Rise

While the audience was watching the fight happening in the top lane and getting hyped over that First Blood that Lin Feng picked up, there was another fight taking place down in the bot lane. One far more fierce than the one that happened in top lane. The bottom lane was the weak link in High School 13’s overall team composition. Despite the fact that both Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong had improved greatly in the training before this tournament and during it, there was too much of a skill gap between them and Shanghai High School’s bot laners. The bot lane was definitely going to be the hardest lane to win for High School 13, even with all the experience and bot lane synergy that Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong gained.

The largest disparity in this bot lane matchup was between the Supports. Zeng Rui was a Challenger and one of the best players at the high school level. Wei Dong, on the other hand, barely qualified for Diamond on days when he was playing at his absolute best. A difference in skill that great wasn’t something that could be overcome through positive thinking and determination. But it could be overcome with help from everyone else on the team.

Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong knew this was going to be a difficult game for them. They’d planned for it, and spent most of their prep time before the Finals practicing defensive plays and strategies. The game plan was simple. As long as they could keep things relatively even with Shanghai High School’s bot laners and avoided getting killed, they’d have some flexibility. But if they got rolled over quickly, then there wouldn’t be much that anyone in the other lanes could do to help them out. To maximize their defense and survivability, Wei Dong had gone with the champion Morgana. His job was to always be on guard and use Morgana’s Black Shield to protect Tang Bingyao’s Tristana from any crowd control spells aimed at her. Conceptually, it sounded easy. But in practice, it was anything but simple. Wei Dong had to accurately predict where Zeng Rui was going to be and when he was going to use a crowd control skill in order to block it. Unfortunately, that was also where the difference in skill between Wei Dong and Zeng Rui was most pronounced.

In the middle of bot lane, Zeng Rui’s Thresh squared away and faced the Tristana and the Morgana. Then he pressed the Q key–Death Sentence! His Thresh sent a hook hurtling at Wei Dong’s Morgana! Zeng Rui smiled to himself. He knew how this played out in Wei Dong’s head. It was the positioning that tricked poor Wei Dong into thinking that his Thresh hook was coming for the Tristana. So Wei Dong’s Morgana had thrown up a Black Shield to protect Tristana, leaving herself completely open. Zeng Rui knew that Wei Dong was probably cursing himself and panicking, trying to switch the Black Shield over. But it was too late. The hook was already in Morgana. But Zeng Rui had no intention of pulling or killing the Morgana.

Zeng Rui immediately pushed down on his Q key again, which made his Thresh dash towards the Morgana. That put him right in attacking range of Tang Bingyao’s Tristana. He hit her with an Exhaust, and Flayed her back down to the ground when she tried to Rocket Jump away. Zeng Rui’s Thresh created enough of an opening for Shanghai High School’s Jinx to Flash in and fire three grenades at the Tristana with Flame Chompers! One of them exploded underneath the Tristana, stunning her instantly. That was it. The Fat Lady belted out a mournful aria for the Tristana, as Thresh and Jinx piled on and killed her before the stun elapsed.

《You have been slain!》

Tang Bingyao slumped back in her chair a little as her screen turned grey. You have been slain! The message echoed in her head, shredding her confidence. She bit her lip and watched as Shanghai High School’s botlaners chased poor Wei Dong’s Morgana. Fortunately for them, he managed narrowly escape from between the jaws of death. But he had to blow his Flash to do so.

Wei Dong quickly glanced over to Tang Bingyao and said over the team’s voice chat, “Sorry, that was my bad.” He’d made two mistakes, one right after the other, which led to Tristana dying. The first was miscalculating where the Thresh hook was headed, and letting his Morgana get hooked. The second was panicking and trying to quickly switch the Black Shield onto himself. If he’d figured out that Zeng Rui was targeting Tang Bingyao, he could’ve saved her by giving her the Black Shield. He might’ve died, but still would’ve been better than the ad-carry dying.

“Mhm... It’s fine,” Tang Bingyao replied, chewing on her lips. It’s not fine. She looked at the bottom lane. It was hard enough going in. Now that the Jinx had a kill and a full minion wave over her, it was damn near impossible. Tang Bingyao didn’t know if she had it in her to turn this around. But if things kept up this way, she was going to get buried. She wouldn’t just lose, she would get rolled over. Humiliated. No! She clenched her fists. I’m not going out like this! Steely resolve burned in her eyes. I’m not losing this!