Chapter 64: Semifinals (IV) — The God of Backdooring
VEX pushed all three minion waves into the enemy towers simultaneously, and the five-man group gathered in the mid lane, prepared to siege the high ground.
Fugui stood at the very front. With his ultimate and Thornmail active, he charged toward KVG’s dual carries who were hiding under the tower to defend.
“I’ll zone them! You guys push! PUSH!!!”
KVG had to choose between their dual carries and their high-ground tower.
Wreathed in black aura and surrounded by the red glow of the Thornmail’s reflect damage, Crazy Blade stood right in front of KVG’s carries. KVG hurriedly focused their fire to protect them.
Fugui’s health dropped rapidly, but so did the tower’s HP.
By the time he was at critical health, the high-ground tower had been demolished.
“Can someone save me?! Save me! I think I can still make it!”
“Can’t save you, Fugui. We’re off to push the bottom high ground.”
Fugui activated his final shield. “Holy crap! You’re selling your teammate! Wu Yang, if you don’t wash my socks for a month after this, we’re done!!!”
“Technically, you’re the one isolating the four of us.”
Fugui: “…”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. As long as we beat KVG today, forget one month—I’ll wash them for a year.”
Crazy Blade “rested in peace.” He had traded his one death for two high-ground towers—any way you looked at it, it was a massive profit.
VEX wasn’t greedy either. Down one teammate, they immediately retreated, giving KVG zero opportunity to catch anyone for a counter-engage.
[I see it now. VEX’s strategy this game is to sacrifice Fugui for the greater good.]
[Why is everyone calling Million ‘Fugui’?]
[That’s what the VEX players call him on stream, so us fans just followed suit.]
Commentator A: “VEX is down a member; KVG must give chase! if they stay bottled up on their high ground, the economic gap will only keep growing!”
Commentator B: “The five members of KVG have cleared the high-ground waves and are ignoring the minions entirely. They’re heading straight for their own red jungle as a group—VEX is getting a bit greedy! Beyond and Wall are still counter-jungling KVG’s red side!”
“KVG has spotted VEX! Rain and Wing initiate decisively. Though this famous solo-support duo has made quite a few mistakes this game, their CC chaining is still beautiful! They’ve caught two members of VEX!”
“Wall’s reactions are also fast! He immediately used his shield and Heal, then used a reverse ultimate, clearly intending to sacrifice himself so Beyond can retreat!”
“On the other side, Land and Sea, who were clearing the mid wave, are rushing to the red jungle to cover their teammates’ retreat!”
“Can KVG seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?! Can VEX retreat successfully?! If Beyond and Wall die here, KVG could flip the game!!!”
“VEX hasn’t chosen to retreat! They’ve chosen to take the 4v5—”
“Million’s Crazy Blade has respawned!!! Is he rushing to the battlefield? Even though VEX has an economic lead, a 4v5 after being initiated on is a losing battle. They can’t win this front-on fight!!!”
“Crazy Blade didn’t head for the battlefield! He’s headed straight for KVG’s bottom high ground! He’s wearing movement speed boots; he’s fast! What is he doing?! Is he trying to solo-backdoor KVG’s crystal?!”
“VEX’s bottom minion wave is indeed in a great position because KVG only cleared one wave before heading to the red jungle to fight! But can the four members of VEX hold them off?! Will Crazy Blade be fast enough to backdoor the crystal?!”
Wu Yang charged forward and dumped all his skills, buying a brief moment for Wall to retreat before he instantly activated his Zhonya’s to stall for more time.
Meanwhile, Land also used his displacement to enter the fray, sticking to KVG’s marksman to force KVG to stay and fight.
Beyond was down to a sliver of health but still didn’t leave, kiting from the edge of the fight to sneak in damage. He had swapped for a lifesteal item to increase his sustain.
Wu Yang: “Fugui, report backdoor progress! We’re about to turn into relics over here!”
“I’m hitting the nexus towers! I’ve opened my ult; I’m hacking like crazy! Just hold on a bit longer!”
Ning Luzhao sold two items and bought a Guardian Angel. “Rain is trying to Recall. Stop him!”
Beyond did a forward roll and used a basic attack to interrupt Rain’s Recall before being finished off by the rest of KVG.
Wu Yang followed Ning Luzhao’s lead, selling items for a Guardian Angel. “Fugui, we’ve liquidated everything for you!”
“I’m hitting the crystal!!! Once your Guardian Angels are used up, sell everything and buy a Zhonya’s!”
Ning Luzhao: “Mm.”
The director didn’t know whether to focus on the frontline team fight or Fugui’s backdoor. The screen kept switching between the two. The cheers from the audience had quieted—everyone’s hearts were in their throats, and they had no strength left to shout.
Commentator A: “VEX is insane! Four people are trading all their equipment and lives just to buy time for Million!!!”
Commentator B: “This is a do-or-die play! A VEX with no items has no follow-up potential! Can Million backdoor KVG’s crystal?! Can he live up to the expectations?!”
“Fugui has swapped all his gear for attack speed boots to maximize his basic attacks! He’s attacking so fast his hands are a blur! KVG’s crystal is at half health! One-third! One-fifth! IT’S GONE!!!”
“Million backdoored the crystal on Crazy Blade!!! He took it!!! The first successful backdoor of this year’s Spring Split!!! Let us congratulate VEX!!! They take the first game of the semifinals!!! They lead 1-0!!!”
[HOLY CRAP!!! VEX is amazing!!! They actually won. I couldn’t even look at the screen during that last wave; my heart rate hit 180!]
[Fugui, the God of Backdooring!!!]
[I knew Coach Zuo’s hand-picked five-man squad wouldn’t have any weaknesses. The five best cubs! Two more wins to show us your true power!]
[I’ll go first—Million, I’m sorry. Feeding First Blood at the start must have been an ’empty city’ strat. I was too loud!]
[I’m sorry +1.]
[I’m sorry +10086.]
[Rational discussion: Crazy Blade is still too limited as a hero. It only worked because of the element of surprise. If they use it again, other teams will just guard against ganks. Crazy Blade is worse than a siege minion when playing from behind.]
[This is the semifinals. Winning one game with a surprise pick is already a profit! Besides, if you’ve seen Fugui’s streams, you know he has a huge hero pool. He just hasn’t brought them out in matches yet.]
[Do you think that last wave where the four members of VEX held off five members of KVG for the backdoor was a pre-planned strategy?]
“Thank you for that. That game really tested the limits of my heart.”
In the middle of the game, it had turned into a 4-man stall for a solo backdoor. Zuo Chi hadn’t made any such arrangements before the match; it was entirely a split-second decision by the players on the field.
Though they won in the end, his heart had also won—by not stopping.
Zuo Chi handed fruit and warm water to the cubs while pointing at the replay video of the match.
“After taking two high-ground towers, Land and Wu Yang went mid to clear the wave, but Wall and Beyond went to the enemy’s red jungle…”
Beyond spoke up immediately: “My bad. I wanted to take a red buff and asked Wall-ge to help. Wall-ge originally said we should leave… I’ll wash Fugui’s socks for next month.”
“Aww, Wu Yang already promised to wash them for a month.” Fugui was delighted. “Beyond, if you also wash them for a month…”
Zuo Chi ruffled Beyond’s hair. “It’s fine. That was the only real issue in the last game. Counter-jungling is important for expanding an economic lead, but you can’t be too greedy. It’s easy for the opponent to find a comeback window. Just watch the balance next time.”
Beyond nodded obediently.
“The follow-up 4-man team fight in the frontline was well-played. You stalled for a long time, and your skill-trading to disengage was almost flawless.”
Receiving the familiar praise, the cubs’ smiles widened.
Fugui: “Coach Zuo, Coach Zuo, what about me? I sold all my gear for attack speed boots and—”
“You? The God of Backdooring!”
Fugui flopped onto the sofa in happiness and polished off a plate of fruit.
“For the next game, we’ll run our most proficient initiation-and-dive composition. Fugui, you can focus on soloing Rain. Wall, you’re responsible for shadowing Wing. Wherever he goes, you follow. If he hides his vision in the jungle, you hold the top river to provide timely support for Fugui.”
“Understood—Coach Zuo, how do you know Wing will still go top to help Rain next game? What if they decide to play around the bottom map after losing the last round?”
“Habits built over years are hard to change. The data analyst showed me KVG’s data; KVG only helps the bottom lane when they have a late-game hyper-carry marksman. Other times, they rely heavily on the Korean twins’ coordination. I’ll target their marksman and support with bans in the next round to prevent them from taking a hyper-carry comp.”
Zuo Chi paused, his eyes curving into a slight smile.
“And don’t forget, the Korean twins are so confident in their coordination that they’re borderline narcissistic. We won the last game by backdooring… in their eyes, that was a ‘stolen’ victory. They won’t accept it.”
KVG Team Lounge.
“We found an opportunity in that red jungle wave! We clearly won the team fight! VEX only won a single game by backdooring; is there really a need for all this fuss?!” Rain interrupted the coach’s non-stop lecturing. “And as for being counter-camped during the laning phase—how were we supposed to know Land would skip his mid wave after clearing red and head straight to the top lane?”
The other KVG players remained silent, with only Wing sneering as he echoed his brother: “Exactly. While us getting counter-camped was a problem, was you guys getting engaged on in mid not a problem? You knew Rain and I weren’t there, yet you still tried to defend the first tower. You would’ve been better off helping us catch Crazy Blade.”
“Alright, enough! It was only the first game. What are you arguing for?” The KVG coach’s face was grim. “Next game, everyone follows Wing’s commands. Anyone who doesn’t and loses… heh, enjoy the sub bench! Don’t forget you each still have three years on your contracts. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your careers on the bench with a base salary, then listen to the commands and play properly!”
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