September 25th, Sunday, is the day of the GOG Global Invitational Finals.
Two domestic teams, H4 and EK Club, successfully met in the finals!
SUG had originally been the favorite to win the championship, but after a grueling five-game battle in the semifinals against EK Club, led by Jiang Huan, they sadly lost and exited the championship race.
This match was completed the day before yesterday. SUG’s overall strength was much stronger than EK’s, but Jiang Huan turned the tide from the top lane, forcibly carrying all five games with his extremely delicate operations and calm decision-making, winning countless fans and making the live audience boil with excitement.
H4 Club, meanwhile, had unsurprisingly won their semifinal match 3-0 against FRY, the only remaining foreign team, advancing to the finals.
H4 and FRY, these two veteran clubs, could be considered old rivals. They played against each other in the opening ceremony of this Global Invitational, where they had gone back and forth, locked in an intense struggle.
FRY, due to their group placement, had climbed to the final four by stepping over the corpses of other foreign teams. They could be called the strongest foreign team at present, so many spectators didn’t dare to underestimate their strength.
Everyone had expected an evenly matched game, but surprisingly, H4 Club ended the battle with a clean and neat 3-0.
Although they missed out on seeing two more games, the audience still found it extremely satisfying. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a domestic team decisively crush a foreign team?
Many people also noticed during the matches that these domestic teams seemed to be continuing to grow!
When H4 Club faced FRY in the group stage, they had seemed somewhat uncomfortable in the tournament environment, a bit timid, missing many opportunities.
But when they met again in the semifinals, H4 played much more decisively. Combined with their lineup, tactical choices, and team coordination, FRY Club seemed to have trouble dealing with them.
The club managers knew the inside story.
During the world tournament, these domestic teams had been using various opportunities to play training matches together, improving and progressing together!
In short, Jiang Huan, the captain of DGE’s first team, and Huang Wang, the captain of the second team, successfully met in the finals!
On various streaming platforms, the heat of the GOG Global Invitational finals directly broke records, even causing many streaming platforms to crash and freeze, forcing them to urgently purchase additional bandwidth.
As for the live venue, tickets had long been sold out. Even the newly opened Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 Esports Life Halls were surrounded by players crowding outside to watch.
In short, the popularity of the GOG Global Invitational reached its peak with the arrival of the grand finals!
Many people had predicted the outcome of this match, mainly based on three games:
EK 3:2 SUG
H4 3:0 FRY
SUG 3:1 FRY
The SUG and FRY match was played yesterday, with SUG taking third place. Although the results showed that SUG’s strength was also clearly higher than FRY’s, it was still a 3:1.
So, most people felt that in today’s finals, EK and H4 Clubs’ strength should be very close!
Moreover, Huang Wang and Jiang Huan, the two original DGE captains, successfully meeting in the finals, generated even more heat for DGE Club.
…
Pei Qian sat in the audience wearing a black mask. Seeing that no one around was paying attention to him, he dared to lift the black mask from below and slip in the straw to secretly take a few sips of his drink.
The day before yesterday, Pei Qian had accidentally encountered He An at Slackin’ Internet Café and finally managed to calm him down without exposing himself.
Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, Pei Qian had been sitting at Slackin’ Internet Café, where about a dozen people had approached him for photos and autographs.
Everyone treated Pei Qian as Mr. Pei’s actor, so after taking photos they didn’t bother him further.
Pei Qian felt this situation was acceptable, which was why he decided to come watch the finals today.
However, considering that almost everyone at the match venue was a Tenda fan and it would be almost impossible not to be recognized, Pei Qian still wore a mask to greatly reduce the risk of being discovered.
Soon, the two commentators at the commentary desk began analyzing the matchup and warming up the audience for the match. The big screen started playing promotional videos.
The match officially began!
The live audience cheered for both teams according to the rules they had agreed upon earlier.
“EK, go for it!”
“H4, go for it!”
“DGE, GO FOR IT!!!”
After cheering for each side, the entire audience suddenly shouted “DGE” together, and the sound was even louder than before.
Pei Qian: “…”
What the hell!
Not only that, but the director’s camera very thoughtfully showed the support signs held by the front-row audience. There were support signs for both EK and H4 Clubs, but the most numerous were still for DGE.
“Huang Wang: Boxer, beating you down online!”
“Jiang Huan: There’s nothing that skilled operations can’t solve; if there is, then just operate harder!”
“Hello? DGE players, stop carrying!”
“Our DGE is invincible!”
“DGE, GOG Global Invitational’s only designated champion!”
“GOG Global Finals < DGE Club internal competition!”
After seeing these signs captured on the big screen, Pei Qian felt desperate.
DGE Club had completely blown up, and there was no stopping it now!
Pei Qian felt helpless and could only continuously comfort himself. It’s okay, the players have already been sold. As long as the future recruits can’t deliver such dominant performances, as long as other clubs’ players also all train to become muscle men, DGE Club will no longer be famous…
…
The finals were extremely intense, with both sides going back and forth, and the cheers from the live audience grew louder with each wave.
Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling sat below watching the match, also very engrossed.
Although Coach Yaling couldn’t understand GOG, these players were all trained by her, so she had a special emotional connection and came to the venue.
Though she couldn’t quite understand what was happening on the big screen, hearing the cheers from the live audience still made her feel a surge of emotion, fully experiencing the excitement of esports competitions.
“How is it that I completely don’t understand but still watch with great interest?”
“If I could understand it, it would be especially exciting, right?” Coach Yaling’s expression revealed longing.
Zhang Yuan nodded: “Yes, they’re playing very well. However, not all esports competitions can have this kind of program effect. Mr. Pei’s planning is very important in this!”
Coach Yaling was a bit surprised, and after a moment’s pause, she whispered: “What? Did Mr. Pei arrange a fixed match?”
Zhang Yuan was both amused and exasperated: “How could that be possible!”
“Mr. Pei would never engage in fraud. He used more sophisticated, more natural methods!”
“Actually, at first, I was just managing the DGE Club as an ordinary club. But clearly, Mr. Pei’s considerations were much more far-sighted than mine. He treated DGE Club as a talent training base for the entire GOG domestic league, making it a benchmark and model for all clubs!”
“In many cases, capital is blind and disorderly. You can’t expect capital to maintain the order of the entire league. To guide the league to get on track faster, Mr. Pei used this method of leading by example!”
“First, he concentrated his energy to train two strong teams like DGE, beating all domestic clubs, letting them understand that ‘times have changed’;”
“Then, he split up all the players, filling in the shortcomings of these clubs while using the awareness cultivated by the players to quickly improve the competitive level of all clubs in the short term.”
“This way, not only did he establish the strength dominance of domestic teams over foreign teams, but he also made the strength of domestic teams more balanced.”
“The former ensures that domestic teams crush foreign teams in strength, stimulating domestic players’ sense of pride; the latter ensures that the two teams in the finals are close in strength, going back and forth, playing out brilliant matches.”
“With all this done, how could the watchability of the matches not be good?”
“It seems that when I became the best employee and wanted to establish an esports club, Mr. Pei had already calculated this point. He not only solved the profit and publicity problems of DGE Club and Tuoguan Fitness, but also established a good competitive ecosystem for the GOG game, truly killing multiple birds with one stone!”
Li Yaling listened and nodded frequently.
Although she didn’t quite understand the specifics, knowing “Mr. Pei is awesome” was enough!
…
Both sides fought with all their might through five grueling games. Huang Wang and Jiang Huan took turns carrying, but in the end, H4 Club’s overall strength was slightly better, and they successfully took the championship.
Although Jiang Huan performed perfectly in all five games, EK’s coordination was slightly inferior to H4’s, and they regrettably lost.
But Jiang Huan’s performance had already conquered players worldwide. In many people’s hearts, he was already the strongest top lane player!
H4 Club stood up and shook hands with each of EK Club’s players.
Huang Wang and Jiang Huan embraced: “Although beating you feels great, I have to admit, you’re still a bit stronger.”
Jiang Huan smiled slightly: “It doesn’t matter, it’s all the same.”
“No matter which of us wins the championship, the championship belongs to DGE!”
Huang Wang nodded excitedly: “Exactly!”
Brilliant sparks shot out from beneath the stage, and golden rain fell from above. H4 Club’s players jubilantly rushed toward the championship trophy at the center of the stage, greeted by a coral sea wave of applause and cheers.
H4’s jungler Pang Ling excitedly rushed to the trophy, gripped the waist of the trophy with both hands, trying to lift it.
However, an embarrassing scene occurred—the trophy didn’t move an inch!
This left Pang Ling puzzled. Was this trophy welded to the presentation platform? Otherwise, how could it not move at all?
Huang Wang chuckled: “Weakling.”
He gripped the slim waist of the trophy, his arm muscles bulging, and directly lifted it over his head with one hand!
In that instant, countless camera flashes lit up below the stage, recording this historic moment.
Huang Wang’s muscular arm held high the huge, heavy trophy as golden rain slowly floated down from the sky.
Sitting below and seeing this scene, Pei Qian’s head slowly formed a question mark.
?
If he remembered correctly, wasn’t this trophy 28 kilograms?
Nearly 60 pounds!
This was meant for all five of you to lift together, you brainless muscle man!
Pei Qian suddenly had an ominous premonition.
This image of Huang Wang lifting the trophy wouldn’t become a trending topic again, turning into a living advertisement for DGE Club and Tuoguan Fitness, would it?
Even a broken trophy could backstab him???