Ever since the representative teams arrived in Paris, fans of each squad noticed that their “precious cabbages” had practically vanished from the internet.
No streams, no posts—just a few group photos at the airport and a brief “We’ve arrived” after landing.
Fans gritted their teeth. Those in the know understood it was for Worlds practice; those who didn’t might think they’d all been kidnapped!
From September 27 to October 2, before they even had time to adjust to the time difference, PNG’s players had their days completely packed with training.
Their schedules flipped day and night, and the lights in the practice room stayed on around the clock.
Sometimes, Sui Ning would push open the window and gaze at the Eiffel Tower under the clear sky. Then he’d turn back to the equipment-filled room and his teammates grinding away, often feeling a strange sense of dislocation—as if the world inside and the one outside the window belonged to two entirely different realities.
And in truth, they did.
After being here for so many days, they hadn’t enjoyed a single perk of the luxury hotel, nor had they had time to experience the romantic European charm of the city. Sui Ning’s mind was filled with nothing but Chen Chen’s constant reminders—
“The Worlds patch is version 6.2.1. Compared to our summer split’s 6.2.0, there’s an extra update. The elemental dragons are way stronger now—wind, earth, water, fire. Stack three buffs and you get a Dragon Soul! Dragon Soul fights will be a key objective from now on—pay close attention!”
“Try out all the latest champion changes. Mid lane Soulreaper King had its skill cooldown reduced. Wind—”
Chen Chen looked at Sui Ning. “What do you think about this change?”
“It’s a huge buff,” Sui Ning replied after a moment’s thought. “All skill cooldowns are reduced by 15%, and mana costs are lower. Laning is much stronger early on, and it’s still powerful in mid-to-late teamfights… Soulreaper might become the new meta mid for Worlds.”
Chen Chen nodded. “That’s about what the coaching staff thinks, too. But whether it’s a true meta pick or a trap will depend on how it performs in groups.”
After that, Chen Chen emphasized several other impactful changes.
First, the jungler Dragon Monk had its level-one Q cooldown reduced by two seconds.
Don’t underestimate those two seconds—its Q’s second activation deals high execute damage and allows it to traverse terrain freely, massively improving jungle efficiency.
A shorter cooldown means more damage and more mobility. In the hands of pro players who calculate every second, this change was anything but minor.
Ji Yunyu had already calculated that after the change, the Monk could clear half a jungle at least ten seconds faster than before—instantly becoming the fastest farming AD jungler in the new patch.
This meant the jungle role’s draft priorities could shift significantly.
Additionally, many top lane fighters, including Soul-Sealing Blade Demon, received small buffs—some gained 10 base attack damage, others more starting health, and some even got a modest +5 armor…
The numbers were small, so the coaching staff couldn’t yet determine how much these changes would shake up the top lane meta.
Still, getting Wei Ye back onto fighter champions was added to the training plan.
Wei Ye: So basically I’m going to get beaten up by every other team’s top laner in rotation? I’m fine, really, don’t worry about me QAQ.
——
On October 2, the long-silent HPL official account finally came back to life.
HPL Esports V: #World Championship# Group Stage Draw is here!!
Comment: ??? You come back and immediately drop something this big??
The fewer the words, the bigger the deal. By the time fans followed the link to the official broadcast, the draw had already begun.
A sharply dressed tournament executive stood beside the host at the center of the stage. Behind them, a giant screen displayed four blank columns labeled A, B, C, and D, while interpreters and cameras were already in place below.
“The four first seeds from each region have already been assigned to groups by the system.”
As the host spoke, the groups appeared on screen:
[A Group: UG]
[B Group: PNG]
[C Group: SDB]
[D Group: OST]
“Next, we’ll begin the first round of the draw from the pool of second seeds.”
“Starting with Group A.”
The host assisted the executive in drawing a lottery ball.
The executive cracked it open, revealing the slip inside, then showed it to the audience: “—HOPE.”
[It’s over, the EU underdogs got picked]
[If only HOPE had gone to Group B, PNG would’ve been guaranteed top 8]
[Uh, newbie question—are HOPE really that weak?]
[ Only top two teams advance from groups. If you had to pick one of EU/NA/CN/KR second seeds to be in your group, which would you choose?]
[…I see.]
The players were watching the stream as well. When HOPE realized they had been drawn into the same group as the defending champions UG, one of their players quickly posted a crying emoji on social media.
Next, the official finished drawing the remaining second seeds for the other three groups: Group B got North America’s MaJ, Group C got China’s Navic, and Group D got Korea’s SST.
The first round of results instantly lifted PNG fans’ spirits.
MaJ was undoubtedly a favorable (read: weak) draw. The key now lay in the third seeds—if they could all be European or North American teams, then Group B’s chances of advancing would look very promising.
In contrast, HTG fans couldn’t help but close their eyes and pray.
The official drew another ball and slowly opened it. “Group A…”
[No no no no]
[Not Group A, come on, be reasonable!!]
“—HTG.”
[Oh f***!!!]
HTG fans immediately collapsed in despair, cursing the “black hand” of the draw. Compared to the hellish Group A, Group D was clearly the better option—why couldn’t HTG get lucky for once?!
Unfortunately, the official on the other side of the screen couldn’t hear their complaints. The final group stage lineup was set:
[Group A]
UG (KR), HOPE (EU), HTG (CN)
[Group B]
PNG (CN), MaJ (NA), Tio (KR)
[Group C]
SDB (NA), Navic (CN), CLR (EU)
[Group D]
OST (EU), SST (KR), FAST (NA)
[HTG, please promise me you won’t go home in groups, okay?]
[What is this Group A… it’s doomed]
[Group D is too real, the “blessed weaklings group,” SST can stomp with their eyes closed (sweat emoji)]
[You’re really not treating OST as human? Group D is clearly the group of death!]
[Now it depends on who makes it out of play-ins—if they go to Group B, is that basically a free pass?]
[ Going to Group A is also a kind of free pass… for UG (lol)]
The draw wasn’t bad for HPL’s first and second seeds overall. Especially for Group C—after two rounds of draws, there wasn’t a single Korean team in it, which was undoubtedly a huge advantage for Navic.
Some fans even made bold claims: if Navic still couldn’t make it out of this group, they might as well swim all the way back from Paris.
“Actually, in the long run, this draw isn’t bad for HTG at all!”
Watching the stream, Tofu glanced at the chat and raised two fingers in rebuttal. “There are two spots in groups. Two! As long as HTG doesn’t choke, making it out alongside UG shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“As long as they advance, this group becomes a get-out-of-jail-free card. In knockout stage draws, teams from the same group can’t meet early, so HTG definitely won’t face UG in the first round!”
Tofu felt his reasoning was flawless and declared confidently, “Avoid UG, and as long as the bracket isn’t ridiculous, HTG can definitely go far!”
[6666, so being in the same group as UG is suddenly a good thing?]
[Didn’t expect this angle at all??]
[The moment Tofu said that last sentence, I knew something bad was coming—please stop jinxing them!!]
Seeing that comment, Tofu immediately widened his eyes in protest. “How is that a jinx? Truly strong teams don’t get jinxed!”
[Tofu, shut up!]
[Tofu, shut up!]
Ten minutes later, the official completed the play-in stage draw.
Unlike the carefully structured group stage, the 12 play-in teams were roughly split into Groups A and B, with four qualification spots total. The top team from each group would advance directly, while the 2nd–4th placed teams would fight through several complicated cross-group BO5 matches.
However, to everyone’s shock, the two groups were extremely unbalanced on paper.
“I’m done, this is ridiculous!”
Tofu couldn’t stop complaining. “Tayloo, Korea’s fourth seed LOUD, and Europe’s fourth seed BLM are all crammed into Group B! Six teams, three from major regions—who drew this?? So Group A is just full of random weak teams no one’s even heard of?”
[Group A only has NA’s fourth seed Spirit that looks decent—what even are the others… KCM? GES?]
[ One’s CIS, one’s Turkey. Don’t ask—just means you haven’t watched their leagues]
[This is so dumb, what did Group B do to deserve this?]
[TL is cursed. Every Worlds their draw is insane! Are they actually going to get knocked out in play-ins??]
[Eliminated in top 24?? Please no!!]
[I’m so done. Someone always gets to farm weak teams—but it’s never TL. Damn it!!]
——
As soon as the groups were announced, all HPL teams raised the priority of scrims against TL to the highest level. Especially PNG—whenever TL requested practice games, as long as the players weren’t literally buried yet, they’d “lift the coffin lid,” sit up, log in, and enter the lobby in one smooth motion.
At least this time, Cheng Su didn’t complain about his brother being useless anymore.
When his teammates joked about it, Cheng Su simply kept a cold face and snapped, “Idiot,” before explaining calmly, “If HPL’s fourth seed dies in play-ins, the entire region’s reputation gets dragged through the mud.” He was speaking from the perspective of the region as a whole.
Hearing this, Sui Ning grew thoughtful. Resting his chin on his hand, he smiled and stared at Cheng Su—so much so that Cheng Su started to feel a little guilty and looked away.
……
On October 7, the play-ins officially began.
First came five days of single round-robin BO1 matches within each group, where every team would face all other teams in their group once.
Perhaps they hadn’t warmed up yet—TL suffered a narrow loss to Loud in their opening game, getting their base destroyed at the 31-minute mark.
The internet was just about to explode in criticism, but the next day, against European powerhouse BLM, TL seemed to vent their frustration—pushing straight into the enemy base in just 25 minutes. They only got stronger from there, eventually finishing with a 4–1 record.
Loud, on the other hand, seemed to lose their minds on day three, falling to BLM and also ending at 4–1.
However, due to head-to-head results, Loud secured first place in the group, while TL had to play an additional BO5 against a team from Group A.
According to the rules, the third- and fourth-place teams in each group would first play a BO5, and the winner would then face the second-place team from the other group.
Group A’s first place was, unsurprisingly, North America’s powerhouse Spirit, while the winner between third and fourth was Brazil’s FocusME.
Playing BO5s in play-ins had its pros and cons.
The advantage was getting into form quickly; the downside was that every other team would scrutinize TL’s matches under a microscope—the more games they played, the more they revealed.
Of course, with qualification on the line, TL wasn’t about to hold back and risk going home in the top 24.
On the night of October 14, all the tiebreakers concluded.
TL swept FME 3–0, ending the Brazilian team’s Worlds journey in Paris and advancing as the group’s second seed.
Surprisingly, amid the chaotic battles in Group A, Japan’s relatively unknown representative LNC also managed to qualify.
When the news reached China, even fans who hadn’t been following Group A were shocked.
[Wait, the “life is good” Japan squad actually made groups?? Top 16??]
[What?? Japan has a league??]
[Looked it up—they do, and they even performed pretty well in play-ins, beat BLM in a BO5…]
[After all these years, we still don’t know—is LNC actually strong, or was BLM just terrible?]
[Uh… if LNC makes groups, won’t they just get completely crushed?]
[Not trying to look down on them, but… I checked their ranks. Their support’s peak is barely low-star Challenger… some players in that region are even Grandmaster when going pro…]
[Here’s a joke: our region’s pros are Diamond/Master on their mains right now (lol)]
[ Don’t slander—our Wind was already Grandmaster before going abroad!!]
The chat joked around, but most people didn’t have high expectations for LNC. Due to regional protection rules, TL could only be placed into Group D, while Loud would go to Group C, leaving LNC to choose between Groups A and B.
Group A had defending champions UG and China’s powerhouse HTG. Group B had HPL summer champions PNG and Korea’s third seed Tio. No matter how you looked at it, LNC’s chances of advancing were slim.
On the afternoon of the 15th, the final placements were confirmed. North America’s Spirit was assigned to Group A, and LNC naturally fell into Group B.
“My god, this is like a lamb walking into a wolf’s den!”
After seeing the final list, Tofu pitied LNC for a second. “But looking at it this way, Groups B and C are pretty good for HPL. Group A should be fine if they play steadily—only Group D is scary. Europe’s leader OST plus Korea’s second seed SST—two powerhouses. Can TL handle that?!”
[I’m done—does TL’s bad luck ever end?]
[SST is seriously strong—they almost took down UG in summer. TL will have a hard time against them…]
[OST dominates Europe too—they’re on a completely different level from the rest. Neither team is easy.]
[Group D is basically the group of death, right? Makes sense—TL’s Worlds luck never disappoints]
[In previous years, their coach even reposted blessings on Weibo before the draw. Didn’t do it this year—guess they’ve decided to trust science (lol)]
——
On October 17, the group stage officially began.
Each group would play a double round-robin BO1, with the top two teams advancing based on record and head-to-head.
The opening match featured Group A’s UG, who cleanly defeated HOPE 1–0.
PNG’s first match as Group B’s top seed was scheduled for midday, facing Japan’s Lunatic at the Accor Arena.
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