Godlike Ban and Pick

Breaking up a combination was actually a perfectly viable move in this version, but you absolutely could not leave yourself with an uncomfortable matchup.

For example, if the other side wanted to play Ezreal and Karma in lane, you could take Ezreal after they picked Karma. But if you could not get a support that paired particularly well with Ezreal, you had a problem: Ezreal's weak waveclear would make the bot lane miserable to play.

For the second game, Anyone's Legend chose to pick first, while IG chose the blue side. Ban and Pick began.

Anyone's Legend invested heavily in bot lane with their first three bans, banning Karma, Corki, and Jayce.

IG responded by banning Poppy, Wukong, and Vi. With three junglers banned, IG's objective was clear: shut down the enemy jungler's tempo.

"They want Jarvan IV, right? That's why they're banning so many junglers," Flandre guessed.

"Let's grab Seraphine and Ashe. I still have other champions I can play in the jungle," Tarzan said, stepping up to take responsibility.

The gap in bot lane had been too wide in the first game. No matter what the jungler played, it would have been miserable. Even with a strong jungler, there would have been few chances to take objectives without bot-lane priority.

Failing to take the crucial second bot-side Rift Scuttler would mean reaching level six later than the opposing jungler and falling even further behind in tempo.

In this version, the second round of Rift Scuttlers was extremely important for junglers.

Anyone's Legend had suffered from their bot lane in the first game. This time, they hoped to pick an overwhelmingly strong bot lane to gain priority and make things a little easier for their jungler.

Ashe and Seraphine also offered tremendous utility in the midgame. They were excellent at engaging, keeping enemies from escaping, and fighting small skirmishes.

But the other lanes would have to shoulder more of the damage burden.

Unsurprisingly, Anyone's Legend took Seraphine with their first pick.

"From what I've seen of IG over the past two days, I think there's a very good chance they'll take Ashe away," Miller immediately said on the broadcast.

Then, after seeing IG lock in Ashe with their first pick, he immediately said:

"See? They took her right away. That really is something IG would do. No, I should say that's something Coach Danny likes to do."

"Now that IG has taken Ashe away, Anyone's Legend should have an answer, right? If we could think of it, I think Anyone's Legend's coaching staff should have thought of it too. But there aren't many AD carries who work well with Seraphine," PYL said.

"After thinking it over, IG picked Nocturne second. That's a bit unexpected, because Jarvan IV is still available. Do they have something planned?" Miller grew curious when he saw IG's second pick, then continued his commentary.

"Nocturne isn't bad either. Let's see what Anyone's Legend picks now that Ashe has been taken away.

"Oh? Miss Fortune. That's a good pick too. Hope plays Miss Fortune very well, and the slow from her E, Bullet Time, can work with Seraphine's E and R. If she builds Bloodthirster first, she'll also have decent lane priority once she gets to the center of the lane. Her early pressure is a little weaker than Ashe's, but she'll deal more damage in midgame teamfights.

"Looks like that support Varus's poke really gave them a hard time last game. If they'd played Miss Fortune, they wouldn't have been so worried. She could've built Bloodthirster and healed it back. It looks like Anyone's Legend's coaching staff considered the possibility of IG picking some strange supports."

"Yeah, Miss Fortune's a decent pick. For their third pick, they've given Flandre Sion. Looks like they're planning to have Flandre make a bit of a sacrifice today," PYL said.

"Looks like IG wants to gank the side lanes this game. They've picked Twisted Fate for Rookie in the third slot. Anyone who watches Rookie regularly should know he plays Twisted Fate, but it's definitely not a champion he likes playing. Still, Twisted Fate paired with Nocturne will be pretty strong at ganking the side lanes." Seeing the third-pick Twisted Fate, Miller seemed to have gained some insight into IG's plan for the game.

"What support will IG pick to go with Ashe? I'm curious about that. It doesn't feel like there are any particularly good supports left to pair with her, but you never know what kind of strange support Lin Heng might pick," PYL said with a smile as he analyzed the draft before the second round of Ban and Pick began.

"I think Ashe might even be the support. Is that possible?" A thought suddenly struck Miller.

"Hey, now that you mention it, that could actually work. Against Anyone's Legend's bot duo, Uzi could pick Caitlyn and flex Ashe to support. Then they'd have bot-lane priority secured again this game. And I think there's a very good chance Lin Heng will play it that way." PYL clapped his hands.

Little did they know, Anyone's Legend was discussing the same thing over comms.

"If they flex Ashe to support, this looks a little hard to play," Xiangkes said, looking at IG's picks.

"Then let's ban Caitlyn. We'll ban the strongest champion to pair with Ashe, then ban Gwen for top lane. We can't let TheShy get too comfortable either." The coach made the final decision.

"Oh, look, AL really did ban Caitlyn! They actually thought of that. What an exciting draft!" Miller exclaimed.

The contest between the two sides immediately got the viewers excited as well.

IG, meanwhile, followed a very standard approach and banned Galio and Sylas, two mid laners who could match Twisted Fate's ability to provide support. Their intention to gank the side lanes seemed to be spilling right off the screen.

But then IG picked Ziggs in the fourth slot, a move that left everyone in the venue baffled.

"What's the idea behind this Ziggs? Even without Caitlyn, there are still plenty of options. It feels like Ziggs and Ashe could barely even scratch the enemy. They could throw a full combo at Miss Fortune, and she'd heal back to full with a couple of hits from Bloodthirster!" Miller asked in confusion.

"Yeah, and doesn't this lineup look a bit too lacking in damage right now? They'll need a hard carry in the top lane. What I don't understand is, Flandre has already picked his top laner, so why didn't they pick a champion for Shy in the fourth slot?" PYL was also having trouble making sense of it.

"And I've thought about it—surely they can't be sending Twisted Fate bot with Ziggs or Ashe, right? That doesn't make much sense either, does it?" Miller began scratching his head.

By now, the screen was covered in comments.

[What does this mean?]

[Has God Danny gone crazy?]

[Ziggs and Ashe aren't even as strong as Brand, Lux, Vel'Koz, or Bard with Ashe. I couldn't come up with a bot-lane combo like this even in ranked.]

The comments were filled with criticism.

Anyone's Legend was completely baffled. The pick had left them at a loss. Only Flandre cleared his throat and said, a little uncertainly:

"They're not going to flex Ashe top, are they?"

Everyone froze. Picking Ashe and flexing her top didn't seem like a good idea either, did it? Although she would have a great time against Sion and could take turret plating, she'd die the moment she got ganked. Were they crazy?

For a moment, Anyone's Legend did not even know what champions to pick.

"Forget it. Let's pick our own champions first," Xiangkes said.