Chapter 733

IG was eliminated by RNG in less than half an hour, and the second match of the top six began.

OMG faced WE.

In this match, WE came furious; the whole Bo5, aside from the lost first game, saw the remaining games completely change from their former habit of picking solid lineups and playing in a timid, hesitant way—not only were their champion picks extremely aggressive, but their fighting style was also totally different from before.

OMG's research on WE came to almost nothing; after winning the first game by sneaking a champion pick, starting from the second game they were swept three straight by WE, who had suddenly changed their playstyle.

WE won 3-1 against OMG and advanced to the lower bracket final.

By this point, not counting the Worlds qualifier matches later, the entire LPL summer schedule had only four best-of-five series left.

……

Outside, the fires of war raged.

As the reigning champion of the upper bracket, EDG hid behind the scenes, frantically studying RNG's playoff match footage, while anxiously awaiting the semifinals.

Only VG enjoyed peaceful days.

VG's members still spent four to five hours each day playing practice matches against SSG; they didn't watch a single broadcast of their own region's playoff matches, only checking the scores and netizens' comments after work each day, and only opening a replay to fast‑through if a game looked interesting.

It is worth noting that, historically, the Incense Burner Monster system only began to appear frequently at the S7 World Championship; even at the play‑in stage many teams still didn't know how to use it, until after surviving the play‑in it started to spread widely in the group stage, and by the quarterfinals it had become the absolute mainstream.

But in this timeline, thanks to VG's early exposure, top teams from all regions began to notice this unique yet powerful system, so starting from the playoffs, every region frequently showed the Incense Burner Monster system; although most teams still weren't proficient with it, it had already begun to spread widely.

In the LPL, things were even worse: as of now, the Xayah‑Rakan combo's ban rate in the playoffs has surged above 80%, meaning that in almost every game one of the two is banned, and even if not banned they are likely to be split up—making it nearly impossible to have both Xayah and Rakan available at the same time; previously, Xayah was a niche AD carry, and Rakan's pick rate was far lower than that of a typical melee hard support, not to mention Lulu.

One could say that VG single‑handedly changed the playoff environment of all regions, an impact unprecedented in history.

Of course, this situation wasn't entirely VG's doing; the varying playoff versions across regions also played a part.

Following past convention, most regions' playoff tactics were basically copied from the LCK, especially the LPL—one could say they didn't think at all and simply copied.

But this year, most regions couldn't copy the LCK's homework.

Because the LCK playoffs started too early, they were using patch 7.15, while most other regions were on patch 7.16…… a patch that had never yet appeared on the LCK stage, so other regions had nothing to copy.

Since the LCK's homework couldn't be copied, the powerful new thing VG pulled out before the playoffs naturally became the only choice.

The incense burner system is indeed something VG unveiled in the 7.15 patch, but the 7.16 patch clearly shows strengthened support for this system, because the match pace has become slower, and the most impressive thing is that this system is very suitable for pulling off upsets, since the individual demands on players aren't that high; although strong teams using this system become even stronger, in an environment where other systems struggle to surpass the incense burner system, unless one truly can't learn it or does a terrible job with bans/picks, the incense burner system becomes the first choice for all teams.

Riot certainly observed the changes in the global competitive environment caused by VG's influence, but they did not intervene; on the contrary, this is exactly what they hoped to see, because the current situation is precisely the game environment they wanted for the S7 World Championship.

So what if VG was the first to research it?

VG may be the developer of this system, but that doesn't mean VG will be its strongest user! — The entire Riot design department, top to bottom, holds this confidence.

Although the incense burner monster system also heavily relies on early-game top/mid/jungle pace, at its core, it is a system with a slower pace and focused on macro play!

And according to Riot's observation of VG, this team's average match length per game over the year is only twenty-something minutes, far below the thirty-something minute average of the five major leagues!

This means that VG actually lacks substantial late-game macro practical experience!

Even if VG secretly practices this system crazily in scrims, how can it truly unleash the system's maximum power without real-game testing and polishing?

VG personally made this wedding dress, and will surely enable the top-tier strong teams with the strongest macro capabilities—G2 and the LCK—to triumph!

All Riot senior staff and design department employees who participated in planning this patch line are full of confidence in whether they can successfully stop VG from creating a miracle——

Want to sweep all titles in a single season?

Keep dreaming your grand ambition!

Otherwise, if VG truly manages to walk this unprecedented miracle path, where would Riot put its face? This game isn't designed solely for you, VG!

……

That night.

「Ah~~~~」

After finishing a day's training, Xiao Duan stood up, stretched, glanced at the teammates on the left who had mostly stopped training, and said with a smile:

「Tomorrow we'll be up~ Brothers, get some early sleep, I'm heading out first. 」

After saying that, he patted the back of Gangzi's chair, who was still in the middle of a match, and walked off.

Liang Yan had just finished a match, taken off his headset, when Zhu Xiaolong's voice sounded from behind: 「Liang Yan, what do you think about tomorrow's match? 」

Zhu Xiaolong's tone was relaxed; Liang Yan turned to glance at him, rubbed the slightly uncomfortable spot on his head where the headset had pressed, and while shutting down his device, replied:

「Nothing in particular—who are our opponents? 」

「……Ah? 」

Zhu Xiaolong never expected Liang Yan to say something like that.

Fu Lan Duo, who was lying back in her gaming chair, phone in hand scrolling videos, glanced at Liang Yan and couldn't help but retort: 「Hey bro, you're being way too disrespectful—if WE heard that, Leg Bro wouldn't be able to stop himself from punching you twice. 」

Sima Laozei: 「WE seems pretty close to us……」

The thief-like attitude immediately stood up: 「I'll go close the door. 」

Zhu Xiaolong grabbed him, laughing and crying: 「It's fine, Leg Bro isn't a death sentence—he won't actually come over to beat us up. 」

「Really? 」

Everyone stared speechlessly at the thief-like attitude.

Liang Yan, however, remained unmoved, sitting in his seat, pondering, he nodded slightly:

「Oh…… it's WE again. 」

Hearing that, everyone couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for WE in their hearts.