The tle in Top was oween two fellow intellectuals.

  ‘Tis a csh of information! Vi hyped up the mat his head. On the right side, we have her than moi, InformationBckhole, representing Stratus! And, on the left side, there’s TheTheorist, pying for the Leopards!

  It was like a hype wrestling match! However, instead of using barbarian strength, both sides were about to attack each other with information.

  So, let us begin. We shall see which of us has the superior informatiowork! He who trols the information trols the world!

  Judging by how Theorist pyed in the previous scrimmages, it was safe to say she was a devotee of the Information Cult, just like Vi. Therefore, their battle was bound to take p the Information Dimension.

  As such, I shall dub thee "The Information Theorist"! A worthy rival to moi, no doubt.

  Meanwhile, his oppo alsnized him as a pyer of a simir breed. However, there wasn’t nearly as much hype present in her head.

  InformationBckhole. Sonya opened a drawer with that bel in her head. She stored such data about all of today’s oppos and she has gone over it tless times by now. But, it never hurt going over it one more time, just in case.

  InformationBckhole yer with mediocre meical skill, but he made up for it via det deaking and game knowledge. In other words, he was a "theory pyer", just like Sonya.

  His meical skill had a score of about 5/10 and his deaking seemed to be around 8/10. Although, the deakiment was much harder to judge accurately, given how Stratus had an excellent shot-caller. Chessmaster might’ve orchestrated many of Bckhole's better pys.

  As for his game knowledge score, I obviously 't judge that properly without more data. Sonya mehe fact. I'll just have to ader the assumption that he’s at least 8/10.

  In short, Bckhole was a 5/8/8 pyer. A det score pared to the previous oppos the Leopards faced this year, but nothing special overall. Ultimately, Bckhole was just an average pyer who scraped by thanks to utilizing game theory to his advantage.

  Just like me, I suppose. Sonya o herself. Except, I fidently say my knowledge is at 10/10 and my deaking is at least 9/10. Though, I will cede that my meical skill is probably around 7/10.

  To others, these might sound like pletely random hat held no value. However, for Sonya, they were an objective representation of pyer skill.

  Alright, se. Sonya flipped a page inside her head and tinued destrug Bckhole.

  Reviewing all the data o time befetting to ne was like a ritual of sorts. It helped Sonya calm down and trate och. It’s something she needed in order to distract herself from the pressure of pying in front of an audience, something she wasn’t too fortable with.

  So, he’s pying Spellbde this time. Sonya thought. This is new data. He hasn’t used Spellbde in the previous scrimmage, so I ’t say much about it.

  Most likely, Bckhole picked Spellbde as a magical supplement for Bomber, who hysical Mid Laner. Unfortunately, this also happeo be the first time that Beat picked Bomber on the petitive stage, so there was no data whatsoever about this arra.

  Is this a lihey practiced before? I’d assume it is, but there’s no data. Sonya sighed. No matter how much time we spend analyzing our oppos, there’s only so much we tell from a single scrim. Sigh.

  It also didn’t help that Stratus spent much of the previous scrimmage pying a pletely different lineup, one where Bckhole a were in Bot Lane. As a result, there was even less data than usual about their pystyles in Top and Mid.

  I only deduce that they probably practice together quite often, seeing as they wao py Bot together. So, this arra of Spellbde and Bomber is probably something they practiced before.

  Other than that, was there anything else Sonya could deduce about this pick?

  Hmm. His build will probably lean on the aggressive side. She thought. The Druid is their only other souragical damage, but he’s not going to build power. So, it's up to the Spellbde to cover the team’s magical DPS.

  Simir to Sonya, InformationBckhole seemed like an all-rouherefore, he was likely the type to go for a banced build overall, but ohat might lean toward offense or defense depending ochup. And, in this particur case, building power seemed like the right choice for him.

  Then again, his past records suggest he’s a rather passive pyer, just like me. Even when he picked Viking, he didn’t actually aggress that mu his oppo. In fact, maybe he only picked the css for its escape tools, not for its strong offense.

  Different theories cshed in Sonya's head, so the truth remained veiled in mystery. There wasn't enough data yet to accurately deduce how Bckhole nning to py this round.

  And, unfortunately, my time is up. She finally reached the ne, which meant it was time to put the reviewing process to rest and focus oa in front of her.

  Especially, with her pying a Monk and going up against a Spellbde, she o fully trate on the uation. It was a somewhat disadvantageous matchup, so Sonya had to be careful to not lose too mue advantage.

  I suppose I have no choice but to wait and see how he pys. Sonya cluded. For now, I'll just keep the possibility of aggression in mind and make sure to not give him any good opportuo attack, that’s the most I do. Besides, I’ll have to stick to defeher way.

