Without the careful early-game maneuvering they usually relied on, every mid-game teamfight SST tried to force was dismantled one by one by PNG. The game finally ended at 31 minutes and 28 seconds, with PNG taking a 2–1 lead.
The audience and commentators had long since gone from feeling disgusted and nauseated at the beginning to calmly treating SST’s antics like clown entertainment. Some had even developed a warped mentality of, I really want to see what other nonsense they can come up with.
So by Game 4, when SST finally drafted a lineup that actually belonged to themselves, the audience was strangely shocked. Holy shit, so you actually know how to draft “original” comps?
PNG Picks — Top: [Wildfang], Mid: [Phantom Trickster], Marksman: [Soul-Piercing Spear]
The first phase of picks looked very familiar. Chao Mi thought it over carefully before speaking: “PNG are first-picking top lane plus their double carries, stabilizing both lane matchups and the basic framework of their teamfighting. Then they leave jungle and support—the two ‘team engines’—open for flexible adjustment later. Depending on SST’s second-round bans and picks, they can dynamically alter the pace and structure of the whole lineup. It’s a very classic approach! This ‘three stable, two flexible’ drafting philosophy is also Coach Yue Huo’s specialty!”
Qing Ci nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Compared to last game, the heroes PNG got in the first rotation are clearly much more in line with what they wanted.”
Meanwhile, SST completely ignored conventional logic.
SST Picks — Mid: [Bombardier], Jungle: [Highland Troll], Support: [Shadow Hawk]
The moment the third pick locked in, both commentators were full of question marks. “I can barely understand the jungle-support combo,” Chao Mi said, “but what is this mid-lane Bombardier supposed to mean? This champion hasn’t…”
After pausing for a few seconds, he rapidly flipped through the stats sheet on his desk, eyes locking onto the Bombardier section. “He hasn’t appeared in pro play for nearly one and a half seasons already?! I genuinely cannot understand this SST pick!”
A champion that hadn’t even touched professional play in over a season and a half—let alone Worlds? It was almost more outrageous than pre-buff Fan’en and Fanlei, who at least still showed up in fun matches once in a while! With a pick like this, where was the strength? Where was the system?
As soon as the short yordle-like hero wearing giant goggles and carrying oversized bombs was locked in, the livestream chat was just as stunned as the commentators.
[??? Holy shit, Bombardier?? I thought only Western teams played happy-game champions like this?]
[No way bro, Bombardier can actually be played in pro??]
[He who steals from SDB becomes SDB? Korean teams are starting to lose their minds too??]
[Did all the copying finally break their brains??]
“This… I honestly don’t even know what to say anymore.” Qing Ci held his forehead. “Version 6.2.1 is one of the most competitive seasons for mid-lane champions ever. Tons of perfectly decent heroes have no room to appear simply because they aren’t ‘good enough’! Bombardier’s skills and mechanics feel like they’re from the previous century. If the newest patch hadn’t changed his W so that the demolition damage also works on towers, I genuinely couldn’t think of a single reason for him to appear!”
“He’s not some all-around top-tier late-game carry like Soulreaper King. He’s not an assassin either. His roams are slow, his legs are short, he has to throw his ultimate and immediately run away, and he doesn’t even have crowd control. He’s just a pure ‘turret mage’!”
No matter how hard Qing Ci thought about it, he simply couldn’t understand why a mid laner that had practically gone extinct even in ranked games was suddenly appearing on the Worlds semifinals stage. Because he was short?
But the truly shocking part came afterward. After quietly discussing something with their coach, SST immediately locked in top lane [Holy Light Warrior] during the second phase.
That single pick completely stunned both Qing Ci and Chao Mi.
—This was a melee assassin who used to play mid lane, got beaten so badly there that he was forced to build semi-tank and retreat to top lane, tearfully changing careers into a fighter!!
Nicknamed “Happy Lightbro,” this was the kind of champion people only picked when their mental had already exploded, and they wanted to torture their teammates for personal amusement!!
[??? Holy shit, Lightbro actually made it to Worlds????]
[This draft is worse than my Bronze games!]
[People who play Lightbro top are cowards. Real men play him mid!]
[Exactly, only bullying weak little top-lane Fang. Too scared to face my mid-lane slaughter god Phantom?]
[ So Feng-bao can hang you up and whip you in mid, right?? Your scheme is as loud as hell buddy, I want in too!]
[Stop pretending Lightbro’s strong. Some heroes are unpopular because they’re weak. Some heroes are popular… also because they’re weak. (smirk)]
Chao Mi scratched his head. Right now, he had two choices before him. One: believe SST had completely lost their minds and were preparing to become Korean war criminals swimming back to Jeju Island. Two: continue maintaining maximum vigilance toward the Korean coaching staff.
As the camera zoomed in on the player booths, he deliberately examined Chen Chen’s expression. Both the coach and players were frowning deeply, discussing something nonstop. Chao Mi’s heart tightened. A bad feeling suddenly rose within him.
——
This match turned out to be unexpectedly difficult.
At 38 and a half minutes, the Elder Dragon spawned.
At this point, the gold difference between the two teams was less than 2,500, with PNG holding only a slight lead. PNG, the team most famous for dominating the mid game, had failed to build a massive advantage during their composition’s power spike. Dragging the game this late meant their average 500-gold-per-player lead could barely even be called a lead anymore. One lost teamfight could instantly cause PNG to collapse!
The Elder Dragon absolutely could not be given up. PNG slowly advanced around the dragon pit, when suddenly several bombs bounced out in succession from the shadows of the nearby brush!
Using his superior range advantage, Lumin’s Bombardier stayed outside PNG’s vision and continuously tossed Qs. The bombs rolled and bounced straight into PNG’s formation. Bang, bang, bang—AOE damage exploded everywhere instantly! Wei Ye, being naturally tanky, could endure it. But the squishy Lin Zhaoxu absolutely could not. His HP plummeted rapidly as he got blasted over and over, grimacing from the pain.
But every time he tried to fight back with poke of his own, top laner Sleep’s Holy Light Warrior would immediately step forward and cast [W – Reflective Wall], blocking every projectile—including skill shots and even basic attacks!
Lin Zhaoxu could only stand there helplessly waiting for the wall to disappear.
The previously mocked combination of [Bombardier] + [Holy Light Warrior] was producing astonishing results.
Qing Ci stared worriedly at Lin Zhaoxu’s HP bar. “Bombardier’s little bombs are way too annoying, and they’re all AOE damage! If you don’t dodge, you lose HP. But if you do dodge, your formation gets scattered. Lumin’s build was clearly researched in advance too—he rushed max cooldown reduction specifically to harass and wear down PNG’s backline! Once the squishies fall to unhealthy HP levels, one [R – World Annihilation] bomb comes crashing down, and PNG’s teamfight becomes incredibly hard to play!”
“That’s exactly how the previous teamfights went. Bombardier by himself actually isn’t that oppressive, but the problem is that top lane is Holy Light Warrior! Lightbro’s Reflective Wall giving anti-ranged protection is just disgustingly strong!”
At this point, Chao Mi finally understood what was happening.
His brows furrowed tightly. “Even when Myerii and Cloud manage to find an opening to engage, Sleep just throws up one Reflective Wall and completely disables PNG’s backline marksman. PNG’s entire formation instantly falls apart! The only good news is that Wind’s Phantom Trickster, while also affected by Reflective Wall, is much more mobile and better at finding angles. Otherwise, PNG literally wouldn’t even be able to teamfight!”
And this was already under the condition that Sleep was prioritizing Lin Zhaoxu as his primary target. Even so, Sui Ning’s Phantom Trickster still couldn’t play as freely and recklessly as he had in previous games.
Seeing this situation, Chao Mi suddenly made an association: What if the mid laner were Stellar Sprite instead?
Aeria’s Q had a much more obvious projectile path and was countered even harder by Holy Light Warrior. So, from the Korean coaching staff’s perspective, had Holy Light Warrior actually been secretly trained as a counterpick specifically for Aeria? Otherwise, why would such an obscure champion suddenly appear on stage?
Chao Mi explained his concerns to the audience in meticulous detail, and the livestream chat immediately got chills.
[Holy shit, that actually makes sense!]
[So they only pulled this out because they lost two games and had to reveal their trump card? If PNG hadn’t stubbornly stuck to their system comp, wouldn’t this have been a disaster for them??]
[Wait, then why has nobody used this before? Feng-bao’s Aeria’s been permabanned for an entire season!]
Chao Mi lowered his head and picked up the stats sheet again, analyzing based on the data. “The reason nobody played it before is because Holy Light Warrior literally cannot beat Stellar Sprite in a mid-lane 1v1! And mid lane requires responsibilities he simply cannot fulfill. In teamfights, his ultimate is basically just inting into the enemy team, so no coach would ever consider putting him mid!”
Holy Light Warrior wasn’t strong before level 6 and was also melee. Against Stellar Sprite, he’d easily get suppressed from start to finish in lane. Even with Reflective Wall blocking damage, the terrain and isolated 1v1 nature of mid lane still gave Stellar Sprite enormous room to operate.
If Stellar Sprite didn’t use Q, Holy Light Warrior wouldn’t use W. But in a 1v1, the reverse was also true. In the end, neither side would use skills—and as the ranged champion, Stellar Sprite could simply chase Holy Light Warrior down with basic attacks and kill him outright.
But in teamfights? Was Stellar Sprite supposed to AFK the entire fight waiting for Holy Light Warrior to press W? Ignore the enemy marksman? Deal zero damage in teamfights?
“But top lane is completely different. Lightbro can basically become a second support. In teamfights he can mark the enemy core one-on-one, completely shutting down their carry while still dealing respectable damage himself. Pair him with a long-range poke mage like Bombardier, lower the enemy’s HP bars first, then Holy Light Warrior ults in—whoever he targets dies! And if the enemy’s hard to engage on, Bombardier can also throw his ultimate to force them backward!”
Advance to attack, retreat to defend—the strategy was unbelievably targeted!
Chao Mi sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying this Lightbro pick became! How could it possibly be such a coincidence? Hundreds of champions were gathering dust on the bench, yet SST just happened to pick the one champion capable of countering PNG’s system? There was no way this wasn’t prepared in advance!
On top of that, PNG top laner Wei Ye’s signature picks—like Verdant Treant and Wildfang—were all weak laners who shined in teamfights. Holy Light Warrior didn’t even need to worry about “getting smashed in lane” anymore! That meant even Lightbro’s weak-laning flaw had been perfectly patched over!
[Damn it… the more you think about it, the scarier SST’s draft becomes!]
[This counter-comp isn’t just Lightbro. Bombardier deserves 60% of the credit! Without Bombardier’s insane AOE poke, Lightbro would just be a useless Reflective Wall bot!]
[These two champs together are way stronger than 1+1=2. SST really was hiding something! Their tactical understanding is on a completely different level from SDB’s. SDB was on layer one while SST’s on layer five. So why were they stealing comps in the first place??]
[I think SST was just too confident. NA had good ideas but poor execution. SST probably thought their execution was unbeatable]
Seeing that comment, Tofu raised an eyebrow and questioned: “Has anyone considered that maybe SST actually wasn’t confident? That’s why they prioritized dismantling the Soulreaper King system or allowing assassin mages like Phantom Trickster instead of directly letting Aeria through?”
“What if they themselves hadn’t fully mastered this composition and were afraid they’d lose with it? After all, Bombardier isn’t even qualified to be Aeria’s grandson. Isn’t it possible that the moment Lumin picked him, he’d just get obliterated in lane?”
A fragile, immobile artillery mage with no CC and no self-protection—against a ranged assassin mage.
Just imagining the scene made Tofu feel miserable. Even ignoring player IDs and champion mastery, it still sounded like the kind of matchup where staying one extra second meant exploding instantly, and lingering another second meant melting alive. If Bombardier dared appear alone in front of Stellar Sprite after level 3, it would already count as an unforgivable crime.
For a while, domestic viewers argued endlessly over SST’s bizarre mid-top combination.
Fortunately, even after nearly forty minutes of gameplay, PNG still hadn’t relaxed. After their backline got poked low again, Sui Ning found an angle to catch Lumin’s position, forcing SST to retreat as a whole. In the end, the Elder Dragon fight dissolved without happening.
At 41:29, Baron Nashor spawned as well.
The two teams silently reached a mutual understanding: each side would take one objective. But who would take Baron, and who would take Elder Dragon?
“Another classic late-game Baron-versus-Elder decision!” Qing Ci’s voice tightened nervously. “Both teams’ double carries are fully built now. Either objective dies extremely fast! But in this kind of situation, the team that starts first doesn’t necessarily have the advantage—you also have to worry about the enemy ignoring the other objective entirely and coming straight to steal!”
PNG’s primary late-game shotcaller was Cheng Su. As a support player, he already possessed exceptional map awareness, and after being tempered through both Summer Split and Worlds, his understanding of vision and ward control had become among the very best.
Faced with this “impossible dilemma,” he quickly concluded that Baron was more favorable for PNG. The Elder Dragon’s execute, and Dragon Soul buff were terrifying, yes—but against Bombardier plus Lightbro, PNG’s teamfighting was extremely difficult. Not just difficult. Nearly impossible to start cleanly at all.
“We take Baron and play side-lane pressure into siege. Their comp can’t force engages!” Cheng Su made the call decisively, his voice cold. “Come with me and set vision around Elder. Push mid and top together.”
Sui Ning: “Okay.”
“Got it, I’ll pressure top,” Lin Zhaoxu replied.
Hearing that, Wei Ye immediately called out to him: “Come quick, come quick! Push fast—I think we can take their tier-two!”
“They probably want Baron,” Moller guessed PNG’s intentions and asked, “Do we start Elder?”
Krain thought for a moment before nodding. “Should be fine.”
“We need to deal with mid wave first.”
“I know, I’m watching it.”
——
At 42 minutes and 35 seconds, the cries of Baron Nashor and Elder Dragon rang out through the Rift almost simultaneously.
At this decisive stage of the game, PNG grew even calmer, displaying incredibly seasoned macro play.
Compared to SST, who were eager to force a fight while their Elder Dragon buff lasted, PNG moved at an unhurried pace. Using their double Teleports in top and mid alongside Baron-buffed minions, they perfectly managed all three lanes before launching a siege against SST’s base.
But PNG’s style of attack was completely different from what SST wanted.
SST wanted PNG to group up and push together. That way, Lumin’s Bombardier could maximize his effectiveness. Ideally, PNG would pressure mid lane directly so Sleep’s Holy Light Warrior wouldn’t even need to carefully position Reflective Wall—he could simply throw it straight in front and absorb endless amounts of damage!
Yet despite having such a good opportunity to siege high ground, PNG acted like a cat sneaking snacks behind its owner’s back—darting forward to “take a bite” out of a tower’s HP, then instantly scampering away again. They bounced back and forth between all three lanes while holding Teleport advantage, annoying SST to no end!
Even the commentators finally noticed the weakness in SST’s composition. “SST only has support Krain’s Shadow Hawk as reliable engage!” Chao Mi pointed out. “They lack hard crowd control way too badly! And if they don’t engage and just play poke, then they also lack a true cleanup carry! Their marksman’s damage is stable, sure, but in terms of burst and mobility it still can’t compare to assassins. PNG’s low-health members keep escaping alive every time!”
Lumin could poke enemies low. Sleep could threaten the backline with pinpoint pressure. But then what?
Chao Mi sharply realized that SST’s composition clearly still had plenty of room for refinement. No wonder they hadn’t dared to reveal this counter-composition against Stellar Sprite from the very beginning!
Of course, as for how exactly the composition should be improved, even Chao Mi could only theorize casually on paper for now. The deeper analysis would have to be left to the coaching staffs.
By the time Elder Dragon buff expired, SST had not only failed to find a chance to force a fight, they had actually lost their top inhibitor tower under PNG’s relentless siege with empowered cannon minions. Their exposed top inhibitor trembled helplessly, while the mid and bot inhibitor towers were both hanging by a thread as well!
“Nice, beautiful!” As the top inhibitor exploded, Chao Mi’s emotions instantly surged upward. “Now they’ve got super minions top! Neither side has dragon buffs anymore, and the gold difference still isn’t huge, but PNG’s advantage in towers and lane pressure is massive!”
Qing Ci added: “The macro over the past few minutes has been gorgeous! PNG’s playstyle isn’t just about stalling out buffs like other teams—they’re genuinely using Baron buff to push while simultaneously avoiding the peak strength of Elder Dragon! PNG’s understanding of minion waves is incredible, and their vision control is so meticulous! The wards Erllit placed around the base and jungle are unbelievably tricky. SST’s movements are completely exposed, which gives PNG the confidence to pressure lanes this aggressively!”
The two teams continued stalling for a while longer, and not a single teamfight broke out during that period.
At 48:53, PNG forcibly dismantled all three of SST’s inhibitors purely through wave management and vision control.
At nearly fifty minutes, cannon minions were dealing almost as much damage as champions themselves. SST was already struggling just to clear all three super minion waves, yet they also didn’t dare recklessly recall to heal. If they ended up outnumbered at the front line and a fight suddenly broke out, it would basically hand PNG the win for free.
They carefully cleared waves while trying their best not to spread their formation too thin.
But no matter how cautious a team was, mistakes were inevitable—especially after several consecutive hours of competition. SST’s players were mentally exhausted, their nerves stretched tight, and their concentration beginning to slip.
At 49:13, Sui Ning finally found an opportunity to catch a positioning mistake from Lumin. The six-item Phantom Trickster showed no mercy, instantly deleting him in one combo.
Lumin cursed loudly in panic: “Fuck, we’re done—why is the damage so high?!”
[PNG_Wind (Phantom Trickster) has slain SST_Lumin (Bombardier)!]
That kill notification effectively announced SST’s death sentence. Losing someone near the base at fifty minutes—and especially losing Bombardier, their strongest waveclear champion—meant SST no longer had any ability to resist.
In the end, the game froze at 49 minutes and 57 seconds.
PNG 3 : 1 SST!
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