Sure enough, the effect this game produced truly lived up to its billing as a marquee matchup. In Game One, Brother Infinite Borders pulling out mid Lucian was already shocking enough. After all, since Lucian's minor adjustments, he's rarely been played in other lanes. Whenever he's picked, he's almost always paired with Nami to gain extra passive damage.
Combined with Electrocute, the burst damage is maxed out. At level two, there's basically no bot lane duo that can trade evenly with it.
Of course, according to Riot's update plans, Nami is about to be nerfed. Riot won't allow this combo to dominate bot lane forever—especially at such a sensitive point in time.
It's the Summer Split. Every small patch tweak forces teams to consider more factors.
Because patch changes directly affect the upcoming World Championship.
Based on even the slightest changes, predicting the meta in advance is a quality every club aiming for results must have.
If you wait until the patch is fully locked in before starting to learn, there's often not enough time.
On this point, the LPL is clearly inferior to the neighboring region.
At Worlds, you can usually tell with just a bit of observation—our teams are copying homework.
That's not necessarily bad… copying homework in BO1s doesn't easily expose problems. But once you reach BO5 elimination matches, opponents often set traps. A few bans here, a few picks there, and suddenly the coaches don't know what to do.
That's why it's common to see LPL teams massacre Korean teams in groups, only to collapse in knockouts. Of course, if you can't even perform in groups, then that's just pure trash—no learning at all. And yes, I'm talking about you, Crescent Moon.
JDG backstage lounge.
Homme was already seeing red. He hadn't expected to get beaten into this state.
A fifteen-thousand gold deficit at the end of the game—was that something humans could produce?
Especially that mid laner. Picking Akali and then, when it came time to dive the backline, not even having the courage to go in? Stepping back with E—was that for real?
The opposing mid charged straight in with Galeforce, shoving his guns in your face. Wasn't that the perfect chance to assassinate him?
You had Flash, Rocketbelt, and ultimate. Failing to solo-kill him was honestly incomprehensible.
Completely absurd…
As for bot lane, there was nothing to say. That was a tactical mistake on his part. He hadn't anticipated Lucian being flexed to mid. In that case, the Shadow Isles duo was impossible to foresee.
Kalista paired with Thresh against Zeri and Yuumi was like parents double-teaming their rebellious daughter.
So you want to keep a cat? Come here and taste the belt.
"Everyone get your spirits up. Game One was purely a tactical mistake, plus overconfidence in champion selection. TES really has their own system. We absolutely can't look at them with old thinking anymore! Otherwise, the result will be the same as SKT."
"As for Game Two, Knight will still play mid." Homme glanced between Yagao and Knight.
Yagao, in his eyes, had a low ceiling but a stable floor.
Knight had both a high ceiling and a high floor. If they wanted to beat TES, Knight was clearly the better choice. Last game, blind confidence led to that Akali pick. Knowing it was Lucian and still taking Akali—wasn't that just asking to get beaten? If it had been LeBlanc, they could've actually won.
"But from now on, all your champion choices have to listen to me. I'll be the one thinking."
Knight didn't reply, only nodded.
But when it came down to it—wasn't Akali the one you told me to pick?
You said choose between LeBlanc and Akali. If that's the case, why didn't you just tell me to pick LeBlanc directly?
Only after I lose and embarrass myself do you pull this act. Honestly, Homme is really disgusting.
"For this kind of laning, mid has to take a strong champion and pair with a strong jungler. Even if mid-jungle loses trades, they can't let the opponent carry tempo so easily."
Against a team like TES, scaling champs are useless. You can play safe in lane, but they'll just go kill your teammates—and you have no way to stop it.
Homme rubbed his eyes. There really weren't many strong mid champions available. Syndra could only be picked in certain situations. As for the others, there was even less to say. Maybe Sylas could be let through.
His head hurt. Facing a team like TES truly was a century-long puzzle.
"Brother Infinite Borders just had a good game. Form is a very fleeting thing—you really can't say what'll happen next," Yagao said, handing Knight a cup of water.
Knight smiled and accepted it, but inside he felt waves of nausea.
This scene was far too familiar.
Back when he was on TES, whenever Lin Fan finished a game, it was his job to pour the water.
Even though he smiled every time, inside he was cursing nonstop.
Watching backstage, he'd be hoping Lin Fan got blown up.
Putting himself in Yagao's shoes, Knight was sure Yagao was thinking the same thing now.
Seeing him get crushed in lane, Yagao must be secretly delighted.
And now you pour me water? Heh. Fake. Disgusting.
If you're a man, just say what you think. Who are you putting on this act for?
You want to see me get smashed by Lin Fan?
Impossible.
Game Two—I'm definitely getting this back.
Looking at Yagao's smiling face, Knight felt like throwing up.
Luckily, at that moment, a staff member knocked on JDG's lounge door.
Knight didn't even drink the water. He put it down on the table and stood up, walking out.
So many people want to see me make a fool of myself.
I won't let you.
Game Two, sides swapped. TES moved to red side, while JDG took blue.
On blue side, there was a chance to secure a strong mid champion. As long as mid lane held steady, even releasing a version OP wouldn't be too dangerous.
TL: Version OP is a character that's very strong in the current version/meta.
"Alright, both teams are back on stage. In the last game, JDG lost heavily to TES—almost without any resistance. I wonder if JDG made tactical adjustments during the break. If not, today's match might be very difficult. Brother Infinite Borders' form is still excellent."
"JDG directly bans Kalista here. Are they starting by targeting bot lane? That's not a bad choice."
"TES bans Senna, cutting off the Senna composition. If blue side first-picks Senna, it can be very troublesome. Tahm Kench doesn't synergize well with others besides Senna."
JDG then banned Galio and Viego, refusing to allow wave-clear roamers.
TES followed by banning Lucian and Zeri.
That left only two options in front of Knight.
The first was Syndra.
The second was Sylas.
But if Sylas was picked, the opponent would likely grab Syndra just to spite them.
It wasn't fear of Lin Fan's Syndra—it was just genuinely annoying to play against.
A hard choice.
Maybe Syndra was still the best option. Strong, long-ranged, and oppressive. Sylas clearly fell short in comparison, especially against long-range mids.
Homme was staring at the mid lane pool, thinking hard about what to pick.
TES's champion depth was simply too deep. Whatever you picked, it felt slightly lacking.
The only truly safe choice was Syndra. Especially since she was open—if the opponent got her, Knight would likely get destroyed in lane.
In that case, better to take her himself. After all, they'd already said mid had to take a strong champion.
So after brief consideration, they locked in Syndra.
Seeing the ID "369," Homme was reminded of his time coaching WE. Back then, there was also a top laner with numbers—957.
He didn't know what the numbers meant, but they all conveyed one word: fierce.
If they wanted to win this game, top lane pressure would also be significant.
At least in this BP, there wouldn't be any obvious cracks.
"JDG once again targets Brother Infinite Borders, though not as heavily as last game. They use a pick-instead-of-ban strategy to take Syndra. Knight's Syndra is indeed quite good—it's worth looking forward to."
"Brother Infinite Borders' performance is still absurd. Even after playing so many roaming mages, his damage per minute is still at 594—damage king! If he got champions like Syndra, it's hard to imagine what that would look like. JDG's pick-deny here is actually quite smart."
Amid Guan Zeyuan and Rita's chatter, both teams quickly locked in their first three picks.
JDG: Syndra, Aphelios, Renata.
TES: Yuumi, Sivir, Wukong.
"Both teams' bot lane duos look solid. TES's Wukong gives strong engage presence. With Yuumi attached, there's a chance JDG could instantly explode. Now it depends on how the rest of the draft handles this."
"I wonder what Brother Infinite Borders will pick into Knight's Syndra…"
The livestream chat exploded.
Seeing Knight pick Syndra, ridicule flooded in nonstop.
The undisputed LPL number one Syndra belonged to Brother Infinite Borders.
Left Hand daring to pick it—his courage really was something.
Respect typed into chat.
Of course, mockery followed right after.
"Messing with the master!"
"Messing with the master!"
"Not necessarily. Brother Infinite Borders plays with balls in-game. Left Hand plays with balls offline. The number of balls he's handled is probably more than Brother Infinite Borders' hidden champion pool."
"Damn it! Riot really hardened me. I've never touched a ball in real life—any kind soul got a contact? Heavy reward guaranteed?"
"Is that what you tell the police too?"
"Either way, Brother Infinite Borders is definitely crushing Knight this game. His fists are as hard as ours right now. Watching Knight play Syndra—how is that not NTR?"
"…You bastards really know how to be disgusting."
Second ban phase.
JDG focused entirely on mid lane. If you won't pick, then we won't let you have anything. Especially champions Syndra struggles against, plus LeBlanc from previous patches.
Theoretically a 50–50 matchup—but more dependent on player form.
The fifth ban was Lissandra. Syndra hates that matchup. Once Lissandra hits six with jungle support, it's basically guaranteed kills.
TES targeted jungle in response. With Syndra out, JDG was clearly aiming for early mid-jungle pressure. Wukong's jungle fighting was decent, but some brawlers were still problematic.
After some thought, they banned Lee Sin and 369's Gragas.
369 mastering Gragas proved he wasn't someone who needed a year per champion—he just hadn't had his enlightenment yet. One day of enlightenment, and he became "Nine Treasure."
TES followed their usual routine, locking in Gwen as their fourth pick.
Top lane didn't need to dominate, but it couldn't get bullied either. Gwen was perfect.
Then discussion turned to the fifth pick.
"Against Syndra, why don't we just go Yasuo or Zed?" Luo Sheng suggested.
"Hahaha, I think that works."
"Yeah, sounds good."
"Or Akali? Knight used Akali last game."
"No need. He's not playing mid Lucian. I say we do what we did last game—counter the countered hero. No need to pick a counterpick. Vladimir." Tian said.
"Honestly, you're ruthless," Lin Fan shook his head. "If this got out officially, we'd get annihilated. Completely annihilated. No need."
"These champs aren't great. Vladimir… forget it. Azir."
Using Vladimir would be too outrageous. If Knight couldn't even beat Vladimir, he'd have no face left as a pro.
No need to end his career in one game.
And honestly, Lin Fan wasn't confident he could beat Syndra with Vladimir either.
Forget it.
Azir was fine.
"Damn, Brother Infinite Borders, you're the ruthless one. If Knight loses this, he might actually get benched." Tian shook his head.
"Bullshit. Am I that kind of person?"
Mark laughed as he found Azir and locked it in.
"Azir!!!"
When the pick came through, reactions were mixed—mostly confusion.
As for Knight, his lips twitched.
Who are you looking down on?
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup