Chapter 389: Time's up

Xiao Duan rushes to join the battlefield; an entangling root binds 957's big tree, and a delayed ultimate is tossed after it.

Liang Yan knows Xi Ye still has a dash, does not give chase, turns back to lock onto 957.

"The Prince's spear strikes repeatedly; the big tree goes all-in and tanks damage! The Prince's basic attacks don't hurt much, but the problem is Leg Brother didn't dodge—the tree is too clumsy!"

"They can't escape."

"It's rough, Leg Brother..."

957 knows it can't escape, so it doesn't run, bearing the output of two people as it meets a wave of minions that just reached the front line, stubbornly holding out until the second Q ability kills it.

"The big tree is indeed good at tanking but really can't run; in the end it's shot dead by Jinx's plants! WE got traded one for two again, we're screwed!"

"Jiao Shen's counter‑gank is deadly!"

"VG clearly had preparations; Jinx, upon respawning, ran to mid lane, and WE walked right into VG's trap!"

"This feels off—why do these teams always fall into chaos at the 10‑minute mark when they play VG?!"

"So Teacher Ze Yuan noticed too? When I earlier co‑commentated the VG vs NB match with Teacher Xiao Yan, I said VG's power spike is around the ten‑minute mark; facing them, you must especially watch that point."

"Ah, why is that?"

"I don't know either, but the pattern I've summed up is exactly this!"

"One‑Punch Man? They train for the first ten minutes, then at the ten‑minute mark they deliver a serious one‑punch to kill the enemy."

"That's pretty vivid."

Actually there aren't that many tricks; the reason is Liang Yan likes to put pressure on Xia Lu in the first ten minutes, then starts to push when the laning phase is about to end. Since the start of the season, whenever they face a team with some strength in Xia Lu, he does it this way.

In Liang Yan's plan, the sole purpose of the regular season is to drill the troops—specifically to hone the team's fundamentals and mutual coordination, shoring up any weaknesses; as for tactic research and practice, those can be left for later, since the patch keeps changing, so drilling a lot now is useless.

Of course, this is also because this year's VG has no pressure to miss the playoffs.

"After two one‑for‑two exchanges, VG's gold lead has opened to over a thousand; if they can hold it later, this disadvantage isn't actually big, but the problem is…"

"The problem is VG's offensive tempo has begun."

Around twelve minutes, both sides' mid/jungle/support fought for vision of the little patch of grass at the river's center, constantly bickering on the riverbanks; a Frost Archer's sudden magic crystal arrow shot from Xia Lu became the spark that ignited the fight.

"Mystic's arrow arrived! Missed! Grazed past! Marquis' positioning was extremely evasive, Orianna twisted her tiny waist and dodged it!"

"But Ryze came up driving, bringing Mantis with him!"

"Almost the same script! Again Xi Ye first‑hand rune imprisonment locks down Marquis but is pressed down by the clockwork shockwave, though this time Condi wasn't pulled and jumped away."

"The female gunner's ultimate wiped clean, but he's just a support! With no attack gear his damage is barely a scratch!"

"Marquis survived!"

"After Prince's EQ launches Xi Ye into the air, Xiao Duan flashes to apply weakness to the looming Xi Ye, who kept flying without dealing any damage and was instantly killed."

"And Condi didn't dare keep chasing, fearing Jinx's ultimate would sweep him away."

"Marquis flashed over the wall and escaped successfully!"

"And Jiao Shen's reverse ultimate just swallowed Condi whole!"

"The four plants sprayed wildly! No jump, no flash—Condi was trapped in the wall Prince made with Earthshatter, left to be slaughtered!"

"Seeing the situation turn bad, the female gunner took off at a sprint!"

"Done! Two more dead! WE lost at least one tower this wave!"

"The dragon probably has to go too."

"Good lord, amazing VG! From nine minutes to now, three waves of momentum, VG has been gaining more and more wave after wave—does power really kick in exactly when the time hits?!"

"Feels like we set an alarm."

"Set the alarm…… okay, really okay!"

"Next up we enter VG's comfort zone."

"Mid/jungle comes up and starts taking down towers—if this mid tower falls, WE's defensive pressure on both sides will be huge; feels like we'll have to drag it into late game again."

"If we can really drag it into late game, WE can still fight."

"Can we fight? I feel it's iffy—you say if VG were a pure late‑game comp that'd be fine, but the problem is VG has engage potential, and Jiao Shen's Prince you can't ignore."

"Get this—Teacher Ze Yuan must be a die‑hard WE fan."

"Huh?"

"Crazyly buffing VG."

"No believing rumors, no spreading rumors—I'm a professional caster!"

After pushing the tower, Liang Yan didn't recall directly; instead he took Marquis to steal the enemy blue, but that blue wasn't given to Marquis—it was given to Fu Lan Duo, who never entered Ye Qu, stood in the river and with one speed shot grabbed the blue buff.

Then the mid/jungle duo went home, Liang Yan went out and cleared the monsters in Shang Ban Qu; at that time Marquis also cleared two waves in Zhong Lu, after which he came to the lower half to eat his own blue, maximizing the benefit.

After eating the blue, the two headed straight down to meet the Xia Lu duo at the dragon pit, where they tugged with the WE four trying to take the dragon for half a minute; Mystic again took the engage responsibility, but one arrow locked them down, so they still didn't dare to take the dragon.

After both sides pulled back to a safe distance, Liang Yan seized the moment when Condi was escorting Ryze back to mid, launched a sudden counter‑attack, dove the tower to kill Ben's female gunner, and then took down the next tower.

The sudden pace increase made WE struggle to adapt, but they eventually steadied, quickly sent three men to push away Fu Lan Duo's Jayce, and took VG's top tower.

VG didn't take the opportunity to grab the dragon; the first dragon at fifteen minutes wasn't taken, making this dragon a mere ornament, so Liang Yan and the duo went home and headed straight for the top lane.

WE noticed VG's lane swap, but didn't follow suit, keeping the duo in Xia Lu while sending Condi alone to steal the dragon; moreover they refused to give up their top tower, relying on 957's big tree with Sunfire Cape and plated steelcaps to be very tanky, hoping to pair with Ryze's drive for a strong defense.

However, Ryze was caught mid‑lane by Marquis, who followed him all the way, not giving Xi Ye a chance to drive, and in the end 957's big tree was tower‑dived and killed by VG's three jungle members.

Afterward VG's mid/jungle quartet regrouped, pushing with the minion wave to continue assaulting WE's second top tower.

Xi Ye alone didn't dare to defend the tower, also fearing VG would all‑in and push straight to high ground, so the jungle trio hurried back to defend.

"Two towers plus a kill for one tower and a dragon—still VG comes out ahead!"

"Over three thousand."

"What?"

"VG's gold lead is over three thousand."

"This…… VG's tempo is crazy; just nine minutes ago the sides were basically even, and in a short eight minutes the gold gap jumped to over three thousand!"

To be honest, it looks like the operational capabilities of the two sides are not on the same level.