Chapter 20: Uh-oh, you've completed a triple strike!

[Extreme!]
[The V5 Trident! Do you guys on IG even have a trident like this!?]
[I honestly never expected him to dare to come back. How is he this bold?]
[This is Mebius! An M78 Nebula warrior. Anyone who has watched tokusatsu shows knows that a blinking light doesn't mean retreating; it means the energy meter is full and it's time to use the ultimate ability!]
The sheer charm of stat-checking was displayed in full glory at this exact moment.
Clearly just turning around to use Q and W while shielded by his E ability, the burst damage dealt in that split second managed to help his teammates eliminate the enemy Twisted Fate first.
Zika was left in a state of autistic despair.
A three-man gank turned into getting counter-killed three-to-one. Although it wasn't one person who pulled off the sweep, looking at the final result, it practically felt that way.
Fortunately, League of Legends didn't have an angry immortal spirit like Rasheed Wallace; otherwise, not only would his mind have taken damage, but his body wouldn't have escaped the fallout either.
"666666."
"We're taking off this game. Not even six minutes in and the kill score is 4 to 1. I honestly don't know how we could possibly lose this."
"Don't jinx it, please, I'm begging you. Don't summon the genuine curse of the jinx."
"Feels good. The bot lane can just rest easy now."
In the current patch:
The Senna-Tahm Kench bot lane doesn't farm on Senna.
In past matches, Xiaoyan would diligently last-hit minions while PPGOD applied pressure from the side. This time, with the roles reversed, Xiaoyan experienced the sheer bliss of playing support. Having plenty of free time on his hands and watching the death-match unfold in the top half of the map from start to finish, he felt overwhelmingly relaxed and content.
He didn't need to last-hit minions himself, nor did he have to carry the game. Especially since Senna's auto-attack mechanic is unique, even spacing and stutter-stepping wouldn't strain his hands too much.
What did this mean?
It meant he could comfortably play the role of a carried waste of space this game.
That was what he was thinking.
Since someone always has to be the dead weight on the team, why couldn't it be him?
Thus, the smile on his face grew even brighter.
"Fine, fine, just sit back and relax. I'll carry this game."
Luo Ji glanced at his luxurious 1/1/2 KDA and unhesitatingly approved Xiaoyan's application to coast.
As a stat-check monster who had successfully secured early kills, this Volibear with kills against a Renekton without kills...
Wasn't that just a walk in the park to smash in lane?
After suffering a massive defeat, IG wouldn't be able to mount any decent offense in the short term. Even if they did, the target would most likely be the bot lane.
In other words:
From now on, the top lane would be Luo Ji's Lu M78 Square!
As the game returned to an advantageous state, Karsa's advantageous-game radar passive began to trigger.
Throughout the early game, Xun's movements were basically completely monitored by him, save for that one instance when Diana came from the lane to coordinate with Thresh's combo, while Karsa happened to be in the upper river area establishing pioneer vision.
The entirety of IG failed to find any further operational opportunities.
"They're really desperate, even giving up the Rift Herald."
"You could say they're panicked."
Karsa glanced at the mini-map with a trace of emotion. Making a choice like this clearly meant the opponents had been driven to their wits' end.
A team without an old-timer is just like this.
A roster composed purely of young players, while full of drive, faces one massive problem: they can only play from ahead and barely know how to play from behind, because there is no one in a deficit who can genuinely step up and make decisive calls.
This leads to them wanting everything on the map.
Unlike an old-timer.
An old-timer would tell you not to aim too high, because your body genuinely can't handle carrying that much weight.
As time ticked on:
In the top lane, Luo Ji completed his first completed core item—the [Turbo Chemtank] once again.
In the current ranked patch, the Chemtank had already received a minor nerf, but that nerf targeted Akali and Irelia, leaving Volibear completely unscathed.
Even if it did affect him, the match was still being played on patch 12.2, so it wouldn't reach him anyway.
"Turbo Chemtank?"
Outside the screen, a certain Volibear one-trick's eyes flashed with a hint of excitement.
Ever since Luo Ji became famous as the scientific researcher of the competitive scene—not just for his own plagiarism-tier strats, but because many one-trick specialists would privately send their self-researched builds straight to Luo Ji's livestream account backend in hopes of gaining some clout—
Did I just hit the jackpot?!
Awesome!
I won!!!
Sharing in that excitement were the vast audience in the livestream chat. For other champions' build paths, they might still need to hesitate and consider them.
But Volibear's build path? That called for immediate copying!
League of Legends, launch!
"Weird, do you guys know any Chemtank Volibear builds?" Seeing Luo Ji's itemization, a baffled Zika asked in team voice comms.
"You're the top laner, you're asking us?" Xun paused, immediately shooting back with a sarcastic remark.
"But I've never seen it..."
"If you haven't seen it, just play cowardly. You can't beat him right now anyway."
Zika's face darkened, and he nodded in agreement. With the opponent's Mythic item already completed while his own was still in the works, combined with the enemy's higher stats and an ultimate that allowed for tower dives without taking damage, playing safe and cowardly was indeed the better choice.
However...
When Luo Ji finally arrived with a wave of minions, and Zika sensibly retreated into the secluded bush out of sight:
Within vision,
Luo Ji's Volibear suddenly ignored the defensive tower entirely and charged blindly into his own jungle, even making sure to flash an emote as he left.
"It's over," Zika muttered suddenly.
"What's over?" Xun frowned, subconsciously glancing at the mini-map again.
On the mini-map top lane right now:
A huge wave of minions was crashing into the outer tower, their own top laner was hiding in the isolation bush, and there was no sign of Volibear anywhere in vision. With this positioning, Zika didn't have to worry about getting killed by the bear at all.
What on earth was over about this?
Wasn't this playing quite conservatively, steadily, and safely?
"I mean, your jungle is over."
"???"
When he finally processed what Zika meant, the first person to feel his scalp tingle wasn't the jungler Xun, but Mid-laner Yuekai.
They had studied V5's matches.
They also knew one of Luo Ji's traits: the moment he gained lane priority and shoved the wave in, he loved to take a stroll down to the mid lane.
The current situation matched the exact scenario the coach had warned them about during their private V5 study sessions. What should he do now?
He was only a Twisted Fate!
Taking another look at the jungler's position, the jungler was still clearing camps down near the bot lane.
But quickly, Yuekai thought of a solution.
Since the top lane had tossed the hot potato over, bringing the problem straight to the jungler and mid laner, why couldn't he pass the buck further and transfer the crisis to the bot lane?
You're coming to my mid lane, are you?
Fine!
I'm abandoning the mid lane entirely!
Staying under the tower might result in getting dove by the Volibear, but if he didn't stay under the tower, he could go dive the enemy's tower instead. As for the mid lane outer turret?
Well, the enemy had already used their Rift Herald anyway.
Giving them a few turret plates didn't matter; when the blame was assigned later, the top laner would definitely take the ultra-massive blame, the jungler would take the large blame, and he would only take a medium blame.
Don't ask why.
To ask is to know the top laner's surname is Luo—this was the Teacher Luo Effect.
Rookie was completely dumbfounded.
Originally, he had indeed been watching Luo Ji's descent path, planning to coordinate with the Volibear to dive the Twisted Fate. The minion wave had been slow-pushed, and he had roamed down, but suddenly the enemy Twisted Fate was completely gone?
Where did he go?
He wasn't even in Summoner's Control!
"What do we do?"
"Push the tower, what else? Such a huge defensive tower, if they don't send anyone, we'll just keep shredding it. I refuse to believe nobody will ever come back to defend the mid tower."
Thus,
A scene that shocked countless viewers unfolded.
Top lane:
After the defensive tower swallowed nearly half a wave of minions, the Renekton only dared to step back under the tower to farm after seeing the Volibear appear in mid lane. His posture was utterly humble, showing not a shred of the dignity of a stat-check monster.
Mid lane:
Volibear and Night-Shift Poppy were dismantling IG's mid outer tower together, yet despite such a major mid turret, not a single soul dared to return to defend it.
As for the bot lane—it was legendary.
In this game, Xiaoyan and PPGOD had planned to coast to a win. After all, the Tahm Kench and Senna combo was meant for riding coat-tails in the early-to-mid game. As long as they didn't throw crucial teamfights or collapse their bot lane, they could just play normally and wait for the trident to carry them to victory. It was an extremely comfortable lifestyle.
But that good life didn't last long.
Suddenly,
Not a single member of IG's mid-jungle duo could be seen on the map. By the time they finally heard Rookie and Luo Ji calling "Miss" in the team comms,
Before their eyes,
The duo of Aphelios and Thresh was closing in.
Behind them,
Xun's Diana was leaping out from their own jungle.
Above their heads,
Twisted Fate's [Destiny] was glowing brightly.
Bro, seriously?!
The two of them had been minding their own business in the bot lane, hadn't invaded the jungle, and hadn't done anything wicked. Was it really necessary to invest such a massive amount of blood capital just to dive them?
And that too, after giving up the mid tower.
Did you guys not want your base anymore?!
[Lul.]
[IG has completely lost their minds. Is this how you macro?]
[To be fair, it's the only way to stop the bleeding, right? Staying means getting dove by Volibear; trading blows with the enemy at least yields two kills plus the bot outer tower.]
[What happens next then? Losing the mid outer tower is equivalent to flinging the midlane gates wide open.]
[We'll deal with future problems in the future. Experiencing the thrill right now is what truly matters.]
[Right, play it like this! Give everything away, you can give it all. Give the dragon first, then give the Herald, now start giving away the mid outer tower. Next will be the dragon soul, then Nashor's tooth, and finally, just hand over the nexus crystal.]
The trolls in the livestream chat were laughing their heads off. The root of all this traced back to that early three-man gank and subsequent counter-kill.
Professional matches are not like solo queue. In solo queue, you can bounce back from dying a bunch of times because the winning team will throw, throwing leads to kills, kills lead to economic deficits, followed by a sudden miraculous teamfight win, after which they throw again in an infinite loop.
But competitive matches are different.
Rookie genuinely wanted revenge, Luo Ji had his eyes fixed firmly on the post-match bonus, and Karsa was celebrating his birthday today—the V5 trident's desire to win was through the roof.
How could IG possibly withstand a drill bit like this?
And so...
After Karsa arrived in the mid lane as well, the bot lane duo fell sequentially.
IG丶AHN killed V5丶Photic
IG丶AHN killed V5丶PPGOD
Double Kill!
Clearly,
IG had placed all their hopes of a comeback onto Aphelios.
Twisted Fate was no longer a factor; relying on TF for damage required a five-item or even six-item build. Renekton was about to enter his power spike and could hold his own for a bit, but all remaining hopes rested squarely on the AD carry.
Moreover,
Following the double-kill announcement, the notifications for both lineups mutually trading defensive towers rang out simultaneously.
In a sense,
Luo Ji actually admired IG's boldness.
Giving up the mid outer tower to trade for the enemy's bot outer tower plus two kills—this was practically gambling the entire team's future on the AD carry. While legacy teams possessed such audacity as well, most wouldn't resort to such unorthodox high-risk gambits this early in the game.
You could only say they truly lived up to being a team of youngsters.
The next nearly seven minutes were a period where IG completely avoided combat.
Aside from times when Twisted Fate had his ultimate ready and IG would rally around it to pick off isolated targets, the rest of the time they focused entirely on defensive farming, funneling resources straight into Aphelios's mouth.
Xun was having a rough time.
The biggest problem for the losing side is vision, and the core of vision is poverty.
Having to surrender a portion of his jungle camps to the AD carry had already left him under-leveled and under-funded, and to make matters worse, Luo Ji and Karsa were like economic bandits in the jungle under their advantageous state, causing Xun's income to plummet even further.
This easily led to a classic dilemma:
When the gold in your pocket is just barely enough to buy a specific item, but buying it leaves you with zero extra gold to afford a control ward, potentially leading to a game-losing opportunity for the enemy—
What would you choose?
Would you give up buying the item to buy a control ward?
Or would you think *screw it, items are more important than vision*?
Given Xun's gambler personality, he didn't hesitate for a single second and chose the latter. In his mind, he had already placed control wards earlier in the game, so why bother placing another one now?
The jungler also had his reasoning:
I roam across all three lanes and have already placed two control wards, but since we lack lane priority I can only drop dummy stealth wards for defensive vision. Does a jungler not know how useful control wards are?
Yet a control ward costs 75 gold, whereas stealth wards are completely free. The shopkeeper didn't earn a single penny off those.
Who hasn't faced the awkward situation of falling just short of gold after buying gear? Can you guarantee that every single time you recall and finish your items, you happen to have an extra 75 gold lying around?
If you force him to sell items to buy control wards, the moment he steps into the jungle and bumps into the enemy, he dies.
He didn't want to die; he wanted to live.
Is that okay?
Thus, after lazily dropping a stealth ward in a jungle entrance he deemed relatively safe, Xun completely ignored it and began running all over the map searching for gold to farm.
And this...
Happened to hand Luo Ji another opening.
"Strange, why do they have zero vision here?"
"None? How is that possible?"
"But there genuinely is none."
Luo Ji, having just stepped back out from the base, now possessed a semi-completed core item setup: the Chemtank-Black Cleaver Volibear.
In this patch, Chemtank was one of the few Mythic items that hadn't been nerfed, while Black Cleaver compensated for all the cooldown reduction, health, AD, and armor penetration that Volibear needed.
When would he reach his complete final form?
Add a Titanic Hydra later on, and he could stack Black Cleaver's passive with two auto-attacks. As the saying goes, reducing enemy armor is equivalent to gaining armor penetration; the Summoner's Rift relativity theory never goes out of style.
Stepping through the jungle entrance with his Sweeper active, Luo Ji was thoroughly stunned when he realized there really were no enemy wards around.
He had entered from the upper jungle entrance connected to the blue side's Blue Buff, sweeping all the way inward, and didn't encounter a single enemy ward even as he reached the wolf camp.
Going any further inside wasn't safe.
Because even without vision, the moment someone was near tier-two towers, stepping out would expose him.
However, if there truly was no vision here, his current positioning was practically invincible!
"Wait for me! Don't move! Hey, it actually looks like there's a chance. I'm moving toward you!"
"Me too, me too, don't rush!"
With Rookie and Karsa's immense experience, they instantly spotted this massive opening.
They directly pressured the mid lane. The moment the enemy's attention was fully drawn to the front line, Volibear would suddenly leap out from the flank. Even if they couldn't instantly melt Aphelios, they could easily fracture the enemy's front and back lines.
This teamfight was a guaranteed win!
Luo Ji understood the assignment completely. He planted his rear right in the dead center of the wolf pit, pretending to be the big wolf.
Little did he know,
The exact moment he squatted down in place,
Beneath him, the actual wolves began to respawn.
Up front, before the V5 members had fully grouped up, the wolf camp area was still considered a relatively safe farming spot for IG.
AHN, playing the AD role, looked into the pitch-black jungle, hesitated for a split second, and decided to risk it. The wolves were so close, he had his Flash up, and his teammates were nearby.
It should...
Be in time, right?
Thinking this, he headed straight into the jungle.
Though the distance ahead was pitch black, the wolf camp wasn't far—just a single corner turn away from his longed-for, adorable resources.
With that thought,
A trace of involuntary joy even crept onto AHN's face.
He rounded the corner.
Before his eyes,
Fresh things had indeed spawned inside the wolf pit.
Two small wolves, one big wolf, and one big bear.
Awesome~
They actually spawned a triple combo, a high-tier monster!
Wait!
What on earth did they spawn?!