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

Chapter 158 Glorious Evolution
The loading time ended quickly, and when the screen switched back to the live match, both teams' heroes had already rushed out of the fountain.

In the early laning phase, everything was peaceful for both sides. This time, the camera focused more on the top lane, where Flandre played quite well. He made a small maneuver in the bush at the start, kiting Xiaohu and achieving ideal CS and health.

But soon, RNG began to demonstrate the charm of Wei guarding the tiger.

With Wei's help in the bottom lane, Udyr on the red side started clearing the jungle. With the blue buff, his jungle clearing speed was incredibly fast. He used Tiger and Crane Dual Form at the start and cleared out the three camps in the bottom half of the jungle in no time.

However, after arriving in the upper half of the map, he didn't rush to farm jungle camps. Instead, he quickly cleared the F6 camp and then headed straight to the top lane to take down Flandre!

Udyr charged in in bear form, slapping Gnar unconscious. He then activated Phase Rush, switched to tiger form, and began scratching Gnar relentlessly, managing to reduce Gnar's health to below half!

Saint Gun Bro was furious, both in the game and in real life.

They stopped farming the jungle and rushed in specifically to lower my health, not to catch anyone.
Who would want to play with you guys?
After this wave of attacks, Flandre's top lane is no longer able to compete.

But what's even more terrifying is yet to come.

In the mid lane, the level 3 Malzahar began to show the hero's cunning. Since Cryin was released, he has been using his skills to contest lane control, and his mana is dropping like water, successfully pushing the minion wave forward!
Taking advantage of this momentum, Cryin used EWQ in quick succession at level 3. His E skill, "Demon Illusion," spread among the low-health minions, while he used Minion Dematerializer to instantly kill the tanky cannon minions!

This wave-pushing efficiency is something Mingjing's Viktor without his E evolution can't even come close to!

After quickly clearing out the siege engine line, Cryin's mana was also almost depleted, so he retreated into the darkness to return to town for supplies.

Meanwhile, on the top lane, Xiaohu's Jayce slowly accumulated minions, pushing the top lane into the tower.

As expected, Udyr made a comeback at this time.

Even with Jiejie's Hecarim in the top lane, it didn't work. Udyr charged into the jungle right in front of Hecarim and placed a ward behind EDG's top tower.

Suddenly, the TP light shone brightly, and Malzahar, who had already pushed the lane and recalled, teleported up immediately, launching a tower dive.

Ming Jing turned his gaze to the road ahead, his brows furrowing slightly.

It can only be said that what he feared actually happened.

Seeing the grasshopper's almost mindless laning strategy, Mingjing realized that his opponent might have some kind of plan, and now it has indeed come true.

Having already finished his last-hit under the tower, he didn't think much of it and immediately teleported to the top lane!

If JieJie hadn't been there, he could have said, "Why should he go if the jungler didn't go?"

But since JieJie was counter-ganking in the top lane, there's no reason for him not to go.

In a 3v3 situation under the tower, there's always a chance, no matter what.

RNG was incredibly bold, not even backing down because of Viktor's Teleport, but instead choosing to go all in.

The moment the grasshopper landed, Udyr switched to bear form and slapped it in.

Taking advantage of the stable control of the bear paw, Jayce immediately switched to the hammer with an acceleration cannon and smashed it directly into the face!
Malzahar, on the other hand, used Q followed by silence, and then EW in quick succession.

Saint Gun Bro, this little Gnar, didn't even survive this set of skills before Jayce wiped out his health bar with a single E [Thunder Strike].

"First blood!"

With Udyr's consistent first-strike advantage, Flandre was already a sitting duck. The question was whether EDG could stop the damage.

Mingjing, who also landed via TP, reacted quickly. The moment Udyr charged in, he placed a W at Udyr's feet.

This W forced Wei to refrain from dealing much damage. After triggering Phase Rush with a basic attack from Bear Paw and Phoenix Form, Wei decisively used Flash to switch positions, avoiding being stunned.

Taking advantage of the phase boost, Udyr quickly dashed out of the tower!
Jiejie had no choice but to activate Sprint. With the triple boost of the Cloak of Light, Sprint, and E, Centaur forcibly overtook him and kicked him back.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mingjing used QEA to clear Udyr's health bar!
The two sides traded one for one.

Economically speaking, EDG is losing a lot of money.

Because there is a difference between a regular kill and first blood, the combined difference in kills and assists is 150 gold, and Flandre also lost a tower kill as a result, widening the economic gap between the two sides to 0.3K!

It can only be said that falling behind one step leads to falling behind step by step. Looking back at the process from the result, it can be seen that RNG had been preparing for this tower dive for a long time, with both the mid and jungle lanes starting to prepare several minutes in advance.

In this situation, the fact that EDG managed to get a kill back is a result of their mid and jungle players providing timely support.

"The only consolation for EDG is that this kill was taken by Xiaofei," said Guan Daxiao. "For Viktor, kills are not just about gold; they directly determine the speed of his skill evolution!"

"This exchange is not unacceptable for EDG!"

"Damn!" Flandre teleported back to lane immediately after respawning, managing to kill a few low-health minions, but he still couldn't help but curse, "Those guys from RNG are really freaks!"

Saint Gun is a seasoned top laner who has played professionally for many years and has even faced off against the peak IG team.

Even TheShy and Ning, who are known as the Ueno duo, are nowhere near this abnormal!
Even Malzahar has teleported here? Is Malzahar playing a synergistic hero?

This level 3 player was tower-dived once and gave the enemy top laner a first blood. If this had happened against other strong heroes, the laning phase would have been over!
Fortunately, the opponent was Jayce, who needed to spend 400 gold to buy Tear of the Goddess, so the two sides were not actually that far apart in terms of equipment.

All I can say is that it's still playable.

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Ming Jing said cheerfully, "I got the head, I made a profit."

Upon hearing this, Saint Gun was about to retort that it was impossible to make money, but then he thought about it again and realized that what he said made sense.

The FMVP gets 300, which is indeed more than the opponent's 400.

Earned.

Thinking of this, Flandre felt much more at ease and started to focus on laning.

This lane is definitely not going to work. He can only hope that the other side won't be so overpowered and won't suddenly start diving with three people at once, which is really a bit exaggerated.

But this is clearly wishful thinking.

In RNG's next challenge, Malzahar didn't come.

The last time the grasshopper roamed, it was done by clearing the mana bar and using teleport.

Now that TP (Teleport) is no longer available as a long-distance movement tool, Cryin no longer has the ability to roam away from Mingjing.

But there are still three people.

Because this time, the support Titan has arrived.

This gank on top lane by Titan greatly surprised EDG, since RNG's bot lane didn't have lane priority. This gank on top lane was somewhat unreasonable and could cause GALA to lose a huge amount of minions.

But so what? As long as we're confident that this move will be successful, then we'll definitely not lose out!

Moreover, it must be said that RNG's execution and teamwork are indeed very strong. Every move they make is precise and decisive, making them difficult to defend against, and they are demonstrating the strength that belongs to the first place in the regular season and the winner of the upper bracket.

Given their double victory over EDG in both the regular season and the upper bracket, if Mingjing hadn't appeared, they might have been the ones representing LPL at MSI.

With Flandre dying under the tower again, the top lane matchup has officially collapsed.

With fewer players, Jiejie was powerless to do anything about it and could only go to the bottom lane to put pressure on the lane, helping the bottom lane push the lane and take the turret plates while also securing an Earth Dragon.

The chain reaction caused by Flandre's collapse continues. The 0-2 start, which resulted in a huge loss of minions, left EDG with no ability to contest the Rift Herald, which RNG easily secured.

However, RNG wasn't in a hurry to place the Rift Herald in the top lane. Instead, they took advantage of Malzahar reaching level six and ganked the mid lane first.

Jayce and Udyr came to the mid lane together, hoping to kill Viktor once again with Malzahar's ultimate.

Fortunately, Ming Jing was perceptive enough to realize something was wrong the moment the grasshopper crossed the line, so he immediately turned around and left.

The moment Jayce and Udyr burst out of the bushes, Mingjing, whose guess had come true, felt a chill run down his spine and decisively used his dodge ability to retreat.

Sure enough, the grasshopper also used Flash at almost the same time.

Fortunately, his Flash was timely enough that the grasshopper was unable to unleash [Netherworld Grasp] and allowed Mingjing to leave.

Seeing Mingjing run away like that, Xiaohu cursed inwardly that the guy's reaction was really fast. He casually fired a shot, but it was dodged by Mingjing's positioning. This forced Xiaohu to lead the mid and jungle to the top lane.

With the vanguard released, the first tower was also taken.

EDG, on the other hand, didn't sit idle either, quickly grouping up and moving around.

The resources in the lower half of the zone are quite abundant.

Because of Shi Senming's frequent roaming, RNG's bottom lane tower was also at low health.

Furthermore, because the first dragon was taken early enough, almost at the five-minute mark when it spawned, now that ten minutes have passed, the second dragon is also entering its spawn countdown.

Trading the first tower for the second tower and the second dragon is actually a worthwhile trade.

"The Blue Legion has slain the Ocean Dragon!"

With one earth dragon and one water dragon in hand, the dragon soul attribute for this round is now fixed as the fire dragon soul, making this the most violent episode yet.

Meanwhile, the two carries took down the bottom lane tower, sharing the tower's bounty and advancing their development a step further.

But compared to Xiaohu, their combined wealth is still far from enough!

When Xiaohu went out again, his Jayce already had Eclipse.

Even though Xiaohu isn't known for his skillful play, the stats of Star Eclipse are still considered godlike even among Mythic items. At this stage, Jayce is practically unstoppable!
At this point, Flandre was having trouble even defending the tower, let alone laning.

Eclipse's shield and lifesteal are powerful tools for harassing in front of the tower. Jayce can even boldly go under the tower to trade blows with Gnar, and then heal back up by attacking minions or jungle monsters. If left unattended in the top lane, Jayce will eventually be hammered to death by Gnar under the tower!
EDG had no other options but to allocate more players to limit Jayce.

But this is clearly what RNG wants to see.

Xiaohu, as a top laner, is third-rate in laning and second-rate in team fights, but his split-pushing is absolutely first-rate.

With his keen sense of split pushing, Xiaohu can usually create a lot of room for the team to develop, and GALA can also make up for the economic losses in the laning phase quickly!

The EDG players were shuttling back and forth between Jayce and Kai'Sa, and not only were the turrets getting lower and lower, but the CS difference between the two sides was also widening.

On the contrary, RNG found a weakness in EDG's rotations and Malzahar used his ultimate to pin down Meiko's Riel!
Shi Senming followed up with a hook and fed the head into GALA's mouth, accelerating his growth once again!
At this moment, the score is 3-1.

But in reality, if you look at the economic difference, RNG is already leading by a full 2,000 gold!
Mingjing acted quickly, swiftly filling in the mid lane and taking over a large wave of minions.

His economy was actually quite good, after all, the team had been allocating resources to him, and his development had not been affected much. His CS was consistently the highest in the game, and he also secured the team's only kill.

"Can Mingjing go top lane and team up with Jayce?" Meiko asked. "If you can hold the top lane, we'll have a much easier time!"

"No." Ming Jing didn't try to force himself and said frankly that he couldn't do it.

Even if he has the second-highest economy in the game, he's still far behind Jayce, who has the highest.

If he had another five minutes to develop, he could definitely crush Jayce, but that's clearly not the case now.

"Can you kill Jayce once?" Ming Jing thought for a moment and asked, "As long as I can disrupt his rhythm, I can do it."

"He's very hard to kill!" JieJie has faced RNG many times and knows how difficult it is for Xiaohu to split push. "He's too hard to catch, and there's a high probability that someone will counter-gank him."

"It's alright." Ming Jing pressed TAB and looked at the neutral resource refresh time at the top of the screen. "We'll have a chance soon."

The second vanguard will spawn in one minute. RNG, who are in control of the situation, will obviously not miss this crucial tower-pushing resource.

Upon hearing Mingjing's words, Meiko felt a slight chill run down her spine, sensing Mingjing's ambition.

Fifteen minutes passed in the blink of an eye. This time, both sides had their lineups complete, with both AD carries participating. A 5v5 team fight broke out immediately!

RNG played aggressively, actively waking up the Rift Herald and then slowly whittling down its health.

Jayce was attacking the Vanguard while simultaneously firing cannons like crazy.

With his superior equipment, Jayce can take down a third of a squishy target with a single shot.

If the enemy carry gets hit by a single shot, the entire team fight might be ruined.

Fortunately, EDG's two carries were very quick in their positioning, preventing them from having such an opportunity.

Only Flandre's Gnar took a hit because of his forward positioning, but that was necessary, since he needed to build up his rage at the very front.

As Vanguard's health dwindled, Gnar's rage grew stronger, nearing its maximum!
All five members of EDG had resolute expressions as they stared intently at the screen.

"So, we have to go, right?" Jie Jie said, "I can drive it!"

Everyone had only one idea regarding this vanguard group.

Vanguard is acceptable, but Jayce must die!

"Let's do it!" Flandre nodded. "If you drive, I'll follow!"

"Then get on it!"

Upon hearing this, Jie Jie didn't say anything more, and his men charged forward in their E-class cars!
Seeing the Centaur's movements, the RNG players focused their attention, with Cryin even placing his finger on the ultimate ability.

Malzahar's ultimate ability, "Netherworld Grip," possesses the most prestigious form of control in the game—suppression.

This control cannot be removed by purification; the only solution is to spend money to buy Mercury's Treads. During the suppression period, heroes will be unable to use Summoner Spells, including Smite.

If any of his men dare to advance, he will immediately suppress them, not giving them a chance to retaliate.

Of course, timing is crucial, as the opposing team has Viktor.

Viktor's ultimate has a hidden mechanism: the initial burst of damage will interrupt skills that are being cast, including Nether Grasp.

If he blindly throws a big shot, he might get interrupted by Victor.

But all his considerations were obviously unnecessary, because Jie Jie's goal was not to be a vanguard at all.

When the vanguard still had 2,000 health left and was far from being killable, Jess's Centaur activated the Turbo Alchemy Jar's acceleration and charged into the enemy formation with his ultimate, kicking Jess back!

Cryin then unleashed his ultimate ability, Nether Grip, on Hecarim.

From the perspective of Vanguard's control, the timing of this ultimate ability is definitely not a problem. After all, Hecarim is rushing in to die, and his release position is very far back, so Viktor can't follow up.

However, from the perspective of protecting teammates, this ultimate move comes too late.

Because the moment Centaur kicked Jayce, Jayce was already dead!
Taking advantage of this opportunity to control the situation, Flandre used E to dash forward with a double displacement, bringing Jayce into the skill range as well. He first used W to stun Jayce and continue the control, and then turned around and used his ultimate to pull Jayce directly into his teammate's face!

Meiko immediately received the ball, and Ruier followed up with a stomp, maintaining control!

If not to be a vanguard, then to be a hero!
RNG was temporarily distracted by the low-health Rift Herald, and Wei didn't even dare to enter the fray. Instead, he took advantage of Malzahar's stun still being active and used Smite to secure the Rift Herald.

"The Red Legion killed the Rift Herald!"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, EDG's two carries immediately followed up with damage. Xayah used QAE to pull out the root, and Viktor also took the opportunity to unleash a full combo of ERQA.

The second part of E's backfire and the Q skill's laser hit Jayce at the same time, emptying his health bar!
"Shut Down!"

Jess's bounty and the kill totaled 600 coins, all of which ended up in Ming Jing's pocket!

"Dead, dead, let's go!"

They used up too many skills to kill Jayce, leaving them with questionable follow-up strength. Now that the Vanguard is gone, it's best for them to make a quick getaway!
On the other side, RNG was obviously not happy to see this scene. Wei Udyr also activated his Alchemy Jar and charged over with his E ability active!
The two men, Manar and his brother, who were at the front of the field, had no way to avoid being slowed down by the alchemy jar.

However, both of them are quite tanky, and even without Jayce, RNG can't really die for a while with just Malzahar and Kai'Sa!
Mingjing and Viper, the two core players, analyzed the current situation and immediately came to the same conclusion—they could launch a counterattack!
The two turned around almost simultaneously and began attacking Udyr as he charged into the fray.

Meiko's first reaction was to run, but seeing that the carry hadn't moved, he could only turn around, use his E skill to stun Udyr, and then immediately follow up with WR to solidly stun Udyr!

Mingjing followed up with W's gravity field and used his ultimate to move over.

Both sides then immediately switched to a pure output competition mode.

GALA's Kai'Sa unleashed a barrage of attacks, combined with her teammates' crowd control, to eliminate the first enemy to engage, Hecarim, and then quickly focused fire on Gnar.

On the other side, Xayah's feathers were also poking Udyr frantically.

Even while taking damage, Flandre remained determined to die, hurling a boulder at Udyr!

Flandre could actually use Flash, but he felt it wasn't necessary.

Flash should be used wisely.

Ultimately, Flandre's Gnar was finished off by Kai'Sa's Plasma, but Viper's Xayah also charged forward, killing the enemy Udyr, and then used her ultimate to dodge Nautilus's ultimate, escaping and completing a trade of kills.

"Two for two!" Miller summarized the brief skirmish in the commentary booth, "RNG secured the Rift Herald, but EDG gained the bounty on Jayce! This skirmish can be considered a close contest!"

"Yes, now that the plating is gone, the strategic significance of the second vanguard isn't that great! It might not even be as valuable as these three hundred bounties!"

Remember nodded and continued, "And the main thing is that Viktor got the kills this time! That's a huge hidden income!"

Mingjing had purchased the Killing Ring, and this kill and assist directly gave him three stacks of 15 ability power. Roughly calculated at 20 ability power / 435 gold, these 15 ability power are worth 326!

Moreover, Viktor also gained 50 stacks of passive fragments through this, which greatly accelerated his skill evolution!

At this moment, the director conveniently switched to the economics panel.

As we can see, after receiving the finishing bounty, Viktor's economy improved again. Although he is still second in the game, he is now on par with Jayce.

When Viktor went out again, he already had Luden's Echo, Bracers, Stopwatch, Sorcerer's Shoes, Doran's Ring, and Deathcap, filling his inventory with six items.

"Is that enough?" Flandre asked again.

"That's enough." Ming Jing nodded. "I'll go and help Jess. You don't need to worry about me."

"Okay!" The EDG members all nodded upon hearing this.

This is what I've been waiting for!
With the armor of the arm guards as support, and with both Q and E skills having been evolved, Viktor no longer needs to fear Jayce. He immediately heads to the top lane to face Jayce head-on.

And as it turns out, this matchup was perfectly fine.

Instead of running away from Jess, Ming Jing took the initiative to approach him and used the range advantage of his laser to frequently wear him down from a distance, which made Jess feel annoyed.

In the past, it was always Jayce pulling others along; there was no reason for him to be pulled along.
Xiaohu finally found an opportunity and used his hammer to unleash a [Leap of the Sky], but Mingjing reacted quickly, placing his W at his feet the instant Jayce jumped.

This W was placed too quickly. Xiaohu had just managed to get the Phase Boots with QWA when he had to move away from the Gravity Field. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mingjing used his Q skill to refresh the shield and accelerate to create distance, while various lasers were spraying Jayce!

Jayce's hammer form has too short arms. Mingjing only needs to pull out 125 yards before Jayce will have to endure his crazy laser barrage, just like before!

In the end, Xiaohu sacrificed 70% of his health to barely create some distance.

In comparison, Viktor only lost 40% of his health.

Although Jayce can still recover his health by using Star Eclipse to drain his life, he definitely won't be able to gain the upper hand in the short term!
"Hey, something's not right!" Guan Daxiao shouted from the commentary booth, "Xiaohu can't break through Xiaofei's defense!"

This wave may seem like a simple personnel reshuffle, but it actually has a profound impact on the situation!
EDG's previous predicament was purely due to Flandre's inability to handle Jayce's split-pushing.

Now that Mingjing has managed to contain Jayce all by himself, the other four members of EDG can naturally be freed up to do their own thing!
With four teammates positioned in the lower half of the map, RNG had no angle to deploy their second Rift Herald, even though they secured it.

RNG reacted quickly, immediately changing their strategy and targeting the top lane!

Their thinking was simple and transparent—since Xiaohu couldn't beat them, they would continue to help him until he could!

The hero Malzahar is used at this time. With this fixed-point long-range control, ganking the side lanes is almost always a sure thing!

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the dragon spawned and EDG's main force grouped up in the bottom river, RNG did the opposite, with their mid and jungle duo diving directly into the top jungle to cut off Viktor's retreat!
"Here it comes, a three-man gank on one!" Colonel Guan shouted again, "RNG isn't even willing to take the dragon, they're going to gank top! Xiaofei looks like he has no chance of survival!"

One is a grasshopper, the other is Udyr; both of them are point-controllers.

Once Malzahar uses his ultimate ability, Viktor should have no chance of survival!

RNG thought the same way. Wei's Udyr activated his Turbo Smelter and ran at lightning speed, charging straight at Viktor!

Ming Jing, though trapped in a deadly situation, wasn't nervous. Instead, he kept a close eye on the distance between Udir and the grasshopper.

He wasn't worried this time, since RNG gave up the dragon to force a kill on him, so even if he died, it wouldn't be a loss.

Secondly.

He might not necessarily die.

Udyr rushed too fast in his attempt to keep him.

The grasshopper couldn't keep up with its ultimate attack.

The control chain has broken down.

Mingjing had a clear strategy; he used his E skill at the maximum range to break Malzahar's passive, and then immediately used Flash to create distance.

This flash didn't seem to make much difference, because Udyr caught up in a few steps and knocked him unconscious with a bear paw.

But in reality, it is especially crucial.

Because Malzahar could not keep up with Udyr's pace to begin with, now that Udyr has used Flash to create distance, Malzahar is even less able to keep up. Even if he uses Flash to follow up with his ultimate, there will be a brief gap in the control chain.

This is his escape route.

Taking advantage of Viktor's stun, Malzahar quickly flashed forward, but because the distance between them was too far, the casting range was still insufficient, and Malzahar needed to take two more steps forward.

The instant Udyr's stun ended, Malzahar finally moved to the right distance and unleashed his ultimate ability, Hades' Grip, at Viktor.

However, this ultimate move was a moment too late. Viktor gained a brief moment of respite, and Mingjing did not hesitate, decisively unleashing his ultimate move, Chaos Storm!
Viktor raised his right hand, entering the skill channeling phase.

Although the grasshopper's ultimate skill was still applied to him, the skill that was already in the channeling phase could not be interrupted, and [Chaos Storm] was still forcibly released despite the control effect!

Viktor's ultimate ability's hidden mechanism takes effect at this moment. The initial damage of the ultimate will break the continuous casting of skills, which just happened to break Malzahar's [Nether Grip] which he had just started casting!
Viktor resumed his activity, threw a Q at Udyr to trigger a speed boost, and drove off right in front of RNG's top, mid, and jungle trio!

"what???"

The seven thousand spectators in the audience erupted in uproar.

Ran! ?
(End of this chapter)