The gratitude and resentment between FTW and 3U could also be said to be endless.
When FTW was in its heyday, 3U hadn’t been established for long. That year, the entire China competition zone was looking up to FTW. Not to mention chasing after them, just looking at them a few times made people’s eyes painfully dazzled.
At the time, 3U’s management had been extremely envious of FTW’s Team of Gods and had vowed to build a new dream team.
They smashed a lot of money into this endeavor and bought in many foreign players, yet their results were terrible, and it had only made them shaky and unstable.
In the same year, FTW’s Team of Gods disbanded, and FTW’s foundations became as shaky as sand. Their situation was comparable with the 3U that had caused all of their own problems.
At the time, the two bases had been situated close to each other, and they’d often arranged training competitions together, working hard to climb up together.
Unfortunately, FTW held on, but 3U’s management lost everything and ran off.
Later on, someone took over 3U and made a new plan. They looked for two years and finally dug up a big treasure in 2020.
That treasure was Asleep.
It was also from 2020 that 3U was gradually able to stand up again.
3U had learned to be scared of being poor. They had finally obtained a trump card and desperately tried to squeeze out his value. Asleep was a person who didn’t care about worldly affairs, and at the time, many people worried that this child would be gnawed to the bone by the capitalists.
Unexpectedly, his low-key childhood friend, who’d entered the team with him at the same time, was very clever.
Although he was only 19 years old, he was able suppress the stupid and impetuous 3U management team completely with just his EQ and brain.
Asleep was indeed easy to bully, but with Cong Yi blocking everything in front of him, one would have to ask Cong Yi for permission first before bullying Asleep.
In 2021, FTW wasn’t the only team that looked hopeful.
Having had one year of experience in the competitive arena, Asleep and the stable 3U were now equally ambitious!
The foreign fans might not be very interested in FTW vs 3U, but the fans in China were definitely happy.
There was only a one hour time difference between Group A’s training camp location and China. The live time for this training match couldn’t be any better. Traffic hurtled up in a sharp peak, and it wasn’t worse than the traffic for an official game.
Moreover, out of the 18 teams attending the training, FTW and 3U were actually the first to have a training match. This achievement only proved that the China competition zone was killing it this year!
They were very familiar with each other. The BP process didn’t require much thought. Chen Feng was very familiar with 3U and easily broke up some of their routine lineups.
He didn’t target Asleep because it wouldn’t have much of an impact: They both had junglers as their cores. Coming up against Close was nothing but a nightmare for other teams.
The 3U coach was equally direct. They went the usual route and only focused on targeting Close.
Are you saying that he couldn’t be targeted?
They had to do it even if it was impossible!
Although ‘nightmare mode’ and ‘hell mode’ was almost the same, who would want to go to hell if they could simply have nightmares?!
Finally, the line-up was determined.
The FTW side was very conventional: divine warrior, berserker thief, earth mage, light priest, storm hunter.
3U’s side was pretty good, too: blood warrior, hidden thief, immortal warlock, elemental shaman, raider.
In comparison, FTW was more focused around their jungler core. Basically, all talents would be cooperating with the berserker thief. In order to free up Bai Cai to follow the berserker thief, Yue Wenle had taken the storm hunter that was able to protect itself.
3U’s side was more balanced. The blood warrior was a little less tanky compared to the divine warrior, but its damage was higher, and it could be used to cut down the earth mage in the later stages. The hidden thief didn’t have the same ability to carry the rhythm of the game compared to the berserker thief, but it had a higher survival rate, and it was a talent spec that restrained the storm hunter. The immortal warlock was a magic assassin (spell damage type assassin), and in the earlier stages, it could go around the enemy’s tower to kill the earth mage once it had its ultimate move.
All in all, the line-ups were well matched, and winning or losing would be based on individual performance.
Because the game was being streamed live, the competition committee had arranged for two commentators.
After the commentators made a whole pile of meaningless chatter about the line-ups and their problems, they began to discuss the contestants.
“FTW’s odds of winning are a little higher. We’ve all seen Close’s berserker thief in the arena.”
“It’s hard to say. Asleep killed Close many times last year!”
“The player Asleep is indeed capable. Especially when paired with his support partner Cong Yi, it’s definitely a combination where one plus one equals more than two.”
After saying this, there was a scrolling comment that stabbed where it hurt, “While FTW’s side is just one plus one equals one.”
It could be seen that this was one of Bai Cai’s haters with a glance, ridiculing the way that Bai Cai didn’t take the initiative, didn’t step out of line, and didn’t make mistakes, but definitely also didn’t add anything to the game.
The canyon was projected up onto the big screen, and everyone’s gazes were drawn to it.
The start of the game wasn’t smooth. The hidden thief came over to steal into FTW’s jungle. At this time, Close was in the jungle area near the top lane, and Bai Cai was keeping watch near the river.
The scrolling comments started up again, “Brother Cai, ah, Brother Cai, you won’t die, but if you want to preempt others, holy shit…”
Just when everyone thought that Asleep would be successful in stealing the jungle creeps, Bai Cai, who usually walked a standard route, took his mid-laner with him and went down to the jungle area.
“Did the God of Wealth wake up?”
God of Wealth – refers to Bai Cai
“He moved! FTW’s number one lazy person took the initiative to attack!”
From a God’s eye view, they could see Bai Cai lead Ning Zhehan into their own jungle area, and Close clicked on teleport after they opened up the team’s vision of the area.
It could be seen that they were about to capture Asleep and Cong Yi between them…
Asleep was indeed fierce, fierce and powerful. He concealed his whereabouts and accurately used a W skill to hold down the other side’s mage.
The earth mage, who’d only just reached level 2, had no self-protection skills. At the end of the day, Ning Zhehan wasn’t experienced enough. He panicked because his life was at stake!
Fortunately, Asleep hadn’t stacked his damage high enough yet and couldn’t take away Ning Zhehan’s life with just a set of skills. He was left with a sliver of health.
In shock, Ning Zhehan only wanted to retreat.
By this time, Close had already finished the teleportation. His scythe was very accurate and locked onto Asleep.
At this moment…
At this second…
At this instant…
The scrolling comments exploded, “Hahahaha, hurry and look at our Cong Yi!”
“Damn, he ran really fast!”
“The Pajamas CP is cracking apart!”
“God Yi, we agreed that you guys are inseparable regardless of life and death! Why did you leave my Brother Sleep behind and run off!”
Indeed, the ‘Pajamas CP’ that acted like conjoined twins had flown in separate directions when faced with difficulties. Cong Yi used the speed increase totem on himself and ran away faster than a rabbit. With this kind of attitude of selling off their teammates, those who watched were taken by surprise and thought that 3U’s jungler and support had broken off their friendship!
Of course, the commentators were very fair, “3U’s choice was correct in this wave.”
“Asleep will definitely die. Cong Yi would simply be offering up another kill if he stayed, so it’s better to leave quickly.”
“Also…”
They saw Asleep throw a dart at the earth mage who was at critical health.
Amazing! He managed to kill Ning Zhehan in return one second before the berserker thief took his head.
Commentator: “It’s not a loss!”
“Great move! Asleep took First Blood!”
Right. Because Asleep killed Ning Zhehan first, he took First Blood. First Blood came with an added farming bonus, so even if Close killed him, he would still surpass Close in terms of farming.
In the early stages of the game, the resurrection time was very short. For Asleep, this was equivalent to being sent home to recover his health for free.
“3U is really capable.”
“Asleep and Cong Yi are really worthy of being in the top four for last year’s doubles competition. Their cooperation is absolute!”
Regardless of whether it was Cong Yi’s quick escape while selling out of his teammate, or Asleep’s dart just before death, these plays were all extremely stable.
Making the best choice without being anxious or flustered was the best display of a professional player’s quality.
On the other hand, the newcomer king Ning Zhehan was still too young and inexperienced.
In FTW’s headset, Ning Zhehan’s voice trembled, “Sorry.”
Lu Feng: “It’s fine.”
Ning Zhehan became even more nervous when he said that.
On the top lane, Wei Xiao had constantly been exchanging health with 3U’s top-laner. He was unable to help out during this small-scale group fight.
As someone who hadn’t participated, there wasn’t anything to say.
He was busy suppressing 3U in the top lane, and it seemed as though someone was missing from the team.
Ning Zhehan didn’t know why, but he felt even more nervous.
The earth mage was a hero that he was very familiar with, and he used it often. This hero was one that tended towards support in the mid-lane. It could be used for its control skills in the early stages and dealt a large amount of damage in the later stages.
However, he’d…
In the early stages, he’d simply been unable to control the hidden thief.
Asleep seemed to be like a wolf that had locked in on a piece of meat and targeted Ning Zhehan like his life depended on it.
3U’s immortal warlock used another flight amongst the clouds. After launching a set of skills and flying up into the sky, the short-legged earth mage was left with nowhere to escape.
flight amongst the clouds – skill description
Scrolling comments: “Ning Zhehan plays quite well normally. Why is he so bad when he steps into the arena…”
“At the end of the day, he has no competition experience. His mentality isn’t good. It’s clear that he’s already collapsed.”
“It’s an old problem with FTW. The mid lane and jungler are never able to link up together.”
“Wake up, who isn’t nervous when Close is nearby?”
xiin: quick announcement – GLORY now has a patreon tier! its $5/month for ~5 advance chapters. you can check it out here if you’re interested~
Comments