Everybody from Yuel’s team returo the puter room. It was time for the final game of the day.

  Everybody took a long break, so they should’ve returned refreshed... or so Yuel hoped. Instead, everybody looked even worse than before.

  Roi wore a stern expression and avoided eye tact. Dan was deep in thought about something. And Julia? Oh boy, she pierced Yuel with one of the fiercest gres ever. It’s like she wao stab him to death about a million times, burn his body and flush the remains dowoilet. Gulp.

  Did she figure it out? That was the most likely expnation. Julia must have realized she was used as bait in that st team fight and now she was mad. Like, really, really, REALLY mad.

  To be fair, that sacrifice stunt by Yuel wasly pretty, especially since he kept it under s. However, he couldn’t e up with aer py at the time and Julia was definitely going tue against it. There was no time tue about that py, so Yuel pushed it through no matter what it took.

  Julia was a det pyer, but she underperformed in that game. Therefore, using her a bait was more valuable in that situation than keeping her alive for the team fight. That's all there was to it, but good luck expining that to Julia...

  Should I say something? No, I’m not even sure that's what she's mad about. After all, she's always mad for whatever reason. Yuel decided to keep quiet. There was no telling whether Julia really figured this out or there was some other random reason for her intered. It always felt like it's Julia's purpose in life was to search for reasons to hate on Yuel, so...

  I’ll just pretend I didn't see anything. Yuel shook his head, took a deep breath and spoke to everybody. “I've been going over our options for the game. It doesn’t seem like our early game offense will work anymore, so I suggest we extend our power curve to not lose by default when we lose the early game.”

  “That's how it should've been from the start,” Roi said. “Betting everything on the early game is way too risky. It's like putting all ys in one basket, man.”

  “Yes,” Yuel admitted. “As it stands, we ’t pull off this approach against Howard’s defense.”

  As frustrating as it was to accept, this team simply didn’t have enough time to practice. Howard has been using his defensive pystyle with the other members all the time, whereas Yuel’s hyper-aggressive early-game position was a neroach he came up with for this specific match. If they had a couple of months to prepare for this match, things would have been totally different.

  Unfortunately, the situation was what it was. A single week of training wasn’t enough for the team to master this pystyle.

  “So,” Roi started. “I piight or whatever this game, right? You promised you'll let me pick whatever I want if your idea doesn't work.”

  “Sure, as long as it's not an early-game css.” Yuel wasn’t sure how he felt about that remark, though. During the week, Roi said something along the lines of “Let me pick what I want if your Dark Knight p work out.” Yuel thought it was a joke, but apparently not. Seems like he really hated the Dark Knight idea that much, huh.

  But alright, fine. Dark Knight and the whole early hyper-aggression was an idea Yuel insisted on and it failed, so he had to give it up and to cooperate with the team to e up with a nen. Roi wouldn't piything dumb, so this should be fine. In the worst case, Yuel would have to raise an obje. As it stood, Knight was a great pid they should be able to get it for sure.

  “Instead of trating on attag,” Yuel expined. “We'll py the early game more defensively.”

  “Wha-!?” Julia excimed.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No, it's just...” Julia shifted her eyes away. “Nevermind. Just thought it's weird.”

  “This approach should actually py to your strengths better,” Yuel expined. “You stick defehe whole game and it'll be fine.”

  “Sure,” Julia rolled her eyes. “Because being a defensive pyer is all I'm good at, right? Other than that, I'm only good for... Tevermind.”

  Somebody is sure in a bad mood, but I don’t have the time or skill to appease her. Sigh. Yuel shook his head a on with his expnation. As long as Julia doesn't perform poorly, it'll be good enough. Lars, Dan, and Roi should have more enough strength to carry this team. Yuel just had to lead them effectively.

  “Lars will be the pilr of our offense,” Yuel tinued. “The idea is to have him pick Seraph.”

  “Whew, daring,” Dan whistled. “Going all in, huh.”

  “Of course,” Yuel nodded. “We have to win this game, no matter what.”

  “No matter what, huh.” Dan smiled wryly. It was hard to tell what was on his mind, so Yuel didn't linger on it.

  “The main priority is to not fall behind in the early game. After that, we’ll start gaining trol during the mid/te game.”

  “So, a standard defense pn, right?” Roi firmed.

  “Yes, essentially.” Yuel nodded. For Roi and Dan, this must have been the arrahey were most used to py with. After all, they were members on Howard’s first string, so their experieh defensive game pns will py a big role this game. In fact, without that factor, Yuel wouldn’t have had any hopes for this pn in the first pce. The fate of the game was quite literally riding on Roi and Dan's experience.

  At around the same time, the other team was ing up its preparations as well.

  “We stick to the same game pn,” Howard expined. “Greg, keep stalling Roi. Tai, cooperate with Ellen to score kills on Lars and keep ganking. As fil,” Howard locked his eyes with Gilbert's for a moment, then tinued. “Keep trolling Mid. You've been doing a great job against Julia so far.”

