Kanavi had already come to see Knight as a mediocre player: against weak teams, he threw heavy punches; against strong teams, he was nothing but a liability. The most absurd part was that not only did he lose Syndra into Azir—he even got solo-killed!
Is that really the kind of play a pro can produce?
Honestly, maybe it was for the best. Discover his true nature early, and they wouldn't waste resources mid in future matches. Just let him play mid by himself.
If they really wanted to win, it had to be Kanavi who carried.
This game, the pick was wrong—Sejuani was the mistake. If he'd taken Elise or Nidalee, the result might've been far better than this.
The moment Kanavi accepted the game couldn't be turned around, this thought surfaced, and he felt much more comfortable.
Good. At least then he wouldn't be fooled by a scam again.
If the coach insisted on continuing to start Knight, Kanavi could warn him in advance.
After all, the mid champions Yagao played were to serve Kanavi. If you wanted to win, you had to trust yourself.
LPL mid laners… aside from Dine, they were all stinky fish and rotten shrimp.
He truly hadn't expected there to be a good mid laner in Huaxia.
But why? Why wasn't he on JDG?
If Dine joined, wouldn't that be a superteam? Wouldn't this year's Worlds finally be possible?
Damn… Watching Tian's Wukong invade nonstop and steal jungle camps, Kanavi felt an aching envy.
A strong jungler can make a team win for a while.
But a strong mid can make a team win forever.
In League of Legends, mid has always held tempo priority.
Only mid-jungle synergy is truly terrifying.
Jungler alone is still a bit lacking.
And for mid to move, their laning ability can't be weak.
Otherwise, every roam means losing your own wave. If you don't even get anything done, one roam and you're doomed.
You don't even need to get outplayed in lane. The opponent just wins easily.
"Your mid can't stay anymore. How about you just give up mid tier one? Then Azir won't dare cross past it to pressure you. If I come to gank him, he's dead," Kanavi said.
"…No, I can hold it. I won't get caught again," Knight replied. He'd had that thought too, but hearing his teammate say it first made him abandon it immediately. Losing mid tier one because you can't win lane was too embarrassing—especially when the teammate suggested it first.
The Summer Split had only just begun. Leaving that impression wasn't good.
Damn it.
Kanavi hadn't done anything in lane phase, but he sure knew how to talk big at teammates.
Why? Why do junglers never want to help me? Tian was like this, Kanavi too! Are you afraid I'll steal the spotlight?
"…" Knight took a deep breath, easing the resentment stuck in his chest.
The whole league is targeting me. Why?
Then his screen went gray again.
This time it wasn't Tian who killed him.
It was Lin Fan solo-killing him directly.
So his "promise" wasn't wrong either.
Azir isn't burst—but once he's fed, role labels stop mattering. You just mash your keyboard, press R, and it's easy kills.
Kanavi heard the bad news over comms, moved the camera to mid, glanced once, and snorted.
So this is your "holding it" in mid?
Donate a kill and drop mid tier one. Not bad.
At this rate, you'll set a record—feeding eight kills even faster than last game. Impressive.
High-level game understanding—this is how you raise a daddy. Very good.
Kanavi piloted Sejuani toward the bottom side. Even on Sejuani, he had to find tempo and help the team look for a comeback.
Seeing Sivir step too far up, he threw out his ultimate.
JackeyLove was fully focused. Against the sudden Sejuani ult, he reacted instantly and used Spell Shield to block it. Mark activated Final Chapter, and TES's bot duo immediately walked up in their faces.
They started dumping damage into Sejuani—her HP dropped to half in no time.
Even worse, a monkey came from who-knows-where again.
A big, capital G.
JDG's bot lane could only choose to abandon Sejuani.
There's a top-tier war criminal on this team. I won't say who.
Kanavi stared at his grayscale screen, drained. He felt dazed. Today, he'd been taught a brutal lesson.
For Knight, once mid tier one fell, this stretch was actually the most comfortable he'd had all game.
Finally he could breathe.
Farm, farm… Even though Syndra hadn't made any noise in the early and mid game, against TES's comp he still had room to play.
Believe in himself—he could save the world.
Of course, the real reason he felt comfortable was that Lin Fan felt it was meaningless to waste time mid against a 0/5 Syndra.
After Tian's successful countergank bot, Lin Fan could go top and gank 369. "Nine Treasure" had been pretty comfortable in lane these two games. Bullying Duke for this long—ganking him once or twice wasn't too much, right?
So Azir headed straight to the top side.
With mid tier one gone, vision was squeezed. JDG's map was pitch black—they had no idea where Azir went.
369 was trembling, afraid that one careless moment would have Azir appear behind his butt.
Especially since bot had just been caught and Azir hadn't shown.
Maybe he went to farm camps?
Possible.
Azir had been missing for a long time.
He can't be camping me this long, right?
Gnar stepped out from the side. He looked calm—probably fine.
Then a "crispy chicken" popped out from the corner.
A bird!
One shove—Gnar's death sentence was signed.
Zoom was the classic steady top laner. In that instant, he popped Ghost and chased nonstop.
Gwen's damage alone wasn't enough, but Azir's items were already absurd. Three sand soldiers stabbed away half of Gnar's HP effortlessly.
Lin Fan didn't steal the kill. Tanky Gwen mattered. In teamfights, she could stand in front and create space for Azir to output.
So Lin Fan mainly chunked HP. When the target was barely alive, he stopped and handed the kill to Duke.
Duke's chubby face split into a smile.
You bullied me for so long. Isn't it time I turned the tables?
Hahaha. With mid big bro around, top just needs to hold pressure and wait for rescue.
After killing Gnar, they also took top tier one.
In that moment, TES had rolled their gold snowball to over 5,000.
The director pulled up the gold difference.
Other lanes weren't too far apart. The most eye-catching was mid.
Azir's total gold had already surpassed 7,200—two items completed: Liandry's Anguish plus Shadowflame. This damage would teach you a lesson in seconds.
Meanwhile, Syndra barely reached 4,000, only just completing Luden's Tempest.
If you're going to buy that item, at least live up to the "Lubenwei" echo nickname, right?
Who is Lubenwei? The famous "55-50" master.
TL:
卢本伟 (Lú Běnwěi), also known by his gaming ID "55开" (Wǔwǔkāi / "55-50"), is a famous/infamous Chinese streamer and former League of Legends pro player.
The "55开" nickname comes from his claim that he could go "55-50" (essentially evenly matched, 50-50) against any pro player - meaning he believed he was skilled enough to have a fair chance against anyone, even top pros. It became his signature boastful phrase.
Why he's referenced here: The text is mocking someone's item build choice. "Lubenwei echo" likely refers to his playstyle or some specific build he was known for. The joke is: "If you're going to copy Lubenwei's questionable build, at least play as confidently/arrogantly as he does."
Context: Lubenwei became quite controversial in the Chinese gaming community for various reasons including cheating scandals and his overconfident attitude, so referencing him is often done mockingly or sarcastically.
A 3,200 gold mid gap—can lane even produce that?
The audience was full of question marks.
Knight… this really isn't it.
Lin Fan piloted Azir back to mid. In the ruins of tier one, he "built" a turret and walked forward to pressure Knight.
Seeing Azir return, Knight immediately squatted under tier two.
Nothing else can go wrong… In this game, getting solo-killed twice is enough. Losing is losing, but I can't let him farm stats on me.
Getting this fed and still farming solo-kill stats? Hmph. Useless.
Lin Fan raised his hand, summoned a soldier, and stabbed Syndra under tower—then followed with a simple soldier auto.
Even this simple sequence chunked Syndra by over 400 HP—more than a third.
Knight's face twisted.
How is his farm this good?
Two items already?
He quickly chugged potions and used skills to clear the wave.
"Azir at this point is unstoppable. The moment Brother Infinite Borders' ult is up, Syndra gets solo-killed again."
"Up three thousand gold… if it were LeBlanc or something, you wouldn't even need to wait for ult. Small skills would already be max damage."
"LeBlanc is indeed a bit weak this patch. Tankiness is up, so early pressure isn't enough."
"Next patch should see buffs, though that's just my guess. Riot hasn't posted an announcement yet. If it changes, it would be a huge buff for Brother Infinite Borders," Guan Zeyuan said.
"With this kind of farm, if JDG can't handle him in teamfights, what awaits them is endless sand soldiers…
I never thought Azir could do this much. Just sustaining farm in lane is already hard, yet after gaining an advantage he can even play like a jungler.
Gank mid, gank bot, gank top—then the whole tempo snowballs."
"Now mid and jungle are grouping too. With Tian protecting him, Brother Infinite Borders is even hitting tier two. Even if Sejuani comes, she can't do anything to Azir."
In reality, Sejuani never even moved toward mid.
Kanavi just kept farming his own jungle to catch up.
Livestream chat flew by.
"No wonder Knight got swept out. With this level?"
"TES Spring Split five-loss streak was fake? Knight only won one map because JackeyLove carried."
"Even if that's true, I didn't expect the gold deficit to be a whole completed item."
"Azir has only two tiers right now: everyone else's Azir, and Brother Infinite Borders' Azir."
"Riot targeting doesn't matter. He can play every champ mid-to-late."
"It's because Brother Infinite Borders' champion pool is too deep. And it's even more infuriating that he still has time to compete in other games."
"I can only say he'll pay the price sooner or later. If you don't focus on pro play, your form will drop fast."
"LMAO. TES already won MSI, and now they're still crushing in league."
…
The game continued.
JDG's space kept shrinking.
By 17 minutes, all outer turrets were gone. Azir was godlike. Meanwhile, Syndra had fed a full eight kills—one godlike, one feeding streak.
The contrast was unforgettable.
Knight really provided a lot of comedy. Nice.
Worth noting: Kanavi shifted focus to power-farming, and his own gold did catch up quickly.
At least Sejuani could stand in front with her thick skin and not instantly die. They had some teamfight capital.
But the massive gold gap still hung over their heads.
Especially looking at Azir's items—two large rods were already there. Clearly he was rushing Deathcap.
The moment Deathcap completed, the game would end.
At this pace, he'd have three items before twenty minutes—expensive items too, with Deathcap as the third.
No haste? Small issue.
With this build, Azir just stabs people to death. Soldiers down, an AD drops to half.
Hope's Aphelios had just disappeared like that.
"Just turn it off. Twenty-minute end."
"JDG is still a fake strong team. If I want something interesting, I need RNG."
"RNG? Forget it. They got completely stomped by TES in BO5. Xiaohu is just a clown."
Chat argued nonstop. With a TES match, there's always going to be "tempo."
If JDG and TES swapped roles, chat would be even more outrageous.
Not just here—Weibo and Tieba threads were popping up one after another.
Normal. Most of them weren't even JDG fans. They hid in chat to stir drama.
But with Lin Fan leading TES through win after win, no one dared step out and play clown.
Normal people can't understand what these guys are thinking anyway…
With Wukong glued to him as protection, Lin Fan played with swagger, nothing to fear.
Kanavi tried to find a flank to engage on Azir, but not only did his ult get dodged, his tankiness still wasn't enough to keep walking forward.
Then Wukong's Cyclone split the team, and Sejuani's HP bar vanished in a blink.
The engage failed—and worse, they fed a wave of kills.
If the base weren't so far, TES might've ended right there.
In the end, they chose to take Baron first, then end.
After Baron, Lin Fan turned back to clear a jungle camp, and at 21 minutes, Azir completed four items.
Liandry's Anguish, Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, Sorcerer's Shoes.
Nothing to say.
Three soldiers summoned, and JDG could only tremble.
They didn't even have the courage to fight to the death.
369 let out a long breath and glanced at the others from the corner of his eye.
The moment the inhibitor turret fell, his rage bar filled perfectly.
He leapt forward!
In that instant, 369 became the hero in everyone's eyes.
Even though the speed at which he melted was beyond imagination.
He got deleted instantly.
When Azir can delete people, if you're his teammate, you grin—free LP.
If you're the opponent, you should accelerate the game and end it.
369 did exactly that.
He helped JDG accelerate…
The Emperor of Shurima darted through the crowd without restraint.
Each time he stabbed someone's butt, another person fell.
Everyone stared at the big screen.
Could it be…
Another pentakill in Game Two?
The next moment, the arena exploded with piercing screams.
"Pentakill! Pentakill!"
Sand soldiers holding spears, fighting at the front for their Emperor!
Renata fell to the Shuriman army.
Then Aphelios… Sejuani.
Lin Fan now had a quadra kill.
At some point, Knight had secretly crawled back into the fountain.
But in that second, all five TES players charged into the fountain, all to help Lin Fan take the last head.
"Go, go, go—smash Knight!"
"Take this pentakill, force it in fountain!"
And honestly, numbers matter. They did give Knight his first kill of the game…
But Lin Fan still secured the final head.
"Enemy penta kill~~"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup