Passing The Ball

Chang Hao was extremely excited to face a mid laner with such an outstanding sense of mechanical skill. He had always conducted one-sided attacks in previous games and there was not much fun in that.

The damage Tankard had done to Clockwork was dealt quite cautiously. Tankard was forced to utilize Colossal Grail and Mercury's Threads early on. Yes, Chen Mu's Clockwork was very precise with her Qs and always managed to hit Tankard. Tankard had no choice but to give up on going for Sorcerer's Shoes which had magic penetration. Instead, he was forced to pick up Mercury's Threads.

It was difficult for Tankard to solo kill without the help of Sorcerer's Shoes, and the only way he could kill someone was to work with Mantis. 

On the other hand, Chen Mu would purchase two Stealth Wards and one Vision Ward every time he returned to base, this helped him form an iron curtain in mid lane. He also took the opportunity to clear all of Tankard's wards, making Tankard even more fearful of the chances of Blind Monk ganking him.

"Brother Shi, how about working with me on an attack?" Chen Mu said.

"What are you planning?" Brother Shi asked as he cleared his jungle.

Chen Mu worked out the plan with Shi Geng as he continued farming.

"Such a play? Will it work?" Brother Shi thought it was a little over the top. Why would someone have such an out of the world thought?

"It costs nothing to try, anyway. Let's do it quickly." Chen Mu felt that there was no problem with his plan.

"Fine. It's pretty simple for me. The rest is up to you!" Shi Geng moved toward the enemy jungle after they were done talking. It was just as Chen Mu had described. The camps had been taken by Mantis. He wondered how Chen Mu knew without the help of any wards. Most importantly, it meant that Mantis was nowhere near.

Shi Geng took a good look at Tankard's location, and as fast as possible, dashed over, appearing in a flash right behind Tankard. With a roundhouse kick, he kicked Tankard toward Chen Mu.

Chang Hao madly spammed his Flash. If he was pulled in by Clockwork, he would be finished. Luckily for him, Clockwork could be seen still lifting her hands while casting her ultimate. He should be able to Flash and cast E to make his escape the moment he landed.

However, Clockwork suddenly made an unexpected play in the situation. Chen Mu's ultimate that had been cast earlier was moved along with his ball. As a result, Tankard was sucked into the ball while he was still in mid-air!

In quick succession, Clockwork cast her QW combo and Ignited Tankard. Tankard's hands left his keyboard. He suffered a lot of damage from Clockwork's combo and Ignite. Blind Guy's attack had only begun to come from behind him as well. It would have been better if he had Flashed earlier.

"Oh my God, what sort of play is this? Are they passing the ball to each other?" The spectators were stupefied. Tankard had been delivered an ultimate by Clockwork. He did not even have enough time to stop falling when he was sent to his death by the incredible teamwork of Clockwork and Blind Monk.

"… Technique, or coincidence?" Chang Hao stared at his black and white screen, unable to believe that a team from the Cybercafe was capable of coming up with such a play. Even the National Cybercafe League would not have had such exaggerated teamwork.

It was a ploy that had been set up on purpose. Clockwork knew Tankard would Flash and attempt to escape by using his E. Blind Monk could hit Tankard with his ultimate, and Tankard would never expect the combo to be capable of suppressing his Flash!

After such a play, Tankard was unable to get fed as his lane was constantly shoved in by Clockwork, it caused him to fall behind by forty CS compared to Clockwork.

Chang Hao had never thought that he would be crushed so terribly. After Chen Mu was done shoving the lane, he brought Blind Monk along to take dragon, continuing to expand their gold lead. Only four enemy players were alive and Zither Lady and Copter, who were at the bot lane, were forced to give up their turret as they knew what dangers laid ahead. Otherwise, they would both end up dead.

Tankard was also forced to return to mid lane to farm. If he went to back his team up and lost, he would be behind by close to three levels. If he was killed, it would be better he surrender immediately.

After the bot lane turret had been destroyed and Tankard had restored his health at spawn, he had no other plans than to clear the minion wave with his Q ability.

He would clear each lane's wave to farm up his lost CS. For example, he would push mid lane and then go top before continuing to CS at bot lane. Gun Dude and Sun Lady, who were at an advantage, continued to push.

Chen Mu did not stop giving commands. That way, someone would be able to gain CS from the minions and also destroy the lane turret at the same time. It was all profit and no loss, and he would not even lose the turret bot lane.

The team leading because of their gold advantage was giving their opponents a hard time. Shen, who thought it was safe under the turret was struck thrice by Sun Lady. In addition to that, Gun Dude teamed up with Blind Monk to dish out damage and cause Shen to meet his end.

Tankard was now lost. He had people on all three lanes and had sufficient combat strength. If it was not for the huge mistake his opponents made in this round of the competition, his team would have been gone!

As the champion of the previous Provincial Championship, was he not able to carry his team in a city level competition?

The current combat strength of his team was clearly weaker than the opposing team's. However, if Jax was able to open up a lane and they fought a 5v4, there had a chance at winning!

They gathered mid lane and decided to ignore the loss they had suffered top lane. They took a gamble to engage in a teamfight as they waited in the shadows of a ward. Tankard's head could be seen as he defended the inner turret.

Gun Dude was acting quite recklessly. He had Bloodthirster and Phantom Dancer which were luxurious items; they gave him enough confidence to walk up and arrogantly destroy the turret. He did it very quickly as he had the protection of Clockwork's shield.

"This is our chance!" Tankard grasped the opportunity as he cast his E and R right after. A gigantic barrel containing a terrifying explosion came flying at Gun Dude.

Gun Dude reacted very quickly. When he saw Tankard raise his hand, Gun Dude immediately retreated with his E. Under normal circumstances, he would still be alive even if he suffered the explosion.

However, Gun Dude, who was blasted backward, had not expected his E to have been predicted by the opponent. It was a barrel that exploded pre-maturely!

"Damn it, I should have known to Flash!" Ao Wen regretted his actions. He knew that if he died, his entire team would lose the fight as well. It would result in their enemies getting Baron and everyone would be relegated to a disadvantageous position!

Everyone appeared from the shadows and cast Flash and ultimate abilities without holding back. They were determined to kill Gun Dude!

Gun Dude activated his Barrier and Flashed right after, mashing his D and F buttons. Nevertheless, he was unable to convince the enemy to give up trying to kill him. Gun Dude fell outside the inner turret range.

Chen Mu's E ability was unable to protect Gun Dude. Hence, he quickly cast his QW combo to attack and decrease their enemies' speed. Their opponents started attacking.

The enemy gained the upper hand after killing Gun Dude. All they had to di was kill another two players and they could go for Baron. Taking Baron along with three or five kills would eliminate their disadvantage, going as far as even overshooting the opposing team's gold lead.

Chen Mu continued to command his ball and attack moved while dodging skillshots. It was a difficult round to win and they needed Jax to rush back to them.

Jax was on his way but there was still a distance between them of at least two thousand yards.

Chen Mu retreated while attacking, trying to shorten the time needed for Jax's arrival.

Clockwork had itemized herself with a Colossal Grail, Rabadon's Deathcap, and Sorcerer's Shoes, allowing her to deal burst damage to her enemies.

Sun Lady stayed put as Chen Mu shouted at her to provide support with CC. Leona, the Radiant Dawn cast her ultimate ability and her WEQ combo, directing all three skills at Copter.

It was a great opportunity for them as Clockwork dealt damage with her E ability and ultimate as Leona went in.

The combo dealt more than six hundred points of damage in the area. Then, the Grandmaster at Arms finally arrived as he cast Flash along with his E and then his Q. He dashed toward the three enemy champions that had been pulled together by Clockwork and stunned all of them!

It was a textbook level 4v5 play. Blind Monk joined just in time as he instantly roundhouse kicked Lady Zither to death. It was a safety measure just in case her healing prevented them from finishing them off.

Clockwork did not stop dealing damage as she carried on auto attacking and spamming her Q, carrying out Gun Dude's portion of damage.

Double kill! Clockwork scored a double kill as her skills had relatively short CDs. She managed to kill Tankard who was trying to escape.

Ace!

"We won, one round!" Jax said. It was finally time for him to unleash his strong pushing potential with the help of Clockwork's E.

The Nexus exploded!