TES losing Game 1 to LNG was something nobody expected!
LNG fans were over the moon.
As expected, LNG was a team full of miracles.
Were they really going to pop champagne today?
The livestream chat scrolled like crazy.
The popularity number kept spiking—starting from ten million and charging toward fifteen million.
Because at first, everyone thought there'd be no suspense. With TES's current form, winning should've been effortless.
Instead, the match opened with a jump scare.
Brother Infinite Borders didn't have any major issues in Game 1. He hard-carried and truly crushed Doinb.
The problem was top and bot, and then in the late-game teamfight, JackeyLove made one positioning mistake and got hit by Nami's Q.
With their damage dealer dying first, teamfights naturally became extremely difficult for TES.
"What's going on? Weren't we supposed to win easily? Why are there suddenly so many problems?"
"Catch the Q, dance! Catch the Q, dance! Catch the Q, dance!"
"Love showing off, huh? Isn't all of TES obsessed with showing off? Brother Infinite Borders had a blast the last two days—today the karma's here."
"Seeing TES drop one game has you haters ecstatic—finally a chance to type, right? Doesn't matter what it is, just flame first."
"Talking to haters is pointless. You'll never wake people who pretend to sleep. Honestly, I think it's fine. They've been winning nonstop since Spring. I was getting nervous. Dropping a small game doesn't matter—learn from it and reverse-sweep 2–1. No problem."
"Golden Filial Sons are thrilled—Doinb laid down for a whole game, did nothing, and still won. No wonder they're so excited."
"Still a hard skill gap. The teammates haven't fully found their form yet. Just looking at Brother Infinite Borders's performance in Game 1, I'm not worried."
At the same time, comments under TES's official Weibo instantly surpassed ten thousand.
"The club needs to crack down and supervise. Don't let Brother Infinite Borders keep messing around."
"These last three or four days have been nonstop big news. Are we really going to lose this match today?"
"A win streak that long with no new stuff—tactics are too single. Easy to get targeted and figured out."
"Can JackeyLove stop eating Q? How is he practicing his movement? He just walks into skills for no reason."
…
With everyone watching, Game 2 began.
Compared to Game 1, both sides picked similar comps again.
LNG's plan was simple—mid was completely abandoned. If you can't beat him, you can't beat him. Whatever.
As long as they could turn Ale into a monster, they could replicate Game 1.
They even gave Tarzan an extremely aggressive Elise.
It was clear—they planned to hard-camp Zoom.
After all, Elise's level-3 tower dive was one of the most terrifying in the league.
TES immediately adjusted their strategy too.
They didn't let Lin Fan take something like Syndra—an early oppressive pick.
Instead, they locked in mid-lane Yone.
Last game got dragged out largely because Ale's split push was a massive headache.
And Syndra wasn't a split-push champion. If she went to side lanes, she'd just give chances and couldn't handle it.
This time, with Yone, early fighting power was there, late split push wasn't bad either, and his damage came online much faster than Camille's.
Doinb, on Galio, turtled under tower.
Any minion he couldn't safely take, he simply wouldn't.
He did everything he could to keep his HP high.
Tarzan didn't even look mid.
He piloted Elise straight into the top side.
This game, if they wanted to win, it had to be through top. Everything else was fake.
In lane, Ale played extremely aggressively, easily chunking Zoom.
Tarzan began pressuring top and cleanly forced Zoom's Flash and Teleport.
Just like that, the tempo started feeling wrong.
As long as Ale froze the wave, Zoom didn't dare walk up for CS.
As TES's only tank, if Zoom couldn't farm, they wouldn't withstand teamfight pressure.
Seeing Tarzan gank top, Tian immediately tried to answer mid.
But landing Yone's ult as an opener was almost impossible against pro players—
Even against someone like Doinb, who was older and supposedly slower to react…
He simply Flashed back under tower and avoided the follow-up damage.
With healthy HP, he could keep farming and catching waves in mid.
Because Yone's ult was now down.
As the wave pushed in, Camille and Elise started hovering mid.
If TES wanted to win this game, it depended heavily on mid Yone.
Delaying his development was a good idea.
But under everyone's horrified gaze, Lin Fan did two slick little hip-weaves, dodging both Camille's E and Elise's Cocoon.
Then he forcibly used Q's tornado knock-up to pop Camille up while shifting forward a small step.
Even though Camille ulted him afterward, he was already close to the tower.
With that, LNG's three-man dive had to be abandoned.
Doinb cursed under his breath at his Flash being on cooldown—what a pity.
If he'd had Flash there, they really could've killed him.
You could only say Tian's earlier mid gank had planted the seed.
But once Yone completed Immortal Shieldbow—and Doinb went to support top with his ult—Lin Fan finally caught him.
He stacked Q quickly, ulted to knock up, and started slashing.
From start to finish, he chopped him down and killed him outright.
TES finally got First Blood.
The TES fans who'd been suppressing themselves erupted in roaring cheers.
This was the feeling—this felt right!
Brother Infinite Borders's hunting time had begun.
When the rest of the team wasn't in form, Brother Infinite Borders would step up.
And this was the moment.
Fans had traveled a long way just to watch this match.
They weren't here to watch TES lose.
They wanted a win.
Not just a win—an impressive win.
At the 19-minute dragon fight, when Yone—while in E—somehow appeared from an unknown corner and slipped into LNG's backline, both Doinb and Ale looked horrified.
Because they were the ones diving into the crowd.
Once you draw the bow, there's no turning back.
They could only see if they could flip the enemy backline upside down.
Unfortunately, at this stage, two-versus-four was just feeding.
Yet Yone, with E's movement and speed, dodged two key CCs in a row.
With W's thick shield, he tanked pressure and started cutting through the fight like a maniac.
"Dual-Blade Flourish!"
Knock-up into ult—LNG's bot lane duo got smashed.
The live crowd went wild, dancing and shouting:
"Haters, speak up! Haters, speak up!"
"Invincible—this is Brother Infinite Borders! Who else? Who else would dare do that?"
Tarzan saw the tide was lost and could only flee for his life.
This fight, Lin Fan directly collected two kills.
And JackeyLove's Lucian also picked up a kill.
With Yone cutting the backline, TES pulled off a gorgeous 0-for-4 wipe.
They secured the crucial Hextech Drake.
It broke LNG's dragon control rhythm and handed TES full control of the game.
They accelerated hard.
Yone's development was explosive—two kills into a two-item spike.
In a side lane, Camille absolutely couldn't beat Yone.
With that, TES could easily run a 3-1 split push.
Galio's economy was too poor—he could only follow Ale around looking for cheeky picks.
Tian was already there to escort and protect.
If LNG made a move, they only sped up TES's snowball—Lin Fan snagged two more kills.
The situation became unstoppable.
Through these exchanges, TES repeatedly gained advantages, constantly eating away at LNG's resources.
They took two towers in a row and rolled the snowball bigger and bigger.
As the game hit 29 minutes…
Yone was hiding behind a wall corner, while LNG's bot lane was last-hitting minions under their inhibitor turret.
Right then, with a fully stacked tornado, Yone used E to dash over the wall, slipped into vision from the side, and hit a two-man tornado.
Ult followed—and he started carving.
Under the crowd's shocked screams, Yone killed LNG's bot lane duo in just three slashes.
Unstoppable.
The pressure was suffocating.
Just looking at Yone's items made people choke.
Immortal Shieldbow, Mortal Reminder, Infinity Edge, plus a BF Sword and Stopwatch.
With this kind of build, of course he could instantly delete the bot lane.
LNG had no answer at all.
With bot lane down, TES launched the final push.
Only Camille and Elise barely escaped with scraps of HP back under their towers.
But TES had already started hitting towers and the Nexus.
When Ale and Tarzan recovered, they could only stand next to the nexus turrets and watch, not daring to step forward.
"Mage champions… even though they burst fast, their damage doesn't feel as brutally direct as fighter champions."
"Syndra is trash. Not even dogs play her. Real men pick Yone."
"Brothers, time to gloat. Weren't you yapping earlier? Where'd you go now?"
"Get used to it. Haters can only play with the wind at their backs. They got their little moment—now they're hiding for their lives."
"They're back—everyone's back!"
Chat flew by nonstop.
TES's push didn't slow.
They charged straight into the nexus turrets.
Lin Fan's Yone led the way, showing no mercy.
He chopped Elise twice—two clean hits—crit procced and left her crippled.
Then he ignored her and turned to deal with Camille.
He wanted to end in one wave, giving LNG no chance.
Even when LNG players respawned, they came out of fountain at half HP.
TES ignored them completely—eyes only for the base.
With a flash of light, LNG's Nexus exploded.
TES decisively tied it up in Game 2.
The series was now 1–1, with everything on Game 3.
On the caster desk, Wawa shook his head hard.
"Spectacular. Spectacular. A rollercoaster. Brother Infinite Borders' Yone—this pressure is truly suffocating."
"Let's take a short break and look forward to Game 3!"
Chat continued raging.
"Damn, feels like Zhan Ying is cursed. She beat up old ladies, played two Go games yesterday, and today she made Brother Infinite Borders lose one."
"That's too far. At least in Game 1, Brother Infinite Borders had no big issues. A hard carry. How can anyone flame a 9–2–7 Syndra? I don't get it."
"Now we can look forward to Game 3."
On Huya's second stream,
Gangzi leaned close to the camera and shouted:
"Speak up, haters! Speak up!"
"Where are you haters? Weren't you yelling so loud earlier? Why'd you disappear this game?"
"Look at you acting smug… if you've got the skills, go play yourself! Dine's dog."
Gangzi narrowed his eyes.
His right hand worked the mouse nonstop—and he muted the guy instantly.
"'TheShy forever god'? Hmm… you're pretending to support but it's way too fake. Who exposes themselves like that?"
"After all these years, you're still using the same old tricks. What's the point? Who's going to believe you?"
"Alright—one little hater showing his horns has been handled. Anyone else in chat? If you are, come out and let me ban you too."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup