Rise

br>Aside from the Zed, he’s their biggest threat.
But we can make him completely useless if we get our wards down! Just like in the last game! If we’d warded properly, they would’ve never stolen the Blue Buff and won the game on the back of that! I don’t want to see us making the same mistakes again! Let’s focus on this! The longer we drag this game out, the stronger we’re going to get! They need to find the jump on us, and not the other way around! And they can’t find that engage if we have a strong wall of vision set up! We’re winning this game!”

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Over the next minute, Red wards started popping up around the map.
The fog of war was slowly being dispelled from Fuzhou Tech’s Jungle.
They knew exactly what was going on there and even had a decent idea about what was going on in the river.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the audience or the casters.
Rollfire especially was thrilled to see Fuzhou Tech taking his advice to heart.
He laughed and said through his microphone, “A good wall of vision will keep the Fiddlesticks away! This game is very much in the grasp of Fuzhou Tech!”

The players from Zhejiang University’s team were finding themselves agreeing with Rollfire.
The Jungler nodded and said, “At least Fuzhou Tech knows what they’re doing.
It’s fine that they’re a little bit behind right now.
They just need to keep up vision and drag the game out.
They’ll win this, fed Zed or not.”

“Exactly,” the Toplaner agreed.
“Zed and Fiddlesticks are the two carries for Team Shanghai as it stands.
And Fuzhou Tech can eliminate Fiddle through warding alone.
Use Alistar for Zed and this is going to be an easy win for Fuzhou Tech in the late game.
Maybe sooner if they give Kog’Maw as much farm as possible and help him scale faster.”

The audience had been discussing Fiddlesticks on and off since the Champion was locked in.
The consensus was that they really wanted to see a good Fiddlesticks ultimate.
But with the way the game was progressing, that outcome was starting to look less and less likely.
Rollfire was one of the few people greatly excited by this development.
He sat up straighter in his chair and was actually engaging with the audience for a change.
“I can hear your murmurs! And let me kill the dream! No, it’s not happening! Fuzhou Tech has their line of vision up! Fiddlesticks won’t get a good ultimate off! And if Team Shanghai tries to force anything here, Fuzhou Tech has the perfect lineup to counter them! This game is quickly changing!”

“Maybe Fiddlesticks can bait Fuzhou Tech into a dragon fight?”
“Right! Fuzhou Tech’s dragon vision isn’t that great! Fiddle can get his ultie off there!”
“That’s like the perfect spot for his ultimate too! Fuzhou Tech won’t be able to escape!”
“Shit, I really want to see that happen now!”
“Didn’t you guys hear what Rollfire said? It’s not happening!”
“He’s been wrong before! Please let him be wrong again! I want to see a good Fiddle ultie!”

The game clock continued ticking.
It struck 9 minutes when Team Shanghai gathered around the Dragon Pit.
They waited and even walked through a couple of wards from Fuzhou Tech on purpose.
But Fuzhou Tech didn’t bite.
They ignored the Dragon and the potential fight with Team Shanghai, and instead focused on farming minion and jungle camps elsewhere on the map.

“A sensible choice!” Rollfire exclaimed from the caster desk.
He looked out over the audience and explained, “You might think that Fuzhou Tech has a strong team to contest Dragon with Rumble and Fizz.
But you can’t forget that Kog’Maw hasn’t scaled yet.
He needs levels and items.
Contesting this Dragon is an unnecessary risk for Fuzhou Tech.
By giving up on it they aren’t losing out on much while also not opening themselves up to the risk of a Fiddlesticks ultimate! They need to use this time to farm and scale.
There will be more Dragons to contest.
Fuzhou Tech will get their shot!”

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Silent Reed knitted her brows and said, “That’s how the game is shaping up.
Fuzhou Tech is showing some really strong decision making here!” Come on Team Shanghai! Prove this asshole next to me wrong! She blinked, surprised.
Wow! I started cheering for Team Shanghai just because of how annoying Rollfire is! But please prove him wrong! I don’t want to see him be right! You guys are just as capable of seeing the bigger picture as Fuzhou Tech! Please tell me you have a plan in mind! I want to see you win!

✹

“Take Dragon,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat.
“If they don’t want to fight, we’ll just take the fight to them.
Let’s see how much they’re willing to give up.
We’re going for the mid tower next.
And BunBun, start taking their Jungle Camps.
We’re going to make them put up a defense somewhere!”

An Xin smiled and replied, “That sounds good! Let’s see how long their patience will last!”

Team Shanghai followed the goals set by Zeng Rui.
They took the Dragon at 9:40 minutes and they destroyed the outer tower in the mid lane 40 seconds later.
An Xin’s Fiddlesticks disappeared into Fuzhou’s Jungle and started claiming camps, while the rest of the team moved around the map in search of their next objective.
The scale was slowly tipping in Team Shanghai’s favour, but Fuzhou Tech wasn’t giving up.
They evaded fights at all costs and focused on scaling up their Fizz and Kog’Maw.
And little by little, it was working.
Team Shanghai didn’t get the push they really wanted and Fuzhou Tech was digging itself deeper and deeper into the game.

The players from Zhejiang University watched the game develop from their seats in front of the soundproof booths.
And the more they watched, the more they found themselves agreeing with Rollfire.
The Support raised an eyebrow and noted, “It’s looking pretty bad for Team Shanghai.
They’ve got the outer towers and some Jungle Camps, but what more can they realistically get? The inner towers are easier to defend because they’re closer to the base.
And Fuzhou Tech is just farming minions.”

The Jungler nodded and said, “It looks like Team Shanghai is pushing their lead.
But really they’re desperate to find an opening.
They’re fighting a battle against time! And in the entire game so far, Fiddlesticks hasn’t found a single opening for his ultimate yet! That’s pretty bad for them.
If they can’t find something soon, they’re out of this game.
It’s going to end up being a 4vs5 game where Fiddlesticks is completely useless! And Kog’Maw will just shred through Team Shanghai’s lineup!”

Sun Ruinian listened to his teammates but didn’t participate.
He stared at the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths and tapped his chin in a slow, steady rhythm.
This can’t be it from Team Shanghai, right? They didn’t expect to just get an opportunity thrown at them, right? That Midlaner is too good to come unprepared! Something is going to happen, I can feel it.
How are they going to force this play? What do they have in mind? They really can’t afford to let that Kog’Maw or Fizz get too much stronger.
It’s going to be so hard to come back from that.
He chewed on the inside of his cheeks and looked through the glass windows of the soundproof booths.
They still look calm, I think.
They must have something prepared.

Back on the caster desk, Rollfire was having the time of his life.
The audience was following along with everything he said and they were now all convinced that Team Shanghai was doomed to lose this game.
Let’s just add a bit more to it.
I will make this stupid organization regret putting me on this dumb game! He grinned and said through the microphone, “Team Shanghai is done for if they don’t push for the win right now! They can try and push for little advantages all they want, it won’t matter a thing in the late game! Fuzhou Tech’s team is coming online! They’re getting the levels and items and will soon turn this game around! Just watch Kog’Maw rip through Team Shanghai’s Zed and Fiddlesticks! It’ll happen! Trust me!”

Silent Reed bit on her lips.
He can’t be right! Stupid asshole! But it looks like, it looks like he is… She closed her eyes for a brief moment to settle the turmoil in her stomach.
Then she flashed them open and said, “You’re right! Team Shanghai needs to end the game as soon as they can! Fuzhou Tech is slowly catching up.
One decisive fight is all that Team Shanghai needs here to finish it and claim the series! It’s a very open game that can go either way!”

Rollfire sneered and asked, “Force an engage? Ha! As if!” He turned to look at the audience and shouted, “It’d be a wonderful story to see the underdog high school team win it all! But that’s just not realistic.
This isn’t the little kids league they usually play in.
This is the Collegiate Cup! Expecting your opponent to screw up isn’t a tactic that is going to work here! Team Shanghai screwed themselves over in Champion Select and they are feeling the pain now! Fiddlesticks simply doesn’t fit in the meta, nor in Team Shanghai’s team composition! And Fuzhou Tech is playing a lot better than in Game 1.
They’re clawing their way back from an early deficit and will soon get the complete turnaround fight! And then, then!” He briefly paused, drawing all attention towards him, and then added, “And then we’re going to an all deciding Game 3!”