Challenger League (S9)

# Challenger League (S9) ## Timeline > 14218 teams had registered for the Challenger League. After eight rounds, only 40 teams remained. > > The ninth round would determine the final 20 teams. These 20 teams would be split into four groups. Each group would have five teams, and these five teams would compete in a round robin style tournament. The two teams in the lead would enter the playoffs. The final winner of the playoffs would be the champions for this season’s Challenger League and they would be the team entering the Pro Alliance.[^1] > Starting from these 20 teams, the Alliance would organize an offline tournament for everyone. These offline tournaments would have some sponsorship support, as well as media broadcasting. Teams that reached this point would have the qualifications to have a share of the profit.[^1] | Date | Round | Source | | ----------- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | December 27 | Ninth Round | “12/27 was the final day of the Christmas event and the ninth round of the Challenger League.”[^1] | ### Offline Portion - “On April 19, Happy boarded a plane to City B, where the Alliance Headquarters was located. In the offline matches, all participating teams would gather together in one place. Food, drink, and living quarters were all complimentary via the Alliance. The accommodations were quite nice.“ (chp. 959) - This is a **Saturday** (chp. 959). | Date | Round | Notes | | -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | April 23, Tuesday | Round 1 (1st offline round) | “On Tuesday 4/23, the offline tournament finally began.” (chp. 965) “There weren't any opening ceremonies. The league's chairman [[Feng Xianjun\|Feng Xianjun]] personally came and announced the start of the tournament.” (chp. 965) “Team Happy managed to pick an empty slot for the first round, but they still came.” (chp. 965) - [[Excellent Era\|Excellent Era]] defeat their opposition 10:0 (chp. 965) - [[Team Trader]] vs. [[Team Ten Steps One Kill]] (chp. 965); Team Ten Steps One Kill gain 7 points (chp. 965); Team Trader gets 3 points (chp. 965). - [[Team Mysterious Fantasy]] vs. [[Team Cloud View Pavillion]] (chp. 965); Team Mysterious Fantasy gain 7 points (chp. 965); Team Cloud View Pavillion get 1 point. | | \[April 26], Friday | Round 2 | “Eight o'clock, the second round of the offline portion of the Challenger League began. Team Happy's opponent was Team Ten Steps One Kill.” (chp. 966) - [[Team Cloud View Pavillion]] rests - [[Team Happy\|Team Happy]] vs. [[Team Ten Steps One Kill]] - [[Team Mysterious Fantasy]] vs. [[Team Trader]] (chp. 965) - [[Luo Ji]] plays in the first [[Individual Competition]] round (chp. 966) | | \[April 30, Tuesday] | Round 3 | | | \[May 3], Friday | Round 4 | “Team Happy versus Team Cloud Viewing Pavilion, Team Mysterious Fantasy versus Team Trader, Team Ten Steps One Kill versus no team.” (chp. 969) | | \[May 7, Tuesday] | Round 5 | | | \[May 10], Friday | Round 6? Final Round (of this stage) | "It's the last round! Keep working hard, everyone!" (chp. 970) - [[Mo Fan\|Mo Fan]] plays for the first time (chp. 970) | ### Finals | | | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | \[May 17 ?], Friday | “Friday. Match day. Esports Home released an issue. Team Happy and Team Excellent Era's face off in the Challenger League finally made the headlines on Esports Home's weekly issue, the topic bigger than any of the pro matches that were due to happen the following day.” (chp. 998) | | | Location: **[[Liulisong Sports Arena]]** (chp. 998) | | | Earlier in the day, [[Excellent Era\|Excellent Era]] and [[Team Happy\|Team Happy]] head to the Stadium to familiarise themselves with the new surroundings. “After entering the venue, both teams had people specifically to receive them, and Su Mucheng had to go back to Excellent Era. The two teams were led to their lounges. The appropriate arrangements had already been set up in the venue. The two sides each had two hours to get used to the set up.” (chp. 999) | | | By 7pm, the crowds are filling the stadium: “There was still an hour left before the match officially went underway, yet the Liulisong Sports Arena was already completely packed.” (chp. 1000) | | | “At 7:30 PM, the lighting in the stadium gradually began to darken. Everyone immediately became excited because this indicated that the match was one step closer to starting.” (chp. 1000) - holographic versions of the players’ avatars come out on stage, alongside their player (chp. 1000). this player introduction takes about half an hour (chp. 1000). | | | ”At 8 o’clock, the Challenger League Finals officially started” (chp. 999) - the first players are called up onto the stage (chp. 1000) | #### Group Arena - Happy’s line-up: [[Tang Rou]], [[Mo Fan|Mo Fan]], [[Wei Chen]] (chp. 1000) - Excellent Era’s line-up: [[Xiao Shiqin|Xiao Shiqin]] (chp. 1000) --- #### Team Competition - Happy’s line-up: [[Ye Xiu|Ye Xiu]], [[Tang Rou|Tang Rou]], [[Bao Rongxing|Steamed Bun]], [[Qiao Yifan|Qiao Yifan]], [[An Wenyi|An Wenyi]], and [[Wu Chen]] (chp. 1029) - Excellent Era’s line-up: [[Sun Xiang]], [[Xiao Shiqin|Xiao Shiqin]], [[Qiu Fei|Qiu Fei]], [[Shen Jian|Shen Jian]], [[Zhang Jiaxin|Zhang Jiaxin]]. Sixth player -[[Wang Ze|Wang Ze]] (chp. 1029). [^1]: Butterfly Blue, *The King’s Avatar*, trans. Nomyummi, et al. (Webnovel, 2017), ‘[[Chapter 918 – Challenger League Ninth Round]]’.