Chapter 639
Knight
"Baron! Take Baron! This is a must-win situation for Vayne, a super tempo-generating opportunity!"
With JDG's five players wiped out, only Baron Nashor's miserable roar remained in Summoner's Rift.
Su Mo, controlling Vayne, coordinated with his surviving teammates to quickly rush down the newly spawned Baron Nashor. With the purple Baron buff active, the recall animation lit up, and the entire EDG team upgraded their equipment in the fountain, ready to go.
At this moment, Vayne's equipment inventory now includes not only [Siren Slayer] and [Guinsoo's Rageblade], but also [Blade of the Ruined King].
"Three-piece set..." Miller glanced at the time and gasped, "It's only been a little over 23 minutes! Vayne's damage output right now, let alone Ornn, she could even bring the fountain turret over and take it down!"
The minion wave, empowered by the Baron buff, surged towards JDG's high ground like a tidal wave.
EDG didn't rush into a decisive attack, but instead demonstrated the defending champions' breathtaking operational capabilities.
Su Mo pushed the bottom lane minions alone, Scout Galio pushed the top lane, and the other three pushed the mid lane.
The classic "1-3-1" split-push system.
JDG's high ground tower was teetering on the brink of collapse under the bombardment of reinforced siege minions.
"We can't hold on..." Remember looking at the JDG players' positions on the screen, "369's Ornn didn't dare to even glance at Vayne in the bottom lane. He just peeked out from under the second tower to try and Q the minions, but Su Mo rolled in and auto-attacked him twice with his three-hit passive, instantly taking away a third of his health. That true damage is too painful, it really hurts too much."
JDG did not give up the fight.
Knight's Syndra kept trying to find angles to push the ball, attempting to clear the minion wave in the mid lane. Ruler's Zephyr was also desperately using his Q skill and Statikk Shiv effect to clear the wave.
"They're still holding on! JDG's resilience is truly commendable. Even with a 10,000 gold deficit, they're still searching for that slim chance to turn the tide." Guan Zeyuan's tone carried a hint of admiration, but more so a sense of helplessness. "But, against a Vayne with Mercury's Treads, Flash, Heal, and three core items, does that chance really exist?"
24 minutes 30 seconds.
The bottom lane inhibitor tower has fallen.
Su Mo was like a ruthless demolition director; after removing the defensive tower, he turned around and headed straight for the crystal.
369 was forced to come over to defend.
"Kanavi, keep an eye on me, I'm afraid he'll tower dive and kill me." 369's voice was trembling.
Before he finished speaking, Su Mo moved.
Q [Dodge Attack] Roll forward, not to kill, but to destroy the crystal.
Once, twice.
The crystal shattered.
With the super minions in the bottom lane drawing attention, JDG's defenses were completely torn apart.
"Force a team fight in the mid lane!" Su Mo calmly ordered in the voice chat, "Meiko, find an opportunity to initiate, sell some units, and I'll clean up the rest."
"receive."
25 minutes and 10 seconds, in front of the mid-lane high ground tower.
The minion wave pushes towards the tower.
Meiko Titan, who had been at the forefront, suddenly launched an attack!
Q: [Clear the waterway!]
The massive anchor pierced through the gap in the minion wave, precisely hooking Ornn, who was positioned slightly ahead!
"It's started!! Meiko hooked the front line and initiated the attack!!"
Almost simultaneously, Meiko pressed the R key [Deep Sea Impact], aiming directly at Syndra in the back row!
"beat!!"
JDG was now in a desperate situation and had no choice but to accept the challenge.
369's Ornn used his ultimate, attempting to disrupt EDG's formation. Missing's Yuumi activated her ultimate, and the ripples of the Grimoire of the End spread through the crowd.
Meiko's Titan was tanky enough, but under the combined fire of JDG's five players, his health bar evaporated instantly.
"Titan is down! JDG has instantly killed the support!" Rita exclaimed. "But... is it even useful?!"
Useless!
Because Meiko sacrificed his life to absorb all of JDG's key control and burst skills in the first wave!
At this moment, the real Grim Reaper entered the scene.
Let us hunt down those who have fallen into darkness!
Su Mo activated R [Ultimate Moment], and Vayne's figure disappeared into the darkness once again.
Use Q to roll and reposition, then directly cut into the flank of the battlefield.
At this moment, all of JDG's skills are on cooldown.
Su Mo's goal was very clear—kill the front row first and refresh his skills!
Ruined King actively absorbs Ornn's energy, slowing him down!
A! A! E!
At this point, Ornn had lost his ultimate and W abilities, making him look like a giant piece of pork belly.
With Vayne's insane attack speed, 369 couldn't even move an inch.
"Zizzi-"
The sound of the three rings exploding was like the knocking of death.
Ornn falls to the ground!
The passive skill [Night Hunter] has triggered, granting increased movement speed!
Vayne transformed into a silver lightning bolt and charged towards JDG's backline.
Scout's Galio uses his W-flash to taunt Syndra and Blade of the Ruined King as they try to escape.
Su Mo followed up with the output.
AQA!
Critical hit! True damage!
Syndra falls to the ground!
Kanavi, the Ruined King, attempted to transform into the recently deceased Titan to control Vayne, but Su Mo made a clever right-angle movement, twisting off Titan's Q hook and killing him with three arrows.
Triple Kill!
Only Ruler's Zeli and the cat clinging to him remained on the battlefield.
Viper's Aphelios also followed up with damage, using his purple blade to immobilize Zeli.
Su Mo used his Q skill to roll and follow up, finishing off the enemy with a final arrow.
Quadra Kill!
One for four!
Aside from the sacrificed support Meiko, the other four members of EDG were almost at full strength!
"It's over!! It's completely over!!" Miller roared. "Vayne quadra kill!! EDG has shattered JDG's last line of defense with a thrilling team fight!!"
The remaining super minions and the four EDG players rushed into the fountain.
JDG's last remaining Yuumi cowered back in the fountain, trembling with fear.
25 minutes 45 seconds.
JDG's base crystal exploded under Vayne's crossbow bolts.
Congratulations to EDG! Another victory!
Guan Zeyuan loudly announced: "2-0! EDG has match point!! This is the strength of the defending champions! This is Su Mo's Vayne in the top lane! 369's Ornn was truly heartbroken this game!!"
The screen was now flooded with comments:
This is too brutal... Is this what they call a dimensional reduction attack?
[369: Even though I picked the tankiest Ornn, he's still like a piece of paper.]
[Support sacrificed to the heavens, boundless power! Meiko died a worthy death!] [This Vayne made me swoon, her kiting was so smooth, that movement to twist the Titan's hook was practically scripted!]
[Who else?! I'm asking you, who else can stop Brother Mozi?!]
[Carrying every game, dominating every game, this is the world's best top laner!]
JDG tried their best, but they simply couldn't win; it was a pure skill gap.
The camera pans to the players' seats.
The atmosphere at JDG was extremely tense.
369 took off his headphones and slumped into his gaming chair, his eyes blankly staring at the word "Failure" on the screen. His hands were still trembling slightly, a physiological stress response after being tortured by Vayne for a full 25 minutes.
Kanavi rubbed his hair in frustration, and without even speaking to his teammates, he got up and walked backstage, his back view looking particularly desolate.
Ruler bit his lip, his eyes filled with resentment and a deep sense of powerlessness. Facing the ghostly Vayne, his output space as an AD carry was compressed to the extreme.
On the other hand, let's look at EDG.
Su Mo calmly put down the mouse, without even showing any excitement, as if he had just finished a normal ranked match.
He picked up his thermos, took a sip of water, turned his head and said something to Jiejie next to him. The two smiled at each other.
Jiejie pointed to the output panel on the screen with a grin.
There, Vayne's damage output was terrifyingly high, almost ten times that of Ornn.
Su Mo stood up, straightened his team uniform, and walked calmly backstage.
As he passed the trophy in the center of the stage, he did not stop, but merely glanced at it indifferently.
That's the confidence of the strong.
Because he knew that soon, he would once again hold that trophy high.
The atmosphere in the backstage dressing room was a stark contrast, like fire and ice.
The JDG lounge was deathly silent.
Coach Homme loosened his tie, his brow furrowed, as he looked at the five players slumped in their chairs. 369, in particular, was curled up in his gaming chair, his hands covering his head, his eyes glazed over – a clear sign of utter despair.
"How are we supposed to fight this? We get slaughtered like pigs with Ornn, and we get stalked like dogs with Gragas." Kanavi took a big gulp of water, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger. "If the top lane is the weak point, how am I supposed to get into the jungle? The enemy Vayne is living in my backyard, it's not fair to me."
369's lips trembled slightly, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed a handful of sand: "My...that Vayne is too agile, I really can't touch her. I want to control her, but..."
“Alright.” Homme interrupted him, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself down. “Now is not the time to assign blame. We’re down 0-2, on the brink of elimination. In the next game, we’re on the red side, so we have to give 369 a champion who can survive, even if he dies, he has to die under the tower, understand?”
“I want to play Sion.” 369 suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with a final stubbornness. “Give me Sion. Even if I die, I can clear the wave with my corpse. As long as the tower doesn’t fall too fast, I can stall.”
Meanwhile, EDG's rest area was filled with laughter and joy.
"Brother Mozi, your Vayne pick is just too inhuman!" Jiejie was scrolling through Weibo on his phone, grinning from ear to ear. "Look at the trending topics, it's all about '369 Pain Mask' and 'Top Lane Quality Inspector.' Netizens are suggesting banning AD picks for top laners in future matches, saying it's too disruptive to family harmony."
Su Mo leaned back comfortably on the sofa, slowly peeling a banana, looking as relaxed as if he were on vacation: "This is nothing. JDG will definitely go all out in the next game, probably pulling out all the stops. But..."
He took a bite of the banana and mumbled, "In the face of absolute strength, any tactic is just fancy talk."
At that moment, the door to the lounge was pushed open a crack.
Rita and Yu Shuang poked their heads in, their faces flushed with barely concealed excitement.
"Did I disturb your tactical planning?" Yu Shuang walked in with a smile, carrying a bag of energy drinks. "Xi Ran just bought these to give you guys a boost and try to nip that... 'comeback from 0-2 down' idea in the bud."
"Don't worry, Sister Shuang." Meiko took the drink and joked, "With Brother Mozi around, this kind of script doesn't exist. He just wants to get off work as soon as possible and go eat Wellington steak."
Su Mo looked at Yu Shuang, his eyes softening for a moment: "Just watch from the audience later. In the last round, I'll show you my special skill."
"Trying something again?" Abu's brow twitched as he listened. "Damn it, this is match point! Don't mess it up. Can't you just play it safe and win?"
"Steady?" Su Mo stood up, accurately tossed the banana peel into the trash can, and a smug smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "My specialty is being the most steady."
……
After a short break, the third game, which may also be the last game of this MSI, officially began.
"Alright! Welcome back to the match! Game 3 of EDG vs. JDG!" Guan Zeyuan's voice was still full of passion. "JDG has no room for retreat. This time they're on the red side, with the last counter pick. Let's see if Coach Homme can make some moves in the draft and revive this super team!"
BP begins.
JDG's ban list is still filled with fear of Su Mo.
The first three picks to shut down are: Master Yi, Vayne, and Fiora.
"All banned!" Miller shook his head and sighed. "This treatment is unprecedented. Vayne from the last game and Master Yi from the game before that are directly banned. 369 is really scared."
EDG, on the other hand, banned Zeli, Vi, and Annie as usual.
Selection phase.
EDG's first pick: Lucian + Nami.
Since they wanted to end the match, Viper and Meiko immediately brought out their most dominant combination.
JDG countered by locking in Aphelios and Lulu. Ruler still believes in his late-game potential.
Nakano's side.
EDG's picks: Maokai + Jayce.
This is usually a mid-jungle duo, where Jayce can play either mid or top lane.
Seeing this, JDG brought out Knight's signature champion, Ahri, to pair with Kanavi's Wukong.
At this point, JDG only had one top laner left to pick.
All eyes were on the fifth floor of room 369.
“Sion!” Remember shouted, “Let’s lock in Sion! This is 369’s last resort! No matter what, picking this guy will at least ensure that we don’t get crushed by a single-player run.”
The pressure has reached the fifth floor of EDG.
EDG's current lineup is: Luna duo, Maokai jungle. Jayce will most likely go mid or top.
If it's Jayce top lane, then it's the classic poke style.
But Su Mo clearly didn't think so.
“Let Scout play Jayce in the mid lane,” Su Mo said calmly, looking at the screen. “Jayce is a bit lacking against clunky champions like Sion. I need to pick a champion that can make him feel the fear of ‘reforging the broken sword’.”
"Reforging a broken sword?" The factory manager was taken aback, then his pupils dilated. "You mean..."
On the screen, the image of a female warrior with flowing silver hair, holding a broken sword, lit up.
Riven, the Exile!
"Riven!!!"
The cheers from the audience instantly drowned out the commentator's voice.
"It's locked! It's locked right away!!" Guan Zeyuan slammed his fist on the table in excitement. "This is Mozi! In the match point game, he picked Riven! This is the faith of so many top laners! Lightning-fast QA! The day the broken sword is reforged, the knight returns!!"
"That's way too confident!" Miller's face was also flushed. "Riven vs. Sion isn't actually easy because Sion is too tanky. But this is Mozi's Riven! The best Riven in the LPL!"
The final lineup is confirmed:
EDG (Blue Side): Top lane Riven, Jungle Maokai, Mid lane Jayce, ADC Lucian, Support Nami.
JDG (Red Side): Top laner Sion, Jungler Wukong, Mid laner Ahri, ADC Aphelios, Support Lulu.
The game begins. (End of Chapter)