After getting the medicinal herbs and returning to the base, Ji Siyue immediately took two large cauldrons to decoct them. For a while, the base was filled with an alluring smell, and for the first time during the matches, everyone closed the door.
Thanks to Qingqing, these two kinds of medicine were really effective. After using them for several days, Nangong Qi found that he could use his wrist for a longer time than before, and Ji Siyue also felt that her legs were not as numb.
Of course, these were just short - term effects. The real outcome would depend on the long - term effects.
In the two - month period, from the AB group stage to the 11 - to - 8 round, they had played four rounds of matches. They only lost the first round, and won the remaining three rounds. Now they were ranked first in Group B in terms of points.
Even so, there were still many people on the Internet mocking them, saying that GH could beat anyone but Junchen.
The best way to respond to these doubts was to prove themselves with strength again.
Tomorrow was the 11 - to - 8 match. Before the start of the match, Ji Siyue was having a routine pre - match conversation with her teammates.
"According to our competition system, after the 11 - to - 8 round, there will be an internal duel. The AB groups will have two rounds of competition to select a total of four teams to enter the semi - finals. In this 11 - to - 8 match, our opponent is Minghe from Group A. The core of Minghe is Breeze. We've all had contact with this person before, so you should know that the overall strength of this team is not that strong. The core output is Breeze. Their lineup is always four - protecting - one in every match. This kind of lineup has great drawbacks. Among the two or three teams to be eliminated in each round, Minghe is just ranked third from the bottom. So this time they may go all out and use their trump cards. Although we're good at dealing with four - protecting - one lineups, we still need to be cautious in this match. I've collected some of their match videos in the past two days. You can take a look first to get familiar with their playing style and the habits of their attack points."
Ji Siyue found all the match videos of Minghe on the official website, selected some useful ones, and played them.
The first ones were the live - recorded videos of their matches. Each small frame showed a face. In critical moments of the match, others might panic, but only Breeze remained calm. Instead, he would quickly calm himself down and find a solution in the shortest time to help the team overcome the crisis.
Then came the highlights of their matches. To be honest, there were really few outstanding moments. In most cases, they were struggling hard and finally ranked 9th in Group A.
After watching the more than one - hour video, Ji Siyue stood up again and said to the others, "After watching these match videos, do you have any thoughts?"
Nangong Qi raised his hand.
Ji Siyue tilted her chin slightly and said, "Go ahead."
Nangong Qi: "I know this might sound a bit hurtful, but except for Breeze, the other players in this team really don't have any outstanding performances."
Ji Siyue: "Their operations may not be as good as others, but this team knows its own strength. So far, the only player they can rely on is Breeze. That's why their four - protecting - one lineup makes them the most united team in the league. Even though their current ranking is far behind ours, we still can't underestimate them. Before the match starts, I'd like to ask you, do you have any non - traditional methods to deal with this traditional four - protecting - one team?"
Minghe had reached this stage with just one lineup, which proved that their traditional four - protecting - one lineup had its own strength. If they used traditional methods to deal with it, they might not win so easily.
Facing such an opponent, they could only use non - traditional methods.
Xingxing raised her hand and said, "We can mess with their mentality, just like we did to me before. If a person is the irreplaceable core of a team, messing with his mentality a couple of times will surely make the team fall apart."
Ji Siyue nodded and said, "I showed you their live - recorded camera at first. You all saw that no matter how panicked the other four teammates were, Breeze was as steady as an old hand. He would stay calm until the opponent made a move. So facing such a lineup, we need to find another way."
The others were silent for a while. At this time, Qin Chengyao raised his hand and said, "I suddenly realized that there doesn't seem to be a decent four - protecting - one lineup in our team. Maybe we've practiced too many lineups before the match and just ignored this most complete and useful lineup. So I suggest that when facing Minghe, we can try the four - protecting - one lineup. Even if we lose, we won't be eliminated, and they can still enter the finals."
Ji Siyue nodded and said, "This is exactly what I was thinking. But when I ask you to use the four - protecting - one lineup, I want you to aim for victory. Do you all agree? If you do, raise your hands."
Everyone raised their hands, except for Landu.
Landu: "I think we should just play normally. If we use the four - protecting - one lineup to defeat the opponent, the following matches may become much more difficult."
"We met the strongest team in the league at the very beginning. What else do we have to be afraid of?"
The in - team vote was 6:1. Even if Landu was not willing, he had to follow the teammates' ideas.
With only five days left, it was not that easy to practice a four - protecting - one lineup stronger than Minghe's. At least their previous lineups were more traditional.
Ji Siyue had been thinking in the past two days whether they could use a summoner as the output of the lineup, and the other four could choose output - type assassins. It didn't have to be four tanks protecting a fragile character. They could also use four tanks to continuously attack the opponents. If they could hold back four of them, then the remaining one might have a chance to fight Breeze one - on - one.
They could at least try it for one round. If it didn't work, they could then choose the traditional four - protecting - one lineup.
After coming up with this idea, Ji Siyue immediately told her teammates about it and got their unanimous approval.
After a preliminary discussion, they determined the preliminary lineup. Naturally, the responsibility of the core warlock fell on Landu, who was the most proficient in the spell - based system in the team.