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

Chapter 250 Switching Lines!

As he watched Twisted Fate walk towards the top lane, Lee Sang-hyeok reassessed the team compositions on both sides.

Blue side EDG: Top laner Renekton, jungler Xin Zhao, mid laner Twisted Fate, bot lane Jhin and Leona.

Red team HLE: Top lane Rumble, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Yasuo, Bot lane Miss Fortune and Nautilus.

From a drafting perspective, EDG's draft in this game was clearly not ideal.

Both top and bottom lanes are full of crowd control abilities, making them extremely good at coordinating with teammates, but they lack the ability to break through on their own.

It can be said that the outcome of the entire lineup depends on the performance of the mid and jungle players.

Unfortunately, Twisted Fate is facing Yasuo in the mid lane, and it will be difficult for him to gain lane priority unless something unexpected happens.

If Chovy performs well, there's a real chance he can crush the entire EDG team by overwhelming Twisted Fate!

But after switching lines, everything changed.

When Twisted Fate comes to the top lane to face Rumble, it's a long-range vs. short-range situation, especially with a short-range Rumble, it's undoubtedly a one-sided defeat.

The crocodile came to the mid lane to fight Yasuo, which is a classic counter pick!
Although the card that came to the top lane lost its influence in the mid lane, this was not a complete disaster.

This lane matchup against Yasuo was never very impactful to begin with, but now that the lanes have been switched, at least the mid and top lanes will have an advantage, giving JieJie more room to maneuver!

Was this also included in your calculations?

Thinking of this, Faker smiled.

He was waiting for Phi to give him a solution on how to deal with Yasuo, but the answer was to switch lanes?

If you can't win, then you simply don't fight?
At this moment, the European commentators also noticed EDG's lane-swap decision. After their impassioned explanation, it drew cheers from the audience.

Through their noise-canceling headphones, HLE could vaguely hear the strange shouts from the audience below, but they didn't understand what was happening. They thought EDG had some kind of level 1 team fight strategy, so they became extra cautious.

But even after the jungle monsters spawned, no one from EDG showed up.

HLE's jungler Willer scratched his head, deciding to start clearing the jungle camps first.

Chovy, in the mid lane, went to lane with the minions, his mind still replaying the EDG vs. T1 match a few days ago, with Mingjing's Yasuo against Faker's Twisted Fate still fresh in his mind.

It was after watching that match that he noticed Yasuo as an alternative to this version and added him to his arsenal.

As a counter to the meta pick, Yasuo is indeed perfect. He not only counters Twisted Fate well, but also has a remarkable effect against popular bot laners like Miss Fortune, Aphelios, and Lucian!
For this reason, he worked tirelessly for a long time, hoping to steal a victory against EDG.

This is clearly the best opportunity!

Chovy was full of confidence.

However, after the game launched, Chovy was stunned to see the giant crocodile that had also launched alongside the minions.

Did you replace the cable?
Going from laning against Twisted Fate to laning against Renekton? Do you know how big of a blow that is for a Yasuo?
Chovy switched screens to check the top lane again and saw that Twisted Fate was indeed in the top lane. He knew things were in trouble.

Now the mid and top lanes are at a disadvantage, and the originally advantageous draft has instantly turned into a huge disadvantage!

But since things have come to this point, Chovy doesn't have any good solutions and can only try to salvage the situation.

Fortunately, while Renekton counters Yasuo, it's only after level 3 and having Fury. With Renekton's empowered W shield-breaking mechanism, Yasuo's small frame simply can't withstand Renekton's full combo and automatically loses his laning phase.

But before level three, Yasuo still has the advantage.

If one can seize and amplify the brief advantage gained in the first three stages, there may still be room for maneuver.
Just then, Chovy's Yasuo put his skill points into Q [Steel Blade] and pushed forward, trying to catch the Renekton while he was last-hitting minions and use Q.

But to everyone's surprise, the crocodile was incredibly cautious and didn't come up to finish off the attacker at all.

The crocodile waited until the three melee minions were low on health before approaching. At the cost of 100 HP, he used his Q skill to chip away at the three minions before retreating back to the back.

This shameless laning strategy left Chovy helpless and unable to find a way to attack.

Li Xuanjun knew that Renekton couldn't beat Yasuo at level one, so his strategy was clear: if he couldn't beat him, he wouldn't fight.

He came to the mid lane not to gain an advantage, but to help Mingjing stabilize the mid lane.

The advantage still needs to be seized by Mingjing.

Compared to Chovy, who could still put up a fight in the first three levels, Morgan in the top lane was completely powerless to fight back.

Rumble is truly helpless against ranged heroes with crowd control abilities like Twisted Fate.

As soon as the minions appeared, Ming Jing crossed the line to suppress Rumble, frequently slamming him with basic attacks.

Upon seeing this, Morgan immediately harpooned the card, hoping to counterattack using minions and harpoons.

However, the harpoon was easily dodged by the card's twisting movement, and the minions only glanced at the card before turning back.

Morgan was stunned.

Can you do this?

Obviously, as an LCK top laner, he had absolutely no connection with Mingjing and had no idea how terrifying Mingjing was.

There was nothing he could do but retreat again and again, even leaving the experience zone at one point.

Ming Jing kept Rambo outside the experience zone and waited until the minions were low on health before drawing a red card and throwing it in the middle of the minions, capturing three melee minions.

On the other hand, Morgan's Rambo could only suffer the painful cost of losing the experience of three melee soldiers.

Morgan was already considering switching lanes at this point.

If we don't switch lanes, this pair of players can't compete.

But Morgan clearly had no idea where he was in.

His immediate concern is finding a way to survive.

Mingjing, watching Rumble develop behind him, was already considering calling for the jungler to tower dive.

The top lane is longer, and the minion wave arrives more slowly, making the pushing rhythm different from the mid lane. Mingjing needs to readjust.

The bigger problem is that the other side isn't stupid either. As an experienced top laner, once you see the other side start to hoard lane minions, any normal person would realize they're about to be overtaken and would retreat in advance.

If someone is determined to leave, even one Zhao Xin from JieJie can't stop them.

Ming Jing looked at Rambo in the distance, and after a moment's thought, he already had a plan in mind.

Instead of hoarding lane minions, he continued to use basic attacks and began to push the lane rapidly.

Fortunately, Twisted Fate's wave clear ability is strong enough to easily adapt to any wave clear situation.

Before the third wave of siege minions arrived, Mingjing quickly pushed the two remaining minions to the tower.

However, after the minion wave reached the tower, Mingjing did not stop. Instead, he ignored Rumble who was last-hitting under the tower and walked straight to the back of HLE's tower, cutting off the wave of cannon minions that had just arrived.

"Huh?" This move left all the commentators completely dumbfounded.

Why is my internet connection still down?
Zoom, the veteran top laner, was also a bit confused. He turned to look at the minimap, locked onto JieJie's location, and immediately understood MingJing's idea.

"Ming Jing is trying to tower dive!" Zoom asserted. "He doesn't want to give Rumble a chance to escape, so he's cutting off the cannon minion line directly!"

Teams that make it to the knockout stage are not amateurs. Normal three-wave pushes to tower dive are impossible to succeed. Either they will be counter-ganked, or Rumble will retreat to his hiding place in the bushes early on, and will not give them such an opportunity.

Special times call for special measures, so Mingjing chose to speed up, pushing two waves of minions directly into the tower before physically cutting off the lane.

Because the card rune includes Minion Dematerializer, it can easily kill even the tankiest minion. Then, with Red Card and Q, cutting off this wave of minions is indeed not difficult, and you won't even lose too much health.

For Morgan, this was a complete dead end, and there were only two ways to break it. The first was to retreat immediately after being disconnected.

Although Rambo was only level one, Twisted Fate was only level two and was pushing the lane, so they couldn't stop Twisted Fate either.

Unfortunately, Morgan did not do that.

Even Zoom, with his god-like perspective, would need to glance at the minimap to understand EDG's intentions after seeing Twisted Fate's decision, let alone Morgan, who was shrouded in the fog of war.

When he saw that the card was disconnected, his first reaction was to take a kill under the tower, and that was when his first chance of survival was already cut off.

Because if you hesitate for just a few seconds, JieJie's Xin Zhao will come to the top lane and team up with Twisted Fate.

Generally speaking, with someone helping to initiate, the jungler can reach level 3 quickly and top lane in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, which is exactly the time when the siege minion spawns.

With Ueno blocking the road, a small Rambo had no chance of breaking through.

Then there's only the second possibility: the jungler comes to the rescue.

After all, it's just two people diving the tower, which isn't very reliable. If someone comes along and messes things up, this wave won't be successful.

But the problem still lies in speed.

Because of the card's disconnection, the third wave of siege minions will advance all the way to HLE's top tower.

Compared to the usual three waves of minions pushing the tower, the minion wave reached the tower almost twenty seconds earlier!

This places even higher demands on the jungler's support speed!

Unless you arrive at the top lane immediately, you'll just be there to finish off your own top laner.

This time, HLE's jungler Willer also failed to seize the opportunity.

Since he couldn't find a suitable opportunity in lane, Willer opted for a fast level 4 route, farming jungle camps in the top side of the map while keeping an eye on the top lane and ready to provide support at any time.

When Zoom saw this, he knew that EDG had won this round.

Generally speaking, this approach is correct. When a jungler is at a disadvantage in lane, the priority should be farming jungle camps, with counter-ganking as a secondary strategy, and ganking as the only remaining option.

But in the current environment, that would be a huge mistake!

As I said before, unconventional games require unconventional approaches.

They were facing the championship favorite EDG in the S-series knockout stage. If they played the same way as in the group stage or even within their region, the outcome would be a certain defeat!
Facing EDG, you not only need to make the right decisions every time, but you also need to have extremely strong execution capabilities and be able to act immediately.

Only in this way can we keep up with EDG's rapid pace.

By the time Willer realized something was wrong and tried to go upstairs again, it was too late.

Because the siege minion has already entered the tower, a tower dive can happen in no time.

Both Twisted Fate and Xin Zhao are champions with reliable crowd control, so killing a Rumble who has only just reached level two is incredibly easy for them.

Zhao Xin immediately used his E to charge in and relentlessly attack, drawing the turret's aggro first. Twisted Fate calmly drew a yellow card, first applying crowd control, and then steadily followed up with his Q.

Taking advantage of the yellow card's crowd control, Zhao Xin used his Q skill to knock up the enemy, followed by a W [Wind Slash], and then quickly moved out of the tower.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Twisted Fate casually unleashed two basic attacks, securing the kill on Rumble!

"First blood!"

The sound of blood being drawn echoed throughout the arena, eliciting cheers from the entire audience!

It wasn't until then that HLE's jungler, Lee Sin, finally arrived, appearing from behind the tower.

Lee Sin aggressively warded up and stuck to Twisted Fate's face, using his E skill to slow him down, then relentlessly attacked!

But Ming Jing was not afraid. He was almost at full health and had not tanked the tower, so the Blind Monk could not kill him.

He fled with slow, deliberate steps, then instantly drew a yellow card to immobilize the blind monk, easily escaping.

This was because JieJie was really low on health. If he had just a hundred more health, he would have charged in and attacked this Lee Sin!
"Great! They weren't traded!" Wawa shouted from the commentary booth. "EDG's top and jungle are racing against time, forcing this tower dive!"

"Awesome! Awesome!" Even from a god's-eye view, the JDG team watching the game couldn't find any fault with this tower dive; they could only marvel at it.

The opposing team knew EDG was going to gank top lane, and all their defenses were correct, but they could only watch as their top laner died under the tower.

Even though JDG fought their way to the championship last year, they never made this level of coordinated decision-making.

After all, last year JDG relied mainly on their excellent fit with the version and Mingjing's incredible individual performance. It would be difficult to achieve such swift and decisive coordination in the early stages.

Some people can even say with certainty that last year's JDG was no match for this EDG.

At this moment, several people in the EDG voice channel were laughing and chatting.

"Awesome, awesome!" Flandre Bro smiled with satisfaction as he watched the top laner successfully tower dive.

All I can say is that this is Mingjing.

Even if he were temporarily switched to play top lane, he would be much more efficient than the veteran top laner.

They really have the ability, right?
But at this moment, Ming Jing was not immersed in the joy of tower diving; he was still looking at the minimap, analyzing his next decision.

"Gunner," Mingjing said, "After you finish the tower dive, head straight to the top lane."

"Oh?" Flandre was a little surprised. "You're switching back already? You're not easy to beat, are you?"

He's easy to talk about; a level 3 Renekton can beat anyone. But can a Twisted Fate who's only got one kill really beat a Yasuo who's farmed normally?
"No," Ming Jing said with a smile, "it's not about exchanging them back."

"Oh," Flandre immediately realized, "You're really cunning."

On the minimap, it can be clearly seen that Chovy's Yasuo also relied on his brief period of strength in the first three levels to push the cannon minion wave into the tower and then disappear in the mid lane.

This misalignment is tantamount to a slow death for HLE, and their top priority is to replace the line.

So Chovy didn't recall to base after recalling; since he was in good condition, he chose to head straight to the top lane.

The newly resurrected Rumble strode towards the mid lane.

But halfway there, Chovy suddenly realized something was wrong.

He clearly saw that the opposing crocodile disappeared into the darkness after eating the mid-line.

“No, that won’t do,” Chovy said immediately. “You go back to top lane. The crocodile has switched to top lane.”

"Huh?" Morgan, who was running towards the middle lane, was a little confused.

He could have teleported directly to the top lane and gotten some minions, but he didn't teleport to the mid lane this time, which is already a small loss.

And now you're letting him go back up? That would be a complete waste!
But since things had come to this, there was nothing he could do but set off again.

In any case, saving a TP is not a problem.

But the best is yet to come.

When Chovy returned to the mid lane, he was preparing to push the minion wave into the tower during EDG's lane swap, but a Renekton suddenly emerged from the darkness, leaving him dumbfounded once again.

Morgan, who had returned to the top lane, was equally dumbfounded.

Morgan was furious when she saw the Twisted Fate reappear on the opposing team and start pushing the lane.

What the hell is going on?
(End of this chapter)