Xiaohu was still thinking about how to get an advantage at level one, but Lissandra's Q splashed onto him immediately—on top of that, it also chipped the minion wave.
No choice. He had to follow Lin Fan's tempo.
The most miserable thing about playing LeBlanc is having the wave constantly shoved into your turret—especially early. Even with W, the cooldown is too long, and the damage is pitiful.
Xiaohu's laning details were still very good.
At least among all the mids Lin Fan had faced, Xiaohu could definitely be ranked near the top. His ability to preserve HP was too strong!
Several times he precisely predicted Lin Fan was about to throw Q, and instantly backed LeBlanc up.
At the end of the day, a mana champ missing spells early is under huge pressure. Without spells, you can't lane at all.
Xiaohu wanted to find an advantage through mana—make Lissandra throw all her spells at minions, then force-freeze the wave.
That little trick could work once, but doing it over and over was just thinking the game was too simple.
Not to mention an eighteen-MVP regular season winner and a five-MVP playoffs run—Lissandra at full mastery wasn't here to play games with Xiaohu.
You wiggle upward? Fine. I don't cast.
I last-hit with autos and slow-push the wave.
Mid tempo was back in Lin Fan's hands.
This was clearly setting up for level three: shove, then help the jungler.
Lee Sin had a hard time running into Volibear in the jungle. Not that he outright can't fight—but if Q misses, he has to run.
In teamfights, though, Lee Sin still outclasses Volibear.
Volibear is only strong when the early tempo is perfect—using his ultimate to disable turrets and snowball a lead. The longer the game goes, the clunkier he becomes.
So Xiaohu had to stabilize Wei's jungle. At the very least, it couldn't fall behind.
Seeing Lissandra's intent, he panicked. He Distortion'd in with W, instantly threw E to chain.
But Lin Fan's reaction was just as fast—W froze him, proccing Aftershock, then Q slam into an auto.
Xiaohu got punched until his head spun.
With that resistance plus Bone Plating, LeBlanc's damage became soft and powerless.
But Lissandra's damage on him was heavy fists.
Two spells and an auto, plus Aftershock damage, plus minion aggro—LeBlanc instantly lost two and a half bars of HP, while Lissandra only lost a bit over one.
In just over a minute of trading, Lin Fan had already secured wave control and an HP lead.
"Tian, when I hit three, we go top."
"Clear red buff, then go top."
Even though bot was Lucian–Nami, top lane—Fiora vs Jax—was just as important.
And Zoom played steady. In that situation, Bin had lane control.
Because of that, Wei actually didn't want to give up the top-side Scuttle.
But then Xiaohu said, "Play it safe. When he hits three, he'll shove and I can't move."
"Then after blue, I gank mid?"
"Only if the chain lands. But he already has E."
"Okay. Then I'll secure bot-side Scuttle."
After talking it over, RNG mid-jungle decided to play it safe.
Zoom, hearing Lin Fan, got extremely excited.
Top lane finally had a dad coming!
So touching.
"Zoom, don't rush. No need to trade HP. With three of us, the damage is enough."
As long as they could keep Fiora there, they could delete her.
More importantly, all three champs had CC. Even if she parried one, Fiora's W would still stall her in place and let the other CC chain hit.
So the level-three top gank was the best choice.
"Okay." Zoom originally wanted to trade a bit, but after hearing that, he stopped moving.
The timing on the mid shove was perfect too.
And while rotating top, Lin Fan didn't forget to warn bot lane: "Don't push too far. When we start top, you back to turret."
"No problem. I know." JackeyLove answered.
That was exactly why Luo Sheng was always on his ass.
Every VOD review, he was the first to get flamed.
The most classic line was: Mid-top-jungle are making a play top—why are you playing so aggressively bot?
The wave got shoved under turret, and Lissandra disappeared from mid.
At this timing, using lane priority to help the jungler secure Scuttle was normal.
RNG wasn't planning to contest. Lissandra should come back soon.
But several seconds passed and she still didn't show. Xiaohu frowned.
Something was off.
His eyes immediately shifted to Fiora.
Fiora was positioned near midline… Jax was standing farther back.
Normally, even if a mid roamed, you still couldn't catch Fiora.
But when the roaming mid is Lissandra, it's different.
"Bin, get out!" Xiaohu yelled in team comms.
He was fast—but still too late.
Volibear arrived top first, walked up and slapped, forcing Fiora's W.
Zoom flashed and activated E, stunning Fiora in place.
The CC chain continued. As soon as Tian recovered, he kept chasing and biting.
Red buff slow, plus E blocking the path—Fiora's movement speed dropped hard.
Bin's survival instinct was strong. Even after losing a chunk of HP, he still flashed toward turret.
Tian saw Lissandra's position and didn't hesitate—he flashed forward to stick.
Just as Bin reached the turret corner, he saw Lissandra's claw stretch out from the wall.
Then Lissandra herself appeared on his screen.
Ah~
With that soft gasp, Lissandra Q into W was a perfect lockdown on Fiora.
Tian pressed W, then tapped S to stop and hand over the kill.
Lin Fan autoed once and, with Aftershock, finished Fiora off.
First blood.
Bin was utterly despairing. Three-man gank with full commitment—what could he do? Nothing.
The most disgusting part was the wave—frozen outside TES's turret.
TPing back risked getting camped again. Not TPing meant losing too much.
At least the kill didn't go to Jax, but it was still kind of doomed.
"Beautiful!"
"TES's mid-jungle synergy, honestly, might be the best in the league. Their plan is perfect—they show up in lanes at times you'd never expect, catching the opponent off guard!
Before it was a four-man bot dive. Now it's a three-man top dive."
"Volibear plus Lissandra—I can only say, they've got a plan."
"And the craziest part—look at bot lane. They backed all the way to turret."
That was JackeyLove.
"Feels like White Moon definitely yelled at him before."
"Yeah… hahaha. When mid-top-jungle are making plays, you can't give openings. So bot just backs off."
"In that case, RNG can't find a chance to swing bot either. With this comp, they can't dive bot at level three."
Wei checked bot, finished Scuttle, then turned and left.
He wanted to test something, but TES gave him nothing.
As for diving? Turret damage is so high now. With the wrong comp, go ahead—try diving.
After first blood, Lin Fan recalled to upgrade items, buying Dark Seal and magic resist.
His damage wouldn't feel powerless, and most importantly, he'd be tanky enough. Xiaohu couldn't do anything about him.
Any trade would be massively negative.
After thinking, he also bought a small MR component and a Control Ward.
Seeing that, Lin Fan paused.
So LeBlanc bought MR? You're going Merc Treads, huh?
Merc Treads into Lissandra was definitely reasonable.
Shorten the duration of W and ultimate CC, then with your mobility, maybe you can survive a full combo at low HP.
But this game wasn't about mid lane…
Lin Fan's focus was on RNG's side lanes.
With Lissandra's kit, TES always controlled mid priority.
So every time the wave hit turret, she disappeared from mid.
After the earlier lesson, Xiaohu instantly pinged the moment she left.
In that situation, both side lanes had to keep backing up—especially Bin without Flash. His CS gap grew wider and wider.
On top of that, Tian's Volibear leveraged mid advantage to play extremely aggressively.
Wei got pinned in his own jungle and couldn't relieve lane pressure at all.
For a long stretch, RNG ran around like headless flies, completely clueless about what to do.
So even without kills, TES's gold lead kept expanding.
RNG felt worse and worse.
Their fans started getting anxious too.
"Why is Tiger Big Fisher so scared? Lissandra buys MR and your LeBlanc buys MR too?"
"Where's the damage? LeBlanc can't even delete anyone—what's the point?"
"What the hell is Tabe doing, drafting LeBlanc for Tiger Big Fisher? No brain at all?"
"I can't understand it. I really can't."
"Brother Infinite Borders is making plays everywhere. Why is Xiaohu a tethered spirit? How is this any different from Knight?"
"This old man should give up the spot already. Maybe a sub could be like Brother Infinite Borders—insanely strong."
"Xiaohu has it too easy in RNG. No sub pressure—how is that okay?"
"LMAO, RNG is panicking again. TES is only up one kill—so why are they down a thousand gold?"
On the big screen, after Lissandra shoved the wave under turret, she regrouped with Volibear.
RNG top and bot both backed off.
Mid-jungle pressure was too huge.
But TES mid-jungle had a clear goal—they ran straight toward blue buff.
Obvious: invade and steal it.
LeBlanc had been burning mana to deal with wave pressure. Her mana bar couldn't hold.
If that blue got stolen, Xiaohu couldn't roam, and he couldn't even sit mid—no mana means recall.
Wei wanted to help Xiaohu secure blue, but seeing the aggressive invade, he could only give it up.
At 8:47, Xiaohu's LeBlanc was nearly out of mana. He even had to last-hit the wave with autos, and in that case he had to recall.
LeBlanc without mana was like a tiger with its teeth pulled—no threat at all.
At that moment, top lane Jax started hard-shoving the wave.
The intent was obvious—they wanted to go for Fiora again.
Wei hurried to top and squatted under turret.
Xiaohu saw a potential opportunity, so he didn't even last-hit the turret minions. He recalled to reset, planning to TP and match top. With the shove speed, he could arrive in time.
If TES dove, RNG could seize that and flip the game.
"Damn—Lissandra!" GALA shouted, drawing team attention.
Bot shoved earlier, timing perfectly. The moment the wave went in, Lissandra arrived.
E in!
"Freeze!"
In a flash, with Lissandra's roar, Varus was rooted in place.
Lucian raised his pistols and unloaded. Bullets made Varus's butt shine, and his HP plunged.
Lin Fan lifted his hand—Q finished the kill on Varus.
Ming tried to chain Lissandra and trade kills.
But Nami's ultimate knocked him up. He couldn't move at all, and Lucian killed him with a Q-auto.
Not just kills—Lin Fan also grabbed two turret plates afterward.
And Mark, to his credit, backed off and let the two carries take the money.
Watching bot lane explode, Xiaohu let out a long breath and TPed back to mid.
If he TPed bot, he'd only be cleaning up bodies. Might as well return mid and farm.
"They're so slippery!" Wei said helplessly. He'd camped top forever and got nothing.
"This is the strongest team in the league. You think everyone's just hyping them up for nothing?" Ming was equally resigned.
When TES bot lane shoved, it already felt wrong.
But they got baited anyway. Seeing the jungler walk top, they instinctively assumed a top dive.
When Lin Fan returned to mid, the wave reached turret perfectly. After clearing it, Tian started Rift Herald immediately.
Mid-jungle tempo was maxed out.
At 11 minutes, they repeated the play—but this time, they truly went top.
Because LeBlanc had no Teleport. Even with Lee Sin waiting, TES still dove and killed. Lissandra's ultimate even froze Lee Sin under tower.
With the three-man burst, Lee Sin's HP evaporated instantly.
With Volibear, diving wasn't hard at all.
Then they dealt with Fiora.
They didn't even need Rift Herald—three people pushed and took top outer turret.
After that, the tempo got even more disgusting.
Lissandra didn't even bother clearing mid wave—she teleported bot turret. Jax came with her.
Clearly, they were setting up another four-man bot dive.
RNG never expected TES to play like this.
This approach was outrageous.
But with that much CC, the moment Jax and Lissandra appeared behind them, there was no escape.
With four-man coordination, they dove and killed easily.
Then they started taking towers—four people grabbed bot outer turret with ease.
The camera moved to mid.
LeBlanc was happily eating turret plates.
"Mid gap, mid gap."
"Mid gap!"
"I'm done. Brother Infinite Borders is roaming like crazy and setting tempo—what's Tiger Big Fisher doing?"
"As a TES fan, this scene is so familiar. Isn't this just Knight?"
"Yeah, exactly like Knight—does nothing, farms mid, and now takes all the blame."
But LeBlanc only got two plates.
Then Volibear arrived mid, and Xiaohu had to give up the third plate.
Not only that—after pushing bot, TES rotated mid. They dropped Rift Herald, crashed it once, and took mid outer turret easily.
Before 14 minutes, TES had eaten all the plates. Their gold lead hit 6.5k!
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup