One day after Yuel made the deal with Howard, he gathered Lars and Julia in the clubroom and told them the news.

  “For real!?” Lars jumped before Yuel could finish. “We gonarters!? Sick, yo!”

  “IF we beat Howard's team, yes.”

  “You heard that?” Lars ran to July and shook her by the shoulders. “We're going to nationals this year!”

  “Y-Yeah,” Julia squeezed the words through her fluster. “It's great.” She nodded with a smile, then shot a gre at Yuel. “I also gonna be a starter, right? Right?”

  “Depends,” Yuel answered by averting his eyes.

  “I'll kick you.” Her gre tio drill Yuel.

  “I'll see what I do...” Yuel let out a sigh. He didn't want to make promises he couldn’t keep.

  It's not like Julia was a yer, it’s just Gilbert was a better pyer overall. Gilbert was a sistent pyer, whereas Julia had her ups and downs. She had a bad habit of overpensating for her mistakes, which led to further mistakes and further overpensating. Yuel has exploited that side of her many times when he pyed against her in practice matches.

  Anyway, it's best to keep all of that to himself right now. Whether Julia could bee a starter wasn't the main at the moment. The top priority was to wi Friday. Nothing will begin until they clear that first hurdle.

  Iernoon, Yuel called over the remaining members of his team: Roi and Dan. Howard already gave them the gist of it, so they were qui the uptake. In fact, Howard apparently even ordered them to treat Yuel as their captain until and during the uping match, which made things a lot easier.

  Lars, Julia, Roi, and Dan. With this team, Yuel will have to overe Howard's lineup. Based on the individual strength of each team member, Yuel's team had the advantage. Roi and Dan were on the first string with their current positions, they were leagues above Taison and Gregory for whom Jungler and Top were sedary roles. Therefore, assuming Yuel and Lars roughly ba Howard and Ellen in Bot, the only disadvahe team had was in Mid: Julia vs. Gilbert. But. even that didn't sound like a big deal because the skill gap between them wasn't that big.

  All in all, Yuel's team was stronger. But, Howard was the one who suggested this matd he’ll be leading the eeam. Therefore, Yuel couldn’t lower his defeo secure victory in this important match, he’ll have to prepare the team to the best of his ability.

  “I prepared some notes,” Yuel dumped a stack of papers he printed with copies for everybody. “It's a summary of useful observations I've collected about everybody on Howard’s team throughout the year. Their preferred csses, their pystyle quirks, their oints. Anything that give us an edge.”

  “Whoa,” Roi exaggeratedly flipped through the stack of pages. “That's some intense research you got here, doc. Lol.”

  “I guess there's one about us too?” Dan asked after skimming the tents.

  “Yes, I make a list like that about anybody from the club. But, they're just scattered notes right now. It takes time tahem into a prehensive list.”

  “Haha,” Lars ughed and shook his head. “Dude is a genius, I'm tellin’ ya.”

  “More like a stalker.” Julia jabbed.

  “It was Aaron's suggestion,” Yuel felt like defending himself for some reason. “I usually store all this data in my head, but he said it's a good habit to jot it down so I share it with others ter.”

  Thinking of it, maybe all the way back then Aron was already preparing Yuel for being the vice-captaiher way, following that piece of advice paid off. Yuel didn’t bother writing his observations on paper as Aron suggested, but he has been rec his thoughts on the phone during some club practices. He thought of it as a good way to sort out his thoughts, but nothing more.

  Today was the first time he found a very practical use which extended beyond personal use. After he returned from Howard's pce, Yuel started preparing for the uping match right away and that's when he remembered the notes on his phone. Except, they were a scattered jumble which would make little seo anybody but him. Heck, even he wasn’t sure what some of the notes meant.

  Yuel didn't waste a moment and ported all his notes onto his PC, then ahem by pyers. It was doher hastily, so the data still wasn't as perfectly anized as he wanted. Still, it became way better than the mess it was before.

  After spending the whole night, and some of this m, on this task - Yuel finally ended up with this pile of papers. Twelve pages, five copies of each. That's the result of taking hroughout half a year.

  “Welp,” Lars put down his copy. “This is cool and all, but now let's py some!”

  “No,” Yuel retorted. “First, I want to go over these notes. Before we begin practig we o uand who we're dealing with.”

  “Duuuuuude,” Lars dropped ba his chair and closed his eyes. “I sleep.”

  “At least try to listen, okay?” Yuel sighed. I doubt his selective memory hold all this information anyway.

  “Okay, I'm listening. Zzz.” Lars produced fake sn noises; what a brat. Well, he'll defiune in during the important parts, so that'll be fine. Besides, by Friday, he'll probably fet like 90% of what they discuss today. He was a troublesome goof like that.

  “First,” Yuel assumed a lecturing tone. “About the enemy's overall strategy. Anybody who ever pyed under Howard knows he sticks to defense, so I'm sure that's what we're going to deal with. All their ners work well with that game pn.”

  Ellen was an infamous poke-and-run pyer. Gilbert was a banced pyer who had both det defense a offense. And of course, then there’s Howard himself, the paragon of defehis was an airtight defensive lineup alright.

  , onto the lesser threats: Taison and Gregory. As a Top Laner, Gregory relied on tactid ter-building, simir to how Yuel pyed Top. Gregory wasn’t a defensive pyer per se, but he’d most certainly py defensively against an overwhelming oppo like Roi. Gregory had no ce of beating Roi in a straight 1v1, so Howard will surely make him py defense, no question about it.

  As for Taison, that guy will most likely be the most aggressive enemy on that team. As a Jungler, he liked ganking nes aing into fights with enemy ners. He ehat a little too much, to the point it was impossible to stop him even it was going to be a mispy.

  Howard may try to force Taison into pying slower and safer, but that’s like asking Lars to py defensively. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Besides, Taison almost exclusively pyed bruisers as a Jungler and those had better survivability than assassins. So, that’ll probably be “defensive” enough to Howard’s taste.

  Long story short, it’ll be a hyper-defensive lineup. And, to make the most of it, it’ll most assuredly feature mid/te game csses. These were the csses which typically didn’t do well in the early game, but they pensated for that with a huge power spike in the mid/te game. Fights against defeeams usually dragged on, so said teams beed the most from pig csses which excelled in ter parts of the game.

  In a nutshell, that’s what Yuel’s team will have to deal with. There were no objes to his analysis. Everybody silently listeo what he had to say. Even Lars did his best to not doze off.

  “As you probably know,” Yuel tinued. “I prefer mgressive ps myself. So, unless I find another approach, Friday's match will boil down to whether our offense break through their defense. If we gain an advantage in the early game, we win. If the game drags into the te-game, we're in trouble.”

  “Nid simple!” Lars nodded. “We’re going go full aggro, yo!”

  “You're quite the challengers,” Dan smiled wryly. “You know how hard it is to pee Howard's defense.”

  “Of course.” Yuel nodded. Back at the entrance exam, he was helpless against Aegis. Everythiried was blocked, denied aed. The tless practice matches throughout the year only further proved Howard boasted an amazing team-wide defense.

  But, a whole year has passed sihey st serious match. Yuel has improved a lot sihen. He was no lohe same rookie who barely knew left frht. He studied many different tactics, analyzed tless games, absorbed knowledge from his seniors and gained experience all across the board. As he was today, his refiactics should be capable of pierg through Howard's Aegis. They had to.

  To do so, Yuel had to utilize his team to the fullest. Any opening in Howard's team, no matter how small, shall be to be thhly abused. That's the only way to break through Howard's absolute defense.

  “First, Roi,” Yuel said. “sidering your skill pared tory’s, I think you should go hyper-aggressive from the get-go. For example, Dark Knight or Orc.”

  “Lol, that's indeed hyper-aggressive, alright.”

  “Gregory is nowhere near as meically skilled as you and he's g experience as Top, so that's where I want to strike. With a hyper-aggressive css like Dark Knight you should be able to overwhelm him, maybe even snowball off him.”

  “Sounds good and all,” Roi nodded. “But, you really think something like DK is necessary? I mean, I'm the starter in Top. I rek GG with any css. DK gets ky if I don't start rolling during the early game. There are more stable csses out there, ya know?”

  “Perhaps,” Yuel agreed. “Even so, I want to strike as hard as possible at that ot.”

  I'll be the one doing the “striking”, though. Roi shrugged.

  “Gregory is their weakest link,” Yuel expined. “And, luckily, he'll be fag you, one of our stro pyers. I want to make the most out of this matchup advantage.”

  “Okay, okay,” Roi shrugged. “I get it, you wanna bully the poor kid, lol. I still think DK is going too far with the aggro pn, but alright I’ll py it during practice if you insist.”

  “And Orc too. It’s a backup in case Dark Knight is banned.”

  “Had a feeling you’ll go there... Okay, got it. I’ll try getting my DK and Or shape during this week.

  “Thanks,”. Yuel said. “, Dan. As you said, Howard's defense is tough. Got any idea what kind of jungling break through it?”

  “Heh,” Dan smirked. “Trying to extract Howard's weaknesses from one of his teammates? Savage.”

  “I'm sure he's doing the same.” Yuel retorted.

  “Not even doubting it,” Dan nodded. “Okay, let's see. Howard always says Jungles are the hardest to defend against, so I bet he pays extra attention to them. Ohing I noticed during practice is that he deal with meta csses way better than with off-meta ones.”

  “Makes sense.” Yuel nodded. As somebody whose life purpose was to provide the team with perfect defense, fog oro meta Junglers was the most effit way. It’s simir to how the Leopards were trained by their coach, which resulted in Dan's ued Beastmaster and ancer being rather effective against them in the scrimmage.

  “In other words,” Dan wore an impish smile. “I better py Jungle Cryo if we wanna win.”

  “Yeah, that's not happening.” Yuel shot it down on the spot. There was such a thing as an “off-meta pick” which saw some practical uses, but then there was also a “meme pick” which was pletely worthless. Unfortunately, Dan has always wao show off how well he pyed the meme picks. Sigh.

  Should we go with off-meta? Yuel pondered. Dan was clearly trying to promote his services as Dan-of-all-Trades, but his analysis made sense. Howard's defense will likely have some holes against off-meta Junglers, just like the Leopards ba the scrimmage

  However, there’s one huge differeween Howard and the Leopards: Howard kly who he’ll be pying. There were five days until the match, so knowing Howard - he'll somehow cover up this weakness. He'll probably study all of Dan’s most successful off-meta picks and will train his team to ter them.

  The whole advantage of an off-meta css was how it was rarely pyed, so the enemy didn't expect it and sometimes didn’t know how to deal with it. Oher hand, such csses usually posed little threat to an oppo who prepared for them, that's the whole reason they were “off-meta” in the first pce. They were something akin to a gimmid pro pyers had to know how to deal with any gimmick, which was why these csses underperformed ia and became off-meta.

  With all that sidered, there's little hope to catch Howard off-guard with an off-meta pick. Maybe some bizarre meme pick will provide shock value, but it'll be short-lived. The best way to utilize Dan's versatility here would have him the most effit meta css against the enemy's p.

  “I think you should foeta csses,” Yuel cluded. “Knowing Howard, he won't let you surprise him with any weird pick.”

  “Hey now, don't uimate me,” Dan said. “You think a week is enough to learn how to ter all my stuff? I've been w on all my list of viable csses for years.”

  “Perhaps, but he most likely knows your favorites. Even I tell you're hoping t imaster or ancer.”

  “Would be rad, not gonna lie. But hey, I got other aces up my sleeve.”

  “I rather not take the risk,” Yuel said. “It's an important mate and Lars. We must win no matter what.”

  “Hey now,” Roi excimed. “You’re saying me and Da here to win?”

  “No, that's not what I...” Yuel pursed his lips. Holy? A part of him was doubtful. Roi and Dan were Howard's soldiers, they spent more time with Howard and they probably thought Howard was the better leader. How motivated were they to win this match against Howard?

  “Gonna admit,” Roi said. “Howard is better-fit for leading the first string as far as I'm ed.”

  I k...

  “But, with that said, me and Dan are on your team right now. We’re here to win.”

  “Yeah,” Dan joined in. “And. if it makes you feel better, Hoersonally told us to take this match seriously and follow you as our captain.”

  “He did?” Yuel blinked. Sounded like Howard wasn't pnning t this mat any way. On the trary, he desired a fair showdown. “So, you’re really going to try a him with everything you got?”

  “Yeah,” Roi chuckled. “If he loses after telling us all that, that’s on him, lol.”

  “I see.” Yuel smiled faintly. That’s one worry off his chest. If there’s really no reason to worry about the possibility of a rigged match, Yuel could trate on f the optimal strategy while trusting in Roi and Dan’s skill.

  “I apologize,” Yuel bowed his head. “I admit, I had some doubts about how seriously you were going to take this. You’re right, we’re all on the same team here. Let’s do our best to win.”

  “You got it!”

  “Sounds good.”

  After that, the strategy meeting tinued for a while. Yuel’s pn was to make Roi py a hyper-aggressive css during the early game and for Dan to ter-pick the enemy position with a stroa css. They didn’t show muthusiasm regarding the pn, but after a long bad-forth, they reached a promise of sorts.

  “Let’s do it like this,” Roi suggested. “I’mma py DK or Orc or whatever you want. But, if that blows up in our faces and we lose, lemme pick whatever I want the game. Deal?”

  “Alright,” Yuel nodded. ly his favorite idea, but this discussion was going nowhere otherwise. He’ll just have to make sure they don’t drop a single game. Easy, right? Well, worst case, Roi’s picks should be det anyway, so there’s not much to worry about.

  With this, Roi and Dan’s game pns for the match were decided. As for Lars, there wasn’t much strategy to discuss. Lars just had to be Lars. Meaning: pull off insane snipes, overpower oppos through strength and carry the team. All these things were natural for him, so there wasn’t much to add.

  “Just don’t get baited by Ellen,” Yuel warned.

  “I know, dude. I’ll only chase her when I’m sure I kill her.”

  With your baseless fidehat’s like 90% of the time. Yuel sighed. It’d be up to him to lead Lars appropriately against Ellen. In term of raw strength, Lars was superior to Ellen, but she was a trickster of an oppo. Even after spending a whole year with her in the club, she still found ways to press Lars’s buttons during practice matches and lead him to death. Everuggled to grasp her iions most of the time, so it won’t be easy.

  “By the way,” Yuel said. “Do you have any sed favorite css after Trickshooter?”

  “Hm?” Lars cocked his head. “I’d say Gunslinger is pretty sick. Love that bad boy, but it’s not easy to nd these headshots all the time.”

  “I see.” Yuel jotted it down. Howard will assuredly ban Trickshooter every game, so Lars rong alternatives.

  The st pyer to discuss was Julia and there was a lot to talk about. But, not so much of it was directly about her game pn.

  “Listen to me without getting angry, okay?” Yuel cleared his throat. “In this match, gest weakness is going to be Mid-”

  “Huuuh?” Julia shot him a gre packed with a thousah curses. “You saying I gonna drag the team down!?”

  “No, I’m just saying you have the toughest chup.” Yuel was quick to expin before something explodes. “Like it or not, but Gilbert is the starter for Mid and has been pying for way lohan you. Before things like skill or talent, he has way more experiend that’ll py against you.”

  “Hmph, so what?” Julia scowled. “I just gotta beat him, right? I gonna bee a starter too, ya know.”

  I have my doubts about that. Yuel kept that to himself. “Anyway, regardless of how your current skill pares against Gilbert’s, I’m sure the enemy will sider Mid our weakest link.”

  “I’m telling you, I’ll be fine!”

  “I said regardless of how things really stand. No matter if you’re stronger or weaker than Gilbert, they’re going to assume you’re weaker.”

  “Hmph.” Julia crossed her arms and lifted her , but she was listening.

  “So,” Yuel tinued. “At one point or ahey’ll definitely gun for Mid. Dan, I need you to watch out for Mid rotations.”

  “Roger.”

  “I don’t think Howard’s offense will begin until mid-game, but we ever know for sure. Roi, since I’m sure you’ll have ne adva’s best if you rotate frequently to Mid. If we gain an early advahere, we’ll have nothing to fear.”

  “Strike before the enemy strikes, heh.” Roi gave a thumb up. “I’m in.”

  Once everybody uood their game pns, the team practiced together in Rahey purposely picked team positions which were simir to what they discussed and stuck as closely as possible to their agreed game pn. In a matter of days, this very team will be pitted against Howard and the fight for the first string will begin!