LOL: The world’s best red-temperature mid laner!

After the match between T1 and G2 ended, netizens started arguing again:

Holy crap, are Europe and North America really this strong now? T1, BLG, and GEN are all pushed to the brink!

[All three best-of-five series were best-of-five series, what's going on? Are LPL and LCK no longer competitive?]

[I think the main reason is the current version; it's difficult to create a significant gap in skill level in the current version.]

[Heh, you guys should watch Top Esports first before you talk. Top Esports hasn't even played yet, what can a bunch of lousy players prove?]

Now is the time for TES fans to show off, as three of the four giants have already been pushed to the brink.

If TES can easily win, or even sweep 3-0, the gap will become immediately apparent.

The next day, the TES team got into their car and headed straight to the match venue.

Today's match is the last BO5 of the first round, with TES facing off against PSG.

As Meiko passed by the entrance of the venue, she exclaimed, "Wow, so many people! This is what a domestic competition is like, there are so many people!"

"And they are basically our fans, Wenbo, look, your big profile picture."

Many people in the crowd were holding up signs supporting Ah Shui, and they all liked to highlight his big head.

Warhorse replied, "The main reason is that we are doing well now. The popularity of the competition area will definitely drop if we don't win the championship."

After the car came to a stop, the TES players got out and walked towards the competition venue.

Just then, Lü Yi noticed a group of people approaching from the side!

PSG!

Some of the faces looked quite familiar.

Maple, Betty, Junjia...

The PSG team noticed this and quickly rushed over.

369 muttered, "What are they trying to do? They're not planning to fight us, are they?"

Lu Yi joked, "It's okay, we have 69, we're invincible in a fight."

"Oh... Ah? Is it me?" 369 was surprised.

After the PSG members approached, Maple took the initiative to greet them, saying, "Top Esports, long time no see, Top Esports."

369 stepped forward and asked, "You guys seem very confident today. Is there some special strategy you're using?"

Junjia replied, "To beat Top Esports, just focus on the top lane, and you'll win easily."

Meiko laughed and said, "Yes, yes, you guys have noticed that. It seems we have to get serious today."

The two teams walked together toward the competition venue. The TES team went to the lounge and put their things down.

Ah Shui muttered, "PSG seems very confident. Did they watch the first three days of matches and think that LPL and LCK are nothing special now?"

Meiko agreed: "I can only say it's very likely, otherwise there's no way to explain it, they've never beaten us before."

Lü Yi remained calm: "This is a good thing. If the other side is scared before the match even starts, what's the point?"

My phone beeped; someone sent a message in the group chat.

Lü Yi picked it up and glanced at it.

BLG, Bin: "Can we win? Top Esports."

TES, 369: "That's amazing."

TES, Meiko: "We're under a lot of pressure. Bin, come and help us play."

BLG, ELK: "Hahaha, the top and support have broken up."

On the other side, in the commentary booth at the match venue, Wawa, Miller, and Rita were already ready.

The commentator, Wawa, announced: "Welcome to the 2024 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational."

"The upcoming match is between TES and PSG, the final battle of the first round."

Miller chimed in, "I originally thought that this MSI would be a battle between the LPL and LCK regions, but after watching the first three days of matches..."

"I suddenly realized that things are not so simple. The growth rate of other regions is beyond imagination. We have now entered the Warring States period, with many heroes rising up."

Rita said, "But I personally think that Top Esports definitely won't be under any pressure. They are in a class of their own right now."

On stage, the host took the stage, gave a brief opening speech, and then invited the contestants from both sides.

"Now, let's welcome Top Esports from the LPL region!"

The audience cheered in unison: "Top Esports! Top Esports! Top Esports!"

Lü Yi led the Top Esports players onto the stage to receive cheers from the audience.

Then PSG appeared, a team that wasn't very popular in the LPL region.

However, there were quite a few people at the scene cheering for PSG!

"PSG, crush TES!"

"If you beat Top Esports, I'll admit you're the strongest team!"

"Go PSG!"

"Today I'm a PSG fan!"

These people are obviously not PSG fans; they are TES haters who support whoever plays against TES.

After the contestants made their appearance, they shook hands face-to-face in the center of the stage and then walked to their respective positions.

After sitting down, Lü Yi put on his headphones, ready to continue.

The first match's ban/pick phase has begun!

In this match, TES is on the red side and PSG is on the blue side.

Ban status:
TES: Ashe, Lena, Aurelion Sol
PSG: Taliyah, Tristana, Ahri
As Wawa analyzed, "PSG mainly focused on the mid lane in this match."

During the hero selection phase, PSG, on the blue side, picked Varus on the first floor.

The commentator said, "Varus is indeed quite popular in the current version, mainly because there are many ways to play him. You can build armor penetration or attack speed."

"It can be played in both the early and late game, and if you feel that the armor penetration build is not good in the late game, you can change the equipment, making it flexible and versatile."

TES acquired Twisted Fate and Nidalee on the first and second floors, respectively.

Rita was a little surprised: "Nassaurus Rex? In my memory, Xiaotian's Nidalee skills weren't very good. Of course, this is just my personal impression. It's possible that Xiaotian has mastered it, but I don't know."

"Moreover, sometimes as long as the rhythm is right and the lineup is well-matched, it doesn't matter if you're a little less skilled. It's not like Xiaotian is completely clueless about how to play."

BP continues, with PSG directly targeting Titan and Aurelion Sol on the second and third floors.

Miller commented, "Dragon King is a mid-laner that PSG likes to pick; they kept picking him during the play-in stage."

"Personally, I feel that PSG likes to play in the late game. Their early game rhythm is also pretty good and they can hold on until Aurelion Sol gets farmed up."

TES picked up Rumble on the third floor, advancing to the second round of draft picks.

TES banned Vi and Da Shu.

PSG banned Blademaster and Monkey King.

Wawa analyzed, "Top Esports banned two junglers with stable crowd control, which seems to be an attempt to increase the difficulty of the opponent's operations and give themselves more room to maneuver."

TES pulled out Draven right from the fourth floor!

Welcome to the Draven League!

Rita got excited: "Here it comes! Shuizi's Draven. Actually, quite a few people are playing Draven this patch. In the ADC position, he's considered a T2."

"Many teams have used Draven as their ADC before, and now, it's JackeyLove's turn!" PSG picked Urgot and Sejuani on the fourth and fifth floors.

TES picked a hero that no one expected on the fifth floor: Xin Zhao!

The doll exclaimed, "Zhao Xin? This doesn't make sense! We already have Nidalee jungle, why would we pick Zhao Xin?"

Rita had a sudden inspiration: "Is it possible that this Nidalee isn't a jungler, but a laner? Mid-lane Nidalee!"

Both sides began adjusting their lane assignments, and soon, with the countdown entering its final twenty seconds, the lineups were finalized:
[Format: BO5]

【TES】VS【PSG】(0:0)

Top Lane: [Card Master] VS [Dreadnought]

Jungle: [Xin Fury, the Demacian General] VS [Goblin, the Northern Wrath]

Mid Lane: Nidalee vs. Aurelion Sol

ADC: [Glory Executioner] VS [Retribution Arrow]

Support: [Mechanical Enemy] VS [Deep Sea Titan]

The commentator, Wawa, said, "It really is mid-lane Nidalee! Yi Shen is up to his old tricks, mid-lane Nidalee against Aurelion Sol, is it a good matchup?"

Miller analyzed, "Dragon King is more afraid of assassin heroes who can get close and fight him. As for Nidalee... it doesn't seem like a bad option. It depends on the player's skill."

Once the match begins, the broadcast shows the summoner spells of both sides.

Everyone was shocked to discover that Lü Yi hadn't brought Teleport; instead, he had brought Flash and Ignite!

The commentator said, "What a violent summoner spell! This is leaving no way out for yourself. You have to gain an advantage in the laning phase, and a huge one at that, otherwise you can't fight at all in team fights."

The director then showed the talent information for the ten heroes from both sides.

Rita explained, "The Nidalee is taking Grasp of the Undying and Demolish, which seems to be to speed up the pace of pushing lanes and split pushing."

"The outcome of this mid-lane matchup is crucial, as it determines whether either side can control the tempo."

At level one, Lü Yi led his teammates to invade the enemy jungle, entering the river below the mid lane from their own jungle and then heading towards the enemy jungle.

However, the opposing team was prepared. The Dragon King was stationed in the river, and when he saw someone coming, he immediately retreated, leaving a ward.

However, Xiao Tian activated the scanner, located the eye area, and removed it directly.

The commentator, Wawa, said, "Top Esports came prepared this time. They knew the other side might check their account, so they prepared a scan in advance."

"Eye space is also money and economy, let's make money first."

Then the TES team continued their invasion, circling around to the enemy's bottom lane blue buff pit.

We didn't encounter any PSG members along the way, since they had left beforehand.

Miller commented, "Looks like they're planning to swap jungle camps. That's fine. I feel like the top lane isn't easy to gank, so targeting the bottom lane is a good option."

PSG's inexperienced jungler went to clear the top jungle area alone.

Lu Yi's Nidalee returned to the mid lane to face off against the enemy Aurelion Sol.

Aurelion Sol's laning strategy is very simple: just push the minion wave without thinking. Aurelion Sol usually doesn't even fantasize about getting a solo kill on the opponent.

Lu Yi's Nidalee first attacks the minions to stack up her Grasp of the Undying.

Lu Yi continued to approach, and the Dragon King sensed something was wrong, so he used his Q skill on Lu Yi.

When Aurelion Sol releases his Q skill, Aurelion Sol can only use his E skill to retreat; it's unwise for him to simply move away.

Moreover, the E skill's flight speed is very slow, making it easy to predict.

Lu Yi used his Q skill and followed up with a basic attack. The Dragon King countered with his Q, but it was canceled out, and he needed to reposition.

Lu Yi used a basic attack again to deal damage, and after triggering Electrocute, he immediately moved away to draw the minions' aggro, and then repeated the above steps.

Rita commented, "Yi Shen is very proactive in the mid lane. He keeps harassing the opponent with Grasp of the Undying. Dragon King has no way to deal with him. He's too weak right now."

In the top lane, 369's Twisted Fate is facing Urgot.

Urgot is a long-range champion. Although his auto-attack range is not as long as Twisted Fate's, it's still pretty good. It's better than melee champions, and he also has a dash ability.

Therefore, 369 was very careful in the mid lane, fearing that Urgot would get close and hit him with a combo.

As for Urgot, he's not in a hurry to attack. As long as he farms peacefully, his team fight ability is stronger than Twisted Fate's.

In the bottom lane, TES's bot lane duo advanced to apply pressure by gaining two levels, forcing Varus and Nautilus to retreat.

In this way, TES's bottom lane gained lane priority, and JackeyLove was not in a hurry to push the minion wave, taking the opportunity to control the minion wave and suppress the opponent's last hits.

The camera returned to the mid lane, where both sides were at level two. This time, Lü Yi went up to find Aurelion Sol, who immediately used his E skill to attract Nidalee and slow her down. Lü Yi followed up with a basic attack and adjusted his position to get out of Aurelion Sol's E skill range.

The Dragon King used his Q skill to continue dealing damage, but Lü Yi countered with his own Q skill. The Dragon King quickly repositioned, but it was too late!
The two were already very close, and the Dragon King needed to cancel his Q ability to reposition, so there wasn't enough time.

The leopard woman switches forms, jumps in to attack, chases and bites, then switches back to human form and uses basic attacks.

The commentator said, "I can't hold on. Nidalee is putting a lot of pressure on me. She's not like a typical marksman."

“Nassia has a built-in dash ability, and if her Q skill hits a mark, the damage is quite high.”

Maple's Dragon King is now low on health and can only consume all the supplies.

Meanwhile, Xiaotian went up to farm jungle camps and headed for the river crab.

Lü Yi has possession of the mid-lane and can provide support at any time.

As expected, the enemy Sejuani gave up on the Rift Scuttler and it didn't appear.

But that's not all. In the bottom lane, Draven and Rumble headed towards the Dragon Pit, pushing the bottom lane minion wave forward.

Meanwhile, Lü Yi was also moving downhill, ready to cross at any moment.

Although TES lacked vision, they knew that Sejuani would abandon the river crab above and definitely come down to eat it.

Sure enough, Draven spotted Sejuani first. Sejuani was about to start fighting when she realized something was wrong and had to retreat.

Miller commented, "Top Esports is starting to coordinate. They're not giving the river crab to the other team. Xiaotian is heading down the flank, ready to come and take over."

The director gave the opposing jungler a close-up, and he looked a bit uncomfortable.

Lü Yi covered Xiao Tian to secure the river crab and continued to exert pressure in the mid lane.

As the mid-lane minions pushed into the tower, Lü Yi harassed the tower from the front. He first used basic attacks on the tower to stack Undying Grip, then used the tower's attack gaps to approach the Dragon King, unleashed a basic attack, switched forms, and jumped out.

The defensive towers didn't have time to attack.

Rita commented, "That was so smooth! That's Yi Shen's play. When you see him pick this kind of hero, you might wonder how to lane against him, but for Yi Shen, it's a piece of cake."

With three and a half minutes left in the game, the Dragon King had to use Teleport; he simply couldn't hold on any longer.

Lu Yi pushed a wave of minions back to base to replenish supplies, then used his leopard form to travel quickly back to his lane.

The commentator said, "It seems like Nidalee is going for an AD build? She's building attack damage items, which doesn't seem like a bad idea."

Back online, Lü Yi continued with his previous playstyle.

The Dragon King stayed under the tower to finish off the enemy, while Lü Yi used his explosive attack to take out a layer of tower armor first.

Meanwhile, Xiaotian's Xin Zhao had already arrived in the bottom lane and gave the enemy Nautilus a kill marker.

So, Meiko's Rumble seized the opportunity, used his W skill to accelerate, and rushed in to use his E skill to slow down the Titan.

Zhao Xin emerged from the bushes, used W, and hit! He then used E to fly up.

The Titan reacted quickly, using Flash to retreat and hooking itself against the wall in an attempt to pull itself away.

However, Xiao Tian reacted even faster! He flashed in front of Titan and caught the hook! (End of Chapter)