If the Leopards were indeed pnning to use their other formation in this game, then that would flip the entire pying board on its head. The Absolute Duo will split up and occupy Top and Jungle, creating aggressive threats at two different parts of the map.

  While it wasn’t a big deal that Challenger moved to Top, Winner switg to Jungler meant serious business. As the Jungler, he was free to attaes on demand. He wasn't anything like the passive Juhat Cato was.

  And, there are other potential problems with that formation, like the new duo in Bot.

  Rook and Merlin were a peculiar Bot pair. They were both theory pyers with just passable meical skill, which didn't sound like a very banced pair.

  With that said, they both uood their own fws. Therefore, this Bot duo focused on fortifying their defenses and biding their time until the right moment. In essehey pyed the ning phase with the mentality that they could lose a few battles if it meant winning the war.

  It's hard to predict how our matchup will go down. Yuel thought. We'll either bust through their defenses or they'll be a pain in the neck from start to end. Though, I suppose this will be good practice for the rematch against Howard and Ellen.

  These two defensive duos pyed differently from each other but their essence was the same. Both pairs pyed defensively in order to avoid losing the hey focused most of their efforts on studying their oppos and adapting to them.

  In fact, Merlin dialed that mentality up to eleven by pying Elf and absolutely nothing else in all the games he was Carry. It was like a match made in heaven. Elf was the best defensive marksman and Merlin was a serial turtle.

  In every repy we watched, his Elf's turtling always got to the enemy. Yuel thought. It always ended up with the enemy crag under frustration and making one careless attack, which Merlin and Cato never failed to capitalize on.

  This pystyle strongly reminded of the tricks Ellen used. Lars also fell for many such traps in the past, including ieful battle for StormBlitz’s first-string.

  But, Lars had gotten much better sihen. His experience as a Mid Laaught him to be more indepe in the ne.

  In Mid, Lars couldn’t rely oo up every mess he created. So, he had to start pying more carefully ahodically, whicluded seeing through eraps. As such, surely he'll be able to handle whatever turtling Merlin nning to pull.

  But, I still rather weaken Merlin as much as possible across the board, just in case. Yuel thought. Especially, sihere are ticks that’ll weaken him while strengthening us.

  "I'm usually not a fan of opening the draft with picks like that, but let’s go with Elf and Sorcerer."

  "Sweet!" Luke whistled. "We’re going hard right at the start, yooooo!"

  "Ihis is quite the bold strategy," Vi agreed. "Is it truly wise to reveal both of our damage dealers so early? It sends our ehe invitation to ter-pick."

  "True, there are some risks," Yuel admitted. "But, it allows us to ter the enemy while simultaneously pig good csses for ourselves, so nothing is lost."

  "I'm totes for it, dude!" Lars gave a thumbs up. "That Merlin dude pys Elf tht? So, we gotta steal it first!"

  "Oh, wow.” Yuel blinked in surprise. “Did you actually pay attention to this detail when we were reviewing the Leopards?"

  "Hey, of course, I did, dude! I remember seeing Merlin's Elf and I was like 'Dang, this dude be turtling!' It was a real painful sight. Reminds me of how Ellen goes about her business."

  "Yes, their pystyles are quite simir." In fact, some of Merlin’s tactics are almost identical to Ellen's. Could they be reted in some way? Nah, I'm probably overthinking it.

  "So yeah," Lars repeated. "I'm in! Gimme that Elf, yo."

  "Well, I'm not as thrilled about this," Kai interjected. "Sorcerer is best used as a ter piot an early pick."

  "True," Yuel agreed. "But, I think we have to strike preemptively here. Besides, these picks aren't very 'aggressive' so they’ll do a good job hiding our true game pn."

  "Huehue." Luke thrust a first into the air. "Yep, this hides our real iions of going all out with a BANG!"

  "Please don't shout our strategy out loud in front of the enemy."

  "Heh, whoops." Luke scratched his head. "But, these guys 't hear anything with their headphones anyway, so no problem, man."

  "I really hope so." Yuel sighed. "Anyway, Elf and Sorcerer, that's what I believe we should open with. There was no time to discuss any of this iail during the break, so now is all the time we’ve got."

  "You're really putting me on the spot here, huh." Kai sighed. "There isn’t much I say with less than 30 seds on the clock. Let's just roll with it, I guess. You tered them in the previous draft, so maybe you do it again this time. Besides, you got the trol now."

  In this scrimmage, Yuel was the one who was given the ability to seled lo csses. Even though Kai was the captain, she surrehat privilege to Yuel after realizing how pointless it was for her to hold onto it so dearly.

  Yuel was the one in charge of the team's strategy, so he was going to make all the major calls anyway. As such, there was no point in Kai hogging that power for herself.

  As much as it pained Kai to admit it, her word didn't hold as much power as Yuel’s when it came tic decisions. So, even though she made sure to act as the captain in all other aspects, she decided to leave the strategic matters to Yuel.

  "Just because I'm the one who presses the buttons, it doesn't mean you shouldn’t voiy objes," Yuel said. "Sure, the drafting phase is rgely my responsibility, but it's not ONLY mine."

  "I'll keep that in mind," Kai said. "Anyway, on the Sorcerer topic, I don't have anything else to add. I'm not a fan of it as an early pick, but it's not a deal breaker."

  “Okay, the’s go with that.”

  And so, Stratus’s first two picks became Sorcerer and Elf, both targeting Merlin in whichever position he’ll choose to py. Naturally, that didn’t amuse the guy in the slightest.

  “ we pick Seraph, please?” Matthew requested. “I don’t want them to give them a ce to ban it.”

  “My, aren’t you a worrywart~” iled meaningfully. “You haven’t even shown your Seraph on this stage yet.”

  “You call me paranoid but I don’t know what to expect from these guys anymore,” Matthew admitted. “I never imagined I’ll get targeted so hard during the drafting phase, yet here we are.”

  “They ’t target a css they haven’t seen you py.”

  “Who knows? Nothing is certain at this point,” Matthew argued. “Besides, they saw Will py Seraph st game, so they might target it from that angle. Seriously, who knows how these guys reason.”

  “Alright, alright, I’ll pick Seraph for you.” Cato sighed. “But, don’t e g to me if they ter-pick right afterward. It’s one of these picks that’s best to save for st.”

  “They’ve already picked their Carry, so I’m not worried.”

  “If you say so.” Cated. “Anyway, we o piore. Sonya, do you want to piow or ter?”

  “I think now is fine,” Sonya said. “They’ve already shown us their Mid Laner, so I make a detly informed decision.”

  “That is if Sorcerer is really their Mid Laner~” iled impishly.

  “What do you mean by that?” Sonya frowned. “Do you think it’s a ruse?”

  “Who knows~ Always expect the ued with Stratus.”

  “And to think that you’ve just criticized Matt for being too cautious.”

  “I’m just pulling y here,” Cato said. “It’s always good to think ahead and sider multiple options, but we ’t get caught up in it. Our oppos want us to overthink all of this and stress ourselves out.”

  "Although," Matthew said. "I game, the drafting phase didn't go well for us because we didn't sider other options properly."

  "Touche." Cato had no terargument to that. Indeed, he had to walk on thin ice when drafting against Stratus, against Yuel. That team was capable of pulling off ued lineups out of thin air, so it was important to keep that in mind while trying to avoid overthinking things too much.

  Easier said than done when we have so much pressure on our shoulders. Cato gulped. We HAVE to keep winning from here on out. Not only to uphold our reputation but also to not give Jin any reasons to sub in. Allowing a team like Stratus to force Jin onto the stage would be the epitome of embarrassment.

  As such, even though Cato said he was joking earlier, a part of him did question the picks Yuel has just made. These Elf and Sorcerer, were they really the Carry and Mid?

  We've seen Gunz a py these before. Cato recalled. So, at least this is in lih the data. But, that in itself could be a trap.

  There was no telling how many yers of trickery Yuel was going to use this time around. He was the type to go as far as needed and beyond in order to mislead his oppos and catch them off-guard. So, Cato had to be ready for anything.

  But, it feels poio overthink this one. Cato cluded. For now, I don't see how these questionable picks are going to mislead us into anything. It feels like Yuel just wao secure specific csses here before we get to them, nothing more. At least, if there's any deeper meaning to these picks, then it escapes me at the moment.

  And so, Cato ighe noise and locked in Seraph for Matthew and Sage for Sonya. With that, the ball returo the enemy's court. Their pick was almost immediate: Knight.

  Of course, of course. Cato nodded. It’s the oa css I didn’t ban, after all.

  The inal pn was for Ronald to piight, but the brat had to go and request Berserker instead. The brat better deliver some big results, or else the urge to kick him out of the team will escate expoially.

  Anyway, the drafting proceeded to the sed banning phase. The Leopards still haven't picked their Support and Jungler, so the eargeted these roles with their bans. In particur, the Lionfolk ban hit close to home.

  "Hmph." William scoffed.

  "My, that’s a headshot~" iled impishly. "You po pick Lion, didn't you?"

  "It was the pn, yes. But, there are other options."

  "True, true."

  Cato wao respond in kind to the enemy’s personal attack by targeting one of Stratus’s open spots as well. But, things were a little awkward here for both sides because they both left Support and Jungler for st. So, anything Cato chooses to ban will also be a ban for his team. too.

  Furthermore, the enemy had the initiative because they’ll be the first oo pick a css after this banning phase. That pick will essentially be like another ban against the Leopards. What a pain in the neck.

  I’m sorry, Padin. Cato apologized. As much as I'd like to utilize you as my minion in this game, you have to go, just in case.

  As unfortunate as it was, Cato had to eliminate one of his own preferred picks in order to deny it to the enemy. What a tragedy.

  The rest of the banning phase proceeded in the same fashion, with both teams trying to deny csses to each other without screwing themselves over too much.

  Eventually, the sed banning phase came to an end. , the enemy picked Lumimancer, which was like another ban against the Leopards. Furthermore, this sophisticated pick served as a twofold d ban, both against the Support and against the Jungler.

  "My, it looks like he doesn't want you to piinja," Cato said.

  "Hmph." William scoffed once again. Ninja was i the top of his siderations, but the Lumimancer pick practically shot it down.

  It was clear that the eeam did their research. William pyed Ninja only on the petitive stage, but his killing streak with the css must have left quite the impression. He single-handedly decimated the eeam all by himself in that game, assassinating oarget after another. Somebody on the eeam must’ve taken note of that.

  "When you said 'he', you meant Chessmaster, right?" William asked.

  "Yes, of course.” Cato nodded. “I'm fairly certain that almost anything that happens during the drafting phase is his work. So, if you want to vent a little during the match, then you know who tet~"

  "He seems like the type to ruffle people’s feathers on purpose. So, if I decide tet him because of this, I’ll probably be pying into his hands."

  "My, it sounds like you’ve developed quite the respect for his skill."

  "He's a dangerous pyer in a very different way from Gunz,” William said. “It seems that together, those two are carrying their eeam's tactical and meical skill."

  "They sure are,” Cato agreed. “That's why we have to crush them thhly~ I'll need your help with that."

  "I know, that's why I sidered going Ninja to rip them apart," William expined. "But, that Lumi is a pain in the neck."

  Lumimancer's most famous feature was its ability to reveal enemies, including stealthed ones. Worst of all, uealth Wards that could be pyed around, the Lumimancer's ultimate targeted the entire map and was undodgeable. So, no matter how good of a Ninja pyer William was, he could never escape the all-seeing eye of Lumimancer.

  "Well, in line is Viking," William said. "ly the highest tier option, but it has the tools to initiate attacks and it synergizes well with Berserker."

  "Heck yeah!" Ronald excimed. "Let's freakin’ go, bro! We gonna bo these scrubs to death!"

  "Sounds good enough." Cato picked Viking. There were a few other options avaible that were slightly higher oier list, but tier lists old the eory anyway. The synergy between teammates was far more important than some generalized tier pt.

  Now, what do I piyself? Cato sed all the avaible data in front of him before making the call. There were the bans, the picks, the order in which all of them occurred, and the state in which both lineups ultimately ended up. Almost the entire board was visible for him at this point, save for the enemy's Jungler pick.

  Their lineup looks much tamer than st time. Cato thought. It doesn't seem like they're going to pull anything too crazy this time around. But, that makes sense. Yuel must’ve realized that their DK shenanigans won't work on us a sed time.

  So far, all the csses Yuel picked leaned more toward defense. Elf was the most defensive marksman, Sorcerer was a zoner, and Knight was an all-rounder. In fact, even Lumimancer robably a defensive pick meant to ter stealth.

  All in all, this liold a very clear story. The enemy nning to take their foot off the gas in this game. Heck, maybe they even po fight fire with fire by going with a defensive game pn.

  Yuel should know better than to challenge us on our own turf. Cato thought. Then again, his historical records are filled with many odd decisions, so nothing be taken franted when he's involved. All I say is, if you think you challenge me with defehen you’re wele to try.

  It seemed like Cato had o piything too special here. He could simply focus on tering what’s in front of him.

  And so, he picked ancer. It had the ability to wall off Elf and Sorcerer's snipes, as well as interfere with Knight's ability to flee from the se on his horse. So yes, ancer was definitely a great piaking a lot of people mad~

  With that, the drafting phase approached its end. Stratus had only one more pick to choose and they locked it in instantly. It was...

  DarkestCymore