Division 3 Winter Season (6)
Our picks didn't overlap with theirs even once.
Peacemaker, on the other hand, brought out the exact same lineup they'd used in the third set of the promotion match.
They must have figured reusing Bloody Bath wouldn't work after we'd countered it in game two. It was a reasonable call.
But in this draft, Peacemaker made a fatal mistake. I wasn't sure if they'd noticed it themselves, but once the picks were locked in, it jumped out at me right away as I scanned both team comps.
No silence.
Spirits all share incredibly short cooldowns and insane mobility. That lets them dominate the battlefield with powerful skill damage or auto-attack bursts, plus they pack every CC in the book—slows, silences, stuns—you name it. Their map control is top-tier. A stun or two? They shake it off with skills or items no problem.
And their worst nightmare? Silence, the one CC that straight-up blocks skill usage.
Everything that makes Spirits strong comes from their skills. Without them, they're fragile glass cannons with bottom-tier base stats in Eternal Combat.
Silence lasts longer than stuns, too. Even if they cleanse it once, it takes ages for them to get back up to speed. It's the ultimate hard counter.
But Peacemaker's comp had zero silence champs. No one even built silence items. Force one in, and the gold cost wrecks their build—they'd be useless.
So, abandon the Spirits and target someone else? Not likely. Yuna's tanky Mightback gets constant peels from Light Spirit, and going for the Light Spirit herself means diving deep into their backline while wading through three CC-loaded Spirits. You'd die before you touched her.
And that Spirit onslaught was already kicking off at our red-side top lane, where Sera's Hollow Spirit and Hayoung's Earth Spirit held the line.
"Damn it, these rock statues are everywhere. It's annoying as hell."
"Careful. Just last-hit with skills only."
Peacemaker's offlaner grumbled at the Earth Spirit remnants Hayoung had scattered around top—her passive, Earth Phantoms.
They were harmless on their own, just dummies she'd placed.
Following orders from her team's carry and captain, Jeong Yujin, the offlaner cautiously stepped forward, firing a single skill to snag a low-health minion. But...
"Now!"
With Hayoung's shout, a stone Hayoung burst from the ground behind the enemy offlaner. An Earth Phantom.
Hayoung reached out, and the phantom yanked toward her like a magnet. Earth Grip.
"Ack!"
Smacked in the back of the head by the incoming phantom, Peacemaker's offlaner took damage and got silenced. One step for a CS, and now she couldn't use her skills while eating free poke.
Tsking, she tried to retreat.
"One more left!"
Hayoung kicked the pulled phantom right back. It rocketed along the same path, bowling into the enemy like a pin.
"Kyaaak!"
Boulder Smash from the kicked phantom stunned her. Sera pounced on the opening.
"Gotcha."
Sera dashed in with her glowing purple blade, closing massive distance in a blink. Hollow Spirit's ult, Void Blade. Short range for an ult, but self-damage didn't matter here.
The offlaner's wound exploded from the blade's mark, chunking her health. Hayoung, absorbing the phantom, rolled in at top speed to body-slam the foe.
"Ow, dizzy..."
Ground Roll after absorbing was blisteringly fast—even Hayoung felt woozy—but I'd drilled her enough that she still landed it clean.
Sera followed up with a translucent clone of herself. Void Phantom. Tricky delay before activation, but the double-slow from Hollow and Earth Spirits made it child's play.
"Uwaaak! M-my body!"
The offlaner, trying to flee, got sucked back by the phantom's pull, dragged right into Sera and Hayoung. Dead.
But Sera, who'd drawn tower aggro on the dive, was now critically low.
"Sera, you're in danger!"
"I can make it."
She vanished, seven portals spawning on the ground. Sera detonated the farthest from the tower and escaped. Perfect dive.
As they recalled, Eunjae—back from stacking jungle camps—linked Sera with a thread of light.
"Sera-ya, you're the boss. I'll heal ya up."
"Thanks."
With Light Bond active, Eunjae popped a potion on herself. Sera's health skyrocketed. By the time the enemy offlaner respawned, Sera was full from all the tower shots.
Eunjae joined the fray, and hellish CC chain tower-dives resumed. Enemy offlaner died instantly on return.
"This is bullshit! Can't survive top! Carry side, do something!"
"Mightback makes dives risky... but let's try."
"I'll roam too. Four-man dive."
At that, Jeong Yujin and support Chae Minji recalled Dolphin eSports' brutal four-man counter from before and called ahead.
"Bind or kill their Light Spirit first so she can't ult in. We saw how they ate a four-dive last time."
