It's over!
FoFo didn't even know how to keep going. In six minutes, he'd been caught and killed four times.
How do you play?
They weren't even human—this is how you want to play the game, huh?
Not even a shred of face left. They were catching him and killing him nonstop.
Even mice know you can't keep shaving the same family bald—TES's mid-jungle-support were ruthless. Did they never get tired? Were they really going to camp one person until the game ended?
Is that fun?
Of course it's fun.
The joy of a jungler "military training" one lane is beyond imagination.
Every time they successfully killed him, Tian laughed until he cackled.
He could picture the enemy mid laner slumped in his chair, drained and lifeless.
Six minutes, four deaths—no matter who you are, you can't take that.
If this were normal solo queue, you'd just Ctrl+F4 and quit. Why would you keep sitting in mid lane taking abuse?
But this was a match.
He didn't dare.
So he could only endure it.
And the chain reaction from BLG mid collapsing came immediately.
Orianna didn't even dare look at Twisted Fate.
Which meant Lin Fan's Twisted Fate could roam whenever he wanted.
From the minimap, he could tell BLG was investing top.
In that case—gank bot!
With mid and bot both massively fed, BLG couldn't possibly come back with just a Kennen.
So at 7:30, Lin Fan's first ultimate flew straight down.
Tian had been waiting on the bottom side, and in the blink of an eye, four people had gathered in bot lane.
Zeri + Yuumi—no offense—could only wait under turret to die.
Especially with Twisted Fate's Gold Card guaranteed.
Big Dog didn't even know what he was supposed to do next…
JackeyLove didn't forget his job. He controlled Draven and chopped twice, easily securing the kill with his teammates' setup.
As for the cat that fell off—she was even more of a toy.
With proper distribution, Yuumi's kill went to Twisted Fate.
Both carries ate until they were full.
With Mark's help, Tian started the dragon—first Infernal Drake was great value.
JackeyLove got to solo-eat turret plates, grinning from ear to ear.
Lin Fan then returned to mid to catch the wave, losing only two melee minions.
It wasn't that FoFo didn't want to shove quickly—it was that his current development meant Orianna's waveclear simply couldn't keep up with minion health.
The moment he saw Twisted Fate come back, he had a stress reaction and immediately ran backward.
It felt like if he entered Twisted Fate's range, the Gold Card would land, then Lee Sin or Nautilus would arrive.
But in reality, a ruined Orianna was no longer worth TES spending much on.
If it was convenient, they'd slaughter him.
If it wasn't, they'd let him farm.
It didn't impact the overall game much.
Because when Twisted Fate can move at any time, Orianna is irrelevant.
Lin Fan shoved the wave, then piloted Twisted Fate down toward bot.
No ultimate—just the good old "bus route 11."
Draven's twin axes spun in his hands with crisp pa pa sounds, drawing cheers. That meant his passive had stacked a lot—he was already hungry and itching to cash out again.
BLG's bot duo sensed it and hurriedly retreated, trying to run all the way back to tier-two.
But then, from the brush behind them, two hulking men crawled out of the Krugs.
Lee Sin… and Twisted Fate.
They cut off the retreat.
Tian seized the timing and kicked in. With how well Lee Sin was fed, this damage was already too much for Zeri to handle.
Even with the cat healing once, the health bar simply wouldn't rise.
Then Twisted Fate's Gold Card arrived.
Crisp popped his ultimate in a final struggle.
But Zeri, locked in place by the Gold Card, watched her HP crack downward.
Seeing this, JackeyLove got anxious—if you mid-jungle take the whole bot duo, how is my Draven supposed to cash out?
He timed it and threw his ultimate.
Draven's twin axes spun at high speed—crunch—arriving perfectly. Right as Twisted Fate's Wild Cards sliced through, the axes followed up and secured Zeri's head.
Same exact script as before.
Only Yuumi was left.
That's Zeri + Yuumi for you. Without teammates, if you're endlessly dove, you have no answers.
That's why the combo is weak in ranked. Even if its pro winrate is high, its ranked winrate stays bottom-tier among ADCs.
It's simple: it's a duo that needs team help.
In pro play, bot lane doesn't get endlessly dove like solo queue.
But today, BLG was forced into a ranked game.
With mid collapsed, BLG couldn't even coordinate.
This comp's early tempo was supposed to come from top Kennen.
But now that mid and bot both exploded, even a god couldn't save it.
And Teleport wouldn't unlock until after fourteen minutes.
Even if Breath wanted to join fights, he'd have to walk.
Still, Breath didn't give up.
With shot-calling authority in hand, he was shining with confidence.
So what if Twisted Fate was ahead?
Just come mid and catch him once—restrict him so he can't move whenever he wants.
So at eleven minutes, he shoved the wave into turret, then came mid with Weiwei, ready to make a play.
But before they could do anything, a Lee Sin slipped out from the side.
Fast.
Breath didn't even have time to react before he was kicked right next to Twisted Fate.
Lin Fan instantly flipped a Gold Card—ding—stunning him.
A Twisted Fate that's ahead of the timeline, plus Lee Sin's damage—killing a Kennen was effortless.
Breath popped his ultimate, and his HP bar was already gone.
"What kind of bullshit damage is this?" Breath was stunned.
He came down planning to help his teammates delete Twisted Fate.
Instead, he was the one deleted.
And that Lee Sin's legs were fast as hell!
One moment of carelessness—no Flash—and you're dead?
This wasn't the ending he wanted.
Once the "big brother" fell…
Sejuani and Orianna could only scatter like birds and beasts.
They weren't enough to fight Twisted Fate and Lee Sin. Staying would only donate kills.
What now?
They tried to use top lane to claw something back, but TES saw through it perfectly. They even knew where you were.
One kick and you're dead.
How do you play?
You can't play at all!
The more BLG played, the more hopeless it felt—especially with Twisted Fate's terrifying damage.
Lin Fan had taken too many kills.
He had planned to be utility, but there was no need now.
Second item went straight for Lich Bane.
As for Rapid Firecannon… what kind of burst mage builds Firecannon?
Of course you go full damage.
With mid tier-one pushed down, it became "name-calling time."
Especially squishy Zeri—stun, auto, then Wild Cards, and she's dead.
At this point, with Twisted Fate able to one-shot, BLG had no more chances.
At twenty-two minutes, TES cleared Baron vision, then sped up the tempo and started Baron.
Forcing BLG to come contest.
But Twisted Fate wasn't sitting in the pit.
Under Lin Fan's control, he hid in the upper brush.
Breath planned to flank from above and use Baron to find a Slicing Maelstrom angle—trying to trigger the Heavenly Thunder effect and see if they could turn it around.
But Lin Fan had already read it. He pre-positioned, waiting for the little electric rat to deliver himself.
The moment Kennen appeared—instant Gold Card.
Wild Cards sliced through, an auto proc'd the E passive, and the cleanup was effortless.
From start to finish, Kennen didn't cast a single skill before collapsing in top lane.
The crowd erupted at the sight.
Cheering waves rose and fell.
With Kennen dead, BLG's idea of muddying the waters and stealing Baron was completely crushed.
Weiwei had no intention of even walking in.
TES took Baron with ease.
Now BLG had absolutely no comeback points.
With Baron buff, TES started their siege.
Under the pressure of Twisted Fate's Gold Card callouts, BLG couldn't mount an effective defense.
Tian was also playing out of his mind.
The Lee Sin in his hands just produced absurd results.
He kicked Zeri out from the minion wave, then followed with a gorgeous Insec, kicking her out again.
TL: The Insec is a signature Lee Sin technique popularized by Choi "Insec" In-Seok after the memorable execution on the world stage. This technique is performed by ward jumping behind the target during a Resonating Strike and kicking the target towards your team with Dragon's Rage.
Basically, jump forward, kick the enemy back to the team
_____
Surrounded by BLG's other four, he calmly pressed Stopwatch.
Because he knew his teammates would instantly handle Zeri.
He'd delivered her right there—of course they wouldn't disappoint.
Zeri was instantly deleted, and TES charged straight under turret.
Twisted Fate's damage was high, but compared to Draven chopping tanks one axe at a time, it was still far behind.
JackeyLove roared, piloting Draven forward.
Pop!
Pop!
Blazing cuts, each one fatal. He even helped Lin Fan secure a triple kill, completing a Godlike performance.
BLG collapsed like a landslide and got ended in one push.
2–0. TES took three match points.
"Brother Infinite Borders! Brother Infinite Borders!"
Excited fans shouted in unison, louder and louder.
Countless people rushed to Weibo to celebrate, swarming BLG's official account to leave comments.
So satisfying…
So satisfying…
Offending everyone and then losing is terrifying.
BLG was a perfect reminder: never string people along, and never treat others like idiots.
There won't be a good ending.
Back in BLG's lounge, the coach got blasted by management.
The pressure was unimaginably huge.
He wanted to win—but he didn't know what point they could even win through.
The coach even had a weird thought:
If bot lane were Uzi… could he make him take the blame?
Just draft a Protect the carry comp. If they lose, dump all the pressure on him.
But scanning the room—he only had Big Dog, not Little Dog.
Uzi had already announced at the start of playoffs that he was resting and wouldn't play.
Management already had the streaming contract too—they didn't care.
You guys got your contract, but the pressure lands in the match!
In the end, the coach couldn't say any real encouragement. He just told them to try their best.
No tactics might be the best tactic.
---
Unlike the earlier games—clean twenty-minute stomps—this one dragged to thirty-two minutes.
And the deficit wasn't that big. The two sides fell into a standoff.
Suddenly BLG saw hope.
They could win!
Win this game and it means they can reverse-sweep from 0–2 to 3–2!
A miracle of this playoffs.
Backstage, the coach and analysts quietly clenched their fists, not daring to even breathe.
This game, Lin Fan picked Ahri mid.
Without the coach's plan, BLG instead spontaneously chose to target Ahri early.
In that situation, Lin Fan was pinned in mid and couldn't roam to start tempo.
FoFo, for once, had decent farm this game.
Because mid didn't fall too far behind, the game stayed suspenseful past thirty minutes.
But by this point, JackeyLove's fighting power was already maxed.
All he needed was one cleanup opportunity.
Simply put: late game TES's ceiling was far higher than BLG's.
That was the difference in raw strength on paper.
At thirty-four minutes, BLG chose to all-in JackeyLove's Zeri.
But a young man's reactions are a young man's reactions.
He barely flashed the control, popped ultimate, and immediately turned to fight!
A thirty-four-minute Zeri—terrifying damage.
Lin Fan seized the moment and ulted in on Ahri, fully coordinating with Zeri to create a harvesting environment.
Charm-ults chained one after another!
"Come on, keep coming!"
After taking three straight kills, JackeyLove was hyped, shouting nonstop in comms.
"Like I can't react! Come on! Keep engaging me!"
"If you keep yelling, the pentakill is gone." Lin Fan spoke while piloting Ahri for another dash forward.
Hearing that, JackeyLove's grin instantly froze.
"Brother Fan, spare them!"
At first, in the heat of battle, of course he wouldn't hold kills.
But now it was the cleanup.
BLG only had jungle and support left.
It couldn't affect the result anymore.
So they could try to see if a pentakill was possible.
Of course, if it took too long, they wouldn't chase on purpose.
Winning still came first.
After Weiwei got caught, JackeyLove secured a quadra kill.
Crisp understood the etiquette.
Seeing that the base couldn't be defended and only the Nexus turrets remained, in the final moment he offered up his head.
Pro play has never just been about killing.
Top pros understand social etiquette…
When you can't change the outcome, giving a pentakill to build goodwill is normal.
Pentakill!
The sound effect echoed across the Rift.
He secured it.
JackeyLove was happy.
"Not bad. Crisp's a real one. When it matters, he really shows up."
In the arena, the Water Ghost Sisters went crazy, waving their support signs!
A great omen.
TES's first playoff series, and JackeyLove already got a pentakill!
With BLG wiped, nobody could defend the Nexus turrets anymore.
At thirty-six minutes, the base exploded.
TES beat BLG 3–0 and advanced to the next round.
"Congratulations to TES! Their playoff performance even surpasses the regular season! JackeyLove got a pentakill today—an unforgettable day for TES fans!"
"Three games played beautifully. From start to finish, they held victory tightly and gave BLG no chances."
"From the regular season win streak to sweeping BLG in playoffs, how far can TES go next… I'm sure many people are looking forward to it."
"Right. I'm still keeping an optimistic view," Guan Zeyuan said with a grin.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup