The season of scrimmages began. Schools arranged official Cssmancers matches among themselves and carried them out throughout multiple months.

  Winning scrimmages determihe seeding of each team for the regionals. The more wins, the higher the seed. The higher the seed, the easier it’ll be to make it to the finals.

  In a sehe scrimmages were like the beginning of the regionals. By winning a lot during this phase, a team could easily secure itself a high spot at the regionals.

  This system was io lower the odds of a good team being eliminated early. For example, it preveormBlitz and the Leopards from running into each other early iour.

  Last year, the Leopards and StormBlitz were the first and sed seed respectively, so they were guarao run into each other only at the finals. Any lower seed had to beat both of these tys in order to take the regionals.

  As much as I’d like to take on strong teams, I rather avoid the Leopards if possible. Yuel thought. His primary goal was to get a rematch against Howard. In addition, he promised his mother to take the regionals this year, that was the dition for transferring schools. If he fails to deliver, he’ll have to stop pying Cssmancers...

  Unfortunately, dodging the Leopards at the regionals won’t be easy. Even if Stratus bees the sed seed, they’ll still have to fight the third seed at the semi-finals. And, the third seed will assuredly be either the Leopards or StormBlitz in that hypothetical sario. So, Stratus will have to fight back-to-back against these two teams in the semi-finals and in the finals.

  We o get the first seed. Yuel cluded. Only this way, the team will have a ce to dodge the Leopards at the regionals. However, getting first seed pretty much meant proving they were currently the stroeam in the region, so it was like a catch-22.

  Each team had to partake in at least three official scrimmages and the win rate was going to determihe seeding. In the case of a tie, the seeding from previous years will be taken into at. And, given Stratus’ history...

  We’ll lose in every siie. Yuel frowhe only way around it was te more scrimmages in an attempt to increase their win ratio. For example, winning 2 out of 3 matches yielded 67% win rate, whereas winning 3 out of 4 yielded 75%.

  So, even if a team couldn’t beat one of the strong rivals in the region, it could prey on the weaker teams to boost its seeding. The only time this method didn’t work was when the rival team had a perfect 100% win rate. In that case, said team could only be beaten via a tiebreak. Or, worst case, it ossible to challehe team to a scrimmage and that'll serve as a tiebreak that relies on skill, not legacy.

  However, right now, this was like putting the cart before the horse. First, Stratus had to actually prove its worth. It had to overe the stigma of being the “worst team” in the region.

  There was only one good thing about being sidered weak: it meant all other teams will want to scrimmage with Stratus. The reason? Easy wins. Stratus was the was “bottom tier” team, so everybody would gdly farm them.

  In fact, Stratus’ reputation was so bad, that some teams with some self-respect didn't even bother requesting a scrimmage with them, like StormBlitz did st year. It was a “waste of time”, as Aron put it. Even though it meant StormBlitz could get an easy extra win that way, it won't teach the team anything and it won’t help the pyers improve. It was questionable whether it’d even work as sparring for StormBlitz.

  It’s sure not fun to be ridiculed like that, but this is good for us. Yuel thought. He didn't want to hold a rematch with Howard during a mere scrimmage anyway. They’ll settle everything at the regionals.

  However, uormBlitz, the Leopards traditionally held a scrimmage with Stratus. In fact, their was to hold a scrimmage against every sieam in the region. Their coach pushed this idea and the other schools plied.

  So, we're going to run into that wall sometime soon. A shiver ran through Yuel. He still remembered the scrimmage he had against the Leopard’s sed-string. It was su intense bout. Surely, this year they won't disappoiher.

  Rather, the Leopards will be even fiercer this year, for this time they’ll e at Yuel with their first-string. It’ll be the kind of first-string that could defeat StormBlitz, just like it happe year. Yes, that’s right. The Leopards beat a StormBlitz lihat had powerhouses like Howard and Aron in it.

  Grahis year’s pyers will be different because only seniors pyed on the Leopard's first-string. heless, the coach, Ruez, has been proving himself as a producer of champions, year after year.

  Granted, a lot of this depended on Ruez’s decision. The Leopards might send their sed-string to deal with a "weak team" like Stratus. That'll be maximum insult.

  Even if they pull something like that, we'll simply draw out their first-string into the fight. Yuel promised. They won’t run over us with a sed-string team, that I promise.

  Aside from StormBlitz, most other teams in the region would happily jump on the opportunity to get an easy win off the "weakest team". So, Stratus should be flooding with scrimmage requests. As, everything to the club advisor to decide...

  "I scheduled your scrimmages. Write them down," Ms. Stone instructed. "You'll be pying Taurus on January 5th, the Leopards on February 14th, and Tys on April 21st."

  "Only three?" Yuel asked. "Didn't more schools ask to py against us?"

  "There were a few requests, but three scrimmages is all you need."

  "Um...” Yuel didn’t expect this to happen. “Could we please get more scrimmages?"

  "No," Ms. Stone didn’t give any openings for a rebuttal.

  Lazy bum. Yuel retorted mentally. There could only be one reason why this woman didn't want to schedule additional matches: it be more bothersome to mahat’s all. She'll have to unicate with more schools, and she’ll have to apany the team to Proter for every scrimmage. So, the more scrimmages, the more she'll have to work. She clearly didn't want any of that.

  "Lazy bitch," Kai ranted on their way back to the clubroom. "Would it kill her to give us at least one more scrimmage? Damn her. No wohis club looks the way it does."

  "Yeah, it's unfortunate," Yuel nodded. "Why do they always dump the supervisor job on somebody who doesn't care about the club in the slightest? Sigh."

  "Well, at least we got proper dates. That's something."

  "Better than nothing, that's for sure," Yuel nodded. "So, we first py against Taurus."

  "Taurus, Leopards, and Tys. I feel like it's the same order as st year."

  "Because it’s precisely is!" Vi greeted them at the entrao the basement clubroom. He pulled out his tablet and flipped through some notes. "Taurus, Leopards, and Tys. This was the exact order st year as well. And, the year before that. And, the year before-before that. Evees are simir."

  Why in the world does this guy even gather all this info...? Yuel made a face. Meanwhile, Kai wasn't fazed at all.

  "So, she's just recyg the same exact routine every year," Kai sighed. "Lazy hag."

  “Since you know so much about this,” Yuel started. "I assume you also have detailed information about Taurus in that portable library of yours.”

  "But, of course I do!” Vi made noise. “After all, this is the tablet of the Information Bckhole! It records all events known to this mortal world. Its information is sed only to the Akashic records themselves!"

  "So, summarize it for us," Yuel requested. In truth, he already knew some things about Taurus because he helped StormBlitz research them st year. However, it was always good to get extra info and hear another person’s perspective. Especially, this ’s opinions were often on point, as unlikely as it sounded.

  "Alrighty," Vi accepted the quest. "Gather, everybody! We shall hold a tactical meeting regarding our first oppo: Taurus!"

  "Oh man, we're in for a history lesson," Luke sat doreteo take a nap. "Wake me up when we're getting to the iing bits."

  "I only wanna know who are the stro pyers there," Lars grinned. "Gotta know who I gotta wreck, yo!"

  "Actually, about their lineup..." Vi lowered his tablet. "I don't know a sihing! All their pyers were seniors st year, so they’ve graduated."

  "Yeah, it seems we'll be going in blind," Yuel nodded.

  "Indeed, such is our inescapable fate," Vi nodded. "heless, if we analyze what we know from past years, we estimate their current power level! Unlike us, their club is allowed to recruit tons and tons of members. As such, they're far more likely to recruit talented pyers. Point in case: their team has been hitting Top 8 every year, sometimes even Top 4. They're a worthy oppo, no doubt!"

  "Zzz..." Luke produced fake sn noises.

  "Long story short, they're good," Kai summarized. "But, they're just Top 8 or Top 4 material at best. We gonna kick their asses."

  "Yeah, now ya talkin'," Luke woke up. "We got this. Let's meme these guys to death, haha!"

  Luke seems to firmly believe that he’ll be pying on the first-string. Yuel thought.

  At first, this tiny club had no choice but to rely on Luke for Jungler. However, now it had an alternative: Nia.

  The girl was still rough around the edges, but she improved dramatically over the past month. She became more cooperative and came to accept that Yuel's shot-calls had some wisdom behind them. Even if she didn’t always prehend said wisdom at first, she usually followed his advice.

  In terms of skill, Luke was the better Jungler right now. However, his insisten pying memes was his undoing. It wasted away his potential, for he stantly had to fight from a disadvantageous position. No matter how much Yuel lectured him about it, Luke didn't budge. For that guy, pying Cssmancers was all about pying memes.

  On top of that, Luke was the least serious club member during practice. Ben also deserved an honorable mention because the guy missed lots of practice days, but at least he stayed extra hours on the day he resent.

  But, Luke? You'll never find that guy staying after 3pm. Everybody else willingly stayed overtime, but Luke was o be found.

  So, with all due respect to Luke's skill, Yuel preferred Nia as the team's Jungler. Especially, she should be pying in the uping scrimmages. It’ll be the best pce for her to gain practical experiend develop as a petitive pyer.

  As the team captain, Kai was in charge of determining the lineup. Yuel was merely her advisor and they had some disagreements. However, on this topic, they both agreed: Nia should be the Jungler. At the very least, they should seo py first to see how she fares. Worst case, they could always substitute her for Luke ter.

  Still, this was a difficult decision to make, so they withheld their verditil one week before the first scrimmage. However, the time has e. By now, they were wholly vinced.

  "Alright, I'll annouhe lineup," Kai stood in front of the rest.

  "Do we really hat shit?" Luke dragged himself to the meeting. "We already know who's pying what."

  "Nay, nay, nay!" Vi waved his arms. "This is a tradition! It's proof that we're a serious high-level club!"

  "Even though we're totally not," Luke rolled his eyes.

  "Speak for yourself,." Kai gave him a look. "We're aiming to win the regionals."

  "Heh, big dreams." Luke shrugged. "But hey, I'mma help you however I . With my pro-level memes, of course!"

  "If we even gonna need your help."

  "Huh? What's mean?"

  "Nothing,” Kai shook her head. “Anyway, everybody here?"

  "Yep, I'm here!" Lars gave a thumbs up.

  "Here..." Nia raised her small hand.

  "... and what exactly are you doing over there?" Kai narrowed her eyes. Everybody was gathered around Kai in an arc, but Nia was hunched under a table for some reason.

  "I like it here."

  "Huh, okay," Kai shrugged and tinued looking around. "Ben... isn't here today."

  "So, he's even going to miss such important days," Yuel criticized. "I won't be surprised if he misses the scrimmage altogether."

  "Well, everybody who matters is here, so let's begin. Here's the lineup:"

  Carry: Kai (Beat)

  Support: Vi (InformationBckhole)

  Mid: Lars (Gunz)

  Top: Yuel (Chessmaster)

  Jungler: Nia (VanishingFlower)

  DarkestCymore