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

Chapter 199 Crush!

"Wuhu~"

Viper's dragon roar echoed in the EDG voice channel.

I don't know who he learned Chinese from, but his speech is becoming more and more abstract.

“Awesome, awesome, bros~” Viper’s tone was full of joy.

"How so?" Ming Jing asked with a cheerful smile, "Is it guaranteed to win?"

"I guarantee a win!" Viper agreed without hesitation, brimming with confidence.

With a 3-0 lead in just three minutes, Viper has no idea how he can lose this game!
When Viper secured the first blood, he could only meekly say, "If you don't feed, you'll win."

But now that he's on a killing spree, Viper can even boldly declare that he can win as long as people keep feeding, as long as they don't feed like crazy!
This is the dominance of Kalista in a 3-0 victory.

Moreover, Viper believed that his teammates wouldn't feed.

He has the best teammates in the world.

After diving the tower, Mingjing immediately returned to base and then teleported back online.

He put in a lot of effort to secure the kill, but ended up not getting a single kill. He was the kind of person who would leave without a trace, keeping his achievements hidden.

This is why he couldn't make the Iron Spike Whip when he returned to the city; he only bought a pickaxe.

Of course, this was also the result of his own choice and the result of maximizing benefits.

Mid laners like Lee Sin and Irelia, to put it nicely, are the core of the game's tempo; to put it bluntly, they are just tools to create advantages for the true core, since the weakness of these heroes in the late game is inevitable.

While getting kills can certainly help Mingjing snowball his advantage, it's definitely better for the AD carry to get kills.

Anyway, Mingjing doesn't need kills to dominate the mid lane.

Keep in mind that Ming Jing is only at level three at the moment.

The strengths of the W-focused Irelia haven't even been fully realized yet.

This first wave of roaming was entirely created by Mingjing through his laning ability.

Next, as Irelia levels up and her W [Dance of the Blade] is leveled up, Mingjing no longer needs to rely on any personal skill; he can already crush Lee Sin just by relying on his skill mechanics!
Of course, Ming Jing needs to pay attention to his own health level.

It would be too damaging to get killed by Lee Sin after gaining lane control like Doinb did in the last game.

On the other side, Doinb had a similar idea.

His strategy was almost identical to Mingjing's in the previous game: to give up on suppressing Irelia in lane, which was almost impossible, and instead choose to suppress her by increasing her health.

Only by forcing Irelia to be too afraid to push the lane can lane control be regained to him.

For Lee Sin, who has an extremely strong ability to stay in lane, this is actually not difficult.

Therefore, instead of maxing E as usual, he chose to max W to improve his sustain.

This, of course, would not deceive Mingjing's discerning eye.

When Mingjing saw that Doinb's [Golden Bell Shield] had 80 points instead of the 40 points at level four, he realized something was wrong.

After Lee Sin recalled to base and built a small wooden hammer, Mingjing naturally understood Doinb's strategy.

Is this a real Bloodseeker Lee Sin build, aiming to win through sustained damage?
Mingjing nodded, quite agreeing with this line of thinking.

It can only be said that Doinb's understanding is quite profound. Choosing to focus on sustain when he can't guarantee a solo kill on Irelia is indeed the smartest strategy.

After all, Irelia, who coughs up blood, doesn't build Vampiric Scepter early on, which is a weakness in terms of sustain during the laning phase, making her far inferior to the standard Blade of the Ruined King build.

But Mingjing didn't take it seriously.

This playstyle can at best ensure that Lee Sin doesn't fall behind in the laning phase and can keep up with Irelia's pace.

It's impossible to turn a bad situation into a good one.

At worst, it'll just be a matter of the two mid laners roaming around and trying to control the tempo. Who's afraid of whom?

Furthermore, a Lee Sin with a maxed W trait is too weak in small skirmishes.

Ming Jingxian remained silent for a while, waiting until he reached level five and upgraded his equipment to an iron whip and straw sandals before finally setting off.

With her level 3 W ability, Irelia quickly cleared the minion wave, and then headed straight for the Dragon pit.

At this moment, exactly five minutes had passed, and a mountain dragon circled around the dragon pit before slowly landing on the ground.

But as soon as they landed, they were awakened by a military flag planted by the prince and put into battle mode.

Meanwhile, Viper in the bottom lane pushed the lane with an absolute advantage and joined up with the mid and jungle.

With such a clear advantage in the bottom lane, FPX had no courage left to engage in a dragon fight.

Because EDG acted so quickly, with Irelia and Kalista offline for less than twenty seconds, Doinb couldn't even go to the top side of the map to stop the loss and had to swallow the bitter pill.

Next, Doinb could only pin his hopes on the eight-minute vanguard team fight.

FPX's lineup features a trio of Gragas, Xin Zhao, and Lee Sin. While the three junglers forming the top half of the map might seem a bit abstract, their fighting power is undeniable, and they certainly have the ability to fight in skirmishes.

