[TS] Starting the Broadcast

In the League of Legends, champion matchups play a very important role.
That’s why depending on how the ‘ban-pick’ combining bans and picks is done, upsets where weaker teams beat stronger teams occur frequently.
In that sense, the ban-pick between our team and IkuEku’s team could be called a strategic choice against each other.

Top Vayne, and our team was Gold while the opponent was Master.
There’s no way to hold up against an already unfavorable matchup.
That’s not all.
If the opponent is top Vayne, we need to solve it through ganks, but even the jungle matchup was countered.
Kindred is one of Lillia’s representative counters.
Lillia’s strength is hitting and running at high speed, but Kindred is basically a ranged attack champion, and even has an ultimate that counters Lillia’s ultimate on top of an evasion skill, so they completely had the upper hand in the matchup.

With this, it was clear how gloomy the top side would become if the game progressed normally.
So our team took a gamble.
Alistar is certainly a good champion who’s tough and can collapse the enemy formation and protect allies when engaged on.
But at level 1, he’s one of the most powerless champions.
There was no other breakthrough besides aiming for an unexpected hit with Flash+Q.
In that sense, our team went for a late invade.
A 4-man late invade sacrificing mid’s disadvantage.
Our team’s movement was unhindered because we had already pretended to go for an early invade and cleared the enemy’s wards with lens.

Around 1:40, we encountered Kindred diligently hitting Blue and the enemy bottom lane champions.
Of course, the enemy mid Ryze would have pinged MIA saying TF wasn’t visible, but once we’ve faced each other, it’s just empty noise.
Waka landed the gold card he prepared in advance on Kindred, even using Flash.
Indeed befitting a Challenger, Kindred reacted with a counter-Flash to create maximum distance, but our team had bet a lot on this late invade.
Morgana closed the distance with Flash to the stunned Kindred from the gold card and followed up with her Q skill binding.
The flustered Ziggs threw a bomb and Alistar tried to protect Kindred somehow with Flash Q, but I had already anticipated this and broke through Alistar’s resistance with Flash, hitting both Kindred and Ziggs with my Q skill.
Then Morgana’s Ignite spell burns on the fleeing Kindred’s body!
Alistar tried to block additional attacks with his body but was slowed by Ashe’s W skill, and Ziggs, realizing he might die too if not careful, quickly retreated.
In the end, Kindred died to my returning Q skill, and Alistar also died in front of the bottom second tower, bound by TF’s second gold card.

“Good!”
“Good good! It was perfect.”

The cost was quite high.
We lost Flash on me, Waka, and Mia, plus Ignite.
On the other hand, the enemy lost Flash on Kindred and Alistar.
But we got 1 kill each for me and Waka, and took the enemy Blue buff to get ahead in levels too.

‘This changes things.’

The enemy Kindred has no choice but to run to Red.
If they come back towards Wolf or Gromp, I’ll be waiting at level 2.
It wasn’t easy for bottom to provide backup as they were already under lane pressure.
In the end, I smoothly took the enemy Wolf, Gromp, and bottom Scuttle Crab before recalling.

Buying boots and a tome, I saw Kindred’s passive mark floating near top Scuttle Crab.
Too bad.
But we’ve already gained enough advantage, so there’s no need to be greedier.
Running towards our Red side, I checked the situation in each lane.
Bottom looked very favorable, and mid was progressing evenly with Waka playing very cautiously due to the early XP loss and using Flash.
On the other hand, top…

“Ah, I’m going crazy. I’m sorry. I can’t even get CS, let alone XP.”

Whatever happened, Vayne was level 4 while Renekton was level 2, hugging the tower and trembling.
A maddening situation created by the unfavorable matchup combined with skill difference.
This is clearly a dive angle.
I quickly took Red and ran to top.
But Kindred appeared one step faster.
They still hadn’t recalled even once, so there were no additional items, but they were at the same level 4 as me.

“I, I’m going to die!”

Renekton had barely reached level 3 through minions hitting the tower, but his fury was less than half and the enemy was level 4 Vayne and Kindred.
And they were Challenger and Master tier BJs too.
A clean, flawless dive was executed and Renekton died.
I arrived just a moment too late to cover, but the top difference had already widened uncontrollably.

‘Top is done for. But if we completely abandon it, Vayne will roam and join fights. Then what should we do?’

Excluding the ruined Renekton, it’s impossible for Lillia or TF to stop a well-fed Vayne in the side lane.
There’s no answer in 1v1.
Somehow we need to induce teamfights and drag Vayne into the mud.
Waka and Lark were making the same judgment as me.
Once again ordering Wagyu to hold on thoroughly, I continued jungling.

“I’m level 6, going right away.”
“I’m ready!”
“Me too.”

If the enemy targets top, we thoroughly targeted bottom.
Timed with TF reaching level 6, I was also waiting in the enemy jungle.
If Kindred got caught, that wouldn’t be bad either, or we were planning to aim for a bottom dive.

“Good! It was perfect.”
“Mia, nice binding.”
“Ahem! I’m this good.”

