Spring Split finals were set for Saturday, April 23rd.
It looked like there were still three days until the match, but in reality there were less than two full days to prepare.
Because the league wanted to "do bits" before the finals—they spent a whole day having both teams film content and record trash talk.
Back in the day, this segment was full of highlights. Players actually dared to talk, both sides had tons of memes, and the moment it played, the rivalry atmosphere instantly ignited.
Finals were genuinely fun.
But now, with fewer "content" players, the trash talk could honestly be treated as trash. It had lost the old flavor.
This year there was fresh blood—TES mid Dine. Plus the winners' bracket match, the external topics around the two teams were already maxed. Now it depended on whether trash talk could heat things up again.
So they really hoped the players would deliver.
After both teams filmed their videos, the officials were very satisfied.
As expected of Brother Infinite Borders. The moment it played before the match, the vibe would snap into place—this was exactly the kind of topic finals should have.
The day before finals, the weather was bright and perfect for going out.
But RNG players were under massive pressure. Nobody had that thought at all.
Finals vs TES…
Not gonna lie, they didn't have much confidence.
Mainly because Dine in mid was terrifying pressure.
That mid looked like he was slacking, but actually… he was slacking.
As the pro player with the most streaming hours this Spring Split, his stream had no League of Legends, no ranked grinding.
Only Infinite Borders, Don't Starve, Genshin… and the most outrageous part—Honor of Kings.
He played every game at top level, even stomped multiple pros across other games, and hit Weibo trending.
Yet this "laid-back" player still forcibly flipped V5 in round four, completed a reverse sweep, then smashed Xiaohu in winners' bracket, set all of TES's tempo, and marched into finals.
Against a mid laner with no obvious weaknesses, the pressure was naturally terrifying.
You can study Faker. Look at Korean solo queue history and you can roughly tell what he's practicing.
But Brother Infinite Borders? How do you study him? You can't.
What, are you supposed to study Infinite Borders too?
A coach could do that, but then the player's career is basically buried.
There was truly no solution.
Tabe and Xiaohu stared blankly at the monitor. On screen, Lin Fan's fingers were flying over the keyboard.
Some female character was mowing down mobs in huge waves.
Tabe glanced at the chat—he didn't understand it. He only knew it was Genshin's Ganyu.
The day before finals, he's playing Genshin.
Tabe was in despair.
In his entire career, he'd never seen a pro player like this.
The most absurd part was that White Moon was standing behind him watching, with no reaction at all.
Maybe White Moon was even more despairing than him?
A player like this is a coach's nightmare.
You can't manage him.
But if he can win, maybe you don't need to manage him.
Thinking that, Tabe actually felt a little envy toward White Moon.
Having a mid like that really does make things easier.
"Tabe… I feel like we can't study anything out of him."
At this point, it was better to just rewatch the winners' bracket series.
Maybe you could actually find something.
"Sigh. You can't analyze from champ pool. Laning, roaming—he's mastered everything. I genuinely don't know how to limit him." Tabe shook his head.
They'd even seen five bans on mid in a real match—zero effect. It just made TES's other picks super comfortable.
After all, his teammates were world-class.
You can't ignore JackeyLove, right?
Tian with a mid "big brother" leading him has basically returned to form.
Even if you let Twisted Fate through, mid lane pressure is still huge.
This guy already proved it—Twisted Fate solo-killing LeBlanc.
And the one who got solo-killed was TES's former mid: Knight.
Put aside his private life—his individual skill as a mid was still top-tier domestically.
He wasn't great at Worlds, but his domestic dominance was real.
This Spring Split performance was probably because his focus wasn't on the game.
If he adjusts, he can still start for many tier-one teams.
"If only we had ten bans," Tabe muttered.
"Alright, Genshin map grind is over. Now it's time for our happy Honor of Kings. Since we play tomorrow, keeping the feel is important."
Hearing that from the speakers, Tabe's head spun.
Watching you play like this, I would think you forgot finals even exist.
But you "remember finals"… and then go play Honor of Kings?
Forget it. Can't study him. If I keep watching, I'll go depressed.
"Let's focus on our own tactics. Don't think about TES, or we won't have time to adapt on stage," Xiaohu suggested quietly.
"Agreed." That line matched Tabe's thinking perfectly. Even though he'd been retired for nine years, the speed of his mouse closing the stream looked like he'd returned to his pro peak.
"Xiaohu, go call everyone to a meeting. Tomorrow's finals—we have to study properly."
RNG hadn't won much lately to prop things up. Plus the club had a lot of scandals. Sponsors were already fewer than before.
They desperately needed this title—to pull some popularity back, bring sponsors back.
Otherwise, it wouldn't just be the club suffering—coaches and players would suffer too.
They might not even be able to pay salaries!
…
Lin Fan's stream.
"Haven't played Syndra in a while. Might need it in finals. Let's play Wu Zetian and steady the hands."
He spoke while instantly locking Wu Zetian.
The Honor of Kings fans in chat were ecstatic.
They came here for this. Best case: run into pros and stomp them. That would be hilarious.
"Let's gooo!"
Some were happy—others were miserable.
While they were cheering, TES League fans and JackeyLove's "sister fans" couldn't take it anymore and started typing nonstop.
"Dine, train! Finals are tomorrow. If we lose, won't you regret it?"
"JackeyLove played like 20 games these two days. Brother Infinite Borders please."
"If we lose because of you, all the team's hard work goes down the drain. Isn't that selfish?"
"Hype farming should have limits. Finals are tomorrow—still not training?"
Normally this kind of chat was rare, but today waves of it poured in.
Makes sense—finals are coming, and seeing him not training made people anxious.
But Lin Fan's fanbase was stronger in "combat power."
They fired back in a few lines.
"Go rewatch the VODs and count how many MVPs JackeyLove has and how many Brother Infinite Borders has."
"If not for Brother Infinite Borders, TES making playoffs would've been a question."
"Your idol's form isn't great, so he needs training to keep it. Ten to twenty games a day is normal. Brother Infinite Borders' form is this good—he hasn't played League in two months. That's normal too."
"To me, if you win matches, you're a good player. Who cares if you train."
"Exactly. Pros just need to win. Who cares what they do before matches."
These "water ghost sisters" clearly came in organized.
But since finals hadn't started yet, and given Lin Fan's actual performance in matches, there was no real angle to attack.
They could only talk about training attitude.
But in matches, not only did he not int—he carried JackeyLove repeatedly.
Eighteen MVPs in regular season, nine MVPs in playoffs—proof speaks.
With that on the table, the water ghost sisters could only retreat.
Still, with this tempo wave, worried people started appearing.
"As a Brother Infinite Borders fan… if TES loses finals, the aftermath might be unbearable."
Up to now, TES kept winning, and he was hard-carrying. People had never seen a player who never trains yet stands out across other games.
So it felt fun and instantly attracted tons of fans.
But TES isn't only Lin Fan. His performance affects all teammates.
If he performs badly, even if they win, the post-match discourse won't be kind.
If they lose, it'll be far worse…
"I still hope Brother Infinite Borders uses the remaining time to keep form."
Sure enough, once it's a big match, the tempo and pressure explode.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan already hit godlike.
Wu Zetian's ultimate is hard to land, so you need to knock up with passive first, then ult—guaranteed hit.
He glanced at chat.
Seeing those messages, he thought about it, but didn't respond.
For many people, a pro not training can't keep the same form forever.
Like Xiao Gou—retired two full years, then came back. Even with nonstop Korean ranked, without scrims and analysts crafting plans, his form declined visibly.
There were plenty of bloody examples too—skip one day of training, then instantly int the next day on stage.
Seeing the water ghost sisters stir this tempo, it was natural for people to worry.
After that, people even started making posts:
"Rational analysis: how long can Brother Infinite Borders keep this form?"
"Brother Infinite Borders no longer as brave—will he switch to Honor of Kings?"
There were plenty of replies.
"Domestic matches are fine for Brother Infinite Borders, but international is unknown. Mid competition domestically is still weaker."
"I said it before. If TES goes to MSI, no shot at the title. RNG could actually beat T1."
"Mouse team is mid—weren't they always carried by top lane big dad? Faker's current form? He might not even beat Xiaohu, let alone Brother Infinite Borders."
Who knows if they were trolling or genuinely hating—bathroom forums are complicated.
Either way, they stirred tempo hard.
The thread hit 300+ replies quickly.
For Lin Fan discussions, that was normal.
Then the thread derailed:
"If Brother Infinite Borders retires, he probably goes Honor of Kings. Other games' heat is too low."
"Agreed. Probably Honor of Kings. He'll play, then alt-tab to Infinite Borders. Seamless."
"Honestly I always wanted to see Brother Infinite Borders alt-tab during League to operate Infinite Borders, but he doesn't even play League…"
Since fans love discussing on Weibo, this also drifted into trending.
The tempo wasn't huge, so it didn't rank too high.
But people learned one thing:
JackeyLove's fans had rushed Brother Infinite Borders once…
Given the cause, it was understandable.
For team results, people really disliked it.
At night, JackeyLove even came to apologize to Lin Fan.
There's a saying: fans' behavior, idols pay the bill.
In esports it's the same.
But everyone was laid-back and didn't take it personally.
After all, if you're never flamed as a pro, it just means you haven't achieved anything.
The ones who get flamed hardest are only two types: dogs and monsters.
The mid-tier who coast through? Nobody even remembers them.
Even after ten seasons, nobody remembers their ID.
Their face looks familiar, but you can't recall the name…
Lin Fan didn't care about the water ghost tempo.
"It's fine. It's normal to worry. You guys probably worry too. But my form feels great. If something feels off, I'll train."
"Hahaha, Fan-ge, I just think you're insane. You can actually train through Honor of Kings."
Lin Fan was startled.
JackeyLove didn't actually believe that old excuse, did he?
Looking at his expression, he really believed it—like: Fan-ge, you can't fool me, I know you're training.
"After finals, I'll tell them: stop rushing people all the time."
If they lost… the tempo would point straight at Brother Infinite Borders.
Low-head-not-seeing, high-head-seeing—too awkward.
Take RNG, for example. Uzi had a fanatic fanbase: win means ADC carried, lose means teammates are idiots.
That makes the whole team atmosphere toxic.
Once conflicts appear, it explodes—everyone is holding anger inside.
JackeyLove didn't want TES to become that.
At that moment, Luo Sheng suddenly said:
"Finals are tomorrow. Everyone go back early and rest. Recharge. Let's put a perfect ending on Spring Split with the last match!"
If their 'revive armor' never broke, and they lost finals—how ridiculous would that be?
No matter what, the pressure was huge.
An 18-win streak and then runner-up overall? People would go dizzy.
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup