Chapter 148: Mountain-Crossing Sapling! The Fortune of Drowning!

"This game is a bit like an exchange of offense and defense; DK possesses the Emperor of the Sands, Graves, and Steel Shadow, so they will have a huge advantage in the mid-to-late game whether split-pushing or team fighting!"

The two people at the LCK commentary desk were still analyzing the team compositions.

CT explained in detail: "DK has indeed made adjustments this game. After discovering that EDG's discipline is not bad and there are few defensive loopholes in the early game, they chose to push the power spike of their main carries to the mid-to-late game, letting the stable mid-jungle duo shoulder the burden of carrying!"

"Looking at it this way, Pyke should be EDG's main tempo point," the Roaring Emperor said, frowning as he voiced his concerns: "It's just that although Ye has picked it in the group stage before, that game was against a melee champion like Galio after all."

"This matchup should be easy! In any case, we fully trust our ShowMaker!" CT couldn't wait to inject confidence into the LCK livestream viewers who had suffered a loss.

【Asking because I don't know, can Pyke really still play mid lane now?】

【Hello, yes, it is possible. As far as I know, there are no relevant regulations in the legal systems of 233 countries around the world.】

【Heh, bullying old Caps is one thing, but daring to pick it against my God Show? Ye, just wait to die!】

【Hey, the guy above, your Show-fan certificate fell off!】

Similar to the war of words in the livestream, the cheering and shouting at the venue once again resounded through Madison Square Garden.

Until the sound waves gradually subsided, the Summoner's Rift descended with a roar!

"Both sides are in their usual defensive positions; it looks like there's no intention of a level-one invade!"

Although both sides' compositions have a certain ability to initiate, unlike the previous game, neither side has an absolute advantage.

Except for the junglers, the eight players played a game of "collision" on both sides of the river, where each position could see their lane opponent.

It was the most standard 1-1-1-1 long snake formation.

Canyon scrutinized the champion portraits on the scoreboard, thinking about his jungle pathing for this game.

Graves against Ivern, whether it's jungle clearing efficiency or the offensive pressure given to the opponent by his own jungle-carry positioning, is a matchup advantage.

It's just that these aren't too obvious in the first few levels.

The true power spike of Graves is when he quickly buys the extremely smooth and cheap "Umbral Glaive," forming a combat and vision suppression that can create a suffocating jungle offensive and defensive tempo.

And the only advantage of Ivern—is the gank success rate.

Recalling the "suicide-style" jungle clearing method Jiejie used on Ivern in the previous game,

it is clear that the most important thing for Canyon in the early game is to fully control the information on Ivern and make precise counter-ganks.

"This Ivern should start in the bottom half; the bottom lane retreats at two-thirty, and the top lane retreats at three-thirty."

"You all stand in your positions; don't expose my information."

"I'm going to invade his jungle at level three."

It's still that same truth: jungle games are played on information.

Whether it was the LeBlanc deep-warding at level one that affected the whole game, or the Ivern mid-game vision detection that made it impossible to find an offensive point in the last game, it all boiled down to the exposure of jungle information.

But Canyon's judgment of Ivern's jungle start came entirely from his understanding of the jungle.

Facing Graves, Ivern has the pressure of being "counter-jungled," especially the first wave of jungle maneuvering, which is the top priority!

If you get counter-jungled on the first wave, it's very likely that the snowball will start rolling directly.

And if you want to avoid being counter-jungled,

the most direct way is to "reverse jungle," making the opponent hit empty air.

Canyon stood in Ivern's perspective to think—

{My side is Caitlyn; theoretically, I should clear from the top half to the bottom, but this conventional thinking is easily counter-jungled → so perhaps I should do the opposite and clear from bottom to top.

{Graves has no crowd control; his only way to keep people is a smoke screen. Wanting to do things will be very dependent on the Red Buff, so the opponent might be Red-buff starting → then to avoid counter-jungling and hitting empty air, I also need to clear from bottom to top.

So-called maneuvering.

It's nothing more than you thinking of the first layer → he thinks of the layer above → and then you think of an even higher layer—until the person who thinks +1 layer further wins the game.

Canyon thought of this layer.

And his thinking was quite comprehensive.

Graves starts from the top Blue zone and clears downwards, then goes directly to enter the opponent's Blue zone—

If the Blue buff isn't taken, he can forcibly invade to fight and play out Graves' counter-jungle tempo.

If the Blue buff is taken, then Ivern's position is exposed; his own top half is empty, and as long as the top lane doesn't give an opportunity, Ivern has nowhere to go.

And Graves can go directly back to his own Red zone to farm, ensuring his own growth is not damaged in the slightest, while also being able to backhand and restrict Caitlyn's bottom-lane pushing tempo!

Canyon's understanding of the jungle is profound; this counter-jungle idea made on the spot is definitely a safe bet.

But just at this moment.

The commentary desk outside was letting out bursts of ghostly screams.

"What does this mean!?"

At 1 minute and 30 seconds, the jungle monsters respawned, and the minions hit the lane.

The commentary desk was still shocked by the earth-shattering changes on the field.

But the director, whose perspective was focused on the jungle, suddenly detected a fight.

The screen instantly flew to the mid lane!

Just when everyone thought that a short-range Pyke laning against a long-range Emperor of the Sands would definitely be hiding behind minions and "smelling experience,"

it was seen that Pyke was actually moving forward side-by-side with the first melee minion, looking incredibly arrogant!

This move was, of course, not Ye Bo showing off—the purpose was to not give the Emperor of the Sands a chance to "place his pieces early."

Pyke's E skill is 550 units.

And the Emperor of the Sands' W cast range is also 550 units, but the "remote control distance" is 650 units, plus the 300-unit attack range of the sand soldiers, which is a range of nearly a thousand units.

Therefore.

The only chance Pyke has to touch the opponent is when {the Emperor of the Sands places a sand soldier}.

Ye Bo has a very deep understanding of both heroes.

But clearly, Xu Xiu's experience laning against Pyke is quite lacking.

The Emperor of the Sands met him as usual and summoned a sand soldier in the minion pile to poke.

But who knew that at the same moment, Pyke instantly dashed forward with E 【Phantom Undertow】, charging directly into the Emperor of the Sands' face!

"Is Pyke E-ing into his face at level one? What kind of playstyle is this!?"

"Wait... that hurts!"

Although the distance of the two skills was equal, Pyke instantly dashed to the Emperor of the Sands' face, almost sticking to him.

But the Emperor of the Sands is not a wooden stake that doesn't move.

Xu Xiu immediately and keenly walked backward to pull away; there was no reason for this E to hit.

Of course, it didn't hit.

Pyke just had red light flashing on his body, {Hail of Blades} triggered, and he slashed three times extremely quickly.

But the terrifying thing is—just these three hits, and the Emperor of the Sands actually lost a full third of his health bar!

"What kind of damage is this?" Guan Zeyuan was completely unable to understand: "You have to know that this E skill didn't even hit; it was just three basic attacks. If the E had hit, wouldn't it have taken half his health!?"

Wang Duo also shook his head blankly: "Pyke mid is too rare; even player Ye has only played it twice in his entire career. Could it be because of the 'Doran's Blade'?"

He looked around, and it seemed only this Doran's Blade looked a bit strange.

Generally, this kind of hero playing mid should be Long Sword + three potions, or start with Doran's Shield.

But at this time, if anyone noticed Pyke's panel attributes,

they would find that level-one Pyke's {Attack Damage} was as high as a terrifying 93 points!

You have to know, the vast majority of heroes only have about 60 base attack damage at level one, and many AP mage heroes don't even have 50!

This is not only because Pyke's base attack damage is already very high—it's more because of the passive skill 【Gift of the Drowned Ones】.

Pyke's passive skill, in addition to the well-known effect of {storing damage taken}, also has the effect of {Pyke cannot gain any health, but converts every 14 points of bonus health into 1 point of attack damage}.

The 80 health from Doran's Blade, plus the 65 health from the {fixed health rune shard}—these two alone provided Pyke with 10 attack damage!

It is exactly worth a 350-gold 【Long Sword】.

And although Pyke's E skill didn't hit, it triggered the fixed armor penetration of "Sudden Impact."

Hitting the Emperor of the Sands, who only had 25 armor, the three basic attacks were exactly 253 damage.

A level-one Emperor of the Sands only has less than 600 health, so naturally, it's a third!

Xu Xiu in front of the screen clearly had a look full of shock.

Originally, he was still a bit resentful, not expecting the opponent to pick this hero to deal with him.

It was simply a bit of a look-down on people!

Even though it had appeared in the group stage, no one among those who entered the quarterfinals, including T1, DRX, and DK, cared about this hero, treating it entirely as EDG's "entertainment" choice.

After all, the strength gap between G2 and EDG this year was too obvious, and it was hard to have any reference value.

Now it seems that might not be the case.

The Emperor of the Sands turned his head, set up a sand soldier, and poked back at Pyke, who had 33 magic resistance, successfully taking off 46 health.

The difference was quite obvious.

And Pyke's mid-lane laning style: it's "trading health"!

After all, Pyke has no ability to push the lane.

However, the way to compete for lane priority has never been only by clearing minion waves—making the opponent afraid to clear minion waves due to a health disadvantage can also achieve it!

Both sides reached level two at the same time.

Ye Bo first avoided the coverage area of a sand soldier, seized the gap when the Emperor of the Sands set up a sand soldier again, and dashed into his face!

However, although Xu Xiu hadn't figured out Pyke's strange laning logic yet, he was consciously keeping his distance this time and didn't let Pyke E directly into his face again.

But a 【Bone Skewer】 shot at close range of 300 units poked out, and a 90% slow was instantly applied!

The Emperor of the Sands was easily followed up again, and three more basic attacks were poked out!

This time, adding the Q makes it 363 damage, exactly over half health in one combo.

The level two Emperor of the Sands could only turn his head to command his sand soldiers, chasing to poke one extra QA, successfully dealing 107 damage after deducting 35 magic resist.

The charm of "numerical values" is fully displayed.

"Axi, this hero," Xu Xiu hissed sharply.

"Jianfu, can you come for a gank? He seems like he's going to keep using E proactively."

Although Xu Xiu does not understand this hero.

But his laning experience is so rich that he instantly sensed the problem with this laning style.

Although this approach of Pyke—using E only as a "gap closer" + "triggering Sudden Impact," combined with Q skill slow and Hail of Blades A as the main output method for trading—looks quite shameless.

And although Pyke's E deals no damage to minions, the forward dash of E can stun minions, avoiding being focused by the minion wave!

Meanwhile, LeBlanc, who has the same displacement distance, must use W to deal damage; this is why LeBlanc, despite having longer range, cannot touch the Emperor of the Sands.

But in this way, Pyke also loses his displacement skill.

Theoretically, he should be very easy to gank.

Canyon, who was clearing the Three Wolves, heard this and switched his screen to observe.

Seeing the health status of both sides, his eyes immediately showed shock.

But he quickly realized—something was wrong!

"No, this wave won't work."

"Him daring to trade like this looks too much like there's someone behind him; it's very likely he wants to force us to fight a 2v2 in mid, so their jungler can know my position."

"I need to go counter-jungle this wave; don't rush, just play steady for a while."

After the reminder from his partner, Xu Xiu also reacted immediately.

The "status" of the opposing mid-laner in the team is already common knowledge; if you say the jungler has to use his own life to help the mid-lane camp, that seems extremely normal.

And by "forcing you to come mid to fight, thereby avoiding 1v1 collisions in the jungle."

It seems this is not a bad way to solve the problem.

Anyway, the laning ability of the Emperor of the Sands is right there; as long as the level goes up and the Q skill cooldown is reduced, Pyke will still only be on the receiving end of a beating.

It's just that he can act a bit fierce in the first few levels.

After thinking this, Xu Xiu began to calmly use potions and lane.

He no longer sought to place sand soldiers into the minion pile, only dropping them at a long distance, at least not giving Pyke a chance to E directly into his face; this way, at most, the wave push is just a bit slower.

"No detection! It seems the DK mid and jungle haven't detected it yet!"

"They have absolutely no awareness of this level one design!"

"It's coming!!!"

The third wave of mid-lane minions arrived.

Pyke waited for the cooldown to finish and again dashed forward with E.

However, the Emperor of the Sands had completely learned his lesson, keeping a distance of about 700 yards from Pyke at all times—this way, even if Pyke E'd up and used a short, instant Q to poke and slow, he definitely wouldn't be able to land all three hits of Hail of Blades.

Although the price was that an Emperor of the Sands was actually going even in lane with Pyke.

But it seemed it really could leave Pyke with no way to deal with the opponent.

But this time, Ye Bo did not rush to poke out the Bone Skewer.

The moment Pyke landed from his dash, he raised his right arm high to lift the Bone Skewer, charging and aiming forward!

Another way of trading?

Xu Xiu manipulated the Emperor of the Sands to sway left and right, frantically shaking his chicken butt to move.

He could certainly see that Pyke's way of trading by E-ing up and charging a Q hook was clearly a quite "desperate" way to trade!

Once the Q missed, Pyke would be out of all skills and would be chased and counter-attacked by the Emperor of the Sands for nothing!

The health situation that had been painstakingly accumulated would also be instantly reversed!

Xu Xiu's eyes narrowed.

But just as Pyke raised his dagger forward.

And the Phantom Undertow's Drowned Ghost was just rushing back from behind—a golden light suddenly flashed!

The figures of Pyke and the Emperor of the Sands instantly overlapped!

The Drowned Ghost, brought back at the limit, connected with the Emperor of the Sands who was right next to Pyke.

"EQ charge E-Flash"!

Because the Drowned Ghost's return speed is extremely fast, as long as the E-Flash timing is precise enough, there is no room for reaction; the only possibility is a preemptive Flash.

But clearly, the Emperor of the Sands had not realized the killing intent and could not have used Flash like that.

The E skill took effect first, the Emperor of the Sands was stunned in place for 1. 5 seconds, and only then did Pyke take a step back and throw the Bone Skewer sideways to toss the Emperor of the Sands behind him!

Tossing him toward a slightly "deliberate" angle.

This position was exactly the intersection of the river entrance and the F6 wall.

The next moment, golden light flashed again, and a vegetable man suddenly flashed into his face... from his own F6 pit!!

"Ah!?" Xu Xiu let out an unbelievable cry.

"How is the Twisted Treant here!!!"

DK had a perfect defensive setup at level one, and Xu Xiu had even placed a defensive ward at the river entrance to the bottom jungle at 1 minute and 20 seconds.

It was only 2 minutes and 30 seconds now, and the ward had not expired.

That is to say, the Twisted Treant did not come around from the river to flank.

The Emperor of the Sands no longer had room to maneuver.

The Twisted Treant used an Asian Binding to bind the Emperor of the Sands, then backhanded with a Q skill to knock him back!

The Emperor of the Sands' health was already not healthy due to successive trades, and this wave he was hit by Pyke's full E-Flash combo, plus all the skills of the appearing Twisted Treant.

With a mournful chicken cry, he kicked his legs and fell to the ground!

【First blood!】

"First blood taken by Pyke! Such fast operation! Nice!" Guan Zeyuan shouted with his arms raised, letting out a long breath.

"This is the design of EDG!"

Rita also followed up: "In this way, the Twisted Treant's Flash can be completely treated as a gank Flash; using Hexflash to come out so unexpectedly is better than Flash!"

Wang Duo discovered the real key: "The most important thing this wave is that magical 'Wall-Crossing Sapling'; this is definitely the first time we've seen this technique on the field; it must have been discovered by the EDG players themselves!"

"It was that sapling that detected Sanshu's jungle path, which led to the subsequent bold level one invasion!"

"I have to say, looking at these two games, Jiejie's Twisted Treant definitely has a lot of research and practice! They truly pulled off things no other team has!"

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

During the level one positioning, except for the junglers, the other four people on both sides showed their faces and met, which can be said to be completely without any doubt or sense of danger.

Absolutely no one would have thought that the Twisted Treant would flash over the wall from the Dragon Pit at level one!

And the most important core of this wave is—how on earth could they be sure how the Graves started his jungle?

After all, with the level one positioning of both sides, neither side obtained any extra information.

If Graves started at the Red Buff, the Twisted Treant flashing up like that would simply be feeding a kill!

Clearly, this could not be based on "guessing."

Come to think of it.

This was a "magical spot" Ye Bo discovered while practicing the Twisted Treant.

At that time, Ye Bo was researching how to place the Twisted Treant's saplings to obtain more information resources in the jungle and achieve the strategic purpose of this hero.

Then he accidentally tested that spot.

It turns out that when the Twisted Treant stands on the edge of the wall on the upper side of the Dragon Pit and points the mouse cursor at the only spot on the Red Buff wall—he can throw a sapling directly into the Red Buff pit from inside the Dragon Pit!

Just like that, separated by two whole walls, he easily obtained vision!

As long as it is thrown 15 seconds before the jungle monsters respawn.

At this point in time, the jungler must have already chosen their starting half of the jungle; if Graves started Red, he would inevitably be revealed by this sapling!

The Twisted Treant doesn't need to rush to flash, after all, the sapling can exist for 30 seconds.

Just wait for the Red Buff to spawn, automatically detonate the sapling at his feet for a second confirmation, then flash over the wall and throw down a second bush sapling—this way, he doesn't lose damage and can minimize the risk!

Then it was clearing Graves's red zone, clearing the Krugs first, then clearing the F6 on the way to the mid-lane.

Reaching level three in the mid-lane would be much slower than starting from a single jungle camp.

More importantly, the mid-laner is the Emperor of the Sands!

Just like in the first game when the Twisted Treant specifically ran over to help the Emperor of the Sands throw saplings for protection before level 3.

Because the Emperor of the Sands is forced to take W at level one, and there is no skill point game at level 2, it is almost impossible to take E!

Which means there is no sole displacement ability.

So even if the Emperor of the Sands wasn't in that position at the time, the Twisted Treant could easily cooperate with Pyke's Flash EQ to complete the snipe after flanking with Hexflash!

【First time knowing the Tree Son can be thrown so far? That's a half-court three-pointer!】

【This is the team soul of EDG, the Twisted Treant; this distance is just ridiculously outrageous, thrown directly from the Mavericks to the Lakers!】

【Worthy of being a hero passed down from the ancestors; the ancestor Seven is watching from above!】

【Honestly, I can tell with my butt that this design must have been thought up by Master Ye; the flavor is too authentic! It's this flavor!】

【Canyon: This isn't right; why does it feel like there's a phantom behind this Twisted Treant? It looks like there's an old man in a bottle!】

There are still some people in the barrage questioning if this was just "good luck."

The basis for this thought is, what if Graves didn't come to the bottom half after reaching level three, or went directly to counter-jungle the top half after finishing the buff at level two, then what?

The answer is simply courting death!

This was actually the most ideal result EDG had envisioned.

By killing the Emperor of the Sands and using the ward left at the intersection after counter-jungling the bottom half of the map, they could completely pinpoint the Graves' location.

If the Graves really went to EDG's top half, they could take advantage of the mid-laner being dead to have the top, mid, and jungler dive him together and catch the Graves while they were at it!

Then DK would be completely blown wide open!

The counter-jungling path Canyon chose had no issues at all; one could even say it was precisely because of this path that the Graves didn't fall into a desperate situation.

Of course, it was still very uncomfortable.

The Emperor of the Sands had Teleport, so the death wasn't actually a huge loss for him personally.

But just as the Graves walked into his own bottom half, he saw the empty F6 pit.

Then he looked at the Red Buff hanging on the Maokai.

Everything was crystal clear!

Canyon's breathing became a bit heavier.

But what he didn't know was.

The offensive against him had only just begun!

(End of chapter)