"C'mon! One more!" Ignis waved her controller and grin beamed on her face. It made her look like a brat who wanted to mess around. Even though Yuel lost terribly in the previous game, it was hard to hate Ignis's attitude. She was really just a Classmancers geek. "One more!"
"May I?" Yuel turned to Howard, who held the most authority in this house right now because Ignis was totally hammered.
"You got no choice," Howard's lips curved into a smirk. "Once you start playing her when she's drunk, you better be prepared to play her own until she knocks herself out."
"Yep~" Ellen added with an impish smile. "Be ready to stay here aaaaaall night~"
"That'll be a problem," Yuel had no plans staying over. "But I'm not in a hurry so I'll play as many matches I can."
"Good, good!" Ignis nodded repeatedly and exaggeratedly, making it feel like her head will fly off her neck at any moment. "That's the spirit, Chesskid!"
"The name's Yuel."
"Nooooope. You're Chesskid. Real pros use their nicks," Ignis puffed her cheeks, leaving no room for argument. Thinking about it, Yuel also referred to her as "Ignis" even though that's her IGN and not her real name. What was even her real name? That kind of information wasn't always trivial to find online. Pro players were really best known by their nicknames and not any real name. But, even so...
"It's not Chesskid," Yuel argued. "It's Chessmaster."
"Pft, yeah, right! You're ten years too young to have such a coky name!"
[Actually, this name was your brother's idea...]
"So, Chesskid suits ya just *hic* right now."
"Is that so," Yuel made a face. He felt obligated to shoot something back. "I didn't see you calling Howard and Ellen by their nicknames."
"Weeeeell," Ignis shrugged. "Wardy is Wardy and Elly is Elly."
[You're making so much sense that you're blowing my mind!]
"She just hates her real name," Ellen whispered. "So, she wants everybody to call her Ignis."
"What's her real name?" Yuel asked in a whisper.
"It's Heather."
"Don't see a problem with it," Yuel shrugged.
"Nuuuuuu!" Ignis roared out of the blue. "I'm nooooo Heather! I'm Ignis! IG-NIS! Drill that into yo *hic*!" She poked Yuel's temple as if to transmit this data into his brain.
"Fine," Yuel conceded. "You're Ignis."
"Damn right, kiddo! All hail Ignis!" She threw both hands in the air to celebrate.
[What are you, five?] Yuel sighed. "I'll call you Ignis, so you call me Chessmaster."
"Nope."
[Gah! This woman! I swear...!]
"If you don't like it, then c'mon! Try and *hic* me, Chesskid."
"You're on," Yuel clenched the controller. Despite the huge skill gap between them, he'll do it. He'll beat Ignis, somehow. There had to be a way.
"That's the spirit." Ignis grinned. "You got trashed real bad last round, so I'mma boost you to Lv.10. Or, you need more?"
"Five levels is fine," Honestly, considering the outcome of their previous game, it's possibly Yuel needed more than that to fight Ignis on equal footing. But, Howard claimed he defeated Ignis consistently with a handicap of five levels, so Yuel had to try it too.
"Come at me then." Ignis tinkered with the settings and instantly locked her pick. Yuel didn't hear any sounds of scrolling across the selection screen, so Ignis obviously picked Warrior again.
"Um, I know you picked Warrior," Yuel said. Despite the suboptimal conditions of this match, he still wanted to keep things fair.
"Yeah," Ignis admitted. "Whoever wins gotta stay with that class for next round."
"Huh? Why?"
"House rules!"
"I see," In that case, knowing that Ignis picked Warrior wasn't cheating. On the contrary, it's information Yuel was expected to abuse according to these "house rules". An interesting rule, which was undoubtedly created to give the loser a chance to get revenge. After all, knowing the enemy's pick ahead of time was huge in 1v1.
Not to make excuses or anything, but Yuel lost so badly in part because Ignis saw his Knight pick and picked Warrior in response. Yuel didn't think of it as a counter pick at the time, but it's clear Ignis considered it as such. At least, she must have played the Warrior vs. Knight matchup enough times to know how to overwhelm Knight as a Warrior.
Now, it's Yuel's turn to counter-pick. This was a chance. With a five-levels handicap, information about Ignis's pick and some experience playing against her Warrior - Yuel will come up with a much better game plan this time. The skill gap between them was undeniably huge, but he should be able to reduce it with proper planning and preparation.
Now then, how should he go about countering Warrior in 1v1? Considering Ignis's overwhelming strength, Yuel needed a class that'd enable him to play more defensively this time around. Going head-to-head with Ignis will spell death to him, he barely even touched her in their previous fights.
Therefore, a long-ranged class was a good starting point. Preferably, one with consistent DPS rather than burst, because Ignis always knew how to dodge at all the right moments. In other words, Yuel needed a marksman. Bonus points if it has some good escape tools to help thwarting Ignis's offense.
Elf seemed like a good option. It could snipe from afar and could get out of sticky situations with Elven Leap. It was a popular defensive Carry pick for a reason.
[Maybe this is how Howard adopted that defensive style of his.] Yuel wondered. If Howard plays against somebody as strong as Ignis every day, it's only natural to develop a defensive mentality and get that much better at defending. Even Yuel, who favored offensive tactics, resorted to thinking about defense. Ignis was such an overwhelming opponent that he couldn't even imagine himself going on the offensive and winning against her, not in a million years.
But, was that really good enough? Unless Yuel scores at least one kill, he'll never win the 1v1. Even with his advantage of five levels, Elf's attacks won't be a threat unless Yuel actually lands them. Unfortunately, based on past experience, landing shots on Ignis was a huge challenge in its own right. Yuel wasn't some sharpshooter like Lars, so he couldn't reliably snipe an elusive enemy like Ignis.
The only way he had to cheat around this issue was with the Elf's ult, Nature's Embrace, which rooted an enemy in place. Ignis will dodge any obvious attempts to root her, but Yuel was confident about landing at least one successful hit, considering the ult's long distance and fast casting speed.
But, what's next? Suppose Yuel roots Ignis and turns her into an easy target for his shots, will he be able to kill her before the root effect runs out? A difficult calculation. It will greatly depend on what items they start with.
Yuel will most likely be able to kill her if he buys a crit item and scores some critical hits while Ignis is rooted. But, that like rolling dice. Critical hits will be very inconsistent with just one crit item.
Not to mention, this whole play will fall through spot if Ignis buys Cleanse to negate the root of Nature's Embrace. This wasn't good enough. Yuel needed something more decisive.
The general idea of pining Ignis in place and shooting her down was good, it's probably the only way he could ever hope to kill her. But, to actually kill her tanky Warrior in one play, he needed a marksman who could pack a punch. He needed more DPS, or at least a way to temporarily boost his DPS to threatening levels. A defensive class like Elf didn't cut it.
So, what marksmen could pin Ignis in place and deal a lot of damage... Ranger? That's an interesting idea to explore. If he can-
"C'mon!" Ignis pouted. "*hic* something already! Let's play!"
"Just a second." Yuel almost reached the solution he was looking for. He only had to determine whether Ranger was good enough to-
"Diiiing dooong! A second passed."
"Fine..." Yuel sighed and picked Ranger. He no choice but to trust his rough estimation and make this work. Somehow.
During the loading screen, Yuel kept thinking about various scenarios and how he'll checkmate Ignis. As he went over the most common variations of how 1v1's early game usually played out, he became more and more confident about this pick. If his calculations were right, Ranger had a very real chance of checkmating Ignis!
For the first item, Yuel built Morning Star. It provided attack power and crit chance, but both in small doses. The crit chance of the next attack increased every time he failed to score a crit, but that's all this item had to offer. It was on the cheaper side, but Yuel had a reason to do things this way.
With the leftover gold he had, he purchased Blink. If push comes to shove, he'll have to rely on blinking for the checkmate he had in mind. Whether he'll be able to correctly blink amidst the unfolding situation, that remained to be seen.
With Morning Star and Blink, he was ready to leave the base. The next decision he had to make was regarding the jungle camp to start from. Last game, he attempted to invade Ignis's blue camp to score an early kill on her, but she dodged him and took the red buff instead.
Will Ignis go for the Ogre Camp again? Perhaps. But, Yuel really wanted to snatch that power buff for himself. Ranger didn't need much cooldown reduction or MP5 for 1v1, but power was of utmost importance. Yuel had to able to deliver as much damage as possible to create the checkmate he envisioned.
Therefore, he headed for the Ogre Camp. If he finds Ignis there, he can try killing her on the spot. If not, he'll simply take the buff.
"Hehe," Ignis chuckled. "Thought I'll be going for red again? Too bad! I'm doing blue this time!"
"What? Impossible. Can't believe it." Yuel rolled his eyes.
"I totally fooled ya, Chesskid! Haha."
"Oh no. I've been outsmarted."
"Totally! I'm just the *hic*!"
[As long as you're enjoying herself.] Yuel shrugged. It's better for him if Ignis doesn't suspect a thing and keeps underestimating him.
Yuel defeated the ogres and took the red buff, while Ignis beat the wraiths and took the blue buff. They both arrived in the lane at the same time.
Yet again, Ignis started with Spiked Buckler. In other words, she most likely bought a utility skill as well. Blink again? Or, maybe Cleanse? It's probably Cleanse to counter Ranger's CC. Yuel already prepared himself for this worst-case scenario.
With all his planning and preparation, how will he fare against Ignis this time around? Will he be able to force her into the checkmate he envisioned? Now, the real fight was about to begin!
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The minions from both sides clashed in the center of the lane. This served as the starting gun to inform that the battle began for real.
The first move in Yuel's envisioned checkmate was to stun Ignis with Beartrap. For that reason, he leveled up Beartrap to Lv.4. This allowed him to place up to four traps at the same time. It was normally a waste to level up Beartrap this much, but he had a five-levels lead, so he traded some of his extra SP for increasing the chances of trapping Ignis.
Yuel scattered all four traps around the clashing swordsmen. Warrior was melee, so Ignis had to approach the minions if she wanted to strike. That'll prove difficult with so many traps lying in wait.
"Tch," Ignis clicked her tongue. "What a *hic* you are, Chesskid."
"Maybe it's because I'm actually a Chessmaster."
"Naaaaaah." Ignis maneuvered around the traps and focused on his bowmen instead. A ballsy move that played around Yuel's plan, but how was Ignis going to play from this dangerous position? She placed herself right within Yuel's attack range.
[Well, I'm not complaining.] Yuel shrugged and focused his attacks on Ignis. If she stays this close, it'll be easy snipes for him.
"Too sloooow!" Ignis sidestepped the first shot. And the second shot. She continued striking Yuel's minions while sidestepping all his shots! What was this inhuman situational awareness!? And how did she sidestep so perfectly every time!? Warrior sidestepping speed OP, pls nerf.
But, there's no way Ignis could keep this up forever. Yuel kept shooting and shooting. Eventually, Ignis had to slip. It just had to happen, or else she's officially a demon.
Ignis dodged the third shot. And the fourth shot. However, the fifth was about to- PARRIED.
"Wha!?" Yuel jumped. "You can parry too!?"
"Haha! Hichaha!" Ignis burst into laughter so strong even hiccups failed to interrupt her. "Of course I can parry, kid. That's basic shit right there. If you keep shooting easy shots like that, I'mma send them flying!"
["Easy shots", huh.] Yuel frowned. He wasn't exactly the best sniper in the world, so he relied on stability to increase his aim. Once he gets his target marked, he always tries to steadily keep shooting from the same position and angle. Such shots had the highest chance of hitting.
Unfortunately, such shots were the easiest to predict. And, predictable shots were the easiest to parry.
[It's no good from this distance. I can't hit her.] Yuel pursed his lips and slowly advanced forward, reducing the gap between him and Ignis. The closer he gets, the better chance he'll have to hit her. But, at the same time, it'll be easier for Ignis to charge at him with Fearless Charge and destroy him in melee combat.
As a countermeasure, he placed a Beartrap between them. If Ignis charges at him, she'll run straight into the trap and get stunned. She had a way to play around that trap, but Yuel had a way to outplay the play that played around the trap. Outplay-ception.
A shot. And another shot. And another. All misses. Each of Yuel's bolts was either sidestepped or parried. He couldn't land a single hit.
[Steady shots just won't cut it.] This was the time for some experimentation. How should he go about making his shots connect?
Ignis claimed the shots were too easy to predict. In that case, should he shoot quickly and wildly? After getting this close to her, even his terrible accuracy must have gone up a little. Maybe he could actually land a quick shot or two. Maybe. Possibly.
Either way, Yuel had nothing to lose. He fired a slow steady shot first, which Ignis dodged without a problem. Right after, he drastically changed his aim and fired toward Ignis's legs! A fast and totally uncalculated shot which relied purely on his coordination.
"Ah!" Ignis exclaimed. Good, it caught her off guard. She moved backward in an attempt to dodge, but she didn't react in time. It was effective! ... except, the shot ended up hitting the ground. 10/10 accuracy. Sigh.
"Nice shot, kid," Ignis laughed. "Too bad you're facing the best *hic* in the world! I mean, the best [Grandmaster] in the world!"
[Yes, the best Hiccuping Grandmaster in the world.] Yuel shook his head. He missed the wild shot, but it successfully surprised Ignis. It was close. If he keeps trying it, eventually it should connect. There was still time before the minion waves eliminate each other, so Yuel turned it into target practice time.
[I better add this type of practice into my regular training]. Yuel rarely ever played marksmen, so normally it wasn't a big deal if he failed to land a shot or two. But, that didn't mean he should aspire to be the kind of player who can't land shots. If Ignis is any indication of what the pro scene held, then Yuel's slow and steady shots will be rendered ineffective on the pro level. Even a ranged Support mage had to be able to confirm shots, especially since some of them had effects which were tied to their basic attacks, like Cryomancer's Frostbite.
For the first shot, Yuel took his time to aim. The opening shot better be accurate, or else Ignis would ignore the whole assault. As expected, Ignis dodged that shot.
[Good, and now...!] Yuel tilted his crossbow upwards and fired.
"Whoa!" Ignis exclaimed as the bolt went toward her face... and passed over her head. "Scaaaaary."
[Tch, so close.] Just a couple centimeters lower and it would have hit. Yuel was getting closer and closer. He tried that routine again. And again. And again. Every time, his bolt almost grazed Ignis. [Almost! So close...!]
With every shot, Yuel got a better feel for the bolt's trajectory and for Ignis's sidesteps. If he can predict how she'll dodge his first shot, he'll have a much easier time landing his quick follow up shot.
Unfortunately, Ignis did a good job mixing up her evasive maneuvers. A sidestep to the left, a parry, another sidestep to the left, another left, a parry, a right sidestep, right again, parry, left, right, parry. Ugh, it's too random! She's like a stumbling drunkard who tilted from side to side.
[Wait, maybe it's really because she's drunk?] Yuel hasn't seen yet how being drunk affected Ignis's performance. Aside from her rowdy behavior and endless hiccups, there weren't any signs that her performance was hampered by alcohol in any way.
But, perhaps her random movements were a result of that? She wasn't thinking straight, so she dodged randomly instead of following some pattern. There's a chance this line of thinking was a huge stretch and Ignis was just that good at masking her patterns; she's a pro, after all.
However, Yuel had nothing to lose by testing it. Assuming her movements were truly random and lacked coherent thinking, there was a great way to exploit it. In fact, it might be exactly what he needed for his checkmate.
[If she reacts mostly by instinct, then she can't always be aware of everything in her surrounding. If I just lead her with me attacks...] It won't be easy, but it's worth a shot.
Yuel took a few steps forward. His wild shots should have an even higher chance of hitting now, so Ignis will have to work harder to dodge them. Like before, he placed a Beartrap to kill any ideas like being rushed with Fearless Charge. Or rather, the trap was there to ensure that if Ignis decides to rush him - he'll checkmate her.
With preparations finished, Yuel began another target practice routine. A steady shot, followed by a wild shot. However, this time he had an ulterior motive. He fired faster and aimed toward Ignis's left side, to make it more appealing for her to dodges to the right side. This worked well. Ignis instinctively dodged to the right almost every time. Good.
This trick gradually pushed her closer to the side of the lane. More specifically, pushed her toward an area where Yuel planted two bear traps. Ignis was now just a couple steps away from being trapped. She only had to move a little more to the right...!
If Ignis were in full form, she'd probably keep tabs on all of Yuel's traps. But, right now, she was drunk and had her hands full with dodging Yuel's wild shots. Her judgment should be impaired. Even if she's aware of the traps, there's a chance their exact positions will slip her mind while she dodges one bolt after another.
Believing in that possibility, Yuel continued shooting without rest. It was no easy feat to lead Ignis toward the traps because her drunk dodges were all over the place. There was no way to predict how exactly she'd react to every shot.
But still, many of her responses made some sense. When Yuel fired toward her left side, she often dodged to the right. When he fired toward her legs, she usually backstepped. Shot by shot, Yuel led her toward the trap.
After countless shots, by the time the minion waves already finished clashing, Ignis was just one step away from a trap. Just a little more! She was right there! Just a little!
Yuel fired again, aiming toward her shoulder. Or rather, he fired the bolt and just prayed it'd fly toward that general area. A professional sharpshooter, by the way.
Miraculously, the bolt flew exactly where Yuel wanted it! It'll pierce through Ignis's shoulder if she doesn't move! Probably. At least, it was going to be too close for her to ignore.
CLACK. The sound of metal shutting. Finally, Ignis did it. She stepped on the trap and got herself stunned!
Yuel dashed forward to get Ignis within the range of his Wolf Companion. As soon as she gets out of the stun, he'll pin her down with the wolf to extend her immobility. In that short period of time, he should be able to barrage her to death thanks to his ult. It'll be a checkmate, one of the easiest variations he came up with.
In case something goes wrong, Yuel first placed a Beartrap in front of him. Then, he activated his ult. "THE HUNT IS-" his Ranger began t shout.
"Nope!" Ignis reacted as soon as Yuel started casting the ult. No, she probably reacted even earlier. She knew exactly what Yuel was going for. It was a typical Ranger play, but also the best one he had available.
Ignis activated Cleanse to remove her stun and charged at Yuel with Fearless Charge. She was going to exploit the brief moment it took to activate Ranger's ult to get in Yuel's face and tear him apart!
Even though Yuel set up a trap between them ahead of time, it was rendered useless. On top of removing all CC, Cleanse also granted Ignis a temporary CC-immunity. She passed over the trap, but it didn't stun her. Her charge wasn't slowed down in the slightest!
Countering her with the wolf will be equally pointless. No CC could hold her down right now. Ignis was going to get in Yuel's face and rend him asunder with Swordwhirl. She'll become CC-immune while spinning, so his traps and wolf will be useless yet again.
If Yuel stays and fights, will he be able to shoot Ignis down before Swordwhirl kills him? He had an advantage of five levels and "The Hunt is On" was going to greatly amplify his damage against Ignis. So, he should be able to put on a decent fight.
However, it would be an extremely difficult fight due to Swordwhirl's high damage and defense reduction. Yuel would out-DPS Ignis if he were to land a few lucky crits, but with just Morning Star in his build that's not going to happen.
Thus, that'd be a futile struggle. Ignis was one step ahead of him yet again! She was going to own this 1v1! Hopefully, that's what she thought.
There were many details and calculations involved in this sequence of plays, way more than Yuel could possibly handle on the spot. Thankfully, he has already analyzed this scenario ahead of time. Ignis buying Cleanse, using it to negate a trap and relying on its CC-immunity to charge at him - he already went over this set of moves. It was an effective counter to Ranger and something Yuel would have considered doing himself in her shoes.
Therefore, Yuel came prepared. He started the game with a cheap item like Morning Star to leave enough gold for Blink. And, since he has already played out this scenario in his head, he responded without wasting any time.
As soon as Ignis got close and began spinning her blade - Yuel blinked away! That's it, checkmate! Yuel was outside the range of Swordwhirl and his ult was on, granting him a huge damage boost. Ignis was moving slower while spinning, so she could neither chase him nor dodge his shots. Yuel had the high ground in every regard.
"No way!" Ignis exclaimed. She must've understood this was the end. "You little whippersnapper...!"
[Just don't mess up now!] Yuel's moved the mouse with a trembling hand. Fire! Unlike before, the bolt connected with ease. No matter how predictable his shots were or how good Ignis was at dodging, she couldn't dodge while spinning around. This one bolt instantly eliminated 15% of her HP. With such a big level advantage, he needed at most 6 more hits to seal the deal. It was almost settled!
"Think you won, huh?" Ignis barked. "No way I gonna let ya!" She canceled Swordwhirl to regain her mobility, but it did little to help her at this point. Without Swordwhirl, she was no longer CC-immune. Yuel has been waiting for this moment!
Right as Ignis's spinning slowed down, Yuel activated Wolf Companion. The wolf leaped on Ignis and pinned her to the ground as soon as she stopped lost her CC-immunity. She didn't even get a chance to try to roll away.
It was over. Ignis's Cleanse was already spent on Beartrap, so she had no way to get out of this stun. Yuel just had to land a few easy shots-
"Hey, over here!" Ignis waved her arms exaggeratedly, blocking some of Yuel's view. "Look! The house is on fire! We gotta run! ... and what's that over there!? A UFO!? Aliens are invading earth, kid!"
[Tell them I said hi.] Yuel moved aside to dodge Ignis's arms and finished the job.
『You have killed an enemy!』
Yuel did it. He actually did it! He beat the 1v1 Grandmaster! It's was only made possible by the advantage of five levels and because Ignis underestimated him a little, but a win was a win! Yuel flawlessly calculated his way to the victory!
Yuel normally disliked 1v1 because it was a mode for the mechanically gifted, but this variation with a handicap was actually quite fun. It allowed him to counter the enemy's superior skill with a combination of stats and tactics, which turned it into a much fairer.
"Nuuuuuuu!" Ignis kicked like an angry toddler. "You were just lucky! I went easy on you. Don't think you can really *hic* the best Grandmaster in the world!"
[More like, the brattiest Grandmaster in the world.] Yuel shook his head and concentrated on the game. His objective was clear: take advantage of Ignis's death and push all the way into her base! He was going to win this match!
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