The fame was about to begin. But first, the referee informed Taurus about Stratus subbing out VanishingFlower fendaryMemer.

  “Huh? VanishingFlower?” Nash cocked his head. “Who’d that, again?”

  “Their Jungler,” Rio said.

  “ht,” Nash scratched his head. “Totally fot about him, haha.”

  “It was a girl,” Jaiden corrected.

  “Ah, really? I don’t even remember seeing her. Was she AFK or something?”

  “No, she was defihere.”

  “Like, where?”

  “Um, well...” Jaiden scratched his forehead. For some reason, he had trouble recalling any specifics about VanishingFlower.

  “She helped defending Mid,” Rio said. “That’s about it.”

  “So, a useless scrub, basically,” Nash nodded with a smug. “She probably couldn’t stand watg this alpha Jungler over here wreg her eeam while she was being useless, so she gave up!”

  “I actually remember thinking she had potential,” Jaiden admitted. “I guess it was just Brud his gang being careless against her.”

  “Our formation probably gave her trouble,” Rio reasoned.

  “I’m sure it did,” Jaiden smiled fidently. “There’s ing our Invincible Triangle!”

  “Ya got that right!” Nash pumped a fist.

  And so, the drafting phase began.

  “You want to ban Impaler again?” Raymond asked.

  “Nah,” Jaiden shook his head. “I thought she might be a problematic oppo at first, but after fighting her... Basically, she’s trash. So, I say, let her have her favorite css if she wants it. I don’t care.”

  “Hrm, alright,” Raymond proceeded to baromancer. It was a direct attack against his strong ne oppo. As long as the team didn’t request any bans, Raymond would gdly ban every css Gunz pyed.

  “Huh,” Kai narrowed her eyes after the first banning phase came to an end. For some reason, Taurus didn’t ban Impaler this time around. She sensed a hidden message behind that decision.

  “e at me with everything you got, girl! I’ll whoop your ass!” Renegade was surely thinking along these lines right now. That bastard was looking down on her because she failed to beat him st game.

  Just you wait. Kai gritted her teeth. I’ll destroy you. I don’t even need Impaler for that. Ranger is good enough to wreebody like you.

  Kai has already decided to py aggressively this game. Ranger was a great pick for that pystyle because it only had to nd its ce, then the fight retty much ainst any squishy. Renegade proved he wasn’t an easy target to hit repeatedly, so Kai had to settle this in one go.

  Therefore, Kai picked Ranger, trary to her oppos’ expectations.

  "She's not pig Impaler?" Jaiden wondered.

  "I think she's pnning to gun for you," Rio said.

  "Heh, I’d be surprised if she didn’t," Jaiden amused himself with the idea that this girl was seeking revenge against him. It was fine by him. Rather, it was exactly what he wished for.

  Jaiden wao prove to everybody, and especially to the girl herself, that she was trash. Beat didn't have the required skill fning as the captain of a team, the same way the girl who stole Jaiden’s spot on StormBlitz didn’t have the necessary skill for that. They were both shams, nothing more.

  Therefore, Jaiden weled Beat’s quest for revenge. If the girl was going to e at him of her own volition, it’ll only make things easier for him. He'll thhly beat her this time.

  The petitive stage was no pce for those who only preteo be pyers. This was the holy ground of warfare, where the best of the best gathered to do battle. Bad pyers, who wiggled their way in here without the necessary skill, were not wele here. Only the strong pyers had the right to be here, a didn't belong to that category.

  The drafting phase went on. Jaiden grabbed himself Gunslinger again, Rio went for Cleric because the enemy banned ancer, and Nash also had to settle on a new bruiser because the enemy banned Viking.

  "Haha, look at 'em being scared of me!" Nash lifted his with a smug across his face.

  "Yeah, they're literally shook," Jaiden nodded.

  Nash's put on strong a performa game, so the enemy was naturally wary of him. All in all, the enemy's picks and bans made a lot of seo Jaiden thus far.

  Ser Carry and Pyro Mid. Jaiden o himself. Both picks were aggressive, but not hyper-aggressive like the ones from st game. It was clear the enemy decided to ge their approach after losing so badly in the previous game.

  "Good job, guys," Jaiden smiled meaningfully. "We showed them we're no pushovers. They’re too scared to go for early-game aggression again."

  "Hell yeah, we mopped them good," Nash grinned. "Let's pull them telep shenanigans again this time!"

  "I don't think that's a good idea," Rio said.

  "Why? , it gonna work!" Nash gave a thumbs up. "We gonna win the whole thing in like five minutes!"

  "We'll see how it goes," Jaiden was ral. "We've already showhis trice, so it'll be harder to catch them off guard a sed time. I bet they'll be prepared for it."

  "Nah, they'll never see it ing!"

  "Who knows. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t," Jaiden said. He didn't fully reject the idea, but he didn't believe this trick will work a sed time, especially not against a team with Gunz and Chessmaster in it. Those two will adapt for sure.

  The way they shifted away from hyper-aggression shows me they’re prepared this time. Jaiden thought. One of the main reasons his Teleport tactic worked so well st game, was because they were dealing with early-game csses.

  For most csses, early death wasn't the end of the world. Sure, it was a bummer aback, but it didn’t rob them of their eure. However, for an early-game css, early death was detrimental.

  The entire idea behind pig early-game csses was to domihe early-game and ride to victory on that success. However, an early death pletely robbed the pyer of such opportunities, and things only got harder for them from there. In other words, a single death could shut down the css’s entire game pn.

  Knowing that, Jaiden and Co. had the luxury to not push towers right away st game. There was no hurry. Instead of rushing tower, they could focus on sg kills.

  Every time they killed an enemy who had an early-game css, they also killed that pyer’s ces of being relevant for the rest of the game. So, by making every oppo suffer an early death, Taurus secured the game by default. It was that easy.

  But, it won't work this time. Stratus has just finished pig their Top Laner and it was a difficult target to take down.

  Monk, huh, Jaiden smiled wryly. It was a css with one of the best evasion skills in the game, as it turhe Monk immuo everything. On top of that, Monk was a te-game css, so early deaths won’t tickle it. Yep, we won’t catch him off guard this time. We better take this game slowly like we usually do.

  The Monk pick successfully phat iional mi.

  This should disce them from telep around. Yuel o himself as he locked in his css. Monk was evasive enough to disce enemies from ganking him too often. In addition, it was a te-game css that didn’t lose too much from early deaths.

  Pyromancer and Ranger were also mid/te game csses. Therefore, the lineup Yuel came up with should be doing a good job discing the enemy’s Teleport shenanigans.

  I hope they just give up on it. Yuel thought.

  Frankly, he didn't have enough time to e up with a proper ter for the enemy’s Telepanks. He khis tactic existed, but he never faced it at such a high level. Their oppos almost made it look like a legit tactic.

  The drafting phase went on. There was only one more pick left.

  Until now, Stratus has been making "sensible" picks. Yuel ordered the picks in a way that’d look “logical” to the enemy. That should put the enemy at ease, making them think they uood Stratus’s entire game pn for the uping game.

  However, Yuel was just putting wool over their eyes. Taurus probably assumed that Pyromancer will go in Mid. Hopefully, it influenced some of their deaking for the worse

  All this calcuted drafting was leading to this final pick, in which Stratus unveiled the big of their lineup. The st pick was her than Lars's Trickshooter for Mid!

  "... what?" Jaiden rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "Did they just pick Shooter?"

  "Yep, they sure did," Nash nodded. "What's wrong?"

  "I thought they already had a Carry..."

  "Hm? Oh," Nash came to a stop. "What the actual freak? The heck are they doing? Did someone lo the wrong thing? Haha, scrubs."

  "I’m guessing their Ranger is the Jungler?" Jaiden scratched his head. Pyromancer as Mid, Trickshooter as Carry, and Ranger as Jungler. On paper, that should make se’d perfectly expin the enemy’s lineup.

  heless, his expression remained severe. Something was off. It was like a jigsaw puzzle in which all the parts seemed to fit perfectly at first but, once he took a step back to look at the bigger picture, there were numerous errors.

  Wait, if it's Trickshooter... Jaiden found himself grinning all of a sudden. Could it be? Was Guurning to Bot to bee Jaiden’s oppo!?

  HELL YEAH! Jaiden pumped a fist. He couldn't ask for anythier! It was Gunz, the beast Jaiden wao challenge since forever!

  And, it was a Trickshooter, too! That should be Gunz's stro css. The guy domihe Leopards with it st year. This game gonna be a bst!

  "Good for you," Rio smiled weakly. He khis was a big deal for Jaiden. Ever since Jaiden watched that scrimmage st year, he has been w harder and harder to improve his skill alongside his friends. Chessmaster and Gunz motivated him that much.

  "These guys are the same year as us, but look at them go! They're kig some serious butt!" Jaiden was jumping around like aed child back then. "No wohese guys made it into StormBlitz. They're way better than me right now. I gotta work super hard to catch up!"

  That dazzling performance dragged Jaiden out of the depression he was drowning in at the time. Back then, he utting on a strong facade in front of everybody, but Rio khere was boundless sorrow hidden underh. The failure of getting into StormBlitz haunted Jaiden to no end. On the surface, Jaiden was training seriously like everybody expected him to, but his heart wasn't in it.

  Rio's heart ached wheched Jaiden go about daily life like this. Jaiden was a zombie who preteo be alive. He was strong and talented, but none of that amouo anything without the necessary motivation.

  Then, things ged. The scrimmage between StormBlitz and the Leopards ged everything. The performances of Chessmaster and Gunz ignited a fme in Zombie Jaiden and brought him back to life. For the first time, he withe skills of the other pyers his age who made it into StormBlitz. That made him realize many things.

  Perhaps StormBlitz's sele exam was rigged to some degree, but not everybody cheated their way in. Some of them were really that good. They were strong enough to give even the Leopards some heat.

  It deeply impressed Jaiden and made him chase the backs of those two powerful pyers. They already “defeated” him once during the entrance exam, but ime he'll win for sure, that's what he promised Rio and Nash. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Jaiden has been w all this time for the sole purpose of standing on this stage today and crossing bdes with Chessmaster and Gunz.

  Though, I think he kind of fot about them over time. Rio smiled mischievously. He didn’t even reize their faces at first.

  Though, it was only reasonable. Jaiden has only seen Chessmaster and Gunz on stage. What left the biggest impression on him was their strong performan the game, not their looks.

  As Jaiden immersed himself in hard training, he gradually stopped raving so much about Chessmaster and Gunz. His priorities shifted from beating those two oppos to winning the regionals.

  It was a good thing. There was no reason for him to be hung up on twers he never ied with. Besides, it was unfair that Rio couldn't lift Jaiden's spirits no matter how hard he tried, yet some strangers from StormBlitz achieved that so easily. Hmph.

  Even though Jaiden stopped talking about Chessmaster and Gunz over time, he definitely remembered they existed. He wao test his mettle against them, to prove his worth. That’s why today was an important day for him.

  Good for you. Rio smiled. He was happy for Jaiden, he really was. Finally, Jaiden got his dearest wish granted. He ying against Chessmaster and Gunz, the two who kindled a fme in his deg heart. Finally, he got an opportunity to csh with them and thhly crush them, to prove he was the superior pyer all along. It was StormBlitz's fault not accepting Jaideally deserved to get in.

  With all of that in mind, it was easy to uand why Jaiden was so excited about fag Gunz’s Trickshooter. It was supposed to be the stro form of that monster. If Jaiden prevails in this fight, he’ll prove he was strohan Chessmaster and Gunz beyond a shadow of a doubt.

  Oher hand, I 't say I'm thrilled about fighting this Trickshooter. Rio shuddered. Chessmaster and Gunz were amazing st year, even Rio was awe-struck by some of their pys. They were so amazing, that they scared him a little.

  It was difficult to accurately measure Chessmaster’s skill during that scrimmage. He seemed to be the team's strategist, and probably the shot-caller too. Therefore, his biggest tribution wasn’t through his personal pys, but rather through the orders he gave his teammates.

  Therefore, Rio simply assumed that every sophisticated py StormBlitz did was Chessmaster's idea. That painted Chessmaster as an unrivaled tacti with bizarre ideas. Fag a team led by such a strategist was terrifying.

  Oher hand, Gunz’s skill was much easier to analyze. Basically, the guy was a meical monster. He shot down everybody in his path without ever slowing down.

  Especially, with a Trickshooter in hand, that monster was unparalleled. Gunz’s performance awed Nash the most, but even Jaiden probably sidered Gunz to be the more dangerous pyer out of the two. Oher hand, Rio believed that Chessmaster’s calcuted tactics were way more dangerous.

  Either way, Chessmaster and Guhe real deal. It wasn’t a stretch to call them geniuses. If they finally decide to bee serious aurn to py Bot, Jaiden and Rio will have a hard time.

  But, we’ll win. Rio ched his hands. Jaiden will win. He’s way better than them.

  Ohey topple Chessmaster and Gunz at the peak of their strength, Jaiden will finally be able to move on. With the enemy pig Trickshooter this game, perhaps the uping match will present su opportunity. Or, maybe not yet...

  Lineups:

  Yuel (Chessmaster): Monk

  Lars (Gunz): Trickshooter

  Luke (LegendaryMemer): Pyromancer

  Kai (Beat): Ranger

  Vi (InfromationBckhole): Lumimancer

  Jaiden (Renegade): Gunslinger

  Nash (StormMonster): Lancer

  Rio (Lapce): Cleric

  Raymond (Nirvana): Warlock

  Zeph (DragonMaster): Knight

  DarkestCymore