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

Chapter 178 Okay then.
Both players burst out of the fountain.

From a bird's-eye view, both teams have their own opening strategies, and signals are constantly appearing on the minimap.

At level one, neither team was particularly strong, so neither side had any intention of engaging in a level one team fight; they simply adopted a standard defensive formation.

Canyon pressed TAB, looked at his team's lineup, and said, "Then I'll play it safe this game?"

DK has a four-core lineup of Gnar, Rumble, Viktor, and Kai'Sa, and they have to consume resources at every point.

Although the hero's strength allows them to have decent combat power in the early and mid-game, their true power spike is clearly in the late game, and dragging the game into the late game will definitely not be a problem.

After receiving permission, Canyon's jungle route became clear, and he no longer needed to farm down the jungle to coordinate with the support, Riel; that was a speed-up playstyle focused on seizing opportunities and trading kills.

If you want to play slowly, focus on farming upwards first and secure Gnar's position; that's the best approach.

Of course, if you want to drag the game into the late game, there is one prerequisite: you must play it safe in all three lanes.

If one lane falls apart and becomes a weak point, then there's no going back in the game.

But I think there shouldn't be any problems.

Gnar was slightly at a disadvantage against Renekton in the early game, but he went up to protect him.

Although the bot lane has a history of losing lanes, there shouldn't be any major problems. Actually, Ghost is quite good at surviving; he just encountered a monster last year.

Only the middle lane is under a little pressure.

Because the monster is currently in the mid lane.

Using Xerath as a carry was a strategy they had developed, so they certainly knew where the advantages of this matchup lay.

If a short-legged hero like Viktor doesn't have good positioning skills, it's hard for him to withstand Xerath's poke damage!
"In the mid lane, try to play it safe," Canyon said. "If you can't hold on, call me for help anytime."

Showmaker's face flushed slightly upon hearing this, but he still nodded: "Trust me."

Showmaker is quite confident in his positioning.

During the match, Phi used Azir to dodge seven of Syndra's Qs, thus completing a comeback in their matchup.

Who says he can't do it?

Soon, the soldier slowly logged in.

Showmaker wasn't in a hurry; he pressed TAB and glanced at Xerath's equipment.

But the result he saw made him grit his teeth.

Xerath didn't buy the Corruption Potion, which is essential for mages to fight, nor did he buy the Doran's Ring.

Instead, I bought Goddess Tears.

And that's not all.

Behind the Goddess's Tears, a True Eye lay quietly.

Goddess Tears and True Sight go out without buying a single health potion?

Showmaker felt a sense of being slighted.

In the early levels, Viktor doesn't have much sustain, since his Q and E abilities haven't evolved, resulting in very low damage.

But it's definitely not zero!

Are you really that confident that you dare to go toe-to-toe with me without any medicine?
But at that moment, Xerath raised his hands above his head and began charging up his Q [Arcane Pulse]!
Showmaker reacted quickly, his first instinct being to move away from the ranged minions to avoid being hit by their Qs along with the minions. He then turned his head left and right, trying to disrupt Xerath's judgment.

Ming Jing narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Showma turn her head.

Showmaker's movements may seem chaotic and disorderly, but in reality, there are certain logical patterns to them.

The key is to determine the frequency of the other party's mouse clicks. The moment the other party clicks the mouse is definitely the moment to turn around.

That was exactly the moment Mingjing was aiming for.

Mingjing lined up the melee minions and Viktor, anticipated the opening when the opponent turned around, and decisively used Q!

As expected, Viktor turned around at the same time as he cast his Q skill, and stepped into the center of the skill!
A surge of arcane energy created a long-range lightning bolt that struck three melee soldiers and Viktor simultaneously.

A comet flew out from beside Xerath and struck Viktor's heel precisely. With the [Scorch] debuff triggered, Viktor's health was further reduced!
Seeing that Q had hit successfully, Mingjing nodded in satisfaction.

All I can say is that it was all within the calculations.

Trying to disrupt his skill hits by moving back and forth is unrealistic; such back-and-forth movement will only slow down your own movement.

To dodge his skills, you need to rely on your reaction and skill!

Meanwhile, Showmaker pursed his lips, the pressure starting to build.

Fortunately, this level 1 Q isn't too painful and is still within the margin of error.

Without much thought, he calculated Xerath's Q skill cooldown while auto-attacking forward and unleashing an E laser.

This laser beam started from the ranged unit and ended with Xerath, attempting to kill both the unit and the enemy.

However, this greedy release method obviously had no chance of hitting Ming Jing. He simply moved slightly to avoid the laser.

Mingjing's Q skill quickly came back to life, but he didn't rush to use it. Instead, he calmly attacked minions and pushed the lane.

He waited until the cooldowns of his two talents, Comet and Scorch, were also over before pressing forward to charge up again!

Showmaker was clearly unaware of the problem and was still subconsciously turning his head left and right to move around, only this time at a faster frequency than before.

Just like last time, Mingjing quickly identified the pattern and habit, and made a move with a single Q!

As if luring someone into a trap, Viktor automatically turned his head and walked into the center of the skill's location as the skill was unleashed.

Another solid Q hit, followed by Comet and Scorch, further reducing his health bar by a significant amount!

Showmaker's expression became even more serious.

Although Xerath didn't have any AP items, with the help of runes, those two Qs really did hurt him a bit!

If this continues, the laning phase will become really dangerous.

Viktor pressed forward before his cooldown was up, and unleashed another E!

Now he dared not be greedy and honestly pointed directly at Xerath.

Viktor's E is quite difficult to dodge. As long as you honestly throw it at the person, even if Mingjing reacts in time, Xerath is no match for his reaction.

But Mingjing quickly changed his mind. After realizing he couldn't dodge the E, he simply took a step forward and traded another basic attack with Viktor.

Although this trade was still a loss, he successfully landed his passive on Xerath, gaining full mana regeneration.

With the combined power of Tear of the Goddess, Manaflow Band, and the passive ability [Mana Surge], Xerath's energy is inexhaustible.

Mingjing's skill usage became even more unrestrained. He quickly leveled up to level two and then used his W to lock onto Viktor and unleash it!
Showmaker immediately turned and moved to avoid the center of W, but was still grazed by the edge!

And Xerath's Q followed closely behind his movement, hitting him again!

With another round of Comet and Scorch triggering, Viktor's health has dropped to nearly half.

Showmaker's forehead was already sweating.

Damn, why is Q so accurate?
How is this played?
The disadvantage in health made Showmaker afraid to engage in any more skill-based trades. He could only take advantage of Xerath's skill cooldowns to tank for a few more seconds.

Once Xerath's WQ was almost ready, he obediently retreated to let the wave go and planned to farm under the tower.

Ming Jing immediately noticed Viktor's change in laning posture and smiled with satisfaction.

now it's right.

Playing Viktor, you think you can out-mechanically compete with my Xerath? Aren't you being a little too overconfident?
Xerath has Dokk the short-legged mage, don't you know that yourself?

When playing against this type of mage, Xerath only needs to pay attention to two things: first, mana management, and second, preventing ganks.

If you handle these two points well and maintain a certain skill hit rate, you can suppress the opponent to the point of being unable to take care of themselves!
At this point, the advantages of using Tear of the Goddess and True Sight to go out become apparent.

Ming Jing continued his aggressive pressure, using skills to harass the enemy as soon as Comet's cooldown was ready.

If Q misses, use W. He has so much mana he can hardly use it all. He keeps sniping Viktor's health and drinking Corrupting Potion over and over again! After the minion wave is pushed, Mingjing places wards in the top and bottom rivers to scout both sides clearly!

Goddess Tears grants unlimited firing rights.

With both true and false wards illuminating the two rivers simultaneously, the enemy's Rumble + Viktor mid and jungle, lacking crowd control, simply couldn't catch him!
Mingjing never makes any unreasonable moves, nor does he have a rigid mindset that the game can only be played in a certain way. Every decision he makes is a correct choice after careful consideration.

Just like at last year's World Championship, before he picked Ziggs, no one thought that Ziggs could be played as an AD carry.

With the protection of the true and false wards, Mingjing became even bolder. After reaching level three, he didn't even learn E, but instead directly leveled up Q to level two and chased Viktor with a barrage of Qs!

Although Showmaker dodged several Qs, it was inevitable that his health would continue to drop. He quickly drank all the Corruption Potion in his hand, and his health was still below half. It looked like he was about to be sent back to base!

Canyon had just arrived on the top lane and had a standoff with jiejie.

After everyone withdrew, Canyon switched screens to check the situation in the mid lane, and his heart skipped a beat.

No, how did he get beaten up like this?

Is it really that bad?
Originally planning to go home, he changed his plans and went to the middle lane to help out.

However, Ming Jing, with his keen eyesight, spotted Rambo's appearance immediately, and Xerath retreated in advance, giving him no chance whatsoever.

Canyon had no choice but to activate the scanner to remove Xerath's wards, allowing Showmaker to stabilize the situation before returning to base to replenish supplies.

Canyon recalled to base to buy more equipment and cleared out the Krugs and F6 camps in the lower jungle first.

At this point, he switched the screen to the middle lane.

Showmaker's laning phase was even worse. While farming under the tower, he was also subjected to Xerath's positioning drills. His health was now down to one-third, which was even within Xerath's kill threshold. If he had been hit by Xerath's E stun, he would have been dead on the spot!
With no other option, Canyon had to try moving towards the mid lane again.

There's currently a lull in jewelry sales, so there might actually be a chance to snag one.

But as soon as they arrived, they saw the real sniper hidden in the grass below the river.
Xerath's decision to start with a true sight ward left Canyon speechless for a while.

How can we help them now?

Canyon was helpless and could only patiently remove the control ward before turning around and disappearing into the darkness.

As Mingjing watched Rambo disappear into the river, he immediately pinged a signal, giving Jiejie this crucial information.

Don't think that Canyon can clear two wards for Mingjing in the mid lane without paying a price.

Rumble's jungle clearing speed is already slower than Udyr's, and now he's wasting a lot of time clearing wards in the mid lane twice. By the time he finished clearing the wards, JieJie's Udyr had already cleared the last Krugs.

Udyr used Smite to take down the giant bug, then used Phoenix Form to quickly finish off the medium and small bugs.

The two junglers have already created a fatal time difference.

At this moment, on the top lane, Flandre once again pushed the wave into the tower.

Without hesitation, JieJie, who had already returned to town to repair his shoes, activated his bear form and headed straight for the Death Knight's tower!

Nuguri sensed danger as the minion wave pushed into the tower, but seeing Canyon farming wolves nearby calmed him down a bit. He stayed under the tower, intending to finish off the remaining minions.

But in a flash, Udyr charged at him wielding a bear paw, causing his expression to change!
What the hell is going on?
Is the enemy jungler clearing jungle camps that fast?

But at that point, it was too late to say anything.

Canyon was already heading up the road, but the distance was too great for him to catch up.

Nuguri's thinking was clear; he turned around and ran backward, trying to buy as much time as possible.

"Hurry up, hurry up, Rumble is almost here!" Jiejie urged in the voice chat, her bear paw already slapping Gnar's face, and then her phoenix form slapped out, directly taking away nearly a third of Gnar's health.

Saint Gun quickly used E to dash into a minion, followed up with A followed by W to lock on, and then unleashed a full AEQ combo.

A small Gnar was clearly no match for the consistent burst damage from Udyr and Renekton. Udyr switched to Tiger form and slashed at Gnar with his claws, instantly depleting Gnar's health bar and leaving him dead on the spot!

"First blood!"

The cheers from the sidelines were deafening. Canyon's Rumble finally arrived, but with Phase Boots activated, he dashed out of the tower, giving Canyon no chance to trade kills.

Watching Udyr's departing figure, Canyon sighed and could only help by clearing a wave of minions under the tower.

Nuguri felt a little numb.

What happened to the promise of ensuring safe passage?
If you'd known it would end like this, you might as well have gone to the bottom lane and secured a dragon!
Isn't this maximizing losses?

Nuguri didn't blame his teammates; he simply took advantage of the black screen to switch the camera to the mid lane for a quick look.

But the devastation in the middle lane was shocking.

As soon as everything was cleared, Xerath saw Viktor clear the wave and immediately use E-Flash to launch a surprise attack, taking down Viktor!

"Oh!"

Showmaker screamed in fright at the E-Flash, clearly terrified, but fortunately his reaction was quick enough to use Flash to pull away, narrowly dodging the E.

Flash for Flash, Showmaker escaped with his life.

But he definitely wasn't qualified to farm this wave of minions, so he obediently retreated back to base and used his teleport to return to lane.

In contrast, Xerath was still at 70% health, only his mana was almost depleted.

Keep in mind that Xerath starts with Tear of the Goddess and a True Sight Ward.
Looking at the mid-lane screen, Nuguri was at a loss for words.

this.
Fine.

At this moment, the atmosphere in EDG's voice channel was relaxed and cheerful.

Upon hearing Mingjing's message that "the mid laner didn't have Flash," Jie Jie couldn't help but give Mingjing a thumbs up, praising him for playing the laning phase exceptionally well.

While the audience and opponents couldn't see it, Jie Jie certainly understood the reason behind this surge.

If it weren't for the strong pressure in the mid lane, which caused the enemy Rumble to waste time by ganking the mid lane twice, he wouldn't have had this crucial time difference to leap forward!

Moreover, after this mid-lane matchup and flash, JieJie's next strategy became clear.

This mid-lane trade of Flash seems to have the same value for both sides, as both are short-range mages. However, if you consider the teammates on both sides, the situation becomes different.

As long as Xerath maintains good vision control, even without Flash, Rumble and Viktor won't be able to kill him.

But Viktor is different. How can a Viktor without Flash dodge Udyr's bear paw?

Admittedly, DK isn't stupid; they'll definitely set up defenses in the mid lane.

But what if I take advantage of your defenses in the mid lane and then go to the top lane to gank again? What will you say then?
In terms of lineup, EDG is the offensive side in the early game, and now they have such a huge advantage, so their decision-making is naturally easy and they have the upper hand!
Six and a half minutes had passed quickly.

In the mid lane, Xerath pushes the minion wave into the tower.

In the bottom lane, Meiko's Titan had already disappeared.

From DK's perspective, EDG's decision couldn't be clearer; they were most likely going to dive the mid tower!
Therefore, Showmaker dared not hold back any skills, and used his R [Chaos Storm] to clear out the entire minion wave that was pushing towards the tower!

Meanwhile, Canyon's Rumble also appeared directly in the mid lane, clearly intending to protect the mid lane!

But at this moment, DK's people clearly saw that Titan suddenly reappeared in the bottom lane – he hadn't left at all, he was just hiding in the bushes.

Meanwhile, Xerath had disappeared from the mid lane at some point.

Upon seeing this, Canyon's expression changed.

So, where can Xerath go?
At this moment, a red circle rapidly extended from the darkness, representing the range of Xerath's ultimate ability, Arcane Ritual.

A super long-range strike of 5000 yards covered almost half of the map!

And going on the road is also within the scope!

On the top lane, Nuguri looked at Udyr appearing behind him, Renekton with his ultimate activated in front of him, and Xerath's ultimate covering him, and felt like crying.

How can we play this?

With no interference whatsoever, EDG's top and jungle players seemed to have no pressure when tower diving. They even deliberately stopped attacking after severely damaging Gnar, giving the kill to the carry.

Ming Jing didn't hold back, firing a long-range shot and taking down Nar!

(End of this chapter)