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

Chapter 277 Won
"The Blue Legion has captured the Rift Herald!"

The Vanguard's cries of agony echoed through the arena, and the Vanguard's Eye was ultimately won by DK.

It can only be said that DK, which also dominated the region for a year and advanced to the finals with an undefeated record, is also on an invincible path.

EDG's resounding victory in the first game was not only due to Mingjing's exceptional performance, but also to their overwhelming success in the draft phase, which put both sides at a significant disadvantage in terms of lineup composition.

Many viewers were hoping that EDG would replicate their swift offensive in the first game, crushing the opponent in three games to win the championship, but that was clearly unrealistic.

The opposing team isn't stupid. They won't have such a good lineup in the first game again. Moreover, DK is currently targeting the mid lane, so it will be difficult for Mingjing to replicate the terrifying dominance he displayed in the first game.

After securing the Rift Herald, DK undoubtedly took the initiative. Their mid and jungle players grouped up with the bot lane duo and started pushing forward using the synergy between the Ziggs and the Rift Herald.

The vanguard charged forward, bringing the next tower to low health. The Bomber then followed up with his W, instantly destroying a perfectly good defensive tower.

With the first tower bounty in hand, Ghost quickly recovered the economic losses he had suffered from being caught twice before, and even surpassed them.

"Furthermore, after pushing down the tower, DK can also take a dragon!"

The dragon was somewhat ignored in this round, as both sides were engaged in fierce combat and had no time to spare, so it survived until the ten-minute mark.

DK only secured the first dragon at this point, which means the game's pace won't be too fast and it's likely to go into the very late game.

Just as DK was controlling the dragon, EDG also made some counter-strategies.

The vertical eye of "Fate" lit up above the heads of the five DK members.

The target is undoubtedly someone.

Cards wouldn't dare go down to the river and touch four people.

It can only be Nuguri on the top lane.

A ring of cards quickly appeared at Nuguri's feet, blocking his path to the second tower.

Also appearing from the jungle at the same time was JieJie's Prince!

Nuguri's heart tightened immediately, somewhat surprised.

The upper half of the map is DK's main attack area, and their vision control is extremely tight.

However, this did not stop JieJie from stealthily infiltrating the DK jungle using the Prince's map-crossing ability.

DK isn't the only one who understands EDG.

JieJie has also conducted in-depth research on DK's vision habits.

It's clear that relying solely on Twisted Fate won't be enough to keep Jayce in check, given that Jayce has Mercury's Treads and Phase Boots.

But if the prince is also there, then it's a different story.

The card lands as a yellow card, just like the Prince's EQ combo.

This continuous control was more than enough for Flandre to follow up with his E ability.

The ultimate ability that wasn't used in the previous Vanguard team fight came in handy now. Kennen used RQW to trigger a stun, and Jayce's health was already very low.

"Xuanjun, you can have it." Mingjing was as polite as ever. "I don't want any kills."

Upon hearing this, Flandre hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

He's already down 0-3, does he even deserve to get kills?
But seeing that Ming Jing had already turned away, he didn't say anything more and accepted the head.

“Shut down!”

Because Nuguri was so fed, this wave was even the end of the game, and Flandre got 450 gold.

However, there wasn't much feedback from the audience this time.

The main issue is that this headshot is really not that significant.

Even if you get 450 gold to finish the game, you can still manage to take two more layers of plating, which would bring back the 700 gold deficit.

But so what.

This will not help the situation at all.

The gap between the two sides is simply too large. After all, Flandre had died three times before, two of which were due to tower dives, resulting in a significant loss of minions and a gold deficit of over a thousand. Even if he managed to recover this loss, he still wouldn't be able to win.

Viewers have never had high hopes for Flandre; it's unrealistic to expect him to break the deadlock.

Viewers can hardly imagine Flandre carrying the game alone and winning it.

Anyone who has played five-player ranked matches knows that when the worst player in the team is carrying the team alone, the game is almost always going to be lost.

The lower half of the region, with its huge economic disparity, is bound to collapse completely.

Looking at EDG's overall situation, you can't even find a single point of leverage that can support the team's momentum.

that's the truth.

This severed head did not significantly alter the situation.

Nuguri Jayce, wielding Star Eclipse and wearing Mercury's Treads, is an insurmountable mountain for Kennen, an AP champion.

Moreover, Jayce's next item will inevitably be Hexdrinker, so this situation will likely continue indefinitely.

Saving the team is out of the question. The only contribution Flandre can make is ensuring he doesn't collapse after receiving this money.

At this stage, EDG can no longer afford multiple collapses.

Of course, Flandre was able to hold his own because of his economy, but another key reason was that Nuguri didn't dare to play too aggressively.

After all, DK is clearly going to use a 4-1 split push now. With the four of them tightly grouped together, Mingjing's Twisted Fate is worried about having nowhere to use his skills. If Nuguri still dares to act tough on the side lane, it's no different from feeding.

The DK needs to focus on steady development on the flanks and aggressive pushes on the front lines.

Fortunately, both sides were done perfectly.

On the front, Ghost's advance was unstoppable.

Even though Jhin and Zilean are already quite strong champions for defending towers on EDG's side, the bomb items are too good and the push is too fast, making the pressure of defending towers too great.

At 14 minutes, Bomb used W to precisely break through EDG's mid-lane tower.

16 minutes later, the second dragon spawned.

EDG has Kennen on their side, so they are not afraid to engage in team fights. Therefore, they group up early to prepare and set up vision control in advance.

But the DK side was afraid.

They showed no intention of engaging in team fights, instead relying on the Rift Herald they had secured a minute earlier to push directly to the top lane tower.

It's obvious they want to make an exchange!
For DK right now, the dragon isn't important, since they controlled it relatively late in the game and don't want to fight team fights with uncertain outcomes. They were impressed by EDG's team fight abilities.

They only want to steadily expand their economic advantage through the advance of the Bombers, and then crush everyone with their advantage!

With no other option, EDG could only take down the dragon and the bottom lane tower one after the other.

However, as a result, their own top lane tower and second tower collapsed one after another, turning into ruins.

The second tower is worth much more than the first tower, and can provide the team with a total economy of nearly a thousand.

After this exchange, although EDG secured the dragon, escaping the suffocating pressure of the dragon soul rhythm, the economic gap undoubtedly widened further.

At this point, it's clear from the tactics panel that the economic gap between the two sides has widened to four thousand.

In addition to pushing forward, DK also excelled at picking off isolated targets. Beryl and Canyon precisely located JieJie, who was busy farming jungle camps and farming. Rakan and Xin Zhao unleashed their full control chain, and Bomb's long-range ultimate landed perfectly, securing the kill!
Fortunately, EDG's support came in time. Twisted Fate's ultimate ability, the vertical ward, lit up, and Flandre's Kennen charged out amidst lightning, using Flash and R to hold both of them in place!
Immediately after, Twisted Fate's ultimate ability landed, and Everfrost's Gold Card, combined with Kennen's, unleashed a chain of crowd control!
"A beautiful counter-attack!" Miller exclaimed from the commentary booth, as if seeing a glimmer of hope. "Can they all stay? Don't let them escape!"

Of course, it's still possible. After all, DK's jungler and support have done everything they can to kill JieJie, and they don't have any skills available right now.

Ming Jing did the same thing as before: cripple the enemy and then give the kill to Holy Gun Bro.

In a flash, Flandre once again secured a double kill.

With those two kills secured, Flandre's economy soared once again, finally bringing him on par with Nuguri.

This scene clearly left the audience even more confused.

Why are they still feeding Flandre to kills?
One finishing blow wasn't enough, did they have to give us two more?
And it's not over yet.

This counter-encirclement campaign had barely ended when DK's counter-counter-encirclement campaign began again.

A phantom figure emerged from the darkness, and Showmaker's LeBlanc unleashed a barrage of skills, targeting Flandre Kennen.

Because of DK's jungler and support's desperate counterattack, Flandre wasn't at full health to begin with. In addition, Kennen usually doesn't build magic resistance, and now that LeBlanc is unleashing her combo, his health bar is disappearing bit by bit.

After a full combo, Flandre returned to base, bringing his score to 3-4. Without Mingjing feeding him kills, Flandre would likely have been paying homage to a legendary top laner's "No Time to Die" combo this game.

Overall, the two sides traded two for two, so neither side actually lost out; it's just that EDG's economy is increasingly concentrated on Flandre's side.

The audience was even more bored after seeing this scene.

"To be honest, I feel that EDG's decision to keep letting Flandre get kills isn't a good one." After thinking for a moment, Guan Daxiao said, "If they don't give their two carries kills, I feel like they'll be under a lot of pressure in the late game."

Although the two carries play champions like Twisted Fate and Jhin, their IDs are Phi and Viper after all.

Is it fair to give a player the best dual-carry combination in the world a lack of resources?

"Let's trust the players." Miller didn't want to resort to internal team comparisons. "I feel like EDG probably has something in mind."

Miller could only sense that EDG had something in mind.

As for what my thoughts are?
He didn't know either.

Anyway, I believe it.

In the following period, the gap between the two sides widened further.

Although DK is a team that focuses on fighting, they are, after all, from the LCK region, and their operational skills are also quite excellent.

DK flexibly shifted their focus, sometimes pushing around Ghost, sometimes using the dragon and Nuguri's split push to create space on multiple fronts, and sometimes coordinating with the mid, jungle, and support to gank.

No matter which path he takes, DK always reaps rewards.

What EDG can do is to flexibly change their tactics and respond to DK's different offensives in different ways.

When DK pushed forward, Mingjing went to the front and used Twisted Fate's AOE ability to help defend. When DK forced a team fight at the dragon pit and engaged in a skirmish, Mingjing decisively gave up the dragon and went to the side lane to gank Jayce, helping Flandre get another kill.

If DK manages to solo kill, Twisted Fate's ultimate will be available again, allowing the team to trade kills through timely support or another solo kill.

Only a hero like Twisted Fate can handle this situation. If it were another short-legged mage, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the Death Knight's pace even if they ran themselves ragged.

Thanks to Mingjing's perfect performance, the economic gap between the two sides was not widened further.

The two sides fought for 32 minutes, and the economic difference only widened from 4,000 to 5,000. The gap between the two sides did not become completely large, which is obviously excellent news.

However, problems still exist. First, EDG's economic distribution is extremely uneven. The 5,000 gold difference is basically concentrated on the four players: mid, bottom, jungle, and support, with each player lagging behind by more than 1,000 gold.

Especially Ming Jing, he hasn't gotten a single kill yet, and even with passive income, his economy is still far behind Showmaker's!

It's common knowledge that card-based economies are always weak, known for being all consumption and no output. Now that the economy is lagging behind and consumption is even lower, output is even more impossible.

It's fair to say that Mingjing never intended to deal much damage in this match; he was simply sacrificing himself.

Only Flandre's economy was not lagging behind. In fact, with the team feeding kills to him multiple times, his economy was even on par with Ghost's Ziggs, who had three items and a Stopwatch, despite having a 5-5 score.

The fifth dragon spawned, a cloud dragon slowly coiling in the dragon pit.

With the three dragons in hand, DK is only one step away from the Wind Dragon Soul.

Given the current situation, EDG can no longer afford to delay; it's a critical moment that will determine the outcome.

At this point, it's clear that after both sides contested the mid-lane, they went their separate ways.

DK moves to the lower river and occupies the small dragon pit terrain.

DK, along with Jayce, LeBlanc, and Bomb, form a formidable trio of long-range carries, each adept at pre-teamfight poke. As long as they can hold the Dragon Pit, they have absolutely no chance of losing!
On the other side, Ming Jing was also fully aware of this, and he had no intention of going to Xiaolongkeng to directly confront the group.

With the signal activated, he led his teammates straight to the upper river!

They actually want to take down the dragon!

The attributes of this Dragon Soul aren't actually that good; it's just a Wind Dragon Soul. But for EDG, this is already excellent news.

This also gave EDG the confidence to use Baron Nashor to exchange for resources.

EDG made a decision without hesitation and immediately initiated the Baron attack.

With the support of Jarvan IV, EDG's three carries were not slow in taking down Baron.

According to Mingjing's calculations, if DK were to be greedy and choose to take the Wind Dragon before coming to the Dragon Pit, it would definitely be too late.

If you want the Wind Dragon Soul, just take it. As long as EDG gets the Baron, they won't lose out at all!

DK originally intended to be greedy, but they had only just started fighting the Wind Dragon when Ghost used a vision upgrade point and saw that the dragon had already lost a third of its health. He immediately realized something was wrong!
Seeing the vision modification fail and the Baron pit return to darkness, DK made a decisive move, leaving Nuguri, who had TP, to solo the dragon, while the other four of them headed straight for the upper river!

In any case, we absolutely cannot just give up Da Long like that.

"."

But in the darkness unseen by the public, EDG quickly changed their strategy after eliminating the vision control effects of the Farseeing mod.

Mingjing and Holy Gun Bro slipped into the darkness and began their respective preparations.

The other three remained on the front, further reducing the dragon's health.

On the DK side, they were quite cautious to guard against Kennen's ambush in the bushes, constantly using their abilities to scout the bushes.

At that moment, a message finally came through on the screen again.

"The Blue Legion has slain the Cloud Dragon!"

With the dragon secured, DK now has the Wind Dragon Soul, giving them an even greater advantage!
For EDG, this team fight has already come at a huge cost, and they absolutely cannot afford to lose.

At this moment, the DK team had already approached the Baron pit. Nuguri took two steps towards the upper river and then quickly selected [Vision Modification] to help the team see the vision inside the Baron pit.

At this moment, it can be clearly seen that the dragon has only one-third of its health remaining.

Ok?
The DK members frowned slightly upon seeing this.

Given how fast EDG took down the dragon, it shouldn't have so much health left.

Looking out from his teammates' vision, they could clearly see that EDG only had their bottom laner, jungler, and support on the front line.

Where did Twisted Fate and Kennen go?
Before I could think any further, something unexpected happened.

As soon as the card's ultimate ability [Fate] lit up, the positions of the five DK players were instantly revealed in detail and appeared in EDG's vision.

After activating his ultimate, Twisted Fate acted without hesitation, using the second part of his ultimate to target Jayce, who had just stepped out of the river.

"The cards are with me!" Nuguri was on high alert as he looked at the circle of cards that suddenly appeared in front of him.

Did the two of them come to arrest him? Was the previous big dragon just a smokescreen?
Nuguri was ganked by Twisted Fate quite a few times this game, dying several times. He's no stranger to the Twisted Fate and Kennen duo.

But upon closer inspection, it doesn't make any sense.

Abandoning the Wind Dragon Soul just to kill him once? Isn't that a huge waste?
Although he didn't get any kills in this game, his contribution was definitely significant, making him a core figure who has helped EDG persevere until now.

DK is also paying close attention to the card's movements, and many people have switched screens to watch the card's movements as well.

This is the moment EDG has been waiting for!

Flandre had been waiting in the darkness for a long time. Taking advantage of the fact that the DK members were distracted by the cards, Kennen, surrounded by electricity, rushed out of the darkness!
Meiko was prepared. Zilean flashed forward and gave Kennen a speed boost!
Kennen activated second gear, increasing his speed even further, and almost instantly rushed in front of the DK members!
DK reacted extremely quickly, with Beryl activating his ultimate and charging in, attempting to charm Kennen!
I'm so hungry!!!

But Flandre didn't give him a chance. As Kennen activated his ultimate, Thunder Prison, a golden light flashed and he teleported to the center of DK's camp!
Saint Gun Bro's gear is definitely not bad!
Mingjing fed so many kills, and he was the only one who could keep up with DK's economy. At this moment, he already had the Rocketbelt, Void Staff, and Rabadon's Deathcap. When he charged into DK's formation, it was like a thunderbolt descending from the heavens!
The ultimate skill, combined with W to trigger a stun, almost instantly caused all four DK members in front to lose a significant amount of health!

Meiko quickly followed up and used her skills very fast. She used a QQW combo to throw two bombs at LeBlanc, who was positioned in the front!

"Pretty!"

Zhao Lijie roared, and the prince followed up with an EQ combo, then used his ultimate [Collapse] to enter the fray, slamming his ultimate at the bomb!
Viper was the slowest to arrive, but he arrived just in time. The Virtuoso fired his last two bullets at Baron Nashor, first using W to hold off LeBlanc, then using the double speed boost from W and Zilean to dash up, first using QA to finish off the LeBlanc with almost no health left, and then firing the last critical bullet straight at the bomb!
One critical hit and the Bomber was gone!

"Shut Down!"

"Shut Down!"

Both carries were instantly killed, and Viper secured two big kill bounties. DK's team fight had already crumbled from the very beginning!

"Beautiful! Flandre!" Miller roared from the commentary booth, his voice even cracking, "The thunderbolt is here!!!"

"And they can catch up! EDG has time, they run very fast!"

"Don't let Canyon get away! Killing him will give us Baron!"

In the mid lane, Mingjing landed his ultimate, used his yellow card to immobilize Jayce, and then followed up with Yongshuang, using a double control to restrict Jayce's movement before quickly retreating and escaping.

Mingjing switched the screen to look at the Baron pit and saw that his teammates had indeed completed a crushing team fight. He grinned and smiled.

Won.

(End of this chapter)