The second match began.
Before reaching Level 6, the Ninja and Demon Hunter junglers lacked strong burst damage capabilities, so the opening phase for both sides was relatively peaceful. Neither team invaded; instead, they both cleared their own buffs first.
The first river crab in the mid lane was snatched by Huowen's jungler, A'Yan.
After all, the Demon Hunter has a longer attack range. He waited in the brush until the crab was at low health, then used a Q skill combined with Smite to instantly secure it. Ye Shaoyang had intended to use his small summoned demon to block A'Yan's pathing, but he wasn't fast enough.
The experience from one crab allowed A'Yan to reach Level 6 ahead of Chi Shuo.
Ye Shaoyang said, "Bot lane be careful, their jungler will hit Level 6 first."
Huowen's mid-jungle synergy would definitely focus their attention on the bot lane.
Hearing the shot-caller's warning, Cheng Xing immediately replied, "Received."
Qu Jiang took the opportunity to place vision in the river.
Sure enough, A'Yan reached Level 6 half a minute earlier than Chi Shuo and quickly headed bot. Zhou Jiawen also finished clearing his wave and followed. Although he didn't have his ultimate yet, he could poke from a distance with his Q skill to add damage and coordinate with the jungler to kill Cheng Xing.
But Cheng Xing retreated very opportunely, huddling behind his tower.
Zhou Jiawen looked at Cheng Xing's position and said, "Retreat, we can't force it."
When roaming to gank, if you can kill, you kill; if not, you retreat. There's no need to force a play stubbornly. He wasn't Level 6 yet and hadn't learned his ultimate, so his damage output was insufficient. If they dove the tower to kill Cheng Xing and got counter-attacked, it would be a loss.
Huowen's Mid and Jungle went bot but found no opening, so they turned and retreated.
Ye Shaoyang was crouching in the mid-lane river brush, intending to unleash a combo to poke Zhou Jiawen as he passed by. However, Zhou Jiawen was extremely cautious. Upon nearing the river, he suddenly changed direction and took the long way around behind his tower.
Ye Shaoyang failed to ambush anyone, so he had to return to his tower and silently clear minions.
In the early laning phase for mid laners, if neither can kill the other, they can only trade pokes. But both players had exceptionally cautious positioning, moving flexibly back and forth, dodging the opponent's skill damage perfectly every time.
The commentators noted: "Both mid laners are playing very carefully. Their S-shaped movement patterns make it impossible for the opponent to predict their position in the next second. There are so many micro-mechanical details in this mid-lane matchup. Top-tier mid lane laning relies heavily on handling these details."
"Exactly. currently, both have equal health and identical CS (creep score)!"
Hearing this, Ye Shaoyang's fans felt a swell of pride in their hearts. Yangyang was a rookie who debuted in S10, while Captain Zhou was a world-class mid laner. The fact that Yangyang could go even with Captain Zhou during the laning phase meant what?
It meant Lieyang already possessed world-class strength!
While the fans were excited, Ye Shaoyang and Zhou Jiawen remained perfectly calm. Both were observing their opponent's next move and reacting immediately.
Soon, leveling-up light flashed on both of them simultaneously.
The audience sat up straight in tension. In this wave, would Zhouzhou pop his ultimate to delete Lieyang? Would Lieyang flash away or use a backhand ultimate to devour his opponent?
At Level 6, both the World Ending Mage and the Kraken of the North Sea had the ability to instantly delete someone.
In a duel between two artillery mages in the mid lane, whoever landed their skills would win!
However, the artillery duel the audience expected did not occur. Ye Shaoyang suddenly walked into the top-side brush and vanished. Zhou Jiawen had intended to use his ultimate to burst him, but once Ye Shaoyang entered the brush, Zhou Jiawen lost vision and couldn't see his position.
Sensing something was wrong, Zhou Jiawen immediately retreated.
Simultaneously, he pressed the warning signal in the team channel: "Mid laner missing, top lane be careful."
Chi Shuo had gained nothing from that gank in the bot lane earlier and had gone back to farming. According to the jungle clearing order, he would farm his way up to the top lane. At this moment, since Ye Shaoyang was heading top, it was definitely a mid-jungle joint gank on the top laner.
Hearing the warning, Huowen's top laner immediately retreated under his tower.
At the same time, Huowen's jungler arrived near the mid lane. He hadn't found an opening in the bot lane earlier, so he farmed a wave in the jungle and came mid, wanting to coordinate with Captain Zhou to kill Ye Shaoyang. But Ye Shaoyang had hidden away.
Zhou Jiawen said decisively, "Go gank bot."
The priority target for this game remained Cheng Xing. Although the Frost Goddess hit like a wet noodle in the early game, if she was allowed to complete her three-item core, the slow from her ice arrows mixed with hybrid damage would be incredibly annoying in team fights.
Zhou Jiawen and A'Yan headed toward the bot lane together.
The audience with the god's-eye view held their breath in tension—
Because everyone saw that after Ye Shaoyang walked a few steps into the top-side river brush, he looped back through his own jungle, circled around, and actually crouched in the brush near the enemy's Blue Buff!
Chi Shuo had already taken a position in that brush.
The two of them hid there silently, as if waiting for prey to approach.
Time ticked by, second by second. Zhouzhou and A'Yan were getting closer and closer to the brush where the two were hiding.
The commentators got excited: "They must have calculated the timing for when the enemy vision would expire and laid an ambush on the enemy's path to support the bot lane!"
"That's right! Wards placed in the brush disappear after a certain period, at which point the support needs to refresh vision! However, since Huowen's jungler had already taken the Blue Buff, the Blue Buff area was deemed low threat and temporarily safe. So, the support placed vision in the lower river area and ignored the jungle!"
The jungle is usually only warded when contesting buffs. Without buffs present, opponents naturally wouldn't idle around invading the jungle—that was Huowen's support's thinking.
He was prioritizing the protection of his marksman, so vision was concentrated in the river and the side of the bot tower to prevent ganks from the enemy jungler.
The result of this detail was an opportunity seized by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo.
Zhou Jiawen and A'Yan moved through their own jungle to support the bot lane.
Pro players are extremely alert; they wouldn't make rookie mistakes like face-checking bushes. Even in their own territory, they would keep their guard up when passing a bush and use a skill to check it.
Zhou Jiawen's Q skill had quite a long range—a ball of black magic energy.
Just as he cast his Q toward the brush, a black shadow suddenly darted behind him like lightning, a sharp dagger thrusting straight toward his chest!
Shadow Clone, backstab!
Chi Shuo struck with decisiveness. A crisp combo landed a critical hit, instantly slashing Zhou Jiawen's health bar by half. Realizing he had been ambushed, Zhou Jiawen immediately flashed to escape. However, the moment he flashed, a pale golden light flashed before his eyes—the visual effect of another person flashing.
The Kraken of the North Sea appeared on his retreat path, dropping an ultimate right at his feet.
—Kraken Devour!
A massive monster seemed to burst suddenly from underground.
The Kraken opened its bloody maw and swallowed the low-health World Ending Mage in one bite.
A familiar hero voice line rang in his ears: "Let me have a taste… Ah, you really taste awful~"
Zhou Jiawen: "…"
This voice line had maxed-out taunt value. You swallow someone and then complain they taste bad?
The commentators' voices were thrilled: "Oh my god, that ambush was executed beautifully! It was so fast I didn't even react!" "Director, please give us a slow-motion replay."
The slow-motion replay appeared on the big screen, allowing everyone to see the details of Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang's coordination clearly.
"Shuoyue attacked very decisively, using Shadow Clone to dash behind and bursting the World Ending Mage to critical health. The Mage flashed to escape, but Lieyang flashed forward to connect his ultimate!"
"This coordination was absolutely perfect. If anyone's skills had been slower by even 0.1 seconds, they wouldn't have secured the kill. After all, Zhouzhou flashed very promptly!"
"Exactly! Zhouzhou reacted quickly, flashing immediately to save his life, but Lieyang and Shuoyue's skills were practically seamless. He couldn't escape!"
"Tianhuan's Mid-Jungle synergy used a lapse in jungle vision to set an ambush. This tacit coordination instantly deleted the mid laner who was heading to support bot, breaking Huowen's rhythm!"
Ye Shaoyang walking toward the top-side brush earlier was a deliberate feint to confuse Zhou Jiawen, giving him the illusion of "I'm going to support top." Unexpectedly, Chi Shuo didn't farm the top-side Blue Buff, nor did he gank top; instead, he snuck into the jungle with Ye Shaoyang to lie in wait.
Who could have predicted that?
Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo's true target wasn't the Top Laner, nor the Marksman.
It was Huowen's Mid Laner!
Timing it perfectly when the support hadn't refreshed vision, they ambushed the opponents on their support path. It had to be said, Shuoyue and Lieyang's ability to seize opportunities was incredibly strong.
Zhou Jiawen said helplessly, "A'Yan, just farm and develop. Wait for me to respawn."
With Huowen's mid-jungle rhythm broken, Cheng Xing in the bot lane was very comfortable as no one came to gank him.
Under the protection of Qu Jiang's White Bear, Cheng Xing's Frost Goddess shielded herself and slowly auto-attacked minions. Her early game damage was low, but the slowing effect of her basic attacks made clearing minions easy enough.
Cheng Xing was extremely cautious, and the opposing marksman couldn't find an opportunity to kill him.
Ye Shaoyang secured First Blood, returned to mid to quickly clear the wave, and immediately began rotating with Chi Shuo.
Tianhuan's method of mid-jungle synergy was different from many teams. For most teams, the jungler clears the jungle and heads to a lane to support, and the mid laner follows after clearing their wave.
Tianhuan's synergy, however, involved Chi Shuo helping Ye Shaoyang clear minions, and then Ye Shaoyang going into the jungle with Chi Shuo to help him farm.
The two split the gold from the mid-lane minions and the jungle camps, like holding hands while touring the jungle together.
Is it faster for Chi Shuo to farm alone, or for a Mid + Jungle duo to farm together?
The answer was obvious.
In the livestream chat, netizens also noticed the fast pace of Tianhuan's mid-jungle duo.
[Tianhuan's tempo is flying!]
[Does Tianhuan have two junglers? They finished the camps so fast?]
[Captain Chi spoils Yangyang so much; he knocked the Blue Buff down to 1 HP and gave it to him again.]
[The Ninja doesn't really lack mana. If the Kraken of the North Sea gets Blue, he can speed up his ultimate cooldown.]
[The Kraken's ult is ready. Are they going to torment top lane this time?]
Farming together—Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo had practiced this strategy countless times on the international server. This was true mid-jungle synergy: where the jungler is, the mid laner is.
The two were like attached accessories, inseparable, roaming the rift side by side.
After clearing the top-side jungle camps, they indeed arrived at the top lane.
Huowen's top laner wasn't stupid; he knew he would be ganked this wave and retreated in advance. However, Old Qin stood at the front to interfere with his wave clearing. Before Huowen's top laner retreated, he failed to clear two minions!
The three Tianhuan members joined forces to hit the tower, and with those two minions, they pushed down the top lane's outer tower directly.
There was a wave in mid, so Ye Shaoyang went to farm.
Just as he finished farming that wave, the enemy's Red Buff spawned.
Ye Shaoyang pinged the jungle: "Go invade Red."
Chi Shuo: "Okay."
Red spawned, so A'Yan would definitely go take it. After being ambushed in the Blue Buff area last time, A'Yan had learned his lesson. Before entering the jungle this time, he placed a ward in the brush.
However, as soon as the ward was placed, he saw two Great Demon Kings crouching there waiting for him.
Well, this is awkward!
A'Yan turned to run immediately. Chi Shuo activated the Ninja ultimate, burrowing underground to chase. His Shadow Clone darted behind A'Yan, stunning him with a critical hit, and Ye Shaoyang followed up immediately by placing an ultimate at A'Yan's feet.
Zhou Jiawen arrived instantly to support and help A'Yan retreat!
A'Yan had built resistance boots, so Ye Shaoyang couldn't burst him down instantly, allowing him to escape with a sliver of health.
Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang quickly stole the Red Buff.
Zhou Jiawen frowned slightly—he realized that Tianhuan's mid-jungle tempo was too fast, and their coordination was impeccably smooth. By grouping up to farm, the Sun and Moon duo completely disrupted Huowen's mid-jungle coordination.
Mid-Jungle Synergy vs. Mid-Jungle Synergy generally has two approaches.
One is for both duos to gank a specific lane simultaneously, creating an advantage through small-scale skirmishes.
The other is to directly attack the enemy jungle and break the opponent's rhythm!
Tianhuan clearly chose the latter for this game.
First, an unexpected ambush in the Blue Buff area assassinated the mid laner; immediately following that, they invaded the Red Buff area, forcing the jungler to recall with low health.
Consequently, Huowen's mid-jungle rhythm was broken for nearly 3 minutes!
For three continuous minutes, either Zhou Jiawen was dead, or A'Yan was recalling with low health. They couldn't go to any lanes to gank at all.
This is fatal in a professional match!
Zhou Jiawen immediately adjusted the strategy: "Go force a kill on their marksman. Breakthrough from the bot lane."
After healing to full, A'Yan immediately headed bot.
He thought Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang would come to bot to support, but the two didn't show their faces. Instead, they continued to push the top tower. With Old Qin, Chi Shuo, and Ye Shaoyang in a 3v1, Huowen's top laner didn't dare defend the tower. In the blink of an eye, the inner tower fell too!
Bot lane. Cheng Xing and Qu Jiang had retreated long ago, directly giving up the bot tower.
Huowen's Mid and Jungle arrived bot intending to kill Cheng Xing, only to find that Cheng Xing had vanished without a trace—he had run to mid to help Ye Shaoyang clear the wave.
Tianhuan grouped to push mid, forcing Huowen to defend.
At this point, everyone realized that without anyone noticing, Cheng Xing had completed his three-item core.
Meanwhile, Huowen's mid-jungle rhythm had fallen completely into passivity.
The two commentators: "Tianhuan seized opportunities to attack the jungle this game, interrupting Huowen's early game rhythm twice. This resulted in no one ganking Xiao Xing, allowing his economy to rise. A Frost Goddess with three items can deal decent damage in team fights. Her Q skill fires ice arrows to slow opponents, and her W skill creates an area-of-effect slowing circle!"
"A fight has broken out in the mid lane! Huowen is going to force a kill on the marksman this wave!"
"A'Yan engaged very decisively. A long-range lock from the Demon Hunter immobilized Xiao Xing, preventing him from moving. Captain Zhou followed up immediately with his ultimate for damage—all 6 orbs of black mist hit! Xiao Xing has been deleted!"
After all, Zhou Jiawen was a world-class mid laner. If he couldn't delete the enemy marksman while his teammate had them rooted, he might as well delete his account and retire.
However, Cheng Xing made a significant contribution to the team before he was deleted.
He had built the item [Chain Lightning]. Exploding his hand speed to fire ice arrows, he chained all 5 opponents together, stacking the "Slow" debuff on them.
He also placed his W skill's slowing circle behind him, blocking the opponent's retreat path.
Although the Wind Elf was the most agile marksman, under the influence of the slow effect, she couldn't jump at all, moving as clumsily as a snail.
Ye Shaoyang aimed at the opponent's positioning. Using "Kraken Devour," he swallowed the squishy Elf in one bite!
Both mid laners had deleted the opposing marksman one after the other.
On the surface, a 1-for-1 trade wasn't a loss. However, Tianhuan's jungler hadn't used a single skill, relying only on the mid laner to kill the enemy marksman; whereas Huowen had to use their jungler's control skill to delete Cheng Xing.
In team fights, often one key skill can turn the tide.
Qu Jiang's White Bear dropped from the sky, sitting right on the enemy jungler's head. Chi Shuo instantly dashed in, unleashing a burst combo to kill the enemy jungler, then turned to kill the enemy mid laner.
Ye Shaoyang used his Q skill to coordinate with Chi Shuo's poke. The White Bear also chased Zhou Jiawen down.
In the blink of an eye, Huowen's mid laner was dead too!
This mid-lane skirmish was a 1-for-3 trade. Tianhuan profited massively.
Ye Shaoyang led the team to push down the mid tower while they were at it.
In the subsequent gameplay, Tianhuan's Mid-Jungle synergy frantically invaded the enemy jungle. A'Yan could barely secure a single buff; his jungle had completely become the back garden for Tianhuan's Demon King duo.
The economic gap continued to widen. Tianhuan played steadily, taking Baron and pushing the high ground.
In the crucial high-ground team fight, Qu Jiang used the White Bear to tank the tower shots. Cheng Xing stacked ice arrow slows from a distance, while Old Qin, Ye Shaoyang, and Chi Shuo charged in simultaneously! Old Qin's Man of Steel tanked damage at the front, Chi Shuo's Shadow Clone dashed in rapidly, and Ye Shaoyang's Kraken followed close behind.
Kraken Devour!
As hero levels increased, the Kraken of the North Sea's monster grew a full size larger. The giant monster drilling out of the ground opened a terrifyingly bloody maw.
He actually swallowed three low-health enemies in one bite!
"Let me have a taste… You guys really taste awful~"
The Kraken's deep, perverted voice echoed through the arena, causing a burst of laughter from the audience.
Why was it that every hero Ye Shaoyang used had such taunting voice lines? Was it a coincidence?
The livestream chat went crazy with bullet comments.
[Great Demon King Lieyang is as annoying as always ^_^]
[When other players use this hero, I think it's cool. Why do I feel like punching Lieyang when he uses it?]
[It's a player style issue. I feel like punching him no matter what he uses.]
[He eats them and then complains they taste bad. That's too much~]
Inside the soundproof booth, as the word "VICTORY" popped up with the exploding crystal, Ye Shaoyang took off his headphones in a cheerful mood.
Trying to compare mid-jungle synergy?
Think again.
His synergy with Chi Shuo—even a world-class mid-jungle duo might not compare.
Gank top or gank bot?
No need to choose.
Just disrupting your mid-jungle rhythm is enough.