The moment they secured the win, JackeyLove jumped up from his seat in excitement.
"So damn satisfying. This match made me feel like I was back in spring 2019…"
In a way, this TES might even be stronger than 2019 IG.
Mid lane is what raises a team's ceiling.
After 2018, Rookie's form declined year by year.
But Fan-ge's in-game performance already felt better than 2018 Rookie.
So the whole team's tempo and macro were maxed out.
Whether it was jungle, top, or bot—
As long as lane didn't explode, wait a few minutes and mid would come help build an advantage.
With a mid like that as your teammate, how could matches feel uncomfortable?
Every game, he never just sat mid enjoying comfort.
The moment he got an advantage, he roamed the map to help everywhere.
And the most ridiculous part—
Even while roaming, he kept his own farm and growth on track.
That's the quality a top-tier mid should have.
The capability a top-tier mid should have.
If Fan-ge had any flaw…
It was that he was a bit too "unprofessional."
Sometimes you genuinely couldn't believe he was a League pro.
In the training room, he'd run off to play other games for entertainment.
Not long ago, watching him play that horror game even made JackeyLove itch to try it too.
Then the next day Weibo started flaming—saying Lin Fan was "unprofessional" and would corrupt others.
JackeyLove originally still wanted to play a bit more, but he got scared and didn't dare anymore.
What if TES lost in rumble stage, and bot lane underperformed—
No need to say it: Lin Fan would get swarmed.
In people's eyes, it's fine if Lin Fan alone slacks off and doesn't train—as long as they win.
But if he drags others into "not doing their job," then the team is "going in the wrong direction," and the first one to get blamed is definitely Lin Fan.
JackeyLove knew his own fans well.
On Weibo, they claim they don't fight with anyone.
But the past dramas have always been huge.
Once a match ends, the support always gets swarmed first.
Just recently, his fans even had the guts to go stir trouble in Fan-ge's stream.
Luckily Fan-ge didn't care.
Otherwise it would've been awkward playing together.
For pro players, fans are often a group where the harm outweighs the benefit…
Of course, esports clubs don't see it that way.
They want more fans—the more the better.
Because that's money.
After that huge drama, Luo Sheng specifically pulled JackeyLove aside the next day and talked to him.
From now on, even if he played other games, it had to be in private.
Absolutely not on stream.
If he kept playing matches with Lin Fan, his pro career might end up with only one game on his PC: League of Legends.
Thankfully, today's match went smoothly, just as expected.
No problems.
Easy win.
Even if they lost to SKT later, post-match public opinion wouldn't explode too badly—it would stay within what people could accept.
But after this match against SKT…
How do you put it?
It felt like they wouldn't lose any of the upcoming games.
SKT gave them zero pressure from start to finish.
JackeyLove comfortably crushed bot lane and punched straight through.
Of course, that had a lot to do with Fan-ge's Twisted Fate constantly supporting bot.
Throughout the match, SKT were the ones getting beaten.
They couldn't even make a single ripple.
Perfect game—if not for that bot-lane tower dive where they traded one kill, TES could've shut them out completely.
"Strong! Fan-ge!"
Tian gave Lin Fan a huge hug.
Seeing that, JackeyLove felt tempted and joined in.
The others followed immediately.
How could the team miss the celebration?
That harmonious scene made chat spam scroll like crazy.
"Handsome, handsome, handsome—TES team atmosphere is maxed!"
"Tu Bro's team-mascot status is officially confirmed."
"…Stop. This vibe is messing with my mental. Tu Bro should be the absolute team bully!"
"Honestly, with JackeyLove here, I believe the team bully is JackeyLove."
"If it were JackeyLove, Knight wouldn't have started five games in a row. He'd have been told to get out."
"True…"
"But as a pro, the moment you can't win, your value is gone. So everything TES did is actually smart."
"Charge, TES! Let Tu Bro carry JackeyLove again!"
The moment TES won, the stream was full of peace and joy.
Before the match, everyone believed TES would win.
Since MSI began, they hadn't disappointed once.
But the opponent was SKT—LPL's eternal nightmare.
Even now, LPL teams' win rate versus SKT was still terrifyingly low.
This team had blocked LPL's first international crown multiple times.
Some even believed that if IG's opponent back then wasn't KT but SKT, they would've been eliminated in quarters…
This team had become a nightmare for many League fans.
"Korea-phobia" was something SKT had beaten into the scene.
Or, from another angle, Faker's era of dominance.
So even after the so-called "esports first year," that fear still lingered.
People wanted to stand up, but hadn't fully stood up.
Maybe only after LPL's fourth Worlds title would everyone truly end their fear of LCK.
But on the Korean broadcast side, it was the complete opposite.
All the flamers came out, like they wouldn't stop until SKT was cursed into the ground and Faker retired.
"Is this really the SKT we know? They lost two rumble games? I can't understand!"
"A home tournament, shouting about winning the championship—then rumble stage gets smashed by G2 and TES?"
"Faker is so stupid! Zoe into Twisted Fate—no lane priority, and even got solo-killed? What kind of gameplay is this?"
"Oner has none of Ellim's cleverness. If he just sat mid and counterganked, one successful play and TES mid-jungle collapses!"
"LOL, are there really people who still believe SKT can do it?"
"Last year DK made them lose a Worlds title. This year they're going to lose MSI too…"
"Faker is truly stupid. Just seeing his face makes me sick."
"Damn SKT. Watching the TES mid flash emotes in our faces makes me furious!"
"This match is humiliation to me! Humiliation from start to finish. Since when did Korean esports become worse than China?"
