Chapter 104: 104 No-Brainer Protection for Hou Yi_1
"But..." Shi Qi was still somewhat worried. "Can that Card Maker really guarantee that the remaining four cards will all be as strong as Mo Liqing?"
"Yes."
"I believe her."
Tang Qian and Chen Runyu spoke simultaneously, glancing at each other with subtle expressions. Of course, they tacitly chose not to look at Wen Jiang.
Ruan Chunen slapped his thigh, saying excitedly, "Coach is right! When you add it up, we have an eight-card advantage. If we don’t ban the Moon Palace Card Set and the other side doesn’t either, the Moon Palace Card Set will actually be the easiest to appear in our matches."
Dou Yuan then said, "What if the opponent picks the Moon Palace Card Set first?"
"There are three to choose from. If they start with Changer or Hou Yi, they can only take one," Chen Runyu said without hesitation. "No matter how they choose, one of them will always be in our hands. We have plenty of room to ban. To be safe, we can ban the pesky healing card, Jade Rabbit Pestle Medicine, leaving Changer and Hou Yi. If the other side doesn’t ban them either, whichever one we get will be a good deal. Plus, without the synergy effects, they won’t be able to display much value."
Tang Qian looked at Chen Runyu approvingly. "What Runyu said makes sense. One ban is definitely for Jade Rabbit Pestle Medicine. With the remaining four bans, we target the opponent’s core cards. That gives us a lot of flexibility. Our new cards are strong, but don’t forget, we had our own ace card set before; we just haven’t been able to play them."
The Mount Flower A-level team also had an ace card set, which Chen Runyu and the others had also practiced. Even if the Four Heavenly Kings were banned, choosing their own well-practiced core cards would not be a loss.
Most importantly, Tang Qian couldn’t help but look at Wen Jiang. "Wen Jiang can synergize with all four of your card sets."
It wasn’t just the cards, but also the people. Wen Jiang’s strength was sky-high. With this team, Tang Qian refused to believe they could fail.
Everyone understood this reasoning. After discussing, the training match began.
The venue was very large, perfectly accommodating ten A-Rank Cards, and was well-hidden.
Both sides were at a significant distance, scrutinizing each other from afar. An official referee was present in the arena. Training matches weren’t as strict as official competitions, but they still followed the rules: each player submitted five cards.
Twenty cards would be revealed. Based on the cards displayed, the opponent would ban five cards that their rival might use or was skilled with, diminishing tactical effectiveness. Famous cards had long been thoroughly studied.
While Tang Qian was still hesitant about whether to submit the Mo Liqing card, Wen Jiang looked at her meaningfully and said, "No need for secrecy."
After some thought, Tang Qian agreed.
Each side produced twenty cards and, as expected, the Moon Palace Cards were among them. Cards not among these twenty were unusable. If the opponent didn’t submit Moon Palace Cards, then our team couldn’t use ours either, even if submitted. However, including the Moon Palace Card Set granted three extra ban slots, greatly increasing the chances for one’s own powerful cards to see play.
This put the coaches’ tactical abilities to the test. Now it was a question of who would ban the Moon Palace Card Set first.
"Hold on." The coach of the Guiqing Association was the first to notice that the twenty cards submitted by the opponent not only lacked the five cards purchased from their association but also included an unfamiliar Mo Liqing card.
"Growing King Mo Liqing?"
The Guiqing Association’s players also noticed and began to furrow their brows, a bad feeling welling up.
It was a Humanoid Card. Humanoid Cards were difficult to create. The higher their level, the more bizarre abilities they might possess. The opponent certainly wouldn’t carelessly bring a useless card.
The coach and teammates exchanged glances, still not daring to gamble.
"A new card. Looks like we must ban it."
Chen Yunbai’s gaze shifted as he instead suggested, "A new card, and they dare to present it? Why not let them try? After all, this is just a training match. If we figure out the capabilities of the new card, we’ll have ways to counter it in the future. It wouldn’t be a loss."
The coach certainly understood this suggestion, but he only said, "I’m just afraid the other side is trying to deceive us. They’ve submitted all seven of their Mount Flower’s A-Rank core cards. It’s too risky to gamble."
These seven cards were the ones that the four players—Shi Qi and the others—were particularly skilled with. As for Wen Jiang, after all, she had only been promoted recently, and the coach wasn’t sure what she excelled at, especially since she was in a substitute role.
The Guiqing Association won the right to ban and pick first. Banning first meant they would pick cards second. The coach hesitated for a moment, then, with a somber look, declared, "Then let’s gamble just this once."
For the first card, Guiqing banned Mount Flower’s River Maiden. This is a card that provides wide-range control. Called ’Maiden,’ it’s actually a floral card, similar to a Flower Demon. It can confuse opponents with its fragrance and grows extremely fast. It’s also a Control Card that Dou Yuan is particularly adept at using. Generally, in team matches, Control Cards are the most troublesome.
The opponent’s first ban was orthodox.
Tang Qian pondered for a while. Guessing that the other side might not ban Mo Liqing, her team banned one of the opponent’s damage-dealing cards.
The expression on the Guiqing coach’s face hardened. Not banning the Moon Palace cards? Seems like they really plan to use them.
After a moment of hesitation, they banned another A-Rank Poison Card.
Tang Qian then banned another damage-dealing card.
At this point, the Guiqing coach couldn’t help but curse internally, Are they just going to keep banning our damage-dealers?
He also banned a damage-dealing card from Mount Flower. At this point, six ban opportunities remained.
This time, Tang Qian banned one of the opponent’s Assassin Cards, targeting Chen Yunbai.
The Guiqing coach’s face grew stern. They want to let Moon Palace cards through? Then so be it. The Guiqing coach banned five of Mount Flower’s core cards, leaving Mo Liqing and all the Moon Palace Cards untouched.
Guiqing would pick cards second. However, as long as Mount Flower didn’t ban the Moon Palace Cards, Guiqing still had a high chance of getting two of them.
However, for their last ban, Mount Flower unhesitatingly banned Jade Rabbit Pestle Medicine.
Looks like they’re letting us have one, the Guiqing side thought.
Guiqing had banned first, but Mount Flower would pick cards first. After a brief discussion, Mount Flower actually took Changer.
"’They took Changer and are letting us have Hou Yi?’"
The Guiqing coach was overjoyed. "I really have to thank them for this."
If it were up to me, I would definitely have chosen Hou Yi first. First and foremost, Hou Yi is a Strong Control damage-dealing card with explosive output, and it can precisely target an opponent’s Card Spirit.
If they wanted to counter Hou Yi, they had to choose a card with similar instantaneous strong control capabilities. However, the Guiqing coach glanced over the card set. He realized that among the twenty cards submitted by the opponent, there were no Strong Control Cards that could instantly target Hou Yi. The only useful card with a wide area of influence, the River Maiden, had already been banned by him right off the bat.
The Guiqing coach couldn’t help but clap his hands. "Great news! What was Tang Qian thinking? Daring to let us have Hou Yi."
Once the opponent took Changer, they unhesitatingly secured Hou Yi for their damage-dealer. The Guiqing coach told the support player, "Just pick Defense Cards to protect Hou Yi this round. They won’t be able to stop him."
He almost instantly knew which three cards they needed to pick next. Did he even need to think? Blindly protect Hou Yi, and the opposition was guaranteed to lose!