Always Full of Surprises
Both teams locked in their lineups.
Invictus Gaming: Morgana, Dr. Mundo, LeBlanc, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank.
JingDong Gaming: Renekton, Malphite, Azir, Yunara, Lulu.
The game began.
"The production team is showing us TheShy's detailed rune choices for this game. Let's take a look.
"For his primary tree, he's taken Summon Aery, Manaflow Band, Absolute Focus, and Scorch. His secondary tree is Resolve, with Demolish and Bone Plating. He's also taken Attack Speed for his minor rune. I get it now—he really is going for absolute lane dominance this game," Mao Mao said.
"Blitzcrank has taken Unsealed Spellbook again. He really does love flipping through that book. He's also brought Teleport this game, but that's a little useless for the early laning phase," Tong Xi said.
"Huh? TheShy started with a Doran's Blade, and Blitzcrank is following him toward top lane? Do they have something planned?" Mao Mao exclaimed in surprise.
With Blitzcrank around, Lulu and Yunara weren't going to risk stepping forward before the minions arrived. Getting hooked and taking a combo would be a straight loss. They wouldn't step forward if they couldn't reach the enemy, either, and they wouldn't be able to chip away much health. Lulu also had no way to keep anyone from leaving, so both of them waited until the minions reached the lane before following them in.
They were also extremely cautious, both standing among their minions to make sure Blitzcrank couldn't hook them from the brush. Blitzcrank couldn't auto-attack the wave, so as long as the two of them pushed for level two first, they could safely hold the brush. There was no need to take risks.
But just as the two were working to push the wave, Xiaoxu suddenly cried out in top lane.
When the minion waves met, Morgana had walked straight up from below the wave to apply pressure. Her attack was low, but with Doran's Blade, bonus Attack Speed, and Summon Aery, the damage from a couple of auto-attacks was nothing to scoff at.
Renekton couldn't easily step forward to last-hit, so he planned to stay back and get some experience. But then Blitzcrank suddenly hooked him into the brush.
Morgana seemed to have been ready for it. She immediately moved around behind the minion wave and stepped forward to follow up with a Q. Renekton knew full well he couldn't afford to get hit by it. Otherwise, he would lose health, have to use Flash in the end, and then use Teleport to restore his health.
Renekton immediately chose to Flash. Morgana chased him and landed two auto-attacks before retreating into the brush.
Lin Heng immediately Teleported back to bot lane. Having two people in top lane now would seriously affect the experience there, but fortunately, Lin Heng hurried away with Teleport after landing that Q. Only one top-lane minion had died, so the impact wasn't great.
"Wow, that Lin Heng is so sneaky! How does he keep coming up with plays like this?" Mao Mao couldn't help exclaiming.
"He really can always make choices you don't expect," Tong Xi said in amazement.
"Renekton was already going to have a miserable time this game. Now he's been forced to Flash at level one. It feels like Shy is just going to crush him. This really is kicking a cripple in his good leg," Mao Mao said.
"Exactly. Without Flash, Renekton has to watch his health. If it gets too low, Dr. Mundo and LeBlanc will definitely come to dive him under his tower. And Azir and Malphite can do very little before level six," Tong Xi analyzed.
"If those three dive Renekton, he won't even be able to stun one of them," Mao Mao added.
"Uzi also played very aggressively in bot lane just now, acting like Blitzcrank really was in the middle brush. The moment Blitzcrank threw his hook, Uzi immediately backed off and gave them no opening. Otherwise, bot lane might actually have caught on," Tong Xi said, analyzing the bot lane.
"Mm, Blitzcrank is great against enchanter supports. Now that he's Teleported back to lane, he can start fishing for hooks. Lulu, Yunara, and Malphite lack engage anyway, so Blitzcrank can just roll the dice with Q and fight whenever he lands one...
"He landed it! Level-two Blitzcrank hooked Lulu as she tried to step forward and Q Caitlyn.
"He knocks her up with E, and Caitlyn follows up with a trap. Yunara steps forward, activates Q, and attacks Blitzcrank. Her damage is decent, but Lulu is even squishier. Caitlyn's trap, Q, and headshot take half of Lulu's health.
"Lulu immediately burns both summoner spells. Caitlyn has also built up a headshot and lands it on Yunara. Blitzcrank is down half his health, while Lulu has less than a quarter left. Caitlyn's combo hurt too much. It feels like Lulu has to recall, or once Blitzcrank's skills are back up, he can just Flash in with E into Q and kill her.
"Wow, this Blitzcrank! I'd just said he'd go in if he landed a hook, and she pulled Lulu right over. That hook actually involved some prediction. Lulu stepped forward to try to Q Caitlyn, and Blitzcrank seized the opening when she moved out from the minions."
Mao Mao quickly finished calling the brief clash, and Tong Xi added:
"After that hook, Invictus Gaming's bot lane will gain lane priority. They can even push the wave under Gala's tower and play there. Lulu and Yunara have almost no skills to keep them from leaving, and Malphite has to farm on his own before level six. Even if he comes, he can't keep Invictus Gaming's duo there.
"That creates a problem. When Invictus Gaming stacks two waves and pushes them under the tower, not only can Caitlyn hit the tower for Plating, but with no Red Side, or JingDong Gaming, minions under the tower, Yunara has to position very carefully while last-hitting there. If she gets hooked, she'll have to Flash. Caitlyn's two headshots plus Q deal very high damage early on. This will leave JingDong Gaming's bot-lane duo constantly at a disadvantage.
"And Lulu doesn't have Flash now. She might have a chance to escape if she gets hooked once, but if she gets hooked twice, she's as good as dead."
After Tong Xi finished her analysis, Mao Mao continued.
"Look at what this Dr. Mundo is doing. He saw that all three of his lanes had the advantage, so after clearing his own top-side jungle, he went straight to Malphite's bot-side jungle to farm. Blitzcrank is hovering near the river, ready to support him at any moment.
"All three lanes are pushing, so Dr. Mundo can really go wherever he wants. And in JingDong Gaming's lineup, only Malphite's ultimate and Renekton's W can break Dr. Mundo's passive.
"Oh, and here's a well-known fact for everyone: Dr. Mundo's passive requires an [immobilizing] effect to break it. [Immobilizing] refers to skills that restrict voluntary movement, such as stuns, roots, knockbacks, knockups, and so on. The [polymorph] caused by Lulu's [Whimsy] applies disarm, slow, and silence, so Lulu's polymorph can't break Dr. Mundo's passive. Of course, she can successfully polymorph him, but she can't keep him there."
While Mao Mao was speaking, Dr. Mundo had already arrived at Junjia's Blue Buff and started clearing it. Lin Heng, meanwhile, was positioned aggressively in JingDong Gaming's bot-side Tri-brush, ready to support him at any moment.
By the time Malphite finished clearing Wolves, Dr. Mundo had already used Smite to take the Blue Buff. The two sides began contesting Gromp, but Gala needed to clear the wave Caitlyn had pushed under the tower, so Caitlyn and Blitzcrank could arrive first.
Rookie's LeBlanc also moved over from mid lane. Seeing that he no longer had a chance to contest Gromp and was at risk of being hooked by Blitzcrank, Junjia could only watch helplessly as Dr. Mundo took Gromp as well.