Rise

Between the first game and the start of the second game, Team Beijing looked like a terrible team. It started to seem like luck was the biggest factor that saw them make it to the Finals of the Winter Collegiate Cup. But nothing was less true than that. They had a team full of incredibly talented players, most of whom were better than their counterparts on Team Shanghai. This was most evident in the top lane and to a lesser extent in the bot lane. But even Team Beijing’s Jungler could give An Xin a run for her money in every aspect of the game except for map awareness. It was only Yu Ping in the mid lane who was vastly outclassed by Lin Feng.

Yu Ping started to realise that the biggest factor holding Team Beijing back in their series against Team Shanghai was him. He wanted to duel Lin Feng and beat him. But he couldn’t; he wasn’t good enough. He gritted his teeth and looked around the map. I need to accept that I can’t beat him. He’s on Twisted Fate, so he’s not even looking to beat me either. Fine. Yep. Focus. Top lane… I can’t do much there. Mundo is holding his own. They need to gank him and even that is kind of risky. He’ll hold his own. What about bot… Hmm… That girl is good, but we’re better. If we can get a few kills on her and then use that strength to get Mundo a kill or two, then it doesn’t matter how strong Twisted Fate is. He grimaced and closed his eyes briefly. We need to play around him. I need to put my ego aside for a moment and stop tunneling. The way to win this game is to play around Twisted Fate, so let’s do that!

Yu Ping opened his eyes and looked at the top right corner of the screen. 12 minutes in. They’re going to gank again soon. Worst case, we either countergank or find a gank in the other lane. Best case, they don’t gank. He nodded at himself and said over the team’s voice chat, “We’re making a play bot. Ping me the wards, Nidalee.”

Team Beijing’s Jungler pinged the red wards he’d spotted in the river and Zhang Hongyi pinged those around the bot lane and wrote their timers down in the game chat. Yu Ping pretended like he was recalling back to base, and then snuck away from the mid lane and started making his way to the bot lane. He found a part of himself he’d lost during the first game. A calmness and clarity of his mind. A rhythm that matched his style. His Ahri danced through the river and arrived in the bot lane without Team Shanghai noticing it until it was already far too late.

“TANG TANG!” Zeng Rui yelled over the team’s voice chat. He pinged the yellow retreat sign and continued, “AHRI!” He then Flashed away and tossed his lantern at Tang Bingyao’s Sivir.

Zhang Hongyi smiled when he saw the panicked reaction from Zeng Rui’s Thresh. His fingers were already gliding across his keyboard, activating skills. A mottled flash of light sucked his Janna from Summoner’s Rift and spit her back out on the far side of Tang Bingyao’s Sivir. Janna then surrounded herself in a magical storm and threw Sivir away from Thresh’s Lantern and towards Blue team’s outer tower!

This displacement from Monsoon left Tang Bingyao briefly incapable of activating skills. Yu Ping used this opportunity to dash at her with Spirit Rush and Charm her. All the while, Ezreal attacked her with his skills and auto attacks. The combination of damage brought Sivir’s health down to the last few percentages when the effects from Charm finally wore off. Tang Bingyao still tried to run, but Yu Ping’s Ahri dashed after her with Spirit Rush.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Cherry cheered into her microphone, “WOOOOOOO!”