Chapter 608: Winning by Face
There were four matches scheduled for the first day of Group C's second round, and Arthur's team was playing in the first one.
Their opponent was the Atago Team, the Sakura Alliance's number three seed.
A team with a very high concentration of otaku culture.
Even their team mascot was a Gardevoir wearing cat ears and a maid outfit.
If it weren't for the convention that team mascots had to be Pokémon, Arthur had no doubt they would have used a catgirl in black stockings and a pleated skirt.
But even being limited to Pokémon couldn't stop their passion for fan art and ahem NSFW content!
Atago fans were famous far and wide for their talent in anthropomorphizing and gender-bending Pokémon.
There was even a classic meme—
An Atago fan draped in the team flag being arrested by the internet police, with the caption: Be honest, it's always you guys in every sweep.
However, despite the team's somewhat unorthodox cultural atmosphere, their overall strength this year was solid!
And they were flexible, with many tricky tactics.
Starlight and Frost came prepared. The head coach had stayed up all night studying their past match replays and formulating tactics.
But unexpectedly, they were still slightly outmaneuvered on the field.
"It's clear that the Atago Team has a very specific tactical approach today. They've completely forfeited the first two singles matches."
The commentator's summary was spot on. Atago's strategy today was to tactically give up the first two singles matches;
Then use their strongest main player to catch Starlight and Frost's last player, Elara;
And finally, move a main player who usually started in singles down to play doubles!
A classic "give two to chase three" tactic: give up two matches to win the other three.
Fortunately, Starlight and Frost's head coach was also prepared and countered accordingly—
Leo and Aaron struck hard in the two matches the opponent gave up, fighting incredibly aggressively and securing shutouts in both!
This way, they earned an extra point in each match!
And Elara withstood the pressure, stubbornly holding the line against the opponent's strongest main player, avoiding a zero score.
In the end, after the regular singles and doubles matches, the score was tied at 6-6!
Both sides gained and lost from their tactical maneuvers. Atago's strategy succeeded, but not completely...
Finally, facing the Captain's Match, the pressure was clearly greater on the Atago Team.
In the first round, both sides sent out Pokémon simultaneously. Arthur unhesitatingly sent out Lina again!
Having received gifts from three Legendaries, Lina had leaped to become the new core of Arthur's team, with outstanding combat power!
Also, because Lina still lacked combat experience compared to veterans like Old Flame and Specter, Arthur intended to use matches as training, letting her gain more experience in the group stage and familiarize herself with her new power as soon as possible.
So in recent matches, Arthur basically started with Lina.
The opponent knew this too, so the Atago Team captain's starter was: Carbink!
Rock/Fairy-type Carbink, resistant to Fire and Flying moves, and largely immune to Dragon moves. Just looking at the typing, it was an excellent counter-pick Pokémon.
"The captain from the Sakura Alliance seems to have prepared thoroughly as well. It looks like he plans to challenge our champion Arthur head-on?"
The commentator for this match, The Oracle, also gave high praise to the Atago captain, seemingly appreciative of this Carbink pick.
Who knew that a jinx might be late, but never absent...
The chant interrupted by his partner the day before yesterday seemed to explode with double force at this moment!
From the start, Lina suppressed Carbink in all aspects!
This wasn't the most surprising part. The true demonstration of the jinx's power lay in this: Carbink was clearly a Pokémon specialized in defense, hard as diamond, yet the Atago captain didn't let his Carbink struggle for too long.
Seeing the situation was bad, he gave up decisively after only a slight attempt, recalling his Pokémon and announcing his surrender before the referee even raised the flag.
The counter-pick nature of the counter-pick Pokémon was too weak in this round.
Not to mention he didn't even use his mid-battle switch authority, choosing to surrender directly after Carbink cracked and got injured instead of switching.
It was far from the "head-on challenge" The Oracle spoke of.
So much so that as soon as this round ended quickly, the Kubfu livestream chat was flooded with "Thanks, Oracle."
The Kubfu audience seemed to have found the correct way to use The Oracle.
Professional players, on the other hand, were obviously much more rational and didn't believe in this mysterious power from the East.
Seeing Arthur didn't switch Pokémon in the second round, and the opponent still didn't send out an ace, Leo quickly understood.
"Quite 'flexible' thinking. They probably plan to tactically forfeit this match directly, right?"
Obviously, the Atago Team was intentionally preserving their Pokémon's stamina and condition.
After failing to gain an advantage in the regular singles and doubles due to tactical missteps, they very decisively gave up the confrontation with Starlight and Frost for this entire match!
In other words, failing to enter the Captain's Match with a lead of two points or more, they had already defaulted to losing.
They bailed very decisively, catching even Starlight and Frost's own members off guard for a moment.
Thinking about it, it wasn't hard to understand, because their third match today was against the White Eagle number two seed, the Hornet Team. That match would obviously have a greater impact on Atago's advancement prospects.
They and the Hornet Team were direct competitors!
As for Starlight and Frost, they had already accepted them as the group leader, unbeatable...
With two matches scheduled on the same day, making a choice was normal.
"Thinking about it, it makes sense. Their duel with the Hornet Team is just a few hours away.
"But I didn't expect them to chicken out so decisively. Tsk tsk, in the past, this privilege of forcing an opponent to give up resistance and avoid battle to save strength just by showing your face belonged only to strong teams like Hoenn's Grand Master and Sinnoh's Royal Rapidash."
Bella's words were a joke, but they also voiced some of everyone's thoughts.
Honestly, everyone was a little excited inside.
No team that makes it to the Champions Cup is weak!
Every team here has its own pride!
There aren't many teams on this stage that can force an opponent to actively give up confrontation and avoid battle to save strength.
But the head coach pushed up her glasses and immediately poured a bucket of cold water on them with her sharp tongue.
"Wake up. Arthur is the one with the face-swiping ability. As for you guys, you're still far from it!"
"..."
Everyone looked at the head coach resentfully.
Can't you let us dream for a while? Honestly, why tell such brutal truths?
Unfortunately, soon, the official commentator also spoke up.
"It seems Arthur won this match directly by relying on his face! The opponent might have intended to challenge Starlight and Frost, but unfortunately, they still didn't dare to challenge Arthur directly."
Starlight and Frost members: Oracle, if you can't speak, just shut up!
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