Lin Yan bought the Doran Ring and two bottles of health potions, then controlled Malzahar to walk toward the river.
He did not choose the Corruption Potion, which had a higher drain on the lane. This was because the battle between him and Faker in the middle lane would be mainly about pushing the lane, so the Corruption Potion would not be of much use.
The mana provided by the Doran Ring was very important to Malzahar.
In the early game, the level and damage of the Malefic Illusion had not been raised to a certain level, so the Grasshopper's ability to clear the lane was not very strong. The Doran Ring's mana could make up for this weakness.
"Follow me!"
Lin Yan shouted as he gave a signal on the map. "Jin Gong, Jack, you two don't have to come."
"SKT is still focused on stability after switching to Blank. They don't want to engage in a risky and risky first team in the early game. As for YM, their first team is much weaker than Gnar, Piggy, and Malzahar, so they probably don't want to fight."
Doll looked at the movement paths of the two heroes in the Summoner's Canyon from a bird's eye view. "However, YM's people are not retreating, they're standing in the river …"
Mille guessed at the right time, "They're planning to scout the opposite jungle and scout the jungler's route."
Lin Yan led Xiao Tian and Liu Qingsong to hide in the bushes in the river, then rushed toward SKT's red zone in 1 minute and 30 seconds. He took the lead, while Phyllostachys Pubescens and Torn Wounds followed behind, keeping a distance.
"Eh, something's not right …" Doll said doubtfully, then suddenly realized. "They're not scouting the jungler's route, they're trying to switch junglers!"
Even though SKT only had Wolf in the jungler and did not pose much of a threat to YM, he could not help but feel scared when he put himself in YM's shoes.
"They're really daring to gamble. If Faker and Xiao Hei camped in the jungler, YM would have to deal a lot of damage!"
There was a certain risk in charging into the jungler blindly, but the consequences of being camped were not as bad as Doll had described.
During the invasion, Lin Yan was alone at the very front. Relying on the Grasshopper's passive [Void Travel], he was immune to control effects and 90% damage for a short period of time, so he didn't have to worry about dying immediately.
Moreover, Liu Qingsong was standing at the back. Once he noticed that something was wrong, he could light a W [Soul Guiding Lamp] and throw it behind Lin Yan.
It wasn't like Lin Yan couldn't find a lantern.
In other words, under his command, if he deliberately maintained the invading formation, the price of being ambushed was nothing more than Hammer Stone's level 1 skill. Moreover, this would not affect the bottom lane's line control — no matter what skills Liu Qingsong learned from Verus and Hammer Stone, the line control would not be lost. SKT Xia and Tam did not have the ability to snatch the line control in the early stages.
On the other hand, Lin Yan didn't do business at a loss. The benefits of this invasion were definitely more than what he had to pay for being squatted down.
Once the invasion of the second half of the jungle went smoothly, Little Black's Wine Barrel would be in a lot of trouble. It would be very difficult to protect the core of their strategy — Bang's Dusk.
The three players of YM entered SKT's red buff camp and walked around, but they did not see any signs of SKT.
"It's done!"
Phyllostachys Pubescens was excited. "Aiya, this is too easy. I thought Blank was at the same level as Dumb Chicken."
Lin Yan frowned slightly. "Don't let your guard down. He might have other tricks up his sleeve."
This invasion was surprisingly easy. It was indeed a little strange.
Initially, he had commanded the invasion of SKT's bottom half of the jungle because of Little Black's characteristics.
According to the information collected by YM over the past year, Little Peanut preferred to link up with the top laner, Huni, in the early stages of the game, and frequently clashed with the opponent's top laner.
When Little Black entered the game, the whole of SKT leaned toward the same old playstyle as when Dumb Chicken entered the game. The jungler was responsible for protecting the two tanks, leaving the top laner to fend for himself. In the middle of the game, the flanker would lead the line and take over the team.
In the early stages of the game, how could the jungler start the game to protect the middle and bottom lanes?
It had to be the blue buff in the top half of the map, so that they could gank or crouch in the bottom half of the map.
