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

Chapter 216 The Three Elements of Wandering

"Alright viewers, welcome back! This is the live broadcast of the 2021 League of Legends Pro League Summer Championship Winners' Bracket Finals, EDG vs. RNG!"

"After two hard-fought games, EDG has taken a 2-0 lead, and the match has reached a tense and exciting match point! Every game from now on will be a life-or-death battle for RNG!"

"We can see that both teams have taken to the stage again, and RNG has once again chosen the blue side. Let's see what the draft phase will be like once again!"

With the commentators' passionate pronouncements, the third round of drafting and banning (BP) officially began.

In fact, at this stage of the game, if you don't have any trump cards up your sleeve, your draft strategy is basically set and won't change much.

EDG certainly has its trump cards, but with three match points in hand, the team doesn't need to reveal them; they can just continue as usual.

"Is it still Gnar on the other side?" Flandre looked at RNG's choice and raised his head slightly. "Are they still trying to win through the top lane?"

“That’s normal.” Ming Jing wasn’t surprised by this. “This is the only way they can win.”

Mingjing had anticipated RNG's thoughts.

After all, RNG can only win by relying on Xiaohu now.

Because the top lane is the only lane where RNG can gain an advantage.

Otherwise, who else can they rely on? GALA, who isn't known for his laning prowess, to suppress Viper? Or Cryin to suppress Mingjing?
If RNG wants to disrupt EDG's early game rhythm, they can only rely on Xiaohu to make a strong impact.

Sadly, Xiaohu's laning ability is actually just average. He usually relies on the combined help of the mid and jungle to break through the opponent's defense.

This makes RNG's tactical direction and the detailed decisions they make quite predictable.

This is why Mingjing seemed to have gained supernatural insight today, frequently guessing RNG's decision-making process and countering it.

RNG is a team that has perfected teamwork and tactical decision-making, but its weakness is too obvious, namely, a significant lack of individual ability.

This alone determines that the team's potential is limited and it will be difficult for them to withstand tough battles.

"They picked Ryze," Maokai said, then asked, "Mingjing, what are you going to pick?"

"The Enchantress, perhaps," Ming Jing said without hesitation.

The Demon Beast is also a hero that Ming Jing has been practicing recently.

Maokai frowned slightly upon hearing this, "Is LeBlanc easy to play against Ryze?"

In Maokai's memory, Ryze used to be the go-to pick to counter LeBlanc.

"It's alright." Ming Jing looked relaxed. "Anyway, there aren't many other options, so this one is pretty good."

To counter Ryze, Syndra or Irelia would be better, and Galio is also decent, but since all of these are banned, Mingjing has no choice but to settle for second best.

In the versions from the previous two years, when Ryze's W was an unconditional instant stun and his WEQ combo could refresh his shield, LeBlanc actually had a hard time fighting Ryze. After all, if she used W, she would be stunned, and her skills would hit the shield, so she couldn't trade blows with him.

But the current version is actually not bad.

Ryze's W has no crowd control, his EQ combo can't hit LeBlanc at all, his EWQ combo lacks damage, and his shield-generating mechanism has been removed. LeBlanc can directly suppress Ryze's health through her powerful active trading ability.

The lineups for both sides have now been finalized.

Blue side RNG: Top lane Gnar, Jungle Xin Zhao, Mid lane Ryze, Bot lane Miss Fortune and Nautilus.

Red side EDG: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane LeBlanc, Bot lane Varus and Braum.

Looking at the lineups of both sides, Ming Jing already had a plan in mind.

Looks like I'm going to get a crushing defeat in lane again.

The third round of the match officially began with both coaches exchanging fist bumps in the center of the stage.

The director only briefly switched the camera to the jungle and side lanes for a few seconds before quickly fixing the camera on the mid lane.

Ming Jing is a self-taught professional who has never played a full season.

In addition, his talent is strong, and he almost always follows the version. In terms of hero selection, he doesn't have many fancy moves. He just picks whatever is strong, which means that he has never picked many mid-lane heroes.

This means that whenever Mingjing introduces a new hero, many viewers eagerly anticipate his performance.

That's what modern femme fatales are like.

In the audience's stereotype, LeBlanc is clearly countered by Ryze, so why did Xiaofei pick LeBlanc to counter Ryze?
With this in mind, countless people are paying extra attention to the mid-lane matchup.

And Ming Jing did not disappoint the audience.

The camera had barely switched to the mid lane when LeBlanc was seen brutally beating up Ryze.

At level two, LeBlanc used her W to stomp on both the enemy and minions, then her E skill, Chains, hit the target squarely, and with a follow-up auto-attack, she easily triggered Electrocute.

Ryze countered with a Q, but LeBlanc's reaction was phenomenal. Using the second part of her W to reposition herself, she forcefully dodged Ryze's close-range Q. Then, maintaining the chain distance, she waited for the root to trigger before going in for a basic attack, easily gaining a huge advantage in the lane.

On RNG's side, Wei was still farming jungle camps when he casually opened the screen and saw the terrible state of the mid lane. He was completely baffled.

Playing against EDG always feels like having a ticking time bomb strapped to your body.

You think you can develop slowly? No way. The time bomb will explode precisely in a little over twenty minutes, blowing your entire team to smithereens.

You have to keep increasing the pace and getting kills to keep extending the bomb's countdown!
Therefore, Wei didn't even dare to rush to level four. Instead, he only farmed to level three before controlling his Zhao Xin to make a move in the top lane.

However, the top lane opportunity was average. After all, the Jayce that Flandre picked this game actually had an advantageous laning phase. Even though he was restricted by RNG's top and jungle duo and dared not push the lane, it was not difficult to block the lane in the middle and put himself in a position where he could not be ganked.

Wei's flanking maneuver only allowed Xiaohu to use his position to his advantage and whittle down Flandre's health.

Overall, the damage dealt was less than the damage taken by Cryin in the mid lane.
And this strange situation continues.

At the six-minute mark, Wei launched another surprise attack on the top lane.

Thanks to Gnar's ultimate ability to hold the enemy in place, the raid finally yielded some results.

Saint Gun was caught off guard and was pushed back by Gnar's Flash and Ultimate, and then he was relentlessly attacked and killed by Xin Zhao!
Even though Flandre played calmly, quickly triggered Phase Rush and escaped by stepping on the door, Xin Zhao was just too good at chasing, flashing in and stabbing him away with one shot.

Xiaohu then followed up with a long-awaited W to stun the enemy, and finally smashed the boulder to secure the first blood!

But no sooner had the top laner secured a kill than news of another victory arrived from the mid lane.

When the camera switched to the mid lane, we saw that LeBlanc had once again used W to charge in and landed a Q that hit her squarely!

Cryin immediately began to twist and move, trying to dodge the subsequent E.

But Ming Jing was determined to kill at this moment. He first chased Ryze and auto-attacked him twice, and then decisively used E-Flash to strike!
Flash closes the distance, helping the chains hit accurately and triggering the second stage of Q skill damage.

Moreover, at point-blank range, even a short-legged champion like Ryze couldn't break free of the chains, even if he used Flash. Ming Jing licked his lips, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

He knew that enough damage had been done.

Taking advantage of the hit from his E skill, he didn't rush to follow up with other skills, but instead continued to use basic attacks while waiting for the cooldown.

On the other side, Cryin knew things were going badly, but what could he do?

He could only turn around and use EWQ to immobilize LeBlanc, and then try to escape.

But before he could run two steps, the Enchantress's chains snapped, freezing him in place!

Taking advantage of the confinement, Mingjing launched another basic attack, followed by the chain copied by his ultimate skill.

Mingjing deliberately waited a while for R's chain, because Ryze is relatively tough and he had to wait for the second Q.

Now that there was enough time, after his ultimate hit, he moved forward to close the distance, not giving Ryze a chance to interrupt his E, and then, just before the second part of his ultimate's chain, he followed up with a Q [Malice's Mark]!
"Snapped!"

With another beautiful, crisp sound, Ryze's health bar was reduced to just over a hundred as the Q skill was triggered.

It has to be said that Ryze is indeed a tough champion. He took a full hit from LeBlanc's double Q and double E, plus a continuous barrage of auto-attacks, and still had a little over 100 health left. LeBlanc still had to auto-attack him a couple more times.

Fortunately, with Ryze imprisoned, Mingjing had a real chance.

And that was indeed the case. LeBlanc used basic attacks while simultaneously positioning herself forward, unleashing two consecutive basic attacks that completely depleted Ryze's health bar!
"EDG Phi has killed RNG Cryin!"

The news of the solo kill once again resounded throughout the stadium!
"Solo kill!" On the commentary panel, Wawa, Miller, and Rita exclaimed in unison!

"Wow, another solo kill!" Miller couldn't help but grin. "That's too cruel, Fei-ge!"

"There's really nothing we can do about it!" Wawa waved her hand, feeling helpless for Cryin. "Ryze is such a clunky champion, once LeBlanc gets on him, there's no way to break free!"

"That's going to be tough for RNG." Miller looked at the situation on the field and raised his head slightly. "Although it's a one-for-one trade, the resources invested by both sides are unequal!"

In a one-for-one trade, from an economic perspective, RNG traded first blood for a regular kill, but actually made a profit of 150 gold.

However, if you factor in the resources invested when looking at profits, the situation changes.

Wei's arrest of someone could cost far more than 150.

This can be seen from the bottom half of the bracket.

