The Next Hero Swap

Whether you look like a human or not is not important; winning the game is the key.

After the battle in the top lane ended, Li Chen stayed behind to push the tower alone, while Clearlove and Flandre turned around to take down the Rift Herald.

Without any hesitation, the EDG team didn't even go home, but immediately gathered in the mid lane and pushed forward.

Faced with the fierce attack of five people, the Xuanming Elders had no choice but to retreat first, surrendering the middle tower.

By the time the rest of KZ arrived in the mid lane, EDG had already packed up and retreated, leaving only the ruins of a turret for KZ to admire.

In the following minutes, EDG did not actively engage KZ, focusing instead on lane rotation, macro-management, and resource control, even showing a tendency to avoid direct confrontation.

This strategy also reveals EDG's second trump card for victory.

In the LCK region, the "Roaring Emperor" spoke with much more composure, but there was still some shock in his voice: "Although EDG's roster has changed, it feels like they've evolved again. They didn't have this kind of macro play and vision control ability last year."

Another commentator added, "That's right. Last year, EDG relied entirely on god_C's individual performance and then gradually spread the advantage to all members, but this year's EDG is really different."

While KZ is known for its strong laning phase and early-mid game aggression, their overall strategic execution has consistently ranked among the best in the region this year. However, with the loss of all three outer turrets, they are now completely being led by the nose by EDG.

KZ also noticed this, because at some point, they suddenly found themselves completely blind.

All of EDG's actions were kept completely secret from them, yet they remained under EDG's control at all times.

Between 13 and 20 minutes, a full seven minutes, the two sides only clashed once when EDG pushed the bottom lane high ground, and the result was Meiko trading one for three.

If the minion wave hadn't been cleared, and if Tristana and Taliyah hadn't flashed so quickly, the game would have basically ended then.

However, the situation is the same now; KZ is already waiting for the game to end.

Of the three lanes and six outer towers, only the middle lane tower remains, and the bottom lane high ground has also been destroyed, but the crystal has not been lost.

In this situation, EDG's entire team gathering at the Baron pit to openly force a team fight is a dead end for KZ.

They would prefer that Li Chen go to the bottom lane to split push and create some pressure, so they could pull off a five-man gank, or force Li Chen to teleport at Baron.

But that won't work now. The jungle vision is basically completely dark. With champions like Rakan, Lissandra, and Jarvan IV who can initiate fights, relying on just two ranged vision ranges is simply not enough. They can no longer see Baron Nashor.

At 21 minutes, EDG secured the Baron Nashor, then recalled to base to replenish their supplies before initiating a 4-1 split push.

The other four players first pushed the mid and top lane minions across the river, then met up in the mid lane and pushed forward, pressuring KZ so much that they couldn't leave their towers.

Li Chen is unrestricted when pushing the bottom lane alone. With his huge equipment advantage and Mercury's Treads for crowd control immunity, he can basically win a 1v3 situation. He also has room to maneuver in a 1v4 situation as long as KZ gives him an opportunity.

Even if he's fighting five opponents, he might still have a chance to switch out one of them, unless KZ has all of their summoner spells available, then there might really be no way to win.

KZ understood that their constant defense against EDG's split push would only lead to repeated failures.

"We can't defend anywhere if we're separated, come and arrest us!"

In the end, BDD made a decision for the team. Before he died, he wanted to test whether Li Chen was really that invincible and unbeatable.

At this moment, Li Chen was located next to the bottom lane crystal. KZ's five players split into two groups: the top and mid laners pushed out from the front turret, while the other three flanked from behind.

Although it was fair to say that the later stages were easier, Li Chen just liked to challenge himself with high difficulty. So after destroying the bottom lane crystal, Li Chen chose to tower dive without any warning.

"Faced with the encirclement, C did not retreat. He wanted to buy time for his team to advance. The inner turret in the middle lane was almost gone. C used Q to stack his passive, closed the distance, and used his ultimate on the turret, hitting two people and applying the mark."

C-God first Q'd Taliyah, then Q'd Jayce. Jayce used his E to knock C-God away, but his Twin Blades also controlled Jayce. C-God Q'd Jayce back, Taliyah lifted him up, and C-God used Blade of the Ruined King to absorb some damage and then dodged away from Jayce...

Faced with this one-against-two situation, the commentators had already lost their enthusiasm, because the outcome of the game was already decided.

After Taliyah's Rock Slash missed, Li Chen chased after the slowed Jayce and auto-attacked him. Khan's health bar disappeared as quickly as water, and he had no choice but to use Flash to retreat to the fountain.

Li Chen immediately followed up with his Q skill, chased after Jayce, and auto-attacked him twice to secure the kill. Then he retreated to the top lane turret.

But KZ certainly wouldn't let Li Chen off easily. Xiao Pao used W to jump and then Flash to arrive at the battlefield first, and directly used his ultimate to send Li Chen crashing back to his base.

Although this attack failed to send Li Chen into the fountain, it prevented him from retreating and gave Thresh and Sejuani the opportunity to surround him.

As the four KZ players took their positions, Li Chen was completely cornered in front of the fountain. At this point, his health was low, most of his skills were on cooldown, and he was clearly out of options.

However, in exchange, KZ's mid-lane high ground had been pushed down, and the other four members of EDG did not go to rescue Li Chen, but continued to rotate and push the top lane high ground tower.

Ultimately, Li Chen was surrounded by four people, with KZ's fountain and inhibitor turrets all around him. He really didn't have much room to maneuver, or rather, he was too lazy to do anything. He gave up the kill without even using Flash.

KZ's acquisition of Li Chen came at the cost of losing all three of their high ground towers, leaving them facing a relentless push from three lanes of super minions.

Furthermore, the four EDG players did not retreat at this time; they were waiting for Li Chen to respawn and teleport over.

Twenty-three minutes later, Li Chen revived and teleported to land to reunite with his teammates.

With the remaining Baron buff time, the five players, relying on a massive wave of super minions, pushed down KZ's base in one fell swoop, without encountering any effective resistance throughout the entire process.

As the commentators from each region announced the results of the match, Li Chen and others got up and walked towards the KZ players' seats.

The moment Li Chen met the Khan, he noticed that the other man was terribly pale, with beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Hey Khan, you don't seem to be feeling well. Are you alright? Is it just the change in environment?" Li Chen asked with concern.

The Khan replied politely, "Thank you for your concern. I'm feeling a little unwell, but it's nothing serious."

No matter what, he couldn't admit that he was beaten up like this by Li Chen; that would be too undignified.

"I'm temporarily in the lead today, but Irelia is the unbeatable champion of this patch, so it doesn't count. Next time, we'll switch champions and start over!"

Li Chen spoke solemnly, as if making a promise or agreement.