Lin Yan followed this train of thought and guessed that Little Black would not be in the bottom half of the map, so he brought the jungler to try and change the buff.
This was the ideal invasion strategy, but in reality, there could be all kinds of changes. For example, Little Black guessed that Lin Yan would be in the top half of the map, so he brought his teammates to the bottom half of the map in advance to crouch there.
However, this invasion went smoothly, and they were not even stopped by SKT.
Something was not right.
Lin Yan, who was vigilant by nature, instinctively felt that Little Black had set up an ambush. Before he left, he inserted his accessory's eye into SKT's Razorbeak Bird camp.
If Little Black wanted to bring Faker to the bottom half of the map to stop Phyllostachys Pubescens from switching to Razorbeak Bird and Stone Beetle camps after eating the blue buff in the top half of the map, the eye's position would allow him to know his whereabouts in advance.
However, what Lin Yan did not know was that Little Black did not have a backup plan.
Unlike the shrewd Dumb Chicken, Wolf, who was also a jungler with the surname B, was a very pure person. His brain was not very good to begin with, and with the pressure of putting out a fire in the semifinals, his train of thought was even more stiff.
The blue buff in the top half of the map would be used to clear the map to protect Dusk and Karma.
This was very reasonable!
It was only when Wolf saw the movements of YM's Nakano Asuke from the red buff camp that he knew that the opponent was trying to start with a buff.
However, YM's invasion timing was very tight. If he moved to the bottom half of the map, he would waste a lot of time by the time he reached the red buff camp. In the end, if he did not win the Retribution, then the early game's rhythm would be ruined.
Little Black remembered what Kkoma had told him before the match. Stay calm and be done with it.
He hugged the Wine Barrel and burped, then started to attack the blue buff.
Since it took him one minute and thirty seconds to bring his teammates to invade, Lin Ran was already two steps behind when he rushed back to the middle lane. Faker was already firmly stuck at the pass, and Q's [Soul's Flame] had successfully shattered his passive membrane.
However, Malzahar's membrane could be automatically repaired, and before his skill level and equipment level increased, he would not be able to compete with Karma for the top lane.
Lin Yan hid at the back and waited for the passive to refresh. When the three melee soldiers were at critical health, he used E's Baleful Star Illusion and used a normal attack to kill a soldier.
Bubbles emerged from the soldier's body, and after the continuous damage killed it, it spread to the nearest melee soldier.
Although Lin Yan did not practice Malzahar for a lot of games, this hero's advantage was that it was simple. The difficulty of controlling it was not high, and it mainly relied on the brain and thought process.
The two buffs were cleared, and the Baleful Star Illusion was infected to the ranged soldier.
However, before the ranged soldier died, the Baleful Star Illusion that lasted for four seconds had already ended. This meant that Lin Yan could only use a normal attack to kill the remaining three ranged soldiers.
This was the disadvantage of Malzahar in the early game. The Baleful Star Illusion's level was not high, and there was no guarantee of the speed of clearing the army.
Faker ignored him, and Q's Soul Flame successfully cleared the army. He then took the opportunity to go offline before the second wave of soldiers arrived.
"Karma went straight to his own jungle's red buff camp. He wants to interfere with Piggy's farming!"
Karma's clearing speed was too fast, and YM did not help Mongoose clear the jungle in order to get ahead of time. This caused Piggy's farming speed to be a little slow, and when Li Xianghe arrived, the red buff still had 300 health left.
"I've handed in my punishment. Ran Bro, can you help me watch F6 later?"
Phyllostachys Pubescens was not worried when he saw Faker's figure. He knew that a level one Karma would not be able to cause him too much trouble. As he removed the red buff from him, he controlled Piggy to move towards the bottom lane's triangular bush.
"I know, I know." Lin Yan knew that this was to prevent Blackie from crossing the river to steal the big bird after he finished farming the blue buff.
He cleared the army, and as he walked towards the Beaked Birds' camp, he switched to the screen. He was only relieved when he saw that YM's duo had successfully covered Phyllostachys Pubescens' retreat from the bottom lane's triangular bush.
"Blackie did not cross the river to fight YM's monsters, but went to his own jungle in the bottom half …" Mille could not help but frown when he saw Wine Barrel's movement. "This way, he lost a red buff for nothing."
"It's mainly because Dusk and Tam are too weak in the early game. Blackie did not dare to stay in the top half for too long," Remember analyzed calmly. "After all, Wine Barrel's development is not that important in this game. The main point is to ensure that Dusk's economy is not affected."
Little Black's movement through the Sharp-Beaked Birds' bushes was clearly seen by the spies that Lin Ran had planted earlier. Lin Ran marked the signal, and then, with peace of mind, he went to the middle lane to add more troops.
Blackie's action could protect SKT's bottom lane, but it was undoubtedly a waste of his strong phase. He had lost a group of monsters to Piggy for nothing.
Wine Barrel had the upper hand against Piggy before level 6. Once Piggy successfully learned her ultimate, Malzahar, who was in the middle lane with Lin Yan, would not be afraid of Wine Barrel and Karma.
Wine Barrel, who had started with a blue buff, could only kill five groups of monsters in the first round. There was no way he could reach level 4. This was very damaging for Blackie.
The 150-second jungle respawn time determined that Wine Barrel, who could only kill five groups of monsters, would have to find other things to do between the first and second jungle respawn times.
The early stages of the jungle in a professional competition were very tight. At the level of the S7 semifinals, it was very difficult for players to go shopping in the early stages.
There were no monsters to farm. SKT's bottom lane had been pushed, so it was impossible for them to steal minions.
Then, there was only one path left — gank counter squat.
As Wine Barrel had made it all the way to the bottom half of the map, he had eaten F6 and the Stone Beetle after farming the blue buff. The remaining two groups of monsters in the first round were the Demonic Swamp Frog and the Three Wolves.
There were two opportunities to gank. One was to go to the bottom lane after killing Stone Beetle, and the other was to go to the top or middle lane after killing Magical Swamp Frog.
"There's a chance to go to the bottom lane in 2 minutes and 50 seconds. There's a chance to go to the top lane in 3 minutes and 45 seconds."
Lin Yan estimated the time and typed in the team chat. He selected CtrlA and copied and pasted it twice to ensure that all his teammates could see it.
Liu Qingsong and Jin Gong understood what was going on. However, they did not set up any anti-gank positions.
After all, they had to go all the way. If they went offline to set up their positions, SKT would be aware of it. That would not be effective.
As expected, after killing Stone Beetle, Blackie tried to gank the bottom lane.
This was a great opportunity. At 2 minutes and 50 seconds, there was a wave of Turrets at the bottom lane. YM, who had control of the lane, had to send this wave of Turrets to SKT's bottom tower and turn the Turrets into their own lane.
Furthermore, Blackie knew that YM had not set up any positions in the last minute.
This time, he had to gank them!
However, at 2 minutes and 50 seconds, Liu Qingsong's Hammer Stone quietly retreated two steps. He was only level 2. As there was no battle, he had saved up a skill point. As long as Wine Barrel rushed over, he would save Jack like a lantern.
Li Zaiwan had also noticed Liu Qingsong's retreating position when Blackie rushed to the bottom lane. He had been facing YM's bottom lane the whole time and knew that Liu Qingsong had not set up his position.
"Did the opponent set up a lookout in the jungle when they were invading?"
With a pale face, he marked the red zone and the Beak Bird's camp. "You were probably seen."
"YM seemed to have foreseen Blackie's arrival." Doll laughed. "Blackie strolled around the same spot twice, then gave up and went back to the top lane!"
Blackie frowned. He had wasted 10 seconds at the bottom lane but had not gained anything. His pace had slowed down.
During this period of time, he did not even need to think. The pig girl on the other side was definitely developing!
His palms were sweaty, and even his mouse was a little slippery. Blank marked the destination on the minimap. While Wine Barrel was automatically searching, he wiped his palms on his uniform twice.
Since YM had already guessed his movements, there was no need to go to the top lane.
