That's how matches work—whoever has the advantage gets insanely arrogant.
Just like now. TES forcefully took a game off LNG and once again showed terrifying dominance.
The entire chat turned into a wall of anti-hater spam—attacking haters, rebutting haters.
The disgusting, baiting comments practically vanished.
As if none of that had ever happened.
But everyone was used to it.
They were just hiding for now, waiting to come back later.
Still, the loss in Game 1 was a wake-up call.
TES was strong—very strong—but not so absurd that they could go undefeated forever, winning from start to finish without dropping a single game.
As long as an LPL team prepared thoroughly, they still had a chance to win.
At least TES wasn't at that hopeless level where you queue up and automatically lose.
For example, the other top teams—after watching Game 1—felt that as long as they found a breakthrough point, they could do it too.
After all, if LNG could, why couldn't they?
No one stays in perfect form forever.
When the teammates aren't performing, Brother Infinite Borders can't be invincible all by himself either.
That also made people start second-guessing.
Game 3 might not be a guaranteed win.
In the backstage lounge…
Even though LNG got steamrolled in Game 2, it confirmed their overall idea wasn't wrong.
They lost mainly because Dine's ability to find openings was just too strong.
One or two key waves, and he dealt a fatal blow to LNG.
What should've been LNG's advantage point never got to play out.
From start to finish, they got pinned down and couldn't breathe.
If they wanted to win, the hero Dine picked would be crucial.
Like that Syndra in Game 1—his farm and stats were explosive, but in the mid-to-late game it still couldn't turn the tide.
That's just Syndra: if you can't break the game open early and mid, and the opponent drags it out, your single-target burst is scary, but there are simply too many targets you need to delete.
"Ban his physical split-pushers. If he picks Yone again, we're done. He created way too many highlight moments—can't give it."
"Yeah, the pressure's huge. If he's on Yone, I can't even lane," Doinb said, following the coach's point.
"Good. Stick strictly to the previous plan."
"If we can win Game 1, we can win Game 3."
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
"Break their streak. MSI champions are strong? Then we'll be stronger, better!"
Hearing the coach, everyone looked like they'd been injected with adrenaline.
Winning Game 1 had boosted their confidence massively.
Losing Game 2 was normal.
It's TES—how could they possibly get swept 0–2 by LNG?
A 2–1 either way felt much more reasonable.
If nothing unexpected happened, today was the day.
LNG's roster depth wasn't bad at all.
A league title? So what?
They absolutely had the ability to make Worlds and win it all!
Spring Split was a loss—then they'd take it back in Summer.
…
At the same time, Luo Sheng had also seen a lot.
If the opponent's top lane got strong, and mid could just hold on without getting torn apart by Lin Fan, then in midgame, even giving up some CS to look for a play top could make things very hard for TES.
That was one downside after the version update.
Top lane mattered more.
At this rate, Worlds meta would probably be top lane again.
Riot's intent was pretty obvious.
They wanted to weaken mid's influence.
That was troublesome.
But a team could only adapt to the patch—it couldn't change it.
Even in Game 2, when Lin Fan didn't have an advantage early, Luo Sheng's heart had started pounding.
He was terrified they'd travel all the way to LNG's Suzhou home venue just to crash and burn.
Thankfully, Lin Fan held the pressure.
This team relied too heavily on mid.
That wasn't good… it was a huge problem.
If mid went silent, the game became extremely hard.
But it was still early in the season.
Catching this early was actually a good thing.
If they only discovered it at Worlds, that would be disastrous.
Of course, during a match, you couldn't just change everything on the spot.
They could only fix it slowly after returning to the club.
"Tian, this game you should still play around mid. You can delay the timing a bit—finish double buff first, then come over. Looks like LNG has studied your jungle path a lot.
"Tarzan ganking top without even considering where you are means he knows your route very clearly," Luo Sheng said.
Tian nodded.
Lin Fan suddenly added, "We'll see. Doinb can't move in lane under my pressure. If they have wards down, they were probably placed early. If the Game 3 pick is suitable, you can take a longer route and come gank."
Luo Sheng thought about it.
"Alright. Tian, listen to Lin Fan. Go when he tells you to go."
Lin Fan's read on the game state was clearer than his.
On that point, trusting Lin Fan's judgment was better.
Luo Sheng also knew his own limits—more often than not, he was copying homework.
He couldn't always tailor tactics to match specific players.
That meant it depended heavily on champion pools.
If the champion pool wasn't deep enough, it would turn into a disaster—trying to imitate without understanding and producing awful results.
"Fan-ge, my form wasn't great the first two games. This one I'll definitely show up," JackeyLove said at his seat.
