It was time for the sed game between Stratus and Taurus. Both sides ehe stage and took their seats.

  Yuel’s team agreed to go with a rushdown formation during the break, but they didn't have enough time to discuss all the finer details. So, they had to sort it out during the drafting phase. If they drag out every ban and pick, they should have plenty of time.

  "I'll take Dark Knight," Yuel said. "But, I rather keep it a surprise, so I'd like to pick st if that's alright."

  Nobody voiced any objes. Dark Knight was a risky css that had a ce to bee viable only when the enemy wasn’t expeg it. Of course, such striess only applied to the pro se. There was a ce a team of Taurus' level didn't know how to properly ter Dark Knight, but there was no reason to gamble on that.

  "So, our first picks are my Druid and...?" Vi asked.

  "Ninja for Nia," Yuel said. "Her pool of options is limited at the moment, so it's best to grab her css soohan ter."

  "Got it," Kai inputted their decisions. As the captain, she was the one responsible for the drafting. She could've given the role to Yuel, seeing as he made the most inputs regarding their picks. But, Kai wao be a captain through and through on this petitive stage, so she kept the role to herself.

  The drafting phase went on. The enemy picked Dragonborn, Aeromancer, and Pirate. The Dragonborn was most certainly their Top Lane pick, which was good. It meant Yuel will be free to pick Dark Knight this game. There was a ce the enemy will ban the css, but it was unlikely.

  As I thought. Yuel o himself in satisfa. After Taurus lost so badly in the previous game, it was unthinkable for them to pick Dark Knight again. It was nothing more than an arrogant pick st time, seeing as their Top Laner wasn't even that great with the css.

  In general, after suffering such a horrible defeat, anybody would instinctively pick a different css for the game. That’s why DragonMaster went with Dragonborn.

  However, that logic didn't apply to the Aeromancer and Pirate picks. Last game, Nirvana used Aeromancer and TheLegend sported a Pirate. And, it appeared like they were going for the same lineup again.

  Nirvana performed well, so it was uandable why he’d stick with Aeromancer. Yuel probably should’ve bahe css when he had the ce, but he had to ban other problematic csses first.

  There were some csses, like Cleric, which posed a threat to any rushdown pn. Such csses had to banned without question. The deferength of Aeromancer was a hindrance for rushdown as well, but it was fine because Lars was going to py Warlock. His primary goal in this game will be to help the team domieam-fights, so he won't have to push the ne early on anyway.

  pared to the Aeromancer pick, the enemy's Pirate pick was odd. TheLegend lost face with it multiple times st game. irate his best css? If so, he shouldn’t be a threat this game either.

  "Is Pirate really alright?" Raymond asked Bruce again.

  "Yeah, yeah, and yeah! You already asked me like a billion times," Bruce made a face. "Besides, you already locked-in, so it's too te."

  "I just don't uand. Wouldn't it be better to piething else? Your ne oppo proved she defeat your Pirate."

  "What, you think I gonna lose again?" Brueered. "Don't worry, I ain't losing to that bitch a sed time. She just caught me off-guard st time, that's all. I was expeg these guys to be total scrubs, but turned out they got some chumps from StromBlitz. I ain’t going easy on them again."

  The pyers from StromBlitz are in Top and Mid, not Bot... Raymoed mentally but decided to let it slide. It robably a matter of pride for Bruce. He seemed eager to get revenge on his oppo.

  I don’t think that’s a smart idea. Raymond thought. Bruce could e up with a thousand excuses, but in the end, Stratus's Carry was just that good. Bruce should be thinking about how to ter her, instead of pretending he could beat her without any pns.

  Should I say something? No, he's not going to listen and it's too te anyway. Raymond sighed. Some captain he was. It was supposed to be his job to keep the team anized ahem to victory, but st game he failed miserably at that. And, he had a bad feeling about the uping game, too...

  I should've spoken sooner. Raymretted his passiveness. This Pirate pick will e back to bite us. I just know it. And, since Raymond was in charge of the drafting, it'll effectively be his fault.

  "Hey cap, you listening? It's my turn."

  "Ah, yes, of course," Raymond came back to earth. "Which css, again? Vampire?"

  "Yep," Dyn nodded. "I would've goh Lion again, but these cheapskates ba. I must’ve scared them shitless st game, haha!"

  "Lion is a strong pick against their lineup, so it makes sehey ba."

  ", let a guy dream!"

  "Oh, sorry," Raymond apologized. Everybody probably wao believe they were strohan they actually were. They wao believe they’ll definitely win the uping game. Without that strong faith, they'll recall the devastati they just suffered at Stratus’ hand. It’d drain their motivation and make them succumb to despair.

  That's probably why Brusisted to pick Pirate. It was one of his favorite csses, so he went for it without hesitatioe everything that happe game. It was his way of g with reality. He wao believe he was strong enough to win a rematch. Bruce was always cocky like that, but in this situation, it wasn't such a bad thing.

  If only I could ence them somehow. Raymond bit his lip. As the captain, he was supposed to keep the team's morale high. However, he didn't have a way with words and wasn’t charismati general.

  Therefore, Raymond couldn't reassure the team. He couldn't motivate them or drive them forward. He had no idea how to do these things. As a result, each member had to do whatever they could to salvage themselves. They acted cocky and fident to not crumble apart.

  ", pick Lumi again," Bruce urged Bryan. "We gonna have a rematch! This time, we'll show ‘em!"

  "Sounds cool, but I don't think it's a good idea," Bryan said. Last game, he couldn't do much for Bruce as a Lumimancer. It rimarily a ter-pick to the enemy’s Ninja and it wasn’t meant to be amazing in Bot. Stratus was supposed to be a bottom tier team, so Bryan thought he wouldn’t have to work too hard in Bot.

  But, them bastards were pretty damn strong. That Impaler chick eve Bru 1v1, and she went with Impaler again the game. Bryan suggested banning Impaler to be on the safe side, but Bruce was all like “Nah, let her use her favorite css. That way, it gonhe best when I cp her!”

  Thanks to that stupidity, the team didn’t ban Impaler during the first banning phase and the enemy picked it as their third css, right before the sed banning phase. That sucked. They’ll have to face that strong Impaler all ain.

  Knowing that, Bryan couldn’t pick Lumimancer again. He needed a more effective Support that could rescue Bruce from his own dumb mispys. No matter what Bruce said, that Impaler was a strong adversary. She pretty much kicked Bruce’s ass.

  And, the same thing will most likely repeat this game as well. Bruce cimed that chick was “lucky” and whatnot, but she was clearly quite skilled. Bryan didn’t want to admit it, but that girl robably strohan Bru a fight. It was hirious that a girl their age could beat Bruce, but sometimes real life was strahan fi.

  With all of that sidered, Bryan had to pick a Support css that will keep Bruce alive in things go south. Unfortunately, the enemy banned many of the best csses for achieving that. Padin, Clerid ancer were gone. Druid was taken. It’s as if the enemy knew Bryan will be gunning for one of these csses.

  Damn it, I should've asked to pick earlier. Bryan clicked his to was on practice to keep the Support and Jungler roles for st in order to ter pick effitly, but this time it pyed against them.

  “Guess I’ll settle on Aqua,” Bryan informed with a sigh.

  “Aquamncer? Got it,” Raymond locked-ieam’s final css.

  At least it’s somewhat of a ter. Bryan thought. The enemy had a Druid, who could grant a shield to his allies. However, Aquamncer had the rare ability to make that shit disappear. So, if that Druid was Support, Bryan should be able to get some mileage out of Aquamancer.

  “Hey B, why not Lumi?” Bruce demanded. “We could’ve recreated st game’s Bot lineup.”

  “And? Then what? Lose again?” Bryan rolled his eyes.

  “What’s with that pussy talk? Ya think we gonna fold to scrubs like that?”

  “Didn’t you say you’ll be taking them seriously now?” Bryan asked.

  “Yeah, I’mma be all serious. Doesn’t ge the fact they’re scrubs, tho.”

  Uimating them isly being “serious”. Bryan sighed. Well, whatever.

  Bruce was always stu his ways, no ging that. In a way, his unfounded fidence was amazing. It was one of these annoying traits that made people respect him... sometimes. Specifically, the times when that fidence didn’t backfire a his ass killed.

  Even though Bruce was in the wrong like half the time, stig to one’s vis like that was impressive. At least, Bryan couldn’t do the same. Hopefully, that overfidence won’t cost them the game...

  , it was Stratus’ turn to pick a css. It was the final pick of the drafting phase.

  Aquamancer. I see. Yuel nodded. It was a good py.

  Yuel specifically banned problematic Support csses. Aquamancer was on that list as well, but the team could only ban so many csses. So, Aquamncer was left open. The enemy didn’t fail to notice that and grabbed it. At least someone on the eeam aying attention.

  However, it didn’t seem like Taurus figured Yuel’s ultimate pn, the one he was keeping under ers until the very st pick. They weren’t expeg to face the very css they picked st game due taheir reas will probably be priceless.

  Stratus picked Dark Knight

  “Say WHAT!?” Bruce jumped. “These fuckers are screwing with us!?”

  "Looks like they didn’t like our DK pick st time," Bryan cracked a weak ugh.

  "An eye for an eye," Raymond frowned.

  "Now they've do!” Bruce raged. “They've SO do! Okay, listen, guys. We're mopping the floor with them game. StormBlitz or ShitBlitz, I don't give a fuck! We're killing these fuckers!"

  "Hey, hey, calm down, bro," Dyn tried to reason. "Don’t let them tilt you before the match. It's exactly what they want."

  "I don't give a shit! We gonroy them this game!" Bruce yelled. "Zeph, you know what you hafta dht? Mop the floor with that stupid ass DK! Make that scrub regret he was born!"

  "Sure," Zeph didn't object. In fact, he was all for it! That Dark Knight pick was hel disrespectful. It was like an insult aimed directly at Zeph. The eop Laner was fident he could trash Zeph in a fight. The nerve!

  heless, Zeph found himself strangely calm. He was boiling inside, but he didn't feel like blowing up and yelling. Why?

  Probably, because Bruce was raging like a demon in his stead. The sheer fury Bruce expressed was enough to quell everybody’s anger. It helped them retrain their cool.

  I'll destroy that DK. Zeph procimed silently. He already admitted that pig Dark Knight st game was disrespectful of him. Like, it wasn't even his idea. Bruce pushed him to do that shit. Zeph didn’t feel like arguing, so he just went along with it.

  After g with Chessmaster, Zeph realized that disrespeg the guy with Dark Knight was a huge mistake. In fact, Zeph even developed some respect toward Chessmaster. Guy was hel good. Zeph wanted a rematch. This time, he’ll py with one of his best csses!

  Unfortunately, it seemed like Chessmaster didn't feel the same way about Zeph. For him, Zeph was a weakling who deserved to be disrespected by a Dark Knight pick. That shit was me. No respect for that bastard anymore.

  I gonna make him regret this shit till the day he dies. Zeph procimed.

  "! Let's go hard at these fuckers!" Bruce kept making noise while the game was loading. "We gonna take this one by storm! These assholes gonna be running to their mamas after we're doh them!

  "Yeah! Screw them!" "We gonna wreck their lives!" "They're so dead."

  Bruce's words riled up the eeam. Everybody was out for blood. They'll tear Stratus apart and make these bastards regret they were even born!

  Stratus

  Chessmaster (Top): Dark Knight

  VanishingFlower (Jungler): Ninja

  Gunz (Mid): Warlock

  Beat (Carry): Impaler

  InformationBckhole (Support): Druid

  Taurus

  DragonMaster (Top): Dragonborn

  Messi (Jungler): Vampire

  Nirvana (Mid): Aeromancer

  TheLegend (Carry): Pirate

  TheMyth (Support): Aquamancer

  DarkestCymore