Thornmail. A defensive item in League of Legends that had high armour and reflected a portion of the physical damage dealt to the Champion. It was the single, most important item of this game. Riven. Basically no damage, but still physical! Yasuo. A little bit more damage and also physical! Vayne. Slightly fed. A lot of damage. Most of it, again, physical. Every single Champion on the Red team was high on physical damage. It was a tactic that could do wonders in the early game but would also blow up in a team’s face if it reached the late game. In this game, Nasus was similar to a normal late game Champion by minute 15. It got to the point where he could 1vs5 the Red team.

There was no crowd control in the world that could stop Lin Feng’s Nasus anymore. He whacked a minion to the next life, and then another, constantly building up the stacks of his Siphoning Strike. There was no maximum to the amount of stacks he could get. So he whacked and he whacked, monsters and minions alike from 100 to 0. There was no skill involved anymore. All he did was run around, sometimes with Ghost, and whack anything he could whack with his cane. And when a player from the Red team was stupid enough to get in his way, he would just have to whack twice.

If the Red team wanted to turn this game around and win, they would have to look beyond just the game. There were no fair ways to turn this around. The only way to stop this Nasus was by getting him to disconnect. An attack on his internet connection, or maybe attacking the entire Korean client. Whatever worked to have this game end. Because if they played it to the end, the Blue team would win. It was that simple.

Zeal knew this, as did Ron. The two players from Hydralisk sat behind their computers next to each other, playing. Searching, frantic, for a way to win this game. At 24 minutes, Zeal was trying to get some farm in his Jungle. A costly mistake. He ran straight into the Elise. She was busy killing a monster camp. He wasn’t going to stick around to try and compete. So he pressed on the F key–Flash! His Vayne flashed away towards Red team’s base.

However, before Zeal could get back to base, a ward lit up with a pillar of light. Teleport. It could only be one Champion. Nasus. There was nowhere Zeal could go. Behind him was the Elise and in front of him the Nasus. The Nasus that cast Wither on his Vayne. The Nasus that threw down a ring of Spirit Fire and lowered his Vayne’s armour and magic resistance. The Nasus who raised his cane and then slammed down on his Vayne. He turned around. Maybe I can take the Elise down with me… It was a fool’s errand. The Elise had Rappel. She could jump up high in the sky and stay there for a couple of seconds. Seconds the Nasus could use to kill the Vayne. But it never got that far. Before Zeal could get to the Elise, Nasus’ cane came down on him again.

《You have been slain!》

“FUCK!” Zeal raged, slamming his fist down on the desk. His screen was grey. Again. “This fucking shit Riven! If she hadn’t fed this stupid Nasus, I would’ve… God fucking shit!” He gritted his teeth and slammed on the ENTER key. Then he started typing, and backspacing, and typing again.

“Stop, Zeal. We can’t win this,” Ron said, sighing. He shook his head and added, “Let’s just move on to the next game.”

“You want to surrender?” Zeal asked, surprised. He forgot about his anger at the Riven for a second and turned to his teammate. His friend. “You want to surrender in a Platinum game? A Platinum game!”

✹

Lin Feng had his Nasus run towards Baron. He’d just killed Vayne, the only player on the Red team who was a little strong after picking up some kills in the early game. Then he turned to Su Xue and said, “See? Easy! We can Baron now! Then we can just storm down mid and end the game! Man, I’m playing so good!”

Su Xue didn’t really listen to Lin Feng. Her eyes were on the screen. The Vayne was spending an awful lot of time on the fountain. Su Xue loved seeing this, especially after his big words at the start of the game. She was beaming as she said, “Haha! Sweet! Serves that Vayne right for talking so much smack at the start of the game! Hey, Lin Feng, Lin Feng…” she tugged at his arm, “… go type something back in chat!”

“Sure!” Lin Feng replied. He hit the ENTER key and was about to type something in all chat, but paused. He hesitated, then scratched his head. “Uhm. What do I say?”

A silence fell over the room. They both wanted to say something witty, something funny, something so brilliantly stupid that it would make the Vayne erupt. But they couldn’t think of anything. Nothing came to mind. And then, in chat, a message appeared from the system. Four players on the Red team had agreed to a surrender vote. That was enough to surrender, but the fifth still had to make their choice. Su Xue’s eyes went wide. She pulled on Lin Feng’s arm and urged, “Hurry! Write something before the surrender goes through!”

“Uhh, ok.” Lin Feng shook his head trying to think, then wrote the first thing that popped up in his mind:

CN•Maple (Nasus):「no zhuangbi?」

“There!” Lin Feng said, laughing. He turned to Su Xue and added, “Perfect, right?”

Su Xue was speechless. She looked at Lin Feng and then back at the game, which moved to the victory screen. The chat disappeared. She sighed, helpless. “What the hell? Why would you type in pinyin? He’s Korean. He doesn’t speak a word Chinese… How is he going to figure out your ‘no show off’? This is so stupid.”

But while Zeal and Ron couldn’t understand what Lin Feng wrote, there were two others who could. Cup Noodles clutched his stomach, laughing, and tried to catch his breath. Then. “Hahaha!” He pulled himself. “Hahaha!” Together. “Hahaha! That guy! Oh my god. Hahaha! This is some next level trolling! Talkin smack in pinyin! Haha! Does he think they’ll understand just because it’s in English letters? Hahaha!”

Old Huang coughed, violently. He’d just taken a puff from his cigarette. Right at the moment the message appeared in all chat. He couldn’t stop the laughter, his face turning red from the coughing. He grabbed his water, but spurted it all out again. “Haha!” Another coughing fit. More time trying to pull himself together. Then he did. And chuckled. “Haha, it’s fine. What matters is that we won. I bet that Zeal is pretty fucking mad right now. That’ll teach him for talking shit! Haha!” He took a deep breath, finally. The smoke was gone from his lungs. He then looked at the post game lobby. More specifically, at the score of the Nasus. He shook his head and said, “Damn, a pentakill. That Nasus actually got a pentakill. He was so good. Dude, why can’t you be like him? I could actually use the footage if you were the one who’d gotten the penta. But now it’s pretty useless. I can’t really use this game at all. Sadly.”

✹

“Yes! We can use this game!” Su Xue announced, overjoyed. She went through the recording. This game had it all! There was the rivalry between China and Korea, emphasized by the Vayne shittalking at the start of the game. Su Xue was making this video for a Chinese audience, so Lin Feng winning the game and shutting the Vayne up only made it a bigger selling point. The Platinum rank was acceptable too. But perhaps even more important, the icing on the cake, was the pentakill. A Nasus pentakill! Just being able to put the word ‘pentakill’ in the name of the video would draw in a ton of people!

Su Xue now had the gameplay for her video, but that was only part of the work. Next up, she needed to make the commentary. It was the second half of the video, making a whole together with the gameplay. If one was lacking, the other aspect would also look worse. The gameplay and commentary needed to flow together to build a coherent whole. To create something truly extraordinary. Su Xue wanted to do this. She wanted to make the best video she possibly could! But she hadn’t done any commentary before, except for the Worlds games on her stream. She looked at Lin Feng, thinking, then said, “I’ll have to do some more research on commentary. See how others do it with this kind of video. I have to do this perfectly. I don’t want to waste your gameplay. It took so much work just to get it.”

“It’s fine!” Lin Feng laughed, waving Su Xue’s worries away. “I’ll just play another game like this. It’s easy. I can do it. Don’t worry. I know what you want now, so it’s really no problem at all!”

“Ha. Since when do you have so much free time?” Su Xue snorted. She then smiled and said, “You’ve got school and the quarterfinals for your little tournament is soon. You have to prepare for that too. Don’t put too much on your plate. This is a great video. I just have to make sure that I don’t screw it up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s fine. The Round of 16 isn’t even over yet,” Lin Feng said. He wasn’t at all worried about a lack of time. For League of Legends, he would make time! “There’s another two days before the quarterfinals matchups get announced. That’ll be really fun! I hope our next opponents are a little better! Then I can show off a bit of my skills! After the quarters, we got two more series to win, and then that trophy! Haha! That trophy will be ours!”

“Hmph. You sound excited. Way too excited for some kiddy high school tournament. Not like it’s Worlds or something actually cool…” Su Xue said, a little too eager to throw cold water over Lin Feng’s enthusiasm. It came across as disingenuous. She did care. A lot. But as he mentioned Worlds, her mind drifted to KG versus SSK. She sighed and said, “I hope KG beats SSK. It would be so cool to see them go to the Finals and then win it all. Can you imagine. Ah, I can already see God Roundy lifting the trophy…”

✹

Reaching the quarterfinals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was a massive step forward for High School 13. A year ago, they went out in the first round of the qualifiers, and now they were in the main tournament, battling for the trophy! However, there were only eight members of the club involved. As for the others, the casual members who liked to come and play with other people from the school after classes, most of them had no clue how the team was doing. So Ren Rou had gathered them all to announce the good news.

The good news was that High School 13 could now say that they had one of the best esports teams in all of Shanghai! The members who until now only came by irregularly and were just looking for someone to play with, suddenly started paying attention to the club. To the main team. They wanted guidance and to play with the team members who could now call themselves some of the best players amongst all the high schoolers in Shanghai!

High School 13 was one of the best schools for esports in Shanghai! They stood on equal footing with the likes of Tonji Affiliated High, Shanghai International, and even Shanghai High! From nobodies to heroes! The members of High School 13’s esports team could finally raise their heads in public. When talking with their friends from other schools, they’d brag about which club they were in. How good their team was! These were the bragging rights their esports club had secured!

However, though Ren Rou managed to build up excitement. Though she got everyone riled up for the esports team, the reality of the situation wasn’t as glamorous. High School 13 wasn’t on the level of the top schools in Shanghai. Their win over Tonji Affiliated High could even be called a fluke. A mistake mostly on the part of their opponents. Not to mention how hard Lin Feng was carrying them. He didn’t just outright win games for them, but he also spent a lot of time teaching the team how to play the game, how to build up synergy, and so on and on and on. Without him, they’d be eliminated in the first round again this year, just like last year.

Then there was something else. A piece of news no one particularly liked hearing. The officials for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament had announced when the quarterfinals would be held. High School 13 knew the date and time. And that date and time fell together with another big event. An event that was far more exciting than some high school League tournament.

Ouyang shook his head and whined, loud enough for the entire room full of esports club members to hear, “Ahh, why! Why do we have to play next Wednesday? Shit! This is ridiculous! Why do these stupid organizers make us play on the same day KG play against SSK? Dammit!”

“You do you, buddy!” Lin Feng laughed, ignoring the Jarvan IV who was attacking him. His entire focus was on Red team’s top inhibitor tower. “I’ll do me. We can both have fun! See? Isn’t this great? We can all get along!”

However, the Red team wasn’t laughing. This was no joking matter. The Nasus was destroying their base! And while the Nasus was doing that, they were stuck on the middle of the map, because four annoying pests were stopping them from recalling. There was nothing they could do to get the recall through. Except by walking half way back to base. By walking so far back that it almost felt like walking back the entire way was the faster approach. But they still tried channeling their recall every few seconds, and finally the Thresh succeeded. He teleported back to his fountain and then rushed towards the top inhibitor tower. He rushed to stop the Nasus from taking the last line of defense of their base!

“Awww, looks like they’re coming back to base already,” Lin Feng complained as the Thresh appeared on his screen. The other players from the Red team had disappeared from his minimap. They were probably all successfully recalling or already arriving back in the fountain. “Ah, too bad. And I almost had it too… Such a waste.” He then pressed on his Q key–Siphoning Strike. His Nasus whacked the tower into disrepair. The stone structure collapsed and the energy kept within dissipated in the air.

“Almost had what? Didn’t you destroy the tower anyway?” Su Xue blurted out, sitting next to Lin Feng, incredulous. What is wrong with him…

“Oh! I was referring to the Jarvan. The tower was already down anyway. But, oh well, looks like I can’t kill him now,” Lin Feng explained, complained.

Su Xue rolled her eyes. She was speechless. Two towers, an inhibitor tower included, wasn’t enough. Apparently. Not for Lin Feng, anyways. He wanted more. He wasn’t satisfied until he had everything. She shook her head and said, “Hey… Aren’t you being a little greedy here?”

Lin Feng wasn’t being greedy. Not even a little. Nasus was the raid boss. He had both health and damage. Taking on a tower and a Champion or two was fine, especially after getting fed. But even a fed Nasus had its limits. That limit was Vayne in combination with Jarvan IV and Thresh. The true damage from Vayne’s silver bolts could deal serious damage to him, while the crowd control from Jarvan IV and Thresh could make sure that he’d never get anywhere near the Vayne. If he ended up giving away a kill to the Vayne, his massive bounty would go to the Vayne too. That was unacceptable. But being mindful of the situation didn’t equate to panicking. Lin Feng played to the full potential of his Champion and not a step beyond that. So he backed away from the Red inhibitor and declared, “I’ll be back!”

✹

Cup Noodles and Old Huang were truly enjoying this game. After Nasus had destroyed the tower defending Red team’s top inhibitor, the Red team had to play a lot more defensively. They couldn’t let the Nasus just push into their base. That would be game. Even the Vayne, who’d welcomed everyone into the game with his big mouth, was forced into submission. He couldn’t make any more aggressive plays. All he could do was defend. He had to try and help his team get to a point where they could challenge the Nasus again. And then, hopefully, if everything worked out just right, they could fight for a win again.

Old Huang didn’t see this happen in a million years. He puffed out some smoke and laughed, “Haha! Raid boss Nasus! He’s my hero! Nobody can beat him! Haha!” He looked at the game and how multiple players from the Red team were forced to continue dealing with the Nasus. “There is no winning for them. They either stop the Nasus and let you guys take the rest of their towers, or they stop you guys and let the Nasus destroy their nexus. They basically have to give up everything to defend their base.”

Cup Noodles chuckled and said, “Yep! Let’s see that Vayne try to talk more smack. Haha! It doesn’t matter how much she scales, it’s hopeless. The Nasus is too strong already. She can’t stop him.”

This was something Zeal also knew. He sat behind his computer, in Hydralisk’s training room in Seoul, South Korea. He had to do something. He was a professional player. So too was Ron, his Support. There was no way the two of them could lose a simple game in Platinum. I refuse to believe… He wanted to think of something, a brilliant plan to turn this situation around. Something. Anything to deal with this Nasus. But he was coming up with a blank. He couldn’t think of anything that could help his team get back into the game. Maybe if we turtle… Can we get back enough? Maybe in the late, late game? Hope the Nasus—

《An ally has been slain!》

Zeal felt his heart drop. He’d been farming minions in mid lane, trying to come up with a plan. A brief moment where he’d forgotten to keep an eye on the rest of his team. On the Riven. The Riven who’d decided to split from the rest of the team and go top to stop the Nasus. This useless piece of. Please. Uninstall. You’d do all of us a favour. He panned his camera to the top lane. There, the Riven’s body lay on the ground, far away from any tower. She’d gotten it into her thick skull that that was a good idea. SOMEHOW! Wait… The Teleport animation lit up around the Nasus.

Zeal felt a shiver run up his body, and then back down. The Nasus could only be teleporting for a singular reason. Danger. Danger. His hands started shaking as he had his Vayne retreat. Then he started spamming the yellow retreat ping.

However, just like a few minutes earlier, the Blue team wasn’t going to let the Red team back. Even more, Nasus’ teleport was their cue to initiate a teamfight. The Nami did this with her ultimate skill. She summoned a Tidal Wave that crashed through mid lane, straight into the players from the Red team who were trying to retreat. The water slammed into them, knocking them up and leaving them powerless. Then, coming from the other side, came Nasus running. A Nasus sped up by Ghost and empowered by his own ultimatell–Fury of the Sands!

“W-what? He still has his ult?” Zeal blurted out. He stared at his screen for a moment, stunned. Then he erupted, again. “THIS FUCKING RIVEN! HOW FUCKING BAD IS SHE! HOLY SHIT!” He took a breath, just so he could continue his shouting contest. “MY FUCKING GOD! DID SHE BUY A ELO BOOST? FUCK!”

✹

Lin Feng could’ve taken the inhibitor after killing the Riven. That was the easy path to victory. But Lin Feng wasn’t playing this game to win it. He was playing it to get content for Su Xue’s videos. To that end, split-pushing alone wasn’t going to cut it. He needed to make the plays. He had to do something truly spectacular. An opportunity for that presented itself. Lin Feng grinned. He could already see it play out in his mind. He looked at Su Xue sitting next to him and said, “It’s time to… get a pentakill! Hahaha! Let’s go!”

Lin Feng had his Nasus barrel straight for the players from the Red team. They were running straight at him. And behind them, there was a massive tidal wave chasing them down, knocking them up. He pressed the F key, and then the R. Ghost activated, granting his Nasus increased movement speed. Then a sandstorm started raging around him as his Nasus doubled in size.

The Vayne ran straight into the Nasus. Lin Feng pressed on the Q key–Siphoning Strike! His Nasus’ staff lit up with purple fire. He raised it up above his head and then slammed down on the Vayne. One hit. More than half the Vayne’s health. That was the new power of his Siphoning Strike. It was absolutely terrifying. The damage was beyond ridiculous.

Zeal reacted in an instant. He was still a professional player at the end of the day. He pressed the R key, and then the Q. Darkness shrouded his Vayne as she Tumbled into stealth. Tumbled away from the Nasus. And then she was revealed. A pink ward was placed on the ground, revealing everything and everyone hidden away in stealth. A withering aura wrapped around her, pulling at her skin and her body, sapping out the life. She withered, aging half a century in a mere second. Her movement speed fell, as did her attack speed.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! NO! Zeal refused to believe it. He tried to find an angle, for a wall to Condemn the Nasus into. Only a stun could save him now. But the Nasus never let his back face a wall. So Zeal pressed the E key anyway. His Vayne pulled the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. Condemn! A large, silver bolt flew out and pierced the Nasus, knocking him back. But not stunning him. And the Vayne was still slowed. He was back on her almost instantaneously.

Lin Feng ignored the Condemn. He ignored the other players from the Red team trying to stop him. His only target was the Vayne. The girl with the big mouth. Ghost was still giving him increased movement speed. He charged after her and exclaimed, “Haha! Keep talking smack! More smack please! I want to hear more smacktalk!” Then he pressed on the Q key again.

The Vayne had used Heal. It gave her just enough health to survive this second Siphoning Strike. Another few seconds to try and get away. She Tumbled again, its cooldown almost as short as Siphoning Strike. Two short cooldowns. One was barely able to open up a distance, while the other could whack the Vayne right back to the fountain. And whacking her it did. The Vayne ran for a few more seconds before the staff came down on her and knocked her out.

《Double kill!》

“Nice! Haha! It counts as a killstreak! That’s perfect!” Lin Feng exclaimed, smiling. The time between killing the Riven and the Vayne was short enough that the game considered it a spree! This meant that Lin Feng’s goal was still possible. “The pentakill is still on! Haha!”

Lin Feng turned to the Yasuo. He was Red team’s Midlaner. The Tristana had already done some work on him, making him use his skills and bringing him down to below half health. There really was no challenge to it. Nothing special. The Xerath, Blue team’s Midlaner, landed a stun on the Yasuo. It meant the Yasuo couldn’t jump between minions anymore. He couldn’t run away as the Nasus came at him. He could do nothing but watch as the Nasus raised his staff and then smashed it down, whacking him back to the fountain.

《Triple kill!》

Three down, two to go. Lin Feng looked at the last two standing members from the Red team. Thresh and Jarvan IV. Two defensive Champions. However, right now, even if they could combine their defensive stats, they still wouldn’t be as tanky as the Nasus. And they definitely lacked the damage of the Nasus. Lin Feng smiled, wickedly so, and clicked on the Thresh. His lips moved, as if on their own, and he spoke the same sentence Nasus did, “The cycle of life and death continues. We will live, they will die.”

Lin Feng pressed on the Q key–Siphoning Strike! His Nasus’ staff lit up with a purple light. Lin Feng clicked on the Thresh. Not with his right mouse button, but the left. His Nasus walked forward until he was standing right on top of the Thresh. He wasn’t going to let this pentakill slip from his fingers. He looked at the Thresh’s health, then at the precise damage his Siphoning Strike would deal. He waited as the Tristana and Xerath attacked the Thresh, draining his health bar. Now! He clicked his right mouse button. His Nasus’ staff came down on the Thresh and whacked him back to the fountain.

《Quadra kill!》

The announcer’s voice rang out, climbing in excitement with each successive kill. It was almost as if she could feel what was happening. Was anticipating what was to come. Only the Jarvan IV was still alive. He was running. Or trying to, anyways. The Nami had her Aqua Prison. Xerath had a slow and a stun. And Elise had a cocoon she could lock him up in. They used these skills and not their damage abilities. This was Nasus’ moment. This was all him! He came at the Jarvan IV, who was already at low health. His staff lit up with a purple fire. He raised it up high above his head and slammed it back down. Down on the Jarvan IV.

《Pentakill!》

Old Huang jumped up from his chair. He balled his fist and screamed into the microphone, “Yeah! Nice! You got this! Jump and kill! Jump and kill!”

Cup Noodles laughed. Vayne was dead! His Tristana got the reset on her Rocket Jump! And there were still three opponents waiting to be killed! “Ha!” he shouted. “It’s about damn time! Let’s clean this fight up! Haha!”

Nami took a silver bolt to the knee and Vayne got done in by the cane. Two dead. Five alive. The 3v4 became a 2v3. It still looked like a difficult situation for Blue team. Tristana and Nasus had to kill Thresh, Jarvan IV, and half a Riven. Half a Riven because she was so far behind that she really couldn’t count for a whole Champion. But Lin Feng didn’t mind the challenge. He welcomed it! His Nasus was 5/1/0 and it could be 8/1/0 by the end of this teamfight! That was all he needed to know. So he clicked towards his next victim, shouting at his screen, “Haha! 2vs3! Easy! Let’s get these kills! Haha!”

The Jarvan IV turned around, around to his side of the map. Because that was where the Tristana was, closer to his own outer tower than he was. He closed the distance towards her with a flag toss combo, then jumped up high into the sky. His vision locked onto the Tristana. He screamed at the top of his lungs. And then he leaped down from the sky, crashing into the Tristana and then the ground. The residual force was so powerful that the earth terraformed into an arena–Cataclysm!

There was only one logical direction for the Tristana to escape in. Red team’s outer tower. Away from the Jarvan IV that was in the arena with her. Away from the Riven that was charging at her with her reforged sword. Away from the Thresh that could lock her down completely with his crowd control. Her Rocket Jump was off cooldown after killing the Vayne. So she aimed her cannon towards the ground and fire, launching herself up in the air and over the arena walls, away to safety.

Lin Feng placed himself between the Tristana and three Champions from the Red team. His Nasus was the tank. A tank with high health and high damage. He pinged the Riven, the half a Champion, and shouted at his screen, “Go for her! Attack the Riven!”

There was no voice chat. There was no way for Cup Noodles to hear Lin Feng’s instructions. But he didn’t need to hear them. He was a Master player and knew exactly what was expected of him. He pressed down on the Q key–Rapid Fire! His Tristana’s attack speed increased. She turned around and focused all her firepower on the Riven.

The Riven and Jarvan IV went to town on Lin Feng’s Nasus, throwing all their abilities at him. But they barely scratched him. The sandstorm raging around him dealt more damage to them than they did to him. Then his staff lit up with a purple fire. He raised it up high and then slammed it down on the Riven–Siphoning Strike! Her health disappeared.

The Tristana and Nasus’ damage together brought the Riven to below half health. And lower. She turned around and ran. She dashed towards Blue team’s outer tower, past the Thresh. The Thresh who activated the Box. This was his ultimate skill. He called forth five spectral walls around him, which slowed any enemy Champion that walked through it. The Nasus was next to the Thresh, caught in this prison. But he didn’t give up on his chase. He charged through the spectral wall, accepting the slow. Then he raised his staff and cast Wither on the Riven. Her body withered. She aged 50 years in the span of a single second. It became hard to walk.

Slow versus slow. But the slow on Nasus wore off first. Lin Feng had his Nasus chase down the Riven. Then he pressed on the Q key–Siphoning Strike. The Riven had a little more than a third of her health remaining. The Nasus raised his staff high. It lit up with a purple fire. Then he slammed it down and whacked the Riven back to the fountain.

《Double kill!》

The Tristana got another reset of her Rocket Jump skill for the assist on the Riven. Cup Noodles used it to jump onto the Thresh and continued firing away. The Thresh was doing okay in lane. He’d gotten enough gold to get some health items. So he was a little harder to kill. Hard enough that it gave the Jarvan IV all the time he needed to escape up the river and into his own jungle. Lin Feng had his Nasus attack the Thresh too, helping the Tristana, who ended up getting the kill.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Nice! That’s what I’m talking about! Yes!” Cup Noodles laughed. He hit the TAB key, looking at the stats of his Tristana. Her creep score was lacking. But he wasn’t 0/1/0 anymore. One kill and two assists! He was on the board now! He could use this to get back into the game and overtake that Vayne!

✹

“I played that fucking perfectly! Flawless!” Zeal raged on. He couldn’t accept the Nasus. The jackal-headed monster that came from top lane to rain terror on the bot lane. Zeal had done everything so beautifully. From the engage to the Flash into Condemn combination to stun the Nami to a wall. “And that stupid shit Riven gave away another kill. Of course! Of fucking course! How could I expect anything different? She’s absolutely useless! Oh my god, why does this always have to happen to me?”

Zeal was 3/1/0 on his Vayne. This was normally great for an early game Vayne. He got the gold and the kills. He was set to become a monster. If only there wasn’t another monster on the Rift. Something far more terrifying. A Nasus was a difficult opponent for Vayne from the start due to Wither. But this became all the more difficult when this Nasus was already 6/1/0. Those six kills included the one on his Vayne. A shutdown kill. A kill that netted the Nasus extra gold. Gold he could spend to get even further ahead.

“Why? WHY? Why does it always have to be me?” Zeal whined. “WHY!” Now, this game was almost impossible to win. The Nasus was too strong. His team was useless. The Riven was practically worse than a cannon minion at this point. All he wanted was to have some fun. This wasn’t fun. “God fucking dammit! This stupid shit! Argh! I hate this piece of shit Riven!” The only way he could still win a fight against this Nasus was if the Nasus screwed up, his Thresh Support perfectly linked his crowd control skills to keep the Nasus away from his Vayne, and he bought items that could cancel crowd control skills, like the Quicksilver Sash. And even when all of those conditions were met, there were still four other players on the Blue team he had to think of. “Fucking shit teammates…”

✹

“Oh, nice! We got the shutdown! Bot should be a win too now!” Lin Feng laughed. He then pinged on the Dragon, already having his Nasus walk towards it. “Let’s grab the Dragon while we’re here!” he said to absolutely no one. But the Tristana seemed to understand him, a case of being on the same wavelength. And the Elise also finally found her way towards the bot lane, after the fight ended. But that did mean she was there to help take the Dragon.

Lin Feng made a quick trip to the fountain to spend the gold from the kills in bot lane and the dragon before returning back to top lane. The items he bought were the ones Su Xue instructed him to buy, the ones from the guide. He had no clue how to build Nasus. Nor how to play him, really. But the guide told him the best thing to do was to keep pushing top lane and force the Red team to send Champions to stop him. At this point, they’d need to send more than two players to stop him. Because otherwise he would just kill them and continue pushing. Every next minion wave, his Siphoning Strike would deal more damage. Every next Champion that came his way would take more damage. It was a real headache for the Red team.

And for Lin Feng, for Lin Feng it was a fun game. He could do whatever he wanted, he was that far ahead. “Haha! Let them come! It’s just more gold for me! This is so much fun!” he laughed. His Nasus was no Master Yi who could push a lane fast and then had to run away. His Nasus was a raid boss in its truest form. He could push and keep pushing even when opponents came to stop him. They couldn’t stop him.

Zeal knew this too. The Nasus was too strong. The timeframe the Red team had to win this game was quickly disappearing. There was no point in sending people after the Nasus. They’d lose too much elsewhere on the map if they did that. So he came to the only logical answer. “Let’s teamfight! We’ll force them into a teamfight by pushing down mid! We can win a 4v4. We just have to keep the Nasus away. The Riven is already worthless, so we might as well have her do that. That should work.”

The plan was sound. However, there was one important aspect to the plan. The Riven had to be able to hold top lane, something she’d failed to do all game. A small detail Zeal forgot all about. At his normal rank, it shouldn’t be too hard. But this Riven was a Platinum player. The Nasus was Lin Feng, the previous contender for best player in the world. So it really wasn’t unexpected when, before the Red team could force a teamfight, the announcer’s voice rang out across Summoner’s Rift.

《An ally has been slain!》

“My god. How bad is this bitch?” Zeal paused for a moment, thinking. Then he hit down on the ENTER key and started typing a message in all chat. A message he’d been keeping back all game but couldn’t anymore.

Zeal (Vayne):「쓰레기 놈, 게임 지워! TRASH RIVEN!」

Zeal stopped pressuring for a teamfight. He had his Vayne retreat. They needed to do something about top lane. If they didn’t, the Nasus would just keep pushing and eventually destroy their nexus. And the Nasus was going to be pushing a lot faster on his own without opposition than the four of them could against the rest of the Blue team. It was just that…

“Haha! You think I’m going to let you back? Dream on!” Cup Noodles said, smirking. He ran after the Vayne and kept auto attacking. He wasn’t going for the kill. That wasn’t possible right now. No, he was just interrupting the Vayne, keeping her from recalling back to base. Like this, the Nasus could keep pushing. Cup Noodles fired off another cannonball at the Vayne and said, “Come! Stay! Slow dance with me now! I just want to slow dance to the beat of Nasus destroying your base! Hahaha! Slow dance if you feelin’ me now!”

The Tristana showed the other players from the Blue team what to do. They followed his example and did everything they could to stop the Red team from recalling back to base. Lin Feng noticed this too. He panned his camera to mid lane and watched recall animations being cancelled every few seconds. “Haha! Nice! The rest of the team is working hard too! Haha!”

The Jarvan IV was the first to get his recall through. It took a hot minute, but he made it all the way back to his base. Which was crumbling under the assault it was being subjected to. Jarvan IV decided it was time to mount a defense, and he noticed that the Nasus had already destroyed the inner tower and was working on bringing down the inhibitor tower. He rushed in, expecting an epic clash between spear and staff. But contrary to all his expectations, the Nasus didn’t react to his arrival at all. The Nasus didn’t step back, didn’t reposition, didn’t even slow him or start attacking him. So Jarvan IV decided to go in for the engage, throwing his standard at the Nasus for a flag toss combo. He was going to knock the Nasus up and force a retreat!  But the Nasus cleanly stepped around the flag toss and continued to calmly and nonchalantly attack the inhibitor tower. Jarvan IV couldn’t understand what was happening, but he continued to struggle to stop the Nasus. Tried to get the Nasus’ attention. But all his skills and auto attacks together couldn’t scratch Nasus any more than the minions could. And so, the Nasus continued to ignore him in favor of the tower. Ignored him, like a small fruit fly. 

W-why is it always like this? P-please. Notice me, Senpai!

Zeal sat in his chair, stewing, staring at his computer screen. “How stupid is she? Stupid Riven…” He shook his head and rubbed his temples. “My god. All she had to do was play defensively. Let me scale and I’ll take care of the Nasus. I’m a Vayne for fucks sake! But no. She just had to feed and int and be a stupid fucking bitch! How the fuck am I supposed to carry this if the Nasus hits his late game build 10 minutes into the game? Fuck.”

“Yeah. Fuck,” Ron cursed. sitting next to Zeal. He moved his camera between the three screens and added, “We can’t let this drag any longer. This needs to end now or we’re losing.”

Zeal breathed in, long and deep, and then breathed out through his nose. The tension escaped his shoulders. He cracked his neck and fingers, then focused on the game again. “Yo, Ron.” He waited a moment for the response, then said, “We stick to the plan. First bot, then mid. We just have to be a bit faster. It’s time to start pushing really hard.”

✹

Cup Noodles was having an equally bad time as his lane opponent Zeal. The reason was even somewhat similar. They were both losing. Just that Zeal was angry that his team was losing the game, whereas Cup Noodles was upset with himself for losing the lane. He was smurfing! A Master in Platinum. But this Vayne was kicking his ass. It didn’t help that his Support wasn’t doing anything supportive. At times, it even felt like she was purposely making the lane a lot more difficult. A 1vs3!

“Stupid smurfs,” Cup Noodles grumbled. “I swear, the Vayne and Thresh are both Master or higher. Probably higher. I don’t believe for a second they aren’t. They’re too good together. This is something you don’t even see in Master on the Ionia. Yeah. They must be Challenger. It’s the only explanation. What are they doing in Platinum?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not looking good,” Old Huang replied, anxious. “You’re going to lose your lane at this rate. Your tower is almost gone, and then what? You can’t let this Vayne get any more ahead. It doesn’t matter how good this Maple is. A fed Vayne is at least as big of a headache as a fed Nasus is. Vayne is the tank killer for a reason! If the Nasus plays a fight poorly, that Vayne can win it. All on his own.”

“I know. I know!” Cup Noodles exclaimed. He gritted his teeth. I’m trying! I am! But this Vayne is just really good. And this Nami is as useless as they come. She’s like… like a Magikarp. Just flopping on dry land like the stupid fish she is! “Uh?” He was pulled out of his thoughts by a ping on his minimap. The Jarvan IV was coming! Red team’s Jungler was coming to gank him! Cup Noodles had his Tristana retreat back under the outer tower, while also pinging his Nami. “Back! J4 is ganking!” he shouted at his screen, though the Nami couldn’t hear him.

The Nami didn’t react. Not in time. Zeal grinned. “You’re mine!” He pressed on the R key–Final Hour! An aura of darkness shrouded the Vayne. She disappeared in stealth as she Tumbled forward. A silver bolt appeared out of nowhere and pierced the Nami. The Vayne stepped out of stealth then flashed forward, disappearing in a burst of light and reappearing behind the Nami. The Nami who now found herself with her back to a wall. The Vayne pulled the giant crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger–Condemn! A massive silver bolt flew through the air and pierced the Nami, launching her backwards and pinning her to the wall. The Vayne followed up with another silver bolt. The third. The three silver rings around the Nami exploded and dealt bonus true damage!

The Nami was useless. She was more of a liability than a help. But Cup Noodles wasn’t just going to let her die. There was only one skill that could save her now. He pressed down on the R key–Buster Shot! His Tristana loaded a massive cannonball into her weapon and fired it at the Vayne. It knocked into the Vayne, the force blowing him away, far away from the Nami.

However, there were three players from the Red team in bot lane. The Thresh arrived at the Nami as the Vayne got launched backwards. He threw back his Lantern, allowing the Jarvan IV to dash to his side, and then threw his scythe at the Nami. It wrapped around her and he dragged her back. Her fate was sealed by the Death Sentence.

Cup Noodles watched his Nami losing her health. He wanted to help, but he had nothing he could do. Old Huang’s voice sounded out in the voice chat, telling him to back, to give up. This fight was lost! Cup Noodles also knew it was lost! After they killed the Nami, they could towerdive and kill him too! He had to back, back all the way to the fountain if he wanted to come out alive from this gank! Then. Just as he was about to give up, a blue minion stopped moving. A blue light enveloped it. This was the animation for Teleport! Only the Nasus had Teleport. The Nasus is coming!

Behind his computer, Lin Feng talked to his screen, sounding like he believed his teammates could hear him. Could listen to his advice and his calls. “Don’t panic, guys! I’m coming! Haha! Time for some fun!”

Moments after the blue minion stopped walking and the blue light wrapped around it, a red minion also stopped moving. A red light wrapped around it. The Riven was also teleporting down and joining the fight! This fight was going to be a 4vs3! And the Nami was already almost dead. This was basically a 4vs2!

Zeal had his Vayne auto attack the Nami. A few more hits and she’d be dead. Then he could focus on the Nasus and Tristana. He grinned and said to Ron, “Keep going! We got this! That Nasus can’t do shit against all four of us!”

Cup Noodles had his Tristana move back and forth, apprehensive. Old Huang yelled in his ear, “Run! Ditch the Nami! It’s lost! You can’t win this! Go back to base!” But he didn’t want to back. He wanted to fight this fight! He gritted his teeth. The Nasus was teleporting over. There still was a chance. He stopped moving his mouse back. “No. I’m fighting!” The apprehension disappeared from his voice. And from his game. He had his Tristana walk into the fight, her cannon loaded. “Nasus is coming! We can win! That Vayne has pushed me around enough. It’s time I do something back. This is the perfect opportunity. The Nasus just has to help me get a kill, and then I got my reset on Rocket Jump and can kill all of them. Plus, that Riven is far behind. This should be possible!”

The Nasus finished his teleport. He arrived in bot lane. Lin Feng, sitting behind his computer, let his eighth grader syndrome rear its head again. “Time to lay on the pain!” he shouted as his finger pressed down on the R key–Fury of the Sands! His Nasus swelled in size, a sandstorm kicking up around him. He followed up by raising his staff and casting a Spirit Fire underneath the Jarvan IV and Thresh. This lowered their armour, which allowed the Tristana to deal more damage to them. Then he turned to the Vayne. Lin Feng showed a wicked grin. “Hehe. You’re mine.”

The Vayne’s ultimate, Final Hour, was still active. Zeal had her Tumble forward, disappearing in stealth and getting far away from the Nasus that was hot on his heels. Then he shouted, “Ignore the Nasus! Hook the Tristana!”

A pink ward appeared on the ground. Right next to the Vayne. It revealed everything that was hidden. The invisibility cloak wrapped around the Vayne lost its power. Zeal’s eyes went wide. It felt like his heart stopped for a moment. Then he mumbled, barely audible, “H-he brought a pink ward?”

Lin Feng locked onto his target. The Vayne. “Haha! I knew this pink ward would come in handy! Gimme that juicy shut down gold! Haha!” He pressed down on the F key, activating Ghost. His Nasus gained increased movement speed. The Vayne was only a little further away. Almost within reach! Then the Nasus raised his free hand and cast Wither on the Vayne. The Vayne turned into an old lady. She lost her movement speed, and just squeezing the trigger from her crossbow became difficult. From there it was easy for the Nasus to catch up. He raised his staff far above his head and then slammed down, whacking a third of the Vayne’s health away–Siphoning Strike!

“FUCK! What is this damage!” Zeal exclaimed. He slammed down on his keyboard. “Heal! HEAL!” His Vayne’s health was restored and she gained a short burst of movement speed. But the Nasus’ Siphoning Strike had a short cooldown. He had to get out of the way fast. It was just that he was almost underneath Blue team’s outer tower. So he started running down the lane, all the way back to his side of the map.

The Vayne had to run past the Nasus. That got him another whack of the staff and an auto attack. His health dropped again. And he still wasn’t faster than the Nasus, who hit him with another auto attack. A few more seconds and Siphoning Strike would be off cooldown again. It would almost be enough to kill her. Then the Riven appeared. Her Teleport finally finished casting. Zeal had his Vayne move towards her and muttered, “Please be useful for once!”

She wasn’t. The Riven didn’t care about saving the Vayne. Saving the bounty on her head for the killing spree. All the Riven cared about was getting back into the game. And the way to do that was by picking up a kill. The Tristana was being ganked on by the Thresh and Jarvan IV. She was the easy target. This Nasus was also at full health. She couldn’t kill him. So she activated her ultimate skill, Blade of the Exile! Her reforged sword lit up with green energy and she flashed past the Vayne and Nasus, then dashed forward–Valor! Everything to close the distance with the Tristana! Only a few more steps. Almost in range! She pointed her sword up into the air and gave a loud shout, “Ha!” A green, runic energy exploded out around her, stunning all Champions it hit–Ki Burst!

The Riven was Platinum. Cup Noodles was a Master player. He wasn’t going to get caught by a silly tactic like this. He backed off a little, evading the stun and then Rocket Jumped over the Riven and after the Vayne. “Haha! Screw off!” he laughed, then took aim at the Vayne. He hit her with an auto attack, and then another. Cannonballs flew through the air.

There was also still the jack-headed raid boss, hidden within the raging sandstorm. A large staff, thick and powerful, came crashing down onto the Vayne. It was another Siphoning Strike. An ability that was quickly becoming the highest damage skill in this game. It’d found its next target. Another stack was added.

《Rampage!》

✹

《You have been slain!》

Zeal stared at his screen. Grey. He was dead. His face was drained of all blood. “GOD. FUCKING. DAMMIT!” he then yelled. He grabbed his mouse, pulled it free, and threw it to the ground. But that wasn’t enough. “I. FUCKING. HATE…” He slammed his fist down on the table, his eyes blazing with hatred. Disbelief. T-this can’t be happening… But the announcer’s voice didn’t lie. Nor did his grey screen. Or the Tristana Rocket Jumping to her next target. “FUCK!”

It was Nasus versus Riven in the top lane! Nasus, the jackal-headed monster who needed time to scale, and Riven. Riven was an early game beast, especially if she got that first kill. That was why the towerdive earlier with her Jungler was so important. And they got that all important kill! The kill that could make the lane! If only the Riven had gotten it. But she hadn’t. The Jarvan IV had. And in the process, they’d given two kills to the Nasus. Now, the Riven found herself up against a Nasus with two kills. A Nasus who’d gotten enough gold to buy items with health and armour. There wasn’t much she could do in this matchup anymore.

The Jarvan IV had gotten the kill on the Nasus. He might’ve lost his double buffs, but he got that important kill. It was enough for him to stay relevant. More importantly, he could go and fight in another lane, a winning lane, and get back into it again. But this wasn’t the case for the Riven. There was nothing she could do but sit in top lane and face off against a Nasus she couldn’t kill anymore, waiting for the game to reach the point where she fell into the pits of futility. She didn’t even dare to step up to the Nasus anymore. His Siphoning Strike was quickly becoming the most powerful skill in the game.

✹

Lin Feng focused on farming his Siphoning Strike. Siphoning Strike was perhaps the most important skill on Nasus. This was not for its power at the start, but for what it could become. Every time Siphoning Strike whacked a monster, minion, or Champion to the next life, its power increased. This stacked indefinitely. Lin Feng was calm and confident, smiling. But Su Xue wasn’t as convinced and had mumbled more than a few complaints. So Lin Feng turned to her and explained, “Don’t worry! Things are only just getting started! Nasus needs at least 300 stacks on his Siphoning Strike! That’s what I’m getting right now. I just push this lane and get stronger, all the way until I destroy the nexus. And if a teamfight breaks out somewhere, then I have my teleport and can jump into the action. I’ll clean house, get more kills and more stacks and then go back to farming in my lane. It’s easy. Really!”

Su Xue shook her head and sighed. “You know, I normally have some confidence in you. And you sure sound believable. If not for the fact I just saw you look up a guide on your phone…”

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about that,” Lin Feng laughed, waving her worries away with his arm. “It’s been a while. I was just making sure I was doing this right. No worries, haha!”

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng and then back at the game. She bit on the inside of her lips. He looks confident, it’s just that… It was just that his actions didn’t match his confidence. So she asked, “A-are you really sure?”

“Ease up a little! Haha! Have I ever let you down? My Nasus is great. I told you already! Just have a little faith in me,” Lin Feng replied. Then he paused for a moment. He nodded to his phone and asked, “Oh, uh, can you maybe open that guide again and tell me what items I should get? I forgot…”

Su Xue was about to fire off a sling of insults, fighting the very real urge of tearing Lin Feng a new asshole. But then she gave up. This kid is hopeless… She shook her head and grumbled a little, quietly enough so that Lin Feng couldn’t hear her, but still grabbed his phone and opened the guide. A deep breath to force away the last of her annoyance and then she said, “First you want to buy…”

Lin Feng soaked up the knowledge Su Xue was instilling by narrating the guide. It didn’t go into too much depth. Just the basics. From what his skills did to which items to buy in which situations. As for how to play specific matchups, there were only general tips. This was to be expected. It was impossible to line out every single possible scenario. This was also a depth of detail Lin Feng didn’t care for. He wasn’t going to play how some guide told him to. He had his own playstyle and would stick to that.

When Lin Feng took his first steps into the professional League of Legends scene back in Season 1, it was under the guidance of One. One told him back then that he was good enough to play any of the five roles in a League of Legends match, but that his particular playstyle was especially suited for mid lane. That, in combination with the team he was joining being in need of a Midlaner, was how the initial decision of becoming a Midlaner was made. As for why he still wanted to play the mid lane now, four years later, that was a lot simpler. Rake. The best Midlaner in the world and his rival. He was going to beat Rake. And to do that, he had to play in the mid lane.

✹

At 5:30 minutes, Lin Feng had pushed the Riven far underneath her tower. He was farming the Red minions that charged at him. Then, he Siphoning Striked another minion to the afterlife. It gave his Nasus the last bit of experience needed to hit Level 6. This was a turning point for Nasus. His ultimate skill made him a true raid boss, granting him health, armour, magic resistance, cooldown reduction, and attack range! Tanking an energy shot from a tower suddenly wasn’t all that daunting anymore. And as if on cue, the Riven decided this was the best time to take a step out from under her tower to last hit two low health minions.

“Oh? Is she stupid?” Lin Feng asked, confused. He pressed down on his R key–Fury of the Sands! A frightening sandstorm brewed around his Nasus and then exploded out around him, grains of sand piercing the Riven and damaging her! The Nasus transformed into an ancient ascended being, doubling in size! He raised his staff and slammed down on the Riven–Siphoning Strike! Then he raised his staff again to call forth a ring of ghastly flames! The Spirit Fire exploded on the ground beneath the Riven’s feet. Her armour dropped! Her magic resist dropped! Her health sunk!

The Riven forgot to use her Ki Burst to stun the Nasus. Instead, she turned around and dashed away–Valor! But Lin Feng wouldn’t just let her get away. He cast Wither on her, turning this woman in the spring of her life into an old lady. She needed her sword as a walking stick as her speed dropped drastically. The Nasus caught up to her and hit her with one auto attack. Then another auto attack. Her health dropped low enough. One more Siphoning Strike and she’d be dead. The Nasus raised his staff and then brought it down, whacking her back to the fountain.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Oh, man! I love it when the other laner just feeds me a kill!” Lin Feng laughed as he had his Nasus walk out of tower range. After the last energy shot hit him, he still had more than a third of his health remaining. More than enough to feel comfortable.

✹

Zeal heard the kill announcement. It came from top lane again. This Nasus was now 3/1/0. It was starting to become annoying. He moved his camera to the top lane. His eyes twitched. The Riven’s corpse was underneath her own outer tower. She wasn’t even towerdiving. She was being dove by a Nasus. Not even six minutes into the game a Nasus towerdove her! “This is fucking ridiculous! How bad is this Riven?” he cursed.

Ron scratched his hair and said, “Yeah. Very. But this Nasus is going to become really strong like this. We’re going to have to shut him down soon. It doesn’t matter how fed we get. If that Nasus becomes any bigger, there’s nothing we can do. He’ll just throw a Wither on you and chase you down. Look at his stacks! At this speed, he’s going to one hit you…”

Zeal looked at top lane. He couldn’t care for bot lane right now. Bot lane was easy. He barely had to pay attention. But this top lane. His gaze turned cold. CN•Maple, huh? Just you wait… He then turned to Ron and said, “It’s fine. We’re going to ignore top for now. It’s that Riven’s own fault for being an idiot and tower diving so early on. Let’s just get this bot tower down and then move mid.”

There was good reasoning behind Zeal’s decision. The longer the game went on, the more difficult it’d become to stop the Nasus. So they had to end the game early. That meant destroying the enemy Nexus. Or, for a more immediate objective, taking down outer towers. First the one in bot lane, which was easy. They’d just killed the Nami and the Tristana couldn’t do anything to stop them on her own. Then they’d go mid and help their Midlaner take the Blue team’s outer tower down. However, there was one flaw with this plan. It didn’t take the Nasus and Riven into consideration. More specifically, this plan only worked if the Riven could at least hold onto her lane and not give away any further kills. This obviously wasn’t going to happen. She’d just died underneath her own tower!

At 8 minutes, the Riven didn’t even dare to show her face in lane. Lin Feng was working on last hitting the minions to build up the stacks of his Siphoning Strike, while looking at the map, at the wards he’d placed around the vicinity of top lane. Then he turned to Su Xue and explained, “See, the minion wave is pushed up a little. I froze it nicely just outside of their tower range. She can’t come here to farm, so she has to go somewhere else. Now, we know she just backed. So the most likely place she’s going to go to is the Krugs camp right next to her lane.” He sat up straight in his chair and smiled the smile of a bad man. “So let’s go and sit in the brush right next to it and wait for her there. You’ll see. She’ll come.”

Sometimes it felt like Lin Feng had a magic ball that told him the future, because it went exactly as he predicted. The Riven walked into her own jungle, over a ward placed by Lin Feng. She made a beeline for the Krugs and started attacking them. Monsters without intelligence. Her own focus dropped. She just wasn’t expecting the Nasus to be here. But he was.

Lin Feng pressed on the R key–Fury of the Sands! A frightening sandstorm brewed around his Nasus and then exploded out around him, grains of sand piercing the Riven and damaging her! The Nasus transformed into an ancient ascended being, doubling in size! He raised his staff to call forth a ring of ghastly flames! The Spirit Fire exploded on the ground beneath the Riven’s feet. Her armour dropped! Her magic resist dropped! Her health sunk! Then came the soul-shattering whack. A purple fire lit up on the top of Nasus’ staff as he raised it up above his head. Siphoning Strike! Space itself trembled as it came crashing down on the Riven. The spirits wailed in anguish! The mighty blow smashed down on the Riven!

《Killing Spree!》

The announcer’s voice boomed across Summoner’s Rift, informing all 10 players of the Nasus’ feat! A killing spree! The Riven was annoyed, Lin Feng’s teammates were happy, and Zeal. Well, Zeal was red with anger. Steam came off his head. He threw his mouse at the wall next to him and shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS STUPID BITCH DOING? FUCKING INTER! FUCK!” He grabbed his mouse from the ground and moved it around. It still worked. Then he shook his head and cursed, “Does this fucking bitch wants to lose? What the fuck is wrong with her. All she has to do is not feed and we can carry this. But no, this stupid waste of oxygen feels the fucking need to feed the Nasus. Oh my fucking god, how stupid is she!”

Hydralisk the Terrible! Well, they weren’t terrible. They played in the secondary pro league in Korea. That made them one of the better teams in Korea! But they were performing terribly. For a team like them, their eyes were supposed to be on the entry tickets to the LCK, and not on the relegation spots of the pro league like they were right now. And normally, when a team went through a rough patch, they’d work even harder to turn things around. To battle through the blockade and come out the stronger! But not Hydralink. The players, coaches, analysts, and everyone else who worked in a function for the team had stopped trying. They weren’t going to turn this around. It was easier to just give up.

Zeal and Ron, the Botlaners for Hydralisk, were the perfect example for this. Instead of working on their game in high ELO games. Instead of trying to get that little extra training in, those few extra hours that might see them win their next games. Instead of that, they were fooling around on their smurfs. This was a grave sin for professional players. Most professional teams across the world even forbade their players from smurfing, because it could negatively affect their gameplay when it really mattered. It was to the point where a team’s management watched over their players’ shoulders to make sure they didn’t do it. Except for Hydralisk. Management had given up. Their players could do whatever they felt like.

The morale scale had hit an all time low in Hydralisk. It was to the extent that management didn’t even notice that Zeal and Ron were smurfing in the headquarters. It was to the extent that Zeal and Ron smurfed just to feel better about themselves. To let out their frustration and just win a couple of easy games. There wasn’t any pressure here, nor were there players at this rank who could pose any kind of challenge to them. These were quick and easy games that helped them feel a little better about themselves. And, even though they weren’t in the best of form right now, they were still professional players. Even if they met another smurf, it wasn’t that hard to get the advantage. As was the case in this game.

✹

Old Huang watched Cup Noodles struggle in this Tristana and Nami versus Vayne and Thresh matchup. Cup Noodles’ Tristana was being pushed back and forced to miss out on last hitting minions. Everytime she did try to come forward for a last hit, specifically when it was about last hitting a cannon minion for the extra gold, the Vayne would Tumble and hit her with an Empowered silver bolt, while the Thresh aimed his Death Sentence. Old Huang took a puff of his cigarette, inhaled the smoke, and then blew it out. “Ah! What the fuck is this shit!” he exclaimed. “They’re smurfing together, right? It must be. This is ridiculous! How good are they!”

Cup Noodles gritted his teeth, frustrated, then said, “Yeah. They’re duoing. Their synergy is too good for it to be a coincidence.” He looked at the two Champions. The Vayne and Thresh that still had a perfect last hit record this game. “Shit! This shit is annoying!” He wanted to teach this Vayne a lesson. This asshole who’d said, “Fuck all Chinese!” That was unforgivable. Cup Noodles wanted to do something about it! It was just, even with his skills as a Master on the Ionia server, he was getting played around with by these two. Whether he liked to admit it or not, they were better.

Before Level 6, Vayne didn’t have a lot of killing power. So Cup Noodles could still trade with his Tristana and get some last hits on minions in. In a normal situation! This wasn’t a normal situation. His Support Nami was a regular Platinum player. One of countless. While that Vayne had a Thresh, a strong Champion, and an incredibly skilled player. There was such a massive difference between both sides that even before Level 6, this lane was dangerous. Case and point was when the Thresh landed a Death Sentence on the Nami, hooking her and dragging her back towards him. If she hadn’t flashed away, that would’ve been first blood.

The Nami didn’t have Flash anymore. For the next few minutes until it got off cooldown, she had to be extra careful. One misstep, and these two smurfs would take advantage of it and kill her. Cup Noodles knew this, so he pinged the Nami back when she tried to walk forward. Just a quick warning. He figured it’d be enough. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t even half a minute since she flashed, but she was already going back in. Moving forward to poke the Vayne. “Uh?” Cup Noodles mumbled. “What’s this guy doing? Shit.” He pinged again, several times in quick succession. He then hit enter and typed a few letters and slammed on the enter key again. Anything to get her to retreat!

Cup Noodles forgot to look at his Tristana. His entire focus was on the Nami. And on the Thresh. The Thresh who reacted to the Nami engage by flashing forward! He disappeared in a flash of light. And then. Then he didn’t reappear on the Nami. Cup Noodles felt his heart drop. His eyes went wide. He looked at his Tristana. There was the Thresh. “Fuck!” he exclaimed. Then he slammed down on his W key–Rocket Jump!

The Tristana aimed her cannon towards the ground and fired. The recoil launched her up into the air, away from the Thresh. The Thresh who whipped his chain and scythe backwards, dragging her back to the ground–Flay! Then he wound up his scythe and flung it at the Tristana. Point blank range. There was no missing this skillshot. The Death Sentence hit. All the while, the Vayne had moved up and past the Tristana, getting the angle for Condemn. She pulled the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. A large bolt flew out and pierced the Tristana, launching her back and pinning her to a wall. Stunned. She couldn’t move for the next 1.5s. 1.5s in which the Thresh ignited her and the Vayne fired off silver bolts, the third attack causing the silver rings around the Tristana to explode.

《First blood!》

Cup Noodles threw his mouse away and his arms up in the air. His screen was grey. He’d given away first blood. “Fuck!” he cursed. “Shit! I messed up. Dammit!” He slammed down on his desk in frustration. Then he looked back at the screen. A message appeared in all chat. A message from the vayne. Two letters. Cup Noodles lost it. “God fucking dammit! This little piece of shit! I’m going to show him! This little f— Argghhh!”

Zeal (Vayne):「EZ」

✹

Cup Noodles came back to his computer after blowing off some steam by walking around his apartment. He sat down and had his Tristana, who’d respawned in the fountain, walk back towards bot lane. “Old Huang?” he asked. A deep breath. In and then out. “Sorry. It’s going to be hard to hold this lane…”

Old Huang unwrapped a new pack of cigarettes, nodding. “That Thresh has some moves on him. What a dirty son of a bitch. That Condemn was pretty good too… Yeah, this game…”

Cup Noodles smiled, bitter, and said, “Well, isn’t this what you wanted? This should be an interesting game. It’s going to be a long one I guess. We’ll have to rely on top to carry and turn things back arou—”

《An enemy has been slain!》

《An ally has been slain!》

A brief pause followed as the players on both teams moved up to top lane to see what was going on there. Then the announcer’s voice rang out across Summoner’s Rift again.

《Double kill!》

“Ha! Holy crap!” Cup Noodles laughed. He panned his camera to the top lane. There were three Champions underneath Blue team’s outer tower. Nasus, Jarvan IV, and Riven. “Ha. Top traded a double kill for one? Nice!”

Old Huang had been keeping an eye on the whole map. That was his job. He hadn’t seen exactly what happened in top lane, but enough to get the general gist of it. It was a failed towerdive. He laughed and said, “Haha, they really wanted the kill. The Riven and Jarvan IV both towerdove. I don’t know how that Nasus did it, but he got them both. Hahah! That’s brilliant!”

The Nasus was going to lose out on some minions, which meant missed experience and gold. But it’d be the same for the Riven. They were both dead. On top of that, the Nasus got the double kill. A late game Champion picking up a double kill so early was a massive boon. This Nasus was well on his way to becoming a raid boss, with a massive health bar thanks to his ultimate skill and massive damage thanks to Siphoning Strike, a skill where he whacked minions, monsters, and Champions into the next life!

✹

Lin Feng laughed and pumped his fist in the air. “Worth! Haha! I won that trade!” He then spent the gold he earned from the two kills on items at the fountain shop before having his Nasus walk back to lane.

“That really was amazing!” Su Xue exclaimed. “I thought you were dead for sure! It looked completely lost! But you somehow got both of them! Haha!”

When the game started and the minion waves arrived in top lane, Lin Feng had taken the cautious approach. Nasus was a late game Champion. He couldn’t do much against a Champion like Riven, who wanted to snowball in the early game. So he kept to last hitting minions, building up the stacks of his Siphoning Strike skill. But the Riven wouldn’t have any of that. She attacked him every opportunity she got. It was just that many of her skills were area of effect skills. That meant that when she hit him, she also hit the minions around him. It didn’t take long for the minion wave to push into Blue team’s outer tower.

Pushed under his tower, Lin Feng continued his cautious approach. He last hit minions and did nothing more. Until the Jarvan IV appeared from the Jungle. There was a brush connecting the lane to the jungle just below his outer tower. The Jarvan IV walked out from the brush, while the Riven walked into tower range and jumped on the Nasus. Then the Jarvan IV followed up with a flag-toss combo. A skill combo that Lin Feng sidestepped. The knock up failed. Lin Feng could do everything on his Nasus. Normally, that’d be the cue for the Jarvan IV to retreat. But he didn’t. He kept going and the Riven went in after him.

Two tower energy shots were enough to almost kill the Riven. She only had a sliver of health left, but still tried to attack the Nasus. She was committed. The Nasus raised his staff in reply and whacked the Riven back to the fountain–Siphoning Strike! Then he turned to the Jarvan IV who was attacking him with everything he had. The Nasus cast Wither on him. The Jarvan IV grew old in a moment. Walking became more difficult and his pike suddenly felt heavy. He managed to raise it one more time to slam down on the Nasus. It was enough to get the kill. But at his old age, he wasn’t fast enough anymore to walk out of tower range. One last energy shot killed him too.

Lin Feng had picked up two kills. On top of that, the Jarvan IV lost his double buffs. He’d have a much harder time clearing jungle camps and being a presence on the map. For the next few minutes that was, anyways. So Lin Feng was pretty happy. When his Nasus arrived back in lane, he looked over towards Su Xue and smiled. “It’s over. I’ve won the lane!”

The League of Legends fans across the world split into four camps. They were ready for battle, for a showdown of epic proportions! It spanned the entire world! From a farm in rural America to a skyscraper in Beijing, everyone with an internet connection could connect and fight! A battle of word and wit. But more than anything, a battle of the biggest mouth. The average Joe was a footsoldier. Their squad captains were amateur analysts sharing their wisdom and insights. Higher ranks were achieved with internet points, something the famous online names had most of. For that reason alone, they became the strategists, the lieutenants and generals of this war.

This was a healthy rivalry between the four teams who’d made it to the semifinals of the Season 5 League of Legends World Championships. The back and forth arguing between Europe and North America remained like that. They were an ocean apart and just wanted to see their team go through to the Finals. However, there was something a little more dark brewing between China and Korea. They were both Asian regions. Both wanting to be better than the other. And the Koreans were better, right now. They’d won Worlds multiple times and were the favourites to take home the trophy again this year.

Then there was China. They wanted to be the best in the world. Or at least in Asia. But they weren’t, and Korean fans loved to remind them of this fact. Every chance they got, they rubbed it in. It got to the point where many Chinese fans were convinced there was a government program in Korea specifically aimed at annoying Chinese League of Legends fans. Ridiculous, of course, but the mind could wring itself in marvelous twists and turns. This hatred between the two regions had erupted a couple months earlier. After a post on an online Korean forum. This post went in great detail to explain just why Chinese players were so terrible at the game and why Bronze players from Korea were better than the best professional players from the LPL.

The post that instigated the hatred was long. Really long. Many fans didn’t bother reading through the entire translated version. They didn’t have that much free time on hand. But they did read the comments underneath, all of which were translated from Korean to Chinese.

「you call those pros? lmao, I think our bronze players can play better than that」

「kek what’d you expect? trash region, trash players…..」

「Remind me, why is the LPL a major region again?」

「coz rito felt bad for thsoe suckers HAHHAHAHA」

「I WATCHED AN LPL GAMES AND NOW MY EYES ARE BLEEDING HELPP!!!!」

「death >>> being forced to watch those shitty chinese play」

These comments alone were enough to give a good picture of how the Koreans thought of the Chinese players. It gave the Chinese fans all the reasons they needed to hate the Koreans! They wanted nothing more than to force these clowns to eat their own words! To this end, high rank players from China started playing on the Korean server. They terrorized Gold and Platinum as they climbed the ladder, making the games in these ranks a nightmare for the average player. But then they hit Diamond, sometimes even Master, and suddenly found they couldn’t get further. The Korean server was really competitive. It was hard to rise up to the top. There were only a few who managed to make their way into Challenger.

Though all of this happened months ago, the smell of gunpowder was still in the air. It’d ebbed to the background, but never disappeared completely. Now, with KG and SSK facing off against each other at the Worlds semifinals, the flames were reignited! The hatred reached a new boiling point. Online forums were flooded with arguments and hate messages, while players from both regions started playing on the other’s server and proving how easy it was to climb the ladder. This was war!

KG was through to the semifinals. For the first time in four years, it looked like a Chinese team might make it all the way to the finals! The Chinese fans were so excited. They’d danced on the streets! And then they learned their opponent was SSK. KG would have to beat SSK to make it to the finals. The Chinese fans knew how good SSK was, but they also remembered the hateful messages sent by the Koreans. It was something they couldn’t tolerate. They wouldn’t! If they couldn’t win at Worlds, then they would at least win this online war!

✹

Cup Noodles read all-chat. “Fuck all Chinese? Fuck you!” he grumbled. With a shake of his head, he tried to ignore the message, only for a new one to pop up. His eyes twitched and he shouted over voice chat, “Fuck this stupid shit Vayne!”

Old Huang wasn’t as fluent in English. He puffed out some smoke, listening to his friend complain, then asked, “What’d he say anyway?”

“He said fuck all Chinese players and KG is trash!” Cup Noodles barked.

“Wait. What?” Old Huang shot up straight in his chair and looked at the messages. He copy pasted them in his browser and had them translated. They said as his friend claimed. He squinted his eyes and shouted, “That son of a bitch! What a fucking tool!”

“Yeah. That. Hold on,” Cup Noodles said, the sound of his fingers pushing down on his keyboard in the background. 

Cup Noodles (Tristana):「FUK OFF! EAT SHIT!」

Zeal (Vayne):「TRASH!!! I FUK U BOT!!!!!」

Old Huang threw the words in his translation app, glaring at his screen. The words morphed into Chinese. He could read what they said. He grabbed his microphone and said, “Fuck this guy! I don’t care about whatever gameplay footage. Just kick that asshole’s ass! Teach that shit Plat player who’s boss!”

Cup Noodles laughed with righteous fury and then said, “Ha! Don’t worry. I’ll crush this noob! Fucking low elo scrub!”

Just like Cup Noodles and Old Huang, Su Xue was also furious when she read the Vayne’s messages. She shouted at the screen, “What the fuck is wrong with that guy! Didn’t his mother teach him manners? Asspiece!” She then turned to Lin Feng and frowned. The corners of her lips turned down. Then she said, “Dammit. Why did you listen to me? I wish you’d picked LeBlanc or something. You could’ve put up a tent in that idiot’s lane!”

Lin Feng, however, wasn’t at all concerned with the Vayne. His mood was great like usual. He patted his chest and said, “Trust me! I’ll carry this game with my Nasus!”

Su Xue nodded, hesitant. Then she shook her head. It didn’t feel right. It felt very wrong! She turned to Lin Feng and tugged on his arm. “Hey? Are you sure? I’ve never seen you play Nasus. Are you good at him?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Well, haha, you see, I’ve played a few games with him? I want to say 10? I don’t remember. Something like that. I think. Maybe less? Ah, it’s been too long.”

“WHAT?” Su Xue shouted, her voice blasting into Lin Feng’s ear, ringing. “Only 10 games?”

Lin Feng rubbed his ear and laughed. “Oh, haha, it’s fine. Don’t worry! I’m really good at Nasus too!”

✹

At 2 minutes, Cup Noodles arrived in lane together with his Support. Tristana and Nami. But before they could even start hitting minions, the Vayne and Thresh moved forward for a quick engage. The Vayne Tumbled and fired off an empowered auto attack, while the Thresh threw out his hook–Death Sentence! It missed. But it did set the tone for the lane. More importantly, it gave Cup Noodles some valuable information. He frowned and said in voice chat, “This Vayne and Thresh. Something’s not right…”

“What are you talking about?” Old Huang asked off the cuff. He was double and triple checking his recording software and hadn’t paid much attention to the game just yet.

Cup Noodles had his Tristana move forward, just far enough to last hit a minion. It was the cue for the Vayne and Thresh. The Vayne switched targets to the Tristana and hit her with an auto attack. Then, before the Tristana could retaliate, she fired off another silver bolt. All the while the Thresh lined up for another Death Sentence, leaving Cup Noodles with no other choice but to back away. To let the last hit slip away from him. And even then, this quick exchange cost him almost a third of his health and he hadn’t dealt any damage to the Vayne!

Cup Noodles started paying attention. His senses were right. Something was off! The way this Vayne and Thresh were playing. How the Vayne was last hitting minions. How the both of them were positioning. There was no Platinum player this good. Cup Noodles said in voice chat, “These two. They aren’t Plat. They’re smurfs. That’s the only explanation. They’re smurfing…”

✹

The lights were still on in the training room of a building in Seoul, South Korea. This was the headquarters of Hydralisk, a secondary pro league team. The night was deep, but there were still two players practicing their skills by playing ranked duo queue. Zeal and Ron. The Botlaners of the team. They were the Vayne and Thresh, the bot lane opponents of Cup Noodles.

Zeal had just won an exchange and pushed the Tristana back under her outer tower. The lane was his! He grinned and said, “Hah! I knew he was a trash player.”

Ron, who was playing Thresh, smiled and said, “We’ve got some luck. Our first game smurfing and we get to stomp some Chinese players! Hehe.”

Their team had given them the day off. But they still felt the itch to play anyways. So they’d decided to log in on their smurfs and have some fun. There was nothing they enjoyed more than a few easy games where they could do what they felt like. A couple of games where they didn’t have to really try to win. This determination to be lazy was rewarded. Their first game wasn’t just going to be easy. It was also giving them the opportunity to play against Chinese players!

Zeal and Ron belonged to a small subset of Korean professional players who considered themselves superior to other regions, and would openly say so. To them, North American and European teams were so bad that they weren’t even qualified to compete in the second Korean league. As for the LPL, those who played in that league weren’t real professional players. They were hillbillies trying to look cool by calling themselves professionals! SSK versus KG would only reaffirm that. As would this ranked game.

“Nasus and Tristana, huh?” Zeal sneered. “I’ll send you two back to where you came from! I’ll have you two cry and beg for yo mamas! Stupid scrubs!”

“You’re too picky,” Lin Feng grumbled. He leaned back in his chair and looked at Su Xue sitting next to him. It wasn’t his fault these games were easy. Plus, just because they were easy, that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything worth recording in them. He’d made some great plays that she could definitely turn into a cool video. If only she could look past the full games and zoom in on the skill he showed.

“No, but if you’re winning so hard every game… the viewers are going to get bored!” Su Xue argued. There had to be tension! It couldn’t just be stomps! He had to fight a little for the win! Now that was exciting to watch. “It’s only fun to watch these videos if it can still go either way. And then you pull on the long end and bring home the win!” She paused and thought for a moment, browsing through her recordings. Then she looked at him and smiled. “I know! How about you let yourself get pressured in the early game. You can let yourself fall behind a little, or something, and then you make a big comeback in the late game! That’d be exciting and fun to watch!”

“Nope! Not gonna work!” Lin Feng refused, wildly shaking his head. “I’m too good! These guys can’t pressure me.”

“Aww, come on! You’re so good, I’m sure you can do it!” Su Xue pleaded. She looked at Lin Feng, putting on her best attempt at making puppy eyes. “Just one game? Please! Games with an underdog making a last second comeback are always more exciting to watch! Will you do it for me? Please! Pretty please?”

“Ahh…” Lin Feng looked at Su Xue and scratched his hair. “I don’t know…”

There was hesitation in his voice. It was all Su Xue heard. An opening. A way in. She jumped on it and directly proposed, “How about this. As long as you do this teeny tiny thing for me, I’ll order two extra chicken cutlets for you later tonight!”

Food made Lin Feng move. His eyes lit up. They started shining. Almost radiating! He sat straight in his chair, leaned a little towards Su Xue, and countered, “Three! I’ll do it for three!”

“Two. Take it or leave it,” Su Xue shot him down. She had his attention. Two would be enough. She knew.

“Okay! Deal!” Lin Feng agreed. He still hadn’t had bargaining lessons from Tang Bingyao. He hadn’t even brought it up to her yet. But he wasn’t thinking about that at all. There was only one thing on his mind. The picture of two chicken cutlets. Juicy. Hot. Delicious.

“Hey, are you going to play, or what?” Su Xue asked.

Lin Feng blinked and looked up at Su Xue. Right. League. Then food. He looked at his League client and clicked through the menu to queue up for another ranked game. Hmm, if we want a comeback victory, I’ll probably have to feed a little. I don’t see any of these guys beating me. Hmm, let’s see.

✹

There was a small town in Northeast China where there were more potholes than asphalt on the streets. The apartment buildings were old and in disrepair. Some sections had even broken down completely. In an apartment where the walls were dark with water damage, Old Huang paced back and forth. He was Smut Sentinel, a rising content creator most known for his commentary videos. But it didn’t matter how well he did, his fans always demanded more. More specifically, they wanted to see better gameplay.

Old Huang had invited Cup Noodles, a good friend of his, to help him out with this problem. However, the videos they’d recorded so far weren’t anything he could use. Either Cup Noodles lost. That one game. Or he stomped his lane and won the game. Zero suspense. It was all too easy for a Master player to win games in Gold and Platinum. But that was just it. Without suspense, there was nothing drawing the viewers to the edge of their seats. He needed something exciting! Something exhilarating! Something that had his fans beg him for more of the same!

The deadline for his next video was fast approaching. Old Huang browsed through all the recorded gameplay. Useless. It’s all useless. He bit his lips, then banged his fist on his desk and shouted into voice chat, “Dammit! Noodles, why can’t you make these games a little more exciting! These stomps are boring. Make them entertaining! If you can’t even do that, then what are you good for?”

“Screw you too!” Cup Noodles shouted, equally frustrated but for all different reasons. He was trying to help his friend, but there wasn’t a single thank you. Only complaints. “What do you want from me? Am I not doing what you asked me to do? Look. Look at this match history! I’ve been carrying in Gold and Platinum games! That’s what you asked for! It’s not my fault you had to put the bar so goddamn high for your stupid videos!”

Old Huang puffed out some smoke and shook his head. Then he took another puff of his cigarette before saying, “Listen. I get that you’re stomping Golds and Plats. That’s normal, right? But no one cares about that. Talk to me again when you can stomp in Diamond. That, or when you can make these stomps in Gold and Plat look more exciting. More fun to watch. Maybe throw a little in the early game and make an epic comeback in the ultra late game. Or do something. Anything to make these games fun to watch. Right now, they’re just boring. I’m falling asleep for fucks sake!”

“I get that! Fuck!” Cup Noodles cursed. He took a few deep breaths, forcing his annoyance down. “But how am I supposed to do that? I’m an ad-carry… If I fall behind, that just means the other ad-carry is going to snowball. Suddenly, we’re reliant on the other lanes, and odds are they’re losing too. Then what? There’s nothing for me to turn around then. It’ll be a loss. I’m no fucking wizard!”

“I don’t care! Just figure it out!” Old Huang shouted, pisssed off.

“Really? Is that how you’re going to be? You know what you’re asking for, right? This is such a specific set up. Like. We have to find a stronger team to play against. But not so much stronger that we lose everywhere. Then we need a mid and top on our team that can help. Then we need them to be in on it. Make sure they don’t go Legendary before the game is 10 minutes in. There are too many fucking variables for it to work,” Cup Noodles ranted. He shook his head, frustrated. Whatever. Let’s see what happens… He entered the queue for another ranked game.

It didn’t take long for the queue to pop. Cup Noodles entered Champion Select. He looked in chat, where it showed the other players on his team who’d joined the game. Four names. One jumped out. He leaned forward a little, double checking. “Uh, hey,” he said. He waited for a reply and then continued, “Look. That guy in third pick. Isn’t that…”

Old Huang could see Cup Noodle’s client through his recording software. He looked at the Champion Select. At the player in third pick. “CN•Maple…” Then it hit. He coughed, violently, the smoke he’d just inhaled burning in his throat. “Fuck! Him again?!”

✹

Lin Feng was in Champion Select. They were going through the ban phase, but he didn’t care much for that. He was scrolling through the list of Champions. Su Xue had promised him two chicken cutlets, so he’d give her what she wanted. But what Champion is good to lose early with… There weren’t many Champions that fit his plan. It had to be one that was weak in the early game but became a monster in the late game. Of the hundreds of Champions, only a few fit this criteria. “Hmm, what to pick. What to pick.” Lin Feng rubbed his chin, scrolling up and down the list of Champions. Then he saw one. “Oh, I know!” He moved his mouse over the portrait and selected the Champion. It was a Toplaner. A jackal-headed man with a large staff that could whack any Champion back to the fountain in the late game! Nasus, the Curator of the Sands!

“Really? Top Nasus…” Su Xue mumbled a little louder than she intended to.

Lin Feng looked over at her and asked, “Isn’t that what you wanted? A late game comeback, right?” He started grinning, stupidly so, and continued, “Nasus is perfect for that! All I have to do is farm up stacks on his Siphoning Strike! Whack minions all game long and let the other team get ahead elsewhere on the map! It doesn’t matter what happens in the game. All I have to do is farm up enough stacks that I can whack them all back to the fountain! It’s an easy 1vs5 in the late game!”

Confident his plan was going to work, Lin Feng sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. This is going to be fun. Let’s see what the rest of the team is going to— eh? He squinted his eyes and looked at the Summoner Name of one of his teammates. “Paomian? Cup Noodles? Where have I heard this name before…”

While Lin Feng was surprised to find a name he recognized on the Korea server, Old Huang and Cup Noodles were also surprised. Just that they were surprised about something completely different. They knew CN•Maple as a Midlaner. One who’d crushed them. So they weren’t expecting to see him pick top lane. Nor were they expecting a Champion like Nasus. This jackal-headed master of the cane wasn’t the flavour of the month.

Cup Noodles suddenly started laughing. He slapped his desk with his palm and said, “Haha! This is perfect! Nasus is the perfect pick! It doesn’t matter how far we fall behind, he can make the comeback happen! Plus, that Maple guy is the real deal. He has the skill to make a comeback happen! This might really work! Haha!”

“Oh, damn! You’re right! This might really work!” Old Huang exclaimed. He puffed a few smoke circles, looking at the screen, and then added, “Yo, Cup. This isn’t a free pass to play like shit. Like, the optics of it are great. But you need to do the carrying. We can’t have this Nasus take all the spotlight. You need to be the hero in this game.”

“Chill! Chill! I’ll be fine,” Cup Noodles assured. “Remember, this is just Plat. I’ll hold my lane, easy! Besides, that Maple guy is on our team this time. We’ve got this!”

✹

Blue versus Red
Top lane: Nasus versus Riven
Jungle: Elise versus Jarvan IV
Mid lane: Xerath versus Yasuo
AD-carry: Tristana versus Vayne
Support: Nami versus Thresh

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

“Woohoo! Let’s go! Let’s do this! Chicken cutlets!” Lin Feng exclaimed, drooling as the last two words left his mouth. He bought his starting items at the fountain shop and then moved towards the top lane. Then, a message appeared in all chat.

Zeal (Vayne):「CN•Maple? 이거 봐… 짱깨 한명 나왔보네」

“Huh? What do you think he’s saying?” Lin Feng asked Su Xue. “Hmm…” He typed a quick response.

CN•Maple (Nasus):「? ? ?」

Zeal (Vayne):「Nasus. Chinese?」

CN•Maple (Nasus):「Yes!」

Zeal (Vayne):「좆같은 중국새끼들, KG는 쓰레기야」

Lin Feng shook his head and rolled his eyes. “What does this guy think? That I magically learned Korean in the last 30 seconds? Or is he expecting me to search what it means…” But he didn’t have to search for it. The Vayne followed up with an English message. It was short and easy to understand.

Zeal(Vayne):「fuck all chinese!!!」

Zeal(Vayne):「kg trash!!!」

KG would carry on no matter what the obstacles were! They refused to give up! When the going gets tough, they would just get tougher! And, win. SSK was strong. Yes. SSK was great. Sure. SSK was a million things and more. But they weren’t invincible! Someone would beat them, eventually. Maybe it really would be KG. All they had to do was to forget all the reasons why they’d lose, ignore all the paths that led to defeat, and focus on that one singularity that could see them win this series! To that end, they received the unconditional support of their peers and fans!

「The LPL stands with you! Good luck KG!」

「We know you can do it! Show everyone how good we are!」

「Fight! Fight! Fight! And never give up!」

「Play the best you can do! Make us proud!」

Between the many short messages of encouragement, there was the odd essay. Most were written by overzealous fans, but there were also a couple of big names in the scene who joined in. One of them was Qinghe, the official LPL caster for Worlds.

Qinghe:「I’ve followed KG’s Worlds journey since the moment they landed in London. I was there the first week, when everything went the wrong way. They looked lost. Not just in the game, but also outside of it. But sometime in that week off, they started looking better. More excited. Confident. Then came the miracle week. What more can I say? It was a true miracle. We all remember that five man Hecarim ultimate. How they beat the Emperor team Legend. And what about that pentakill? They were works of art from a true legend of the game! Our very own God Roundy!

The Quarterfinals were a continuation of that second week. We got to see the best KG all year. More importantly, what I saw in them was hope. A team chasing their dreams. Don’t get me wrong here. Hopes and dreams aren’t enough to beat SSK. That is going to take a miracle. But isn’t that what KG has been doing? Creating miracles? They beat an Emperor team!

The LPL is no stranger in defeating Emperor teams. We all remember what happened at the Mid-Season Invitational. Hand of God defeated Fate. We’ve beaten two Emperor teams now. Isn’t SSK just another Emperor team? Well, no, they’re the Emperor team. But an Emperor team nonetheless.

Maybe, and mind you, I know this is reaching. I know better than most how absurd this challenge is. SSK is the best team in the world for a good reason. But maybe, just maybe, if the cards fall the right way. If KG has the best day of their lives and SSK loses focus for just a bit. Maybe if we all show our support for KG and help them play at a higher level than ever before. Maybe they can create one more miracle. The miracle of defeating SSK!

I realize this is just a dream of mine. We can’t realistically expect for that to happen. So let’s do what we can and hope that they fight the good fight. That they never give up and do our LPL proud! That much alone is enough for me. And I know it’s enough for the KG fans around the world too. So, KG, this is to you. Do your best! You have my full support! I’ll cheer you on from behind the caster’s desk!」

Qinghe had hit the nail on its head. Between all the support everyone was showing KG, his post was a breath of fresh air. He knew how strong SSK was. And how weak KG was in comparison. There was no comparing the two teams. It would take more than just skill to close this gap. But at the same time, he didn’t give up. There was still hope for KG. This resonated with a lot of fans and other professionals in the scene. They left comments and upvoted the post, using their combined power to get this message to the players from KG. The reality of the situation was tough. But it wasn’t hopeless.

✹

The weather wasn’t great on Ka’anapali Beach, Hawaii. The skies were grey and the waters still. It was the precursor to a storm that was gaining strength just over the horizon. Three walked out onto the beach. His bare feet pushed into the sand, the grains wriggling between his toes. He looked up ahead. A little further on the beach stood One, staring out over the ocean. He raised his eyebrows, surprised, then shook his head and walked up to his friend. “Hey. Did you hear? The semis got announced. It’s KG versus SSK.”

One didn’t react. He didn’t even turn to look at Three. His eyes remained firmly locked on the ocean. The sounds of the water, strangely waveless. It sounded calm. In this almost threatening silence rested something ominous. The calm before the storm.

Three shrugged and clicked his tongue. “I kind of hoped to see them go up against Season or Legend. Who knows, they might have pulled a win out of the Rabbit’s Hat. Don’t see them getting anything in this series against SSK though. Looks pretty hopeless if you ask me.”

One didn’t bother answering Three. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. KG was good. SSK was better. It was as simple as that. He looked over the water and said, “You see this? The moment you landed, the weather went bad. Me and the missus have only had blue skies and sun all day. Every day. Until you came. Now it’s shit.”

“And that is my fault? Is that what you’re getting at?” Three asked, cocking his eyebrow. He then followed One’s gaze. No longer talking, he could hear the distant sound of thunder. Weak, but definitely there. The clouds were growing darker. He shook his head and said, “Huh, guess what they say is true. Bad news comes with bad weather.”

One narrowed his eyes and said, “A storm is coming.”

✹

The next couple of days were nice and comfortable for the members from High School 13’s team. They were one of the first teams to qualify for the quarter finals. There were three more days and six more series to be played. They could watch them, or just chill and do something else altogether. That was, when Lin Feng didn’t leave them with tasks. His training schedule for them was never empty. There was always something more to do. Some different aspects of the game to get better at.

The extra free time Lin Feng had for the next couple of days perfectly lined up with Su Xue’s plan of recording gameplay for her commentary videos. Of course, he’d done enough for her for free. It was time for her to pay up. So he came with a list of demands if he were to help her record gameplay. It went something like, “Ok, I want more food for dinner. More late night snacks. Extra variation. Think mapo tofu, chilli chicken, stir-fried pork, sauerkraut and pork stew, konjac, roast duck, sliced beef offals, pickled cabbage and fish, Sichuan style braised prawn, pan-fried dumplings, fish fillet, stir-fry bamboo shoots, steamed pork with salted vegetables, shredded cabba—”

“Enough! ENOUGH! ALRIGHT! Alright! I’ll do it. I’ll make you more food. Jeez. Are you afraid of going hungry or something?” Su Xue grumbled, hiding her smile. She enjoyed cooking. Making a little bit more wasn’t much of a punishment for her. Plus, she got to learn some new recipes!

That same night, after enjoying dinner together, Lin Feng and Su Xue set up in her bedroom. Su Xue booted up her computer and prepared her recording software, double checked her settings, and made sure she was good to go. As for Lin Feng, he started his VPN and opened the League client. His account was on the Korean server, so that was where they’d be getting the footage from. This was a little something that would help set Su Xue’s video apart from the thousands of others who were trying to make a name for themselves. After all, the Korean server had a higher reputation than the Chinese ones.

To that end, Lin Feng even came up with a name for the video series. “Smurfing in Korea.” But Su Xue wasn’t as enthused about it as he was. She didn’t think it was all that funny. Quite the opposite, really. She got a little angry with him and shouted, “Smurfing my ass! Do you know how good the players on that server are? I’ll be happy if you don’t get your ass kicked! Smurfing idiot—”

Su Xue found the words caught in her mouth. Lin Feng had just logged in. She could see his name. “CN•Maple? A little patriot we got here, huh? Did you really have to add the CN? Oh well, whatever. Hey, click on your profile. Show me what rank you are!”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and clicked on his profile page. “Oh, I just promoted to Platinum.”

“The hell? Didn’t you say you bought a Gold 3 account?” Su Xue cried out, shocked. He’d only bought an account the other day! She shook her head, trying to clear it up, then looked at him and asked, “How? How did you get to Platinum already? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does! I’m really good at climbing the ladder too!” Lin Feng laughed. Then he balled his fist, showing off that goofy smile of his, and threw his arm in the air. “I’ll get to Challenger in no time!”

Su Xue rolled her eyes and breathed out heavily. “God. Why, always? Forget it. Enough. You think it’s that easy? There are only a couple of LPL pros who managed to do it! It’s really difficult! You’ll see. Anyways, start the game already! Who knows how long it’s going to take us to get one that’s good for a video.”

It did take more than a few games. Just like Su Xue feared. She watched Lin Feng play five games. Each game was more boring than the last. None of them were worth a dime for her videos! She wasn’t even going to bother trying to make them work. The reason for this was simple. Lin Feng. He wasn’t just really good on the Ionia server. He was also really good on the Korean server. Five games. Five one sided stomps by him. Four lasted 20 minutes after the opposing team surrendered. As for the fifth, it ended after only 14 minutes, when the other team gave up. They stopped protecting their lanes and base and let Lin Feng and his team push through mid to win the game.

Su Xue looked at her recordings. She scanned through them, searching for anything of value. There was nothing. She grabbed her hair and said, “Why! Everyone always talks about how the Koreans never give up! A bunch of liars! They gave up after 14 minutes! They stopped trying… Why won’t they play for the late game and try to get a comeback! I just want to see a good game. Please…”

“A comeback is impossible!” Lin Feng laughed. He looked at Su Xue and pounded his chest. “I carry too hard!”

Su Xue put her elbows on the desk and leaned on her palms, rubbing her eyes. “Yes yes yes, you’re amazing at the game. I bow down to your greatness. Great.” She sighed and looked at the five thumbnails on her screen. “A-are these kinds of games even worth anything? It was too easy. Of course they aren’t… What happened to the whole Diamond in China is Silver in Korea? These games don’t look like Diamond to me…”

“HOW!” Su Xue cried out. She had the official web page for the Season 5 World Championships open. It showed the announcement for the semifinals. It showed that KG was going to play against SSK. “H-how can this be? Is our luck so bad…”

The thousands of viewers all saw what Su Xue saw. The web page was open on her stream. The worst case scenario had become reality. SSK was too strong, they all knew that. But if KG managed to make it to the Finals by beating Legend or Season, then. Then. Then they still wouldn’t have won the Finals. But at least they could’ve had the bragging rights! Now, however, they were in for the hardest series in their lives. The viewers flooded the chat.

「DAMN! WTF IS THIS LUCK??? WE’RE AGAINST SSK IN THE SEMIS!?!??!?!」

「WHY THE HELL DID IT HAVE TO BE SSK!??!?!?………」

「FML EZ GG. kg is done for. it was fun while it lasted…..」

「……… RIPERINO」

Lin Feng was unusually quiet. The readers were screaming in chat, Su Xue was practically crying on his shoulder, but he just sat there, dazed. He stared at the screen. At the match schedule. KG versus SSK. He read it, over and over again. The words didn’t change. KG was still KG and SSK didn’t suddenly become Legend. This really couldn’t be any worse. Looks like this is it, Fatty. Come on! It’ll be difficult, but you can’t give up! You have to fight!

✹

It wasn’t just the viewers of Su Xue’s stream, all KG fans in the world learned of their misfortune. After Hand of God’s exit from the tournament, all Chinese League fans had rallied behind KG. And now they were going to get through those difficult times again. The same team that had beaten HoG. The best team in the world. No one believed KG stood a chance. It was hopeless. They gave up on Worlds this year and started looking towards next season. Next year.

“Why couldn’t it have been Legend or Season?” 
“Why did it have to be SSK?” 
“All we wanted was a Finals!” 
“What is this luck…”
“Why is it always us? We never get lucky…”
“We’re fucked.”

Beyond the sadness and feelings of injustice, the KG fans worried about KG. About the players in the team. Everyone remembered Week 1 of Worlds. They all knew what’d happened. To some extent, at least. The pressure had gotten to the players from KG. Performing on the world stage proved to be too difficult. It took them a full week to get to a point where they could show everyone how good they really were. And they were. They even beat Legend! Now, however, they were up against last year’s winners and favourites to take the title again this year. There was no week between the first and second match. They had to perform from the get-go. The pressure and stress that came with this knowledge had to be suffocating!

KG had a chance of beating SSK. There was a best of five series. None of the games were played. If SSK had an off day. If everything KG did worked in their favour. If a lot of ifs came together, then KG actually could make it through to the Finals. But one condition for this was that KG was in top mental and physical state. They couldn’t let the pressure get to them. They couldn’t collapse under it. They had to fight through and show everyone their best selves. And to this end, the KG fans wanted to help. So they did the only thing they knew how to. Make posts online to speak out their support! 

“GO KG! YOU GOT THIS!” 
“YOU GUYS CAN DO THIS! WE BELIEVE IN YOU!” 
“SHOW EVERYONE HOW GOOD YOU GUYS ARE!” 
“KG IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD!” 
“KG GOING TO TAKE THIS SERIES 3-0!”

✹

Lin Feng got up from his chair and excused himself to the viewers and Su Xue. He was worried about his friend, and that got priority over having fun on stream. So he walked out of the room and grabbed his phone. Tian Tian’s number was in the favourites list. He called his friend and put the phone to his ear. Three rings and then it connected.

“L-lin Feng, y-you found out?” Tian Tian muttered, his teeth chattering. His breathing was mismatched, half sniffling. “W-we just found out ourselves. SSK. W-we’re going to face SSK in the semis…”

Week 1 of Worlds was a mess for Tian Tian. He’d been a nervous wreck, stuck in his own mind and unable to perform. It wasn’t until Lin Feng and Three spoke to him and showed him their confidence, that he found his true self. That old rhythm that made him one of the most talented players in the world. It was why he was picked up in Season 1 by a professional team and why now, in the fifth season, he still played at the highest level. He was a really good player when he pushed through the obstacles he placed in his own mind.

Week 2 of Worlds was a dream come true for Tian Tian. He played some of the best League in his entire career. He was lauded as a King. Even an Emperor. A five man Hecarim ultimate. A pentakill. These were feats that rarely ever happened on the world stage. But when he played at his best, this was exactly what he could do. God Roundy. There was a very good reason why his fans had dubbed him this.

However, there was only so much Tian Tian could do on his own. He couldn’t keep carrying his team on his back. Even against Legend, it was him who did all the work. His teammates only did the bare minimum. It was draining. Exhausting. By the end of that game, he’d felt close to collapsing. But he’d pulled through. Made the impossible possible, for just one game. But that was Legend and this was SSK. There was a stark difference between the two. Legend was good. Great. One of the best teams in the world. But SSK was SSK. They were the best team in the world. With the best Midlaner in the world.

Some mountains were too high to climb. Some obstacles too big to break through. Some waters too deep to explore. When Tian Tian learned he had to face SSK next, he fell back against a wall and slid down to the ground until his buttocks hit the floor. He just sat there, staring at the wall on the other side. They were in the semifinals. The likelihood of drawing SSK was really big. But until the announcement, there was still the chance they would draw another team. He could still make excuses in his head. To keep himself from losing it. Not anymore. He had to play against SSK. He had to beat them if he wanted to make it to the finals.

Lin Feng knew this. It was why he was so worried about Fatty. It was why he’d left the stream to call his friend. But against all his expectations, while he was still thinking of what to say, Fatty continued talking. “I-i was in a team meeting just now… E-everyone was pretty down. No one really wanted to talk. B-but we decided we want to win. It doesn’t matter that we’re up against SSK or what our odds are. We want to win. S-so we’ll give it our best and try our hardest!”

“Mhm,” Lin Feng answered, smiling. It looked like he’d worried too much. Fatty had taken the first step himself this time. The pressure hadn’t left him disabled in a bathroom stall. He was talking and there was a fire in his voice.

Tian Tian breathed in, long and deep, and then let it all out. A weight off his shoulders. He continued, “T-the others from the LPL are out. We’re all that’s left. E-everyone is counting on us. We have to do this. I-it doesn’t matter how strong SSK is. We want to fight. We want to win. We’re not giving up until the last second. E-even if it’s impossible, we can’t give up.”

“Mhm,” Lin Feng replied again, letting Fatty talk. Expecting more of the same. But it wasn’t more of the same. Fatty showed a side of him that had been in hiding for a long time. A side of him he’d been denying existed.

Tian Tian rhythmically hit the ground with his fist and said, “B-but… I don’t want to just fight. Not give up. Whatever. I don’t want to lose… I-i don’t like this mindset. I want to win!” He caught his fist in the middle of the beat. The words he’d spoken only now went through his mind. He’d said he wanted to win. To beat the invincibles. “U-uh… I mean. Uhh. I-i know SSK is too strong. We can’t beat them. The gap is just too big. E-even in top lane, I’m not sure I can win. B-but… I want to win. I just want to win. J-just one game and I’m happy. I-i don’t want to lose. Not again. I-it doesn’t matter how small the chance is. I-i want to win a game.”

A silence fell over the line. Neither side spoke. Lin Feng was still listening to his friend, while Tian Tian realized something. He’d been talking. He alone. Lin Feng hadn’t said a word. “U-uh…” His face felt warm. He bit the inside of his lips and then asked, “H-hey, you’re not laughing at me, right? I know we lost to that guy in Season 1. E-even with you. S-so this must sound stupid. It’s just that. M-maybe…”

“No,” Lin Feng said. “I’m not laughing at you.” He clenched his phone and took a deep breath. Then he started smiling. A big, happy, goofy grin surfaced on his face. “You’re amazing, Fatty! At least, I think so! SSK isn’t invincible! You can beat them! Just do it! I believe in you!”

✹

After their exit from Worlds in the quarterfinals, the players from Hand of God had taken the first flight back home. Their headquarters were in Shanghai, which was where they were right now. Nightsong and Hermes were chilling behind their laptops when they heard the news. Or rather, Hermes read it and then told Nightsong. Nightsong looked up at his friend for a good moment before sighing. “Man. KG got screwed in every hole.”

Hermes nodded and said, “Yeah. It’s plain bad luck. Against Season or Legend, who knows, they might’ve done something special. But against SSK? Fat chance.”

The two friends had just played against SSK. And lost. They knew how strong this team was. KG really didn’t stand much of a chance. But they also knew KG! Nightsong grinned and said, “KG won’t give up. That’s not who they are! Roundy won’t let them! He’ll keep them going hard until the last second!”

Hermes smiled, hesitant, but still said, “Yeah. I think so too.”

Of course KG would keep fighting. It was an unspoken rule in League of Legends. Professional teams didn’t give up. They kept fighting until the last second of the last game. For the LPL teams, if one team got knocked out, their fans would switch to the others still remaining, cheering them on. Anything they could do for the region! Nightsong and Hermes were only stating the obvious. Empty words in their truest form. KG would keep fighting. To underline this, they published a post on their official Weibo account a few minutes after midnight in China.

We’ll fight until the bitter end, not just for KG, but for the entire LPL! Godspeed!