I'm a platinum-level author, so what if I play professionally?

Chapter 85 Incense Burner

With the Snake team winning the second game, the match has once again become suspenseful.

The hashtag "head coach warming up" also trended on Weibo, which surprised many netizens.

After all, in the history of League of Legends esports, there has never been a situation where the coaching staff called in players to the players' bench.

As the discussion intensifies, the Snake team has also attracted considerable attention.

[I feel like Bai Chu's individual skills weren't very good, but if Bai Chu was the one directing this game, then I can only say his commanding ability is unparalleled.]

Indeed, the Snake Esports team has undergone a complete transformation.

[I just checked the standings and suddenly realized something: if Snake Esports loses their match against WE, they'll basically be out of the playoffs.]

No wonder the Snake team was so desperate to promote Bai Chu from the coaching staff to the player bench; they're going all in.

[6666, the coach steps in when things are desperate.]

There's still one more game; it's hard to say right now.

Go WE! Black and white, hurry up and die!

If Snake Esports makes the playoffs, I will never watch LPL again.

[Haha, are EDG fans and Royal Never Give Up supporters traumatized by this?]

[Hoping Snake Esports can sweep EDG and RNG in the playoffs.]

[Laughs, someone got lucky and won once, and really thinks they're invincible.]

Amidst the outside speculation, the Snake team's rest room was bustling with activity as they meticulously planned their tactics for the next match.

Facing WE, Wang Ke was not confident of victory. Against a team like WE, he had to consider taking some risky tactical moves.

As many have said, if the Snakes lose today's game, they may not even qualify for the playoffs.

Although they are not in dire straits yet, with today's loss, the Snakes must win all their subsequent games. Even so, they still need to rely on their competitors' results to have any hope of making the playoffs.

Therefore, for the Snake team, winning the third game is a must!

Because of Wang Ke's outstanding performance in the second game, Zuo Wu and Zhu Kai wisely chose to keep quiet and handed the entire stage over to Wang Ke to control.

"Crystal, how are you feeling?"

When Wang Ke asked him a question, Crystal nodded.

"Absolutely no problem."

Although this is his first time returning to the AD position after several months, he had already trained extensively under Wang Ke's guidance during scrimmages.

Moreover, this was Wang Ke's first time playing, and he also had to shoulder the responsibilities of drafting and commanding. Wang Ke didn't say anything, so how could Crystal, as a veteran, have the nerve to say no?

After receiving Crystal's reply, Wang Ke nodded and said, "Okay. In that case, in the next game, as long as we can get Lee Sin, we'll make you the core player!"

Upon hearing Wang Ke's somewhat nonsensical remark, Zuo Wu looked at Zhu Kai with a puzzled expression.

He simply couldn't understand what necessary connection could exist between Lee Sin and Crystal.

Faced with Zuo Wu's questioning gaze, Zhu Kai kept his eyes straight ahead, pretending that he hadn't seen anything at all.

But the Snake Team members knew Wang Ke's intentions.

Meanwhile, in the WE lounge.

Redmi is arranging a coordinated strategy between Condi and Xiye.

In Hongmi's view, Snake Esports is a typical team that revolves around the mid laner.

In the previous game, Song Wen's Ryze got incredibly fed and went on a killing spree.

He needs to make some tactical adjustments targeting the opponent's mid lane.

WE originally focused their tactical arrangements primarily on the bottom lane.

However, in Redmi's opinion, in the previous game, Snake's strategy was to completely abandon the bottom lane, with the support constantly roaming around, which shows that Snake did not trust Crystal, who had just returned to the AD position.

Meanwhile, according to Redmi's assessment, Crystal's current condition is indeed not good.

Therefore, Redmi believes that Snake Team would be even less likely to risk betting on a player who has just returned to the AD position in such a crucial game.

Given this, WE's bot lane will definitely gain an advantage even without any special arrangements.

But what Redmi didn't know was that Wang Ke was exploiting this very psychology of Redmi!

"Viewers watching the live stream, you are now watching the 2017 League of Legends Pro League Spring Split regular season match! The two teams facing off are WE Esports Club and Snake Esports Club! I'm your commentator, Guan Zeyuan!"

"I'm Rita, the commentator!"

In the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan continued, "In the match that just ended, the two teams are currently tied 1-1! For Snake, winning this match is crucial if they want to secure a playoff spot! With Coach White on the field, Snake showed excellent performance in the last game. Now that both sides have entered the third round, we'll see if Snake can maintain their previous form and deliver another impressive performance!"

Hearing Guan Zeyuan's words, Rita nodded and said, "Yes! From the second game, it's clear that after White came on, Snake's overall coordination and discipline have visibly improved! But WE will probably make targeted adjustments as well! Let's get into the game and see who emerges victorious in today's final showdown!!"

At this point, both sides had entered the business proposal (BP) phase.

As the losing side, WE took the initiative to choose the blue side and immediately eliminated the Ryze mage that Song Wen had performed brilliantly in the previous game.

However, Snake Esports did not continue their strategy from the previous game, choosing to ban the ADC. Instead, they unusually opted for a standard meta ban, banning the currently strong Rengar.

WE continued to ban heroes, banning Jayce, while Snake banned Graves.

On the commentary desk, seeing Snake's half-man, Guan Zeyuan asked in confusion, "We noticed that Snake gave up on banning the bottom lane in the third game, just like they did in the second game! Is it because Mystic didn't perform very well in the previous game?"

WE then banned Kennen, while Snake's last ban didn't target the bottom lane; instead, they banned Kha'Zix!

In the live stream chat, the comments section was buzzing with discussion.

What do you mean? Are you looking down on my brother-in-law?

[They didn't have any heroes last game, and now Snake Team is getting cocky?]

[I don't understand, the draft seemed pretty good.]

[So, the brother-in-law is going to use his signature big mouth now.]

[It's like winning one round and forgetting how you came before.]

The right to vote has fallen into WE's hands.

Faced with Snake's ban, Redmi thought for a moment and ultimately decided not to pick Kog'Maw directly on the first floor, but instead chose to have the top laner pick Maokai first.

After all, Redmi believes that Kog'Maw can be picked on the second or third floor, and he doesn't think Snake will pick Kog'Maw.

However, just as WE locked down the big tree, Snake team's first floor immediately lit up with Kog'Maw!

"Snake, are you planning to steal Big Mouth?! Isn't that a bit too risky?!"

As soon as Rita finished speaking, Snake locked his jaws shut.

They then locked down the Lee Sin jungler on the second floor.

A gasp of surprise rang out from the audience.

Guan Zeyuan analyzed Snake's champion selection, saying, "It feels like Snake's choice of Kog'Maw is a bit of a 'pick-and-ban' strategy, right? But Crystal has only just returned to the AD position; isn't this a bit too risky?"

Rita also chimed in, "Snake's pick was indeed a bit unexpected, because we know Black has been performing very well before. I guess WE thought Snake would continue to focus on the mid lane in their draft, so even though Kog'Maw was available, they didn't choose to pick it on the first pick."

What makes a good business plan (BP)?

The goal is to get the lineup you want while preventing the opponent from getting it as much as possible.

Using a pick instead of a ban is a very common practice in the draft phase, but if you take a lineup that you are not good at just to disrupt the opponent's lineup, it is obviously not worth it.

In everyone's eyes, focusing the team's attention on Crystal, whose current form is still unstable, is undoubtedly an unwise choice.

But for Wang Ke, whether Crystal's performance is stable or not doesn't really matter much.

Even if your condition is unstable, would you still make a mistake when you're just standing still and dealing damage?

Wang Ke didn't believe in Crystal Brother, but rather in Incense Burner.

Most players probably have a deep understanding that Season 7 is the Ardent Censer version.

With the Ardent Censer buff, ADCs like Kog'Maw can even engage in close-range combat with warrior heroes without needing to position themselves.

The Ardent Censer item can provide ADCs with a significant boost in damage, attack speed, and health regeneration, making it the ultimate meta pick for the S7 World Championship.

But actually, the Ardent Censer has been around for a long time, so why did it only shine in the World Championship version?

Even during the World Championship patch, the Ardent Censer item was nerfed.

First and foremost, it's important to understand that a piece of equipment can suddenly become popular not just because it's overpowered, but because it's influenced by a series of changes in the current version.

During the S7 World Championship, the Ardent Censer was able to dominate the field not only because the item itself was powerful, but also because of a combination of factors.

For example, the buff to the yellow support item allows supports to accumulate gold faster; the buff to late-game ADCs like Kog'Maw and Twitch makes bot lane laning more focused on peaceful farming rather than intense confrontations; the reduced experience gain for junglers and the nerf to assassin junglers slow down the jungle pace and increase ADC survivability; the buff to Cinderhulk increases the pick rate for farm-oriented junglers who build the green jungle item; and supports face less vision pressure, etc.

So, is Ardent Censer viable in the Spring Split patch?

Of course you can play!

However, the requirements are extremely demanding!

The biggest problem with a bare incense burner is the immense visual pressure it creates.

That's why Wang Ke said before that you can only play if you get Lee Sin.

Because the herbivore junglers are very weak in this version, and among the carnivore junglers, only Lee Sin can better fit the green jungle item and the warding stone to help relieve vision pressure.

Secondly, to prevent assassin-type junglers from instantly killing them, Wang Ke chose to ban Kha'Zix and Rengar during the draft phase.

Because of the stringent conditions, Wang Ke is not worried that his incense burner support item will be used by other teams.

After all, in the current version, the Ardent Censer support build is just a routine playstyle and cannot become a mainstream playstyle.

The Ardent Censer meta has led to a misconception: that it's an ADC meta, with everyone playing the "four-protect-one" strategy. In reality, while the Ardent Censer meta does involve a "four-protect-one" strategy, the "one" in this strategy is more accurately described as protecting the support rather than the ADC.

Why is Kalista either banned or picked in the World Championship patch? It's because Kalista's ultimate is so good at protecting supports.

As for why Snake didn't pick Kalista today, it's because she can save that for later as a special move.

In a sense, the Ardent Censer patch was the ADC patch, but not the ADC player patch, because the existence of Ardent Censer only narrowed the skill gap between ADC players.

Meanwhile, the WE players' bench.

Looking at the Snake team's player selection, Redmi couldn't help but sneer.

Like most people, Redmi believes that Snake's big mouth was just for the purpose of getting a first pick and then a ban.

"Lulu the mouse, I guess."

Since the opposing team wanted to pick this late-game carry, WE had no reason to disagree, since this was the system that WE was best at playing.

Redmi refused to believe it. "You, an AD carry who's almost crippled, can possibly beat me?!"