Rank One Walks In
Amphibians and reptiles weren't particularly popular. Mammals made up the overwhelming majority of the player base, for one thing — and if both sides traded a single hit, or if a mammal landed the first blow and then simply ran out the clock, there was no catching them.
Birds were the same story. The type matchup might be unfavorable, but land one hit and take to the air, and amphibians and reptiles without Sprint or Flight could only stare up at the sky. Expanding your territory was all well and good, but it only paid off if the opponent came to you. If they didn't, the whole strategy was worthless.
"Hwang Ho is holding the territory, and Mina doesn't need to close in, so I'm not sure how this is going to go."
Hwang Ho, however, kept at it without flinching, using Water Spray to push his territory wider and wider, gradually driving Mina toward the wall. Water floors had a placement cap, so the ones he'd laid down first had already begun to vanish one by one — but the net was still closing, and Mina was being forced into a tighter and tighter corner.
There was a gap she could slip through, of course. The problem was that Hwang Ho was sitting on it, and punching through that narrow space looked nearly impossible.
In the end, Mina had to choose: slide out across the water floor, or cut through the dry patch Hwang Ho was guarding. If she'd been a bird, she could have simply flown over it. As a mammal, she had no choice but to cross the water.
The narrow path was a death trap — even burning all three defensive skills, the odds of eating Hwang Ho's attack were too high. So she Sprinted across the water floor farthest from him.
She slipped. Her balance went. She mashed dodge as fast as she could, but dodge didn't work while you were sliding.
Hwang Ho saw the opening and took it, stepping onto the water floor and closing the distance in a blink. His movement speed on the water was as fast as a land animal's Sprint — water floors granted a Sprint-level speed boost, and the effect lingered for two seconds even after you stepped off.
Mina took a hit for the first time all match, then immediately scrambled off the water. Hwang Ho's corralling strategy had worked.
"Nicely done, Hwang Ho."
"So that's a thing."
But Mina wasn't the type to fall for the same trick twice, and Hwang Ho knew it. He switched to the simplest plan available and started hunting items. The RNG wasn't on his side, though, and he eventually gave up and went back to spreading water floors. This time Mina refused to get pinned — she managed the distance between them on purpose, moving just enough to keep from being boxed in.
"Huh? What was that?"
Time ran out, and Hwang Ho took first place on the strength of a single point of damage. Nobody else had landed a hit yet, which made him the current leader. First place for one connecting attack — that was how hard it was to get a hit on Mina.
"Congratulations, Hwang Ho. You're in first right now."
"Right? I wish I were even half as good at games as Mina."
"Thank you."
"Next person, come on in."
Hwang Ho left, and a new viewer dropped into the match in less than a second. Word of the prize must have gotten out — the join speed was ridiculous. I made a mental note that I'd have to put up prizes more often if I wanted people to actually play.
"Welcome."
"Hello, Siyeon. Of course it is."
"Come to think of it, I forgot something. The lightning item points."
"Oh, right. We completely forgot. What does everyone think about awarding points for the lightning item?"
"Oh, right — we have a voting system."
"Alright, I'll open a short one-minute poll."
I hurriedly put the poll together and hit start. Voting yes on lightning-item points was 1; voting no was 2. Ones and twos started flooding the chat immediately. A minute later, I closed it.
"Eighty percent in favor? Twenty against? That's an overwhelming majority."
"Then let's make it 0.5 points. Below two skill hits, above one."
"Mina's suggestion sounds right. Lightning is harder to land than a skill, after all."
"The lightning item will only count as 0.5 points if it inflicts stun."
"We need the rules locked down for this event, so please bear with us."
"Thank you, everyone. Let's get started."
True to form, Siyeon locked in her main — the gorilla. Mina opened up the distance at once. Siyeon dumped every skill she had available at the start of the round, and Mina slipped past every last one of them.
Having burned her entire kit, Siyeon stood still, waiting out her cooldowns. One by one the skills came back up — and she still didn't move. She just kept standing there.
The chat had it right. The moment an item spawned, Siyeon sprinted over and grabbed it. It was a defensive item — a dud. She closed on Mina again and fired off her entire kit, and though it looked reckless, she was clearly fishing for a timing window.
Against a Mina who had Sprint, Guard, Dodge, and Counter, none of it connected. The instant Siyeon saw the Counter come out, she cut her skills short.
"Thank you. Hehe."
Siyeon went back to standing still, waiting on cooldowns and watching for items. I had to admit it — of all the approaches so far, hers was the simplest, and probably the best. Even a complete beginner could copy it, and if a lightning item dropped, the odds only got better. On top of that, anyone Platinum or below didn't even use Counter, which made the whole plan look even more viable.