Chapter 27

Last season, why didn’t we really clash with JM? The fundamental reason was that our scores had already diverged significantly…

The purple team banned Jie, YAOJI, and Wei Lusi.

Notably, Fatty UZI’s reputation, though nowhere near what it would become later, was already rising—he was a young prodigy who, in the just-concluded TGA Winter Finals, secured his first career pentakill using Wei Lusi in a match for Huayi Spider.

The purple team focused their bans on mid and bottom, while the blue team’s bans targeted top and jungle.

PDD’s signature champions—Zac, Lamb, and Ming Kai’s Widowmaker—were all locked away.

After bans ended, Jiang Ming on the first floor typed in chat: “Need help picking a champion?”

gogoing: “I’ll pick my own. Dragon Queen and Crocodile are still out.”

“Are you taking Jax? This champ feels strong in both top and mid.”

“Help me pick VN! Can you help me pick VN?” UZI blurted out eagerly.

First floor picking VN?

Jiang Ming froze his hands over the keyboard, staring at the childish message in chat, unsure how to respond.

He could only admit that fifteen-year-old UZI truly lived up to his nickname, “Crazy Puppy.”

Then he remembered he was live-streaming—no matter how he replied, it would spark momentum. He decided to ignore it.

In the Royal Clan team, the older Tebe sighed helplessly and tugged at his side: “Not Puppy, picking VN on first floor makes you an easy target—you won’t enjoy playing it. If you want it, we’ll pick it later.”

“Fine.”

“Ming Ge, pick the Prince for me first.”

Shi Zhenyu, who had already planned to buy a villa in mid lane, quickly typed.

Among functional junglers, picking the Prince was currently the most suitable choice.

Outside the game, as the crucial match to reach Master rank faced off against a pro all-star lineup, YY’s management team nearly fainted from happiness.

The promotional effort could be even bigger. The traffic investment could be even higher.

Couldn’t recover costs?

Joke—you people have no idea. Just the new users the platform gained in these two days is enough to break even.

So, after pop-up ads and homepage promotions, YY unleashed its final move: placing banners in the upper-right corner of every other game-related live stream.

“The Strongest on YY’s LOL Section Faces Off Against Pro All-Stars—Don’t Miss It!”

Under this massive push, Jiang Ming’s live stream viewership began climbing straight up.

…

“JM, what champion should I pick for you?”

As the blue team reached their final two picks, due to the top/mid champion swap, gogoing on the fourth floor asked.

“Barrel.”

Jiang Ming glanced at the enemy lineup and said.

He couldn’t easily judge WE’s tactical system. In S3, constrained by his mid lane champion pool, whether forced or out of habit, he still couldn’t abandon the global flow strategy that had won them IPL5.

Even PDD on top was consciously trying out the Piltovian high-roller he’d promoted repeatedly in normals—yet Ruofeng still clung to his Syndra.

It wasn’t that Syndra was bad—after S3, she still occasionally appeared in pro play and performed well—but this was S3, an era of assassins: Teemo, Master Yi, Kha’Zix, and even Riven could roam from top to mid. Syndra bowed to everyone.

The other reason for picking Barrel was to counter Smiley in teamfights: their ADC, Caitlyn, had Thresh protecting her, making it hard for other physical assassins to isolate her.

“Ruofeng, how about switching to Twisted Fate? Syndra will struggle against Barrel.”

“Or Ahri…”

The purple team’s final fifth pick, Juanmao, suggested.

Syndra wasn’t incapable against Barrel—S3 Barrel was a high-mana-cost champion. Syndra could use her W to clear waves and restore mana quickly, pressuring Barrel’s mana.

A well-timed yellow card could interrupt Barrel’s E dash.

After level six, using her ultimate to rotate to side lanes could force Barrel to give up lane priority.

That would give them a slight edge early!

But all that assumed ideal matchup conditions. Given JM’s current competitive state, Juanmao truly didn’t believe his own mid laner could outplay the opponent.

Picking Twisted Fate or an assassin like JM’s would be the most comfortable rhythm.

Ruofeng shook his head. “Ahri… my mastery is still a bit short.”

“As for Orianna? Might as well just play Syndra.”

Ruofeng had full confidence in his signature Syndra—he wouldn’t lose the lane matchup.

Barrel had high burst but short range. Use yellow cards to control distance. If he survives to level six and helps twice on bottom, Smiley and Juanmao’s combo can break through.

That’s exactly how WE had won matches before.

“Alright, focus on positioning in lane and coordinate with my jungle,” Ming Kai warned. To compensate for early jungle pressure, he picked Blind Monk again.

The draft timer ended. Both teams’ lineups were finalized.

Blue team: Top—Crocodile, Jungle—Prince, Mid—Barrel, Bottom—Vayne + Janna

Red team: Top—Jax, Jungle—Blind Monk, Mid—Syndra, Bottom—Caitlyn + Thresh

As soon as the lineups appeared, Jiang Ming’s stream filled with new negative comments.

【Gone, gone—how do you fight four WE players?】

【Left side: scattered amateurs. Right side: the worst strawberry replaced by PDD—now it’s a high-end WE.】

【This sucks. The system matched all WE players together, and they’re playing their favorite global flow.】

【Syndra roams bottom, picks off Vayne and Janna like candy. Caitlyn pushes towers fast. Left side can’t even hold towers well.】

【Ew, time to leave. Everyone said normal players can’t compete with pros. JM might have some skill, but not enough. Once WE’s tactics kick in, it’s over.】

Syndra roams bottom? It’s over?

Jiang Ming smiled inwardly. Yes, Ruofeng’s Syndra would definitely roam after level six—that was common knowledge across the league. He even knew Ruofeng would go bottom to help Smiley. But the problem was: Syndra had to reach level six first. Before level six, unless she pulled only red cards, she couldn’t outpush Barrel.

Could Syndra pull only red cards?

Of course not. Pulling only red cards would drain her mana so fast she’d kill herself.

So Jiang Ming only needed to establish a health advantage before level six—even secure a kill—to lock Syndra down in mid.

The game began. Since nine of the ten players were pros, everyone was extremely cautious in their level-one positioning, denying the red team’s Syndra any chance to invade and seize early momentum.

Both junglers started with normal buffs.

As minions spawned, countless eyes outside the stream turned to the mid lane.