92 Drafting the Late Game (1/2)
Everybody from Yuel's team returned to the computer 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 contact. Dan was deep in thought about something. And Julia? Oh boy, she pierced Yuel with one of the fiercest glares ever. It's like she wanted to stab him to death about a million times, burn his body and flush the remains down the toilet. Gulp.
[Did she figure it out?] That was the most likely explanation. Julia must have realized she was used as bait in that last team fight and now she was mad. Like, really, really, REALLY mad.
To be fair, that sacrifice stunt by Yuel wasn't exactly pretty, especially since he kept it under wraps. However, he couldn't come up with any better play at the time and Julia was definitely going to argue against it. There was no time to argue about that play, so Yuel pushed it through no matter what it took.
Julia was a decent player, 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 explaining 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 intense hatred. 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 next 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 your eggs in one basket, man.”
”Yes,” Yuel admitted. ”As it stands, we can'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 playstyle with the other members all the time, whereas Yuel's hyper-aggressive early-game composition was a new approach 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 playstyle.
”So,” Roi started. ”I can pick Knight 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 class.” 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 plan doesn't 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 come up with a new game plan. Roi wouldn't pick anything dumb, so this should be fine. In the worst case, Yuel would have to raise an objection. As it stood, Knight was a great pick and they should be able to get it for sure.
”Instead of concentrating on attacking,” Yuel explained. ”We'll play the early game more defensively.”
”Wha-!?” Julia exclaimed.
”Something wrong?”
”No, it's just...” Julia shifted her eyes away. ”Nevermind. Just thought it's weird.”
”This approach should actually play to your strengths better,” Yuel explained. ”You can stick defense the whole game and it'll be fine.”
”Sure,” Julia rolled her eyes. ”Because being a defensive player is all I'm good at, right? Other than that, I'm only good for... Tch, nevermind.”
[Somebody is sure in a bad mood, but I don't have the time or skill to appease her. Sigh.] Yuel shook his head and went on with his explanation. 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 pillar of our offense,” Yuel continued. ”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 control during the mid/late game.”
”So, a standard defense plan, right?” Roi confirmed.
”Yes, essentially.” Yuel nodded. For Roi and Dan, this must have been the arrangement they were most used to play with. After all, they were members on Howard's first string, so their experience with defensive game plans will play a big role this game. In fact, without that factor, Yuel wouldn't have had any hopes for this plan in the first place. The fate of the game was quite literally riding on Roi and Dan's experience.
At around the same time, the other team was wrapping up its preparations as well.
”We stick to the same game plan,” Howard explained. ”Greg, keep stalling Roi. Tai, cooperate with Ellen to score kills on Lars and keep ganking. As for Gil,” Howard locked his eyes with Gilbert's for a moment, then continued. ”Keep controlling 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 no need to say anything else, right?” Howard responded to 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 uncertain expression was painted with determination again. Good, that's how it gotta be.
[Maybe I pressured him too hard before the match.] Howard pondered. That one rush move Gilbert did during the last 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 line this match.
Howard's statement must have pressured the Gilbert into trying his best to overwhelm Julia and prove he was the superior Mid Laner beyond a shadow of a doubt. That led to some riskier plays than usual.
Throughout most of the match, Gilbert played more aggressively than usual, but he has been doing a solid job of pushing Mid without outright overextending. However, eventually, this bloodthirsty mentality got the best of him and he fell for Yuel's bait during the last team fight. That one mistake almost cost them the game.
Howard could still stop this charade and tell Gilbert there was no need to worry about the first string. Based on Julia's performance today, 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 chance of getting into the first string at the moment. Howard could simply announce that 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 simulation for the tournament play. As a first-string player, 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 playing 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 examine this carefully after Gilbert's big misplay in the previous game. If Gilbert had some mental weakness like that, Howard will have to work on it during the upcoming year.
After Howard finished going over the game plan, the players assumed their positions in front of the computers. In just a minute, the third and last game of the day will begin. It will decide who'll reach the top and who'll rot in the second string.
”I ran into Roi and Dan,” Howard whispered to Ellen. ”They looked conflicted, 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...” Ellen averted 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 next 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 played the bait in the last team fight. I really meant it as a compliment, 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, considering how rocky their relationship seems to be. I'm not sure what I would have done in his shoes, to be honest.”
”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,” Howard pulled 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 competitive player 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 opponent, 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 match anyway. She'll get her chances in the future, maybe even during this year. Right now, the goal is to beat Yuel and Lars so we can destroy their chances of getting into the first string this year.”
”Oh, right,” 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.