Lumimancer wasly a great mage for ning. However, when Kai heard about the likely Lionfolk pick from the enemy, she embraced this obscure pick. In fact, she even had some experience pying as a power Lumimancer. She liked pig the css when she was stuck pying Support with randoms.

  As per usual with ochmaking, she was often stuck with an idiot Carry in the ne. So, she gave up on pying Support for them a for a power build. It was a surprisingly viable approach with Lumimahat even allowed her to carry a few games. It has been a long time since she st had to resort to such measures, but the memory of the power Lumimancer was burned into her mind, probably because it was surprising that it worked.

  So, despite being rusty, Kai remembered the general routine. As soon as she arrived on the ne, she cast Ray of Light around the g swordsmen. Bright sunlight shone upon everybody in the area, damaging enemies and healing allies.

  Lumimancer's clearing speed was on the slower side but it had this nice gimmick to it. It took Ray of Light a while to clear the enemy swordsmen, but the spell stantly healed allied swordsmen ahem alive. So, by the end of the csh, the swordsman survived with det HP.

  At least, that’s how things should have pyed out. However, her ne oppo ended up being a Sorcerer, of all things. This was going to be fun...

  Zap! A bck sphere emerged out of thin air. The Sorcerer tactically pced it between his swordsman and bowmen. A moment ter, he used Dimensional Colpse and the orb exploded inwards, geing a sudden gravity pull. It sucked in the swordsmen and the bowmen, making them bump into each other in the ter.

  Due to how many minions bumped into each other, the entire minion wave received heavy damage. However, that wasn’t the worst part of it. With the swordsman pulled back, they left the healing area of Ray of Light. Meanwhile, the enemy swordsman advanced.

  And so, Kai’s slow-burn wave-clearing has been stripped of its one and only redeeming factor: the healing. With her swordsmen now fighting outside the reach of Ray of Light, they had no advantage over their oppos.

  In the end, her frontline colpsed first because she failed to out-damage the Dimensional Colpse. So, she had no choice but to retreat behind her bowmen aually all the way back to the Turret.

  Yeah, about what I expected. Kai frowhis was why she didn’t like this matchup the moment she saw it. The Sorcerer’s ability to easily reposition minions was the worst thing possible for a Lumimancer who was trying to farm. What the hell she was supposed to do about this?

  “So, turns out he knows how to py,” Kai directed that at Yuel. “Still waiting for my pensation.”

  “I’ll gank as soon as I finish over here,” Yuel said. He was currently busy sying down the wolves located near Bot. There was no ce of testing the griffins because Aron got to them first, so he settled oing the wolves in peace. At least, this time, there were no unpleasant surprise attacks awaiting him.

  Once Yuel finished off the Wolf Camp, he headed toward Top.

  Where would Aron pce wards? Yuel analyzed the mini-map on the way. Most likely, Aron was the one responsible for most of the warding on the eeam, the same as Yuel for his team. So, if Yuel read Aron's warding patterns, he'll be able to sneak by most of the wards.

  Fortunately, Aron was the calcuted type, the same as Yuel. As such, Aron has most likely pced his wards in the best meta spots. Therefore, Yuel just had to look at his own wards and mirror their locations; that robably close to how Arohem as well.

  One ward was definitely around the griffins. It was su importaral location that Aron (or at least somebody from his team) definitely pced a ward over there.

  , where would the other wards be? Yuel pced his own sed ward he Wolf Camp, right above Bot. It granted him vision of the camp and alerted Lars of any invaders heading to Bot. Sihe enemies were aware of Lars's skill, they will most certainly focus their ganks on Bot to keep him in check. As such, it was of utmost importao prepare against ganks on Bot.

  Yuel discussed his warding pns ahead of time with the team, so Kai khere won't be a ward on her side of the jungle. As such, she went ahead and bought one herself. Quite the initiative right there. This was one of those cases when her self-suffit nature was great. She was born to py Mid, no question about it.

  With all of that in mind, how did the warding looked on the enemy’s side of the map? Probably quite simir. Aron must have covered two areas just like Yuel did, then aeammate covered the remaining one. So, it was natural to assume the enemy will spot Yuel rotating to Top no matter which path he takes.

  Too bad I’m not ganking Bot. It'd be much easier. Yuel sighed. The two nes had slight asymmetry in their youts. Bot had a juran the middle of the ne so Yuel could easily gank from there without venturing into eerritory.

  However, Top Jungle didn't offer su option. A thick wall separated the ne from the jungle across nearly the entire ne, so the best entrance fank id ierritory. Of course, he could also ehe ne from allied territory, but such a telegraphed gank won’t achieve much.

  In clusion, Yuel’s best option was to approach from the enemy's side of the jungle. However, that side was most certainly heavily warded against ganks from all dires.

  I wish I had stealth. Yuel chewed his lips. Even though he promised Kai a gank, it wasn't so easy. heless, he had to do something. This Lumimancer vs. Sorcerer matchup was rough. The game just started and Kai has already lost substantial ne trol.

  Fortunately, Aron robably far from the middle of the jungle right now. Due to the enemy’s invasion at game start, Aron still had plenty of jungle camps to clear; they kept him busy for a while.

  As such, Yuel had some leverage here. He had the option of going for a slow “gank” without fully itting to it right away.

  Let's try sg him a little. Yuel decided. It didn’t seem feasible to get a solid gank going right now, so the sed-best option was to scare Alex and make the guy retreat. That should help Kai regain some ne trol.

  In order to not waste too much time on this experiment, Yuel cut through the ter of the map, passing by the empty Griffin Camp. Soon, he arrived in the middle of the enemy juhere was no doubt that a ward caught a glimpse of him somewhere along the path and alerted the enemy. However, that only made the gank narrative more believable, so it pyed in Yuel’s favor.

  What the enemy wards should have shown was Yuel heading toward Top on the enemy side of the Jungle. In other words, it had to be an ining gank.

  "Alex, the Viking is heading in your dire," Aroed.

  "Yeah, saw it," Alex stared at the mini-map for a couple of seds.

  With how the matchup was shaping up in Top, it was only natural for the eo start ganking as soon as possible. If they do nothing, Freezer will run away with it for zero effort. It'd be awesome, holy.

  As, the oppos were serious pyers so they won't give up so easily. Well, that made things fun in their ht. It gave Alex a reason to actually try.

  sidering how seriously the other team took this much, they’ve surely discussed how to hahe disadvantageous matchup in Top. So, clearly, a gank was heading towards Alex and he had to retreat. Or, did he?

  Something about this gank feels zy. Alex thought. Chessmaster. He was the shot-caller from the scrimmage, right? He should have good map awareness and know where wards go.

  If so, was there any ce this calcuted pyer didn't sider the possibility of a ward he Griffin Camp? No way. In fact, there’s no doubt that he pced a ward over there too. So, he should’ve guessed that Aron pced a ward over there as well.

  A, Chessmaster ran straight through the warded area anyway. He didn't even try stig to the edges of the walls or anything to minimize the ces of being spotted. It's almost like he was asking to be spotted.

  Is he trying to scare me? Alex wohere was a ce this whole "gank" was just a fraud and Chessmaster had no iion of ganking Alex right now.

  With that said, not taking precautions against this potential gank would be a huge risk. Sorcerer didn’t have any mobility skills to speak of, so any Viking that gets close will have no trouble killing Alex. Therefore, he had to retreat now if he wao get away.

  Even though there was still some uainty about the enemy's iions, he slowly backpedaled from the middle of the ne. A new minion wave was on its way and he should have been on the front to quickly clear it out, but he chose to withdraw from the optimal farming position. However, he didn’t go all the way back to his tower.

  "Why so slow oreat?" Aron asked. "He's ing after you."

  "Is he, really?" Alex asked. "I have a feeling it's a magic show. He showed he's on the way to alert me, but I don't think he's really ing."

  "Hrm, I wouldn't put it past him."

  "Had a feeling," Alex nodded. "A, I still have to retreat at least a little. He always ge pns midway based on my rea. What a nasty way to apply pressure."

  "I'd intercept him but I'm too far," Aron shook his head. "He probably took my positioning into at as well."

  "You think he snu some wards on our side?"

  "Possible. Or, he estimated it based on he would be doing right now in my shoes. For the better or the worse, we're both the types who prefer stig to optimal pys."

  "You mean, the b bunch," Trever chuckled. "You gotta py with your heart more."

  "We already got oroublemaker to cover that area," Aroed. "Anyway, Alex. I trust your judgment on this one. I 't tell whether this is Yuel’s 'magic show', as you called it. But, I at least firm it's a possibility when Yuel is involved."

  "Good enough for me," Alex nodded. He stuck to his guns and didn't retreat all the way. heless, this partial retreat messed up his ability to tihe effit farming routine he has been using until now.

  The two minion waves cshed in the middle of the ne, but Alex was too far to pce a Magia Orb in the middle of the enemy formation. As such, he couldn't take advantage of Dimensional Colpse to pull all enemy minions to one spot.

  Fortunately, Dimensional Colpse wasn’t the only spell Sorcerer had for farming. There was an alternative, the le option: Repelling Force. As, with this o was much harder to hit the entire minion wave in one shot, especially from this range. Alex had to perfectly calcute the distand ao fire an orb that’ll travel through the entire minion wave.

  It ossible on paper but extremely difficult to pull off. A slight miscalcution of a couple of pixels will make his spell miss a third of the enemy wave. That’s how tight the aim had to be.

  Execution, huh. What a pain. Alex sighed. But, gotta do what I gotta do.

  After the fateful scrimmage with StormBlitz, Alex learned an important lesson. No matter how good of a pyer he thought he was, it was a child’s py to shut him down by banning Warlock, the only one css he really pyed. He should've known that all along, but in Ranked nobody targeted him specifically so Warlock bans only happened every on a while.

  Oher hand, in a petitive match, the enemy was going to use any information at their disposal to strike where it hurt the most. Somebody in StormBlitz, perhaps Chessmaster, saw Alex pying a solid Warlock, so they bahe css. Poof! Gone! Just like that, with a click of a button, they stripped Alex of his stroool. And, at the time, his only tool...

  It was a fitting sp in the face for his ziness. He thought he could coast by maining one easy css, but that mentality came back to bite him in the ass. That's why, ever since, he has been raising his mastery in every meta mage css, for both Mid and Support.

  A few months ago, exeg the Sorcerer's alternative farming routine would have been beyond him. His orbs would have missed the target by at least half a s.

  However, the way he was now - he could pull it off. It was still a drag, but he could do it. He had to do it. After all, he practiced it along with tless other setups.

  First, he created a Magia Orb in front of him. It was crucial to align the orb on the same axis as the enemy minions. Otherwise, it won’t be possible to send this thing flying in a way that’d hit the entire enemy wave. It was like knog down bowling pins; he had to aim for the ter.

  After carefully pg the orb, he unleashed Repelling Force. A magical gust erupted at his and and rammed into the deployed orb. The impact shot the orb forth, right into the enemy wave.

  Hmm. I'd give myself a 7/10. Alex judged. His orb successfully passed through the enemy wave, but the angle wasn't perfect. The orb only hit two of the swordsmen and two of the bowmen. So, only 4/6 of the targets ate big damage.

  It wasn't the best result but it was satisfactory. After all, hitting the entire minion wave with one orb was borderline inhuman. The orb had to be perfectly tered on the minions and graze the ones on the sides just enough tister as a hit. Pulling this off every time would be godlike mastery. Even in Practice mode, under optimal ditions, Alex could only do that on three attempts on a good day.

  In fact, even in the pro se, that was unon. Only the absolute highest level Sorcerer pros could nail this reliably. Most of the time, if a pro pyer had to resort to Repelling Force for framing, they created two adjat orbs a both of them flying forward. One orb swept through the left side of the minion wave and the other through the right, with both grazing the ter for double damage. That was the most surefire way to do this.

  It was a good setup and Alex practiced it, but he had no time to set it up here. It required two deployed Magia Orbs, so at least one of them had to be pced in advance. As, Alex didn't foresee this development, so he wasn’t prepared.

  ime I'll be ready. Alex o himself. All in all, he delivered ae respoo this whole "gank" pressure situation. His Sorcerer was finally viable for petitive-level gamepy. That was good to know.

  Thanks to this semi-successful backup farming option, Alex came out of this situation with minimal losses. It took more than a low-budget magic show to scare him into surrendering ne trol. After all, he was Freezer; his specialty was to freeze nes from disadvantage.

  Though, for that skill to e into py, the enemy first had to actually force Alex into a disadvantageous situation. After all, oint was there to freezing a ne when he could gain an advantage so easily?

  Alright the’s see if these kids have what it takes to give me trouble. Alex cracked his neck. Was that Viking ing here? Or, was it just a smokes? Either way, Alex was ready to face whatever nonsehese guys had in store. He’ll avoid ganks and he’ll maintain ne trol, that was his silent promise.

  DarkestCymore