“Okay, let’s take a step back for a moment,” Yuel said. “I want to discuss games 4 and 5 again in more detail. I’ll expin what sorts of pns I had in mind initially. Pns that, unfortunately, I couldn’t realize.”

  After the enemy mopped Stratus in Game 3, Yuel had been rag his brain to e up with a solution. He had to find a way to ter the new oppos and their ariaeampy.

  “I cluded it was best to let our Jungler disrupt them,” Yuel expined. “I was hoping Nia would do that for us, but...”

  The Napping Phantom uedly succumbed to slumber. Iead, the memer ehe stage.

  “It was an unfortuurn of events,” Yuel said.

  “Hey, hey,” Luke objected. “Is it just me or did ya just call me bad?”

  “Anyway,” Yuel tinued like it was nothing. “Even though Luke repia and that threateo ruin all my pns, I didn’t want to give up just yet.”

  Strong ganks were the best way to thwart the enemy’s Triangle formation, Yuel was vinced of that at the time. A strong Jungler would make the enemy sweat and think twice about every move. That would have slowed down the enemy’s aggression and gave Stratus more time to respond to the enemy’s strong pys.

  Unfortunately, the words “strong Jungler” and “Luke” didn’t mesh together in oe roblem not of pyer skill but of css preferences. Luke hysically incapable of pig a “strong Jungler” css.

  Even so, it didn’t ge the fact the team needed a strong Ju the time. Therefore, Yuel had to find a css that had the potential to be intimidating but also be a css that Luke would be willing to pick up.

  “Lars and Kai were also making things difficult for me at the time,” Yuel said. “They both wao py Carry and I had to find a solution for that too.” He sighed and shot a look at the two troublemakers.

  “Yeah, I guess that happened...” Kai averted her eyes.

  “It did?” Lars asked with a dumb smile. “I already fot, haha!”

  “Anyway,” Yuel tinued. “With all these straints in mind, I just barely mao find one css that’ll ‘work out’, if we even call it that.”

  Pyromancer, a mage with enough burst damage to qualify as a pseudo-assassin. With a magical Jungler ieam position, Lars and Kai were both free to py physical csses. In other words, they could both py Carry that game.

  “Of course, Pyromancer is far from being the best magical Jungler out there. But, it’s about the only one Luke would be willing to py.”

  “Hey, hey,” Luke objected. “I py lots of them, ya know? Jungle Warlock, Jungle Lumi, I got it all!”

  “Sorry, I’ll correct myself. Pyromancer is the only practical magical Jungler you’re willing to py.”

  “Throwing shade at mah bois Warlod Lumi like that.” Luke shook his head.

  “Anyway,” Yuel tinued. “That’s how I ended up settling on Pyromancer, due to a ck of other practical options. Holy, I wao believe we had a realistic shot with it, but I timistic...”

  Pyromancer was indeed a practical Jungler. During the mid-game, it transformed into a threatenience which the enemy had to respect.

  But, unfortunately, Pyromancer didn’t have much going for it during the early-game. It erfectly fine during that phase when ning in Mid, but as a Ju was just a unit with det burst damage, but with no d with very weak escape options. So, during that phase of the game, every legit assassin css outcssed Pyromancer, save fue.

  “Actually, even Rogue is probably better in the early-game.” Yuel couldn’t believe he just said that, but that was his ho analysis.

  “Yep, I’m with you on that,” Luke actually agreed for once. “I also think my bue is way better in general. He’s a hel good Jungler, holy. Dunno why you keep hatin’ on him.”

  “Rogue might be better than Pyromancer in the early-game but he has many other fws.”

  “Welp, I still say you should’ve let me pick it over Pyro if you wanted a proper assassin.”

  “It would’ve bee if I could just vince you to pick a prical Jungler, but maybe you’re right.” Yuel sighed. With how badly the Pyromancer pick turned out, it was hard to tell which pick was better. Perhaps Yuel’s bias against Rogue blinded him at the time and made him choose wrongly.

  Either way, the current discussion wasn’t about Yuel’s mistakes. It was about his pns fames 4 and 5, and how Luke’s restrictive picks made it impossible for Yuel to form a proper winning game pn.

  “As you all know, we lost Game 4 quite decisively,” Yuel tinued. “A big part of it was due to Luke not being able to threaten the enemy with strong ganks.”

  “So, you’re saying it’s all my fault?”

  “Not all of it, but definitely some of it. I couldn’t e up with many good shot-calls for you and you didn’t find many good opportunities yourself. You at least agree with that much, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s fair,” Luke said. “It’s true that, during the early-game, Pyro isn’t that hot. Huehue, get it?”

  “2/10 joke.” Yuel scoffed and pyed a regur ued repy of Game 4. “As you see, ohio another and we lost trol of the game fairly early, just like it happened in Game 3. From that point onward, Luke had to stay on the defense most of the time.”

  “Yep, sure did.” Luke nodded. “I hope you not gonna say my Pyro sucked on the defense or some shit.”

  “No, not at all. You pyed solid defense. Pyromancer is a Mid Laner in the first pce so, naturally, you tributed a lot.”

  “Hey, hear. This guy actually praise people too!”

  “You take it as a ‘praise’ if you want, but it shows an i problem with your pick. The fact it was better for you to stay on the defehan to jungle was a big issue.”

  “Oh shit, here we go again...”

  “It’s true, though,” Yuel tinued. “Your Pyromancer had very little hope of achieving anything meaningful if you tinued jungling. Even a perfectly timed gank could easily miss its mark because Pyromancer isn’t a real assassih khat. That’s why you didn’t object to pying defense in the sed half, right?”

  “Welp, that’s true...” Luke smiled wryly.

  “If you picked a proper Jungler, we would’ve had far more options to try. There were some opportuo gank the enemy in a big way, but nobody to the task.”

  “Eh, I dunno.” Luke shrugged. “I think we were just losing pretty dang bad back there. I didn’t see any of these ‘opportunities’ you’re talking about. Everybody had to be on the defense in order to survive.”

  “That’s not true,” Yuel objected. “Staying 100% on the defense wasn’t going to improve our position.”

  “We just had to wait for the eo overextend. Ez.”

  “I’ll remind you we weren’t pying against online oppos who had a high ce of blundering. Taurus is a petitive team. They weren’t going to it any big mistakes from an advantageous position.”

  “Yeaaaah, I guess ya right. Then, what were we supposed to do? Laun attack? From that position???”

  “Perhaps. It would have been possible to do if we had a reliable Jungler. At the very least, we could’ve tried turning the tables around with a strong gank.”

  “I dunno about that, chief. I mean, you said it yourself, right? Them bros were pretty damn good. They wouldn’t fall for that shit.”

  “True, it’s possible we would have failed to turn things around even with a stronger Jungler. But, just having a “strong Jungler” oeam would have put a lot of pressure on the enemy. They would have had to think twice about ung such a reckless offense, so I’m sure we wouldn’t have found ourselves in such a bad position in the first pce.”

  “That’s a lot of assumptions. But, I guess I see it, sorta.” Luke shrugged.

  “So,” Yuel cluded. “That’s Game 4 in a nutshell. My entire idea of tering the enemy with a threatening Jungler didn’t e to fruition. Why? Because we didn’t have a Juhat to the task.”

  “Again with them insults, huh.”

  “Right, I’ll correct myself. We didn’t have a Jungler css that to the task. We simply couldn't pie. The team couldn’t realize the game pn I had in mind, all because somebody insisted to pick memes.”

  “Hey, don’t only bme me,” Luke said. “You just gotta e up with a better pime, haha.”

  “Actually, you’re right,” Yuel admitted. “That’s what I tried to dame 5 after learning from my mistake. But, then I realized we barely have any viable options to work with.”

  “What do you mean? I py lots of stuff. Druid, Cryo, Lumi-”

  “Yes, that’s what I mean by ‘nothing’. None of these are good Jungler picks.”

  “Hey, don’t insult mah bois like that!” Luke smiled mischievously. “They’re all fine Junglers in the right hands. Just gimme the stage and I’mma make them shine on it!”

  I hope he knows he’s talking nonsense. Yuel sighed. “Anyway, due to the ck of any good options-”

  “But they exist, thooooo!”

  “Due to the ck of any GOOD options,” Yuel stressed. “I had no choice but to settle on something like Knight.”

  “Knight is dope too. What’s your problem with it?”

  “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Except for the fact it’s not a css designed for jungling.”

  “Meh, that’s a narrow-minded way of thinking. Sometimes, a css surpass the designer’s is!”

  “Sounds like a line you picked up from a memeing guide.” Yuel narrowed his eyes. “Anyway, that’s how we got stuck with a Jungler Knight i game. By no means was it a choice I was happy with. It’s just that I couldn’t find anythier in what little time we had to prepare.”

  “Bruh, I keep tellin’ ya. You should’ve just let me py Rogue. I would've rekt these guys!”

  “I don’t believe that for a sed,” Yuel tinued. “Anyway, about Game 5 itself.”

  “Yep, what about it?” Luke asked. “You gonna say I pyed an awesome Jungler Knight, right? Right?”

  “In fact, yes, you did py a det Jungler Knight,” Yuel agreed even though he wao deny it with every fiber of his existence. “But, all I mean by that is that you pyed Knight detly in that role, a role that Knight has no business pying in the first pce because his kit isn’t suited for it.”

  “So, I blew it out of the water, didn’t I? Must’ve totally surprised ya, hehe.”

  “Not at all. I already kneell you py Jungler Knight. I wouldn’t let you pick a meme css I wasn’t fident you could py.”

  “Fair enough. But anyway, I pyed just fine, right? So okay, GG. My turn in the roaster is over. Time to pack, guys!

  “Sit down, young man,” Yuel ordered. “I haven’t gotten to the main poi.”

  “Alright, alright.” Luke sighed. “Then, out with it already, Mr. Roaster. Hit me, daddy.”

  “I’ll start by saying something general about Game 5 as a whole.” Yuel took the versation a step back. “It was a close game, wasn’t it?” He directed the question to everybody in the room.

  “Yep, sure was,” Luke answered without thinking twice.

  “Indeed!” Vi made noise. “It was a worthy showdown! Both teams ihe utmost of their abilities, fighting to the bitter end! Our ces of victory looked slim to ent. heless, at the very end, we made a magnifit ebad crushed the opposition!”

  “Yeah, it came down to the wire,” Kai agreed.

  “I thought you’ll lose...” Nia mumbled her ho opinion about the repy she watched. That game was scary.

  “It was one heck of a rocky ride.” Lars smiled meaningfully. “But, I know that look. It’s a trick question, isn’t it? So, was actually ezpz! We totally wrecked these dudes, yo!”

  “You might be joking,” Yuel said. “But, that’s actually much closer to the truth. In Game 5, with me and Lars in Bot and Lars pying Gunslinger, our team was actually quite strohan Taurus’ lineup. We should’ve had a much easier time winning.”

  “Heh, good job patting yourself on the back there.” Luke snickered.

  “Say what you will, but it’s undeniable that Lars and I fared well in Bot. We had the ne under trol.”

  “Welp, that’s facts alright.” Luke didn’t have any objes there.

  “At the same time, the situation in Top was more plicated, but it eventually started swinging in our favor as well. So, Mid was the only ne we were clearly losing in.”

  “Geh...” Kai shifted her eyes away.

  “It was unfortunate we couldn’t gain an advantage in all three nes,” Yuel tinued. “But, that’s alright. trolling Mid alone shouldn’t have given the enemy enough footing to gain map advantage.”

  “But,” Luke interjected. “These mad ds just went ahead and ganked Mid outta nowhere, haha!”

  “Yes, they did.” Yuel nodded. “Do you want to know why?”

  “What do you mean ‘why’? Them dudes be crazy like that.”

  “It’s a ballsy move, for sure. But, that’s not all there is to it. They were clearly not afraid of itting to such a py. you guess why?”

  “Because their cap was totally mopping the floor with Kai in Mid?”

  “Grr...” Kai gritted her teeth and shot a gre at Luke, but said nothing. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. I had my ass hao me in Mid in the early-game...

  “You’re irely wrong,” Yuel tinued. “The fact Kai was losing in Mid definitely pyed a factor. Also, some of them were actively uimating Kai as a pyer, so that boosted their fidence. But, these weren’t the only factors.”

  “There’s more?” Luke titled his head. “Are ya sure you’re not just overthinking this? Dudes just wao act cool and gank Mid together. What more is there to it?”

  “In addition to all that, it’s clear they weren’t afraid of being ter-ganked,” Yuel expined. “A bold push like that on Mid was like sending us an invitation to gank them, yet they didn’t care. Why? Because our team didn’t have a real Juo speak of.”

  “Hey, rude! You offended my feelings just now, man. Sob.”

  “Are you saying you were an actual Jungler in that game? Please.” Yuel shook his head. “You were just a roaming Support, that’s why the enemy wasn’t scared of you in the slightest. They knew you weren’t dangerous by yourself. You could only gank them hard when you had teammates to cooperate with.”

  “Makes sense, I guess,” Luke relutly agreed.

  “If you pyed a more intimidating Juhey’d have to think twice or thrice about making such a bold rotation to Mid. They’d stantly have to keep in mind that our team had a dangerous Jungler who could single-handedly gank and kill any of them. It would have put a lot of pressure on them and might have disced from pushing Mid altogether.”

  “That’s a lot of hypothetical talk there...” Luke forced a smile.

  “This is all part of the game’s rules,” Yuel insisted. “I’m sure even you agree that, if the enemy has an intimidating Juhen you’d always have to think twice about overextending anywhere on the map, right?”

  “That’s true, I guess,” Luke relutly agreed. “But, just because there’s a srs bsns enemy Jungler, it doesn’t mean you never goend anywhere.”

  “Correothing is absolute,” Yuel agreed. “But, you’d be far more willing to take the risk when the enemy doesn’t have such a dangerous Jungler, right?”

  “Well, yeah. That’s on sense for ya.”

  “And thereihe problem,” Yuel repeated his point. “Your Knight wasn’t intimidating in the slightest as a Jungler, so the enemy felt like they had permission to do whatever they wanted. You were like a Knight piece that hasn’t moved from its starting position, so you couldn’t apply any pressure on the rest of the board.”

  “Wut?”

  “ht.” Yuel realized he got carried away. There was no way Luke would uand that. “My bad, it was a chess analogy. Is there any other team sport you know well?”

  “Soccer! Expin it to me in soccer terms, man. I’m dying to hear it.” Luke grinned fidently. Kek, goteem! No way this nerd knows anything about soccer.

  “Soccer? Okay.” Yuel took a couple of seds to e up with an appropriate example.

  Wait, is he really gonna do it? Luke gulped. Don’t tell me this guy is also some sort of big brain in soccer too. I have a bad feeling about this...

  “For example,” Yuel started. “Imagine you’re a forward.”

  “You bet I am! I be sg goals left and right, boi!”

  “Right. As the forward, your main job is to scoals. As long as you’re sistently posing that threat, the enemy will have to pay attention to you.”

  “Damn straight! Gotta make ‘em scrubs sweat.”

  “Right. And, naturally, the enemy will stantly try to stop the ball from ever reag you if you’re that good.”

  “Totes, man. You betcha the ball gonna be rolling to me all the time so I get them goals!”

  “Correct. That’s a rough description of how an ideal forward should be like. Unfortunately, you’re not that kind of forward.”

  “Wait, what!? Nuuuuuu! My glorious soccer career ended before it even started...!”

  “Don’t worry, you have other things going for you,” Yuel expined. “You might not be an ideal forward, but you’re det at passing the ball around and anizing pys. So, that makes you strong in the midfield.”

  “Dang, sounds like I’m carrying that eeam!”

  “Perhaps you are,” Yuel said. “Anyway, since you’re so good in the midfield, you often go over there to help the team despite being a forward.”

  “Welp, ain’t I just the dude in the world?”

  “You really are. But remember, you’re a forward. Your job is to scoals and put pressure on the enemy defense. But tell me, how scary is a forward who hangs out around the midfield the entire game?”

  “That’s not really a forward at that point. That’s a mid-fielder.”

  “Correct. But, heless, you are the team’s forward. The team needs somebody on the offense and there’s nobody else for the job. Now tell me, how much pressure do you think a forward like that applies on the eeam?”

  “Welp, I feel sorry for the guy, but it doesn't sound like he gonna such this season.”

  “Exactly. And, the other team won’t feel pressured by him either,” Yuel expined. “So, how do you think the enemy defenders will be pying that game?”

  “Hmm.” Luke crossed his arms. “Well, if they don’t have to worry too much about defending, they just take it easy. Like, ya know, bring a nice sofa over there and take a good nap, haha.”

  “Or, they advaheir line of defense closer to the midfield, to put more pressure on the ter.”

  “Yep, I guess they try that. Sounds a little risky, tho.”

  “Yes, it’s risky to do when a dangerous forward is around. But, without that threat? They’re free to he defense a little in favor of pg more pressure on the midfield. By trolling the midfield, they’ll seize trol over the entire game.”

  “Heh, smart bastards.”

  “That’s exactly what happened in Game 5,” Yuel said. “Your Knight was the forward who pyed more like a mid-fielder and didn’t pressure the enemy enough. As a result, they felt they could take risks that normally shouldn’t be allowed.”

  “Hrmmm.” Luke crossed his arms. It seemed he still wasn’t sold on this analogy.

  “Let’s put it this way,” Yuel said. “In soccer, do you agree that a forward who sticks to the midfield won’t put too much pressure on the enemy defenders?”

  “Well yeah, duh.”

  “And, do you agree these defenders are far more likely to ighe forward and focus on trolling the mid?”

  “Well, it depends oeam, but yeah. I see that happen.”

  “So, it’s the same logic for Cssmancers. When you py ‘Setup Jungler’, you don’t put enough pressure on the enemy. And, if the enemy doesn’t fear getting gahey’ll py bolder and try to dominate Mid.”

  “Yeah, I think I see what you’re saying.” Luke was finally crag. The soccer analogy was w surprisingly well. “Man, I didn’t expect you to know your stuff in soccer too. Totally pwned me there, haha. Are you some sort of professional sport tacti or something?”

  “I just enjoy the tactics of spames,” Yuel said. “Soccer happens to be one of the games I’ve researched before. Sounds like you’re into it as well.”

  “Yeah, I... used to py it a lot.” Luke shifted his eyes away. “ A fun game. We py sometimes during lunch breaks. Wanna join us?”

  “Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Yuel smiled awkwardly. I’ve already e to terms with the fact I ’t py any games that require proper coordination and stamina. I just don’t have these.

  “Hey, I wanna!” Lars raised a hand. “I usually py some basket during lunch, but I join ya dudes sometimes too.”

  “Awesome!” Luke grinned. “I have a feeling you’re one heck of a pyer!”

  “Believe it, yo!”

  The two exged thumbs up.

  “So, ba topic,” Yuel said. “Luke, do you uand the problem now?”

  “Yeah, I kinda get it.” Luke sighed. “You’re saying I’m not gangsta enough. That’s why nobody is scared.”

  “You put it that way, I guess,” Yuel said relutly. “Did you see how StormMonster pys? That’s horoper Jungler should be. He should be a presehat stantly puts pressure oire eeam. That’s the main thing you’re g for being the team’s main Jungler.”

  “Wait a sec,” Luke objected. “What about Nia then? I don’t see you chewing her out on this stuff.”

  “Nia doesn’t have that problem.”

  “Really? I never see her putting much pressure on anybody. Doesn’t everybody fet she eves? She’s a dang phantom.”

  “True, but she pys proper assassin csses that gank effitly. So, when the eeam fets about her existend goes for a reckless py, Nia capitalize on that and gank them. Oher hand, you usually ’t do that.”

  “Man, this is getting way too plicated for me.” Luke made a face. “In short, you wao py something like real scary, right? Something that gonna scare them scrubs shitless.”

  “Yes, that’s the gist of it. In other words, I want you to py high-tier Jungler csses.”

  “Ain’t happening.” Luke waved his hand.

  “I see...” Yuel twitched. Even after this long talk, Luke remained unmoving in his position. Just how much of a blockhead could this guy be!?

  “But, I hear ya,” Luke said. “I’ll cook something up. I’m sure there’s a meme css that get the job done.”

  “I highly doubt it,” Yuel said. “Memes are memes because they ’t perform as a proper Jungler should. If they could, they’d no longer be memes at that point.”

  “Nah, don’t worry, man. I’ll find it! I’mma hit all my online groups and ask them to give me the absolute best meme!”

  “Good luck with that. Once you’re ready to give up, I hope you’ll finally sider pig high tier csses.”

  “Naaaaaah.”

  And so, the advice fell on deaf ears. Or, did it? Perhaps the Meme Jedi will find a unique solution while stig to his values. He’ll harhe Meme Ford bee a true master! By the time the scrimmage es around, he’ll have a spicy meme up his sleeve that’ll knock everybody off their feet!

  Or, maybe not. Who could tell?

  DarkestCymore