When it comes to livening up the atmosphere, if JackeyLove says he's second, no one dares claim first.
The advantage was already steadily expanding, and with this little interlude added in, the entire team's mood instantly relaxed, the pressure dropping sharply.
This game can be won!
Tian's thinking also became much clearer now.
"Don't do Rift Herald. You don't have ult, I don't have ult either. If LeBlanc comes over, it'll be very troublesome."
—
Even if Tian hadn't said it, Lin Fan would have brought it up himself. At this stage, it really wasn't good to force Rift Herald. LeBlanc's state was still quite strong, and if she came from the side and dumped a full combo onto Hecarim, the damage would absolutely be enough to delete him.
More importantly, Rift Herald's early damage is very high. Even if Hecarim could solo it, Viktor without his ultimate didn't dare keep an eye on LeBlanc mid.
Lin Fan's laning plan was simply early skirmishing—mainly competing in mana consumption and wave clear.
Riot's balance in this regard was actually quite good. At the very least, assassins weren't allowed to have absurd wave clear speed early, which was exactly how Lin Fan slowly built his advantage.
"Invade blue. Kanavi took red on the top side and hasn't had time to help LeBlanc secure blue yet. We take blue. And he rushed Sorcerer's Shoes—without blue buff, his mana won't hold. Once we have ultimates, we go for Rift Herald. If they dare to take the fight then, we make it explode."
"Alright, invade blue."
Lin Fan pushed the wave with E, using the second E to clear the three front melee minions, then followed Hecarim straight toward the blue side. The bot lane duo also moved over.
Yagao originally wanted to poke a bit—after all, he was LeBlanc.
But seeing a level-six Leona, he immediately killed the idea.
What if he went in and never came back?
With four people at blue buff, they could even directly threaten mid tier one.
TES executed a large-scale rotation. After stealing blue buff, they casually secured the Ocean Drake.
This made JDG feel even worse.
In the first ten minutes, there weren't many direct skirmishes—only two kills total—but the disadvantage kept growing. They wanted to stabilize, but couldn't.
TES directly transitioned into macro play, using a late-game composition to lead around a mid–early game composition by the nose!
It's not that TES didn't know how to macro before. It's just that their usual way of ending games was extremely reckless. Since this season they had only picked up a single win, there wasn't much data to reference, so analysts could only look back at last season's matches.
Seeing this scene now, everyone was shocked.
Back in the lounge, Luo Sheng revealed a gratified smile.
Knowing when to stop is crucial. If Knight were still on stage just now… Tian would probably have been forced to do Rift Herald, which would have given Yagao an opening.
The more he watched, the more satisfied he became.
Same champion. One could stabilize lane, give no opportunities even with repeated jungle pressure, and quietly scale well. Even without plating, his gold had already reached 3,100.
It was a huge surprise.
If the first change—putting Lin Fan on—could be chalked up to coincidence, then this time it was undeniable.
As for the other one—playing like he was sleepwalking. Jungle ganks once, he dies once. Completely indifferent to death. Anyone could kill him. A pure grief-style mid laner.
Thinking of this, Luo Sheng could only take a deep breath and refocus on the rest of the match.
—
At nine and a half minutes, LeBlanc without blue buff was down to mana for just one W.
Yagao wanted to look top for opportunities, but Viktor had upgraded E, applying enormous wave pressure. He simply couldn't leave lane.
Solo killing was a pipe dream. His positioning was extremely far back, and to make matters worse, Viktor had even bought Mercury's Treads—clearly signaling he wanted to give zero chances.
TL: Mercury's Treads - survivability + movement speed
All he could do was spend his remaining mana clearing minions.
Since they had already agreed beforehand to move on Rift Herald when LeBlanc's mana ran low, TES rotated extremely quickly. Zoom, experienced as ever, stacked a massive wave into the turret.
If 369 came over, he'd lose at least two and a half waves.
So JDG gave it up decisively.
They had no choice—mid couldn't move, top couldn't move, and bot lane was pinned under turret.
Sending Xin Zhao alone to contest was unrealistic. They could only watch TES take Rift Herald.
After securing Herald, TES didn't use it mid. Instead, they rotated straight top.
Three people showing up scared 369 into instantly ulting away.
He had gold on him, but his items weren't completed yet—just Plated Steelcaps and Doran's Shield. There was no way he could tank three people.
So top tier one fell without even using Herald charges.
Before JDG could catch their breath, Gnar and Viktor appeared behind bot lane tier one.
Viktor directly summoned Rift Herald from the back.
369 had no choice but to TP down to prevent a dive, but the turret could only withstand a single Herald hit.
That TP did nothing except donate 300 gold.
JDG made the best decision they could—trying to force a trade on Zeri—but Zeri was perfectly protected by Leona.
And when Gnar jumped in, a Buddha Palm smashed Jinx into the wall.
After that, Nautilus and Sion posed zero threat.
The kill distribution was extremely even—Lin Fan picked up two, JackeyLove got one.
TES's late-game double carries were now economically explosive.
More importantly, Lin Fan grabbed first turret gold top lane and then picked up two plates bot lane…
After that, four people grouped mid with Tian and took down mid tier one.
Before fifteen minutes, the tempo had completely taken off.
With Mercury's Treads already built, Lin Fan skipped Crown. As a late-game hard carry Viktor, damage mattered more, so he opted for the extremely aggressive Luden's—aimed at one-comboing LeBlanc and Jinx.
Frontline handling was left to JackeyLove. Everyone did their job.
At nineteen minutes, under immense pressure, all of JDG's outer turrets fell.
At twenty-three minutes, the kill score reached 11–2, and TES held three dragons.
—
For JDG, they urgently needed an opening.
At twenty-four minutes, Zeri clearing mid lane seemed to give them one.
Nautilus and LeBlanc engaged proactively.
But behind the wall, a Viktor was waiting.
The instant LeBlanc jumped in—Q, E, R all pressed in succession!
Like brilliant fireworks, a thunderous explosion!
"Hehehe…"
A cold laugh from Viktor echoed in Yagao's ears as his screen abruptly went dark.
Luden's Viktor.
Explosion is art.
The moment of contact sealed the outcome.
A full-health LeBlanc performed a public act of "suicide by collision."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup