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

Chapter 166 Imperial Treatment!
In the game footage that Kkoma saw, the Tsar was standing under the tower with half health, slowly returning to the fountain.

On the other side, Canyon's Morgana wanted to interrupt the Tsar's recall, but had to give up because JieJie's Rumble was waiting nearby.

This scene made Kkoma increasingly puzzled.

Both junglers are in the mid lane.

Is this a 2v2 match between mid and jungle that they never won?
The problem is that the Tsar and Rumble mid-jungle duo also have the ability to fight in 2v2?
The Tsar in the early stages of the war could also kill people!?

Kkoma couldn't figure it out, so he simply took out his phone and turned on the live stream of the event.

Although watching a live stream on your phone at the scene is a bit abstract, it's the quickest way to see the whole story.

By dragging the progress bar, Kkoma returned to the very beginning of the laning phase and wondered why the story had unfolded the way it did.

The signs were already evident in the opening laning phase alone.

Showmaker played very aggressively at level one, pushing directly to the enemy tower before the minion wave even reached the lane, guarding the Azir and minions as they left the tower.

The moment Showmaker left the tower, he cast a Q [Dark Orb], which condensed at Azir's feet.

This is also the correct way to play Syndra against weak mages. Syndra is still an absolute lane bully in this version, with very high stats in the early game. In addition, Showmaker started with Corrupting Potion and Aery, so his laning strength is self-evident.

With the mana regeneration from the Corrupting Potion and the low mana cost of 40 points for her Q skill, Syndra can almost completely overwhelm her opponent before level three, as long as she can ensure the Q skill hits!

Of course, there is one major premise to everything.

The Q skill hit.

As soon as Syndra unleashed her Q skill, Azir immediately turned his head, precisely found the optimal route, and narrowly escaped the skill's range.

After the minion wave shifted, Showmaker didn't give up. While attacking the minions, he also tried to use his Q on both the Azir and the minions to reach level two while trading blows.

The goal of securing Tier 2 is certainly achievable. Syndra is quite strong at Tier 1, so securing Tier 2 for Azir shouldn't be too difficult.

But don't even think about losing health.

This time, Ming Jing didn't even bother to turn his head; he simply walked straight ahead, avoiding the obstacle once again.

This scene repeated itself frequently afterward.

Showmaker was also stubborn, or rather, he knew that if he couldn't even suppress the Tsar at level one, then there was no way he could do anything later.

Syndra used her Q skill almost as soon as it was available, bombarding Azir relentlessly.

But the Tsar was incredibly agile at this moment, twisting left and right to dodge all six Dark Orbs in succession!
Syndra then successfully reached level two, and Showmaker pushed forward in advance, releasing an EQ push shot the instant she reached level two!

The E skill did hit, pushing the Azir a short distance, but the Q skill still missed, pushing him into empty space.

It was only at this point that Aery triggered for the first time, and three layers of green bone armor finally appeared on the Tsar.
It was only at this point that everyone realized that the Tsar had actually brought with him skeletons.

With the skeleton protecting him and Syndra's EQ combo all off, Azir's counterattack came quickly.

JDG's champion Azir summoned the Bifang Bird Sand Soldiers and chased after Syndra, poking her twice. After Syndra ran away, the upgrade glow on Azir's body suddenly lit up!
The Tsar quickly learned Q, summoning golden and red sand soldiers that left a trail of fire on the ground, stabbing Syndra to slow her down, and then chasing after her and stabbing her twice more!
Despite the AAQAA combo, the Tsar still managed to gain a health advantage!
Seeing this, Kkoma couldn't help but facepalm.

Is this for real?

Sometimes he doesn't want to speak ill of his own people, but this time he has to admit that this wave is really a bit abstract.

By this point in the game, he could even vaguely guess why he had given up first blood.

The Tsar's perfect trade of blows didn't actually affect the mid-lane situation. After all, Showmaker started with a Corrupting Potion, so he had plenty of supplies. After drinking two potions, his health was back to about 70-80%.

Showmaker knew he had already lost the laning phase, so he changed his strategy, using all his Q skills on minions to push the cannon minion wave into the tower before recalling to farm.

But then Mingjing refused.

Azir does have a hard time pushing past Syndra in the early game. The main problem is that the sand soldiers in the early game are hard to sustain, which is no match for Syndra's Q which has a 6-second cooldown and a 40-mana cost.

But now, Syndra misses seven Qs in a row at the start of the game. Even though Syndra's Q skill has a very low mana cost, her mana bar is already half gone, and it is difficult to replenish it even with the recovery from Corrupting Potion.

I'm not afraid of you at all!
At this point, Ming Jing stopped pretending and summoned sand soldiers to continuously stab the minion wave, keeping it in the center.

From this point on, Mingjing was no longer afraid of Syndra's Q. He even hoped that Syndra would throw more skills at him, even if it cost him health. The lower Syndra's mana was, the more stable his lane control would be!
Soon, after the third wave of cannon minions arrived, lane control gradually shifted into the hands of the Tsar, who pushed back towards Syndra's tower.

This left them completely speechless and embarrassed.

Not only was Showmaker embarrassed, but the entire DK team was embarrassed.

You were clearly prepared to make plays based on lane priority from the start, and Canyon, who had farmed all the way, was even ready to invade the jungle. So what's the meaning of not being able to push the mid lane against Azir?
Plans can't keep up with changes. Looking at the situation in the mid lane, Canyon had no choice but to temporarily change his strategy. He first cleared out all six jungle camps to reach level four, and then moved towards the mid lane.

However, Canyon was clearly unaware that he had already been exposed to EDG's surveillance.

Zhao Lijie's Rumble was quite clever this time. He started in the top half of the map but did not rush to clear all six jungle camps. Instead, he took a step ahead and crouched in the small bush in the middle of the river, watching Morgana walk to the mid lane.

But Jie didn't make any rash moves. Instead, he just squatted there, watching the development of the situation in the middle lane.

In the mid lane, Canyon's first choice was naturally to take advantage of Azir's pressure on the lane and try to gank.

Morgana's Q combined with Syndra's push ball, if you can land a full combo, it might be a bit difficult to get a kill, but it's definitely enough to trigger a flash.

Therefore, Canyon charged forward despite the magic shield, unleashing a barrage of basic attacks on the Tsar and attempting to put pressure on his positioning.

Unexpectedly, the Tsar felt no pressure at all and simply walked straight ahead.

Swaying back and forth when threatened is something only someone who lacks confidence in their own reactions would do.

Mingjing's movement relies on talent; dodging Morgana's Q with reaction time is incredibly simple, so there's no need to dodge.

Canyon had no choice but to rely on the red buff's slow effect to force out his Q!

He knew very well that this simple and straightforward Q was unlikely to hit the opponent's monster with such a talent; at most, it could only restrict his movement.

So he threw his Q without any anticipation, directly in front of the Tsar, forcing the Tsar to turn around and move.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Showmaker's Syndra quickly followed up and launched an EQ push shot!

The EQ combo is faster than the QE combo; the Dark Orb is launched before it can even fully form!

This is when the truly gifted performers really shine.

Ming Jing saw Syndra's push ball clearly. He quickly pressed W to summon Sand Soldiers, and then used E to move laterally, narrowly dodging the push ball!

Upon seeing this, the showmaker's first reaction was to sigh.

How can we even play like this? We can't hit him with any of our skills.

My second reaction was horror.

Wait, how did the Tsar end up flying over here?!

Azir's first E was originally meant to fly horizontally to dodge Syndra's EQ combo, but after dodging the skill, Azir used Q to change the direction of the sand soldiers, turning the tables and stabbing Syndra directly in the face with the sand soldiers!
The Sand Soldier successfully pierced Syndra's body, inflicting a slowing effect.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Tsar summoned a second sand soldier, who together launched a fierce attack on Syndra!
Syndra and Morgana aren't actually that strong; the only point worth mentioning is the synergy between these two champions in terms of crowd control.

Now that both of their key skills are empty, these two characters are practically useless; they have neither damage nor tankiness!
The Tsar alone was enough to fight two against one.

What's more, there's a Rambo right next to him who's been waiting in the wings for a long time!

Upon seeing this, Kkoma slapped his forehead and shook his head.

Fortunately, he watched the replay and was mentally prepared for the outcome when he saw the scene.

If this were seen live, it's hard to imagine how high one's blood pressure would go!
While DK's mid and jungle were making their move, JieJie had plenty of time to flank and create a big opportunity. Rumble activated his W and charged out from the blue side's bottom red buff area!

Moreover, JieJie didn't hold back his skills. He was aiming for an all-in from the start. Rumble's yellow-warm E accurately hit Syndra, continuing the slow effect!
JieJie has been practicing Rumble recently and has made some progress. His temperature control on this Rumble is perfect. He uses E to get a perfect 70 rage, and after closing the distance with the slow, he uses EQ to follow up with the slow again, and at the same time, he activates Q to enter red temperature!

At this point, Rumble's exaggerated output after the buff was perfectly demonstrated. The two yellow-temperature E skills can reduce magic resistance by 30% together. In addition, there is the percentage damage and 50% attack speed bonus in the red-temperature state. These are all new additions in the most recent buff!
Rambo's drill slammed into Syndra a few times, and Syndra's health plummeted, instantly triggering the Dark Harvest effect!

Showmaker was startled by the exaggerated damage and immediately used Flash to escape!

But Flash couldn't help him escape. JieJie quickly followed with Flash and chased Syndra, firing several more shots!

It's no exaggeration to say that Rumble took away 60% of Syndra's health bar by himself.

Although the Tsar took advantage of Rambo's reduced magic resistance to secretly poke him a few times, it was like scraping a finger, basically having no effect.

But the Tsar still wanted to take heads.

Although Syndra used Flash to create distance, she was still within Azir's attack range. Mingjing pressed W to summon the last sand soldier in his hand. The fiery red Bifang bird stabbed Syndra twice, and then, after the skill cooldown was over, he used QA to easily take down Syndra's head that was delivered right to his mouth!

Then, this is what Kkoma saw when he returned to the lounge.

Seeing this, Kkoma sighed helplessly.

To be honest, before the match started, he found it hard to believe that Syndra + Morgana vs. Azir + Rumble could actually produce kills!

In a normal game, the Tsar should be the one avoiding fights. This mid and jungle duo won't be able to get together until the second vanguard is available at the fourteen-minute mark!
Who could have imagined that First Blood would occur so quickly? It can only be said that from the moment Showmaker missed seven consecutive Qs, the mid lane matchup in this game had already taken a strange turn.

Kkoma put away her phone and turned her attention back to the live broadcast in front of her.

Although giving the Tsar a first blood was a bit of a blow, the situation wasn't unacceptable.

As long as they play cautiously from now on, the situation should still be in DK's hands.
At this point, six minutes had passed in the game.

Kkoma's gaze had barely shifted when he saw the Tsar summoning sand soldiers, using WEQ to teleport forward!

Syndra pushed the ball with her backhand, trying to interrupt Azir's dash, but Azir reacted extremely quickly, dodging [Weaklings Begone] with a Flash and arriving next to Syndra!
At this moment, Mingjing clearly noticed that Canyon's Morgana was not far behind the tower.

But Mingjing was not afraid at all and decisively pressed R.

He knew that Morgana's E skill range was not enough; it was 50 yards short.

The Tsar pushed back, and a fiery red wall of Imperial Guards bearing the JDG logo charged forward from behind him, sending Syndra, who had no Flash, flying!
Canyon arrived too late and failed to provide the crucial immunity shield.

Rumble and Nautilus had been waiting for Syndra's landing spot for quite some time!
Titan followed up with a hook, and Rumble unleashed a barrage of EEQ attacks, bringing Syndra to near-death almost instantly.

EDG's jungler and support were very clean, not taking kills they shouldn't have. After they brought Syndra to low health, they both stopped attacking.

Ming Jing didn't hold back either. The Tsar summoned sand soldiers by pressing W and stabbed twice, taking Syndra's head once again!

Seeing this, Kkoma's heart sank completely.

He never expected that he would witness the Showmaker's two deaths just over three minutes after returning to the lounge!
Should he not have watched it at all?

In the LCK commentary booth, cries of despair were already deafening.

"Ah!!!" The Roaring Emperor's voice was filled with heartache, "Don't let this person get any more kills!"

If giving up first blood was an accident, then what about this wave?
Why did Syndra give the Tsar two kills in a row?
“That makes things a bit difficult.” Kim Dong-jun frowned, his face grim. “Why did Syndra get completely destroyed by Azir in the early game? It’s really hard to understand!”

While the LCK was filled with sorrow, the LPL was celebrating with singing and dancing.

The JDG guys all grinned when they saw what was happening.

"Awesome! Great push!" Toothpaste excitedly gave a thumbs up. "Ming Jing is really daring. Isn't he afraid of Morgana giving him a shield?"

When Azir used Flash to push, Morgana was not far away, and the distance was quite ambiguous.

If Morgana could cast a magic shield, then the Tsar's push would be quite comical.

"You think Mingjing is like you?" Zoom glanced sideways at him. "Mingjing's distance control is unparalleled."

“Indeed.” Kanavi nodded.

Mingjing's talent is indeed evident in every aspect; he can be described as a born League of Legends prodigy. However, there are a few outstanding qualities: his quick reflexes, stable operation, and precise distance control.

These three characteristics made him unstoppable in the AD position last year, dominating all opponents and winning the championship.

At this moment, the chat in the live stream rooms of several people exploded.

[This streamer has played Azir his whole life, and even chose a championship skin. Is he even half as good as Xiaofeige at Azir?]

That doesn't make sense. GaoGao's Tsar is quite skilled, and XiaoFei didn't pull off any impressive Tsar plays.

Indeed, these few waves were all due to Xiaofei's own men being strong, and had nothing to do with the Tsar.

Don't worry, Xiao Fei will put on a show later. When has he ever let us down?

At this moment, in the EDG voice chat, Mingjing also smiled and praised his teammate's timely roaming.

JieJie's Rumble was always stationed in the mid lane, ready to be called upon at any time, but Meiko was different.

It's important to know that EDG's Xayah and Nautilus combination is weak in the laning phase and they can't gain lane control.

Meiko was able to roam to the mid lane by forgoing a chance to recall and forcibly arriving there.

It can only be said that they have a lot of faith in their sense of smell.

After they went back online, the laning phase went peacefully for a while.

Mingjing didn't have Flash or his ultimate, and Azir isn't a hero that can do much in the early game, so Mingjing wasn't in a hurry to pressure the enemy and focused on controlling the lane.

Mingjing has now reached level 7 and has a level 4 W. With the extra 2-0 gold, his wave clear efficiency has surpassed Syndra's.

He only needs to keep summoning sand soldiers to push the lane, and the lane control will never fall into his hands.

Seeing that nothing was happening in the mid lane, JieJie cleared out his jungle and decided to go to the top lane to join in the fun.

On the top lane, Flandre played quite well in the laning phase. After all, Sett is not difficult to play against Lee Sin, and the numerical advantage is overwhelming.

Of course, as the current world's number one top laner, Nuguri can still protect himself even if his champion is at a disadvantage. Currently, the two top laners are still evenly matched.

But he definitely has no chance of getting the right to play.

With both mid and top lanes open, EDG's strategy became clear—first, secure the Rift Herald.

Nine minutes in, EDG secured the Rift Herald and immediately released it in the mid lane.

The vanguard charged headlong into the enemy, and Mingjing gained two more layers of economic benefits.

EDG's strategy for this game was very simple: focus on building up Azir!

When he returned to the city, the [Lost Chapter] in his hand had evolved into [Landry's Suffering].

Mingjing's playstyle this game is still a relatively traditional Conqueror Tsar build, so the Mask, a Mythic item that provides a lot of cooldown reduction, is quite crucial.

Even if a Mythic item only appears once in ten minutes, and its snowballing ability isn't particularly strong, its combat power is still quite terrifying.

Ming Jing's ultimate skill was ready at this moment. With his ultimate skill to protect himself, he was fearless and immediately activated the suppression!
With the boost from max-level W and Mythic items, the Sand Soldier's stab damage undergoes a qualitative change. At this point, a QA stab on Syndra will cause her health bar to drop in chunks!
Needless to say, pushing lanes is a piece of cake; the big mask is a master at pushing lanes, easily clearing a wave with just a few pokes.

Showmaker knew that this Azir was beyond his ability to stop. He was having trouble even getting kills under the tower, let alone laning!
There was nothing he could do but keep sending Canyon to protect the mid lane.

But this time, Canyon isn't going to give them that kind of face.

Their mid and jungle duo should be roaming around to gain an advantage, not just staying in the mid lane to farm. So who is Syndra and who is Azir?
If we just stay in the mid lane, how can we possibly win the game?
After losing in the mid lane, Canyon decisively abandoned the synergy with the mid laner and chose to go to the bottom lane.

Morgana junglers typically take the Predator rune to increase her mobility.

When the red wolf head lit up on the leader of EDG's bottom lane duo, it was too late for them to run away.

Canyon didn't even gamble on the hit rate of his Q, but instead flashed forward and used his ultimate to trap both of them!

Without the slightest hesitation, the EDG duo flashed and broke the chains.

Canyon then unleashed a Q, heading straight for the evasive Xayah.

Viper had no choice but to unleash his ultimate move to escape unscathed.

With both Flash and her ultimate, Xayah's survival was relatively easy. Viper even held back his Cleanse, wary of Leona's ultimate.

But Meiko wasn't so lucky.

Behind him, the Leona used her ultimate to immobilize him, and then followed up with a combo of EQ to control him.

Although Meiko turned around and used Aftershock to absorb damage, it only delayed her death. Ghost's Tristana jumped twice in succession to chase and finally killed Meiko under the tower!
Seeing this, LCK supporters felt slightly relieved.

They already controlled one dragon in the bottom half of the map, and now that their advantage in the bottom lane has expanded, controlling a second dragon shouldn't be a problem.

Although we're at a significant disadvantage in the mid lane, if we play slowly and methodically, we'll be able to turn things around eventually.
But just then, the camera switched back to the middle lane.
That's right, still in the middle lane.

Canyon's gank was indeed tricky, but it also somewhat overlooked Showmaker's feelings.

With such a huge gap in mid lane, if Canyon doesn't go to protect mid, how can mid laner possibly survive?

"Smash it!!!"

As soon as the camera panned over, we heard Jinfu's loud, angry voice.

Then, Flandre's Sett appeared from behind DK's mid tower, and without any hesitation, he used Flash to grab Showmaker and bring him to Mingjing and Jiejie!
After grabbing him, Sett knocked him unconscious with a single [Skull Crack], followed by four consecutive punches!

Since Saint Gun Bro has gone this far, there's no need to say more. Jie Jie simply stabs him with two harpoons.

It's worth mentioning that JieJie's economy was also ideal this game, and with two assists, he has already completed the Mythic item Night Harvester.

With the Mythic item buff, JieJie almost lost control and nearly got instantly killed by Syndra!
Fortunately, he turned around in time, spraying the flames into empty space, leaving the man with severe blood and head to Ming Jing.

In the commentary booth, Wang Duoduo couldn't help but laugh and say, "Wow, did they give the kill to the Tsar again? Xiaofei is getting such good treatment this game!"

Within ten minutes of the start of the match, EDG had already ganked the mid lane three times and succeeded in all three!
All three kills were broken up and fed to Ming Jing by his teammates, a treatment worthy of royalty!
Of course, it's only natural for the carry to get kills, and Ming Jing, who started as an AD carry, felt no burden at all. He secured the kill with a single thrust, achieving a killing spree!

(End of this chapter)