Chapter 61: The Origin of Brainless Praise

First Blood!

NXG-door killed BLQG-NovaSlash!

Not fast, not slow.

When NXG appeared in vision, the Caitlyn actually had time to react, but the BLQG Caitlyn never imagined that in the instant NXG used the Blind Monk's Sonic Wave Q and confirmed the support wasn't nearby, the remaining duo would so decisively flash forward in sync.

The three chased to the Blue Buff, and even the mid-lane Orianna didn't need to deal extra damage; she silently learned E, cast a shield, grazed an assist, and secured the kill.

"Hey, the BLQG team's Caitlyn was a bit too careless," Joker said, wringing his hands.

"Yes."

"But then again, in a sense, the NXG duo lane paid summoner spells to hard-lock the Caitlyn at level one; if the Imperial Prince can capitalize on this opportunity for a gank next, the First Blood given away isn't such a bad deal."

"Haha, is WaWa talking about WE's Cao Cao?"

"In previous matches, indeed, many teams paid too many skills to gank Cao Cao, leading to a lagging tempo and losing the match."

"Yes, WE's First Blood tactic was quite successful."

Here it comes, the classic First Blood isn't a loss!

The brainless praise tradition that later-generation players deeply detested in LPL commentators started with these two guys.

Back in the backstage lounge, Jiang Ming listened to the two on stage spouting nonsense and found it hard not to laugh.

Level one Caitlyn lost both summoner spells and gave up First Blood; if that's maximum loss, what would count as anything else?

As for the description of WE's First Blood King Cao Cao, that was even more absurd.

Why did WE's top lane always give up First Blood?

There was indeed the reason of Cao Cao's own limited skill, but more so, WE's core was entirely focused on Smile, the jungler often stayed bottom, and mid-laner Ruifeng wasn't the type of player who could win lane through personal strength and feed the side lanes; thus, being targeted by other teams through research was the most normal thing.

Under the commentators' deliberate guidance, some obsessed WE fans actually took the truth that First Blood King Cao Cao would bring more victories to WE as gospel.

Yes, if the enemy team targets the top lane, it can indeed make the bottom lane's performance more comfortable.

But that was limited to Season 2; with version changes, entering the blood-soaked Season 3, ADC dominance declined, and the strategic status of mid, top, and jungle was raised; in the early phase, WE could still rely on Smile's personal strength to win back in the late game, but as everyone delved deeper into version research, you would find that in the second half of Season 3, the invincible WE didn't even win a single league championship, let alone make it to the World Championship.

Back to the match.

Now that NXG had taken the Caitlyn's First Blood, the Blind Monk jungler's tempo instantly became much clearer.

First, whether continuing to gank bottom during the enemy's summoner spell cooldowns or thinking backwards and using the time when the enemy jungler might come to help the Caitlyn for a counter-gank to cause trouble in the top half, for these few minutes before flash was off cooldown, the initiative was entirely with their NXG side.

Furthermore, without summoner spells, the Caitlyn wouldn't dare to push the lane too hard; thus, even if the Blind Monk ganked top early, the bottom lane's Varus and Janna wouldn't have it too hard just because of the Imperial Prince's presence.

Looking at the team's core allocation, the BLQG team would mostly choose the latter, after all, the ADC was their purple side's most important carry player.

"I'll start at F4, level three fast, gank top; Old Song, trade more with Kennen."

"OJBK, good brother, big bro loves you!"

At one minute thirty seconds, just as the minions began to slowly march out from the base, both junglers had already started fighting the side-lane jungle monsters.

The purple side's Imperial Prince, as a veteran jungler, also helped with the top and mid to take down the Gromp together, with the three splitting the experience evenly.

(This counts as the first detail I learned in the professional league back then; don't think the version is too far away, those professional players back then had no understanding at all.)

In the Season 3 era, BUFFs refreshed slightly slower than other jungle monsters; meanwhile, due to minions arriving later on the lane, even helping the jungler clear jungle monsters wouldn't cause experience loss upon returning to lane.

The duo helped clear the Red Buff, while the mid-lane Orianna took the three wolves with the Renekton.

This opening playstyle of eating jungle monster experience allowed solo-lane heroes to level up quickly while making lane collisions extremely bloody.

Protected by Orianna's shield, the Renekton responsible for tanking the three wolves didn't lose much health.

On the way back to lane after clearing the monsters, Song Yuan, who had started with a Greater Potion, began to ponder.

He had to find a way to wear down that electric rat on the other side.

"Equilibrium exists between all things!"

Pfft!

The special effect sound of the skill hitting flesh came.

The moment the two top laners met, the BLQG Kennen tentatively threw his Q skill 【Thundering Shuriken】.

The blood-draining opening success made the BLQG top laner's nervousness in his heart disappear considerably.

To be honest, seeing the enemy's Greater Potion opening build, his heart panicked for a second.

As the saying goes: Level one Gangplank, level two Xin, level three Renekton takes your life.

Catchphrases don't spread across the entire league without cause; a level three Red Fury Renekton with a Greater Potion has an execution threshold that's too high.

But now that he could trade with the opponent, it proved that the rank gap couldn't change the fact that he was a long-range Kennen fighting a short-range Renekton.

A Renekton starting with a Greater Potion was statistically inferior to his Doran's Blade; moreover, as a consumable, once the potion was used, it was gone; as long as he kited and traded more in the early game, staying away from the opponent at level three or when they had stacked fury, he could farm safely.

Thinking this, the BLQG Kennen grew a bit bolder, wanting to move forward and auto-attack the Renekton.

On the blue side player bench, Song Yuan grinned, "Haha, kid, you're still young; fell for it so easily?"

As a top laner extremely lacking in sustain in the early game, the electric rat often had to take minion damage to trade with the opponent.

The Renekton hit by the Q-A, lacking Doran-series items for health, looked like his status had dropped significantly at a glance.

But don't forget, the Renekton's Q comes with self-healing, and the Greater Potion instantly increases 120-235 health and 10 attack power upon use, so the current health doesn't represent the true status.

Besides...

"Besides, I have my jungler dad!"

At two minutes forty seconds, the level three Blind Monk arrived on time.

"Hey, we see the NXG Blind Monk went straight to the top lane, but Kennen is still at full health; feels like there's no chance."

Unlike LPL teams that traditionally fed the ADC and dragged into mid-late teamfights, NXG's move was more like a solo-queue jungler ganking top, capturing everyone's attention.

The live audience was also puzzled; what exactly was a level three Blind Monk going to do to a full-health Kennen? Not to mention the Renekton hadn't even stacked much fury.

【What's wrong with this Renekton? The jungler is coming, and he's not preparing to stack fury?】

【Didn't the internet hype how strong the NXG players were? Even I, a Silver player, know a Renekton needs to stack fury before coordinating with the jungler.】