While setting up the tablet for the 2v2, Yuel shared his observations with Lars.

  “Judging by their ranks,” Yuel said. “It might be a good idea to focus on Vi first.”

  “We gonna focus the Support?”

  “Maybe,” Yuel narrowed his eyes as he g the enemy camp. Vi was busy expining something to Kai with his usual exaggerated hand motions. That was always speaking a lot of nonsense, but it also seemed like there was some ued sharpo him.

  Maybe Yuel was just imagining it, but it felt like Vi figured that Yuel will be gunning for him. Something about their exges before the match just rubbed Yuel the wrong way.

  “We'll have to see how it goes,” Yuel said. “For now, my pn is to ban Support csses with good escapes. Let's focus on Vi whenever we and see where we go from there.”

  “Okey-dokey,” Lars fshed his teeth and saluted.

  The banning phase began. Yuel’s side won the virtual in-game toss, so he got to ban first. His first target was Knight. It was a css with a solid bination of tankiness and mobility, so a Support who wao keep himself alive while helping his ne partner would opt for Knight.

  I think I hit bullseye. Yuel gauged Vi's rea from afar: a dry ugh followed by a head shake. Even if Knight wasn't going to be Vi's first pick, it was most certainly a pick he was sidering.

  In respohe other team barickshooter.

  “Yo!” Lars excimed. “For real? How did they know!?”

  “It must be Vi,” Yuel deduced. “He saw the scrimmage, so he knows how strong your Trickshooter is.”

  “And here I thought I'll get to go wild on them,” Lars twisted his lips. “ dude, ban their best Carry too!”

  “And how would I know their best Carry?”

  “I believe in ya! You're smart and stuff.”

  Being smart doesn't magically make me know things. Yuel retorted mentally. He got an early read on Vi, so he could estimate what csses Vi was sidering. However, as for Kai? Yuel didn’t know the first thing about her as a pyer.

  Kai was rather stoid it was difficult to read her expressions, especially with that bck cap that covered her face whenever she was l her head. Why was she even wearing that cap inside a basement?

  Anyway, there was one Carry which Yuel definitely saw fitting to ban: Elf. Depending on how well Vi studied Lars during the scrimmage, there was a ce Vi realized Lars had a bad habit of overextending at times. Yuel has been w hard with that goof on fixing this weakness, but it hasn’t beeirely resolved yet.

  Therefore, if the enemy chooses to go with a defensive game pn, it might cause some trouble for Lars. Thus, Elf had to go.

  In respohe enemy banned Padi again, a css that showed strong performance during the StormBlitz vs. Leopards scrimmage. Yuel's Padin even impressed the Leopards back then and posed enough of a threat to warrant their ban.

  Based on these bans, it was evident Vi didn't know much about Yuel and Lars beyond what he saw in that one scrimmage. So, all his bans were likely going to be based on that o. So much for his amazing “Information Bckhole”. He didn’t know squat about Yuel and Lars’s other strong options.

  For the third ban, Yuel banned Lumimancer. It wasn't a tanky css but its Fsh spell was a blink, so that made the css great at esg. Now, with both Knight and Lumimancer out of the picture, there weren't that many options for Vio go for if he wanted an evasive Support.

  For the enemy's st ban, they picked Druid. Yet again, a css which put on a strong showing during the Leopards scrimmage. It was also a great css for stopping escape attempts thanks to the pull from Nature's Grasp, so perhaps that was one of Vi’s siderations as well.

  With the banning phase over, Yuel's side proceeded to select the first css. The other side will then have to pick both csses at once, so Yuel preferred to keep his own pick for st and ter-pick whatever Vi picks.

  “Say,” Yuel started. “You think you handle a Gunslinger on tablet?”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Lars nodded. “I'mma get these headshots.”

  “You sure? You only practiced it on PC.”

  “Believe it, yo!”

  I'd believe it if you didn't alretend like you do everything even when you clearly 't.

  Gunslinger was Lars's sed-best css, provided he could nd headshots as he practiced on PC. For nding headshots, in particur, there was a huge differeween pying with a mouse on Pd pying with a troller on tablet. Could Lars really pull it off...?

  Then again, it was Lars. His sharpshooting abilities never ceased to amaze. Yuel and Lars absolutely had to domihis match to show how much better they were thaher duo, so going with Lars's sed stro pick seemed like the best option.

  “Okay,” Yuel said. “I'll believe you're not all talk. Let's go with Gunslinger.”

  “Heh, this gonna be fun. I'mma style on them!” Lars grinned and his eyes glinted like a knife. He was like a hungry beast that was about to set out to devour his prey. Maybe it was just Yuel's imagination, but there was something a tad uling underh Lars’s usual gung-ho attitude...

  “Gunslinger, huh,” Vi o himself as the turn passed back him and Kai. Now, they had to pick their two csses.

  With both Knight and Lumimancer banned, Vi's escape options were severely limited. He felt like there had to be a better option out there, but the only thing that came to mind was Viking’s blink ability toward his axe. As, Viking wasn't a proper Support css. It was a bona fide Top Laner.

  “What do you think about me pig Viking?” Vi asked.

  “Well, if that's what you want,” Kai shrugged.

  “You don't have any objes?”

  “Not really. I mean, it doesn't sound like the best Support out there, but this isn't even a real matyway. The extra power may be useful for a 2v2.”

  “I guess that’s true,” Vi was taken aback at first by the ck of resistance, but then he remembered this was Kai he was dealing with. This girl always focused more on her own picks and pys. The rest could be whatever.

  “I'll go with Pyro,” Kai said and locked in Pyromancer.

  “Wha-!?” Vi jumped. How about discussing it first!? Seriously, she was the Maiden of Zero Fucks given. “That's a pretty risky pick right there.”

  “Looks good to me,” Kai shrugged. “Pyro both carry and clear minions, so I figured it'll be good for a 2v2.”

  “That may be true, but it has a she,” Vi argued. “I told you how Gunz has Gungnir Sniper, right? He doesn't drop a single shot! If you get close to him, he'll snipe you every siime!”

  “Again with that over the top nonsense...”

  “Alright, you don’t have to believe everything I say. But, at least trust me that Gunz is scary if you put yourself in his firing range. He's going to aggress on you and he won't be missing any shots.”

  “We'll see about that.”

  I got a bad feeling about this. Vi sighed. Despite his best efforts to avoid everything he saw during the StormBlitz vs. Leopards scrimmage, Kai just had to go ahead and pick Pyromahe exact css Gunz tore apart in that scrimmage. This was an ominous sign. History was about to repeat itself!

  As the Support, it should be my job to protect her. But... Vi shuddered. He felt it! That murderous ihat traveled across the air from the enemy camp! He definitely had a mark on his back.

  At least, with Viking, Vi will be able to protect himself with long-distance blinking. However, that’ll e at the expense of his ability to properly support Kai. If Chessmaster fails to take Vi down, he’ll surely go after Kai . Decisions, decisions.

  Normally, the Support’s life was sidered of less value than the Carry’s and therefore the Support should be willing to sacrifice himself for the Carry. However, in a 2v2, the death of a single pyer meant 50% of the team was eliminated. So, Vi's death would spell immi doom for Kai.

  I should focus on keeping myself alive first. Vi cluded. After I secure my own safety, I’ll figure out how to keep Kai alive. Oh, I mea! Yeah, she’s Beat now. And, I’m Information Bckhole!

  “Beat.” Vi poi Kai. “Information Bckhole.” He poi himself.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Rehearsing the proper names,” Vi expined. “Gotta call everybody by their petitive names.”

  “Is that a new gig you’re running?”

  “Yeah, isn’t it cool?”

  “Not really.”

  “You should also call everybody by their petitive names when we’re in a match.”

  “You expect me to call you Information Bckhole?” Kai made a face. “That’s a mouthful for a name.”

  “You just call me Bckhole.”

  “How about no?” Kai rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway,” Vi tinued before their time runs out. “I'll take Viking to keep myself alive. Just keep in kind that my supp options are limited, so py a little safer.”

  “Sure.”

  Vi locked in the Viking pid their turn was done. Now, the ball was in Chessmaster’s cain.

  An iing approach. Yuel thought. This firmed his suspi: Vi was definitely aware of the mark on his back. After Yuel sealed the defeions of Knight and Lumimancer, it forced Vio resort to a selfish Support pick like Viking just to keep himself alive.

  It was an ued move but it was eveer than what Yuel hoped for. Without a proper Support, the Carry will bee a much easier target during the early parts of the game. So, if fog on Vi won’t pay off, Yuel and Lars will simply focus on Kai instead and Vi won't be able to do too much about it. Vi pyed this ooo safe for his own good.

  Oher hand, Kai's Pyromancer pick was ballsy and disrespeg. She knew she was going up against Challenger V pyers but she didn't care. That was some fidence right there.

  Does this duo even unicate? Yuel wondered.

  This mismat how each of them approached the match seemed like a small thing at first gnce, but it might hint about a disagreement in the enemy camp. On one hand, Vi saw how good Yuel and Lars were and pyed cautiously. Oher hand, Kai was going on all in without a single care in the world because she never saw them in a.

  Did Vi fet to warn her? Judging by how eically he was talking over there, it seemed unlikely he wouldn’t mention su importaail. So, Kai most likely didn’t take his advice seriously.

  Holy, it was hard to bme her because Vi was a who blew every little thing out of proportion. Still, this was important information from a teammate and Kai disregarded it. This alluded to potential weaknesses in the enemy’s teamwork. Yuel should definitely capitalize on those.

  To ter Viking's best escape option, Yuel picked ancer. Between Ice Wall and Ice Coffin, ancer had great tools for stopping Viking’s escape. On top of that, ancer doubled as a ter to Kai because Pyromancer didn’t have any leap abilities for jumping over Ice Wall. So, unless both enemies get Blink at game start, they’ll be easy targets.

  “Man,” Vi shook his head. “I'm telling you, this guy really knows how to spot any weakness. He really got the Mystic Eyes of Weakness Perception, no kidding.”

  “Sure.”

  “Cryo's Ice Wall is a good ter to both our csses, so we have to buy Blink as soon as possible.”

  “I'll think about it.” Kai shrugged.

  “'t you agree with something for once?”

  “Not until I’m sure I trust your judgment on this,” Kai said. “You’re the kind of guy who hears a random loud sound and immediately cims it’s aliens b Earth. You expect me to trust the judgment of somebody like that?”

  “Fair enough,” Vi smiled wryly. He actually had solid information this time around and he was taking this match seriously, but good luck ving Kai about any of that.

  Welp, he already khis is how Kai always rolled, so there wasn't much more he could say. She’ll just have to withe savage strength of the Golden Duo first hand. Then, she'll beore cooperative. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

  With the drafting phase over, the match finally began. They pyed on the map that opur for 1v1, so their starting options were practically the same: either go for the Wraith Camp on their side of the map or test the Ogre Camp in the middle of the map.

  “Dude,” Lars said. “Let's ihem!”

  “o rush things,” Yuel said.

  “, let's beat them before the game starts! , , !”

  “No. Gunslinger isn't that strong in the early game. Did you fet that already?”

  “But, we're starting at Lv.5. I already got my cool stuff going!”

  “That's still too early,” Yuel insisted. “But, we're definitely going for the red buff. If they think they test it, they’ll e to us themselves and we’ll get ourselves a fight. Is that good enough for you?”

  “Okay, let's goooo!” Lars darted out of the base as soon as he purchased the starter items Yuel advised for this matchup.

  Samurai Tabi was an aggressive starting option which will ehat each of Lars’s shots will be impactful. Lars pouted at first and said he wanted something mgressive, but Yuel insisted. Seriously, that goof was too bloodthirsty right now. Yuel will have to keep that beast under trol.

  “Let's go for red buff,” Kai said, already on her way out of the base.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Vi objected as he followed. “I told you, these twood. Like, super mega ultra good. You don't want to challehem to an early fight like that.”

  “Why not?”

  “‘Why’? You're really something...” Vi sighed. This was even harder than usual.

  Perhaps, despite Kai's stoic expression, she was actually overflowing with emotiht now. It felt like she was dead set beating these two with her own hands. Did she feel threatened by their presence? Because, they were undoubtedly going to take her position as the stro pyer in the club, Not to mention, they were boys...

  Being motivated for the fight was fine and dandy, but Kai was being way too reckless. At this rate, the enemy will mop the floor with them in under five minutes.

  I know we're going to lose, but I want to at least put on a good fight. Vi knotted his brows. Oh well, let's just see how it goes. As far as raw stats are ed, I believe our csses got an edge over theirs in an early 2v2. I even got my ‘press Y to win’ ult and all. And, if push es to shove, we just blink... or not.

  “Wait, why you didn't get Blink?”

  “It costs too much,” Kai shrugged. “I couldn't buy Lv.3 Demonic Arm together with Blink.”

  “Oh boy,” Vi sighed deeply. This was going to be a wild ride. He felt that in his bones.

  Unfortunately, he couldn't just leave Beat to her own devices, so he followed after her toward the Ogre Camp. Chessmaster and Gunz were probably feeling themselves right now due to their higher rank, so they'll assuredly test the camp. If so, GGWP.

  Yep, just like I thought. Vi spotted the two enemies heading toward the Ogre Camp from the opposite dire. “They're going for red buff too.”

  “Yes, I see that.”

  “Any ce you resider testing the camp?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Haha, right, why would you...” Vi produced a dry ugh. There wasn't anything else he could do but brapact. Viking's ult might be able to get them a cheesy win in a 2v2, but the Chessmaster probably knew how to safely diffuse this bomb.

  The early csh for the Ogre Camp was about to begin! Who'll take the upper hand at the very beginning!?