  “Sure...” Gilbert responded half-heartedly, in an almost questioning tone. Is that all he got to say?

  “There's o say anything else, right?” Howard respoo Gilbert's questioning eyes. “You know where you messed up and why you did. I trust you're smart enough to work this out yourself.”

  “Got it,” Gilbert nodded. His uain expression ainted with determination again. Good, that's how it gotta be.

  Maybe I pressured him too hard before the match. Hoohat one rush move Gilbert did during the st team fight was a result of desperately wanting to score a kill on Julia. Why? Probably because Howard said that Gilbert’s starter position was on the lihis match.

  Howard’s statement must have pressured the Gilbert int his best to overwhelm Julia and prove he was the superior Mid Laner beyond a shadow of a doubt. That led to some riskier pys than usual.

  Throughout most of the match, Gilbert pyed mgressively than usual, but he has been doing a solid job of pushing Mid without ht overextending. However, eventually, this bloodthirsty mentality got the best of him and he fell for Yuel's bait during the st team fight. That one mistake almost cost them the game.

  Howard could still stop this charade and tell Gilbert there was o worry about the first string. Based on Julia's performaoday, she wasn’t ready for the first string in any shape or form. Her defense was airtight but it came at the expense of spending too much gold and she focused on too hard, to the point she always failed to seize the initiative. Ellen insisted that this wasn't Julia's “full strength”, but so far it was hard to believe that Julia was capable of anything mind-blowing that'd make up for her current shabby performance.

  Thus, Julia had no ce of getting into the first string at the moment. Howard could simply annouhat and relieve some of Gilbert’s stress, but he didn't do it. A little bit of pressure was healthy and it served as good simution for the tour py. As a first-string pyer, Gilbert will be put through many matches at the regionals which will be way more stressful than this. So, this was a good opportunity to make him get used to pying under pressure. Also, it was a good way for Howard to gauge how well Gilbert performed under pressure.

  I don’t wanna believe Gil got any problems with pressure, but... Howard had to examihis carefully after Gilbert’s big mispy in the previous game. If Gilbert had some mental weakness like that, Howard will have to work on it during the uping year.

  After Howard finished going over the game pn, the pyers assumed their positions in front of the puters. In just a mihe third and st game of the day will begin. It will decide who’ll reach the top and who’ll rot in the sed string.

  “I ran into Roi and Dan,” Howard whispered to Ellen. “They looked flicted, just like I thought. They probably won't perform well in this match either... hey, you listening?”

  “Huh? Oh,” Ellen shook her head as if she just woke up. “Ah, yeah. That's great.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “No, I just...” Elleed her eyes.

  “What is it? Tell me.”

  “You really wanna know? My, Wardy you care so much about me~”

  “I just wanna make sure you won't drag us down in the game.”

  “Boo, meanie,” Ellen pouted. “Well, the thing is, I ran into July and... said something I probably shouldn't have.”

  “Which is?”

  “I mentioned how she did a great job when she pyed the bait i team fight. I really meant it as a pliment, but I think she didn't even realize she was used as bait...”

  “You think Yuel pulled a fast one on her? Wouldn't be surprised, sidering how rocky their retionship seems to be. I'm not sure what I would have done in his shoes, to be ho.”

  “July looked shocked when she learned she was a bait,” Ellen twisted her lips. “I wonder if she's still hung up on it. Maybe I should go apologize-”

  “You sit down,” Houlled Ellen back to the chair. “We got an important match to win here.”

  “Yeah, but I feel like I've done something terrible.”

  “Just accept that you're a natural-born terrible person.”

  “Hmph, what's that supposed to mean?” Ellen scowled.

  “Jokes aside, what's done is done. Besides, this match is like an exam. If that much is enough to throw Julia off her game, then she doesn’t have the mental fortitude to be a petitive pyer yet, simple as that. Psychological attacks are part of the game, you should know that better than anybody. Since when you have a problem using them?”

  “If it was about any other oppo, I'd say anything to crush their spirits and ruin their lives,” Ellen said something pretty messed up with a smile on her face. “But, enemies or not, I didn't want to bully July like that.”

  “It'll be alright,” Howard said. “It's not like testing Julia is an important part of this matyway. She'll get her ces iure, maybe even during this year. Right now, the goal is to beat Yuel and Lars so we destroy their ces of getting into the first string this year.”

  “ht,” Ellen nodded. “July may still make it even if she doesn’t do well today. Alrighty, let's get this game started then~!”

  “That's the spirit,” Howard nodded.

  This was it, the final game. How will Yuel e at them? What did that chess boy e up with for the st round?

  Hopefully, Yuel has spent all his aces by now. He pulled the early-game Dark Knight aggression, the uable Alchemist and the overpunslihere couldn’t be more tricks, right? Howard should’ve tered everything by now.

  Unfortunately, there's never knowing for sure with Yuel. That guy could produsane ideas out of thin air on the spot. Howard always had to stay oep ahead ahe team around Yuel’s traps. Holy, it was quite exhausting.

  How will Yuel attaext? Howard couldn’t possibly tell. Unlike some people believed, he wasn't gifted with cirvoyaherefore, he had to reverse-engineer any potential ideas Yuel could e up by examining his own team.

  How was the team’s formation? What ots it had? These questions were undoubtedly somewhere at the core of Yuel's reasoning when he was crafting his offense. And, simir questions were on Howard’s mind when he was fortifying the team’s defense.

  The game pn of the team was straightforward: a slow and steady defensive formation which aimed to win during the te-game. There were two major weaknesses in this game pn: a weak early-game and a slow game closure. Yuel will surely try to strike one of these, no question about it.

  In fact, Yuel has already been striking Howard’s weak early-game with the Dark Knight pick. Gregory's turtling successfully stopped this attack during the sed game, but it's not like the approach wasn't effective. If Roi and Dan were in top shape, they might have carried that game to victory.

  heless, the e must have looked devastating to Yuel. After Howard shut down the early game aggression, his team practically steamrolled during mid-game. Therefore, there was a good ce Yuel will switch up his strategy for the uping game in some way.

  If Yuel wants to keep pushing for an early-game advantage, he'll probably resort to even mgressive team position. That'd be extremely risky, but it sounded like a very Yuel-like idea. Under normal circumstahat chess boy would shoot for something like that without thinking twice, but will he dare to do that during su important match? Even Yuel will be wary of going hyper offense like that. Probably.

  Instead, it was more likely Yuel will slow down the pace because the early-game aggressiohrough. That'd be both a blessing and a curse. It'll remove the o sistently ter Yuel's attacks every five seds during the early game, but it'll also mean Howard's team will lose its decisive power advantage during the ter parts of the game. Everything will boil down to which side pys the endgame better.

  But, if it es to that, Howard’s team will win. While Yuel was the maestro of offense, Howard was the maestro of defense. Howard’s team had more than enough deferaining to beat a makeshift defeeam. In fact, this would actually be the optimal sario as far as Howard was ed. It’ll be a surefire victory.

  But, for now, Howard could only specute. First, there was the banning phase which didn't give him muformation. His three bans have been already predetermined for him: Shadow Walker, Trickshooter and Gunslinger.

  Gotta admit, Howard frowned. Yuel arrahis banning lockdown really well. It's like I don’t eve a real banning phase.

  Howard hoped to learn something from Yuel's bans, but they were standard jabs aimed to seal Howard's options: Cleric, Padin, and Druid. So far, nothing special. The Druid ban must have doubled as a way to stop the turtling strategy in Top Lane.

  The eeam selected Knight

  So, he's slowing his game pn. Howard o himself. This was bound to happen. Even an absolute mad d like Yuel wouldn't gamble this e a hyper-aggressive pn which be shut dowirely during the early-game.

  The good news: Yuel’s team will surely be much weaker without its aggression. The bad news: Roi was a much strong Knight than he was Dark Knight. This matchup might be rough fory. Howard had to pie solid defensive css for Top.

  “Greg,” Howard started. “Knight is Roi's stro css, so don't let yuard down just because it's not DK. Since Druid is banned, I sider pig Vanguard. Is that alright with you?”

  “Geh, Vanguard?” Gregory made a face. “Well, whatever you think is good, I guess.”

  ly the highest motivation, but at least it wasn’t a ft out reje. Some didn’t like pying Vanguard due to its masochistic game pn that revolved around receiving hits for others, but it was a solid css for surviving 1v1s. Gregory should be able to squeeze his way out of many tight situations on the ne.

  As for the sed pick, Howard went with ancer before it was taken. Yuel would most likely be willing to pay real money for an option to ban a 4th time just to get rid anow, but too bad.

  Yuel’s wo picks were still in lih the theory that he was going for the mid/te game this time around, he picked Aeromancer and Aquamahese two were picked st game too despite being defensive csses which did better during the te game. Aeromancer icked st time because Julia has been pying defense from the get-go, whereas Aquamancer icked for was the ability to destroy enemy protes.

  And, yet again in this game, Aquamancer was a great pick against the ults of ancer and Vanguard. This niche css was being a pain it today. But, it wasn’t all bad.

  By all means, keep going with defense. Howard smiled. In a battle of defense, Yuel had no advantage whatsoever. Even if Yuel phis strategy ahead of time and trained with the team to py better defense, a single week won't be enough to pare with Howard's years of experience. Even pros from the Sweepers said Howard’s defensive game pn was impressive, to the point it mao stop some of their offense. Howard won't be beaten in his own pyfield.

  Unfortunately, that’s when something ued happened: Yuel picked Seraph, a Hyper Carry. It was a te-game monster who reaped the enemy apart if the game was dragged to that point. Yuel wasn’t just g up by going on the defensive, he po wait for the te-game in order to mount a fierce terattack!

  This could be bad. Really bad. Seraph was like a tdown timer for defeeams. It was no longer possible to take things slowly because Seraph will domihe te-game. Somewhere between mid-game and te-game, Howard’s team will have to things up or else they’ll be decimated.

  Damn, why didn’t I think to ban it!? Hritted his teeth. This had to be some bad joke. After all, it was Lars who’ll be pying Seraph. That guy couldn’t defend for shit, so how was he going to survive through Seraph’s weak early-game and mediocre mid-game? It’s unrealistic!

  A, Yuel approved of this absurd pick for su important match. So, he believed there was a ce this will work. Was Seraph another css Lars secretly traihis week? If his mastery of Seraph was anywhere close to his skill with Gunslihis was going to be terrible. A full-blown disaster.

  Okay, calm down. What I do against this? Howard took a deep breath.

  In the end, Seraph was just one css. A single css couldn’t determihe oute of the entire game unless it was something broken like Shadow Walker. Then again, until two years ago, Seraph was actually also an S tier css. It took a while until they reworked its ult and dropped the css down to A tier... Wait, that doesn’t matter right now. I have to deal with present-day Seraph, not what it was before. What I do against Seraph?

  Unfortunately, the drafting phase has already approached its end and only Gilbert’s css remained. Ellen has already taken Ranger earlier, so it was impossible to ter Seraph in Bot. Yuel obviously waited until the very st moment to deliver this surprise pick. Dammit!

  Was there any Mid Lane css which could tribute to tering Seraph? No, at least not directly. The best thing a Mid Laner could do to hamper Seraph was to push Mid hard and finish the game before Seraph reaches its full strength. Either that or help killing the Seraph throughout the game via ganks.

  But, what’s a good pick for any of these purposes? Howard couldn’t figure this out on his own, so there was no reason to keep bashing his head against a wall.

  “Gil,” Howard said. “Got any idea what you could piess with their Seraph pher a fast pusher you’re fident in, or a css that rotate quickly to gank Bot.”

  “I got one, but you not gonna like it.”

  “Try me.”

  “Pyromancer.”

  “That’s a bold one...” Hoaused. Well, he asked for a name a a name. Pyromancer satisfied both ditions, it was a hundred mark answer. Pyromancer was a semi-Carry css with great push potential and it had a movement speed buff via Burning Spirit which allowed for faster rotations. It really satisfied everything Howard asked for.

  As, Pyromancer was a very aggressive and risky pick. It better-suited offensive pyers with meical skill and, unfortunately, Gilbert didn’t belong to either of these categories. Not to mention, Pyromancer had a retively short attack range and that made it susceptible to ganks.

  Were there any safer options along the same line of thinking? For example, an offensive Mid like Eleancer was a much safer choice because it had a blink in its kit. The enemy Jungler was Lionfolk yet again, so having the ability to get out of the cage of lions without buying Blink was highly valuable.

  But, Yuel banromancer earlier. That chess boy must have read that Eleancer will bee an appealing pick against Seraph and Lionfolk. What a ing little...

  There were probably other csses besides Pyromancer which could do the job, but Gilbert specifically brought up Pyromancer. So, he must have wao py this aggressive css. That wasn't like him. Gilbert usually went for banced csses with a bination of damage, utility and escape tools. Yet, that same Gilbert was now suggesting Pyromancer.

  You wanna take Julia down so badly? Howard knotted his brows. Gilbert's obsession with proving his superiority over Julia was messing up his pystyle. If he keeps fog so mu Julia, he won't notice what's in front of him and might stumble at some point. This reeked of bad news.

  15 seds

  There was no time to think about that. Howard had to make a decisiht here and now.

  It was impossible to properly discuss this topi just a couple of seds. Besides, talking too much about it might do more harm than good because it'll e off as a sign of mistrust in Gilbert's deaking skills. That may push the guy even harder to prove his mettle and might result in even more mispys. So, warning about mispys might lead to more mispys. What a silly catch-22.

  “Alright,” Howard said. “Let's go with Pyromancer. Just don't fet to be careful. We're pying against Yuel, so he'll gdly exploit everything he about Pyromancer.”

  “Got it.”

  With this, the drafting phase came to an end. The final decisive game on them.

  Team positions:

  Yuel: Aquamancer

  Lars: Seraph

  Julia: Aeromancer

  Roi: Knight

  Dan: Lionfolk

  Howard: ancer

  Ellen: Ranger

  Gilbert: Pyromancer

  Taison: Vampire

  Gregory: Vanguard