Chapter 289: Self-Destructing Truck! Human Rocket! Between Brain and Brain

Compared to the top lane, life in the mid lane isn't actually going that well either.

Ya Gao's mechanics have clearly declined; he is currently relying entirely on the experience and game sense of a veteran player to barely maintain his standing as a first-tier mid laner, and laning against Ye Bo is proving to be more than a little strenuous.

Based on the previous display of the Statikk Shiv LeBlanc, as long as one can utilize {Energized} well, the laning phase generally won't be much weaker than AP, and buying a component after returning to base with 700 gold can usher in a strong laning period.

Whether it's pressuring health or pushing the wave, an AD LeBlanc can at least find one point of leverage.

But Ya Gao can't find a single one!

This is not only because Ye Bo's laning prowess is astonishing, but also due to the differences between Tristana and other mid-lane heroes.

Tristana's attack range is too long, and she is an AD hero herself; it is clearly very hard for LeBlanc to profit in health by using W-Auto to harass, and even trading auto-attacks results in a massive health deficit!

Not only that, if LeBlanc uses her W for mobility to farm Energized stacks like before, she even risks being solo-killed by Tristana!

And if this technique is not used, AD LeBlanc is inevitably significantly weaker than AP LeBlanc in the early laning phase.

This undoubtedly makes Ya Gao's laning situation go from bad to worse!

Just after reaching level three in the laning phase, Ya Gao had already firmly changed his mindset.

He chose to swap his item build order, building the standard AP Mythic item first, then transitioning into Statikk Shiv.

After all, LeBlanc has no advantage when competing in auto-attack range.

But the performance of her abilities is a different story.

Purely in terms of laning, AP LeBlanc doesn't struggle nearly as much against Tristana.

Besides, LeBlanc was going to transition to AP items for her second item anyway, so nothing is lost.

"Chuan, do you want to go invade the enemy jungle?" Ya Gao urgently wanted to find some advantages in the early game to make up for his lagging item deficit.

"Uh..." Bei Chuan, who had just returned from counter-ganking in the bottom lane to put out a fire, was being remote-controlled again and felt his mind go blank for a moment.

ON, who had called him down, continued to direct: "No need, it's useless even if Rell invades, and the enemy mid and bot aren't weak in a fight."

"Let's go help Chen Zebin together next wave; the bottom lane is hard to play in the early game, and Rumble is easy to gank!"

"OK, OK." Bei Chuan had no objections.

Come to think of it, these four members of BLG actually quite like Bei Chuan—at least compared to their "predecessor," Wei.

Having transferred from V5 to BLG, Bei Chuan brought over quite a few things he learned at V5, including communication styles and tactical design ideas, which have been quite helpful to the team.

As for himself, he also brought the "fine virtues" he cultivated at V5.

"Listen to your big brother!"

Compared to Wei, who loved to direct the lanes, everyone on BLG except for Ya Gao clearly found it more comfortable to coordinate with Bei Chuan, which might be why they were able to put up good performances at the start of the season.

5 minutes and 20 seconds.

The solo laners reached level six, which was also the time for the first recall in the bottom lane.

Supports have a "roaming vacuum period" during their first recall, making it difficult for opponents to judge whether they are "not yet in lane" or "roaming to a side lane."

And since the Dragon hadn't been taken yet, if one side prepared a three-man dive on the top lane, the other side could attempt to trade for the Dragon or dive the bottom lane; one move affects the whole situation, and there is quite a bit of underwater maneuvering.

After recalling, ON followed the plan and called the jungler to head to the top lane.

His logic was also very clear—he hadn't considered taking the first Dragon at all.

The mid lane was at best a fifty-fifty matchup, and the jungler had wasted a lot of farming time being remote-controlled by the side lanes, so his path to level six wasn't fast, and his combat power wasn't much different from Rell's.

The key to combat power lay in the bottom lane, and it was clear that V5 had the slight upper hand!

