Chapter 29: What Champion Are You?

Although JM had previously defeated numerous professional mid-laners in direct duels, even including OMG's core player Cool, the latter ultimately failed to truly rank among the top-tier mid-laners due to a lack of major tournament honors.

Now facing Ruifeng, the core player of the WE team who had just won the World Championship, many viewers were expecting whether this streamer could continue the legend.

Since bursting onto the scene, JM had overturned player perceptions with his unfathomable game understanding—from lane management to skill prediction, he seemed able to effortlessly wield any high-level technique.

Many players were very curious whether JM could maintain his previous form today.

At level one, Ruifeng displayed the competence expected of an old-school Twisted Fate player.

He used the pattern of Twisted Fate's W card selection (Blue → Red → Yellow) to confuse the opponent, deliberately pausing for 0.5 seconds when the third card turned Yellow, attempting to induce Jiang Ming to misposition through a feint and win the trade.

This tactic combining substance and emptiness allowed him to farm calmly while also executing a WA combo (Yellow Card stun followed by a basic attack) to poke when the opponent overextended.

Jiang Ming, well-versed in the twists and turns of the mid-lane, naturally would not fall for the trap; instead, he proactively used his body to block the positioning of three minion waves.

A Gnarling Barrel against Twisted Fate is somewhat similar to a melee mid-laner like Fiora facing a LeBlanc; at level one, the melee champion should simply farm experience quietly, develop steadily while maintaining health, and only at level three does the Gnarling Barrel become a threat.

In the Season 3 era, a level-three Gnarling Barrel's combat power was incomparable to that of a Master of Cards.

Q deals high damage and slows; W reduces damage taken and grants physical attack bonus; E provides displacement and damage. In contrast, Twisted Fate's E provides damage with a basic attack delay, and Q is not stable enough; in actual duels, the two are not on the same level.

At the same time, Jiang Ming did not say he would only take hits without fighting back.

Successfully blocking the side lane, once the three melee minions were first reduced to low health, he used a Q to eliminate them all, while also grazing the Master of Cards who had tried to step forward to poke.

"To fight a Twisted Fate, winning the mind is paramount; the card selection pattern is the breakthrough. If one abandons lane priority out of fear of the Yellow Card, one will only fall into a slow death."

Ruifeng's laning ability was average; without sufficient pressure, Jiang Ming even had time to explain a sentence or two to the viewers in the livestream room.

"Furthermore, if a level-three Gnarling Barrel wants to secure a solo kill, the setup must begin when the champions are at levels one or two. There is no full-health kill threshold in the early game, but at half health, that is uncertain."

Unlike the future where everyone brought Teleport, at this stage, whether mid or top, the Summoner Spells were basically fixed as Flash and Ignite, focusing on aggression.

As Jiang Ming's words fell, the instant he reached level two, he pressed E and Q in succession simultaneously, his large belly bumping right into the Master of Cards' face.

"No way, this guy is a bit ridiculous."

After only a few minutes of laning, Ruifeng felt a trend of sweat forming on his forehead.

Was JM really not a master of Twisted Fate? He had an illusion that his control over Twisted Fate's attack range and card selection timing was even stronger than his own.

It is worth noting that at IPL5, many world-class top players still could not accurately grasp Twisted Fate's card selection of a fraction of a second, yet the current Gnarling Barrel had never once been hit by a Yellow Card warning.

Additionally, regarding lane management, although it should have been his advantage before level three, the minions were controlled in a position neither forward nor backward; the Blind Monk could not gank, and he himself could not move to assist the Blind Monk in finding trouble for the Imperial Prince in the jungle.

Just as he was thinking, a Gnarling Barrel initiating with an E-Q combo bumped into Ruifeng, leaving him with a head full of bumps.

"Damn!"

Hit by the Gnarling Barrel's E and Q skills, the Master of Cards' health bar dropped a large segment; although Gnarling was also a squishy in Season 3, one had to see who he was compared to.

Compared to the melee Gnarling, Twisted Fate's body, who relies on ranged attacks, was not tough.

No good, I have to use Flash.

Ruifeng decisively pressed Flash; he understood clearly that if he continued to have his health line suppressed by the Gnarling Barrel like this, it would be hard for him to hold the mid-lane at level three, let alone suppress.

It must be known that for the Gnarling Barrel, the E skill has an effect of reducing its cooldown by half after hitting a champion.

"Quite smart!"

Watching the Twisted Fate decisively Flash to create distance, Jiang Ming felt some regret in his heart; if the opponent had greedily held onto Flash, he could have landed two more basic attacks, and by the time the next E was ready, he could have reached level three first and secured the kill.

However, it made no difference; the opponent flashing early merely meant moving a level-three play to level four.

【???】

【What the hell, flashed under attack!】

【Lost Flash at level two? Is this the World Champion?】

【Bold, JM, what champion are you, daring to speak to my God Ruifeng like that.】

【Haha, you've been hyping up your Twisted Fate for so long, but this is the level?】

Ruifeng flashing suddenly at level two naturally attracted strange discussions from the viewers and fans in the YY90001 channel.

【Haven't seen how Ruifeng trained after IPL5 ended; even the jungler Ming Kai ranks at high intensity every day.】

【Need to eat meatballs, right? It's hard to win the championship, so just walk around at various events and you'll get money.】

【Looking at it this way, professional players and amateur players aren't necessarily stronger or weaker; at least this person JM is invincible in laning.】

【So what if he's good at laning? Can JM defeat the blue side which has four WE players?】

Some WE fans started making issues about the personnel distribution on the field.

But actually, at this moment when the jungler had not yet achieved anything, the bottom lane combination of Smile and Curl with Caitlyn and Thresh had not gained much advantage over MadLife and Tabe.

In the Season 3 era, the Vayne E-A mechanism still existed, and the laning intensity was not weak; supplemented by Zyra, a support with high poke capability, as long as the Thresh with low armor and magic resistance in the early game didn't land a hook, the purple side really might not be able to suppress Vayne's development.

So, at this moment, the only advantage on the right side was PDD's Jayce on the top lane.

Early game, long range against short range; Jayce slightly pressured the Renekton.

So the question arises, what does the IG top laner have to do with WE?

"Brother Ming, be careful; Ming Kai's Blind Monk has been near the mid-lane."

With all heroes on the field reaching level three and all basic skills unlocked, their own jungler reminded Jiang Ming.

However, Jiang Ming did not restrain his actions because of this; he actually hoped the Blind Monk would come to find trouble for him.

"Rock, come over to help counter-gank; I'll show a flaw to see."

Jiang Ming naturally did not intend to fight alone.

You call for help, so we'll call for help too.

It's still a mid-jungle 2v2; your Twisted Fate plus Blind Monk against my Gnarling Barrel and Imperial Prince combination is just a matter of whose mechanics are sharper, let alone that I currently have better status and a lead in one Summoner Spell.

"Come to the mid-lane to help me."

The Gnarling Barrel was about to reach level four; the consumption from two levels of Q skills was becoming hard for Ruifeng to handle.

But at this moment, with the Summoner Spell Ghost, returning home would cost him a lot of minions.

Unlike a certain stubborn Retired Emperor who talked big, Ruofeng, knowing his own limits, directly called for his jungler father.

Picking Twisted Fate is only meaningful when coordinating with a dominant jungler; otherwise, if one truly intends to face off in a 1v1 duel like a real man, why not just pick a dominant hero?

The strategies of both sides collided.

The Imperial Prince reached the spot before the F4 monster camp, while Ming Kai's Lee Sin simultaneously arrived at the bush outside the Blue Buff wall.