After [Shanhe], [Jianghu] became the second top professional team to lose to [Hell Frontline].
At the same time, they were also the tenth team to be swept by [Hell Front].
Excluding the "bye", Brother Jue and the others defeated every opponent they encountered in these eleven rounds with a score of three to zero; among the fourteen remaining teams, this is still maintained.
There are only two teams with a "zero score" record: one is [Hell Front] and the other is [Heaven's Gate].
Interestingly, these two teams are both private teams without studio background...
By the end of the eleventh round, although there are still several rounds left to play in Apex S3, it is already quite obvious which teams have the potential to be champions.
[Order], [Waste Alliance], [Heaven's Gate], and [Hell Frontline], these four teams are far stronger than the others in terms of their maximum combat power, the thickness of their lineup, and their performance on the road to promotion...
team; if nothing else happens, a champion will be born among them.
Therefore, for the players of the remaining ten teams, the next "random matching" becomes very important... Theoretically, if the four powerful teams meet continuously in the next two rounds, then the remaining ten teams will
At least one runner-up can be born in the team.
However, things did not develop in the direction they expected...
At 0:00 on April 14th, the matching list for the twelfth round of s3 was announced: There are 14 teams participating in this round. Because it is an even number, no team will have a bye in this round, and all teams will compete; and the random results show,
The four teams with the highest hopes of winning the championship...none of them met each other.
Although the probability of this happening is not so low that "it looks fake", arguments similar to "the organizer secretly manipulates the matching" have appeared on some social platforms.
Of course, this kind of unfounded and uninterested speculation has not caused any waves; compared with the big scams that have been revealed one after another in the past year of operation of the thriller park, this is nothing at all.
…
Thus, the twelfth round passed in such a hot but no suspenseful atmosphere.
After this round of battles, the top 7 teams of s3 were born. These seven teams are:
The recognized number one studio in today's professional gaming circle [Order]; an alliance composed of a group of non-contract professional players and idle members of society [The Wastewood Alliance]; it has achieved many brilliant achievements but is now gradually relegated to the second-tier established studios [
Mochi]; a powerful team composed of seven capable casual players [Black Eight Miracle]; a team formed by seven popular game anchors [We are not cheating]; the biggest dark horse of this competition [Heaven's Gate]
]; and [Hell Front] which is indescribable but doesn’t seem to need much introduction.
According to the rules, in the thirteenth round, one team will have a bye, and half of the other six teams will be eliminated to determine the top four.
However, in the early morning of April 16, when the matching list for this round was supposed to be announced, Dream Company came up with another trick...
They did not update the matching results on the official website on time, but instead released an announcement [Notification about the additional rules/settings for Summit S3].
Just for this title, 95% of the players were already furious before they even clicked on the article link; because this title gave off a strong sense of shady, and it was extremely dark.
Almost everyone made this inference before reading the article: "Dream Company must want to send those four seed teams to the semi-finals, but when there are only seven teams, if there are four more strong teams,
If the results are staggered, they will be fake. If you do this, players will definitely suspect that all previous random results were artificially manipulated... Therefore, Dream Company can only realize their intention by adding new mechanisms."
I have to say... the people's eyes were sharp, and their guess was right.
According to the announcement, the original "random matching" mechanism is still retained. In fact, the matching results of this round are already listed in this announcement.
The matchups in the thirteenth round are: [Order] vs [Heaven’s Gate], [Wasteless Alliance] vs [Mochi], [Hell Front] vs [Black Eight Miracles], and [We are not cheating]
Get a bye.
However, Dream Company has added three new rules/settings on this basis...
Article 1: A team that has had a bye in the previous twelve rounds will be deemed to be one point behind in this round for each bye.
What does this rule mean?
First of all, [Mochi], [Black Eight Miracles], and [We Are Not Cheating], these three teams that have never had a bye, must be fine.
Secondly, if a team like [The Loser Alliance] encounters "the opponent abstains after the matching results come out", it is not considered a bye, so it escapes.
However, [Hellfront], which has a bye in the fourth round, and [Heaven's Gate], which has a bye in the tenth round, under this rule, are equivalent to being led 1-0 before the game starts.
And they... are not even the worst. [Order], who had byes in the eighth and eleventh rounds respectively (this is why the word "again" was used when mentioning Order's byes in Chapter 1372), in this chapter
In the round, you must play with the attitude of "losing two points first".
Judging from the matching list... this round of the match between [Order] and [Heaven's Gate] will be regarded as one to two from the beginning, that is, the latter will hold the match point at the beginning of the game; however, the two teams still
A complete seven-man lineup must be formed and the battle begins with the "Pioneer Battle".
As for the [Hell Frontline] vs [Black Eight Miracles] match, it was okay. With the strength of Jue Ge and the others, one match would not have much impact, and the game would probably end with the general battle.
Next, let’s look at the second added rule/setting…
In the next round (the fourteenth round), each of the four teams that successfully enter the semi-finals will be assigned an "artifact".
The four artifacts are: [Crown], [Holy Grail], [Philosopher's Stone] and [Amulet]. Regarding the origin and explanation of these four "Atari artifacts", the official also gave a video information,
This video was produced by a well-known game review video author in the early 21st century and is called "Looking for Swords". This video details the origin, value, and related rumors of the four artifacts.
Of course, Dream Company will not send the real thing to players. What they will give is a data version of the "Four Artifacts".
Dream Company claimed that these four artifacts "each have a significant team buff, and there is a restraining relationship between the buffs that can reverse the outcome." However, what exactly those buffs are will have to wait until the next round of matching is over.
Will be announced.
In addition, each team's performance in this round will also determine the order and rights to distribute artifacts in the next round.
The rules are: In terms of time, the team that wins the fastest time can use the remaining artifact that no one selected after the other three teams have obtained the artifact to exchange it with the artifact in the hands of any team.
Of course, they can also hold it without changing; the team that wins the second fastest time can be the first to choose an artifact, and allocate an artifact to the team that is third fastest and the team that has a bye; the team that wins the third fastest time can choose whether to compete with them.
The teams that have a bye exchange the artifacts in their hands; as for the team that has a bye...unfortunately, they can only passively accept the results of the allocation.
Finally, let’s talk about the third additional rule/set that teams that have a bye in this round can choose to exchange positions with any team. Of course, they can also choose not to change and advance directly.
Seeing this, you must have guessed it... That's right, the members of the [We are not cheating] team, the selectors of the third rule, after learning the rules, after a short discussion, they decided to go with
[Heaven's Gate] has changed its location.
No matter from which point of view, switching positions is beneficial to them.
A simple calculation, if they don't change positions this round, the three opponents they will face in the next round will be: [Hell Front], [Waste Alliance], and between [Order] and [Heaven's Gate]
The winner; not to mention that they are all seeded teams, they also have priority in the distribution of artifacts... No matter how you look at it, this is a dead end game.
And what if the position is changed? Then the situation is completely different.
The team members of [We Are Not Cheating] are relatively well-known game anchors. Four of them are former professional players. Although the other three have never joined a professional club, they are all full-time game industry practitioners.
In terms of game time alone, amateur players are not comparable; at least in the game Thriller Park, their level is no different from that of professional players, and may even be better.
It is not difficult to see that such a team has high self-esteem and has certain ambitions; even if they are not lucky about the championship, they can definitely strive for the runner-up spot.
So, in order to continue winning and advancing, who should they switch positions with?
Use elimination method to deduce...
If you replace [Mochi], you have to fight with [The Alliance of Losers], which is basically equivalent to committing suicide in advance.
Replacing [Black Eight Miracles] and starting at 1-0 against [Hell Front], it felt very suspenseful...
As for replacing [Wasteless Alliance] or [Hell Frontline]... it can be done, because against [Machi] or [Black Eight Miracles], they are about 70% sure to win. But... they can win.
It doesn't mean that they can sweep; at this point in the competition, no matter how bad the strength of the remaining teams is, it would be very embarrassing if they were beaten by a score of three to two...
Taking into account the rules of the next round, if it plays five games in this round or if the time drags on for a long time, it is likely to become the third fastest winning team... The result of so much effort is only a little more than insisting on a bye.
It’s not worth it to take the initiative.
As for the plan of "replacing [Order]", I naturally passed it at the first one... Not to mention the 1-0 start against [Heaven's Gate], which was similar to the situation against [Hell Front].
It belongs to the 28th opening game. Furthermore, this move also saved [Order] whose life was hanging by a thread... For [Order], "compete with the aura of being defeated by the artifact buff in the next round", and "in the next round"
In this round, we faced [Heaven's Gate] with a match point at the beginning." Obviously, the former is more controllable.
To sum up, "replacing [Heaven's Gate]" is the only and best choice for the anchors.
As soon as this position was changed, the [We are not cheating] team was leading 2-0 at the beginning. As long as they win one point, they can advance, and they will advance by eliminating [Order]... Regardless of the details of the process, this
If it turns out to be true, you can brag about it for a lifetime.
More importantly, the opening score was 2-0, which was equivalent to saving two rounds of time; if things went well, they would not only be able to "upset and eliminate the all-powerful [Order]", but also securely win the next round.
The right to choose artifacts...that is, a 100% advantage over artifacts.
Therefore, compared with insisting on a bye, swapping out [Heaven's Gate] is undoubtedly an excellent choice. With this swap, there is a high probability that a runner-up can be swapped out.
…………
To make a long story short, after a day of hard work, in the early morning of the 17th, everything was settled.
[League of Losers], [Hell Frontline], and [Heaven's Gate] who were "lucky" to be moved to the bye slot were all expected to advance.
In the previous twenty-four hours, while actively preparing for the battle and protesting against the "order" of the rules, they finally came back to win three to two, defeating the "We are not cheating" team.
This is a very "ugly" game...at least in the eyes of the audience.
[Order], which has always shown itself as a king, this time sent out all the "Drunk Life and Dream Death" in the first three games, and asked these four to use a set of Mark Selby-style "grinding" tactics to fight every life.
All three games turned into protracted battles with a very dull rhythm.
[Order] There are three reasons for doing this:
First, I want stability... In a game like this where someone holds three match points at the beginning, no matter how stable it is, it is still an absolute advantage in terms of hard power. As long as you completely give up the entertainment and focus on "stable"
"If you do this to the extreme, you can ensure that your winning rate is maximized.
Secondly, procrastinating for time is also part of psychological warfare... What the members of the [We Are Not Cheating] team had planned before the game, the team behind [Order] had already figured it out clearly, and they just wanted to catch it.
Correct the opponent's mentality of "wanting to conquer the match point in one go", and implement the three words "drag", "grind" and "consuming" to the end; if the time drags on for a long time, the opponent's gestures will be impatient, and then there will be many flaws...
Thirdly... Dedicating such a round of competition can be regarded as a silent protest by [Order] against Dream Company; what they want to express is: "Since you used the rules to make a surprise attack to trick us, then we will
I’m trying to undermine the ratings and reputation of your game.”
It's a pity that at this stage, no one in Dream Company cares about these things anymore.
In the final stage of this "gamble", those employees who have been in the "cognitive interference" for a long time will be more strongly affected and shackles on their thinking... Naturally, they will not take care of things that the "superiors" do not want to deal with.
To think about it, they don't even have relevant concepts in their minds...
