Lin Yan was finally able to use his champion's skin in this round. He watched as the dark-red Lucian put away his gun and dashed out of the fountain with a ninja stance. He felt satisfied.
"Jack, don't fight at the bottom lane." He pinged the map, signaling for his teammates to take up defensive positions. "You guys wait until level 6 to grab the middle lane."
"Then I'll go ahead. Mongoose, don't fight at the bottom lane."
Jack knew that the combination of Ice and Tam would not be able to take the top lane. If a fight broke out at the bottom lane, they would not be able to make it there in time.
"I'll go ahead like this …" Mongoose also pinged the map, planning his early farming route.
"SKT doesn't want to do a level one invasion. Both sides, take defensive positions and wait for the monsters to respawn!"
In reality, SKT's lineup was not weak. Moreover, kkoma had learned their lesson from last year's finals. In the first round of the finals, Lin Yan and Lucian had taken three kills, causing the mid laner Faker to be unable to play.
He had made a lot of progress in researching the design of a level one team, but SKT's players still chose to take a conservative defensive position.
This was only a group match, and every level one team design could only be used once. There was no need to reveal their trump cards in this situation.
It was better to play as usual.
Lin Yan held his guns and went to the middle lane to face off against Faker.
Before level 6, Lucian still had a slight advantage over Sindra. However, Faker stood at the side of the creeps, not giving Lin Yan a chance to use Q's Translucent Holy Light to pass through the creeps.
At the same time, Lin Yan blocked Lucian's 500-yard attack range. This made it difficult for Lin Yan to deplete his HP.
However, he was not in a hurry. He moved slightly forward, forcing Faker to move backward, and missed a melee soldier.
Lin Yan was slightly pleased with himself.
If he could not deplete his HP, then so be it. It was a good thing that he missed a soldier.
Three melee soldiers were equivalent to 50 gold coins. In other words, it was equivalent to a health potion that could recover 150 HP. In other words, Lin Yan made Faker miss a melee soldier, which was equivalent to him losing 50 HP.
It was a huge profit.
"Give me three minutes and forty-five seconds to catch one." Little Peanut wanted to show off his specialty, the Blind Monk, so he used the blue buff while marking Li Xianghe. "Brother Xianghe, sell it to me when the time comes."
"No problem." Li Xianghe let go of the mouse and moved his fingers.
He was weak in this round.
Originally, a hero like Sindra did not need to be weakened. Sprinting, teleportation, and Ignite were the mainstream.
However, in this match, Lin Ran used Lucian. Li Xianghe still remembered how Lucian had gotten the upper hand in last year's finals and played the DPS.
Using Weakness to deal with a hero like Lucian was just right.
Three minutes and forty-five seconds was also the time that Little Peanut had carefully chosen.
Because the jungler's time was around 2 minutes and 35 seconds, the jungler had finished farming the double buff and learned all three small skills. His ganking ability was extremely strong.
Therefore, this was also the peak time for online heroes to put down their accessories to prevent ganking.
Currently, the Level 2 Hero's Accessory Eye had a duration of 64 seconds and a cooldown of 144 seconds.
If the Accessory Eye was put down at 2 minutes and 35 seconds, it would disappear at 3 minutes and 39 seconds.
The gank time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds was just right when the Accessory Eye disappeared and the cooldown for the next Accessory Eye was not over yet.
This was also the reason why some professional junglers did not immediately catch players when they reached Level 3, but chose to wait until they reached Level 3 to 4 before gank.
Li Xianghe saw Lin Yan raise his guns and move up. He immediately gave up on the minions and followed him. He saw clearly that Lucian had set up an Eye in SKT's Beak Bird camp.
He immediately marked his Little Peanut to remind him.
"I can rush over here earlier." Little Peanut knew that Lin Yan was setting up an Eye and was prepared to change his early movement.
He hesitated for a moment. "… But I have to catch the Spider's movement."
After coming to SKT for half a year, Little Peanut's original hot-bloodedness had worn off a lot.
Back when he was in the Tigers, Little Peanut did not even need to look for the opposing jungler's position. He would just charge forward recklessly.
Even if he was caught, Little Peanut was confident that he could defeat his opponent with his mechanics.
However, in SKT's machine-like system, his confidence was not recognized by many.
Many times, Little Peanut relied on his jungler's sense of smell to gank. Although he achieved results, his teammates and coaches would always question him after the game.
Kkoma told him to be more steady and try his best not to do such risky maneuvers.
After a whole spring of training, Little Peanut felt that he had gradually put on a thick shell that did not belong to him.
It was very uncomfortable to be tied down.
"No problem …" Wolf pushed the minions forward with his ADC and controlled Nami to enter YM's jungle. He set up an Accessory Eye between the Red Buff and the Beak Bird camp.
"The Beak Bird is still there, but the Red Buff has disappeared. It should be the Red Buff." Wolf shifted his chubby body and gave his judgment.
"Come on, Brother Xianghe. He should be catching it." Little Peanut was eager to give it a try, unable to suppress his nature.
Li Xianghe felt that it was not very safe. Just as he was about to refuse, he saw Xiao Tian's Spider rush to the top lane to catch Huni's Little Man-Fish.
"Xiao Tian's first gank is a little unusual. He's trying to help Jin Gong establish an advantage!"
Huni's habit of suppressing Jin Gong's top laner had hurt him.
After the top laner Little Man-Fish had three skills that reduced cooldown by 20%, even if he did not rely on Flash, his escaping ability was quite good. However, Huni had not even learned the Q Mischievous Strike skill. How could he escape without Flash?
Phyllostachys Pubescens controlled Spider to burrow out of the bushes. The Spider form flew into the air and moved to the Little Man-Fish's face.
Q + W, two skills, tore at the Little Man-Fish's slippery body.
A normal attack with the attack speed of W Rampaging Fury bit the Little Man-Fish. The Red Buff slowed it down, and then Xiao Tian turned into his human form.
Huni was so close to his face that he could only make a prediction for fear of being controlled by the Cocoon Spun. The moment Spider raised his hand, E Mischievous jumped up in the air.
It had to be said that Huni's reaction was quite fast. He could still react in time when Spider raised his hand so close to his face.
But it was no use. Xiao Tian didn't use Cocoon Spun at all. It was just a normal attack.
The Little Man-Fish was trapped by the Cocoon Spun as soon as it landed, and Jin Gong caught up to him to taunt him.
"Huni has successfully given away first blood!" Mille shouted excitedly. "The jungler isn't behind you. Huni, you dare to press forward?"
"Ahh …" Huni scratched his head, then found an excuse for giving away first blood. "It's all because the top lane is too long. Otherwise, I would have been able to run."
His teammates didn't respond.
They were all busy.
When Xiao Tian appeared in the top lane, Little Peanut was still eating the Magical Swamp Frog. He looked at the Magical Swamp Frog, which only had 200 HP left, and couldn't bear to use Discipline.
Instead, he used his passive attack speed buff to kick the Magical Swamp Frog to death with three normal attacks. Then, he circled around to the middle lane, trying to catch up to the early game rhythm.
Lin Yan had already risen to level 3.
Little Peanut had just entered the bushes below the middle lane when he sensed that something was wrong.
Since Lin Yan had set up a lookout position in the red team SKT's Sharp-Beaked Bird camp, and since the jungler Xiao Tian happened to be in the top lane, he had to maintain his position at the top. This way, he could prevent Little Peanut from ganking from below to the greatest extent.
Now, Little Peanut was quite far away from Lin Yan. He couldn't even follow E Thunder Break with a glance.
Just as he was hesitating whether to use Flash, Li Xianghe had already made his move.
Flash, Weaken!
Today, I'm going to kill you!
In this version, the Weaken effect lasted for 2.5 seconds, reducing the target's movement speed and attack speed by 30%, and reducing their damage by 40%. (See the 2017 MSI Weaken version. Now, the Weaken effect lasts for 0.5 seconds.)
Luxian, who had been inflicted with Weaken, instantly withered, and his movement speed slowed down.
Little Peanut hurriedly ran over.
"Come and help me!"
In reality, there was no need for Lin Yan to say anything. Xiao Tian was already running down the slope.
Faker had just used Flash to close in on Lin Yan. A shadow ball condensed under Lin Yan's body. At the same time, he used a normal attack to kill a low-health minion behind him, raising him to level 3.
Weakened, Lin Yan's movement speed had decreased. Without using a movement skill, there was no way he could dodge the shadow ball. He decided not to dodge and continued to retreat.
Fortunately, Li Xianghe had been avoiding the battle. Lin Yan's health was still very healthy, and the shadow ball did not affect him much.
"Little Peanut, Flash to Faker!" Mille panicked. "SKT's jungler and jungler both use Flash. This gank is a sure win!"
Lin Yan stuck close to the narrow path between SKT's camp and the wall of the middle lane, constantly paying attention to Sindra's movements.
He hadn't used Slide Step and Blink yet, so he didn't panic at all.
Little Peanut first closed in on Lin Yan, then used E [Thunder Break Tendon Break Bone] to slow him down.
Faker used W [Psychokinesis Drive] to pick up the shadow ball from the ground. At the same time, his normal attacks continued to reduce Lin Yan's health.
He was waiting for Lin Yan to use a movement skill before throwing the ball out.
Lin Yan drank a health potion and slowly walked toward the river. The Weaken effect had ended.
Little Peanut kicked Lin Yan at close range, and Lin Yan's health finally dropped by half.
"Almost there. Add more damage!" Li Xianghe's tone was urgent.
Little Peanut used E's Slow to attack, but his health was still not enough.
Both he and Li Xianghe knew that Lin Yan still had two movement skills, and Sindra's damage was bound to be evaded.
Little Peanut wanted to use his normal attacks to reduce Lin Yan's health, but Lin Yan used Slide and rushed toward the river.
Li Xianghe had used all his movement skills, so he could only throw out a shadow ball and a normal attack.
The moment Lin Yan saw the shadow ball being thrown, he used Flash to increase the distance between them, avoiding Sindra's damage.
"Ran is very calm!
He's using his skills to evade Sindra's damage! "Doll exclaimed excitedly as she watched Lucian's movements from the spectator's perspective.
Faker had also done his best. He had not used two consecutive WE attacks, as that would have allowed Lucian's movement skill to evade both skills.
He waited for Lin Yan to use Flash before using E [Weaklings Disperse].
His goal was to add a bit of damage.
Lin Yan successfully escaped Sindra's attack range, and his health had dropped to less than 14%.
Success!
Little Peanut was delighted. He had already entered the killing range. With a second Q [Echo Strike] and a normal attack, the killing damage would be enough to insta-kill Lin Yan!
"Be careful …" Li Xianghe had already sensed that something was wrong.
But Little Peanut had already pressed two Q's. Under the skin of the YM champion, Blind Monk turned into a black dragon and leapt straight at Lin Yan!
A charming and enchanting black figure flashed out of the river grass. It was the Spider Queen!
Xiao Tian handed over his Cocoon Spin, which he had just completed!
(Actual Test: Spider form has 355 movement speed, takes 11 seconds to reach the river grass from the middle of the top lane. Spider Cocoon Spin has a cooldown of 12 seconds. In other words, after gank Cocoon Spin on the top lane and deal damage, Cocoon Spin will be off cooldown.)
"Little Peanut is in the air, stuck in place by Spider Control!" Doll instantly raised her voice. "Blind Monk's second Q missed Lucian's kick!"
Lin Yan turned around and fired Ignite. Two shots with the Slide passive were fired, and two more bullets were fired at the Q's [Transparent Holy Light].
Xiao Tian's human QW added damage, and in the 1.6 seconds of Cocoon Spin, Little Peanut's HP dropped rapidly!
"Catch me!"
Little Peanut knew that he would never be able to kill Lin Yan without any skills. Looking at his W skill, which was about to finish upgrading, he prepared to grab Li Xianghe and escape.
"Faker stepped forward to use another Shadow Ball to force YM's jungler to retreat, but they're definitely going to kill this Blind Monk!"
Lin Yan twisted his waist but couldn't avoid the Shadow Ball. He still had 70 HP left, but no one from SKT could touch him now.
He continued to use his W, and when Little Peanut only had a sliver of HP left, his W skill finally finished upgrading.
He downed a Reuse Potion and placed his mouse on Sindra. Little Peanut was full of joy as he moved in midair. He was just short of twisting his body out of habit to celebrate.
As long as he protected Sindra and received a shield to offset the damage from Ignite, he wouldn't die!
At that moment, he saw Spider's normal attack fly behind him.
He shouldn't die, he shouldn't die …
Little Peanut kept praying in his heart.
The damage from Ignite popped up again. Little Peanut still had 40 HP left, and at the same time, Blind Monk's W [Golden Bell Cover] shield appeared on his body (Level 1 W provides 55 + 0.8 AP shield).
In his opinion, these 40 HP and 55 AP shield were enough to help him withstand the remaining two seconds of Ignite damage and this normal attack.
The Spider Queen's normal attack followed like a maggot in a tarsal bone.
Then, Xiao Tian took advantage of the four-second cooldown of Spider Transformation to transform into his hideous spider form once more!
Little Peanut knew that he was in trouble.
As a player who also specialized in spiders, he knew that if he threw out a normal attack in his Spiderman form and transformed into his spider form before the damage appeared, it would count as a long-range attack in his spider form.
Compared to his human form, a normal attack in his spider form would deal an additional 10 + 0.3 AP damage.
After deducting Blind Monk's armor and magic resistance, this normal attack just happened to shatter the shield.
In the remaining two seconds of Ignite damage, a True Damage number popped up again. In his heavily injured state, the health potion that Little Peanut had just swallowed couldn't recover much HP.
With this True Damage at the last second, he would definitely die!
In his despair, Little Peanut looked at his Punishment and realized that he still had a chance to survive. He decisively stuck an accessory into the wall and prepared to use Punishment to recover his HP.
"Little Peanut still wants to struggle!" Mille clenched his fists. "But it's too late!"
The moment the accessory was stuck, the last second of Ignite damage popped up.
It drained the last bit of Little Peanut's HP.
YMRan killed SKTPeanut!
At the same time, the BUFF on him changed owners!
"Phew …" Lin Yan returned to the city in the bushes, his taut nerves finally relaxing a little.
He was really lucky.
"How was it?" Xiao Tian shamelessly started to take credit. "Did I save your dog life?
Hm? "
"Brother Tian, you're too awesome!" Lin Yan retorted. "You're so fierce, Brother Tian, you don't need to eat wild monsters, right?
How about you give it to me? "
"That, that won't do," Xiao Tian stammered as he argued. "Wild monsters still need to be eaten …"
"YM made a killing!
Little Peanut was too impulsive! "
Doll said as she watched the replay. "By now, he should have realized that Xiao Tian was about to arrive at the main battlefield. Even if he killed Lucian with his two-echelon Q, he would have been stopped by Spider and replaced!"
Little Peanut let out an "ah" and reached out to rub his hair.
"Wang Hu (Little Peanut's real name), didn't I remind you?" Li Xianghe cleared his throat and dealt with the minions in the middle lane before returning to the city to use Dolan's Ring.
"… Mine, mine," Little Peanut said helplessly as he pouted.
He felt that it wasn't entirely his fault.
It was clearly Faker who had flashed to Weaken first. If he hadn't flashed to kill Faker, wouldn't he have had a meeting when he returned?
In the end, he had used two flashes and one Weaken. If he hadn't gone all out and killed Lin Yan, wouldn't that have been a huge loss?
Little Peanut took advantage of the black screen to recall the details of his gank this time. He felt that his mistake was that he hadn't been willing to use a Punishment when he had killed the Magical Swamp Frog.
If he had used that Punishment, he would have probably been able to save three normal attacks with a passive, which was around three seconds.
If he had gone for the middle lane like that, Xiao Tian probably wouldn't have been able to make it in time.
In Little Peanut's opinion, following the two-echelon Q was that he admitted that he had gambled a little.
But given his personality, he would have flown up even if that two-echelon Q was rewound a hundred times.
Little Peanut was an old gambler. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given his double buffs to the enemy's top laner and bought Landry's Torment for his teammate after taking three hits from the tower.
"It's fine, it's fine." Wolf comforted everyone. "Just play normally."
Li Xianghe returned to the middle lane again and saw Lucian with a double buff, using Dolan's Sword and two longswords to hit his double Dolan's Rings.
Lin Yan started to ride his face again, and Faker hurriedly pushed him away with a QE before he threw out a Thunderbolt with a magic ball.
However, Lin Yan's hands were very fast, and he also used two passive attacks and a Holy Light Penetration. The red buff burned Sindra's HP.
It looked like Lucian was at a slight disadvantage, but he had the lifesteal effect of his double Dolan's Swords. Li Xianghe's HP was depleted and could only wait for it to recover automatically.
In the bottom lane, Wolf exposed an opening and lured the Prophet forward to fight. Then, he used Ignite to force out the Prophet's Blink and Jack's Heal.
It was a big win.
Wolf's eyes, which were so fat that they couldn't be seen, were full of pride.
Ever since he lost the MSI S5, his skill level had improved by leaps and bounds, and he had remained at an extremely high level.
He could now be said to be the ceiling of support, and he had everything from the strength of the lane to the decision-making and command of the team.
Bang in the bottom lane was also a steady development machine. Seven waves of soldiers and two turrets, he didn't miss a single hit.
Bang had originally wanted to relax after winning the S6 championship. He had participated in various major competitions with SKT for the past two years, and the total vacation he had was less than ten days.
Even an iron man would not be able to endure sixteen hours of high-intensity training every day. When Bang was playing in the S6 global finals, all he thought about was taking a break.
However, he did not expect to lose the finals, and his mood for a break was gone.
He hung on with a sigh of dissatisfaction, and resumed his previous devilish training, all so that he could take revenge this year.
Although they had an advantage in the bottom lane, Little Peanut did not like to go there.
Ever since the Tigers last year, he did not like to help the bottom lane. In Little Peanut's opinion, the top, middle, and jungle had the final say in the early to mid game.
Back then, he had allowed the Xuanming Elders to develop, and now the Wolf Staff Combo could do the same.
Little Peanut still decided to stay in the middle lane and top lane.
After two attempts, Xiao Tian was always able to arrive in a short time to resolve YM's crisis.
"SKT is very passive now. Other than controlling the bottom lane, they are being suppressed by YM in the rest of the solo lanes and jungle!" Mille was very happy.
"Little Peanut has nothing to do. He can only rely on the bottom lane as a cover to attack this little dragon!
"However, YM's fake eye in the dragon pit saw through everything. Xiao Tian went straight for the top lane tower to catch the Little Murlocs!"
In reality, YM's intention to cross the tower was very obvious. Jin Gong had purposely gathered a large number of minions to suppress them. Moreover, Wolf had planted an eye in the bottom half of YM's jungle to ensure that Xiao Tian did not appear nearby.
It was obvious that they wanted to cross the top lane tower.
However, something seemed to be wrong with Huni's brain.
He felt that he could rely on the defense tower to kill two opponents and stay under the tower.
'Come and cross me if you can.'
Xiao Tian had never heard of such a request before. He led Jin Gong to fulfill Huni's wish.
Although Huni was a top lane Little Murlocs, he was still far from being a 'meat'.
This was because he had to hold back three times.
The Little Murlocs' shark was dodged by Xiao Tian, and Huni was once again killed by Jin Gong.
"There's something wrong with Huni's brain!
He dares to defend this tower? "Doll could not understand.
[Huni, this idiot, is acting?]
[He dares to defend when a spider crosses the tower?
I thought Huni was playing Hanson.]
[His teammate's signal is broken and he won't leave?
As expected of you, Hu Bumey!]
The Chinese viewers were laughing. To them, this SKT team was weaker than last year and did not pose much of a threat to YM.
After dying twice, Huni asked Peanut to help him with the top lane once.
However, this time, he followed his own ideas. He wanted to help the bottom lane counter.
This was because it was YM's favorite time to team up and take down towers. He also wanted to pull Li Xianghe over.
However, they did not expect YM to attack so quickly.
"Tam is driving the Spider in the bottom lane's triangular bush. The landing point is directly behind SKT's bottom lane tower!" Doll was so excited that his whole body was trembling.
"Jin Gong's Shen has also pulled out a big move for Tam. This is a 4v3!"
Mille looked at the status bars of both heroes. "After Huni was killed by the enemy's tower, he had to use his teleportation ability to repair the damage. Now, no one can help them!"
Jack quickly pushed the minions. SKT's three bottom laners could only stay under the tower and tremble.
"There's another collision in the jungle!
Two mid laners are fighting here. Neither wants their opponent to go to the bottom lane to support them! "Mille's gaze was fixed on the observer's view.
On the screen, Lucian's body was slightly in the air. A black dragon appeared behind him. Both the dragon and the man had exceptionally eye-catching crimson eyes. Countless rays of light poured down along with Lucian's angry roar!
Faker used Enfeeble and then tried to stun Lin Yan with QE.
Lin Yan saw the trajectory of the retreating weaklings. He used the Blink skill that he had just used and hit Li Xianghe's face.
Muzzle Gag!
Li Xianghe used Blink to avoid the damage from the big move. Then, he calmly used his normal attack and used W [Psychokinesis Drive] to create a magic ball.
Lin Yan saw Faker Blink to the side. He decisively canceled his big move. Then, he fired two shots passively and started his smooth slide performance.
Faker's health dropped rapidly. However, he did not panic. He waited for the cooldown of his Q skill to be over. Then, he used both the Shadow Ball and Psychokinesis Drive. Then, he used his R [Energy Pour]!
The damage output of the five balls was not low. Faker had the Devil's Codex and Double Doran, so his strong spells could keep up.
Lin Yan's Lucian did not drop the Devil's Drinking Knife. Earlier, he had sold a Doran Sword to buy the Birgivot Scimitar in order to synthesize Ruin as soon as possible.
Lin Yan was not much stronger than Li Xianghe in terms of equipment and combat power.
At this time, Sindra's five-ball burst was not low. Lin Yan's health was also dropping rapidly.
Lin Yan used Ignite and fired the last Penetrating Holy Light and Double Gun passively.
With the help of the Double Doran Ring, Faker still had a little health left. He aimed his mouse and fired the last Shadow Ball!
Lin Yan instinctively twisted his waist. However, without his straw sandals, his movement speed was not fast. Moreover, Faker's skill was tricky. The Shadow Ball hit Lucian, who was low on health.
"Ran, Lucian is the first to die!"
Doll's voice was low. When she saw Faker's health, she raised her voice. "But Faker will be burned to death!"
Two seconds later, Ignite successfully sent Sindra back to the fountain!
"Both sides' midlaners are trading one for one. However, Faker's midlaner has lost a lot of minions!" Mille noticed this detail. "A wave of Bin Xuan has entered the tower!"
At this time, YM finally made their move.
Although it was a four-pack of three, due to the shield that Shen had given Tam, the prophet could tank the tower as he wished. After all, he still had a white shield that he could use.
"Tam, stand at the edge and tank the tower. The rest of you will swarm in and kill SKT!"
Spider, Shen, and Ice's tower jumping abilities were not to be underestimated. Although SKT had Verus and Nami, they did not make much of a difference.
In less than ten minutes, the ADC had not made any decent equipment. Their combat power was not high.
One for three. In the end, Wolf's Emerald Wave Prison managed to control the prophet. Together with the tower, they killed him.
However, this did not change SKT's situation!
With the tower at the bottom lane destroyed, YM rolled a snowball. They changed lanes and continued to push forward!
"YM's offense is like a tidal wave. It looks like SKT can't hold them off!"
At the twenty-second minute, YM forced Dragon's team to retreat. Huni's score had reached 0/51. He only had three attributes, cloth armor shoes, and chain mail. His equipment was not at the forefront.
Lin Yan's Ruin and Black Cutter's Lucian swept down with a big move, reducing SKT's armor. Under Jack's command, the prophet used Jin Gong to circle around and controlled SKT's team with a beautiful taunt, wiping them out in one wave!
Following that, YM controlled Dragon, and the economy of both sides reached 8K!
SKT's proud strategy of switching lanes had little effect in the face of such a huge economic disadvantage.
"Time stopped at the twenty-seventh minute. YM once again wiped out SKT and won this group match!"