Rise

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Game 1 of Hand of God versus SSK was underway. Hand of God decided to go with a lane swap, sending their bot lane top. Nightsong played Jinx while SSK’s Toplaner played Fiora. HoG both wanted to make sure that the Jinx scaled into the mid game, so that Nightsong could carry them into the late game, as well as stopping the Fiora from getting any farm. If she was starved of resources in the early game, she wouldn’t be having much fun. This way, HoG took care of two of the five win conditions.

The third of five win conditions for Hand of God was that Daybreak Hermes didn’t lose his lane. A steep task with his choice of Champion. It was a Yasuo versus Kassadin matchup. Both Champions were vulnerable before Level 6. So HoG decided to make use of this. Their Support, who played Janna, roamed up to mid lane at 5:10 minutes and forced Rake to Flash away to safety. It wasn’t a kill. But a Kassadin without Flash before Level 6 couldn’t exert any pressure in the lane. If he tried, HoG could come for another gank and he’d be dead.

The Hand of God fans all across the world started cheering at their computer screens or TVs, including those watching Su Xue’s stream. The streamer herself jumped up from her gaming chair and threw her hands up in the air. She laughed and cheered, “NICE! He forced the Flash! He forced the Flash! They can do it! They’re doing it! Let’s go HoG!”

Lin Feng looked up at Su Xue and rubbed his chin. “Yeah. Not a bad start for HoG.”

The game went on. Hand of God was playing well across the entire map. Then, at 8:10 minutes, their Jungler went to top lane for a gank on the Fiora. Nightsong and his Support had been pushing the Fiora deep underneath her outer tower and punished her whenever she tried to come out for some last hits. Rek’Sai Burrowed into the ground and moved through the tri-brush towards SSK’s top lane outer tower. She dug a tunnel and arrived right underneath the Fiora, where she Unburrowed. Nightsong didn’t need someone to tell him what to do. His Jinx got excited as she fired off her minigun, piercing the Fiora with bullets and killing her.

《First blood!》《An ally has been slain!》

The Janna made a slight miscalculation. She thought she had enough health to tank one more tower hit. She did not, and ended up giving away a kill. But Nightsong got the all important first blood on his Jinx. That was the only thing Hand of God’s fans cared about right now. Their team was doing it! They were winning! The impossible suddenly started looking sort of possible! SSK wasn’t stomping HoG! There were openings for HoG, chances for them to win this game! Hope grew among the fans.

And then it shattered. It all came crashing down. At 10 minutes, SSK decided to make a play. Rake decided to show the world why he was the best player in the world. Together with his Jungler, he walked into HoG’s upper jungle, dodging the wards. Hand of God had no idea what was happening. The last they saw of the Kassadin was him recalling back to base. But the Kassadin wasn’t back in base. He was walking toward the Jinx and Janna in top lane together with his Lee Sin.