After 957's breakdown, everyone understood—these two had ten thousand mind games at level one.
You give an opening, but I won't bite. Either you burn Flash, or I burn Flash.
No matter how you played it, it was destined to be a one-for-one. Whoever used Flash first would lose initiative in the lane afterward.
At 1:40, the minion waves met in mid.
Locking onto Irelia's position, Lin Fan immediately pushed forward with Jayce.
Lane priority was firmly with Jayce. Put simply—if Irelia dared to Q in like before, Lin Fan would fight it all the way this time.
Doinb wasn't nearly as bold now and instinctively backed off.
Lin Fan didn't give up just because Irelia stepped back a little. He was forcibly pressuring Doinb's position.
Pushing him completely out of XP range was unrealistic.
Once Jayce crossed the wave, Irelia could replicate the level-one trade—Q in and chase nonstop.
And at that point, surrounded by red-side minions, Jayce would absolutely lose the fight.
Doinb knew this too. He was pressured back, but not completely—hovering near the right side of the caster minions in a very ambiguous position.
If Jayce fired Shock Blast, it would hit the backline, and then the wave couldn't be frozen. Once Jayce couldn't control the wave and it pushed, that would be Irelia's opportunity.
Stack passive, land Flawless Duet, then chase all the way.
No one could withstand a full-passive, full-Conqueror Irelia.
So before chipping away at Irelia's HP, Jayce absolutely couldn't start hard-pushing the wave. At minimum, he had to maintain the current slow push.
Seeing how slippery Doinb was, Lin Fan stood right in the middle.
Clear message: I see exactly what you're thinking.
Whether you come up to last-hit is your choice—but this wave is not getting shoved.
Seeing his plan fail, Doinb walked back up from behind.
Whatever. Take one hit here. I'll just race for level two.
What annoyed him slightly was the thought of the opponent directly stealing money.
Seeing Doinb step up so obediently, Lin Fan naturally didn't show mercy.
A-Q-A—he forcefully procced First Strike and pressed Irelia's HP as low as possible.
Then he immediately swapped into hammer form to threaten.
Doinb glanced at the melee minions' HP.
He couldn't kill them with a single Q. And with Jayce in melee form, Q-ing him directly would be a losing trade.
In the end, he chose to walk up and touch the melee minion, Q-A'ing it down.
Watching Jayce clear all three melee minions right under his nose made his eye twitch.
Xi ba.
This greedy—and he's not afraid at all?
But recalling the two earlier exchanges—he hadn't lost, but he hadn't gained either. One misstep and he'd be the one falling into a trap.
This guy wasn't as simple as he'd imagined.
Thirty seconds passed, and Jayce stepped forward again.
That only made Doinb more irritated.
Everyone's supposed to farm properly—why did this bandit show up?
Conservatively, each First Strike proc stole around twenty gold.
Over ten minutes, that was easily three hundred gold—and it would only increase with items, widening the gap further.
He wanted to break the situation—but had no solution.
Mid lane stayed locked in a stalemate. Jayce, simply by holding the wave and abusing First Strike, already had the advantage.
Meanwhile, down bot, JackeyLove and Mark started pushing past the wave from level one.
…
Draven plus Renata into Jinx and Lulu—there was no way LNG's bot lane was getting any breathing room.
In no time, they were shoved under tower, only daring to watch the wave from afar.
If they tried to force something, a single Renata Q landing would mean committing hard.
Light was impressive—he knew when to take it and when to give it up. If he couldn't eat the minions, he wouldn't—but there was no chance he'd hand over an opening.
JackeyLove watched in disbelief.
This wasn't how Light looked last year. Was he really this disciplined now?
"Don't rush," Mark said, his finger glued to the Q key like a hawk watching prey, ready to strike at any moment.
"Our bot lane is already ahead. Opportunities will come."
"Mm." JackeyLove agreed. Early tempo was still mainly about jungle and mid—no need to rush.
Up top, Zoom was as expected—absorbing pressure the moment laning began.
Ale's Fiora pressure was fully on display, but Zoom was slippery. He kept vital points pinned near the wall, body-slammed to trade, Q slowed, then backed off.
He knew the rule against Fiora—hit and run.
Overall, LNG held the look of the lane top, but no real advantage.
"This game means a lot to both sides. Everyone's playing extremely cautiously."
In previous matches, mid-lane kills often happened by three minutes. But now, even past four minutes, both sides were still locked in wave mind games.
As levels rose, Doinb no longer wanted to let Jayce keep widening the gap like this.
If he got outright solo-killed, that'd be pure skill diff.
But letting Jayce steal money tick by tick with First Strike was genuinely unbearable.
As levels climbed, the stolen gold kept increasing.
With the next cannon wave arriving, both sides hit level five—a timing with meaning.
"Want to look?"
"We can. I feel like Doinb's about to lose patience. Let's test his intentions first." Lin Fan pinged the map and walked Jayce forward.
It wasn't that he didn't want a solo kill—the difficulty was just too high.
He needed jungle help.
Watching Jayce step up again… this dog was here to steal First Strike.
Then break it first.
Doinb Q'd a minion, instantly pulled Flawless Duet.
It was the fastest E he'd cast in his entire pro career.
And it didn't disappoint—Jayce was stunned cleanly, First Strike broken.
Seeing the mark under Jayce's feet, he didn't hesitate—Q in, start autoing.
Then W to block Jayce's follow-up damage.
Lin Fan immediately backed off.
Which was exactly what Doinb wanted—autos to stack Conqueror, Q to minions for repositioning and passive stacks.
Another auto—Conqueror fully stacked.
Only then did Lin Fan lightning-fast EQ into hammer form, unloading his combo and knocking Irelia away.
Both champions dropped from five or six bars straight down to barely two.
At that moment, even with Q available, Doinb hesitated—he didn't dare commit.
"Wait—he's not going in?"
Lin Fan was stunned.
Full Conqueror, full passive. Irelia had about forty less HP—but Jayce's abilities were all down.
If they just autoed each other, Irelia would win every time.
Seems the earlier assessment wasn't wrong.
He'd rather do nothing than make a mistake.
That was something.
But that exchange had already created an opening.
Tian emerged from the side, applying pressure.
"Xi ba! Tian!"
With no other choice, Doinb used minions for movement again.
Then Q'd straight onto Jayce's face, trying to trade.
But Jayce was already under tower. With turret damage added, unless Irelia hit for nine-nine-nine, there was no way to trade Jayce out under turret.
First blood.
Tian's mere presence—an eye-test gank—helped Lin Fan secure the solo kill.
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