"Do I o remind you that we're supposed to be regional champions? Even if you don't care about public opinion, the coach sure does."

  There was some undeniable truth in William's argument. Ruez droned a lot about the importanaintaining a favorable public image as the “representatives of the region”. So, besides just winning, the Leopards were supposed to serve as a role model for other teams in the region, or something.

  As such, delivering a passive victory here might not be good enough in Ruez's book. He might interpret it as the team’s ck of fiden their own ability.

  But, what's wrong with that? Cato questioned. All that matters is the e. We should strive to increase our ces of winning no matter how it makes us look. That’s just basic logic.

  For as long as embered himself, he had always lived at the receiving end of the audience’s ridicule. Even when he won games in chess, the crowd didn't sing him any praises. In fact, some even expressed signs of pt and disgust toward his tactics.

  But, I’ve hought of it as a problem. inisced. Seeking reition was he point for me. I’m not some whose job is to eain the ungrateful audienbsp;

  However, things were a little different in Cssmancers. Here Cato wasn’t pying aloherefore also had the rest of the team to sider, as well as the coach.

  So, while Cato had no problem "looking bad" for the sake of seg a passive victory, what would Ruez think of this approach? And, what did the rest of the team think?

  "Sonya, which camp are you in?" Cato asked.

  "Your camp, I suppose," Sonya answered. "What you’ve just expined reminded me why we put aside the option of overwhelming Top. I agree that we should proceed slowly and steadily here to not give the enemy any openings. One mistake cost us the entire game against their hyperbole aggression."

  "Are you sure you're not overpensating there?" William asked. "Just because you made a mistake in Top st game and that cost us a lot, it doesn't mean that's something that’ll repeatedly happen. Not to mention, it’ll be Ron pying Top , not you."

  "But, the possibility of something like that happening again isn’t off the table,” Soyna insisted. “Stratus's offeurned out to be much fiercer, much more calcuted than what we saw in their previous scrim."

  "Yes, they’ve clearly improved in that department. Fair enough." William nodded. “I get where you’re ing from but I still think you’re overpensating, so I’d let Ron try pying aggressively.”

  “In short,” marized. “It seems like we’re split into 2v2. We need a tie-breaker here and there are only 10 seds on the clock. Matt, quick! Decide our fate!”

  “Huh?” Matthew made a face. “Me? Why?”

  “There’s no time! Pronto, young man! Which side are you on!?”

  “Eeeeeh…” Keep me out of this, please.

  “att!” Ronald urged as well. “Lemme have Berserker! We’re homies, right? Right!?”

  “So loud…” Ronald covered his ears. “I don’t care either way. Just give him what he wants if that makes him shut up. It’s not like either option sounds particurly better thaher.”

  “Okay, you heard the man!” Ronald grinned fidently. “Gimme what I want, bruh!”

  “Fine, fine…” Cato sighed i and picked Berserker with 2 seds on the clock.

  It would’ve been less stressful for him if he picked a css for another role first. That would’ve postpohe dilemma of Top Lane for ter.

  But, Cato didn’t want to lose his initiative in this drafting phase. After all, the drafting phase of the previous game decided more than 50% of that game’s oute, so Cato had to make sure he wins the drafting phase this time no matter what.

  Pig the Top Laner early was sidered the most optimal meta draft, so Cato insisted on not giving up on it, even if it meant pig a css he didn’t fully agree with. But well, at least somebody was happy about this turn of events...

  “Heck yeah, now you’re talking!” Ronald pumped a fist. “It’s the best choice, I’m telling you!”

  “Well, now the burden of proof is on you,” Cato said. “Still, I’m surprised you picked that side of the argument, Matt. I thought you were a paragon of defe’s treason then.”

  “I agree that defense is far better, it’s the safest way to py,” Matthew said. “But, Ron clearly wants to go on the offensive in his ne, so why not just let him?”

  “Really? Just like that?”

  “Yeah.” Matthew shrugged. “I mean, you discussed this topi top to bottom as if you’re deg the fate of the world, but in the end, it’s just one game. It’s not like messing up will ruin your entire life.”

  “My, what a nont take ouation. Don’t you care about losing?”

  “I want to win, of course,” Matthew asserted. “But, it’s not like anybody here has any hard data to prove who’s correct, right? I mean, this is the first time we’re trying this formation against Stratus in the first pce. So, nobody really knows how it’ll pan out.”

  “Right,” Cato agreed. “But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to predict how things will go down. We do have some data, after all..”

  “True, but I think you give it too much weight.” Matthew shrugged. “Nothis actual experience. All this baseless arguing reminds me of these uninformed ‘Day 1 tier lists’ that people make as soon as a new game is out. People act like they have everything figured out, but in truth, they don’t know shit.”

  “My, that’s harsh.” iled wryly.

  “I agree, that was uncalled for.” Sonya frowned. “lenty of data to work with.”

  “But, it’s all hypotheses, right?” Matthew argued. “We don’t have any actual statisti how well this formation works against Stratus. Like, this is the first time we’re using it against them.”

  “I’ll cede that much,” Sonya agreed. “There are far too many parameters to sider in order to accurately estimate the oute. It’s a lot of guesswork and specution.”

  “Yep, exactly my point,” Matthew said. “So, what’s the point of getting so hung up on it? Ron has a css he wants to py and you don’t have a solid case against it, so why not just let him? What’s the worst that happen? Us losing this one game? Big deal.”

  “Actually yes, it is a rather big deal,” Cato said. “But, you got your point across. I agree that we got a little too hung up on that pick.”

  “Did we, really?” Sonya asked. “I thought we were just making our case.”

  “Just making your case? Pft.” Ronald sneered. “You two were droning about it like your lives depended on it. Like seriously, rex my guys.”

  “We argued with you because we believed, and still believe, that our approach has a much higher ce of winning us the game,” Cato expined. “But I agree, it robably a little unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. This one pick isn’t going to seal the fate of the entire game by itself.”

  Besides, giving Ronald what he wanted robably the smarter thing to do. Not only it will boost the brat’s motivation and performance, but it’ll also score e extra authority points over Ronald in case the brat ends up perf poorly. It was a win-win for Cato iher sario.

  This work in my favor. Cato thought. If we lose because of this pick, then he’ll have to listen to everything I say ime~ At least, I hope he will...

  There was elling with that brat. The only one Ronald ever listeo was his older brother. Nobody else had much authority in his eyes, save maybe for the Coach. Having such a wild card oeam was a huge pain in the arse. Sigh.

  Wait, why am I even thinking about the potential bes of losing? Cato stopped himself right there. We’re not supposed to lose anymore. In fact, we absolutely ’T lose aname, or else Mr. Korea will be on our case. That’s the whole reason I ushing sainst this risky Berserker pick.

  Sonya must’ve felt the same way, that’s why she joined forces with Cato so readily. And, William probably uood the gravity of the situation as much as they did, yet he seemed to believe that giving Ronald an aggressive css would somehow increase the team’s ces of victory.

  So in the end, the only one whose vote wasn’t directly influenced by the topic of “winning vs. losing” was Matthew. He made a pletely ral stance, g that her side was objectively superior to the other. It was a logical argument, but it also hihat he didn’t care as much about losing.

  My, he is so indifferent toward our fates. Cato sighed. Then again, he wouldn’t be Matt if he suddenly started g about this now.

  As the Leopards, the regional champions, each member of the team was shouldering the heavy responsibility of putting on a strong performan front of the crowd. They were supposed to represent the pinnacle of the regional petitive se and to defeat their oppos in a way that inspired awe. That was the kind of ideological stuff Rodigeuz often talked about.

  Everybody took these words to heart to one degree or ahey uood their important position in this region’s petitive se and that they had to live up to the expectations

  But, Matt is always the exception, isn’t he? iled wryly. I’m sure he also cares about the title and winning, but not nearly as much as we do. I bet he sees scrimmages as nothing more than “simutions”, so he’s fih losing a few games in exge faining more information to work with.

  “You’re really chill about all of this, aren’t you~?” Cato asked. “It doesn’t bother you at all that maybe you’ve made the wrong call and that Ronald’s Berserker will be the end of us.”

  “I do care, of course,” Matthew said. “But, if you’re asking how much do I care? Eh, not that much, to be ho. You win some, you lose some. That’s life for you.”

  “So mature~”

  “It’s really like that, though,” Matthew insisted. “Nobody knows whether we gonna win or lose with either of the game pns, so I say pick the game pn that’ll shut up that loudmouth. Besides, all these arguments aren’t helping the team’s morale.”

  “True, true.” Cato nodded. “Still, I like how you really don’t care about the team’s reputation. Perhaps you’re the only real voice of reason we have oeam. Everybody else got recruited into Ruez’s cult~”

  “I guess I just don’t see what’s the big deal.” Matthew shrugged. “In the end, we just o win iour. Until then, everything else we do is just training and simution.”

  Of course, it was impossible for Matthew to be totally oblivious to the fact he art of the Leopards. Ruez droned about the importance of this topic to the point it engraved itself on their brains As such, iual tour, he’ll probably be far more motivated to win.

  Until then, as long as the match at hand didn’t register as a matter of life ah, it seemed he didn’t care about the oute early as much as the others did. Perhaps it had something to do with his background.

  Maybe I just don’t really register myself as a part of something that “amazing”. Matthew thought. I mean, the faebody like me got into this team kinda undermis prestige.

  Despite how mupetition there was in the club, Matthew didn't sider himself particurly gifted fetting into the first-string. It just so happehat he accumuted enough game experiend was borderline good enough to make the cut, that's all there was to it. There were plenty of other strong pyers in the club who were stantly breathing down his neck, threatening to overtake him at any moment.

  In the first pce, Matthew never really chased the petition that hard. For him, Cssmancers wasn't a game he pyed to bee "the best there ever was". It was more of aential activity for him.

  Cssmancers happeo show up during the darkest episode of Matthew's life, back when he lost all the will to keep going. The game distracted him from the harsh reality of his situation and allowed him to ect with other people, tenuine bonds that he never had with anybody else outside his family before that.

  Pying the game is just something I've been doing ever since. Matthew thought. It's as natural as breathing at this point, and nobody petes at breathing, right? Well, I guess some people maybe do, but that's beside the point...

  The bottom line was that Matthew has been pying Cssmancers because it sustained his social life. He never really expected to see himself making it big on the petitive se. So, even though he received coag from a pro pyer and he had a high-level pyer as his best friend, Matthew himself was nothing special.

  Therefore, if somebody like him who was only slightly above "mediocre” made it into the Leopards, then this team simply wasn’t as godlike as others wao sider it. Sure, it was a solid team with solid pyers, but that's about it. Nothing made it immuo itting mistakes and losing scrimmages.

  That's just life for you. Matthew shrugged. No matter how big of a deal a team thinks it is, somebody may always e along to bully it. And, speaking of bullying...

  The enemy locked their first two picks: Sorcerer and Elf.

  Seriously? Why me? Matthew frowhis totally looks like a personal attack targeting me.

  The enemy has already banned Aeromancer and Warlock, which was a direct attaatthew. But furthermore, they had the o pick Sorcerer and Elf, two other csses which Matthew mained. It was like an all-out attaatthew!

  Do I have a bel on my head that says "Please target me"...? Matthew made a face. These guys have the makings of professional bullies.

  None of the previous teams showed any special i in Matthew before. Maybe it's because the previous teams had less data to work with, but it still felt like Stratus in particur was very adamant about targeting Matthew, of all people. But, why?

  Is Vi involved in this in some way? Matthew wondered. From what I remember, he was all about gathering intel on people and then bragging about how much he knew. Basically, he’s a stalker, so I wouldn't be surprised if he pys an active role in this bullying. Though, that still wouldn’t really make much sense...

  Vi shouldn't have any idea about the csses Matthew mained. Matthew picked up Cssmancers after leaving his old grade school, so none of his former cssmates should know anything about what transpired afterward. They knew nothing bout how Matthew went to a rehabilitatioer, met Esmeralda there, and received Cssmancers lessons from her.

  So yeah, I dunno how this keeps happening. Matthew sighed. Maybe it's really as Cato said and the enemy strategist is smart enough to figure out that I’m maining a small number of csses. What a drag... But, at least I'm not pying Mid this game.

  Aeromancer, Warlock, and Sorcerer were all unavaible, so pying Mid uhese circumstances would have been quite painful for Matthew. Fortunately, the team agreed on formation A, so Matthew was going to be in Bot this time.

  I wonder, does their Elf pick alset me? That's the one css I've been pying in Bot in the previous scrims.

  This was the sed time in a row the enemy picked Elf for Carry, which was a little sus. Gunz didn’t seem all that impressive with Elf, at least not nearly as much as he was with Trickshooter and Gunslinger. On top of that, Elf was a defensive Carry that didn’t really match Stratus’s aggressive pystyle that well.

  Of course, Gunz still made the css look very oppressive. Matthew thought. But, I'm sure he's the type of pyer who piy css and make it look good. He's not like me who has to focus on just a handful of csses in order to have a ce at all. Though, even Gunz stands out the most with a few specific csses, huh.

  This validated that Mattheroach of fog on a few specific csses was legit. He wasn't zy, he was effit. A real pro gamer.

  As such, the same as in Mid, Matthew only dabbled in a handful of csses for the Carry role. The eook his favorite css, but there were at least two others with which Matthew will perform well. Hopefully, the enemy won't start banning these csses in the uping games...

  Gotta say, I'm really gd I got out of Mid before they sealed all my best options there…

  Matthew was oep away from getting pletely ed down in terms of css picks. Fortunately, the team jumped ship right before Matthew sank down...

  DarkestCymore