Top Esports actually made a substitution in the second game.
What was most outrageous was that they subbed out their mid laner, Knight.
You had to know that Top Esports didn't even have a substitute mid laner. Yet at a moment like this, Luo Sheng moved their substitute support to the mid lane. What exactly was he trying to do?
Even if Knight's performance in the first game was disastrous, once he adjusted his form, he was still the best domestic mid laner. This wasn't someone a substitute support could just substitute.
Wasn't this kind of substitution just messing around?
What exactly was Top Esports thinking?
Seeing that they had no chance at making playoffs, were they just giving up and throwing the rest of the season?
"Luo Sheng has always been unreliable. He was like this back when his ID was White Moonlight, and he's still like this now that his ID is Crescent."
"With the situation like this, all I can say is: looks like this is it."
"That's true. If they want to give up, then let them give up. I just feel bad for JackeyLove. My advice is that he should just run during the transfer window this year and go form a galactic lineup with TheShy."
"Yeah, WBG's damn Huanfeng doesn't even dare to step up and deal damage. He's trash. And with SofM randomly throwing games now and then, TheShy is basically fighting alone."
At this moment, both teams' players had already taken their seats on stage.
"What is Top Esports doing? They even benched Knight."
"No idea. Fine, bench him if you want—but you even subbed in a support to play mid."
"Still, don't underestimate it. Benching Knight means he probably has something up his sleeve. I just took a quick look at dine's Korean solo queue record. He only plays one or two games a day, but he wins every single one. He's already on a thirteen-game win streak…"
"The positions he plays are all over the place. Support, top, mid—and he's even played ADC."
Seeing a match history full of green wins made TT's coach feel uneasy. His instincts told him that Luo Sheng's substitution was definitely not simple.
Maybe he was holding back a big move.
"Does anyone here know dine pretty well? Any idea about his background?"
The rest of the TT team shook their heads.
To put it bluntly, they were all internet-addicted kids. Other than playing games at the club, their world didn't really extend much further.
At most, they had a few fans.
As for nobodies like them, how could they possibly have fans?
So their social circles were extremely simple.
"Being cautious never hurts. I remember dine switched from mid to support. He originally played mid, then transferred to support and only then got stage time. Looking at his champion pool, it's Vladimir, Syndra, and Heimerdinger—three mid lane champions…"
"If it's those three, I don't feel much pressure laning with LeBlanc." Ucal looked extremely confident.
After all, he solo-killed Knight three times in the first game.
He had directly beaten Knight onto the bench.
From this alone, you could tell just how terrifying his dominance in the previous game had been.
"Alright." The coach nodded in satisfaction after hearing that.
What he wanted most from his players was confidence.
In competitive games, besides individual skill, what you need most is confidence.
Even if the person sitting across from you is Faker, you need the confidence to smash him.
Otherwise, where would sayings like 'a newborn calf isn't afraid of tigers' come from? The newer you are, the bolder you play, and the easier it is to make a name for yourself.
But most people get scared before lane even starts. When they fight, they hesitate, only thinking about protecting their stats and not getting solo-killed. That kind of mindset will never lead to a standout performance.
"Still, we should target him a bit. In this patch, Vladimir has a lot of room to perform. Let's ban it."
"Sure, no problem." Ucal replied.
"If they don't ban LeBlanc, we'll pick it for you. Beichuan, help mid more. If there's no LeBlanc, then help bot. Puff's bot lane duo always plays aggressively. When you play aggressively, you give openings."
"Just like Clearlove used to do when ganking bot lane. Gank once at level two and it's easy to snowball the game."
No matter what, Puff's strength really wasn't weak. Give him gold and he could carry. 'Super Puff' wasn't a joke.
As Luo Sheng walked over to the stage and looked at Lin Fan sitting in the mid lane seat, he couldn't help but feel a bit of regret.
He had acted purely out of anger earlier, making the decision to directly bench Knight in the heat of the moment.
After a few minutes had passed, he had already calmed down.
Although Lin Fan used to play mid, he had spent a long time competing as a support. This wasn't a casual ranked game—there was no doubt the pressure would be immense.
And on top of that, he had to face a red-hot Ucal. Under these circumstances, it would be hard for anyone to withstand the pressure.
He had been too rash…
If they lost this game, it would be their seventh straight loss.
They would truly be left with only a theoretical chance at making playoffs.
That said, the substitution wasn't entirely without benefit. It forcefully gave Knight a wake-up call—letting him know that even as a star player, whether he got to play or not was still up to the coach.
"I'll pick Vladimir for you. Just farm safely in lane and don't give any openings."
"No problem. I'm fine just scaling on Vladimir."
"Alright. Hold mid steady and wait for your teammates to carry."
"Brother Fan, whether we can make playoffs depends on your performance." JackeyLove picked up the water cup beside him and took a sip.
"You're putting a lot of pressure on me by saying that."
"Hehe, then let's all do our best. After all, it's Top Esports—fight with no regrets." But after saying that, JackeyLove couldn't help but feel emotional. Spring split had already gone poorly, and that only made the pressure in summer even greater. Looking at it this way, this year might end up completely empty-handed again.
So which team should he go to next year?
Even though he had won a World Championship once, he wasn't at the age where he could just slack off yet. He still wanted to return to the peak.
But as an ADC, the first thing you had to consider when choosing a team was the support. Without a proper support, bot lane was very hard to play.
"Alright, welcome back. Game two is about to begin. Blue side is TT, red side is Top Esports."
"And the new mid laner Top Esports has subbed in is the familiar support, dine." Wawa gave a brief introduction.
Of course, for Top Esports fans, that introduction might as well not have happened—it just made them feel even more suffocated.
However, everything happening outside had little to do with Lin Fan.
He was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of sitting on stage.
Originally, he had only expected to rotate in as a support. He hadn't expected Luo Sheng to have the guts to directly bench Knight after such a terrible performance.
Lin Fan was actually quite aware of Knight's massive fluctuations in form.
After all, he had some understanding of that so-called 'pure emperor-level hands.'
But now that he was already sitting in the mid lane seat, Lin Fan had no intention of giving it up.
From this moment on, a legend begins.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup