Civil War (4)
The results of the experiment were incredibly satisfying. Beyond my expectations. I finally understood why those evil scientists in superhero movies always let out that sinister chuckle whenever their experiments succeeded. Because right now, that exact laugh was spilling from my own mouth.
“Heh heh heh heh…”
“Sounds like a total fucking villain laugh.”
“To them, we are the villains. If I got caught by something like Kangta Iz, I'd just throw in the towel.”
“Throwing if you're 0/2/0 on Vel'Koz? And your CS is getting wrecked too.”
“Then you try dealing with it. How do you beat a tank dodging all your skills? Easier to land them on Lucius.”
“...If Gerard's right there in front, it's a throw too.”
“......Whatever, Yunho'll carry us.”
“You're the villain here.”
The game was going smoothly, so everyone's mood had lightened up a bit. Taekjun was still at 0 deaths, which irked me a little, but with my current growth, I figured I could slap a 1 in front of that zero soon enough.
This broken champion—with its overwhelming poking skill boasting wide range and short cooldown, WoL's most cheat-like mobility skill, and a powerful ultimate that blanketed the entire map—was unstoppable. No one could block it. If the enemy team had this, I'd have hit surrender ages ago.
How the hell do you even counter it? Taekjun's Briyum E skill, Glacial Shield, was the only thing that could block projectiles entirely, nullifying all my skills. But that was solved by just avoiding Taekjun and firing elsewhere. Briyum was a tank champion with sluggish movement speed anyway, so outrunning it with Teleport was a breeze.
That said...
“Predictable. Too predictable.”
“Should I check behind once?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
Hangil's counter-gank suggestion came at the perfect timing. I'd anticipated Briyum's roam and placed a ward ahead of time—and sure enough, Briyum headed mid. Top was favorable for us at 7:3, with Jeongwoo's Darius and Hangil's Lee Sin snagging two kills off Fiona. But that Darius hadn't grown that much yet, so I figured if Briyum came to block, it'd target me instead.
Briyum diving alone would've been fine, but the problem was Arachne, whose whereabouts were unknown. Briyum—with its sturdy health and A-tier passive that stunned on basic attacks with allies—and the dive specialist Arachne together? Even if I was ahead, as a carry, I'd just die.
But with Lee Sin grown decently from the top gank, we could probably turn it around and ace them. And right on cue, Arachne linked up with Briyum and marched straight toward me.
“Yo, incoming!”
I fell back slightly, luring them into Lee Sin's skill range. Naturally, Jade pushed the wave, prepping the dive. With Arachne and Briyum? No way they'd succeed. We could end the game with this kill.
A brief moment passed, and the wave pushed in. Briyum and Arachne brazenly dove under tower. I pretended to respond to the dive, dragging them deeper into Lee Sin's range.
Arachne fired Silk Spray at me. I had to eat this one on purpose—if I dodged, they might back off. The skill hit, and Arachne followed with Paralysis Venom—Exploding Spiderlings, shifting to spider form. She repelled upward, resetting tower aggro once, then Briyum launched Q, Frost Aura.
The frost hit me, stacking Briyum's passive once—and that instant, Lee Sin dove, targeting the now-tower-focused Briyum. Briyum flashed away, and I still had about 60% HP left. Totally survivable. Jade's damage was still low; dodging her kunai would save me.
...Or so I thought. But instead of the Jade or Arachne I expected, Fiona flashed over the wall and charged me.
“Fiona!?”
Fiona dashed with Lunge, landing an auto that built Briyum's stun stack to 2. I Teleported backward in desperate resistance, creating distance. But Fiona's Lunge was a chargeable skill usable twice. She dashed again, sticking to me. Targeted, she immediately ulted—Blade Valkyrie.
Blade Valkyrie lunged at a target champion, dealing random physical hits five times to it and nearby enemies. It entered untargetable state during cast. But crucially, each hit counted as a basic attack—triggering on-hit effects.
Meaning my Concussive Fists stacks exploded with every strike.
I hadn't imagined this. Hadn't even considered it. Who the fuck thinks to pop Briyum's passive with Fiona's ult?
The 2 stacks of Concussive Fists ballooned to 4 in seconds, dumping bonus damage and stuns. Arachne had already descended to save Briyum from Lee Sin. As I got stunned, Jade used Shadow Summon to close in, autoing me for her passive Executioner damage. Tower switched to Jade, but she instantly used Phantom Mark.
I ulted in max resistance, trying to snipe the emerging Jade from behind. Ult flew, hitting her—but she barely survived. Meanwhile, I couldn't tank Jade and Fiona's damage and died.
My suppress kill went to Fiona. Would've preferred Jade... Of all people, it had to be the unblockable Fiona when grown.
Come to think of it, Fiona, Arachne, and Jade could all go untargetable. Now I got why they all came for me.
“They were dead set on killing me.”
“Yo, you good?”
“Jeongwoo, sorry. Gave up the suppress gold. Hangil, you get Arachne or Briyum?”
“Nah, both escaped with flickers.”
“Tch... Close.”
“But how are they diving so perfectly? Aren't they all Silver?”
Like Hyun-su said, objectively, Silvers couldn't pull off that precise, zero-resistance dive. That had to be orders from the Diamond traitor Kwon Taekjun. Could I call those? No way. My skill wasn't there yet. That was Taekjun's unique strategy—and a brilliant judgment.
His calling and macro were beyond my prediction. They'd dive again for sure. But I wasn't planning to die easily next time.
The best item for this...
“This is it.”
Zhonya's Hourglass of the White Night—immobile for 2.5 seconds but granted invulnerability and untargetability. A total cheat item, and one of the highest AP sources for solid damage too. It ignored Fiona and Jade ults. Sure, only one at a time if separate, but whatever. Tank one, kill them all.
*
“Whoa, it actually worked... Is this Diamond ordering?”
The Jade player let out admiration. Truth be told, I'd thought the comp worked too—not that I was Diamond. Fiona to pop Briyum passive with her untargetable damage, dive experts Arachne and Jade—this lineup could kill even a tank if played right. Follow orders, and we'd keep murdering Azriel.
At least until Zhonya's Hourglass came online. And sure enough, Azriel's returning item slot showed Seeker's Armguard, its component.
“Let's target once more. Can't catch him after Zhonya.”
Obviously, bait one Zhonya then dive again—but problem was, during that cooldown, we could get aced by Azriel alone. Zhonya was survival and top-tier AP for huge damage contrib.
We prepped another dive. No need for Fiona—that'd overinvest. We'd called her last time 'cause she had nothing better; 3v1 was plenty. But when Jade returned to lane, Azriel was gone from mid.
Where to...
“Yo, watch top. Azriel incoming.”
“We got this, no worries.”
The Fiona player was cocky, but I was worried. A Silver Fiona gets one suppress kill and acts invincible? 1/2/0 with CS nearly double Darius's?
Fiona held decently vs. Darius, but as predicted, Azriel went top. No ult needed. Already chipped Fiona ate one skill combo and got sent home.
“Ah, ult's on 10-sec CD!!”
Yunho probably calculated that. Even ulting, doubtful win.
Meanwhile, Azriel base'd. One minute later...
...Top again, instant-killing the returning Fiona. No way...
“Rather than get dived, he'll roam first...?”
Roaming? Lane swap? Lee Sin mid, Azriel jungle—it worked. When Lee Sin left, he'd just ult and erase mid wave. Dive strat nullified from base. Constant top pressure checked the snowballing, unpeelable Fiona. Genius play.
Was this really a newbie who'd just started WoL?
“Fuck, Azriel lives at top now—push mid!!”
“How? Lee Sin's covering lane. Bot's winning without us.”
“Chill first. Bot tower's about to fall—let's macro. And...”
“I'll cover Azriel.”
*
Tricky. I'd expected bot loss. But things unfolded differently than planned. Our bot tower fell; Fiona rotated bot, enemy bot Lucius and Briyum went top. While I recalled to shop, Jade topped too—killed Darius, smashed tower instantly. I covered, but Briyum Glacial Shield blocked my skills, escaping leisurely.
4-death-but-suppress-grown Fiona and dive genius Arachne turned Gerard and Karma—frail poke mages—into tower-trapped ATMs spewing gold.
While I covered top, Fiona and Arachne killed Gerard/Karma, pressuring bot T2. Thankfully Lee Sin covered bot, saving the tower, but...
“Do something about that Arachne and Fiona... They kill us under tower.”
“Not just you, don't bitch. Sungwoo chickened out too.”
“I'm fine...”
“But why's their macro so suffocating?”
“Just follow Taekjun and the game rolls fast.”
When we 5-que'd and faced strong foes, Taekjun always main-called. Follow, and suddenly we're Baron-ing. Facing it? Felt like a wall.
“......Dragon soon?”
“Yeah, minute left.”
In WoL, dragons were crucial. Slaying one buffed the team—stacking effects. 1 stack: +6% AD/AP. 2: tower damage up. 3: +5% MS. 4: reduced turret damage taken. 5: doubled prior effects for 3 min + 180 true damage over 5s on hit. Up to 4 was huge; 5 was catastrophe. Had to hunt regularly.
They had 2 stacks—stronger bot gave them priority. Anyway, dragon respawning soon. Our chance.
“Taekjun's style: 5-man dragon. Give or nah?”
“......While they dragon, push mid/top. Need towers to catch gold.”
“Just give? That's 3 stacks.”
“I'll block 'em.”
Zhonya out, huge growth lead. Harass from afar annoys dragon hunt. But I wanted more—ace them here to win. Crush their macro with raw power before it overwhelms. Last real shot against macro I couldn't match.
*
Azriel's damage was insane. Hotfix-worthy. But 1v5? Nah. Numbers win. Steel now? Lee Sin good at it... No. Towers first, per Yunho.
As predicted, enemy 5-man vanished for dragon—we pressured mid tower. Top sieged with Darius/Gerard/Karma. Yunho hid in bush—enemy jungle bush, angling.
Too risky? Better poke guerrilla...
And one announcer line proved me wrong.
......What the hell just happened?