Dr. J

"No problem with that," Miller continued. "Young players should be willing to fight and take risks. Here, flashing away would have gained them nowhere near as much as flashing forward."

"Right. Even if you use Chain of Corruption to catch Pantheon when he lands, there's absolutely no way to burst him down first when he can use his E to negate the damage. At that point, it feels like Anyone's Legend's three players would still have more damage. Everyone who knows Yunara knows how strong she is at level six," PYL said.

"Joker's thinking is really clear too. Burst down whoever deals the most damage first. Can't argue with that," Miller said with a laugh.

"Right, there's absolutely nothing wrong with bursting down the ADC first in a teamfight." PYL laughed too.

"And look at him, he's not messing around. He went straight back and bought a Serrated Dirk. He knows that if he can't make an impact early, all he'll have left in the late game is his R. So he went straight for Zaz'Zak's Realmspike as his support item, then lethality items. He wants damage and maximum lane priority," Miller said.

"Right. After all, support Varus really is useless later on if he falls behind on items and has no damage."

At ten and a half minutes, thanks to their enormous lead, Invictus Gaming easily secured the second dragon. The chat lit up.

[I was playing support Varus years ago. Finally got to see it on the pro stage.]

[Which pro player are you?]

[So you're a dozen patches ahead of everyone else?]

[Honestly, this looks really promising. I'm going to queue up with my bro tonight and support him with Varus for a couple of games.]

[Tomorrow morning, you'll each be eating breakfast at a separate table.]

[Dr. J really is a doctor. Bro's never stopped doing research. I still haven't seen what a normal support pick from him looks like.]

[He's so aggressive that even the ADC beside him, the one supposedly famous for living on the knife's edge, looks a little tame.]

[Have you guys watched the other region? There's a little Uzi over there. Wonder if they'll meet this year. Big Uzi versus little Uzi.]

[What's that supposed to mean?]

[Is calling someone little Uzi a compliment?]

[Uzi's up forty CS on his opponent at ten minutes again.]

[Does him being up forty CS this game have anything to do with your GOAT? Wasn't it because his support played well?]

[Exactly. I'd be up forty CS too if I were playing.]

[When you're talking big, you get a kill with every shot. Put you in the game for real and you won't know who you are after two minutes.]

[Is this a statement too?]

[Uzi has 115 CS and Hope has 85. That's a forty-CS lead?]

[??? Do I need to teach you math?]

[Obviously a new viewer. That's a ten-CS lead.]

[What's that supposed to mean?]

[Thirty CS at ten minutes is the baseline. Only the amount above that counts as a lead. Anything less means he's behind.]

At sixteen minutes, Anyone's Legend knew they couldn't win a fight. Tarzan tried to steal the third dragon, which would put Invictus Gaming on soul point, with Q, Flash, and Smite. He lost the contest, was caught by Varus's ultimate, and was burst down.

At twenty-one minutes, Anyone's Legend had nowhere left to retreat. If Invictus Gaming got the Hextech Dragon Soul and then forced a fight around Baron Nashor, Anyone's Legend would lose too.

But at that point, the gap in strength between the two teams was still too large.

The moment Ambessa flew into Yunara's face with Orianna's ball on her, the teamfight was practically over.

Dragon rush compositions were popular because the opposing team could barely contest the two fights around Baron Nashor that followed once you secured the Dragon Soul.

One arrow from Varus, empowered by the Hextech Dragon Soul, took nearly a third of the health off the enemy's two carries and support.

Not to mention Ambessa and Sivir, who were extremely well fed this game.

The fights were easy. Ambessa and Xin Zhao only had to charge in to tear the enemy carries apart, while Anyone's Legend's frontline was no match for Invictus Gaming's damage dealers.

When Invictus Gaming reached the inhibitor turret with Baron Nashor buff, Varus fired arrow after arrow, leaving Anyone's Legend unable to defend it.

At twenty-eight minutes, Invictus Gaming secured their second Baron Nashor and ended the game in one push.

The result of this game surprised those who had expected Invictus Gaming to face a very tough test today.

The first game had seemed a little too easy.

Was the newly rebuilt Invictus Gaming simply too strong? Or had Anyone's Legend gotten weaker? A heated discussion broke out in chat.

[That looked like a bot game.]

[Huge gap in bot lane.]

[Wasn't there a gap in Ban and Pick too?]

[Wasn't there a gap in top lane too?]

[Feels like mid was the only one on Anyone's Legend playing like a human. He even had the upper hand against Rookie early. The other two lanes got beaten down nonstop.]

[The master still loves feeding monsters.]

[What could he do? He could still fight before level six, but how was Ornn supposed to fight Ambessa with Eclipse and Black Cleaver?]

[The problem is, the master was already getting pushed around before level six.]

[There's a gap even between champion top laners.]

[Invictus Gaming's support feels like he's showing off too much. He might be the next ON and get punished hard at Worlds.]

[Does bro just not know how to play conventional supports?]

[Hope doesn't look too happy. He got shot by Varus all game, his head's practically been shot to pieces.]

[Of course he'd be tilted.]

[Same thing happened against King yesterday. He just went after the ADC. Brutal.]

[This Invictus Gaming still feels a little unfamiliar. They said dragon rush and actually rushed dragons, and they didn't go around starting random fights. Weird. Who's making the calls?]

[Against Weibo Gaming yesterday, it looked like Rookie and the new support were making calls together. We can take another look after today's match.]

[Speaking of which, hasn't Anyone's Legend's form dropped off way too hard? Why does it feel like they're playing without any plan?]

[I'll say it straight: Anyone's Legend picked this lineup because they thought they could hold out. But who are they up against? TheShy, Ning, Uzi, and now this new support. They all like and excel at playing aggressively. You really think they can't break through you?]

The discussion about Anyone's Legend and Invictus Gaming was getting closer and closer to the heart of the matter. But in any case, if Anyone's Legend didn't try to change in this patch, it was only natural that things would get harder and harder for them.

That was the inevitable result of the patch.

The new patch's quest system had significantly strengthened Top Lane and bot lane, yet neither of Anyone's Legend's lanes could be considered particularly competitive.

Their jungle and support were strong, and junglers and supports could have a very good impact on the game's tempo in this patch, but for starters, jungle carries were hard to bring out.

And mid-to-late-game teamfights really depended on a well-farmed ADC with an item advantage and a top laner who was two levels ahead.

If your top laner and ADC had no ceiling, it was really hard for the team to have one.

That was also why Lin Heng and Danny had repeatedly emphasized improving their top and bot lanes' laning strength during Ban and Pick.

As long as those two lanes were comfortable, the jungler didn't even need to do much. Good counter-ganks and protection would give them an advantage.

After the first game, Anyone's Legend had clearly been left a little dazed.

While the coach was talking, Hope was actually zoning out.

"Hope? Are you all right?" The coach noticed something was wrong with Hope.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Hope paused for a moment before answering.

Hope took a deep breath, then let out a sigh.

"I think if we're going to play for lane again next game, pick Ashe and Seraphine. If they're banned, let's not play for lane. Give me Aphelios or something and let me scale."

Meanwhile, in Invictus Gaming's lounge.

"They're very likely to pick Ashe and the pop star. Let's split them up!"

Lin Heng and Danny exchanged a glance and immediately high-fived, clearly having had the same idea.