Rodrigeuz suggested there was a culprit among them. Somebody who committed a grave mistake that played a big role in the team's defeat.
Yet, the criminal chose to keep their silence for now.
[My, don't tell me you want us to spill it for you?] Cato motioned his head, urging the culprit to speak up. [C'mon, admit it and let's move on.]
[I know, but…] Sonya chewed her lips.
There was no escape, she knew that much. If she doesn't speak up, then somebody else will. Or, if nobody does, then the entire team will be criticized. There was no clean way out of this predicament.
Nonetheless, admitting that she committed that unintelligent mistake was just too painful. She was not supposed to be the kind of player who was swayed by a sense of pride, yet the mistake she committed was indirectly a result of it.
Data was supposed to be everything. Data and data alone revealed all the objective facts about everything. It's what allowed Sonya to make the most reliable and optimal analysis.
All of Sonya's decisions had to be backed up by hard, cold data. There was no place for her to insert her emotions or opinions into the matter. At least, there shouldn't have been...
[I knew that Stratus is strong, the data said as much. But even so, in this game, I...]
She underestimated Stratus, no two ways about it. Despite having all the data at hand and analyzing it countless times, Sonya nonetheless went ahead and underestimated these competent players. She allowed her emotions to triumph over her reason.
[Because seriously, these memes are just...] Sonya grimaced. She had trouble admitting her mistake even now because of how dumb the whole ordeal was.
No matter how much the data suggested that Stratus could play well with unconventional tactics, Sonya could not bring herself to believe that these deplorable "memes" could do any real harm to the Leopards.
Of course, it's not like she willingly chose to lower her guard against these memes. Sonya had no intention of going easy on her foes no matter how much she pitied their terrible picks.
But, this was the competitive scene. Even the tiniest sign of mental weakness could lead to a disaster, and that's exactly what happened to Sonya.
[I don't think I was condescending, at least not on purpose. I just...]
She just... what, exactly? Why didn't she play safer back then? Especially, after Cato had already warned everybody that a gank was coming.
Sonya had all the data in hand, yet she deemed it alright to remain in the middle of the lane back then. It's as if she couldn't even fathom the idea of any serious harm coming her way.
But, why? Why did she assume such a nonsensical thing? Did she have any data to support a terrible hypothesis like that? No, she definitely didn't.
Back then, same as Cato, Sonya had no idea which lane the enemy will target with their gank. There were some good arguments against Stratus targeting Top, but those were just that - arguments. They couldn't be used for formal proof. Sonya couldn't write "QED" at the end there.
And yet, in the heat of the moment, she found herself trusting that baseless proof. In the back of her head, she allowed herself to underestimate her foes. ["They probably won't target Top. And even if they do, they won't accomplish much. Their lineup is a joke."]
That small lapse in logic led Sonya to her death and subsequently resulted in the downfall of the entire team. Her death granted Stratus unstoppable momentum which they rode all the way to victory.
[Yes, I've already figured all that out by myself...] Sonya had more than enough time to regret her mistakes while she waited for her revival. The situation forced her to sit there and watch her small mistake snowball into swallowing the entire game.
So, she was definitely aware of the crimes she committed, but…
[Do I have to say it out loud? Right now?] Sonya clenched her fists. [Coach is being as merciless as always...]
She really wanted to postpone this discussion for another day but Rodriguez had no intention of allowing that. So, Sonya couldn't run away from facing her embarrassing mistake even though she had already learned her lesson.
"It was my mistake..." Sonya finally spoke up. "You must be referring to the time when the enemy ganked Top and killed me, right? I wasn't careful enough back there."
"Correct." Rodriguez nodded in satisfaction. "Judging by your face, I can tell you've already analyzed that blunder and reached some conclusions."
"Yes, sir."
"Very well, then we'll leave it at that." Rodriguez let her off the hook this time. But, it's not because he was trying to be "nice" or "forgiving".
[She's a smart girl with her own sense of pride.] Rodriguez thought. [I'm sure she's already beating herself up over this mistake, so no need to criticize her any further for now. We'll address this properly during the match review, anyway.]
The goal of this lecture wasn't to bash the players. There was no point beating them down after they have already suffered a crushing defeat. Pressing them any further might make them lose their fighting spirits.
They still had 3 more games to play, so they had to stay strong. There'll be more than enough time to tear them apart during the official match review.
[For now,] Rodriguez thought. [All I want to see is that they realize their mistakes, can admit them, and understand how to move forward from here.]
"There were a few more plays that weren't up to your usual standard," Rodriguez said. "For example, the way Matt focused the Berserker in Mid instead of targeting higher priority targets."
"That's..." Matthew shifted his eyes away. "It was a hectic situation and the Berserker was close by, so I just attacked the first target within arm's reach."
"Is that really so?" Rodriguez asked. "That doesn't sound like you. One of your strongest points is how you stay calm no matter what happens around you."
"Eh, I'm only human, right? I also panic sometimes."
"Is that so." Rodriguez didn't seem convinced but he didn't have a good line of questioning to pursue here. After all, that assault on Mid was indeed a play that came out of the blue and shocked everybody, especially the players in Mid.
"Regardless," Rodriguez continued. "The fact you panicked shows that you weren't your usual self back there."
"Well, it was one hell of a surprise attack…"
"True, but still," Rodriguez insisted. "Normally, you wouldn't be bothered by something like that. This means you weren't expecting much from your opponents, were you? That's why the attack surprised you so much."
"I guess so," Matthew answered ambiguously. [That's not really it, but whatever. It's easier to just roll with this explanation.]
Then again, what did Matthew actually try to accomplish back there when he attacked Vincent? Honestly, he couldn't even answer that for sure.
[I guess was trying to assess my feelings toward him? Yeah, that makes no sense] Matthew shrugged. [I wouldn't know how to explain any of this shit even if I wanted to.]
Somebody in the team sensed Matthew's inner turmoil and decided to step in.
"To be fair," Cato said. "It was hard to think straight in that situation for me as well. I don't know about Matt, but when the Aqua showed up out of nowhere - my brain just short-circuited for a moment there. I had no idea what's the right thing to do."
"Same." Matthew successfully caught the bone Cato threw his way. "I was also at a loss for a moment there because of how absurd the whole thing was. You really can't compare it to a regular scenario."
"Hmm. Is that so." Rodriguez crossed his arms and eyed the two suspects. "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. We'll analyze this play in more depth during the match review."
[Phew, safe.] Cato breathed in relief. [Sorry Coach, but this seems personal for Matt. So, it's best to not pressure him on this topic for now, especially not after we've lost a game.]
Perhaps Rodriguez picked up on some of that during the interrogation and that's why he didn't press any further. Or, maybe he really fell for Cato's excuse. Either way, the coach left the topic alone and moved on.
Up until now, they've only discussed the past. They touched upon the various mistakes they made during the game and that's it.
Next, it was time to discuss the future. How the Leopards should mentally prepare themselves for the next game…?
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"So," Rodriguez continued. "Now that you understand what mistakes you made, what are you planning to do next?"
He looked at each of them in order, urging them to come up with their own answers to this difficult question. They won't be able to learn a real lesson here unless they think for themselves and figure out their own solutions.
There was a long moment of silence as everybody contemplated the topic. Though, in truth, there was no need to think too hard. The next step was simple enough, but first, the team had to admit once again that they completely failed to do something so simple in the last game.
"We have to take them more seriously…" Sonya muttered awkwardly. It was painful to even say such an obvious thing out loud.
Taking their opponents seriously was something they all should have done without even talking about it, yet they spectacularly failed somehow.
The others voiced the same answers, so they were all on the same page here.
"We'll register Stratus as a top-tier threat from now on," Cato summarized for everybody. "We'll think of them as a StormBlitz-level threat, even if I personally think they're not quite up there yet."
"The fact you bothered to insert that addendum tells me you haven't learned a proper lesson yet."
"Oh, my, that's very true. My bad." Cato wore his usual impish smile but there were a few cracks visible underneath. Until the bitter end, he couldn't admit that Yuel turned the "weakest team in the region" into a powerhouse to be feared.
[I don't want to accept any of it but the fact remains that they DID beat us once. So, it's better to be safe than sorry.]
Cato had no choice but to cast some of his pride aside for this. He was the one with the vastly superior chess pieces on his side, so he had no choice but to respect Yuel's ability to score a victory with second-grade pieces.
[Of course, I'm still the superior strategist here.] Cato asserted. [He just caught me off-guard this time, that's all. I won't let it happen again.]
"So," Rodriguez continued as he turned to the others. "You all agree with Cato's assessment?"
The entire team nodded. As much as they didn't want to admit any of this, they definitely let their guard down in this game. That was unbecoming behavior for the future regional champions, so they had to fix this ASAP.
"Hmm. It sounds like your minds are in the right place," Rodriguez concluded. "So, do you have any concrete plans for how to proceed from here?"
"For starters," Cato said. "I believe it's about time we switched to Formation A."
He glanced at William as he said that. This stubborn guy was the very reason the Leopards had been using Formation B. So, now was the best opportunity to pressure him into changing his mind.
"Hmph." William scoffed. "I'm fine with that." He had no choice but to say that because everybody's eyes were needling him, including the coach's.
But, was he [really] fine with this arrangement? Not in the slightest.
[It's a shame.] He thought. [I didn't get to fight Gunz much in the end, so I didn't get the opportunity to properly establish myself as the stronger player.]
As far as William was concerned, proving his superiority over Gunz was the main goal of today's scrimmage. However, he only allowed himself to think that way because he believed that Stratus was a pushover team that wouldn't be able to put on a real fight today. As such, he assumed that dueling Gunz would be the most challenging experience today.
But, for the better or the worse, Stratus proved him wrong. They established themselves as a mighty opponent that was worth taking down.
Therefore, William no longer had the luxury to focus solely on Gunz. Unfortunately, attaining victory as a team was more important than settling the score with one opponent.
Therefore, William gave in to Cato's demand. The team will now shift to Formation A, the one which Cato and Sonya originally deemed a better fit for combating Stratus.
Unfortunately, it was a formation that kicked William out of the Carry role. This meant he will no longer be able to duel with Gunz as freely.
Not to mention, even if Willaim does arrange a duel at any point, it'll no longer be Carry vs. Carry. In other words, they won't be fighting on equal grounds.
[Though, I can at least keep it marksman vs. marksman.] William compromised with that.
And so, the team as a whole agreed to shift to Formation A. Cato and Sonya had been advocating it from the start but weren't the only ones excited about it.
"Heck yeah, let's go!" Ronald pumped a fist. "Finally, I get the chance to wreck some scrubs!"
"Have you even been listening this entire time?" William criticized. "It'd because you keep underestimating Stratus that you mess up."
"Nah, I'm not underestimating them, not anymore." Ronald flashed his teeth. "They're kinda good, I'll give them that. So, I'm looking forward to messing them up real good next game, haha!"
"That's good to hear."
Perhaps out of everybody here, it was Ronald's performance that suffered the most in the previous game. This doofus sometimes saw his opponents in black-and-white. They were either "strong" or "weak". There was rarely anything between these two extremes as far as he was concerned.
When the opponent was regarded as "weak", Ronald tended to underestimate them and play wildly. On the other hand, when he properly registered his opponents as "strong", Ronald could draw out the full extent of his innate potential and sometimes even surpass his own limits.
It was yet unclear whether Stratus will be able to register themselves as "strong" in Ronald's mind. But, at least for now, Stratus has managed to convince everybody that they were worthy adversaries.
As such, it was very much possible that Ronald will finally show his true strength in the next game. And, playing Top Laner as part of formation A was a far better stage for this than playing Support.
In the end, everybody approved of switching formations, and so did the coach. This was going to be the formation that'll help them reclaim victory with ease.
However, there was one guy who didn't quite agree with this turn of events. He has been keeping his nose out of the team's business because he believed the coach will handle things properly, but this conclusion wasn't satisfactory at all...
If you're enjoying the story, please review it and vote for it. つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
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