"Oh my god, Yagao's Ahri this game was roaming everywhere. His Charm hit rate was terrifying, helping JDG tie the score! You have to say, Yagao's form has been consistently excellent lately." Guan Zeyuan exclaimed in his exaggerated casting style.
"Exactly. JDG adjusted their tactics very quickly. In game one they tried to force plays bot lane and failed, instead giving TES opportunities. In game two, they directly changed strategies, letting Kanavi apply nonstop pressure to mid, freeing up Yagao to radiate pressure to the side lanes.
We all know once Ahri gets moving, she's absolutely terrifying. That's why this game ended extremely fast—TES was completely crushed," Gugu said.
"Mm. This also leaves all the suspense for game three. I wonder if TES will make any tactical adjustments?" 957 concluded.
…
In reality, the moment game two ended, TES fans could no longer sit still. One after another, they stood up, pulled out their phones, and started flaming.
"Is Knight hitting his rebellious phase? If JackeyLove hadn't desperately carried in game one, that would've been a loss too. Game two was even worse—negative impact every game, making teammates train with weights on, huh?"
"Golden Left Hand? Shit Hand! The spring split is already over halfway. With this performance, I really don't want to say anything more—he fully deserves two characters: trash."
"He can't even muddle through, and he still wants to compete with Yagao for Pingxiang's number one mid? Go eat shit! My evaluation is: worse than Xiye."
"Is Xiye even someone Knight can compare to? At least Xiye is WE's backbone right now. Even though WE hasn't won yet, objectively speaking, there hasn't been a big problem mid, right?"
"To be honest, with Knight's current form, I'd rather believe Rise of Kingdom Bro can carry!"
"What can dine carry? Those two games were just against a trash Ucal. Today it's Yagao. From these two games you can see Yagao is on fire—how do you even play against that?"
"I'm dying. The so-called galaxy battleship needs a substitute to save the match?"
"When did JackeyLove turn into Uzi's silhouette?"
"Don't argue—argue and you lose. Current Rise of Kingdom Bro absolutely crushes Batch-Hand."
"I haven't watched matches for a while. When did TES get another Rise of Kingdom Bro?"
"Rise of Kingdom Bro used to be a beast too. Later on, I don't know what happened, he subbed in mid and carried two games. In an interview he mentioned liking Rise of Kingdoms, so everyone started calling him Rise of Kingdoms Bro."
…
Both teams returned to the backstage lounge.
JackeyLove sat silently in his seat. You could clearly feel that he was quite frustrated.
Even during the six-game losing streak before, he hadn't felt this upset.
Mainly because Knight's performance was just too outrageous—outrageous to the extreme. It was hard for him to accept.
Luo Sheng slowly walked over to Knight.
"Your form has been very poor for over a month now. You should first deal with your personal matters. After that's settled, you can slowly adjust."
Knight's hand gripping his phone immediately tightened.
Even if his Mandarin wasn't great, he wasn't stupid.
What this meant was that his starting position… was probably gone. At the very least, he'd be a substitute for the rest of the month.
Whether he'd get another chance would completely depend on Lin Fan's performance.
He felt that at most it'd just be two games before he returned to the starting lineup. After all, through careful observation during this time, Lin Fan never trained, playing random games all day. He'd never considered him a real competitor.
There was no way he could pose any threat to his position.
It was just that his own performance recently really hadn't been good. What the coach said wasn't wrong—he did need to handle his personal issues first before fully focusing on competition.
But as a top-ranked mid laner in the league, being benched—even for just two games—still felt humiliating.
Still, if he strongly opposed it before the next match, he could return to the starting lineup.
So letting dine go up for game three—given his strength, there was no way he could beat Yagao. When that happened, Knight's opposition would carry even more weight.
In just a few seconds, Knight had already run through all of this in his head.
Whatever. If the coach's voice was loud now, he'd make his voice louder later. There would be plenty of chances for him to speak up.
So Knight nodded.
"Fan-ge definitely has the ability. He played very well last game. I'll leave game three to you. Don't let JackeyLove's earlier efforts go to waste."
Hearing this answer made Luo Sheng feel much more at ease.
After the previous win, he'd planned to give Lin Fan opportunities. But over the next two days, Lin Fan didn't play any ranked games at all, indulging in distractions. So today, what was originally planned as one game each ended up with Knight playing two straight.
But those two games did expose Knight's major issues. Luo Sheng had no regrets about making this decision.
He then looked toward Lin Fan.
Hopefully today would be like last time—give me another surprise.
Once the tactical discussion finished, a staff member knocked on the lounge door.
Game three was about to begin!
…
"TES has made a substitution, swapping Rise of Kingdom Bro in and taking Knight out of the mid lane."
"In his previous appearances, Rate-of-Land Bro picked Syndra and Varus, both with highlight performances, helping TES end their losing streak."
"So I'm actually quite looking forward to him playing. During the break I was wondering if they'd make this substitution—and they really did."
"Do you know that recently, Heimerdinger support has been extremely popular on the Korean server?" Guan-ge started explaining.
"Heimerdinger support? Yeah, I've run into it a lot. It feels awkward to play with ADCs, but in bot lane it really can put up absurd performances. Recently, both the Chinese and Korean servers have seen a lot of it."
"And here's something I want to tell everyone. Heimerdinger support was actually developed by Rise of Kingdoms Bro. The first time was when he picked it with Uzi. At the start everyone thought he was trolling, but his lane pressure was completely maxed out—constantly fighting two versus three, two versus four. Later on, with three mini-turrets, he could even take Baron with ease."
After hearing this, the livestream chat exploded.
"Holy shit, so he's the root of all evil!"
"Dine, come out here and take a beating."
"Heimer support is truly disgusting—good thing I'm the one disgusting others."
"If that's the case, I have a very clear image of Rise of Kingdom Bro now: Heimerdinger, pure disgust!"
"But if even Knight couldn't handle it, what's the point of swapping in Rise of Kingdoms Bro? Yagao's form is blazing hot. Over two games, it feels like he's only getting better."
"Shit-Hand couldn't beat anyone this Spring Split. Whoever he faced, he got smashed. So I think Rise of Kingdoms Bro can operate. There are frame-by-frame analyses of him on Bilibili—his individual skill can't be underestimated."
"Hahaha, this guy never trains. What ability could he possibly have? I'll say it right now—he's definitely getting slaughtered this game! If he carries, I'll shit upside down!"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup