Division 3 Promotion Battle (14)
"Don't hesitate to throw your life on the line for the team. It's not like you're actually dying."
"But if I do that..."
"Yeah, your KDA will tank. So what? You scared of that? Worried people will think you're trash? Those gold-plat scrubs who can't even dream of silver judging you by numbers alone, versus you clutching your KDA and feeding the team. Which one's actually hurting you?"
"If you keep playing scared and the team loses over and over, you think you'll ever cash in big later? Like I said, you're in this with the team—your fate's tied to your teammates. 'I played great, but the team sucked' doesn't fly in the pro scene."
"If dying lets you save the carry or mid, do it gladly. You don't have to be the hero every game. Drop the protagonist ego. That's offlaner life. The offlaner who kills that hero urge? That's when you become the real star—the world's best offlaner."
In the early hours of that morning, I'd trained with Yuna and calmly talked her through it, focusing on reshaping her mindset first.
The reason Yuna got so prickly and ragey in games? It wasn't anything else. It was her insane win-lust mixed with this burning need for everyone to acknowledge how good she was. That protagonist hunger made her lash out harder the more things went south.
So I'd drilled into her that she couldn't—and didn't need to—be the star every time. I pushed her toward selfless plays and made her repeat them until they stuck.
And now, in this one-day practice payoff, Yuna hurled herself in and saved Sera and Hayoung.
"Whoa, Cha Yuna's backup there was perfect!"
"Yeah, if she'd been a second later, Raze and Holy Knight would've been toast—but Big Shield Guard's taunt bought just enough time!"
Of course, Yuna's play wasn't flawless.
She wasn't used to sacrificing like this yet, so she couldn't perfectly tell when to dive in versus bail. Sometimes she'd get caught up with the team and rack up needless deaths.
Still, thanks to her, we stuffed a few dives and held a tense stalemate.
Then, around the 15-minute mark, Oh Sujin's shifted playstyle shone through with her core item.
"Core Buster!"
Lv.1
All stats slightly increased
Core Burst Lv.1 (Active): Consumes mana to deal massive magic damage to an enemy target.
Seon-ah's call had everyone's faces tightening. Stats were trash for the price, but that active Core Burst enabled insane nukes—usually a flex item for kill-hungry idiots in pubs. Rare champs built it as core, though, like Tinker here, whose ult reset item cooldowns. Not meta, but unmatched for snowballing kills.
Laser, heat-seeking missile, Core Burst, ult to reset skills and item CDs. Repeat as mana allowed.
Endless nukes that shredded even tanky champs.
She couldn't cycle twice yet—mana bottleneck—but as it scaled with mana and upgrades, those bursts would only get deadlier.
And "scales later" didn't mean it was weak now.
"Arghhh!"
Laser, missile, Core Burst—then laser again.
Seon-ah ate the full combo before she could ult with Nightcrawler's Dark Dance. She melted instantly.
Nightcrawler wasn't tanky to begin with; no way she survived that barrage. She'd overextended trusting her ult and couldn't flash out.
"Damn it... you think I'll just take this lying down?!"
Respawned, Seon-ah ported mid and squared up with the still-lurking Oh Sujin. This time, she ulted on leap and carved her up.
Laser and missile needed vision or auto-target; no los, no damage. Sujin's Tinker crumpled pathetically.
Full glass cannon build—no survivability.
"Hah, how's that! Stay in your lane!"
Seon-ah flipped her off and decapitated the corpse.
"That fucking bitch..."
Respawned Sujin spat venom and ported mid again.
Round three between the prideful mids—but Seon-ah's ult was still on CD. She lost.
Laser and missile flew; Core Burst spewed red beam. Sujin's backpack whirred—gears spinning for Machine Reset channel.
"Shit, ult's not up...!"
Seon-ah bolted, but Sujin had Escape Dagger ages ago. Plenty of range to flash-chase.
Clank. Gears halted. Sujin smirked and flashed in with the dagger.
"Where you going?!"
"Where you going?"
"?!"
As Sujin's mechanical arm charged blue laser toward our tower, a third voice cut in.
Startled, she whipped her head—there stood Big Shield Guard, shields flared wide. Yuna, flashed to Sujin's entry point via her own Escape Dagger.
"Unnie!"
"Hit me, not her!"
"Tch, you fucking...!"
Wide Guard's taunt locked targets to basic attacks only. Sujin's charging blue faded; she gnashed teeth, forced to smack Yuna.
"Damn it, break! Break already!"
The arm ignored her, pounding away. A magic-deal Tinker's autos? Tickled. Just fueled Counter Shield.
Yuna swung her shield along the golden path at Sujin's waist. One proc, but tower shots piled on—lethal already. Seconds later, taunt broke; Sujin wheeled to flee—but Yuna's blade flew.
"Bye~"
"You...!"
Shield Smash crushed Sujin's low-HP skull with a sickening crunch. Yuna, sped by the ult, hefted her massive shield topside.
"Phew, saved. Thanks, unnie."
"Thanks? Roam more."
"Yeah! Next game for sure—"
"Now!"
Yuna's heroics tipped the midgame deadlock our way.
Sujin's Tinker stayed lethal, picking us off regularly—but Brilliant's other laners couldn't follow her lead.
Mid second tower siege. Normally, Sujin would've zone-locked with carpet bots, but she'd skimped levels for lasers/missiles. Powderkeg standoff: tower falls, or teamfight it is.
"If it turns teamfight, Hayoung—no pre-shielding. Watch who Sujin targets, then shield."
"Huh? Is that okay? You know my reaction's kinda slow..."
"You'll be faster than her."
"What? Her reactions are slower than mine?"
"Yup. Watched hundreds of replays—she zones defensively fine, but aggressive? Hesitates on target selection in skirmishes. That flinch buys you time."
"...Think it'll work?"
"Doubt it? Make it work."
"N-no! I can do it! Got it!"
Hayoung glued eyes to Sujin, primed to cast.
'She flinches once. Nail that...'
Tower dipped below quarter HP. Hayoung signaled.
"Now! Sera, ult!"
"Got it."
Sera closed eyes, unleashed—ghostly doubles haunted every Brilliant champ.
Brilliant didn't panic; they pushed out, ready.
Yuna flashed in, Wide Guard taunt. Sujin, backstepped, stayed free—and Escape Dagged into our clump.
Sujin scanned for prime target. Arm raised... hesitated on Seon-ah.
Hayoung pounced.
'Seon-ah!'
Green teams hesitate on new styles. Hayoung raised hammer, Spell Shield on Seon-ah.
"Seon-ah! Shield up—dive! Yuna unnie, heals incoming!"
"Thanks, Hayoung~"
"Heal quick! It hurts!"
"Eunjae, sprint to Yuna with Moonlight Storm! Sera, ghost-flank and sweep!"
"On it!"
"Already here."
Sujin's nuke combo? Spell immune fizzled it. Panicked reset didn't help—Brilliant supports already folding.
Tinker can't 1v5.
"Fuck!"
Sujin dumped last combo on easy Eunjae.
"Ow... why me..."
Eunjae vaporized, cursing. The rest avenged her.
5-for-1 wipeout. Mid tower gone pre-fight; nothing stopped us.
Brilliant's nexus popped soon after. Final promotion match: our 1-0 lead.