After this wave of counter-squats, GEN was at a complete disadvantage. They had suffered heavy losses.
Their lineup was supposed to give them an advantage. Edgar swapped out Sword Magician, who had a faster speed in the early game, to Xu Xiu in order to seize the top lane and make Haru's life more comfortable.
But now, Haru and Xu Xiu had both died once. Even Chi Di was not spared.
Cuvee, who was in the top lane, was also very weak.
All three lanes were at a disadvantage. How was GEN going to drive the tempo?
"We really shouldn't have gone to catch someone at this time!"
Crown was heartbroken. "We all know that Little Temptress has returned to the city. Lefran might appear in the bottom lane to counter-squat …"
CloudTemplar added, "Even if she's not in the bottom lane, she has a teleport item in her hands. She can come to the bottom lane in 3.5 seconds. Troll hasn't returned to the city to resupply, so his damage isn't enough to kill the duo of YM quickly. Once he's stalled and Lefran lands, GEN will still lose!"
The Korean viewers who were watching the live broadcast of the tournament were already arguing in the chat channel.
[He's really trash, GEN!]
[He's getting beaten no matter what character he's playing. Showmaker, look at how Little Temptress is playing.]
[I'm dying of laughter. Ran is always supporting. Showmaker is always AFK in the middle lane.]
[The worst thing is that he's not in the lead even when he's the Bound Spirit in the middle lane.]
[Xu Xiu is obviously not as good as Chovy. He's always in the lead no matter how much damage he does.]
[Can't we transfer our vitality to GEN? Hang in there, GEN G!]
Haru scratched his forehead. He felt a chill run down his spine.
He knew that he was too anxious. He had led the team to the brink of collapse.
"Can we play it safe?"
Cuvee tried hard to suppress his dissatisfaction. He had sacrificed so much for the team. He fought alone in the top lane because he wanted to gain more benefits in the bottom lane.
But that's what you did?
"It's mine, it's mine …" Haru said quickly.
Head Coach Edgar, who was sitting in GEN's lounge backstage, sighed.
In order to cater to the new version, he purposely let Haru, who was more suitable for hero pool, play.
However, after three and a half rounds of the international competition, the jungler's performance could only be described as a disaster.
There was never any rhythm in the early game, and the opponent's jungler was always riding on his face. In the early game, he had helped the bottom lane get a double kill. Edgar thought that Haru had suddenly been enlightened and was preparing to not die and become a Super God.
But after a minute, he sent the head out again, afraid that Lin Yan wouldn't be able to carry it because he didn't have any equipment.
Edgar knew what the problem was.
Haru's strength was indeed not very good, but the team's style was also one of the reasons why he lost his rhythm.
The team had been focused on defense for the first two years. This was very compatible with Sect Leader An's herbivorous style, and they often achieved good results.
However, after switching to Haru, the other four players still hadn't changed their tactical thinking. They were still stuck on preserving their own lives, steadily developing in the lane, and waiting for the mid-late team battle.
This was incompatible with Haru's aggressive playstyle.
For example, if his uncle's BLG team suddenly changed their jungler to Spicy Saucepan, there would definitely be a big problem.
Edgar knew that there was no time to adjust the team and Haru. After they finished with YM, they still had to compete with Liquid and MAD. Group A had to compete for two places to advance today.
He looked at An Bixin, who was sitting next to him.
After spending so much time with the head coach, An Bixin could naturally guess what he meant. "Do you want me to play?"
Turning his head to look at the live game on the TV screen and hearing the slightly panicked voice of his teammates, An Bixin thought for a moment.
"Okay."
…
Lin Yan and Jack each took a kill. He saw that Xu Xiu had pushed the mid lane minions in, and Mongoose was happily eating under the tower, so he gave up on the idea of teleporting to repair the minions.
"Push the minions, I'll go back to the city to repair them," Shiba Inu said with a smile. He was getting closer and closer to his first big item, Mist Cutter.
As long as he passed the laning phase, GEN's bottom lane composition would not be able to do anything to him.
Lin Yan helped push the minions and walked back to the mid lane. Xu Xiu had just finished pushing the minions and went back to repair them. She had now made a pair of Mercury Shoes, increasing magic resistance and toughness.
"Now Sword Magus will have an easier time against Little Temptress. The passive Death Blade's recovery is slowly increasing. After Q's [Dark Blade] leveled up, the speed of clearing minions is also quite impressive." Cloud Templar analyzed from GEN's point of view.
Lin Yan also knew that if Sword Magus continued to kill minions, it would not be easy to deal with them in the team battle.
Therefore, he had to strike first.
After Xu Xiu gave away the first kill, she missed out two minions during the resurrection process.
This was the known information.
The remaining minions of Sword Magus were full of experience.
Under the premise that there were no kills and vision points, Yatokus would level up to Level 6 when the first three minions of the ninth wave of minions died.
Lin Yan calculated silently in his mind.
He took the first kill and went to the bottom lane to get the kill. He also helped to push the minions. Although he missed out on a wave of minions in the middle lane, overall, his experience was higher than Sword Magus. He also leveled up to Level 6 when the ninth wave of minions arrived.
Xu Xiu did not know about this because he had too many ways to gain experience. It was difficult to calculate the exact amount of experience he gained. He only had a vague idea.
Lin Yan planned to use this information gap to make a fuss.
"Xiba, can you fight against Ryze in the top lane?" He commanded in the team voice chat. "It's best if you can trick the Troll on the opposite side."
"No problem, don't worry." Jin Gong immediately replied.
Just now, he had purposely delayed the timing and pushed the minions slowly into the tower. This way, the eighth wave of minions would gather in GEN's tower and create a push back.
After all, there were no wild monsters in the bottom half of the map. After Haru was revived, he could only farm in the top half of the map. At this time, Jin Gong created a push back and controlled the position of the minions to be in front of his tower. It was a very safe choice for him.
Now that the minions were released, Cuvee was forced to leave the protection of the defense tower and come out to replace the minions. This gave Jin Gong the opportunity to follow Lin Yan's command and forcefully replace the minions.
"GimGoon used W [Volley Dance] to cut one of the ranged minions to critical health. Then, he used Q [Sharp Blade Impact] to kill it … He also hid E [Match Made Blades]!"
While Roaring Emperor was explaining, Swordsis used the minions with critical health as a stepping stone and successfully got close to Ryze.
She threw out the Match Made Blades as soon as her Q hit the minions with critical health. She used her charging body as a perfect cover.
Cuvee still wanted to twist his waist to dodge, but Ryze only had Goddess's Tear. He did not have any movement items. It was difficult to dodge the Match Made Blades by just moving.
After the opponent was stunned, Jin Gong used Sharp Blade Impact and used his passive [Ionian Zeal] to continuously attack and reduce the opponent's health.
Ryze used EW to imprison the opponent in place. He used Q [Overload] to detonate the rune and gain the double acceleration from the passive and Phase Rush. He still wanted to turn around and widen the distance.
However, the casting range of Sharp Blade Impact was a full 600 yards. Although Ryze triggered the double acceleration in his shoeless state, he still could not widen the distance within the duration of the Rune Imprisonment.
"Swordsis Q came up again. The damage after the passive boost is very high!"
Cuvee lowered his head and rushed back. However, Swordsis's normal attack range was 200 yards. She took the opportunity to attack twice before Ryze left.
"Ryze's health is very low now. He has to get someone to come up … Haru happens to be farming his own Demonic Swamp Frog. He can rush up and help push the line."
CloudTemplar frowned. He felt that something was not right, but he could not put his finger on it.
The King of Troll rushed over with his big club and helped to smash YM's minions until they were low health. This allowed Cuvee to QEQ them all.
The caster suddenly focused the camera on the two midlaners.
Since the minions in the middle lane arrived 10 seconds earlier than the side lane, Lin Yan and Xu Xiu were now facing the ninth wave of Turrets.
"Tian is coming to the middle lane again!"
CloudTemplar finally understood. "YM tricked Troll into the top lane to create an excellent opportunity to catch him!"
Before their equipment and level were upgraded to a certain level, YM would be at a disadvantage if the midlaner wanted to fight 2v2. This was because if they could not kill the opponent with a set of damage, they could be sucked up by Troll and Atokus.
However, Lin Yan had forced Haru into the top lane. Then, he and Mongoose would only have to face Xu Xiu alone.
As he raised his hand to finish off a melee soldier, he used the minions to kill the Turrets.
The moment the Turrets disappeared, Lin Yan successfully leveled up to level 6!
Xu Xiu did not think of retreating immediately. He was one more minion away from leveling up to level 6.
The normal attack landed on the melee soldier. The live audience was already in an uproar!
"Showmaker, run!" Roaring Emperor shouted.
Lin Yan moved forward with Specter Steps. Phantom Chain successfully hit Sword Magician.
Mongoose then appeared from behind.
Although Xu Xiu had set up a vision near the middle lane, Blind Monk's mobility was too strong. He could not guard against him.
"Sword Magician ate the minions. Level 6, use Annihilation first!"
Xu Xiu wanted to continue, but Lin Yan did not give him a chance.
Once the Phantom Chain had locked it in place, he used his R [Repeat Trick] to duplicate another chain and continued to tie it onto the Sword Demon's body.
"Blind Monk's Golden Bell Shield is here. His normal attack and Heavenly Sonic Wave successfully hit Atokus." Roaring Emperor's voice was excited. "Sword Magician is trapped in place!"
The duration of the two Phantom Chains was too long. Xu Xiu had really become an Earthbound Spirit. He could only let YM Nakano bully him.
Little Rascal used Retribution Challenge and slammed the floor to use a normal attack. He first maxed out the effects of Conqueror, then used a second Q Echo Strike to trigger the Behead effect to reduce Sword Demon's HP to a critical level. Finally, he used a normal A to combine with the Red Punishment's Burn effect and successfully took the kill!
"Ah …" CloudTemplar could not hide the disappointment in his voice. "Sword Magician has 0 kills and 2 deaths. He even used his ultimate. This is a huge loss!"
"And he hasn't finished teleporting. YM Nakano will push the minions over. We'll lose another wave of minions!"
Xu Xiu ran his fingers through his hair. Under the camera, his fingers trembled slightly.
He could not find any way to break out of this situation.
YM's three lanes and the jungle were firmly glued together through the mid laner.
Cuvee came up with an idea. "Can you guys fight in the bottom lane? I can teleport over!"
Because he always dealt with the minions in the top lane before returning to the city, he had not used his teleport. Now, he wanted to take the opportunity to help.
Corejj felt that it was not right. "Let's trick them to teleport. The opponent's mid and top lane has TP that they haven't used yet."
He used the minions to move forward. Q Cold Winter's Bite went straight to Jack's Ember.
"Crisp controlled Luo to use E Light Dance to help block the skill … Ruler slid up!"
Lucian tapped on E and Q. He first used Boulogne's passive on Luo and stunned Liu Qingsong on the spot.
"Boulogne inserted his eyes forward. The teleport whirlpool lit up. It came from Ryze in the spring!"
Then, two more whirlpools rose up.
The two solo lanes in YM had not finished their TP. They were waiting for this moment!
Three light pillars appeared in the bottom lane at the same time.
It was a simple wave grab!
Lin Yan had just finished pushing the wave that reached the mid lane in 6 minutes and 27 seconds. Because there was a wave of Cannon Soldiers coming up next, he used the time to return to the city to make an Explosive Wand.
At this moment, he was also in the spring. He was not afraid of being interrupted by Xu Xiu.
"You guys hurry up and retreat. I'm going to cancel the teleport!" Cuvee reminded his teammates in the team voice chat.
One teleport in exchange for two. It was quite profitable for GEN.
In another minute, Xu Xiu's teleport would be completed. At that time, GEN would have a TP that could be used to lead the tempo.
Corejj's Boulogne raised his Security Door to block the damage from Ember. He saved his own health and calmly retreated.
However, after Cuvee canceled the teleport, YM's two whirlpools showed no signs of disappearing!
"What are they doing?!"
Roaring King's surprised voice echoed in the Korean live stream. "GEN's duo in the bottom lane has already retreated. YM can't catch them at all!"
At present, neither side's bottom lane had risen to level 6. Law wanted to keep Lucian and Bloom without a big move, it was simply a fool's dream.
"That's not right …" Crown looked at the minimap and suddenly raised his voice. "YM is trying to cross the tower and kill the duo in the bottom lane!"
The caster's camera cut to the jungle.
Mongoose's Blind Monk was rushing towards the bottom lane.
CloudTemplar looked at the character status bar at the bottom left corner and noticed that Phyllostachys Pubescens's experience bar was almost full. "Li Qing is going to reach Level 6 soon. GEN's duo is in great danger!"
Phyllostachys Pubescens's tempo was good. His stats were 102. Not only did he gank three times, he also gained a lot of experience from the minions.
After killing Xu Xiu, he helped Lin Yan clear the minions in the middle lane. After that, he killed two groups of monsters. He was only one step away from Level 6.
Using the explosive ball between GEN's red buff and the crater, he jumped over the wall and arrived at the bushes behind the opponent's bottom lane.
A wave of Artillerymen just happened to pass by. Mongoose blocked the minions and drank health potions. He planned to use this wave of minions to help him level up.
"GEN's two summons at the bottom lane haven't turned yet. They are in a dilemma!"
Lin Yan and Jin Gong teleported to the ground. They and the duo were at the front while Mongoose was alone at the back. They had surrounded GEN's duo at the bottom of the tower.
"Wait for me!" Xu Xiu rushed towards the bottom lane as soon as he noticed YM's intention to cross the tower.
However, even if he was a Blademaster with Quicksilver Shoes, it would still take him 10 seconds to reach the bottom lane.
Haru was farming Razorbeak Birds in the bottom lane. However, Troll, who didn't have any ult, couldn't make much of a difference.
"The Artillerymen have been eaten by Tian's Punishment. Blind Monk has reached Level 6!"
This marked the official start of the tower crossing operation.
Little Sleepyhead didn't say anything. He sneaked behind Lu Xian and kicked Chi Di out of the defense tower.
Ruler kept pressing E [Grim Pursuit] throughout the entire process. He even wanted to slide away and adjust his position before Li Qing made his move.
However, because Lin Yan had committed too many sins in the past two years, he had nerfed this hero several times. Now, the cooldown of the Level 1 Grim Pursuit was 22 seconds long.
Although he had activated the passive twice before and shortened the cooldown by 8 seconds, when he was kicked out by Mongoose, he still needed 4 seconds to slide away.
"Temptress's Phantom Perplexing Steps forward. Phantom Chain and Mark of Malice. Ember gives Fatal Splendor …"
Lucian's health dropped rapidly. However, no one was able to finish him off.
After the kick, Mongoose threw out a Heavenly Sonic Wave. It hit Lucian without any suspense. Then, he triggered a two-stage Q and used Ruler to move out of the tower's range.
When Jin Gong's Swordsister saw that her jungler had successfully escaped, she used Sharp Blade Impact to take Lucian's head.
Corejj didn't dare to stop him. He was afraid that he would be killed as well.
After all, YM had five people. Even if Boulogne was tanky, he wouldn't be able to withstand the damage.
"Ruler Emperor has also contributed to his second death. His finances have now been overtaken by Jack!"
After Jin Gong got the kill, he continued to expand his lead. Cuvee didn't dare to stand next to the minions. He could only hide at the back and wait for the eight people to push the minions over.
The complete loss of the top lane made it impossible for GEN to fight for the Vanguard that was about to appear.
"Tian isn't in a hurry to cast Vanguard. He's waiting for an opportunity!"
In reality, it was torture.
Phyllostachys Pubescens knew this well.
He repeatedly exposed himself to GEN's vision and used the Eye of the Vanguard to intimidate them. He led them by the nose and forced Haru to follow him.
Xiao Tian led the opposing jungler to the bottom lane, creating an opportunity for Jin Gong to 1v1 the top lane.
The eight people didn't disappoint. They used a series of tower crossing skills and ultimates to force Cuvee to use Blink.
"In the end, the Vanguard destroyed GEN's bottom lane tower. Now, the economy gap between the two sides has been widened to 3.5k."
GEN, who was at a disadvantage, began to shrink their formation out of habit. They planned to drag it out until their own center position was formed before attacking the front.
However, this wasn't S7 anymore.
Now, neutral resources spawned more frequently and were more important. If the team kept giving in, it would only make their disadvantage worse.
Unless they used a very late stage formation like Kassadin's Mouse, it would be impossible to maintain the situation by just avoiding the battle.
GEN was confused by the situation. They thought that they would be able to take the team once the top and middle lanes were formed.
However, Edgar, who was sitting in the lounge, had a clear view of the situation. His heart fell into an ice cave.
He knew that this method of relying on pure operation to drag out the late game wouldn't work at all.
Roaring Emperor, who was in the LCK commentator's booth, began to feel a little sleepy.
The kill count didn't explode for a long time. The only thing that reminded him was that GEN's disadvantage was getting bigger and bigger.
Five minutes later, Chi Emperor realized that something was wrong when he realized that Jack's Zhui had taken out a Rapid Fire Cannon first.
"We can't drag it out any longer. Otherwise, we won't be able to win the front!"
Although GEN chose a formation that was very strong in the mid game, the formation's strength could only be reflected if it was supported by the economy.
If the economy gap was too big, the formation's advantage wouldn't be able to make up for it.
"Why don't we deal with it? Dragon's team?" Xu Xiu suggested.
"Let's give it a try. There's nothing we can do if it doesn't work," Cuvee agreed readily.
"Corejj seized an opportunity. He squatted down on Luo who went out to scout. He used a big move to keep Crisp here!"
Boulogne's Glacier Fissure interrupted Liu Qingsong in mid-air. Sword Magician used a big move. Q1E went forward and used Evil Flame Chain. Together with their own support's Ignite, they successfully killed Liu Qingsong.
"Dragon, Dragon!" Cuvee immediately used a big move. He wanted to use Warp Path to lead his teammates to the Dragon Pit.
Lin Yan was leisurely. He used Return to Town Combo and rushed towards the Dragon Pit. At the same time, he asked Jin Gong to continue pushing at the bottom lane. There was no need for him to come back.
"GEN is risking their lives. They're definitely not slow when it comes to fighting the Dragon. They're relying on Lucian and Ryze's damage to continuously reduce Baron Nash's health!"
Lin Yan arrived above the Dragon Pit. Without saying anything, he used his WRs and used Mark of Malice and Phantom Chains to deal damage. He successfully created tons of AoE damage!
Corejj used a passive on him. However, Lin Yan immediately used Phantom Perplexing Track to return to the top of the Dragon Pit.
"Ember is using a big move!"
Jack stood at the intersection of the middle lane and the upper lane. He used a perfect curtain call!
"Haru can't interrupt it. The Dragon doesn't have much health now. He has to be careful not to let Blind Monk steal it!"
However, Ember's damage output with two pieces of equipment was already very high. Corejj could only use his body to block the bullets from the side.
He didn't use Anti-Theft Door because he wanted to block Ember's most powerful fourth shot.
"Knife Sis is almost at the high ground. GEN still hasn't taken down the Dragon. They have to speed up!"
Jack fired all four bullets. In the end, he managed to reduce Boulogne's health by half.
Xiao Tian didn't even plan to steal it.
Instead, he kept pulling at it from the front. He wanted to use this method to threaten GEN.
"Haru's Punishment has landed steadily. They've successfully taken down the Dragon!"
Troll relied on his passive to recover a large amount of health.
Lin Yan's skill cooldown had finished. When Boulogne's passive disappeared, he went forward again. He used Q's Mark of Malice to trigger Lu Deng's Echo.
"Ryze doesn't have much health left!"
Previously, Lin Ran had used his WRs to deal a lot of damage. Only Ruler Emperor was able to recover his health by relying on his broken lifesteal.
Cuvee's health was still low. After being hit by Lin Yan's skill, he was already at critical health.
The caster's camera shifted to the bottom lane.
Jin Gong was still furiously tearing down the tower.
With the power of three phases and Agitated Ionia's Zeal, Knife Sis's attack speed was very fast. She easily destroyed the bottom lane tower.
"You guys stall him. Don't let him return to the city. I'll go over and help!" Lin Yan said as he handed over his teleport.
His target was GEN's bottom lane high ground!
"YM wants to steal their base!" Roaring King's voice echoed throughout the Busan Convention Center. "GEN needs to return to the city to defend!"
Haru still wanted to use E to interrupt the teleport. However, Lin Yan was very far away from him.
Ice Pillar's casting range was only 1,000 yards. There was no time to interrupt it.
He and the other teammates wanted to return to the city. However, they were stopped by YM's Ember and Blind Monk.
"Boulogne wants to use his own life to block at the front so that his teammates can use the Dragon's buff to return to the city!"
Xiao Tian kicked him away. Seeing that Lucian and Ryze were about to return to the city, he made up his mind and used E to teleport!
The AoE damage interrupted it!
"It's over …" Crown's face was ashen.
In the camera below, YM had already started tearing down the front tower!
GEN needed at least 4 seconds to return to the city. It was impossible to kill the two of them before the base exploded!
"Ember's Graceful Dance Frag Grenade interrupted their return to the city. GEN can't even return home!"
Lin Yan and Jin Gong effortlessly flattened GEN's base without anyone stopping them!
The three Korean casters sighed regretfully. However, they could only shout in unison.
“GG！”