Published at 25th of March 2019 10:31 pm

Chapter 1157: From the Front or From the Rear

According to the Alliance's rules, when teams picked their home game maps, they were not allowed to use the same map twice in a season. Otherwise, if every team repeatedly used the same map, the matches would become stale. In the past two seasons, a new rule had been established. The following season, teams could repeat not more than half of the maps from last season. By the third season, maps used twice in two seasons were not allowed to be used again.

There were a total of 20 teams in the Alliance. Each team had 38 matches to play in a season with 19 home matches. In other words, each team had 19 chances to pick maps. In order to conform to the Alliance's rules, each team needed to practice over ten maps. Next season, half of their maps could be repeated, so they needed to practice 5 new maps to continue following the rules.

From this, it could be seen that rotating through 15 maps was enough to guarantee that a team followed the Alliance's rules each season. However, if a team only cycled through 15 maps, then after two seasons, their maps would be known by other teams, so most of the time, teams practiced more than the minimum of 15 maps. The maps chosen each season were quite flexible.

Happy was a new team. Their rookies were blank pieces of paper. Their chosen maps were practiced from scratch, so it was impossible to predict what maps they would choose. However, Happy wasn't totally comprised of rookies. Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, and Fang Rui were very experienced pro players. Each of them had maps with which they were familiar and adept with.

Directly choosing familiar maps and then teaching their rookies to learn these seemed to be the simplest method. When Team Hundred Blossoms prepared for this match, they had followed this line of thought to predict which maps Happy would choose.

But then, it turned out that the map chosen was Broken River.

Let alone pro players, even most of the crowd would be familiar with this map. This was a well-known common map in Glory. In the Glory Arena, from 2v2s to 10v10s, Broken River was an extremely popular map, to the extent that many players might be unfamiliar with every map except this one.

To put it bluntly, this map could be considered as home map for anyone. This type of map generally wouldn't appear in a pro match because the home game advantage came from which maps were chosen. Choosing this type of map was equivalent to giving up on this advantage.

Too many people understood this logic. When this match officially started and the teams loaded into Broken River, all sorts of discussion was happening in the crowd. During the Thunderclap versus Void broadcast, Pan Lin didn't disappoint and interjected with this piece of news. Pan Lin even chatted about Happy's choice with Li Yibo for a bit, forcing Li Yibo to chime in with his opinions on it. On stage, Thunderclap and Void were fighting intensely…

Happy and Hundred Blossoms were also fighting.

Happy walked along the main road, while Hundred Blossoms walked along the longer broken-off riverside. Since Happy didn't see Hundred Blossoms on the main road, Happy knew that Hundred Blossoms had taken a roundabout path.

But which path did Hundred Blossoms take?

The crowd with the omniscient view knew, but Happy didn't know.

At this moment, the Assassin Cold Seasons appeared from the stone forest, but after seeing Happy, he immediately went back.

The viewers had noticed that Hundred Blossoms was hiding in the stone forest for an ambush, but wasn't this type of bait too low-level?

However, Happy's five players really did just run towards where Cold Seasons appeared and then disappeared. The crowd suddenly started becoming worried. Chasing as soon as they saw someone, wasn't that something only an amateur would do? How could pros do the same?

Then, they saw Hundred Blossoms adjusting their positions.

Pros shouldn't be like this. The viewers knew, and Hundred Blossoms knew even better, so they were mainly aiming to defend against any back attacks.

Happy didn't circle around behind them, but that didn't mean Happy had beaten Hundred Blossoms at their own game. Hundred Blossoms may be protecting themselves against any back attacks, but that didn't mean they would neglect their frontside either. Their formation could instantly adapt. The viewers could see that. Everyone was too familiar with this map. Hundred Blossoms preparing an ambush at this spot was a choice that covered every option.

With both the front and back covered, Hundred Blossoms waited for Happy to arrive.

Happy reached right outside their range. Everyone in the crowd was sweating wildly in worry, but then, they stopped.

Hundred Blossoms watched speechlessly as a Goblin waddled its way over to them from the outside…

Happy did not have a Summoner right now, but a summon could still be sent in because Happy had an unspecialized, Lord Grim.

Hundred Blossoms watched stupidly as this weak summon walked in alone. It obviously wasn't a threat, but a summon's bravery was laudable. As soon as it saw a target, the Goblin immediately waved its club and charged at its target. The Goblin even threw a rock towards its target: Assassin, Cold Seasons.

Rock Throw was the Goblin's skill, but don't underestimate this simple and crude attack; it had a 20% chance of stunning the target. Just for this 20% stun chance, a Battle Mage or an Elementalist or a Witch bringing along a Goblin wasn't surprising.

But then again, this Rock Throw's speed was very slow. Hitting a target in a chaotic battle was possible, but in this current situation, if the rock hit its target out in the open without any setup, it would be very shameful.

Zhou Guangyi's Cold Seasons easily dodged it. The Goblin waddled over to Cold Seasons and then was killed in a few hits. Soon afterwards, another Goblin walked over.

Two Goblins couldn't be out at one time, but after a summon died, the summoner would receive a notification. As a result, once Cold Seasons killed off the Goblin, Ye Xiu summoned another one, which came right back in.

"What is he doing?" In Hundred Blossoms's channel, the Cleric Mo Chuchen was unable to hold back.

"Focus," Yu Feng said. He felt like this sort of confusing trick was to distract them. That was what he thought, but he didn't say it with certainty in the channel. In reality, he was also very confused. What is he doing?

When the second Goblin came in, Hundred Blossoms's formation didn't change. As a result, this Goblin once again targeted Cold Seasons. It ran at him and then was killed after a few hits.

The third Goblin came in.

Hundred Blossoms was being driven mad, but they also understood. This Goblin was sending them a message: Don't be naive. We're not going to run in.

If Hundred Blossoms didn't come out and Happy didn't go in, what would the result be?

This question was rather difficult to answer. The tactics involved in a team competition were far more complex than the tactics involved in an individual competition. Mo Fan could quickly be sent out with two yellow cards into a red, but in the team competition, if a stalemate appeared, the referee would need to carefully ponder over it. Even though referees had undeniable authority in their decision, after the match, the referee's decision could be judged to see if it was reasonable, especially for a particularly difficult decision. It was a situation no referee wanted to encounter.

However, the referee for this match was clear-headed.

Because this match wasn't in a stalemate. Three Goblins might have walked in, but Happy's other players were moving. Su Mucheng, Fang Rui, Qiao Yifan, and An Wenyi were circling around to the back.

Yu Feng's initial judgement had been correct. This deliberately confusing move was to distract them and create a diversion.

However, Hundred Blossoms wouldn't be so distracted that they wouldn't notice what was happening behind them, no? They were feeling a bit restless, but their formation hadn't slackened. No matter which way they were attacked, even if it was a pincer, they would still have the advantage.

At this point, Lord Grim had summoned a total of five Goblins now. Ye Xiu was also talking with the enemy team in the public chat.

"How many has it been so far?" Ye Xiu asked.

"5…" Yu Feng replied, unable to say anything else.

"How many do you plan on going until?" Ye Xiu asked.

"…"

If they went out now, they might be the ones caught in the enemy formation. Team Hundred Blossoms pondered over what to do. Should they go out? Happy didn't seem to dare charge in, but at the same time, if they kept up this stalemate, the referee would eventually intervene sooner or later. What would the referee rule? There was clearly an ambush lying in wait. Forcing Happy to charge in was unreasonable. However, Happy was defending the entrance. Forcing Hundred Blossoms to come out wasn't reasonable either.

At this moment, Hundred Blossoms deeply felt the referee's troubles.

"Maybe he'll reset the match?" Zou Yuan said.

With neither side being an easy decision, resetting the match to resolve a stalemate had occurred before.

"Wait for a reset?" Zhou Guangyi said as he killed off the fifth Goblin. He didn't like this type of stalemate. In fact, he didn't even like setting up this ambush even though he was an Assassin.

The final decision came down to their captain Yu Feng. As he pondered… a sixth Goblin had waddled in. Everyone was already getting numb to it.

"I think…" Zhou Guangyi was about to type out his opinion, when he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye. Then, he saw three Anti-Tank Missiles shooting towards him at a speed far faster than that waddling Goblin.

Zhou Guangyi didn't have time to type. He immediately rolled. The three Anti-Tank Missiles exploded at where he just escaped. It wasn't until the explosion did the other four suddenly snap back to the battle.

All of them turned to the front, looking for signs of the enemy. For a moment, they had forgotten about their responsibilities because of this sudden attack.

Opportunity was just an instant.

From behind Hundred Blossoms, four of Happy's players charged in.

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