Chapter 857

The lineups for both sides in this game are as follows:

TSM: Big Tree, Ezreal, Enchantress, Draven + Lulu

CNB: Crocodile, Barrel, Plane, Little Cannon, Gem

As it turned out, the script of this match was indeed guessed correctly by Tang Anna.

Moreover, the situation was even worse than expected.

When Doublelift lanes against LCK or LPL AD carries, his playstyle is so timid that the director doesn't even like to give him camera time. But after all, he is the top AD in North America; facing wildcard players, he knows his laning strength is superior, and he plays with a confident ferocity.

This game, he happened to get an advantageous lane matchup, so he played even more aggressively, often not even last-hitting himself but just bullying CNB's AD carry, causing them to also give up last-hitting.

What makes CNB's duo most uncomfortable is that Gem is genuinely weak in lane, and with Little Cannon being even weaker, even if the enemy crosses the minion line to force a trade, they have little ability to retaliate; otherwise they'd just take more damage.

Jungler Vash knows the bottom lane is having a tough time, but he can't help there; he must start by clearing from bottom to top, because the top lane is a crocodile, and early on he must help—VG and G2's senior players have said that picking champions like Jayce and Crocodile usually requires extra attention early on, at least ensuring no problems before level three, otherwise once issues arise it's effectively losing a player. So Vash feels helpless about the bottom lane and can only let them endure.

Fortunately, Gem still has a heal, so if nothing unexpected happens, the bottom lane can barely hold on.

But an accident came quickly.

After more than three minutes, Doublelift had just pushed the minion wave to the tower when a little blond hair popped out from the tri-brush behind CNB's duo and fired a mystic shot, whoosh—taking more than one chunk of health from Gem, who was shielding Little Cannon from abilities.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"The buffed Ezreal really has an absurdly strong early game."

"The most shameless part is that his Q can proc the red buff!"

"No, this isn't even the most shameless part…"

Everyone thought Ezjust came over to poke a bit, since TSM lacks a hard support, lacking crowd control and someone who can tank towers, so they shouldn't act recklessly.

CNB's duo thought the same, so neither of them ran; they just huddled at the base of the tower, both slipping into the tower's crevice, with Wos's Gem shielding pbO's Little Cannon as they cleared minions.

As it turned out, TSM really did go in hard.

Under everyone's gaze, Doublelift's Draven, accompanied by Biofrost's Lulu, charged forward, the two hugging the wall as they ran toward Svenskeren's Ezreal.

When the three were lined up, Biofrost moved first, a shining spear stabbing into the CNB duo in the tower crevice, then he rushed forward to apply Ignite.

"Wow, this Lulu has Ignite!"

Wawa only then noticed TSM's support summoner spell, and was stunned on the spot. Because, as the team's core incense burner, this version usually brings heal or shield, and if the enemy's burst is too strong, one could swap to Weakness. But bringing Ignite?

"That's really inflated!"

But don't say that— for this fight, Biofrost bringing Ignite really was useful!

"Moreover, the target of his Ignite is Gem! Goodness, their plan was actually to tower-dive and kill a support!"

Immediately after, Svenskeren fired an Essence Flux forward; Ezreal at this time still had his old W ability, which deals damage if it hits an enemy champion, and if the projectile passes through an ally as well, it grants the ally attack speed.

At rank one, W grants allies 20% attack speed; if maxed, the bonus can reach up to 40%!

Moreover, this is a team-wide buff!

Moreover, it lasts up to 5 seconds!

Roughly speaking, it's like starting the game with a free incense burner!

Although Svenskeren's skill didn't hit CNB's duo, both Doublelift and Biofrost received the attack speed buff!

Having leveled up to rank three, Doublelift's Draven activated his ability, spitting a barrage of spit at Gem Knight, covering his face in saliva.

Biofrost's Lulu didn't even shield herself; her E was used for damage instead, leaving only her W in hand.

Since the minions under the tower weren't cleared yet, Wos's Gem was only level two, its health dropping rapidly; furthermore, Doublelift had been relentlessly draining its health, and it had no potions left, so its health quickly fell to just under half.

pbO realized the support couldn't hold up, so he grit his teeth and used his heal.

The Ignite on Wos hadn't ended yet; the heal's potency was greatly reduced, only restoring a few dozen HP, barely enough to withstand another auto-attack from Lulu— at this point it was utterly futile.

pbO was extremely nervous but hadn't lost his sanity completely; he ran toward the second tower while auto-attacking back, but having earlier attached Explosive Shot to ranged minions to speed up wave clear, relying only on the little cannon's tiny basic attack damage, it could barely be described as better than nothing, and was fundamentally unable to pose a major threat to TSM's tower divers.

TSM didn't hold back; their three long-range squishies unleashed a frenzied barrage of fire on Gem Knight.

Wos knew he couldn't survive, so he simply activated his ability and charged forward, hoping to stall the tower-diving Lulu; if he could trade one-for-one, this exchange wouldn't be too bad.

But TSM had clearly planned this engagement beforehand; seeing Gem Knight's crowd control about to land, Biofrost flashed, whoosh—blinking over the wall.

Svenskeren landed a point-blank mystic shot, directly taking Wos's kill, then whoosh—used his E to hop over the wall.

Doublelift lacked any mobility to cross the wall, yet he calmly walked out from under the tower. By then Gem was dead, Little Cannon had already jumped to the second tower, and Doublelift hadn't dealt any damage to enemy champions, so the turret naturally shifted its aggro to the minions.

"Ezreal got first blood!"

"Ah… this… the jungler Ezreal's dream start!"

"Yeah, CNB is in trouble."

It's not just bad; it's very bad.

The jungler Ezreal inherently relies on early-game strength to play a fast tempo, and now he's even taken a kill, so all three lanes of CNB are going to suffer!

After killing in bot lane, Svenskeren directly retreated into CNB's jungle and, as a side effect, took a group of Magic Swamp Frogs that the barrel start had left un cleared.

"The barrel didn't even eat the toad? This is a great deal for him!"

"So awesome, this development pace feels somewhat invincible!"

The LPL casters' tone is quite unhappy—not only because they favor CNB due to VG's influence, but also because TSM's jungler is a jerk. The incident happened a while ago, so some newer viewers might not be aware, but as veteran casters, the three LPL commentators present all remember it clearly, so they have no fondness for this guy named Svenskeren.

But objectively speaking, Svenskeren did play well this game.

After clearing the Magic Swamp Frogs, Svenskeren didn't directly go back to base to continue farming or defend his blue buff in the upper half; instead, he prepared to launch another gank.

He crept along the jungle path, sneaking toward mid lane.