Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Ecosystem Destroyer Species
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A week-long rest period—not too long, not too short—had come to an end.
[ST's name remains strong today too!]
[How are other teams supposed to stop them with this comp?]
[The Master League analysts must be tearing their hair out, but Coach An Jae-hoon is just grinning!]
Round 2 had been underway for a while now, but the name at the top of the Master League standings remained unchanged: ST.
And because of that, the league's atmosphere was rife with one thought: just catch ST once.
Take down that invincible fleet just one time, and the spotlight would be all yours.
"So, any analysis?"
The coaches of KTT's 3rd team—their traditional sponsor derby rivals, soon to face off against ST3—were staying late, huddled together.
"The top and jungle are hopeless, for starters."
"Why?"
"Top's a rookie, but he's got a wide champ pool from his mid laner days, and his laning is insane. He makes solid calls in teamfights too."
So ganking top was out of the question.
Mess with it carelessly, and their bot lane might get infinite ganks and implode.
"And Ox... no idea what he's thinking."
He mindlessly farms jungle monsters, then suddenly dives into a lane and gets involved.
"His decisions change every time, but they're always optimal."
"He wasn't like this last season."
"One pathing disruption from us, and he'd unravel."
Even without lane priority, stealing one jungle camp would mess up his pathing until he self-destructed.
"...Tch. Guess they really leave everything to True."
"Yeah. Not easy for a player to do that."
Solo queue was full of egomaniacs, and pros were even worse.
"Honestly, even if I were active, I'd listen to True."
"Take advice from a middle schooler?"
"Think about what True does in scrims. Feel like fighting it?"
"......"
KTT had been wrecked by every bizarre tactic in scrims—not that other teams fared better—so no one could argue.
"Fine, skip top and jungle. Mid... sigh."
True was the player who looked more hopeless the more footage you analyzed.
"She handles assassins fine, supports too, and her initiations and teamfights are nuts."
The Master League's bullfrog.
No, she didn't belong in this pond to begin with.
"No matter how I look at it, she'd carry even with a random pick."
The lack of rebuttals said it all about True's reputation in the Master League.
"Anyway, skip mid too."
"Bottom?"
Top side was a wall, but at least they had something on bot.
"Last season, they weren't bad relative to ST, but objectively, ST bot is mid-table Master League level."
Strike's aggression and mechanics were strong for his age, but he was too emotional and inexperienced.
Bell was decent in teamfights but lacked vision control, trade damage in lane, and kill angles as a support.
Of course, top side's dominance hid those flaws.
"At least their weaknesses are clear. Feels like we can breathe."
"If we keep top side out, our bot can drag it out."
Another coach grumbled.
"That's the hard part. That's why everyone's failing."
"What if we go extreme?"
One coach had an idea.
"Just ban all aggressive hunter champs?"
"Won't that trash our ban phase? There aren't that many agro hunter picks."
"We have three OP picks now anyway, so bans are flexible."
If they didn't ban, KTT—as second pick—would snag two broken champs. If they banned one, split them.
"...Sigh. Can we burn all five bans on hunter?"
Opponents weren't idiots.
With Coach An Jae-hoon's pro experience, he could pivot bans anytime.
"If they pick hunter first or second turn, we're screwed."
"Abandon bot?"
"Hm..."
ST's relative weak point: bot lane.
This patch's OP picks were mostly bot and mid.
No room for hunter early unless bot had priority.
So ST would have to complete bot/mid comps in their first pick phase after bans.
"This could actually work."
A downside of meat-eater—aggressive—hunters: old habits die hard on other champs.
Even with True's teamfight or join orders, the delay from instructions would be bigger than usual.
That was KTT's target.
"Block mid roams to bot, and have our hunter camp bot."
"What champs clear mid wave well?"
Finding a sliver of hope, KTT's coaches pushed through fatigue to draft bans.
* * *
ST's practice room.
Ox's secret herbivore champ practice on his smurf—ordered by Eun-seol during the break—was bearing fruit.
"This is comfy."
After trying champs where one ult click let him dive enemy base and still pull weight, Ox realized how easy they were.
Of course, after all the pathing tweaks from Eun-seol and coaches, it was infuriating.
"Good you finally get it..."
If not for VR chat, he'd get a knock on the head.
"Yeah, this makes sense. Weird I crushed harder champs but couldn't click buttons."
"...I was disastrously bad at these last season."
"Never seen a guy take Jayce to rub up on their ADC."
"......"
Coach An just chuckled, but it terrified someone.
"Anyway, what do you think, Eun-seol?"
"Is he good?"
"Nah. Will it work in Master League?"
"No. Play this next game, and the set's done."
Full clears were faster with practice, but ad-lib responses sucked.
"Can't handle invades."
Bell's vision issues made it worse.
Even with mid priority, navigating the pitch-black jungle like home was impossible.
Plus, real-time pathing for Ox was too much load.
Picking these for hunter was to avoid overload in the first place—back to square one.
"If all hunter champs get banned, can I play something else?"
"What, Chang-hyun prepped a backup?"
"There's this champ: good vision, high value vs KTT's duo if they pick it, even higher late. Jungle decent too."
"...Why don't I know it?"
Coach scanned the list but found nothing matching.
"What is it?"
"Teemo."
"Out."
I knew it.
"No, Coach, hear me out—it's legit."
"What're you on about."
"Jungling's sneaky fast, mushrooms cover Bell's vision, blind shuts down their duo, and late-game one shroom halves their HP?"
And ranged, so he can kite with mechanics—
'Hm.'
It's convincing.
Coach went from "pentakill sheep?" to seeing the logic.
"Even works top for swap mindgames!"
At that point, he'd skipped practice for Teemo only.
A Teemo-shredder preaching it was fresh.
Meanwhile, Plook was dead serious.
"Why would I top that, bro."
"Who knows. Could happen."
"Never in my pro career."
He'd faced more Teemos in solo queue than anyone, so hating it was fair.
"I'll discuss bans with the other coaches. Keep solo queuing. Got it?"
"You're not seriously considering it, right?"
"Heading out!"
"Coach?"
As always.
Top had no options.