#019. Anyone Here Have a Lot of Friends?
After all sorts of twists and turns, we finally locked in the match and started the game. Our ADC was Caitlyn. Her biggest features are her traps and sniper rifle. She's optimized for CC chains and can unleash burst damage in a short window. She's a great match for Sphinx, who can land guaranteed CC with her spell.
The enemy ADC foolishly brought Barrier instead of Cleanse. Fights rarely break out at level 1, so we let it slide, hit level 2, pop Galca, and Flash-stun their ADC. Follow up with Q and autos, and Thunderclap procs for extra damage. Then our Caitlyn lays a trap underneath and chains the CC for more hits—even with Barrier, they'll be at minimal HP at best, or dead if we're lucky.
Unfortunately, their ADC survived with a sliver of health thanks to Flash, but the laning phase was already ruined for them. Their lone support couldn't do much, and thanks to Caitlyn's fast tower-taking and my tower-grinding rune, we ripped gold from them right from the start.
This combo could work even in tournaments later on. Of course, if the enemy ADC had Cleanse, we couldn't force that early trade.
We racked up gold, went home to buy items, and returned to lane. Without Barrier or Flash, their ADC had to play safe, so if they tried to freeze, we just kept demolishing towers.
no way, why does Sphinx support look so good?
Caitlyn synergy is insane
but if they bring Blitz support, it'll be tough
Yeah, grabs like Blitz are a problem. Sphinx is a mage at heart, so she's squishy. But we hit level 6 with such a huge lead that now I could roam the map freely.
Our top looked struggling, so I Teleported behind them and prepped Galca on their top laner. They spotted my TP and started backing off, but it was too late. Our top was ready to follow up, and I Flash-Galca'd their top for the stun. They responded with Flash-engage, and we secured the kill. I let top have it.
My KDA now: 1/0/4. Top pops Demolish, and I see our jungler invading their jungle for farms. I ult to reveal positions—their jungler was right there too.
"Follow up! We can kill 'em!"
[Neru (Screwed Fate) is on the way!]
Ult-TP right onto their jungler for Galca. Didn't kill, but forcing Flash was profit.
Did your mom teach you that?
"Even when I play well, they f***..."
[Inappropriate word detected. Censorship applied.]
"...what a shitshow."
I muted Via's chat and kept playing.
Sphinx carrying the game~
Why flame when she's popping off? lmao
Big Hwang's duo
Thanks to rolling the game like that, we won easily. Not as satisfying as Thalia, but pulling her out occasionally seemed pretty viable.
...
Even if it looks like I'm always carrying, we weren't on win streaks climbing tiers vertically or anything. My analysis and prediction are AI-level, so I rarely mess up, but teammates don't always follow. I'm not lucky with teams, and I slip on mechanics sometimes too.
I expanded my champ pool—now five main supports: Lena, Thalia, Sphinx, Park, Shell. Shell support was legit on tier lists. Great CC with Taunt, tanky yet high damage for a tank support. Ult gives massive shields map-wide and ally TP after 3 seconds.
Tier climbed from Silver 4 to Silver 2. And finally, today, the participant list was complete. I'm in Support Tier 4, and Universe's own Kurose Ritsu is Mid Tier 3. Junglers are all pros I've heard of from RioCham.
Team assignments air in a week.
"Gotta grind skills till then..."
Learning standard supports' kits at least—no practice though. Just in case they're counters. If my captain demands it, sure, but picking me means they're ready for off-meta supports.
After the list dropped, viewers were shocked I was competing.
But points make her pricey lol
No standard supports but brain + mechanics...
Neru ego gonna fight hard
Lineup looks stacked whoa
Viewers mostly thought my style wouldn't work in high tiers. Fair point—sometimes raw mechanics trump brain. But support's unique: post-laning, we're free like promoted pawns in chess. Ignore us, we create chaos fluidly; gank us, you lose bodies.
Plan: Deepen support knowledge this week. Analyze pro plays on NewTube, review my games. Impossible? Nah—AI analysis and prediction.
"Should announce stream break today and tomorrow."
Streamed 6 days a week faithfully— one week off's fine.
That evening, instead of stream alert, fan cafe post went up.
Eh? Going to some other girl?
↳ Neru doesn't care lol
Bring the mysterious Silver Sphinx master!!!
↳ Tournament prep?
↳ She'd stream anyway if RioCham
Four days later, scrims to gauge players before team picks. I spent the two days dissecting RioCham, yesterday streamed chess to chill.
Entered voice chat on time—famous voices flooded my headphones. Kinda tense among celebs, even if I'm one now. Meeting other big streamers is different.
"Oh, Neru showed up."
"H-hi..."
They welcomed me warmly. While they chatted, I muted and talked to viewers awkwardly.
"Anyone here have a lot of friends?"
Sadly no T_T
Feels like people who shouldn't meet did
Ugh worldview clash
We suffer too...
No viewer fixes the awkwardness.
"Neru? Team 1 seems good for you."
"Ah, got it."
Playing should loosen things up. Teams formed, channels split. My ADC: Tier 3 male streamer Daesik.
"Neru, let's fight hard. Better to win, right?"
"Yes, yep!"
Gold 3, mains carry ADCs like Caitlyn, Asfelos, Zenri.
"Wanna try Caitlyn? I'll Sphinx support...!"
"...Sphinx support?"
Sounded more confused than hyped.
"You main it? Heard you're good? Hm, okay for now."
He chatted viewers a sec, then agreed. I'd prove off-meta supports aren't troll in scrims.
Plus real-time comms—better than solo queue.
I steeled myself, and the first scrim began.