Chapter 61: Group Stage Draw
Luo Tianming was rendered speechless once the Tristana player pointed out his mistakes. All his rage turned impotent. Only 9 minutes into the game, and his Orianna was at a pitiful 0/2/0. He didn’t even have an assist! There was nothing he could say. No defense of his play. He wanted to blame someone else. His teammates, the LeBlanc, literally just anyone else. But those would all be hollow lies. The only one he could blame was himself.
Lin Feng’s LeBlanc completely dominated mid lane. She pushed every minion wave relentlessly forward, and Luo Tianming could only hunker down underneath his tower. If he went back to base, he’d lose out on gold and experience. And it would put his tower’s health into jeopardy. Then he decided to try roaming, going up to top or down to bot lane. That didn’t work out well for him either. Not to mention that every time he tried this, all of the enemy champions seemed to be aware of his incoming gank the second he left mid lane.
Lin Feng was to blame for all of this. Besides making life hell for Luo Tianming in lane, he also spent gold on vision wards and sight wards. They were placed all around mid lane, and everywhere else his teammates failed to ward. On top of that, whenever Orianna left the lane for even a few seconds, he would ping both bot and top lane that an enemy was missing. A flashing red exclamation point that served as a warning to be careful and retreat to tower safety.
Lin Feng kept the pings going for the entire time that the Orianna wasn’t in mid lane. It was an annoying thing to do. Lin Feng knew it was annoying. But this was honestly the best way to make sure that Silver-ranked players were aware of the incoming threat and constantly wary. One or two pings could be missed. Or just ignored. But a constant and steady stream of pings was enough to force even the worst League players to follow common sense and get to safety. Even the ones that decided to be stubborn.
In the end, it was only Luo Tianming who lost out. His time spent away from mid lane was wasted. He had quite literally nothing to show for it. Not only did he fail to find any opportunities to gank, but he also lost out on all the gold and experience from the minion waves in mid lane. The gap between his Orianna and the LeBlanc only continued to widen in every facet of the game.
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The first dragon went to the blue team. Luo Tianming could only watch it happen after retreating to a safe distance. The LeBlanc was still extremely dangerous. She could turn around at any moment and burst him down. He gritted his teeth, his pent up rage overwhelming him. He wanted to murder someone! Then the target of his hatred turned to himself. Inconsolable and indignant, this was the perfect way to describe his current mental state.
11 minutes into the game. Luo Tianming pushed the minion wave in mid lane. He wanted to snag some extra gold and experience, so he went to the Wraith Camp and started attacking the jungle monsters there. Little did he know that the LeBlanc was already there, invisible in the brush nearby, waiting for the right moment to ambush him. Luo Tianming scrolled across the map to check on the other lanes and keep an eye on the flow of the game while his Orianna attacked the wraiths. Then his screen turned grey with no warning.
Dead. Again. Luo Tianming had to look at that grey screen again and count down the seconds until his revival. He now had three deaths and still nothing to show for it. Metaphorical dark clouds gathered around his head and thunder and lightning came crashing down on him. His dream of making the esports club main team was crushed. He started muttering, “This can’t be possible. This can’t be. It wasn’t supposed to go like this…”