บท 607: The Pros and Cons of Maining

"Alright, I get the picture," Howard said. "Let's go with Serpah again."

"Thanks, Wardy~!" Ellen smiled from ear to ear. "I wuv you~!

"Yeah, yeah." Howard rolled his eyes. "But, no need to actually pick Seraph this early yet. First, I'll take Druid in preparation."

"Yes, that's for the best. Keep the surprise for the end~"

And so, Howard locked Druid. Then, after the second banning phase, he finally went for the Seraph pick.

"My, I wish I could see Lavender's expression right now~" Ellen smiled from ear to ear as she imagined the raw emotional torture she was putting her opponent through~

And indeed, this pick successfully delivered a mental blow to the enemy.

"Wait, are they for real...?" Karen raised an eyebrow. "There's no way that shit gonna fly. What the fuck?"

"Karen, language."

"But sis, look at these bastards!" Karen insisted. "They actually think they can get away with that late-game pick against my Impaler! And that's after we mopped them so hard in the previous game!"

"Do not let that provoke you," Fiona said. "Remember, their Bot duo excels at baits. This pick is likely an attempt to get a reaction out of you."

"Do you really think they'd go this far just to trigger me?"

"It is quite possible, yes," Fiona asserted. "From what I have observed, much of Athena's baits revolve around manipulating her opponent's thoughts. She makes you believe one thing, only to pull the rug from under you a moment later."

"Tch, what an annoying bitch."

"Language."

"What an annoying… eh, motherfucker!"

"... I have a feeling you need to work on that vulgar vocabulary of yours, young lady."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Karen shrugged. "So anyway, you're saying they're just trying to trigger me, right?"

"Yes, quite likely. Therefore, make sure you do not take this bait."

"Got it, sis!" Karen nodded. "I'mma show them they picked a late-game class in the wrong damn lane!"

"Just make sure you do not overextend to prove that point."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

I really hope you do. Fiona sighed on the side. Even after everything I have said, I have the feeling Karen will get carried at one point or another. It seems pretty much inevitable.

Fiona's advice should have minimized the influence of the bait but the damage was already done. Karen felt like her opponents were underestimating her, so her pride would get in the way of her performance.

I will have to keep a close eye on Bot in this game. Fiona thought. Despite how confident Karen is about reruning this matchup, I suspect the enemy duo will stump her.

Evidently, Athena was also very confident about this pick. A hyper late-game class was supposed to fear an early-game pick like Impaler, but Athena apparently had no problem with this volatile matchup.

But, ultimately, this is good for us. Fiona thought. If we both play mid-game classes, the game is very likely to get dragged into the end game, which is StormBlitz's playfield.

Just like in chess, different players excelled at different phases of the game in Classmancers. StormBlitz was a team fully geared toward the late-game, therefore facing them there was akin to playing on their turf.

It leaves us no choice but to wrap things up by mid-game. Fiona asserted. On paper, that makes it sound like picking an aggressive early-game class is optimal. Alas, things are not so simple in practice.

In the same way an early-game class could win fast, it could also crash and burn just as fast. Failure to get an early lead was bound to turn Karen's class into the weakest link of the team for the rest of the game. At that point, victory would be completely out of reach.

This arrangement worked out alright in the last game because I built plenty of momentum for us, but that will not necessarily happen again. Fiona reasoned. I am sure they will fortify their defenses for this round. In fact, they had already begun.

The enemy banned Lionfolk and Werewolf right off the gate, the two classes Fiona used the most on the competitive stage. StormBlitz clearly recognized the threat of Fiona's jungling and sought to seal it thoroughly.

Unfortunately, they happen to be my best classes. Fiona frowned. I will struggle to build momentum with any other class I pick.

Of course, Fiona knew all too well how important it was to master many different classes in this game. Not only did it protect her from enemy bans, but it also gave her more flexibility in terms of team compositions and counter picks.

Alas, she did not have enough time to extensively practice more than two classes thus far. She had less than a year of Classmancers experience under her belt, which was not enough to properly master many different classes.

Of course, she dabbled in as many classes as she could to be able to play them on a passable level at least, but that was a far cry from truly mastering them. In fact, it was probably arrogant for a greenhorn like her to claim she "mastered" any classes at all, given how little playtime she had.

Most of our opponents have way over two years of experience. Compared to that, I am nothing more than a beginner.

As such, to be able to compete against these giants, Fiona had no choice but to focus on a couple of specific classes at first. Apparently, people called that "maining" the classes.

So far, this concentrated approach has served her well. It allowed her to put up a fight against both Leopards and StormBlitz, the very pinnacle of this region. Alas, this "maining" method had strict limits and Fiona had just run into them.

With both her main classes banned, she now had to rely on inferior alternatives. There were many options to choose from, but none of them would be on par with her Lionfolk and Werewolf.

I must expand my roster to at least four classes as soon as possible. But until then, I will have to get through today's scrimmage with the tools I have available.

Once Lionfolk and Werewolf were off the table, there were suddenly countless classes for Fiona to choose from. All of them paled compared to her main classes, but they were still usable and had their fair share of advantages and disadvantages. From that big array of options, Fiona had to select one class that best fit the current situation.

Perhaps I should have gone for Viking earlier in the drafting phase. Fiona regretted. All things considered, I believe it is one of the best picks for me in this situation.

Like Lionfolk and Werewolf, Viking was also a bursier who could efficiently secure kills. It was, in fact, the next class that Fiona was planning to main.

Alas, CleanupHitter already took the class earlier. It was unfortunate Viking doubled as a Top Laner, making more people pick it. This was a major consideration for not maining the class right away even though it was more meta than Werewolf.

After Viking, I do not believe there are any other options that stand out right now. Fiona skimmed the list of classes tagged as "Jungler". There are some good assassins here but I rather avoid those if possible.

Though she practiced how to play assassin classes, they were not quite to her liking overall. These classes had great potential for scoring kills and building up momentum, but they were very squishy and vulnerable.

No matter how far ahead an assassin got, there was always a chance to turn the tables on them with a surprise attack. All the enemy needed was one swift strike to kill the assassin before they had the chance to execute their game plan.

On the other hand, bruisers generally had a harder time building momentum. But, once they had it, they were almost unstoppable. They scaled strongly in both attack and defense, turning into a one-man army when they were ahead. Therefore, Fiona gravitated toward bruisers a lot more despite the fact assassins were also very meta.

If I filter the list down to just bruisers, then the selection of meta options becomes very thin. Fiona frowned. I suppose Vampire will have to do.

The class was a bit too defensive for the current matchup, but its ult could secure kills very well when used correctly. Admittedly, Fiona did not have the mastery to make this class truly shine, so she will have to make up for that lack of experience with solid decision-making and shot calls.

With this pick decided, only Andria's class remained...