Chapter 545: A suddenly erupting home‑swapping rhythm

Almost…… there's still a siege cannon left.

Easyhoon stared at the black-and-white game screen on his monitor, nervously rubbing his hands together.

It's fine.

Liang Yan gave a reassuring sound, still pushing hard to destroy towers with his teammates.

Meanwhile, on mid lane, the five G2 members rushed with a low-health siege cannon toward VG's middle first tower, then Galio tanked the tower to destroy it.

Time was approaching 19 minutes; at the point when this well-developed damage core was about to complete two items, the defensive tower was not only fragile but also clearly lacked firepower.

Galio had only taken three hits when VG's middle first tower was pushed down by concentrated fire from the five G2 players.

Meanwhile, on bottom lane, because VG lacked an ADC, their tower destruction was slower; in fact, they took two seconds longer than mid lane to destroy G2's bottom high ground tower.

Keep pushing, destroy the crystal before leaving.

Liang Yan's voice remained calm.

On the big screen at the venue, the image was split in half: the left showed VG's three players destroying the crystal, the right showed G2's five players fiercely destroying the middle second tower under tower fire.

In the upper corner of each half-screen, the director cut to an even smaller square window showing the webcam feeds of VG's jungler and G2's mid laner.

Both showed little intense expression, appearing calm; the difference was that Perkz occasionally flashed his gaze, as if switching to watch the bottom lane, while Firrrrrre's facial expression and eyes showed no ripple at all.

This battle seemed to have turned into a grand demolition showdown; the canyon was ablaze, the venue already roaring, and the tense situation tugged at everyone's heartstrings.

Countless spectators unconsciously rose from their seats; female spectators covered their mouths and uttered meaningless exclamations, while some even shielded their eyes, fearing their observation would cause a Schrödinger‑like variable on the stage.

But this battle ultimately did not fully turn into a demolition contest.

Although Galio could take a lot of damage, after continuously tanking while destroying two towers his health was low; although G2 could indeed swap in someone else to keep tanking and pushing, VG disappeared after destroying the crystal, obviously intending to fall back.

If G2 did not retreat, there was a chance they'd be caught by VG's teleport‑block, with unpredictable consequences.

It seemed as if there was an unspoken understanding, and both sides ceased their advance.

The demolition showdown came to a close: VG had destroyed G2's bottom high ground tower, while G2 had destroyed VG's two outer middle towers.

Economically, VG was at a loss, having lost two kills, and a first plus second tower is worth more than a second tower plus a high ground tower.

However, looking at the subsequent impact, VG clearly holds the advantage, because G2's bottom high ground has been broken; before the crystal respawns, this lane will keep spawning super minions, and the champion tasked with solo lane for G2, Galio, happens to be poor at handling super minions—or they would have to divert Perkz's strong fox to lane. In any case, no matter how G2 deals with it, VG will secure a stable lane advantage.

If VG can make use of this lane advantage to recover enough of their economic deficit, then this exchange is clearly not a loss.

But if they cannot, after the crystal respawns G2 will lock in the economic advantage they gained in this exchange, turning it into a concrete combat power advantage.

By then VG will face greater defensive pressure, because the Elder Dragon has respawned.

Therefore, the next few minutes of macro play will be crucial for both sides, and it is very possible that the outcome of the match will be decided within these minutes.

A sudden surge of the home‑swapping rhythm lifted the spectators' hearts to their throats; the venue's atmosphere was already heated to the extreme, also tense to the extreme, the air filled with the smell of gunpowder, as if a single spark would ignite it.

On the commentary desk, Caps, seated to the right of PiraTechnics, had his mouth slightly open; he said nothing, but his face read 'I don't understand but I am greatly shocked.' He is a talent player signed at great expense by FNC from the Wildcard Region, but now, watching the match unfold on the big screen, he feels his game comprehension needs to be reloaded, and he also deeply senses how far he is from the goal of 'world‑top mid laner'.

In the LPL broadcast booth, Guan Zeyuan's voice was already hoarse, but he could no longer attend to his own throat:

"Finally gone! VG's three players all recalled after destroying the crystal! G2 withdrew after pushing the middle second tower! Both sides basically stopped at the same time! In this tower trade, G2 gained the gold from two towers, but VG secured the bottom lane super minion wave!!"

Miller pushed up his glasses, his fingers trembling slightly:

"Is this exchange worth it or not? I feel it's too early to calculate this now. But I must say, VG's command in this wave was extremely decisive, their execution extremely strong!"

"Yes, but G2's response was equally impressive and decisive; they almost instantly made the wisest tower‑trade decision upon noticing VG's choice to keep pushing, and economically speaking, G2's exchange this time is actually not a loss!"

"As expected of a clash of titans, the level of this match is absolutely the highest since the start of this MSI!"

Miller pressed his hand to his chest, slowly letting out a breath,

"The level is high, but this is too exciting; I really feel my heart can't take it—during the tower trades just now I kept going thump‑thump…"

Guan Zeyuan chuckled lightly twice:

"That won't happen; there's no way they'd actually go for a base swap in this wave."

Backstage, the G2 lounge.

Lao Zhang stared intently at the screen, then spoke in a low voice:

"A lane of super minions is a bit troublesome; Galio clears them too slowly, I feel we should let Lu Ka hold the lane, but if we pull Lu Ka over, our front‑line combat strength would drop significantly."

Tang Anna said nothing, just watched silently.

The match has progressed to this point, already diverging from all pre‑match predictions; how the situation will develop, no one can accurately forecast.

Moreover, even with a god's‑eye view of the match, Tang Anna cannot give a concrete answer to 'What should G2 do next?', because several of the ten players on the field have a better grasp of the game than she does; she merely enjoys the slight advantage of being able to see the full map, but this edge is insufficient to close her understanding gap with the two top‑tier players on the field.

In the canyon, both sides have finished recalling and resupplying, and are now heading out.

The fallen have also revived, walking out of the spring.

On the bottom lane, a wave led by super minions is marching vigorously toward the front.

This round of the contest decides both victory and defeat, as well as superiority.