You call this thing stable?

"Invading, huh?"

"Ganging up on us, huh?"

"You guys think you're so tough? You need connections, you need backing. Brothers, which crew are you with?"

"Die for me!!!"

Chapter 39: Did You Calculate This Too?

Leona's sudden appearance was a headshot strike to everyone on TES.

This kind of surprise was like for people with messy personal lives; they might demand their partner be busy, not come home, but never to come home unexpectedly. Because the moment they did, the home would explode.

TES was in the same situation now.

PPGOD wasn't in a hurry to use his skills. Since they had cut off the enemy's escape route, it was natural to close in and fight first. TES wasn't stupid either; if they were caught in a pincer attack and just stood there taking it, wouldn't that make them look foolish?

And so...

Gnar, without learning any level 1 skills, immediately learned his E skill to escape. Jarvan IV and Syndra were less fortunate; they could only Flash in two different directions, gambling that the enemy would be the unlucky one.

Only then did PPGOD truly make his move.

"Swish"

He Flashed in close, increasing the success rate for landing his skills.

Then, activating his Q skill, Shield of Dawn

He smashed Jarvan IV, who had just Flashed away, hard. He applied ignite, and his expression lit up.

In a level 1 team fight, the worst thing was a lack of focused damage. From the start, V5 had set their target on TES's jungler, Jarvan IV. With this crucial crowd control, V5's mid, top, and jungle trio didn't even need to use their Flashes. They simply ran up and took turns delivering heavy blows to the enemy jungler.

Finally...

Rookie killed Tian

First blood secured.

The kill was given to Corki, allowing Rookie to better navigate his weak early game.

"Nice, guys, we're taking off!!!"

Before the top side could even celebrate, Luo Zhen, who was solo-ganking, shouted first. Don't think this had nothing to do with him; if Jarvan IV was crippled at level 1, he would have to find ways to compensate for his development early on, likely meaning he wouldn't gank bot lane as much. Leona, the support, could also reduce her jungle patrols in the early game, indirectly enhancing bot lane's safety.

"Alright, alright, coming back now. Be careful not to face-check bushes," PPGOD said, in a good mood after getting an assist. Of course, he didn't forget to remind Luo Zhen.

"Don't worry, I'll go straight back and walk from the lane. They won't dare to come at me!"

With V5 having a great start, TES was naturally under immense pressure.

As the core carry of the first game, JKL found V5's bot lane duo somewhat frustrating.

Originally...

He heard that a new AD had arrived in the LPL and had even beaten Deng Huang and LWX. He felt a sense of eager curiosity to explore. But as soon as they met, the opponent directly pulled out a Ziggs from their pants.

How did that feel?

It was like you, a powerful swordsman, heard about a new rookie who was excellent at Iaido and wanted to compare skills. But the moment you met, the opponent directly pulled out a Desert Eagle from their pocket, calling it: "This is American Iaido."

What was the point of fighting then!

Looking at the occasional bomb thrown at the minion wave, JKL even felt like cursing on the spot.

Peh, someone with no ADC soul!

This was another method Coach Homme had devised to avoid direct confrontation with TES's bot lane: an unconventional approach. Ziggs was somewhat of a regular pick in competitive play, but it usually required picking him in the fourth or fifth slot, otherwise, if the enemy team had a lot of engage, he could be completely shut down.

As for the playstyle...

Talent: Comet. Considering the special circumstances of this game, they picked Grasp of the Undying. Summoner spells: Teleport and a raw Sapphire Crystal.

And then...

You see the bombs, but not the person. Silver-tier mechanics, master soul.

Oh, right, don't forget to equip the Snow Day skin; wearing a skin adds 10 Attack Damage.

As for last hitting? It all depended on his fate with the minions.

After all, this champion didn't have much damage early on, was fragile, and most importantly, ran out of mana quickly. A mage without mana was even less of a threat than a caster minion.

So, Luo Zhen's job for the first three levels was to be imprisoned in the bot lane with PPGOD, occasionally throwing a few bombs to last hit for gold, and constantly watching out for Thresh's hooks.

Once he had enough gold, he would go all-in, empty his health bar, Recall, buy Tear of the Goddess, and then Teleport back to lane.

This scummy playstyle was often simple, unadorned, and monotonous.

"Can you even do this? Why are you throwing bombs at their AD? He has Red Smite, man." Seeing the pathetic minion count of their APC on the scoreboard, PPGOD couldn't hold back.

"Do you think I want to? I was aiming for the minions! Who knew their AD would be in that position?"

"Hiss~ Could it be that the passive from Q-sniping dance triggered?"

"How would I know? If I knew he liked to Q-snipe so much, I would have started with Doran's Ring. Wouldn't that have killed him?"

At this point, not only Luo Zhen but even the viewers watching from God's perspective were a bit bewildered.

In their view, the Ziggs' Q skill wasn't a guaranteed hit on Aphelios, but it landed at least three out of five times, a scenario almost unthinkable in professional play.

Even XLB, in the lounge, was stunned. He turned to Coach Homme, whose lips were twitching, and asked, "Coach, did you calculate this too?"

Calculate?

He hadn't calculated a damn thing.

At the time, he'd only wanted to avoid the opponent's initial onslaught. The bottom lane situation had completely exceeded his expectations.

However...

"Ah, yes," Coach Homme replied calmly, nodding. "I had actually anticipated this situation in the bottom lane early on. I just wasn't entirely sure at first, but now, I believe I've confirmed it."

As soon as he said this, the room was filled with an aura of dominance emanating from Coach Homme.

A top-tier coach, truly terrifying!

The professional scene is often where inexplicable things happen. Take JKL, for instance; he wasn't without precedent. There was even a famous scene where he was Q'd to death by five consecutive EZ Q skills.

But that wasn't important.

Their health had been depleted, meaning they couldn't be as aggressive, but they could still contest the lane.

The core reason was that Leona had no Flash.

With a Ziggs and a support without Flash in the bottom lane, it was destined that they couldn't push the minion wave recklessly. After all, no one could guarantee that the Ziggs wouldn't go all-out and gank the bottom lane.

One side was timid, the other fearless, so lane priority naturally fell to TES.

Both sides farmed peacefully through the first three levels, and then... PPGOD began preparing to roam.

"Wait, you're planning to abandon me this early?"

Luo Zhen was shocked.

What was his item build, and what was the opponent's support? If he got hooked, wouldn't the enemy bottom duo just pin him down and grind him into dust?

"Don't worry, I'll be back before the minion wave hits the tower. I'm steady as can be," PPGOD said, turning and giving Luo Zhen a thumbs-up before heading towards the mid lane without looking back.

"No, but what if the enemy support blocks me from farming? What if the enemy just goes all-in on me?"

"Oh, it's simple. If you break the rules, immediately draw a Mickey Mouse head on the ground, or shout that there's oil here, and someone will escort you away."

"???"

Chapter 40: Do You Believe in the Future?

"The enemy support seems to have roamed," Zhuo said in TES's team voice chat, watching the Ziggs push solo in the bottom lane.

"Got it. How's the enemy bottom lane?"

"I underestimated him. He's very strong. I feel like he's deliberately predicting my position with every Q skill; his accuracy is incredibly high," Ah Shui said after some thought.

"Is there a possibility... that your Q-sniping passive is just too insane?" Zhuo was already finding it hard to complain.

JKL and Zhuo were teasing each other in the bottom lane. One wanted to complain about the opponent's Q-sniping frequency, while the other wanted to complain about the other's inaction with hooks. Of course, it wasn't that Zhuo didn't want to hook, but the opposing ADC was simply too steady.

He wouldn't farm dangerous minions, would immediately retreat if he saw Thresh disappear into the brush, and once the minion wave entered the tower, he'd maintain a position of at least two Flashes away while throwing bombs. His defensive play was at its maximum.

This playstyle, while giving Ziggs a relatively safe output environment, also resulted in abysmal CS for Ziggs and allowed the opponent to slowly chip away at the turret plating.

So then what?

Then this kind of playstyle was an absolute win, because the pressure on the top, mid, and jungle lanes was maxed out.

