The first game between Stratus and the Leopards started off.

  “This matchup is going to be a little unventional,” Yuel said. “You should build some Attack Speed early on in order to bat the Droid’s Drones.”

  “Speed? That’s my middle name, yo!” Lars grinned. “Okay, then Golden Bow it is! Let’s gooooooo!”

  “Wait, no, that’s taking it too far.” Yuel stopped the nonsense before it had a ce to start.

  Golden Bow indeed provided lots of Attack Speed and it was a great item for Pirate, but it was reserved for the mid/te game. It was costly to rank it up to Lv.3, so pyers had no business building it in the early-game.

  “What I meant by ‘building more Attack Speed’ is that you should build Ninja Tabi over Samurai Tabi.”

  “What, that’s it?” Lars pouted. “That’s nothing new, dude. I start games with Ninja Sandals like half the time.”

  “True, but not on Pirate.”

  “Hmm. Yeah, I guess not.”

  Apparently, Lars didn’t quite uand why pig Ninja Tabi was so unusual for Pirate. But fortunately, Yuel was well-versed ih behind early-game builds, so he uood the sequences of this decision all too well.

  During the early-game, it was generally more beneficial to build Attack Power over Attack Speed, even for marksmeing just a bit of extra ft Attack Power made a big impact for early-game damage, whereas getting a slight Attack Speed increase was barely noticeable.

  With that said, an Attack Speed increase scaled a lot better in the mid-game, and especially ie-game. That’s why, even though Samuari Tabi was the superior early-game option, Ninja Tabi was also picked rather frequently in the pro se. It ick that sacrificed early-game effi favor of better DPS for mid/te game

  That’s why Lars wasn’t too surprised when he was told to piinja Tabi. After all, Yuel allowed the goof to pick these speed shoes quite often, for he trusted Lars’s ability to perform well during the early-game even without the extra Attack Power.

  With all that said, Pirate was one css that strongly disliked Ninja Tabi early oarted the game with subpar stats pared to the average Carry, so he normally wao make up for it ASAP by increasing Attack Power as much as possible.

  Building Ninja Tabi early will be quite the handicap for Lars. Yuel thought. But, it’s necessary for dealing with drohe faster Lars get rid of them, the weaker the Droid’s push potential will bee.

  Droid was oroublesome oppohat warranted deviating from the usual Samurai Tabi build. It’s not like the css was ily OP or anything, but it had some strong tools that had to be methodically shut down before they snowballed out of trol.

  The fact Droid demanded such careful terpy already made it worthy of A tier in Yuel’s eyes, regardless of the caveats the css had. heless, the css’s “practical tier” remained a heated discussion among pros, theory crafters, and anybody iween.

  The uping csh in Bot will surely force Yuel and Lars to explore Droid’s attributes to the fullest, both its strong points and its oints. It was certainly going to be iing to see how AbsoluteWinner nning to wield this plicated css.

  He’ll be a troublesome oppo if he utilize Droid well. Yuel thought. But, I’ll worry about it after I see him in a.

  And so, the preparation phase began. Everybody finished buying their starter items and headed out of the base.

  The start of the game proceeded as usual. Everybody headed to the usual Jungle Camps and cleared those together. Yuel, Lars, and Kai fought the Ogre Camp together, whereas Vi and Nia took on the Wraith Camp.

  There were no signs of the enemy pnning any early invades, as expected. After all, the Leopards of this year were a defeeam.

  They're not nearly as daring as the team from st year. Yuel thought. I remember that i regionals, Aron's team was caught off guard by Fenrir's intense invades. But this year, the Leopards don’t have any hyper-aggressive pyers like that, except maybe for their secret Korean pyer.

  With that said, there was always the possibility that the Leopards only pyed hyper-defensive when the skill gap between them and their oppo was too big. Perhaps, they knew how to py aggressively as well and simply kept it a secret until the right time es.

  Though, now that I know Rook is Cato, I really doubt it…

  Cato was the herald of defensive py, that much was obvious from his chess pystyle. And, as the captain of the team, there was a very good ce he enforced his ideologies oher members as well.

  I'd much rather deal with a hyper-offeeam than a team that turtles. Yuel sighed. But, this should be good practice, at least.

  The Leopards' defensive pystyle was both a blessing and a curse. It'll be a pain to deal with, but it'll also give the team plenty of experie should prepare them well for the eventual fight against StormBlitz.

  Cato's take on defensive gamepy is somewhat different from Howard's, but there's more than enough overp. I personally find Howard's defeo be tighter, but both of them are assuredly going to be a pain to deal with.

  While Yuel was having such idle thoughts, he and the others finished clearing the Ogre Camp. Kai took the power buff and then split off, heading to Mid. Meanwhile, Yuel and Lars hurried to clear the Wolf Camp near Bot.

  At the same time, Vi and Nia did the same on their side of the hey finished clearing the Wraith Camp and Viook the blue buff. Then, they proceeded to clear the Wolf Camp op together. Or, at least they should've...

  "VanishingFlower, midy," Vi called out. "May I know where you are headed?"

  "Hm? Oh..." Nia hit the brakes and turned around "My bad. I thought we were already done." She was already halfway to the nearby Griffin Camp, so she had to backpedal in order to rejoin Vi at the Wolf Camp.

  This is taking so long... Nia almost dozed off while clearing the camp with Vi.

  In her foggy sciousness, she dreamed about how she had already fihe opening phase. In that dream, the match had already escated toward the mid-game, so surely the end was nigh. Soon, she’ll get her well-deserved nap.

  As, reality moved at a much slower pace than that. Nia was still stu the opening phase, still clearing the Wolf Camp op. Zzz...

  “The deed is done!” Vi announced ohey fell the final wolf.

  “Finally…” Nia wobbled out of the area, this time heading for the Griffins for sure.

  Meanwhile, Vi proceeded to Top Lane. Due to the slight dey caused by Nia’s sleepiness, his arrival on ne was a little ter than expected.

  All the minions had already gathered in the ne. What’s more, his ne oppo was in the middle of pung minions with her bare fists.

  It wasn’t a fatal dey by any means, but it definitely set Vi back. And, it was all caused by that uing sleepihat refused to let up.

  I really hope Nia is going to be okay... Yuel thought. She rarely makes mistakes in the opening, so this is new. I hope this is just the pressure of being on stage and not something worse...

  Nia's situation was w indeed, but Yuel didn't have the luxury to keep tabs on her 24/7. He and Lars were about to front their ne oppos for the first time, so the uping csh required Yuel’s full attention.

  AbsoluteWinner and AbsoluteChallenger. Yuel reviewed what little data he had on that duo. Their naming vention reminds me of the "DaBest" duo. It's a little dumb, but I don’t mind the free information that es with it.

  Judging by the names, Winner and Challenger were most likely good friends. Or, at the very least, they surely pyed together a lot.

  In this particur lineup, they pyed Carry and Support. That naturally meant they trusted each other and had good teamwork.

  And, even in the Leopards’ other lineup, this duo cooperated frequently as Jungler and Top. Their pystyles were rather different but they meshed well, probably thanks to all the experiehey accumuted from pying together.

  In clusion, Winner and Challenger were a formidable duo and it was dangerous to tackle them when they were together. At least, that's what anybody with a shred of on sense would uand...

  "Yo, so we fight these dudes right away?" Lars asked with an i grin.

  "Fet about it,” Yuel said. “That’s not happening any time soon."

  "Dang, figured. But hey, at least I tried."

  "For the early-game, oal is to slow down the Dorid’s framing as much as possible. So, make sure you keep an eye on him."

  "Aye, aye, cap!” Lars saluted. “I'm watg this dude real good. He ain't gonna pop any drones, not under my watch!"

  And so, both sides advaoward the ter of the hey went just deep enough to attack each other’s frontlines, but not a step further.

  All four of them had ranged csses, so there was o overextend. They had the option of safely farming the minions from a distance, so that’s what they opted to do.

  Out of everybody in the Leopards, only these two have an impressive offense. So, I definitely don’t want to be on the frontline against them.

  That art of the reason Yuel opted for a Druid pick. It was one of the few Support csses that had ratacks, which was a very useful property against aggressive oppos.

  On top of that, Druid was a magical damage dealer, whiplemehe fact their team was running a physical Mid Laner. With this setup, both Yuel and Vi had access to Magical Damage in order to force the eo build at least some Magical Defense.

  With that said, the greater factor was defihe safety the Druid provided against the enemy’s potential aggression. Most notably, it was an effective ter to Challenge, who was an aggressive pyer whose attitude didn't quite fit with the rest of the Leopards’ mentality.

  While Winner was a banced pyer who just favored offense over defense, Challenger was like 80% offense and 20% defense. In fact, even now, despite pying Support, his build didn’t resemble a Support’s build at all.

  A Lumimancer had no business building power at the start of the game unless he pyed Mid. A, Challenger did exactly that...

  "First!" Ronald unleashed Ray of Light oire enemy wave. "I hope they like the damage, huehue."

  Normally, Ray of Light was only treated as an AoE healing spell. It dealt some damage as well, but the damage was negligible because Supports didn’t build much power.

  Except, Ronald did build power. Therefore, the damage of his Ray of Light was NOT negligible in the slightest.

  Lumi goes brrr! Ronald grinned in satisfa as he watched damage numbers pop all over the enemy wave. He was the only one ih access to AoE damage at the moment, so it almost felt like he was in charge here. He ractically like Mid Laner, huehue!

  "Make sure you leave the st hits to me," William reminded.

  "Sure thing, bro. Just make sure you don’t miss any of them."

  "Of course." William nodded

  It sounded like a trivial warning, ohat had no p a petitive se. After all, anybody at this level of py was expected to nd fwless st-hits.

  However, things weren’t so simple when the Support had access to actual damage. It drastically sped up the wave clearing process, making it that much harder for the Carry to secure st-hits.

  However, William was already used to this pattern. He had pyed tless games alongside his brother in Bot, so he knew how to properly farm alongside an aggressive Support.

  First, a drone. William got into a firing position and activated Assault Drone.

  "ASSAULT. DRONE." A robotic voice resouhen a small floating drone emerged behind William.

  But, shortly after the drone was born- BAM! A bullet came flying in their dire!

  "Ah!" William blinked for a moment. The timing on that shot was impressive. It was an immediate respoo the drone’s summon.

  And, it was no random misfire. The bullet was carefully aimed, straight at the drone.

  That was fast. William backed away from the attacker. He needed a little time tain his posure.

  "Whoa!" Ronald excimed. "Did you just see that shot!? It was so , bro!"

  "Yes, I do happen to have eyes." Wilim frowned. It felt like he fired the shot before I even finished summoning the drone. Did he react to it based on the audio cue?

  There was a robotic voice lihat pyed right before the drone was summohese audio cues were an unfortunate drawback for all of Droid’s skills.

  They normally didn’t cause much of a problem in Ranked. However, against pros and high-level pyers, the voice lines essentially telegraphed the skills. There was no she of skilled pyers who could respond to the roboties by instinct.

  Even so, Gunz’s shot came way too fast. Not even a sed passed from the moment the robotic voinouhe skill, and a bullet already drilled itself into the drone.

  That shot wasn't just fast, it was accurate too. William grimaced. That’s the part that stumps me.

  If Gunz fired that shot at William himself in respoo the audio cue, then nothing would be have been particurly odd about that exge. After all, Gunz had already proved he was an exceptionally skilled pyer with superb rea speed, so he definitely could dish out quick shots like that on demand.

  But no, Gunz’s shot didn’t hit Wilim. It wasn’t aimed at him in the first pce.

  Instead, Gunz hit the small drone behind William. However, that drone didn’t eve on the field back when the voice line pyed.

  He aimed for the right spot without even seeing a target. William cluded. It looks like his impressive record of headshots wasn’t a fluke. His accuracy is top-notch.

  William felt a slight shiver across his arms. It was unusual for him to be stunned by an enemy’s meical skill, which stood testament to just how amazing was Gunz’s otle shot.

  Iing. So, this is the pyer Sonya siders worthy of being No. 2 in the region. Alright, you’re o's see what you're capable of.

  William regained his posure and stepped forth. First, he had to secure a good position.

  His Assault Drone was injured but very much alive. Therefore, the drone could join the offense and help William clear minions faster.

  As, there was one caveat. The drone’s attacks had a shorter reach than William’s. Therefore, William had to get a little closer in order to let the drone reach the enemy wave.

  But, you’re not going to make it easy for me, are you? William posed that question to Gunz, who was mimig every single move William made.

  When William moved to the right, then Gunz also moved to the right. When William moved diagonally, then Gunz moved diagonally in the same dire.

  Nice zoning. William thought. And, he still has the luxury to hit minions along the way, huh.

  Iween matg all of William’s moves, Gunz found the time to nd shots on the enemy minions. It was seamless execution on his side.

  Ty this game. William decred.

  While stepping to the right, he fired a ser beam at one of the dying swordsmen. At the same time, he made sure to maintain his spag and not let Gu any closer.

  Maintaining this delicate distance was necessary. William had to keep his injured Assault Dro of Gunz’s firing range.

  With that said, for how long will he keep running in circles like this? The whole point of summoning the Assault Drone was to increase his DPS output. A, right now, he reoccupied with nothing but keeping the drone alive, at the expense of slowing down his own DPS.

  Hmph. This is getting ter-productive. William thought. I ’t stay on the defensive forever. I have to step in at some point, even if I instantly lose the drone.

  He moved around just a little more, in hope of throwing off his stalker. However, Gunz stu like glue, so there was nothing more that could be done.

  Tch. Alright, here goes then. William stopped running around and tried his luck by stepping forward. However, Gunz was already prepared for this with every fiber of his body.

  BAM! Another immediate shot! It fired as soon William brushed against Gunz’s attack range.

  Like before, the shot ly hit the drone. With an attack speed and an accuracy like this, Gunz definitely lived up to the title of the region’s No. 2, no objes there.

  He also knows the basics of tering Droid, which is rather surprising. I took him for a muscle head, but he’s smarter than that.

  Even in Ranked, most oppos had no idea how to effitly defuse Droid, not even in Challenger rank matches. They fought against this unique css as if it was any regur oppo, and they alaid dearly for it.

  By default, Droid was slightly weaker than the average marksman in the early-game. However, when he had the freedom to utilize its Assault Drones as he pleased, then suddenly Droid’s damage output shot up quite signifitly, outpag most marksmen in the early-game.

  Therefore, stalking the Droid in order to shoot down his drones was a basic but neccessary termeasure. And, Gunz executed this teique to a T.

  He's even ter-building. William praised Gunz's choice of going for Ninja Tabi over Samurai Tabi. It was an unventional opening for a Pirate, but ohat made a lot of sense against a Droid.

  Having access to a higher Attack Speed helped Gunz do his zonier. With this Attack Speed boost, he could quickly switch from shooting minions to shooting William's drones. In fact, that slight speed increase was the reason William got shot the momeepped in.

  Even though Wilim carefully calcuted the optimal timing for stepping in, which was during Gunz’s attack recovery animation, it still wasn’t good enough. Gunz was fast enough to fire another shot almost immediately.

  That’s some high-level knowledge right there. William thought. Also, building more power early on usually doesn't even help in killing the drones in fewer hits. That’s another reason why Attack Speed is more optimal for taking out Drones.

  With how niche of a css Droid was, even many high-level pyers from the region weren’t quite aware of these delicate siderations. A, Gunz was. Or at least, somebody from Stratus khe math a to Gunz.

  Ihan one minute of pytime, Gunz has vinced William that Stratus was a differe this year. With such meical skill and game knowledge on their side, a team like this couldn’t possibly be sidered the "weakest", definitely not in this region.

  In fact, at this rate, there was a good ce Straus might end up ranking among the stro. That was certainly ued.

  Hmph. Maybe I uimated them a little too much. William criticized himself. I should've pced the drone oher side to keep it out of reach. That's what I'll do ime.

  But for now, Wilim had to advaoward the enemy frontline once again, to squeeze out all the juice he could from his dying Assault Drone. However, until the very end, all such attempts proved to be futile.

  BAM! An immediate response, as usual.

  This was the final nail in the coffin. The drone caught up on fire and exploded. Until the very end, it failed to nd a single shot on the enemy minions. How useless.

  Well, at least it slowed down Gunz’s farming a little. Wilim reassured himself he fired a ser beam at one of the swordsmen, sg a st-hit. As much as I don't like this, it looks like I'll be relying on Ron to clear minions for now.

  In this minion wave, all William tributed to the farming was nding a couple of basic attacks. Most marksmen could achieve far more than that, even in the early-game.

  Oher hand, Ronald's Ray of Light was doing a lot of work. Effectively, all the st-hits William nded were prepared for him by Ronald’s Ray of Light.

  As unventional and as unreliable as it was, it seemed as if the Support will be in charge of clearing minions in the early stages of this game...

  DarkestCymore