Chapter 24: Come on, release the monkey!

"Thanks for the commentary seat!"

"The match has started, and QG is back on the blue side."

QG bans: Ryze, Corki, Sivir

RNG bans: Lulu, Nautilus, Ekko

Compared to the first game, both sides made adjustments and optimizations to their bans.

QG banned Sivir because in the second game, after RNG picked the Wheel Mother, they swapped lanes, allowing Mata to roam the map early.

Sivir's strong wave-clear ability makes it difficult for QG to break through with single-point pressure.

Rather than letting it through, it's better to just ban it outright.

On RNG's side, they retaliated in kind, sending Ekko to the ban list.

Like the Wheel Mother, Ekko is a stubborn presence in the top lane—once picked, he's hard to counter.

RNG wants Looper to gain an advantage, so they can't let V get Ekko.

QG first picks Thresh.

"Wah wah wah wah!"

Doll's classic line: "Have you noticed, in this game both sides have all jungle champions unlocked, and none were banned?"

"I can only say that the jungle position in today's final has the most intense tension—neither side's jungler will yield to the other, and this was evident even in the pre-match promotional video."

Miller recalled Xu Dongmen and Malatang Xiangguo exchanging trash talk, then said seriously: "After the first two games, both sides realized one thing: whoever plays their jungle more comfortably has a higher chance to win."

QG first picked jungle, and RNG didn't hold back either, leaving the red side's last counter-pick for Malatang Xiangguo.

He picked Leopard Woman!

By now in the playoffs, the jungle priority—especially for the two AD junglers—has become established.

Thresh > Graves

This holds true not only in the LPL but also in the LCK.

In SKT vs ROX Game 1, SKT first picked Thresh, then in Game 2, after moving to red side, they actively banned Thresh.

In Game 3, when Thresh was available again, ROX immediately snatched it.

Thresh has a higher ceiling than Graves, and his teamfight impact is on a completely different level!

To change this disadvantage, the simplest solution is to switch to an AP jungler.

On the LCK side, SKT chose Spider to counter the Peanut Thresh.

On the LPL side, Xu Dongmen used the Wine Barrel in Game 1, and Malatang Xiangguo picked Leopard Woman in Game 2.

All are AP junglers!

"This is a lane-focused game, because QG picked Rat in the bottom lane, so RNG will definitely want to lane against you this game."

"At the start, both bottom lanes cleared a jungle monster and pushed up, but this game the jungle paths diverged."

"XDM is clearing from bottom to top!"

On stage, Xu Dongmen started with red buff, skipped F4 and the Three Wolves, and headed straight to the blue area.

He ate blue first, then cleared the Swamp Frogs.

Speed 3 route!

Thresh's AoE isn't sufficient, so Xu Dongmen's route not only gets him to level 3 fastest but also maintains peak condition and combat power.

"The only regret is that the initial smite landed on the river crab, which happened to coincide with Thresh's timing."

Doll expressed regret, saying he watched the semifinal and knew Xu Dongmen had once achieved seven stacks of smite in 15 minutes.

"XDM glanced into RNG's jungle and saw that F4 was already gone."

Miller provided live commentary, putting himself in Xu Dongmen's view: "So now we know Leopard Woman's jungle route—it must be from top to bottom; otherwise, she wouldn't be this fast."

"He seems to want to make a move on mid lane!"

Ahri vs Zed

This game's Mid-Lane is a classic matchup, Doinb's LeBlanc, Xiaohu's Azir.

Both are level 3, currently in a lane equilibrium state.

"Be patient, summoner!"

Doinb stepped forward with Shadow Dance, simultaneously stomping the ranged minion and landing Shadow Chain on Zed.

In a 1v1, Zed can use Shifting Sands Shield to partially mitigate damage and reduce loss.

But Xiaohu noticed Ahri's positioning was off—this guy keeps ignoring the sand soldiers and keeps inching toward his face?

Uh-oh, there's a jungler!

Xiaohu sensed danger and immediately used E then pulled back.

Xiaohu's awareness is good, but Doinb is even more ruthless—he flashed forward to guarantee the second E trigger.

Xiaohu knows he can't afford to save skills; even though he knows flashing now won't let him escape the dog chain, he still flashed out.

Whoosh~

Another flash sliced through—Thresh burst out from the F4 passage.

Wolf Spirit Frenzy activated, horizontal fear slow applied!

At the same time, Doinb also applied his Ignite.

Xiaohu, eliminated.

"Beautiful, this first blood was absolutely pre-planned!"

"It should be said that the moment XDM saw the F4 camp empty, he decided to act—because he knew only Leopard Woman clearing F4 could save Zed in this wave."

"What XDM doesn't know is that Malatang Xiangguo has already recalled!"

Malatang Xiangguo started this game with red buff and called for top lane help to invade.

Red Buff>F4>Three Wolves>Out of ammo and supplies……

Mlxg's Nidalee encountered the same dilemma as Condi, wasting himself with three jungle camps at the start, and could only return to base.

This hero requires skill!

Mlxg should feel fortunate, as he is playing Twitch this game, and already started pushing in the bottom lane at the beginning; otherwise, his jungle area would already be a mess by now.

"But Xiaohu wasn't so lucky—Kindred got first blood on him and then marked him."

"Azir has no Flash, the pressure is huge!"

Two minutes later, Xu Dongmen returned to the old spot.

This time, he came to collect the Mark.

A new Wolf Spirit Mark spawned on RNG's F4.

Mlxg arrived quickly—by now he had finished recalling twice and returned from base, and like Xu Dongmen, he also had the Green Jungle Item.

But his Smite was still on cooldown.

Before his second recall, he took advantage of lane control in the bottom lane to invade QG's jungle, killed Malphite, and used his Smite during the counter-jungle.

Xu Dongmen, in front of Mlxg, killed the big bird with one Smite and took the Mark.

Mlxg could only watch helplessly.

Xiaohu in mid lane was pressured; even with multiple Flashes, he dared not initiate.

Xu Dongmen left calmly.

One minute later, the river crab in the upper half respawned; currently, river crabs spawn in pairs, respawn precisely every three minutes.

In the previous round, Xu Dongmen took it, so he naturally knows the respawn time.

But he didn't rush to take it—instead, he cleared a round in the jungle first, and only moved after half a minute.

"Wow, XDM's luck isn't bad!"

On Kindred's way to the upper river, a new Wolf Spirit Mark appeared—exactly this upper half river crab.

In the current version, Wolf Spirit Marks spawn randomly, almost without pattern.

But one thing is certain: the interval is 90 seconds, and in the first six layers, they only spawn in the enemy jungle camps and on river crabs.

Xu Dongmen should thank Mlxg for picking Nidalee—this guy, after getting the Tier 2 Jungle Item, has greatly increased jungle clearing efficiency; at this moment, the red side jungle is in a blank period, with only Krugs present.

Krugs or upper half river crab

50% chance, Xu Dongmen's luck is still decent.

On the battlefield, when Nidalee rushed over in a hurry, Kindred had already securely taken the second-layer Mark.

Mlxg missed again!

The brain of Esports Murphyt, once again, is not enough.

Mata's command voice rang out in time: "Mlxg, come to bottom lane."

"Right away, I'll take the Red."

Mlxg first cleared Krugs, then took the Red Buff.

Having picked Nidalee, he certainly needs to prioritize his own development.

At least in terms of jungle clear count, he is ahead of Xu Dongmen.

"Mlxg, hurry up!" Mata's tone turned urgent.

This bottom lane wave is a pushback; the river grass vision has all been controlled by him, presenting a perfect gank opportunity.

Once the minion wave pushes over, vision will be snatched back, and by then it will be hard to gank again.

"Here I come!"

Mlxg transformed into Leopard and rushed toward bottom lane at high speed.

Along the way, the Three Wolves and Gromp had already respawned, but he didn't attack them in order to rush.

On screen, Tiancaimori was controlling Thresh to go place wards—who would have thought that just after auto-attacking twice, a wall-piercing spear hit him.

A leopard jumped from the wall and lunged straight at Thresh!

As a veteran support who debuted in S2, Tiancaimori displayed the composure of an old hand in crisis.

He swept his scythe forward, Flay pushed Nidalee away, then tossed a Lantern at Twitch to give both shields, then flashed to dodge Braum's Q— a series of precise and decisive moves, without hesitation.

This gank by Mlxg only forced Thresh to use one Flash!

【SUP1205】

Mata typed quickly, recording the Flash time.

As team commander and brain, whether at SSG or RNG, this task is always done by him.

Recording enemy Flash cooldowns—such key data—has long been engraved in his DNA, effortlessly recalled.

Worth mentioning: Mata this time did not follow the usual 5-minute recording; the game time is only 7:50, and if he followed the norm, it should be 12:50.

But Mata knows Thresh took the Resolve tree, 【Insight】 reduces Flash cooldown by 45 seconds.

Not 12:50, but 12:05.

Compared to that, a few minutes ago when he recorded Xu Dongmen and Doinb's Flash times, it was calculated normally.

One was 8:07, the other 8:11.

Measuring whether a support player is qualified, being able to quickly and accurately record enemy key skills in-game is an important part, and this trend was started by Mata-represented M-surname supports.

"After pushing this wave, I'll recall and place the Sightstone." Mata stepped into the bush early.

Just as he began reading the cooldown, bad news came from mid lane.

Azir was caught and killed again!

"Damn, my Flash was off by a bit—really just one second."

Xiaohu's lament came through; Mata glanced at the top-right corner time—8:05.

When the first wave in mid lane got first blood, Azir and LeBlanc's Flash were almost used at the same time.

"Looks like the other side is also good at keeping track of time." Mata sighed.

…………

"NICE!"

"Brothers, the enemy mid lane blew up!"

In QG voice chat, Doinb's voice alone drowned out the whole team.

After killing Azir, he habitually pressed the spacebar to type clack-clack, but quickly realized Xiaohu hadn't used any skills this wave, so after typing he deleted it all in one go.

What do you call a timekeeping master?

"Ying Bi Ge, tell me the truth, did you go to Japan to study?" Xu Dongmen suddenly asked.

"Huh? Study in Japan? Study what?" Da B scratched his head.

"Hand speed, what else could it be!" Xu Dongmen complained.

Not single, why is his hand speed so fast?

Doinb grinned: "Hehe, you all say that, Tang Xiaoyou also praised my hand speed as fast."

After saying that, the whole team was dumbfounded.

Doinb realized it was inappropriate: "No, I don't mean that, brothers, you misunderstood, I really haven't been to Japan, I only love China!"

"OK, OK..."

The match continued.

After the second kill on Azir, the mid lane balance further tilted.

After returning to base to complete her items, Lulu gained absolute lane pressure, which radiated to the bottom lane.

But RNG are not pushovers, in the following matches Mata started roaming, constantly moving to mid lane to assist Xiaohu.

Tiancaimori refused to fall behind, in the previous game QG lost because he moved too slowly, when fighting he was always outnumbered, this game he had to keep up with Mata's pace.

The idea was correct, the key was he had no Flash!

RNG focused on this point, successfully intercepted Thresh in the jungle, and took his head.

As expected of a top support, Mata started to take effect again.

"I'll go back to buy items first."

Mlxg crafted Runeglaive, Thresh's kill let him have full build two minutes early.

"I damn it, Malphite got eaten by him, this guy is already at 4 stacks, right?"

Mlxg went to the upper jungle, the Kindred Mark on the minimap hadn't disappeared yet, but the monsters in the camp were already gone.

Scuttle Crab 2 layers + Azir 1 layer + Krugs 1 layer

Kindred already has 4 layers!

Mlxg felt extremely unbalanced in his heart, in the first game his Kindred took 20 minutes to reach 4 layers, why does this guy's Mark come so fast?

"Exactly!"

Xu Dongmen carried out an ambush in the grass.

Wolf's Spirit outlined territory and launched an attack.

Lamb's Spirit arrows rained down, he hadn't had time to return to base to craft Devourer, but he already had Recurve Bow on him, attack speed was already not low.

Upon seeing Kindred, Mlxg's first reaction was not to retreat, but to directly pounce forward.

This guy is really tough!

But, the incoming face-to-face spear thrust was dodged by Xu Dongmen with a sidestep, immediately followed by LeBlanc herself being slowed, Lamb and Wolf Spirit output maxed out.

Knowing he couldn't win, Mlxg turned back into a cougar and fled deep into the jungle, but just then Doinb's support arrived.

Bang bang~

Distortion double-tapped to approach, Ethereal Chains flung out, at this moment LeBlanc was in a narrow choke point, with no dodging space, plus W pounce already used, not flashing means impossible to dodge this dog chain.

Even unwilling, Mlxg could only honestly flash out.

Next, F4 is gone!

"No way, LeBlanc got Morellonomicon, I can't push past him now." Xiaohu spoke to soothe while also explaining why he couldn't come to jungle support.

Early game got caught twice by enemy jungle, I couldn't come is also acceptable, right, Sister Li?

The mid-jungle atmosphere was a bit stiff, at the critical moment big brother Mata still stepped up: "Mlxg, go to bottom lane, bottom lane can catch!"

One minute later, bottom lane erupted in battle, RNG again successfully found and killed in bottom lane.

This time, the one who died was Twitch.

Among the factors, UZI's forward positioning played a role, but more importantly Braum's Flash with passive made him impossible to guard against.

Tracing back to the source, it's still that QG bottom lane this game got no care, vision almost completely black, LeBlanc came and they didn't know.

Xu Dongmen focused his early game on the upper half, didn't come much to bottom lane, Wuzi lane was indeed tough.

With UZI's personality, if in past games he got this jungle treatment in bottom lane and no one even glanced at him, he would definitely be furious.

But, this year is different, today is even more different.

Coming to QG, a team not very familiar, and also first time entering LPL finals, first Wuzi himself restrained his ferocity in lane, the mad little dog became a little milk dog.

Second, although the jungle didn't come to bottom lane, they did things in other lanes.

Almost at the same time Twitch was caught, Xu Dongmen in top lane retaliated with color, killing Looper's Poppy.

His next Mark was placed on Mata's head.

Are you bullying our dog, you little bastard?

Come here, release the monkey!