Chapter 431: One Final Gamble
17 minutes on the game timer. The Dragon Pit.
Both the Red and Blue teams gathered there for a team fight, feeling each other out. The tension was palpable. But neither team found an opening to engage. It turned into another deadlock, with both teams attempting to bait each other into breaking formation.
Then, all of a sudden, it started. Blue Team’s Thresh found an opening. A blind spot behind the wall of the Dragon Pit that placed him within attack range of Jinx. Thresh made the decision to go for it and initiated the fight with a Death Sentence. His chain and sickle whirled through the air and wrapped around Jinx! But instead of pulling Jinx to him, Thresh used the skill again to pull himself towards Jinx and Janna. And when he landed in front of them, he knocked the bottom lane duo for the Red Team up with Flay!
Yasuo was ready and waiting. The second that Jinx and Janna got knocked up by Thresh’s Flay, he blinked over to them with his ultimate—Last Breath! Then he unleashed a flurry of slashes on both Jinx and Janna before sending them flying back down to the ground with a mighty downward slash of his katana. And Lulu and Sejuani waited right below where Jinx and Janna were plummeting to the ground to receive them. They were soon joined by Thresh, who arrived just as Yasuo landed.
Four Champions from Blue Team—Thresh, Yasuo, Sejuani, and Lulu—ganged up on the helpless Jinx and Janna. The combined and focused damage quickly killed Jinx first, and Janna followed her into death soon after.
While this was happening, Orion sent his Zed deep into the Blue Team’s backline to try and kill their AD-Carry, Tristana. Which is why Tristana could not join the assault against Jinx and Janna. She was too busy trying to escape from Zed. Once the other four Champions from Blue Team finished with Janna and Jinx, they started chasing after Zed in an attempt to rescue their comrade Tristana.
But before they got far, Gragas popped out of the brush in the river and barrelled straight into Thresh with a Body Slam. He followed up with an Explosive Cask and shredded what was left of Thresh’s health. The surprise ambush resulted in the death of Thresh. But the other three Champions from Blue Team pounced on Gragas and tore him to shreds. They achieved vengeance for Thresh.
Still. Gragas, the Jungler from the Red Team, had accomplished what he set out to do. He delayed the rest of Blue Team long enough for Zed to continue pursuing Tristana. Unfortunately, the sacrificial play did not work out. Tristana managed to escape from Zed using a combination of her skills, Flash, and Heal. Zed found himself empty-handed and wallowing in impotent rage in the Mid lane.
At the end of it all, the team fight at the Dragon Pit boiled down to a 3-1 trade between the two teams. Thresh had valiantly lost his life, but his sacrifice allowed the Blue Team to take out Jinx, Janna and Gragas. Which also made it possible for the Blue Team to easily kill the now uncontested Dragon and secure the buff for themselves. The balance of the game had shifted. The scales were starting to tip towards the Blue Team.