Chapter 443: Let them get two ahead and chase three?

The semifinal between EDG and RNG started first; Liang Yan chatted briefly with Tabe, the broadcast showed both sides' ban phase nearly over, RNG's fourth pick flashed Vayne, causing an uproar across the venue, but it was just a flash— in such a situation even Uzi would somewhat restrain his selfishness, it's absolutely impossible to pick a hero with only weaknesses and no strengths.

Liang Yan wore one earpiece, heard the noisy sound from it, glanced at the screen unintentionally, saw EDG's lineup, and his expression suddenly turned somewhat strange.

Tabe, seeing this, asked:

"What's wrong?"

Liang Yan pondered for two seconds, then murmured to himself:

"Ming Kai probably won't pull that trick again, will he?"

"Which trick?"

"A level‑2 gank bottom."

Tabe took a close look at both teams' compositions and froze for a moment.

EDG's bottom lane is Rek'Sai + Varus + Titan, while RNG's bottom lane is Mantis + Ashe + Karma; EDG indeed has the conditions for a level‑2 gank bottom, because RNG's bottom lane will surely press the lane, so as long as Titan lands the first crowd‑control on Uzi's Ashe, Uzi is doomed.

"That's totally possible— lock him down and he's dead!"

"The main issue is that this Titan support pick is rather puzzling."

Liang Yan pondered,

"If it weren't for a level‑2 gank bottom, I can't think of why EDG would pick like this."

Titan support isn't strong in this patch; it's usually paired with a lock‑down composition, but EDG's lineup this game is clearly not a lock‑down system.

Tabe laughed:

"Are they picking this just for that little vinegar‑filled dumpling? But don't say that—I think if Changzhang goes for the gank, he has a good chance to land it, because Uzi will surely push the lane at level 1."

As a result, his words became a self‑fulfilling prophecy.

With his duo's help, Changzhang started the red buff at level 1, soon followed the duo onto the lane, entered the river from the Triangular Grass, happened to run into Ming who was coming to place a ward, ignored him, and directly blew up the Uzi who was pushing the lane.

"Oh my god, another level‑2 gank bottom— Changzhang got first blood!"

"Uzi really shouldn't have done that— at least wait for Ming to finish placing the ward before you push, why rush to grab those few seconds?"

"He died as soon as he laned, even blew both summoner spells, while the enemy duo only used Titan's flash— this lane… feels impossible to play."

Uzi was silent early on. Mid laner Xiaohu was a farming Viktor. Top laner Lai Te Mi picked a wine barrel and teamed with A Guang's tanky Xiao Yu Ren to mix in. His teammates couldn't help; Malaxiangguo's starvation jungling was hard to pull off, and map‑control wasn't his forte. Moreover, RNG truly wasn't a team that understood late‑game macro… Thus, from the very start the match entered a situation that left RNG fans breathless.

However EDG remained steady; only after taking the ancient dragon did they finally bring the double‑dragon buff to assault RNG's high ground, ending the game just shy of forty minutes.

The pig‑dog clash— the dog got snouted by the pig first.

Tabe sat behind Liang Yan for the whole match, watching and shaking his head all the way.

Although Tabe had been on the team for less than two months, through constant exposure his vision and understanding had greatly improved. After witnessing VG's operations, tactics, and teammate communication, looking again at his former team RNG's match was truly indescribable.

Defenses were full of holes, attacks were a chaotic mess, team fights were a disorganized rabble, macro play was fragmented… truly everything was wrong.

In game two RNG wised up, fielding a classic VG‑style composition: they gave Uzi an Ezreal that's not so easy to catch, paired with Jinx to keep pressuring bottom lane, mid lane paired with the lane bully Syndra, jungler added a Blind Monk, and top lane gave letme a tool‑shaped Shen to mix in. The lineup clearly aimed to farm Uzi in the bottom half, then mid‑game snowball with Ezreal's strength, seeking to end the fight before thirty‑five minutes.

However, things went against expectation. Although RNG did achieve bottom‑half suppression, Zet once fell behind Uzi by nearly forty CS, but facing EDG whose macro ability was a tier above theirs, RNG's ability to close out games was far inferior to VG's; the early‑mid game looked passable, but by the twenty‑minute mark the problem surfaced— RNG simply lacked the power to crush EDG even with a 4‑5k gold lead.

In the end EDG dragged the game into late game; after stabilizing their footing, they relied on their stronger late‑game composition to gradually counter‑attack, fighting into the forty‑plus minute mark, finally depending on Scout's wind‑up to land a perfect ultimate, they won a team fight, then took Baron, laying the foundation for a comeback.

Two‑zero.

At the brink of despair, RNG went all‑in, giving Uzi the obscure champion Twitch and once again running a four‑protect‑one strategy.

Early on Uzi was heavily targeted and lost his bottom turret at the ten‑minute mark.

The RNG fans on site were about to lose hope.

But nobody expected that in mid‑game EDG got overconfident; a tower dive by Changzhang was botched, letting Uzi snag three kills and take a tower solo, sending him soaring.

At that point EDG finally remembered to play steady, but Uzi showed his grit; at eighteen minutes, after completing his two‑item core, he went invisible to ambush EDG's duo, securing a 1v2 double kill. From then on, this Twitch‑playing Uzi could no longer be stopped.

In the thirties‑minute mark, RNG pulled one game back.

Despite having an early lead, being overturned left EDG's morale a bit low; A Bu lectured Changzhang again in the restroom, and for game four they directly swapped in the Second Prince Ai Luoli.

As a result, Ai Luoli was completely crushed by Malaxiangguo's male gunner; the jungler succeeded in a solo kill and a counter‑gank in the enemy jungle, and the male gunner had already secured three kills before the fifteen‑minute mark, a mid‑game‑invincible male gunner now nearly complete.

By then the time had crept to just after four in the afternoon, approaching five.

Over at the LCK, the final had already begun.

Meanwhile the VG crew had also arrived at the venue; they came from the makeup room to the lounge, and upon entering saw EDG's nexus explode.

Two‑two.

RNG won two straight games, the crowd erupted, chanting RNG everywhere.

"Holy shit!"

Xiao Duan saw the score on the lounge TV, let out a startled cry, then noticed Uzi's Twitch stat line of 12‑2‑5, instantly beaming, he shouted:

"Uzi is awesome!"

The Marquis set down his backpack, watched the excited, flushed‑faced Uzi on screen, also felt greatly shocked, and said:

"EDG won't be let‑two‑chase‑three, will they?"

"They dodged the first day but not the fifteenth— this is it."

Gangzi also laughed as he spoke. Meaning they'd gone to great lengths to avoid VG, only to likely fall at this RNG hurdle.