#020. Neru Really Did Great
Neru ended up with Seoya as her lane partner for support—the one ranked 5th tier support on the tournament roster. From the pick screen onward, she was utterly confused.
"Who the hell is even the support here?"
Looking at the enemy champions, none of them screamed "support." And the same went for her temporary teammates. Everyone had only focused on gauging skills during scrims, skipping any pre-research.
When the loading screen showed Screwed Fate heading to the support lane, Seoya let out a hollow chuckle inwardly. How easy did she look? Tier-wise, they were only one apart, but this was straight-up arrogant.
Of course, Seoya was a perennial Bronze support who knew she was on the weaker side. Still, facing a Screwed Fate support meant she had to punish this.
Confidently, Seoya pulled out her main pick, Lily. Entering lane, she planned a level 1 all-in, exploiting Lily's strong level 1 trades.
As expected, the enemy yielded easily, knowing the matchup.
Heh, nothing special after all.
She hit level 2 first without issue, while the enemy farmed under tower. No meaningful skirmishes yet, which was a bummer, but grabbing lane priority was a win...
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Screwed Fate and Caitlyn both hit level 2 under tower and hurled a full combo at her. A stun locked Lily in place, followed by Caitlyn's empowered auto and Screwed Fate's Thunder rune proc, unleashing massive damage.
Daesik ⚔️ Seoya
Lily died in an instant, no time even for her shield.
"Whoa, what the hell was that damage??"
"No way, I didn't see that coming."
Even her team's ADC looked flustered by the unexpected play. He was a streamer named Slime, a solid 2nd tier ADC, but this was rare. Plus, with LeShan—who was weak early—she couldn't even force more spells before shoving out of lane.
Naturally, enemy Caitlyn and Screwed Fate froze the pushing wave, shattering the bot lane dynamic.
⋯
"Whoa, Neru, that was awesome!"
"Hehe⋯."
Our team's vibe was sky-high in contrast. Securing a solo kill early, Caitlyn's superior poke disrupted their farm, straight-up exploding bot lane.
Our ADC, Daesik—who'd doubted me at first—shifted to a positive view after tasting success.
The game snowballed smoothly. Enemy jungle came bot to break the freeze eventually, but our CS lead was 61 to 32. LeShan had Cleanse, so no easy solo kills there; I switched targets to Lily.
"Targeting Lily here! Cover me!"
"Got it, I can follow up."
We killed Lily, then LeShan trying to revenge, and even pushed first tower. Hitting level 6 in this favorable spot meant I could dictate the game now.
"Just check dragon once, SenT."
"Okay~"
Ult for vision revealed enemy jungler smiting it. Teleport in for a full combo, our jungler steals from behind the wall.
"Scope's up—can chase! Cover!"
"Yeah~ On my way~"
Scope item's range boost let me combo the fleeing enemy jungler, securing the double.
SenT ⚔️ Ukuk
Back to base, mid roam to cover our solo-farming Caitlyn, then enemy top vanishes from map.
Our jungler heads top for rift scuttler; I follow to cover.
"No top vision!"
"Can you clear lane and rotate down?"
"Ah, yep."
Enemy jungler on scuttler—likely top ganking from behind.
"SenT, join this skirmish."
"Okay~"
Our jungler ambushes from bush; I combo enemy jungler on scuttler to bait. Ex-pro that he is, he assumes mid ADC can rotate and ignores me, smiting scuttler first.
Our jungler initiates simultaneously; enemy top bursts from bush as expected. But our top, Cyan, had cleared wave and ult-rotated fast, turning it 3v2.
Enemy top flashes out; jungler, no flash, gets cleaned up.
"Diving top tower right away. SenT, on obj⋯ ah, did I overextend?"
"Nah, you're good. Your calls are spot-on, Neru. With their top flashed, we send him home and burst first tower with Cyan via Haste rune."
I handled mid-game calls. After, SenT's ex-pro jungle leadership snowballed leads into easy teamfights and victory.
⋯
The two-day scrims let everyone face same-role opponents at least once, with 4 games per player—10 total matches.
Diverse comps led to fun moments, smooth power evaluations.
The five ex-pro junglers captaining teams finalized individual win rates on stream.
"Tops are surprisingly even."
Among them, top viewer SenT(SenT) highlighted intriguing stats.
"Mid definitely worth heavy investment. 1st tier FullName crushed it."
ADC win rates mirrored tops—no perfect 4-0s, meaning tight tier gaps.
Supports? 1st tier SalyeongNyang solo 4-0. 4th tier Neru 3-1, others 2-2, 1-3, 0-4.
"Yeah, Neru was legit great. Her calls were huge—barely any misses."
"Right? Even with Lena/Shell viable, not top tier now—so recruiting Neru means accounting for that."
Still, SenT saw value in Neru beyond win rates. Proactive calls aren't easy—especially with higher-tier talents doubting you.
Yet Neru's carried weight, backed by godlike map reads that win rates couldn't capture.
"Nah, SalyeongNyang obviously."
1st tier SalyeongNyang played textbook support throughout. Ex-Master last season, she dominated early lanes, shifting to vision/control mid-game over engages—unlike Neru. Wide champ pool broadened strategies. She'd even beaten Neru head-on.
"But style matters—some teams might prefer Neru."
Heavy top/jungle? Neru's roams. Protect ADC? SalyeongNyang's care/vision.
"Still, a 4th tier matching 1st tier SalyeongNyang? Neru's the real deal."
SenT eagerly awaited the team draft broadcast in four days.
Meanwhile, overhearing it all, Neru reviewed her loss to SalyeongNyang.
"Hmm⋯ Lily really is meta now."
I hadn't realized I was so competitive. My first loss hit more with frustration than sadness.
Banned out Thalia, picked Screwed Fate, but early lane lead let their ADC snowball. Roams failed as ours died, enemy ADC hypercarried.
No getting cocky.
The world was full of betters. AI analysis didn't make me pro overnight. Reminded, I prepped new tools.