After all, Jin Gong was not The Hy or Huni. If there was forewarning, there was no way he would be caught before he crossed the line.
Blank obediently farmed Demon Swamp Frog and Three Wolves, then returned to the city to buy a green jungler.
Lin Yan was in good condition. Malzahar's easy controls gave him more time to think about the possibility of the opposite side's jungle.
"Mongoose, you have 4 minutes and 30 seconds to get to the dragon pit. Wine Barrel on the other side might be there."
He marked the dragon pit and then returned to the middle lane. He used E [Malefic Illusion] and W [Void Swarm] to clear the creeps.
The swarm that Malzahar summoned during the Ice Festival was a bunch of Polos. They looked lively and cute.
However, as soon as two of them appeared, Li Xianghe used Q [Soul's Fire] to kill them all.
This version of the bugs were worth 5 Gold Coins, and this gave Faker 10 Gold Coins.
However, Lin Yan did not feel the pinch because this was what he had calculated.
Karma's level 2 Q [Soul's Fire] had a cooldown time of 6.5 seconds. Once Faker used this main method to clear the creeps, he would not be able to do any creeps for the next 6.5 seconds.
Lin Yan used Q [Void Summon] to successfully silence the melee creeps. At the same time, he refreshed the duration of E [Malefic Illusion]. Together with the normal attack, he cleared the creeps first.
In other words, he used 10 Gold Coins to gain a temporary creeps.
Faker frowned as he looked at the Grasshopper moving down. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen, so he quickly gave a signal.
"Brother Ran and Xiao Tian are heading toward the dragon pit …" Mille was in disbelief. "They seem to know that Xiao Hei is stealing Mud Dragon!"
"What's going on?!"
When he was shocked, his curved voice was especially obvious. "YM did not set up an eye in the dragon pit!"
It was not just the dragon pit. Ever since Lin Yan's accessory eye that he had placed in the bushes of SKT's Beaked Birds disappeared at 1 minute 37 seconds, the entire YM team did not set up an eye in SKT's jungle, let alone discover Xiao Hei's whereabouts.
However, at this moment, YM's actions told the audience that they had seen through Xiao Hei's movements!
Xiao Hei heard Li Xianghe's warning and became alert. He pulled the Mud Dragon to the edge of the dragon pit. If the situation was not right, he would use Meat Egg and Onion Chicken to climb the wall.
They really came!
The woman riding the pig waved the flail in her hand at him. Xiao Hei planned to retreat the moment he saw Lin Yan and Xiao Tian appear in front of him.
Faker, the mid laner, had just cleared the mid lane minions and was at least 5 seconds away from the dragon pit. SKT's duo at the bottom lane did not have any shoes and could not make it in time.
"WDNMD, why did the Mud Dragon have to have so much health …" Xiao Hei cursed the designers in his heart. He looked at the Mud Dragon, which had less than 900 health left, and had no choice but to return to the top of the dragon pit.
Once the Grasshopper silenced him, it was entirely possible for the Pig Girl to use a set of skills to kill him. After all, it was not easy for a Level 3 Wine Barrel to solo the Mud Dragon, and he did not have much health left.
"Xiao Tian has taken over Xiao Hei's turf!"
Doll yelled, "It's as easy as blowing off dust. 4 minutes and 37 seconds. Little Pig Girl, take down the Earth Dragon!"
"This Xiao Hei is so hurt," Mille lamented. "He lost more than half his health and wasted a lot of time. Pig Girl is going to invade his jungle next!"
When YM took over the Mud Dragon, the cheers from the audience were no less than the roar of the Mud Dragon's death!
[66666, what kind of awareness is this?]
[Is he using a cheat code?
I suggest that you investigate the Heroes Alliance Competition
[As everyone knows, little tricks are not cheating!]
[Blank, what is this Early Stage B doing?
He's just shopping, right?]
[Didn't Jungler B buy it?]
"Brother Ran, how did you predict this?"
Phyllostachys Pubescens was a little excited. He took the opportunity to invade the jungle and planted a false eye in SKT's Sharp-Beaked Bird Camp.
Lin Yan's false eye during the Level 1 invasion helped him to see Wine Barrel's movements. Now that he had used his keen awareness to help him snatch the Mud Dragon, he had completely disrupted Xiao Hei's rhythm.
Pig Girl was not at a disadvantage against Wine Barrel in the early stages of the game. Instead, she had built up a certain advantage. This was ridiculous!
Lin Ran was in a good mood. He snorted arrogantly and disdainfully. "He can't escape my eyes."
"Ugh …" Jack pretended to retch. "How old are you? Are you acting like a chuunibyou again?"
The team chat was relaxed. Building an advantage in the early stages of the game gave the players hope for victory.
Lin Yan did not explain too much. After all, they were still in the middle of the game. There was no time to explain how he knew that Xiao Hei was stealing the Mud Dragon.
The theory was simple.
Xiao Hei had a 150-second respawn time. After killing only five groups of monsters in the first round, he still had a lot of time left. He did not catch anyone nor did he reverse crouch. There were not many places left for him to go.
Unfortunately, because Jack and Liu Qingsong had pushed the third wave of Turrets to SKT's bottom tower, the fourth wave of Turrets was in front of SKT's bottom tower.
Thus, YM's retreating Turrets were formed. The sixth wave of Turrets reached the bottom lane in 4 minutes and 18 seconds.
SKT's minions at the bottom lane slowly accumulated. With the advantage of numbers, the retreating Turrets pushed toward YM's bottom tower.
With the retreating Turrets in front of the tower, YM lost control of the bottom lane.
At the same time, Xiao Hei was able to determine that Xiao Tian had returned to YM's blue zone after invading their red buff at level 1. Since Zhu Mei had killed seven groups of monsters, Xiao Tian had either finished replenishing and left the fountain at around 4 minutes and 30 seconds, or he had gone to the top lane to reverse crouch.
No matter what, he would not be in the bottom half.
Xiao Hei only dared to steal the Mud Dragon because of the excellent retreating position of the minions at the bottom lane and the ability to determine the opponent's jungler position.
However, Lin Yan could also determine Xiao Hei's judgment. In this kind of Matryoshka Doll Theory, he wanted to give it a try and let Phyllostachys Pubescens take a look at the Mud Dragon Pit.
He did not expect to be surprised.
Lin Yan returned to the middle lane and continued to push. He had leveled up to level 5. His level 3 E [Malefic Phantasm], Q [Void Summon], and the little bug's damage were enough to clear the minions.
Faker's clearing speed was not slow either. The two Q [Spirit of Fire], together with the normal attack, were basically a wave of minions.
"Xiao Hei's rhythm is all gone. He can't even protect his jungler's dignity — F6!"
In the Summoner's Canyon, Phyllostachys Pubescens rode on his pig and charged forward. With the help of Northern Wind's Flail, he snatched the big bird from Xiao Hei's hands.
"Too bad, he's only level 4 when the game is almost 6 minutes old!"
Xiao Hei's face was full of pain. Who could withstand being hit by Zhu Mei in the early game of Wine Barrel?
He could only purse his lips and take a sip of water to calm himself down.
[Hahahaha, I didn't expect Zhu Mei to raise a Wine Barrel pig in the jungle.]
[Ten Fold Water Bottle?
It's not even as good as Little Peanut. At least the jungle won't be rotted.]
[Scammer, get out of SKT!]
Even though Blank was already in a miserable state, Lin Yan did not plan to let him go. "Mongoose, come here, come here. I'll help you get the red buff at 7 minutes."
There was such a good thing?
Phyllostachys Pubescens returned to the city to replenish his supplies. He then brought the Eye of Truth to the bottom half of SKT.
At 6 minutes and 38 seconds, the eleventh wave of minions gathered in the middle lane. The next wave would be the Artillery Turrets.
As usual, Lin Yan used all his skills to clear the minions. At this time, his mana was completely depleted. He returned to the city in the shadow of the tower.
