alliance-designated hotel conference room.
Surveillance cameras were everywhere, along with countless reporters and photographers. In the cardboard box in the middle of the room were four cards, two blue and two red. Teams drawing the same color would meet in the semi-finals.
ATB's captain Choi Hyuk, as the Korean host, politely indicated: "You guys draw first."
His eyes were full of confidence, as if saying, We are going to win anyway; whoever draws us is unlucky.
FNO's captain Mitchell didn't stand on ceremony, stepping forward to draw a card from the box—Red.
Zhao Xinping and Chi Shu exchanged a glance.
Chi Shu said, "Captain Zhao, you go first."
Zhao Xinping nodded, stepped forward, and drew a card—Blue.
Everyone's eyes focused on Chi Shu.
If Chi Shu drew Blue, it would be a Beimu vs. Tianhuan civil war; if he drew Red, it would be Tianhuan vs. FNO, leaving Beimu to face the formidable ATB.
Chi Shu's draw became the draw that decided the outcome of the S10 World Tournament.
Cheng Xing, Qu Jiang, and Old Qin clenched their fists nervously; Cheng Xing's lips turned white. Looking back, they found Ye Shaoyang sitting there smiling, munching melon seeds with an indifferent attitude.
Cheng Xing couldn't help asking, "Brother Yang, aren't you nervous! If Master draws ATB…"
Ye Shaoyang put down the melon seed shells and smiled. "What's there to be nervous about? Since our goal is the championship, we have to defeat the opponent no matter who he draws, right? So, the result of the draw doesn't matter."
Cheng Xing froze for a moment, thinking about it carefully—that made sense?
Since they had to find a way to win against whoever they drew, the draw result wasn't important.
Chi Shu calmly stepped forward and took the third card from the box—
It was Red.
Netizens watching the livestream of the draw domestically had mixed feelings.
[Tianhuan vs. FNO, Beimu vs. ATB!]
[No civil war, should we be happy?]
[But if Tianhuan and Beimu had a civil war in the semi-finals, at least one China team would be guaranteed to reach the finals and get a medal!]
[With this draw result, if both Tianhuan and Beimu lose, the China region won't get a single trophy this season, just like S9!]
[Might as well have had a civil war with Beimu, at least guarantee one in the finals?]
[Not drawing ATB, Tianhuan still has hope to enter the finals and bring back a silver medal, right?]
Coach Lin smiled and said, "The next opponent is FNO. Let's prepare well. The champion team of the North American region is very strong; we can't be careless."
Although Tianhuan had defeated FNO in scrims, that was a year ago.
A year was enough for a team to transform completely.
The two bot lane rookies, Angus and Allen, who were beaten to tears by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shu on the international server back then, had improved rapidly in the subsequent league matches and become stronger and stronger.
These two teenagers under 18 were the most talented rookies in the North American region in recent years.
FNO's marksman Angus, like Cheng Xing, had won the Best Rookie Award for the S10 North American region.
Moreover, FNO's top laner Kleiman, mid laner Mitchell, and jungler Fast were all veteran players with rich tournament experience. Especially Kleiman, who debuted the same year as Chi Shu and had played against Chi Shu in S6.
With 3 veterans leading 2 rookies, FNO's configuration looked similar to Tianhuan's on the surface.
Except Ye Shaoyang couldn't be defined as an ordinary "rookie."
For this semi-final match, Tianhuan had to prepare well. Ye Shaoyang knew very well that Mitchell saying "I will kill you" wasn't just talk; he really had that strength.
After Ye Shaoyang joined the team, Tianhuan's first scrim was against FNO. Ye Shaoyang used [Abyssal Lord] to unexpectedly solo-kill Mitchell. FNO also became the first team in the world to know that Tianhuan had changed their mid-laner.
Not only was Mitchell always thinking about killing Ye Shaoyang, but FNO's Coach Tom had also been eyeing Tianhuan for a long time.
Starting from the regular season, they had been paying attention to Tianhuan's matches in the China region. They watched and reviewed every single match of Tianhuan's. It could be said they knew Tianhuan "inside out."
Encountering an opponent who "knows you very well" was actually more terrifying than encountering a strong enemy who didn't understand you.