The broadcast immediately prioritized the TES side.
After winning the previous game in crushing fashion, this lineup was worth another close look—especially Lin Fan. The camera lingered on him for a brief moment.
"Since Rise of Kingdoms Bro showed up so powerfully in mid lane, TES's recent matches have been incredibly smooth. It really feels like they finally arranged the correct combination and found the perfect five players."
"Alright, Game Two BP officially begins."
"FPX once again choose blue side. The bans don't change much—Viego and Renata as usual—but the third ban is still Syndra. Rise of Kingdoms Bro's performance last game was simply too outrageous. There's no issue banning her out."
"I specifically mentioned Syndra at the start of Game One. In this patch, there really aren't many players who can pull out Syndra at this level. She absolutely deserves respect."
Because of her dominant showing at the Season 10 World Championship, Syndra had been hit hard with nerfs—first increasing the cooldown of her E by two seconds, then raising the mana cost of her Q in the following patches.
Those changes practically killed the champion. For over a year, not only was she absent from solo queue, she was completely gone from pro play as well.
Riot realized the issue and partially reverted her in patch 11.15, but the earlier nerfs still remained, so she still struggled to see play.
That's why anyone who could bring her out in pro play clearly had real skill.
Spending a ban on her was more than reasonable.
Especially when FPX still vividly remembered their Azir going 0–8 last game.
Lin Fan originally wanted to mess around and try mid-lane Kalista. After all, he hadn't tested yesterday's idle-grind reward yet.
But FPX immediately first-picked Zeri.
JackeyLove wanted to use Kalista to counter Zeri.
After the Lethal Tempo rework, Kalista had benefited quite a bit. Combined with her extra three armor, bot-lane trading strength had increased significantly. In the current meta, Kalista was absolutely pickable.
FPX likely anticipated this, which was why they banned Renata.
However, Kalista paired with Amumu was also extremely strong and could still easily suppress Zeri.
So Lin Fan ultimately gave the pick to JackeyLove.
JackeyLove was stunned when he first heard Lin Fan wanted to play mid Kalista.
That top-lane Kalista player in the past had been repeatedly taught lessons by junglers. And Kalista's buffs were really aimed at bot-lane matchups.
After reconsidering, Lin Fan settled on mid-lane Vladimir.
This champion had been having a rough time lately—after all, everyone seemed to be a "vampire" now.
Vampire Poppy, vampire Aatrox, everywhere.
Vladimir's wave clear was poor, and early on he couldn't easily coordinate with the jungler, meaning Tian would be under significant pressure.
Luo Sheng knew this as well, so he helped Tian secure his comfort pick—Hecarim.
Hecarim's clear speed was extremely fast. Picking him almost always meant a rush-to-level-six playstyle. Whether he could gank depended entirely on lane setup.
FPX learned from the previous game and focused on mid–jungle synergy.
They locked in the classic Ahri–Vi combination.
Ever since Ahri became viable in mid again, Vi also returned to the stage as a jungler.
The two sisters were the true embodiment of perseverance.
Point-and-click lockdown.
Clearly, they had no intention of letting JackeyLove breathe.
Due to champion characteristics, Vladimir couldn't clear as fast as Ahri.
But as long as Vladimir could safely farm, he was winning. The later the game went, the stronger he became.
Ahri's soft damage simply wasn't enough to threaten him.
Especially with FPX opting for Electrocute to apply heavy pressure, Ahri's mana quickly became an issue.
Clid tried several times to invade, but each time he saw his mid laner was already out of mana, he could only give up.
Tian, on the other hand, happily farmed camp after camp.
And his clear speed was far faster than Vi's.
Clid opened the tab screen and realized Hecarim had already cleared four more camps than him.
His expression stiffened.
They clearly had the stronger mid–jungle combo, yet they had no advantage in tempo at all.
Damn it.
Earlier, he'd thought Gori was a decent mid laner.
Now he could only sum him up in two words—an animal.
No, now wasn't the time to think about mid–jungle coordination.
Compared to last game, the situation was still acceptable—aside from bot lane being slightly pressured.
Since TES was playing so aggressively, bot lane was the obvious target.
Clid controlled Vi and moved toward the bottom side, lurking in the brush and waiting for an opportunity.
Sure enough, his patience paid off.
He stepped out from behind and went for the wraparound gank.
But TES's bot duo advanced instead of retreating.
Something was wrong.
And sure enough—a Vladimir emerged from behind.
My brain just shut down.
How could this not be a trap?
Vladimir didn't deal much damage early, but at level six he at least had his ultimate.
And with Kalista's massive early damage, securing two kills was easy.
Clid gently pinged a question mark mid.
"Bro… I was out of mana, so I recalled to update items. But look at mid lane—can he really roam with the wave like that?"
"..."
"He's Vladimir. You're Ahri. Whether it's top or bot, you're the one who needs to move."
Nine and a half minutes.
FPX chose to start the Rift Herald.
Their mid–jungle combo was stronger, but TES's bot lane abandoned a wave and rotated early.
Facing the aggressive arrival of TES's bot duo, FPX's mid–jungle could only wait for Zeri and Lulu.
They committed to a hard engage, planning to strike first.
Against Vi's engage, TES really didn't have many good answers.
Saving Kalista was nearly impossible.
JackeyLove was instantly deleted.
The situation suddenly looked grim.
But at that moment, Lin Fan stepped up.
Flash–ultimate on two targets, E charged, then Blood Pool to slow.
The spell usage was nearly perfect.
Mark followed up with a perfectly timed Flash–ultimate.
Tian and Zoom jumped in right after.
The combo chain was executed flawlessly.
The only issue was that Vladimir's finishing power wasn't quite there yet.
The Herald fight ended as a 2-for-3 trade in FPX's favor, but TES still secured the Rift Herald—slightly profitable overall.
At eighteen minutes, the kill score stood at 7–11.
TES held an advantage, but it wasn't enough to outright end the game.
The two sides remained locked in a stalemate.
At 23:40, Vladimir's combat power reached a small spike.
TES began pressing aggressively, searching for opportunities.
At twenty-five minutes, Mark's Amumu successfully landed a Q on Lulu in mid lane while controlling vision, then followed up with his ultimate to stun both Lulu and Zeri.
TES immediately seized the chance, collapsing to kill FPX's bot duo and then starting Baron.
FPX refused to give up Baron for free—they knew that if TES got it, the game would be over.
But being down in numbers meant they couldn't win the fight.
JackeyLove activated his ultimate, pulling Amumu into the spirit sphere and engaging with his own body, smashing into Jayce.
Lin Fan followed up with his now-complete damage, casually collecting Jayce's life.
As for Ahri and Vi diving in, they were tightly controlled by Hecarim and Gnar.
JackeyLove picked up his spear and began stabbing wildly, skewering both of them until they exploded.
FPX were wiped out in an ace.
TES took Baron, broke mid inhibitor, and completely secured the win.
Even though FPX stubbornly dragged the game on for another six minutes, the outcome was already decided.
Vladimir's growth curve only grew more terrifying.
Teamfights became pure slaughter.
A tower dive triple kill sealed the match.
FPX's base finally exploded at thirty-two minutes.
"Congratulations to TES!"
"Congratulations to TES for defeating FPX 2–0 and claiming their third consecutive league victory!"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup