Chapter 427: Which move?

LPL livestream.

Advertisement ended, the camera cut to the commentator's desk.

The players had returned to the stage, the second game's ban/pick hadn't started yet, and the three commentators were still discussing the previous match.

"Although continuing to drag it out, RNG's chance of a comeback isn't big either, but the decision to steal the dragon is too problematic. You should at least wait until Uzi has his three items and try a wave to see if there's a chance—why rush like that? I think RNG should stick to their most familiar four‑protect‑one tactic; they might still have a chance. Attempting to steal the dragon while behind is something you only do in utter despair."

"Yeah, and after thinking it over, so far it seems no team has managed to easily steal a dragon from Jiao Shen's hands."

"There was, I recall from last year's World Championship they did get a dragon, but then they were wiped out right after, so it was as if they hadn't gotten it."

"Last year? I don't think so—last year Jiao Shen was nearly unstoppable in his all‑in plays; even SKT wouldn't dare take dragon while he was alive."

"Hmm, I recall the only dragon Jiao Shen ever lost was when he was playing Olaf; he simply couldn't get near the dragon pit, so the opponents took it."

"That might be my mistake… alright, let's cut the chatter—both sides' second game ban/pick has started!"

The livestream's chat became dense again, and online viewers started spamming the score.

Almost everyone was spamming 2‑0, a few spammed 2‑1, and as for those spamming a comeback from 1‑down, out of a hundred chat messages there were probably just two or three like that—even those two or three could well be sarcastic.

As Guan Zeyuan said before the first game started, in fact VG no longer needs more victories to prove its standing in the LPL—the public's eyes are sharp; they joke around normally, but when a team stays undefeated past the halfway point of the season, ordinary people won't doubt its strength any further.

There are still some abnormal people.

For example, the overly fervent dog‑fans sitting in the venue right now—or they could already be called believers of a god.

But their faith, like bubbles in sunlight, soon burst.

After each side used up three bans, they began picking. In this game RNG was on blue side, first pick was Varus; VG took Ashe plus Zilean.

Immediately after, RNG locked in Maokai and Karma.

Liang Yan glanced at the picks, frowned slightly, and realized things weren't simple.

They wouldn't be going for a four‑protect‑one, would they?

Season 6 hasn't been that long ago—how could you forget how you got crushed back then?

Liang Yan pondered for a moment, then spoke into the mic:

"Long Ge, let's grab Titan first."

Zhu Xiaolong still hadn't seen the point, and asked doubtfully:

"Isn't it a bit early to lock in top lane now?"

"It doesn't have to be top lane."

Fu Lan Duo exclaimed 'Holy shit' and said:

"You brat, you wouldn't be thinking of pulling that move, would you?"

Zhu Xiaolong was bewildered:

"Which move?"

He hadn't personally experienced Season 6, and last year he hadn't scrimmed against G2 either; although he'd watched every Season 6 match, he didn't have Fu Lan Duo's deep feel for it, so some key points didn't come to mind naturally.

Fu Lan Duo bluntly threw out the answer:

"The double lock‑head system—it's the dad of any single‑core lineup!"

Liang Yan smiled and gave an affirmative hum.

The double lock‑head system is actually a versatile all‑purpose setup; it works against any composition, and VG certainly practiced it, but they hardly used it at all in the spring season.

Mainly, Liang Yan noticed that after Season 6 ended, the double lock‑head system didn't become as explosively popular as he'd expected; once the spring season started, only the LCK region really valued it, Vi's pick rate was decent, but in the LPL and other regions the champion remained relatively obscure—so far in the LPL Vi has appeared in fewer than ten games total.

So Liang Yan deliberately avoided picking Vi, trying to create the illusion that he had abandoned the double lock‑head system—not to fool the LPL teams, but mainly to see if he could confuse the LCK side into discarding the double lock‑head system.

But if RNG really dared to run a four‑protect‑one in front of him, Liang Yan wouldn't mind helping them recall the terror of Season 6, so he specifically had Zhu Xiaolong hold his pick until the end.

And the facts proved that RNG really hadn't remembered.

Maybe it's because they changed coaches?

In short, after the second round of picks began, RNG fully revealed their pick intention—and sure enough, it was a four‑protect‑one.

If that's the case, Liang Yan wasn't going to hold back.

"Vi!"

"Huh?!"

"Ah, this, double lock‑head, this is!"

"Er… this is getting troublesome."

"It's not that troublesome—I feel RNG is already… really hard to beat! A four‑protect‑one without Tahm Kench, facing a comp that can lock‑head and insta‑kill, how are we supposed to play?"

"RNG fell for it…"

Ban/pick ended, FireFox stepped shakily off the player's bench.

When they shook hands, Zhu Xiaolong saw beads of sweat all over FireFox's forehead, blinked, and instinctively asked:

"Brother Feng, you alright?"

FireFox's lips were all white, he gave a stiff smile:

"I'm fine."

Zhu Xiaolong eyed him suspiciously for two glances, then turned and headed backstage.

FireFox entered the backstage through another entrance, reached the door of his own lounge, but didn't dare go in; he leaned against the wall outside, stared up at the ceiling, feeling heavy‑hearted.

Not dead, apparently this month he'll only be able to take the base salary.

……

Around 6:30 p. m., the sky outside hadn't fully darkened yet.

On a big screen outside Zhengda Guangchang, a fancy pattern suddenly flashed; in the center were the large letters 'VGWin'.

Pedestrians passing by the mall outside turned their heads; some young people who knew what it meant whispered to each other, either excited or reflective, commenting on it.

"Holy shit, VG won again."

Jiao Shen is still awesome.

Damn, VG won't really want to go undefeated and crush LPL, right?

Then I think it's not very likely; sweeping the regular season is somewhat hopeful, but the playoffs aren't the same game as the regular season— the intensity is much higher.

By the way, should we buy tickets to go watch the next VG match?

Sure, tickets don't seem too pricey.

Yeah, if we can get them at face value, they really aren't expensive.

But how to put it, nowadays VG match tickets have become extremely hard to come by; for the VG matches where ticket sales have opened, all online platforms are sold out; maybe some scalpers still have a few tickets, but people who don't know the channels can't even find scalpers; if you just decide on a whim to go buy tickets to watch a match, it's even more impossible to get a ticket.