Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Canyon Laboratory Opens
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Large stadiums weren't bad either, but this small arena always stirred up nostalgia.
Of course, that didn't mean she had any intention of sticking around in the Master League for long.
She donned the now-familiar device on her head and closed and opened her eyes.
"Cut both bottom picks first."
In the first ban phase, instead of splitting bans half-heartedly, they banned the OP bottom picks outright and then Aquila from mid—a spell power-based assassin champion that was already broken with its scaling buffs but now even more so.
The opponents responded by banning a bunch of hunter champions in retaliation.
"Does this mean we should grab a hunter early?"
"Nah, just leave them. I'll take mid."
And with that, both teams' mid and bottom were locked in for the first ban phase.
Then the second phase began.
"What should I do?"
"Maoika."
Men's sweaty top lane brawls.
And the hunter carry.
Things you couldn't trust even in solo queue, and pure illusions in team games.
"We play to win anyway."
It was time for the click-clack champion of tradition and history to take the field.
One click.
One kill.
She had no idea how the opponents had planned their strategy, but after forcing Bell to ward the river between lanes early on, the enemy hunter came to the bottom side of the jungle.
She didn't push the wave hard and instead dove straight into the Twisted Forest with Ox, catching the enemy, and the game snowballed one-sidedly from there.
Regrettably, effort didn't always yield the best results.
They weren't even countering the enemy comp; tactics to shut down individuals always had flaws.
And those flaws were on full display this game.
With the front line duo holding firm, whenever the enemy got hooked by CC, she charmed them with Miho and followed up with full combo.
And with just that, most champions melted, their hooked spots becoming graves.
This shone brightest in the final teamfight at mid lane.
When she scratched their ADC with her fox orb too, KTT's portraits all turned black-and-white.
Ox had only that one grass-eater champion in his pool—or so it seemed, but since the enemy didn't know, the ban direction shifted.
"This makes it worth pulling out for real."
She'd barely said that when Plook already had Teemo Lieutenant's portrait up in the pick screen.
"Looking at the bans, I think it's worth a shot once, but position-wise...?"
The coach took it seriously.
"Eun-seol, wanna try it?"
"...Me?"
"Yeah. Feels like it'll work out if you do it. You handle other ADCs well too. Can you kite?"
Even considering assigning her this pick, the coach seemed light-years beyond mere mortals.
"Wait, why is picking Teemo Lieutenant a given in the first place?"
Other picks would win easier. It wasn't shunned even in solo queue for nothing.
"Winning regular season with weird stuff like this makes playoffs ban/pick easier."
"......"
Scrimages and matches alike.
It was so-called 'baiting'.
Win with odd picks, force prep around them, then drop standard picks and crush. Not unusual.
The issue was why now, with all these weird picks.
'Not really?'
Even seven straight losses from now would lock playoffs, so the coach's experimental spirit wasn't off.
And this game seemed aimed at curbing her roams to build bottom independence.
"Time's almost up, so I'll just pick it."
And so, Pandora's box opened.
She had no clue.
They rounded out all lanes with Thresh and Kai'Sa too.
"Instead, Ox does Sejuani."
"...I brought it up, why do I get the fun one?"
She wondered the same.
The laning phase started surprisingly smoothly.
The matchup against their ever-present Tristana was easier than expected.
Just farm at range; if she jumped in with a skill, blind her and auto-attack away.
Blind plus W's move speed stacked visibly pissed them off.
Seemed true that top CC in LOC was blind, second Teemo.
Level 6 came peacefully.
But bottom exploded in reaction.
Whether ignoring Kai'Sa's early disadvantage or hyped by Thresh hook.
Strike and Bell dove and died to gank, repeating made bottom gap huge.
"We gotta play for late game."
Ox spoke sense for once.
"We'll win late anyway. Take it slow. Slow."
Plook said that, fought enemy top, then died to gank like bottom.
"Hyung Chang-hyun, no top gank?"
"Ah. Right."
"......"
Her unfamiliarity with Teemo cut orders, things creaked.
KTT would be better drinking with coach spreading nonsense picks than last game's hunter ban spam.
The game was getting weird.
They sucked high blood from top and jungle.
She knew how hard lane management in disadvantage was.
She'd forced it on others and done it herself.
Just surviving? Easy.
Opportunities would come.
And that moment.
Their ADC popped.
"...I didn't do anything?"
Suddenly, the mushroom hidden in C-shaped bush came to mind.
ADC's suppressor gold was always delicious.