Before level 6, Alistar was softer than expected.
TF entered first with his ultimate to lock down Ziggs, and when Morgana’s binding connected, he melted without much resistance.
Alistar tried to cover, but Morgana’s Black Shield wrapped around me, neutralizing CC, and we cleanly cleared Alistar on the next wave too, even taking 2 plates of tower gold.
Of course, during that time Renekton died once again and mid lost some CS, but this much was fully acceptable.

“I’ll induce a dragon fight.”
“Joining right away!”

The first dragon was Wind.
Together with Mia, we entered the enemy jungle to place wards and started attacking the dragon.
But there was no movement from the enemy team.
Maybe they felt there was no answer in the bottom side fight and seemed to be cleanly giving up.

“They’re probably hitting Herald? They’ll know we have no answer up top either.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s like that from the matchup to begin with. Just hold on as best you can.”

We exchange dragon for Herald.
It feels like we lost out.
Moreover, since the enemy intends to snowball the game faster centered on top, we prepared cover.
Sure enough, shortly after, Herald was released top and the enemy aimed for another dive.
But this time we won’t take it lying down.
I’m prepared in advance too, and mid pushed the lane first and is moving quickly.
We even called Mia just in case.
Herald smashes the tower.
At that moment, TF’s ultimate Destiny illuminates the entire map.
TF’s gold card accurately stuns the enemy, teleporting behind Vayne.
And Renekton’s lightning-fast advance, venting all his pent-up frustration.
Using Flash, he stuns Vayne again with W skill.
Then Kindred next to him starts rampaging to protect Vayne.
Plus the light of Teleport enveloping nearby minions.
It must be Ryze coming over.
I’ve been waiting for this moment.
Receiving Black Shield from Morgana who arrived a bit late, I charge in quickly.
Vayne, barely escaping from the CC chain, pushes Renekton back and starts kiting.
And Kindred assisting from the side and Ryze revealing himself through Teleport.
I pounced on them with Flash+Q.
Kindred reacted with counter-Flash, but Ryze and Vayne were covered in dream dust.
Lillia’s ultimate, Lilting Lullaby, activates immediately.
Vayne and Ryze use Flash to create even a little distance, but it’s already too late.
Morgana who followed up landed binding on the sleeping Ryze, and TF who was sticking close finished off Vayne.
Kindred hesitated, considering using ultimate, but cleanly gave up in a situation where they were already outmatched in the join and disappeared towards their own jungle.

We dealt with Ryze and Vayne and demolished the top 1st tower.
Afterwards, we pressured the enemy mid 1st tower triumphantly, then rotated to take the second dragon.
But at that moment, bad news from top.
It was Vayne’s solo kill.

“Argh, I really tried to survive. Even used Flash…”
“It’s okay. We’re still in it.”
“Okay. Let’s keep pressuring bot 1st.”

Faced with our blatant movement saying we’ll dive if they don’t give up, the enemy side eventually took a step back.
After taking the bottom 1st tower, our team gathered as one including Renekton and charged straight at the enemy mid 1st tower.
Clean breakthrough!
But the enemy team’s Vayne was hitting our top 2nd tower regardless.
With not only a mythic item but also Blade of the Ruined King out, there was a high chance of getting reversed if TF went to cover.

“Let’s just keep pushing. There’s no answer if we get swayed by Vayne.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”

It was clearly the right judgment.
No one on the team could deal with Vayne in the side lane.
The correct answer was to force teamfights and draw Vayne over here.
But Vayne didn’t come.
And we couldn’t break through the enemy formation anymore either.
The reason was simple.
The enemy team had Ziggs.
Ziggs, who’s renowned as unrivaled in base defense… plus Ryze also has decent wave clear, so minions kept getting swept away and our siege on the mid 2nd tower became stagnant.

And that’s where the game was decided.
The anxiety that comes from having no other choice.
In the end, we chose a reckless dive.
A dive that started with TF’s ultimate, trusting in Stopwatch.
I and Renekton all dove in together to follow up, but Alistar resisted first, and when we tried to cut off Ryze, Kindred’s ultimate Lamb’s Respite activated, plunging us into despair.
As time dragged on, the tower’s attacks became fiercer, and although we chased to the end and caught Ryze, Renekton and Morgana died, so we actually took greater damage.
On top of that, the inhibitor tower in top lane was destroyed.

“…Everyone fighting. We can still do it. Let’s take care of dragon first.”

Lark tried to boost the fallen morale, but the game was already tilted.
Kindred had already overcome the early disadvantage and grown strongly along with Vayne, and Ziggs and Alistar were standing firm like an iron wall with perfect synergy.
In the end, we lost the third dragon fight with a bang.
After that, the game flowed one-sidedly.
Even the well-fed Lark tried hard to deal damage, but Alistar was tougher than Renekton.
The front line melted quickly.
Me, TF, and Morgana tried to ping-pong using Zhonya’s, but in the end Vayne’s overwhelming firepower swept everyone away.
And finally the lone Ashe died too.
The first game ended like that.