After boBreaker scored two kills in succession, the Leained a huge momentum. Worse still, said kills were on Trever and Gilbert, who were sidered the team’s key pyers. Even though everybody in StormBlitz mao keep themselves together and focus on winning the match, it was quite the mental blow.

  Both teams were fairly even until now, but this iilted the odds in the Leopards’ favor. During the mid game, Breaker became way more active than in the early game. She rotated across the map to gank Yuel’s teammates, almost as if she’s a sed Juhe absurd burst of her bo build allow her to eliminate enemies in a fsh, so she was even scarier thaual Jungler. She was like an unstoppable Queen piece, who zigzagged across the board to snatch paieces.

  In these situations, everybody hoped to borrow the help of the Jungler. It was the role with the best global presence, so it was most fitting for tering the enemy’s global presence. As, Dan couldn’t do much when his own turf became a danger zone.

  He ran into Breaker on the Juhat ended in an instant, he was torched in a blink of an eye. Not only he failed to stop her ining gank, but he also fed her further.

  After finishing Dan, Breaker tinued her rotation as pnned. She went after Roi in Top, but thankfully he wiggled his way out of her dangerous gank. He had no HP left and was forced to retreat, but at least he survived.

  “Great job making it out alive, bro!” Trever gave a thumb up.

  “Easy.” Roi grinned and lightly punched Dan’s shoulder. “Your sacrifice wasn’t in vain, lol.”

  “You’re always wele.” Dan made a face. Thanks to Daing eliminated in the jungle, Roi was alerted early about the ining gank. On top of that, Breaker had to use her bo to kill Dan quickly, so it was still on cooldown by the time she arrived in Top. Thus, most of the gank came down to being barraged by the Pyromancer’s fast basic attacks, which Roi’s sturdy Knight mao survive.

  “You didn’t even swing at her shots.” Dan pointed out. “What’s wrong? Scared to take her on?”

  “No way I gonna swing against her on the first try. She’s like a pitcher who gets strikeouts by strength. That’s not something you deal with in your first at-bat.”

  “How the mighty up fell.”

  “Shut up, lol. I’ll hit her shots all the way to the back s ime.”

  Despite the dire circumstahe team maintained a positive atmosphere. Joking around distracted them from the gravity of the situation. It was a simple, but impressive, teique.

  heless, despite the positive attitude, the team couldn’t recover from heavy blows it received during mid game. Breaker’s ganks followed by swift kills, which followed by big pushes. StormBlitz members fell behind, in both exp and map trol.

  Even when a gank didn’t result in a kill, it had devastating implications. After chasing Roi away, Breaker pushed the Top Turret together with the Viking. They took the Turret down untested. Despite being a mage, Breaker was the enemy’s Carry in this position, so leaving her aloh a tower resulted in losing the tower.

  The Turrets in other nes were in terrible shape too, due to Breaker’s earlier ganks. Mid Turret fell down to 20% and Bot Turret was at 50%. With how much Breaker traveled across the map, one would think it’d be easy to push the nes she was absent from. As, that approach was shot down by Freezer, of all people.

  Just like Breaker, Freezer’s pystyle undergone a drastic ge during the mid game. He still maintained a defensive pystyle like before, but he extended his defeo all three nes. WheormBlitz po push an undefended ne, he always showed up to stop that idea. His style was simir to Howard’s, except he always hahe defense himself, rather than instrug teammates how to defeer. So, he was like a dumbed down version of Howard. A Mini-Howard, if you will.

  Was it even possible to e back from this? It looked like a winning position for the enemy. Breaker assaulted pyers and pushed nes, whereas Freezer halted StomBlitz’s pushes. With the two of them, the enemy had a mobile bination of offense and defense which covered the entire map. It was difficult to make any progress against this global shut out.

  After every StormBlitz member got burnt by Breaker at least onbsp; they all learo steer clear of her. While her bo was online, getting within its range spelt immediate demise.

  “Make sure to announce if you see her using her bo.” Gilbert instructed.

  “Yeah, be loud and clear!” Trever anded like a drill officer. Everybody uood the importance of this, so there were no objes. The differeween Breaker with bo and Breaker without bo was like the differeween a leopard and a cat. One was definitely much scarier thaher. They only had a ce to strike her down while Spellbook of Doom was on cooldown.

  Pying defensively around Breaker showed some results. It hindered her ability to score kills via ganks and allowed StormBlitz to fight back. Trever even scored a couple of kills by suddenly switg from defeo offense once Breaker’s bo went on cooldown. The fact he had solid defense despite being an aggressive pyer really helped the team out.

  Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to get the upper hand. The deferategy proved effective, but it was a reactive approach which failed to steal the initiative. The Leopards already had a huge momentum and they kept pushing, while StormBlitz had their hands full with defending.

  Before long, the match transitioned into its team fighting phase. This is where things had a ce to ge for the better, since Breaker’s bo couldn’t hit aire team. After oeammate was bursted down, the rest could focus on Breaker and take her out.

  But, things only ged for the worse. Freezer became an even more promihreat than before, due to the utility his Warlock brough to the table. Warlock’s Eldritightmare single-handedly disoriehe whole eeam during a fight, tilting the odds in the Leopards’ favor as soon as a team fight started.

  The iy of the disorientation got weaker with more enemies ihe ult’s range, so it wasn’t too oppressive in full blown 5v5 fights. However, these were retively rare until te game. Most of the cshes between teams were 2v2 or 3v3 right now, in which Eldritightmare was super effective.

  Things couldn’t go on like this. Something had to ge. Something, anything.

  By now, Yuel grasped how his oppos pyed. Breaker and Freezer’s sudden pystyle shift during mid game threw him off at first, but now his analysis was ba track. Unfortunately, he was te, possibly too te. The team gged behind on gold, exp and map trol, with enemy super minions spawning in Mid.

  Following Gilbert’s shot-calling, the team prioritized defense. Everybody had their hands full fending off the enemy’s pushes. this was no time to jure offensive ters.

  tless ideas naturally formed in Yuel’s mind, but he didn’t voice them. This wasn’t some practice match or a persory exam, so he couldn’t suggest any experimental tactics. This official scrimmage emuted a real petitive match, so winning at any cost was a must.

  By sitting on this stage, he carried the wills of those who didn’t make it into the sed string. Therefore, he wasn’t allowed to put on a sloppy performance. Reckless pns, which could backfire, had no p this situation.

  They had to py safe and wait for their opportunity. There’s always a ce the enemy would mispy somewhere down the line. A single mispy in te game could flip the situation on its head, Yuel experienced tless turnabouts like that in both Casual and Ranked.

  As, this was her Casual nor Rahe eeam was made of coordinated petitive pyers, who were all experienced seniors on top of that. They knew how to correctly py every phase of the game. Early, mid or te game - it didn't’ matter. They refused to it gring mistakes that could be exploited. With every passing moment, the ounting a eback seemed slimmer and slimmer.

  “Hey, bro.” Trever called out. “You’ve been awfully quiet the whole match. What’s wrong? Still sleepy?”

  “No, I’m awake.” Yuel answered. “Though, I wouldn’t mind if turns out I’m still napping and this is a nightmare I’m having.”

  “Haha, I feel ya. So what’s wrong? Pressure?”

  “I believe I got over it by now.” Yuel shook his head. “I just don’t have anything to add. Gilbert’s shot-calling has been solid.”

  “Yeah, Gil’s calls are tight and all, but it’s just the basic stuff. We need DA STUFF, ya know?”

  “Are you askio e up with an aggressive terpy? In this situation?”

  “Yeah, use your tactics shmactics or whatever. Isn’t that what you’re here for?”

  “I’d like to believe I’m here because I’m a good Support pyer.”

  “Nah, it’s all about your crazy tactics.”

  “Ugh.” Yuel grumped.

  “Just pulling ya leg.” Trever smacked Yuel on the back. “You’re a good Support, sure. But, it’s your crazy ideas we need right now.”

  “There’s a pd time for everything.” Yuel said. “I use aggressive tacti practice matches and Ranked, but this is an official matd we’re behind. I ’t suggest pys that easily cost us the game.”

  “You think too hard about the sequences.” Gilbert said. “That just proves you’re nervous.”

  “Yeah, rex, bro.” Trever patted Yuel on the shoulder. “This is just the first game, we got four more afterwards. If you don’t start pying your usual game now, when will ya? You’ve been picked for the team because on how you usually py, so just do your thing, bro.”

  “Just do my thing...” Yuel mumbled. Looking ba it, what did he even do this whole match? Warding, resg allies aing up ganks - these were all textbook Support pys. He didn’t perform poorly, but her did he achieve anything of note. He spent most of the game studying his oppos, but he didn’t put much of that data to use. He only suggested little pys here and there, when they had low risk.

  He was overly careful with every little thing he suggested, he spent too much time analyzing enemies and he did everything he could to avoid messing up. It took him a while to realize, but... Yes, he was nervous after all. Ay ate away at him and strained his as. In a desperate attempt to not mess up this match, he ended up putting on a subpar performance, which ironically only hurt the team’s ces. How stupid.

  “I got some ideas.” Yuel announced. “But, they don’t mesh well with how we’ve been pying the te game so far.” He turo Gilbert. “Yame pn is to defend until the enemy make a mistake, right? I don’t think this approach is wrong in itself, but my ideas prioritize going on the offensive. Is that fine?”

  “Going on the offensive in this situation?” Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

  “Haha, kid is crazy!” Trever ughed. “I like it!”

  “Well,” Gilbert smiled wryly. “If you got an idea how to get us out of this mess, you’re wele to apply yic. You’re right that I’ve been doing the ‘defend and wait’ strategy, but I wouldn’t call it a ‘game pn’. It’s just a desperate attempt to not look bad going down. I ’t really picture us winning here.”

  “I see.” All this time, Yuel was sure Gilbert fidently issued orders with some sort of winning strategy in mind. But, Gilbert just g to the only option avaible, without showing any signs of doubt. Thanks to that, the team didn’t lose morale a fighting hard, no matter how harsh the circumstances got.

  This was the plete opposite of what Yuel did. He doubted his own strategies due to their risk factor and stayed quiet. It was that much easier following Gilbert’s fident lead instead of voig his own ideas. Yuel ran away from the challenge and pushed all the responsibility on Gilbert. That’s so low.

  No more. As everybody said, Yuel should just py his usual game. He icked for the sed string, it meant Aron and Howard believed in the skill he showcased in the club. They didn’t put him oeam just to fill the Support spot, they also expected the rest of the package from him, like his usual terpy tactics.

  “Alright, I uand.” Yuel steeled himself. “I’d like to take over the shot-calling for a while, if possible.”

  “Go ahead.” Gilbert nodded.

  “Thanks.” Yuel took a deep breath. Was this match still winnable for StormBlitz? Enemy super minions pushed Mid and the rest of StormBlitz’s Golems ran low on HP. The enemy pushed aggressively in both Top and Bot, aiming to take out these remaining Golems.

  The situation was grim, but Yuel had to craft a pn. One by one, he pieced data and ideas in his head like a puzzle. There’s no time to formute the whole winning strategy, but hope wasn’t lost. There’s a sequence of pys which could lead them closer to victory. Whether it’d vert into a victory from there remaio be seen, but he didn’t have the luxury to ponder about that right now.

  “First, their Pyromancer is going to rotate to Top.” Yuel stated.

  “How do you figure?” Gilbert asked. “Both Top and Bot look like perfectly fiions.”

  “Um, well...” Yuel cmmed up. Why was it, again? He cluded her destination the moment she showed up in Mid, but he couldn't for the life of him recall the steps toward that clusion.

  “Hey, hey.” Trever excimed. “Don’t pressure him, bro. We don’t have anythier anyway, so let’s py along with his tactics shmactics. I bet it’s something simple anyway, like seeing her rotate from Mid to Top a lot or something.”

  “Did she really do that often?”

  “Hell if I remember.”

  “She did, actually.” Yuel stated. “I just remembered. There are other factors too, but the biggest is how she has a tendency to rotate upwards. She usually starts in Bot, goes to Mid and from there to Top.”

  “Hmm, I see.” Gilbert was only partially vinced, but that’s nothiheir shot-calling styles were simply too different. Gilbert always went for the best py at any given time, whereas Yuel suggested unventional pys, which had a ce to either tank or pay off big time. heless, Yuel often brought results with his style. Therefilbert surrehe shot-caller role, trusting Yuel’s ability.

  “As I said, the Pyromancer will rotate to Top .” Yuel repeated. “I’d like to take her out first. Dan, you please return to base to heal? Then, head into the juo intercept her. Her rotation path should be something like this.” He drew on the map via pings.

  “Well, I don’t mind” Dan said. “But, I don’t think I take care of her myself. Lancer just doesn’t have the burst for that, her bo will screw me over.”

  “It’s alright, I only need you to slow down her rotation.” Yuel said. “I reend selling your Pierg Spear and Fury Knuckles to buy Deus Shield, so you st longer and bait out her ult.”

  “Huh? Two items for one? Even though I already got a full build?”

  “Yes, that’ll ter her better.” Yuel said. “Especially, the stun of Deus Shield will help buying time.”

  “Buying time? Sounds like you’re sending him to die, lol.” Roi ughed.

  “It’ll be great if he kills her, but that’s unlikely.” Yuel said. “You think of this py as sacrifig a piece to take the Queen.”

  “Lol, calling that chick ‘Queen’. Did she woo you with her bos or something?”

  “I meant chess Queen, the stro piece-“

  “Yeah, Yeah, I know. Don’t be so serious, lol.”

  “So, you’re literally askio sacrifice myself? Nasty.” Dan frowned.

  “Of course he does, he’s the Chessmaster after all. Lol.”

  “Well, I kinda get why I’m the only one for the job.” Dan said. “Gilbert is stuck guarding Mid, Trever must push Bot and the rest are dead. But, suppose I buy some time before dying, what’s ?”

  “Trever will rotate over there, right after finishing the wave.” Yuel expined.

  “Wait, what?” Trever was taken aback. “I’m the st line of defense in Bot, I ’t leave. olem is half-dead, they’ll push it all the way the moment I rotate.”

  “Yes, you’re absolutely right.” Yuel nodded

  “I knht? So, no way I rotate any time soon.”

  “No, it’s precisely BECAUSE of that that you rotate.”

  “Wut?”

  “The enemy also know you must stay to defend.” Yuel expined. “Pushing a wave against a Carry is hard. With that in mind, they’ll try pushing Top . That’s also where the Pyromancer is headed , so everything falls into pce.”

  “Heh, that’s some advanced reverse psychology shenanigans right there.” Trever chuckled. “So, you tellihey won’t bother pushing Bot any time soon, because they know I must stay here to guard. Therefore, I’m actually free to rotate? I’ve never heard such genius nonsense before in my life. I swear only you could e up with something stupid like this. I like it!”

  “Still , Gilbert insisted. "What do we do if they go for Bot anyway?”

  “No problem.” Yuel answered. “You’re already guarding the base and I’ll be able stall them once I respawn. There’s definitely risk involved, I won’t cim otherwise. That’s why I’ve been quiet all this time in the first pce.”

  “Risk shmisk!” Trever excimed. “It sounds fun, so let’s do it! It’s not like we got aer ideas anyway.

  “Hmm, that’s also true. Fine.” Gilbert relutly approved.

  “Then, we’re really going with this?” Dan firmed o time. Everybody seemed supportive of the idea, to one degree or another. “Heh, guess I should have expected absurd stuff when Yuel is calling the shots. Okay, I’m off to die then.”

  “Good luck, bro!”

  “Break a leg, lol.”

  Following Yuel’s instrus, Dan sold Pierg Spear and Fury Knuckles to buy Deus Shield. Normally, it’d be unthinkable to break up a finished build like that. However, Yuel suggested this py without batting an eye, so there it had to make some sense in this specific situation... right? Well, at the very least, Deus Shield wasn’t an unon item for Lancer.

  Lancer was a bruiser, making his builds rather flexible. He could prioritize either offense or defense, depending ouation at hand and the role he was going for. Dan already built an Assassin Lancer, going down the offensive route to execute swift ganks.

  heless, Yuel judged that Dan would be more useful for the team as a bruiser right now. It felt odd switg styles this te into the game, especially at the cost of losing his full build, Still, Dan really wao know how deep the rabbit hole went, so he pyed along. Yuel must had had greater pns for him ter down the road, right? Something more than suig on enemies like a freaking kamikaze, right? There was definitely going to be something bigger... right?

  Just as Yuel predicted, boBreaker left Mid and headed to Top through the Top Jungle. One of Yuel’s wards briefly exposed her, so Dan kly where to find her. All that’s left was to assault her, and pray he wasn’t going to be wrecked on the spot.

  “Oh, I ran into their Lancer.” Jennir reported to the team. “I think his ult is still down?”

  “Yeaaah, probably.” Alex replied with a yawn. “Just ignore him ao Top already. Let’s push all the way to their Colossus ahis borefest over with already.”

  “Yep, I hear ya.” Jennifer nodded. “o waste my bo here. Not like he has the balls to challenge me any- oh?” She blinked.

  The Lancer darted toward her, what a freak. It’s like gettiroyed three times already wasn’t enough for him. A scrub who couldn’t take a hint, huh.

  There’s no way he could 1v1 her. She k, he k, everybody and their mom k. Yet, he insisted to fight. What a scrub. The eeam proved itself a little more petent than she inally expected, but this was just sad. In the end, they were just a bunch of freshmen and juniors, they had nothing on the Leopards’ lineup of seniors.

  “Well, seems like the fool wants to suicide on me.” Jennifer licked her lips. “I’mma accept the free kill, thanks in advance.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” Alex shrugged. “Just get here already so we close the game.”

  But, Jennifer no longer listened. All her attention was trated on the enemy in front of her. For a bo pyer, evei inaccuracy could result in disaster. Therefore, ued crap had to be filtered out.

  The world around her ceased to exist. Only the jungle dispyed on the monitor was real right now, the entire universe was pressed into that small space. That was her entire world, the only thing that mattered right now.

  The Lancer charged straight at her, no doubt preparing to leap. He’s seriously going for Luhis scrub just refuses to learn, huh. Seems like he wasn’t burned enough!

  Jennifer answered the telegraphed attack by casting Pilr of Fire under her feet. Then, she immediately rolled aside.

  The Lancer came down crashing from the sky, but all that awaited him was burning ground. Too bad, sucker! Ez game ez life.

  But, she wasn’t do! She activated Burning Spirit to boost attack speed and barraged the Lahe attacks weren’t only lightning speed, they also hit like trucks. She was empowered by the Pilr of Fire she cast earlier atacks shredded the Lancer’s defehanks to Demonic Arm.

  Right before the Lancer left the burning area to tinue his offense, she activated Spellbook of Doom. A siick from Pilr of Fire was enough to proc the powerful bo effect. Here came some real damage!

  “Hasta vista, baby.” Jennifer gririumphantly as she unleashed Fme Wave, deletiarget from existence... or so it should had went. “Eh? Wha?” She blinked.

  Something was wrong. Very very VERY wrong. The Lancer somehow retained over 20% HP. Not only that, but his armor fired a shockwave, stunning Jennifer.

  Wha, when did he-!? Jennifer instinctively hit the TAB button, firming her suspi.

  Deus Shield, a defeem which granted protes and HP. At Lv.3, it also released a stunning shockwave when the pyer dropped below 30% HP. When did he buy it? Didn’t he build an Assassin Lancer!? Last time she checked, this guy had a finished build! What gave!? He ruined his full build, dropping from 5 items to 4, to afford the pricy Deus Shield. The heck was going on!?

  “Oh, crap!” Jennifer realized her foolishness and shook her head. Even the slightest distra oisonous for a bo pyer, she was no exception to the rule. Focus! FOCUS!

  While she was stunned by this ued mess, the Lancer closed the distance. He struck her with a sweeping attack, l her defense and mobility. Right after, he followed with a barrage of basic attacks. They packed a punch, even though he traded two offeems for a defensive ohe rest of his build still provided more than enough power to pressure Jennifer, a squishy age who couldn’t afford any defeems in her build.

  There’s no escape, I gotta take him out. NOW! Jennifer made a fast judgment and activated her ult, Bze of Inferno. Wasting it in a 1v1 like this was regrettable, but it was either the ult or her life. With respawn times clog at half a mi this stage of the match, she couldn’t afford to fall here!

  You have killed an enemy!

  Phew, safe. Amidst the whole mess, she missed the 2 seds window in which Spellbook tremendously buffed her spells. heless, even a vanil Bze of Inferno was enough to delete what little remained of the Lancer’s HP. She dropped to 40% HP in all this otion, but at least she survived through it.

  “Alrighty,” Jennifer exhaled. “This fight turned out way crazier than I expected, but at least it’s over now.”

  As a result of the whole mess, both her bo potential and her ult were now on cooldown. But, she only needed basic attacks to push Top anyway, so everything was A-OK. With the pesky Lancer out of the way, she headed toward Top as pnned-

  “Ack!?” A wild enemy appeared! The Rahe hell he was doing all the way out here!? Wasn’t he defending Bot st time she saw him!?

  “Agh, he got me...” Jennifer couldn’t put on a real fight with her spells on cooldown. She attempted to flee, but it robably futile. Burning Spirit was on cooldown, so no mobility buff for her. Fme Wave wasn’t ready either, so she couldn’t even smack that schmuck with any serious damage. It was a game over.

  While his wolf pinned Jeo the ground, the Ranger rekt her with bolts from his crossbow.

  You have been killed!

  “Man, they pulled a fast one on me.” Jennifer bit her nail, still processing what the flipping heck just happened. “The heck was that Ranger even doing all the way out here? Wasn’t he defending Bot? I didn’t hear any missing calls.”

  “Well,” Alex shrugged. “Everybody probably assumed he’ll keep pushing Bot after clearing the wave.” He knitted his eyebrows as he examined Jennifer’s monitor, showing uny i ich for a ge.

  “I should have refreshed the Ward in Bot, my bad” Albert admitted. “Their Druid keeps taking it out, so I got tired of renewing it.”

  “Nah, don’t beat yourself over it.” Jennifer shook her head. “That rotation was some serious BS. Like, how he even sidered leaving Bot unprotected when the Golem is almost dead? I swear, these guys are worse than Bronze pyers sometimes.”

  “Or are they?” Alex questioned.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “What if the two pys are ected?”

  “Wut?”

  “The Lancer’s suicide attad the Ranger’s rotation. Individually, each of them looks like a poor mispy. But, if you look at the bined result they produced - it’s not half bad, actually.”

  “Huh? What are you on about, man?” Jennifer raised an eyebrow. “He left Bot totally open, we i right away.”

  “Except, do we actually have anybody in Bot to who push right away?”

  “Oh, shit.” Jennifer crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Well, this blows.”

  “In other words,” Alex said. “We ’t punish that ‘mispy’ of the Ranger. We were sure he won’t leave Bot any time soon, so we focused on Top instead.”

  “Yeah, okay. But, how does that make his stupid rotation a good py? Please, you’re drunk.”

  “As I said, by itself it’s pretty shaky. But, if you also take the Lancer’s suicide attato at, then they basically traded a Jungler for a Carry there.”

  “Hah, you’re saying they phis from the get-go?” Jennifer sneered. “Please, who pys like that? They’ve been pying pretty standard so far, no way they phat kind of nonsense.”

  “Don’t fet their Lancer ged his build right before this happehis whole thing stinks.”

  “Nah, you’re making shit up, man.”

  “Yeah, probably.” Alex shrugged, already regrettiook this match seriously for even a sed. “Anyway, what now? The pn was to help you push Top, but that’s dowoilet now.”

  “No problem, just push it all the way yourselves!” Jennifer pumped a fist.. “Cody tanks, Joey smacks the Golem and you clear minions. We’re still pressuring these scrubs hard, we got this!”

  “But, my clear speed is... Well, whatever.” Alex shrugged. “Sucks that we ’t push all the way without you, I want this s over with already. Just the thought that we’ll have to fight these guys four more times puts me to sleep.”

  “Hey now, stop being a zy fud do your job.”

  “I know, I know. What a pain.” Alex sighed.

  At the time, they had no idea. The peculiar py by the Lancer and Ranger, which led to Jennifer’s death, was just the first step in Yuel’s turnaround strategy.