Chapter 133: Mirror Flower, Water Moon! The

The cheering at Madison Square Garden is deafening.

As the most anticipated matchup of the group stage, both teams possess a massive number of supporters!

The audience is clearly divided into waves of black and red, with fans from both sides seemingly already competing outside the arena, vying to see who can shout the loudest.

The giant screen at the venue begins playing a pre-match interview clip.

Li Xianghe's face appears, and the voiceover kicks in right on cue.

{The next match is against your old rivals, EDG. Faker, what are your thoughts?

Li Xianghe's expression remains unchanged as he answers with great indifference: "It's just a regular group stage match, nothing special. We will take every game seriously."

{Then, what about EDG's new mid laner this year, Ye?

Upon hearing this question, his tone finally shifts slightly: "We've had some interactions. He is a very interesting player, and I look forward to facing him."

The director, skilled at building atmosphere, immediately cuts to a clip of Ye Bo on the other side.

It is the same question.

"This is my first World Championship!" Ye Bo's tone is relaxed, wearing his signature sunny smile: "So, at least for me personally, every opponent at Worlds is someone I'm facing for the first time, so there really isn't much difference."

"As for Faker, he is a mid laner I really like. I remember the first thing I said to him was, 'I'm your fan!'"

"It's just that it seems everyone I've said that to has ended up being solo-killed by me on the Rift."

Ye Bo's helpless shrug looks exceptionally amusing.

Yet, when everyone thinks about it carefully... it actually seems true!

Amidst the heated discussion in the chat, Summoner's Rift finally descends with a roar.

A continuous stream of ping signals rings out as the ten players rush out of the Fountain!

"The match has begun!"

The "Haier Brothers" on the LPL commentary desk are still analyzing the team compositions.

"Both sides have brought 'combat compositions' that we are quite familiar with. You could say neither side has any intention of dragging out the tempo!"

Miller goes on a roll: "If we're talking strictly about laning, T1 has a slight advantage in the top-jungle, while EDG has a slight edge in the mid-bot. LeBlanc versus Akali should be considered a favorable matchup for LeBlanc."

His partner, Wa Wa, keeps his eyes focused on the Rift, watching for any combat to break out.

But upon hearing this, he suddenly remembers something.

"That's not necessarily true. I remember when Ye Bo used Akali, he even solo-killed Rookie's LeBlanc. This laning phase might not necessarily be an advantage!"

Wa Wa's words instantly bring everyone's memories back.

That was the third match of the Summer regular season; it was quite a while ago, and many people only have a vague impression, though they remember a few key turning points vividly.

In that match, Ye Bo's level-one handling of Akali involved "luring the enemy in" and "manipulating minion positioning" to pull off a brilliant counter-E trade.

Then, he used {Fleet Footwork} and the dual sustain of a Doran's Shield to survive the early-game difficulties.

But Li Xianghe's understanding is clearly different.

He is running {Electrocute}.

Every champion has multiple playstyles and approaches; this has nothing to do with proficiency, and there is no so-called "correct answer."

The theoretical counter of LeBlanc against Akali stems from the "reveal" mechanic of her E skill, as well as LeBlanc being agile enough to dodge Akali's abilities.

But the biggest difference between the two lies in their base stats!

In an ideal state where all skills land, LeBlanc's damage—whether it's her QWE combo or including her ultimate—is far inferior to Akali's!

Even after level six, there is a possibility for Akali to one-shot LeBlanc from full health.

But LeBlanc needs at least one and a half rotations with equal items!

Therefore, the key to the duel between these two is—

LeBlanc must try her best to "poke for free."

Akali needs to try her best to land a full combo.

Ye Bo took {Fleet Footwork} back then to enhance his "kiting" ability to achieve that.

And Li Xianghe's choice is relatively direct: use Electrocute to try and trade you down to low health in one go, then rely on Akali's superior base recovery to gain a laning advantage.

Ye Bo knows Li Xianghe's thought process just by seeing that Electrocute.

There is no right or wrong between the two approaches; it all depends on the players and their in-game duel.

However, the suspended camera, when panning to the front of Ye Bo's seat, captures the confidence in the young man's eyes perfectly.

If it were a different champion matchup, he might not be this calm.

But this specific matchup... he is just too familiar with it.

"Neither side seems to have any intention of invading at level one; they are spread out across the river, watching each other."

"Huh? Why is LeBlanc standing in that position?"

Both sides' level-one compositions are evenly matched.

One has a root, the other has a hook; both could be caught and insta-killed. No one has a guaranteed win, so there is no need to take the risk.

It's a standard line formation; T1 has chosen a 2-top, 3-bot setup.

Their focus is on the bottom half of the map.

"Top and jungle, watch your positions. If they invade the bottom half, place your wards and come over to fight at level one. We cannot let them swap halves," Li Xianghe commands calmly.

"OK," Oner and Zeus reply immediately.

EDG's first group stage match didn't have much value for review either.

After all, the skill gap between them and G2 was obvious; it's hard to say if it was a system issue or a skill issue.

So, T1's analysis of their opponent is based on the most recent playoff footage of EDG.

In it, they discovered a tactic EDG loves to use—leveraging a strong level-one composition or a small design to force a jungle swap, then using half-map pressure to launch an attack on the advantageous lane.

In their matches against BLG and JDG, this EDG tactic was invincible!

T1 has specifically prepared for this tactic.

This includes not picking a weak level-one composition against EDG, practicing defensive and counter-attack strategies at level one, and knowing how to force a counter-invasion to swap back if they get caught in a timing difference.

This ensures that in various situations, T1 can force the preservation of their own half-map autonomy.

And clearly, since they picked Caitlyn, the core of EDG's composition this game is the bottom lane, and they will definitely focus their tempo there.

That is why T1 made such a defensive setup.

However, every time Ye Bo formulates a tactic, he sets a "rule" for himself.

Unless there are special circumstances, he tries to avoid using the exact same tactical design to prevent giving opponents a chance to study and counter it.

Take this game, for example.

He believes T1 has definitely studied them, and their level-one defensive focus will surely lean toward the bottom half due to the Caitlyn system.

Then, this might mean there could be a "Defensive Loophole" in the top half.

"What is LeBlanc doing?" Wa Wa exclaims in surprise.

"Damn, he's so bold! Can he not see them!?"

As it turns out, LeBlanc is standing alone in the lane bush at level one, waiting for his jungler in the river bush to provide vision information.

With the defensive focus leaning toward the bottom half and only two people likely in the top lane.

There are only two possibilities for T1's level-one positioning.

1: The top laner is standing in the tri-bush, and the mid or jungler is standing at the entrance to the top jungle, providing vision on both sides—

Then, there will be a vision blind spot on the path between the top of the dragon pit and the Red Buff pit.

And if the jungler isn't standing at the entrance but is crouching in a bush to avoid exposing their position.

Then, hugging the wall from in front of the mid-lane defensive tower, there is a "perfectly open" path.

It also has a half-inch vision blind spot!

And this has nothing to do with the half-map.

A team only has five people; if they lean to one side, there will inevitably be a gap on the other.

If EDG is planning to play the top half this game, and the opponent's focus is on the top half, the bottom lane can also sneak up through the river bush designed for the Gragas start to complete a breakthrough.

It can be said.

As long as a champion has a dash, they can basically attempt such an infiltration at level one.

So why is it rarely seen?

Because the risk is immense!

Like the Gragas design, if the opponent's defensive focus is on the bottom and you proactively use your E to go over, only to get caught by the opponent.

The infiltrator will be trapped because they used their dash to get over the wall, landing in a dangerous spot without a way back, and get surrounded!

But LeBlanc is an exception.

The reason is simple: it relies on the "return dash" characteristic of W {Distortion}!

Only LeBlanc can easily infiltrate the jungle at level one!

Even if she is truly discovered, she can W back over the wall to ensure safety.

By detecting information after Viego takes a few steps, and finding no one standing at the entrance, one can conclude with high probability that the opponent is standing in the bush—otherwise, the top jungle would be a wide-open city gate!

LeBlanc hugs the edge of the vision range of the front defensive tower and arrives outside the F6 pit.

She steps in from the shadows with Distortion, then hugs the edge to walk beside the Red Buff, drops a ward, and immediately uses the second activation of W to return.

Just like that, silently, she places a ward that "only LeBlanc can place" at the entrance of the red side's Red Buff!

"LeBlanc's infiltrating ward wasn't discovered!"

"In that case, T1's jungler's pathing should be revealed! And they won't even know they've been spotted!"

The spectator view naturally reveals the key to this ward.

The jungle has always been an information game between two junglers: where the opponent's jungler is at this moment, and whether one should go for a counter-gank or a reverse gank, will directly affect the rhythm of the match.

And if EDG invades at level one, then T1 will naturally guess whether the opponent has placed vision in their jungle, and will certainly proceed to clear that vision.

Or even "use it to bait"!

Yet, T1 was completely unaware of this ward position.

1 minute and 30 seconds, the jungle camps respawn.

Oner observes the minimap while clearing his jungle.

He quickly discovers that the opponent's bottom lane has been playing very aggressively since level one.

"The enemy bottom lane is pushing so hard, their jungler must be heading bot. Choi Woo-je, play your own game this match; I'll come to set up some vision for you in the next wave."

"Mm, this Crocodile is very timid, doesn't feel like there's much of an opportunity," Zeus also gives the same thought.

The bottom lane combination of Caitlyn + Lux, relying on their range advantage and the fact that both have AoE skills, has no reason not to win the push.

The biggest difference between a utility support and a hard-engage support lies in one having stable or multiple hard crowd-control effects, making it easier to find rhythm and coordinate with teammates.

The other has protection or long-range poke ability, making them stronger in laning.

If an offensive utility support like Lux is actually ganked by a jungler, combined with Thresh, the danger level is quite significant!

Therefore, seeing the EDG bottom lane being so arrogant as to push forward at level one, as if they aren't worried at all that the Blind Monk might be starting from the bottom half to gank at level two, naturally suggests that the opponent's jungler is likely protecting them from behind.

This also fits the core of EDG's team composition for this match.

Li Xianghe hears Oner's analysis but doesn't say anything.

The 30-plus seconds after placing the ward are enough for LeBlanc to recover her mana; without further information, he cannot discover anything abnormal.

Especially at this moment.

Li Xianghe is completely focused on the mid-lane laning phase.

LeBlanc versus Akali originally involves a mind game regarding which skill to learn at level one.

It's just that Li Xianghe's laning philosophy is already at the stage of "simplifying the complex"; he doesn't want to engage in too many mind games and is only prepared to learn Q.

Li Xianghe's proficiency with Akali is not low, but by comparison, he understands LeBlanc even better.

If Akali learns E at level one, it is nothing more than an attempt to trade when LeBlanc uses W.

But this method of breaking it only requires LeBlanc to use her range advantage to push the minion wave first; if Akali learns E to last-hit, she will definitely be "stepped on while sticking to minions."

And Ye Bo, in this match, did not use the "minion auto-attack canceling" suppression technique like he did against Yagao's Sylas last time.

The reason he was able to directly crush Sylas that time was because Sylas is a true melee champion, the cooldown of his long-range skill Q is too long, and it likely only hits once.

Trading health with LeBlanc posed no threat at all, and he could only try to use E to fight for his life, but Yagao didn't dare to risk it.

But Akali is different.

Akali's Q skill has a mere 1. -second cooldown and the values are not low, only limited by energy.

However, the casting range is exactly equal to LeBlanc's auto-attack!

That is to say, if LeBlanc goes to auto-attack Akali, she will definitely be hit by Akali's Q; such a trade is definitely a loss!

At level one, Ye Bo just simply stepped into the minion pile when the opponent was last-hitting, and Li Xianghe also performed a normal Q-auto trade.

Neither side managed to proc Electrocute, passing level one peacefully.

But once they hit level two.

Ye Bo's aggressiveness begins to stand out, just as he said before the match: he will not change because of who the opponent is.

LeBlanc steps forward, and Akali paces and shifts in place, ready to counter with a Q at any moment.

LeBlanc raises her right hand, but it isn't an auto-attack; just a light 【Sigil of Malice】 floats forward, and the moment she casts it, she immediately moves backward.

Li Xianghe is sensitive to distance control and wasn't baited into using Q.

Because he knows very well that the previous move didn't enter LeBlanc's 525-yard auto-attack range, so his own Q naturally couldn't have hit.

The reason he continues to press forward is that LeBlanc might follow up with an auto-attack to proc Electrocute, and he must keep his positioning tight so he won't be auto-attacked for free from range.

And if LeBlanc just uses a simple Q, because it is a "targeted skill," it will draw minion aggro in the pile, so even if Akali can't hit back, it shouldn't be...

Immediately after, Li Xianghe discovers something is wrong.

Because the minions didn't attack LeBlanc again.

It's the minion auto-attack canceling technique again!

Except this time it's not canceling an auto-attack, but the targeted aggro of the Q skill; the principle is the same.

Fortunately, skills require cooldowns and mana, and are far less threatening than auto-attacks.

Although it was a free trade of damage.

A single Q is only about eighty points of panel damage.

Even with {Scorch}, after deducting magic resistance reduction and the double recovery from Doran's Shield, Akali can still hold up.

However, although it doesn't hurt.

It's just that Ye Bo's desire to attack remains intensely strong.

As soon as the 6-second cooldown is up, he presses forward to poke, and never gets greedy for auto-attacks, only Q.

Li Xianghe is not unfamiliar with this trick.

But what he didn't expect was that the opponent could use this trick so skillfully, without a single mistake!

In the 30 seconds between the second and third waves, Akali still loses some health and has to temporarily concede lane priority.

LeBlanc reaches level three first and uses Q again!

Only this time, there is a clear anomaly in the movement; after casting Q, she presses forward directly.

An auto-attack is launched, and she dashes forward with a 42-yard stride!

But Li Xianghe was prepared, knowing that since the opponent is so aggressive, it's impossible for him not to try something after hitting level three.

The moment he sees Distortion, he immediately kicks back with Shuriken Flip!

The easiest opportunity for Akali to gain an advantage against LeBlanc is to use a "backward E" to dodge LeBlanc's W while simultaneously tagging her with E!

This way, she can both dodge LeBlanc's key output and land her own key damage, while also closing the distance to pursue.

Of course, this is absolutely nowhere near that easy to do.

Otherwise, no one would think LeBlanc is good against Akali; they would only think Akali counters LeBlanc.

After all, LeBlanc's W only has a clear animation and cannot be canceled during the cast, but the dash speed is not slow at all!

Furthermore, Akali's E has a casting wind-up; this not only tests reaction speed to the extreme, but also requires prediction and early usage to have a chance of hitting.

Like Li Xianghe in this instance, he was consciously predicting it, and his finger was already resting on the E key.

But... the Shuriken Flip flying straight forward didn't hit!

Because—————LeBlanc's Distortion wasn't stepping toward Akali at all, but toward the empty space on the right!

It was a "diagonal" Distortion!

The moment Distortion lands, an 【Ethereal Chains】 has already drifted diagonally toward the direction of Akali's backward E!

The backward Shuriken Flip and the chain arrive almost simultaneously.

{Akali's E skill backward distance and flight time are fixed}

This is clearly also a predictive E!

The chain hits, triggering the second part of the sigil, and consecutively triggers Electrocute!

The order of LeBlanc's skill damage is as follows:

{Two parts of E > Two parts of Q > W > One part of Q > One part of E}

So although she lost the damage from one part of W used to dodge the skill, the health lost from this full combo is still not to be underestimated, instantly creating a health gap of over one-third!

And the key is that this was a free trade!

【Da Fei is just this! Just this, just this!】

【I said it long ago, as long as Master Ye makes a slight move, who cares if you're flying or not! I'll make you fly when I'm acting cool!】

【No one understands Akali better than him!】

【Heh, do we have to give out an award just for hitting a skill? Look at how anxious you guys are!】

【LeBlanc pressing Akali in the early game is something to brag about? I don't know what to say, I advise you not to pop the champagne so early!】

【Thanks to Han Zai Zui Ying for the airplane!】

"A brilliant level-three trade in the mid lane! Distortion dodges Shuriken Flip, and she counter-attacks with the double-stage damage of QE!" Miller shouts excitedly.

"Player Ye's laning, the pressure is maxed out; he truly lives up to his two signature champions, he understands this matchup very well!" Wawa laughs and follows up.

"Just need to be careful of Oner's position here... though there shouldn't be any threat."

The Blind Monk, who was originally clearing the bottom half and preparing to start a camp, observed the movement in the mid lane.

Seeing LeBlanc pressing very hard, the Blind Monk detoured to the mid lane to see if there was an opportunity to protect his big brother.

"Any chance, Brother Xianghe?" Oner asks aloud.

Li Xianghe had been focused on laning, especially having to be careful of the 150-yard distance for auto-attacks and Qs.

Even from the start of the laning phase until now, he hadn't switched his screen once.

Seeing the Blind Monk's position, he quickly says: "No need to come, it's a waste of time. You can't catch him early on, my laning is not a big problem."

Actually, Li Xianghe has doubts in his heart.

Akali versus LeBlanc is naturally a huge disadvantage in the first three levels; his damage mitigation is already on point, and the health lost in this level-three trade only needs one potion to slowly recover.

It's just a brief moment of discomfort.

What Li Xianghe is puzzled by is... what is the point of the opponent playing like this?

Don't look at how LeBlanc seems to have gained a lot from this level-three trade; adding the previous Q-poke trades, she has already built up a considerable health advantage.

But the cost is that LeBlanc's mana is already below half.

Especially in this level three exchange, LeBlanc pulled off a very stylish "drift chain" for a perfect trade, but her W also stepped on thin air.

This was essentially LeBlanc hard-spending mana just to trade for Akali's health.

You have to realize, Akali's base health regeneration is more than double LeBlanc's mana regeneration efficiency, and that's not even counting Second Wind and Doran's Shield!

In fact, once this playstyle continues past level four, the laning situation will reverse!

Akali is, after all, a noble "energy champion"!

Li Xianghe was laning against Ye Bo for the first time, but he roughly knew Ye Bo's laning style.

It wasn't the mindless, aggressive type.

Seeing LeBlanc push the third wave into the tower and then immediately vanish, he felt a hint of something strange.

Li Xianghe suddenly felt a sense of unease.

He quickly performed his first screen-switch of the match, and the sight in the top lane immediately sent a chill down his spine.

"Choi Woo-je! Retreat!"

For Jayce against Renekton, the most critical period for suppression is also the first three levels; Zeus played this quite skillfully, even establishing a significantly larger health gap than the one in the mid lane.

But because of this, Jayce's positioning was somewhat overextended.

The minion wave was inevitably on the opposite side of the river.

Of course, although Zeus didn't sense any danger, he had placed a protective ward in the necessary river spot.

It was just that the river vision was empty at this moment, appearing completely normal.

However, Li Xianghe's words were equivalent to the highest command within the T1 team.

Zeus only hesitated for a moment before immediately preparing to retreat.

But right at this moment—from behind their own pitch-black tri-brush, a vast expanse of scorched earth suddenly spread out!

Judging by this posture, it clearly emerged from within their own jungle; otherwise, it would have been impossible to bypass the vision Jayce had placed in the river!

Li Xianghe quickly assessed the situation; there were still many minions under his own tower that he couldn't leave immediately, and Lee Sin's position was in the bottom half of the map!

"Go invade their bottom half!"

The mid laner issued a calm command, and Oner, who was already in the river, took two quick steps into the jungle.

Logically speaking, Viego should have gone to the top lane only after starting Blue; since Lee Sin definitely couldn't arrive in time to assist, as long as they could steal Viego's bottom jungle, T1 could barely accept it even if Jayce died.

But the very next moment, Oner's voice of shock came through again.

"He actually started Red!?"

The Raptors camp was empty, and at the same time, Viego, who had already appeared from the scorched earth in the top lane, was carrying the Red buff!

Oner couldn't understand why Jiejie would make such a choice.

You have to know.

Given the health advantage Jayce had established in the top lane, if Lee Sin had been counter-ganking in the top lane, it could have set a fatal tempo in one go, and EDG's top and jungle would have directly collapsed!

The key was still EDG's bottom lane!

Only now had EDG's bottom lane just begun to tighten their formation.

Before that, they were so arrogant they practically wanted to shove their gun barrels into the opponents' mouths!

It made the two T1 bottom laners a bit afraid to trade, worried that as soon as their health dropped, a Viego would pop out from the side.

It could be said that whether Lee Sin started Red to gank top or Blue to gank bottom, EDG's opening posture on both sides had the potential for an avalanche!

Yet Lee Sin's path happened to be one that neither lane could interfere with!

This was the impact of jungle information being exposed.

And the reason Viego made this choice was naturally because of that key invading ward.

Lee Sin's initial act of starting the Red buff was completely exposed under EDG's vision.

That vision at the Red buff entrance, which lasted until 2: 0, perfectly revealed the direction Lee Sin took after finishing his Raptors and heading bottom!

Both champions had similar jungle clearing speeds; both bottom lanes delayed their arrival to lane to avoid revealing their jungler's path, but Viego had his bottom duo to help leash, so his speed was naturally a step faster.

Zeus up top was already in trouble.

Viego walked out from behind him, Renekton used his two-part E to close the gap and force out Jayce's Flash, and Viego followed up with a few hits while utilizing the Red buff.

"Don't stand under the tower! LeBlanc is coming! Just leave!"

Li Xianghe couldn't figure out why the opponent would dare to make such a choice.

Logically speaking, even now, the opponent shouldn't know Lee Sin's position; if Lee Sin were camping in the back, EDG could just as easily be counter-ganked.

But for now, they could only deal with the situation at hand.

LeBlanc could jump over walls, and her support speed in the jungle was too fast.

Jayce had only taken two steps out from under the tower when LeBlanc, who had jumped over the wall from the Krugs camp to assist, walked out of the brush behind him, forcing him to retreat two steps to hold the tower!

Viego had already converged with LeBlanc, and Renekton quickly pushed the wave in.

"Akali decisively presses TP to protect! But EDG's intent to kill is set!"

"One Akali might not necessarily be able to save this Jayce!"

Renekton successfully stacked up his Fury after pushing the wave.

And just as the caster said, Akali wasn't Galio; she didn't have a strong ability to protect teammates.

"Flandre, use W directly! Trade with him!" Ye Bo shouted resolutely.

Hearing this, Renekton decisively pushed forward to face them, using his W to bite Jayce under the tower while tanking the shots!

"Trade onto Renekton!" Li Xianghe also issued a focus-fire command.

Akali's Shuriken Flip hit, she flew in to slam her shuriken, and simultaneously activated her Twilight Shroud to go invisible.

And with incredible detail, Akali "quietly" used her physical body to stay right against Jayce within the Shroud—to help Jayce block Viego and LeBlanc's abilities.

This small bit of handling highlighted the key.

Viego's Heartbreaker failed to continue the crowd control chain; Jayce broke free from the CC and focused all his output on Renekton!

Fortunately, Ye Bo's execution had no errors; he used QW to step on his face before connecting the E ability, waiting for the second proc of the chain to burst, combined with a strike from Viego's blade, instantly exploding to claim the life!

LeBlanc took First Blood!

But Renekton, having taken the full counter-attack from two people and already being at low health, was killed by the defense tower, with the kill credited to Jayce.

"Ah!! Oh, that's actually okay."

The "Roaring Emperor" on the LCK casting desk had just prepared to eat pizza, but he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the Renekton trade.

"But Faker used his TP to get here, and he didn't get the kill. Renekton will still have Flash next time, and Jayce is going to have a very uncomfortable time playing!" his partner Jin Dongjun frowned deeply.

"EDG's level one ward was too critical; that tiny invading ward became the biggest loophole in T1's defense!"

Hearing his partner's words, the Roaring Emperor hurriedly tried to make up for his side: "The kill belongs to LeBlanc, so the problem shouldn't be big. On the contrary, Zeus actually gained something here; even without Flash, he will still have an advantage in the top lane..."

In the Roaring Emperor's view, the mid lane was undoubtedly the person most worthy of trust.

And with Jayce getting this kill, reviving, and TPing back to lane, it could be said that he wasn't too affected, and he still held the laning advantage.

Of course, for Flandre, it was completely acceptable.

After all, he had been pressured very painfully before level three; resetting the lane now, while still holding the advantage of both summoner spells, could already be considered breaking the early-game slump in the top lane.

Both mid laners returned to the lane.

And the laning situation didn't seem as optimistic as the Roaring Emperor thought.

LeBlanc, having taken First Blood, returned to base to buy items and was still in the same laning mode as before.

It was just very obvious that Akali's health was dropping faster.

Li Xianghe realized that the opponent must have maxed the Q ability!

LeBlanc had a "peak laning" strategy, which was to put 3 points into Q before starting to max W; it was especially useful when playing against champions that were hard to initiate on with W.

It had been shown before that W's damage only ranked third in LeBlanc's skill sequence, so it wouldn't affect LeBlanc's damage output.

And the reason for maxing W was because it was LeBlanc's only AOE ability, for the sake of wave clear.

But the problem was, since LeBlanc generally couldn't actively use W against Akali, even if she maxed W, it didn't actually improve her wave-clear speed.

Instead, maxing Q allowed her to maintain health suppression in the mid lane, and lane priority naturally remained in her grasp!

This was flexibility in strategy.

However, Li Xianghe and T1 were clearly not that easy to deal with.

Ye Bo had a real sense of this as well.

Despite holding the advantage, Li Xianghe didn't choose to play passively and avoid fighting like others; he was still very proactive in looking for trades, and Ye Bo couldn't afford the slightest bit of slack.

After level three, Akali already had ways to trade with LeBlanc.

For example, "reverse E, smoke, QA, then E back," or "smoke, close-range QE, and kite," or "direct naked E"...

Furthermore, because Viego's whereabouts were exposed this time, it was clear he was going to clear his own Blue jungle.

So this was T1's offensive turn.

Akali started with a naked smoke again to gain a sudden speed boost, stepped forward, and landed the outer edge of a Q shuriken for a slow!

LeBlanc turned and successfully chained him with QE, but she held onto Distortion, her eyes fixed on Akali's Shuriken Flip, only using W to dodge to the side when he committed!

But right at this moment.

Lee Sin, waiting for LeBlanc to finally use Distortion, suddenly touched a ward from the side over the wall and flew out, landing a Sonic Wave with precision!

LeBlanc couldn't use W to return and dodge, otherwise, she would send herself into Akali's face, so she could only be kicked by Resonating Strike and followed up with Tempest.

And Akali's Shuriken Flip had a little trick to it as well.

Although it was dodged by LeBlanc's W, the aiming direction was slightly offset, hitting a minion in front to displace, and then she followed up with another shuriken!

"T1's mid and jungle have ambushed the mid lane!"

"Fortunately, player Ye is steady enough; he didn't W onto his face at all, not giving them an opening!"

"But half his health was still taken off this wave; he really should head back to base. Anyway, he has one more Teleport than Akali from the last wave!"

"But the good news is that T1's movements this wave were actually quite significant; Thresh has also secretly arrived in the mid lane, though it seems he won't be able to find an opportunity."

Ye Bo was indeed preparing to recall after finishing off this wave of tower minions.

Although he still had potions on hand, his health for this wave had already entered the danger zone.

Akali's E and Lee Sin's Q both have "tracking" effects, and both of them have Flash. If he doesn't leave, there might truly be a risk of being caught once he steps out of the tower.

Furthermore, his own bottom lane reported that the opposing bottom lane is missing.

Viego is farming in the upper jungle, so Caitlyn and Lux naturally have to retreat for now, and the T1 bottom lane took this opportunity to push a wave and choose to recall.

It's not just T1 that has studied EDG.

EDG has also studied T1.

They know that the support, Keria, loves to roam, especially at the 3: 0 mark during the sixth wave of cannon minions—the time when most bottom lane duos make their first recall for supplies—he will attempt to move around.

Due to this gank, Lee Sin's jungle progress has fallen behind Viego, and he is about to enter his second jungle respawn cycle.

This means this mid lane play effectively drew fire away from the top and bottom lanes, at least buying them a minute and a half of peace.

However.

LeBlanc finished off the tower minions but did not recall immediately.

Li Xianghe looked at the incoming minion wave, but LeBlanc was nowhere to be seen, and his expression shifted slightly.

"Is he really this cautious..."

Before this match started, he never imagined this opponent would be so difficult to deal with.

Not only could he not find a single flaw in the laning details, but the opponent also applied considerable pressure in terms of offense, even making it hard for him to lose focus—he had to be fully concentrated!

And under normal circumstances, this kind of aggressive laning style is accompanied by a lack of discipline—his own top laner, Zeus, is a classic example!

If not for Li Xianghe's frequent warnings via screen-switching, Zeus's anti-gank awareness would be far lower than his pressure awareness.

This seems to be a common ailment for most aggressive playstyles.

Yet Ye Bo, time and again, held back at the right moment, as if he stopped just one step away from going too far.

"Forget it, let's go back," Li Xianghe commanded Keria, who was crouching.

But at this moment.

A LeBlanc with a starry green glow on her body walked out from the defensive tower.

Seeing that LeBlanc had already "popped a potion," it was clear she wasn't planning to recall and wanted to stay for one more wave.

"Wait a second, it looks like there's an opportunity."

"He must be trying to place a ward!"

LeBlanc appeared very cautious, pacing back and forth in place.

Li Xianghe understood LeBlanc very well and had insight into the opponent's intentions!

Thresh, crouching in the brush and having just activated his sweeper, also sensed an opportunity.

Just as LeBlanc was swaying back and forth, moving from the wall toward the lower brush, Keria's Thresh threw out a high-arcing Death Sentence!

"Hit him!!!" Keria was instantly ecstatic.

Thresh immediately and decisively applied Ignite!

Li Xianghe's eyes narrowed slightly, his fingers dancing rapidly across the keyboard, executing a clean "delayed dash E-Flash" forward!

The zero-recoil Shuriken Flip successfully hit LeBlanc!

The reason for the delayed dash E-Flash instead of Flash-E is that Akali needs to get close first to land her Q-A for burst damage, forcing LeBlanc to use her Flash or W first, so he can then follow up with the second part of Shuriken Flip to chase and secure the kill!

This processing and attention to detail could be called flawless!

Furthermore, successfully hooking the closing Thresh also possessed the ability to interrupt LeBlanc's W with the E skill.

No matter how you look at it, LeBlanc seemed to be in a hopeless situation.

But, in the very next moment.

When Akali's A-Q triggered Electrocute and LeBlanc's health plummeted.

Li Xianghe's expression, however, changed in horror!

Because it deviated from the scene he had anticipated... this LeBlanc actually didn't trigger the passive of Mirror Image!

Mirror Image automatically triggers a clone when LeBlanc's health drops below 40%.

This combo just now had long since passed the 40% mark!

That could only mean...

"Ah~~~ya!!!" the Roaring Emperor let out a long, drawn-out roar.

"It's a fake! Faker, this is a fake! How could he commit so many skills!!!"

"This... this is psychological warfare! He can even trigger it like this!?" Jin Dongjun was full of shock.

Watching the whole process from the god's-eye view.

If LeBlanc had triggered her passive right in front of him, with Li Xianghe's experience, he would certainly have been ten thousand times more cautious.

At the very least, he would never have gone all-in like that.

But the problem is, when LeBlanc was just under vision, she clearly hadn't triggered her passive yet!

There was no vision for the whole process, and there was simply no omen to guard against.

"Wow, wow, wow, player Ye played a beautiful physical bait! He hooked Faker and Keria like a couple of suckers!" Wawa was so happy he couldn't close his mouth.

"Thresh used Ignite, Akali used Flash! They committed everything to a fake!"

"T1 is losing their minds over this play!"

Miller sighed repeatedly: "Using the Raptors to 'remotely trigger' the fake, this is something I really didn't expect..."

The maneuver LeBlanc performed wasn't difficult, but it highlighted Ye Bo's understanding of this hero in every aspect.

W-jumping into the newly respawned Raptors pit, waiting for the family of Raptors to fire their volley, then immediately "carrying" the W back out.

The volley only hit after she was outside the wall, bringing LeBlanc's health to exactly 40%, achieving an "outside-the-wall split"—instead of a clone walking out from inside the pit.

Then there was that most deceptive red potion.

Why would a clone drink a potion?

As everyone knows, for all clone-type skills, the easiest way to identify them is by potion consumption or persistent buffs like Aery; Rookie was once caught by Ye Bo exactly like this.

It was also because of that red potion, combined with Ye Bo's consistently exquisite "puppetry" acting in his movement.

It made Li Xianghe not have a single doubt throughout the entire process!

The operation was still not difficult.

In fact, one only needs to {drink a potion before the clone is triggered, and the clone will inherit all the current status display effects of the main body.

And to appear with the potion, one must drink it at the exact moment the clone is triggered to ensure the potion's duration is sufficient.

Ye Bo had originally just thought about using the clone to scout for vision while recalling, to see if he could gather more information about the opponent.

He didn't expect to have such an unexpected harvest!

And Akali using her Flash...

Suddenly made Ye Bo realize an opportunity.

His eyes held a bit more killing intent, and heat.

No mid laner can resist the temptation of solo-killing Faker.

(End of chapter)