A pillar of blue light slammed down on Blue team’s Blue Buff Camp! Zeng Rui, whose Jarvan IV was fighting the Blue Sentinel, felt his heart stop. “Irelia! Irelia is teleporting in! Where’s TF?” he asked over Team Shanghai’s voice chat.

“On me,” Lin Feng replied, calm.

Zeng Rui panned his camera towards Lin Feng’s Kalista, who was still fighting the Gromp, and then a bit further up to where Twisted Fate was teleporting to. He then moved his camera down and spotted Thresh running past his inner tower and towards the Jungle. Fuck! They’re flanking us! I need to save Lin Feng! We need him alive! He glanced at his skill and grimaced. He’s too far away. I need to… He sighed and then had his Jarvan IV dash towards Lin Feng’s Kalista with his flag-toss combo.

Team Guangzhou’s Thresh saw Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV dashing towards Lin Feng’s Kalista and knew there was a chance there. His fingers glided over his keyboard as he linked several skills together. A mottled flash of light carried his Thresh past the players from Team Shanghai and into his top side Jungle. He followed up with a Death Sentence, his scythe flying over a Jungle wall and latching onto Jarvan IV at the end of his dash animation. He then threw his lantern behind him with Dark Passage, waited just long enough for Lee Sin to click it and finally activated Death Sentence again, pulling himself towards Jarvan IV and Kalista!

“OH SHIT! KALISTA IS IN DANGER!” Zephyr screamed into his microphone. He stared at the monitor in shock and added, “JARVAN JUST KILLED KALISTA!”

Su Xue looked at the fight and searched the minimap for a way in which Team Shanghai could turn this fight around. But she came up empty. She chewed on her lips and said, “Maybe if they can get their Braum and—” The rest of the sentence was stuck in her throat.

Team Guangzhou’s Thresh activated his ultimate skill—The Box! Five spectral walls rose up from the ground and caught Lin Feng’s Kalista and Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV within. He followed up with Flay, sweeping his chain and scythe backwards. It caught both Kalista and Jarvan IV, lifting them off their feet and flaying them into the spectral wall. The wall applied a powerful slow effect.

Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin came flying in with Thresh’s lantern. When he hit the ground, he placed a ward behind Lin Feng’s Kalista and hopped towards it with Safeguard. He followed up with his ultimate skill–Dragon’s Rage! He raised his foot and struck Kalista with a roundhouse kick! There was so much power behind the kick that it knocked Kalista up into the air and sent her flying into the spectral wall on the opposite side of the box. Right where Goalie’s Twisted Fate happened to be.

Zephyr shot up from his seat at the caster desk and yelled into his microphone, “They got him now! They got Kalista! He kicked her right at Twisted Fate! This is gonna be a stun and then a kill!”

Below the stage in the player seating area, Chu Fang sat at the edge of his seat and leaned closer towards the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths. He clenched his fists and mumbled, “Come on… Come on… Come on! Don’t screw up now… Don’t screw up now!”

In a different section of the player seating area, Coach Yin looked the complete opposite of the worried Chu Fang. He was grinning and trembling with excitement, mumbling, “Come on! COME ON! DO IT! KILL HER! KILL THAT KALISTA AND FINISH THE GAME!”

Back in the game, Goalie’s Twisted Fate ran down the Jungle path until Lin Feng’s Kalista was kicked towards him. He threw the Gold Card he was holding and followed up with a volley of Wild Cards, both skills striking Lin Feng’s Kalista at the same time.

Lin Feng’s Kalista was stunned. Twisted Fate stood in front of her, auto attacking with playing cards. Behind her, Team Guangzhou’s Irelia finished teleporting and was running to join the fight together with Thresh and Lee Sin. Zeng Rui was trying to run interference there with his Jarvan IV, but Team Guangzhou simply ignored him. The other three Champions from Team Shanghai were in the top lane, separated from the fight by a Jungle wall they couldn’t run through. They hesitated, deciding whether to run around it left or right, or to Flash over it. All the while, Seo’s Tristana was auto attacking them.

“It’s over… It’s over…” Su Xue muttered into her microphone, distraught.

Zephyr nodded and continued, “Definitely is! They’re almost on Kalista and when she’s—” His eyes grew wide and round when he saw a cleansing light wrap around Kalista. The stun was broken. And then a second light wrapped around Kalista. This one teleported her a short distance, dropping her back onto the Rift behind Twisted Fate! Zephyr clutched his microphone tightly and shouted, “OH MY GOD! CLEANSE! CLEANSE! HE CLEANSED IT AND THEN FLASHED!”

Su Xue’s mouth fell open. She stared at the monitor, incredulous, then mumbled, “H-he… He escaped?”

“OH SHIT HE DID! HE ESCAPED!”

“WOW! HE EVEN DODGED THE LEE Q WITH THAT FLASH!”

“HOLY LORD! WHAT THE EFFIN EF!”

“HE STILL HAD CLEANSE!? WHAT THE FUCK!”

“DAMN! FUCK ME! WHAT A FUCKING CLUTCH CLEANSE!”

Lin Feng’s Kalista started throwing spears at Twisted Fate, each one lodging itself into his body. But Kalista didn’t have a stun. She had to run after Goalie’s Twisted Fate as he looked to close the distance with his teammates. Thresh and Lee Sin had used most of their skills, so Lin Feng didn’t worry about them. Irelia on the other hand hadn’t used any of her skills yet.

“Tang Tang!” Lin Feng said over the team’s voice chat.

Tang Bingyao glanced at Lin Feng and smiled. Now it’s time to play hard! Ignore the pinky, ignore the pinky, mhm! She replied, “Pull me!”

Lin Feng’s Kalista pulled Braum’s spirit in with her ultimate skill—Fate’s Call! The second part of the skill was up to Tang Bingyao. She aimed her mouse at the four Champions from Team Guangzhou and clicked. Her Braum launched himself at them, regaining his physical form, and barreled into them! He knocked them up and followed up with his own ultimate skill—Glacial Fissure! He smashed his shield down into the ground, tearing a rift open and causing freezing air to erupt upwards and knock the four Champions from Team Guangzhou up into the air again!

Goalie’s eyes were wide and round in fear. He’d misjudged how quickly they could kill Kalista, and now Braum was there. FUCK! FUCKING DOGS! He ground his teeth and searched for Seo who was still busy attacking Rumble. He isn’t getting a kill there either anytime soon. FuckFuckFuck! I need to survive! We can’t win if I die here! He slammed down on his keyboard, trying to activate Flash the moment his Twisted Fate fell back on the ground. But right then, just before his Twisted Fate had both feet on solid ground again, a Dark Binding hit him and rooted him!

“Ooooh! Nice one, BunBun!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

“Just kill him already,” An Xin replied, smiling.

Lin Feng grinned and said, “On it!” He then activated Rend. His Kalista pulled on the telekinetic link with the spears lodged inside Twisted Fate’s body and pulled them free! They shattered Twisted Fate’s health bar!

《You have slain an enemy!》

Goalie’s death boomed in Seo’s ear and continued echoing, as if mocking him. His heart leaped up into his throat and cut off air from reaching his lungs. He widened his bloodshot eyes and felt his nose and eyelids twitching. The most intense hatred he’d ever felt coursed through his veins. He glared at Lin Feng’s Kalista and mumbled, “I’m going to kill them all! And I’m going to make you watch!” He then glanced past Kalista at Jarvan IV, whose health was down considerably after trying to protect Kalista. You first.

Seo’s Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired. The recoil lifted her off her feet and sent her flying over the Jungle wall where she landed right next to Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV. A fire started burning at the edge of her cannon as she activated Rapid Fire. And then she fired. Again and again. Cannonballs battered Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV and sheared away at his health bar! Buster Shot! Tristana loaded a massive cannonball and fired! It smashed into Jarvan IV and went straight through him!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“WOOOOOO! WHAT A KILL!” Zephyr screamed into his microphone. He glanced at Su Xue and added, “And that also resets her Rocket Jump!”

Su Xue nodded with her eyes wide open. She was trying to find the words, constantly reminding herself to be impartial. But then she spotted Zhang Hao’s Rumble casting his ultimate skill on top of Team Guangzhou. She smiled. Nice HaoBro! Help Lin Feng win this one! She then said into her microphone, “That was a beautiful kill! But that Rumble ultie is also a great response by Team Shanghai!”

“TEAM SHANGHAI!”

“TEAM GUANGZHOU! WOOOOOOOO!”

“WOOOOOOOO!”

“TEAM GUANGZHOU!”

Seo had his Tristana Rocket Jump back over the Jungle wall and started auto attacking Zhang Hao’s Rumble, when An Xin’s Morgana flashed the other way. She arrived at the Gromp Camp where Lee Sin, Thresh and Irelia were trying to get through Tang Bingyao’s Braum to kill Lin Feng’s Kalista. She glanced at Seo’s Tristana and nodded. He’s still in range. She then smiled and activated her ultimate skill–Soul Shackles!

Morgana unfurled her wings as she tapped into the full potential of her Celestial power! It radiated from her, lifting her off the ground as dark crimson chains manifested around her. They fired at the four Champions from Team Guangzhou and latched onto them, tightening around them and restraining their movement speeds!

“What a beautiful ultimate!” Su Xue exclaimed. She leaned over the desk, letting her emotions carry her casting. “Team Guangzhou is done for! This is all Team Shanghai! That ultimate seals it! Lin Feng is going to kill Lee Sin, Thresh and then Irelia and Team Guangzhou is going to look stupid as they try to make something work!”

Zephyr glanced at Su Xue and raised an eyebrow. I like her. Casters in the LPL are all expected to be dry and monotone and “objective”, and because only those types of casters get hired, you see it happen at these kinds of tournaments too. But what we really need is the type of casters they have over in Europe and America, the kind who knows how to hype up a crowd! He glanced at a monitor showing the crowd. Everyone was up on their feet, everyone was screaming and everyone was having a good time. He nodded at himself and smiled. Yeah. She’s right. This is how you’re supposed to cast. He pushed his microphone to his lips and shouted, “TEAM SHANGHAI FOR THE WIN! WOOOOOOO! LIN FENG PENTA! I’M CALLING IT RIGHT NOW!”

“MORGANA MASTERCLASS!”

“KALISTA PLAYING LIKE A BAWS!”

“SEO GONNA GET WRECKED!”

“WOOOOOOO TEAM SHANGHAI!”

Yu Ping felt like he was knocked in the back of his head by the cheering crowd behind him. He rubbed his head and stared at the large LCD screen in shock. She’s their substitute Midlaner… Yet she’s landing these crucial four man ults like they’re nothing! It’s fucking perfect every time! How is she doing this!? How are they this good? How… How did we not see this coming…? 

Back in the game, Tang Bingyao’s Braum propelled freezing ice from her shield–Winter’s Bite! It hit Lee Sin and applied the first stack from Concussive Blows. The second, third and fourth hits followed soon after, two of them dealt by Lin Feng’s Kalista and one of them by An Xin’s Morgana. Stunned, Lee Sin couldn’t escape the onslaught of spears that pierced him. His health bar dropped until it ran empty.

《Double Kill!》

Seo growled when the voice announcer boomed in his ears. He ground his teeth and clicked on his mouse more forcefully, as if that’d increase the damage of his auto attacks. DIE! DIE! DIE! YOU STUPID UGLY RUMBLE! DIE! His stomach clenched. He needed Tristana to get the kill faster, because Morgana’s Soul Shackles had a secondary effect. A stun. And if he got stunned, it was game over.

Zhang Hao’s Rumble was almost dead. Two more auto attacks. Seo already started smashing on the W key for Rocket Jump, hoping that pressing it would make it go off early. KIIIIIIIILL! 

《Double Kill!》

“WOW!” Zephyr exclaimed. He shook his head, incredulous, and continued, “What a timing on that Rocket Jump! He jumped out of the Soul Shackles right before the stun went off! Look! Irelia and Thresh are stunned! But Seo’s Tristana got out!”

The Tormented Soil from Morgana dealt continuous damage to Team Guangzhou’s Irelia and Thresh. On top of that, she also attacked Irelia with auto attacks, as was Tang Bingyao’s Braum. But the two of them together weren’t dealing nearly as much damage as Lin Feng’s Kalista was. She was lunging back and forth, hurling spears at Irelia. When Pierce came off cooldown, she threw the empowered spear for a bit more damage. Irelia’s health dropped sharply until Lin Feng’s Kalista landed the killing blow. The stun from Soul Shackles never even wore off.

《Triple Kill!》

✹

“WOOO!” Shi Hang exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air. He grinned and added, “Fucking knew it! His ad-carry is just as good as Autumn’s!”

“Autumn? The Support from America?” Team Rapids’ Jungler asked.

Shi Hang turned his head to look at his new teammate and laughed. He explained, “No, not that one. I’m talking about the one all the way back from Season 1. Hmm… Thinking about it… Have you ever heard about him? No one seems to remember Season 1.”

Team Rapids’ Jungler shrugged and replied, “That was back in Season 1. I know there was some wonderkid or something? Eh, that was then. I didn’t go professional to learn history.”

Shi Hang laughed and turned his attention back to the stream. Come on, Lin Feng! I’m over here waiting for you. Win this series already and get your ass back into the LPL!

✹

“Seo… Seo!” Goalie shouted over Team Guangzhou’s voice chat. “SEO!”

“What!?” Seo asked, annoyed.

“You need to kill him. Stay calm. Kill that Kalista. We need to kill her now or we lose,” Goalie explained.

Seo looked at the fight happening in the Jungle and grimaced. His Tristana was in the top lane, momentarily safe. But he knew Goalie was right. He had to take Lin Feng’s Kalista out before she had the time to regain her health. Morgana and Braum are busy with Thresh. Kalista’s back is open and she only has like a third of her health left. This is it! I’ve got a double already and that’s gonna be a penta! I’m going to be the star! The real MVP! THE MIGHTIEST DICK…err… DUCK! Screw Goalie! I’m the best player in this game! He smiled at that thought and then had his Tristana run through the tri-brush into the Jungle, arriving right behind Lin Feng’s Kalista. Then he screamed at his monitor, “DIE YOU LITTLE BITCH!”

“No… No… No…” Zhang Hongyi muttered, shaking his head. His eyes were wide in shock and his face drained of all colour. “No… This can’t be…” He bit the inside of his mouth and pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t having a nightmare. His stomach contracted and he felt like puking. He’d been enjoying himself immensely this third game, because Team Guangzhou was finally winning. Because Zeng Rui was screwing up in the Jungle and because An Xin was screwing up in the mid lane. But An Xin didn’t screw up in the previous fight. She wasn’t the terrible player he’d made her out to be. He glanced at his teammates, but they weren’t looking at him. He breathed out in relief. Why did I have to open my big mouth? Why did I have to make fun of Team Shanghai? No, wait. Wait. He narrowed his eyes slightly. How did they do that? How did she do that? Has she been… Is she good?

Yu Ping scratched his forehead and looked down at the ground. Mechanics, awareness, judgement… Just a single fight, but she’s shown she has it all. She isn’t just a good Jungler, but also a good Midlaner. She’s… She’s a good player. A really good one. I can’t look down on her or on him. Those two, An Xin and Lin Feng, hmm… He moved his lips and took long, deep breaths. He then looked at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth and nodded. They’re at least as good as I am. Their teammates… I don’t really have to worry about them. But those two… Those two I need to watch out for—

“Lol! Look at Coach Yin!” Team Beijing’s Jungler said to his teammates.

Yu Ping shook the worries about Team Shanghai from his mind and looked in the direction of Team Guangzhou’s area in the player seating area. He grinned and asked, “What is he doing?”

“Losing it!” Team Beijing’s Jungler replied, laughing.

Coach Yin sat at the edge of his seat, pulling his hair. He shook his head and then struck himself across the cheek. He shouted, “I’m dreaming! I’m having a nightmare! This is a nightmare! Goalie and Seo wouldn’t let me down! We’re winning! SOMEONE TELL ME WE’RE WINNING!” He looked around at the other teams, everyone staring at him. “TELL ME! ONE OF YOU! TELL ME! TELL ME I’M SEEING THINGS! TELL ME MY TEAM IS WINNING!” He then put his head on his hands and let the tension slip from his body. Why is this happening to me? What have I ever done to deserve this? Why can’t those two do what I’m paying them to do…? Why? Why…? 

✹

The players from Team Guangzhou were distraught by the previous teamfight. Lee Sin and Irelia forgot to open the fountain shop and spend their gold, while Thresh mindlessly clicked on items he didn’t have enough money for to buy. Yet he kept clicking, only registering he wasn’t buying the item but not understanding why he couldn’t buy it.

Seo stared at his monitor, smiling and nodding. I did it! I did it! I killed her! I… I… The smile disappeared. The dull grey colours faded away, flaring into the vibrant blues and greens of life. His Tristana had revived on the fountain platform. I died. She baited me. She… He shook his head abruptly. NO! I KILLED HER! I KILLED HER! IT WAS A GOOD FIGHT! IF THOSE IDIOTS HAD FLASHED HER ULTIE AND IF… IF… He clenched his fists, trying to ignore the visceral clenching of his stomach. I KILLED HER! I KILLED HER!

At the very back of Seo’s mind, a small voice nagged him. “No one will remember your face.” “No one will remember your face.” It grew in power with every repetition. Seo grabbed the sides of his head and pulled down. He wanted to cry, to disappear, to wake up from this nightmare. But it wouldn’t end; it only got worse. His skills at League of Legends, the ones he was so proud of were being laughed at. His opponents never even regarded him as a real threat. He was their stepping stone. He blinked his bloodshot eyes and growled, “People will remember my face!” He then grabbed his mouse, feeling the curves of the slick design, and placed his other hand on the keyboard. “Fight,” he said over the team’s voice chat. “We need to fight and win this!”

“So you’re done laughing?” Goalie asked, glaring at Seo. You fucking idiot! Bonehead! Nincompoop! You’re losing us this fucking game! Why do I have to put up with trash like you!? The Guangzhou Esports Association promised me capable teammates! He forced himself to take a long, deep breath, and then exhaled in a loud sigh. He continued, “They’ve got Baron. We’re going to have to defend for the next few minutes and hope they can’t end the game.”

“AND WE WILL!” Seo shouted, his nostrils flaring. “I’ll make that fucking bitch regret everything! I’ll kill her again! I’LL FUCKING MURDER HER!”

Goalie nodded slowly as he turned his attention back to his monitor. He panned his camera all the way to Team Shanghai’s base. There, hidden in the fog of war, An Xin’s Morgana respawned. He scrunched his nose and stared at the thick fog hiding her from him. You let me get comfortable for 20 minutes. You never slipped up in mid lane. But because you kept letting me gank the other lanes… Was this your plan all along? Did you make me underestimate you so that we’d fall for your bait? And now you’ve got Baron… Are you actually so good that you knew how much you’d be giving up in terms of kills and calculated it’d be worth it if you got this bait to work? He shook his head. No, that can’t be. Because if it is, then your mid lane skills are far better than your Jungling skills. You can’t be that good. You just can’t!

✹

Team Shanghai recalled back to base after they killed Baron Nashor. An Xin’s Morgana was waiting for them there and together they ran down the mid lane. When they arrived at their inner tower, the voice announcer informed them that Team Guangzhou had killed the Dragon.

“Oh, right! We forgot all about the Dragon!” Lin Feng exclaimed, grinning.

“We didn’t,” Zeng Rui countered. His eye twitched in annoyance as he explained, “We want to make full use of the Baron Buff, so we gave up on Dragon.”

Lin Feng shrugged and mumbled, “Could’ve just taken it. Whatever! Let’s take their base!”

An Xin glanced at Lin Feng and said, “Yep, we’re taking their base! Let’s siege them with our very shitty siege team!”

It was only a few minutes earlier that Team Shanghai had tried to push down the mid lane and take down the inner tower. But because their team composition didn’t have good wave clear or long range attacks, they failed. This time, they were boosted by the Baron Buff. This allowed them to take the mid inner tower with no trouble at all. Especially because Team Guangzhou didn’t manage to recall in time after killing the Dragon to defend it. But when it came to the inhibitor tower, Team Shanghai ran into the same issue as before. Their team just wasn’t any good at sieging.

An Xin watched Lin Feng’s Kalista lunging around, switching between attacking Blue minions and the tower when possible. This isn’t going to work. The Baron Buff will wear off long before we even get half the tower down. We need something special… Hmm… She had her Morgana drop back a bit and looked at the inhibitor tower.

The players from Team Guangzhou had huddled around it and were trying to kill the Red minions as quickly as they could. The melee minions weren’t difficult, because they were in range. The caster minions were a bit more difficult, because Team Guangzhou had to make sure Team Shanghai wouldn’t catch them when they moved in front of their inhibitor tower. And finally there was the cannon minion, firing cannon balls at the inhibitor tower from outside its range.

An Xin smiled and had her Morgana move into position. She then aimed her mouse and waited. That ad-carry is far too aggro. He’s going to— Seo’s Tristana walked forward to attack the cannon minion. An Xin’s Morgana cast Dark Binding! The dark crimson orb flew at Seo’s Tristana!

Seo’s eyes grew wide in shock and fear. He smashed down on his W key, having his Tristana Rocket Jump away to safety! But behind him was Lee Sin trying to offer support. Lee Sin got caught by the Dark Binding and was rooted. He then got jumped on by Team Shanghai. It was a swift and decisive move, finished off by Lin Feng’s Kalista ripping out the spears lodged in Lee Sin’s body with Rend!

《You have been slain.》

“Fuck!” Team Guangzhou’s Jungler cursed as his screen turned different shades of dull grey. “Sorry…”

Goalie grimaced, ignoring the string of curses Seo spewed over the team’s voice chat. We’re done. We can’t defend this. Maybe… He shouted over Seo’s voice, “Retreat! Back we protect Nexus!”

Lin Feng watched Team Guangzhou’s players retreat and grinned. He said over the team’s voice chat, “They’re running! Let’s chase them!”

“No,” An Xin replied. She pinged on the inhibitor tower and the inhibitor and continued, “We’re taking the inhibitor tower and the inhibitor and then we’re rotating bot. I don’t think we can finish them under their Nexus towers and we need to make the most out of this Baron Buff.”

✹

Team Rapids had their headquarters located in Shanghai. Shi Hang practically lived here, training day and night in an attempt to form synergy with his new teammates. But an important part of training was to know when to focus and when to chill out. Right now was a moment to relax and unwind from a long day of practice. Shi Hang relaxed in his chair, his fingers interlacing behind his head, and watched the game between Team Guangzhou and Team Shanghai. He mumbled to no one in particular, “Team Guangzhou has one last chance to win this. It’s a small one, but it’s there.”

Team Rapids’ Jungler walked into the gaming room and heard the end of what Shi Hang said. He walked over towards his new Midlaner and asked, “What’s there?” He then looked at Shi Hang’s screen and saw the Winter Collegiate Cup live stream playing. “Oh?” he said. “You’re watching the Collegiate Cup? I heard your old team made it to the Round of 16, right?”

Shi Hang nodded and replied, “Yeah, but I’m not watching them right now. This is the game between Team Guangzhou and Team Shanghai.”

“I heard something about that!” Team Rapids’ Jungler exclaimed. He shook his head and continued, “Can’t believe they did that. Why call it a uni tourney and then invite non-uni teams? Seems stupid to me. But whatever. They do them.”

Shi Hang smiled. He looked over his shoulder at his new Jungler and said, “You’d be surprised. A couple of these players could give us a run for our money.”

Team Rapids’ Jungle raised his eyebrows and asked, “You’re telling me they’re at the LPL level? I mean… if they are, then why aren’t they playing in the LPL? Seems like you— Wait! I remember now! You played one game, didn’t you? And you lost that!”

“Yup, I sure did,” Shi Hang replied. He chuckled and explained, “I lost against Team Shanghai. Their Midlaner straight up beat me.”

“Oh shit!” Team Rapids’ Jungler exclaimed. He looked at the screen again and saw that the Red team was Team Shanghai. He pointed at it and said, “That’s them!” He then grabbed a chair and sat down next to Shi Hang, asking, “That Morgana is the one who beat you?”

Shi Hang shook his head and explained, “No, it’s the Kalista. But that Morgana is pretty damn good too.” 

✹

There were more than 100,000 people watching the official broadcast of the Winter Collegiate Cup. Many of them were regular League of Legends fans who usually played the game themselves and only tuned in for the important matches in the big tournaments. When it came to the Collegiate Cup, those fans were mostly university students looking to see how their peers were playing. Next to the stream was the chat function, which allowed the viewers to share their opinions and banter.

「these two high school teams are pretty good!」

「KOREANS GETTING SCOOLED HAHAHHAHAHHRHHRAHRHAAHA」

「+1 to that bro! FUCK IMPORTS! MADE IN CHINA ALL DAY BAAAAABY!」

「What’s that Morgana skin called?」

「I ASKED MY CRUSH ON A DATE AND SHE LAUGHED IN MY FACE」

「F」

「FFFFFFFFFFF」

「MORGANA IS THE MANLIEST STANLIEST STAN!!!!!!!」

There was also a second type of viewers. They made up nearly a quarter of all the viewers and called themselves the Xuenatics or the Fengtastics. None of them cared particularly about the game. There were only two things in the world that they did care about: Lin Feng and Su Xue.

「Hahah! GOOOOO LIL BRO! WOOOO! CAARYYYYMEEEEHOOMMEEEEE」

「lil bro is life! I”D GIVE HIM MY KIDNEY!!!!」

「y the maid no give lil bro water? he need his water, lemon flavoured!」

「What is this shitty ass spectator camera? Don’t they know we only care about Lin Feng? SHOW US LIN FENG!!!!」

「TELL EVERYONE YOU”RE THE MAID, XUEXUE!!!!」

「the impartial very not partial xuexue is soooooooo cute! She should do this in her vids!!」

「XUEXUE BEST CASTER COLEGIATE CUP!」

「I NEED MORE XUEXUE IN MY LIFE!」

「and gimme another dose of win feng」

The stream chat flooded with so many messages that it was difficult to read even the shorter ones before they disappeared. But rather than slowing down the typing, the viewers saw this as a reason to double their efforts, typing more and faster. They forgot all about the game between Team Guangzhou and Team Shanghai as their focus was completely drawn towards the chat.

「Oh shit! WOOD!!! You’re here too!? 」

「HAHAHA AOILIBRO IM HERE! SNOWFALL ARMY!」

「WATER WRAITH, MOST FATEFUL VIEWER, REPORTING FOR DUTY!!!!」

「futalover, you’re here too! Can’t miss a good part without you!」

「GOD OF FLAMES! IT’S Me!」

「Everyone’s here! This is great! The more the merrier!」

✹

Goalie glanced at the gametime and forced a smile. They don’t have the Baron Buff anymore and we need another minute to get our mid inhibitor back. He panned his camera towards the mid lane, where Irelia was fighting the Super minions. She was on the job because she had Teleport, allowing her to join the rest of the team if a fight were to break out. Goalie then moved his camera towards the bot lane. They’d lost the inhibitor tower, but the inhibitor was still standing. They’ll get that. But not as long as we keep them busy here in top. He centered his camera on his Champion again. His team was fighting back against Team Shanghai’s assault of the top lane inner tower.

“You good?” Goalie asked Seo over the team’s voice chat.

Seo replied through gritted teeth, “My Trist is strong. We just need to get the fight. I’ll carry and kill those ugly shits! AND—”

“Stop,” Goalie interrupted. He straightened his back and added, “You can rage after we win. Now focus.”

Seo breathed loudly in and then blew it out in frustration. But he nodded and replied, “Okay.”

Goalie moved his camera to Lin Feng’s Kalista and narrowed his eyes. We need to take her out first. She’s their entire damage. All the other Champions are just there to Support. If I can get the jump on her and kill her… We can still win this. This can still be our game and we can still win this series. But we’ve only got one chance to pull this off. We can’t afford any more screw ups. This is that single moment where everything has to come together. And I need to make that happen! I will make that happen! He smiled and nodded at himself, then turned his head to look at his teammates and said, “Follow my lead. Now we fight!”

Zephyr leaned towards his microphone on the caster desk and said, “Team Guangzhou can’t afford to drag this out much longer. Two inhibitors down is usually considered the point of no return and it’s getting really damn close to that. The minions are pushing towards their inhibitor in the bot lane and their top inner tower is also going to fall if nothing changes.”

“Mm-hmm!” Su Xue replied, nodding. “Team Guangzhou needs to be proactive here! They have to find a flank with an Irelia or Twisted Fate teleport. But I don’t think Team Shanghai is going to give them that chance. They’re too good for that!”

The Blue Sentinel respawned in Blue team’s Jungle. Zeng Rui pinged on it and asked over the team’s voice chat, “Can you help me, Lin Feng?”

“Sure, ZengZeng!” Lin Feng replied. He then had his Kalista follow behind Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV. After hurling a couple of spears at the Blue Sentinel, he noticed the Gromp had also respawned. While I’m here… Might as well. He walked to the camp directly opposite the Blue Buff Camp and attacked the large frog. A red and yellow eye suddenly appeared above his head, followed by the animation of Twisted Fate’s portal opening a bit further down the Jungle path Lin Feng was in.

“TWISTED FATE HAS FOUND THE FLANK! HE’S GOING IN!” Su Xue cried out into her microphone.

Su Xue leaned over the caster desk and watched the Team Guangzhou versus Team Shanghai game on the large monitor in front of her. Her chest brushed against the microphone stand, but she barely registered the sensation. Nor did she notice how she was holding her breath. Her full attention was on the game. On Seo’s Tristana walking into the river and on An Xin’s Morgana waiting for him in a brush. She pushed the microphone to her lips and shouted, “Q! Q! Q! Seo’s gonna get hit—”

Morgana’s Dark Binding, a dark crimson orb, flew out from the brush and at Tristana. There was practically no time to respond. But Seo responded anyway. Years of practice and intuition helped him skip the thought process as he flicked his mouse and clicked. His Tristana abruptly changed the direction she was running in and the Dark Binding harmlessly flew past her.

“Give vision!” Seo shouted over the team’s voice chat.

Goalie cast his scrying orb on the brush the Dark Binding flew out from. A blue ward fell from the sky and planted itself in the brush, revealing An Xin’s Morgana hiding within. He replied over the team’s voice chat, “Get her!”

Seo smiled wickedly. He threw a bomb at Morgana with Explosive Charge and built up its damage through auto attacks. His smile then grew into a bright grin as An Xin’s Morgana chose to fight him. You stupid, arrogant bitch! You think I’m a pushover just because you pushed me over? Keep dreaming! Yeah, cast your Tormented Soil and throw your auto attacks! You think those will kill me? You stupid, stupid bitch! You’re so stupid!

“What’s going on? Why isn’t Morgana running? You don’t compare auto attacks with an ad-carry…”

“She missed her Q, what’s she gonna do? This is painful to watch!”

“PLEASE BACK! BAAAACK!”

“Come on, girl! Don’t be foolish! Back off already. He’s going to kill you!”

The bomb from Explosive Charge exploded! It dealt a large amount of damage to An Xin’s Morgana, dropping her health to below half! This was finally the moment that An Xin chose to turn away from Seo’s Tristana and to run towards her teammates closer to the Dragon pit. But Seo didn’t let her get away. He activated Rocket Jump, and his Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground below her feet and fired. The recoil from her weapon launched her up into the air, arcing over Morgana and landing on the other side of her!

Zephyr grabbed his microphone and shouted, “Buster Shot! BUSTER SHOT! IT’S– BLACK SHIELD! MORGANA DODGED THE BUSTER SHOT WITH HER BLACK SHIELD! SHE DIDN’T GET KNOCKED BACK TOWARDS THE OTHER CHAMPIONS FROM TEAM GUANGZHOU! SHE’S STILL ALIVE! SHE’S STILL ALIVE!”

Inside Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth, Goalie said through gritted teeth, “You knew she still had Black Shield up! What are you doing!?” He shook his head in frustration and glanced at the minimap. The rest of them are at the Dragon pit. She’s closer to us here and she’s almost dead. If we kill her fast… He ordered in broken Chinese, “In now!”

Goalie had his Twisted Fate run into the river while activating Pick a Card. A blue card appeared above Twisted Fate’s head, then was replaced by a red card a brief moment later until finally the gold card appeared. He selected it and stopped right in front of Morgana. Thresh and Lee Sin ran past him and engaged An Xin’s Morgana, but he waited, counting down the final second until her Black Shield would wear off.

Su Xue planted her free hand on the caster desk and pushed onto the tips of her toes to get even closer to the monitor. Her heart slammed into her ribcage. BunBun! Why!? WHY! She looked from the rest of Team Shanghai to Goalie’s Twisted Fate holding the Gold Card and shrieked into her microphone, “SHE’S IN DANGER! DANGER!”

“That’s it for Morgana… Rip.”

“Man! Why did she not just back off? Why…?”

“That was a great engage by Seo though!”

“I don’t know… Why would she play it like this…? Something’s off…”

“She just got a little overconfident after the previous two games.”

“RIPPERINO MORGARINO!”

Seo cackled as he watched the other players from Team Shanghai rushing over to help An Xin’s Morgana. You stupid fools! She fucked up! And now you’re all going to die! He clicked on the Morgana, repositioning himself closer to his teammates. A few more auto attacks to kill her and then the rest will be here. We’ll kill them all! And I’ll finally make sure that no one will remember that ugly beggar’s face!

Across the stage in Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth, things were quiet except for the constant clicking of mice. An Xin glanced at her minimap, gouging how far away her teammates were and how much longer it would take them to reach her. She then turned her attention to Team Guangzhou’s Champions. Four of them had run from the Blue team’s Jungle through the funnel into the river. They’re all here and I’ve got no time left. She cast Flash and followed up with her ultimate skill.

Bright light wrapped around An Xin’s Morgana and teleported her a short distance into the middle of Team Guangzhou. She then undid the chains locking away her power. Celestial power burst from her, lifting her off the ground as two wings spread from her back! Soul Shackles manifested and started coiling around her before firing at all nearby enemy Champions!

Goalie’s eyes widened in shock. His heart jumped and his fingers moved to both throw his Gold Card at An Xin’s Morgana while also trying to Flash away. He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Kill her! Kill! KILL!”

The players from Team Guangzhou activated their highest damage abilities to finish off Morgana and break the slow that would soon turn into a stun. A myriad of colours representing various skills and attacks illuminated the river, while grains of sand fluttered down from the sky and stuck to Morgana’s skin.

“ZHONYA’S!” Su Xue exclaimed at the caster desk. “SHE CAST ZHONYA’S!”

The grains of sand wrapped Morgana up until they revealed only her outline. They then turned golden, placing Morgana in stasis and making her invulnerable and untargetable! Skillshots flew right through her and other abilities were canceled! Nothing and no one could damage her right now.

Zephyr shook his head, incredulous. He stared at his microphone for a few seconds before saying into it, “Wow! Wow! What a play by Morgana. She somehow baited four players from Team Guangzhou, including their two carries, and stunned all of them with her Soul Shackles. For all of you watching from home, hoping to learn a thing or two? This, right here…” he pointed at the monitor in front of him. “… this is what a high level play looks like—”

“And it isn’t over yet!” Su Xue interrupted. “Look! Backup has arrived!”

In their attempt to kill Morgana rather than run out of her Soul Shackles’ range, four Champions from Team Guangzhou were stunned by the chains. Backup then arrived for Team Shanghai. Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV dashed at Seo’s Tristana with his flag-toss combo and knocked him up! Behind him, Lin Feng’s Kalista drew Tang Bingyao’s Braum into her body with Fate’s Call, after which Tang Bingyao’s Braum hurled himself at Goalie’s Twisted Fate and knocked him up into the air!

Lin Feng grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “ZengZeng, get TF first! Leave Trist be!”

Zeng Rui glanced at Lin Feng, glaring. He replied, “I’m the shotcaller.” He briefly paused, pursing his lips, then added, “Fine, Twisted Fate first.” He hovered his mouse and activated his ultimate—Cataclysm! His Jarvan IV leaped up above Goalie’s Twisted Fate and then came down on him with such force that he terraformed the earth into an arena!

“Tang Tang!” Lin Feng said over the team’s voice chat while having his Kalista hurl spears at Goalie’s Twisted Fate. He didn’t have to say more; Tang Bingyao understood him. She nodded and replied, “Mhm! On it!” She then stopped attacking Goalie’s Twisted Fate and dashed over the arena wall with Stand Behind Me! She looked at the fight. Twisted Fate is as good as dead. The other three will break free from their stun soon. If I move over here… Here, yeah, mhm! Here I can knock them all three up!

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, gouging how much more damage was needed to kill Twisted Fate and comparing that to how much longer the stun from Soul Shackles would persist. He then grimaced. We won’t kill him in time, even with… He sighed and activated Rend. His Kalista telepathically pulled on the spears lodged in Twisted Fate’s body and tore them out!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“I’m here! I’m here!” Zhang Hao shouted over the team’s voice chat. “Just a bit late, but I’m here!” He laughed and activated his Rumble’s ultimate skill—The Equalizer! His Rumble tapped several buttons on his construction and fired a volley of missiles that landed in a straight line over the Champions from Team Guangzhou, setting the ground on fire!

The stun from An Xin’s Morgana wore off. Team Guangzhou’s Thresh, Lee Sin and Tristana could run again. They could finally try and escape. But right then, Tang Bingyao’s Braum slammed his shield onto the ground with such force that it opened a fissure! Freezing coldness spewed out from it and knocked Thresh and Lee Sin up into the air! Seo’s Tristana was the only one to escape the skill, dodging it with a well-timed Flash. He followed up by auto attacking An Xin’s Morgana, clicking frantically, hoping that would help him kill her faster. Bright lights flashed on his screen, skills slammed into his Tristana and he continued attacking An Xin’s Morgana. Come on, come on, come on! DIE ALREADY YOU STUPID, UGLY WHORE!

《You have slain an enemy!》

《You have been slain.》

Seo relaxed back in his chair, smiling. His screen turned dull grey and his team lost the teamfight, but he’d gotten a kill back. He chuckled and rubbed his hands together, glancing across the stage at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Fucking killed her! Heck yeah! Now I have to take care of the others! I’ll kill them all and I’ll make sure no one remembers their faces! Not like anyone wants to remember their ugly ass faces anyway… 

“SEO! WHAT THE FUCK!” Goalie shouted over the team’s voice chat.

Seo glanced at Goalie and asked, “What?”

“What? What!? What do you mean ‘what’?” Goalie replied. He glared at Seo and continued, “You forced us into that engage! Look at your screen! Look at it! Do you see that? They killed you and they killed me. Irelia is still in top for whatever fucked up reason and Thresh and Lee are going to be dead in 3, 2… now. Great. We gave them four kills and for what?”

“Uuuh…” Seo scratched his nose, using his palm to hide his smile. At least I got a kill! I killed that stupid bitch!

“You’re fucking laughing! STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!” Goalie yelled. He grabbed his hair and continued, “What’s wrong with you? This is the third game! We’re down 2-0! We were getting back into this game! We were going to win this! What the fuck, dude!? Why? WHY?”

“What do you mean, why? I fucking killed her, didn’t I?” Seo countered, glowering. “It was a good fight for us! We got her down and should’ve finished her! Why didn’t you Flash? You all had your flashes and everything up, right? Why didn’t you escape her skills? At least I killed her!”

“Oh my god! I can’t…” Goalie stopped himself from saying more by biting on his lips. He then forced himself to take a long, deep breath before slamming his fist on the desk. He finally shouted, “They’re gonna do Baron and then what? Huh? How are we going to win then!?”

✹

Su Xue clutched her microphone with both hands and cheered, “WOOOOOO! TEAM SHANGHAI WON THAT! WOOOOOOO!”

Zephyr laughed and added, “That looked scary, but… FOUR FOR ONE! WOOOOOOO! They wrecked Team Guangzhou! What a crazy turnaround!”

“WOOOOOOOO!”

“TEAM SHANGHAI IS LIFE!”

“BEST MORGANA WORLD!”

“MORGANA MID NEW FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH!”

“SIIIIIIIICK MORGANA ULTIE!”

“WOOHOOOOOOOOO!”

Zuo Cheng felt goosebumps on his body as he turned around and looked up at the stands. There were more than ten thousand people on their feet, stamping and cheering for Team Shanghai. All of them were screaming An Xin’s name, because it was her bait that started the fight and her ultimate that decided the fight. This is it! This is what’s so special about playing League and mid! You make that one play that decides the fight and probably the game and then this! I wish she could see them! He turned back around and looked at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Through the glass panels he saw the top of An Xin’s head poking out above her computer’s monitor. He clenched his fists and shouted, “YOU GO GIRL!”

✹

Zhang Hao turned to look at An Xin and said, “Wow! That was such a cool bait! You totally had them!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and added, “Mhm! That was really good!”

“Thanks!” An Xin replied, cheerful. She then pinged on the Baron pit and said, “Forget about Dragon. They’re down four players and you guys are only missing mee. I won’t do too much damage to the Baron anyway, so this is only better. Go take it.”

Zeng Rui nodded and said, “BunBun is right. Baron. Let’s go. If Irelia comes, just ignore her. She can’t do anything to us.”

Following Zeng Rui’s order, Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao had their Champions run up towards the Baron pit. The large purple wurm gave the most powerful buff to whoever killed it, but it was also the strongest monster on Summoner’s Rift. It had a monstrous health pool and the green saliva it spit out burned through Champion health bars. But between Braum and Jarvan IV, Team Shanghai had enough high health Champions and with Lin Feng’s Kalista they also had the damage. Before Team Guangzhou’s Champions respawned, Team Shanghai took down Baron Nashor!

“That’s game!” Su Xue said into her microphone, smiling brightly.

Zhang Hongyi from Team Beijing wasn’t cheering with the other people in the Tianhe Stadium. He reclined back in his chair and laughed. “That’s right,” he said. “That’s the useless kind of play that Zeng Rui is known for!” He turned his head to look at Yu Pin and asked, “Did you see that gank? You really want to worry about this team with a player like him? He’s so far up his own ass that he can’t even tell he’s smelling shit anymore!”

Team Beijing’s Jungler leaned forward, smiling schadenfreude, and chimed in, “That’s karma for you! They’re going to lose because that moron thought he could just Jungle, like it doesn’t require any skill… News flash, it does! Jungling isn’t easy! It takes practice and skill and talent! That dude has none of it!”

Yu Ping nodded, slowly. He looked down from the large LCD screen at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Through the glass panels he could see five heads full of hair popping up above the monitors. They aren’t reacting like Team Guangzhou… Are they really not tilting? They should have tilted from that top gank. Mid failed at preventing Twisted Fate from using his ultimate and the Jungler made a horrendous gank… He glanced at his teammates and said, “I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but it’s pretty obvious they aren’t playing their main roles. Dangerous game they’re playing…”

The cheers and applause for Goalie’s gank in the top lane quieted down enough in the stadium where the players in the player seating area could hear the members from Team Beijing discussing the game. Most nodded in agreement, then started chatting with their own teammates about how it did indeed look like Team Shanghai was throwing this game by playing a suboptimal team composition. But there were a couple of teams, specifically those who played against Team Shanghai before, who knew the sheer raw talent that Lin Feng possessed.

Qiu Yijie from Fudan University looked around at the people making fun of Team Shanghai and muttered, “Lin Feng got a penta last game and these guys are already making fun of him. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They hate it that he got a penta and they’re just hoping it was a fluke. But writing him off this game, that’s just dumb. He’s playing ad-carry. Give him until late game, when he can start carrying.”

“He’s shown his skills already too,” Sun Ruinian added. “The teamfights are going to be really interesting. I can see him carrying them hard, kind of like how he carried from the mid lane… with a penta.”

Zuo Cheng clenched his fists and said, “That Morgana, the girl? She’s playing quite well too to be honest. She’s better than I am, I think… But I mean, she’s going even with Goalie! How many Midlaners can do that? Two! Her and Lin Feng!” He wrapped his hands around his mouth and shouted towards the stage, “GO BUNBUN! KICK ASS!”

✹

Zephyr repositioned in his chair and watched the monitor. For the first time in three games, there was a real lull in the game. Team Guangzhou knows they can’t fight Team Shanghai right now because of the Morgana and Rumble ultimate combo, but Team Shanghai doesn’t have the Champions to force a– Wait, I need to say this, not think it. He grabbed his microphone and turned his head enough where he could see both Su Xue and the monitor. He said, “The second Dragon is spawning in a couple of seconds, but it’s already obvious Team Guangzhou isn’t going to contest it. How about you run us through why, EveningSnowfall?”

“Okay, okay!” Su Xue replied, cheerful. She looked at the monitor and nodded at herself. I know why! It’s because Team Shanghai has Morgana and Rumble– Talk! I need to cast! She coughed, then smiled and analyzed, “That’s because Team Shanghai has Morgana and Rumble! These two Champions have skills that are especially hard to deal with in the early mid game, which is around now, the 15th minute of the game! Team Guangzhou is probably going to wait this out for another 5 to 10 minutes, so that they can get enough gold and buy some magic resist.”

The Dragon spawned and Team Shanghai moved towards the Dragon pit as a unit. They warded and searched looking for potential places where the teamfight might start, but Team Guangzhou completely ignored the Dragon. They stayed in their lanes and continued to farm minions, allowing Team Shanghai to take the Dragon uncontested.

Zephyr said into his microphone, “EveningSnowfall is absolutely right! A little extra bit of analysis also shows us that Team Shanghai doesn’t really have a Champion to engage. Sure they’ve got Jarvan IV, but then what? He can towerdive and no one can follow up. What they really need is something like a Leona or a Lee Sin. Or something else like that. Too bad they don’t. The balance of this game is starting to tip towards Team Guangzhou.”

“Yeah…” Su Xue mumbled, frowning. She continued, “It looks like Team Shanghai is going to try and push mid lane now though! And the mid outer tower is almost down! It is down! They just tore through that! Oh my god that came out of nowhere!”

“Those last two hits it needed,” Zephyr replied, laughing. He then pointed at the monitor and added, “But see there? Now they’re at the inner tower and Team Guangzhou has put up their defenses. There’s nothing Team Shanghai can do here but waste their time. They’ll recall back to base in a bit without having gained anything.”

✹

Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV couldn’t do anything but look menacing in front of Team Guangzhou’s inner tower. He stared at his monitor and watched Lin Feng’s Kalista hurl spears and An Xin’s Morgana conjure some dark magic, but neither did much damage. He sighed and said over the team’s voice chat, “BunBun’s Flash is on cooldown, so her flash-ult combo isn’t going to work, and I don’t think we can towerdive this…”

Zhang Hao glanced at his minimap and replied, “I would really like to get that wave in top lane…”

“You’re right. You’re right,” Zeng Rui mumbled. He shook his head and ordered, “Let’s fall back. Zhang Hao go get the wave in top, Lin Feng get bot.” He had his Jarvan IV run into his own Jungle and started clearing Camps, starting with the Wolf Camp and then going up to the top side Jungle to take on the Wraith Camp. All the while he kept his eyes locked on his minimap, searching. Thinking. This is a tough game… I’m not a Jungler and Tang Tang isn’t playing great as Support either. Well, she isn’t a Support to begin with and her pinky probably hurts a lot right now. BunBun’s a great Midlaner and all… but she’s not like the thundering dumbass and we’re really missing his flair right now. We need him to do something…

Zeng Rui panned his camera towards the bot lane, where Lin Feng was farming minions a couple of steps in front of his inner tower. Why are those two Botlaners from Team Guangzhou letting him push a bit…? He panned his camera towards the mid lane, a sensation he couldn’t yet place swirling in his stomach. Twisted Fate is still mid. His ultimate is up soon, but he’s still— His eyes grew round and wide. “GANK! BOT! GANK! GANK!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat.

A large red, yellow eye appeared above each of Team Shanghai’s Champions, the telltale sign of Twisted Fate’s ultimate skill–Destiny! Zeng Rui clicked on the bot lane inner tower, frantic. Run you stupid Jarvan! Get down there! He ordered over the team’s voice chat, “Zhang Hao! Get down there! Help Lin Feng! BunBun, you too! Tang Tang! Where is Tang Tang? Why is she in base? Get to Lin Feng! HELP LIN FENG!”

Lin Feng let his hand go off his keyboard and scratched the back of his head. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Guess I’m fucked, eh?” He chuckled and placed his hand back on his keyboard. Twisted Fate teleported in behind him and Team Guangzhou’s Irelia was teleporting on a Blue minion. And now… He glanced at his skills. Most were off cooldown, but none were going to save him from a four man dive. His teammates weren’t close enough to save him either. Crap.

Team Guangzhou’s Thresh flashed forward and Flayed Lin Feng’s Kalista backwards, then threw a Death Sentence that connected. From behind him, Tristana Rocket Jumped into the fight and on the far side Goalie’s Twisted Fate was running in with a Gold Card in his hand. They combined their crowd control skills well enough that Lin Feng couldn’t move at all, and he chose not to use Cleanse. He didn’t believe he could escape even if he did. The damage stacked up and before Team Guangzhou’s Irelia finished teleporting to the bot lane, Lin Feng’s Kalista died to Seo’s Tristana.

　《You have been slain.》

“WHAT A GANK!” Zephyr exclaimed into his microphone. He briefly paused, his full focus on the game, then added, “And it’s not over yet! Braum has arrived! He hits Twisted Fate with Winter’s Bite! Twisted Fate is slowed! Rumble finished his teleport! He’s using his Flamespitter! Are they going to get the return kill?”

Su Xue sat on the edge of her seat, nervous. She clutched her microphone with both hands and screamed, “Morgana is also coming down! Team Shanghai can turn this around! Twisted Fate took a couple of hits, they might kill him! The others know! Look, there! Tristana Rocket Jumped away and Thresh is running! Irelia is with them too! It’s just Twisted Fate in the back and he’s slowed by the Winter’s Bite from Braum!”

“Aah. But they’ve got Thresh,” Zephyr said. He clicked his tongue and continued, “He just has to throw— Yep, there, see? He just throws his lantern, Twisted Fate clicks it, and they’re gone. They got the kill and they got out. Beautiful gank. Like I said, beautiful.”

“WOOOO! GOALIE!”

“AAAAND HE SCORES!”

“Team Guangzhou looks like a different team… They look strong!”

“Goalie and Seo going to carry hard now!”

“Can’t believe how stupid Team Shanghai was to change their lineup…”

“Who even picks Morgana mid? Such a troll pick, lawl.”

The cheering for Team Guangzhou didn’t last long, especially not in the player seating area. Team Shanghai’s changes between the second and the third game were too significant. The other competing teams started arguing again that they’d never seen such an arrogant group of kids and that they were getting what they deserved; an assbeating.

Zuo Cheng looked around him at his fellow competitors and grimaced. He said to his teammates, “I want to tell them wrong! I know how good Lin Feng is and how good BunBun is and how good…” He shook his head and sighed. “Team Guangzhou is completely dictating the pace of the game at this point. They’re picking off players from Team Shanghai where they can and beyond that they’re just waiting for their Tristana to scale. This is going to become a very ugly game for Team Shanghai if things keep going…”

“Looks like it,” Sun Ruinian agreed. He took a long, deep breath and said, “Team Shanghai needs to be ready to counter Twisted Fate’s ultimate. They can’t just let him move around and do what he wants. If they still want to win, that’s what they need to do.”

✹

“We can’t drag this, guys. We can’t!” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat, worried. He glanced at An Xin from the corners of his eyes, hiding the skepticism. She isn’t the thundering dumbass. She isn’t fucking Maple! And I don’t even think Maple can force a play here! How can he? It’s Morgana! She is the most passive thing ever! That’s why she’s a Support! She’s a Support! He breathed in and forced himself to calm down. BunBun said it’d be fine. She doesn’t look worried now, so why should I worry? Why am I worried? When have they ever let me down? Never! Right. But what do we do? What should I do? I’m the shot caller and I’m all out of ideas… I just don’t know. I don’t know… Shit I hate this feeling! I need to be in control! This isn’t control! This is… Dammit!

“The third Dragon is spawning in a minute,” Lin Feng said. He then scratched the back of his head and complained, “They keep focusing on me, so damn annoying. That’s why I don’t like playing ad-carry. It’s just too squishy and I can’t peel like I can with my Midlaners! But I should be good after the next fight. I just need a few more items. Just a little bit more, and then I’ll carry this game for you guys!”

Zeng Rui felt his eyelids twitch. Where does he always get his confidence from? Complaining one minute and then casually talking about carrying in the next! What is this ridiculousness? It’s stupid and it’s… it’s… He did get a penta last game. He looked across the long desk at his teammates. Lin Feng looked a more serious version of his usual cheerful self, Tang Bingyao was nodding and Zhang Hao was visibly trying to look happy. BunBun… What’s going on with you? He looked at her, searched her expression and posture for a tell, but came up empty. She looked like a blank slate. There was no frown or smile on her face, nor any tension in her shoulders. She looked calm, yet not relaxed. What’s going on in her head?

“Okay,” Zeng Rui said. “Dragon. Move. Ward. Let’s do our thing and fight for it.”

Zeng Rui didn’t need to say the words. Everyone was already moving, working together without needing him to tell them how to exactly move. He’d told them often enough; they knew what he wanted. He smiled when he saw it, then focused. He panned his camera and searched for Team Guangzhou’s players, and then he looked for openings they might abuse and how to counter them.

The Tianhe Stadium buzzed to life. The last few minutes of gameplay, aside from a gank on Lin Feng’s Kalista, had been rather dull. Nothing really happened because Team Guangzhou played it so defensively that it was impossible for anything to happen. But on the large LCD screen, all the fans and other competing teams could see the movements from both teams around the Dragon pit. Team Shanghai was throwing around their weight, getting in the wards they wanted. But Team Guangzhou was there too, searching for a way in.

Zhang Hongyi from Team Beijing grinned, laughed. Cried from joy. He said to his teammates, “Team Guangzhou’s already won this one! That’s what Team Shanghai gets for exploring the depths of their ass cavity to such an extent! Goalie’s fed, Seo’s getting there and that Morgana is more useless than my two year old cousin on Zed!”

✹

Goalie said over the team’s voice chat in broken Chinese, “Wait. Near Dragon.” He then turned to look at Seo and continued in Korean, “We’ll let them set up their vision. We’ve got my ult for our vision. And if they’re stupid enough to actually start Dragon, we’ll pile on them and win.”

Seo chuckled and replied, “Sounds good. Lee and Irelia can jump the backline and we can crush their frontline and then we’ll crush their hopes of making it to the next round and then we’ll crush their faces!”

“Good. Throw a Scrying Orb on the Dragon pit for me,” Goalie said over the team’s voice chat.

“Sure, sure,” Seo replied. He glanced down and placed a Scrying Orb on the Dragon pit, revealing the powerful monster and Braum and Jarvan IV from Team Shanghai. He shrugged and continued attacking the minions in the mid lane, saying, “Looks like they haven’t started yet.”

“Be ready. Soon now,” Goalie said.

Seo nodded and had his Tristana kill the last Red minion in the mid lane. He then clicked towards the Dragon pit. His Tristana walked through the brush below the mid lane into the river. He knew there were Champions from Team Shanghai near the Dragon pit, but he couldn’t see them right now. He scrunched his eyebrows. Shouldn’t one of them be in front of me? I don’t— His eyes shot open. SHIT! I need to ward the bru— His stomach dropped. A Dark Binding appeared from the brush to the left in front of him. SHIT-FUCK!

Zhang Hongyi leaned back in his chair and balanced it on two legs, smiling. He pointed at the large LCD screen above the stage and said to his teammates, “They’ve got Goalie and Seo and… whatever the fuck that Thresh is. It honestly feels like an insult to Seo that he’s expected to play together in the bot lane with such a useless Support.” He then glanced at his ad-carry and added, “If I ever play like that, please kick me off the team.”

“I don’t know…” Yu Ping muttered. He stared at the large LCD through narrowed eyes. That Kalista… Lin Feng. He is so much better than everyone else I’ve seen in this tournament. He… He’s a challenge. He’ll make me try. He smiled and took a long, deep breath. “That Thresh engage wasn’t bad,” he said to his teammates. He shook his head and continued, “What that Kalista did was just really impressive. Dodging that Death Sentence? That requires incredibly quick reflexes and extremely sharp mechanics. Pay attention to him.”

The coach from Team Beijing looked at his team members and smiled, satisfied. I’ve been trying to make them see this since the start. I’ve been telling them to be careful about Team Shanghai! But they never respected my opinion. They kept saying that I worried too much and that they could win with their eyes closed… He chuckled. I feel like I should be mad or annoyed or something else than happy. But I’m just glad that Yu Ping makes them take Team Shanghai seriously now. Hmm, we’re really lucky we didn’t draw them this round. That would’ve been ugly.

✹

There was such an intense burst of rage that exploded in Seo’s head when Lee Sin died that he couldn’t think anymore. Words spewed from his mouth in Korean, English and broken Chinese, but he hadn’t the faintest clue as to what they were. He’d completely lost control over his body, stuck within the darkness in his mind. Then that darkness blazed with light. He squinted his eyes in reflex and looked for the source. A single head. A fresh out of bed look. An angry grin. What followed were the words that kept haunting him. They echoed through his mind and with each repetition, another identical head appeared in his mind.

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

“No one will remember your face!”

Seo screamed in fear. There were a hundred Lin Feng’s in his mind, pointing at him with their illusory hands and repeating those same words over and over and over. “No one will remember your face!” “No one will remember your face!” Seo shouted in defiance, “YOU’RE LYING! THEY WILL REMEMBER ME! THEY WILL RECOGNIZE MY FACE!”

“Seo… Seo… Seo!” 

Seo faintly heard someone calling his name in the distance. He grabbed his head and shook it wildly. He then looked around at where he was, until he met Goalie’s worried stare. “Huh?” he mumbled.

“Seo,” Goalie said again over the team’s voice chat. He looked at his teammate and asked, “Are you okay?”

✹

“Zeng Rui, wanna help me kill Goalie?” An Xin asked over the team’s voice chat.

Zeng Rui looked at the mid lane and replied, “Yeah. I’ll be there in a bit.”

An Xin smiled and waited for the expected push from Twisted Fate. Before players recalled back to base, they liked to kill as many minions as they could so as to minimize the number they’d miss out on while away from lane. And having just hit Level 6, this was also the optimal time for Twisted Fate to start disappearing from the mid lane, whether that be to recall back to base or to roam around the map and use his ultimate skill to teleport to the top or bot lane for a gank. All he had to do was mix it up a bit and force Team Shanghai to keep guessing at what he was doing.

At 6 minutes, Goalie’s Twisted Fate started pushing the minions. Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV was sitting in the brush above the lane, waiting for the ‘go’-signal from An Xin. That came a few seconds later when An Xin flashed forward and cast her ultimate skill–Chains of Agony! Morgana fired dark crimson chains at Twisted Fate! They wrapped around him and slowed.

“Now!” An Xin ordered over the team’s voice chat.

Zeng Rui’s fingers started gliding over his keyboard. His Jarvan IV threw down his standard behind Twisted Fate and dashed at it with Dragon Strike! He barreled through Twisted Fate and knocked him up, which gave Morgana enough time to pull the chains tight and stun Twisted Fate!

An Xin’s Morgana called upon her Celestial power to torment the soil underneath Twisted Fate. She followed up with a barrage of auto attacks; wisps of dark magic that struck Twisted Fate. All the while she was holding onto her Dark Binding, waiting for the stun from Chains of Agony to wear off. Right before it did, she cast the Dark Binding and extended the crowd control. Combined with Jarvan IV’s auto attacks, she killed Twisted Fate before this root could wear off.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“WOOOOOOOO! SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT!” Su Xue exclaimed into her microphone. She turned her head to look at Zephyr and continued, “Did you see? Did you see? She did it! She killed him! What a beautiful engage! She flashed right into him and stunned him and there was nothing he could do about it! SHE KILLED HIM!”

Zephyr looked at Su Xue and chuckled. Man, I love her energy! He then reached for his microphone and shouted, “WOOOOOOO indeed! What a brilliant engage by Team Shanghai’s Jungler-turned-Midlaner! The ultimate into the Dark Binding was timed perfectly! And then there was the flag-toss combo from Jarvan… That was executed so perfectly!”

“She’s so cool!”

“She destroyed Goalie! Hahaha!”

“WOOOOO!”

“SIIIIIKE!”

“Holy cowerina! How is Team Shanghai this good!?”

✹

Goalie looked around the soundproof booth at his teammates. Seo was grumbling and the three Chinese players were caught in an awkward silence. He stared at his screen and gritted his teeth. Seo and I are supposed to be the leaders. But he’s tilting off the face of the Earth and I’m… I’m struggling. We’re almost out! I have to do something. I’ve got my ultimate now, so I can do something. He panned his camera towards the bot lane. Seo needs to get back into this. If we can get a good gank there and get some kills… He nodded to himself and said over the team’s voice chat, “Gank bot. Irelia teleport with me behind tower. Lee Sin gank lane.”

At 9 minutes, Team Guangzhou was ready. Lee Sin had snuck into the third of three brushes along the bottom edge of the bot lane and Seo’s Tristana and his Support were pushing into Team Shanghai’s outer tower, forcing Lin Feng’s Kalista and Tang Bingyao’s Braum to defend. More importantly, Team Guangzhou’s Thresh had snuck a ward into Team Shanghai’s bottom side Jungle which gave Irelia a target to teleport to.

Goalie double checked to make sure everything was ready. When he saw Zeng Rui’s Jarvan run over a ward in the top side river, he made the call. “Gank!” He then activated his ultimate skill–Destiny! Eyes blazed to life above the five Champions from Team Shanghai, revealing them. They were all exactly where Goalie expected them to be. He followed up with the second part of his ultimate–Gate! Cards spread below his feet and opened a portal to the brush behind Team Shanghai’s outer tower in the bot lane.

“It’s a 5 man gank bot! A 5 man gank bot!” Zephyr shouted into his microphone. “Irelia is teleporting! Look! And Goalie is going in and Lee was already there waiting!”

Su Xue nodded, casting a worried glance into Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Come on, Lin Feng! Do something! Outplay them! She then leaned towards her microphone and said, “This looks bad for Team Shanghai. Looks like Team Guangzhou is going to pick up a double!”

There was no hesitation from Lin Feng when he saw what was happening. He pressed the R key to activate Fate’s Call. Tang Bingyao’s Braum transformed into soul form and flowed into Kalista’s body. Lin Feng then said over the team’s voice chat, “Tristana! Tang Tang, Tristana!”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao replied, nodding. She then launched her Braum towards Thresh and Tristana and barreled into them! The sheer force knocked the two Champions from Team Guangzhou up into the air! Tang Bingyao used this moment of crowd control to activate her ultimate skill–Glacial Fissure! Her Braum jumped into the air and raised his shield above his head, gathering all his strength, before slamming it down into the ground! A fissure tore open and freezing coldness spewed out, knocking Thresh and Tristana higher up into the air!

Lin Feng’s Kalista hurled an empowered spear at Seo’s Tristana with Pierce, using the lunge to close the distance. He followed up with an auto attack and then another. Tristana and Thresh landed back on the ground and Thresh threw a Death Sentence at him, but he saw it coming. Lunging back and forth he dodged it. But he couldn’t dodge the knock back from Tristana’s Buster Shot. The large cannonball sent him flying back towards his outer tower, from where Goalie’s Twisted Fate and Team Guangzhou’s Irelia were coming.

Goalie’s Twisted Fate wielded a Gold Card, which was a single target stun. When Lin Feng’s Kalista was finally in range he threw it at her and stunned her! He then shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Kalista! Kalista! Focus!”

Seo grinned. Spears were sticking out from his Tristana, but he was alive. I’ll make sure no one remembers your face! Stupid beggar ugly face! He activated Rocket Jump! His Tristana aimed her cannon towards the ground and fired, launching herself towards Lin Feng’s Kalista. Some splash damage and an Explosive Charge and you’re gonna be dead–

Each player could bring two Summoner Spells with them. Most ad-carries went with Flash and Heal, but in this game Lin Feng had opted for Flash and Cleanse. When the Gold Card stunned him and Tristana jumped at him, he grinned and activated Cleanse. Every bit of crowd control affecting him broke. He threw a spear at the flying Tristana and used the lunge to get away from Irelia and Twisted Fate.

Seo’s eyes grew wide and round. There was a large number of spears lodged into his Tristana, and that number was growing. Lin Feng’s Kalista wasn’t stunned, like she was a moment ago. His low risk Rocket Jump suddenly became high risk. He looked down at his skill bar but found Flash on cooldown, as well as Heal. FuckFuckFUCK! He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Help! Something do! GOALIE!” But there wasn’t any time to do anything. Kalista clenched her fist and pulled on the telekinetic link she had to her spears. They tore out from Tristana’s body and dealt massive damage!

《An ally has been slain!》

Goalie pursed his lips tightly together and felt his heart leap. “Focus Kalista!” he repeated over the team’s voice chat again. He threw a volley of Wild Cards which struck both Braum and Kalista. His teammates followed up on him and used their skills to attack Lin Feng’s Kalista. But Goalie couldn’t get himself to focus. He knew the gank was over and he knew that Team Shanghai’s ad-carry knew as much. He went full for Seo. The one guy who needed the kills more than anyone. That dog went for Seo and got him! Dammit! This is bad! This is really bad! Seo needed this kill for his confidence! Now… He glanced at Seo who sat to his left. I hope he can keep his mind in it.

《You have slain an enemy!》

《Double kill!》

“Wooooo Team… Shanghai!” Zephyr shouted into his microphone. He shook his head and continued, “Team Guangzhou got the double kill there, and both kills went to Goalie. But in that 5 man gank, Team Shanghai’s ad-carry somehow picked up a kill. That alone means they won that gank in my books!”

“And look at mid and bot!” Su Xue chimed in. She pointed at her screen and said, “See when Team Guangzhou pushed bot? Well, Team Shanghai’s Jungler went top and helped the Rumble push and Morgana in the mid has also been pushing. They didn’t get a tower, but they got close to getting a tower!”

Zephyr nodded and said into his microphone, “Yeah, yeah! But if we look at that… Well, look at bot. Team Guangzhou just destroyed the outer tower and now it’s looking like they’re going to take the Dragon! That’s quite valuable…–”

“Ah, what’s a tower and Dragon? That’s nothing!” Su Xue countered. She then frowned and added, “But Team Guangzhou did get a lot from that gank, even if they lost their ad-carry in the process. Team Shanghai needs to do something back.”

✹

“Wowie! Talk about overkill…” Lin Feng muttered. He turned his head to look at Tang Bingyao and asked over the team’s voice chat, “I wonder what we did to make them so angry. Do you know, Tang Tang?”

“Mnh-Mnh,” Tang Bingyao replied, shaking her head, smiling.

“What?” Zeng Rui blurted. He turned his head to look at Lin Feng and asked, “Really? You don’t know what you did? Maybe it’s because you pushed so hard on bot that you forced them to do something! And now we lost Dragon… If you hadn’t pushed them this hard, they would’ve focused somewhere else instead of trying to hard-force this in bot…”

An Xin shrugged and said over the team’s voice chat, “It’s just a little setback and we really didn’t lose all that much. Better yet, they played their hand. We now know what to look out for next time and, much more importantly, this combination of skills is on cooldown for the next 5 minutes! So let’s abuse that as much as we can!”

“On it!” Lin Feng replied, laughing. He then turned to look at Tang Bingyao and asked, “Ready to get some kills? Full aggro mode!”

Tang Bingyao smiled and said, “Mhm! Full aggro mode!”

Zeng Rui glanced at his teammates and slowly nodded. There isn’t much Lin Feng can do. He’s just a Kalista. He can’t roam like a Jungler can, nor can he track major skill and spell cooldowns like I can. I’ve trained all my life for this! For this moment! He focused on the portraits from Team Guangzhou’s Champions and wrote a list in his mind, denoting their skill and spell cooldowns and how he could abuse that the most. BunBun was right! I can apply the skills I learned from Supporting in the Jungle! I just have to do it!

✹

At 11 minutes Zeng Rui had his Jarvan IV sneak into Blue team’s bottom side Jungle. He walked past the backside of the Dragon pit towards the bot lane, where Team Guangzhou’s Thresh and Tristana were fighting against Tang Bingyao’s Braum and Lin Feng’s Kalista in the middle of the lane. They spotted him when he walked into the tri-brush at the edge of the lane and started retreating, but he knew it was already too late. More specifically, Thresh didn’t have skills available to escape.

“Trist has Rocket Jump; focus Thresh!” Zeng Rui ordered over the team’s voice chat.

“Yes!” Tang Bingyao replied, having her Braum jump in front of Lin Feng’s Kalista with Stand Behind Me and then following up with Winter’s Bite! Braum propelled freezing ice from his shield and slowed Thresh!

Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV ran into the lane and then dashed at Team Guangzhou’s Thresh with his flag-toss combo. He glanced at Seo’s Tristana and confirmed that she Rocket Jumped away right away, leaving Thresh behind to die. As expected. Now to let Lin Feng pick up the kill. But that won’t be hard…

Lin Feng’s Kalista flung spears at Team Guangzhou’s Thresh that remained lodged in his body. When his health bar fell down to dangerous levels and there were a dozen spears lodged in his body, she cast Rend! The spears were torn out by a swift pull on the telekinetic link she had with them and dealt massive damage!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Wooooo! WIN FENG!” Su Xue exclaimed. She smiled and added, “That was such a great combination of skills again! Those three from Team Shanghai know exactly how to play together! It’s like they’ve been playing with each other for years!”

Zephyr nodded and said into his microphone, “Yeah, you’re right. They are great together! Also, want to know something else? While we were all looking at the fight in bot, Lee Sin tried to gank mid again! And he failed again too! How many fails is that now? He forced Morgana to blow her Flash, I guess that’s something. But this Lee Sin really, really, needs to step up his ganking game.”

Zhang Hongyi from Team Beijing sat in the player seating area, shaking his head in frustration. He muttered, “I can’t believe this… How stupid is Team Guangzhou? How can they get such a shitty Support and also such a terrible Jungler? This is such an easy win for them if their Support and Jungler were even half decent…”

✹

Goalie bit on his lips and narrowed his eyes. This is insanity! How can I not find any openings? She’s playing this matchup so perfectly! It’s so… so much like back… He shook his head. I’m only going to waste my time worrying about her and her stupid perfect game. My ult is coming off cooldown in a few. I’ll just gank… He glanced around the map and spotted Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV walking through a ward towards the top lane. Oh, ganking top? Let’s turn that around. He smiled and fell back just enough to drop away into the fog of war for Team Shanghai. He then ran up into the Jungle and stopped behind the Blue Buff Camp.

At 14 minutes, Zeng Rui ran into the top lane, which was pushed towards the Blue outer tower, and dashed at Team Guangzhou’s Irelia with his flag-toss combo! Zhang Hao’s Rumble followed right behind Zeng Rui, casting his ultimate skill in sync with Zeng Rui’s ultimate! The damage stacked up and killed Irelia before Goalie could respond.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Goalie smiled. They’ve used all their skills. Such overkill! But that’s perfect. He glanced at Lee Sin who ran into the lane and engaged the Jarvan IV and Rumble. And now they’re staying to fight. Brilliant! How did we ever lose a game to them…? He activated his ultimate skill–Destiny! The map was revealed to him, but he ignored that as he activated the second part of his ultimate–Gate! Cards spread beneath his feet and formed a portal that carried him into the top lane!

Goalie’s Twisted Fate was holding a Gold Card when he arrived in the top lane. He threw it at Rumble and stunned him! He followed up with a volley of Wild Cards that cut through Rumble and Jarvan IV! Lee Sin supported him, using his ultimate to roundhouse kick Rumble into Jarvan IV and knocking both of them up. That bought Goalie the few seconds he needed to cycle through his skills and deal damage. Enough damage to kill Rumble.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV was caught in the middle of the top lane without any skills available. He’d used all of them to kill Team Guangzhou’s Irelia. He looked at the Lee Sin and Twisted Fate and grimaced. They were attacking him and he was trying to get away, but he knew there was no escaping this. “Sorry, guys,” he said over the team’s voice chat. “This one’s on me.”

《Double kill!》

An Xin clicked around the mid lane, constantly glancing at the minimap, mumbling the presumed location of Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin to herself. He started Red I think… I would, anyway. So I just need to hover near the top side of the lane, as far from the Red Buff Camp as possible. He won’t gank me then. Perfect! She smiled and targeted a melee minion. Her Morgana conjured some dark magic and flung it at the minion, killing it. This is more like it. People always underestimate Midlaners who play Morgana. ‘Oh, Morgana is a Support, she isn’t a Midlaner!’ She shook her head and giggled. Morgana is one of the best Midlane champions, if you know how to play her!

“That girl!” Zephyr exclaimed from the caster desk. He shook his head and continued, “She’s playing solid… Rock solid! NOW WAVE YOUR HEADS IN THE AIR LIKE YOU JUST DON’T CARE IF YOU GOT THAT REFERENCE!”

Su Xue turned her head to look at Zephyr and shook her head. Really? Really…? She then giggled and replied, “Didn’t I tell you? She’s amazing! Look at that first minion wave! She got all six minions and Goalie missed one! She’s already seized the advantage!”

Zephyr nodded and said into his microphone, “The creep score advantage is cool, but what I’m really finding— Look! There she does it again! It’s like she knows exactly where Lee Sin is! Did you see how at the start of the lane she was hovering towards the top because Team Guangzhou’s Red Buff Camp is on the bot side? She knew Lee Sin started there! And now that Lee Sin is moving towards his Blue Buff Camp on the top side of the Jungle, she’s positioning herself in the right half of her lane, the side that’s closer to bot lane!”

“Oh shit! That caster-dude is right! She’s really playing on the right side of her lane now!”

“She’s so cool! I wanna play like her and be good at Jungle and mid!”

“Team Shanghai is the coolest team with the coolest players!”

“And here I thought Team Guangzhou was gonna win this series… Boy, was I wrong!”

Su Xue clenched her fists in excitement and shouted, “Woooo! BunBu—Morgana! I knew she could hold her own against Goalie! She’s even winning!”

“Eh, winning?” Zephyr asked, scrunching his eyebrows. He turned his head to look at Su Xue and said into his microphone, “She’s got a nice start to the game, we can all see that. But winning? It’s a little too early to say that. We’re only 2 minutes into the game. Let’s wait and see what happens!”

“Mm-mhm! Mm-mhm!” Su Xue replied, nodding. She then added, “She’ll win. Just keep watching. We’ll see her win!”

✹

Team Guangzhou’s Jungler said over the team’s voice chat, “Want me to gank mid, Goalie?”

Goalie glared at the Morgana on his screen. He watched every tiny movement she made and grinded his teeth. This stupid, stupid… He forced himself to take a deep breath. She does know how to play mid. And she knows  exactly where and when a Jungler can gank from. With the way she’s positioning herself, ganking would be a colossal waste of time. He pinged Lee Sin, who was running towards the river brush directly above the mid lane, to retreat. A sharp sound beeped in their headphones and a yellow ping flashed on the minimap. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Ganking now-Waste of time. Later.”

“Rodger-dodger,” Team Guangzhou’s Jungler replied. He then looked around his map. His pathing through the Jungle had included a gank. One that was now off the table. This messed up all of his original timing and planning. Just very slightly. But it was enough to snowball into something bigger if he wasn’t careful. Get into it! Come on! He shook his head and focused on his Jungle camps. Wolves and then Wraiths? Yeah, that’ll work.

Goalie felt his stomach contract. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and then opened them again to stare at Morgana. Something’s off. It’s like… have I played against her before? No. No, that can’t be. He gritted his teeth and breathed in deeply. Keep it together, Goalie. All I need to do is farm to Level 6 and then start making a real impact on the game. I’ll carry it from there! He nodded at himself and breathed the pent up breath and frustration out.

✹

Zeng Rui wasn’t feeling too comfortable in the Jungle. He understood the basics and he followed them to a tee. But there was something that felt wrong about what he was doing. Like he didn’t belong in the Jungle. Come on, ZengZeng— His eyes grew wide and round and he glanced at Lin Feng. Zeng Rui! Rui! He focused on the minimap, trying to push that mishap out of his mind, and noticed that Goalie was pushing against An Xin’s Morgana. He asked over the team’s voice chat, “Do you want a gank mid?”

“No need, I’m good!” An Xin replied, smiling. She glanced at her minimap and advised, “Lee was near mid from the top side. He’ll be ganking top soon. Go counter that.”

Zeng Rui nodded. If I can help Rumble pick up an early kill, that’ll really help the team. BunBun is right, I should go top. He glanced at the bot lane and asked, “Bot is good, right?”

“Yep!” Lin Feng replied. He grinned and added, “We’re all good! Tang Tang and I are about to stomp our lane!” He then turned to look at Tang Bingyao and asked, “Right? Right!?”

Tang Bingyao nodded, distracted. Lin Feng talked a lot and she usually just let him talk while focusing on the game herself. Right now her focus was on protecting Lin Feng’s Kalista with her Braum. He’s jumping around so fluently on his Kalista. I need to keep running around just to stay near him and then I also need to push away the Botlaners from Team Guangzhou… That stupid Seo… Wait, what did Lin Feng ask again? Something, something, right? She nodded and mumbled, “Mhm!” She then focused back on the bot lane, barely registering Zeng Rui’s acknowledgement.

Kalista and Braum were generally considered weaker than Tristana and Thresh at every stage of the game. But this was only because Kalista required such a high level of skill that there were very few players who truly excelled at her. Lin Feng was one of the few who possessed the mechanical skills to bring out Kalista’s true potential. This potential came largely down to her passive skill—Martial Pose. When attacking with an auto attack or the skill Pierce, Kalista lunged a short distance. Lin Feng expertly used this to hop in and out of range to attack Thresh and Tristana without allowing them to fight back.

Tang Bingyao squinted her eyes and held her breath every time Lin Feng’s Kalista jumped forward. She had her Braum follow, ready to jump in. Ready to provide what assistance she could. The Botlaners from Team Guangzhou were far too focused on Lin Feng, giving her some room. She found a gap between the minions and cast Winter’s Bite! Her Braum propelled a jet of ice that struck Thresh and slowed him!

“Nice engage, Tang Tang!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He had his Kalista lunge forward by last hitting a minion. The experience from the kill brought him to Level 2 and he learned Rend, which allowed him to pull out the spears his Kalista had lodged in enemy champions for further damage. He then hurled a spear at Seo’s Tristana and lunged to the side, narrowly dodging Thresh’s Death Sentence. “Woo, close!” Lin Feng said, laughing. He then hurled an empowered spear at Thresh with Pierce and used the lunge from Martial Pose to get in range and follow up with an auto attack.

Two spears were lodged in Thresh’s body and he had two stacks of Concussive Blow on him. Two more would stun him. Team Guangzhou’s Support gritted his teeth and clicked back towards his Blue outer tower. A third spear struck him as he turned around, and a fourth stunned him when he tried to run away. “Seo!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat.

Seo narrowed his eyes. But rather than focus his attacks on Kalista, he auto attacked a caster minion. That fucking beggar! Who does he think he is? The bot lane is my territory! PISS OFF! He ground his teeth in anger and humiliation. He knew very well that trading auto attacks with Kalista wasn’t going to do any good. His Tristana had to hit Level 2 to level the playing field first. So he fired another two auto attacks on the caster minion to kill it. I’ll get you! Just you wait! I’ma get you, you fucking fugly stupid beggar! I’m going to send your homeless ass back to the cardboard box you call a house!

Lin Feng knew he couldn’t kill the Thresh. Both of Team Guangzhou’s Botlaners still had all their Summoner Spells available. So rather than pushing further, he lunged back after the stun from Concussive Blow took effect. When his Kalista was out of Tristana’s range, Lin Feng activated Rend. His Kalista clenched her fist in a sudden burst, pulling on her telekinetic link with her spears! They wrenched out of the minions,, they wrenched out of Seo’s Tristana and, most importantly, they wrenched themselves out of Thresh.

Team Guangzhou’s Thresh lost a little more than half his health in that exchange. He was forced to use his health potion, putting him at a distinct disadvantage compared to Tang Bingyao’s Braum. He grimaced and said over the team’s voice chat, “Sorry. Sorry.”

“SORRY?” Seo screamed over voice chat. He abruptly turned his head to look at his Support and shouted in Korean, “Can’t you even hit a damn Q? How stupid are you? Trash! No! You’re more useless than trash! You’re a fucking useless waste of trash!” He sighed loudly. Furiously.

Team Guangzhou’s Support didn’t speak Korean. He didn’t know what Seo said, but he did hear the anger in his ad-carry’s voice and understood the frustration. He felt a similar frustration. This series against Team Shanghai wasn’t going anything like they’d imagined it would. We’re losing. Losing! And then I miss a simple Death Sentence! I need to start hitting them or we’re done for! Goalie and Seo are our star players, but that doesn’t mean I can sit still and be useless! I need to Support them! I will! He nodded at himself and tightened his grip on his mouse. I will!

Seo didn’t pay his Support any further attention. He just stared–glared–at Tang Bingyao’s Braum and then back at Lin Feng’s Kalista. How am I not winning these trades? I’m Tristana and he’s Kalista. I’m supposed to be winning this lane! I… I… He breathed in long and deep and briefly closed his eyes. How is he better than her? How is he getting auto attacks in when I can’t? How is he doing this? It shouldn’t be possible. I can’t be… He nodded, faster and faster. He then opened his eyes and stared straight at Lin Feng’s Kalista. You camped the shit out of me when you were playing mid. Now you want to fuck with me by playing ad-carry? Piss. The fuck. Off! You think I’ma let you toy with me? FUCK OFF! FUCK! OFF!

✹

Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin ganked the top lane at 4 minutes. He dashed at Zhang Hao’s Rumble with Resonating Strike and worked together with his Irelia to whittle his health down. Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV ran into the lane a couple of seconds later. He dashed at Lee Sin and Irelia with his flag-toss combo and knocked them both up. He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Lee! Lee!”

Zhang Hao’s hand was trembling from the nerves. He was playing at a stage he’d never played at against an opponent who was supposed to be stronger, yet his team was at matchpoint. He used his Flamespitter and intended to push past Irelia towards Lee Sin. But then his screen flashed red. His health had dropped below 20%. Shit! I’m going to die! What do I… He bit on his lips and hesitated, his Rumble’s Flamespritter spraying fire on Irelia and auto attacking her.

Shit! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die! I’m dead! Zhang Hao’s heart was slamming against his ribcage. All he saw was his health falling down. I don’t want to give them first blood! I can’t! I need to get away! He glanced back at his Red outer tower, shaking his head in panic. Flash! FLASH! A veil of light wrapped around his Rumble and carried him a short distance towards his outer tower. But Irelia followed right behind him. She then attacked him with her blade, and again.

《First Blood!》

Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin had lost most of his health and mimicked Zhang Hao’s flash. Zeng Rui in turn mimicked the flash from Team Guangzhou’s Irelia and then continued attacking Lee Sin. Lee Sin had more health remaining than Zhang Hao’s Rumble did when he flashed, but the distance to his outer tower was larger for Lee Sin than it’d been for Zhang Hao. This gave Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV all the time he needed to strike his opponent down.

《You have slain an enemy!》

When the voice announcer boomed in his ears, Zeng Rui glanced at Zhang Hao and said over the team’s voice chat, “Why didn’t you focus on Lee Sin with me?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Zhang Hao replied, grimacing. “I panicked. My screen started turning red and I thought that if I Flashed away, I could survive and then you could get the kill. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

✹

The fight in bot lane raged back and forth. Both sides made small missteps, forcing them to use their health potions. It was around the 5th minute of the game that both sides had nothing left. Their health bars were running low and reason dictated that they had to recall back to base and restock on health potions and recover their health bars. But neither side did that. They kept pushing, kept searching for openings to abuse, kept trying for the kill.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and mumbled, “Interesting. He isn’t half bad. Nothing like Silent mind you. Nor Shi Hang from four years ago… But still, he isn’t half bad.” He chuckled and added, “Doesn’t mean I won’t stomp him all the same though!” Hmm… I do have to pay some attention here. Our wards have run out… Our wards have run out. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Lee is ganking bot. Look out, Tang Tang.”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao replied. She then briefly hesitated before asking, “Want me to go back to base and grab some wards?”

“Nah, we gucci,” Lin Feng answered, laughing. “Lee Sin’ll be here before the wards run out. Besides, if they think they can take this fight, let them think that! It’ll make it that much more fun when we stomp all over them!”

Across the stage in Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth, Seo was grinning. Laughing. He glared at Lin Feng’s Kalista and mumbled under his breath, “Yeah, you’re better than that fugly bitch. Way better… You’re beating me in CS! But that won’t mean much once you die to this gank. And you’re too stupidly arrogant to even notice it!”

“Push, push!” Team Guangzhou’s Jungler said over the team’s voice chat as he had his Lee Sin run up the bot lane, making sure to stay far enough back so that the Red minions from Team Shanghai couldn’t spot him.

“GoGoGo!” Seo shouted over the team’s voice chat.

Team Guangzhou’s Support nodded. He had his Thresh run forward all the way towards Team Shanghai’s side of the lane and then threw his Lantern behind him with Dark Passage! He waited a brief moment, just long enough for Lee Sin to click on it, and then flashed. A veil of light fell over his Thresh and carried him a short distance forward, right on top of Lin Feng’s Kalista. Flay! He whipped his chain and scythe back and knocked up and slowed Kalista! He followed up with Death Sentence.

Lin Feng chuckled when he saw Thresh’s Flash and grinned when he saw Lee Sin flying in right after. He hit an auto attack on Thresh and lunged to the side, dodging the Death Sentence. There was a short cooldown for his passive. Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin used this to mark him with Sonic Wave. But that was exactly what Lin Feng wanted. There’s no way he can resist. And… here… we… go! He slammed down on his D key–Flash! A mottled flash of light wrapped around Lin Feng’s Kalista and carried her towards her outer tower. Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin had activated Resonating Strike and was now flying after her, unable to control his movements.

“Tang Tang!” Lin Feng shouted over the team’s voice chat.

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao replied. When Lee Sin landed inside the range from the outer tower, she had her Braum hit him with Winter’s Bite! Freezing ice was propelled from his shield and applied a slow and the first stack for Concussive Blow!

“Oh my god! That’s so beautiful!” Su Xue exclaimed. She leaned towards her microphone and continued, “She dodges the hook and then tricks Lee Sin into tower range! Oh my god!”

“Holy shit…” Zephyr mumbled. “That’s… That’s… Wow!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

Lin Feng’s Kalista threw a spear at Lee Sin before he even landed, lunging further underneath her tower. She followed up with another one, applying the third stack for Concussive Blow. What followed was a brief moment in which Lee Sin could Flash, in which he could escape. But he’d used his Flash in the top lane. He couldn’t escape. And then the third spear struck him and applied the fourth and final stack of Concussive Blow. He was stunned underneath the enemy outer tower.

Red team’s outer tower charged up and then fired an energy shot at Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin! Outside the tower’s range, Tristana and Thresh were trying to run interference, to draw away attention from Lee Sin and allow him to escape. But the outer tower, as well as Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao, ignored them. They all focused their full attention on Lee Sin. Until his health dropped to the last few percentages. That was when Lin Feng mumbled, “Rend!” His Kalista clenched her fist to pull on the telekinetic strings attached to her spears. The spears were ripped out from Lee Sin, the subsequent damage killing him!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Holy shit! Dude! Holy shit! Did you see that? Did you?” Zuo Cheng asked his teammates from Zhejiang University. He then leaned over his Toplaner and shouted to the players from Fudan University, “Dudes, dudes! Holy shit! Did you see what a beast Lin Feng is? What a beast! Damn! Did you see how he stomped Goalie? That was intense as all shits! That penta at the end there? I thought for sure he wasn’t going to get it, but then he did!”

Qiu Yijie from Fudan University stared at the large LCD screen above the stage. It was showing the game’s highlights and all of them featured Riven. He shook his head and mumbled, “I knew they were good. But… But there’s good and there’s this. How did he… That penta at the end? Wow!”

“It’s, it’s… yeah,” Sun Ruinian agreed. He looked at Zuo Cheng and said, “Shi Hang warned us about him–”

“As did Aurous us,” Qiu Yijie interjected.

Sun Ruinian glanced at the Support from Fudan University and then continued, “Shi Hang and I guess also Aurous… Two Midlaners from the LPL are telling us to watch out for that kid from Team Shanghai. We should’ve seen this coming, yet somehow I still find it hard to believe. He didn’t just beat Goalie. He stomped him!”

Zhejiang University and Fudan University were both from East China and had played against Team Shanghai already. They had a level of understanding about Lin Feng. The same couldn’t be said for the other competing teams or the fans up in the stands. They were in shock. The team hyped up to become the eventual Champions were on the brink of being knocked out.

Murmurs swept through the audience. There was a distinct difference between being told a team was good and seeing them being good. They’d all heard about how Lin Feng had beaten AyDeeCee and how Team Shanghai had bested Zhejiang University. But it wasn’t until this series against Team Guangzhou that it started to dawn on people just how good Team Shanghai was. Fans and competing teams alike started to agree with each other that Team Shanghai wasn’t some underdog and that they weren’t some dark horse appearing out of nowhere, they were real competitors competing for the championship title, and they had been since the very start of the tournament. They were the team to beat.

Fan Yuan was the manager for Team Beijing. He was sitting with his team in the player seating area, listening to the lively discussion around him. He finally turned his attention to Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth and focused on the player standing at the center of all this. Lin Feng. Who are you? He chewed on his lips and scrunched his eyebrows. I thought I knew who you were. We watched you play against Zhejiang University. We prepared for that level of play! And then. Then you do this? Goalie isn’t some random Midlaner in Bronze, yet you made him look like that… He shook his head, troubled. How could I have underestimated you this much…? I should’ve known better…

“I think…” Fan Yuan started, dragging it out until his team members all turned to look at him. “I think we need to stop making jokes about how bad Team Shanghai is and start to really worry about them.”

Zhang Hongyi stared through the glass windows from Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth at Zeng Rui with bloodshot eyes. What is this bullshit!? Your useless ass should’ve been knocked out by now! Dammit! He replied through gritted teeth, “Stupid Koreans can’t get anything right.”

“Fan Yuan is right,” Yu Ping said. His stomach clenched when the words left his mouth. It was difficult to admit, because it wasn’t Team Shanghai that impressed him, or worried him. He looked at Lin Feng and narrowed his eyes. Those Riven mechanics were so damn smooth. Everything just worked out. It always does for you, somehow. I need to admit that maybe it isn’t luck. Maybe you’re actually that good. He rubbed his face and groaned. Why is it so hard to admit? He’s better than me. He is better than me. Fuck! He quietly added, “He’s good.”

✹

Chu Fang leaned back in his chair, relaxed. Smiling. There was a short break between the games. That was the opportunity a coach had to redirect his team and prepare them for what was coming next. But Chu Fang wasn’t the coach for Team Shanghai, he was the manager. He took care of everything outside of League of Legends, so that when Team Shanghai had to play, they were at their best. It was different for Manager/Coach Yin from Team Guangzhou. He was very much hands on. And that was what Chu Fang was enjoying right now. He watched the metaphorical smoke rising up above Coach Yin’s head and he laughed as Coach Yin kicked a chair and then stormed up onto the stage.

“Poor guy doesn’t know what hit him!” Chu Fang said to no one in particular. He then turned his attention to Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Through the glass panels he watched his team huddle up in a circle. They’re looking good in this series. And with Zeng Rui and BunBun taking care of the coaching part, there’s nothing for me to worry about. I can just… He glanced back at Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth, where Coach Yin was visibly screaming and yelling at his players. I can enjoy the show. He started laughing loudly.

✹

Zeng Rui looked at the faces from his teammates that were so close to his. A shiver ran up and down his body. This was a level of intimacy he wasn’t comfortable with. But he also understood how it helped team morale, so he pushed through his own struggles and focused on the job ahead. He said, “Team Guangzhou is probably tilting hard right now. Let’s push this third game and secure the win.”

Zhang Hao raised his head and looked across the stage at Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth. He laughed and said, “They are tilted! Look at their coach! He’s losing it–”

“Come on, focus,” Zeng Rui interrupted. He turned his head to look at Tang Bingyao and asked, “You were struggling at the end there. Are you good to go one more game?”

Tang Bingyao bit on her lips and looked down at the ground, gently caressing her painful pinky. I’m not letting the team down! I’ll push through it! Mhm! She looked up at Zeng Rui and mumbled, “I think… Yeah, maybe. Mhm.”

“What about Lin Feng’s plan?” An Xin asked. “The one from last night.”

Lin Feng glanced at An Xin and then started grinning. He clenched his fist and replied, “Yeah! We haven’t punished them nearly enough! We should go with my plan! I told you it’s a great plan! Imagine their faces when we stomp them! They’ll be so mad!”

Zeng Rui’s eyes grew wide and round. I… I thought… That was just a joke, right? You don’t really plan on… He looked at An Xin with a mix of confusion and worry and asked, “You’re joking, right?”

“Why would I joke about that?” An Xin asked. She shrugged and added, “I think it’s a fun plan. Let’s go with it!”

“You sure…?” Zeng Rui asked.

An Xin nodded. She winked at Zeng Rui and said, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll work out. Trust us!”

✹

Zephyr sat back down at the caster desk and rolled his shoulders. He looked at Su Xue next to him and smiled back at her. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yep!” Su Xue replied, excited. She pointed at the monitor and added, “I think they’re about to start!”

Zephyr turned his attention to the main monitor and nodded. He replied, “They’re all in the lobby. They’ll start any– There we go! It’s starting!” He glanced at the camera in front of them. A small red light started flickering on it. They were live again. He grabbed his microphone and said, “We’re back for the third game between Team Guangzhou and Team Shanghai! And what a series this has been so far, don’t you agree, EveningSnowfall?”

“Mm-mhm! Mm-mhm!” Su Xue replied, nodding. “Team Shanghai is showing Team Guangzhou every corner of the Rift! And I can’t begin to imagine how Team Guangzhou feels after that penta kill in the previous game! They were looking like they were going to make a comeback and then, well, boom! All their chances were gone because Lin Feng got a penta kill on his Riven!”

“And what a penta kill that was!” Zephyr continued. He shook his head and said, “It sent chills down my spine! I got goosebumps from that penta! That was the best penta and the best play of the tournament so far! Huh, it might even be the first penta of the tournament. I wonder if we’ll get another one…”

Su Xue laughed and said, “Me too! I can’t wait to see Lin Feng get another penta!” Her eyes grew round as she heard her own voice in her headphones. Shit! I need to stop doing that. She shook her head and looked at the large monitor. She pointed at it and said, “Look! They’re racing through Champion Select!”

Zephyr looked at Su Xue and chuckled. He then turned his head to focus on the monitor and replied, “They really are. Bans are done and they’re almost– They’re through Champion Select! That was the fastest I’ve seen in a while! Let’s see who they’ve all picked…”

Round of 16 Winter Collegiate Cup, Game 3

Team Guangzhou (Blue) versus Team Shanghai (Red)

Top: Irelia versus Rumble

Jungle: Lee Sin versus Jarvan IV

Mid: Twisted Fate versus Morgana

Ad-carry: Tristana versus Kalista

Support: Thresh versus Braum

“That is a surprise!” Zephyr said into his microphone. “Look at that mid pick from Goalie! Twisted Fate! Now, mind you, Twisted Fate isn’t a bad pick. He’s a very strong pick even! But Goalie is known for his AP assassins. He hasn’t played anything but AP assassins this entire tournament! Until now!”

Su Xue grabbed her microphone and took over. She said, “It looks like the pressure is getting to them! They know they need to change something if they want to win. Looks like this is their last ditch effort to turn the tides and get a game back against Team Shanghai!”

“Wait, wait! Hold up!” Zephyr suddenly said. He scrunched his eyebrows and looked at his screen again. Team Guangzhou and Team Shanghai were in the loading screen. There were two rows of five Champions. Beneath each Champion portrait stood a Summoner Name. He focused on the names below Team Shanghai’s Champions and muttered, “An Xin is playing in the mid lane, Zeng Rui in the Jungle, Lin Feng as ad-carry and Tang Bingyao the Support? What?”

“Are they crazy!?”

“Hahaha! I love this! The disrespect!”

“Imagine if they beat Team Guangzhou like this? I’ll bet you those guys from Team Guangzhou will uninstall the game and tell their friends they never even played anyway!”

“It would be hilarious if Team Shanghai won. But… What if they lose? Why would they risk this? Isn’t this just giving Team Guangzhou a way back into this series?”

“Cocky kids will be cocky kids. Hopefully they’ll learn some humility from this game.”

Su Xue smiled. She’d been there the previous night when Lin Feng came up with the idea. This is something only Lin Feng could come up with! She pushed the microphone against her lips and said, “I have some secret information. Earlier, before this series, I spoke with Team Shanghai and they told me about this strategy. They made me promise not to say a word about it unless they used it. So I can tell you guys now…–” 

“Tell us!” Zephyr exclaimed. He looked at Su Xue and added, “What is the strategy!?”

“There really isn’t much to it,” Su Xue explained. She giggled and continued, “Lin Feng and An Xin are very good players. They can play multiple roles. So as for this game? The plan they have going in? It’s to confuse their opponents and make their opponents underestimate them! And if I look at Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth…” she pointed at the monitor which showed the players from Team Guangzhou furiously arguing, “… look at them! I think Team Shanghai’s plan is working! Team Guangzhou is going to be so upset that they forget to pay attention! By the time they do, they’ll realize that Team Shanghai isn’t being cocky. All they’re doing is putting on a good show!”

✹

Zeng Rui glanced past Lin Feng at An Xin, then looked back at his monitor. At his Jarvan IV. How did I let them talk me into this? Why am I playing Jungle…? I’m a terrible Jungler! I only know the normal pathing and I do know where to ward and everything, but I’m not BunBun! I don’t have her awareness! I don’t know when to be where and I don’t know exactly how hard I can push these Champions! I don’t even know about the Champions in the lanes I’m ganking! I’m the Support! I… I need to Support in the Jungle. Yeah. I can do that. He glanced at An Xin again. I get why we’re doing this. We kind of had to…

Tang Bingyao’s finger injury was causing her enough trouble that she couldn’t play her best game. And even her best game wasn’t enough to beat Seo. She simply wasn’t that good yet. Zeng Rui chewed on his lips and slowly nodded. Tang Tang needs rest. She can play Support. It doesn’t require as many quick movements and with Lin Fe– Maple as ad-carry, we’ve got nothing to worry about. Even if he’s half as good an ad-carry as a Midlaner, he’ll still crush Seo. But what about BunBun? He grimaced and looked at Twisted Fate’s summoner portrait. Goalie is still a very talented Midlaner. Lin Feng can beat him, of course he can! He’s goddamn Maple! But BunBun isn’t Maple… Can she…?

“Why do you look like you need to poop?” Lin Feng asked over the team’s voice chat.

Zeng Rui was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard the question. He turned his head to look at Lin Feng and found a pair of eyes looking straight at him. He mumbled, “Uh, me?”

“Yeah you!” Lin Feng replied. “Oooh!” He smacked his forehead and laughed. He said, “You’re worried! You always worry! But you’ve got nothing to worry about! I’m a really good ad-carry and BunBun is a great Midlaner! She’s definitely better than that Goalie anyway!”

An Xin looked past Lin Feng at Zeng Rui and smiled. She nodded and said, “He’s right, you know? I’m not as good as he is, but I’m at least as good as Goalie. I can guarantee you that much.” She turned her head back to look at her screen. At Goalie’s Twisted Fate. She narrowed her eyes. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t use my Korean ID for this tournament. Now Goalie won’t recognize me… Oh well, maybe he’ll remember me when I play against him. I did leave a deep impression on him. She giggled. I doubt he’ll ever forget about that.

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

The announcer’s voice blasted through the headsets from Team Guangzhou. The five players sat behind their computers, tense. They were 2-0 down in this best of five series. And the main plan going into this third game was to play better. That was what Coach Yin had demanded from them. 

The three Chinese players stared at their screen, upset. They were playing their best, they were giving it their all, they were trying everything in their power to win their lanes and beat Team Shanghai! But they were getting outclassed. It was that simple. And on top of that, to make it so much worse for them, Goalie and Seo were both furious. From the start of the series until now, they were steaming with rage. There was nothing fun about this match against Team Shanghai for the three Chinese players. They gritted their teeth and clicked their mice, mad.

Goalie was furious. He wanted to kill Lin Feng! He ground his teeth, glaring across the stage at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. You son of a bitch! Do I really look that easy to you? Did you get bored? Is that it? Did you get bored? Did you want to give someone else the pleasure of beating me because I’m bad? FUCK YOU I’M NOT BAD! I’m not bad! He closed his eyes and slammed his hand on the desk. FUCK! Fight me! Fucking fight me! I’ll show you who sucks! I’ll beat you! He growled in Korean, “I’ll make you pay for this humiliation!”

“We’ll both make him fucking pay!” Seo exclaimed. He pushed his hand against his twitching nose, trying to make it stop. He then pointed at Lin Feng and shouted in Korean, “You think you’re all amazing because you’re good at Mid? You think that alone is enough to be a good ad-carry? Or do you think I suck? Is that it? Are you saying I suck? FUCK! You really don’t know what’s good for you! I’ll kill you! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

✹

Lin Feng had his Kalista run down the bot lane, past the inner tower and towards the outer tower. He then glanced at Tang Bingyao and said over the team’s voice chat, “It’s been a while since we duo’d. Remember the NetCow Cafe how we always stomped our opponents? That was fun! Let’s do like we did then!”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao replied, nodding. “I’d like that!”

Team Guangzhou’s Support looked at his screen, flicking around his mouse to check every corner of the battlefield. Fiora is coming from Team Shanghai’s Jungle. She’ll intercept Team Shanghai’s Sejuani. Goalie will kill their Kalista near the mid lane and there’s nothing Morgana can do to stop them. Mundo is just throwing cleavers in the middle of the fight. Annoying, but… Riven, Riven… He searched around the map, until he noticed a summoner icon appearing above him on his minimap. His eyes grew wide and round. Shit! He’s behind us! Behind us! He shouted through trembling lips, “B-b-behind us! Riven is behind us!”

Seo had his Vayne continue auto attacking An Xin’s Sejuani while glancing at the minimap. So that’s where you are! Finally! It’s time to show you who the better player is! Now that I’ve got my Quicksilver Sash… His lips curled up and he narrowed his eyes. I’ma kill you so hard! NO ONE WILL REMEMBER YOUR FACE! He squeezed his mouse until it squeaked and groaned, then pinged on the Riven and shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Leona! Intercept! Stun Riven!”

Zeng Rui saw Team Guangzhou’s Leona stop attacking An Xin’s Sejuani and start running towards Riven. He glanced at Tang Bingyao’s health bar. It was dropping fast and would soon run empty. BunBun is right. I can’t save Tang Tang. Too late to do anything for her. But Lin Feng… The thundering… He said over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang! Ult me!”

Tang Bingyao’s Kalista had linked her fate with Zeng Rui’s Morgana at the start of the game. She now used that link to pull Morgana’s soul into her body with Fate’s Call! This was the first part of Kalista’s ultimate skill. The second part allowed Morgana—Zeng Rui—to hurl herself in any direction!

Team Guangzhou’s Leona and Vayne were stacked on top of each other for a brief moment as Leona passed by on her way to intercept Lin Feng’s Riven. Zeng Rui narrowed his eyes and clicked on his mouse. Morgana’s soul shot from Kalista’s body! Bone, muscle and flesh grew around her soul, reforming her body midflight! She then barreled into Leona and Vayne and knocked them both up into the air! She followed up with Chains of Agony. Her wings unfurled and she hovered above the ground as she released the full force of her Celestial power! Chains forged from darkness and pain shimmered into existence around her and latched onto Vayne and Leona!

“Nice going!” Lin Feng exclaimed over the team’s voice chat, grinning. His Riven was on the water’s edge, while Vayne and Leona were in the middle of the river. The chains wrapped around them slowed them, and would stun them shortly. Lin Feng cast Valor and followed up with Broken Wings! His Riven dashed into the river and swept out with her blade, cleaving both Vayne and Leona!

Seo felt his stomach clench, physically hurting him. He wanted to scream and yell, but he gritted his teeth. He bit his tongue. Morgana’s Chains of Agony would stun him soon. He could cleanse that with his Quicksilver Sash, but then there was Riven who could stun him with a Ki Burst. I just have to outplay him! Outplay him very hard! Show him how much better I am than him! That’ll show him and everyone else! He smiled just a bit and activated the Quicksilver Sash. A cleansing light broke the dark chains as a dark shadow fell over Vayne. Final Hour! Vayne gained attack speed and, more importantly, gained an invisibility aspect to Tumble. She used that to disappear into the shadows before Riven could stun her.

“Wanna run? Lol,” Lin Feng mumbled, grinning. He dropped down a vision ward to reveal the invisible. “Gotcha!” He said with a smirk as he locked onto Vayne. He had his Riven move towards her with the second cast from Broken Wings. It was another sweep of the blade combined with a short dash, similar to the first cast. He followed up with the third cast from Broken Wings. Riven grabbed the hilt of her blade with both hands and leaped forward! She raised her reforged blade above her head and hacked down on Vayne, knocking her up into the air! And finally, while Vayne was in midair, Riven gathered the excess runic energy on her blade and swept out! Wind Slash!

《You have slain an enemy!》

《An ally has been slain.》

“Two amazing kills by the Midlaners!” Zephyr exclaimed into his microphone. He chuckled in disbelief and added, “They both took out the ad-carry on the opposing team! I can’t believe this!”

Su Xue nodded and said, “Yeah, yeah, look. Look!” She pointed at the screen. An Xin’s Sejuani had lost quite a bit of health to Seo’s Vayne. The others from Team Shanghai now all turned to her. Fiora Lunged past Zhang Hao’s Dr. Mundo to get to her, Goalie’s Fizz ran back up the river towards her and Lee Sin was already on top of her! “BunBun’s in trouble! She’s gonna get focused down! They’re gonna kill her!”

An Xin grimaced. In her attempt to help Tang Bingyao’s Kalista earlier, she got caught by Seo’s Vayne and Condemned against the river wall. It was basically a large boulder that ran from the edge of the mid lane to a fair bit into the river. She was at the far edge and dashed into Blue team’s Jungle, trying to draw Team Guangzhou’s Champions away from Lin Feng’s Riven. He had to survive. Fizz, Lee Sin and Fiora chased after her, round the boulder and onto the jungle pathway that led to the mid lane. “Ready?” she asked over the team’s voice chat.

Lin Feng glanced at his skill bar. There were still a few more seconds until he could use Broken Wings again. He replied over the team’s voice chat, “Almost! … Almost! … GO!”

An Xin activated Flash. A veil of light fell over Sejuani and carried her back across the boulder into the river, where Lin Feng’s Riven was waiting. Team Guangzhou’s Fiora flashed after Sejuani and Goalie’s Fizz used Playful/Trickster to jump after her. Both of them landed in front of Lin Feng’s Riven, who swept at them with the first cast from Broken Wings. He continued with the second cast.

Team Guangzhou’s Fiora activated Grand Challenge on An Xin’s Sejuani! It revealed the Four Vitals! If she got the kill, that would spawn a healing field which would see her survive the Riven. Which would help Goalie’s Fizz survive. She Lunged to the side, away from Fizz. She then stabbed Sejuani, striking one of the four vitals! She continued running until she was behind Sejuani and stabbed again. Two vitals were down! If I can get the last two, I don’t even need to kill her! I’ll get the healing fiel– A red, debilitating energy fell over her, hampering all her stats. Shit… SHIT!

Lin Feng ignored Fiora running around An Xin’s Sejuani trying to spawn the healing field. Fizz was an assassin whose skills were on cooldown. He was harmless for another couple of seconds. It was far more important to take him out right now. Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and grinned. You’re already dead! Broken Wings! His Riven grasped her weapon with both hands and raised it above her head as she leaped at Fizz! She then hacked down on him with such force that he was knocked up into the air! She followed up with an auto attack, and another!

《Double Kill!》

Goalie’s pupils constricted. He sat there in Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth watching his screen turning different shades of dull grey. Over the rim of his monitor, he could see the audience jumping and cheering. He could almost hear their screams. “GG TO TEAM SHANGHAI!” “GOALIE SUCKS!” “GOALIE IS THE WORST MIDLANER EVER!” “KOREANS ARE A JOKE!” “HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD? HA! WHAT A JOKE!” He started breathing in short, fast bursts. His heart slammed into his ribcage and sweat stood guard on his forehead. How…? How? How!? HOW!

《An enemy has been slain!》

Goalie blinked and forced himself to look at the teamfight. Fiora had killed An Xin’s Sejuani and the healing field spawned. Lee Sin had walked around the boulder and dashed to Fiora’s side with Safeguard. Goalie licked his lips, fighting the swirling sickness in his stomach, and nodded. We’re still in it. Still in it. We can’t give up now. They’ve got the health and her ultimate is down! He said over the team’s voice chat, “Kill Riven! Kill her!”

Coach Yin from Team Guangzhou sat in the player seating area. He saw what Goalie saw. An opportunity. Team Shanghai was really just Team Lin Feng. And Lin Feng’s Riven had most of her skills on cooldown. Coach Yin shot up to his feet and shouted, “KILL RIVEN! KILL HER! WE WIN IF YOU GUYS KILL HER! WE WIN!”

Back up on stage, Lin Feng was grinning brightly. His first kill was Seo and his second Goalie. They were the ones he wanted to kill first. Now he could have fun with the rest from Team Guangzhou. He rolled his shoulder and took a long, deep breath. Lee is going to try and hit me with a Sonic Wave and then there’s Leona’s Zenith Blade that should be off cooldown. He moved his fingers across his keyboard, feeling the pressure of several keys in particular. E left, then hit S. Stop. Move back and dodge it all! He chuckled, waiting for the animation from Lee Sin’s Sonic Wave. There. He had his Riven dash towards the left with Valor. He then stopped and took a step right back. A solar image of Leona’s sword pierced the air where he just stood. Dodged it all!

“Holy fuck! Can you guys please hit a single skillshot!?” Team Guangzhou’s Toplaner exclaimed over the team’s voice chat. He breathed out in frustration. The healing field disappeared. The brief moment in which they held the advantage was quickly closing. They had to get Riven now! “Get him! Fucking get him already! MOVE!”

“I am! I am!” Team Guangzhou’s Jungler replied. But he didn’t have to move. Lin Feng’s Riven was already on top of him, hacking at him with her auto attacks. Each swipe, each stab, each cut took a surprisingly large nick out of his health bar. FuckFuckFuck! Why is she so strong? Why did Goalie have to feed her!? Where is Leona? Why isn’t she here already!? He glanced up the river where Leona was running from. Her Zenith Blade earlier had been from the maximum range. Fuck me!

Zhang Hao’s Dr. Mundo and Zeng Rui’s Morgana were also both still alive. Zeng Rui was blocking Leona from getting to Lin Feng, while Zhang Hao had his Dr. Mundo hurl Infected Cleavers at Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin. Team Guangzhou’s Toplaner looked at it and gritted his teeth. We can’t get Riven like this. He flicked his mouse over towards Morgana and mumbled, “Screw it! I’ll just get her!”

Lin Feng raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Fiora giving up on Lee Sin. “Well, that’s easy then,” he mumbled over the team’s voice chat, barely audible.

“I’ve got your back, bro!” Zhang Hao replied, laughing. He had his Dr. Mundo throw another Infected Cleaver at Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin, which applied a slow effect. “He can’t run away now! Get the kill!”

Lin Feng grinned and said, “Thanks, HaoBro! Knew I could count on you!” He glanced down at his skill bar. His ultimate had a long cooldown, but his other skills were counting down to the last few seconds or already available. He then looked at Fiora and Leona. I’m getting my penta! My penta! He grinned and clicked on Lee Sin one more time. Riven cut him down with her blade.

《Triple Kill!》

Su Xue had jumped to her feet after the first kill. Right now, she was dancing. Cheerleading for Lin Feng. She chanted into her microphone, “Win Feng! Win Feng! Who’s getting the penta? Win Feng! Win Feng!”

Zephyr laughed and added, “That dodge of the Sonic Wave and Zenith Blade was mad! Yeah, I’ll get on board with you!” He got up to his feet, followed in her rhythm, and shouted, “Win Feng! Win Feng!”

The speakers boomed his name across the venue. He was the hero of this game. The chant spread around the stands and it wasn’t long before everyone was shouting, “Win Feng! Win Feng! Who’s getting the penta? Win Feng! Win Feng!”

Team Guangzhou’s Fiora dodged a Dark Binding with Lunge, which was an impressive feat. But the audience didn’t seem to care. Nor did they change their tune when Team Guangzhou’s Leona slammed her Shield of Daybreak into Zeng Rui’s Morgana to stun her. Even when the voice announcer informed the fans that after killing Sejuani, Fiora picked up a second kill on Zeng Rui’s Morgana, no one cheered for her. They were all cheering for the Riven who was running up on Fiora from behind. The Riven who used the dash from Valor to close the distance, who used a Ki Burst to stun both Fiora and Leona and who stabbed and hacked away with a combination of auto attacks and Broken Wings casts to slay Fiora!

《Quadra Kill!》

“WHO’S GETTING THE PENTA?”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WHEN’S HE GETTING THE PENTA?”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

Team Guangzhou’s Leona had a big health bar and all her skills had some form of crowd control. She turned around and started running, hoping that would be enough to save her. And for a brief moment, she believed it would. Riven’s skills were on cooldown, so she didn’t catch up right away. But there was still Dr. Mundo. He threw an Infected Cleaver at her, and slowed her. Before the slow could break, another Infected Cleaver struck her. All the while, Lin Feng’s Riven caught up and started to hack at her armour.

Lin Feng grinned, his eyes shining brightly. His teammates were cheering him on over the voice chat. They all knew what was coming. He glanced down at his skill bar. Broken Wings was almost back off cooldown. Let’s end this in style! He chuckled and said over the team’s voice chat, “Thanks, HaoBro. I’ve got this now!”

“Roger!” Zhang Hao replied, laughing. He then stopped throwing Infected Cleavers at Leona.

Lin Feng pressed down on the Q key–Broken Wings! Riven swept out with her blade, shearing through Leona’s health bar! Before the animation ended, she already followed up with an auto attack. It was the famous animation cancellation! She then swept out with her blade for a second time and combined it again with an auto attack! Leona’s health bar dropped to single digits. “Broken …” Lin Feng shouted, laughing. Riven gripped her broken sword with both hands and leaped at Leona. “… WIIIIIIIINGS!”

《Penta Kill!》

“HE’S DONE IT! HE’S DONE IT! PENTA PENTA PENTAAAAAAA!” Su Xue squealed. She bounced up and down in excitement. She looked at Zephyr and then at the monitor showing Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. She quickly wiped a few tears from her eyes and then shouted, “He did it! Lin Feng really did it! He said he would, and he did! He really did!”

Zephyr watched the reaction from Su Xue, smiling. Feels good to cast a game like this, huh? He nodded and then placed his microphone against his lips. He shouted, “And that’s an ace for Team Shanghai! What a teamfight! From looking lost to a penta kill! A PENTA KILL! WOOOOOOOOOO, WIN FENG!

✹

Coach Yin from Team Guangzhou fell back into his chair. He stared at the large LCD screen above the stage, at the replay of the teamfight. His team started the fight exactly right. They were getting back into the game and were at a point where they could take a fight on their terms. And that was how this fight had looked. They got the jump on Team Shanghai’s ad-carry and pinned down Team Shanghai’s Jungler. From there it should’ve been an easy fight. They should’ve cleaned up. H-how… How did we lose that? How did it turn out so poorly?

The replay focused on Lin Feng’s Riven as she ran around the Red Buff Camp, past the Wraith Camp and into the river. That. That’s where it went wrong. Coach Yin shook his head in disbelief. How is that Riven this good? It shouldn’t… I scouted across the world for the best players in this age bracket and found Goalie! I personally visited him and convinced him to join our project! He was supposed to be the best! He was the best! How… Where… Where did this Lin Feng come from? Who is he? He turned his head just far enough to look at Team Shanghai’s spot in the player seating area. Chu Fang, Chu Fang… Where did you find him? How did you keep him hidden? Who is he? Who!?

Chu Fang didn’t notice Coach Yin looking at him. His undivided attention was focused on the large LCD screen. More specifically, on Maple. This brings me back all the way to Season 1. The way I always got so nervous watching him play! How he made my heart race and how he made me wish for him to kick ass! And then he does! He always does! This is so amazing to watch! I get to see him rise up the ranks again! I get to see the legend of Maple firsthand! I’m there! And he’s getting there again too! If he plays like this… Screw this tournament, he’s right back up there with Rake! He clenched his fists and mumbled, “I can’t wait to see how far you’ll go this time!”

✹

Lin Feng hit the recall button and then looked around him at his teammates. He grinned brightly, searching for their compliments. He finally exclaimed, “Ha! My Riven is still so good!”

“You got the penta! You got the damn penta!” Zhang Hao replied, laughing in disbelief. “I can’t believe it! You turned that right around and got the penta!”

Tang Bingyao tilted her head to look at Lin Feng and smiled. She said, “Mhm! That was really amazing!”

Zeng Rui mumbled through gritted teeth, “Yeah. Grats.”

“Grats? What are we congratulating him for!?” An Xin asked. She raised her eyebrows and continued, “What did he turn around? If he didn’t go for a stroll through their Jungle, we would’ve won that fight from the start!”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and replied, “Well, eh, you see, we won! Right? We won the teamfight and I got the penta! Who cares about the specifics? I got my penta!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and said, “Just don’t do anything stupid for the next few minutes so that we can win the game!” She then turned her head to look at Lin Feng, caught his eye, and smiled. She mouthed, “Good job.”

“BunBun is right,” Zeng Rui said. He looked at his teammates and continued, “We should finish this one. Let’s take Baron and then push.”

Team Shanghai didn’t have to worry about Team Guangzhou stealing Baron Nashor from them. Most players from Team Guangzhou were still dead when Team Shanghai engaged the large, purple wurm. The Baron buff boosted the stats from Team Shanghai’s Champions, widening the gap with Team Guangzhou even further. And on top of that, the Baron Buff also buffed nearby minions.

Zeng Rui took on his role as shotcaller again. He guided Team Shanghai to the bot lane where they took the inner tower. Then he had Zhang Hao’s Dr. Mundo split push in top while the rest stayed in bot to lay siege on the inhibitor tower. Team Guangzhou was powerless to stop them. The inhibitor tower and inhibitor in bot lane were the first to fall, quickly followed by those in the top lane. Super minions spawned from the Blue Nexus and marched to Team Guangzhou’s base.

An army of Blue minions led by Super minions battered Team Guangzhou’s base, while the five Champions from Team Shanghai aced Team Guangzhou one final time. There was no suspense to the fight. It was a stomp in its truest form. The Nexus towers were the next to fall. Everyone then shifted their focus towards the Nexus itself. Its health dropped quickly until the first cracks showed on the large crystal. The energy contained within slammed against it and broke out moments later. It twisted and spun in midair before morphing into the victory emblem.

VICTORY!

Five Champions stood at the outer boundary of their base. The players from Team Guangzhou were all looking at their team captain, waiting for his word. Goalie looked at his minimap and grumbled. Everything was going wrong, and just when they needed to scale a bit more to win this game, Team Shanghai forced their hand again. He said through gritted teeth, “We fight.”

Team Guangzhou moved into action, bringing all the wards they could carry. Seo and Goalie also bought two scrying orbs. The first was used to reveal the Baron pit. It confirmed Team Shanghai hadn’t yet started fighting the strongest boss monster. The second scrying orb was used to gain intel on the top side of the Jungle, near the Wraith Camp. It exposed Morgana and Sejuani, who started retreating.

Goalie said over the team’s voice chat, “We push. Leona, vision ward here …” he pinged on the brush that connected most of the top side Jungle with the mid lane. “… and ward here, here and there.” He continued pinging on the top side Jungle, pointing out every brush and nook he wanted vision on. All the while, Leona had her Oracle Lens active, revealing the wards from Team Shanghai which the others from Team Guangzhou destroyed.

Goalie watched his minimap and panned his camera around the map. We need to play this right. It’s still a bit early, but if we play this right… We just need to get that Riven down fast. He took a long, deep breath and then said in broken Chinese over the team’s voice chat, “Leona no exhaust. No fight her. Drag, drag, drag!” He then turned his head to look at Seo and continued in Korean, “I want you to stay back. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get damage off at the start of it. We just need to make sure Riven doesn’t get that initial jump on you. From there I trust you can outplay them all?”

Seo nodded, glaring at his monitor. He replied, “I can and I will!” He ground his teeth and clenched his fists. I’m gonna get the stupid Kalista bitch first and then that Jungler one. I don’t care what her Champion is! Their team sucks! They all fucking suck! Suck! SUCK! SUCK–

“Remember! Biggest threat Riven!” Goalie reminded everyone over the team’s voice chat. He explained, “She damage, others not. I kill Kalista.”

✹

Zephyr shifted around in his seat at the caster desk, nervous. Excited. He leaned towards his microphone and said, “Team Guangzhou has come out of their base! And like I predicted, Team Guangzhou is quite strong! Team Shanghai agrees and decides to give up control over Team Guangzhou’s top side Jungle!”

“Not exactly,” Su Xue replied. She pointed at the bot lane and continued, “Team Shanghai still has Dr. Mundo pushing the bot lane. Of course they aren’t engaging a 4vs5! Just wait until Team Guangzhou has to respond to the Dr. Mundo!”

Zephyr looked at the minimap and smiled. He grabbed his microphone and said, “This is gonna be good! Fiora is meeting Mundo in the bot lane! Both Champions have their Teleport up! It’s gonna be a game of who is the better Teleporter! This could be the game-deciding teamfight and it looks like it’s all going to come down to who gets the drop on the other team with a brilliant Teleport!”

Su Xue nodded with her eyebrows raised. “True, true,” she said. “Very possible. Yes. Or, and hear me out here, this fight will be won by the best player! I won’t be naming names, but I’m foreseeing a certain player winning this fight all by him…– er, or herself!”

“Now that! That would be something to watch!” Zephyr exclaimed, laughing.

✹

An Xin pressed the Tab key and looked through the most recent item upgrades on Team Guangzhou’s Champions. She then said over the team’s voice chat, “Lin Feng, don’t engage this one. Vayne’s got a Quicksilver Sash. She’ll just cleanse your stun. Let us engage first.”

“Don’t worry! Don’t worry!” Lin Feng replied, laughing. He scratched the back of his head and continued, “I was planning to just jump their backline and kill them all! And I don’t really care if Vayne has a QSS or not… I’ve got Flash and Ignite! He isn’t surviving!”

An Xin shook her head and rolled her eyes, then turned to look at Tang Bingyao and continued, “Tang Tang, I need you to be careful too. Fizz or Fiora is going to jump on you. Save your ultimate for when that happens. Be ready to outplay them. Just that bit more and then you can rest your finger a bit, okay?”

Tang Bingyao nodded and replied, “Mhm! Okay!”

An Xin looked past Tang Bingyao at Zeng Rui and was about to give him his tasks, when he beat her to it. He said over the team’s voice chat, “I’ll do my best to keep my Black Shield ready for Riven. We can’t lose her.”

Zhang Hao looked at his teammates, his Dr. Mundo farming in the bot lane, and suggested, “If you guys get a few deep wards back up, I’ll try and Teleport behind them. Once I get their attention, Lin Feng can jump in and win the fight!”

“I like the sound of that!” An Xin replied, nodding. She then turned her head to look at Lin Feng and asked, “What do you think? Easy enough right? Hack sword, get kills, win fight. Even a goldfish like you can do that!”

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and breathed in, staring at his monitor. We’ve played around long enough! I’m going to make those guys remember my promise to them! No one will remember who they are! He grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “No worries! Penta kill coming right up!”

《The Blue Team has destroyed a Turret!》

“Nice work, Zhang Hao!” An Xin exclaimed. She smiled and added, “Just keep pushing to the inner tower now! See how far you can get!”

Zhang Hao nodded and replied, “Yeah! But I can’t really push the next tower. Fiora is there and I can’t lose too much health towerdiving her or I won’t be able to come around later… I think I’ll just throw cleavers at her from outside tower range. Be a nuisance and all!”

“Mm-mhm,” Lin Feng replied, though he wasn’t really listening to Zhang Hao. He was slowly entering the zone. The scrying orb Team Guangzhou had used earlier had dropped a ward inside the Baron Pit. He used the first two casts from Broken Wings to move towards it and destroy it. Then he moved to the wall at the far back of the Baron pit and activated the third cast from Broken Wings. His Riven leaped over the wall and hacked down on the Jungle ground beyond!

Summoner’s Rift appeared inside Lin Feng’s mind. A perfect visual representation. He glanced at the minimap and filled in where Team Shanghai’s Champions were, and then what he knew about Team Guangzhou. Fiora is in bot. Then we’ve got Leona and Lee trying to get vision at the river entrance right below the Baron pit. They can only do that if Fizz is nearby for protection. Vayne can’t be too far away either, probably back a bit… Hmm, she’s doing the Wraith Camp. A bit of extra gold and it’s right next to the river entrance.

An Xin glanced at Lin Feng and noticed the focus with which he was staring at his monitor. She asked, “Are you seeing a flank?”

“No,” Lin Feng replied. He shook his head and explained, “They’re playing it really safe. If I go in right now, you guys won’t be able to follow up in time. And 1vs4 is suicidal, even for me!” He continued scanning the river and the top side Jungle. He tried out possibilities in his mind and considered their chances of success. Wait. Wait. He panned his camera over the Red Buff Camp and scrunched his eyebrows. He asked, “Anyone know if they warded Red?”

Zeng Rui frowned and said, “You want to go all the way around there? That’s even further away from us! How are we supposed to follow up on that?” He shook his head and pinged on the Jungle entrance where Lee Sin and Leona were. He continued, “If we start pushing them here, they’ll know something is up. They’re going to be searching for you. It won’t work.”

“No, no! It’s fine! Don’t worry about pushing!” Lin Feng replied. He laughed and said, “I’ll engage. You guys just follow up from there!”

“Wowowow! Look at Riven! What’s she doing there!?”

“Haha! What the fuck! He’s gone sightseeing in Team Guangzhou’s Jungle!”

“Holy shit! She’s going for the flank! That’s sick if she can pull it off!”

“No way that’s gonna work. She’s far too deep! What’s she thinking!?”

“When Team Guangzhou sees her, they can just switch to her… This ain’t gonna work…”

“Fuck me, what a waste! They could’ve just done a 5vs5 and won it!”

“Oh boy, oh boy!” Zephyr exclaimed. He pushed his microphone against his lips and said, “Look at that Riven! Some balls she’s got! But you know something? I think it’s brilliant! Team Guangzhou has been trying to get wards in their Jungle, but they’ve had to prioritize a path towards the Baron pit and that brush Riven is in is really out of the way! They’ve got no idea she’s in there! Imagine if Vayne goes there to ward it! That’d be game over!”

Su Xue clenched her fists and mumbled, “Do it, Lin Feng! Get them!” She then reached for her microphone and said, “Just imagine a Riven suddenly jumping your backline from behind you! This is totally gonna work!”

“Eeeh,” Zephyr replied, hesitating. He shook his head and explained, “I don’t know. I can think about two clear problems. First off, Riven is way too far away from her teammates. If Team Guangzhou gets the engage… Well, you get the idea. On top of that, Team Guangzhou is going to realize Riven is missing. It’s pretty damn obvious she isn’t with the rest of her team.”

✹

Goalie moved his lips around, panning his camera across the river. Where’s Riven? We haven’t seen her… Last we saw of her, she cleared the ward in the Baron pit… He narrowed his eyes and moved his camera towards the Baron pit. You can jump the wall and then you can go to the Red Buff Camp and continue to flank us… He chuckled and shook his head. Yeah, you’re that kind of player. Alright, two can play that game! You wanna circle behind us? Let’s make you completely irrelevant! He ordered over the team’s voice chat, “Go in! ENGAGE!”

Fiora retreated just far enough behind her inner tower so that Zhang Hao’s Dr. Mundo didn’t have vision on her. She then panned her camera to a ward that was placed inside Team Shanghai’s top side Jungle and started teleporting towards it. A red pillar of light descended on the ward which was in Team Shanghai’s fog of war!

Zephyr jumped to his feet and leaned over the desk, leaning on it with one hand and clutching the microphone with the other. He shouted, “Fiora is getting the flank! Team Shanghai hasn’t got a clue!”

“See!? Told you so! Riven is way out of position! Now Team Guangzhou easily wins this!”

“Mundo doesn’t know! He isn’t teleporting! Oh my god, MUNDO! MUNDO! TP!”

“This is going to be a 5vs3! Shit! I’m almost feeling bad for Team Shanghai!”

“They’re gonna lose this one because of Riven! Feels fucking bad man!”

“Gg to Team Guangzhou! We’ve got ourselves a series!”

“Kalista! Kalista! Kalista!” Goalie ordered over Team Guangzhou’s voice chat.

Team Guangzhou’s Leona suddenly flashed into the river and pointed her sword up at the sky, calling down a Solar Flare! The beam of light slammed down on top of Tang Bingyao’s Kalista and An Xin’s Sejuani, stunning them both!

Lee Sin hopped to a ward in the river with Safeguard and then struck out with his fist–Sonic Wave! A pressurized blast of air shot forward and struck Sejuani! Resonating Strike! He dashed at Sejuani and gave her a swift kick!

Goalie’s Fizz was too far away from the fight, so he flashed forward to bridge the gap. He followed up with Chum the Waters! Fizz threw out a small fish that struck Kalista! It started swimming around her, a portal to the deep opening up beneath her! A shadow moved in the depths of the water.

Zeng Rui warned over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang! Go mid! Fiora is behind us! Escape mid!” He stopped thinking about protecting Lin Feng’s Riven and started worrying about helping Tang Bingyao survive. He had his Morgana cast her Black Shield on Tang Bingyao’s Kalista and then ordered, “Zhang Hao! Teleport!”

“Coming!” Zhang Hao replied. He stopped walking and teleported to the ward closest to Tang Bingyao’s Kalista. Any plan about finding a flank was gone out of the window. The only important thing right now was to make sure that Tang Bingyao’s Kalista survived the initial engage.

Tang Bingyao waited for the fish from Fizz’s Chum the Waters to hit her. She then activated her Quicksilver Sash! A cleansing light wrapped around Kalista and both broke the stun from Leona’s Solar Flare as well as freed her from the fish! She then followed Zeng Rui’s orders, running towards the mid lane.

“Kalista broke free from everything!” Su Xue exclaimed into her microphone. She sat up a bit straighter and continued, “She had the QSS and broke free! But Fiora is still behind her! She’s coming from behind! This is bad! This is all kinds of bad for Team Shanghai!”

“WOOOO! SHE’S STILL DEAD!”

“GET HER, FIORA!”

“COME ON, KALISTA!”

Zeng Rui flicked his mouse towards Team Guangzhou’s Morgana and tapped the Q key. A Dark Binding conjured from dark magic struck Fiora and rooted her! Zeng Rui then shouted, “Run, Tang Tang, run!”

Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin and Fizz were right on top of An Xin’s Sejuani. She didn’t think, just smashed the R key! Glacial Prison! Sejuani threw a True Ice bola at the two from Team Guangzhou. It struck Lee Sin and froze him in place. But Goalie had cast Playful just in time for his Fizz to hop on top of his trident and use the brief moment of invincibility to dodge both the effects and the damage of the Glacial Prison!

“He dodged it! He dodged it!” Zephyr screamed into his microphone. “I can’t believe it! He dodged it!”

“Those reflexes! DAMN!”

“HOW!? HOW!?”

“That was… WOW!”

Goalie stared at his monitor, unblinking. Focused. You first, Kalista. He watched Tang Bingyao’s Kalista Flash away from him, very much like he expected. It was what he’d been waiting for before casting the second half of his E skill. Trickster! His Fizz hopped off his trident towards Tang Bingyao’s Kalista! He followed up with Urchin Strike, dashing through her and stabbing at her with his trident! He then cast Ignite on Kalista, the unquenchable flames blazing to life on her skin, before activating his last remaining skill. Seastone Trident! An aura wrapped around his trident and boosted its power!

An Xin barreled forward with Arctic Assault, trying to reach Tang Bingyao’s Kalista and help her survive. But in her rush, she paid no attention to Seo’s Vayne appearing in the river, not her position right next to the Jungle wall. A thick, massive bolt slammed into her, knocked her off her feet and then pinned her to the wall. She was stunned!

“Team Shanghai is getting destroyed!” Zephyr exclaimed. He shook his head, incredulous, and continued, “They’re getting torn apart! They’ve looked so good all game, but this fight is all about Team Guangzhou! They’ve practically won already!”

Su Xue bit on her lips and nodded. She said into her microphone, “Hmm. It was a good engage by Team Guangzhou. A 5vs3. There isn’t much Team Shanghai can do to stop that. Dr. Mundo just arrived. But I don’t see that changing much either… Lin Feng, where are you?”

Zeng Rui wasn’t shotcalling like he usually did. This fight wasn’t his. He hadn’t come up with the tactic, nor with the scenarios in case of a fallout. He was in the dark, unsure of what to do. An Xin glanced at him and saw him struggle. She grimaced and then said over the team’s voice chat, “Zhang Hao, pin Fiora down! Good! Zeng Rui, you, stop trying to help Tang Tang. She’s dead. Focus on their backline. Lock down what you can. Damage control. Damage control!” She finally turned her head to look at Lin Feng and urged, “Lin Feng, I need you to hurry! It’s almost too late!”

“Almost there!” Lin Feng replied, grinning. He had his Riven run past the Wraith Camp towards the river. The players from Team Guangzhou were just ahead of him, not paying any attention to him at all. He pressed the R key to activate Blade of the Exile! Green, runic energy burst from Riven’s body! It coated her skin, boosting her stats, and reforged her broken blade! Lin Feng then locked onto Seo, his grin broadening. He lightly tapped the keys with his left and tightened his hold on the mouse, mumbling, “We’ve only just begun!”

Lin Feng hummed to the rhythm of Riven’s boots hitting the mossy grass of the Jungle. To his left was a Camp of wolves, to his right the big Blue Sentinel. And straight ahead of him, past the confines of the Jungle and into the bot lane, stood a lone brush. Five more seconds till I get him. He grinned. Oh Vay-ayne! Come out, come out wherever you are! He clicked on the brush and then tapped on the Q key for the first cast of Broken Wings!

Riven swept out with her broken blade, covering a slightly larger distance than she did running. A wave of minions marched her way from Red team’s inner tower. She ignored them and went straight for the brush. When she was only a couple of steps away from it, she cast Blade of the Exile! Green, runic energy erupted from her body! It coated her skin, boosting her stats, and it reforged her blade! She followed up with the second cast from Broken Wings, swiping out with her blade and arriving at the brush.

Seo watched death approaching. Hopeless. His anger turned into rage and reached such levels that there wasn’t a clear thought left in his head. Darkness played at the edge of his vision and his heart kept slamming against his ribcage. He jabbed at the E key, making his Vayne pull the large crossbow from her back and squeezing the trigger. A thick, massive bolt pierced Riven and pushed her back. But there was no wall or structure behind her, nothing to pin her to. She dashed straight back at him with Valor. He jabbed at his keyboard harder, more frantic.

Lin Feng’s Riven raised her sword and shrieked, “Ki Burst!” Energy seeped out from her feet and shot out around her! It grabbed onto Vayne’s feet and locked her in position! Riven followed up with Wind Slash into the third cast from Broken Wings! A sharp wave of energy cut through Vayne right as Riven hacked down on Vayne and knocked her up! She then continued with an auto attack, and another.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Zephyr shook his head and said into his microphone, “There was no escaping that. Riven is so fed. It’s ridiculous how much damage she does. Even Flash wouldn’t have saved Vayne there.”

“Mm-mhm! Mm-mhm!” Su Xue agreed, nodding. She then added, “But it’s not the damage part that was impressive here. It was finding the opportunity that was impressive! Lin Feng knew just when to roam through Team Guangzhou’s Jungle to get to Seo before his Vayne could complete the recall! That’s really good timing!”

✹

Summoner’s Rift had the Dragon and Baron Nashor, and this game also Riven. Lin Feng’s Riven was levels ahead of everyone else and he also had more items than anyone else. Team Guangzhou knew they had to stay far away from him if they held any hopes of turning this game around and winning it. That was precisely what Goalie explained to his teammates. He forbade them to fight Riven and instructed them to look for opportunities to catch the other members, those not fed, out of position.

At 19 minutes, Tang Bingyao had her Kalista run to the mid lane to catch a wave of minions for some extra gold and experience. She didn’t have vision on Goalie’s Fizz, but believed she was close enough to her outer tower in case he did appear. She underestimated Fizz’s speed and damage.

Goalie’s Fizz charged into the lane and activated his ultimate–Chum the Waters! A fish struck Tang Bingyao’s Kalista and started swimming around her, a portal to the deep opening up beneath her feet. Fizz followed up with Playful into Trickster, pole vaulting to cross the gap between him and Kalista. He then targeted Kalista with Urchin Strike, dashing through her and piercing her with his trident!

The portal to the deep opened wide enough for Megalodon to jump up and take a bite out of Kalista! Seo’s Fizz stood at the edge of the portal, his trident glowing from the effects of Seastone Trident! He jabbed at Kalista, each empowered attack shearing away at her health bar!

《You have slain an enemy!》

Tang Bingyao looked at her dull grey screen and slowly shook her head. She mumbled over the team’s voice chat, “My bad. I thought I could get away…”

At 19:30 minutes, Zeng Rui’s Morgana was moving through the bottom half of the river, placing down wards. He glanced at his minimap and searched for where Team Guangzhou’s Champions were. Fizz is still mid and their Jungler is top. I should be fine to place a ward in their Blue Buff Camp. If I can just get it in the brush next to it… He glanced at the mid lane again, then had his Morgana slip into Red team’s bottom side Jungle.

Seo had spotted Zeng Rui’s Morgana placing wards, and smiled. The clouds of swirling darkness in his mind spread apart just far enough for him to find that singular sparkle of light. An opportunity; a chance to get back into this game. He had his Vayne hide in the brush next to the Blue Buff Camp and waited for Zeng Rui’s Morgana to go too deep. They always do.

Zeng Rui kept glancing at his minimap, double and triple checking that no one was moving in his direction. Nothing showed a potential collapse on him. So he pushed onwards, deeper into Red team’s Jungle until he was right in front of the brush next to the Blue Buff Camp. He breathed out, relieved, and placed down the ward. It revealed Vayne. Zeng Rui’s eyes grew wide and round and he mumbled, “Shit!”

Seo’s Vayne Tumbled to the side, dodging Morgana’s Dark Binding. He then made full use of his Vayne’s passive skill that boosted his movement speed while chasing an enemy to run after Morgana. He grinned. Yeah, you use that Black Shield! Good, good. I’ll just wait it out. No worries. You can’t get away from me! Yes, yes! Cast your Soul Shackles! Do it! He had his Vayne stop running as the Soul Shackles flew his way. They only reached so far around Morgana. All he had to do was let the distance between them grow a bit, just enough to make the magical shackles miss him, and then he continued the chase–his boosted movement speed allowing him to catch back up to her.

Silver bolts struck Zeng Rui’s Morgana. Every third was followed by an explosion of true damage. Zeng Rui’s Morgana ran into the river. Team Shanghai’s bot lane outer tower was destroyed, but the one in the mid lane was still up. So he took a right in the river and ran up, shouting over the team’s voice chat, “Help! Help!” But there was no one around to help him. Tang Bingyao’s Kalista had died in mid and An Xin was on the wrong side of the map.

Seo’s Vayne caught up to Morgana and then passed by her, just enough to get the angle. There was the wall from the Dragon pit behind Morgana. Vayne raised the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. The thick, massive bolt pinned Morgana to the wall. Another round of silver bolts followed.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Sun Ruinian from Zhejiang University watched the large LCD screen and shook his head. The fans behind him were cheering for their team from Guangzhou and the casters were further boosting the hype. All of them were focused on the kill and how Seo had dodged the Dark Binding and kept his Condemn until the Black Shield wore off. But there was something else entirely that kept Sun Ruinian’s attention. His mechanics are great, no doubt. He is a Korean Challenger. But his awareness. To know to wait in that brush there. That’s difficult to deal with. He nodded and said to no one in particular, “This guy… Seo… We can’t underestimate him.”

✹

Zephyr reached for his microphone and said, “That’s now twice in as many minutes that Team Guangzhou catches Team Shanghai out of position! All the while staying far away from Riven! I have to say, the game is getting closer. If this happens another time or two, we’ll find it back to even.” He briefly paused to glance at the statistics and then continued, “We’ve basically got Riven versus Fizz and Vayne. Kalista is kind of useless at this point. If Fizz and Vayne get scale a bit more, we’ve got ourselves a real series!”

“Except…” Su Xue replied. “I don’t think Kalista is all that useless. Sure she got caught there and she isn’t as fed as Riven or Fizz or Vayne. But that doesn’t make her useless! If Team Guangzhou focuses all their attention on Riven, she’ll still be doing a ton of damage to them!”

“Right. If,” Zephyr agreed.

Down in the player seating area, Yin Wei from Team Guangzhou leaned back in his seat. For the first time in this series, he felt in control. His two Korean imports were getting kills and their only opposition was a fed Riven. He smiled wickedly. It’s just the Riven, like the caster-guy said! Goalie and Seo versus that stupid kid from Shanghai! This is going to be our win! There is no way those two lose to that kid! They’ll catch up and surpass him and then all those kills your stupid Riven has won’t mean anything! My team is going to win this game and the next two! We’re going to the quarterfinals and you can go back on your plane and go home!

✹

Zeng Rui said through gritted teeth, “I knew something was off. But I couldn’t see it… Sorry guys, my bad. We really can’t let that Vayne get much stronger.”

“My bad too,” Tang Bingyao added over the team’s voice chat. “I really thought I could get away faster, but it’s just…” She bit on her lips and sucked back the tears gathering at her eyes. A lump filled her throat. I have to tell them. I can’t play three more games… She continued, “My… My pinky. It hurts. I don’t know if I can…”

An Xin looked at the minimap and saw Team Guangzhou moving towards the Dragon pit. She glanced at Lin Feng who was staring intently at his screen. He can carry this. She nodded at herself and then said over the team’s voice chat, “Don’t worry, Tang Tang. Don’t worry. Don’t strain yourself. If it doesn’t go, it doesn’t go. Until then, we’re going to end this game asap. Right, Lin Feng?”

《Red Team has slain the Dragon!》

Lin Feng panned his camera down to look at the Dragon pit. The players from Team Guangzhou were walking away from it. He narrowed his eyes and replied, “Yeah. Let’s end this. We’ll force this. Hmm, Okay! Help me push top!” He pinged on the inner tower in the top lane, while he had his Riven sneak into Team Guangzhou’s top side Jungle and towards the brush right next to the Red Buff Camp.

An Xin and Zhang Hao responded to Lin Feng’s pings. They pushed through the top tower and marched together with the minions towards the inner tower. The plan was simple. Get the towers in exchange for the Dragon. And if Team Guangzhou tried to defend it by running towards the inner tower, they’d run past Lin Feng.

“Oooh!” Zephyr exclaimed at the caster desk. He looked at his monitor that showed the game in spectator mode. He saw exactly where everyone from Team Shanghai and Team Guangzhou was. More specifically, he saw four players from Team Guangzhou recalling back to base to run to their top lane from there, while Lee Sin was running through the top side Jungle to the top lane.

Su Xue smiled and said into her microphone, “That’s gonna be a kill! Calling it right now! Lin Feng is going to get another one!”

Coach Yin from Team Guangzhou hit himself on the head, repeatedly. “God dammit! You stupid noob! Place a ward! Throw a Q! Don’t go into the damn brush blind! You can’t see what’s in there! STOP RUNNING! DON’T– Oh my god. You learned nothing…”

Team Guangzhou’s Lee Sin ran through the Jungle and straight into the brush that Lin Feng was hiding in. In his hurry, he wasn’t even looking at his Lee Sin. His camera was focused on the top inner tower. His screen suddenly flashed Red and his teammates started barking at him over the voice chat. He hit Spacebar, centering his camera on his Lee Sin, and saw Riven hack away the last of his health.

《You have been slain.》

Team Guangzhou’s Jungler stared at his dull grey monitor, embarrassed. Humiliated. He’d made such a rookie mistake. An unforgivable error. He said through gritted teeth, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have… If I’d…–”

“Shut it!” Goalie interrupted. He looked at the Jungle and forced long, deep breaths. Riven didn’t need to use anything there. And they’ve got Mundo and Sejuani to attack the tower. Those two are so tanky that they can just towerdive us. The three of them are just far stronger and then there’s the crowd control from Riven and Sejuani… We can’t fight them. We just can’t… He shook his head and said in broken Chinese, “We retreat. Base.”

Lin Feng’s Riven moved through the Jungle and came out behind Team Guangzhou’s inner tower. Zhang Hao’s Dr. Mundo and An Xin’s Sejuani barreled into tower range from the other side. They were pretending to engage on Team Guangzhou, and it had the desired effect. Team Guangzhou retreated fast, giving away their tower, giving away an important game objective which would allow Team Shanghai to close out the game faster.

Zephyr said into his microphone, “That was a good disengage from Team Guangzhou. The Condemn from Vayne probably saved his life! Just… I find it strange that Riven didn’t use her ultimate. Neither did Sejuani. Dr. Mundo is the only one who did and his ultimate has such a short cooldown that it’ll be up before the next fight anyway!”

“Yeah, I’m thinking this was all planned,” Su Xue agreed. She looked at the monitor showing the game and continued, “Look how they made Fiora Flash and Leona burn her Exhaust. Those are long cooldown skills. Team Shanghai really got the most out of this without wasting any cooldowns basically. It’s a really cool play if you ask me!”

✹

“Nice work,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. His Morgana had respawned on the fountain and he was now looking around the map, searching for their next objective. He eventually continued, “I think we maybe should attack bot lane next. I don’t think we can attack their inhibitor towers yet.”

“Why not?” Zhang Hao asked. He turned his head to look at Zeng Rui and continued, “You think it won’t be enough with my ultimate? I can tank that tower for days! We just need Lin Feng to kill them all and he won’t need days! Seconds will be enough for him!”

“No,” Zeng Rui replied. He shook his head and explained, “Two reasons. One. They’ve got Vayne. He can meld through your health bar. The tower might not be scary to you, but that Vayne definitely is! And two. Vayne has Condemn. Leona has two stuns. Lee Sin has his Dragon’s Rage. They all have skills that can limit Lin Feng’s movements. At the outer and inner towers, that comes less into play because there’s more room to maneuver. But the inhibitor tower has far less room and more walls to think about! Lin Feng will just get perma CC’d and killed if we dive.”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Mhm. But what do we do then?”

Zeng Rui smiled and replied, “Like I said, I think bot–”

“Baron! That’s it! We’re doing Baron!” Lin Feng interrupted. He grinned and continued, “We’ll force them to come and stop us, because with Baron they can’t defend their base. And when they come, I’ll penta them!”

An Xin giggled and said, “I like the sound of that.”

Zeng Rui felt the faint twitching of his eyelid. I’m the shotcaller! Me! Dammit! DAMMIT! He gritted his teeth. Why does his plan have to make more sense…? Why didn’t I decide on it…? He shook his head and agreed, “That might be better, yeah. You’re… You’re right.”

✹

The players from Team Shanghai all recalled back to base. Zhang Hao had his Dr. Mundo running down the bot lane to split-push. The goal was to drag attention away from Baron Nashor while the rest of the team set up vision there. And in case he was needed, he had his Teleport available and could join them in seconds. The others all bought wards and vision wards and started warding the entire top half of the map.

“They’re planning to force Baron! They have to be!” Zephyr said into his microphone. “It’s such a bold move! But it makes sense! They can’t push the base, so they’re going to force Team Guangzhou to leave their base! Shit! The more I think about it, the more sense it makes! What a brilliant move by Team Shanghai!”

Su Xue nodded and chimed in, “If they get the Baron, they win the game! There’s no way Team Guangzhou can stop them when they’ve got the Baron Buff!” She clenched her fists under the caster table and mouthed, “Come on, Lin Feng! Finish this! I know you can!”

“There’s only one thing that Team Shanghai needs to keep in mind,” Zephyr continued. “And that’s that Team Guangzhou isn’t as far behind as they were a couple of minutes ago. Fizz and Vayne are both big threats damage-wise, while Team Shanghai only really has Riven. Sure, they’ve got some tanky units in Sejuani and Dr. Mundo, but beyond that? I don’t know, EveningSnowfall. I think Team Guangzhou might actually win this one if they play it well.”

Su Xue chuckled and replied, “Fat chance.”