With RNG's jungler in the top half of the map and their mid laner dead, JieJie was under no pressure and easily secured another dragon, starting the dragon soul rhythm on time!
Unfortunately, the bottom lane minion wave wasn't ideal enough to create enough conditions for a tower dive. Otherwise, this tower dive alone would have been enough to completely destroy RNG.

Of course, the situation is not much different now.

With such a large gap in the mid lane, Mingjing will be able to take control of the game.

In the mid lane, after securing a solo kill, Mingjing pushed the minion wave into the tower, then recalled to base to replenish supplies before returning to lane.

When she logged back in, the Demoness already had a lost chapter in her possession.

This time, Mingjing didn't rush to build a Killing Ring and boots like he did with Galio in the first game. Instead, he prioritized stacking ability power and used the Minion Dematerializer rune to enhance his wave clear.

This is the experience that Mingjing himself summarized.

Based on his experience, Mingjing broke down a roaming strategy into three steps: clearing lanes, running the map, and killing enemies.

Generally speaking, for a mid-laner to roam effectively, they need to achieve at least two out of three things to ensure they don't lose lane experience while roaming.

The most typical roaming mid laner is Twisted Fate. His W and Q are two large-area AOE spells that clear waves quickly, his ultimate allows for fast map movement, and his Gold Card provides reliable crowd control, allowing him to kill quickly with the help of his teammates. Many times, when he returns to mid lane after roaming, the minion wave hasn't even arrived yet!

Lee Sin follows a similar logic; although he's a bit slow at traversing the map, his wave clear and kill abilities are top-notch, making him a true master.

But champions like LeBlanc fall short; their wave clear is weak, and their map roaming and killing abilities are only passable, making them completely unsuitable for roaming.

Therefore, Mingjing's runes and item build in this game are all geared towards pushing lanes, maximizing wave clear ability, and getting the three main units moving smoothly.

This method is certainly effective.

With specialized item builds, once LeBlanc reaches level 7 and has a level 4 W, her wave clear efficiency undergoes a qualitative change.

A W skill instantly kills a ranged minion, followed by an ultimate skill to stomp a melee minion, and then a minion dematerializer to kill a siege minion. Mingjing quickly clears a siege minion lane and then disappears from sight.

As for the target, it's crystal clear: it's the bottom lane!

At this moment, the bottom lane minion wave was still stuck in the middle. Sensing that something was wrong, the RNG bot lane duo quickly abandoned the minion wave and ran away.

But JieJie gave them no chance at all. The level 6 Prince was already blocking the back of the stage, and LeBlanc also used her W dash to step out in one step!
"The mid and jungle duo have cut off the minion wave, it seems like GALA can't escape this time! And RNG isn't providing any support!"

Wei is currently in the upper half of the map. Cryin has cleared the siege minion line, but it will take time for reinforcements to arrive, so it's already too late.

As the minion wave pushed into the tower, Meiko's Braum applied the passive with a basic attack, and the other three members of EDG followed up with basic attacks, instantly stunning the enemy!
Even if GALA cleansed away the crowd control and used Flash to dodge the Prince's follow-up EQ, it was useless. LeBlanc landed her QW combo, and with Varus' WQ, she pierced Miss Fortune's heart with an arrow, leaving her dead on the spot!

"There's only one Titan left, and it seems like it can't escape either. The Titan has run out of aftershocks!"

EDG players first moved out of the tower, and then came back again. This time, Mingjing took the tower, and EDG quickly sent the Titan back to the fountain!

One tower dive and RNG's bot lane duo collapsed immediately!
However, this wave of trading was a bit slow. Under normal circumstances, Mingjing should have lost a lot of money!
Fortunately, Mingjing was prepared. Because he had a significant advantage in the laning phase, he had been holding onto his Teleport, which was useless. After returning to base, he quickly Teleported back to lane, which essentially accelerated his map movement and made up for LeBlanc's weakness in roaming.

When TP lands, the minion wave is just entering the tower!

Ming Jing looked at the scene before him and nodded in satisfaction.

All I can say is that everything is going according to plan.

Ming Jing had already anticipated the scene of TP landing and farming the lane when he set off to roam.

This is the path that Mingjing explored in the Summer Tournament.

Returning to the question posed at the start of the Summer Split: How to achieve a balance between laning and roaming?
The answer is actually quite simple—just do both to the best of your ability.

The key is to use skillful maneuvering to completely dominate your opponent in lane.

Then, constantly observe the overall situation, and while ensuring that you don't lose minions in lane, use your keen sense of smell to gank. You can't afford to fail or waste time; the whole process requires speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.

If they fail, they will lose their lane dominance and be reduced to a one-dimensional roaming mid laner like Doinb.

This is certainly difficult; even Faker at his peak rarely managed to do both.

But Mingjing is already very close to that level.

(End of this chapter)