Chapter 176: Tunnel Mishap! A Chess-Move Design Outplayed by a Single Step!

"They actually practiced Nocturne too," Oner said, taking a sip of protein powder inside the T1 base and evaluating it to himself.

"Although this hero is a bit trash in this meta, in a 1v1 jungle matchup against Viego, it's definitely a one-sided beatdown. This understanding is spot on!"

Nocturne has only had one recorded appearance in this S12, and it is definitely not a strong jungler in this meta.

Speaking of which, it is still due to the durability update.

Heroes like Nocturne, who must charge alone into a crowd and might get killed instead of killing the opponent upon entry, and who also desperately need to farm to level six, are clearly not very suitable for the current meta's tempo.

However, it is a coincidence that Oner is the only user of Nocturne in this World Championship—and that game was against Viego!

So his statement is clearly based on experience.

However, Keria on the side had a different view: "I actually think EDG picking this Nocturne is mainly to put pressure on the bottom lane, right?"

"It's very obvious that they are mainly targeting Yuumi in this game. This hero's mechanics are too unhealthy. Even though it has so many flaws, as long as the other side can't kill it in the early game, once it reaches the mid-game, this hero is just a menace."

"And this Nocturne and Kalista are definitely targeting the bottom lane, not letting your support run around just because the opponent is Yuumi, otherwise they will just force a dive on your AD!"

Keria's understanding of the meta was clearly superior, and he quickly saw the true purpose.

The reason DRX's bottom lane in the last game could survive while the support was running around was not only thanks to Deft's steady playstyle and experience, but also because the support's meticulous warding could always detect the opponent's intentions in advance.

But for a hero like Nocturne, who can fly in and gank directly from the "sky," both of these points are difficult to utilize!

If a Kalista is still not enough to solve the problem of Yuumi providing too little pressure in the early game,

then what if you add a Nocturne?

With Yuumi, EDG has no reason to play an early-game tempo. After all, they only need to stabilize the situation and reach the mid-game like the last game, and the scales of victory will naturally tilt gradually!

Of course, this is actually the consideration for DRX still letting Yuumi through—they know that EDG is best at early-game aggression; letting Yuumi through at least prevents the opponent from fighting in their most proficient domain.

However, Ye Bo also thought of this layer that the opponent wanted to exploit, which is why he made a lineup change in this game and simply chose a "Grand Teamfight" lineup with a slower tempo.

You think of one layer, I think of one layer, and he thinks of another; these are all the gambits of the match.

Li Xianghe did not participate in his teammates' discussion, just staring blankly at the Fiddlesticks icon.

"Another one of these weird strategies."

He thought of the second game against EDG in the group stage, where the opponent also chose a weird mid-lane Nunu, breaking through their defensive line in an incomprehensible way, and in the end, even caused a scene by saying, "Mechanics are just mechanics, it's not like they only appeared today."

And for this Fiddlesticks, relying on his own game understanding, he seemed to vaguely imagine some mid-lane laning scenarios.

Just at this moment, the match screen had finished loading.

Before everyone had time to look at the rune choices of both sides, they discovered that someone's level one start was not right!

While loading the match, Ye Bo was still instructing his teammates: "We must be careful with our level one positioning. The hero Bard is outside our plan; be careful if they have a design!"

As soon as they stepped into the Canyon, several signals were immediately marked on the map: "Except for the top laner, we will place wards in these few places as soon as we leave, then retreat directly to the jungle to see the opponent's movements before deciding."

Ye Bo had a deep wariness toward this Bard.

Not only because it was a hero outside the plan, but also because it was something Ye Bo completely didn't understand, or could even say he only knew the extent of the hero's general skills.

Ye Bo felt that his exposure was still insufficient.

But facing this critical match, he really wanted to do his best to win.

And for the level one fight of this lineup, EDG also had its own advantage—the abundance of wards!

As one of the teams best at level one designs, Ye Bo naturally knew very well that a normal level one fight cannot place too many wards, lest the vision fall into a blank space at critical time nodes.

But EDG's lineup in this game was different.

The jungler Nocturne is a stand-and-fight king who is not afraid of being 1v1 counter-jungled.

The support Yuumi is a special hero who can purchase a {Control Ward} at level one without needing to buy recovery items.

And the mid-lane Fiddlesticks, due to the passive skill 【A Harmless Scarecrow】, will replace wards with 【Effigies】, which are stronger than ordinary Stealth Wards in both cooldown and duration mechanisms!

Originally, the second ward would have to wait until 3 minutes and 30 seconds, but the Effigy only needs to wait until 2 minutes and 10 seconds to spawn a second one.

So for EDG, they don't need to have any concerns at level one and can directly invest {three wards} for jungle control, fully capable of guarding the jungle!

But although Beryl didn't have many games played on Bard,

his understanding and preparation for this hero were not lacking at all.

"DRX is doing this!?" Wawa was extremely nervous: "Oh no, they have a big design!"

"Beryl's Bard really seems to be a secret weapon!"

Miller couldn't help but clench his fists: "Although EDG's starting positioning looks absolutely careful enough, and they even invested three wards directly, DRX's positioning is so fast!"

"Can't EDG see this!?"

In the spectator view, one could see it.

EDG's bottom duo had just followed the command and sped out as soon as they left the base, with Yuumi also directly giving Kalista an E speed boost to rush toward the spot.

However, just as Kalista arrived at the wall by the Blue Buff to place a ward and was just turning back—five people walked out from the corner on the right!

"Holy sh*t?!" Viper blurted out a clear and resonant exclamation.

"Damn, Viper, run!" Yuumi, hanging on him, could only shout in a panic.

"Don't panic, don't panic!" But Ye Bo, with a clearly clearer head, shouted even louder: "They have no crowd control, don't waste your skills, just run downwards first!"

In such a thrilling moment, people are actually very easily influenced by sudden sounds.

Viper had almost really wanted to use Flash to run away just now.

Fortunately, there was a louder reminder, and his reaction was quick enough; he immediately reacted and ran in the opposite direction toward the bottom river.

Although they were also shocked at how DRX could arrive here silently with everyone, it would be much easier to find the problem by looking at the answer—it could only be Bard's E skill 【Magical Journey】!

Since that was the case, DRX clearly had no extra crowd control.

They just wanted to come and play for a numbers advantage!

"Hong Changxian, keep him! Trade his skills!" Beryl immediately shouted loudly.

Viego immediately learned W, and while charging it, he aimed at Kalista, who was escaping downwards; once fully charged, he flashed forward!

But this long-range Flash-W is not hard to react to, and Kalista immediately synchronized by flashing downwards.

"If they trade Flashes, EDG definitely loses out. The side with Yuumi only has one Flash, so it will be very difficult to pressure the lane in the first few minutes!" Wang Duo couldn't help but sigh.

"You have your stratagem, I have my ladder over the wall. Although EDG wanted to use Kalista to pressure the bottom lane in this game, DRX used their level one design to seemingly forcibly prevent EDG's bottom lane from unfolding their early-game tempo!"

"In this case, this Bard will likely start roaming at level two or three!"

Miller also shook his head: "For such an unpopular hero like Bard, this design by DRX is indeed hard to defend against, and EDG was so willing to invest in warding, yet they still couldn't prevent it."

The director pulled up the replay.

Bard used the E skill twice at level one.

When spawning, Bard directly created a "Starting Tunnel" from the corner of the fountain straight to the high-ground tower, and all five people got on board!

Then, upon reaching the corner wall in front of EDG's bottom tier-one tower, they released a "Wall-Crossing Tunnel"!

It was precisely because of these two tunnels—one for traveling and one for crossing the mountain—that DRX was able to play the time difference and arrive with everyone in advance!

Otherwise, with EDG's positioning, if they had just left after placing the wards, DRX's five people would have completely missed them with just one wall-crossing tunnel.

But at this moment, the director urgently switched the replay screen back to the main battlefield.

"DRX seems to be faking!"

"Damn! Are they going to do it again?! Aren't they afraid that EDG just placed a ward here?"

While chasing Kalista, the DRX members specifically walked back to their own jungle in front of the opponent, and the top laner even swaggered out from the mid-lane.

Aatrox did indeed honestly walk back to the top lane.

But the other four people detoured from their own jungle, returned via the bottom lane minion wave, and walked back toward the intersection they had just entered!

Clearly, they wanted to repeat the same trick!

And the reliance they had to dare to do so was nothing else.

It was only because when invading just now, Bard had deliberately waited for Kalista to walk out of the corner and lose vision—and quietly tucked a ward at the feet of the Gromp where no one would think to look.

It was also this ward that detected Nocturne's movements at this time.

In DRX's vision, they watched as Nocturne turned on his sweeper, came over to sweep the blue area, and failed to discover the vision hidden at the feet of the Gromp!

"Beryl's warding is just too tricky!"

"Nocturne's intention to start at Blue is exposed. No wonder the four of them entered the jungle again; they are determined to take this opportunity to forcibly find early-game priority in the bottom half of the map!"

1 minute and 10 seconds.

Bard opened the space-time tunnel again, and four people took the tunnel to arrive for the second time.

Viego turned on his sweeper, confirming that there was no vision in this brush!

Beryl's idea was very simple.

Even if they came over by tunnel for the second time and EDG spent a huge price to place a ward in this brush and discovered them, it would be nothing more than just retreating.

EDG's lineup's level one combat power is not strong, and not to mention whether they can win, at least the opponent definitely can't keep them, posing no threat at all!

And once they can successfully infiltrate again.

Whether it's trying to counter-jungle and forcibly seize the jungle, or camping the Flash-less Kalista duo when they go to lane, at the very least, they can steal the opponent's jungle monsters.

It can be called a win-win situation!

Only, there was one problem.

Just as Bard opened the portal again, a voice suddenly came from EDG's voice channel.

"Eh? They seem to have come in again!"

Ye Bo, waiting for the minion wave to arrive, was staring at the bottom half of the map, as if thinking about something.

What he was thinking was—if the tunnel of a hero like Bard is invisible to the enemy, then the pressure of defending against roaming in this game is really not small.

But just at this moment.

Ye Bo suddenly saw a "Golden Entrance" at the corner of the wall that would not be displayed on the mini-map!

In fact.

The mechanics of Bard's tunnel are somewhat unique.

Under normal circumstances, the enemy indeed cannot see the tunnel created by Bard—it only becomes visible when at least one of the tunnel's two ends has its "edge radius" exposed within the opponent's field of vision.

And the instruction Kalista received at level one was to place a ward in the bush below the Blue Buff, this equally unusual position!

They ran straight into three people right after placing the ward!

But in Beryl's view, level-one ward placement is especially precious, and it was impossible for the opponent to place a ward in this position.

After all, if EDG were to place this ward in that bush, the information gained would be extremely limited; at the very least, the entire lower river area would be a complete blank, which could simply be called a "waste"!

This is a "conflict" in the two people's levels of understanding.

Of course, perhaps the real reason is that Beryl does not know that the cooldown of Fiddlesticks' {Bountiful Harvest} is different from ordinary wards, being nearly twice as fast.

Coupled with Ye Bo's special "playstyle" in this match, there is actually no vision pressure near the mid lane!

Therefore, even if the bot lane uses all three vision charges, at worst the jungler can just give the Control Ward that was supposed to be for the mid lane to the bot lane instead—even Fiddlesticks himself can go and place {Bountiful Harvest} for the bot lane!

Ye Bo does not understand Bard.

But Beryl understands Fiddlesticks even less!

The third tunnel exposed its entrance within the vision EDG had placed, and since Ye Bo happened to be staring right at this spot, he witnessed this scene with his own eyes.

"What do you say, Master Ye, are we doing this?" Jiejie felt like he really wanted to stir up trouble.

"Can we win this fight?" Meiko asked with concern.

The bot lane duo, having just respawned, were preparing to head out.

"Wait a moment, don't go over yet."

Ye Bo was also thinking about this combat scenario.

Although Bard leveled his E skill at level one, his combat power is actually no different from Yuumi's, or even weaker!

Theoretically, the gap in their 4v4 combat power is no longer large.

But EDG really has no setup for a level-one fight; even if Fiddlesticks fully channels one W, there is no follow-up, and Nocturne also lacks burst damage.

The important thing is that Kalista has no Flash, and the opponent has Viego.

Once the opponent's four members force an all-in to kill Kalista, and they get a kill to help Viego get a soul, Kalista's fragile frame definitely won't be able to withstand it!

If Viego really manages to possess someone, this 4v4 will be completely unpredictable.

And if something goes wrong for the bot lane in a level-one fight, even if it ends up being a 1-for-1 trade, it is clearly a situation that this "fight-seeking lineup" of DRX would be extremely happy to see.

This is also why DRX dared to be so bold and push in.

It is because even the worst result is something they can accept!

However, for EDG—since they already know the opponent's position, they could actually just have Nocturne quietly swap jungle quadrants to avoid the fight.

But, if Kalista has her Flash burned, it will directly result in her not daring to push the lane recklessly for the next five minutes.

One could even say that as long as they push the lane, it is equivalent to exposing that there is a jungler protecting them, continuously exposing the jungler's position—just this one Flash can be said to have far-reaching consequences.

Therefore, even if they swap jungle quadrants now, DRX's goal has actually already been achieved.

Ye Bo, at this moment, suddenly has a bolder idea.

"Flandre," Ye Bo said at a very fast pace: "Can you come for this play? But you might lose quite a lot."

"Don't worry about me, just tell me how to come!" Li Xuanjun replied without the slightest hesitation.

Ye Bo made a prompt decision: "Then the bot lane shouldn't go out yet. The fact that they dared to come like this means there must be a mole of theirs in our jungle."

God's-eye view.

One could also see EDG's sudden change in personnel movement.

"What does this mean???"

"Why did Ornn walk down from the top jungle? The minion wave has already spawned, he's going to miss minions!"

"EDG seems to have discovered the opponent's movements, and this position of theirs, could it be!?"

The DRX members had no awareness of this.

Looking at the vision, seeing Nocturne standing alone outside the Blue Buff pit, and then seeing that the bot lane duo had yet to appear.

They naturally guessed that the opponent must be having the bot lane go straight to the lane to avoid exposing the jungler's path.

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

The DRX members came out directly and rushed toward the Blue Buff camp!

They had to act immediately and could not wait; otherwise, when the mid lane minion waves met, Akali would inevitably expose their intentions if she hadn't appeared yet.

The four walked out and, sure enough, saw Nocturne jungling alone.

Seeing the four people walking out from behind him, Nocturne clearly looked somewhat panicked as he rushed toward the edge of the wall, taking the Blue Buff's attacks while seemingly hesitating whether to use Flash.

The four burly men cornered Nocturne!

But Nocturne still did not use Flash.

"Just burn his Flash, don't chase too deep. If they still want to fight, we'll force-kill Kalista directly; trading kills is definitely..."

Before Beryl could finish his sentence.

A sound of an unheard explosion occurred.

Immediately after, a full four figures—suddenly descended from the sky over the wall!

And the moment they saw the number of opponents, the four DRX members' eyes all trembled.

"Why is the top laner here too!?"

"Take my gate! Run!"

Bard reacted extremely quickly, opening a gate toward the side of the lower river.

The four figures reacted very quickly and immediately turned toward the portal.

{Bard's gate, allies gain a 33% movement speed bonus when traveling through it}.

Even if the five people from the opposite side followed them through, they would still have a certain amount of room to kite; in any case, the opponent had no more crowd control skills.

However, Ornn, upon landing, used his E to ram his head into the wall of the portal!

The ram did not get sent away by the portal; instead, it instantly interrupted the four people who were close to the wall and entering the gate, pulling them out of the wall and knocking them all high into the air!

"Just kill Viego! He has no Flash!"

Fiddlesticks leveled his Q skill instantly, followed up with Fear upon landing, and the four of them focused their fire on him.

Seeing that Viego, who also had no Flash, clearly had no way to escape, and that there was no chance of winning a 4v5 head-on, the other three DRX members decisively sold Viego out and left through the gate without looking back.

"Give the kill to the AD!"

In the clear distribution of commands, Viego's kill was smoothly allocated to Kalista.

Ornn waited for the battle to end before TPing to the top lane's first turret.

"First Blood is born!!!"

"DRX definitely didn't expect that their level-one design would be used against them by EDG! Giving up First Blood, and it was even fed to Kalista!" Miller instantly exhaled and shouted.

"Although the price was the top lane burning an extra TP and losing a bit of minion farm, this is absolutely a huge profit!"

"Flandre played with such dedication... His arrival here was truly critical. Without Ornn's inspired interruption and supplementary damage, the opponent would have either fought a 4v4 head-on or just taken the gate and run!" Wang Duo praised without reservation.

"The two teams we hailed as the best at level-one designs at S12, in the most critical game, each showed their unique skills... In the end, DRX was one move behind!"

【Flandre, I'm crying, he is truly too team-oriented!】

【It's a success, I declare that for this play, Ornn is legally entitled to be carried for this match!】

【He helped Jiejie with a level-one all-in invasion of the uncle's jungle last year too, right? Always putting his teammates before himself, and yet such a top laner still gets called a feeder when he plays!!】

【What kind of hellish flash of inspiration is this from DRX? Don't they know the person on the other side has the nickname "Idea King"?】

【It's a pity it's Kalista's kill; if Fiddlesticks had taken the kill, I'm afraid someone's mental state would really collapse.】

(End of chapter)