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

Chapter 191 He's Still Getting Stronger

Maokai looked at both teams' lineups and then added, "If the enemy Nightmare reaches level six, it might be a bit difficult to fight. Try to play aggressively and gain an advantage before level six, so that you won't be afraid to fight after level six."

The EDG members indicated that they understood and nodded in agreement.

Maokai didn't say much. He took off his headphones, punched the opposing coach, and left.

From the moment the lineups were chosen, it was destined that both sides would fight to the bitter end.

To be honest, team fighting is not EDG's forte. EDG is better at laning, split pushing and late-game 5v5 team fights.

If it were Maokai before the Summer Split, this lineup would not have been possible. The top, mid, and jungle would have at least one main carry to form a dual-carry composition with the AD carry, ensuring the strength of team fights in the late game.

Fortunately, Mingjing is now deliberately changing his playstyle. Although he has weakened his almost invincible laning pressure, his synergy with the jungler has become much closer. Therefore, Maokai has the courage to choose this pure muscle-fighting lineup.

The regular season is for honing skills and experimentation, and Maokai greatly appreciates Mingjing's willingness to change, so the whole team is cooperating with the changes.

Of course, Maokai believes that if they go all out, the team, even if not number one in the world, will still be at the top level.

When he returned to the locker room, the match had already started.

The director started frequently switching screens from the beginning, switching the footage back and forth between the three feeds.

On the top lane, Flandre's Renekton was slightly at a disadvantage against Lee Sin, and he even had to be careful when last-hitting minions.

Lee Sin's E skill is really too overpowered against melee champions. At level one, he can slap both the enemy and minions at the same time, and very few melee heroes can fight back.

However, the crocodile's power spike is at level three. If Flandre just plays it safe and lets the minion wave come over first, he can farm under the tower and build up his rage, and then the laning situation will begin to turn around.

Lee Sin is still positioned as a light warrior, so he has a bit of a hard time against heavy armor champions like Renekton who rely on stats.

Of course, this is all on the premise that Flandre can survive this wave of tower dives.

Therefore, JieJie specifically moved to the top lane to protect the Crocodile first.

In the bottom lane, Kai'Sa and Nautilus will definitely have a hard time laning against Senna and Tahm Kench, but they should be able to protect themselves, at most they'll just lose some health and minions.

After watching both matches, it seems that EDG is at a disadvantage in both the top and bottom lanes, which is not ideal.

But when the camera cuts to the middle lane, the situation changes drastically.

Although Sylas's attack range is already considered excellent among melee heroes, at a full 175 yards, it's still a bit lacking compared to Blade of the Ruined King's 225 yards.

Moreover, Ming Jing's distance control is notoriously abnormal.

As soon as he logged in, Mingjing used his Q skill, Blade of the Ruined King, which has a range of 600 yards, to pierce Sylas.

Fryegor's Q doesn't deal much damage, but it applies a mark to the opponent, allowing Fryegor's next basic attack to deal two instances of damage and have a lifesteal effect.

Then they twisted and pulled back and forth, but in the end Mingjing found an opportunity and stabbed Sylas with a basic attack!

Left hand had no choice but to use W to force a trade of health.

But how could an AP champion possibly out-trade an AD champion in the early game? Moreover, Mingjing had Bone Plating, so Sylas's WA combo barely caused any damage to Bone Plating.

At this point, Ming Jing stopped playing the tug-of-war game and directly moved forward to block the way.

The Blade of the Ruined King's QA combo grants six stacks of Conqueror, and coupled with his excellent range, he is virtually unstoppable in early-game skirmishes.

Mingjing used basic attacks while stacking Conqueror, and then finished the fight with a QA combo, easily gaining a huge advantage in the trade!
The scene of Blademaster using his ranged attack to his advantage against Sylas is still happening from time to time.

Sylas almost always gets a free kill from Blade of the Ruined King whenever he tries to last-hit a minion.

Of course, Sylas is still strong in combat. After leveling up to level two, he still had the Bone Plating on cooldown and used his E to unleash a big attack on Mingjing.

But Ming Jing wasn't going to give in. Although his health was dropping rapidly, he showed no intention of retreating. He kept tanking Sylas's damage and stacking Conqueror with QA combos.

Once Sylas has used up this one combo, he'll be powerless to follow up, so even if he stacks Conqueror, it's meaningless.

In contrast, Foygo is the one who truly gets stronger with each battle!
Even after Mingjing had stacked Conqueror, he didn't rush to attack, but continued to auto-attack.

