First Showcase, Overwhelming Opening

While drawing lots, every team sized each other up. The Chinese teams were looked at most frequently.

Most of the people did not want to be in the same group as the Chinese teams—they were the tough bones.

The grouping was completely random, and the results came out very quickly. Dynasty was in group A, Temple of God and Long Sky were in group C, and all the other teams were randomized as well.

Group A was the most normal group—the mix of strong and teams was very balanced. Dynasty and Devil were the two strongest teams and had a good chance of going into the finals. Group B had mostly smaller and weaker teams; it was the safest, but there might be a dark horse in that group as well. Group C, however, was the worst. It was full of strong teams such as Kimchi, Tulips, Rose Knight, Thunder Snakes—often abbreviated to TS—Tomahawk, and so on. Almost seventy percent of all the strong teams were in group C.