"Dine's performance was flawless. There were no issues at all. A 7–0–9 scoreline earned him the MVP this game. It's just a little unfortunate—he was one kill short of going godlike."
TL: Kills/Deaths/Assists
"But maybe it's better this way. In the next game he can perform even better and push himself further. It's clear his form is genuinely excellent."
Miller gave extremely high praise.
The audience overwhelmingly agreed—public opinion had completely flipped.
"Waaah, I'm in tears. It really was a mid-lane problem before. It had absolutely nothing to do with dine. I repent."
"That form, that performance—dine is undeniably the carry."
As for Knight, who had performed poorly?
No one cared.
Some people even wanted to step on him a bit more.
That's esports—brutal and realistic.
Ironically, it was still a little awkward.
Top Esports were struggling this much even against TT…
And with the score tied 1–1, it was hard to say whether they could really take the series.
As for neutral viewers, they were actually quite interested in the current situation and began tuning in, treating it as what they thought was a low-skill slugfest.
But honestly, that wasn't wrong.
For many people, the real focus of the day was the 7 p.m. match.
RNG versus V5!
Xiaohu versus Song Sheng.
Brother Bin facing Rich.
And then there was the clash between third-generation junglers and second-generation junglers.
From every angle, it was a matchup full of highlights—especially with all of them combined.
In short: exciting.
As for how many bowls of noodles Top Esports had eaten, no one really cared.
They were just watching for fun.
Backstage at Top Esports.
Luo Sheng looked at the returning players, his gaze unconsciously settling on Lin Fan.
Winning this game was… both unexpected and entirely expected.
This was exactly why he had subbed Lin Fan in for Knight.
From Lin Fan's recent solo queue results alone, it was obvious his form was excellent.
Especially when playing mid lane—constant slaughter.
As for the real reason behind it… Luo Sheng had already forgotten.
Let it sink into the depths of memory.
As long as you keep winning, feel free to slack off however you want.
"Well played, Lin Fan!"
"Keep it up next game. I believe in you."
Hearing that, Knight—sitting nearby—lifted his head, then let it droop back down.
A sense of crisis welled up inside him.
It felt like his starting position might no longer be secure.
Wasn't this guy supposed to be a support?
Why was his mid-lane Syndra so cracked?
As for what the teammates said afterward, Knight couldn't hear any of it.
Over in TT's side, the team wasn't idle in their break room either.
The coach patted Ucal on the shoulder.
"We've gathered more info just now. He's only a substitute mid laner—his raw strength really isn't that high. He didn't get playtime later on, and the team lacked a support, so he role-swapped.
As a mid laner, he probably has one or two comfort picks. We'll just ban those.
Vladimir. Syndra. Ban them both, and he won't be able to do anything.
After that, lane phase will be easy—you can crush him effortlessly and wash away the shame."
"Really? For real?" Ucal recalled the previous game's laning phase.
That pressure hadn't been fake.
"That was just us being careless. We were too focused on late-game teamfights and picked Zed. If we play normally and take a standard mid laner, he's free."
The TT coach kept pouring out motivational talk.
"Next game, we play like before and we'll win easily. With our potential, we're absolutely a playoff-level team. We have this chance."
"Ucal, don't you think we underestimated them?"
Picking Zed… yeah, that really had been arrogant.
If played normally, there was no way he should lose that lane.
He was right.
It really had been underestimating the opponent.
Game three—he'd destroy him.
He'd take back everything he lost earlier.
"OK. I'll just play casually."
Seeing his mid laner regain confidence, the coach felt satisfied.
Confidence radiated charm every second.
The ten-minute break quickly passed.
Both teams returned to the stage.
Sides swapped—Top Esports on blue side, TT on red.
After the first ban phase, everyone noticed something.
Top Esports actually let LeBlanc through.
Meanwhile, TT immediately banned Vladimir and Syndra—two mid bans in a row.
It was obvious how seriously they were taking dine.
"Banning Syndra makes sense, but banning Vladimir again in game three… That's two games in a row. TT must have some internal info."
"Yeah, I checked dine's recent matches earlier. Over the past ten-plus days, he's played a lot of Vladimir and Syndra…" Miller explained.
He didn't say much more.
Because over those ten-plus days, dine had only played 17 ranked games.
Vladimir and Syndra made up a good portion—but still only two or three games each.
For a pro player… playing only 17 games in over ten days was already absurd.
What was even more absurd was that he still played this well.
Miller's explanation made the audience nod in agreement.
No wonder the coach dared to bench Knight in such a crucial match—preparation had clearly been made.
The team had long realized there was a serious mid-lane issue.
Sign a support.
Then swap the mid laner.
But now, both Vladimir and Syndra were banned.
If a comfort-pick specialist lost his comfort picks… would he still be fine?
"You're letting LeBlanc through. What are you playing into it?"
"I'll play Varus. I'm not afraid of her."
"Varus mid?"
"Is that okay?"
Varus mid had been popular five or six years ago—a poke-focused style.
But nowadays, mid lane favored sustained DPS or burst damage.
Varus didn't really fit.
"It's fine. My numbers are higher than LeBlanc's."
Hearing that, Luo Sheng was half-convinced.
But then he remembered—Lin Fan was the one who had saved the last game.
If he trusted him enough to put him mid, then trust his champion choice too.
"Alright. Varus it is."
There was no need to first-pick it anyway.
Bot lane wouldn't take it, so it could be saved for later.
Meanwhile, TT instantly locked in LeBlanc.
…
Top Esports saved their mid-lane pick for last.
Varus.
"Mid Varus?"
"Even in solo queue, you don't really see mid Varus these days, right?"
"Yeah… and playing it into LeBlanc feels rough."
"Feels like you get solo-killed the moment you're touched."
Not only the casters doubted it.
The Top Esports fanbase exploded too.
"Damn it, here we go again!"
"I'm done. How can you pick Varus into LeBlanc mid? Is his brain flooded?"
Curses flooded the chat.
But the game's direction… didn't seem to match their expectations.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup