Dirty. Fucking filthy.
At this point, he could only place his hopes on the players' individual skill. Of course, this was hardly the first time he had done so. In a sense, the Sailor combination had been assembled precisely to create miracles.
But where were you supposed to find that many miracles in reality?
With Lucian snowballing outrageously in the early game, V5 immediately began running their own macro. Other than when their top laner returned for Map Resources fights, he spent almost all his time endlessly split-pushing the Side Lane.
If you came to catch me, the other four would crash into your mid tower.
If you did not come, then I would happily farm and push in a 1v1, growing fatter the more I pushed and pushing harder the fatter I got. Once Gwen gradually became impossible for one person to hold back, that would be the start of V5's next adjustment.
"Don't throw, don't throw, brothers. Give us a chance. This kid's grown up without ever seeing a trophy, please." At this point, Luo Zhen had somehow become the one most nervous about his teammates getting carried away.
Really, in his Previous Life, he had felt nothing when he watched those players lift trophies. From God's perspective, anything besides a World Championship title seemed to have little value.
But now that he was up there himself, it felt completely different.
Wasn't a Demacia Cup title still a title?
Three MSIs could combine into one World Championship runner-up. Then if three Demacia Cups combined into one Regular Season runner-up, that was fine too, right? And if he divided that by One Third, didn't that mean that once he won the Demacia Cup, he would already have the strength of a Playoffs top eight team at the start of his career?
Thinking of that, Luo Zhen's motivation suddenly exploded!
"Alright, alright. Xiao Zhen, why are you so naggy? You sound like my mom."
"This is a title, a title! So what if you're God's Whip? Have you ever won a title?"
"No." PPGOD looked somewhat awkward, because he truly had never won any major honors. Instead, he had somehow gained a whole bunch of overseas fans—or rather... believers?
"Exactly. If you work hard, you can earn your own trophy. But if you don't, be careful not to end up touching someone else's trophy. Eugh... it makes me sick just thinking about it."
"???"
Luo Zhen's behavior left the team torn between laughter and tears. In the past, when they led teams, they had always been the senior players reminding rookies to play steadily, not throw, and watch the vision. Now the roles had completely reversed, and they were the ones being worried about.
It just felt strange.
Of course, TES was not without a chance to come back. V5's entire macro setup revolved around the minion waves, but people had to return for Resource Fights. That gave TES a choice.
They could give up that lane's wave and force a team fight. Win one fight, and they would make a small profit. Win two, and they would break even. Win three, and they could complete the comeback. Naturally, that was assuming small wins. If they could pull off an ace plus Baron Nashor, they could flip the game in one go.
So V5 still was not steady enough. At the very least, they needed to wait for the Double C to reach their Three Item Set, then make a huge play while their Carry Position had three items and the enemy only had two and a half. While farming hard, Luo Zhen glanced at the Fifth Game's clock, then at the pitch-black Baron pit, and could not help muttering:
"Diao Shen."
"What?"
"Have you ever done something so outrageous that both man and god would hate it, simply because you were poor?"
"No. Why are you asking?"
"Working overtime on the night shift, without pay and without meals included. Does that count? And if it does, are we currently doing the first of those three things?"
"I guess it counts." PPGOD thought carefully about it and suddenly realized that description made a lot of sense. Playing a full BO5 was overtime, wasn't it? Once the match and all the miscellaneous post-game stuff were done, it would be time for a late-night meal.
"Then since you know that, hurry up and give me vision, GKD! Move, move, move!!!"
"..."
Everyone Was an Adult
As Gwen's Side Lane items grew better and better, Luo Zhen's workload within the four-man group Kiting in mid lane also increased. One of those jobs was particularly dangerous: Kiting.
Yes, just like the hostesses at nightclubs.
He had to occasionally tease the enemy, making them think they could take him down, while staying clear-headed and maintaining distance during critical moments so he could escape at any time. He had to look seductive enough to tempt them, yet refuse whenever they came close, all while relentlessly pressuring the enemy in mid lane.
This was where Lucian's Core Item setup—Nami and Cannon—had to be mentioned.
First of all.
Cannon suited Lucian because on the Pro Scene, it allowed him to fire off the small WAA combo from a safe distance, giving Lucian a way to look for POKE opportunities. But it was important to understand that this build only worked when Lucian-Nami bought it together.
Because a simple Galeforce Cannon build could not hurt anyone.
Nami's main purpose was to let Lucian deal damage at the appropriate timings even while building such Steady Faction items.
And so, Luo Zhen's performance began.
Like a hunting venomous snake, during the front-facing 4v4 Kiting, he always hovered around positions that looked easy to engage on, searching for POKE opportunities. Yet if you actually tried to engage him, he always had either E plus Flash or Galeforce plus E ready.
After several Surprise attacks, TES not only failed to catch Luo Zhen's Lucian, but instead lost a considerable amount of HP to his shots.
They started getting anxious.
"Why wasn't anything about this Lucian mentioned in the scouting report?"
His skill casts were fluid, his Distance Control perfect, and his battlefield instincts sharp. Just watching the smoothness of this Lucian from God's perspective gave people a sense of visual comfort.
Do not be surprised.
When watching videos, many people thought they could pull off this play as long as they had hands, that they could show off with that play too. They would even brag about absurd moments they had achieved. But the moment they watched their own replays...
It was straight-up ICU ARAM.
If even viewers watching from God's perspective found a player's mechanics and playstyle smooth, then in a professional match, that Hero was already at the level of a player's signature pick.
What terrifying pressure.
In terms of raw skill, the Sailor combination on TES's side was definitely stronger. But in every other regard, V5 was indeed better.
Their practice, strategy, and resolve were all lacking. If the Sailor combination could not make their voices heard this game, TES was probably done for.
I'm already looking forward to the Spring Split. A whole bunch of Galactic Battleships fighting each other then—just thinking about it is exciting.
Just like V5 in the previous games, TES could now only pin their hopes on the crucial team fights. That was how the fifth game of a BO5 went. The High Fault Tolerance format brought fewer and fewer mistakes, along with an increasingly steady momentum. Once V5 methodically spread their Frontline according to their macro system, TES felt only one thing: they could not keep up.
The Side Lane was being pushed, but the person sent there was gradually becoming unable to win.
If they sent multiple people to surround the Side Lane, they had no answer to the pressure from the enemy Lucian in mid.
If they wanted to push the wave out, their Wave Clear Ability and rotation speed were not even in the same league as the enemy's.
They were being completely controlled.
"Keep playing like this. Hold on for a few more waves, and they'll definitely get impatient and give us an opening. Let's stay steady."
"Xiao Zhen, take it easy. Your positioning is making me a little scared."
"Relax. Based on my many years of experience getting instantly deleted as a Solo Queue AD in Ranked Match, there isn't much pressure this game."
"No, you're a shooter player. How exactly do you keep predicting the enemy's ambushes and counterattacks?" PPGOD was completely baffled.
For a normal AD, more than half of their protection came from their teammates' support. But their own AD relied entirely on predicting the enemy's Surprise attacks for self-preservation.
What did such absurd reactions rely on?
Danger sense?
"You don't understand. In our professional shooting field, the change from rookie to veteran can be summed up simply: from learning sniping to mastering pistols and hand-to-hand combat."
"I don't get it."
"Put it this way: I reached Korean server Master playing male and female models, then switched to AD afterward. Do you get it now?"
"!!!"
Putting yourself in another role's shoes was actually a very suitable way to master that position.
For example, someone who had played a lot of top lane would definitely be great at engaging when playing support. Someone who had played a lot of assassins would immediately understand how to avoid Sudden Death when switching to AD. Like Luo Zhen's Cheap Master, LWX—he eventually developed his own signature top lane Irelia, and once he mastered her, he was insanely strong.
Luo Zhen was willing to call this method Specialized Training for advancing between positions.
With the seamless coordination between Lucian and Gwen across the minion waves, Rookie's Azir was also rapidly coming online. Pro Scene team compositions generally used either a 3+2 or 2+3 setup. This game, they had a 2+3, with the jungler and support protecting the three-lane Big Carry picks as they farmed.
The only difference was that among those three carries, a Core Item had to step up at different points in time.
Before the Two-Item Power Spike, Lucian-Nami was the core.
From two items to three, the 4-1 strategy was the strongest setup.
After three items, they could begin using 4-1 to pressure key Resource Fights, then transition into 1-3-1.
There was a concept called contribution value—or, to put it more mystically, light and shadow.
Jinx in the third game had ultimately succeeded in cleaning up because everyone had treated themselves as trade pieces and left hope for Jinx. This game, Luo Zhen had done the exact opposite. He used the early strength of his Lucian-Nami to protect his teammates' mid-to-late-game scaling, creating a positive cycle.
Then, he remembered Coach Homme's core tactical principle.
Namely:
We did not need to do too much. All we needed to do was wait for the enemy to make mistakes.
They would throw eventually.
Time gradually reached twenty-seven minutes. At this point, V5's Dragon Soul teamfight would spawn in only thirty seconds. Riding the massive advantage they had slowly snowballed in the early game, V5 had not only secured river vision first, but had also driven the entire enemy team toward the bottom river while firmly maintaining Lane Control in mid.
Were they going to fight?
This game's Dragon Soul was Earth Dragon Soul. You could not call it useless, but to be honest, it was not that useful either. V5 relied primarily on double-circle Kiting and blocking skills, rather than pure tanky Face-to-Face Warriors. Earth Dragon's bonuses were not particularly obvious for them.
But would TES be willing to give up this dragon?
Of course not.
The mid wave had already pushed over, yet TES had not sent anyone to defend it. They wanted to All In on this fight, trying to recreate a miracle in TES colors here.
Only...
"The enemy seems to have taken the bait."
"Shift over slowly. Don't reveal our intentions too quickly."
"Got it, got it. Brother Yijin, is the Solar Disk good to go?"
"I can drop it anytime. But honestly, your diversion tactic is pretty dirty. I like it, though."
There was a saying on the battlefield.
Strike with one burst of momentum, weaken with the second, and exhaust with the third.
How could they not know the enemy's desperate intentions? But everyone was an adult now, and everyone knew the world judged only results. So why would they hold such massive advantages in gold, items, vision, and minion waves without using them, instead giving TES a chance to gamble their lives in the narrow river?
V5 was not stupid.
"Then, follow my command. Three... two... one..."
"Start stealing!"
Unspoken Coordination
At the Commentary Desk, the two casters were still giving a detailed explanation of the Kiting between the teams.
"TES has called Qing Tian back for this one. It looks like they're preparing to All In against V5 at the Dragon Soul teamfight."
"It's impossible to predict. No one expected a team that had suffered consecutive losses last season to perform like a phoenix reborn this season."
"V5's entire team is slowly moving in as well. Come on, then—let's see what kind of spectacular play both sides can deliver in this Elemental Dragon Team Fight... Eh?! Wait, no, what is V5 doing?"
"TES has already given up everything to fight you head-on! Wow, V5 is going for Killing Intent here! They don't plan to take the Dragon Soul at all—their target is TES's Mid High Ground!!!"
That was right.
Holding every kind of advantage, V5 had never intended to fight the enemy head-on from the start.
Crushing the enemy in a 5v5 team fight and winning certainly felt great, but for V5, who had fought with everything they had to reach the fifth game, the only thing on their minds was winning the match.
Because they had occupied every route near mid lane in advance, TES had no vision here and did not dare pursue recklessly. But if they circled around from the other side to return home, their defense would not arrive quickly enough to match V5's push.
Because at this moment, TES had only one High Ground Turret remaining in mid.
They panicked.
"Quick, quick, quick! Get back to defend!"
"Fuck, these Old Yin Bs! Do you dare fight us head-on in a royal city PK?!"
"No, the tower's HP is dropping too fast. Zhuo, flank them. The rest of us will hard engage them in mid."
"Keep them there! Keep them there!!!"
With five people pushing an undefended mid lane, the so-called High Ground Turret was nothing more than a joke before such a Numbers Advantage. Because the enemy's return defense was too slow, they even had time to take down the enemy mid inhibitor.
Was trading an Earth Dragon Soul for the enemy Mid High Ground worth it?
Before you continue