#014. The Enigmatic Bronze Thalia Support Master

These days, eight out of every ten streams I do are League of Champions broadcasts. I think to myself that it feels a bit off, but most viewers seem to love watching me play RioCham. Hmm, something still feels fishy about it. Do these people watch my stream because they like me? Or because they like RioCham? I think it's time for a loyalty test.

For now, I decide to go live.

Watching the chats roll in on the waiting screen only made my suspicions grow. I finally boot up the virtual avatar and hop into the chat overlay.

"Hi everyone. Hmm, what should we do today..."

Of course, I do enjoy RioCham personally, but when they keep demanding only that, I start wanting to do something else just to spite them.

"Today, how about something other than RioCham..."

"...Do you guys like me, or do you like RioCham?"

These ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cheeky chats really got under my skin, leaving me a bit sulky. At this rate, I can't even play RioCham. Time to lay down the law.

"How about a more cultured stream today?"

I fired up a chess game. The chat exploded with question marks at the sudden genre shift. Chess was one of the games I'd played whenever I got bored. I'd put in enough time to consider myself pretty decent—my peak rating was around 1500, I think. That should put me in the top 10%, right?

"Ahem, chess stream today."

"Anyone mentioning RioCham from now on gets a temp ban."

The chat finally quieted down. Viewers dropped from 7k to 5k, but I'd live with that. Getting mad about RioCham every day would just bore them anyway. Plus, it was a good chance to show off my intellectual side.

...

On the screen, the chess pieces shifted positions silently atop the board. The opening moves were standard, flowing within the bounds of opening theory. But the pace was anything but ordinary.

Even in spots where most players would ponder for seconds, the pieces moved without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hesitation, as if following a predetermined path. With each move, countless possibilities unfolded and folded away in the back of my mind.

"Hmm..."

Dozens of moves. Hundreds of branches following. Evaluations of the positions at their ends.

The calculations were brief. Or rather, they felt brief. In reality, myriad scenarios were being sorted in an instant.

AI processing power is straight-up broken for games like this.

All those possibilities computed simultaneously in my head, yielding the optimal next move. A pawn advanced on the board. In that moment, lines connected rapidly in my mind. One move. Two. Three. The new structures the pieces would form were already visualized—structures that, once crumbling began, would be hard to reverse.

Click, click, click. The pieces moved quietly. The move looked innocuous for now, but it set up a tactic a few turns ahead.

"What're you gonna do now?"

My opponent's clock ticked longer. The pieces barely stirred, but tension built slowly in the interim. And finally...

The opponent's pawn pushed forward one square. That instant, a path solidified in my mind. The branching calculations converged into one. The tactic was complete.

A piece moved. The knight slid forward aggressively. Two key enemy pieces now fell into its attack range—a classic fork.

"Pfft."

I couldn't help but chuckle at how perfectly everything was unfolding. A brief silence followed. Seconds later, my opponent's time plunged. Every choice led to losses. Save one piece, lose the other. No way to protect both.

The board's balance crumbled quietly. A few more moves passed, and the lost piece created a bigger gap than expected. Control of the center tilted, space constricted, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pieces got pushed back. Then suddenly, the remaining pieces' positions had flipped entirely. Black's forces pressed forward naturally, while White's clustered defensively, out of room.

Finally, the queen glided one square. Nothing flashy—just quietly tightening the noose around the enemy king. Escape squares had long vanished in my calculations.

Seconds later, all pieces halted. The result appeared quietly on screen.

My skills hadn't rusted. But with AI computation and analysis layered on top? No words needed.

I recalled a recent news article. A Go pro who'd beaten AI years ago got crushed in a rematch—in record time.

Is this what facing that AI feels like?

Different game, sure. Anyway, that's five wins in a row.

"Hmm, too easy."

The player pool seems higher level now than when I last played—old me would've struggled. But damn, chess is fun after so long. Gotta do it more often. Viewers dipped to 4k in the meantime, though.

Guess all the RioCham beggars are gone now?

"Ahem."

I closed chess and booted up RioCham again.

Still, gotta give the people what they want sometimes. I dove into ranked games as usual.

Steadily spamming Thalia support, my LP graph trended nicely upward. Of course, there's a reason people don't pick her. Her burst CC linking is great, but she's got few tools for straight laning, and as an ex-mid mage champ, she's squishy as hell.

So I scout our ADC's potential up to level 6.

"This guy's missing every skillshot?"

Yeah, this ADC's a dud too. So at 6, I grab ult for wall-walking escapes, then abandon bot. I roam mid and jungle aggressively, and if there's time, even top.

"Enemy jungler's probably farming red and heading down... come here, let's gank together!"

And most of the time, my predictions hit the mark.

Hearing praise like that always fills me with pride. Sure, our ADC died solo farming and flames me in chat, but I've already won over mid and jungle. That's politics for ya.

Occasionally, salty ADC fans in chat curse me out too, but I let it slide. I know my play's a bit selfish.

"Finallyyy...!!"

Finally hitting Silver promo success, I stretched with joy. Six hours streaming today left me satisfied but wiped. Goal achieved, so time to end.

"Thanks for sticking around to the end. But don't copy Thalia support—I'm just sucking honey with it."

After that stream, Thalia support hit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tier 5 on the RioCham stats site LOC.GG. Win rate 44.8%, pick rate 1.2%, ban rate 10.1%. Consensus in the community: higher ban rate than pick rate 'cause nobody wants her on either team.