Chapter 723: Version Answer

Ning hurriedly rushed to Xia Lu, wanting to team up with the bot lane duo for a counterattack, but VG gave no opening whatsoever, causing Ning's heart to sink.

Most people have known this gameplay: when behind, it's not frightening if the enemy plays aggressively—the more aggressive they are, the more chances they give; but it's dreadful when the enemy is as steady as an old dog, taking every advantage and heading home, turning their economic lead into real combat power—that's the most despairing.

Around 9 minutes, VG's top laner crocodile, bottom laner big mouth plus Lulu each completed their first core item: the crocodile built Black Cleaver, big mouth built Broken, and Lulu built Incense Burner.

Just past 12 minutes, mid laner Ze Ze Tai finished Boots of Speed and Morellonomicon, then started building Incense Burner.

At 13 minutes, VG initially showed the power of their composition in a team fight at Xia Gu Xian Feng.

Actually, this lineup takes no skill in team fights—the crocodile doesn't even need to engage; everyone just protects big mouth to deal damage, and whoever rushes in gets sprayed.

Big mouth plus Broken and Incense Burner leaves no one able to stand against them; even the tanky big worm isn't a pure meat build—looks like it has a long health bar, but actually has no resistance, essentially a paper‑thin big fat guy that can't withstand even a few seconds.

In short, VG's lineup simply kills anyone who steps forward—wipe out the enemy front line before advancing; the teamfight looks absurdly simple, with zero mechanical skill required—Gangzi only needs to auto‑attack the ground behind the enemy crowd, and big mouth will automatically target the nearest hero, while his abilities are just whatever is lit up…

Dodge skills?

Absolutely not needed!

Under Lulu and Karma's protection, IG hoped to break big mouth's shield and reach his health bar—nothing short of a wish!

IG suffered a crushing teamfight defeat without any doubt, and the situation completely collapsed.

By 18 minutes, Ze Ze Tai had also finished the Incense Burner, big mouth declared himself totally invincible, Gangzi even felt that standing in the back to deal damage gave him no sense of involvement, so they all started charging forward as spearmen, while Ze Ze Tai and Xiao Duan kept adding shields and movement speed from behind—this teamfight scene delivered a huge shock to everyone.

Backstage in the resting area, even Sima Laozei couldn't help but remark: "This patch is too absurd—maybe the lowest demand ever placed on AD players."

Liang Yan nodded.

He fully agreed with Sima Laozei's view.

Many say S7 was the year Uzi had the most hope but he missed it; the truth is S7 was the year he had the least hope, because in this Incense Burner meta, every AD player's ability became less important, and all AD players' strength was compressed by the absurd patch mechanics into a narrow fluctuation range, making the gap between players tiny—meaning Uzi could hardly carry the game alone.

VG's match actually fully demonstrated the characteristics of this patch:

Composition > Execution > Other

Put simply, this is a patch where individual ability stands out the least.

In the history Liang Yan has experienced, Riot created this patch to curb Faker, ultimately benefiting Samsung and making Samsung the most unremarkable team among past Worlds champions; but in the timeline Liang Yan now inhabits, Riot created this patch to curb Liang Yan…

Different paths lead to the same destination—there you have it.

Although IG collapsed early, the game still dragged on past 30 minutes before ending; this too is a patch characteristic—compared to before, finishing a game is much harder, so the pace is slower.

"Congratulations, VG! You defeated IG 2‑1!"

"The short‑match winning streak is broken, but the long‑match winning streak record continues to be refreshed."

"After losing the first game and winning the next two, all we can say is that VG remains that invincible VG—IG's final boss strategy ultimately failed, which is lamentable."

"I'd like to ask: of the three games, which one left the deepest impression on you two?"

"The second game," Wang Duo Duo said without hesitation.

"Because Foot God played in the second game, right?"

"Yes."

"What about Teacher Rita?"

"For me... uh... probably the third game."

"Why?"

"Although Foot God went down again in the third game, I feel VG's playstyle in that game was extremely unique—almost purely a macro‑driven victory. Plus, the Incense Burner support has been popular for a while, but only after watching VG's game today did I truly realize how cost‑effective this item is."

"So the reason your impression of the third game is so deep is just one item."

"That's fair to say—I even think it's very likely that the Incense Burner item itself is the true answer to this patch……"

As everyone returned to the lounge, they happened to hear Rita's voice coming from the TV.

"Holy smokes, guys—this female commentator has something!" Xiao Duan exclaimed as soon as he walked in, hearing Rita say the Incense Burner is the patch answer.

"Our region's female commentators are all pretty good—none are just ornaments." As soon as the topic turned to female commentator Fu Lan Duo, interest sparked and she chatted with Xiao Duan.

As of now, the female commentators who have appeared on LPL are still pretty decent; the ancient LPL Four Beauties were all competent female commentators.

Xiao Cang needs no further explanation—after quitting he became a strategy blogger with countless online fans.

Xiao Lou's fame doesn't match Xiao Cang's, but his skill is also solid; precisely because he holds himself to overly high standards and, being introverted, can't handle the huge pressure before each broadcast, he eventually posted a long Weibo article and quit the commentary circle.

There's also Da Mi, who also officially quit as an commentator last year; ostensibly to go into streaming and video‑making to earn money, but few in the scene know she actually couldn't stand having her face on camera with a flood of chat turning into "big big big", and those who know are surprised—no one would guess that the saying is "Trust Mi Sis, hard as iron", and yet this squeaky‑voiced girl turns out to have quite a backbone.

As for the incident at the end of 2014 where they shot a cover for a men's magazine, Da Mi, as a low‑level staffer in the huge LPL organization, together with the three aforementioned female commentators who also took part in the photoshoot, were just forced into it—there wasn't much room for personal choice. (If you're interested, you can look up the pictures yourself.)

But according to historical trajectory, the glorious era of LPL female commentators ended completely after Su Xiao Yan's retirement; Rita is now the last lingering glow, after that it's just … erm, even commentators of the calibre of Shui Long Jie could get on stage—just imagine how bad it gets.

So saying, Xiao Duan's comment could be seen as having set a flag.