Although his health has dropped to one-third, this has also allowed his [Unyielding Spirit] to receive as much damage amplification as possible!
Ming Jing waited until Sylas was also reduced to one-third of his health before pressing W [A Thousand Years of Sobbing].

Moreover, he didn't use W to deal damage instantly, but instead continuously charged up, clearly intending to unleash a powerful combo on Sylas!
Left Hand felt a chill run down his spine.

With a full Conqueror's Blessing and Unyielding Will, if a full W hits him, wouldn't he die?

Faced with the Ruined King's sudden, fully charged W attack, Zuo Shou gritted his teeth and could only use Flash to escape, barely managing to survive with low health.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his left hand and sighed inwardly.

All I can say is that Phi played incredibly aggressively in lane.

It was just a normal two-level blood exchange, and no one would have thought it was a one-on-one kill.

In fact, as long as Phi waits until he has full Conqueror and then unleashes a full WAQA combo, even if he can't kill the enemy, he will definitely gain from this exchange of blows, and he won't lose that much health himself.

But he won't do that; he'd rather lose more health than not fight you to the death!
Both mid laners are currently at one-third health, so theoretically, Knight should have the advantage.

After all, Sylas has the first move advantage, and since both sides are low on health, Sylas will definitely be able to finish them off first!

But he dared not do that with his left hand at that moment.

After being hit like that, Zuo Shou really didn't dare to fight back. He was completely confident that Phi would Flash away from his close-range E and then kill him.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his left hand and obediently hid under the tower to farm minions.

At this moment, the commentators and countless viewers witnessed this battle live, and many people discussed it animatedly.

"Wow, the left mid laner was directly flashed." Seeing this, Wang Duoduo didn't know what to say for a moment, and after a pause, he said, "The pressure is a bit much!"

Seeing this, GuGu found it amusing. "Getting flashed at level two is a bit upsetting. The mid laner can't play at all, and they might even suffer in later team fights!"

The comments section was bursting with laughter.

[Initiating Earthbound Spirit Mode!]

[Just beginning? Didn't they bind the spirit on the spot last time?]

[I'd like to point out the mid-lane skill gap; does anyone disagree?]

[Is there even a question about the mid-lane gap? You don't actually think Knight can beat Little Fly, do you?]

[Did the Ruined King get lane control so easily? Bingbing is going to be in big trouble.]

At this moment, Ming Jing looked at Sylas, who had begun to retreat to his turret position under the tower, and felt a little regretful.

You only have so little health left, why aren't you attacking?

If Sylas really thinks he can use his initiative to get a solo kill, then Mingjing will definitely use Flash to dodge the second part of his E, thus completing a counter-kill.

Unfortunately, the other side didn't take the bait.

It has to be said that Zuo Shou is really quite steady at times. Ming Jing had no choice but to continue pushing the lane with QA, using the AOE and healing of the Q skill to steadily maintain lane control.

By the time the third wave of minions reached the tower, Mingjing's health had already returned to over 50%.

Logically speaking, Mingjing should have been able to continue laning at this point, since he had a Doran's Blade and his health was good.

But he did not linger; instead, he quickly returned to the city.

At this moment, inside the DK base in Seoul, South Korea.

Because they just finished a match yesterday, the DK members are able to have a short rest today.

However, due to their recent crushing defeats in major tournaments, the DK team is under considerable pressure. Even on their days off, they choose to watch EDG's matches together and analyze their opponents.

Generally speaking, you can't figure out anything during the regular season, since the summer season has just started and all the teams are still exploring the new version.

But this time, they really saw some differences.

"EDG, their playstyle seems to have changed." Showmaker noticed something was off as he watched Blade of the Ruined King recalling.

As an opponent they just faced at MSI, Showmaker knows EDG and Mingjing all too well.

He knew that if it were EDG during the Mid-Season Invitational, with the mid laner severely wounded at level two and having flashed, there would be absolutely no chance for the opponent to get a Cerasta Blade.

Mid lane is EDG's top priority. In this situation, jiejie, who has been lingering in mid lane, will definitely come to tower dive!
However, EDG has not done so in the current match.

This means that the priority of mid-lane matchups has decreased.

Is this change good or bad? Of course it's good.

A more varied playing style means it's harder to counter.

If EDG insists on crossing the mid lane, then Flandre in the top lane will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

In this exchange, EDG doesn't gain much; at most, Phi's reward for getting kills is higher.

However, if we change our mindset, it's not hard to see a more suitable opportunity.

At this point, the camera cuts to the top lane.

We then saw that Sunny's Lee Sin quickly cleared the siege minion wave and pushed it into the tower.

He had just pushed the minion wave forward when JieJie's Rumble appeared from the river.

Of course, Karsa's Nightmare was also indispensable. Nightmare's jungle clearing speed is faster than Rumble's, so Karsa was already camping in the top lane bushes early on, and once again caught up with JieJie's movements!
A 2v2 match between Ueno and Ueno is about to break out.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this round will most likely end in a lose-lose situation for both sides, just like before.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

As JieJie placed a fake ward, a TP (Transformation Points) light suddenly shone!
The camera quickly panned to the EDG base, where Mingjing's Blade of the Ruined King had just returned to base and immediately teleported to the top lane!

The balance of power between the two sides in Ueno instantly shifted!
"Hey, TP!" Wang Duoduo immediately shouted, "Xiao Fei TP'd right in, and Knight is going to be hard to follow up this time!"

The camera then cuts to the mid lane, where Sylas on the left has just finished clearing the mid lane tower, but the problem is that he hasn't recalled to base to replenish his supplies, so he's only Sylas with less than half health.

With that much health, even if you get enough TP, it's just a free kill!
"Run! Run! Run!" Karsa reacted quickly, immediately realizing something was wrong, and sent a ping signal.

Even on a sunny day, I immediately started clicking the mouse, and even thought of using a W to run away.

However, their unintentional reaction was clearly no match for EDG's deliberate ambush.

Saint Gun's Renekton had already used his E to dash in, then flashed and used his W with his red buff to bite, directly biting Qingtian's Lee Sin!

The 1.5-second stun from the Crocodile's Red Fury W had already delayed the teleportation time by nearly half. Karsa even turned around to catch it, allowing Sunny to use W [Golden Bell] to escape as soon as the stun ended.

But just as Qingtian moved away, Jie Jie stabbed him with a harpoon!

The next second, the fully-equipped Ruined King teleported to the ground.

Ming Jing had a clear strategy; as soon as he landed, he used his E skill to become invisible against the wall and accelerate his pursuit.

Once he gets close, he charges up his W [A Thousand Years of Sobbing].

The mere act of charging up W was enough to put immense pressure on Qingtian, as if he had returned to the days when he was bombarded by Mingjing in the youth training camp.

Fortunately, he still has Flash; using Flash to survive shouldn't be too difficult.
The next instant, a golden light flashed, and Mingjing's Ruined King actually used Flash to appear in the face of the Blind Monk.

At this moment, Qingtian was like a frightened bird. The flash made his whole body tremble. The Blade of the Ruined King's W, which was right in front of him, had almost no room to react. He could only use Flash to get away in advance.

However, Fouguere's W did not make a move.

A sunny day feels like falling into an ice cave.

Spicy balls!

The next instant, Foygo threw out his W, stunning the Lee Sin in place, and then immediately followed up with an AQA combo.

JieJie Rumble also chased after him, unleashing a crazy barrage of EQ combos. Ming Jing followed up with a basic attack, securing the kill on the Lee Sin!
"First blood!"

"Beautiful!" Wang Duoduo immediately exclaimed, "Xiao Fei's T was crucial! It caught Top Esports completely off guard!"

"And Xiaofei is very experienced!" Gugu nodded, "He forced Qingtian to use his Flash first, and then used W!"

"That's the advantage of having experience!" Wang Duoduo laughed. "Although we're from the same youth training program, Xiaofei is far more experienced than Qingtian, who's just starting out on the field!"

Indeed, even without counting the championship, Mingjing participated in one World Championship and one MSI.

This alone is something that countless players have never achieved in their entire professional careers.

And most importantly, everyone can clearly feel it.

Xiao Fei's fighting style has changed.

In the past, who would have seen him appear on the side lane at level three?
Inside the DK base, everyone looked at Mingjing's gains in the top lane with solemn expressions.

Phi is still getting stronger.

This person is always getting stronger.

At the beginning of the World Championship, he was just a utility AD carry, but by the time the finals came, he had become the absolute core of JDG.

During the Spring Split, he still carried some of the AD carry playstyle and used the same big-carry approach. But by MSI, he had learned Xiaohu's strategy and started drawing fire for his teammates on the side lanes, quickly evolving into one of the top side laners.

Now, this person has begun to explore the art of wandering, and it has been very successful right from the start.

"See that, kids?" Kkoma chuckled as he watched. "Phi is still growing; we'd better hurry up and catch up."

Upon hearing this, all the members of DK showed resolute expressions.

(End of this chapter)