The match officially began.
Old K knew that Little Fatty wasn’t playing today, so vision control would be a problem. Naturally, he picked Lee Sin, a champion reliant on wards for mobility and engages, to compensate for the lack of vision alongside Tong Yao. After entering the game, Lu Sicheng briefly instructed Tong Yao on where to place wards in the bot lane during the early game before falling silent—in ZGDX Team’s matches, the shotcaller was usually the one who spoke the least. To lighten the mood, the team always needed someone to fill the role of the chatterbox. Previously, that important position had been held by Little Fatty. With him absent today, Tong Yao and Lu Yue took up the mantle…
In the first two or three minutes of the game, both the top and bot lanes had slight advantages in last-hits, and combined with the jungle, ZGDX Team held an overall gold lead of over 200—though such a lead was negligible. However, in the mid lane, the Mid Laner from the opposing team, who had supposedly been feeling unwell during their first match against ZGDX, was now ferocious as a tiger. He even managed to pressure Lu Yue, denying him a few last-hits with an aggressive playstyle. Every time he leveled up first, he would immediately go for trades…
Lu Yue: “He’s so aggressive. Even with Karma against my Annie, he’s bullying me like this. Is it because I’m a new face?”
Tong Yao: “What else is Karma supposed to do if not poke? You’re getting outfarmed by a Wild Card and still have the nerve to talk. How about this—since the game just started, why don’t you swap to support and let me take mid?”
Lu Yue: “I’m the substitute Mid Laner.”
Tong Yao, who had just helped Lu Sicheng push a wave, turned and headed toward mid: “We can just tell the referees it’s a justified lane swap.”
Lu Yue started frantically pinging the ground: “No! Go back to your support role. Leave the wards, but get out—mid doesn’t want you here! Hurry up and leave, or I’ll call the enemy Jungler over!”
As he spoke, the enemy Karma hit level four and, taking advantage of Lu Yue’s passive playstyle, went for another aggressive trade. But this time, he didn’t expect Tong Yao to still be lurking in the river brush. The level three Lulu jumped out, polymorphing and silencing him, then followed up with an EQ combo to slow and chunk his health. Lu Yue landed his own crowd control, and with a full rotation of spells, the nearly full-health Karma was instantly reduced to a sliver of HP. Under the protection of his finally arriving Jungler, he flashed away in panic!
The enemy Jungler showed up but, seeing that despite their Mid Laner being low, both ZGDX’s Mid and Support still had all four Summoner spells up—with Lulu even carrying Exhaust (*halving attack and movement speed)—decided against chasing. After helping the Mid Laner clear the wave, he turned and left.
Tong Yao ducked into the F4 camp and pressed B to recall: “If I hadn’t come, you’d be dead.”
Lu Yue: “...”
Tong Yao: “Call me Daddy.”
Lu Yue continued farming: “In your dreams. Stop leeching my EXP by recalling in the F4 camp—get out of here. You think I don’t see you?”
Ignoring him, Tong Yao finished her recall. She now had just over 800 gold, enough for a Sightstone… She hesitated, debating whether to buy boots first or go straight for vision items. Just as she was about to click on boots and grab a Ruby Crystal (which could later build into a vision item while providing extra HP), Lu Sicheng warned: “If you don’t buy Sightstone, don’t come back.”
“...” Tong Yao replied without thinking, “I don’t have enough gold.”From start to finish, Lu Sicheng was diligently last-hitting minions. Hearing Tong Yao's words, he didn't even glance at her screen, merely replying without looking up, "Think I'm a three-year-old to be fooled like that? You should have around 850 gold on you right now."
Tong Yao glanced at her gold count—875. Impressive, my captain. Did your family own League of Legends or something?—She obediently bought vision wards and two health potions before returning to lane. First, she placed a ward in the river's tri-bush, then crossed to the enemy side to ward the entrance to their Blue Buff. These were standard ward placements, which Tong Yao still remembered. But anything more complex—game-changing ward positions—was beyond her. "Where else? Where else should I ward?"
"Just that for now. Old K will handle the jungle wards. You think you're arranging flowers, needing to stick them everywhere?"
"..."
This was the difference between a professional support and a mid laner. Their biggest gap wasn't in Champion pools or mechanics but in their vastly different grasp of vision control across the entire map.
Returning to lane, Tong Yao noticed Lu Sicheng seemed intent on making a play before hitting level six. He was freezing the wave near their tower, not rushing to push, so she didn’t need to help with last-hits. She hid in the bush, watching him farm, occasionally shielding him based on enemy positioning to prevent poke damage—other than that, there wasn’t much to do. She was so bored she considered alt-tabbing to check Weibo.
At 6:40 into the game, Tong Yao saw Old K casually making his way bot.
By seven minutes, Lu Sicheng finally hit level six first. His Caitlyn cleared the wave and aggressively engaged—Bear Team's bot lane, still lagging behind top-tier teams, realized the danger too late as they tried to retreat. Tong Yao swiftly Exhausted their support and Polymorphed them in one smooth combo. Old K kicked the enemy support away, isolating their AD Carry. Though the enemy AD used Heal, it was too late—they were left at a sliver of health under the trio's assault!
Just then, a fresh enemy minion wave arrived.
Bear team's AD, clinging to life, Flashed into the minions for cover—but Lu Sicheng's Caitlyn had her ultimate ready. As he activated her sniper scope, the deadly red line locked onto the enemy AD—First Blood was moments away!
Yet at that instant, Lu Sicheng noticed a pair of glowing eyes appear on a minion—clearly Lulu's E, Help, Pix! Before he could react, a sparkling bolt bounced off the minion, finishing off the enemy AD's last sliver of health!
[FIRST BLOOD!]
The system's cold announcement rang out. On the screen, Lulu's portrait appeared beside the First Blood notification—the crowd erupted in cheers and whistles. Amid the excitement, the now 400-gold-richer Lulu recalled, skipping the basic boots to splurge on Sorcerer's Shoes.
Lu Sicheng, resigned, cleared the wave and ducked into a bush to recall. As he did, he remarked flatly, "Looks like we're doing a Jungle-Support Duo Roam this game."
Tong Yao, freshly shod and heading back out, didn’t grasp the sudden strategy shift. "Huh?"
Lu Sicheng: "Just go. Stop hurting my eyes here."Tong Yao: "…………You also stole my 400 gold before. Tit for tat—I didn’t unplug your internet cable back then, and now you want to kick me out?"
Lu Sicheng: "I miss Little Fatty."
Tong Yao: "I miss my mid-lane minions."
Lu Yue: "No no no, don’t think about my minions."
As Tong Yao spoke, she watched Lu Sicheng safely push a wave of minions before turning to head mid-lane. Originally, she had gone to help Lu Yue gank and relieve some of his pressure—but unexpectedly, the enemy’s ward placement in the bushes was excellent, catching her movement. When the two of them chased the enemy Mid Laner too deep, the enemy Jungler Rengar suddenly leaped out and caught Tong Yao. In her panic, she silenced and polymorphed him first, then ulted to knock him back before flashing away to escape!
A close call!
However, the shortcomings of their vision control were already beginning to show.
It had to be said that this year’s Wild Card teams were truly different from those of previous years. They had sharp instincts and were adept at identifying and capitalizing on their advantages—as the match progressed, the First Blood advantage and lane dominance ZGDX had secured were gradually suppressed by the enemy’s superior vision control. The enemy Jungler roamed freely in ZGDX’s jungle, feinting east and striking west.
At the 21-minute mark, ZGDX was 1.5k gold behind. A skirmish broke out in the jungle over the Fire Elemental Dragon—Bear Team initiated the dragon first. After some discussion, ZGDX decided to contest it. Old Cat, who was split-pushing in the top lane, was forced to use Teleport, but Bear Team immediately chose to abandon the dragon and retreat upon seeing the Teleport beam!
Commentator D: ["Why! Why! They just gave the dragon to ZGDX! Where’s the bloodlust, Bear Team! Where’s the famed fighting spirit of your people!"]
Commentator F: ["This is nothing short of a windfall for ZGDX… They secured the Fire Dragon without a fight—the only issue now is their jungle vision control."]
Commentator D: ["This is where the importance of a professional Support truly shines—Smiling’s mechanics are flawless, and ZGDX played exceptionally well in the early laning phase. But as time passes, the laning phase shortens and macro play becomes more prolonged. The vision advantage is tipping the scales in Bear Team’s favor…"]
Commentator D: ["Still, given the circumstances, Smiling has performed admirably…"]
Commentator F: ["ZGDX secured the Fire Dragon and recalled afterward, but Bear Team seized this timing window—they grouped up as four and marched toward ZGDX’s mid-lane Tier 1 turret—"]
Commentator D: ["Oh my god, their top-lane turret is about to fall!"]
Commentator F: ["??? I said mid-lane—"]
The audience erupted in chaos.
Only then did everyone realize Bear Team’s ploy—after baiting out Old Cat’s Teleport, they abandoned the dragon, recalled, and used the time ZGDX spent securing it to quickly push lanes. They executed a 1-3-1 split push, taking down both ZGDX’s mid and top Tier 1 turrets!
The gold gap between the two teams instantly widened to nearly 2.5k–3k!
What had seemed like a misplay by Bear Team turned out to be a game-changing stratagem!And in the following moments, taking advantage of ZGDX's inability to keep up with their rotations and their absolute vision control, the four members of Bear team grouped up to make plays while their top laner split-pushed relentlessly. By the thirty-minute mark, they had taken down five of ZGDX's outer turrets in a row!
The gold gap widened to 6,500!
Commentator D: [Right now, ZGDX is barely holding on through sheer mechanical skill, but they can't find a single fight—Bear team has them completely tied up!]
