Mid lane completely blew up.
But even now, Rookie still couldn't figure out why it collapsed so thoroughly.
Was it because the opposing jungler stayed glued to mid the whole time? Or because Infinite Borders Bro's Syndra was simply too good—every laning detail maxed out, everything airtight?
Or was it all of the above?
Rookie didn't know. But this was a match—there was no time to overthink it.
He could only pin his hopes on his teammates.
At the nine-minute mark, Jarvan finally hit level six.
Once Karsa reached six, his goal was clear: TES's bot lane duo.
Even though the last gank bot had been traded back, TES had burned a full four summoner spells.
That made bot lane a perfect target—especially since mid had just been killed. There was no need to obsess over ending Syndra's streak.
Because in the past, someone would probably still die. Trading for Syndra was acceptable.
What you had to fear was Syndra having Flash—killing someone and still getting out. If that happened, it was snowball on snowball.
The team was already behind this much. They had to make Jarvan's first ultimate count. No waste.
"The ward disappeared. I remember he placed it around seven minutes. He probably doesn't have wards on him now, so he didn't go place another," PPGod said quickly.
Hearing that, Karsa felt more confident and walked openly toward bot.
As Jarvan moved into position, V5's bot lane immediately stopped playing so safe.
That kind of behavior was unnatural. If you'd been cowering the whole time and then suddenly started stepping up, it was obvious someone was coming.
Like a teddy dog—safe in its owner's arms, it bares its teeth and acts fierce. Put it on the ground, and it goes silent and walks away.
"Jungle's here! Run, run, run!" Mark yelled, immediately stepping in front of JackeyLove.
No matter which angle Jarvan came from, he'd have to get through him first.
But Nami's wave surged forward, crashing into the path of their retreat.
Nautilus and Kalista were both knocked up.
"Beautiful!" Karsa's eyes lit up.
The Flash he hadn't used mid finally had value.
He EQ'd through Nautilus, then at max range knocked Kalista up—an extremely clean EQ–Flash.
He landed, activated W to slow.
This play—V5 wanted everything. Neither of them was getting out.
From behind, Lucian followed with The Culling.
Dududududu—
Nautilus's backside sparkled under the bullets.
It was devastating for both body and mind. His HP bar dropped in chunks.
JackeyLove saw it and immediately ulted, pulling Nautilus into his "Poké Ball."
"Run back, run back. If you crash into them here, I don't think I get out either. One dead is better than two."
"We can sell, we can sell—he's here! None of them are leaving this time." Lin Fan shouted.
Mark heard that and headbutted Jarvan, knocking him up.
Karsa smiled—perfect. Less hassle.
He pressed R.
Jarvan leapt into the air.
"Demacia!"
Cataclysm came crashing down.
Lucian and Nami followed up and instantly finished the low-HP Nautilus.
JackeyLove, using Kalista's mobility, hopped out of the ultimate and inched toward the wall.
V5's trio were seeing red. Kalista's HP was irresistible—especially to Photic.
TES's ADC slot used to be his. Then JackeyLove arrived and took the starter spot.
He rode the bench for ages—so long he even spent time grinding in the secondary league.
This match was his proof: he could do it. TES letting him go was pure blindness.
But at that moment—
Two spheres were pushed through the wall.
One from the right, one from the left—stunning Jarvan in front, and Lucian and Nami behind.
Even scarier: the damage was huge. More than half their HP vanished.
JackeyLove immediately turned to fight.
From the side, Lee Sin used Lucian for a massive displacement and dove in.
He kept piling damage onto Lucian.
Early-game Lee Sin damage was still brutal—especially after getting a kill top and recalling for items.
That kick nearly sent Photic's kidneys flying.
Syndra finally arrived, holding an angle from the side, not stepping up immediately.
Her W and E weren't off cooldown yet. She just had to drop Qs from the flank.
She was still a mage—not Lee Sin. No need to brawl face-to-face.
With Syndra adding damage, Tian easily secured Lucian's kill.
As for Nami and Jarvan, they were no threat.
Lin Fan and JackeyLove each took one kill. The distribution was clean.
At this point, the one eating the most was Tian's Lee Sin—three kills in hand, perfect development. This game, he could carry.
"Brother Fan is insane. You even predicted they'd gank bot."
"Just watch the minimap and think. We killed Jarvan earlier and you cleared his entire top jungle. Then we killed LeBlanc again, but Jarvan didn't come mid to catch that wave—so he had to be making something happen on a side lane."
"JackeyLove and Mark have no summoners. After I hit six, ganking bot again had a good chance—at least 80%."
"Even if we didn't catch him, Jarvan and Irelia have too little CC. The Duke would just Flash away. Not a big deal."
"…"
TES backstage, in the lounge.
Luo Sheng listened to the team comms and felt extremely satisfied.
This was a true shot-calling mid laner. With him, the team always knew what to do next, and winning became simpler.
No more dragging.
A game that should end in 25–26 minutes getting dragged past 30—didn't they know "the later it gets, the more variables"?
Every extra item the opponent got increased the chance of a comeback.
Especially ADCs—once both sides hit three items, the gap shrank fast.
Meanwhile, Wawa and Miller were wide-eyed.
"I've seen that ultra-long push before. Knight did it once in Finals. But this is the first time I've seen two spheres pushed in two directions to stun multiple people."
"Same. First time for me too. I kept thinking about it while casting."
"The director already prepared the replay—let's take a look."
"After Syndra and Lee Sin killed LeBlanc and shoved the wave, they immediately moved bot. They probably predicted it in advance."
"On the way, he used Q once… then picked it up with Q, and aimed at the back corner—QEW in an instant."
Two spheres were pushed in different directions.
Stunning Jarvan, plus Lucian and Nami.
"So Syndra's sphere push can be played like that? That's crazy."
"One E pushing two spheres… Syndra's picked so rarely. I usually play top, so my thinking is stuck on the ultimate—spheres scattering everywhere." Miller didn't hide it.
"And because TES mid-jungle rotated so quickly, what should've been a big win for V5 turned into a total disaster—three for one. The game state is starting to look unlivable."
"With a mid like Infinite Borders Bro, the sense of security is maxed out."
"V5 has to calm down and stop forcing plays. The gold gap is already big."
The kill score was 2 to 6—only a four-kill difference—but the gold gap was already 3,000.
With no interference, Tian secured the first Cloud Drake.
"I knew Infinite Borders Bro was the steady type. Look at what he built." Wawa laughed.
When people saw Lost Chapter, they assumed Luden's Echo.
But he pulled out Crown of the Shattered Queen.
"Honestly, it's a very reasonable purchase. The gold lead is big enough—Syndra's damage will be plenty."
"With this, he can survive a lethal burst. Rookie will have a headache. If he tries to trigger the Crown passive, Syndra can catch him with a combo. If he tries a full one-shot build, that doesn't work either."
…
When Lin Fan returned to lane, Rookie opened the scoreboard and checked Syndra's items.
His head buzzed.
Even with bad development, once he finished Luden's, he might still find a chance to pick Syndra—this was the helplessness of squishies against assassin-mages.
But with Crown built, his proud instant burst turned into nothing.
"This guy gives zero openings."
If it were anyone else with such a lead, they'd definitely build Luden's… This game was slipping away.
But LeBlanc was his own pick—he took it out of confidence, believing he could beat the matchup.
Instead, he realized he'd been too arrogant.
Ten straight wins had made him float a little.
Noticing Syndra stepping toward him, Rookie snapped back to reality.
At this stage, Syndra's items were too good, plus her level was high. Her waveclear was far beyond normal.
QE push, then pick up a sphere and smash it down—one wave was basically gone.
Once the wave hit tower, she ate turret plates without restraint, constantly controlling spheres beside the tower.
Rookie stood behind, too scared to move.
He could survive four spheres—but five was dangerous.
So he could only watch Syndra take plates right under his nose.
In other words, mid lane belonged to Lin Fan now.
Whatever Lin Fan wanted to do, Rookie couldn't stop it.
At 11:30, after clearing a wave, Syndra moved toward top side.
Rich got the signal and immediately ran from first tower to the "self-isolation bush" near second tower.
The last person forced to hide there was Letme.
But Lin Fan mainly came to help Tian with Rift Herald.
Top ganks depended on circumstances.
Usually, after signaling, a gank was hard to pull off.
Still, it successfully limited Gwen's farming, and Zoom was munching turret plates.
V5 kept guarding against Syndra roams, but even tight nerves loosen eventually.
At 13:30, TES mid-jungle moved bot and went for a 4-man dive on two.
With Nautilus tanking first, Lucian was knocked up under tower by an ultimate and had no room to outplay.
Syndra followed with QE push into ultimate, deleting Lucian from full HP.
A fed mid laner is also the ADC's worst nightmare.
Unless you're at the point of one auto one kill, you only have one fate: get erased by one rotation.
It was a role mechanic.
Mid laners live on spells. ADCs live on autos.
One is the main damage source in early-to-mid game; the other is the late-game finisher.
As for PPGod's Nami, it wasn't any better. He forced out a W heal, but Kalista still ripped him out with a spear pull.
Nautilus, who had tanked to the limit, was pulled into the Poké Ball the next second.
Seeing the clock about to hit 14 minutes, Tian immediately summoned Rift Herald.
He ate all bot turret plates, then took first turret.
Up to this point, TES's two carries were fully online.
After taking bot outer, they rotated mid.
V5 mid-jungle rushed to defend, but facing three-man pressure, they felt shaky.
Karsa hesitated—and Lin Fan seized it, stunning him on the spot.
Tian saw it and kicked in.
JackeyLove's eyes lit up.
"Kill!"
He started hopping in, spearing Jarvan nonstop.
When the CC ended, Karsa tried to EQ out—but got exploded mid-flight.
Now only LeBlanc was left. Mid outer tower fell.
At 17:37, TES secured the second Rift Herald.
They continued the push, taking V5's top and mid tier-two towers in sequence.
The pressure skyrocketed.
V5 tried to look for a comeback, but TES never split up.
So V5 could only spread out and farm lanes.
Rookie guided LeBlanc toward the ruins of top tier-two.
Then a Dark Sphere appeared under his feet.
He wanted to W away—but it ended before it began.
QER with Electrocute—one rotation kill.
He went back to fountain before his clone passive even had time to trigger.
The gap was simply too big.
LeBlanc only had Luden's and Sorcerer's Shoes.
Syndra had Crown of the Shattered Queen, Shadowflame, Sorcerer's Shoes—and was "studying," too.
Five-sphere damage was lethal.
LeBlanc getting deleted was only natural.
V5 was nearby and tried to avenge Rookie.
PPGod popped his ultimate and forced Lin Fan's Flash.
But V5 had stepped out of the safety of their base.
From the back, Lee Sin and Gnar jumped out—slapping Nami and Lucian into the wall.
Buy one, get two—bot lane got eaten again.
At this point, they didn't even need Baron. They could go straight for the base.
At 18 minutes, V5's top inhibitor fell.
They were down 7,000 gold.
TES started setting vision around Baron.
With holes everywhere, V5 was powerless. They could only have Karsa try a desperate steal.
But blue side has a natural disadvantage for Baron steals.
Other than donating another kill, nothing changed.
After taking Baron, TES started pushing.
All V5 could do was throw their bodies in front of TES.
And the ending was inevitably tragic.
At 23:21, V5 were wiped.
Under the five-man siege, V5's Nexus exploded.
"Congratulations to TES!"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup