In YM's eighth game, White Crescent completely let himself go.
He started to think about his lane change strategy again.
Lin Weixiang took VN and ran to the top lane. Lin Yan used Karma and support Nami to go to the bottom lane. Then, he let Jin Gong's Little Murloc go to the middle lane.
It was a typical late game play, waiting for VN's equipment to take shape.
When the lineup was selected, Lin Ran felt that there was a hint of RNG.
Even though this strategy of switching lanes allowed Lin Weixiang to enjoy the fun of playing with a long hand against a short hand, it was more of a test of Jin Gong's personal strength. Once the mid lane lane was suppressed, it would be difficult for the jungler to find a rhythm.
The second round of group matches against G2 was a typical example.
Although the middle and top lane were solo lanes, the details of the lane were completely different.
The top lane had more short hands and physical warriors, while the middle lane had more long hands and AP Mages. This point alone was enough for many players to think about.
The length of the hero's hand affected the lane push strategy, consumption under the tower, and other skills.
The top lane was a famous orphan lane. It was good enough that the jungler was willing to come. Other than teleporting support, there was basically no sound in the early stage. The middle lane had to be linked with the jungler. Jin Gong was definitely not used to it.
Ah P's Ryze used his personal skills and hero characteristics to suppress Jin Gong's Little Murloc under the tower and constantly deplete its health.
After losing the middle lane, Xiao Tian could only defend his own jungle, mainly to protect Lin Weixiang.
After all, the top lane of AD had parents watching from above. VN was a solo lane hero and was very afraid of being trained by the jungler.
Xiao Tian's perfect counter squat allowed Lin Weixiang to develop smoothly and make up for the two pieces to transition to the formation stage.
The two sides maintained a balance during the lane period. YM was slightly behind by a few hundred gold coins.
However, when the team battle started, G2 found the right position to focus on Lin Weixiang. Brainless himself was disappointing. After being killed by G2's focus fire in the team battle, his operation changed.
At the 23rd minute, the team battle started in the middle lane. Lin Weixiang's VN rolled onto Ah P's face.
The moment they saw VN appear, Perkz was stunned.
Then, without hesitation, he controlled Ryze to roll onto VN's fragile body. Lin Weixiang rolled forward away from YM. Lin Yan's Karma did not even have time to give a shield before Lin Weixiang's screen lost its color.
"What is Lin Weixiang doing?!"
The commentator Hallucination, who had always been known for his hypnotic voice, said in a rare tone, "His mistake is too serious!"
"After Lin Weixiang's death, YM's lineup has no main DPS. They're being chased by G2!"
"Don't go towards the Dragon, spread out, spread out!" Lin Yan hurriedly reminded when he saw Xiao Tian running around blindly.
The biggest taboo in the middle stage of a team battle was to run into the Dragon's pit when they were defeated. This method was basically equivalent to bringing the Japanese into the village — the Japanese would chase and kill the Japanese, and then they would be able to capture the Dragon.
Lin Yan controlled the Karma RE to give a group boost, and the four YM players scattered like birds and beasts.
However, Perkz's Ryze still had the R [Warp Realm Jump] that he had not used yet. He used his ultimate skill and led his teammates to kill Jin Gong and Xiao Tian, then rushed to get the Dragon.
The remaining two YM players harassed the surroundings twice, but without a jungler, Lin Yan could not steal the Dragon — G2's group guarded the edge of the Dragon's pit covetously, using their human flesh wall to block Lin Yan's Karma's Q [Spirit Flame].
Baron Nash wailed and turned into a purple buff that was injected into G2's five players!
G2's economy had reached 3.5K!
YM's team voice chat fell into a short silence.
"Oh, it's mine, it's mine," Lin Weixiang apologized. "My hand shook and the mouse slid over."
"Play slowly, we still have the advantage in the lineup. Just don't die again," Lin Yan comforted him.
It was just a small mistake. After seven consecutive wins, Lin Yan did not care so much about winning or losing in the group stage.
He went back to the city and thought about it. He put aside his original plan to fix [Scorching Censer] and planned to do Landry's Torture first.
Against the two tanks of Wine Barrel and Ryze, the percentage of health damage provided by Big Mask was still very high.
Of course, one of the reasons he found Lin Weixiang unreliable was also because of this …
Everyone in YM revived and went to the three lanes of minions and the jungles to eat as much of their own economy as possible. Otherwise, when G2 came over with the Dragon's buff, they would have no place to develop.
While they were dealing with the minions, the bullet screen in the Chinese live broadcast room exploded.
Everyone had stayed up late to watch the game. They wanted to watch comfortably and get a good night's sleep during the day.
The hypnotic commentary was already going against their physiology, but who would have thought that YM would make things worse today!
The champions of staying up late all over the country began to comment.
[What is YM doing?
Are they sick?]
[They are trying to protect their VN. Hehe, they deserve to lose.]
[You, Lin Weixiang, are all being YM's core output. Can he do it?
No, he doesn't have the ability, you know?]
[This BVN is making me hungry. I'm ordering takeout at three in the morning. If I get killed by my roommate, Lin Weixiang will take full responsibility!]
[Lin Weixiang?
Come and eat sh * t!]
After dying once, Lin Weixiang started to go steady. He did not focus on attack speed anymore. He sold the Yellow Cross and directly replenished the Magic Drinking Sword. He was preparing to make the next big item, the Blue Shield.
If he did not die, he should be able to win with Lin Yan's Karma acceleration and the percentage of true damage from VN.
Due to the slow pace of the European division, G2 was still used to playing steadily and slowly.
G2 used the Dragon's buff to push YM's top lane and then began to control the little dragons. They were ready to continue developing and wait for the next ancient resource.
This slow down gave YM a chance to catch their breath.
They waited until the second Dragon was born. Lin Weixiang had already made the Magic Drinking Sword.
The two sides started a head-on battle in the river.
"Lin Weixiang is not dead yet. He's still alive. He's still dealing damage!"
The rookie commentator beside Zhi Huan was still explaining the team battle in an impassioned tone.
It was as if he was reproducing Ouze's famous scene from back then.
Zhi Huan was stunned. He turned his head to glance at his partner and then looked at the screen.
In the OB perspective of the two, Lin Weixiang relied on the support crucible and the shield given by Lin Yan to barely survive G2's surprise attack.
In the entire team battle, he cooperated with his teammates to deal with G2's top laner, Wine Barrel. Then, he hit Ah P with half of his health. Until now, he had shot a total of eight times with the crossbow on his body.
Including the sheep sword's passive [Wrath of Ghosts], he had hit VN's W passive three times.
(See this chapter for the 2017 MSI sheep sword version)
The rest of the damage output was made up by Lin Yan and the others. In order to kill VN, the late-game core, G2's formation was scattered and broken by YM one by one.
In fact, the damage output from VN's passive three times was not little.
However, the key was that when the commentator said these awkward lines, Lin Weixiang was already two thousand yards away from the main battlefield. He was preparing to use Ruin and the lifesteal effect triggered by the Demonic Drinking Blade to heal the Demonic Swamp Frog.
The comments reacted very quickly. The rookie commentator's limelight instantly overshadowed the YM players who were competing in Brazil.
【？？？】
[Can the awkward b * stard get lost?]
[Mute, mute. This commentator is amazing.]
[I'd rather listen to Hallucination's hypnosis. At least his understanding is there. Where did this commentator come from?]
[Passionate quotes one after another. If I didn't look at the screen, I would have thought that this was the MSI finals.]
However, there were also benefits to being a rookie commentator.
At least his tone was not as hypnotic as Hallucination. It could help them resist the invasion of the Sandman.
YM traded two for four in the team battle. The remaining three players started fighting the Dragon.
Ah P, who had half of his health left, used Flash to escape last time. However, his health was already very low.
He stood above the Dragon pit and used Q [Overload] to try and deplete the health of the remaining three YM players. He did not want to let the opponent successfully take down the Dragon.
Ryze's last Q successfully took the head of the support Nami. The only two YM players left had the Dragon buff.
Lin Yan used the Dragon buff to lead his teammates to successfully take down the two defense towers in the middle lane of G2. Then, they took down a water dragon.
The pit that they had dug in the early stages was a little big. They could only make up for the economic gap in one wave. They still needed to use the formation that had already formed to fight another wave of team battles.
"At the 36th minute, the Ancient Dragon was born. This is really rare in YM's competition," Hallucination said in a calm tone.
"That's right. You don't usually see the Ancient Dragon in YM's matches. Their average time in the spring competition is only 26 minutes and 50 seconds. Since the start of the MSI group stage, their average time is …"
The rookie commentator was in high spirits as he held the data log book. It was a stark contrast to Hallucination.
Hallucination did not say anything. He simply let his partner continue to show off.
"G2 is very sinister. Before the team battle, Ryze used Warp Realm Warp to send the top laner Wine Barrel to YM's jungle!"
Gulagas picked up the Wine Barrel in his arms and took a gulp. Then, he burped and circled around to surround the YM players in the river!
However, Wine Barrel's every movement was clearly seen by YM's fake eye in their own jungle!
At this time, the four players in front of G2 wanted to go through their own blue zone to the river and surround YM with Wine Barrel!
"You guys go find Wine Barrel. I'll stop them first!"
The situation was urgent. Lin Yan did not have time to say much. He controlled Karma to twist left and right to block G2's players.
"Ran's Karma used Q [Soul Flame] strengthened by R [Brahma Mantra]!"
The river was not that wide. The entrance to the river was even narrower. Lin Yan's RQ blocked the entrance to the river from G2's blue buff.
If G2 wanted to keep up with their top laner Wine Barrel, they had to use the slowing effect of the ring of fire to rush forward.
The ring of fire left by Karma's RQ would cause a 50% slowing effect that lasted for 1.5 seconds!
At this time, it was already the late game. The revival time for a hero to die once was very long.
Now that the Ancient Dragon had respawned, if G2's players abandoned Wine Barrel, it would mean that this Ancient Dragon would also have to be surrendered!
The current Ancient Dragon did not have the killing effect of the future. However, according to the team's killing of each small dragon, it would provide an increasing burning effect. Other than that, it would also provide an additional 50% buff to the Elemental Wyvern.
It was not weak in a fight.
G2 definitely could not let it go.
They gritted their teeth and stepped through the slowing ring of fire. They continued to chase!
Lin Yan put a layer of shield on himself and showed off in front of G2's four players.
"Ran blocked G2's four players by himself!"
The new commentator was extremely excited. His face was red as he looked at the OB screen. All kinds of words popped out. "What does it mean to hold back ten thousand men!"
"Let's kill him first!" Ah P wanted to make the first move. He controlled Ryze to flash and EW to control Lin Yan!
The moment the Rune Imprisonment wrapped around Lin Yan, he used Purification and twisted his waist to dodge Ryze's Q [Overload]!
The next moment, Verus's ultimate skill [Corrupted Chain] spread over. Lin Yan had just dodged Ryze's skill when a golden light flashed!
He teleported and the Corrupted Chain brushed past him!
The opponent supported Boulogne's W to get close to Ah P and then threw out an ice cube.
Lin Yan had already pulled away with the help of Flash. The ice cube that Boulogne threw out did not seem fast to him. He twisted his body again to dodge the skill!
At the same time, he twisted his waist to dodge a G2 jungler spider's cocoon!
The Brazilian audience in the stadium could no longer control their volume when they saw Lin Yan's movement.
The cheers were mixed with tongue-lashing and resounded throughout the stadium!
The new commentator took a deep breath when he saw this. He wanted to play a little more awkwardly.
Hallucination finally could not take it anymore. "Ran's movement is very good. He used his two summoner skills to dodge a lot of G2's skills."
"The rest of YM are already dealing with the Wine Barrel. VN's chasing ability is still very strong …"
This kind of scene made his slow voice sound forcefully hypnotic.
Lin Yan had just dodged the spider's cocoon when he was slowed down by Verus' E [Evil Spirit Arrow Rain].
However, he did not panic. He used W [Unbreakable] to tie Ah P and then continued to pull him back.
From God's perspective, Lin Yan was now like a chain tied to G2's head sheep, Ryze. The remaining three G2 members were like lambs following behind Ryze!
G2 discussed in the team voice chat and decided to save their skills. They were rushing in the direction of the Wine Barrel anyway. It would not take much time.
When the next round of small skills were upgraded, they could still take down Lin Yan.
Verus's big move and Ryze's Flash had already been used. The Spider's cocoon skill, which had a long cooldown, had also been used. If they used more skills and Flash, they would not be able to deal with Lin Weixiang's VN in this team battle.
The head sheep, Ah P, was frozen in place by the generated chain.
However, he had Mercury Shoes. While he was frozen in place, he used an EQ. At this distance, it was impossible for Overload to hit Lin Yan. He was still dodged by Lin Yan's small movement.
G2 continued to chase. This time, there was no head sheep. The four lambs mixed together and continued to chase.
However, just as they reached the grass by the river, Lin Yan used the loss of vision after entering the grass to throw a Q [Soul's Fire] behind him!
It successfully hit Verus and Ryze, who were walking at the front!
Soul's Fire without the buff of the Sanskrit Incantation still caused a 35% speed reduction for 1.5 seconds!
Wasn't that disgusting?
Lin Yan continued to walk the dog in front. He now had the Holy Grail, Cooldown Shoes, Big Mask, Hat, and a blue buff. Together with the rune, the cooldown reduction had reached 40%.
Karma's Soul's Fire originally took seven seconds to cast. Now, with the 40% cooldown, it only needed 4.2 seconds to cast.
It was a godly tool for walking the dog.
G2 saw that the distance between them and Karma had been increased again. Wine Barrel's tragic cries for help echoed in the voice chat. They finally could not hold it in anymore.
Boulogne flashed A + R [Glacier Crack] and smashed directly at Lin Yan!
He was not hanging on the wall. He had no space to move and was sent flying into the air. Ah P and the G2 members cast a series of skills, killing Lin Yan in the grass by the river.
"Haha, haha!" Lin Yan laughed. Before he died, he flashed YM's icon.
It was full of mockery.
"Although Karma was killed, G2's top laner Wine Barrel was also killed. The rest of YM is going to attack the Ancient Dragon directly."
"G2 doesn't want to give way. They insist on coming over to take the team. However, they dropped two flashes and two ultimate skills. They can't take this wave at all."
In Hallucination's calm tone, Lin Weixiang used his R [Ultimate Moment] again and rolled towards Ah P!
The Brazilian big brother and the champion in the live broadcast room thought that Lin Weixiang was possessed by LGD again at this moment. They rolled back to give him warmth.
Ah P decisively used Rune Imprisonment to control him. The teammates behind him followed up with skills again.
YM assisted Nami's Crucible and successfully helped Lin Weixiang get rid of the control!
The next moment, Lin Weixiang flashed to the side, took out his crossbow and started shooting!
Boulogne's ice slid past his body and into the distance!
Lin Weixiang was deliberately selling just now!
Ryze had no crowd-control, Boulogne and Verus had no ultimate skills, and Lin Weixiang's output environment was terrifyingly good!
The four-versus-four eight-man team battle ended with YM trading two for four. Lin Weixiang survived by relying on the lifesteal effect of the Demon Drinking Blade. He and Xiao Tian killed the Ancient Dragon and then turned to the Dragon Pit. With the newly resurrected Lin Yan, they started a Double Dragon Gang.
After returning to the city, Lin Weixiang finally took out his Blue Shield. With VN's Hexagon in hand, his HP, Armor, and Magic Resistance were all there. With the support of Crucible and Redemption, he didn't even know how he was going to die.
G2 finally couldn't resist the giant crossbow. At the 43rd minute, in a team battle in front of the high ground, Lin Weixiang took four kills and ended the game.
"My hand is so sore …" Lin Weixiang looked at G2's explosion and shook his right hand.
Ever since he came to YM, he rarely fought such a long tug-of-war. Previously, his mistake had caused the death of a Dragon. In addition, VN was a useless hero to begin with, so it was normal for him to be sore.
The 43-minute long match was very enjoyable for the audience. They gave YM a round of applause!
"Eight consecutive wins!
They've already tied with RNG's win record in the group stage last year! "The new commentator pushed his glasses up excitedly." Every match after this is a new breakthrough! "
Lin Weixiang also started a new nickname "Laiwan Xiang" when he won the match.
VN's forward Death Roll was made into a GIF and spread widely in Anti-Bar Pounce.
Jack was indeed a surfer. The YM members had just returned to the lounge to get their phones when they realized that the group chat was full of Lin Weixiang's GIFs.
The brainless Lin Weixiang was so angry that he went to beat him up. The two of them started to circle around the lounge chairs.
The end of this match also marked the end of the fourth day of the MSI Group Stage. Their advancement was basically confirmed.
YM had not lost a single match and was in first place.
SKT had lost to Lightning Wolves and YM and was in second place with two losses.
Lightning Wolves had lost to G2 and GAM in the second round. Including their loss to YM in the first round, they were in third place with three losses.
G2 had lost to SKT and YM, two strong teams. However, they had steadily crushed TSM and GAM to maintain their fourth place.
On the last day of the group stage, as long as YM defeated TSM, they would secure first place in the group.
White Crescent was once again replaced by Jack. After watching a few matches in the group stage, it was clear that Lin Weixiang still had problems with the team's coordination. He also made mistakes in his own operation. Jack had to play in the elimination round.
The Shiba Inu AD had not played for three days. On the last day of the group stage, it was time for him to warm up.
If Lin Weixiang's YM could give the Race Knights a chance to show off in the early stages, then YM's complete form would be to pin TSM to the ground from start to finish.
From start to finish, the Race Knights only received a blue buff at the beginning of the game. For the rest of the time, the red and blue buffs were all taken away by YM's Rogue Squad.
Lin Yan kept roaming around, helping Xiao Tian to destroy TSM's jungle.
In 9 minutes, a tower fell, and in 11 minutes, a tower was destroyed. Jin Gong used Dan Shen to complete a solo kill.
The game was a blur.
In fifteen minutes, YM's economic lead had reached 6K.
In eighteen minutes, all six towers outside of TSM's high ground were destroyed. YM did not give TSM a chance to catch their breath.
They were very good at taking advantage of the situation.
If SKT's advantage was to play slowly and steadily to the point of despair, then YM's advantage was to fight endlessly. They took advantage of the number of kills, the loss of creeps, the resources in the jungle, and the destruction of towers to widen the economic gap between the two sides.
Of course, the battle royale would not be a 5v5 that was fair and reasonable.
YM used their vision of the jungle and scouts to gain insight into TSM's defensive positioning in advance. Then, they frequently outnumbered TSM. Although they would occasionally give away a few kills, the economic gap between them was widening faster and faster.
In twenty minutes, TSM's high ground was taken. The economic gap was 11,000, and the kill ratio was 4: 23.
This was a one-sided slaughter.
The Brazilian audience could not bear to watch any longer.
TSM, the North American overlord, was being trampled by YM over and over again.
Fortunately, the North American audience had a big heart. In China, after this match, the Tieba forum would have sent a few players into depression.
YM waited for the rabbit to catch the race knight who came to act as a field of vision. They danced around his corpse and ran to fight the big dragon.
TSM, who was forced into the rhythm of the battle royale, still wanted to fight the Dragon despite losing their jungler. No one knew who gave them the courage to do so.
Without any vision, Lin Yan controlled Jayz to shoot from the side and reduce TSM's backline to half health!
Then, Jin Gong used Careful Flash to taunt the Dragon. Jack and the others followed up with damage output!
The team battle was unstoppable.
The duration of this match was twenty-six minutes. The economic gap was 18,000, and the kill ratio was 5: 33.
The TSM players looked at the red words "Defeat" with gloomy expressions.
After dominating this region for half a year, they happily took a plane out of the country, eating barbecued meat and humming songs. But when they landed in Brazil, they were crushed.
How many people could accept that?
YM's last match was against SKT. White Crescent sent Lin Weixiang up to prevent Kkoma from guessing YM's hidden moves and trump cards.
Bang was elated. His days of hard work had not been in vain.
He steadily suppressed Lin Weixiang in the lane and dealt perfect damage in the team battle. He controlled Verus to score 49% of the team's total damage. What a terrifying DPS machine.
SKT finally won a match against YM and advanced to second place in the group.
The Lightning Wolves performed very well in the last match. Casa and Snake Serpent played the role of the team's anchor. The duo's wild assist helped the team win two crucial matches and placed them in third place.
G2 steadily crushed noobs and entered the knockout stage in fourth place.
Vietnam's GAM and North America's TSM could only swallow the bitter pill and fly back to their respective bases after two days of traveling in Brazil.
The semifinals of MSI five days later had been decided.
Lightning Wolves against SKT, and G2 against YM.
All the teams rubbed their palms and prepared to show their trump cards in the knockout stage.