To be honest, the current situation had completely stunned RNG.
Five minutes in, the kill score was already 4–0—and the most outrageous part was that all four kills were on Corki's head. That was absolutely terrible news.
One man's honey is another man's poison. While RNG's players were all frowning, desperately thinking about how to deal with this Corki, TES were full of laughter.
Game one was basically in the bag.
Four kills on Fan-ge right from the start—there was simply no way to imagine losing.
If JackeyLove had gotten four kills, there might've been some concern about him getting overexcited and randomly charging forward, throwing away his shutdown bounty. In that case, a throw was still possible.
But now, there was no such worry at all.
Backstage, Luo Sheng was already reclining in his chair, leisurely rocking back and forth.
This game plan had no issues whatsoever. As long as the players executed it properly, victory would come easily.
Perfect.
The only real comeback angle RNG had was probably top lane Kennen. A perfectly timed Slicing Maelstrom might give them a chance—but TES's carries all had mobility. There was no way Kennen could get a full ultimate off in a straight-up fight. Under those circumstances, the odds were slim to none.
After clearing another wave mid, Lin Fan placed a ward near the enemy blue buff.
He recalled and upgraded his Amplifying Tome into Lost Chapter. He was only a bit of gold away from completing Luden's, and with his current pace, he was guaranteed to finish it within ten minutes. Not only that—he even had enough gold lined up for magic penetration boots.
With his runes optimized to the extreme, once he had a lead, the snowball would be completely unstoppable for RNG.
When he returned to lane, Xiaohu had just pushed the wave over.
After what happened earlier, the moment he saw Corki, he tucked his tail and retreated straight back.
He didn't dare move.
He really didn't dare.
Corki's items were simply too good—and he had already hit level six.
At level four, he had beaten Xiaohu to a pulp, nearly deleting him outright. Xiaohu had been forced to limp around at low HP, not daring to touch a single minion. Later, he called Wei over for protection, yet Corki still committed to killing him.
Now without Flash, dying again would basically mean surrendering the rest of game one to garbage time.
But if he could just survive without dying again, there might still be hope.
Seeing Orianna cowering under tower, waiting for the wave, Wei could only sigh.
Originally, RNG planned to play around mid—turning the solo lane into a duo lane and protecting Xiaohu so he could scale.
But no one expected the mid lane matchup to be completely over just five minutes in.
Blaming Xiaohu entirely wasn't really fair. After all, those three kills weren't directly given up by him. Still, the root cause was that he had been forced back at level two, allowing Corki to rotate early.
In that river skirmish, even though Viego was burst down first, RNG lacked both cooldowns and HP afterward, letting Corki clean everything up for a triple kill.
So having Xiaohu shoulder the pressure now was only natural.
Meanwhile, Wei's entire bottom jungle had already been stripped clean. He himself was barely staying afloat, and no matter how anxious he was, there simply wasn't a good solution.
"Tiger… I don't really have a good answer right now. Let's wait for level six. Once we hit six, we can guarantee killing Corki once. Get the shutdown, and then the game will be much easier."
"…"
Xiaohu only nodded, saying nothing.
But once a well-fed Corki began drifting toward the river, RNG's top and bottom lanes were forced to back off immediately.
Against a Corki this fed, unless it was a three-man jungle collapse, there was simply no answer.
Unfortunately, Viego stayed glued to mid, going nowhere. If there was a gank, it was always together—a literal bodyguard for Corki.
This was a playstyle Tian had figured out himself. He'd gradually adapted to it. Whenever he had nothing else to do, he hovered mid—looking for tower dives or counterganks to protect Lin Fan.
Under constant vision pressure, even top lane stopped playing aggressively. Zoom slowly began to take control.
In no time at all, TES held lane priority across all three lanes.
At eight minutes, Tian moved to secure the Rift Herald.
RNG knew what was happening, but had no way to respond.
Some RNG fans watching the game covered their eyes in pain.
Since the start of summer split, the entire team had looked lost. After Bin's departure, they seemed unable to find their rhythm. Still, they had managed to grind out wins, sitting at 5–2—not a bad start at all.
But those games had never looked this hopeless.
This deficit was far beyond what anyone had imagined.
After TES secured the Rift Herald, they immediately dropped it mid.
Mid outer turret was already at half HP. One Herald charge plus a few hits was enough to take it down.
The moment Xiaohu saw Viego approaching with the Herald, he ran without hesitation.
No sense of safety. Once the tower fell, it felt like his soul would return home.
"What is TES doing here?! Xiaohu is getting mentally destroyed today—what do they even do now?" Uzi exclaimed while watching the game.
"It's over. First turret plus Cull payout—this gold is terrifying."
The broadcast pulled up the gold chart.
5,592 gold.
Bonus gold: 894.
CS gold: 2,148.
Four kills: 1,200.
Turret: 900.
Cull: 450.
Just over ten minutes, Corki was sitting on 5,592 gold.
Compare that to Xiaohu's Orianna.
2,641 gold.
Nearly a 3,000 gold gap.
That was basically an entire item difference.
Who could possibly withstand that?
After recalling, Corki upgraded completely—Luden's acquired. Magic penetration boots only needed 800 more gold to finish. He sold Cull, then used the remaining gold to buy Caulfield's Warhammer.
At this point, words couldn't describe his combat power.
He grabbed The Package on the way out and headed straight for bot lane.
The moment he picked up The Package, everyone knew bloodshed was coming.
"I'm at maximum speed now!"
With The Package, Corki's movement speed skyrocketed. In the blink of an eye, he was already bot lane.
RNG's bot duo had been warned—the moment The Package was taken, the entire map received a notification.
They could only turtle under tower.
"Run, run, run! Akali's here! Akali's here!" GALA shouted instinctively.
But Corki with The Package dove straight under the turret.
The rift ignited in scorching exhaust flames, triggering Luden's proc.
Aphelios instantly lost nearly two-thirds of his HP.
Corki exited turret range with a second W and fired a massive rocket.
Boom!
Even with Bailout, Aphelios' life drained away.
The damage was absurd.
Pure terror.
Double kill.
The rest of the game became a massacre.
RNG collapsed completely.
At 17 minutes and 18 seconds, RNG's Nexus exploded.
Final score: 16–3.
This was TES at their peak.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup