DEFEAT

  Silence desded on Yuel's camp after the eeam thhly crushed them. Even after Yuel and Lars came up with a way to mount a ebad even got a kill on Taison, they crashed into a wall right after that.

  Such was the extent of Howard's Aegis, the absolute defense. Every time Yuel thought he pierced through it, he discovered it was thicker thahought.

  During the entire game, Howard has been using Taison as a momentum geor and as a on against Lars, but Howard didn’t bank solely on Taison's performance. Howard took into at that Taison might be beaten at some point and he repared to cover up that mess up with more defense.

  I was too greedy. Yuel hung his head. If only he stopped Lars from chasing Ellen back then, they would have had a ce to win. They gained so muentum from the team fight and they were finally getting a ce to turn things around, so it was tempting to keep pushing all the way. But, these poisonous greedy thoughts led to their demise.

  Maybe I should have just given up earlier. Perhaps the e part of the game was pletely pointless and Yuel was just prolonging a lost game. To fight so hard until the very end, to nearly grasp a ce... only to fall without gaining anything.

  It setting and it might put a huge damper oeam's morale. No wonder everybody was so quiet.

  “y dudes!” Lars jumped from his chair. “What's with the long faces? We almost got these guys!”

  “You have an iing definition of ‘almost’,” Daed with a chuckle.

  “But, ya saw it, right? I totally beat Taison there! We were winning! We gonhem ime for sure, believe it!”

  How he still be so optimistic? Yuel sighed, but a smile crept onto his face. Lars was right, they still had one more shot. This wasn't the time to lose hope.

  I game, the team was forced into a bad position and Howard revealed the aces he prepared for today’s match. However, in the game, they will be better prepared. Yuel will use everything he learned from this defeat ttheeam, that’s what it meant to py a petitive best-of-three set.

  As the captain, Yuel, in particur, wasn't allowed to mope. At dark times like these, he was supposed to be a role model for the others. If he loses spirit, the ivity will spread across the eeam.

  “It was a tough game,” Yuel said. “But, we also learned a lot from it. Dan, you o unicate better with the o know the state of the ne befanking.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Roi, you o py a little safer and not rely on parrying so much.”

  “Heh,” Roi sneered. “Maybe I wouldn't have that much trouble if I actually pyed a half-det css for once.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I mean, lol,” Roi added his trademark phrase, but his smile looked far from joking. “I told you, Dark Knight is trash. I became totally useless after we lost the early game.”

  “Yes, that's one of the weaknesses of Dark Knight by design. It's a risk I took.”

  “Yeah, sure. I bet you also took into at how fun it’ll be for me to py while feeling totally useless, right?”

  “What?” Yuel frowned. “You transitioned into a tank build, so you became our main frontlihat’s far from being useless.”

  “Oh yeah, sure. Because it's so fun to py a tank who 't CC for shit, right? Are you even hearing to yourself, bro?”

  “Hey now,” Dan interjected. “You letting the salt speak for you.”

  “... right, my bad.” Roi shook his head. “I gonna go wash my fabsp; Gotta wash off all this salt, lol.“

  “I o go too.” Dan joined.

  With that, Roi and Dahe room. Even though the quarrel quieted down, it left a bad taste.

  Maybe Dark Knight was really pushing it. Yuel tapped his forehead. Against a te-game position like Howard's, Dark Knight was a very fragile pick. It could domihe mid-game with just a little momentum from early-game but, without any advantage, Dark Knight was doomed to be subpar for the rest of the game. Its only choice was to bee a pure tank, but a very ckluster tank without CC. The presence of such a Dark Knight was far from impactful, it was almost a 4v5 game at that point. It was like a rook piece which devolved into a pawn.

  Roi stated many times he didn't like using Dark Knight, but he was petent enough to pilot Dark Knight well. After seeing Roi's strong performan Ranked, Yuel decided to gh with this pick despite everything and hoped for the same great results.

  As, the petitive level was different from Ranked. Howard's team was given time to adjust after losing the first game, so they hahe Dark Knight much better in the sed round. That's where the cracks in Dark Knight's properties and in Roi's mastery began to surface.

  Irospect, Yuel probably should have dropped the Dark Knight strategy after winning the first game. It’s just that Dark Knight worked so well the first time that Yuel couldn’t help but try it again. Frankly, it was foolish. He must do something different in the game.

  Anyway, that's something for Yuel to figure out. Before that, he wao finish discussing everybody’s faults from the previous game. Especially, the one had a lot oe...

  “Julia,” Yuel carefully spoke up. “You-”

  “I know!” Julia shot up from her chair like an arrow. “You gonna say I pyed like shit right?”

  “Well, not in these exact words, but there were a few gring issues with your performaarting with-”

  “You're really good at motivating people, you know that? Yeah, please go on. Rub into our faces how shit we were that game. I bet it makes you feel good about yourself, even though you messed up a shitton of stuff too!”

  “I never pretended I'm perfect,” Yuel argued. In fact, he believed much of the fault id with him, but that arate matter altogether. As the captain, it was his job to ensure everybody performed their best and that’s why he had to review the game with them.

  “Whatever,” Julia walked toward the door.

  “Wait, we haven't reviewed the game yet. Where are you going?”

  “Toilet!” Julia smmed the door behind her.

  Oh, brother... Yuel had a distinct impression that Julia might be a little pissed off. This isn't good...

  Everybody left. Yuel and Lars were the only ones in the room. Going to the bathroom during the break wasn’t odd or anything, but the way everybody left was ing. It felt like a rift was f among them. It reminded him of the huge breakdown the sed string suffered during the scrimmage with the Leopards.

  Back then, Yuel argued it was mostly Trever's fault. Then, did it mean that this time it was Yuel's fault? No, that shouldn't be the case. There was no denying that some of his bad decisions tributed toward the team’s defeat, but he didn't do anything toxic that could cause bad blood ieam.

  Either way, now it was only Yuel and Lars.

  “Gonna roast me ? Haha.”

  “I didn't mean to roast anybody. I just wao review the game.”

  “I know, I know. Just kidding, dude,” Lars fshed his teeth. “Okay, hit me with it, yo! e at me with everything you got! I'll ha!”

  “Your defense was awful.”

  “Gah! I knew you'd start from there!”

  “But, beyond that,” Yuel paused for a moment to think. “You pyed both games really well. Yunslinger was eveer than I hoped, so you did great.”

  “What, not even gonion that st chase I did?”

  “You mean, the oer Ellen?”

  “Yep,” Lars shook his head. “That was so me. I finally had things going but I fudged it up at the end there. We could've won if I didn't chase.”

  “True, it was the mispy that killed our ces of winning,” Yuel nodded. “But, it was my fault.”

  “Huh? How e?”

  “I made a bad call not stopping you. I was mulling over it but decided against it. So, that one is on me.”

  “Hey,” Lars smacked Yuel's shoulder. “That's wrong, dude. I mean, maybe you could've stopped me but I'm the one who decided to chase there. It's all on me, yo.”

  “I see,” Yuel smiled weakly. pared to the rest, Lars was willing to face his own mess-ups and to admit he itted some mistakes. “You're really taking this well, huh.”

  “You kidding, dude?” Lars dashed toward his bag with and took out... a basketball? Why did he even bring it here? “I'm super pissed, yo! So pissed, that I feel like I gotta dribble for five hours straight tet about this shit!”

  Lars threw the ball at the floor and it came ba. He threw again, and it came back again. And then again. And again. Every throw was faster and fiercer. In a couple of seds, the ball started moving so fast there were multiple copies of it in the air! It must have reached Mach 4!

  “You sure you should be doing this before a match?” Yuel asked. “It looks tiring.”

  “No problem,” Lars tinued smming the ball. “It’s my meditation.”

  “Really...” Rather than peaceful meditation, this looked more like boxer venting his anger on a pung bag. Lars smmed the ball into the ground with quients, as if hitting the floor with all his frustration.

  But of course, there was no way Lars wasn't frustrated by this defeat. For them, the petitive se was at stake this match. If they lose one more time, it’ll be game over. They'll have to spend another year gazing at the dazzling stage from below.

  No more. They were sick of it. They were serious petitive pyers, their pce was on a petitive team, not on the sed string.

  To get there, they absolutely had to win the game. No ifs or buts. They had to win, period. As the captain, Yuel had to lead the team to that victory.

  At this point, both teams showed what they were capable of. All the big aces prepared for today’s match must have been revealed by now. For the st game, everything to Yuel figuring a ter-strategy that’d allow the team to adapt to Howard’s game pn.

  How should Yuel tackle Howard's unbreakable defense? So far, Howard has adjusted to everything Yuel threw at him: the Alchemist’s Impulse Bomb was a oime shunslinger will most certainly be banned game and Dark Knight proved ineffit against the Druid ter pick.

  Banning Druid was one idea, but Howard surely had ood ters in mind. It was obvious Howard trained Gregory how to turtle, so it's best to assume Gregory knew how to freeze the h multiple different csses. Running a Dark Knight against that turtling was a folly.

  In general, Yuel’s early-game position worked at first, but Howard has pletely shut it down the sed time around. Therefore, charging in with anressive position was risky. The only reason Yuel’s team won the first game was that Howard's defense wasn't fully prepared yet. But, now it was all set and it felt imperable.

  In that case, should Yuel try extending the power curve of the team? From an early-game position to a mid-game position, or maybe even a te-game position. Given the overly defeure of Howard's lineups, Yuel's team should be able to get away with a ckluster early game.

  Switg to a position with a longer curve also meant the team will have a better defense, so it should be easier to pick a css which help Lars avoid frontations with Taison. For example, with a css like Elf, even a Bronze rank defense pyer like Lars should be able to get out of most sticky situations.

  “Oh! I know that look!” Lars grinned while throwing the basketball into the air and catg it, without even looking at it. Mr. Supreme Meical Skill, as always.

  “What do you mean? What look?”

  “Ya know, when you cross your arms and stare reaaaaal hard at nothing. It’s like you’re on another pne, yo.”

  “Do I really do that?” Yuel wasn’t sure how to take it. The ability to filter out the enviro in order to trate on a siask was an important skill in chess, so Yuel mastered it a long time ago. Perhaps he was using it subsciously?

  “So, whatcha got? Came up with anything fun?”

  “I got an idea,” Yuel said. “I think we should try extending our power curve.”

  “What's that mean?”

  “Instead of fog on the early game, we'll aim to gain an advantage in ter parts of the game. In mid-game, or maybe even te-game.”

  “Wait, what?” Lars failed to catch the ball and it hit the floor. “We not gonna go hard early on?”

  “That's the gist of it.”

  “But, that's like our thing, yo! We go all in and wreck these dudes as fast as possible!”

  “You saell that works,” Yuel pursed his lips. “ressive early-game failed to make Howard budge.”

  “Hey, we won the first game, remember?”

  “That game was...” Yuel still wasn't sure what to make of it. “It was odd, that's the only way I describe it. The way they pyed the first game was half-hearted like they were warming up. “That game doesn’t represent their real strength. The sed game is what we should use to judge their power.”

  “But, we were doing fine in the sed game too,” Lars insisted. “I even killed Athena and all.”

  “Yes, once. And yes, YOU were doing fine in the early game but the same ’t be said about the other nes. And, even in Bot, Howard stalled us out. It's like he held all nes under a lockdown.”

  “Should I start calling him Big Lockdown Dude? Haha.”

  “You may as well,” Yuel smiled even though this was no ughing matter. Howard's global lockdown during the early game was their biggest problem that game. Yuel’s team didn’t lose too badly in the early game, it's just that they didn't win the early game. That alone was a huge hit against their early game position.

  For Howard’s te-game position, all it took was to stall out until the ter parts of the game. At that point, Howard team was almost assured to win.

  “But wait,” Lars picked the basketball from the floor and started tossing and catg it again without even looking at it. Seriously, what manner of witchcraft was that? “If we ain’t gonna bst through these guys in the early game, does that mean we gonna py defensively?”

  “For the most part, yes. It’ll be a defensive early game which will transition into an offensive mid or te game. I was sidering Elf for you”

  “Gaaaah, but that's not fun, yo!”

  “Yes, because your defense is terrible.”

  “This ain't it, chief,” Lars insisted. “I mean, going full offeo kick the enemy’s butts is what we do best, right? If we throw that away, it's like we’re giving up on ame pn. We gonna be pying ierritory, yo!”

  “That's an exaggeration,” Yuel objected even though he khere was some truth it.

  The team focused on practig the early-game over the past week because Yuel believed he'll be able to pee through Aegis’ defeh hyper-aggressive early game. If Yuel shifts their game pn toward the ter parts of the game, it’ll be like venturing into unexplored territory and pying at Howard's pace.

  heless, the mid-game and te-game were still well-established parts of the game. Just because the team didn’t specifically practice these parts of the game didn’t mean they couldn't py them. Howard's team might be more experienced in that territory, but Yuel's team had superior pyers like Lars, Roi, and Dan. No matter which part of the game they py, Yuel's team should be able to win in terms of raw strength.

  “Elf doesn't sound like a ‘winning’ pie, tho,” Lars protested even after hearing the gist of Yuel's reasoning.

  “I thought of Elf because it's easy to defend with it, even for you. This way, I won't have to worry about babysitting you that mu the early game.”

  “I ain't no baby, yo!”! Lars made a face. “Just give it to me straight, will ya? You think Taison gonna keep wreg me, so you wao turtle, right?”

  “That's part of the equation,” Yuel admitted. “If Taisoargeting you this game, then Elf's escape potential will e in handy.”

  “, it sounds like ya just scared of taking some risks. How we gonna win if all we do is defend? Maybe I’m just dumb, so expin it to me, genius.”

  “That's...” Yuel opened and closed his mouth. When put like this, Yuel’s pn really sounded like it came from somebody who was already defeated. At some point, the goal of “winning” was repced with “not losing”.

  That was wrong. Nothiured, nothing gaio secure victainst an oppo of equal strength, Yuel had to take some risks. That was true for chess, for sports, and for Cssmancers as well.

  Even in a defeeam, somebody had to be the pilr of the team's offense. On Howard's team, that was Taison st game. In Yuel's team, that had to be Lars. Rather thaering Lars in fear of Taison's ganks, it was best to py to Lars's offerength.

  “Okay, I see your point,” Yuel said. “So, what css would you rather py? As you saw, fog on early game is problematic. We need a css that funs well ier parts of the game.”

  “Hmmmmmm. Oh! I got it! How about Seraph!?”

  This guy... Yuel sighed with a smile. A Hyper Carry, of all things. That'll certainly be a dangerous check for Howard's team, but... “I thought you said you hate csses with a slow early game.”

  “Yeah, it's me. But, if we only gonna fight for real ie-game anyway, my dude Seraph gonna kie serious ass.”

  Truer words have never been spoken by this goof. As a Hyper Carry, Seraph was a monster ie-game. And, bined with Lars's skill, it'll bee a demon. Howard will no longer be able t the game out forever in fear of Seraph's te-game potential. Putting a defeeam on a timer was a good way to make it slip up, it might even open up opportunities for breaking through Howard's defense.

  That goof clearly didn't think that hard about that pick, but it was a great choice. Yuel will have to work hard to keep this goof’s Seraph alive and well until the ter parts of the game, but if they succeed - they'll cim victory!

  Ohe others return, Yuel will go over this pn with them. The game was ohey couldn't possibly afford to lose, yet they were about to take a huge gamble. Will they be able to beat Howard in his own game by switg from early game to te game? Yuel will have to make it happen, no matter what.