Ruling Sword's competition lineup consisted of Moonlight, Lu Li, Kitty Loves Meat, Sakura Memories and March Rain. Based on the map, these players made up the best lineup that Ruling Sword had to offer. The reserves were Mu Qiu and Fat Monkey, who was a fire mage and therefore not suited for this occasion.
The last update had increased the impact of the map and terrain on fights. For example, fire skills would be less powerful on maps with bodies of water and ice skills would be less powerful in hotter and drier conditions. There were mixed opinions about this from the community, but most players were upset by the changes.
As such, the gaming company had reduced the debuff on the current patch. However, since this was an Elite level competition, any reduction in damage would be game changing.
Their goal was probably in trying to make the game more realistic.
