You've only been playing for half a year, and you've already reached the finals?

Chapter 115: Still too young, Zhuo Ding

Soon, both players returned to the stage, and the draft phase began.

"Alright, the draft phase for the fourth game has begun!" On the commentary desk, Guan Daxiao looked at the pop-up draft panel, his tone filled with anticipation: "Let's see how the drafts will change in this match point game!"

As the business plan between the two sides continued to advance, Guan Daxiao was also dumbfounded.

On the blue side, Top Esports' ban picks remained unchanged: Ziggs, Senna, and Caitlyn!
On the other side, JDG also displayed confidence, still banning Akali and Syndra, but changed their last pick, choosing to ban Graves.

With this in mind, Draven and Nidalee are now the highest priority picks outside, and Redmi is trying to force TES to make a choice!

Draven was picked, so Nidalee was no longer viable.

Stealing Nidalee? Then the first thing to consider is whether Mingjing's Draven can handle it!
Even just from the draft phase, the tense atmosphere between the two sides was already palpable.

TES is also susceptible to provocation.

I'm not afraid of you!
Draven, lock on!

"It's Draven again!" The commentators couldn't help but laugh. "You could say both sides have a never-give-up attitude!"

Without further ado, Mingjing took down Jinx and decided to postpone the battle until the late game.

Jinx's choice has sparked considerable controversy.

After all, Jinx lost the second game, so forcing her to pick again seems a bit stubborn.

But seeing Xiao Fei's confident expression, everyone had no choice but to believe him.

Or rather, trust the toothpaste.
We absolutely cannot afford to have the wires explode again this time!
Redmi had a clear strategy this time. He first locked in Jinx and Nidalee, and for the next three or four picks, he planned to choose Tahm Kench and Shen, two heroes who could protect Jinx, and then give the counter pick to Yagao.

The two sides traded blows, and the lineups were quickly finalized!
Blue side TES: Top lane Ornn, jungle Lee Sin, mid lane Orianna, bot lane Draven and Leona.

JDG (Red Side): Top lane Shen, Jungle Nidalee, Mid lane Zoe, Bot lane Jinx and Tahm Kench.

"In that case, the burden of early game development for JDG will fall on the mid and jungle players." Colonel Guan said with his arms crossed, "Toothpaste and Kanavi must hold the line and buy enough time for Xiaofei to develop!"

"On the other hand, what Top Esports needs to do is very simple: try to exert their strength in the lower half of the bracket and snowball like they did in the second game!"

At this moment, the live stream chat was filled with a cacophony of comments.

[Let the ointment (or similar substance) fight the situation? (Humorous)]

[Just wondering, did Gao÷ have any standout performances in the first three games? They were doing so well last game, yet his damage was only third in the team!]

That's enough. Can't toothpaste really kill your left hand?

[Don't you laugh at yourself for saying that? If toothpaste could really crush left-handed players, they would have already swept the series 3-0, there wouldn't have been a fourth game.]

Thankfully, at least we won the laning phase last game, so I can only say I have faith.

[Success is achieved if the lane doesn't collapse. Let's wait for Xiaofei to get his three items. With Jinx, Tahm Kench, Shen, and Nidalee protecting him in the late game, it's definitely going to be a sight to behold.]

Trust Xiao Fei!

Unbeknownst to many, Mingjing has become the absolute core of the JDG team.

Soon, the match began, minions spawned, and both teams entered a fierce battle.

The director clearly understood where the viewership was, so he frequently switched the camera to the bottom lane, almost broadcasting the bottom lane laning matchup the entire time!
JackeyLove played very aggressively this game, with Draven wielding his double axes and charging forward every now and then, trying to find an opportunity.

However, Mingjing's distance control has now reached a state of perfection. In his eyes, it seems that two circles have appeared around Draven and Jinx, clearly showing the attack range of the two heroes.

What Mingjing needs to do is to bring Draven into his circle, then stand outside Draven's circle and use basic attacks.

With his swift pace, Ming Jing wasn't worried that Draven would be able to retaliate.

JackeyLove was getting a bit flustered by Jinx's constant pulling and hitting, but there really wasn't much he could do.

Should I flash in and try to fight? That's even more impossible. Not to mention that Jinx still has her two summons, and Leona can't hold her at all, more importantly, Tahm Kench is still waiting on the side.

If Tahm Kench swallows Jinx whole, the two of them will be blind!
Draven quickly pushed the minion wave into the tower. Jinx and Tahm Kench were both at almost full health, so tower diving was naturally out of the question.

The funniest thing is that after Jinx finished last-hitting the enemy under the tower, pressing TAB showed that both players had the same number of CS!

Looking at the CS (creep score) stats for both sides, JackeyLove felt a sense of powerlessness. This feeling even made him feel as if he had been transported back to Season 8.

Back then, as a newcomer, he was just as powerless against Uzi, who was at his peak.

But things are different now. He has moved beyond his rookie days and is now at the peak of his career. Yet, he still has moments when he is powerless.
The two sides continued to battle in lane for several more minutes. JackeyLove did have a slight lead in CS, but this lead was meaningless to the overall situation and not even enough to help the team secure the dragon.

The two junglers were locked in a stalemate in the bottom half of the map, neither giving the other a chance to secure the dragon.

Kanavi understood that they had no chance of securing the dragon in the lower half of the map; at best, they could only stall for a little longer.

"But Wuhu Da Sima exclaimed passionately from the commentary booth, 'JD.com's strategy is very simple: drag it out until eight minutes, then wait for you to take the Herald or the Dragon, and then we'll take the other one. This way, we definitely won't lose out!'"

Now, Teacher Ma has completely turned the commentary booth into his own live broadcast room, and he just can't stop talking.

But the audience has gotten used to it now and just makes do with it.
At least Teacher Ma does have some understanding.

And that's exactly what the people at JD.com thought.

Kanavi had even planned it out: if TES had eight minutes left, they would most likely have to control the Rift Herald and push the first tower, and then they could take the opportunity to secure the dragon!
Although trading a dragon for a vanguard is a bit of a loss, it's better than getting nothing at all!
At the very least, it can buy the opponent's Dragon Soul momentum an extra five minutes!

Even if TES controls all the dragons, they still won't be able to get the Dragon Soul until the 28th minute, by which time Jinx will already be at her three-item power spike!

But plans never keep up with changes.

Seven minutes into the game, something happened in the mid lane.

In this match, both mid laners were really going all out, fighting to the death!
However, Zoe is definitely much stronger in lane than Orianna. At this moment, ZuoShou's health bar is not healthy, only 70%.

However, the even laning phase in the bottom lane put Zuo Shou under a lot of pressure. Although he was at a health disadvantage, he dared not retreat and even tried to open up the situation in the mid lane.

At this moment, Toothpaste took two steps forward and fired a basic attack at the low-health ranged minion that was tethering the balloon.

The kill is complete, and a skill bubble falls to the ground.

Hextech Rocket Belt!
Upon seeing this equipment, Toothpaste's already narrow eyes squinted even more, becoming just slits!

Without any hesitation, he strode forward, picked up the rocket belt, and turned back to pull the Q!

At this point, the left hand finally realized something was wrong, but it was clearly too late.

The moment the second Q flew towards Orianna, Yagao pressed Flash and Hextech Protobelt, using the two dashes to directly rush into Orianna's face, and then used Starblast to blast her face, unleashing an Electrocute!
Zoe's burst damage was quite solid; in just one exchange, she reduced Clockwerk's health from 70% to only 30%!
Moreover, Zoe used the speed boost from her W to chase after him at great speed!
Left Hand realized something was wrong, but he wasn't as panicked as Toothpaste had been. He used Q to place the ball behind Zoe, and then used his ultimate to choke her!

However, Orianna's damage output in the early game was lacking. She did manage to control Zoe, keeping her in place, while Orianna could use her EW combo to accelerate and create distance.

Zuo Shou also knew that Zoe had her ultimate and E abilities, so he had his finger on Flash. As soon as Zoe used E on him, he would immediately Flash to dodge the bubble!
Since both sides traded Flashes, he couldn't really say he lost out in this exchange.

But at that moment, Zoe with the Pool Party skin used her ultimate ability, "U-Trip," to teleport directly to Orianna's face, and with a flick of her right hand, a colorful ball appeared in her hand.

With both of them face-to-face, there was absolutely no room for reaction, so I decisively used my left hand to dodge and pull away.

biu!

A golden light flashed, and Clockwork Flash switched positions.

But the rainbow ball seemed to have eyes, heading straight for the location where the clockwork flashed!

My left hand clenched, and I knew something was wrong.

"Prediction! This was a predicted Flash followed by an E! GaoGao was incredibly calm this time!"

Looking at the wind-up toy that had fallen asleep in front of him, the toothpaste tube showed a rare smile.

You're still too young, Zhuo Ding.

Zoe at level 7 has a level 4 Q, plus the 10% cooldown reduction from the Lost Chapter, bringing her cooldown time to just 6.3 seconds, which is now successfully ready again.

Zoe landed a short Q, which, combined with her passive [Fireworks], hit Orianna at the same time.

The clockwork health bar is empty, and he kneels there, unable to rise.

(End of this chapter)