After Game 1 ended, the officials quickly announced the MVP.
No suspense at all—it went to Lin Fan's Vladimir.
In the first game of playoffs, you could clearly feel TES continuing their strong regular-season form.
Not only did they not choke, they looked even more dazzling.
Post-game stats hit an absurd 11/0/6.
The new photos the league shot for playoffs also netted Lin Fan a fresh wave of fangirls.
It was obvious they planned to push him on two fronts—skill and looks.
After all, players like this were rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Handsome, and his play could back it up.
A born star player. And with the sheer topic value he brought, he was absolutely worth the league investing in.
It even made a bunch of JackeyLove fans "defect" on the spot—the screams rose and fell in waves.
"Brother Infinite Borders' looks? I'm so down."
"Honestly, I'm down too… plays well and he's handsome—how is that not the perfect boyfriend?"
"Pretty boys are like that. If you're slow, it's gone."
"Brother Infinite Borders' Vladimir is actually insane. CS ahead of the timeline plus kills as extra economy—if I were BLG, I wouldn't know what to do either."
"Exactly. If BLG can't figure out how to handle him, my advice is: ban it. Banning is the best solution."
"But then you'll have too many champs to ban… Better to guide than to block. BLG's coach should change tactics—swap the approach and maybe it works."
Hearing Guan Zeyuan say that, a lot of people felt relieved.
If BLG really did that, they'd be one step away from going home.
"BLG will be blue side next game, so draft should be easier. Let's see their strategic depth. They beat RA the other day—that proves BLG has the strength."
"But no matter how you go around it, you can't get around Brother Infinite Borders. His form is too good—regular season was outrageous, and playoffs feels even more so."
As the break went on, the three casters kept analyzing the last game, giving their takes and even brainstorming solutions for BLG—like if BLG just listened, they could flip Game 2 and beat TES in one go.
Of course, BLG's coach wasn't going to put his main focus on the caster desk. He was using the time to urgently discuss their next tactics.
If they couldn't win the rest of this series, the management's message was clear: the coach would be packing his bags.
BLG already had traffic and money.
Now they needed results.
A coach who couldn't deliver results was useless.
Simply put: this coach had mainly been used to pressure Uzi into signing.
Now that his biggest use was "spent," if he couldn't win, he could get out.
For the sake of his contract, this Taiwanese coach was doing everything he could to win.
"You have to listen to Breath's calls! Last game he had the best items and dealt the most damage. If we play around him, we can win. The other points have no damage—so why are you always helping mid?"
Hearing this, Breath felt wronged.
"I already smashed their Jayce. I have no help, they have help. Come top! Zoom's form is bad. Help me once and I can build a lead."
…
"Brothers, reaching this round proves we have the strength. TES went through a losing streak too—that proves they're not unbeatable.
Right now it's just their mid lane stepping up. But their mid can't be in peak form every single game. That's our opening.
Game 2, we play around top. Help top build an advantage and we'll definitely win."
This scene was recorded by the cameras and later played by the officials after the match.
TES had a similar shot.
"Our strength is higher, so what we need to do is win! When it's all said and done, prove this spring that TES can do it—that an all-Chinese roster still has a future!"
Luo Sheng's pep talk was thunderous.
You could feel the thick confidence in his voice.
The contrast between the two coaches' speeches was obvious.
Even the staff couldn't help thinking: TES's win streak wasn't just about player strength—coaching mattered too…
With the staff knocking on the door, both teams returned to the stage.
As blue side, BLG immediately banned Vladimir.
No choice—the mid pressure was too huge.
Even if you say mid form can't stay maxed forever, you still don't dare leave the champ open.
Then came Syndra and Ahri.
Three mid bans in a row—about as much as their tactics could manage.
But that meant a lot of meta picks were left open.
After thinking it through, they first-picked Zeri.
Once Zeri is locked, bot lane's early laning is basically zero. How could TES possibly miss the chance to blow up bot?
They picked Draven plus Nautilus again.
Compared to Kalista, JackeyLove felt Draven was more brutal and more direct.
Doggo and Crisp weren't giving enough pressure. He believed he could straight-up smash them in lane.
"Since bot is Draven, the enemy mid will probably pick Twisted Fate. That's the best I can do tactically. FoFo, you should have no pressure playing Orianna mid, right?" BLG's coach asked.
FoFo ran it through in his head.
Tian never left mid. If it was still like that this game, Twisted Fate alone was fine—add a jungler and it might not be.
So he hesitated…
But in the end he nodded hard.
No choice. If you're facing Twisted Fate and still lose, once voice comms get out, you won't find work later.
To be fair, you couldn't blame FoFo.
Lin Fan's form was just too ridiculous. Even Vladimir could lane-bully opponents—Twisted Fate with E-based pressure was even more oppressive.
This spring's breakout mid had already pulled off multiple unreasonable solo kills.
After thinking, the coach took Orianna for FoFo.
When in doubt, Orianna.
The evergreen mid. If you truly don't know what to pick, Orianna is always the best choice.
Stable. Farm quietly early. Mid-late, one ultimate can pull three or four and save the world.
As BLG expected, TES's third pick locked in Twisted Fate.
With Draven bot, mid chose a sidelane support pick.
That was the difference in strength. Any carry could carry, so their tactics could be extremely flexible.
In the second ban phase, both sides targeted top and jungle.
With core roles decided, the rest was straightforward. They quickly found substitutes and finalized comps.
Blue side BLG:
Top Kennen, Jungle Sejuani, Mid Orianna, Bot duo Zeri + Yuumi.
Red side TES:
Top Gragas, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid Twisted Fate, Bot duo Draven + Nautilus.
The two comps had different power points.
Early game, blue side needed Kennen and Sejuani teamfights to take map resources. As long as they dragged it out and let Orianna and Zeri take over, BLG could win.
So this game was obvious—BLG would play around top.
Mid and bot falling behind wasn't a big problem.
Top collapses? Game over.
TES wasn't too afraid of Kennen either.
With Gragas and Lee Sin ultimates, once Kennen goes in, he can be knocked away or kicked out.
Plus Twisted Fate's 4-1 split push—more flexible tactics.
Early game, both teams played conservatively, mostly focused on lane.
BLG especially feared Twisted Fate roaming and getting moving.
FoFo's nerves were stretched tight. The moment Twisted Fate disappeared, he spam-pinged like crazy.
But while everyone fixated on mid, Mark started moving.
Zeri + Yuumi basically had to farm under turret. Mark used the timing while BLG bot duo last-hit to roam.
FoFo saw Lee Sin show top and lowered his mid-lane alertness.
Lin Fan seized the moment—Flash, Gold Card to stun Orianna.
Then Nautilus hook chained control with autos. Ignite went on, damage maxed.
They didn't delete Orianna instantly, but with that health bar, even burning Flash wouldn't save her.
FoFo hesitated, then used Flash into his grave.
Right as Lin Fan's auto landed the last hit, Twisted Fate secured the kill.
And it didn't stop there.
Lee Sin had already quietly moved into mid.
Because the wave was crashing into turret, Orianna would definitely Teleport back to catch it.
From the god's-eye view, Nautilus, Lee Sin, and Twisted Fate were all in position, waiting for Orianna to land.
Seeing the massive wave under turret, how could FoFo resist using Teleport?
The moment the TP lit up, everyone backstage at BLG covered their eyes.
This "package" was too vicious—there was no way out!
TES played like this: when Brother Infinite Borders has a tempo champion mid, he doesn't bother trying to win lane normally—he uses every resource to make you collapse.
FoFo was exactly that case.
The instant Teleport lit, Lee Sin and Nautilus stopped pretending and appeared directly from behind.
TP couldn't be canceled now.
In TES's mid-jungle-support eyes, Orianna was already dead.
FoFo was desperate, but the moment he landed he ate Twisted Fate's Gold Card, then Nautilus passive and hook.
This time, with Lee Sin adding extra damage, there was no struggle—black screen again.
A bit of gallows humor: at least that kill didn't go to Twisted Fate.
The bad news: it went to Lee Sin…
And a Lee Sin with kills is terrifying.
Squishies in front of him are basically free kicks.
Watching this scene, Doinb and Rookie both felt their scalps go numb.
Isn't this just… giving mid lane no way to live?
Shiba.
TL: Shiba - Fuck/Shit
Especially since their opponent was the team that would win today's series—and from the look of it, that team was probably TES.
Seeing this should make them even more careful…
They absolutely couldn't get "packaged." It was truly despairing.
FoFo looked so miserable.
Watching for fun was fine.
Being the victim? Absolutely not.
The livestream chat also scrolled wildly.
"Damn, BLG losing is good, but TES is playing way too dirty!"
"After this game, FoFo is gonna be completely dizzy—his head buzzing."
"Why hasn't Nautilus left yet?!"
"It's still bot lane. Zeri + Yuumi can barely stabilize lane as it is—how could they possibly watch Nautilus?"
"Freeze under turret and farm, sure. But if you walk out and Nautilus hooks you, that's one hook, two bodies."
"Told you BLG's coach is dumb for picking this comp. Weiwei is also out of it—mid is getting murdered and he doesn't even look."
"If that's the case, then—good death!"
"Brother Tyrant likes this. If he had Brother Infinite Borders-level treatment, he'd be slaughtering top lane."
TL: Brother Tyrant is a nickname for TheShy. Meaning, TheShy should be getting this treatment too. But written by a fan.
"BLG is finished. Pick scaling and explode early!"
FoFo stared at his black-and-white screen and tried to keep it together.
The game wasn't over yet…
Keep farming.
If he farmed to late game, he would definitely get a chance to perform.
They could only pull this kind of thing twice.
As long as he was more careful, there was no way they could catch him again.
Then at 5:30, FoFo's screen went black again.
He had no Flash. Showing in mid was basically disrespecting TES's dive ability.
"TES is straight-up treating Orianna like an ATM…"
"There's nothing he can do. He's not scaled yet, and he has no Flash. If he steps out and gets Gold Carded, he dies."
"Weiwei needs to invest some attention into mid. If this keeps happening, we might never see Orianna do anything this game."
It was pure despair.
Orianna alone could never change this situation.
Unless jungle came to camp a countergank, mid lane was going to be: show once, die once.
TES really wasn't following the usual script.
They picked Twisted Fate mid, yet they weren't roaming—they were breaking you in lane.
FoFo became the biggest victim in this game.
Caught into numbness.
The casters had just said jungle needed to help mid to change the situation.
But this game, Weiwei's attention was still mainly on top.
Especially around the time Twisted Fate hit level six.
Afraid Breath would get dove top, he chose to countergank—strictly following the coach's plan.
Protect Kennen's growth so they could play map later.
All they could do was verbally support FoFo.
And right then—Twisted Fate flipped another Gold Card.
He threw it.
Orianna was forced to stand there and be punished.
Lee Sin emerged from behind and landed a perfect kick onto Orianna.
Second Q followed in—Cripple, nonstop damage.
Then Wild Cards plus an auto cleared Orianna's remaining HP.
Twisted Fate was already on a killing spree…
It was over!
At 6:30, Orianna had died four times.
Her CS was a pitiful twenty-one.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup