A Flex Pick?

"Here it comes! IG has locked in Sivir, which means they picked Varus for the top lane! We get to see Brother Shy on another ranged champion," Miller said excitedly.

In fact, the moment Varus was picked, he had already prepared two sets of talking points.

If he played ADC, Miller would say Uzi was going to overcome his demons. If he played top, Miller would praise how strong TheShy was when he had a ranged champion against a melee one.

Anyone's Legend had no choice but to quickly pick Yunara in their third slot. Otherwise, they would only have weak ADCs left to choose from in the second round.

IG then banned Jax and Gwen, two champions that ranged ADCs had a harder time playing against, making it look even more like Varus was going top.

Anyone's Legend targeted support with their bans, taking out Karma and Alistar. Karma was one of the stronger enchanter supports in lane, while Alistar could provide a fairly reliable frontliner in the early and mid game.

Then they picked Ornn in the fourth slot.

"Oh, is Old Gun still choosing Ornn to hold the lane? But with Jax and Gwen banned, there really aren't any top laners who are particularly good against Varus," PYL said.

"I know why he picked Ornn," Miller said suddenly.

"Why?"

"The coach just checked. TheShy's win rate on top-lane Varus against Ornn is zero percent. In the fourth game last year, his Steel Sigil and Blade of the Ruined King Varus was up against Ornn. The jungler in that game was Nocturne, and today it's Pantheon. Both can work with Ornn's ultimate to catch the immobile Varus," Miller said with a smile.

"The main thing is that while Varus really can hit Ornn for free, Ornn is a champion who'll never be useless. If he played Ambessa, Bunny, or Kennen, a disastrous early lane would mean the game just blows up for him," PYL explained.

"That brings back some bad memories, but turret plates go down faster in this version. Let's see how it goes today. I'm really looking forward to it."

Just as everyone was waiting to see how big an advantage Varus could build against Ornn in lane,

IG locked in Orianna and Ambessa in their fourth and fifth slots.

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"What's Ambessa doing here? What does this mean?"

Even Anyone's Legend was stunned, but they only had their mid laner left to pick, so there wasn't much to think about. They locked in Azir.

Azir was no longer that strong in this version, but plenty of teams still picked him.

"Huh? Varus is playing support? J-god, stop experimenting, you're scaring me a little," Miller said, a little speechless and bewildered by IG's flex pick.

"Isn't it a bit too creative to play Varus, who's so strong in this version, as a support? This is still for the bot lane matchup, after all," PYL said, sounding somewhat surprised himself.

"They're so bold. At this point, nothing he picks would surprise me," Miller said.

"But you know what? This flex pick has made their lanes really comfortable this game. They have an advantage against Neeko and Yunara in bot lane, and Ambessa can farm comfortably in top lane too," PYL said after looking at the matchups.

"True. Ambessa can get through the period before Eclipse very comfortably, and the team's overall composition isn't too strange either, with Xin Zhao and Ambessa both able to disrupt the enemy back line," Miller said, having noticed it too.

"Actually, Sivir can play pretty comfortably this game too. She can block Ornn's R, Neeko's R, and Pantheon's W—the key abilities that can reach her—with her spell shield," PYL said.

"Right. Anyone's Legend's composition looks solid at first glance, but it's a little too focused on the late game. They're seriously lacking damage in the mid game," Miller said.

The chat.

[What does this mean?]

[Big Brother Lin is experimenting again.]

[I even thought Varus might get flexed to mid. I never imagined he'd use this monster as a support...]

[He has poke, and his ult can protect people and initiate fights. How is he any worse than Neeko?]

[The main thing is, his poke really is stronger than Neeko's. Yunara's going to have a rough time this game.]

[I don't know how Anyone's Legend could lose in the late game.]

[I don't know how Anyone's Legend gets to the late game.]

[Come on, I wanted to see TheShy play Varus! Why'd they give him to the support?!]

[You know what, top Varus really would have a hard time surviving this game. Ornn top, Pantheon jungle, and if you insisted on taking Varus top, Anyone's Legend would just pick Twisted Fate mid...]

[True, he'd be a walking ATM. Their actual choice is really comfortable, and Ambessa has plenty of room to shine this game.]

[I don't care!!! I want to see TheShy play ranged into melee!!!]

[None of you understand. They're burning through Hope's ADC picks this game. After this one, he'll be left with pretty much just Corki and those few hypercarries...]

Bringing out an unconventional strategy in the very first game easily ignited the audience's enthusiasm.

Everyone eagerly waited to see how support Varus would perform.

Of course, many viewers were disappointed that Varus hadn't gone top, but this was certainly more entertaining than the same old formulaic picks.

The lineups were set.

IG: Ambessa, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Sivir, Varus.

Anyone's Legend: Ornn, Pantheon, Azir, Yunara, Neeko.

Once they entered the game, Hope felt a pang of discomfort when he saw Varus with Arcane Comet.

Sivir was the most comfortable ADC to lane against Varus with, since she could use her E to block some of his poke damage, but IG had picked her away.

Support Varus had another advantage: he didn't need to last-hit minions, so he could devote all his attention to poking Yunara down.

Sure enough, the moment the minion waves met and Yunara stepped forward to auto-attack a minion, Varus dropped an E on her, proccing Arcane Comet.

Varus then sidestepped Neeko's Q.

After several rounds of nerfs, Neeko's early poke couldn't compare to Varus's at all, and she couldn't outtrade him with auto-attacks either.

So Varus naturally secured control of the middle brush without trouble.

The lane played out fairly normally. Hope was willing to miss a few last hits to keep his health up as much as possible, and Neeko couldn't Q Sivir either, since Sivir had clearly taken her E. But every time Neeko stepped up to poke Varus, he chased her down with a few auto-attacks and hit her with an ability.

Both junglers had also cleared from top to bottom this game, and by the time they reached the bottom side, Anyone's Legend's bot-lane duo was in no shape to fight.

Ning comfortably secured the bottom Rift Scuttler.

"Varus's skill shots are way too accurate," Miller exclaimed.

"Definitely. It'd be one thing if he kept landing his E, but he's barely missed any Qs either. He's just a little short on mana. He can get a Tear of the Goddess when he goes back," PYL said.

"It's impressive to take lane priority from Neeko in this version. Neeko's a lane bully, but she's getting beaten so badly she can barely fight back," Miller said.

"Lin Heng's champion picks in these three games have been a pleasant surprise every time," PYL said in admiration.