As the game began, SDB’s support, Vitt, was the first to ping on the minimap, signaling his teammates to pay attention to PNG’s red and blue jungle.
“Our level-one comp can invade—what do you think?” Vitt quickly suggested. He pressed Tab and clicked through each of PNG’s champions on the scoreboard from top to bottom. “Their level-one fight is weak. Do we just go straight into red?”
When both red and blue buff areas were viable invasion targets, SDB clearly preferred PNG’s red buff.
Both teams had AD junglers, and compared to blue buff, the slow and bonus damage from red buff were far more valuable to them. With this trade-off, the value of a red buff was almost double that of blue, so Vitt naturally made red side the primary target.
“Of course we invade—go go go! I’ve got 800 crowd control at level one, I’m invincible!”
“Wow, the tournament organizers didn’t arrest you on the spot?”
“Referee, report him—he’s scripting!”
“My suggestion? Let’s teach our East Asian friends a lesson, LMAO.”
“Uh…” While his teammates were fired up, the jungler Meurs hesitated for a second. “We’re on blue side—Blue-side Troll invading Red-side Void Devourer doesn’t actually have a high success rate. The jungle terrain angles changed…”
“It’s fine,” Vitt said. “Our main goal is to disrupt Cloud. As long as we delay his tempo, we’ve already gained something.”
[SDB_Velon] signals: On my way!
Commentators across all streams picked up on SDB’s map pings—the constant ding ding ding was impossible to ignore.
The Western female commentator widened her eyes dramatically. “Wow—SDB’s opening plan is incredibly aggressive. Everyone is grouping in their own blue-side jungle!”
“Even though they have zero vision of PNG’s positions, SDB confidently pushes deeper. Top laner Zakiah is leading the way—thank goodness they at least remember to let the frontline scout first!”
“Seems so,” the male commentator shrugged. “Maybe jungler Unique’s Highland Troll is where their confidence comes from. Troll’s Q deals an extra 20% execute damage to monsters—if it gets close, this red buff is basically guaranteed for SDB!”
Viewers in the English stream were also actively commenting:
[Alright, I thought facing a team dominating the group stage, SDB might be a bit more humble? Maybe drop a ward first!?]
[The map is completely dark—how is this not setting off alarm bells for them?]
[Both supports, but PNG’s Erllit and our Velon are totally different. Is Erllit trying to light up the entire Rift?]
That comment was obviously exaggerated—this was still level one, and vision wards weren’t even purchasable yet. No matter how godlike Cheng Su was, he couldn’t hack the game backend on the spot.
But after watching so many PNG games, Western audiences had started to recognize how important vision was in the new patch—and the comparison made them uneasy.
[SDB is always like this (angry). Do they think they have God’s perspective? Cloud already placed a ward in advance—Zakiah peeking around like that just looks like a clown!]
[Wind is smiling—damn it, I knew this was all part of PNG’s plan!!]
[? I didn’t see him smile]
[His lips went up by 0.1 pixels!]
“SDB invading red isn’t a bad decision, but…”
Chao Mi saw through their plan and noticed top laner Remi leading the charge, his tone turning skeptical. “I don’t get it—why didn’t SDB set up vision first? Zakiah picked Wildfang this game, but that champion isn’t tanky early on. Without building energy to trigger the passive, Wildfang only has 510 base HP—just 10 more than mid-lane Storm Goddess! Meanwhile, over on the other side, Wind’s squishy Soul Reaper King starts with 552 HP—that’s already higher than yours!”
Qing Ci couldn’t help but laugh. “It really is confusing! Many players might not know—Wildfang is a popular frontline pick in both pro play and ranked, but before level 6 it’s actually quite fragile. It relies entirely on its passive, which grants 175% bonus HP once energy is fully stacked. But in level-one fights, it’s very hard to slowly stack energy with basic attacks, making it extremely squishy in early skirmishes!”
[What the hell—I never knew Wildfang was this fragile?]
[Okay, casual players not understanding Wildfang is one thing, but this is Worlds?? North American pros pick it and don’t even understand its passive??]
“Wildfang does have combos that instantly fill 50% to 100% of its energy,” Chao Mi added, “but the conditions are quite strict. So it’s not that it’s completely useless at level one—but still, not setting up vision is just too…”
He wanted to say ridiculous, but held back due to his role and softened it: “too aggressive.”
As they spoke, SDB had already moved past mid lane’s outer turret, advancing along the brush near the left wall of mid. They avoided the choke point above blue buff leading to the dragon pit, since red-side top laners often guard that area.
“Of course, there are many possible defensive positions for a top laner guarding the jungle start,” Tofu noticed SDB’s movement and immediately spoke on the secondary stream. “The tri-brush above dragon pit, even the brush behind the red buff wall—any of these could be occupied. You can’t guess it—you need vision, you need to track enemy movements, you need real information!”
He sighed. “At the end of the day, vision control is an information war. PNG’s understanding in this area is far ahead. From what I’ve seen so far this Worlds, aside from a few Korean teams, everyone else is miles behind PNG when it comes to vision.”
Just as he finished speaking, Sui Ning placed a defensive ward in the river brush on the top side, cutting off SDB’s advance—and spotting Remi at the front.
The invasion was expected, so Sui Ning wasn’t surprised. He immediately pinged for vision in SDB’s blue jungle, then quickly pressed Tab—only to see that all the enemy players’ item information had updated—
A small trick: in the scoreboard (Tab), the enemy team’s information panel only updates when they enter your team’s vision.
“They’re all here,” Sui Ning said calmly, now more certain of his read. “In the brush. Ignore them—we’re not fighting level one. Go ward their blue buff brush.”
He signaled Wei Ye to move.
“With that ward down, their jungler can’t play the game anymore,” Ji Yunyu raised an eyebrow. “Trundle already can’t do much early—once his pathing is exposed, he’s basically forced into hiding until level six.”
“Rough life, my Unique!” Lin Zhaoxu added with a grin. “—they’ve seen right through his underwear!”
“…What underwear?”
“Seen what?”
“?”
Sui Ning: “…Group up.”
The moment SDB spotted Sui Ning’s ward, before they could even decide their next move, PNG’s first wave of abilities had already been thrown straight at Remi.
Remi’s HP instantly dropped below 75%. He hesitated, asking urgently, “Fight? Do we fight?”
“Uh…”
“I can auto–Flash–Q–auto to stack energy—fight or not?!”
“No!” With the enemy still at full health, blowing Flash first would ruin the lane afterward. Vitt immediately stopped him. “Their spacing is too good—I can’t control Wind. Don’t rush!”
“I’m not rushing—my HP is!” Remi rolled his eyes. “Wildfang has 500 HP, not 5000!”
“How much energy are you missing? Can you scrape some?”
“20%. No.”
With their vision advantage, PNG executed perfect push-and-pull: when the enemy advanced, they retreated; when the enemy backed off, they pressed forward. They had wards on two key points in the blue-side jungle, making SDB’s positioning almost completely transparent. Meanwhile, SDB’s vision was limited to the small default area around their champions—everything beyond that, including the small camps and red-side jungle, was pitch black.
Whenever PNG stepped back, SDB would instantly lose vision to attack, forcibly cutting off their auto-attacks.
“…Ugh, Wind’s spacing is seriously annoying. He’s even harder to deal with than in scrims—”
Getting zoned by Sui Ning, ADC Edmonton felt a chill. He glanced at the eager Lin Zhaoxu. “Give me a shield, Maverick—the guy wants to trade autos with me!”
“…Alright.” Mid laner Holden hesitated for a moment, then obediently learned E for the shield. “Guess I won’t be taking Q then.”
A faint blue shield appeared on Edmonton.
[PNG_Wind] signals: Enemy hero [Storm Goddess] has learned a level-one ability!
“Storm Goddess took E.” Sui Ning instantly caught the information, sounding surprised. “Why did he take E?”
Lin Zhaoxu grinned. “For the shield, obviously? Level-one fights are a bit weak, but lane strength is better—it’s fine, right?”
“I think they don’t want to fight level one anymore.”
“Well, duh—if Storm Goddess doesn’t take Q, what are they fighting with…”
“He’s mid, not support.” Sui Ning pressed his lips together, frowning as he stared at Holden’s position. “Why E…? If he takes E, he can’t lane at all.”
Lin Zhaoxu: ?
Storm Goddess taking shield at level one isn’t broken?? His confusion practically burst out of the arena.
“Drop the marksman mindset,” Ji Yunyu scoffed, having learned a lot about mid lane from playing with Sui Ning. “Mid is about lane priority. If Storm Goddess takes E, how is he pushing against Soulreaper King? Autos? With what attack speed?”
“…Damn.” Lin Zhaoxu smacked his lips after thinking it through.
“Eww.” Wei Ye, eavesdropping, made an exaggerated sound. “You mid–jungle players are seriously evil!”
“You’re a solo laner too—where’s your wave understanding?” Ji Yunyu shot back.
Wei Ye retorted, “I’m Verdant Treant—I just soak XP. What more do I need?”
Ji Yunyu ignored him.
Meanwhile, Sui Ning’s brows remained tightly knit. He was still thinking—why did Holden take E? What was the deeper intention?
Could this be some unknown new mid Storm Goddess strategy?
Where was the strength in it?
Lin Zhaoxu glanced at him sideways. “What’s my Feng-bao thinking about? So serious?”
If he weren’t holding his mouse, Wei Ye would’ve spread his hands like Tom Cat. He said casually, “What else? Playing mind games with thin air. You’ll get used to it.”
Sui Ning: “…I’m thinking. Also, this is called using your brain to play the game.”
——
Commentator desk:
Chao Mi: “Storm Goddess chose E—no Q knock-up or W slow for the level-one fight? That means she has no engage or catch potential now, and SDB’s threat drops significantly!”
“Zakiah still seems to want to try—using Q to poke from range and stack energy—he got it, uh, 5 points! That’s way too little, he only grazed Myerii once. Everyone else is positioning too well to let him stack!”
“Going any further is dangerous—Wind’s cooldowns are almost back up…”
Chao Mi stared at the big screen. Cheng Su’s second round of crowd control landed on Remi, and Sui Ning summoned bone soldiers to follow up with damage. Large crimson damage numbers popped up in rapid succession. With autos woven in, they nearly deleted Remi on the spot despite his already low HP.
Panicking, Remi burned Flash.
“—Zakiah used Flash! What now?” SDB immediately backed off. Chao Mi shook his head. “They can’t keep fighting—if they do, Zakiah will likely die. On respawn he’d have to either burn TP or lose experience, and top lane would just explode. This invade from SDB was really sloppy—they need to cut their losses now!”
“How did this level-one fight turn out so messy?” Qing Ci couldn’t help but say. “The difference between having vision and not having it is way too big. Even though SDB were the ones invading, they looked like they were the ones caught in a trap by PNG! To keep their marksman healthy, Maverick’s Storm Goddess took shield—but if you’re taking shield, you shouldn’t be fighting level one at all!”
[What is this, a Worlds quarterfinal???]
[One exchange in, I’m calling it—SDB already lost]
[NA brothers are still too young, haven’t been ‘educated’ by my P yet (lol)]
[SDB is way too careless, aren’t they?? Even I know not to fight without vision!]
[How did they beat Loud like this…?]
The chat couldn’t hold back—this level-one fight was nothing like what they expected!
Even the Western male commentator couldn’t keep it together. “—Hopefully Zakiah’s Flash serves as a wake-up call for SDB. They have to understand that their opponent, PNG, is a team that misses absolutely no details—they’re extremely, extremely strong. They need to be more careful! Vision control will be a key focus going forward!”
The female commentator shrugged it off. “No need to panic. Myerii’s Verdant Treant has almost zero kill pressure in lane, so Zakiah’s Flash isn’t a big issue! SDB represents North America—it's normal for their playstyle to differ from Chinese teams!”
——
After that awkward level-one skirmish, PNG came out slightly ahead. As expected, Troll showed up in vision at blue buff, and jungler Meurs didn’t seem to realize he’d been warded. While pulling the camp, he made no feints, and after finishing the buff, he didn’t fake his movement either—he just headed straight toward the bot-side jungle.
“Unique starts blue, clears two small camps, finishes around 3:21. He won’t dare take the river crab—he’ll rotate to bot river, then into red side.” Ji Yunyu curled his lips slightly, like a prophet with map hacks, confidently marking out Meurs’ next pathing on the map.
Good thing the audience couldn’t hear team comms right now—otherwise, there’d be a flood of “cheater” accusations and question marks.
Sui Ning: “Got it.”
“Damn,” Lin Zhaoxu sighed. “I’m honestly impressed.”
With the enemy jungler’s path fully exposed, the danger in lane dropped by at least 70%. Lin Zhaoxu was having the time of his life.
Sui Ning glanced at the map, then refocused on the enemy mid-lane Storm Goddess.
Holden’s Storm Goddess had taken E at level one. As long as he shielded himself before trading, he’d always come out ahead—when he hits you, it’s real HP; when you hit him, it’s just shield. Once the shield breaks, it’s gone, but lost HP requires potions or a recall. On top of that, he started with a Long Sword and gained bonus AD from E, making auto trades feel almost unfair.
[Storm Goddess bought Long Sword? What kind of confidence is that, trying to auto-trade with Wind?]
[ Because shield lets her trade without losing HP—it’s really annoying]
[Damn, even NA players have started believing in the Long Sword meta…]
[ You think? Three days after Wind made mages run Long Sword and crush lanes, it shot to #1 recommended starting item for mid in CN servers. Who understands this??]
[Mages should act like mages—revive the glory of spellbooks, it’s our duty!!]
“Wind actually started with a Doran’s Ring this game—rarely not Long Sword,” Chao Mi joked. “Smart choice. Soulreaper King can just play slow with his bone soldiers—if Storm Goddess steps up to trade, she’ll eat several hits for free, and the shield won’t be enough to block it!”
Qing Ci laughed as well. “Thinking about it that way, does Soulreaper kind of counter Storm Goddess?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Their real strength depends on post–level six. Both are strong in teamfights—Storm Goddess’s ultimate knockback can interrupt Soulreaper’s QE-Flash-R engage!” Chao Mi explained. “If that combo gets interrupted, Soul Reaper is basically dead on the spot!”
So strictly speaking, Storm Goddess is actually the counterpick to Soulreaper King.
Unfortunately for Holden, he was facing Sui Ning’s Soulreaper King.
Auto-trading Storm Goddess is theoretically strong—but it has one fatal weakness:
Range.
Without range, “shield trades” are just empty talk. Sui Ning raised an eyebrow—his level-one skill was [W – Raise the Dead], summoning bone soldiers that are untargetable and invulnerable. He could control them at maximum distance to deal damage, completely nullifying Storm Goddess’s advantage.
Not only that, the soldiers’ piercing damage also allowed Soulreaper to push waves quickly—
Now Holden was really starting to sweat.
The commentators praising the shield were thinking too shallowly. Just as Sui Ning predicted, a Storm Goddess with E learned wasn’t even a real obstacle against Soulreaper King. That tiny shield advantage in trades was basically irrelevant.
Worse, by taking E, he had to give up Q—the ability that lets him clear waves quickly—putting him at a permanent disadvantage in lane. In many past games, Sui Ning would even sacrifice minions just to spam abilities and secure lane priority. But this time, Holden didn’t even have the option to push back.
And with Troll’s path exposed, Sui Ning could pressure forward freely, take experience, level up first, and transfer that pressure directly onto Holden.
Clear waves, dodge skillshots, trade—while being down in level, HP, and cooldowns.
All that pressure piled up into one clear outcome: Holden had already used all his starting health potions—and he was only level two.
[Level 2—and Maverick already burned through all his sustain?]
[He hasn’t even recalled yet—the level-one fight dragged on too long, he had to chug a potion right at the start!]
[Can SDB stop forcing level-one fights already?]
[Wind’s pressure is insane—I can practically see Mave sweating!]
[Poor Mave. He never should’ve had to deal with this—Storm Goddess was never meant for mid lane.]
[ Mid Storm Goddess on NA server has a 57% win rate, top 5 among all mages.]
[99% of high-elo Storm Goddesss take E at level one—so why does Mave look this miserable?]
[Maybe because 99% of those Storm Goddesss aren’t facing Wind.]
Holden had to admit this was one of the most high-pressure moments of his entire career. At 26, he often relied more on experience and judgment than raw mechanics to handle opponents.
That usually helped him stay calm and think clearly—but now, he couldn’t stop feeling tense, his heart racing.
With years of professional experience, Holden could keenly sense a hint of danger beneath the layers of pressure bearing down on him.
Almost instinctively, he called out to his jungler: “Unique, can you help me?”
“Mid lane is in a really bad state!”
“Uh…” Meurs assessed his jungle situation and suggested, “Should I just clear double buffs and come?”
“No—come as fast as possible.”
Meurs glanced at the game timer in the top-right corner: 2:13. “Alright, give me 30 seconds.”
——
Originally, Meurs planned a blue-to-red clear. After losing the level-one fight, he assumed Ji Yunyu would secure the top-side river crab first. To make up the difference, his intended pathing was: Blue Buff Blue-side small camp 1 Blue-side small camp 2 Red-side small camp 1 bot-side river crab Red Buff bot lane gank, leaving one red-side camp to create a timing advantage—a textbook blue-side jungle route.
But real games rarely go that smoothly. After checking mid lane, he saw just how disastrous the wave state was—his mid laner was practically hugging the turret the entire time and still getting poked down.
That forced him to immediately rotate mid after finishing blue side, ensuring he’d reach level 3 for some combat power while providing timely support.
[SDB_Unique] signals: On my way!
Meurs glanced at Storm Goddess’s HP: 65%. Not exactly healthy, but with a shield and turret, she shouldn’t die immediately.
At this point, river vision had already faded. Meurs decided to take a longer route—looping from the upper entrance of his blue jungle into the river, then coming out behind Sui Ning for a flank. It was a classic gank path, but it required extra time.
Troll’s jungle clear speed wasn’t bad—but his base movement speed was painfully slow.
As he moved, he kept switching screens to observe. Soulreaper King didn’t seem to have much kill intent, keeping the wave under the turret. Meurs couldn’t help but feel puzzled. “Isn’t he afraid of getting ganked?”
“Huh? What?” Sweat beaded on Holden’s forehead—he didn’t catch that. “Are you here yet?”
“Almost, almost—I’m looping around behind!”
“Damn it, why are you taking such a long route? The next wave is about to arrive—you should’ve come straight from tier-two to save time…”
Ji Yunyu: “Troll’s ganking mid.”
Sui Ning gave a quiet acknowledgment. “Intercept him.”
“Got it.”
At 2:25, the blue-side cannon wave reached the outer turret.
----------
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