Civil War (2)
I had no idea where Kwon Taek-jun, who'd abandoned us, might end up on that enemy team. No clue what he'd pick. But I'd track him down on the battlefield. And once I did... I'd turn him into a total troll, no matter what.
That was the resolve I'd steeled myself with. But honestly, the tier gap between our teams that Taek-jun had told me about was pretty brutal. Out of the five guys we were supposed to face, only one was Platinum—the rest were all Silver. So, at the very least (even if he'd dropped five promotion matches), Taek-jun at Diamond 1 had to go over there just to make it somewhat balanced.
Logically, I got it. But logic's one thing—this was personal. Ever since starting middle school, the five of us had stuck together like glue. Him ditching us for the other team? That stung. I'd shred him for sure. Rip his KDA to pieces, soul and all.
And I wasn't the only one burning with that fire. Me included, Jeongwoo, Han-gil, and Hyun-su were all hyped up and raring to go.
While we were venting our rage like that, one guy showed up.
"Uh... hi. Nice to meet you... I'm Yusung-woo."
What a name that screamed "tease me"—ahem, no, scratch that. He was this super timid-looking dude. This had to be the guy Taek-jun sent over. Still, it was a bit of a relief. If he'd been some super extroverted popular kid, that would've been awkward. This personality? Easy to deal with.
"Oh, yeah. I'm Jung Yunho. Nice to meet you too. Which lane you going?"
First time meeting, so things were a little stiff. I kept it polite with proper introductions. Of course, my friends' faces soured in real-time hearing my unusual polite tone... What? Got a problem?
"I'll go support. Figured you'd need one here..."
Sure enough, in our 5-stacks, Taek-jun always locked support. He branched out sometimes, but mostly support. I racked my brain quick and told Hyun-su,
"You go ADC."
"Gerard."
As expected, Hyun-su declared Gerard. At this point, was there something special about Gerard? But...
"He'll get banned, y'know?"
With Taek-jun on the other side, no way he doesn't ban it. They said this scrim was full ban-pick. Enemy team has a one-trick Gerard main? Instant ban.
"Hm... Then Veigar's fine too."
The mage incarnate... Anyway, once we'd roughly sorted intros and lanes, Taek-jun invited us all. They offered side selection, so I snatched blue team quick. Playing WoL, I'd felt like blue had the edge over red. Blue attacks top-right on screen, barely blocked by the UI. Red hits bottom-left, which gets obscured a bit.
Pick order sorted, game started.
"Uh... I'll call you Sungwoo-nim. Anything you wanna ban on the enemy side?"
"Just ban the grab champs. All my picks get countered hard..."
Once in-game, he was talking more casually than before. Maybe 'cause we couldn't see faces? Anyway, Yusung-woo suggested banning grabs—solid choice. That Kwon Taek-jun bastard lands them like targeted skills every time...
We banned Blitzcrank. Enemy instantly banned Raizir.
Called it. Probably Lizer next. We followed with Nautilus—his grab hitbox is nasty. Sure enough, enemy banned Lizer too. They were gunning for me hard.
Last ban, we took Thresher. Taek-jun didn't dump all three on me, or maybe he just wanted to smash one-tricks, so he banned Gerard.
Alright then...
"Azriel first."
I snapped up Azriel right away.
"What? Telling me to ADC?"
"Mid Azriel works."
"Uh... okay, you got a plan."
Good, Hyun-su trusted me. With Azriel picked, they'd assume I was ADC. So they'd counterpick something to shred Azriel.
As expected, out came Briyum—great vs. Azriel—and his duo buddy Lucius.
Briyum blocks all Azriel's skills with his shield. His passive, Concussion Fist, stacks Concussion 1 on enemies hit by autos, Q, or Frigid Aura. Stack to 4 with autos for bonus damage and stun—a beast passive.
Lucius's passive, Purifying Shooter, makes his next auto double after skills—perfect for ADC. And those two autos? Stack 2 Concussions on Briyum, obviously. Classic bully bot duo.
"Can support pick first? Something that pairs well with Azriel."
They all seemed to catch on. Yeah, I was faking Azriel as ADC in pick screen. If it worked, they'd pick mid based on that, and Hyun-su could safely grab his mage ADC.
"I'll take Kalma."
Kalma's poke synergized great with Azriel—both long-range poke, just whittling them down.
Passed turn after Han-gil grabbed Ryushin (no poke pressure). Enemy took Arachne and Jade.
Jade... gonna be a skill matchup. But no mistakes? I win hard.
"Grab whatever for the last two."
Hyun-su took Vel'Koz, Jeongwoo Darius. Vel'Koz for early poke and lane bully, Darius fills our AD gap and has no counters if you pop off—perfect picks.
Enemy last-picked Fiora. Heard she's getting reworked soon, but not yet—Darius feasts.
This time, I'd crush Taek-jun and test my new research: mid Azriel. Solo normed it, but the power felt insane. Viable even in ranked, I thought.
Right before load-in, I prepped the key to that "new experiment." Ditched my usual Ignite or Teleport for Commander's Authority—something no midlaner touches.
"Huh? Dude, you're mid."
"Trust me once."
This is legit good.
> Icarus(Azriel): Not a mistake. Worry about getting shredded instead.
Taek-jun, lost in thought, snapped to when his bot duo ADC spoke up about the enemy ADC Azriel's weird spell.
Azriel had to be Jung Yunho—and Yunho wasn't the type to mess up spells like that.
"......Huh?"
Even Taek-jun, who'd seen it all in WoL, was stunned.
"......Why the hell would an ADC take that?"
Yunho was AFK-ish, so Taek-jun Kotowed if it was a spell misclick. Easy remake if so.
But Yunho's reply was simple:
> Not wrong. Just worry about yourself.
Taek-jun's head filled with question marks. But he shook them off. No way Smite on ADC could be good.
Still, a twinge of unease. It was that Yunho, after all.
Game started, lane phase kicked in, and the Jade midlaner's confused shout hit Taek-jun's ears:
"Dude! That Azriel's mid!"
"......"
In that moment, Taek-jun felt an inexplicable chill.
He'd planned to try hard anyway. Realistically, even with him switching, win odds were low. Enemy had Jung Yunho.
From 5-stacks, Yunho's skill was beyond low Diamond—upper Diamonders barely matched him. Tier said Plat, but Taek-jun rated him upper Diamond.
Clear power gap—no room for slacking.
But this feeling? A straight-up warning.
Something was up. Something only Yunho knew.
Otherwise, why would mid Azriel run Smite—jungler's fixed damage on monsters/minions, upgradable with Tarzan's Machete?
And as time passed, he realized: Trying hard wouldn't cut it. Had to grit teeth and go all-out...
Or we'd lose this scrim for sure.