VLL Finals (7)
Shinsaeng's Shen.
Pressure, who'd recovered the memories of a Worlds championship.
Yujin, the god of hypercarries.
And Golden Flash Fpot on support.
Everyone hit their peak, and we managed to lead the game through the mid game.
But that was as far as it went.
"Can someone cover this for me?"
"I think you need to drop that."
"No, we have to take it!"
While our team scrambled in every direction, the enemy kept funneling bodies into the side lanes and banking advantages even when they lost the small skirmishes.
After a lost teamfight past the forty-minute mark, the gold gap had somehow ballooned to 4,800—nearly five thousand gold.
They're good. No question.
The opposing team, Still Good After Retirement, was made up entirely of players who'd stepped away for personal reasons. They still had the skill and the following to prove it. They'd already beaten a Challengers-level pro roster in LCK content—there was nothing left to say about their level.
"They're hitting Baron!"
"I've got ult. Ten seconds and I can ride over."
After picking off Shinsaeng on a side lane, the enemy started Baron. They looked ready to slam the door shut for good. Their comp didn't take Baron slowly either—the burst was coming in faster than expected.
"I'll look for the steal. Shen, don't ult onto me."
Pressure's voice was steel. Five thousand gold down. If this failed, the game could spiral past any chance of recovery.
What do I do?
Four thousand. Three thousand. Two thousand. Baron's health kept ticking down while I ran every angle through my head.
What was the best call I could make right now?
What if the steal failed?
What if the read was perfect and my hands still blew it?
"Looking for the steal!"
The moment Baron dropped to 1,800, Pressure lined up the sonic wave from behind the pit and flew in. The enemy cut their damage and threw everything they had to stop her—
"I'll burst it!"
Azir's range was long enough to contribute from behind the pit. I filled in the missing damage. Baron's health plunged to 980 in an instant. Even under CC, Smite was still available.
Your team has stolen Baron Nashor!
The steal message flashed, and the team started calling in a panic.
"Back, back—"
"Base and look for Elder."
"Azir, just get out!"
Everyone wanted to reset. But I saw a different angle.
Hunting Baron—they took a real chunk of damage.
Of the three Baron types, this one hit the hardest, dealing twenty percent of current health. The whole enemy team was softened. On top of that, the sand soldiers I'd planted in the pit while they were taking it, the enemy carries' Flashes burned from the last fight, and my own Flash just coming back online—
This was a must-take fight.
"Kai'Sa, look for the launch!"
I E-Q'd in, then snapped off a Flash-ult combo. The enemy had already written off the pit fight after losing Baron; they never reacted to the toss and got swept up wholesale.
"Shen ult on Kai'Sa! I've got Zhonya's!"
Mid-to-late game Azir ult plus two sand soldiers' spears put most of them on death's door.
"Hyung, cover me!"
Yujin's Kai'Sa ulted straight into the middle of them and fired Q. This game's Kai'Sa was full AD—twelve missiles poured down like a rainstorm, true to the skill's name. I came out of Zhonya's and stabbed them with every skill off cooldown.
Teamfight secured
We took the fight clean.
"If we go mid, is it over?"
"Feels a little sketchy?"
Their tier-three was still up, and the enemy bot lane would be the first ones back. The team wavered on whether we could end it. I cut in.
"Keep the siege minion alive and end it. I've got Nashor's, and if Kai'Sa E's and shoves, I think we're done."
Even if their bot duo respawned, the rest of their team needed at least ten more seconds.
"If Shen uses W and we shove, we take it easy."
"Okay. We listen to Seoha."
"Then I'll go first and body-block?"
We cracked the tier-three and the inhibitor, and the enemy bot duo respawned right in our faces. Their job wasn't to kill us—just to stall until their teammates came back.
No reason to play along.
"Taunt landed!"
Shinsaeng stepped up, taunted Ashe, and the rest of us focused the turret. This late, a turret might as well not exist.
Only when the blue screen hit did the tension finally drain out of me.
...One more game left.
Just one.
"Steal? Steal? Oh my god!! Pressure!"
"We'll need the replay, but it looks like Para's Azir helped burst it down."
"Team Arts Specialists just stole Baron and put out the fire for now. What's left is the Elder assignment—"
"W-wait—the toss!!!"
"Para dives into the middle of all five and scoops them up! And Yujin—!"
"Yujin kiting! Kiting!"
"And Para cleans it up!"
"Team Arts Specialists pushing mid—do you think they can close it?"
"The wave isn't great, but they have to try."
"Count and Lucia are putting up as much resistance as they can."
"For a Shen pick, he hasn't had a huge game—but I'll be the one to close it out! Shinsaeng's two-man taunt lands, and—"
"That's the match! GG~"
"Seoha, that was actually insane."
"How did you even see that at the end?"
"I'm losing my mind."
"Honestly, me ulting in right away helped too. Agree?"
The second we walked into the waiting room, the team piled on with praise. Looking back, it really had been a perfect play—the kind that made me wonder if I could have pulled it off in my past life.
No. I couldn't have.
As a rookie I wouldn't have seen the angle. With more years under my belt I probably would have whiffed Zhonya's and blown up anyway. That was the more likely version.
"For real, everyone—we've come this far. We have to win this... right?"
"I'm more nervous right now than I was in the last game of Worlds."
"That's a little much."
"We have to."
Winning set four had swung the mood back our way. The team had their confidence back, at least some of it. In that moment, you could feel everyone locked onto the same goal.
"So—anyone have ban-pick ideas?"
"Shen is probably getting banned."
"Kai'Sa's getting sniped too."
"Can I first-pick Ziggs ADC and just lie down?"
While the ban-pick talk was in full swing, I threw out one suggestion.
"What about Mordekaiser top?"
"Morde?"
Mordekaiser—a walking brick of a champion, but he could handle the AP duty and his frontline expectation wasn't bad either.
"I think they'll try to pull AP from top too. Gwen or Ryze, probably."
"I know how to play Morde, but..."
The reason was simple. It was a strategy I'd used in my past life whenever we ran into a strong top side—drag their top laner into the shadow realm and force a four-on-four teamfight.
Then we win.
Simple formula.
"If they lock AP, I'll take Morde."
"Seoha, any card you want mid?"
"It's the last game. I'll put on a show for one."
"I'll just split whatever's left with the enemy."
With that framework set, we headed into the set-five ban-pick.
Their top banned Shen and took Gwen. The confidence was obvious—cut Shen and they could break through whatever we threw at them. Fair enough. Outside of the early laning phase in set four, their top had led every single game.
"Morde?"
"Let's go. Room of Truth."
"These days it's not that—it's Domain Expansion."
"What the hell is that, you weeb."
The team that lost set four had chosen blue side, so we were automatically red. Even after locking Mordekaiser, we still had another pick.
"Then can I go Wukong?"
"We should just build a teamfight comp."
Our jungle was Wukong—a champion who could force strong fights after six. The enemy answered with Nidalee, clearly planning to push the tempo before that.
"Then mid—want to take what we talked about earlier?"
"I think that's the best path."
"Or we could take Ashe ourselves, that's fine too."
"They're probably leaving Ashe open to split Ziggs with us, so ADC can just pick second wave."
The ban-pick unfolded exactly the way I'd predicted before the series started. We got to build the comp I'd laid out in advance.
.
.
.
"Mid's dead."
Mid lane dominated
"Three solo kills in a row..."
"They're that fed and still ganking to try and free him up. Wild."
"If they don't free that lane they can't win a side for the rest of the game."
"Nice. We made it to set five and they're already cracking."
If the ban-pick went the way I expected—
then it was time for my one-man show.