  For the first few waves, a Spellbde was bound to blow a Monk out of the water, uhe Spellbde pyer was unbelievably inpetent. But surely, that wouldn’t be the case with Bckhole, right?

  Yes, I already see he knows what he’s doing. Starting from the Spell stance is the right py here. Sonya nodded in approval. Hmm. I wonder, is there any more data I get out of him right now?

  InformationBckhole was dressed in edgy bck from top to bottom, looking like an avid follower of the Grim Reaper himself. However, to trast the bess, he covered his face with a white mask, making him look rather ominous.

  Is this supposed to be a psychological attack of some sort? Sonya wohat, but she doubted this line of thought. Well, there are theories out there that suggest colors, and visuals in general, py an uedly big role in psychological warfare. But, is this one of these cases?

  Clearly, a lot of thought and effort ut into this getup. It proved that Bckhole cared dearly about the Spellbde css... or, did it?

  Hmm. Now that I think about it, all the csses I’ve seen him py were highly ized. Pretty muothing from the default look ever remains.

  So, maybe Bckhole just enjoyed heavily izing the looks of his csses?

  I suppose there are pyers like that at all levels of py, huh. Sonya thought. They must be thinking Cssmancers is a dress-up game.

  Uhe extensively ized Spellbde, Sonya’s Monk was wearing the default e. She did pick her favorite recolor of the skin at least, but that’s as far as she was willing to go.

  A ized ski offer any real advantages, so there’s no point in wasting any time or effort on it. Sonya was fident about that, but... Or, maybe I’m the weird o for thinking like this?

  Unpleasant iions fshed through her mind. “My, you’re a girl but you don’t ize your csses at all? That’s ued.”

  Shut up. Sonya silehe imaginary Cato in her head. Where is it written that I have to care about ization just because I’m a girl? The nerve of some of these people, I swear.

  Sonya found herself grumping. That hyper-ized Spellbde was tig her off for no good reason.

  Ironic, isn’t it? Sonya realized. His ization probably isn’t meant to serve any petitive purpose at all, but it mao tick me off. Not good, not good at all.

  She shook her head to dismiss all these unnecessary idle thoughts. The more data she tried to absorb all at ohe more distracted she became from the uation. That won’t do.

  What mattered a lot marding the Spellbde's appearance wasn't his extensive ization, but rather the fact he arrived on the ne in his Spell sta implied he had the basics down, at least.

  Let's wait and see how he pys. Sonya stayed bad watched how Bckhole nning to ehe minions. This passive approach will cost her some exp and ne advantage, but it was a worthwhile iment. Data is everything. The faster I get my hands on it, the earlier I start ing up with a ter pn.

  And so, Sonya stayed at the bae and waited for Bckhole's first move. She was like a stist monit a b rat.

  WHISH! WHISH! WHISH! Bckhole unleashed three wind bsts in a row via Aere.

  The gusts of wind knocked back the swordsmen with each strike, bringing them closer and closer to the bowmen. Then, once all of Sonya’s minions were packed in one area, Bckhole switched into Sword stand activated Aero Slice.

  SLASH! WHISH! He sliced through the entire minion pack with his bde, infused with wind magic. He struck the minions with the etal and also produced a wind shockwave that traveled through the minions and even threateo reach Sonya.

  All within expectations. Sonya watched the gust of wind approag her at full speed, but then it vanish into thin air before reag her. Her spag was on point against this predictable development.

  So, he knows the meta farming routine. Sonya nodded in satisfa.

  The setup Bckhole used was the 101 of pying Spellbde in Top. Without this basiowledge, almost anybody would be able to defeat a Spellbde in the ne.

  Both of his wind skills are on cooldown now. Sonya thought. So, I suppose it's safe enough for me to advance.

  She reached the frontline of her territory. Bckhole was also there, swinging his bde at Sonya’s minions.

  Theoretically, Bckhole could activate his Pyro Bde right now in order to make quick work of the minions and push ne advantage. However, the guy opted to rely on nothing but his basic attacks to finish the job.

  As I thought, he doesn’t e across as particurly aggressive. Sonya thought. So far, this is in lih the profile I’ve built of him.

  Indeed, very much like Sonya, Bckhole was an all-rounder who exerted caution at every step. Even though he had some innate advantage in this matchup, he preferred to proceed with caution.

  So, he won't attack me even if I go after his minions. vinced of that, Sonya ran past her oppo and approached the enemy frontline.

  Of course, the enemy wasirely oblivious to her movements. But, he didn’t use this opportunity to strike her. On the trary, he created more distaween them.

  So, he's cautious about me ung a surprise attack. Alright. Sonya added this new data to her archive and pressed onward.

  Slowly but surely, she’ll gather enough data to fully destruct her oppo. Then, she’ll discover Bckhole’s Achilles’ heel and will use that data to strike him down! Hopefully.

  DarkestCymore