Chapter 44
Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Chapter 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
```html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Playoffs Round 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It's been a while since we've all gathered in twos and threes to watch a match.
Even if we play in games ourselves, it's been quite some time since we've all watched together like this.
In the best-of-five series, it dragged all the way to game five before the playoffs' first round finally came to a close.
"It's over."
"DS Gaming's caliber isn't the type to fall here."
I grabbed one last handful of popcorn, dumped it into my mouth, and wiped my hands with a wet wipe.
"Trash can here."
"Throw it out yourself, you bum."
"You're the closest. In exchange, I won't tease you for feeding top today."
"......"
Plook let out a sigh before eventually taking the wet wipe and tossing it into the nearby trash can.
The regular season's third-place team KTT smoothly took down the sixth-place Darwin Gaming, while fourth-place DS Gaming won against the fifth-place team in this match and will now face us.
And with that, playoffs round one wrapped up.
"So everything went exactly as seeded?"
"Well, the gaps between teams are pretty big."
"We were down there once too. Crazy."
"If you don't wanna drop back down, we gotta win it all. Next season, even if not the others, Eun-seol's at least getting called up to ST2."
Everyone nodded along to our team's support Bell's words.
"Don't forget us even if you go up?"
"Just make it to finals so we can climb together."
I'd heard that pretty much all the ST Grand League players were rumored to transfer to lower LOCK teams or overseas squads next season anyway.
Which meant our opportunities were relatively wide open.
It wouldn't be weird at all to promote our current third-division team straight to Grand League like this season and fill the new third division with academy players.
"Anyway, let's save the forward-thinking talk for later. Rewatch our opponents for now."
Ox rewound the live footage, plainly uninterested in complicated discussions, and replayed DS Gaming's match.
"Having seen all their ban/pick cards here is a pretty big advantage."
"Yeah."
With league and playoffs on different patch versions, the tier list is a mess.
In that chaos, getting five full games of best-of-five where they showed their hand is valuable intel.
Especially learning DS Gaming's ban/pick tendencies and pick priorities is a clear edge.
Our champ pool is already plenty wide, so if they flip themselves inside out like this, ban/pick gets even easier.
Coach might be grinning ear to ear.
The day playoffs round two kicked off.
With only two matches total, the fates of the four advancing teams would be decided in one weekend night.
Of course, losing here doesn't mean immediate elimination since there's a loser bracket, so there's some leeway—but it's always more comfortable to sweep clean with three straight wins.
"How's everyone's condition?"
Coach An Jae-hoon showed not even a speck of tension, drawing from his wealth of experience coaching ST1 back in the day.
'Ban/pick shouldn't go sideways...'
Even if it did, I'd force it back on track—but best if nothing happens at all.
"Hands up if you're tense right now?"
"Everyone but you."
Everyone chimed in after Plook's reply.
"What the hell is his gut made of?"
"No idea."
"Definitely not the same stuff as ours, that's for sure. Look at his posture. The posture."
"I can hear you guys."
I was just lounging comfortably in my chair, nothing that weird.
More normal than the guy who insists on lapping the canyon before every game or the ones who carry rulers around to align their monitors and keyboards perfectly.
"We're listening on purpose? Spill your secret."
If I had one, I wouldn't have worried in the first place.
"Just get a ton of experience."
About ten years' worth.
Bonus a few championship trophies along the way.
"Players, prepare to enter!"
I didn't bother saying more and hopped right up from my seat.
I had zero interest in losers' bracket, let alone finals qualifier.
Straight ticket to the dance, no detours.
The ban/pick screen popped up before our eyes.
And the familiar space.
"Ban as prepared for now."
At Coach's voice, our top trio swiftly banned grazer hunter champions in a row.
Opponent hunters excel with herbivores, so forcing straight melee brawls favors us.
Opp saw our bans and hit top's OP Rumble first, then one ADC, and finally Nasus.
And so picks began.
"I'll grab Vi first."
Their third ban screamed "ADCs incoming," so snagging a pinpoint assassin or chaser was safe.
Opp picked without hesitation, like they'd anticipated ours.
"Okay, as expected. Chang-hyun, Eun-seol—pick what we prepped."
At Coach's word, we quickly locked ours.
Strike was an aggressive ADC to begin with.
So risking ganks for a stronger lane phase wasn't bad.
And mid? Whatever.
Champ I'd played to death.
Gimped limbs or not, late game I'd carve it up piece by piece—even the head.
And LOCK mids still rocked it in that state.
So against this patch, I was confident in even or better in any matchup.
Meanwhile, DS snagged LeBlanc third—pairs great with their AD mid.
Normally Cait counter-ADC here, but they probably figured more hunter bans would gut their hunter pool.
"Cut Smolder for now?"
We're late-game oriented too, so handing over that game-dev blunder of a champ could turn OP picks irrelevant if it just melts everything late.
"Yeah, gotta chop that one."
With Coach's approval, Dragon was sidelined for this set.
"Ban Blitz."
Our final ban went to grab champ Blitzcrank at Bell and Strike's request.
Bans done, opp grabbed support Leona first.
As expected with initiate shortage, they took a solid remaining option.
ADC locked last was weird—sign we'd disrupted their ban/pick enough. Not bad.
And no matter their ADC, our top was ready.
"Top as planned?"
"Yeah."
Strike locked at Plook's confirmation.
And for our last support spot, we hammered the nail in for aggressive bot.
The other side buzzed frantically before finally picking Zyra.
Shifted full late-game focus, it seemed.
Not their ideal, but we could picture their faces without looking.
"Bot lane demolition!"
"Got it, so play well and snag some turret gold too."
"Obviously."
Strike and Bell excitedly filled the background with noise.
"......"
The only issue? They'd generously filled our kill pockets too.
```