“Kai,” Yuel called out. “I fot to ask you something during the break. What was your impression of Merlin’s Aeromancer?”

  “Pft, my impression?” Kai sneered. “Bastard is a bona fide turtle, that’s the long and short of my impression. He was such a damn pain in the ass. Damn, I get irritated just from remembering it.”

  “It was that bad?”

  “Hell yeah, it was. The bastard straight-up refuses to fight, no matter what. He doesn’t even care if I outfarm him as long as he’s safe. He’d rather leech off his Jungler’s help than try to front me. Disgusting.”

  “Yes, that does sound to be his usual pystyle.” Yuel nodded. “But, I was asking more about his skill with Aeromancer. Did it look like he was good with it?”

  “Yeah, I guess you say that, in a way.” Kai shrugged. “I mean, he barely ever dragged his zy ass into any fights, but he usually got the job done when he wao. He even deflected the few attacks I fired at him, though it’s hardly an achievement for somebody who turtles 24/7.”

  “I see.” Yuel knotted his brows. It sounds like Merlin wield his Aeromancer pretty well. That’s a little disappointing. Was my guess off the mark?

  Back when he was analyzing the Leopards, there was one particur detail that stood out. It was regarding Merlin and the guy’s apparent ck of css variety.

  While most of the Leopards rotated through multiple different csses in a healthy manner, Merlin stuck with just Warlock for all the games he participated in. No matter what his teammates picked, no matter what his oppos picked - Merlin only ever pyed Warlock.

  That led to a certain hypothesis: perhaps Merlin was only good at pying Warlock? It was a long shot, sidering Merlin was a member of the Leopards, but it wasn’t too out there.

  After all, st year, Freezer was exactly that kind of pyer. Once Yuel banned Warlock, the guy received an obvious blow to his performance.

  Unfortunately, the Warlock ban didn’t seem to tickle Merlin at all. The guy went straight for Aeromanext, and acc to Kai, the guy’s performance didn’t suffer in any notable way. He still “got the job done”, same as always.

  So, either my initial impression of Merlin was wrong, or Aeromancer is his sed favorite. Hmm.

  Of course, a single game wasn't enough to prove anything, but it was a fair assumption. And so, that begged the question: what was Merlin’s third favorite css?

  I ’t shake the feeling that he doesn’t have many csses in his arsenal. Yuel insisted even though he couldn’t quite expin what he was basing this vi on. He just reminds me of Freezer so muot just the fact he likes Warlock, but also that passive yet effit pystyle.

  Both Freezer and Merlin seemed to worship the cept of being “zy and effective”. The mentality radiated from their pystyles and likely exteo their training regimes as well.

  As such, there was a very good ce that Merlin didn’t bother practig too many csses. If so, banning every css he pys on stage might lead to something.

  “I’d like to ban Aeromancer,” Yuel informed. “There is no deep or particurly sophisticated reason behind it. I just want to see what Merlin will piext.”

  “I see, I see.” Vi rongly. “You are scouting the enemy’s options via the drafting phase, are you not? Brilliant strategy! As expected from Chessmaster!”

  “Well, you won’t hear any objes from me,” Kai said. “I’d ban every defensive mage if it ossible. That turtle seriously gets on my nerves.”

  And so, it was decided. For the third and st ban of this phase, Yuel removed Aeromancer from the table.

  At the moment, it was impossible for him to know whether that was a good decision or not. However, oher side of the stage, the Leopards immediately reacted to this ban...

  “Ugh...” Matthew growled. “Seriously?”

  “My, my, my.” iled meaningfully. “It looks like they’re onto you, my boy.”

  “Why me?” Matthew made a face. “I didn’t stand out st game or anything, did I?”

  “Nope, I wouldn’t say you did.”

  “Then why...?”

  “A good question,” William interjected. “I expected them to go after me this time. Hmph.”

  My, is somebody getting jealous over here~? iled impishly. “I agree, it’s a little odd. I would’ve expected them tet literally anybody other than Matt. That is, uhey somehow figured that Matt is a zy bum who doesn’t practice many csses.”

  “That’s impossible,” Matthew insisted. “They may have figured I like Warlock, I guess that retty obvious. But, once I picked Aero, how could they guess that it’s one of my few favorites? I’ve never picked it in the previous scrims until now.”

  “That’s correct,” Sonya verified from her memory. “You really picked Warlo every game because nobody ever ba. Though, now that I think about it, that’s an odd match record in itself. At the very least, I would have found it suspicious if I were analyzing it as your oppo.”

  “I was just using an easy css against weak teams.” Matthew shrugged. “And hey, maybe I used only one css in order to reveal as little data as possible to the enemy scouts? Wouldn’t you clude something like that?”

  “It definitely sounds like a reasonable clusion when you expin it to me like this,” Sonya agreed. “But, you ’t know for sure how other teams will interpret it. Maybe Stratus assumed it means you only py Warlock.”

  “Really? Even though I’m on the Leopards’ first-string?” Matthew scowled. “Why would they even think that? There’s no way I’d be here if I were that kind of lousy pyer.”

  “True.” Cato nodded. “Then again, there’s no harm iing you, is there? It seems to me they didn’t have aer bans in mind, so they decided tet you and see what happens.”

  “Why me...” Matthew muttered. “What a pain. Well, then Sorcerer is .”

  “Like clockwork, I see.” iled wryly. “It’d be really nice if you diversified your options a little.”

  “This agaialked about it so many times. I thought you agreed that this is fine.”

  “Yes, it is fine for now because you improve faster by fog on just a few csses. But, at some point, you’re bound to reach a pteau, that’s when you’ll have to start brang out.”

  “It’s not like I ’t py other csses, you know. Besides, three main csses with no weaknesses should be enough to handle any situation.”

  “Yes, except for the situations in which the enemy starts a witch hunt and bans all your csses right away.”

  “I don’t think I’m the kind of pyer who warrants that much attention.” Matthew shrugged. “Heck, I still don't get why they went after me twice. But, I bet that’s as far as they’ll go. So, having three main csses is fine.”

  Unfortunately, your “third” css is already a little behind the others because you haven’t been giving it as much attention. Cato kept that analysis to himself so they could move on.

  Hmm. I’m sure Matt hahings with Sorcerer for the most part, but I should keep an eye on Mid just in case. ade a mental note. Uh Warlod Aero, I’m not as sure he handle Beat by himself with Sorcerer.

  With Matthew’s two main csses banned, it’s like he was demoted from a bishop piece to a knight piece. It was just a slight demotion, but a demotion heless.

  I hope nobody notices his slight dee in performance. Cato thought. It’ll haunt us for the rest of the year if other teams figure this out.

  If every team starts banning Matthew’s main csses, then the Leopards might find themselves in some trouble. It won’t have a big impa the regionals, but it’ll definitely e back to bite them at the nationals.

  Worst case, I’ll have to cover up for him during the game. Cato cluded. But, first thing first, let’s this banning phase.

  The Leopards had to ban one more css before proceeding to the drafting phase. And, sihey were going sed this round, then the responsibility of banning Shadow Walker fell on them. Or, did it?

  If Memer is really just a memer, then he’s never going to pick a top-tier meta-sve css like Shadow. So, it’ll be really fun to leave the option oable and see how Stratus responds ~

  No matter what Stratus does in respo’ll result in valuable informatioher way. If Yuel doesn’t pick Shadow Walker, then it’ll reinforce the idea that LegendaryMemer was really nothing more than a memer. Oher hand, if they do pick Shadow Walker, then it’ll mean that Memer was a fraud and nothing more than a meta-sve in disguise.

  Coach did say that Shadow is no longer a “must-ban” after the ret patch, so it’s “up to us” to decide. Cato thought. So, he probably wouldn't mind it if I leave Shadow open in order to gain information. Buuuuuuuuut no.

  Cato ended up banning Shadow Walker as the protocol demanded. Of course, nobody had any objes to this predictable decision.

  We ’t afford to take any unnecessary risks, not after how the previous game turned out. Coach has already chewed us out pretty hard, so this time, we’ll do this properly.

  The Leopards were the regional champions, the team everybody was expeg to domihe petition. Meanwhile, their oppos were Stratus, the “dark horse” of the region. Until just retly, that team was dubbed the “weakest” of the region

  Clearly, with Yuel and Gunz leading the team, that cursed title was but a thing of the past. heless, surely everybody still expected the Leopards to stomp Stratus.

  So, we have to do just that. Cato asserted. And of course, I also personally want to stomp Yuel reaaaaally good~ Besides, my team clearly has the superior pieces, so I ’t let this be a “close” match. I have to destroy him thhly so that nobody doubts my victory.

  And so, the banning phase came to an end. , it was Stratus' turn to pick their first css.

  So, how will you e at me this time, Yuel? Cato snickered. Let’s see what nonsensical game pn you have for round 2.

  There was something satisfying about watg a defeated oppory to crawl their in the sed game. After being so thhly beaten, was their soul already crushed? Or, did they mentally recover and e up with a nen, foolishly believing they had a this new round?

  I sincerely hope it’s the tter so that we crush their souls once again~ iled impishly. But well, I probably won’t be able to figure out Yuel’s mental state from the first pick. After all, drafting openings are usually fairly standard-

  The eeam selected Dark Knight.

  “... eh?” Cato blinked. His smug turned into a dumb smile.

  “Whoa!” Ronald excimed.

  “Are they serious...?” Sonya frowned.

  “Huh.” William scoffed.

  The enemy’s first pick came out immediately as if it nned in advance. And, the pick was somethiween a bad joke and total lunacy…

  DarkestCymore