Compared to Game 2, Varus's performance in Game 3 was even more outrageous.
A 9–0–9 scoreline.
In his second game on stage, Lin Fan successfully went godlike.
Not only that—his damage share reached a massive 38%.
At the moment the game ended, the director kept cutting through the Top Esports fan section, trying to find a cheering sign for Lin Fan.
Unfortunately, sweep after sweep, there simply wasn't a single sign for dine.
After all, no one had expected the one to end Top Esports' losing streak to be… a support.
And not just any support—
One who, in everyone's eyes, had always been mediocre and had even been benched.
Yet he turned around, became a mid laner, and with two incredible performances, turned into Top Esports' savior and stopped the losing streak.
Since there were no personal fan signs to be found, the camera eventually shifted to the player booth.
Top Esports were already huddled together in celebration.
This win was something they had been longing for.
"Nice! Brothers, we finally won one."
JackeyLove never imagined he'd reach a point where even a single win felt this hard-earned. Saying those words carried a hint of bitterness.
"It'll only get better from here."
"I think so too. These last two games felt insanely good—better than anything before." Tian nodded, feeling like his helmet had suddenly gotten sturdier.
As for Lin Fan, who was surrounded in the middle, the feeling was… strange.
So this was what winning felt like.
But tonight… wasn't there a five-man Honor of Kings event he still hadn't done?
His expression gradually turned serious.
"TT are still waiting for us to shake hands. I believe we'll keep winning from here."
"Brother Fan's right—we're Top Esports." JackeyLove calmed down from the excitement, then felt his face heat up.
A world champion getting this emotional over a regular-season win… that really was a bit embarrassing.
"Look at how excited Top Esports are—if you didn't know better, you'd think they just won Worlds."
"We are champions!"
"This is hilarious. All those big-name, multi-million players, and they're not as good as a substitute dine."
"To be fair, dine actually looks pretty handsome."
"Looking closer, yeah—handsome, but also kind of cocky."
"u1s1, dine is way better than Knight. Knight just farms and waits to get carried."
TL: u1s1 = To be honest, Lowkey
"These seven games perfectly demonstrate controlled variables—ending a six-game losing streak. Whoever was missing is awkward, huh?"
"No matter what, if beating TT was this hard, the later opponents won't be weak. Top Esports probably won't go far this season."
The chat descended into complete chaos—every kind of take imaginable.
Mainly because this match was just too dramatic.
A former support, dine, replaced Knight and immediately took MVP in two straight games.
Just thinking about it was entertaining.
Of course, not many people truly believed Lin Fan was that strong in mid lane.
More people thought Ucal had simply been careless in lane.
And Ucal's own strength wasn't particularly impressive to begin with.
Picking Zed in Game 2 was pure arrogance—losing was deserved.
As for Lin Fan's highlight plays—who hasn't had their moment once in a while?
Even the legendary "Mid King" had standout games during his time on LGD.
So not many people took it too seriously.
Besides, last place beating third-to-last wasn't exactly worth celebrating.
Unsurprisingly, after earning MVP in both games, Lin Fan was chosen for the post-match interview.
Once again standing at center stage, looking out at the sea of people, he felt a bit nervous.
This was completely different from sitting in the booth playing the game.
During matches, all his attention was on gameplay.
This was his first time being this close to such a crowd.
Today's interviewer was Luo Xin, known for her creative poses—she probably had the most poses among LPL female hosts.
She could go an entire year without repeating one.
"Welcome to the post-match interview. I'm your host, Luo Xin.
First, congratulations to Top Esports for winning today's match.
We've invited… the support—uh, mid laner dine.
Hello dine, please say hello to everyone."
"Hello everyone, I'm Top Esports' mid laner, dine."
Since Lin Fan had already made up his mind to replace Knight, he didn't hesitate during the interview.
He directly claimed the mid-lane role, rather than calling himself a support.
Backstage, Knight's face instantly darkened.
At the same time, his phone screen lit up—his attention was no longer on the interview.
"We all know Top Esports' recent results haven't been ideal.
This match also helped Top Esports end their losing streak and secure their first Spring Split win.
Under what circumstances did the coach decide to let you play mid?"
Lin Fan took the mic.
"Knight has always been an excellent mid laner.
But the coach felt that, to win, the team needed a mid laner who focused more on laning rather than just wave management.
So the coach let me play."
"Fortunately, I didn't run into any issues and managed to fill in that missing piece for the team."
"That's very humble—your performance today was flawless."
Luo Xin continued, "We noticed TT banned Vladimir in two games. Was that aimed at you?"
"No. I actually don't play Vladimir very well.
They banned it mainly to target our top laner, Zoom."
He had no choice—his champion pool was still limited.
It was better to keep the traditional mids available.
Otherwise, if everything got banned, he'd be forced to pick even stranger mid-lane champions.
Varus as a numbers-based mid was still acceptable.
TL: Numbers-based means just hit them hard enough and the enemy dies. The opposite would be mechanics based. Like fighting a big person as a small person, you'd need lotsa lotsa skills for that. Generally used to describe weird champions or champions that don't really belong in the role. Btw, I'm learning all this as I translate so tell me if you have any questions.
But what if that got banned too—
He couldn't possibly pull out Blitzcrank mid, right?
"I'm pretty satisfied with today's performance.
I didn't drag the team down, and we finally got our first win.
When I go back to streaming, I probably won't get flamed anymore."
"Waaah, I'm crying! The strongest player on the team got flamed the most."
"I was wrong—I admit it. I watched the games with preconceived bias."
"Wasn't it Water Ghost Sister leading the flames? After all, dine was JackeyLove's support."
"Don't talk nonsense—Water Ghost Sister hates trouble and never stirs things up."
TL: 水鬼姐姐 - Toxic fans, drama stirrers. Literal translation is water ghost sister.
Luo Xin knew all too well how vicious fan wars could be, so she quickly changed topics.
"Your ID is 'dine.' Does it have a special meaning to you?"
"It's pretty simple actually.
'Dine' means eating.
When I first started playing League, people said my play was very 'feeding,' so I picked 'dine' to remind myself not to become a 'meal god.'"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup