Thanks to the huge early-game advantage, Yuel's team domihe match with leisure. They scored many more kills as the match went on and pressed the enemy from all sides.

  An enemy has been killed!

  “Yeah! Got ‘em!” Luke pumped a fist as he took down another unsuspeg oppo from behind. He ying such a low tier css ahe enemy couldn't shut him down. As much as Yuel hated to admit it, Luke has been putting on a strong dispy.

  Rogue's biggest issue was hile the css was. It relied heavily on the element of surprise and had to sultiple early kills to get going. If the enemy successfully starves the Rogue during the early game, the Rogue will start gging behind during the mid-game. And, once Rogue starts gging behind, it was terrible at catg up.

  On top of that, evehe Rogue mao get going during the early game, its future was still uain. There was a ce he’ll snowball out of hand and will go on a killing spree, but that only happened on low levels of py. On higher levels, the enemy would ter Rogue with Stealth Wards and that’d tie the Rogue’s hands. Even if the Rogue gets fed, it’ll be pointless if he ’t sneak up to oppos from behind to assassihem.

  But, the way Luke pyed almost made it look like Rogue actually worked. He scored three kills during the early game a going with that momentum for the rest of the match. His performance alerted the eeam and made them deploy tless Stealth Wards, but that didn't faze Luke in the slightest.

  “Hehe, found it,” Luke plucked out yet aealth Ward. At some point, Yuel lost t of how many wards Luke has destroyed throughout the game. The number definitely hit the double digits.

  This was Luke's ter-strategy against Stealth Wards: excessive ter-warding. Every time he returo base, he always bought two Sentry Wards before heading out. By using edug guessing, he found out where the enemy pced Stealth Wards and exposed them with his Sentry Wards.

  That led to excessive warding. However, unlike Julia's bad habit of over-warding, here it was a legitimate tactic. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t involve some big sacrifices.

  Luke slowed down his build a lot to buy all these wards. That was unthinkable fue, a css that wao get strong as quickly as possible. heless, Luke used this heavy ter-warding strategy and that allowed him to freely sneak around the map. He made up for the gold he spent on wards by seg easier kills all across the map.

  As, Luke was just one pyer. He couldn't possibly beat the warding of the entire eeam on his own. And, he wasn't a superhumaher, so it’s not like he correctly guessed the location of every single enemy Stealth Ward. He needed some backup to win this warding war.

  Where else did the enemy pce Stealth Wards? Yuel wondered as he examihe map. Most of the important crossroads in Bot Jungle have been covered by Luke's Stealth Wards, but Top Jungle barely had any wards on the enemy side. The eeam was no pushover and also ter-warded every now and then, so Top Jungle was most likely heavily warded.

  To ter-ward, the enemy had to pce Sentry Wards of their own because only Sentry Wards could expose other Sentry Wards. Therefore, in every area where the enemy has retly taken out an allied Ward, they assuredly pced a Sentry Ward of their own. It was important to ter-ward those wards eventually, but they weren't Yuel's focus at the moment.

  Where did the enemy pce Stealth Wards in Top Jungle? Even though it cost them extra gold, they define bought some Stealth Wars in addition to Sentry Wards. No matter what they thought ue’s tier, they were definitely wary of Luke's momentum and wao shut him down. Therefore, they had to resort to Stealth Wards.

  Optimally, they'd pce Stealth Wards in the most strategigle locations which had lots of traffic. However, such spots became warding war zones, so the enemy has already ied money int them with Sentry Wards.

  Pg a Stealth Ward near a Sentry Ward was ineffit for two reasons. First, it didn't grant the team any additional vision in the area. Sed, the enemy would have an easy time taking down both wards at oh vision from a single Sentry Ward.

  Therefore, despite how good these strategic warding spots were, the enemy usually avoided poputing them with Stealth Wards. So, where did they pce their Stealth Wards instead? This called for a process of elimination.

  Every major strategic spot, where the enemy has retly pced a Sentry Ward, most likely didn’t have a Stealth Ward anywhere near it. So, Yuel simply had tet the strategic spots that had sedary priority.

  Found it. Yuel cut down an enemy Stealth Ward in front of a jura was a good warding spot for monit who went in and out of the juhrough this entrance, but it didn't tell much beyond that and therefore wasn’t a top priority warding spot. However, this ward was definitely great for alerting about an ining gank from a stealthed oppo.

  Ihe enemy chose wisely by pg a Stealth Ward here. Unfortunately for them, it’s because this spot was so good for a Stealth Ward that Yuel could si out and take out the ward.

  He applied the same reasoning to other parts of the map and took out a fair share of Stealth Wards. Together with Luke's efforts to take out Stealth Wards, the enemy had virtually not anti-stealth vision on the map and that allowed Luke to rampage.

  “Hey, man,” Luke said. “I see ya also take out their Stealth Wards. Thanks, makes my life much easier.”

  “It's not like I'm doing it for you,” Yuel said. “Having mary Wards boosts the eeam’s map vision, so it's good for everybody.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Luke nodded. “Anyway, it helps me out a lot, so thanks.”

  “You wele,” Yuel pursed his lips. It wasn't like he supported the game pn of a memer or anything. He just ter-warded for his team and happeo prioritize spots with potential Stealth Wards because that made Luke more effective at sg kills.

  “Oh, it's so toug,” Vi raised his voice. “The ever serious Chessmaster goes out of his way to help a memer so they wich together! Such friendship!”

  “Nothing of the sort,” Yuel objected. “I still stand by my point that Rogue is a bad pick. But, since we're already stuck with it, I might as well do what I to prevent it from blowing in our faces.”

  “e on, admit it,” Vi smiled meaningfully. “You actually want to see Luke do well this game.”

  “Not really.”

  “I also thought he'd be a problem at first. But, after seeing him py, I was vinced - he's the Meme Jedi!”

  “Great, now how about you expin that in pin English?”

  “Haha, the Eternal Party Pooper strikes again,” Vi shook his head and switched off his dramatie. “Basically, the guy is really dedicated. He pys memes but he pys them well. He almost makes them look legit.”

  “He does seem to know what he's doing. But, the way I see it, he just preys on oppos who don't know how to ter him. It won’t wainst higher-level oppos.”

  “True, but isn't it inspiring? He’s like a ler who only got junky tools at his disposal but heless stands up against evil and fights his hardest! Through hard work and dedication, he has bee a master of his junky tools and turhem into ons of mass destru!”

  “I'd rete to that ranger more if he didn't choose to use junky tools just because he thought that’s more fun.”

  “But, that's what makes the tale so great! He could’ve chosen anything but he went for the bottom of the barrel! He challehe world with the weakest set of tools!”

  “Whatever you say,” Yuel shrugged. Maybe a part of him really did root for Luke and wao see Rogue perform well. After all, by the end of the day, it's not like Rogue was a pletely worthless css beyond salvation. It underperformed pared to other assassin csses because it had gring issues, but it was still borderline pyable.

  In his earlier days, Yuel researched Rogue extensively in training mode because it was a css that gave pyers a lot of trouble on low levels of py. A team had to know how to ward and maintain a minimal amount of coordination in order to not be run over by a Rogue. Therefore, Yuel wao get his hands on as many termeasures as possible to increase his win rate with randoms online.

  However, once Yuel started pying with Lars and reached Ranked, Rogue has pretty much faded to obscurity. Legends said Rogue still terrorized Bronze and Silver ranks to this day but Yuel didn’t get to experience much of it.

  Sue became a niche meme pid all of Yuel’s ih research became irrelevant. But, what if he could use all the knowledge he accumuted to turn this niche css into an anti-meta pick? Maybe he could turn Rogue into a sleep hitter css, the same way one pro turned Shadow Walker into S tier back when nobody aying too much attention to it.

  Unfortunately, that went nowhere. Part of it was because their group cked a good Ju the time, so nobody could truly test out Yuel’s ideas fue. He tried some of them himself but he cked the meical skill for exeg some of the intense high-risk high-reys he had in mind.

  After various attempts, Yuel had no choice but agree with the sensus: Rogue was an underperf css which was about as good as a meme pick. Even Dan, the Jack-of-all-Trades who pyed every single Jungler role, regarded Rogue as a meme pick for when he felt like having fun. It was never a pick for serious matches.

  Therefore, it was iing to see Luke's spin on this css for a serious Ranked match. The way he handled Rogue almost made it look like Rogue was actually w.

  However, that's also what also made Luke kinda irritating. This showed he was skilled enough to put on a solid performance even on a high level of py. Yet, he restricted himself to pying memes and refused to realize his full potential. It was dumb. If Luke pyed meta csses, he would have been a force to be reed with.

  “Is there a reason he only pys memes?” Yuel asked in a lower tone.

  “Yes, indeed,” Vi nodded. “You see, Luke had a mentor who passed away. The mentor's st wish was for Luke to master the Meme Ford to bee the greatest Meme Jedi who'll restore bao the meta!”

  “.......................”

  “................... well? What do you think?”

  “Please remio never ask you anything ever again.”

  “Haha, will do,” Vi cracked a ugh. “Well, the guy just likes memes. What I tell you.”

  “Nothing useful, it seems,” Yuel cluded. Luke was just the type of pyer who only wao mess around with memes and have fun with the game. He seemed to have all the necessary qualities for being a strong petitive pyer but he had zero i in realizing his talent.

  Unfortunately, not everybody took Cssmancers as seriously as Yuel and Lars. For the two of them, Cssmancers was a serious sport and they wao bee pros in it. However, for most other kids, Cssmancers was just a pastime. Even though Luke clearly put a lot of effort into researg Rogue and bringing this meme css to its current level, Cssmancers was still just a hobby and Luke only cared about messing around like a brat.

  Will this kind of pyer be effective in petitive matches? A smart Rogue could outdo some oppos in Ranked even against high-level oppos. However, the petitive se was a different story. The amounts of ter-py and adaptation there were on airely different level.

  Therefore, there was no ce Luke will reach far with his memes. Low tier csses were low tier for a reason. They had weakhat petent pyers knew how to exploit. Even if Luke catch the enemy off-guard the first time by bringing out a meme, on the sed round the enemy will ter him and pletely shut him down. As a result, the eeam will be screwed.

  A team with a weak Jungler was half as effective as it could be. This roblem. A huge problem.

  Was there any ce at all of ving Luke to take the game more seriously and pick up meta csses? Yuel had no idea how to approach this issue. Maybe Luke will just naturally develop a more petitive mi as the team pys in official scrimmages. Yuel could only pray.

  Either way, as far as the current match was ed, Luke utting on a strong performance. He has scored five kills by the time they reached the mid-game. Yuel also scored two kills while Kai scored three. It was their first time pying together but the eeam was on a roll! Except for one pyer.

  Lars also has been putting on a strong dispy but something was missing. Uhe rest of the team, he was still sitting on zero kills. He had four assists and he hasn’t died even once, so it’s not like he doing poorly by any means. However, he wasn’t on a rampage either. It was unusual.

  Normally, wheeam was holding the upper hand so vingly, Lars was out there on the front, pulling the eeam after him. He was always the first to ride the momentum and domihe match. In this kind of situation, he should have been snowballing right now.

  Yet, Lars was weirdly docile this game. Even though he still nded shots like a sniper and oppressed any oppo in a fight, there was something amiss. He was g spark. He ying strong but he wasn’t dominating. This was a far cry from the usual meical beast who crushed the spirits of its prey.

  Maybe it’s because he’s not the Carry? Yuel wondered.

  In a sehe team’s Carry was like the ace. When the Carry pushed hard and eliminated objectives, the eeam beed from that and it created a huge momentum. Oher hand, a mage couldn’t take objectives nearly as vingly and had to tribute in other ways

  Then again, sg kills served a simir purpose as well. When a teammate repeatedly scored kills and removed enemy pyers from the board, it geed a huge momentum. And, unlike destroying objectives, killing enemies was something both marksmen and mages could do equally well.

  So, there was no good expnation for Lars’s tame pys. That hungry beast should’ve been riding the team’s momentum and rampaging right now. Yet, he hasn’t scored a single kill yet. He only got some assists.

  “Why you didn’t chase?” Yuel asked after Lars let the Eleancer get away with low HP. “You could’ve gotten a kill.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Lars said. “But, he was going to the jungle so it was kinda dicey. Maybe they were gonna gank me or something.”

  “That’s certainly possible, but...” Yuel couldn’t believe he was hearing these words from Lars of all people. When did this overfident hunter bee scared of chasing into the jungle? Normally, Lars would disregard everything around him and chase his prey to the end of the world to get the kill. How bizarre.

  “You know,” Yuel tinued. “We’re winning right now, so the other team is struggling against us on every ne. You really think they got the spare hands to lure you into a gank like this?”

  “I dunno,” Lars shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, yo.”

  “That’s....” Yuel opened and closed his mouth. “Sure.” That’s all he could say in response.

  Lars’s argument made perfect se that’s exactly what made it so disturbing. As much as Yuel wanted Lars to be more thoughtful and take fewer risks, he never wao hear words like “better safe than sorry” from Lars. It was uling.

  I hope it’s just this match. Yuel prayed.

  Perhaps Lars was fih just assisting this game because Luke has been stealing the show with his Rogue ganks. It wasly what one would expect from a beast that was always hungry for kills. But, it’s not like Lars dragged the team down or anything. Even though he let some kills go, he overall tributed greatly to the team’s momentum by overwhelming his oppos.

  Besides, maybe Lars was still switg gears from Carry to Mid. He had his hands full with pying Mid correctly, so asking him to domihe entire game was too much right now.

  So, he’ll definitely get used to it by te-game, right? Before long, Lars will surely awaken his true bestial instincts and will tear his oppos apart. Or, so Yuel hoped.

  “Oh, crap,” Lars turned around and cast Jet Stream. “Gotta scoot!”

  “Why?” Yuel asked. “You still got over 30% HP. You could've killed that Knight and thereat.”

  “But, I'm all alone here, dude,” Lars said. “What if somebody ganked me before I finished off that dude?”

  “Yeah, that could certainly happen, but...”

  “Also,” Lars added. “If that Knight could get close to me even once, I’d be dead meat for sure.”

  “I'm pretty sure that Knight is nowhere as skilled as you,” Yuel objected. “You should've been able to take him down uhere's something I'm missing here.”

  “Nah, ya right, I probably would have rekt him. But, it felt hel dangerous, so I thought it's better to leave it alone for now.”

  “I see,” Yuel frowhere was nothing he could argue here. Lars sensed danger and judged it was safer to retreat instead of chasing the kill. It was su otherworldly occurrehat Yuel needed a couple of mio process this bizarre information.

  Lars? Retreating of his own volition from a position where he had a det ce to score a kill? What’s ? Cows will rain from the sky?

  But, maybe that's a better mio have. Yuel tried to vince himself.

  Even though this retreat seemed excessively defehe mentality behind it was sound. Lars deemed the situation dangerous and prioritized seg his own survival over seg the kill. At such a te stage of the game, even a single death was fatal. So, it made seo be more cautious than usual.

  It felt weird when that goof wasn't going wild and carrying the team, but maybe sometimes it was for the better. The team was holding the upper hand right now, so there was o take unnecessary risks. All they had to do ressure the opposition into submission with their ne advantage and that'll hem wiually.

  In the end, even though the team gained such a big advantage early on, the match dragged out for a while. The eeam refused to give ie their huge disadvantage a defending to the bitter end. It was an admirable fighting spirit, as expected from pyers who got golden names.

  Yuel had some ideas on how to break the enemy’s defenses faster but those harbored risks. So, he kept them to himself. There was o take any risks when his team was already holding the high ground. He only gave shot-calls when the risk-reward of the call was strongly in favor of the reward.

  Eventually, the team broke through the enemy defenses and sealed the deal. It felt like the match should have bee least ten minutes earlier. heless, a win was a win. Stratus’ first match as a team was a success! Sort of.