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

Chapter 270: We've Returned to Reality

While the game was still loading, Ming Jing closed his eyes to rest and took deep breaths to adjust his state.

Now that it's the final stage, Mingjing's attitude can no longer be as casual as before.

No matter how confident Mingjing is in this championship, he must admit that Showmaker is undoubtedly the strongest opponent in this year's World Championship so far, and he needs to be more urgent and more focused.

In the words of the forum members, this means the start of the second phase.

Several teammates are in a similar state at the moment, and everyone is slowly adjusting, trying to be in the best condition for the game.

"Om."

The game start sound rang in my ears, followed by the repeated announcements of heroes appearing in the fountain.

The EDG voice channel also suddenly became very active.

"Let's go, let's charge into the finals!"

"rush!"

"Let's start the torture!"

The five EDG players, brimming with confidence, charged out of the fountain.

However, there was nothing to say about the opening tactics, as EDG's heroes were not particularly strong at level one.

They maintained a defensive stance.

JieJie placed a defensive ward in the upper half of the map, then recalled to town to exchange it for a scanner, before heading out to the lower half of the map.

But this doesn't mean he's going to brush from the bottom up; quite the opposite.

Ivern's jungle clearing mechanics are unique, making his routes more unpredictable.

"We'll definitely go for the bottom lane first this time, protecting our carry," Zhao Lijie said. "Li Xuanjun, play it safe in the top lane. We can easily win in the late game."

"No problem! That's why I picked Ornn!" In the top lane, Flandre waved his hand, indicating that he understood.

From his very first day with EDG, Flandre realized that his talent was simply not enough in this talented team!

He's been putting up with the pressure all year, there's no reason for him to act impulsively at this crucial moment.

Of course, Flandre usually takes on the role of dealing damage in EDG, and rarely chooses pure tank champions like Ornn.

Fortunately, he has been practicing, so his proficiency is not a problem.

As for the bottom lane, there's not much pressure.

Aphelios and Lulu are actually a pretty strong laning combination. After all, they are both ranged, so they can protect themselves against anyone. Plus, with the jungler farming down there to protect them, there's no reason for them to fall behind.

Viper even went directly to contest the lane bush with Meiko, intending to gain an advantage and see if they could go for the Dragon Soul tempo.

As for the mid lane, Ming Jing faces even less pressure.

The team specifically placed cards to pick Lucian as a flex pick, all for this laning phase.

As he went online with the minions, Ming Jing didn't rush to suppress them. Instead, he focused on farming minions and securing level two while looking for the right angle.

Lucian's range is shorter than Twisted Fate's. If Lucian goes straight in to fight, he will inevitably be stopped by Twisted Fate's yellow card and counterattack, resulting in a lose-lose situation.

If his teammate were a Jarvan IV or Xin Zhao, Mingjing might have played like that, since it would create opportunities for the jungler.

However, this game was a special case. The enemy's Twisted Fate and Qiyana were clearly more advantageous in the mid and jungle, so the strategy was to slowly whittle down their health.

Both mid laners moved back and forth around the minion wave, not daring to stop for a moment.

But Mingjing had excellent judgment. He seized the moment when Showmaker turned around and threw a Q [Piercing Light] at the minion!

This opportunity was undoubtedly seized perfectly. The moment the Q skill was cast, Showmaker turned around and stepped right into the center of the skill.

At this point, even if Showmaker reacts quickly, it won't help, because his initial movement speed simply doesn't allow him to dodge the skill.

This Q attack didn't do much damage but was extremely insulting. Although Showmaker didn't feel anything, his attention became even more focused.

You can't use skills anymore.

Without much thought, Showmaker pulled out a red card and threw it at the ranged minion, even trying to splash it onto Lucian.

However, this straightforward skill could not work on Ming Jing. He simply took a small step and moved out of the skill's range.

In terms of laning strength, Twisted Fate is far inferior to marksmen like Lucian who can dominate in any lane.

Moreover, Ming Jing is a master of it.

Once his Q skill was ready, Mingjing didn't wait at all and unleashed another Q!

Showmaker immediately moved the mouse and twisted his body, but still couldn't dodge it.

Moreover, Lucian's Q always penetrates at least three minions, making him exceptionally good at pushing lanes.

Coupled with his non-stop basic attacks since the game started, Lucian leveled up to level two almost immediately after the second wave of minions appeared.

After reaching level two, Lucian's dominance intensified.

[Piercing Holy Light] was released again. This time, the prediction was not as accurate as the previous two. The card deviated slightly from the central axis. Showmaker immediately turned and moved, but he was still a little too late. The card grazed his heel.

The laning phase had only been going on for a little over forty seconds when Twisted Fate had already taken three Qs in a row, which made Showmaker's scalp tingle.

Even if a single Q doesn't deal much damage, it adds up and can take away the equivalent of a red potion's worth of health!
Most importantly, Lucian has already undergone a significant change at level two. After using his Q skill, Lucian, holding onto his passive dual pistols, charged straight in.

As long as the card dares to draw a yellow card to counterattack, Lucian will inevitably be able to complete the AEAA combo during the yellow card's flight, unleashing a full burst of power.

Showmaker completely believes Phi is capable of this operation!
Having already consumed three Qs, he couldn't afford to lose any more health.

With no other option, he could only take two steps back, moving out of Lucian's basic attack range.

Of course, with the Q skill, Twisted Fate can still use his abilities to finish off enemies from a distance.

Ming Jing naturally seized the advantage in the middle lane.

As long as neither side's jungler interferes, this mid-lane advantage will likely continue for a long time.

The situation in the middle lane was so exciting that countless viewers found it exhilarating.

This is Xiaofei's Lucian. Do you understand the value of being banned for half a year?

However, this time the camera didn't linger too long in the mid lane, but quickly switched to the bottom lane.

Both junglers moved very quickly, and after rapidly reaching level four, they both appeared in the bottom lane at the same time.

The two bottom lanes were locked in a fierce battle, exchanging blows frequently, but neither side managed to gain any significant advantage in the end.

That's why both junglers were eager to come to the bottom lane to break the deadlock.

However, the arrival of the junglers from both sides did not change the situation.

In the jungle matchup, JieJie's Ivern was clearly no match for the opposing Qiyana, but the strength of Ivern lies in his ability to coordinate well with teammates.

If we consider the 3v3 situation in both bottom lanes, then the Aphelios with a two-protect-one composition is clearly stronger, since the Qiyana, Jhin, and Nami combination on the DK side is really a bit of an odd combination.

The two junglers faced off in the river, but neither dared to make a move.

Ultimately, Canyon proved to be stronger, gaining the upper hand by leveraging its superior individual combat capabilities.

JieJie didn't take the river crab to heart, since Ivern wasn't picked to farm and carry anyway.

He continued to guard the bottom lane until the second round of jungle monsters spawned. After clearing two camps in the bottom half of the jungle, he finally recalled to base to replenish his supplies. During this time, with the jungler's support, Viper's gameplay became even more daring.

Viper executed a four-hit combo of red, green, purple, and white. He capitalized on the opportunity when both the red and green hits left him with low ammo, first using the red hit's Q in conjunction with Lulu's speed boost to charge forward and apply the green hit mark to both of the opposing duo.

At this moment, the red blade was used up, and the weapon in his hand turned green and purple. Viper first used a ranged basic attack to apply the purple blade slow to Jhin, and then used a green blade Q to accurately hit Nami in the distance, and then also applied the purple blade mark!

At this point, the weapon turns purple and white.

Viper first used his purple blade Q to immobilize two people, then switched to his blue blade to chase after them, hitting both of them with a blue blade Q, resulting in an excellent AOE effect!

Of course, taking this opportunity, the DK duo also launched a counterattack, with Jhin and Nami's output being equally impressive.

With Lulu's shield protecting them, the two managed to reduce Viper's health by a significant amount.

After this exchange of blows, Viper did gain a slight lead in health, but it was quite limited.

The only thing worth mentioning is that they forced the opposing duo to retreat and successfully seized lane control.

It's safe to say that this was quite an achievement.

With both sides having support champions facing off, it's unlikely that there will be any lane kills in the bottom lane; the focus will mainly be on health and lane priority.

By securing lane control with the blue blade and dominating in last hits, Viper already had a significant advantage in the laning phase.

Simply helping the team secure the dragon is far from enough.

"Take it slow," Viper muttered as he pushed the lane. "Be patient, drag it out to the late game."

Everyone understands this line of thinking, since the team has emphasized it many times since the beginning. Viper was just saying it to himself. In the finals environment, he could no longer be as calm and collected as usual, and he had to constantly remind himself of this.
This is the final.

Even though it's the same venue, the same audience, and the same League of Legends, the pressure is many times greater than before!
Of course, some people are already very familiar with the process.

The camera then shifts to the middle lane.

Lucian, who had already reached level four, slid forward and slammed his dual pistols into Twisted Fate, followed by a W [Fervor Blast]!
Showmaker reacted quickly, swiftly drawing a yellow card to immobilize Lucian, followed by a Q (Wild Card), and then pulling back!

Lucian's speed in using E to trigger his passive isn't particularly fast, as it involves an AWA or AQA sequence.

If you counter-attack quickly enough and create distance before the opponent fires their second dual pistol shot, you still have a chance to kite and outmaneuver them.

Showmaker drew his yellow card quite quickly.

But Ming Jing was not afraid at all. After the dizziness ended, he pointed his two guns at the soldier.

Because Mingjing had previously used W, which hit both the card and a minion.

Lucian now uses his dual pistols on minions to gain a temporary 60-point movement speed bonus.

Taking advantage of his movement speed, Lucian quickly caught up with Twisted Fate, who was already close in distance, and then used his Q to lock onto him!

The Q skill triggered the W speed boost on the card again, and Lucian took two steps to catch up and fired his dual pistols, directly hitting the full Press the Attack!
After this full attack, the card's already low health immediately dropped to less than half!
Showmaker drank the last vial of blood medicine, his heart already starting to race slightly.

Is the pressure really that great?

As Showmaker watched the minion wave approach the tower, he secretly rejoiced, thinking that it was fortunate the enemy jungler was Ivern.

If a Lee Sin-like champion comes along, wouldn't he be unable to even get a kill under the tower?
Just as he was thinking this, Showmaker took a closer look and suddenly noticed something was wrong.

No, what do you want to do?
After the minion wave pushed into the tower, Lucian, who had already reached level five, did not return to base to replenish his supplies as usual, but instead pushed straight into the tower.

Seizing the moment the turret made its normal attack, I also unleashed a normal attack!
"Buzz!"

The turret immediately emitted a strange sound, and the red line locked onto Lucian, but due to the attack interval, he was unable to launch a basic attack for a short time.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lucian turned around and left the tower, easily taunting the defensive tower.

This scene made Showmaker's heart tighten.

Is this some kind of insane thing? Doing Ivern even involves tower diving?

Although now is not the time for junglers to gank mid, Ivern is a champion who is naturally suited to varied ganks, and his rhythm is extremely unpredictable.

Fortunately, Ivern did not appear.

However, Lucian is back.

Taking advantage of the siege minion's low health, Lucian charged back into the tower, seizing the opportunity when Twisted Fate finished off the siege minion, and once again used AQA!

This was a rare opportunity, and Mingjing didn't even bother to harass the defensive towers, so he launched a full-scale attack!
Although the cost was being hit by a defensive tower, the opposing card clearly suffered more losses.

The red potion had just managed to restore a little health, but under this strong attack, it lost even more, dropping to only 30% health!

Showmaker was not one to be trifled with, of course. He quickly drew a yellow card and threw it at Lucian.

Lucian could have used his E skill to leave the tower immediately, and even if he received a yellow card, he wouldn't be in danger. However, Lucian wasted his time by using Cleanse, instantly leaving the tower. This yellow card didn't allow Lucian to withstand even one more cannon shot.

Upon seeing this purification, commentators and viewers frowned, wondering what was going on.

Is it worth paying for purification?

Only Showmaker understood Mingjing's intention.

Why would we rather pay for purification than pay for E? The reason is simple.

Because E is a burst skill that resets basic attacks and triggers dual pistols, Lucian can deal higher damage.

In contrast, while purification is more important, it cannot be used to increase damage, making it a skill that can be discarded at will.

Under what circumstances would such a necessitate such harm occur?

Damn, is this guy trying to tower dive alone?

Are you dreaming?
The card's yellow card has a six-second cooldown, so this tower dive must be activated within six seconds.

In the scene, Lucian, after leaving the tower, unsurprisingly returned, his killing intent couldn't be clearer!
And at this moment, Ivern finally appeared.

However, Ivern did not appear behind the tower as Showmaker had anticipated, but rather emerged from the river and appeared behind Lucian.

Ivern's task this time is simple: press E twice to apply two shields to Lucian.

This is the key to the Lucian-Ivern combination.

These two shields successfully triggered Lucian's passive, applying two stacks of the "Vigilance" effect, granting Lucian's next two dual pistol attacks an additional 15 + 20% attack damage.

Even if the current attack power is not high, the total damage bonus is still more than 100 points!
This perfectly fills the gap in Mingjing's needs.

Showmaker glanced at the jungler's position. Although Canyon was already heading towards the mid lane, it was clearly too late. This wave would still depend on him.

Showmaker had no choice but to quickly run towards the second tower, trying to get out of Lucian's basic attack range.

But Ming Jing was determined to kill him and would not allow the card to survive. Lucian actually used W to flash forward and, at the same time, used [Fervor Blast] to forcibly bring the card into the range of his basic attack!

With the passive + strong attack buff providing an 8% damage increase, the dual-gun barrage deals considerable damage!
Showmaker quickly flashed away, but Lucian, like a persistent leech, used his E [Relentless Pursuit] to slide forward and unleashed another barrage of shots with both pistols!

Two guns fired again, and the card's already low health dropped even further, almost to zero.

At that very moment, the six-second cooldown had quietly come to an end, and Showmaker pressed W repeatedly, drawing a yellow card in a split second!
But at the same time, Lucian gathered his twin pistols and unleashed his Q [Transcendent Light]!

Ming Jing is currently at level 5 and has level 3 Q.

CD is exactly the same as Twisted Fate's W, both being six seconds.

Although the yellow card was successfully drawn, before it could be used, Lucian's Q had already been used!
The card's health was instantly depleted by the holy light, leaving it lying dead on the spot!
(End of this chapter)