The day that the rankings and betting odds were released, was the same day that the Chinese teams flew to Seoul. All competing teams wanted to arrive as soon as possible so ZGDX, CK and YKCB were on the same flight. During the 4-hour trip, many team members used their seat back entertainment screens or mobile devices to watch analyst commentary about the upcoming matches.

Sports Newscasters from stations around the world were covering the biggest eSports tournament on the planet. However, the most respected and best staffed news cast team was the one from ESPN. The five-man panel consisted of a Host, and three English-speaking commentators from Korea, China, and Germany. The fourth spot was reserved for a rotating set of guests.

"Gentlemen…let's get down to business," said the charismatic host. The deep bass tones of his voice reverberated pleasantly through his microphone. "We'll start by calling out some basics. The single elimination format is very different from the 2 out of 3 match structure played in the National tournaments. How does this format impact the teams?" he asked the panelists.

"It definitely adds pressure to each team," said today's guest analyst. He was the VP of Game Design at NetEase; the company that developed Onmyoji. "Teams have to be prepared and confident with their coordination and strategies. But, personally, I love this structure because it makes things so much more exciting for the spectators; especially, in a competition with this many teams."

"Yeah, I'm also a real fan of this format," agreed the Korean analyst. "Instead of hundreds of games, we just have to watch 30 over the space of 3 weeks."

"Plus," chimed in the Chinese analyst, "the teams only play on Saturday and Sunday which gives them 5 days to recuperate and plan for the next round."

"It's my favorite competition of the year," said the German analyst as he smiled broadly. "Teams have to be on the top of their game from the onset. There's no comeback match. If your team is not prepared from the first second, then your team is gone."

"And since we are talking about the teams now. Let's move on to predictions," declared the host.

"Undoubtedly, Team TAT remains the favorite," said the German commentator. "They've won this event 3 times, with back-to-back wins last year and the previous year."

"Ah Tai is an extremely capable player, but he's an even better leader", extolled the Chinese analyst. "He's the driving force that unites this team and pushes them to victory."

The host challenged that statement. "TAT made a position change at the close of the season. Do you think that will negatively affect their chances for a repeat win?"

"Xu Tailun is now TAT's starting jungler," said the Korean analyst.

"I know that he's controversial in China, but in Korea, there's no problem with him. I watched a few of their training sessions over the last few weeks, and I have to say that I think TAT is stronger than ever with Tailun on the team."

The other analysts nodded in agreement with that statement. Courtesy of TAT's tendency to release their training videos to the public, each person in the room had watched TAT's efficient, ruthless decimation of their sparing opponents.

"We shouldn't overlook Team Morimoto from Japan or Team Hollzenbruch from Germany," said the Japanese analyst. "Both challenged TAT in the finals over the last 2 years, and both are returning with the exact same lineup of players."

"Well, now that we've discussed the dominant teams, let's discuss the teams on the other end of the spectrum," said the host. "There's a lot of chatter about the rankings and odds assigned to ZGGX. What are your thoughts?" he asked the other four.

The Korean analyst responded first. "I think those numbers are absolutely fair. Listen, you've gotta understand who that team is," and he started ticking off their faults using his fingers. "There's only 1 team member with World Championship competition experience. They're allowing a rookie to play on the primary team, and their management team has zero experience at Worlds."

"Yeah, I have to agree," said the analyst from China. "Not only are they allowing a rookie to play on the primary team, but they're the only team in competition history – outside of the first competition ever held – to do so. It's an extremely risky decision."

"Shocking, really," said the Korean analyst.

"But there is a proverbial elephant in the room," countered the host. "Tong Yao is the first woman to ever play in the World Championship. How much do you think her gender weighed into the ranking decision?"

All five men guffawed and blustered for a few seconds as if that was the most preposterous question asked by humankind in the last decade.

"Listen, I'm sure that Tong Yao is a nice person," said the German dismissively. "But there is too much talk about her gender. In no way, is anything that's happened with the Selection Committee related to her gender."

"That's right," said the Chinese one. "At this level, ZGDX is simply not competitive on paper."

"On the other hand, ZGDX is the Chinese National Champion and Tong Yao played some of those matches," replied the Host. "Do you think those things are being overlooked?"

The guest analyst decided to speak up. "I was talking to CEO Ding Lei and a couple of the top Developers at NetEase about that, and they said they felt that there was a lot of drama in Chinese League this season. And most of that 'drama'…was centered on Tong Yao. There's, what I feel is, legitimate speculation that her drama caused distractions that helped ZGDX win."

All men nodded vigorously in assent before they moved on to analyzing the next teams.

As Tong Yao listened, she decided that ESPN's commentary echoed the commentary on most of the other sports channels; ESPN's claims were a little less lurid in their gender bias, but only by a little. However, if the goal of these detractions was to make Tong Yao feel small and unworthy, then the detractors had utterly failed because Tong Yao was becoming angrier by the minute.

I'm just a distraction? I'm an unskilled rookie?, she fumed privately. What about my records as one of the top Onmyoji players on the Chinese server?! What about my MVP wins against top teams?!

"Are you angry?" asked the man by her side who had been pretending to sleep.

"Umm hmph!" she replied to Lu Si Cheng.

"Then let's make them eat their words in 3 days," and he squeezed her hand gently.

When the Chinese teams arrived at the tournament approved hotel, the media barrage continued. As Security ushered them to the elevators, she heard reporters calling her name.

"Tong Yao, do you think that you're a role model or a distraction?"

"Ms. Yao, what are your thoughts about Ah Tai's latest comments about you and Team ZGDX?"

Then the elevators closed and the noise from the reporters was replaced by tense silence. As she looked around the elevator at her teammates, she could tell that each was lost in his own thoughts.

When they entered the boys' suite, she turned on the TV just in time to catch a portion of Ah Tai's interview.

"Ah Tai. Congratulations, Team TAT is the odds-on favorite to repeat as World champs. What are your thoughts about Team ZGDX's controversial low ranking and difficult schedule?"

"The only controversy is that people think that there's controversy," he replied smugly. "ZGDX's publicity stunt worked in the Chinese League. But, let's face it, the Chinese league has always been second rate on the world scene. From what I can see, that won't change this year or anytime soon."

Click. Someone turned off the TV.

"Why are you watching this crazy stuff?" asked an annoyed Lu Si Cheng.

"Carrot fuel," she replied curtly.

"Alight, everyone," announced Ming-sha. "Gather round to discuss this week's itinerary and our tournament strategy. We've been knocked around these last few hours, however an important part of winning is having a winning mindset. We can't and we won't let these people take that from us!"