The eeam selected Aquamancer.

  “Of course he would do that...” iled wryly. Well pyed Yuel, well pyed.

  Aquamancer was a rather niche css in the petitive se, but aremely potent ter-pick against csses that had invulnerability effects like Vampire and ancer. Yuel has picked it befainst Taurus, so it didn’t e as a big surprise that he picked it here again.

  The real surprise was Stratus’ other pick.

  The eeam selected Elf.

  “My, what a peculiar pick,” Cato said. “I vaguely recall Gunz pying Elf before, but it didn’t leave much of an impression.”

  “He pyed Elf?” Matthew asked. “I don’t remember that from the Taurus scrim.”

  “Really? I was sure he did.” Cato frowned.

  “It wasn’t against Taurus,” Sonya pointed out. “Gunz pyed Elf against our sed-string st year.”

  “Oh yes, of course.” Cato finally remembered. “As always, you have everything memorized. As expected from my secretary~”

  “Who’s your secretary?” Sonya made a face. “Anyway, that’s the only record we have of Gunz pying Elf.”

  “So, remind me, was he any good with it? I don’t seem to remember anything that stood out.”

  “It’s not surprising that you don’t remember,” Sonya said. “His Elf didn’t leave much of an impression. They must’ve just picked it as a defeion against Jeniffer’s bos.”

  “So, Gunz didn’t pull any impressive stunts with that Elf?”

  “No, not really. His meical skill to par as usual, but that’s about it.”

  “Meaning, his Elf isn’t much of a threat,” Wilim cluded. When somebody like Gunz leaves a mediocre impression, it means he wasn’t that good with the css. Hmph. What an odd pick, then.

  “Iing, very iing,” Cato said. “So, not only they have picked a very defensive css for their hyper-aggressive lineup, but it’s also a css that Gunz doesn’t seem particurly great with. Yeaaaaah, now these guys have officially lost me.”

  “Maybe he has powered up sihen?” Ronald suggested. “Ya know, like doing some special training to bee the No. 1 Elf pyer in the world!?”

  “What kind of childish nonsense is that? This isn’t a ic,” Cato asserted. “But, you might be right. It’s possible his Elf is much better than it used to be. Still, that doesn’t ge the fact it’s a bizarre pick for a hyper-aggressive p.”

  “Well, sounds like it’s up to me to test him out,” William summarized. “I’ll find an opportunity to pressure him and check what his Elf is all about.”

  “I’ll leave that to you then.” Cato nodded. “So, Will, now that you know their entire lineup, which css would you like to go with?”

  “Hey!” Ronald interjected. “What’s with this bias? Why couldn’t you ask me nicely like this when it was my turn to pick a css?”

  “Oh, it’s elementary, my boy. It’s because I don’t trust your judgment. Like, at all.”

  “Wha-!? Rude much? I object!”

  “Good luck with that.” Cato sidestepped the frontation. “So, what do you think, Will? I think a defensive pick will do well here, sidering their lineup.”

  “Hmm. Elf is pretty much the best as far as defensive Carries go, but...”

  “True, but there are a few other options.”

  “Hmph. I ’t say I’m a big fan of those. Besides, I’m not sure it’s even necessary for me to py defensively in the first pce. I mean, I’ll be going up against an Elf.”

  “That’s only the early-game, right?” Cato pointed out. “You also o sider the rest of their lineup. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that Elf is a low-tier bait to make you lower yuard.”

  “Holy, we have enough defense in our lineup as it stands,” William said. “We also have to think about how we’re eventually going to win after we’re done defending.”

  “Hmm. That’s also true.” Cato took a step bad re-examiheir lineup.

  Indeed, all four picks thus far were strongly tailored for defense. Of course, that was a deliberate choice, the goal was to ter the enemy’s hyper-aggressive lineup. But, ight’ve gone a little overboard there.

  In terms of endgame potential for ing up the game, the only thing we have is Sorcerer. The rest won’t have any special power spikes toward the te-game.

  For example, Dragonborn was going to be the team’s main tank. It icked in order to withstand the early might of Dark Knight and to disce enemy ganks, but that’s about it. The css itself wasn’t anything too special ie-game.

  Sonya might be able to transition into a bruiser build toward the endgame in order to increase the team’s offeential, but that’ll take a lot of time and gold to set up. And, even then, she’ll only be a tanky bruiser at most, not a real offensive piece.

  Simirly, Vampire was a css with great survivability for any stage of the game and it was a strong ganker. However, it wasn’t a particurly impressive pusher for the te-game.

  Likewise, ancer didn’t have any amazing te-game pushing capabilities either. He was just there to keep allies alive, to help the team survive the enemy onsught.

  “Yes, I see what you mean, Will,” Cato said. “Even if we deflect Stratus during the early/mid-game, it won’t be so easy for us to the game with these csses.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, are you thinking about pig a strong mid-game Carry?”

  “No, I was thinking more about a te-game one. A Hyper-Carry, in fact.”

  “Whoa, sick!” Ronald excimed. “Leave it to bro to go for the cool picks! I totally support this one, by the way.”

  “Nobody asked you,” Cato said. “So, a Hyper Carry, huh. Droid again?”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of Seraph.”

  “Hmm. Yes, of course. It has the better escape tools, so it’s better against this lineup.” Despite that, Cato knotted his brows. This idea wasn’t nearly as i as William was making it sound.

  “You realize what you’re suggesting, right?” Cato asked. “You want to pick a css that’s helpless in the early-game, and you want to do that against a team that’s pnning to go ham in the early-game. ly the safest of picks, in my humble opinion.”

  “So, what do you suggest instead? To pick a mid-game css? That may be safer, but not nearly as advantageous once we get into the te-game. Against a hyper-aggressive lineup like this, we have to make sure we crush them in one fell swoop ohe mid-game ends.”

  “My, it sounds like somebody is out for blood~” iled impishly. “Overall, I agree with that theory. But, keep in mind that their team is at its stro on the offensive, both meically and tactically. They’re trying to make us py on their pyfield.”

  “That’s why I’m saying we shouldn’t get dragged into their pace,” William asserted. “I ’t speak for everybody, but at least I’m fident I survive through their aggressive early-game.”

  “My, as fident as ever, aren’t you?”

  “It’s not that hard. And, once I clear that hurdle, it’ll be easy to the game from there with Seraph, as opposed to using other csses that’ll require more time and effort.”

  “That’s true, I suppose.”

  “Besides, if their early offense is good enough, then we might be at a disadvantageous position during the mid-game. So, it might be too early to try turning things around at that time.”

  “Oh my.” Cato blinked. “Are you actually expeg us to be in a bad position during the mid-game?”

  “Well, it’s possible, right?” William shrugged. “It’s clear that this Stratus isn’t the ‘bottom tier team’ it used to be, not with pyers like Chess and Gunz oeam. So, we have to be ready for a difficult fight.”

  I see, I see. iled meaningfully. So, he’s taking this more seriously now. Good, good~

  It seemed like the csh in Bot with Chessmaster and Gunz did good for William. The arrogant fellow didn’t think too highly of Stratus’ aces back wheched the repys, but now he was respeg their mettle and making his decisions accly.

  “Alright,” Cato said. “If you’re that fident you get to the endgame with Seraph, the’s roll with it. But keep in mind that if this fails, the game we’ll be going with formation A.”

  “Hmph. We won’t fail,” William asserted. “But, alright. If we lose this game or even e close to losing, then I’ll be fih ging lineups fame or two.”

  Fame or two, huh. iled meaningfully. I see he’s really hellbent on challenging Gunz. One could write a love story based on this~

  “Alright, then Seraph it is,” marized. “Ronald, as his Support, you have the responsibility of safely delivering your dear brother to the te-game.”

  “No problem, bro!” Ronald gave a thumbs up. “I’mma deliver you all the way to the moon with my supp!”

  “Hmph. I wish I could trust that.” William shrugged. “I mean, you’re pnning to go with a power build again, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, of course, bro! That’s my style!”

  “Yoing to do this even though our oppos will be super aggressive in the early-game, far mgressive than you ever get as the Support.”

  “No biggie! Gonna fight fire with fire!”

  “Hah...” William sighed and didn’t say anything else. There was no point arguing with that doofus on this topic, it’d be like talking to a brick wall.

  My, this brat is ever the troublemaker. Cato grumped. On one hand, I absolutely want to win the game. But, oher hand, I really want Yuel to whoop this little rascal so he stops doing this shit in important matches. Sigh. What a pain in the neck...

  And so, the drafting phase came to an end.

  At the time, the Leopards were unaware that their uanding of their enemy lineup was pletely off...

  ===Stratus===

  Yuel (Chessmaster): Aquamancer

  Lars (Gunz): Elf

  Vi (InformationBckhole): Berserker

  Kai (Beat): Eleancer

  Luke (LegendaryMemer): Dark Knight

  ===Leopards===

  Ronald (AbsoluteChallenger): ancer

  William (AbosluteWinner): Seraph

  Sonya (TheTheorist): Dragonborn

  Cato (Rook): Vampire

  Matthew (Merlin): Sorcerer

  DarkestCymore