"Good. Then we'll wait for you to carry. Don't feel pressured. As for the online comments, I didn't take them seriously at all."
"I actually feel like you being so pressured means the coach should take the blame."
"Huh? Why am I taking the blame again?" Luo Sheng looked confused.
"If you hadn't said so much on the team bus about the consequences of losing, JackeyLove wouldn't have gotten pressure. Maybe bot lane would've exploded already."
Hearing that, Luo Sheng felt… that might actually be true.
If you told JackeyLove, 'If you lose, this will happen to you,' he wouldn't care.
But once it involved other people, his mentality shifted immediately.
"Ahem. I really wasn't thinking that much."
"But seriously, even if bot lane didn't get suppressed, we still didn't get an advantage. I can't accept that.
"We can't go into Worlds expecting every opponent's ADC to be Gumayusi, right?"
"True… SKT's ADC is kinda bad," Lin Fan nodded, stroking his chin.
During MSI, Gumayusi got repeatedly smashed in lane.
Losing to wildcards, losing to NA—this wasn't what the world's best ADC looked like.
"As long as you don't eat the Q, you're the world's best ADC in my heart!"
JackeyLove was actually very easy to play against.
Just pick champions with high-frequency Q skills—during teamfights, he'd walk into them himself…
After both teams finalized their plans backstage, staff knocked on both doors almost at the same time.
…
"Welcome back, everyone. TES versus LNG, Game 3 is about to begin. Both teams have definitely prepared during the break. We can expect a very exciting third game," Wawa said smoothly as the broadcast returned.
Next to him, 957 continued:
"After that highlight Yone performance, Brother Infinite Borders probably won't get it in Game 3. That last game was just too outrageous—he dove the carries multiple times in crucial fights."
"Yeah. Dine's Yone is really strong. His lane pressure is huge. Banning it is a good call."
"After all, he's Brother Infinite Borders—the best mid laner in China…"
"Alright, let's look at Game 3."
"Blue side TES, red side LNG."
TES's first three bans: Jax, Elise, Fiora.
LNG's first three bans: Yone, Viktor, LeBlanc.
They deliberately left Syndra open.
Doinb doesn't play that champion anyway.
Lin Fan thought about it and decided not to pick it in the first round.
Since LNG had that idea, he wanted to see what their second-round BP looked like first—no rush to lock Syndra.
Honestly, they were getting a little cocky.
TES first-picked Lucian for JackeyLove.
LNG thought for a moment and responded with Zeri and Yuumi.
TES picked Nami and Viego with their second and third picks.
"LNG lock in Lee Sin third. Looks like they still want early tempo. Lee Sin has to make things happen, otherwise LNG won't feel comfortable."
"TES ban Galio fourth—are they thinking about taking Syndra? Will LNG ban Syndra?"
Brother Infinite Borders's Syndra is strong, but LNG already broke his undefeated streak.
That suggested they weren't too afraid of it.
Before this series began, nobody would've dared imagine that.
In the end, LNG still didn't ban Syndra.
Their fourth pick was Ryze for Doinb.
They saved counter-pick for Ale.
That was normal—if they wanted to win, they had to open the game through top.
"So what will TES take here?"
"Sion top… top lane is going to absorb pressure. With Fiora banned, Sion is fine. So does Brother Infinite Borders pick Syndra?"
"Locked! That's pure confidence. Even though Game 1 was lost, Rate-Soil Bro had no real problems. His early advantage was absurd."
"So taking it here makes sense."
"Now let's see LNG. With no Jax or Fiora, what will they pick into Sion? Jayce or Gangplank?" Wawa asked.
"Gangplank is the better choice…" 957 began.
But Ale's Gangplank—those who know, know.
The infamous 'Special Smile' Gangplank.
Two-barrel combos that burn your eyes.
In a deciding game, there was no way he'd pick it.
If they took Jayce, as long as someone covered him, it was fine.
Sure enough, they picked Jayce in the end.
With champions locked, both teams adjusted their seats.
Blue side TES: Sion top, Viego jungle, Syndra mid, Lucian + Nami bot.
Red side LNG: Jayce top, Lee Sin jungle, Ryze mid, Zeri + Yuumi bot.
From the draft, LNG's goal was very clear.
Bot lane didn't need to win—they just had to not lose, farm safely, and teamfight mid-to-late.
Early resources would all be poured into top Jayce to smash the lane and take over the game.
No doubt, Zoom's pressure on top lane would be massive.
If he could absorb it, and Lin Fan could slowly tear open Doinb's defenses, this game would be theirs.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup