Ever sihe first Cssmancers lesson, Yuel became obsessed with the game. He wasn’t much of a gamer before, but now he spent all his free time pying Cssmancers. He practiced many different csses, studied items and experimented how various effects ied. As a result, his game knowledge quickly surpassed the material taught in css.

  As the other kids learned more about Cssmancers and its csses, Rogue became an infamous pick due to its notorious Stealth ability. It allowed the Rogue to turn invisible and sneak up to eo make things worse, Rogue’s passive, Backstabber, made its basic attacks deal extra damage from behind. bined with its high attack power as an assassin css, Rogue could murder any squishy target with a just few stabs in the back

  Most of the time, the Rogue’s prey was dead before it even got to reaone of the kids had any idea how to deal with this cer css, so many of them picked the css to wreck their oppos. When the final Cssmancers lesson came around and a 3v3 petition was announced in the css, almost every team had a dedicated Rogue pyer.

  However, Yuel’s team didn’t have a Rogue. He advised John and Jim against pying Rogue, for it was a “weak css”. Yes, despite how highly everybarded Rogue, Yuel cimed it was weak. Even though they didn’t share Yuel’s opinion, John and Jim followed the advid pyed the csses they were most fortable with: Archer and Viking.

  Already In the first match of the petition, Yuel’s team pyed against a team with a Rogue in it. John thought they were screwed for sure, but things didn’t quite turn out as he expected.

  “Huh? How e we see their Rogue?” John raised an eyebrow. For some reason, his mini-map showed the stealthed enemy Rogue sneaking through the juhere was an allied ced in the jungle, a deployable which granted vision to the whole team for limited time. However, that didn’t expin the current situation. “I thought Wards don’t shue when he’s stealthed?”

  “That’s a Stealth Ward.” Yuel expined. “It’s the same as a normal Ward, except it also exposes stealthed enemies. It costs more and doesn’t st as long, but it’s great when you py against a Rogue.”

  “Oh, cool, I didn’t even know that kind of thied. I wonder how I missed that during lessons.”

  “It wasn’t covered in the lessons.” Yuel said. “We only learned about normal Wards.”

  After learning of the ining attack, Yuel’s team ambushed the Rogue and eliminated him. Rogue was irong when he had the element of surprise, but he was an easy kill without it. By using Stealth Wards, Yuel shut down the Rogue of every team and effectively turned every matto a 3v2.

  “And we have our winners!” The teacher annouhe end of the css petition. “Good job! These game trollers are for you. Now, you keep pying Cssmancers even from your tablet!”

  With that, the final Cssmancers lesson came to an end. As the members of the “best team” in css, Yuel, John and Jim received game trollers as a prize. Like most kids these days, Yuel owned a tablet. So, now that he also had a troller, he could py Cssmancers anywhere and anytime.

  Lunch breaks sted an hour at his school, so some kids gathered to py Cssmancers after eating. Despite the special lessons, only seven cssmates expressed i in pying Cssmancers. Most kids found the game slow, fusing or unrewarding. They preferred pying soccer or braindead video games.

  Out of the seven ied kids, only five had trollers. Cssmancers was a 5v5 team sport, but it was impossible to host a real match with the hey had. Not to mention that, even among these kids, many sidered the 5v5 mode slow and plicated. In the end, they only pyed 3v3.

  Yuel found this arra disappointing, because he was ied in Cssmancers as a team sport. heless, he wao make the most out of it and alyed Cssmancers with others during lunch breaks. After all, it was like a dream that came true. He could finally py a team sport in which he wasn’t a yer.

  In fact, he was the ace. Every cssmate came to the same clusion after pying on Yuel’s team: Yuel was the stro Cssmancers pyer in css. Ead every victory was earhanks to Yuel’s tactid pys.

  “John, buy Teleport and use it on the Ward I pced here.” Yuel pihe location on the mini-map.

  “Huh? Since when I teleport to Wards?”

  “It’s a Checkpoint Ward, so you .”

  “Oh, cool.” John plied without any further questions and purchased the utility skill Teleport. After eling it for two seds, he instantly teleported from the base to the other side of the map. He had no idea what he was supposed to do there at first, but it soon became apparent.

  “Gotcha!” John shot down an injured enemy, who was in the middle of recalling back to base. , he effortlessly fwo injured enemies who fled in his dire.

  ANNIHILATION

  He got a whooping Triple Kill. All enemy pyers were dead.

  “Yo! Cool py, bro!” Jim praised his pal for the amazing achievement.

  “Haha, yeah we got this now...” John smiled wryly. “Cool py”, huh. Just whose py was it, really?

  If not for Yuel, John wouldn’t had teleported to that Checkpoint Ward. If not for Yuel, he wouldn’t had found himself in that ve position. If not for Yuel, he wouldn’t had scored all these kills so easily.

  Sure, John finished off the enemies with his own attacks, but said attacks were just a part of Yuel’s pn. John merely dao Yuel’s tuhe Triple Kill was hao him on a silver ptter.

  How did Yuel know anything and everything about the tless skills and items in this game? How was he so sure that the injured enemies would flee in John’s dire? Why did he p expensive Checkpoint Ward instead of a normal Ward? Was it all for this py? Just how many moves ahead could he see!?

  “You’re really scary sometimes...” John mumbled.

  “Hm? You said something?”

  “No, it’s nothing.” John shook his head and focused oroying the enemy Golem. Shortly afterwards, this push led to victory. The Triple Kill arranged by Yuel was the checkmate of this match. Everything pyed out exactly as he pnned.

  Even though none of them voiced it, everybody felt like pawns whehey pyed with Yuel. He gave them instrus which didn’t make se first, yet somehow always led to victory. Thus, even if they didn’t uand, they plied because they wao win.

  As the one who pyed with Yuel the most, John was the first to bee fed up with this routine.

  “Yeah! We got this!” Both of Yuel’s teammates rejoiced after the team assigs were decided by random rolls. John found himself on the opposing team for a ge, forced to py against an uable enemy.

  “On sed thought, I’ll pass.” John stood up. “I feel like pying soccer today.”

  “But you’re the one who called us here” Yuel said.

  “Meh, not feeling it anymore. Besides, we all know how it gonna end.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re really asking?” John rolled his eyes. “As if any of us win against you.”

  “What kind of logic is that?” Yuel frowned. “I know some of you sider me the best pyer, but I’m just one person. Cssmancers isn’t chess, it’s a team vs. team game.”

  “Heh, ‘isn’t chess’? Right back at you.” John sneered.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Fet it.” John shrugged a. The way he acted was far from admirable, but the other kids shared his ses.

  Ever since John expressed his dissatisfa, others started following his example. When they weren’t teamed with Yuel, they quit. It became harder and harder to host a 3v3 match during lunch break. Eventually, they stopped pying altogether.

  Yuel had mixed feelings about this development. Local multipyer, with real humans right beside him, was a fun way to py Cssmancers. Pyers rejoiced whehey made a strong py and ranted whehey got punished for a mistake. As the tacti whed such sarios, Yuel enjoyed watg others’ reas. It recreated the feeling of a real team sport, in which he pyed important role for a ge.

  However, he wasn’t quite satisfied with the 3v3 matches. He avoided saying that to their faces, but the rest of the kids he pyed with were g. They saw Cssmancers as a way to pass lunch break, nothing more and nothing less. They didn’t care for mastering the game or polishing their teical skill. They just wanted a quid rewarding fix. Ohe game stopped being rewarding, they lost i.

  Seems like I’ll have to py online. Yuel cluded. He occasionally pyed the 5v5 mode via online multipyer and even got his at to Lv.10, However, he hadn’t ied much time into it until now, because it cked the “team sport” feeling that local multipyer provided.

  There was barely any iioween Yuel and his oeammates. Each pyer did their own thing without paying attention to the rest of the map. This led to many frustrating matches.

  Sometimes, Yuel pinged an objective on the map and told his allies to secure it via in-game voiands, only to find himself alone once he got there. Other times, he asked his teammates to group up and push a o victory, but they all thought it was the right time to farm jungle camps.

  Reag Lv.50 with his at would unlock Ranked, a mode in which pyers supposedly pyed Cssmancers more petitively and actually cooperated with each other. He had no choice but to trust that information, as Ranked sounded like he only pce where he’d be able py meaningful Cssmancers matches. Thus, he grinded exp every ce he had, both at school and at home.

  Sadly, he had to queue into matches alone. None of his cssmates were ied in the 5v5 mode, especially now that they no longer pyed Cssmancers during lunch breaks. Winning multiple matches in a row granted bonus exp, but it was impossible to do with an uncoordieams. As a result, Yuel’s grind was slow, painfully slow.

  The 5v5 map was much rger than the 3v3 map. It had three op Lane, Middle ne and Bottom hey were usually abbreviated to simply Top, Mid and Bot. Minion waves spawned on all three nes simultaneously and eae had its own defeructures: a Turret and a Golem. All the nes ected the allied base to the enemy base, so it ossible to push any of the nes all the way to victory.

  Big jungles spread between the nes: a Top Jungle below Top Lane and a Bot Jungle above Bot Lahese jungles were much wider than the ones in the 3v3 map and had many camps with ral monsters. They also had two “boss” monsters, which granted huge bes to the whole team upon beied: Dragon and Overlord.

  With five pyers oeam, it wasn’t immediately clear where everybody should go. Who should go to whie, how many teammates should be on eae, when to clear jungle camps and so forth. As a result, many of Yuel’s teams were as anized as a bunch of headless chi. He did his best to teach them the general strategy he lear school, but it was a miracle when somebody actually listeo him.

  As he leveled up his at and got matched with more experienced pyers, he met more people familiar with Cssmancers’ “metagame”, or “meta” for short. Like in any other team sport, there were reeeam formations used by pros. The existence of a meta greatly improved Yuel’s online experience, as it dictated which roles the team needed and where each role should go. It was far from enough to make the teams “cooperative”, but it was better than nothing.

  For Top Lahe pyer usually had to pick a bruiser or tank type of css, such as Warrior, Knight and Viking. Both types were hard to kill due to their high defense, but in exge they were slow at clearing minion waves. Therefore, Top Lane was the slowest ne in the game and the Top Laner was usually stuck there aloil halfway through the match.

  Yuel excelled in Top Lane due to its prolonged 1v1 nature. He had more than enough time to study his ne oppo and figure out their weaknesses. In addition, he had better game knowledge than the average newbie, so he farmed exp and gold more effectively than his oppos and built items which tered them. This often allowed Yuel to domihe ne. If he also mao get a few kills on his oppo and snowball from there with a bruiser css, he could single-handedly carry the team to victainst disanized enemies.

  Mid Lane was also a 1v1 ne, but it much more hectic. It was the shortest ne, which meant it was the easiest o push all the way to enemy base. As such, it was always highly tested. To effectively trol Mid, the Mid Laner had to py a mage css with fast wave clear, such as Wizard, Pyromancer and Warlock.

  Yuel was det at this role. He wasn’t the best at nding his spells during chaotic team fights, but he made up for it with his great map awareness. Mages were squishy and Mid Lane was surrounded by jungles from both sides, making it proo fnk attacks. To stay alive in Mid, it was mandatory to pce Wards in strategic locations and prediing fnks. Unlike most newbies, Yuel was an expert with Wards and purchased them every time he returo base. Sometimes he even bought too many and had o pce them.

  Acc to the meta, oeam member had to be the Juhis was the only role without a ne of its own. As the name implied, the jungler’s domain was the jungle and he primarily farmed exp and gold via clearing jungle camps. He also roamed across the map to fnk enemies a up ganks (gang kills). Csses for this role were usually bruisers or assassins with the ability to lock down enemies and quickly execute them, such as Rogue, Werewolf and Shadow Walker.

  This was another role Yuel excelled with, for it required a bination of game knowledge, map awareness and exploiting enemies’ weaknesses. He memorized the respawn times of all jungle camps and maximized his farm by taking optimal routes through the jungle, often outleveling the enemy Jungler. He wasn’t meically skilled enough to fwlessly execute ganks on the spot, but he made up for it by carefully studying his oppos and striking them at right time.

  The st two roles, Carry and Support, had to start off together in Bot Lane. Carry csses were led damage dealers with sistent high DPS (Damage Per Sed), such as Archer, Trickshooter and Headhuheir main role was to quickly demolish enemy structures with their basic attacks. They started out weak, but transformed into powerhouses around mid game. For that reason, the Support pyer was assigo “babysit” the Carry during the early game.

  As a Carry, Yuel was... alright. It was the role which demahe most meical skill, as it was critical for the Carry to nd each of his basic attacks. Many Carries also had kits which required high skill, such as skillshots which demanded sg a headshot, bullets which ricocheted off walls and many other absurd things. No matter how much he practiced, he couldn’t pull of such stunts in the heat of battle. Therefore, whenever he was stuck pying a Carry, he alicked an easy one like Archer.

  Overall, no matter which role he had to py, Yuel performed detly. He preferred certain roles over others, but he was fih all of them. That is, except for Support. He hated that role.

  Supports were all about proteg allies and hindering ehey were usually either fortlianks like Padin, or bae mages with heals or CC (Crowd trol), such as Clerid ancer. After babysitting the Carry in early game, the Support roamed around the map to set up ganks with hard CC like stun. The Support usually cked the means to deal damage, so he had to rely on his teammates to finish off a stunned enemy.

  Support was a plicated role which required a bination of vast game knowledge and fast deaking. The Support had to initiate team fights, save his allies from pursuers, ward around the map, build the right support items against the eeam and much more. Yuel really... hated that role.

  Yes, it was a terrible role! The absolute worst! Support csses were “weak”, they could hardly do anything on their own. They didn’t have any damage to speak of, so they couldn’t kill enemies, clear minion waves or destroy Turrets. No matter how good the Support pyer was, he had no way to carry the team on his own.

  Whenever he pyed Support, he felt like he returo the soccer field. He was the “yer” who had to rely on his teammates to carry the team. No matter how much he learned about the game or how much he polished his deaking skills - it ointless when nobody listeo him. He was a useless team member all ain.

  Wheold the Carry to retreat, the Carry thought it was smart to chase the enemy all the way to the Turret a killed. When Yuel had his CC ultimate ability ready and told the Carry to attack so they could get an easy kill, the Carry instead returo base for no reason.

  The same misunication problems occured in team fights as well, with even severer sequences. Yuel initiated a team fight when his side had the advantage, only to lose the fight thanks to a scaredy-cat ally who ran away. As a result, four out of five team members were annihited and the game retty much over.

  As Yuel was matched against higher level pyers, unication became noticeably more frequent. However, it... wasn’t the kind of unication he was looking for.

  OMG NOOB QQ

  Stop ***ing feeding!

  suka blyat pidaras

  you’re so bad. uninstall game

  The unity was filled with toxicity. Pyers fmed whehings went south, bming each other for the team’s downfall. Yuel also came under fire from time to time, as nobody was immuo having a bad game.

  Rex. Focus on the game. We still win this. Yuel took a deep breath whenever he was fmed. It was easy to give in to the temptation and argue back. In fact, he had itted that mistake a few times before. However, he soon realized that bickering only dragged the team down aroyed its already low ces of winning.

  Please focus ostead of fmiried to things up as politely as he could, regardless of who was fmed. It was the best he could do to stop the team from falling apart, but it rarely worked. Most of the time, the fmers just started attag him as well if they weren’t already.

  The toxicity was twice as harsh against whoever pyed Support. The Carry died while chasing a kill under aurret? The Support’s fault. An ally was ganked from an unwarded region of the map? Obviously the Support’s fault.

  No matter how well Yuel pyed Support, he was hit by criticism due to others’ mistakes. It was even worse than when he pyed soccer, as there everybody ignored him and treated him as irrelevant. Nobody expected anything from him, so they weren’t angry when he messed up.

  But, when he pyed Support, people expected the world from him and bmed him for their own stupidity. Every little mistake his teammates made was somehow his fault. It was a thhly frustrating role to py.

  If only I had people to py with... Yuel sighed. The more he pyed ohe more he appreciated the times when he pyed with his cssmates during lunch breaks. None of them articurly strong pyer, but at least they unicated like rational human beings and listeo Yuel’s advice.

  But, in the online world he was alone. None of his cssmates wao py with him and he had to suffer through ooxic team after another. How could he ge this depressiy? He kept thinking and thinking, all the while grinding more exp for his at and hoping that Ranked mode would be filled with more reasonable pyers.