After leaving the base, Clid headed straight for mid lane. All he could do now was watch his teammate's corpse and then clear the massive wave crashing into the turret.
At the same time, he was thinking about what to do next.
The early-game setup had actually been good. If mid lane hadn't died three times, the entire pace of the game would've belonged to FPX.
But no matter what, he had to find a way to get the rhythm back.
So he tentatively moved toward bot lane. With how aggressively TES was playing, maybe they'd give him an opening.
Seeing Graves approach, Hang understood it was his moment to engage. He activated W and leapt straight onto Zeri's face.
JackeyLove's reaction speed to non-Q crowd control was still very fast. He controlled Zeri to dash aside and dodge it. But Hang knew this was their only chance—he Flashed forward and lashed out with his tongue, slowing Zeri.
Graves followed up with a Smoke Screen into a smooth E dash to close the distance. Lin Weixiang seized the timing and threw his E behind JackeyLove, locking him down.
Mark immediately sensed danger and dismounted at once. The door wasn't welded shut yet—no way he was letting it turn into a double death.
FPX's three-man damage was more than enough. They cleanly secured the kill.
This time, Hang deliberately pressed S. Graves and Jinx were the carries—Zeri's kill could go to either without issue.
In the end, the kill was claimed by Lin Weixiang.
That steadied FPX fans a little.
No matter what, Lin Weixiang was a champion ADC who could carry games. Even though Syndra already had three kills, FPX still had a chance.
Unfortunately, the bot wave was pushing in. Even after killing Zeri, they couldn't take turret plates. It was just a dry kill, with limited impact on the overall bot-lane situation.
As for Dragon, they didn't dare touch it. Syndra was showing mid, had just absorbed a wave, and was already level six.
Little Tiger relaxed his guard slightly—mid lane hadn't come to gank him.
But mid hadn't come… the jungler had.
After finishing Krugs, Tian piloted Jarvan into the top side.
Zoom reacted decisively, Flashing forward and slamming Gragas into the wall. He raised W and stunned him again.
Tian chained the control, knocking Gragas into the air.
This continuous combo left Little Tiger completely helpless.
Without items, and with only half HP to begin with, he collapsed instantly under the two-man damage.
After respawning, Little Tiger used Teleport. The moment he landed, Syndra and Jarvan appeared behind his turret.
One, two, three, four—here we go again.
The core reason was simple: once Syndra hit level six, Gori didn't even have the courage to glance at his HP bar. The raw damage could outright delete him—no resistance whatsoever.
Because of this, Syndra had free rein in lane—she could come and go as she pleased.
FPX's bot lane cleared the wave and recalled. That left only one unlucky soul next: Gragas in top lane.
Three-versus-one. Nothing to say—once they went in, Gragas dropped instantly.
With First Strike proccing, Lin Fan scooped up a full 380 gold in that play.
One word: bliss.
Watching his top laner fall, Gori's face twitched unconsciously.
Fellow sufferers under the same sky—top lane, do you now understand how it felt when I got solo killed, teleported back, and died again?
Clid didn't know what his mid and top laners were feeling, but he knew exactly what it felt like when Tian had his first jungle rotation invaded.
Pure torment. A belly full of fire.
With mid lane completely lost, Jarvan took over FPX's jungle and refused to leave.
There was nothing Clid could do. The other side had a boss backing them up. This was bullying through sheer strength.
He was just a pitiful Graves—no damage, no authority, nothing.
The moment Syndra went missing, his only option was to abandon the camp and run. If he didn't, he feared he'd become a corpse in the very next second.
Graves's farming space was brutally compressed.
This was the chain reaction of losing mid lane.
At 7:40 on the clock, a full-HP Azir got stunned by Syndra, ate a full combo, and was instantly deleted.
During the black-and-white screen, the Emperor of Shurima was at his happiest—no more worrying about being solo killed.
After the kill, Lin Fan pinged "on my way" on the minimap. Tian immediately followed the Syndra queen's footsteps.
The two hid in the brush beside red buff, waiting for Graves to walk into the trap.
Clid had no idea what to do next this game. He couldn't go mid, top and bot had no opportunities, so all he could do was bury his head in farming.
When red buff respawned, fearing Jarvan would steal it, he hurried over.
Lin Fan seized the moment and fired off the QE combo.
With max-rank Q and such luxurious items, the damage exploded instantly.
Graves lost half his HP in a blink.
Afraid the enemy might use abilities to escape, Tian held nothing back—EQ combo straight into his ultimate, piling on the follow-up damage.
As Syndra picked up a fallen sphere and hurled it—
Graves dropped dead on the spot.
Hearing the system announcement, everyone finally realized Syndra had reached six kills.
And the time? Just over eight minutes.
Purely one kill per minute.
TES's tempo skyrocketed. After taking red buff, they immediately rotated bot.
Seeing their jungler die, Lin Weixiang and Hang retreated instantly.
Their escape was clean—they weren't caught.
But they lost three full layers of turret plates.
All three were taken by Zeri alone.
Not only did this make up for the earlier death—it even put her ahead.
From there, TES rotated to Dragon and secured the first Cloud Drake.
Mid turret fell before ten minutes.
The game plan was now brutally simple.
Syndra sticks with the jungler.
All jungle resources belong to TES.
Want to gank? Go gank.
Want neutral objectives? Take them.
The entire pace of the match was completely under TES's control.
Wherever mid–jungle went, kills followed.
Once Tian realized this, anyone in his vision was just meat.
No hesitation at all—EQ straight in to lock them down.
Because he knew that as long as Syndra was beside him, no one could threaten him.
FPX had not a single champion that could survive Syndra's full combo.
And there it was—running into Graves and Azir sneaking toward bot lane in the river.
Flash in. Ultimate down.
Two people? So what?
My boss is right behind me.
You don't even dare fight me.
Cowards.
The moment FPX's mid–jungle got trapped by Jarvan, they tried to run.
But Syndra's ultimate followed immediately—black spheres pierced straight through Graves.
No pain.
Straight to meet God.
She then turned to Azir, picked up a nearby sphere, threw it forward, and pushed—stunning him in place.
"Double Kill!"
"Legendary!"
The mid–jungle duo, desperately searching for opportunities, were sent straight back to the fountain.
"So good, so good!" Tian shouted excitedly, as if he were the one who'd just gone Legendary.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup