Chapter 622: True Micro‑Control

One-for-one, the kills were all by the junglers, and Zhong Lu also got assists, but VG got first blood, giving them more gold, and EDG used an extra Flash, so looking at it this way, this wave EDG is slightly behind.

Uh...

Wang Ji hesitated a moment, then said:

Those two teachers think, was it really necessary for Ai Luoli to use that Flash? After all, from our god's-eye view, Jiao Shen should have been impossible to escape.

Yeah, I bet Jiao Shen even thought he could survive, since he flashed in with W, which is pretty clearly a no-retreat play.

But in the end he still tried to run into the jungle.

I feel that wasn't an attempt to flee, but rather he didn't want to die to the tower and give his head to Kassadin.

Miller's right—for VG, getting the kill with Lion Dog is definitely better than getting it with Kassadin, since Kassadin's late game is terrifyingly strong. Getting back to Teacher Wang Ji's earlier question, in our view Ai Luoli's Flash wasn't actually necessary, but we're the outside observers seeing clearly, while Ai Luoli is in the thick of it. Moreover, you need to put yourselves in his shoes: if you were facing a jungler like Jiao Shen with such top-tier mechanics, would you feel pressured? Would you be afraid he'd run? Anyway, I'd be scared. So from that angle, I think Ai Luoli using that Flash was completely fine.

Great insight, Teacher Wawa!

But speaking of which, did VG really profit from this? Because Ai Luoli looks like he's going to counter‑jungle the red buff!

But Jiao Shen has already respawned—does Ai Luoli really dare to hard counter‑jungle him?

Top lane has an advantage, I feel we can give it a try!

On the big screen, Lion Dog had just entered the river, heading toward the red side's upper jungle. He came in after clearing his blue buff, and since the level‑3 Mang Seng's respawn timer is still under fifteen seconds, at this moment Mang Seng has actually already walked down from high ground and is entering his own upper jungle through the gap in the middle of that high‑ground wall.

Ai Luoli, nominally EDG's second prince but in reality the Changzhang's personal disciple—as A Bu himself said, and Changzhang has mentioned on stream, personally mentoring Ai Luoli, giving them a bona fide master‑disciple relationship—his jungling style actually inherits Changzhang's: put simply, he likes to control the map, but he's rather timid.

So why did Ai Luoli dare to invade the jungle of the top jungler this wave?

He has three reasons for confidence:

First, after Lion Dog killed the Mang Seng and cleared his blue buff, he leveled up to four, giving him a level advantage over the still‑level‑three Mang Seng.

Second, after Scout respawned he used Teleport to rush back to lane, while Zzitai's Orianna has the summoner spell Swiftness on her second slot; when Orianna retreated to a safe spot, recalled, and landed in the fountain, Kassadin had actually already respawned. By then Scout was already back in lane and Orianna had just stepped out of the fountain, so it's clear that EDG's Zhong Lu can act first.

Third, EDG's top lane likewise has lane pressure. Just over ten seconds ago, because VG's jungler Mang Seng had died while EDG's jungler Lion Dog was in the upper half, discipline required Fu Lan Duo's Kennen to push the lane, otherwise there'd be a risk of being caught by Lion Dog. The barrel is a fast‑pushing champion; Fu Lan Duo pushed, Mouse topped, and the wave quickly began to counter‑push. By now the top‑lane wave situation has completely reversed—Mouse has pushed the wave past the river midline and stacked a big blue‑side wave. In the early game Kennen's wave‑clear is actually quite ordinary, so fully clearing this already‑stacked wave isn't easy. Therefore it's obvious that if a jungle fight breaks out, EDG's top lane will also arrive first.

With these three advantages stacked, even if Ai Luoli is timid, he'll at least give it a try.

With such an obvious situation, Liang Yan could of course see it too, so after respawning he headed straight for the upper half.

Moreover, Orianna also left the base following the same route toward the upper half.

And Orianna activated Swiftness!

Huh?!

The three commentators all widened their eyes in unison!

What? Orianna just popped Swiftness like that?!

Good heavens? I feel this scene has a faint sense of déjà vu!

It's not déjà vu—it's just too familiar! This is exactly the clip from the first round of the MSI group stage where VG flipped the script against G2!

Right! And that match was also VG on the red side, likewise sparked by a red‑buff bloodbath, and even the mid laner was Orianna! The only difference is the players, yet they made the exact same choice.

But that makes no sense! VG has no vision of their own upper jungle—they couldn't have seen Lion Dog's invasion! And how could Pose possibly resonate soul‑to‑soul with the Marquis? How could they make such an astonishingly similar choice?

So is there a chance that both times the mid laner popped Swiftness, it was actually Jiao Shen calling the shots?

Huh?!

The chat exploded:

【I think we can drop the 'maybe'!】

【???】

【This is true micro‑control!】

【Move the machine‑gun emplacement left five centimeters!】

【《LOL: Awakening Sand Soldier System, Teammates Under My Control》】

【Too scary……】

Ai Luoli proceeded with caution; after entering VG's jungle, he first placed a ward in the brush opposite the blue buff camp, and as expected it revealed a Mang Seng.

"Damn, I knew he was there!"

Ai Luoli laughed and cursed in EDG's voice chat, his tone a bit smug.

While speaking, Ai Luoli calmly tossed Lion Dog's only ranged monster‑activating ability, Lasso Strike; the crimson treant in the red buff camp was roused by the lasso and automatically path‑found its way into the brush.

Ai Luoli crouched in the brush, unmoving. In his expectation, once he dragged the red buff into the brush, Mang Seng would surely come up to place a ward; then he would first pull the red buff away, dragging it behind the red buff camp, preventing Mang Seng from stealing the buff's aggro while also allowing him to swing by and smash a Scrying Orb (spawn location behind the right side of Dragon Pit), clearing the ward Mang Seng had placed, and then wait for top‑lane and mid‑lane reinforcements to arrive before using their numerical advantage to forcibly seize the red buff.

Thinking about being able to ride on the head of "the best jungler" and strong‑arm the red buff, Ai Luoli felt a surge of intense excitement and pleasure well up inside.

This plan is practically flawless!

And as expected, when the red buff was pulled into the brush, Mang Seng indeed came up to place a ward.

Ai Luoli followed the plan and dragged the red buff away.

And in the final vision, Ai Luoli saw Mang Seng walk into the red buff camp, whereupon he lost sight of him because he went beyond the range of the ward.