The five members of Tianhuan handed the signed postcards and bookmarks over to Tang Can.
They didn't need to worry about the rest; Tianhuan Club had its own merchandise store and staff dedicated to merchandise sales who would handle everything.
Ye Shaoyang posted a Weibo message to calm the fans: "The autographs you asked for are all signed. Special signatures will drop randomly, and everyone will get the printed signatures. [Image]"
Fans left comments one after another: "Pat pat, does your hand hurt after signing so many?" "Yangyang's handwriting is super nice, going to buy merch right now!" "Your blessing is 'May all your wishes come true'? My wish is to marry you as my wife, can it come true?"
Ye Shaoyang: "…"
That definitely cannot come true.
These fans were getting more and more mischievous, flooding the comments with "Yangyang is my wife." Ye Shaoyang smiled, left a "I'm going to train" message, and quickly closed Weibo to focus on preparing for the next match with his teammates.
In the fourth week of the third round of the regular season, Tianhuan would face their penultimate opponent in Group S, Team Yueying.
They had faced Yueying in Group A before, so they understood this team fairly well. Since Xie Weiyu had just transferred at that time and hadn't meshed well with top laner Xu Zhuo yet, their team fights were disjointed, and Tianhuan ultimately won 2:1.
Lin Feng called everyone to the conference room and said, "The current Yueying is no longer the team that fell back to Group A. After playing for so long, Xie Weiyu has adjusted his condition very well, and their problem of disjointed team fights has been corrected. We absolutely cannot let our guard down when facing Yueying again."
Coach Lin singled out the small games Tianhuan had lost previously for review.
"Tianhuan has gone from Group B to Group S, always on a winning streak. Currently, our worst result is 2:1, only losing small games but winning the overall match. The small games we lost have something in common. Have you noticed?"
Cheng Xing looked at the video replay on the big screen and spoke up proactively, "We lost one game against Jingzhe and one against Yueying, both because the marksman position was camped and crushed. In those two games, my team fight damage output was less than 35%."
Lin Feng looked at him with relief. "It seems Xiao Xing is aware of it himself. Tianhuan's strongest point has always been Mid-Jungle. I am confident that our Mid-Jungle synergy has reached a world-class level. Even facing Mid-Jungle duos from North America, Europe, or Korea, we have a high chance of winning."
He paused, then changed the subject. "However, our team still has two serious problems. First, Xiao Xing's survival environment is extremely difficult. Opponents know Tianhuan's Mid-Jungle is hard to target, so they will definitely target the marksman crazily. The marksman is also a core damage dealer; if he dies too many times and can't output damage, it's very hard for us to win team fights."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Coach Lin continued, "The second point is that Old Qin's hero pool lacks variety. He always picks tank heroes to protect teammates. In Season 10, Old Qin has barely picked any warrior top laners and has never posed any threat to the opposing carries."
Qin Yizhu admitted readily, "Coach is right. My warrior side lane play indeed isn't that good."
Coach Lin said, "So, if the opponent wants to cut our marksman, their top, jungle, mid, and even marksman can all run over to delete Xiao Xing. But for Tianhuan, we can only rely on Mid-Jungle to delete their carries. In summary, our damage points aren't sufficient. Once Xiao Xing dies before the enemy marksman in a team fight, we are likely to lose."
Ye Shaoyang agreed completely in his heart.
Everyone had realized this problem long ago, but it wasn't something that could be changed in a day or two.
Honestly speaking, as a rookie who just debuted this season, Cheng Xing had previously been smeared by water armies as "the trashiest marksman in the league." Carrying such huge psychological pressure and improving rapidly, he had already done excellently.
It was just that Tianhuan had Ye Shaoyang, this "rookie," who overshadowed Xiao Xing's brilliance.
Other teams' strategies against Tianhuan had shifted from frantically targeting the jungler in the past two years to frantically targeting the marksman this year, because all other coaches knew—Xiao Xing was Tianhuan's weakness.
Everyone understood the logic of picking soft persimmons to squeeze.
Seeing Cheng Xing hanging his head, Ye Shaoyang gently patted his shoulder and said, "Actually, Xiao Xing has improved very fast. We are now confirmed for the Winner's Bracket. For the next two matches, you can let loose and play."
Coach Lin smiled and said, "Shaoyang is right, that's what I meant too. Take a look at the standings first."
He opened the tournament standings on the big screen for everyone to check:
Currently, Tianhuan had 3 consecutive wins (2:1 / 2:0 / 2:0), a net score of 5 points, ranking first in Group S.
Beimu had two 2:1 wins and one 2:0 win, a net score of 4 points, ranking second in Group S.
Undoubtedly, these two teams were securely in the playoffs.
Jingzhe: 2:1 Huowen, 1:2 Tianhuan, 1:2 Beimu. Net score -1.
Yueying: 2:1 Huowen, 1:2 Binghun, 1:2 Beimu. Net score -1.
These two teams had identical results. Who would go to the Winner's Bracket and who to the Loser's Bracket was still unknown. Next, Jingzhe would play Binghun and Yueying. The key would be the result of the Jingzhe vs. Yueying match.
Binghun: 2:1 Yueying, 0:2 Beimu, 0:2 Tianhuan. Net score -3.
Huowen: Lost three consecutive matches, net score -4, ranking bottom.
Theoretically, unless Huowen won two consecutive matches next, they could only go to the Loser's Bracket.
After reading the standings, Ye Shaoyang said, "In the playoffs, Tianhuan will be either first or second. It's just that different rankings mean different opponents."
Coach Lin nodded. "Yes. The first and second places in Group S are between us and Beimu. The competition for third and fourth place is the fiercest. For Tianhuan and Beimu, the wins or losses in the next two weeks won't have much impact, and our two teams won't meet in the first round of the playoffs."
The top four advanced to the playoffs: 1st place vs. 4th place, 2nd place vs. 3rd place. So regardless of who was first or second between Tianhuan and Beimu, it only affected their playoff opponents; the two teams wouldn't meet in the first round.
Seeing this, Cheng Xing finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I really can let loose and play! Even if I die a few more times, it's not scary, right? Anyway, even if we lose, it won't affect our ranking."
Coach Lin said, "Yes, so don't have psychological pressure. Let loose and play to your own level. For next week's match against Yueying, I hope Old Qin can also make some new attempts. Going to the World Tournament later, a top laner who only plays meat shields won't do. We also need to adjust according to the opponent's lineup."
Qin Yizhu nodded seriously. "I understand."
Coach Lin brought out several researched lineups and said, "Yueying's top and marksman are both very strong. So when playing Yueying, our top and bot lanes must pay attention to laning details. Mid-Jungle shouldn't always go to help; let top and bot endure more pressure and adapt to this kind of tournament stress."
He looked at the players and said, "If we can't withstand domestic teams, it will be very easy to collapse at the World Tournament. So, for the next two matches, I hope everyone is prepared to play from behind and withstand the opponent's pressure. We will mainly play defensive counterattacks."
Previously, Tianhuan relied on Mid-Jungle to carry the rhythm, and other teammates had many games where they were carried to victory.
But Coach Lin explicitly said that for the upcoming matches, Mid-Jungle would proactively restrain their edge and let the top and bot lanes practice withstanding pressure. This decision was actually very wise because Tianhuan's weakness hadn't been completely solved. If Old Qin and Xiao Xing continued to be carried, what would happen when they met top-tier international top laners and marksmen at Worlds?
In a 5-man game, they couldn't always rely on Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang to carry everyone.
Instead, everyone had to twist into a single rope; all three lanes needed to withstand pressure and play to their own level.
Only when weaknesses were no longer weaknesses could Tianhuan have a chance to fight for the World Championship on the world stage!
Ye Shaoyang was quite gratified that the coaching staff considered this in advance. If they didn't train troops in the regular season, would they train in the playoffs? Losing in the playoffs meant elimination.
While there was still time, letting Old Qin and Xiao Xing adapt to pressure games as soon as possible would make the playoffs go smoother.
For the next week, Tianhuan played practice matches against the 2nd team, forcing themselves into disadvantages every day.
Coach Lin also scheduled two scrims with Korean teams, also playing from behind. Cheng Xing and Old Qin were constantly surrounded by opponents, and with the jungler and mid laner not coming to help, the two could only find ways to escape.
Every day, they were either escaping or on the way to escape.
Under huge pressure, their mentalities were honed to be calmer and calmer.
Die once? Normal.
Die twice in a row? I can still turn it around!
Cheng Xing's position gradually became tenacious and harder to kill.
Although Old Qin seemed mediocre, having played with Tianhuan for so many years, he also had pride in his bones. Being a pure tank top laner was his characteristic, but it didn't mean he completely couldn't play warrior side lanes!
He just didn't pick warrior sides for the sake of the team.
If he had to pick one, he would risk his life to cut the enemy backline; trading his life for theirs wasn't a loss.
A week passed quickly, and the Tianhuan team flew to Rong City.
Everyone attached great importance to the fourth week of the group stage, especially the fierce competition for the third and fourth Winner's Bracket spots. Jingzhe vs. Binghun, Beimu vs. Huowen—wins and losses would affect the rankings.
The Tianhuan vs. Yueying match also garnered very high attention.
Back in Group A, Tianhuan won 2:1 against Yueying. Now in Group S, would Tianhuan continue to win, or would Yueying successfully get revenge? Before the match even started, opinions online were divided.
Some believed that the current Tianhuan already had the strength to win domestic awards and had a high chance of beating Yueying; others believed that Yueying fell to Group A due to internal synergy issues, and the Yueying that returned to Group S was renewed, so the outcome was hard to say.
In the pre-match prediction channel, 55% guessed Tianhuan would win, and 45% guessed Yueying.
On Saturday night, numerous banners were hung at the match venue. Fans were enthusiastic, and the audience seats were packed.
Ye Shaoyang saw Xie Weiyu backstage and greeted him proactively: "Xiao Yu."
Xie Weiyu smiled shyly. "Yangyang, can you kill me a few less times in today's match?"
Ye Shaoyang said, "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Today I'm specifically killing your Captain Xu."
Xu Zhuo looked innocent. "Targeting me?"
No one would take pre-match jokes seriously.
Both sides got ready, and the first game officially began.
Everyone thought Tianhuan would ban Xie Weiyu's signature hero [Wind Elf], but today, Coach Lin left all top and bot lane heroes open, only casually banning two junglers?
During the pick phase, Xie Weiyu indeed first-picked [Wind Elf].
When it was Tianhuan's turn, Cheng Xing took the marksman [Blood Princess], and Old Qin took the top laner [Vampire Duke].
The on-site commentators were stunned and looked at each other. "Tianhuan's top laner picked a warrior side? [Vampire Duke] needs economy and can only deal damage after farming up! Is Old Qin not taking a meat tank this game?"
This season, Tianhuan often used a Mid-Core + Meat Tank strategy, letting Ye Shaoyang go top to leech experience.
But once a farming warrior was picked for top, the mid laner couldn't go leech experience, or it would affect the teammate's farming speed. Was Tianhuan going to pick a utility mid laner this game?
Sure enough, Tianhuan's third pick selected "Holy Spirit Mage," a utility mid laner.
The commentator said excitedly, "Tianhuan has adjusted their strategy! Warrior top, utility mid, team-fight marksman. The focus of farming is placed on the top and bot lanes!"
"We all know Yueying's top and bot lanes are very strong. Tianhuan is indeed hard-headed!"
"Yeah, this is Team Tianhuan's style in S10. I won't ban your strong heroes, and I'm not afraid. I'll just stubbornly fight you head-on! Even hard bones have to be chewed down, not afraid of chipping teeth."
A wave of laughter erupted from the audience.
Many fans were a bit worried about Tianhuan's choice—Old Qin picked a warrior side, and Yangyang picked utility. Was this relying on Old Qin to deal damage in team fights? Was that reliable?
But the coach of Beimu knew exactly what trick Tianhuan was playing at a glance. He scratched his ear and said, "Tianhuan isn't just being hard-headed; they are preparing in advance to play against us, Beimu!"