Li Xianghe did not feel that anything was wrong. As everyone knew, the logical time for an online hero to return to the city was the wave of minions before the Artillery Turrets were cleared, and the two points after the Artillery Turrets were cleared.
Lin Yan's return to the city was perfect, but Faker still marked the bottom lane.
At this time, the bottom lane was very dangerous. Bang and Wolf's duo had not reached level 6, and Malzahar had a big move. He could cooperate with Hammer Stone to kill Tam.
After clearing the minions, he chose to return to the city as well. He wanted to keep up with Lin Yan's pace.
"Xiao Tian has entered SKT's bottom lane." The commentator lowered his voice. "He planted an eye in the Red Buff Bushes. Brother Ran teleported over!"
"SKT did not react. They can't see Malzahar's teleportation position!"
Faker did not see Lin Yan teleporting back. He frowned and rushed to the bottom lane. At the same time, he informed Huni to prepare for support.
Xiao Hei carried Wine Barrel and walked toward the Red Buff Camp. He wanted to take the opportunity to farm the Red Buffs to make up for his lack of development.
However, his surroundings were pitch black. Without vision to protect him, Xiao Hei planted an eye in the bushes beside him.
The bushes lit up, and Malzahar and Miss Pig appeared in front of him!
E [Malefic Illusion] + W [Void Swarm] + R [Grip of the Underworld]!
Void energy burst forth from the grasshopper's hand. Wine Barrel was instantly suppressed and could not move!
"Miss Pig waved her chains and used Frost … Huni used his ultimate!"
A white shield appeared on Wine Barrel, helping Xiao Hei to survive for a second!
However, the shield was not thick enough. Furthermore, Level 4 Wine Barrel did not have any HP equipment. Thus, Xiao Hei's HP dropped rapidly!
"Faker is rushing to the bottom lane, but he still needs some time!"
At the same time, Wolf was also providing support!
After the 2.5 seconds of suppression ended, Xiao Hei was left with less than 14 HP. He hurriedly used Punishment to heal himself.
Due to Miss Pig and Grasshopper attacking him from the front and back, he was trapped in the middle. As a result, he could not use Meat Egg Chicken to escape.
He had no choice but to use Flash through the wall and hide in the Stone Beetle Camp. He met up with Kalmatam, who had come to his rescue.
"Shen landed successfully after 3 seconds of channeling, but the battle is over!"
Mille glanced at the minimap. "Huni's minions are very weak. Is he going to teleport?"
The top lane minions had been pushed to the bottom of SKT's tower. If they walked back to the top lane, Huni would lose two waves of minions.
After hiding next to the second tower, Huni used Flash.
However, with Lin Yan's help, Xiao Tian successfully ate SKT's red buff and reached Level 6.
"Pig Rush + R [Arctic Hell]!"
Miss Pig drifted diagonally in the Summoner's Canyon and accurately hit Huni with her ultimate skill!
The audience in the stands instantly erupted into cheers and applause like a tidal wave!
"Shen's teleportation has been interrupted!" Doll's voice was heard throughout the Oriental Sports Center.
"My Tony!"
Huni was furious. His teleportation had been interrupted and he could only walk back to the top lane. The top lane defense tower's HP would be depleted.
The top lane had a large number of turrets. Narr could have used that to threaten the defense tower.
The more important question was, how did Miss Pig reach Level 6?
Faker was also stunned. A Level 4 Wine Barrel against a Level 6 Miss Pig?
How can you be two levels behind a herbivorous jungler in the early stages of the game?
I think this jungler's level is ridiculous!
I don't think you have gank, right?
You can't control the dragon, you can't kill the player, and you can't defend the jungle. What else do you want?
Faker was dreaming of three years ago.
The 2014 Paris All Stars was also a Level 4 versus a Level 6. However, the two sides were reversed. Hanson, with the prefix OMG, was the jungler, while Dumb Chicken was the Mantis.
Only then did Li Xianghe realize the importance of The Jungle.
If Dumb Chicken was here, he would not have let Miss Pig ride on his face!
Li Xianghe wished that he could return to the glorious Paris.
When would the Parisians gather again?