With the support roaming like this, Ziggs' performance when left alone in the bottom lane was no different than having multiple turrets there.

"Thresh didn't follow you to roam. Didn't you say you'd be back when the minion wave hit the tower? Where are you!"

"I misjudged the timing. There weren't many opportunities mid, so I went into his jungle with Brother Ka."

PPGOD felt like he was playing really well this game. Karsa's jungler radar was functioning again, and by predicting the enemy jungler's position, they could directly coordinate their jungle and support to chase the enemy jungler across the map.

The jungler was under pressure, the top lane couldn't push Graves, and the mid lane Syndra didn't dare to push Corki's wave. This rhythm was immediately seized.

They even considered diving the top lane turret.

"Can the bottom lane hold?"

"Probably, maybe, possibly, yes... I can't say for sure."

The Aphelios-Thresh combo didn't have much offensive pressure early on. As long as they didn't get hooked, they'd be fine. If Thresh initiated with Flash, Aphelios would immediately use his own Flash to dodge. Theoretically, they weren't that easy to kill.

If you're talking about mechanics, it's not impossible.

As the saying goes, if you're afraid of making plays, why play ADC? You might as well pick a Ziggs.

Huh?

He was playing Ziggs this game!

Never mind then.

Although he wasn't paying any attention to the enemy bottom lane, as the saying goes, the top side of the map was so difficult to play right now, and the bottom side had such an obvious breakthrough point, it was hard to guarantee that the enemy jungle and support wouldn't try to make a move on him.

Ziggs was, after all, a carry. This conservative play only meant that Ziggs' development would be hindered, but it wouldn't cause him to completely fall apart.

With the intention of letting Aphelios farm comfortably.

The moment Aphelios's white stance was ready, a plan targeting Ziggs quietly began. Just as Leona had finished her big play in the top half and returned to the bottom lane, Luo Zhen looked at the large minion wave about to enter the tower and suddenly started laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" PPGOD glanced at his ADC, asking curiously.

"I'm not laughing at anyone else, just Fan Zhuo Wumou and Xiao Tian Shaozhi. If I were shotcalling, with this minion wave, the jungler would come straight to bot lane. If we can't take this wave, wouldn't it be like we're blown up?"

The moment Luo Zhen finished speaking, Thresh, who was about to enter the tower with the minion wave, suddenly threw a Lantern towards a blind spot behind him. The next second, a golden figure, accompanied by a faint green light, instantly appeared not far from V5's bottom lane duo.

Their appearance immediately terrified Luo Zhen and PPGOD.

They threw their W and E skills for a dash and immediately retreated, getting away from their bottom lane turret.

Seriously.

They might have been able to trade one for one by staying under the tower for a 2v3, but that would have clearly put them at a disadvantage.

"Holy crap, you jinxer!" PPGOD was about to scold him when he turned around and saw his ADC smiling again. "No, you're still smiling even after this? What the hell are you laughing at?"

"No, no, no, don't just focus on the current disadvantage. I'm laughing because the enemy jungle and support lack strategy. Think about it, since they wanted to make a move on us, if the mid laner also came down and ambushed us from the jungle, catching us off guard, then even if we didn't die, we'd at least have to blow our Flashes. Wouldn't that mean we wouldn't even dare to farm afterwards?"

"Uh, Little Zhen..."

Rookie's words carried a hint of hesitation. He wasn't sure if he should say it, but since he was about to signal anyway, there was no point in hiding it, so...

"Although I think what you said makes a lot of sense, Syndra is indeed missing. I was just about to report MISS as I was heading top to gank."

"Nani!?"

Just as Luo Zhen had predicted, TES's mid laner Syndra, after noticing Rookie heading top, had taken a large detour and emerged from the jungle entrance near the red side's blue buff. With enemies in front and pursuers behind, when he saw Syndra gathering dark energy and unleashing The Weak Shall Fear directly at him.

Shua~ Shua~

Two Flashes were used.

This time, Luo Zhen and PPGOD retreated directly to their second turret. As for the minion wave that had just entered the outer turret, forget about farming it, they didn't even have the courage to look at it anymore.