Knight watched the other side lock in Azir.
He was basically about to scream.
People pick Syndra into Azir, sure—but almost nobody willingly picks Azir into Syndra. And this was on the counterpick, under the spotlight. A disadvantage champion into an advantage champion. If he didn't win this lane, he'd get flamed into oblivion.
Just look at Knight after last game. Open the chat and you'd see "Coward Hand" spam everywhere.
Bad items were one thing, but picking an assassin and being too scared to output—why even play an assassin then? Might as well pick Azir and just poke, poke, poke from the back. At least then he wouldn't have gotten turned into a complete scrub by Brother Infinite Borders' mid Lucian. Maybe he'd even have room to perform.
After all, once the Desert Emperor's soldiers are out, who dares to step up and deal damage—Lucian or Kalista?
As for whether Azir could even survive lane… that wasn't within the netizens' consideration at all.
From last game, "Trash Hand" had fully cemented the "Coward Hand" title.
"Reverse counterpick—Brother Infinite Borders has a move. He really doesn't have Knight in his eyes at all."
"What's there to respect? Syndra is Brother Infinite Borders' signature. He's memorized the matchup by heart. My verdict: free kills."
"I admit Brother Infinite Borders is strong, but champion matchup still matters a lot. This game should be JDG mid-jungle tempo all the way. Azir still needs time to scale."
Even the two commentators were analyzing the Azir versus Syndra matchup.
No matter what, the core issue was clear—Azir has no lane priority into Syndra.
Their early fighting power isn't on the same level. If Syndra lands one ability, Azir needs two abilities to trade back. It gets more obvious the longer it goes. Azir even risks getting one-shot by a Q–E–R four-orb combo.
At that moment, both sides swapped champions around, and the full comps were laid out for everyone to see.
Blue side JDG: top Gnar, jungle Sejuani, mid Syndra, bot duo Aphelios and Renata.
Red side TES: top Gwen, jungle Wukong, mid Azir, bot duo Sivir and Yuumi.
In terms of raw violence, blue side was clearly more brutal. And with Renata, a full all-in might even get someone revived. Compared to last game, red side's frontline disadvantage was even more obvious. Whether they could teamfight would depend heavily on Azir and Wukong coordinating the engage.
Once items came online, Azir's ability to restrict the blue side was still immense.
A mid-lane turret of a champion—who are you kidding? Since S6 he'd been nerfed repeatedly, yet he still stood tall, all because of his kit. His waveclear is powerful, and unlike Anivia, he isn't easy to catch and kill.
On the caster desk, Guan Zeyuan kept emphasizing that Azir would be under pressure against Syndra. But if he could successfully weather the early game, then with Brother Infinite Borders' skill, he could absolutely take over in the mid-to-late game.
Both coaches walked to center stage and shook hands, and the game entered the loading screen.
Game Two continued the same type of opening as Game One. Judging from the comps, there was no need to waste time. It wasn't easy to get kills early.
So both teams formed a single-file line, standard opening to prevent an invade.
When Lin Fan saw Knight's Syndra appear, he also "greeted" his old teammate.
He flashed an emote and danced.
A little warm-up to liven up the match atmosphere.
The audience saw Azir flashing the "So weak!" emote and couldn't help letting out a startled gasp, a small ripple of commotion.
Knight was already holding in a breath of anger. He picked Syndra first because he wanted lane advantage—lane bully, anything goes. Yet the opponent acted like he was afraid Knight wouldn't have advantage, locking in Azir and then walking up to his face to spam "So weak."
No one can deal with you? This arrogant?
Frowning, Knight cautiously nudged Syndra forward a step and tossed out a Q. If it hit, great value. If it missed, whatever.
The opponent sidestepped immediately, summoned sand soldiers, and started poking.
Stab, stab, stab.
Knight was furious. But with sand soldiers out, he didn't dare walk up to auto. He had to back off.
Two hits in, and Lin Fan already collected an extra seven gold from First Strike. Before minions even arrived, Knight was already down twelve gold on first contact.
Honestly, Knight's expression twisted. Getting outplayed in his face was just annoying.
He checked his cooldowns. As soon as his skill was back up, if he hit a Q he could follow with an auto, and it wouldn't feel so bad.
So as he retreated, he found a safer angle, stepped forward again, and prepared to auto.
Lin Fan didn't flinch. The "golden crispy chicken" raised its hand, and a yellow beam of sand-fueled damage struck Syndra's head.
And to be fair—Knight does have real skill.
He watched Azir's retreat route and cast Q toward the side corner.
Lin Fan didn't expect to get predicted, but it was normal. Knight might play timid in teamfights and only dare to output in winning fights, but his individual skill was absolutely legit.
It didn't matter. First Strike had already procced. Let him tag me once—at least it pays. And it's Syndra; Azir doesn't lose in this trade.
They disengaged.
Syndra lost two bars of HP. Azir lost a little over one.
Before minions even arrived, this trade didn't matter. They could both recall and return with the wave.
Knight backed toward his turret and started recalling. The channel ticked down for about five seconds.
Then Azir walked up again.
Knight had to cancel recall.
He checked the HP—Syndra had a bit over 400, Azir had a bit over 500. That difference wasn't huge. Fine. If I can't recall, then I can't recall. Once levels come up, I'll kill him!
But then he heard the bot lane duo shouting.
"Back back back—their duo is too strong at level one!"
"This is so annoying. Yuumi level one with Sivir is disgusting!" Hope only stepped up once, ate Sivir's boomerang plus Yuumi's Q slow, then got autoed twice. Nearly half his HP vanished.
At this timing, there was no way to recall. If you recall, the lane collapses instantly.
Especially since Hope took Cleanse, not Teleport.
Against Yuumi, most ADCs take Cleanse to avoid getting rooted to death by Final Chapter at level six.
Yuumi attaches to the jungler, presses R, and you can't run. And TES's jungler was Wukong—high damage, plus two layers of CC. One gank and you die. Every gank, you die.
He never expected to lose nearly half his HP at level one.
Bot lane pressure was huge. He quietly chugged two potions. He had to heal back up. At that HP, fighting again might mean a forced level-one kill—and then he wouldn't even dare touch the wave.
But burning two potions that early hurt. It really hurt.
Everyone knows ADCs are the kind of people who try to use one potion like two.
Using two at level one was hard to accept.
The only lucky thing was that Hope started Long Sword and three potions. If it were any other start, he'd have to go home.
"Bot lane is already doomed… now it's on you guys," Hope said quietly.
The others felt the pressure.
Bot lane was destined to be pushed in by TES. Wave pressure would only grow. That meant top and mid had to find advantage.
But looking at mid lane… even the early trades weren't going their way. It was hard not to worry.
Could Knight really take an advantage champion and still get smashed?
Kanavi felt a slight unease. As for top lane, Gnar and Gwen were a mutual farm lane. If they wanted to win, they still had to start from mid.
"TES's bot duo is playing extremely aggressively. Hope ate the slow and Sivir's Q and got chunked too hard. He can't recall—he can only chug potions."
"Sivir and Yuumi are very strong at level one. Aphelios is still relatively weak early."
"JDG's bot lane is going to have a rough time."
As the minion waves arrived, laning officially began.
But when the director's camera shifted back to mid, an unexpected scene appeared.
Azir stood arrogantly near the centerline—not inside the minion wave, but slightly to the side. Then he summoned sand soldiers right onto JDG's caster minions.
The intent was obvious: he was blocking Syndra's path forward.
And because he wasn't standing in the wave, it was easier to dodge abilities, while also reducing how much Syndra could poke him.
"Brother Infinite Borders' Azir is different from other Azirs. He's playing this very aggressively."
"Knight looks like he's been intimidated and doesn't dare walk up… huh?"
Before Guan Zeyuan even finished, Syndra walked up anyway.
It was simple—she was a lane bully.
If you can't fight when the wave is here, then what are you playing for? Just sit under turret and wait to surrender.
And Knight had been holding in rage since level one.
He didn't understand why Azir was acting so arrogant.
Are you the lane bully, or am I the lane bully?
You're playing way too crazy—no brain, all aggression?
I have the level one advantage. Why would I be afraid of you? I'm only down seventy HP—who cares?
So Knight charged up without hesitation.
Lin Fan stayed calm and pulled a soldier back.
He couldn't let Syndra break his First Strike. Syndra's cast range was 800.
He watched for Knight's Q and started stabbing the moment it went out.
One hit—five extra gold.
Then he chased and kept poking.
One poke, two pokes… and Knight finally understood Lin Fan's real intent.
He was farming the passive.
Stealing gold.
No—this wasn't even stealing anymore.
This was robbery.
I'm Syndra!
And you treat me like I'm nothing?
But his Q was on cooldown. His only counterplay was auto-attacks—what could he do?
He had no temper at all. Especially watching Azir poke and then back off—even though minions targeted him, it didn't change the lane state.
Damn it!
Lin Fan looked at the +7 gold, satisfied, and backed away.
Then he started clearing the wave. First, he got an HP advantage on the backline minions. Second, Syndra had no Q. That meant the wave advantage was already his.
Level two first—smooth as butter.
Once levels came up, it wasn't even about solo kills yet.
Even if he procced First Strike just once per minute, by the six-minute recall window he'd make at least ninety gold.
And that's assuming only one proc per minute.
The theoretical proc rate was three times per minute.
Lin Fan had only one thought as he stared at Syndra.
This was a stationary gold machine.
A gift.
Knight had no idea he was being viewed like that.
But Lin Fan had already collected twenty-four gold—almost half a potion.
Knight knew the wave state was turning against him. If Syndra didn't hit level two first and bully Azir early, then "lane bully" was meaningless.
How was Kanavi supposed to fight for jungle resources?
Sejuani needed to control neutral objectives, then slowly help teammates build leads.
So Knight stepped forward, trying to regain lane control.
His Q was almost back. Early pressure was still there…
But looking at his mana, he felt uneasy.
At level one, he'd played too hotheaded. Too many missed casts. No HP advantage—and now his mana was low.
He'd been too eager to prove himself and fell for a trap.
He couldn't play like that again.
He walked up and started contesting the wave—but that only made Lin Fan laugh.
You want to shove? Are you sure your mana is enough?
Eyes narrowing, Lin Fan moved Azir forward again, forcing Knight to throw out his freshly cooled-down Q.
From the spectator view, their skirmish looked incredibly fierce.
Neither side gave an inch.
It felt like real flame.
Still, with two Q casts, Knight managed to hit level two first.
He prepared to pressure Azir's position and push the wave further.
But he truly didn't expect that when Lin Fan hit level two, he didn't learn Q.
He learned E.
As soon as a soldier spawned, Azir dashed straight in.
A thin shield wrapped around him. It didn't look like much, but early game it was disgusting—blocking auto damage and even "earning" Azir a couple extra autos.
More importantly, Syndra was now inside soldier range.
Two autos landed—and Azir's autos hurt more than Syndra's.
Knight had to fire off the Q–E stun combo. With that instant setup, as long as Q hit, Azir would be stunned.
But Lin Fan was prepared. He twisted downward and dodged it cleanly, then kept autoing Syndra.
Early game, don't pretend autos don't matter. Each hit took 47 HP.
With both sides out of spells, the Azir with attack speed was clearly advantaged. He chased and kept autoing.
Syndra's HP plunged—especially when Azir's range wasn't enough and he summoned a soldier to keep stabbing.
Syndra dropped under 200 HP.
Knight panicked and flashed away.
Only then did Lin Fan stop chasing.
This was already huge profit. Because his E dash let him squeeze in an extra auto, he gained three extra gold on the First Strike proc—fifteen gold total.
Not counting anything else, the gold lead was already 39… and Tian was already in position.
As mid lane forced out Flash, the crowd erupted.
"Knight is really hurt from this. He burned both potions, his Flash is gone, and most importantly—Wukong is already here!" Guan Zeyuan shouted.
On the big screen, Wukong had snuck into position near blue side's mid tier-one turret!
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup