Chapter 524

The scene.

The audience's shouts gradually subsided.

The picture on the big screen split in two, the view locked onto both junglers; the upper half was VG jungler Firrrrrre's perspective, the lower half was FW jungler Karsa's perspective.

Speaking of which, the two actually had a record of facing each other in scrims during last year's World Championship, but because they were in different groups, FW ultimately failed to advance from the group stage, so the two never faced off on the official stage.

In the LMS region's Ye Qu, Karsa likewise had near-invincible dominance.

For Karsa, this match was likewise an opportunity to prove himself.

Although Karsa had faced such an immensely strong opponent as SKT in last year's World Championship; objectively speaking, the two SKT junglers who laned against Karsa last year could not be called the strongest world-class junglers, with Bengi being a map-control-type jungler, and Xiaohei, although aggressive, still being an inexperienced rookie.

So this match was the first time since his debut that Karsa faced a world-top jungler on the official stage—and moreover, the one currently recognized worldwide as the strongest.

Furthermore, to prepare for this day, Karsa made extensive preparations beforehand; the LMS region's playoffs ended relatively early, at which point the LPL had just finished its semifinals, and Karsa was basically certain VG would be the LPL champion, so he went on to study VG match recordings and stalk Liang Yan's livestreams—Karsa watched both of Liang Yan's streams before his departure overseas.

And then this day finally arrived……

Karsa's heart burned with fighting spirit; after buying his starting items, he commanded his Graves to rush straight into the upper jungle the moment the barrier vanished.

Both sides started with a normal five-star-linked defensive position.

While waiting for the jungle monsters to spawn, Karsa discussed lane conditions with his mid/top teammates.

Can Zhong Lu gain lane priority before level three?

Maple replied:

It's fine if no jungler comes to help.

Are you sure?

Certain. My wave-clear efficiency is higher than his.

After the Enchantress was heavily nerfed in patch 7.5, these subsequent versions received no buffs; however, compared to the Rock Sparrow whose Q ability's minion-clear efficiency was directly halved, the Enchantress's wave-clear is still somewhat higher, which gives Maple this confidence.

Karsa also asked the top laner, receiving the same affirmative answer.

MMD is actually a rather conservative player who rarely picks the highly aggressive champion Rambo in the LMS region, since FW is essentially a team built around Karsa as its absolute core Wild Core, and with the mid and bottom lanes also being reasonably strong, the team's firepower is already more than sufficient, so MMD doesn't need to shoulder any carry duties, thus core picks are naturally few. However, this is MSI, and today FW is facing VG, led by the strongest rookie king Firrrrrre; setting aside the various online opinions about Firrrrrre and VG, VG's ability to achieve an undefeated championship in one of the five major regions, the LPL, already proves its strength.

In that case, whether teammates can hold steady becomes uncertain.

Thus Coach Zhan Ma simply went all‑out, also giving Mimi Dan a Rambo.

Rambo fares fairly well against Crocodile early on; before the Crocodile builds magic resistance, the top lane will basically be Rambo's lane priority.

MMD still has this confidence.

Who gives him this confidence? None other than the lovely and warm Xiao Bi Jie Mama! As a team manager responsible for logistics and living conditions, Xiao Bi Jie has been with FW since Season 4; although she is no longer a young lady, a gentle aunt is also quite charming! Her popularity within the team is off the charts!

Cough... I've gone off track.

Karsa wanted to confirm whether the mid/top lane had lane priority, not because he was planning a gank or anything—FW's lineup lacks crowd control, and before level six it also lacks sufficient burst, making it very hard to catch and kill someone, so he asked just to facilitate planning his own highest-efficiency jungle route.

This is the treatment a true Wild Core receives within the team.

At the same time, Graves is also one of Karsa's most skilled and favorite champions; to master his Graves, Karsa put in a lot of effort.

After the discussion, Karsa had in mind a perfected route to protect the top lane and counter‑gank from the jungle; once the jungle monsters spawned, he proceeded to clear from bottom to top with the help of his duo.

On the other side, Liang Yan's Spider started at F6.

Easyhoon's Rock Sparrow stood on the small path behind the F6 camp to help shield him.

Perhaps because the Spider's jungle start was an odd choice, the director's camera locked onto Liang Yan from the moment the jungle monsters spawned.

In the LPL livestream, Miller also voiced his doubt:

"Huh? The Spider started at F6? That's really rare."

Before he finished speaking, Easyhoon's Rock Sparrow threw a stone over the wall to help damage the jungle monster.

Miller exclaimed:

"Is Zhong Lu helping with the jungle start? That's even stranger! This would greatly affect Easyhoon's own lane rhythm; originally he might have had a slight chance to contest for level two, but now he can't possibly beat Maple's Enchantress for it."

Wawa's sharp eyes spotted it, and she shouted:

"Wow! He even let a small one!"

The director also switched the view on purpose, so everyone saw the Rock Sparrow's experience bar; originally completely gray, it now indeed showed a small increase.

Miller widened his eyes:

"Did he make a mistake?!"

Guan Zeyuan immediately said:

"It's not a mistake; it feels like he did it on purpose!"

"Huh? The jungler let Zhong Lu take the first jungle camp? Why?"

"Because Jiao Shen letting a small bird go doesn't affect his own development pace, but if Zhong Lu eats an extra small bird, he can level up to two with just one wave of minions."

Miller froze for a moment.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I'm certain!"

"... then you're the detail‑oriented one."

"No no no, I'm not detail‑oriented; it's VG that's detail‑oriented. But I'm a bit curious—what is the purpose behind VG designing such an opening? It feels intentional."

As Guan Zeyuan said, Easyhoon's Rock Sparrow, after clearing a wave of minions, hit level 2 directly; although it sacrificed some HP, by the time Maple noticed something was off, trying to auto‑attack minions to regain the experience edge was already too late.

At level 2 versus level 1, the Enchantress can only retreat, otherwise she would lose a lot of HP to the Rock Sparrow.

Maple relayed the unexpected situation in Zhong Lu to Karsa:

"The Spider started at F6, the Rock Sparrow ate a small one, and I didn't reach level 2."

Although he didn't feel comfortable saying it outright, Maple's meaning was already clear.

Karsa replied, "I know," and said nothing more, but a vague sense that something was off arose in his heart.