Did The Captain Catch Up With The Coach Today [Esports] Chapter 57
byChapter 57
As the match began, Wei Xiao controlled his Fox-Masked Phantom and ran into the upper jungle area.
Looking solely at the team composition, FHM had no lane advantage in any of the three lanes this round. Wei Xiao had to quickly free up the MID lane and link up with Zhou Miao Miao for a mid-jungle synergy to alleviate pressure on the top and bottom lanes, which was the only way to keep FHM from collapsing. Therefore, securing vision in the upper river was absolutely essential.
The Fox-Masked Phantom is a hero that is semi-sustained and semi-burst. His first skill enhances basic attack damage and attack speed, ensuring his sustained output capability, but his third skill, Stealth Ambush, and his ultimate, Backstab, are both one-time burst damage abilities. Therefore, mastering this hero requires precise timing for skill usage.
Wei Xiao first activated his first skill to increase basic attack damage and attack speed, boosting his early jungle efficiency.
While jungling, he quickly shifted his perspective to check the situation in the top, middle, and bottom lanes.
Looking at the top lane, the enemy top laner, Bloodthirsty Baron, was incredibly aggressive from the start, activating his area-of-effect sustained damage and riding onto Qin Jin Yao’s Moon Shadow Spider. The Moon Shadow Spider used its first skill, “Bite,” taking a quarter of the Baron’s health, but subsequent basic attack trades were disadvantageous because the Spider’s range was shorter. Thus, after that initial bite, Qin Jin Yao was forced to retreat under the tower to farm minions.
In the middle lane, the enemy MID, Spirit Puppet, threw out its puppet. Zhou Miao Miao’s Soul Warden found it difficult to approach and could only use the first skill to last-hit minions when their health was nearly depleted, eventually also retreating under the tower.
In the bottom lane, Lu Qing Yang and Tang Li controlled the minion wave closer to their own defense tower. Lu Qing Yang’s Ice Snow Love used basic attacks to farm while using her first skill to poke the enemy. Tang Li’s Underworld Raven also used his first skill to harass the opponents, and surprisingly, they held a temporary health lead.
After surveying the lanes, the top lane was the most dangerous; a First Blood might occur within three minutes.
So, after Wei Xiao secured the first jungle monster and leveled up his movement skill, he immediately pulled his vision back to the top lane. Sure enough, the enemy Bloodthirsty Baron was pushing right up to the tower, and Qin Jin Yao’s Moon Shadow Spider’s health was critically low!
Wei Xiao secured the second jungle monster and temporarily changed his decision to head toward the top lane. At the same time, he commanded, “Jin Yao, fall back. It doesn’t matter if you miss minions. Miao Miao, help me watch the vision.”
Qin Jin Yao acknowledged with an “Oh” and retreated. However, the WI top laner, perhaps guessing Wei Xiao would come, went all-in, flashing onto Qin Jin Yao’s face and using Ignite!
“Oh no!” Qin Jin Yao had intended to flash away to create distance, but Flash couldn’t escape Ignite. He could only watch helplessly as his health vanished, then told Wei Xiao, “No need to come.”
[System Notification] Bloodthirsty Baron secured First Blood!
[System Notification] Our Moon Shadow Spider has been slain!
[System Notification] Moon Shadow Spider, One Kill!
[System Notification] Enemy Bloodthirsty Baron has been slain!
Just like that, the WI top laner executed a tower dive, trading one for one to secure the First Blood bonus, making Wei Xiao’s trip in vain.
Wei Xiao muttered a “6” and immediately turned back toward the river.
At this moment, based on Zhou Miao Miao’s ward placement, they could see that WI’s Jungler, Xing Guang’s Soul Lantern Guide, had already arrived at the upper river.
Logically, AP Junglers would be slightly slower, but after the Soul Lantern Guide activates its second skill, basic attacks consume mana and deal magic damage, so its jungle efficiency is not lower than an AD Jungler.
The Soul Lantern Guide reached the upper river in less than three minutes and was likely already halfway through the vision monster.
“Help me intercept the Puppet,” Wei Xiao instructed Zhou Miao Miao, then rushed directly into the upper river. Sure enough, he saw the Soul Lantern Guide using its small, short, cyan-flame-like hands to slap the vision monster.
Wei Xiao controlled his Fox-Masked Phantom to charge over, activating his first skill to boost his damage and attack speed. The first hit dealt significant damage, but the Soul Lantern Guide immediately used its third skill, attaching itself to him!
The Soul Lantern Guide’s third skill, “Soul Possession,” allows it to attach to an enemy hero, entering an untargetable state. During this time, it deals sustained damage to the enemy hero and restores its own status, including health and mana. It is both a life-saving and counter-kill skill.
However, it cannot move while possessing, so Wei Xiao lost his target and decisively shifted his subsequent attacks to the vision monster, securing the vision buff with Smite and leveling up to 3.
Simultaneously, both MID laners, after a period of skirmishing, also reached level three and crossed the brush to arrive at the river.
The enemy MID, Spirit Puppet, suddenly flashed onto Wei Xiao’s face, immediately throwing out its puppet to apply crowd control, locking Wei Xiao down with a combo.
The Soul Lantern Guide landed and immediately repositioned to dodge Wei Xiao’s attacks, then used basic attacks to deal damage.
Both WI heroes were at full health, while Wei Xiao’s Fox-Masked Phantom was already down by half.
Should he retreat while he could, or fight to the death? In a split second, Wei Xiao made his decision: “Fight! Kill the Jungler first!”
Hearing this, Zhou Miao Miao let out a cry and unleashed a combo, immediately knocking the Soul Lantern Guide’s recovered health back down to critical levels.
The Soul Lantern Guide used its movement skill. Wei Xiao followed with his own movement skill and entered stealth, then delivered a clean Stealth Backstab, taking him down decisively!
[System Notification] Fox-Masked Phantom, One Kill!
[System Notification] Enemy Soul Lantern Guide has been slain!
The Spirit Puppet continued to attack Wei Xiao, but having used up its skills, it could only rely on basic attacks, and a mage’s basic attack damage is limited.
Wei Xiao, with only a few hundred health remaining, showed no fear, walking straight toward the Puppet and trading basic attacks.
The Spirit Puppet didn’t use Flash until it was down to a sliver of health. However, Wei Xiao’s Flash was also still available. He immediately followed up, using Flash and clearing the Puppet’s health bar with a basic attack!
He had been saving his Flash precisely for this moment!
[System Notification] Fox-Masked Phantom, Double Kill!
[System Notification] Enemy Spirit Puppet has been slain!
“Nice! Nice! Nice!” Zhou Miao Miao, who was barely damaged, cheered repeatedly.
In this exchange, Wei Xiao completely tanked the damage from two heroes to secure the Double Kill. The only thing Zhou Miao Miao did was help him chip away some health.
Wei Xiao did not recall. He went straight to the bottom jungle to farm. Only after entering the jungle did he finally relax and find his voice again: “They are aggressive enough.”
The top laner was willing to die to the tower just to get Qin Jin Yao’s head. The Jungler was willing to lose vision just to kill him. The MID was forced down to critical health before using Flash. It was clear they desperately wanted his bounty.
Fortunately, he had brought attack lifesteal runes before the match and was constantly attacking. If he had retreated even slightly, this 2v2 would have ended differently.
The commentators were also tense during this river 2v2.
Commentator Yue Xia: “So exciting! WI is playing incredibly aggressively this match. You could say their killing intent is very high, but this loss in the river is quite significant.”
Commentator Ri Xi: “Spirit Puppet’s timing for entry was perfect. Just as the Fox-Masked Phantom was controlled, the Soul Lantern Guide came down. WI must have wanted to seize the opportunity to instantly crush FHM’s Jungler, but Wei Xiao’s reaction was decisive. The moment the Soul Lantern Guide possessed him, he secured the vision monster. After leveling up, his health exceeded WI’s estimation, ultimately leading to a counter-kill and a Double Kill.”
Commentator Yue Xia: “We also have to mention the Soul Warden’s coordination. The first skill was applied to both WI’s MID and Jungler, and it also tethered the Soul Lantern Guide’s soul, restricting his movement range. Otherwise, he might have survived if he followed up his movement skill with Flash.”
Commentator Ri Xi: “Yes, a very high-quality 2v2! But WI made a misjudgment regarding Wei Xiao’s health. They should play more cautiously now.”
Cautious? Not a chance.
After the WI Jungler revived, he returned to the upper jungle to clear one monster, then immediately went to the top lane and, along with the top laner, tower-dived and crushed Qin Jin Yao’s Moon Shadow Spider under the tower.
This time, the WI top laner survived after tanking one tower shot.
On the other side, Wei Xiao secured the vision in the bottom river and was about to gank the bottom lane. Seeing the enemy portraits appear on the upper part of the minimap, he didn’t hesitate and immediately initiated the gank on the bottom lane—since you are in the top lane, I will gladly take the kills in the bottom lane!
However, the WI bottom lane started retreating before he even showed up. If Wei Xiao wanted the kill, he would have to tower dive.
In fact, if he didn’t gank, he could rely on minion control to limit the WI bottom lane’s economy. But ultimately, Wei Xiao judged the gank was possible and led Tang Li and Lu Qing Yang in!
Tang Li’s Underworld Raven used a leaping slash to enter the tower. Wei Xiao and Lu Qing Yang followed, pressing into the tower. The WI ADC immediately used Cleanse to become immune to crowd control and locked onto Lu Qing Yang, unleashing a barrage of damage!
Lu Qing Yang watched his health rapidly decrease and was forced to use Flash to retreat, surviving with critical health. The WI ADC then immediately targeted the Underworld Raven, eventually trading one for one.
[System Notification] Fox-Masked Phantom, One Kill!
[System Notification] Enemy Needle Rain Thousand Leaves has been slain!
[System Notification] Needle Rain Thousand Leaves, One Kill!
[System Notification] Our Underworld Raven has been slain!
Wei Xiao secured the kill and used his movement skill to exit the tower, looking at his remaining half health and the enemy support Summoning Bell’s nearly full health. He “Tsk-ed.”
Although he secured the enemy carry’s kill, he also allowed the enemy carry to secure a kill. It was hard to say whether it was a profit or a loss.
Commentator Ri Xi: “Both sides are so aggressive! This match is incredibly intense!”
Commentator Yue Xia: “Sun’s positioning is impeccable. Trading one for one in a two-on-three situation is already quite good.”
Commentator Ri Xi: “Who said two-on-three? The defense tower was involved too, wasn’t it?”
Commentator Yue Xia: “Hahaha, fair point!”
Commentator Ri Xi: “But WI’s style today is truly aggressive. Is it because FHM always plays aggressively, so WI has also adopted a fierce stance?”
Commentator Yue Xia: “Hard to say, but the audience must be enjoying it.”
The audience was indeed enjoying it.
[So exciting! This is the match I want to watch!]
[Indeed, much more satisfying than those matches where there isn’t a single kill for ten minutes.]
[How is it 4-3 already? I just went to make instant noodles, what happened?]
[I feel like WI is overly excited today. I’m worried they might lose.]
[Don’t overthink it, enjoy the game!]
In the viewing room, Wen Shi Yu watched the match status on the screen, clenching his fists nervously.
Although Wei Xiao told him to relax, how could he possibly watch this match with a purely recreational mindset?
Even if they lost, FHM’s current points secured their spot in the finals. But if they couldn’t win this round, what made them think they could win the finals?
Therefore, no matter what, he hoped they could win this round, and he hoped they could win every match from now on.
“Come on.”