“Wait, what? Berserker?” Ronald cracked a ugh. “Is it just me or this shit is getting even more ridiculous?”

  “Yes, this is all rather... unventional.” Sonya frowned.

  “My, I take it that’s their Jungler?” Cato wondered.

  “Naturally. What other role could it possibly be here?” Sonya asked. “Jungler Berserker is not unheard of. Besides, an unventional pick like this fits perfectly with the data we have on Memer, so it checks out.”

  “Sure, that makes sense, I suppose...” Cato wasirely vinced for some reason. It makes sense, a, somehow, this Berserker pick almost looks like a soft ter tonborn. But, that wouldn’t make any sense, would it?

  Suppose the Berserker ick for Top Lahen what role will that leave for the Dark Knight?

  Well, Mid Laner isirely out of the question. Cato eaihat line of thought a little further. I remember DK was used in Mid some years ago because of its strong wave-clearing. But, nah.

  Stratus has already picked Eleancer, which was definitely a Mid pick. So Mid Laner Dark Knight was out of the question.

  But then, where could that Dark Knight possibly go? Surely it was her Carry nor Support, and not Jungler either.

  “Yeah, I guess DK is Top and Berserker is Jungler,” Cato cluded. “I see Memer py Jungler Berserker, so it checks out.”

  “Kinda weak for a ‘meme’, if you ask me,” Ronald ented. “But welp, it’s still a hel rare pick so I like it!”

  It’s a niche pick but I don’t think it falls uhe definition of a “meme”. Matthew retorted silently. Is that really Memer’s pick? Holy, judging by what we saw of his picks st game, I wouldn’t be surprised if that DK is his and he’s pnning something crazy like Jungler DK.

  It was a wild idea, but to Matthew, it didn’t seem pletely off the table. As a pupil of Esmeralda, the woman who was the devil’s advocate of unventional pys, a Jungler Dark Knight sounded feasible.

  But, I agree it sounds dumb. Matthew cluded. Looks like nobody is sidering this, not even Cato. So, maybe I’m just overthinking this? Yeah, I probably am. So, no point bringing this up. I’ll just look stupid when if it turns out I’m totally off the mark.

  And so, the Leopards have reached a uniform clusion: Dark Knight was the enemy’s Top Laner while Berserker was the Juhat’s the kind of lihey’ll be dealing with this game, so they had to draft accly.

  “They’re sure dialing up the offense in this round,” Cato said. “I gotta say, I’m liking Vampire more and mht now.”

  “I agree, it’s a strong option here,” Sonya said. “It’s clear that they’ll try to this up during the mid-game, so we need good defeions.”

  “Do we, really?” William questiohat logic. “Cato, in your pce, I’d pi assassin and pressure them with ganks.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’d do that.” iled wryly. “But, I’m not that kind of Jungler. Slow and steady wins the race, that’s my motto.”

  “Hmph. Suit yourself.”

  In the end, William’s advice was ignored and Cato went ahead with Vampire. The css’s strong defensive capabilities will allow Cato to withstand that hyper offehe enemy was assembling.

  And so, came the sed banning phase.

  Stratus focused on sealing the defensive Support options of Druid, Vanguard, and Cleric. Meanwhile, the Leopards focused on sealing aggressive Carry and Support options by banning Impaler, Pirate, and Knight.

  After that, it was the Leopards’ turn to draft a css again.

  “My, such aggression,” Cato said. “If it wasn’t already clear enough that they’re pnning to rush this game, then this banning phase proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt. They’re like beasts thirsting for blood~”

  “Which meater focus on fortifying our defenses,” Sonya said. “As long as we survive the early-game, it’ll be smooth sailing from there.”

  “Yeah, I 100% agree. So, Ronald, you’ll be taking ancer.”

  “Hey, wait a minute!” Ronald objected. “Don’t I get a say iter?”

  “And, what do you want to say, exactly? That you agree with my brilliant pick? Why, thank you very much.”

  “Well, I mean, it’s not like I necessarily disagree, but...!”

  “It’s settled then.” Cato selected ancer.

  “What the-!?” Ronald waved an angry fist. “Where’s my right to vote, man!?”

  “You’ll get one once you’re old enough, kid.”

  “You little...!” Ronald grumbled.

  “Alright, for real now,” Cato said. “Do you have any actual objes? Or, are you just rebelling for the sake of it? I’ll give you 5 seds to present your terarguments. Five. Four. Three...”

  “Ugh. Um. Hmmmm!” Ronald crossed his arms, knotted his brows, and tilted from side to side on his chair.

  “Two. One. Zero! Game over!” Cato dramatically lifted his finger and brought it down on the mouse... slowly, to give Ronald just a couple more seds just in case.

  “Okay, fine! Whatever.” Ronald pouted. “I got nothing. Cryo is good enough.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Cato locked in the ancer pick.

  “Dang, that bastard.” Ronald scowled and turo his brother. “Did you see this shit? Tell me, is that hotain is supposed to act, bro?”

  “He’s just messing with you,” William said. “In the end, you didn't really have any objes, right? He picked a good defensive css, but it’s also a css which you know how to build offehe way you like it. So, all in all, it’s a pick tailored for you.”

  “Yeah, it’s a good pick, but he didn’t have to be an ass about it.”

  “I guess he’s blowing a little steam.” William shrugged. “He makes a point to not show it, but the oute of the previous game clearly put some pressure on him.”

  “Huh? It did? Why, though? We totally crushed these guys.”

  “Did we? Really? We came just a little short of losing. And, as the captain, he feels responsible for it.”

  “Welp, it was totally his fault, after all.” Ronald shrugged. “He’s the one who insisted to keep dragging out the game.”

  “You didn’t listen to a single word the coach said, did you?” William sighed. “Cato was at fault, that’s true, but so were the rest of us. We should’ve opposed him more.” Especially me, as much as I hate that responsibility...

  “Oh, don’t worry, bro. I listeo the coach real well!” Ronald gave a thumbs up. “This game, I gonna object to everything Cato says! Even if I actually agree, I’ll make sure to object first, just in case!”

  “So, that’s why you felt the o object to the Cryo pick for no reason?”

  “Yep! Doing my duty as a good obedient citizen, heh.”

  “... that’s not what the coach was asking for, you know.”

  “Well, we got no choice, bro. That Cato is a professional snek. You ever tell when he’s swindling ya, so you gotta disagree with everything to be on the safe side!”

  “Well, have fun with that.” It’s not my problem, anyway. “Just make sure you don’t distract us too much with your ‘objes’. You might end up making things worse like this in the long run.”

  “No problem, bro! I’ll object to everything, but smartly!”

  “You do you.” William shrugged.

  And so, the Leopards’ 4th pick was finalized. It was ancer, chosen for its ability to block off enemy attacks and protect allies.

  “It’s a good pick overall,” Sonya said. “But, I hope you realize it leaves us exposed to orong ter-pick.”

  “Aquamancer, right?” Cato asked. “Yeah, we should’ve ba when we had the ce. I totally missed it because I was so focused on banning aggressive csses.”

  “Yes, I reoccupied with the same thing.”

  “My, my. It’s almost as if it’s by design.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Heh, never mind.” iled meaningfully. I wonder, how much ahead of this drafting phase did you predict, Yuel? I have a feeling you pressured us into banning aggressive csses so that we leave Aqua alone.

  Then again, Aquamancer was a rather niche css. So, perhaps Yuel had no iion of pig it at all. Maybe Cato was just overthinking this.

  Either way, the turn passed to Stratus and they locked in their wo csses almost immediately...

  DarkestCymore