Commentator F: [That avoided Infernal Drake was clearly a trap.]
Commentator D: [Could we be witnessing a miracle—can the ADC from a Wild Card region slay the mighty red dragon reigning above?]
The audience was electrified, rising to their feet with thunderous applause and chants of [Bear!][Bear!][Bear!]—the deafening cheers threatened to blow the roof off the arena! In esports, no matter how few fans a team had before the match, a spectacular showdown could always win the crowd's roaring applause!
At the thirty-five-minute mark, due to Bear team's vision control and macro play, ZGDX had fallen into a comprehensive disadvantage—just as everyone thought the match would smoothly go to the Wild Card team, and domestic platforms like Weibo, forums, and live stream comments were flooded with [?????], Bear team started Baron!
At this moment, all five members of ZGDX were still alive. Any other team, even with a 10k gold lead, wouldn’t dare be so brazen as to start Baron right in front of them—but this gave ZGDX an opening. When Baron was down to one-third health, Old K and Tong Yao arrived above the pit...
Commentator F: [ZGDX is fighting with their backs against the wall now. Losing this Baron would put them at risk of losing the game...]
As Baron's health dwindled, Lee Sin ward-hopped into the pit, followed by Lulu ulting him to knock up all five enemies around Baron. Lee Sin smited!
The crowd erupted.
Commentator D leaped from his seat, roaring with a reddened face: [STOLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
With Baron stolen, Bear team was instantly stunned. Meanwhile, Annie unleashed her ultimate, Volibear ulted all five in the pit, and Old Cat's Rumble dropped his Equalizer—flames roasted all five in the pit!
Lulu stood above the pit, polymorphing the enemy ADC and Exhausting the enemy Mid Laner, her hands so fast the sequence of spells was a blur!
With Lu Sicheng cleaning up, Bear team was aced in a zero-for-four trade. The screen flashed a Quadra Kill notification, and just as everyone held their breath waiting for the first Penta Kill of this World Championship, the enemy Jungler Nidalee vaulted over the wall—landing right beside Lulu!
Commentator D: [What is this?!]
Commentator F: [They’d rather die to the support than give up the Penta. Penta Kill? Not happening.]
Commentator D: [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
Tong Yao stared at the Nidalee beside her, dumbfounded for a second, before landing an EQ combo to finish her off—sealing the enemy team's Ace and robbing Lu Sicheng of his Penta Kill. The ZGDX team voice channel fell into silence.Tong Yao: "……………………This Nidalee came right to me begging to die, and you didn’t even have your ult. This really isn’t my fault, damn it."
Lu Sicheng fell silent for three seconds before adjusting his headset. "Push High Ground."
With a roughly 35-second respawn timer and all five enemy members alive, their Baron Buff made their tower-taking speed insane. Split-pushing 3-1-1, they swiftly took down all three outer turrets. By the time Bear Team’s first member respawned and stepped out of the fountain, Annie had already destroyed their mid lane High Ground turret!
ZGDX instantly clawed back nearly 6,000 to 7,000 gold in deficit, now only trailing by a little over 2,000—ZGDX had turned the tides in one fell swoop, surging forward with unstoppable momentum!
In the ensuing High Ground defense, Bear Team—still reeling from the stolen Baron and their massive lost advantage—began to tilt. Combined with their players’ mechanical inferiority, they quickly lost the High Ground and one Inhibitor Turret. In the next teamfight, their Mid Laner, the only one with decent farm, tried to carry the burden. But with Lulu present, her anti-dive and ultimate perfectly shielded their Attack Damage Carry… Ultimately, after over 40 minutes, ZGDX charged the High Ground for the fourth time, scoring another Ace and pulling off an earth-shattering Reverse Sweep from a 10,000 gold deficit!!!
ZGDX narrowly but triumphantly secured the victory!
As the match ended and the players stood up, Tong Yao removed her headphones, realizing her sweat had soaked through her jersey, sticking it to her back… Even though the arena was roaring with deafening chants of "ZGDX," she wiped her forehead, her mind preoccupied with one thought: If Little Fatty’s corpse hasn’t gone cold by tomorrow’s match, can we just prop him up and play him?
The players packed up their peripherals and filed out.
Lu Sicheng, this match’s MVP, took the post-game interview—still needing no translator, still effortlessly witty. When the host asked, "In this nail-biting match against the Wild Card team, your squad made a last-minute role swap, with Mid Laner Smiling moving to support. Any thoughts on that? How did it feel?"
Lu Sicheng pondered for a moment.
Then, with utter sincerity, he replied, "Not much to say, really. As for how it felt… Getting my First Blood and Penta Kill stolen made me question my sexuality in a very subtle way."
Author’s Note: Here we go, folks! Under the brilliant leadership of our incompetent management and coaching staff, our team has heroically wrapped up two matches in a mere 54 minutes!
OpenNovel