Chapter 174 – Canglan VS Cheetah (Unexpected Selection)

The week passed quickly and it was time for the match between Canglan and Cheetah.

After experiencing three losses, Canglan’s popularity dropped severely. Many reporters weren’t optimistic about them. Some reporters even speculated that their initial wins were because many teams didn’t know much about the new team. Now the new team halo had passed and they lost three games. This showed that Canglan couldn’t enter the playoffs.

Of course, there were reporters who firmly stood on the side of the Canglan team, writing detailed reports on the three losses. They were optimistic about the growth of the newcomers and insisted that Canglan would win the championship this season.

Regardless of the outside world’s evaluation, Li Cangyu’s attitude was as calm as usual. He rarely appeared in Weibo, showing an attitude of ‘only playing the game without caring about the outside world.’

This time the match between Canglan and Cheetah was scheduled at 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon. The number of spectators were higher in the afternoon and the audience rating of the broadcast was slightly higher at 80%.

The Cheetah team’s leopard pattern uniform was very distinctive. Their logo was a vigorously running leopard and the whole team seemed imposing as they entered the soundproof room in their uniforms.

This was Canglan’s home court and many fans were wearing the Canglan uniform to cheer for them. Li Cangyu waved to everyone before taking the players to the soundproof room.

In the commentators’ room, Yu Bing compiled the information of the two teams and started with a simple introduction of the players. “Audience members, this is the sixth week of the seventh season. It it the Canglan team’s home match against the Cheetah team. Let’s look at the information of both sides.”

The audience were very familiar with the eight people of Canglan but many faces in the Cheetah team were new.

Kou Hongyi enthusiastically introduced them. “Cheetah’s captain Jiang Xu is 21 years old and a well-known elf hunter in the Miracle League. The vice-captain Chen Anran is a terran hunter and the winner of last year’s Most Promising Rookie Award. He is only 16 years old and became the vice-captain this season. He is the youngest vice-captain in the league.”

Yu Bing continued, “Xiao Chen is a very talented player. He is especially distinctive among the newcomers who joined the league in recent years. Becoming a vice-captain at the age of 16, this is also the first case in the history of the Miracle League.”

“Yes, he is really young and promising.” Kou Hongyi praised. “He isn’t as sharp as some newcomers and his personality is more introverted. It is said that he is very shy and he hides behind his teammates when asked a question by reporters.”

Yu Bing had seen the scene of Chen Anran shrinking back to avoid the reporters and couldn’t help smiling a bit. “Well, he is young and probably isn’t used to being surrounded by reporters.”

“For the rest of the eight Cheetah players, there is a necessary front row paladin and back row healer. The remaining six players are four hunters, one assassin and one swordsman.” Kou Hongyi turned the topic back to the lineup of the team. “This team is dominated by hunters and uses the trap flow system that the rest of the league teams can’t replicate.”

Yu Bing nodded. “The trap flow requires a suitable map and isn’t stable enough. Therefore, the Cheetah team’s winning rate at home is high. It is over 70%. However, the winning rate at away matches is less than 30%.”

“It is because the captains of other teams will make targeted arrangements against Cheetah. For example, if there isn’t a suitable map then it will be hard for the Cheetah team’s hunters to win against the explosive combination of swordsmen and magicians.” Kou Hongyi glanced at the game data and said, “Last week, Cheetah won 2:1 against Red Fox at home. This week I think the Cheetah team’s winning percentage isn’t large. After all, Cat God can choose three arena games or select a difficult map. Sister Bing, what do you think?”

Yu Bing calmly answered, “It isn’t necessarily the case. I can’t guess Cat God’s tactical thinking.”

***

In the soundproof room, both teams quickly debugged their equipment. After the referee gave the signal, Li Cangyu submitted the mode for today’s match.

Three team battles?

The audience’s eyes widened with surprise and even Yu Bing was speechless.

Everyone knew that Cheetah was strong in team battles. Once the four hunters joined forces, they would set down many traps. They would often send three hunters plus an assassin or swordsman and use the hunter’s traps to fight the opponent. Then the assassin/swordsman would finish off the harvest.

Canglan’s chances of winning in the arena were very high. There was the Shu Bai combination and Cat God and his apprentice combination. There was no need to be afraid of double hunters. Why did Li Cangyu choose three team battles?

Many people on Weibo wrote: [Cat God, why do you want do die? What are you thinking?] [Does Cat God want the achievement of four continuous losses?] [Cat God’s mind isn’t something that stupid humans can understand…]

The comments exploded when Li Cangyu submitted the lineup for the first team battle.

Gu Siming, Xiao Han, Xie Shurong, Bai Xuan, Zhuo Hang and Zhang Jueming.

Li Xiaojiang not playing was in line with everyone’s expectations but Li Cangyu wasn’t playing. This made many viewers who came to watch the game disappointed. The professional players watching on TV couldn’t help feeling admiration. Cat God was giving an opportunity to Old Zhang!

After submitting the list, Li Cangyu walked calmly back to his seat. The Cheetah team submitted the classic trap flow lineup of a paladin, a healer and four hunters.

Now it was up to his teammates. Li Cangyu believed that after this week’s devil training, Zhuo Hang and Zhang Jueming could impress everyone!

***

The command of the game was given to Zhang Jueming. After the six players sat down, the indicator light turned on at Zhang Jueming’s seat. The referee opened the command channel and Zhang Jueming skillfully moved the mouse to select a map.

The map he chose was the Beast Tribe.

It was obvious by the name but this was the land of beasts. In Miracle, the beast race always lived in ancient forests. The forests were full of dense and towering trees with various animals in the forest. The Beast Tribe map had dense trees and dim lighting.

This map wasn’t high in difficulty compared to the kill map of Endless Sea or the deceleration map of Ice Valley. There was no map effect and it could be regarded as a conventional mountain forest map. However, the dense trees was the highest among all mountain forest maps.

Yu Bing summed it up in one sentence. “This is the Cheetah team’s most commonly used map.”

There was no expression on her face but she was clearly shocked by Cat God’s decisions.

It was a home match but he chose the other team’s favourite map!

Kou Hongyi was silent for a moment before he touched his nose. “Canglan actually chose the map that the Cheetah team loves the most. I really can’t understand this decision. Is it to train the newcomers? Is there a need to fight like this? If they lost another game then the playoffs will be in danger. Canglan’s current ranking is worrying.”

Yu Bing was also silent for a moment until the two teams refreshed on the map. “Let’s pay attention to the performance of both sides. Perhaps there is a special intention behind choosing the Beast Tribe map?”

Li Cangyu sat under the stage and smiled. This smile made many audience members guess that Cat God had a special trick.

Ling Xuefeng frowned slightly in front of the TV. This extreme practice was truly bloody. He guessed that Li Cangyu wanted to test Zhuo Hang and deliberately chose a map that was beneficial to the opponents.

However, Ling Xuefeng believed that Li Cangyu wouldn’t be bold enough to choose Beast Tribe three times. The audience guessed wrong. The first game was just an appetizer while the true focus would be the last two games!