"SKT are destroying Korean esports! This team shouldn't even exist at MSI!"
There were also people who simply refused to believe it.
They'd rather claim SKT was match-fixing to rake in money.
"Match-fixing, right? Hope they don't take those jobs again."
"Two thrown games, pockets full now, huh? If they don't salvage reputation, they'll never trick investors again."
"I observed it—SKT's strength isn't weak. They're definitely #1 at MSI. If they play seriously, TES can't handle them!"
"So far, they haven't shown anything new. That's the best proof. Those who know, know."
"They only won one fake game and they're celebrating like that. Damn it—TES really thinks they won with real strength today."
All of those were SKT's loyal fans.
Self-hypnosis had reached an unbelievable level.
To achieve that… truly beyond imagination.
Meanwhile, the arena crowd had deadpan faces.
Especially when they heard chants:
"TES is awesome! TES is awesome!"
"TES is awesome! Tu Bro is goated!"
"Twisted Fate tutorial—live Twisted Fate tutorial!"
The rhythm was sharp—one chant after another.
There weren't many international students in the crowd, but at this moment they unleashed shocking energy.
Busan isn't huge, but it's not small either—three thousand-plus seats.
And right now the entire arena was filled with Chinese support chants.
For the SKT fans who'd traveled far, this was like pouring gasoline on fire.
They wanted to "send everyone's moms away" in rage.
Of course, they didn't know how to blow suonas…
So they could only silently write another debt in their hearts for SKT.
But rumble wasn't over.
If SKT could win a game back later, fine.
If not, then eliminate TES in knockout stage and reclaim face—that would count as vindication too.
In the waiting area, SKT's players stared at their monitors.
Hearing the cheers from TES fans, everyone's expressions grew darker.
Faker silently packed his gear, saying nothing.
No one knew what he was thinking.
He faced Twisted Fate—and still didn't gain lane advantage.
He let the enemy mid-jungle run the entire tempo.
And then there was that standout damage share—
He had been ground into the dirt.
As a three-time world champion and the "world's #1 mid," he couldn't accept what he saw.
When he won Spring, domestic media had pushed him back to the peak.
He enjoyed that moment.
The feeling was intoxicating.
And now…
He'd been outplayed twice.
The first time was fine—Twisted Fate losing to Yasuo was common knowledge.
But the second time, on Zoe, he still had no lane priority and even got forced to burn Flash early.
He simply couldn't win the lane.
During the match, he felt the pressure clearly.
Dine… was strong.
But Faker didn't want to admit it.
Because the moment he admitted it, the "world's #1" title would no longer belong to him.
That wasn't what Faker wanted.
What he wanted was the world's gaze fixed on him—
Not sitting here in disgrace.
He clenched his fists hard.
No—actually, during lane he had reacted in many situations, but the ping was too high.
That slight "laggy" feeling ruined his execution.
Otherwise he would've beaten Twisted Fate easily in lane.
At minimum, he wouldn't have let TF roam so freely.
And his Flash wouldn't have been forced out…
The enemy could never have built such a huge lead!
This was a format and rules problem.
If Riot allowed TES to play online, then TES should bear the remote network delay—
Not force everyone to accept a unified 35 ping.
The impact on player mechanics was enormous.
The more elite you are, the harder it is to accept…
Thinking that, Faker magnified the feeling even more.
Not just this match—
Even the earlier loss to G2 became "ping's fault."
In a normal situation, he would've had lane advantage, not this mess.
Caps and Dine playing fine under high ping was largely because they trained on the Korean server.
They had already adapted to the delay.
But he was in Korea—his base ping was under 10.
So jumping to 35 was impossible to adapt to.
A 25 ping difference is 0.025 seconds!
Such a huge gap made it impossible for him to perform.
So losing was normal.
Still, he just needed to seize this time to adjust.
Once he adapted, the final victory would still belong to SKT! To T1! To him!
He yanked the mouse out of the PC port with force.
A 2–2 start… wasn't a big deal.
Just win it back in the second round.
Rumble stage priority was making semifinals.
First place versus third or fourth didn't matter much.
The real fights were still ahead.
Faker picked up his gear and walked down the player tunnel.
Zeus stared at Faker's back…
Until the jungler patted his shoulder, and he finally snapped back.
This MSI, it felt like the championship didn't belong to them.
Bot lane mental boom—lane-killed every game.
It was impossible to understand…
Mid lane Faker, aside from the three-crown name, no longer had the raw strength for high-intensity clash.
Zeus felt heavy and bleak about the future.
He didn't know when Gumayusi would fix his form.
A perfectly good ADC—why did he change at MSI?
Maybe in LCK domestic play, the rhythm suited them and hid his weaknesses.
Bot lane looked stable, and in teamfights he could "mix in" behind other lanes.
If that was the truth, then SKT's future…
Then Zeus remembered he'd signed such a long contract with SKT.
Sorrow spread through him.
Now he couldn't even run if he wanted to.
He'd been fooled by the "big name," boarded this pirate ship, and could never get off.
But for his own glory, he had to give everything to compete!
As a pro, if you don't even have the heart to win—if you're only here for money—
You might as well go to other regions.
LPL and LCS pay higher, and player status is absurd.
Back then, who would've believed players could talk back to coaches?
Those regions run on player traffic—coaches don't count for much.
Of course, it's changed a little in recent years, but if things get huge, they still stand with the player.
He'd drifted too far.
Zeus felt melancholy as he walked down the tunnel, steps unsteady, each footfall heavy with all his strength.
The two-hundred-meter distance left him drenched in sweat…
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup