Chapter 31: Care for a Drink?

Amidst the surging undercurrents, the match continued to advance.

After showing off once, the two players in the purple side's mid-jungle pair clearly underwent a mental shift; the tactical axis of the mid-jungle pair quietly shifted. Ming Kai withdrew from the dead end targeting the mid lane and instead activated the gank-bot instinct engraved in his DNA.

Many people hold a fixed impression of Factory: when ganking the bottom lane during a match, he catches one every time, and the targeting patterns come from all sorts of angles, endless and varied.

In reality, the reason behind this traces back to the WE era.

The S2 WE team followed a standard tactical system: Top lane Strawberry tanking pressure, Mid lane roaming to support, coordinating with the Jungler to feed the bottom lane, waiting for the AD Carry.

Ganking bottom was a habit gradually formed since the very beginning of his professional career. Subsequently, whether it was the S4 EDG era with Nami, or the S5-S6 era with Deft, the bottom lanes of the teams Ming Kai belonged to all possessed ADs of considerable strength. So, in the end, just as Benji's instinct to gank mid became natural, Factory's divine art of ganking bottom was gradually mastered through such experiences.

Therefore, regarding the issue of many players discussing Uzi being thoroughly beaten by Deft during the S5 and S6 years, it is better to say that Seven's divine art of ganking bottom had reached a great mastery, rather than Deft being too strong.

With the Jungler abandoning mid, Ruofeng's Card Master could only curl up under the tower.

With his Flash still not off cooldown, Jiang Ming did not force the kill; instead, he turned his gaze toward the fog of war above the river.

As time ticked by second by second, Jiang Ming, the mid laner who secured first blood, reached level six first. Ignoring the Card Master cowering under the tower in mid lane, he sent a signal and, leading the Imperial Prince, formed a pincer attack straight for the top lane.

From a personal habit standpoint, before the ten-minute mark of the game, unless there was a very high chance, Jiang Ming did not particularly like to prioritize ganking bottom.

In early-to-mid game clashes, the combat power of an AD before completing two or three items is far inferior to that of a normally developed top laner.

(Ding—The Garen is on the way.)

Sending a signal to Gogoing, Jiang Ming walked out of the jungle and arrived outside the wall of the purple side's top outer tower.

Watching PDD's immediate reaction to the Imperial Prince appearing right in his face was to try and counter-attack, Jiang Ming's impression of the S2 era IG team was refreshed once again.

No wonder IG couldn't handle WE; one by one, they were all brutes. How could they play against WE?

Jayce is strong in early-game poke and kiting, but that doesn't mean standing still and trading blows head-on can beat a Renekton, let alone with an Imperial Prince nearby.

"Burp, care for a drink?"

Without much thought, and without needing to do too much calculation, timing the gank to coincide with the minion wave entering the tower, after the Imperial Prince and Renekton initiated to lock down Jayce, Jiang Ming, waiting further back, simply threw out an explosive barrel, blasting the Flashing Jayce back.

Blue-Gogoing killed Purple-PDD!

Regarding the kill distribution, Jiang Ming promptly sent a retreat signal; both he and the Imperial Prince voluntarily yielded the kill to Gogoing's Renekton.

The extra three hundred gold for himself and the Imperial Prince would not have a greater impact on the mid-jungle situation for now, but giving it to the Renekton was different.

In the top lane ecosystem of the S3 Ignite era, whichever top laner gained the advantage first could basically suppress the opponent for the rest of the game.

"Ah, Ruofeng, I'm playing your damn banana lollipop hammer."

Having suffered a mid-jungle gank and angrily feeding a kill, PDD roared inside the IG training base, "Your fans brag every day about you being the world's number one Card Master, yet your Card Master got ganked by a Gragas supporting to top lane first."

"Old Piao, didn't I just remind you to place a ward?"

Sitting in the adjacent seat, the Jungler Shadow weakly reminded, "JM and I played duo queue before; his game sense is very strong, and his support speed is fast regardless of the champion."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across PDD's fat face; failing to place wards and getting caught was a common flaw in his professional career.

In the past, Shadow was always there to watch out for him, but now, paired with Ming Kai, who never ganks top, he momentarily overlooked it.

"Ahem, accident, accident. I forgot the other lanes were all WE players. Wait, I'll grab a true sight ward myself. Getting a kill with Renekton isn't that useful anyway. My Jayce is 0/1, but I'll still crush Gogoing."

Putting aside the stubborn PDD who wouldn't admit defeat, on the other side, Ming Kai and Ruofeng hadn't done nothing.

Taking advantage of the gap while Gragas ganked top, the Card Master, who finally reached level six by farming minions, immediately activated his ultimate ability 【Destiny】, flying at lightspeed to the bottom lane.

Ming Kai, who had been waiting for a long time, also showed off a small play: touching the wall outside the tower to enter, he kicked the greedy Vayne right next to his teammates.

Ding!

Landing the gold card, Card Master completed the control chain. Uzi, unable to move in place, had his chubby face turning bright red, looking ready to compete with PDD in the top lane over "ripeness."

Click.

Facing the target locked in place, Mao Ke steadily threw his hook. Under the Q and E skills, he helped Smile secure the purple side's first kill.

Purple-Weixiao killed Blue-Uzi!

Jiang Ming frowned slightly; having the bottom lane caught so easily severed their own rhythm.

The Card Master in mid lane was already in a state where he couldn't play properly; one only needed to pin him down in the mid lane, preventing him from using his ultimate or losing more resources by flying once, and thus the rhythm could be firmly held in their own hands.

【No way, the Vayne in the bottom lane is a human?】

【Why be greedy for that cannon minion? JM sent a retreat signal thirty seconds ago.】

【Is this called a professional player?】

【Heh, I've watched JM's tutorial videos for over half a year. Even I, with a rating of 1800, know what the half-map principle is. When your own mid-jungle is in the top lane, the bottom lane should simply shrink back under the tower, or even retreat to the second tower for self-preservation.】

【The key is that the kill was taken by Smile...】

The players in the livestream were very dissatisfied with the blue side's bottom lane feeding a kill to Smile's Caitlyn.

Audiences from the future might not be able to experience the fear that some casual fans felt toward the WE bottom lane in this era.

When a crowd of players were still in the exploration stage of the game League of Legends, Smile already possessed the Fundamentals and teamfight damage output capabilities that only top-tier ADs in later eras had. His damage conversion rate was absolutely world number one; during his personal competitive peak, he was a definitive dimensional strike suppressing the current generation.

"Stone, follow me."

However, regarding the condemnation in the livestream chat, Jiang Ming did not make any response.

The person controlling Vayne in the bottom lane is Uzi; if he wasn't aggressive and greedy for minions, he wouldn't be called "Mad Little Dog." Regarding the bottom lane giving up a kill out of thin air, he didn't even bother typing a question mark.

The rookie Uzi was far from the peak of his personal ability. Even if Smile's personal state had declined somewhat, he was not someone Uzi could easily defeat at this moment.

So there was no need to type a question mark.

Typing it would have no effect anyway. What if the kid had some mental issues and decided to stop playing to go take a shower? That would unnecessarily add difficulty to the promotion match for the strongest challenger.

In a normal 5v5, even if the bottom lane didn't just get caught and die once, but got blown up, he could still carry his teammates.

After all, if your bottom lane gets blown up, is the impact on the match more terrifying than if the mid-jungle gets blown up?

When the mid lane Card Master has problems, it is not solely one person's issue; the one immediately affected is the Jungler, who is inextricably linked with the mid lane.

After creating some momentum in the top lane, Jiang Ming returned to base to replenish and went out again, now holding a fresh B. F. Sword in his hand.

That's right, he was planning to go for a violent one-shot build this match.

For a mage in the S3 era, nothing was more satisfying than equipping an Embrace of the Netherfire to perform the vanishing health bar trick.