Chapter 721: A Lineup Four Versions Ahead

The players from both sides returned to the stage.

The announcer announced the news that VG had made another substitution.

"Yes, but only the jungler was changed; the rest of the lineup remains the same as Jiao Shen's from the previous game, with Zhong Lu as Zhi Tai and Xia Lu as Shuijing Ge."

"Speaking of which, VG has been substituting players so frequently; do you two have any thoughts?"

"Um, I feel like VG is giving the new jungler homework."

"I think it's more like an exam."

The fans were naturally unhappy and complained in the danmaku:

【Why does VG keep changing players?】

【Exactly, Jiao Shen is in great shape right now and is also so young; there's no need to rush training a successor!】

【To be honest, compared to watching newcomers grow, I'd still rather see Jiao Shen crush noobs.】

A few minutes later, both sides finished banning and picking.

Blue side IG: top lane Big Bug, jungler Mang Seng, mid lane Rock Sparrow, bottom lane Skate Shoes + Hammer Stone.

Red side VG: top lane Crocodile, jungler Big Tree, mid lane Fan Mother, bottom lane Big Mouth + Lulu.

"This... VG's lineup for this game looks a bit strange."

Rita's eyes showed deep confusion.

Wang Duo Duo nodded firmly: "Yes, I also think it's strange; we already took Lulu earlier, why pick Karma again in mid? If VG doesn't have a big early advantage, by mid‑late game they could suffer severe damage shortage."

IG's side was equally puzzled, completely unable to understand why VG picked such a weird lineup. But since VG is both substituting players and running a bizarre composition, we naturally don't want to miss this good opportunity—regardless of whether they're throwing the game, if we can really beat VG in a Bo3, IG will surely see a surge in popularity!

It's worth noting that although the Incense Burner Support began to see widespread use after the patch entered 7.14, no system centered on the Incense Burner Support has yet emerged; the reason is that, while everyone has recognized the immense value of this item, their thinking hasn't shifted, and no one has considered building a complete composition and tactic system with the Incense Burner Support as the core.

Put simply, most people still don't clearly understand the power of the Incense Burner Monster.

Except VG.

Actually, when entering the summer season, Liang Yan the Seer began, intentionally or not, to add some practice of the Incense Burner Monster system to daily training.

For example, letting Xiao Duan play more champions like Wind Girl, Lulu, Karma, and other shield‑type supports in ranked, because he felt soft supports would remain popular—so when patch 7.14 suddenly gave the support item Ancient Coins a third‑tier passive, Xiao Duan was amazed by Liang Yan.

The new passive of Ancient Coins grants allied heroes an 8% movement speed boost (when an allied hero moves toward the item's owner); imagine, then, what it would look like if Wind Girl, who already grants allies movement speed, equipped a fully upgraded Ancient Coins and an Incense Burner to shield teammates.

A permanent +16% movement speed, +20%~30% attack speed, 20~35 flat lifesteal, and a shield thicker than the health bar—what a monster!

Plus, patch 7.14 strengthened two tank items and a bunch of bruisers, causing top‑lane tanks to dominate while output‑type warriors weaken; stacked with the jungle's common trend of building Molten Giant for tankiness, the future direction of the patch is easy to foresee.

Liang Yan pointed out this clear development path for VG's patch and began preparations early.

The Worlds are played on patch 7.18, but VG's system is already basically mature, so we can actually say: the current VG is four patches ahead of the world!

This is truly ahead of its time; it's normal that people now can't understand it.

Of course, we're far from the time to reveal our true strength, so the one playing Big Mouth this game is Gangzi, not Sima Laozei; the top laner isn't the meta‑fit Big Bug or a Shen‑type tank, but the fallen‑from‑grace Crocodile.

VG's reason for picking such a bizarre lineup in the current patch is mainly to give the world a little hint; otherwise, by the time others are still struggling to figure out the patch answer, VG would already be ults‑smashing newcomers, which would be boring.

"VG's lineup this game... is quite unexpected."

Wang Duo Duo's comment was rather polite.

Wawa directly added: "Put simply, it's actually a four‑to‑one protect! The Crocodile is just a decoy, while also bolstering early‑game top/mid/jungle combat power; the real teamfight hinges on Big Mouth!"

Even Rita, who supports VG, fell silent for a moment: "Indeed, VG's lineup... looks a bit strange in this patch, and I didn't expect that Shuijing Ge would pick Big Mouth, such a super‑core, when he went in."

Wawa laughed twice: "You just don't get it—VG is trying to confuse the opponent!"

VG now performs well; no matter how odd the lineup they pick, commentators and viewers will find suitable reasons to explain it; but if another team—say, Old Godfather or DAN, those low‑tier squads—tried the same composition, the commentators would burst out laughing and the audience would directly mock them for falling behind the patch.

In this game, Tian the Big Tree jungler received no leash; he started alone from F6, cleared the three jungle camps in the upper half, and then headed straight up.

Ning also came from YM; in the spring split, when Tian joined YM and gave Ning, who had transferred to the jungle, a substitute role, Ning naturally felt superior to Tian in mental standing and also thought he understood Tian well.

However, Ning knew nothing about how Tian had changed after joining VG, and still used his old knowledge to guess Tian's current playstyle; this approach is usually accurate, since a player's personal style doesn't undergo fundamental change quickly—for example, in game one Ning reaped many benefits from this pattern, but Tian, having studied under Liang Yan for a while and with Liang Yan personally demonstrating in game two, has now begun to consciously break his own inertia and choose a different playstyle in this game.

Ning started with an upper‑to‑lower double‑buff speed‑three clear; Mang Seng's jungle clear is slightly faster than Big Tree's. After taking the red buff, Ning directly hit the Explosive Fruit, jumped into the dragon pit, and raced toward the red side VG's blue buff jungle, intending to harass Tian's blue, and even thinking he could try to steal the buff if the chance arose.

However, when Ning gained vision of the blue buff camp, he found the blue buff still sitting quietly in the pit, while Tian was nowhere to be seen.