In late March in Shanghai, everyone was still wearing long sleeves and quietly putting on masks. The weather was still cold, and if you came to watch matches in person, you had to guard against the seasonal flu.
But the passion in the arena still burned like fire.
For many people, today's match was TES "enforcing justice." Everyone came full of anticipation.
Especially since not long ago, Uzi posted an update on Weibo saying he wouldn't be playing in playoffs. His focus would be on daily streaming instead.
That made people even angrier. Wasn't this just luring the dog into the team to kill him?
Signing him was mainly for the streaming contract. They never intended to let Little Dog play professional matches at all.
Simply put, they were using his popularity to bring in traffic.
You had to admit, "Uncle" made a fortune off this. He got the streaming contract in hand, the team's traffic exploded, and even the red-and-black hype was still "red."
Today, LNG and V5—teams without matches—were organized by their coaches to seriously watch this series.
BLG wasn't much of a threat, but TES was absolutely one of the hottest title contenders right now.
So they needed to observe closely and see whether TES could keep that same dominant regular-season form in playoffs.
So far, nobody had broken their win streak. They had to study them carefully.
Especially Brother Infinite Borders.
No training, yet he still delivered oppressive, dominant performances.
That was what shocked everyone the most.
It was outrageous. Rumor had it he spent all day yesterday playing Goose Goose Duck.
And playoffs were the real main event.
Everyone wanted to know—how far could someone who didn't train seriously go in playoffs?
Winning in the regular season always had some luck mixed in.
"Dine's probably going to pull out some weird, exotic pick again today." Rookie took a swig from his cup. Facing a player like that, the pressure was huge.
After an anxious wait, the two teams finally walked out through the player tunnel.
"Viewers, we know you've been waiting a long time. The 2022 Spring Split playoffs—Round 2—TES vs. BLG officially begins!"
"For Game 1, TES will be on blue side, BLG on red side."
"You can also join KFC delivery—eat KFC while you watch the match."
The officials clearly valued this series. The caster lineup was stacked:
The King of Curses, Guan Zeyuan; the popular female caster Tongxi; and the former pro 957.
After both teams tested their gear and confirmed everything was fine, Zoom started the game under the referee's urging.
On the TES player side, Lin Fan frowned at his monitor.
Seeing that expression, Luo Sheng's heart started pounding. He asked with concern, "What is it, Brother Fan? What is it, Brother Fan? What is it, Brother Fan?"
When Luo Sheng said that, the other teammates looked worried too.
This was playoffs. Nothing could go wrong. They had to take BLG steadily and move on to the next round.
Before they had a Guardian Angel, they really couldn't mess around.
"It's nothing. Just—when I left, I forgot to log into QQ Speed. I didn't leave it hanging, so today's rewards are gone.
I don't get it. There've been so many events lately, and they just had to happen during playoffs. I can't be in two places at once."
"…Okay. Let's think about the draft." The moment Luo Sheng heard that, he immediately changed the topic.
This guy was as unreliable as ever.
If he wanted his coaching career to last longer, he should stop taking Lin Fan's words to heart—otherwise one day he might not be able to handle it.
That little incident wasn't noticed by the audience.
After all, who would imagine that right before a playoff match started, someone would be talking about QQ Speed?
But considering it was Brother Infinite Borders in mid… it somehow felt completely reasonable.
As the background music switched, both teams entered the ban-pick phase.
TES banned Viego, Ziggs, and Ryze.
BLG banned Syndra, LeBlanc, and Ahri.
Three mid laners banned immediately—no intention of letting even one through.
"BLG is drafting with heavy target bans here. They didn't let a single one of Brother Infinite Borders' champions through. Looks like FoFo is under a lot of pressure."
957 followed Guan Zeyuan's line: "Feels like Syndra probably won't show up in this series. For other mid laners, there might be opportunities in Round 2."
"Right. Brother Infinite Borders' Syndra—most mid laners really can't take it. First game, ban it and see what happens. If the pressure isn't that big later, you can ease the draft load."
"But that also means you're letting other champs through. His Vladimir is still pretty insane. I feel like the pressure's maxed out."
"Actually, if you don't specifically fight Vladimir and just focus on scaling, you can still survive."
"Let's see what TES first-picks. I think taking Zeri is fine—Zeri plus Yuumi bot, stabilize lane, and mid-late game with JackeyLove's skill, he can carry."
The three casters were talking nonstop—when TES suddenly locked in Hecarim instead, not Zeri.
"Hecarim… this is Tian grabbing tempo. He's played this a lot lately, and it's been very effective."
On red side, BLG didn't take Zeri either. Instead, they picked Sivir and Karma.
The double-mom bot lane duo—rarely seen.
But it's strong in lane, and with the ult mobility, they can kite and reposition. Most importantly, Sivir's spell shield means she doesn't have to be as afraid of Hecarim.
"I was hoping to see Uzi play, but there's no chance now." Lin Fan spoke while flashing Vayne.
---
"Honestly, I was hoping too. Hurry up and flash it—after you flash, I'll flash it." Tian said.
"Then I'll take Vladimir mid? Vladimir's stable and low-pressure. First game—we'll just take it steady."
"Sure." Luo Sheng nodded.
So Lin Fan locked in Vladimir.
At the same time, Tian also found Vayne and flashed her again.
If the first time could be an accident, the second time in a row couldn't.
TES did it on purpose.
The arena immediately erupted with screams.
"Handsome, handsome, handsome! This alone is a 100 out of 100!"
"It's starting—Brother Infinite Borders is about to enforce justice and slaughter!"
"The righteous light!"
"This is how pro league should be!"
At the caster desk, the three casters fell completely silent.
If they said anything, it would be fueling a massive narrative.
Small narratives were fine.
But a big one? You couldn't casually lead it.
With fanbases this huge, even settling accounts afterward wasn't something casters could withstand.
The best approach was to pretend they hadn't seen it and just wait for draft to end…
From then on, every time TES hovered a champion, they flashed Vayne first.
Every BLG player's expression grew uglier.
Because it was pointed. Very pointed.
Everyone knew Vayne was Uzi's signature champion…
After the second ban phase ended, both teams quickly finalized their comps.
Blue side TES:
Top Jayce, Jungle Hecarim, Mid Vladimir, Bot duo Jinx + Lulu.
Red side BLG:
Top Graves, Jungle Trundle, Mid Viktor, Bot duo Sivir + Karma.
The two coaches shook hands. BLG's coach forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"If you're flashing Vayne, why not pick her?"
"We're still considering it. The mechanical difficulty is too high."
Talking trash without fear—especially since he wasn't the same type of coach as Weibo's coach.
Besides, this was playoffs. You had to be tough.
In the arena, cheers for TES surged one wave after another.
They were already a popular team. And after climbing from the depths to ten straight wins, locking a playoff spot, expectations were naturally sky-high.
Most importantly, their opponent today was BLG.
If you had to pick the most notorious team in the league, BLG was definitely on the list.
Plenty of people wanted BLG to lose.
So the cheers were extremely polarized—TES completely drowned out BLG from start to finish.
Put differently: even shouting "Go BLG" felt like you might get punched.
Now both teams loaded into Summoner's Rift.
Lin Fan's start was the usual: Dark Seal and a Refillable Potion.
His keystone was still Phase Rush.
For Vladimir, movement speed was the key. You have to be able to catch people to deal damage. If the enemy kites you, you're basically helpless.
Especially against this enemy comp—the double-mom duo. Two speed-ups and you're just eating dust behind them.
So Lin Fan gave up Teleport and took Ghost instead.
All of it was for mid-to-late teamfights.
Teleport's early roaming was weak anyway. Ever since you couldn't TP to minions before fourteen minutes, mid lane could even swap to Ignite for an advantage—let alone Ghost.
Viktor level one had Summon Aery. Any mid laner could scrap at level one.
In that situation, Lin Fan had zero interest.
Just farm—see who scales into something more useful later.
So in the first three minutes, there wasn't much friction on either side.
FoFo preferred playing reactively. If Vladimir walked up, he could tag him with Q.
But Lin Fan broke his usual pattern and didn't step up to pressure at all.
That made "Ghost Fo" feel extremely uncomfortable.
But FoFo didn't dare to take initiative either.
Mainly because Tian didn't play fair at all.
In the regular season, BLG had faced TES in the back half of the split.
Brother Infinite Borders' individual strength was already outrageous—and Tian kept showing up mid to apply pressure.
And this was playoffs. The coach had already said it: absolutely no more giving them openings.
The more people wanted them to lose, the more he wanted to win.
Win, and watch those netizens' helpless faces. Just imagining it felt refreshing.
So mid lane didn't have much trading.
They kept it balanced.
Both mids scaled later. As long as they farmed normally, they could "make it up" later.
Everyone expected mid to have the most gunpowder—but top lane was the one playing like lunatics.
No choice. Those two top picks were made for fighting.
Jayce and Graves.
Breath didn't want anyone stealing his shot-calling authority, so he kept E'ing into the face and starting fights.
As a result, just after four minutes, both top laners had already burned Teleport.
The temper was real.
BLG's early game really did rely on top lane to open the map, and Breath executed the coach's plan strictly.
No wonder the coach valued him more. The authority was solid—mainly because he listened.
Lin Fan then switched his camera to bot lane.
JackeyLove and Mark were as oppressive as ever.
They even held the wave in front of their own turret. In that situation, BLG's bot duo was miserable.
But LQS was on Karma—there was nothing he could do to change bot lane's state. Lulu simply wasn't afraid of him.
"Brother Infinite Borders is probably watching his teammates' CS again. He's back to that mechanical 'pause in mid lane' thing."
"But Vladimir versus Viktor really is pretty boring."
"Both sides are just scaling. Of course there's no fighting. And BLG doesn't play fair either—they used all their bans on lane champs."
…
"Breath's Graves is playing super aggressively."
---
"He keeps walking into my face."
"Duke, be a bit careful. Jungle can't really gank mid or bot—Weiwei might come top to gank you." Lin Fan reminded him.
"I know. That's why I'm not stepping too far out."
At five minutes, Tian deliberately placed a ward in the top river.
Mid and bot were farming steadily. With top lane fighting this hard, it was very likely to get targeted.
If it turned into a top-jungle skirmish, Trundle was an extremely unreasonable champion. TES would be under more pressure.
After placing vision, Tian started clearing toward the lower half.
Viktor stepped up a bit—this was the first time mid lane had actually been in a gankable position.
Tian's heart started pounding.
A window!
Mainly because the cannon wave was creating a bounce-back push. FoFo's goal was simple: shove this wave into turret quickly, then recall to update items.
"Want to gank?"
"Hard to gank. Not necessary. Let's just farm this wave."
Tian was a little disappointed, but it was true—Hecarim needed a perfect flank to kill Viktor.
Better to wait until he had ultimate. With guaranteed fear, the damage would be fully maximized.
Opportunities right now were basically fake.
Then Lin Fan realized something.
He immediately pinged the shadow area near top lane.
"Trundle might be here. Zoom, don't cross this line. If you go farther, it feels like he's about to make a play."
Earlier, Tian had warded the river, and Trundle never showed.
Then Tian cleared toward bot.
Bot wave was still closer to TES.
And mid lane suddenly started shoving again.
Meaning: FoFo had cover. Weiwei had been hovering for a countergank in mid. Now that the mid wave was pushed out and he didn't show in river, then he was definitely looping through fog toward top.
Zoom was startled.
If Trundle was squatting on the side, the moment he crossed midline—even with Flash—he'd still die.
So we're not playing fair now?
A 1v1 man's duel in top, and the jungler is going to intervene? That's not fair!
Zoom immediately backed off on Jayce.
Weiwei stared, confused.
Why did Jayce run? He hadn't even shown yet. If Jayce ran, how was he supposed to gank top?
"Wow! Zoom's awareness is so good. I thought he was about to get wrecked."
"I noticed there were pings on the minimap earlier. Someone must've warned him."
"Yeah, you can only say TES's awareness is maxed out. After the match, I'm definitely going to ask—why did Duke choose to back off right there?"
---
In TES's backstage lounge, Luo Sheng listened to the comms and felt even more relaxed.
With Lin Fan on the team, there was nothing to worry about. At every timing window and every phase, everyone knew what they should be doing.
Comfortable.
Not like before, when he wanted to pop fast-acting heart pills every second.
From the god's-eye view, Trundle really was sitting in the red side's lower brush, waiting for Jayce to cross midline so he could strike.
But Lin Fan's warning let Duke escape disaster.
Good awareness is busted.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup