Rise

At first glance, things weren’t going well for Lin Feng in the Support role. His Garen had used Decisive Strike twice so far in the laning phase. The skill gave the champion a burst of move speed and culminated in a downward slash that dealt extra damage to an enemy champion while also silencing them. It was a move to quickly close distance and engage. But both times that Lin Feng had used it, he failed to close in on the enemy Jinx. Making things even worse was that he’d gotten hit with Morgana’s Dark Binding on one of those chase attempts, which resulted in his Garen taking a lot of damage. All in all, things did not seem to be going well at all. But Lin Feng was unfazed, because all of this was part of a plan that he’d been cooking up. 

Everything was within expectations. The truth was that Lin Feng had no intention of actually closing in on Jinx while he was only at Level 1. He knew that he had no chance of actually pulling that off. If the Jinx couldn’t avoid a Decisive Strike charge from Garen, she wouldn’t even survive in the lowest tier of Silver. There was no chance of the Jinx making it all the way to Diamond. Given that obvious fact, Lin Feng never intended to target Jinx. His real target had always been the opposing Morgana!

Lin Feng smiled. I think they fell for it! That first Decisive Strike charge, that was just a feint. I was never going to catch Jinx. But it did get Morgana to drop her guard. And the second Decisive Strike managed to land on Morgana all because of that. But Morgana still doesn’t get what’s going on, and that’s how I need to keep it.

Lin Feng glanced down at his Garen’s experience bar as he continued to lane with Tang Bingyao. Hm… I’m going to hit Level 2 soon. Tang Tang’s Kalista has great wave clear and she’s pressuring the Jinx away from minions hard… we’re going to hit Level 2 before they do. That might be a problem…

“Tang Tang, slow down a little,” Lin Feng said in voice chat. 

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao nodded, understanding what Lin Feng was trying to do. 

Once it became too obvious that Tang Bingyao’s Kalista and Lin Feng’s Garen would hit Level 2 first, the opposing duolaners start playing far more cautiously and have their guard up. They would start backing up towards their tower and wait for an opportunity. But if Tang Bingyao and Lin Feng slowed down and made it appear like the difference wasn’t too insurmountable, that would change things. Instead of backing up, the Jinx and Morgana would see a chance to hit Level 2 first by pushing a little harder. And in that rush, they would be more reckless and leave themselves open. Tang Bingyao and Lin Feng already understood this at an intrinsic level, which is why Lin Feng didn’t need to explain his plan in detail or use any extra words. 

Tang Bingyao purposefully started slowing down her wave clear speed. And according to the plan, Gang Xi’s Jinx started trying to mow down minions faster in an attempt to hit Level 2 first.

As another blue minion died, Lin Feng glanced down at his experience bar again. Only one minion left… He spoke into the voice chat, “Tang Tang, get ready!” 

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, and his posture changed to reflect the intensity of the moment. Two seconds later, the final blue minion had fallen to critically low levels of health from Tang Bingyao’s auto attacks. At the exact same moment, Jinx took down another minion. She was also only a single minion kill away from Level 2.

“Go!” Lin Feng shouted. He flicked his mouse and tapped on his keyboard. His Garen charged out of the brush with Decisive Strike, straight at Jinx! 

Morgana immediately reacted to protect Jinx with Dark Binding. The violet coloured projectile flew at the charging Garen.

Now you’re dead! Lin Feng’s eyes flashed with bloodlust. Right as Morgana’s Dark Binding was about to hit his Garen, Lin Feng pushed down on the D key—Flash! Dazzling motes of light enveloped his Garen and teleported him out of the path of the Dark Binding! But instead of Flashing towards the Jinx, Lin Feng’s Garen appeared right in front of Morgana!

Gang Zi’s heart shook. Shit! He wasn’t after me! It was a bait! He cried out in voice chat, “Watch out!” He was already spamming the retreat ping in lane, but it was too late. Garen’s Decisive Strike ended when he ran into Morgana after the Flash, and his blade had already sunk into her flesh. Morgana’s health was carved away, and the skill also Silenced her!

While this was happening, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista finished off the final minion in the wave. A brilliant light encircled Garen and Kalista as both champions simultaneously hit Level 2! 

But Lin Feng wasn’t even close to finishing with the Morgana. After the Decisive Strike, he unleashed his Ignite upon her. As the unquenchable flames roasted her health with every tick, Garen started whirling around with his blade held out and cleaved further through Morgana’s health with every rotation—Judgment!

Things were not looking good for Morgana, who was currently bleeding through her life. But things were about to get a lot worse. Once Tang Bingyao finished off the final minion in the wave, she had her Kalista leap forward with the skill Martial Poise. That allowed her to get close enough to Morgana to begin attacking. Kalista started hurling spears that pierced through the still Silenced Morgana. One spear! Two spears! 

That’s when the Silence from Garen’s Decisive Strike ended, giving Morgana a brief window to attempt an escape. Which Morgana took by Flashing away. 

“Tang Tang! Chase!” Lin Feng cried out.

Tang Bingyao was already moving before Lin Feng’s reminder. She had her Kalista follow after Morgana with a Flash of her own, and continued raining spears down. Three spears! Four spears!

Gang Zi saw the danger that Morgana was in, and immediately activated the Summoner Spell Heal to try and help. It would give Morgana a little bit more of a buffer to escape. But unfortunately, it was too little too late.

As Morgana frantically tried to flee, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista relentlessly pursued with deadly spears. Five spears! After the fifth spear had dug itself into Morgana’s body, Kalista hurled a final spear. This one was empowered and stronger than the auto-attacks that had been harassing Morgana until now. That last empowered spear hurled through the air and buried itself in Morgana’s back—Pierce!

Then Tang Bingyao stopped, and pushed down on her E key. This activated the skill that Kalista gained upon reaching Level 2. Rend! Kalista telekinetically ripped out every spear in Morgana’s body at the same time, dealing further damage! 

And with the spears came the last of Morgana’s health! 

《First Blood!》

As the announcer’s voice rang out, Qian Lu’s eyes were trembling with emotion. W-what a quick first blood!

Across the table, the two duolaners on the Blue Team had unsightly expressions on their faces. Gang Zi looked like he wanted to kill someone, his hand trembling as he gripped down harder on his mouse. Fuck! Fuck! What the hell was that!? We had no time to react to any of that! How? Just… how? How do you guard against that Garen Kalista double Flash engage!? I’ve never even seen that in a solo queue or anywhere outside pro play! Wait… was Garen playing bad before on purpose?

As he slowly put everything together in his head, Gang Zi’s jaw clenched from rage. 

After picking up first blood on Morgana, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista score became 1/0/0, giving her a lead over Jinx. Of course, Tang Bingyao only managed to get the kill thanks to Lin Feng’s perfect engage. A fact that he was more than happy to point out. 

“See! What did I say! Even if I’m playing Support, I can still carry!” Lin Feng exclaimed in high spirits.

But it wasn’t just in the Bot Lane that Team Shanghai was currently shining. While everyone’s focus happened to be on Bot Lane because of Gang Zi, there was action happening elsewhere on the Rift. Action that, sadly, went unnoticed for the most part. Four minutes into the game, Zhang Hao’s Irelia had managed to solo kill the opposing Rumble. But once the announcer’s voice rang out, everyone paused to take a look.

《An enemy has been slain!》

They found Zhang Hao’s Irelia looking down at the corpse of the Rumble. And on Team Shanghai’s side of the computers, they could feel Zhang Hao radiating pure bliss. This was a big moment for him, especially after the Collegiate Cup. During the entire tournament, he’d been the weakest link on Team Shanghai. Every game of every match was an unrelenting torment of stress for Zhang Hao. He was so consistently outmatched that he couldn’t even dream of getting a solo kill during the Collegiate Cup. In fact, a good game for him was one in which he didn’t die to a gank! So this moment, right now, was a great confidence booster for him. It was easy to forget that Zhang Hao was a Diamond 1 Toplaner during the Collegiate Cup. So easy that he’d forgotten it himself. 

Until right now, as he stared at the dead Rumble on the screen. Ahhh! A solo kill! I haven’t felt like this for months… it feels so good to stomp on someone again. I should really thank the guy I’m up against. I forgot what it felt like to be good, and this guy is playing so bad it touched my frozen heart and woke me up. Truly a lad among lads!