This is also the reason why Varus has re-emerged in the current patch.

Varus suddenly disappeared in the MSI patch because the hero is a combination of {Laning} + {Mid-game} + {Utility} marksman, and his lack of mobility in the late game and significantly lower damage ceiling compared to "Zeri/Aphelios/Jinx" clearly didn't fit the late-game hyper-carry meta of MSI.

But in this patch, changes to Mythic items have caused a host of hyper-carry ADs to fall from grace, and Zeri has disappeared entirely.

Varus naturally revived on the spot!

And this is actually why Tabe didn't choose Jinx in the final pick of the draft, but chose Kai'Sa instead.

As long as Kai'Sa evolves her Q ability, her combat power is not much weaker than Varus, and after buying her first Statikk Shiv, she even has a power spike stronger than her opponent; she is also a quintessential mid-game marksman!

ON had received instructions from Tabe during the pre-game draft; as long as they waited until around the 11-minute mark for the second Dragon, Kai'Sa would have the combat power to go and contest it.

Giving up the first Dragon to turn and attack the top lane to pave the way for an advantage in the Rift Herald fight was definitely a wise move!

"Xun, just start the Dragon, the enemy jungle and support should be positioned in the bottom half!" Beryl looked at the movements of the enemy bottom lane AD and then looked at the top lane: "Gun God, he should be up top."

"Don't worry about me, I can clear the wave with my ultimate." Saint Gun God sent back a very practiced reply.

Relying on his excellent ability to read the game, Beryl clearly discerned the movements of the enemy jungle and support.

With a disadvantage in the bottom lane fight and Tristana being hard to gank in the mid lane—he figured that if he were the enemy jungle and support, he would also want to gank the Rumble in the top lane, who was clearly more vulnerable.

That is why he let the jungler start the Dragon while he came to the top half to guard.

And Rumble possesses the unique ability of "long-range ultimate wave clear," which allows the minion wave to be cleared in the far mid-lane area, preventing Jax from ever reaching the tower; even if the enemy jungle and support flank, they cannot hold him!

This is Rumble's exclusive "life-saving skill."

It is just very clear that this move comes at a high price; the critical ultimate, available once every two minutes, must be used in advance when the minion waves clash to keep people out, and one cannot wait for the enemy to show themselves first.

If BLG hadn't actually come to gank the top lane, and Rumble had used his ultimate to clear the wave for no reason, he would undoubtedly have turned his laning phase from active to passive!

The safest decision was actually for Nautilus to camp in the top lane, letting Rumble save his ultimate, and steadily earning the Dragon they were supposed to get anyway would count as a success.

"Master Ye, shall I come to the mid lane to bait out a summoner spell?"

After thinking for a moment, Beryl still trusted his judgment and let Rumble use his ultimate to clear the wave and save his life.

Presumably, after he showed himself in the mid lane, the enemy jungle and support wouldn't dare to engage a second time.

"You can come, I feel there's a chance to kill."

Ever since Beryl arrived to share much of the early-game command pressure, Ye Bo's playstyle has actually subtly changed.

Simply put, it has become more "aggressive."

And Ya Gao suddenly discovered that Tristana wasn't even clearing the wave anymore and had started running toward the top lane with obvious intent!

You have to know that from BLG's perspective, they had basically openly given up the Dragon, and V5's bottom lane and jungler should have already started it—at this moment, this action clearly meant Tristana wanted to go protect the top lane.

Knowing the movements of his own jungle and support, Ya Gao naturally couldn't let the opponent have their way.

LeBlanc immediately disregarded the minion wave and moved upward as well.

But just as he stepped into the river... a figure suddenly flashed down from the riverbank, simultaneously throwing a giant anchor at him!

"Damn, the support is in the mid lane!"

The BLG jungle and support, who were still camping in the top lane, had been a bit worried about whether someone was counter-ganking behind them; seeing this, they intended to flank and force the play.

But they only saw Rumble throw his ultimate from far away, stalling Jax and the minion wave outside the lane!

And Ya Gao had been thinking entirely about how to execute a counter-attack with Tristana, never expecting a Nautilus to be here, and one who started with a Flash-hook!

Fortunately, despite failing to react in time and getting hooked and ignited, Tristana also jumped down from the wall with her W to start dealing damage.

But Ya Gao didn't panic too much.

He was LeBlanc, the Deceiver!

Nautilus only had this one form of crowd control before level six and couldn't keep him there; even if Tristana's damage was decent, it was impossible for her to burst him down!

Three hits of Hail of Blades detonated the 【Explosive Charge】, and LeBlanc had already jumped away toward the rear with Distortion.

And Tristana followed with a second 【Rocket Jump】, reset by the detonation of the charge.

But LeBlanc also had her ultimate's second Distortion, continuing to jump away toward the rear.

But just in the split second when LeBlanc's feet had just left the ground.

Tristana, who was in the air from her Rocket Jump, suddenly raised her giant cannon, and in the next moment, a golden light flashed, and her figure underwent a "bizarre turn" in mid-air!

"Whoa! W-R-Flash!" Zitao shouted with wide eyes, making a fuss: "LeBlanc got blasted back!"

"And it seems like it even interrupted her Distortion!?" Letme noticed the key point with his sharp eyes.

{Tristana can use E and R abilities while in mid-air during W}

{The knockback direction of R, Buster Shot, is based on the position of Tristana when the "cannonball hits"}

Under normal circumstances, LeBlanc's W+R can instantly jump 1200 units, and adding Flash can create a distance of 1600 units; there shouldn't be any danger at all.

But at this moment, her R was interrupted by Tristana.

At the same time, she was knocked back by the Buster Shot to the starting position of her first W!

It meant LeBlanc's W+R double-ability mobility turned into "stepping in place"!

"Tristana's damage is fully applied, LeBlanc can't handle it, her clone is triggered, but she has Ignite on her so she can't trick anyone!"

"Although Gao Gao has Flash, using all his W and R and then flashing is just a death-flash; he can only wait for death in peace!"

"And the Rumble in the top lane hasn't even died yet, he didn't even use his abilities, and the Dragon has been taken!"

"My goodness, both sides had a two-lane offensive, and V5 directly reaped a huge harvest!"

The three people in BLG's top lane were still preparing to block the exit for a second fight, not expecting bad news to come from the mid lane.

Originally, as long as V5 went to the bottom half to take the Dragon, at the very least they should have been able to force Tristana's Teleport in the top lane and trade for some advantages in the mid lane.

But now?

Absolutely nothing to show for it!

【Gao Gao is sleepy, Gao Gao is asleep】

【Poor Gao Gao, played in the palm of Master Tristana's hand with her giant cannon, directly blasted away!】

【Is Bin okay or not? He only knows how to call for help! Even with help, he can't win!】

【Can you blame my brother Bin for this? Let me ask you first, what was Wei doing!】

【This Jax of brother Bin isn't invincible either, why did brother Bin lie to us!】

"Saint Gun God's laning phase this game is really good!" Wang Duoduo on the commentary desk praised while looking at the camera focused on the top lane: "For Rumble to have this kind of advantage in the laning phase against Jax, and without any help from the jungler, is already very difficult!"

Gu Gu next to him also smiled and added: "Indeed, this is brother Bin's signature hero~"

"In this case, V5 has a significant advantage for the Rift Herald fight..."

The death of the LeBlanc broke the fragile early-game balance between the two sides.

The draft for this match could be said to be evenly matched, with BLG on the blue side even having a slight upper hand; V5 hadn't been able to find any initiation points for their offense in the early game.

But with the LeBlanc dead and first blood given up, the Tristana, with her extremely fast tower-taking speed, immediately turned around and pushed down two plating stacks.

The gold gap widened in one fell swoop!

Even without the Statikk Shiv, the Tristana's wave-clear speed remained formidable; relying on her item advantage to push quickly, she began invading the Wukong's jungle with Rell.

Rell received a significant rework this time, with minor adjustments to almost every basic ability, but the main changes were to her Q and E.

Moving the crowd control from the E ability to the Q ability allowed Rell, who was originally very unstable and needed to be face-to-face to stun with her E, to gain a "ranged stun" capability, instantly elevating the utility of this hero by a tier.

The two didn't even seek a kill, only to drive the enemy away.

Because the Wukong had been trying to make plays under the direction of his teammates, he had wasted too much time ganking and was already significantly behind in experience.

At this moment, he was stuck firmly at level five!

"I don't think I can reach level six for this Rift Herald," Beichuan said in a low voice to his older brothers.

BLG had no choice but to concede the Rift Herald and turned to attempt a split-map attack, wanting to execute a four-man dive on the bottom lane.

But the disadvantage of the top lane's early-game laning became apparent.

After the Mid-Season Invitational patch, Teleport changed from a fixed 240 seconds at all levels to scaling with levels 1-10.

Using it at level 1 meant a full 330 seconds!

The Jax had already used his Teleport at level one, while the Rumble had saved his; even if BLG launched a surprise five-man attack on the bottom lane, they couldn't pull it off, as the Rumble's Teleport to the bottom lane easily neutralized the four-man dive.

"Hit the sun!" Zzitai shouted strangely in the livestream: "The Shy teleports down, directly making the four BLG members waste their time again; the Tristana is almost taking the mid tower by herself, damn it!"

"BLG's tempo is so bad, they're completely being led by the nose!"

Letme shrugged and began to analyze with feigned professionalism: "It's mainly that they didn't find their tempo early on, and the top lane laning went inexplicably wrong, the mid lane laning was too fierce, and the bottom lane was naturally at a disadvantage early; there's no helping it. Now they urgently need to find an offensive tempo to ease the situation!"

"Coach Bai Yun, to be honest, your commanding is just like your writing!" Zzitai teased his friend with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Letme asked, puzzled.

"It's like saying nothing at all! Of course they need to find tempo, but the point is where can they find it? They're at a disadvantage in all four lanes!"

Letme was momentarily speechless, but quickly retorted defiantly: "Who said they're at a disadvantage in all four lanes! This Rumble teleport down let Brother Bin steal a wave of massive growth; the Jax has a lot of impact this game!"

"Don't forget V5 has double marksmen! And the Rumble doesn't have an advantage against the Jax in the side lane; BLG's lineup also has Kai'Sa for side-lane pressure, they have a solid advantage in the side lanes!"

Even though BLG knew the Rumble had Teleport and still went for the four-man dive bottom, it was already a somewhat dizzy decision.

But the good news was that while his four teammates suffered heavy losses, the Jax successfully traded for a wave of massive growth, making up for all the previous laning disadvantages in one go.

Letme's last point was actually quite accurate.

BLG's blue-side lineup construction for this match was quite complete, with the Jax already strong in side-lane pressure, and the Kai'Sa who could provide support from across the map.

If played normally into the mid-game, BLG's macro would definitely be quite easy!

It's just a pity that the laning in the mid and top lanes went wrong early on, creating a chain reaction that led to falling behind in the jungle, and inexplicably losing all early-game resources with a mere 1-0 kill score!

The Tristana's laning was a huge success; she also brought the mid-tier-one tower's health down to the dangerous two-plate line by herself, and with the help of the dropped Rift Herald, she crashed into it and took the first tower!

Entering the lane-swap phase.

To leverage the Jax's Teleport advantage, the Jax continued to push the top lane, while the Rumble, who had no Teleport, had to swap lanes with the Tristana to stand in the mid lane.