With Nia awake, it was now possible to kick the memer off the team. That already solved one of the team's biggest issues.
[But, that won't magically solve all our problems.] Yuel thought.
There was no question that Luke's memeing dragged the team down a lot in the last game, but that wasn't Stratus' only problem. Regardless of Luke, the team failed to get any offense rolling on any lane.
Yuel and Lars failed to bust through the iron wall of Rook and Merlin, whereas Kai failed to achieve anything notable against TheTheorist. Though, there was one big difference between these two cases.
"Kai, correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't really try to go on the offensive that much in the last game, did you?"
"Hmm, I guess I didn't," Kai replied plainly. "There weren't any good opportunities as far as I could tell."
"Is that so." Yuel didn't have enough evidence to refute that claim.
Normally, Kai was the kind of player who could be left to her own devices so long she was in a stable mood. As such, Yuel usually paid less attention to her lane situation when there were more pressing issues at hand. And, in that particular game, he was more preoccupied with the airtight enemy defense in Bot, as well as the overwhelming enemy offense in Top.
So, did Kai really not have any good opportunities to start pushes in Mid? Frankly, Yuel couldn't answer that off-hand. He'd have to watch the replay later in order to confirm that claim. Regardless, this was a pressing issue right now.
[I could check the replay now, but there's not enough time for that.] Yuel thought. [This isn't the only issue I want to discuss, so I can't waste too much time on it. I better get to the point.]
"Was Theorist's defense really that good?" Yuel asked. "I had the impression she plays it too safe, so you should've been able to exploit her passiveness at least a little."
"Yeaaaah, she sure turtled, alright." Kai sighed deeply. "But, that doesn't mean it's easy to find opportunities to pressure her. I mean, she plays for the Leopards, so she's no pushover. I'm not gonna find any free opportunities just lying around, you know?"
"Interesting, because Vincent sure found a few good opportunities when he played against Theorist in Top," Yuel pointed out. "And, considering your playstyle, I was sure you'll be able to push Theorist around even better than Vincent did."
"His circumstances were totally different, though," Kai argued. "He was playing a counter-pick, so, of course, he found opportunities. On the other hand, I was on even ground with Theorist as far as our classes were concerned."
Sorcerer and Sage were both best known for their long-ranged options, so they were like two picks that effectively canceled each other out. As a result, the 1v1 in Mid turned into a duel between snipers. So, it wasn't hard to imagine why Kai struggled to find any good opportunities to push.
[Still, I was sure that Kai will be able to get at least SOMETHING started.] Yuel knotted his brows. [I had a feeling their Bot duo will stump us because their defense is on par with Howard and Ellen's. So, I was hoping that at least Kai will build some momentum for the team.]
Alas, Kai did nothing of the sort. Though, perhaps part of the blame lay with Yuel for making Kai play Sorcerer. She might've needed a more aggressive class to get things rolling.
With all that said, Vincent had a different explanation for the whole thing.
"If I may have a word," Vincent started. "I suspect that a big part of this particular issue lies with Beat's 'Softhearted Amazon' trait. I believe I've informed you of it before."
"Oh, that thing..." Yuel made a face. "Yes, you mentioned that Kai might be laxer against female opponents."
"That's BS," Kai denied immediately. "We already went through that, and I'm pretty sure I made it clear: I'm not gonna go easy on anybody. Male, female, trans, whatever. If they're my opponent, then I gonna mop the floor with them all the same!"
"Indeed, I'm certain that this is what you genuinely believe in your heart." Vincent nodded. "Nonetheless, I suspect that reality doesn't quite align with that belief you claim to have. After all, I've seen much evidence that supports the existence of your Softhearted Amazon trait."
"You've seen what, exactly? Me going easy against girls? That never actually happened."
"Did you not say that sometimes you go easy on female opponents during PE lessons?"
"Well, yeah, because it's usually that easy." Kai admitted. "Most of the girls there barely know how to play, so if I tryhard, then I'll just stomp everybody."
Really, the competitive level in girls' PE lessons was a joke. It felt like half the girls there didn't even care about competing at all.
And, even among the girls that did compete, Kai often felt like she was head and shoulders above the others. It was unclear whether she was naturally gifted or whether it was her competitiveness with boys that pushed her skill that high up. Either way, playing any ball game against girls during PE lessons was too much of a no-brainer for her.
As such, Kai only had two options in these situations. First option: go all-out and dominate the game. This usually made the girls complain about how much of a "tryhard" Kai was.
Second option: play in "chill mode" without trying too hard to destroy her opponents. Of course, she still made sure to perform well and lead her team to victory, but at least nobody complained anymore.
Most of the time, Kai picked the latter option, as uncharacteristic as it might've seemed.
"But, that's only in PE," Kai insisted. "In Mancers, I don't ever hold back."
"Is that so." Vincent clearly wasn't convinced. As the Arbiter of Talents, he was certain that he knew anything and everything about his teammates' special traits.
"In that case," Vincent said. "Allow me to pose you the following question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how salty do you consider yourself after failing to make any substantial pushes in Middle Lane?"
"Eh, like 5/10, I guess?" Kai shrugged. "I mean, I just didn't find any good opportunities to push in this particular game, but I'll definitely find some in the next one."
"There, I rest my case."
"Huh?" Kai cocked her head. "You proved what, exactly?"
"I shall let Chessmaster draw his own conclusions from this exchange."
"Hmm." Yuel thought long and hard about Kai's answer. Indeed, it wasn't too hard to spot the contradiction here. Basically, for some reason, Kai didn't sound nearly as competitive as she usually was.
Normally, Kai would rant to no end about failing to defeat her lane opponent. But, for some reason, that wasn't the case against Theorist. Kai simply waved off the whole thing by saying she "didn't get any good opportunities". This was rather uncanny.
[I didn't take Vincent that seriously on this point until now, but I'm starting to see what he meant.] Yuel thought. [It's not as if Kai "goes easy" on girls per se. It's more that she's less competitive against them.]
Perhaps, somewhere at the back of her mind, Kai didn't register female opponents as a real threat. It would be ironic, considering how much the girl herself hated it when others underestimate her based on her gender.
[Or, maybe I'm reading this whole thing backward.] Yuel thought. [Maybe it's just that losing to boys automatically triggers her and pushes her to be more competitive, whereas losing to girls just fails to recreate the same effect.]
In other words, it was a double-edged sword. Against males, the salt of losing pushed Kai to the edge. Sometimes it allowed her to outperform herself, but other times it also made her lose sight of herself.
Meanwhile, against females, none of that happened. Kai didn't get tilted from losing, but neither did she feel salty enough to push herself to the limit.
[Now I also understand why Vincent was able to bring this up in the first place.] Yuel thought. [He's usually all about finding players' strengths while completely missing all their weaknesses. So, I've always thought it's weird that he, of all people, would come up with this "Softhearted Amazon" trait, which sounded like a weakness.]
However, it turned out that this trait was a two-in-one deal. It had its fair share of negatives, but it also had some positives.
[So, where does that leave us?] Yuel knotted his brows.
Based on Vincent's evaluation, Kai will continue being chill in Mid so long as her opponent was Theorist. This meant Kai's performance will be stable and she won't ever go off the rails, but it also suggested she won't try too hard to bust through Theorist's turtling.
[So, I can't rely on her to build any momentum. In other words, it's up to Lars and me to get something going in Bot.]
Hopefully, with Nia back in commission, Stratus will be able to pick up the pace and create some good opportunities to attack. However, the way things stood right now, there was one more issue the team had to wrestle with.
[I've come to terms with the fact that Mid will probably remain at a standstill, but there's also Top to consider.] Yuel thought. [Over there, we were pretty much under the enemy's thumb, so we have to change that somehow. There IS one thing we can try, but...]
That'll be a big, experimental change. Perhaps, it was too big for Stratus to afford at this stage in the match...
If you're enjoying the story, please review it and vote for it. つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Join my discord for more Classmancers stuff: https://discord.gg/QCKYeBj
Based on Vincent's analysis, Kai wasn't very likely to play aggressively in Mid so long as her opponent was a fellow female player. That was unfortunate, but it still wasn't nearly as troublesome as the situation in Top.
In fact, Top was the very lane through which the enemy paved their path to victory. Challenger dominated the lane with his skillful aggression, and together with Winner they completely ripped the lane apart.
Therefore, if nothing changes in Top for the next game, then the same scenario will repeat itself again.
[As for why things turned out that way...] Yuel frowned. [This isn't going to be a pleasant topic to discuss.]
Of course, a big part of the blame lay with Luke and with his inability to properly gank the lane. But, the very fact the lane needed so much help was already a problem in its own right.
[I think Vincent can't handle Challenger, not when the guy is playing so aggressively.]
Vincent was a versatile player who could play offense, defense, and anything in-between. He always adjusted his approach based on the opponent and on Yuel's instructions. In that sense, he was a very dynamic soldier with a vast array of uses, but that versatility came with a cost.
To put it simply, Vincent was a jack of all trades but a master of none. His offense wasn't strong enough to bust through Theorist's defense, and his defense wasn't bulletproof enough to deflect Challenger's offense. In other words, Vincent's performance suffered greatly against extremists who were fully dedicated to either offense or defense.
[So, it might be a good idea to switch him with Ben.] Yuel pondered. [Ben is too defensive for his own good, but that's exactly what we need right now against Challenger.]
Stratus didn't have the option of fighting fire with fire in Top, so their next best option was to extinguish Challenger's flame with a strong defense. To that end, there was nobody better for the job than Ben, but…
[That'll be his debut game.] Yuel thought. [Not to mention, we're losing right now, so he'll probably feel extra pressure to help the team win. Will he be able to handle that?]
Ben was already lacking in the self-confidence department in general, so throwing him into this difficult situation sounded like a recipe for disaster. There was a very high chance he'll perform poorly, which will miss the whole point of subbing him in.
[On paper, this is an adequate answer to Challenger's offense, but I don't know if we should take a risk like that here.] Yuel frowned. [We have to win the next game, no matter what. This is our last chance to force the Korean player on the stage.]
If the Leopards win the next game, then they'll be at 3-1. At that point, they'll secure overall victory, so there won't be any need to sub in the Korean player. That's a scenario Yuel had to prevent, no matter what.
[I don't want to wait until the regionals to face that guy.] Yuel thought. [We have to see what he's made so we can start collecting data on him as soon as possible.]
"Dude, everything okay?" Lars asked. "You keep making this scary face as if the fate of the world is at stake or something."
"Everything is... not okay, honestly."
"Haha. Yep, we're in a tough spot, aren't we?" Lars nodded. "But, it gonna be okay! We just gotta win the next game and even out the score! Easiest thing ever, believe it!"
"Yeah, 'easy', right..." Yuel smiled wryly.
"Welp, I dunno what kinda complicated stuff you be thinking about. It gotta be some rocket science that I'll never understand. But, there's one thing even I know: you totally look on edge today."
"Do I?"
"Yeah, it's like you're super worried about something," Lars said. "And like, I dunno what's bothering you or how complicated it is, but I bet you're overthinking something as always, haha."
"In fact," Vincent interjected. "I've had the same impression this entire match. You appear more agitated than usual today, o wise Chessmaster."
"Am I?" Yuel didn't feel like he was any different than usual, but maybe the topic of the Korean player weighed on him more than he realized.
"Please, Chessmaster, do not forget that today's battlefield is naught but testing grounds for future battles," Vincent said. "What matters most is that we seriously clash with our opponents and learn valuable lessons along the way. Achieving victory is but a byproduct of our efforts. It's the journey that matters, not the end result."
"That's... right, actually." Something clicked inside Yuel's head thanks to these words.
On paper, nothing that Lars and Vincent said was new or revolutionary. These were all things that Yuel was perfectly aware of himself. Nonetheless, somewhere along the way, his priorities got muddled without him noticing.
[They're right, I was thinking too hard about winning.] Yuel realized. [Even though my main goal was to gain practical experience against the Korean player and not just win per se, I've become a little too obsessed with getting us there.]
Instead of focusing on gaining experience against the Leopard as a whole, Yuel was preoccupied with bringing the Korean player to the stage. As a result, at some point, he started thinking only about winning to make that happen.
[Sure, getting practical experience against the Korean player is very important, no doubt about it. But, there are many other things to be gained from today's scrimmage.]
The Korean player might be the strongest member of the Leopards, but the other members were no pushovers either. On the contrary, they had some of the best players this region had to offer. Therefore, every single game against them was a valuable experience in its own right.
With all of that in mind, the fact that Ben didn't have any prior experience with playing on the competitive stage wasn't a good reason to disregard him. On the contrary, this was a great opportunity to throw him into the heat of a difficult battle and beat the experience into him. After going through such an intense scrim, he'll be ready for anything that comes in the future.
"I suggest we sub Ben in," Yuel said.
"M-Me?" Ben jumped.
"Yes. I believe your defense is exactly what we need to fight off Challenger's aggression. Vincent, what do you think?"
"I wholeheartedly agree." Vincent nodded. "Truth be told, I was waiting to suggest this idea myself, but I'm glad you're the one who brought it up first."
"Why?"
"Because, by making this risky suggestion, it seems to me that you have reclaimed yourself," Vincent explained. "You're now once again the Chessmaster we know and love, the one who's willing to take risks even in the face of immense danger!"
"Is that so." Yuel smiled wryly. "Just to be clear, I'm suggesting this substitution to increase our chances of winning."
"But of course, that's a given." Vincent nodded. "Nonetheless, this is an idea that harbors many risks and unknowns, given Ben's inexperience with the competitive stage. As such, it requires taking a gamble that not just anybody would be willing to take."
"I think you're exaggerating, but okay." Yuel couldn't argue back because he really almost gave up on this idea because of the risk involved. "So, back on topic. Nobody has any no problems with this sub, right?"
"I wholeheartedly support this decision," Vincent proclaimed once again. "It's a tad embarrassing to admit, but it appears I'm incapable of stopping the raging force of nature that is AbsoluteChallenger. His offense is legendary tier."
"Yes, he was surprisingly strong," Yuel admitted. "In that game, it felt like he was stronger than we've ever seen him before. My conclusion is that he's an inconsistent player who has high highs and low lows, which make it difficult to ascertain his true skill level."
"And, I might have unveiled the reason for it!" Vincent announced. "It's something I've been keeping at a speculation level until now, but after the last game, it finally became a conviction! I fought the man face-to-face, so now I know for sure that he is… the Threat Overthrower!"
"Which means what, exactly?" Kai asked.
"To put it simply, his power level goes up and down based on the threat level that his opponents pose. His skill takes a nosedive through the ground against inferior foes, but it skyrockets past the solar system against strong competition! Just as his name implies, he is indeed the Absolute Challenger!"
"So," Kai started. "Are you saying he considered you a 'big threat'? Is that why he mopped you so hard?"
"Haha, I see the Amazon is as harsh as ever."
"Well, I'll be lying if I said I'm in a good mood. That game was a total flop," Kai said. "But, at least Mid and Bot stayed on even ground for the most part. It's only Top where we completely lost control, and I'm trying to understand why the hell that happened."
"Mhm, that's understandable." Vincent nodded.
"If you're trying to say that Challenger played 'better than usual' against you because he registered you as a 'threat', then sorry, but I'm not so sure I'm buying that just yet."
"Indeed, you shouldn't buy it," Vincent nodded. "That'd be a terrible purchase to make."
"Huh?"
"I'm afraid you are operating under a misconception there."
"Say what?"
"I did say Challenger outperformed himself because he sensed a threat," Vincent explained. "However, I never claimed that the threat in question was myself. The real threat that got his attention was… our team as a whole! Yes, that's right. The crushing defeat the Leopards suffered in Game 2 made Challenger register our entire team as one giant powerful foe!"
"Huh, I see. That makes more sense." Kai nodded. "So, the reason he played 'better than ever' was that we're the first team to actually stump the Leopards this year. Nice."
"Indeed, we are the pioneers in the field!" Vincent nodded repeatedly. "That outcome must've come as a shock for the Leopards, considering they cruised through the previous two scrims with little effort. Therefore, this unexpected development set off Challenger's alarms in a big way."
Vincent's hyperbolic explanation made everybody realize yet again just how much they shattered everybody's expectations here today. Stratus was supposed to be the dark horse of the region, yet right now they were posing an actual challenge to the regional champions. Yes, Stratus was so strong, that the Leopards had no choice but to register it as a top-level threat.
For most of the team, this realization alone was already enough to inspire them with tons of confidence. However, not all of them were satisfied with just that.
[That's the bare minimum we have to be able to do in order to drag the Korean player to the stage.] Yuel thought. [After that, the real hurdle will be to beat the Leopards in their final form.]
The goal was right in front of them, they were just one step away. Will they be able to seize victory in the upcoming game and finally force the phantom Korean player to appear on the stage!?
If you're enjoying the story, please review it and vote for it. つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Join my discord for more Classmancers stuff: https://discord.gg/QCKYeBj
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT