Ha-ha! What do you want?

Soon enough.

Both teams settled on their first three bans.

On the blue side, WE opened by banning Kalista, followed by Draven and Rakan. All three bans targeted the bot lane.

On the red side, IG banned Zac, Kled, and Thresh.

"Chen Yu has practically forced them to spend a ban on him through his performance alone."

Miller sounded impressed. "But his Kalista was a little too outstanding last game. Without a way to counter her, banning her really is the best choice."

Who banned Kalista on this patch?

This wasn't the later World Championship patch, when Kalista would truly become a permanent fixture on the ban list.

"But that leaves Caitlyn open," Rita added. "I wonder if IG will pick her?"

At that moment.

WE used their first pick to lock in Elise for Condi in the jungle.

"You can tell Condi isn't ready to accept that loss," Miller said with a smile.

Just as he said, Condi was still stewing.

Last game, his Gragas had his blue buff stolen at the start, wrecking his early tempo. Ning Wang's Elise had practically made herself at home in his jungle!

Of course he wanted to get even this game.

I'm no worse than him!

Next, IG picked Olaf and Viktor, the three-armed machine.

"Pick Jhin. Even if they take Caitlyn, you won't have too much trouble farming," Redmi said. "Take Janna support to give you more staying power in lane."

"Okay." Mystic nodded and slowly exhaled. "I'll hold steady."

And so WE locked in Jhin and Janna.

Strictly speaking, Jhin didn't fit the meta.

With Ardent Censer gradually rising to prominence, utility ADCs like Jhin were seeing less and less play.

Relatively speaking, however, Jhin was excellent at surviving lane. There was almost no chance of his lane collapsing.

Immediately afterward, IG locked in Braum as their support.

Both teams entered the second round of picks and bans.

WE banned Cho'Gath and Shen.

IG banned Camille and Kennen.

Both teams independently chose to target the opposing top laner.

WE wanted to find an opening through TheShy, the rookie top laner.

As for IG, they simply felt bot lane didn't need any bans, so they gave them all to top instead.

Finally, IG locked in Rumble, while WE locked in Jax and Jayce.

At that point, Mafa's classic question rang out again. "Lu Chen, what d'you wanna play?"

Lu Chen studied both compositions thoughtfully. "Hmm, let's take Twitch."

Unsurprised, Mafa nodded. "Okay, Twitch it is."

His answer was so decisive, without the slightest hesitation, that even Lu Chen found it a little ridiculous.

What kind of coach lets a player call all the shots in the draft?

"Ha-ha! What do you want?"

With his signature voice line, Twitch, the Plague Rat, was locked in.

Both teams' compositions were finalized.

Blue side, WE: Jax top, Jayce mid, Elise jungle, Jhin ADC, and Janna support.

Red side, IG: Rumble top, Viktor mid, Olaf jungle, Twitch ADC, and Braum support.

"Wow, WE's top, mid, and jungle picks are clearly geared toward aggression this game," Wawa said.

Miller nodded. "Yes, but I'm surprised IG didn't lock in Caitlyn, who's so strong on this patch, and picked Twitch instead."

With the arrival of the Ardent Censer meta, Twitch's pick rate had indeed been rising.

But he was still a long way from being considered a strong or mainstream meta pick.

At the very least, he certainly couldn't compare to Caitlyn, a top-tier pick on this patch.

Rita also offered a serious analysis. "It looks like WE want to play around top, mid, and jungle this game, with bot lane serving a utility role. That strategy goes against the meta somewhat."

"They don't have much choice," Miller said with a nod. "Mystic and Ben haven't been in great form. This is probably WE's way of adapting."

The live chat rolled on.

"They're just scared."

"Mystic really is off his game. At least picking Jhin means his lane won't implode."

"Seriously, a utility ADC on this patch? What is Redmi thinking?"

"That's the pressure C God puts on you!"

At that moment, thunderous cheers from the fans filled the venue again.

"Let's go, WE!"

"Let's go, WE!"

"Let's go, IG!"

Although WE had lost the previous game, and lost badly, they still had a chance.

Most of their fans still firmly believed the Red Miracle had what it took to fight back from the brink.

At the same time, plenty of IG fans had found their voices and started cheering loudly.

This one match had shattered many people's longstanding impression of IG.

Many IG fans suddenly realized something.

The IG that had once needed the Chicken Lord to hard-carry them to victory seemed to have undergone a complete transformation!

Once the loading screen finished, both teams entered the game.

"Welcome to League of Legends!"

All ten players immediately rushed out of their bases, heading straight for key positions in the jungle.

"Getting kills bot won't be easy this game, huh?" Ning Wang glanced at the enemy lineup.

Jhin was already excellent at surviving lane. With Janna protecting him, getting a lane kill would be exceptionally difficult.

Rookie chimed in as well. "Let's keep things steady early. It'll be easy to win teamfights later."

On this patch, most late-game fights still depended on the ADC.

Compared to a hypercarry like Twitch, Jhin's ability to carry was clearly far weaker.

"Then I'll start in the bot-side jungle?" Ning Wang asked.

"Sure." A glint flashed through Lu Chen's eyes as he smiled faintly. "I picked Twitch because I don't want to sit bot trading with them."

Across the Rift, WE were discussing their plans as well.

"They've got Twitch this game. Xiang Renjie, watch out for him stealing your buff again," Xiye reminded him.

"Don't worry!" Condi looked serious. "If he dares come, I'll kill him!"

If his buff got stolen again, he might as well stop playing jungle.

Lu Chen clearly had no such intention, either.

They were all professional players. Once a surprise opening buff steal had worked, the others would inevitably be on guard against it.

And

so both teams opened normally this game.

After helping their jungler, Lu Chen and Baolan returned to lane and started pushing as usual.

It was clear that Mystic was playing extremely cautiously this game.

He neither pushed to contest level two with Lu Chen nor went for any risky last hits. He would rather fall behind in CS than lose health. He was playing so safely it almost looked unnatural!

But while bot lane remained peaceful, the fighting between top, mid, and jungle grew intense.

Top lane in particular saw both junglers clearing from bottom to top, with Condi starting his rotation top early.

Ning Wang understood the situation too. After clearing his buffs and reaching level three, he naturally headed top to countergank.

A gank erupted into a fight between both sides.

In the end, TheShy's Rumble killed 957 for first blood, while Condi's Elise took down Ning Wang. It ended in a one-for-one trade.

The game reached the five-minute mark.

Both mid laners were trading damage. Xiye's Jayce played extremely aggressively, using the movement speed from his E to dodge Rookie's Viktor E before switching into hammer form, jumping onto him, and immediately applying Ignite.

"Xiye is playing so aggressively!" Miller exclaimed. "If Rookie doesn't flash now, he's going to die!"

Just then.

Wawa suddenly said, "Huh? What's that beside the river brush?!"

"Twitch!" Miller looked closer. A sneaky figure was quietly approaching mid lane. "When did he get here?"

The camera had been focused on the top half of the map, and no one had paid attention to bot lane.

That was why everyone was shocked when Twitch suddenly appeared.

(End of chapter)