Chapter 268: Deadlock Strategy! Rising Mountains from Flat Ground! Fists Can't Save the AD

Following the exclamations from the commentary desk, everyone finally noticed the unusual movement on the minimap.

It was unlikely for a fight to break out in the early game for the mid and top lanes of both teams, as they were both functional champions leaning toward scaling, and the Poppy in the jungle was a slight counter to Lee Sin, so she didn't fear being invaded.

Therefore, it was obvious that the focus could only be on the bottom lane!

The strategy of Sion "forcing a half-map swap at level one" had long since become a standard design under the leadership of V5, and since JDG had a Blitzcrank, there was no reason not to stir up trouble during the level-one skirmish.

Of course, as things have developed, there have long been standard countermeasures for this design.

For example, JDG's top laner sacrificing their presence to stand in the middle at level one, or the Bard design that V5 themselves had used to counter-attack.

Therefore, with the current Sion tactics, it is rare to see teams still wanting to double-start their own jungle; it is basically just about fighting for the right to invade the half-map, and it will reset during the second jungle rotation.

V5 proceeded with their usual counter-setup, with the jungle and support duo heading directly to the opponent's blue quadrant to sweep; Bard didn't learn a skill and walked in front, ready to escape or lock someone down at any time, ensuring their jungler could steadily swap to the half-map at the start.

"They didn't come," Beryl reminded the jungler while helping to clear vision.

Judging by his tone, he seemed a bit puzzled as to why the opponent didn't come to place a ward.

Beichuan, who had stepped onto the finals stage, was still a bit nervous and was taking deep breaths in place, also facing the choice of where to start his level-one jungle path.

After all, Ye Bo and Beryl were not junglers and could only provide suggestions at key nodes—jungle planning and thought processes, which are also the things that test a jungler's fundamentals and playstyle characteristics the most.

The many choices Xun had made previously regarding counter-jungling, invasions, and gank timing were all based on his own understanding of the game.

And if it were him at this moment, he would definitely start directly from the opponent's Blue Buff camp.

After all, V5 didn't know the JDG jungler's movements, but as long as they started from the opponent's blue quadrant, no matter which side of the bottom half Lee Sin started on, Poppy could guarantee she wouldn't lose any jungle camps.

However, after some thought, Beichuan chose to return to his own red quadrant.

His reasoning was simple.

Starting in his own red quadrant would increase the risk of the opponent changing their tempo—for example, returning directly to their own jungle after finishing the Blue Buff, which would lead to the risk of Poppy losing a buff at the start.

But the benefit was that Poppy would have the "initiative to choose."

A Poppy starting in the red quadrant doesn't have to farm only the top half; instead, she can choose to change tempo to gank mid or bottom based on the laning situation, or use the mid/bottom lane priority to fight for control of the bottom half.

This is where the difference between the two junglers is reflected.

Xun belongs to the aggressive playstyle, but his thought process is actually relatively conservative—perhaps because his teammates make him feel so secure that he gradually doesn't need to be that aggressive and can let go to make plays.

Beichuan belongs to the conservative playstyle, but his thought process is relatively aggressive—especially "aggressive" in his thinking regarding "self-growth."

This might also be an influence from the fact that he has mainly been practicing functional junglers over the past six months.

Come to think of it, the biggest difference between a functional jungler and a jungle-carry type is the balance and emphasis placed on "self-growth vs. teammate advantage."

It's just that at this moment, no one was paying any attention to the jungle.

Everyone's attention was on the bottom lane.

"The minion wave is about to arrive, what on earth is 69 doing!" Guan Zeyuan watched, dumbfounded.

"Isn't he sacrificing too much like this? Honestly, even if he manages to camp them, it's impossible to get a kill; the damage from these three definitely isn't enough!"

"And let's not even talk about whether he can catch them; even if he does, it should only help the bottom lane trade health and summoner spells. Is this trade really worth it, using Sion's seven-minute TP as the cost?"

At this moment, the minion waves in all three lanes were about to clash.

But Sion hadn't headed to the top lane; in fact, after invading the jungle with his teammates at the start, he had gone straight to the bottom lane and crouched in the second brush.

He had been crouching there ever since the level-one skirmish!

But just as the commentary desk said.

Xayah, Blitzcrank, and Sion—among the three, the one with the highest level-one damage was actually Sion!

Unless the opponents made a mistake and it was the most perfect ideal situation, the most likely outcome was just burning a Flash, and then Sion would TP up.

Trading a top laner's 7-minute TP for the opponent's 5-minute Flash to help the bottom lane gain a slight laning advantage.

The minion waves clashed.

Beryl was just about to step up to contest the brush when his small eyes blinked.

Logically speaking, if Blitzcrank wanted to make a move at level one, "contesting the brush" was absolutely the top priority—given the reaction times of professional players, if he didn't hook from out of vision but instead made a move from the front, it would be too easy to react to.

Beryl had already prepared to play a battle of wits with Missing, wanting to kite a bit outside the brush first.

But he suddenly discovered that Missing had given up on kiting him, as if handing over the second brush on a silver platter, and walked straight out of the brush to stand behind.

Is this right?

Perhaps JDG wasn't planning to make a move at level one?

Because V5 knew Lee Sin started in the bottom half, they couldn't possibly push the wave hard at level one, so theoretically, it was reasonable for Blitzcrank not to make a move and choose to control the wave.

The reason it aroused Beryl's suspicion was that the opponent's intent was a bit too obvious.

Since Missing had gone so far as to pick a hard-engage support like Blitzcrank, there was no reason to farm peacefully; even if he wanted to control the wave at level one, there was no reason not to even attempt a battle of wits!

It looked... almost as if he was deliberately trying to get him to approach that second brush.

Beryl had always trusted his sixth sense.

The more the enemy wanted him to do something, the less he wanted to do it.

"Hekui-ge, you haven't learned a skill yet, right?"

"You can learn W and throw it into the second brush; this Blitzcrank, I just feel like something is weird."

Not daring to push the wave at level one in the bottom lane, Caitlyn naturally hadn't learned a skill yet, thinking that if Blitzcrank tried to force an engage, she would consider instantly learning E to dodge.

Deft never questioned his partner's ideas; even if he couldn't understand why they needed to check the brush when the Blitzcrank had already left, he still immediately leveled up his skill.

The warding range at level one is only 500 yards.

Caitlyn's W, however, has an 800-yard cast range, which is more than half as far again, and it also provides a brief reveal of vision.

And when Caitlyn's trap was tossed out—a huge figure in the brush was instantly exposed!

"Holy crap!!" Although Beryl had his suspicions, he was still startled to find Sion actually standing in the brush.

"What the!?" Flandre in the top lane was still playing a battle of wits with the air in the brush.

There was no reason for Sion to show himself at level one; walking out would just be giving Kennen free auto-attacks, so even if he didn't show himself for the entire first wave, it wouldn't arouse the slightest suspicion.

But by comparison, the three JDG members on the opposite side were actually even more surprised.

It hadn't even been exposed!

Fortunately, this was just the prelude to their plan, and failing to execute it perfectly didn't affect anything.

Sion walked out of the brush openly and honestly.

"What is the meaning of this!?" This time, even the three people at the commentary desk were stunned.

Everyone thought that the JDG bottom lane's intent had been exposed and Sion had wasted his time crouching, so he would definitely have to retreat, just treating it as a wasted TP.

It was Doinb, who was proficient in this art, who suddenly saw something.

"Oh my god! Are they trying to four-man dive the bottom lane!"

"A four-man dive at level one!?"

"It really feels like it! Kanavi is heading straight toward the bottom lane after finishing his buff! It really seems like a four-man dive!"

Combining this with the movements of the JDG jungler in the back, everyone finally saw the true intention of this design.

Poppy was starting in the top half, and even if she used Smite, it would take at least 1 minute and 50 seconds to finish and reach level two, and it would take at least 20 seconds to run from the top half to the bottom lane.

Even if Poppy ran to the bottom lane immediately after finishing her Red Buff, she definitely wouldn't make it in time for this tower dive!

"Blitzcrank is stepping forward with detail and hasn't shared any experience!" Guan Zeyuan observed the support's experience bar.

"In that case, Xayah and Sion only need 3 minions to reach level two! If they can reach level two, even if V5's mid or top TP down, they won't be able to save them! They will definitely be able to force a kill on one of them first!"

Lee Sin was already level two; in fact, even if they started immediately, Sion could sacrifice himself and use his passive to supplement the damage, allowing them to dive V5's level-one bottom duo regardless.

The core of this JDG playstyle was Sion!

And Redmi had designed an even more foolproof arrangement.

After the reveal, Blitzcrank headed straight for the river, ostensibly pretending to block V5's bottom lane from leaving the tower, but in reality, he was circling through the jungle to reach the rear and meet up with Lee Sin to block the position.

By the 2-minute mark, Sion and Xayah had successfully brought the wave into the tower without any interference.

The second wave of minions only needed three more melee minions for both of them to reach level two!

As long as Sion and Xayah both reached level two, it was entirely possible for JDG to kill the duo under the tower with a 0-for-2 trade without losing a single person, plus a loss of at least three waves of minions!

A 2-for-2 trade, meaning losing some minions, would still be playable.

But if it were a 0-for-2 trade against V5's bottom lane, the laning phase would absolutely be blown wide open!

The reason Caitlyn is unpopular in this version is that her poor power curve is ill-suited for the hyper-carry meta; if the laning phase collapses as well, she might as well prepare to be invisible for the entire game.

"I can TP, I can TP, I can TP!" Flandre looked anxiously toward the bottom half.

"Don't TP!" Ye Bo watched the collision in the bottom lane and still calmly spoke to stop him.

Once Kennen showed his TP, whether Sion revived after the kill and TP'd back to the top lane, or just TP'd back to the top lane, it would instead result in Kennen's lane exploding!

Kennen's level-one pushing ability was quite limited; it was impossible to push the wave into the tower too quickly—once he TP'd down for a stroll, if Sion TP'd back and froze the wave, the consequences could be even more severe!

Not to mention that a level-one Kennen would be absolutely useless after TPing down!

The same logic applied to the Anivia in the mid lane; TPing down at level one would result in her own lane exploding, and it was debatable whether she could even save anyone after the 4. -second TP landed.

None of the V5 members expected that JDG, who wasn't known for their designs, would actually prepare something like this.

Of course.

If they were only seeking a stable 2-for-2 trade, JDG's top and jungle duo would also suffer a huge loss, especially Sion.

The reason it was called a "dirty trick" was that it was essentially using the top lane to "trade blows" with the bottom lane, and it could basically only be used once.

It was also a "one-time" design.

And if JDG was only thinking of a 2-for-2 trade, V5 indeed had no countermeasures and could only take it.

But at this moment, JDG was thinking of a 0-for-2 trade to completely crush the bottom lane, and there was the small accident of not successfully pulling off the level-one cheese and failing to chip away health beforehand...

Perhaps, it wasn't a dead end!

Ye Bo kept switching his screen to look at the bottom lane in the gaps between last-hitting and kiting against Taliyah.

Beryl watched Sion, who had already begun attacking the second wave of minions, and then observed the minimap.

They both noticed a gap at the same time.

Because if a third person shared the experience, Sion and Xayah would be unable to reach level two by killing only three melee minions, so the two flanking from behind were deliberately keeping their distance from the minion wave.

This resulted in the battlefield being slightly separated.

"Genshin Brother, open the portal and run!"

"Hekui Brother, get ready to run!"

Two voices with the same meaning appeared in the voice chat simultaneously.

Bard strode forward toward Sion and Xayah as if wanting to harass them from reaching level two, and the two from Jingdong naturally ignored him completely.

But just at this moment, Kanavi in the back noticed something unusual.

"No! He looks like he wants to run!"

"Hook him!!"