Chapter 815
Limits
"C9 got First Blood! Blaber's counter-push was brilliant!" Miller exclaimed excitedly, slamming his fist on the table. "This is the kind of intensity we should see in the group stage! C9 has proven with their actions that they're definitely not just here to be there for show!"
Xiao Yue slapped his thigh in frustration: "Damn it, I was careless this time. I didn't expect him to flash and push me."
"Stay calm, it's okay." Su Mo's gentle voice sounded in the headset. "He's used his Flash and ultimate, he's useless in the upcoming vanguard team fight."
7 minutes 20 seconds.
Fudge's Renekton finally reached level six after a difficult journey, and with his ultimate ability [Ultimate Dominance], he felt a little more confident. At this moment, the minion wave was slowly pushing back towards EDG.
"Sejuani, come top lane and help me clear the wave. I've scanned it and can clear his mushrooms." Fudge looked at the bouncing Teemo not far away, his eyes full of resentment.
"I'm here." Piglet activated her scanner and carefully walked from the riverbed towards the triangular bushes.
The red scanning light swept across the grass, which was completely clean; there were no mushrooms.
Fudge breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Su Mo had not set up defenses in the river. He immediately activated his ultimate skill, [Ultimate Domination]. The massive desert tyrant swelled in size, surrounded by dark energy, and used his E skill to pass through the minions and charge towards Teemo.
Just as the crocodile passed through the melee minions, preparing to use his second E to close the gap,...
"boom!"
A muffled explosion rang out, and a cloud of purplish-green poisonous mist exploded at the crocodile's feet!
The crocodile's movement speed suddenly dropped!
"Fuck! Why are these mushrooms planted under the feet of melee soldiers?!" Fudge's eyes widened.
He never expected that Su Mo would plant the mushrooms in a tiny misalignment in the minions' path, so that if the enemy hero made even the slightest deviation in their movement, they would precisely step on the mine.
The slowed-down crocodile became an easy target. Su Mo turned around and fired a basic attack, followed by his Q skill, the blinding dart.
Seeing this, Sejuani quickly rushed out from the side, intending to use her Q skill to knock Teemo away and cover Renekton's retreat. But just halfway through the boar's charge...
"boom!"
Another explosion! The second mushroom exploded at the corner between the river wall and the minion wave, reducing Sejuani to a snail's pace!
The two brothers struggled to move through the poisonous fog, their health rapidly decreasing. Meanwhile, Teemo activated his W skill for a speed boost, effortlessly auto-attacking from outside their attack range.
"Retreat! Retreat! This road is full of landmines!" Sejuani shouted in despair. The two could only suffer from poison wounds and flee back to their own jungle in a sorry state.
"This is too agonizing..." Zita shook his head as he watched from the commentary booth. "Mozi's mushroom planting was too insidious; he was playing the game entirely with psychology. Fudge's Renekton game is completely ruined."
8 minutes 00 seconds.
The Rift Herald arrived in the Dragon Pit right on time.
This was a crucial team fight that determined the early game's momentum. C9's morale soared after their mid laner secured First Blood, and the four players quickly converged on the upper river.
"They want to attack the vanguard." Ah Chen maneuvered the large tree along the riverbank. "Brother Mo, should we accept?"
"Receive," Su Mo said calmly.
Su Mo had arrived at the river half a minute earlier than planned. Instead of grouping up with his teammates, he lurked alone in the shadows above the dragon pit.
8 minutes 15 seconds.
C9 grouped up and pushed into the river. Rakan activated his ultimate [Fleeting Glance] and his W skill [Grand Entrance], attempting to force an engagement on Chen, who was positioned too far forward.
Sylas even cunningly stole Maokai's ultimate ability, and the huge roots swept towards EDG's formation, blocking the output space of Azir and Ezreal.
"C9's team fight initiation is incredibly strong! Chen's Maokai is being focused down! EDG can't handle Sylas's engage!" Wawa shouted.
Just as EDG's formation was about to be broken up.
Su Mo, who had been lurking on the flank, finally made his move.
Instead of targeting the enemy backline Xayah, he stepped out of the shadows and unleashed a Q skill, Blinding Dart, which landed squarely on the face of the Renekton who had activated his ultimate and charged into the enemy team!
Fudge originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos to bite Tsar, but everything went black and his Red Rage W bit into thin air again!
"Another blinding attack! The crocodile's entry had zero effect!"
But C9's offensive didn't stop. Rakan charmed Maokai, Sejuani followed up with crowd control, and Chen's health was almost depleted, ultimately falling to Sylas's chains.
"Ah Chen is down! EDG is missing a jungler!"
Just as C9 was preparing to press their advantage and take over the Rift Herald.
Sylas and Sejuani, who were walking at the front, suddenly let out a scream in unison.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two loud explosions rang out at the entrance of the Dragon Pit!
The purple poisonous mist instantly enveloped C9's mid and jungle players! It turned out that Su Mo had planted two deadly mushrooms half a minute earlier on their only path of advance and retreat!
The two, whose movement speed suddenly dropped, instantly became easy targets for Azir and Ezreal. Xiaoyue's Azir's sand soldiers poke and stab relentlessly, while Leave's Ezreal landed precise hits with various skills.
Without movement speed, Sylas was still killed by Ezreal's predicted ultimate even after using Flash. Sejuani, despite her tankiness, could only fall at the edge of the dragon pit under Azir's sustained damage and Teemo's poison.
A fierce team fight ensued, resulting in a two-for-two exchange. EDG lost their jungler and support Karma, while C9 lost their mid laner and jungler.
"That mushroom did a huge job!!" Miller shouted hoarsely, "Mozi's pre-arranged minefield directly cut off C9's pursuit and retreat at the crucial moment! Although EDG lost their jungler in this wave, they successfully prevented C9 from taking the Rift Herald!"
In the end, both sides with low health retreated, leaving the Rift Herald alone in the dragon pit.
9 minutes 40 seconds.
After pushing the minion wave, Su Mo pressed the recall button.
Golden light shimmered in the spring water.
His inventory prominently displayed a Sorcerer's Shoes (magic penetration boots) and a Blasting Wand. Combined with his previous Doran's Ring, his spell power and penetration stats were already quite impressive. In contrast, Fudge in the top lane had a pitiful CS count of less than thirty, and his inventory only contained a pair of Mercury's Treads and some other items, making him a mere super minion that he dared not even look at.
10 minutes 00 seconds.
The game time jumped to double digits. The director then switched to the economic panels for both sides.
The entire audience watched the screen and gasped in amazement.
Although C9 secured the first dragon and gained a kill advantage in mid-lane and river team fights, EDG actually surpassed C9 in overall gold by nearly 800!
The source of this 800 gold advantage is clearly shown in the economic difference between the top laners – Teemo out-farmed Renekton by a full 1200 gold and even took two layers of turret plating!
"Ten minutes in, the crocodile is 1200 gold behind." Guan Zeyuan looked at the data and couldn't help but shake his head. "Fudge's game is over. Next, C9 will face a terrifying ghost that plants mushrooms all over the map. In this game, Mozi used the most unreasonable hero to achieve the most unreasonable suppression!"
10 minutes 10 seconds.
The atmosphere in C9's battle zone was unusually tense. Top laner Fudge, looking at his CS (creep score) of only thirty-odd, was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
“I can’t lane anymore. He’s going in and out of the bushes in front of the turret, and I don’t even dare to go for experience.” Fudge gritted his teeth, his voice filled with a deep sense of helplessness. “If you don’t come and gank for me soon, this turret in the top lane is going to be pushed down.”
Mid laner Blaber (Sylas) had just finished pushing a wave of cannon minions in the mid lane when his eyes darkened: "We can't let him get away with this. Sejuani, take a control ward and a scanner, let's gank him in the top lane. We have to shut him down, otherwise, with mines all over the map in mid-game team fights, we won't be able to engage at all."
10 minutes 30 seconds.
C9 demonstrated the top-tier execution of the North American number one seed. Sylas and Sejuani abandoned the conventional mid-jungle farming, each carrying two control wards and activating their scanning ability, resembling a mine-clearing squad, sweeping from their own upper jungle all the way to the river.
"C9's move is deadly! Mid, jungle, and support are ganking top!" Miller looked at the minimap and immediately tensed up. "They brought three scanners and four control wards! They're determined to break Mozi's mushroom formation!"
The red scanning beam swept across the river and the bushes along the path. Sure enough, two hidden mushrooms were eliminated one after another at the river's narrow pass and in the triangular bushes.
In EDG's voice chat, A-Chen's voice sounded somewhat urgent: "Brother Mo, their mid and jungle have gone top, and their scanners are all on. I just showed up in the bottom lane, and I can't get there in time!"
"No need to come. Go get Xiaolong." Su Mo's voice was as calm as still water.
Faced with the overwhelming attack from the three enemy players, Su Mo did not choose to retreat immediately. He knew very well that C9 must have left a backup plan on his path to the first tower. Once he was exposed to the long minion wave, Sylas and Sejuani's ultimate abilities, with their two dashes, could easily melt Teemo's fragile body instantly.
Su Mo gently clicked the mouse pointer, controlling Teemo to walk straight into the groove at the edge of the top lane wall (the semi-circular recess at the edge of the top lane), and stopped close to the wall.
One second, two seconds.
Teemo's figure gradually became transparent until he completely blended into the surrounding air—his passive skill [Invisible Wings] was triggered!
"Mozi didn't leave! He used his passive to become invisible in the groove!" Wawa exclaimed. "But C9 has a scanner! As long as the scanner catches the red outline, a few AOE skills will kill Teemo!"
10 minutes 45 seconds.
Sejuani and Sylas had already flanked the lane. Fudge's Renekton also activated his ultimate, and the three of them formed a triangular formation, completely blocking the top lane.
"He didn't return to the city, he must be in the bushes or the ravine!" Blaber calmly directed, activating the scan and approaching the ravine step by step.
The red halo instantly illuminated a red silhouette crouching in the corner!
"Found you, rat!" The Sejuani player sneered, unleashing her Q skill, Arctic Assault, without hesitation, as the massive boar slammed into the red silhouette.
However, in the very same frame that Pig Girl crashed into the crater!
Su Mo's fingers pounded on the keyboard.
flash!
A golden light flashed, and the moment Teemo deactivated his invisibility, he didn't run away. Instead, he flashed behind Sejuani, who had just charged at him, at an incredible angle close to the wall. At the same time, he instantly planted a [Mushroom] at the spot where he had just been invisible!
"boom!"
Sejuani crashed headfirst into the mushroom she had just planted, and a purple-green poison mist instantly erupted, severely slowing down Sejuani and Sylas who was following behind!
"He flashed to dodge Sejuani's knock-up! And he even planted a mine!" Guan Zeyuan gasped.
Using the mushroom's slow effect and the high movement speed from his W skill "Small Steps," Teemo, like a ghost toying with a hound, squeezed through the river bushes amidst the pursuit of three opponents, perfectly timed with Sylas's E skill at its maximum range, and disappeared into the fog of war.
"Fuck! How could he get away like that?!" Blaber slammed his keyboard in anger. C9 used three scans and wasted almost a minute of farming time for this gank on top lane, only to fail to get an assist.
11 minutes 15 seconds.
"C9's gank on the top lane failed, and the price was heavy!" Miller shouted excitedly. "Achen has firmly secured the second dragon (Hextech Dragon) in the bottom half of the map! EDG has won back a strategic advantage!"
However, C9 didn't lose their composure despite the failed gank. After confirming they couldn't catch Teemo, Blaber decisively commanded, "Go get the Rift Herald! Maokai's in the bottom lane, and nobody can defend their top side!"
C9's top, jungle, and three other players moved into the Dragon Pit and secured the first Rift Herald at 11 minutes and 40 seconds.
"This game was very exciting, with both sides going back and forth." Zz1tai analyzed on the commentary stage, "EDG got the dragon, but C9 traded the Rift Herald, which completely revitalized Sylas's early-game advantage."
12 minutes 30 seconds.
C9 displayed the aggressive lane-switching tactics typical of top North American teams. They moved their bot lane duo to the mid lane, coordinating with Sylas and Sejuani, and immediately destroyed the Herald's Eye, preparing to launch a fierce attack on EDG's mid lane tower.
"Defend the middle tower! We can't let them take it down so easily!" Mingkai clenched his fist backstage.
EDG's defensive formation quickly tightened. Chen's Maokai, Vamp's Karma, and Xiaoyue's Azir stood ready in front of the mid-lane second tower, while Leave's Ezreal poked from the flanks with Mystic Shot.
Meanwhile, Su Mo's Teemo was pushing the minion wave aggressively in the top lane, directly destroying C9's top lane tower and beginning to chip away at the health of the second tower.
"They're down a man, engage!" C9's support player Zven keenly seized the opportunity to outnumber them.
12 minutes 50 seconds.
The battle erupted instantly!
Luo activates his ultimate skill, "Fleeting Glimpse," causing his movement speed to surge. He transforms into a golden streak of light and instantly flashes into his W skill, "Grand Entrance!"
This fluid combo was incredibly fast, not only lifting up Karma who was slightly out of position, but also charming the Tsar who was trying to use his movement to retreat!
"C9's support initiated a perfect team fight! Rakan controlled two opponents!" Wawa roared.
Blaber's Sylas was already itching for a fight. He used his ultimate to steal Karma's Mantra (R), unleashing an empowered Q skill, Blade Dance, that exploded amidst the EDG team. He then precisely locked onto the controlled Azir with his E skill. Xayah (Berserker) activated her W skill from the backline, unleashing a torrent of feathers.
"Protect the Tsar!" Achen's tree hurriedly activated its ultimate ability, "Nature's Grip," attempting to block C9's follow-up path with its roots.
But C9's killing intent was unwavering. Sejuani immediately used Flash and her ultimate, unleashing a massive burst of ice that slammed into Azir once more. Even though Xiaoyue used Cleanse and Flash, he was instantly melted by C9's terrifying chain of control and burst damage. (End of Chapter)