To ensure victory, Doinb even instructed Liu Qingsong not to participate in the battle, allowing the top, mid, and jungle players to engage in a 3v3 fight.

After all, if Liu Qingsong comes, Meiko will definitely come too, and maybe even the AD carries from both sides will come.

Viper's Kalista is so well-equipped that the Vanguard will definitely be able to get Blade of the Ruined King. Once she joins the team fight, they really have no chance of winning.

Meanwhile, on EDG's side, Meiko was asking their bot lane if they wanted to engage in a skirmish.

But Mingjing shook his head and rejected the idea.

Using the advantage of the bottom lane to control the Rift Herald and then switch lanes accordingly is a common strategy in professional leagues.

The problem is that FPX's AD carry is Aphelios.

Aphelios is an AD carry with extremely low early-game strength; picking him is essentially giving up on early-game resource contention.

But this hero also has his own ways of mitigating losses.

For example, while the enemy AD goes to control the Rift Herald, use the synergy of Blue, White and Red Blades to push the lane with Blue and White first, then switch to Red and White to quickly push the tower!
With the White Blade's Flying Wheel buff, Aphelios can easily chip away at two layers of plating in one go!
If the upper half of the bracket drags on a bit longer, Aphelios can eat even more!
During the group stage of last year's World Championship, when JDG faced DWG for the first time, Mingjing used this mechanism to earn his first big win and ultimately helped his team turn the tide with a pentakill.

Ming Jing didn't want Aphelios to have that kind of development opportunity.

“No need, you guys just focus on dominating the bottom lane,” Mingjing said. “Our top, mid, and jungle are enough.”

“Okay.” Meiko nodded in agreement, without asking any further questions. Eight minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the Rift Herald emerged from the void rift.

The director was also savvy; he only switched the camera to the bottom lane for a second to inform the audience that neither side's bottom lane duo was participating in the fight, and then quickly switched to the top river.

Both teams' top, mid, and jungle players gathered at the Baron pit, and a 3v3 situation suddenly broke out.

Neither side intended to engage in any protracted struggle or fighting. Since both sides were clashing head-on, only the survivors could take the lead!
Therefore, Flandre didn't hesitate and Kennen immediately used his R-flash to enter the fray, and it looked like a team fight was about to begin!
However, with Lee Sin and Gragas providing double knockback, it would be incredibly easy for FPX to limit Kennen's entry.

Before Doinb could even kick, Khan's Gragas unleashed an E-R combo right in!

During the E skill animation, the ultimate [Exploding Barrel] is thrown out, first stunning the target with the E skill, then blasting them away with the ultimate!
Khan's reaction was incredibly fast; Flandre didn't even have time to use his W before he was blasted off the battlefield!
This actually put JieJie in a bit of an awkward position, because he entered the fray right after Flandre, with Jarvan IV's EQ combo and Kennen's Flash almost perfectly synchronized.

But as Kennen was blown away, he was left isolated and helpless after using EQ to enter the fray, and was relentlessly stabbed by Xin Zhao's spear, causing his health to plummet!
In desperation, JieJie could only use his ultimate to lock down Zhao Xin and Lee Sin beside him, and then Flash away.

But as soon as he dodged, Xiaotian's Xin Zhao chased after him with an E and knocked him into the air with a three-part Q.

At the same time, Doinb's Lee Sin followed up with a Q [Echo Slam], and then an E to slam his face!

The Blind Monk and Xin Zhao are both incredibly strong in the early game. In theory, with their combined crowd control and attacks, killing a Prince should be a breeze.

Normally, the prince should have been within kill range long ago, and then been kicked to death by the Lee Sin.

But this time, problems still arose.

After the two of them finished off the Prince, he still had nearly a third of his health left!

JieJie used the Vanguard to heal, managing to raise his health back to more than half!
Seeing this, Xiao Tian was filled with doubt; even he couldn't figure it out.

What's going on? The damage is so low.
If we can't kill it in a second, aren't we doomed?
On the other side, Ming Jing watched this scene with a smirk and disdain.

He knew all too well why the damage was so minimal.

What kind of damage can a Lee Sin who maxes W do?
He had already calculated that the opponent's damage output was insufficient, so he hadn't made a move.

Now that the two people opposite him have practically delivered themselves into his mouth in their pursuit of killing Jie Jie, it is certainly the best time to strike!

"Ionia, high and everlasting!"

With a loud shout, the Irelia unleashed her ultimate sword array, striking the two directly and marking them!

Then, Irelia used her Q [Blade Impact] to stab straight in!

During the sprint, the first stage of E [Twin Blades] has already been released!
Doinb reacted quickly, immediately using his ultimate skill, "Dragon Tail," targeting Irelia and attempting to kick her away.

But just then, Flandre, who had been blown away, finally returned.

Saint Gun Bro failed to use his W to stun the enemy, but that didn't stop his ultimate from applying two marks to the three opponents!

Flandre frantically pressed W, finally unleashing his ultimate move, "Lightning Blade," the first thing he did upon returning, simultaneously hitting all three of FPX's top, mid, and jungle players, stunning them all!
Doinb's heart skipped a beat; he knew something bad was probably about to happen.

The Irelia dashed to Xin Zhao's face in the next instant, and then, without stopping, shifted her target to Xin Zhao, unleashing an AQ combo!

Furthermore, the two [Twin Blades] were also officially formed during this period, encompassing both of them!

The two blades converged, stunning the two again and inflicting another passive effect!
This time, Mingjing used an AQ combo on Zhao Xin, who had less health, and then charged up his W in place. Taking advantage of the stun time from his E skill, he unleashed a fully charged W and Iron Spikes on both of them!

At this point, Irelia's mid-game teamfight ability is perfectly demonstrated. At level 7, Irelia has level 4 W, and the damage of one W is easily over 300, even exceeding Lee Sin's ultimate at the same time!
This is where Irelia's strength lies in mid-game skirmishes: the area control from her E skill combined with the burst damage from maxing W creates an incredibly high skill ceiling!
FPX's mid and jungle players both lost a significant amount of health. With the relentless damage output from Jarvan IV and Kennen, Xin Zhao, who was the first to bear the brunt, was brought down to near-death!

Mingjing finished off Zhao Xin with another AQ combo, killing him on the spot!

"EDG Phi has killed FPX Tian!"

After killing Zhao Xin, Ming Jing continued his attack, even using his Q to dash into the face of the Lee Sin.

"Xiaotian got instantly killed!" Miller shouted from the commentary booth, "Then this vanguard team can't engage!"

Doinb was in decent form at the moment, but as a Lee Sin who maxes W, there wasn't much he could do. He could only kick Mingjing away and then escape by ward-hopping.

Seeing that his teammates had all run away, Khan had no room to maneuver, so he turned around and used Q to slow down EDG's players, and then retreated in disarray!
EDG didn't rush to pursue, but simply watched FPX's mid and top laners leave before securing the Rift Herald.

"Pioneer secured!" Colonel Guan summarized the vanguard team fight, "Wow, EDG's teamwork was excellent!"

Just as Guan Da was about to recount EDG's perfect teamwork, the camera suddenly switched, directly to the bottom lane.

On the bottom lane side, Viper and Meiko had already pushed the lane into the tower.

Although Aphelios and Tahm Kench were still at full health under the tower, the EDG duo were determined to kill and charged straight into the tower!
"Hey! We have to cross! We have to cross!" Miller shouted, interrupting Colonel Guan. "Can we really cross? Tam still has food!"

That's incredibly impressive.

Viper has already crafted the Blade of the Ruined King, making him as powerful as Superman at this stage!
Because of Tahm Kench, the two of them didn't even bother to kill the AD carry first, but instead, just like last time, they targeted Tahm Kench first!

Braum landed a basic attack followed by his Q, applying his passive to Tahm Kench.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Viper's Hail of Blades Kalista thrust out three spears in quick succession, stunning Braum while simultaneously triggering the Blade of the Ruined King's passive effect on Tahm Kench.

Meiko seized the opportunity and followed up with her ultimate move to knock the enemy into the air just before the stun ended.

Viper unleashed a barrage of basic attacks, followed by a QE combo to finish off Tahm Kench, instantly killing him before he could even activate his passive!
The moment the kill was secured, Viper used his ultimate to pull Meiko inside, helping him avoid turret damage, and then pulled him out of the turret.

After the turret cooled down, Viper tanked the turret this time, then Braum applied his passive, and after a few auto-attacks, finished off Lin Weixiang's Aphelios with an E!
"Double kill!"

The skateboarder, with low health, left the tower and completed another perfect tower dive.

Nine minutes, 5-0!

"Only two turret plating layers are left in the bottom lane! FPX's bottom side is empty!" Guan Daxiao shouted loudly, "EDG can directly push down the bottom lane's first turret!"

With the collapse of the first tower, the economic gap between the two sides widened to a terrifying 4000+!

Keep in mind, the vanguard hasn't been deployed yet.

EDG's bot lane duo recalled to base to replenish supplies, and then immediately rotated to the mid lane, where they met up with the mid and jungle players. With the help of the Rift Herald, they destroyed the mid lane tower as well!

The economic gap between the two sides has widened again, now reaching 5,000.

Meanwhile, the second dragon spawned immediately, and EDG quickly secured another water dragon.

Ten minutes in, leading by 5,000, with two dragons in hand.

Doinb stared blankly at the collapsing situation before him, his mind a jumble of thoughts.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he slumped back into the chair, a relieved smile on his face.

He knew they had already lost this round.

(End of this chapter)