"I'll swing top, snag Light first, then portal bot. But no ult."
"Block Light, and it's doable."
With team consensus, Peacemaker mid headed top pre-dive.
The offlaner's tearful ward gave vision into our jungle. Peacemaker mid bumped straight into solo-farming Eunjae.
"Found you!"
"Kyaaak! Wh-what!?"
"Eunjae!"
Hayoung rolled to help, but enemy mid's combo hit first.
Ult and all poured out—Eunjae melted into light. Hayoung arrived too late; mid had fled.
Moments later.
"Guys, something's off? They're diving... wait! Mid's here too! Portaled straight from jungle?!"
Solo bot Yuna sensed danger as they pushed aggressively with minions and called it out.
But Eunjae—her Light Reinforcement savior—was already dead.
No matter Yuna's skill or Mightback's toughness, 1v4 without Light peels? Impossible.
"If their support respawns, it's over! Process fast, watch Thorn stacks, then bail!"
On Yujin's order, Peacemaker's four (minus offlaner) dove as the wave hit tower.
'Damn, not surviving this...'
Yuna tanked with her back, spraying Paralysis Thorns and Burst Thorns on cooldown. Stacks built decently, but her health melted anyway.
Then.
"I'm here!"
A lightning bolt streaked from riverside, slamming our bot tower. Kim Seon-ah's Thunder Spirit emerged.
Ult Vortex Stream—Thunder Spirit's mobility queen, source of her insane speed.
Seon-ah targeted the closest foe: enemy mid.
"Where you going!"
"Son of a—"
Fresh off ult, passive Overload was charged. Auto hit slowed mid to a crawl. Brief slow, but Seon-ah's combo raged on.
Electro orbs yanked mid in: Lightning Vortex. Tower-agro'd already, she ate Seon-ah and tower. Mana-starved, she dropped.
"Ult-auto1-auto2-auto-ult-auto1-auto!"
Seon-ah rattled off my taught combo aloud, zipping around our tower, turning the area into chaos.
"You...! Don't get cocky!"
Yujin's Tidal morphed into a wave, grazing Seon-ah to hit retreating Yuna. Swept up, Yuna ate follow-up and hit zero.
"You bastard—"
Dying, Yuna sprayed final Burst Thorns, cursing as she fell.
"Got her! She's OOM—everyone bail!"
Yujin ordered retreat to jungle path between our T1 and T2. She flanked, supports split to their tower.
Seon-ah's Thunder Spirit, mana-dry, couldn't chase effectively.
"Argh, letting 'em escape feels wrong..."
"Seon-ah, pursue!"
Hayoung called from top.
"I'm OOM?"
"Walk if you have to! Eunjae's coming!"
Seon-ah tailed Yujin. Respawned Eunjae focused at the bush, ulting Light Reinforcement between fleeing Yujin and chasing Seon-ah.
"I'm here!"
"Can you catch her?"
"Trust me!"
Five light orbs swirled around Eunjae. She spread them wide, forming a huge circle.
The expanded Light Vortex orbs battered Yujin's side.
"Aaaak!"
Light Spirit's a support, but Vortex stacks hit hard—plus champion slow.
Yujin's Tidal slowed. Seon-ah, Light Bonded to central Eunjae, sped up.
"Seon-ah, mana incoming!"
Eunjae triggered Mana Boots without breaking the bond.
Movement speed increase. Active: Mana recovery available.
• Mana Recovery (Active): Restores a small amount of mana to self and nearby allies.
Not a ton of mana, but enough for a couple skills—support shoes. Problem? Light Spirit using it.
Light Bond amplifies all her heals to linked allies. Mana Boots already area-recovers; Bonded? Overdrive.
Seon-ah refilled via Boots, then more via Bond—massive surge.
Grinning, she turned back to lightning bolt.
Tidal wasn't mana-rich. No Tidal Wave escape yet. The bolt closed fast on Yujin's back.
"Miss me?"
"Damn..."
Already stacked with Yuna's final Burst Thorns and full Vortex, Yujin was paper-thin.
Sensing doom, she bitterly lashed out in desperation—but knew it was futile.
"I've wanted to do this to you just once!"
'Damn, should've just bailed one wave...?!'
Health zero, Yujin toppled, regretting her greed. Seon-ah and Eunjae loomed over her.
Champions of lightning and light—speed incarnate—stared down the falling Yujin, smirking before flipping her double birds and squatting-rising in manic rhythm.
"Shh. Sh-sh. You. You. Fucker. Sh-sh. Sh. Sh. You. You-fucker."
"Sh-sh. Sh. Piss. Off. Sh. Sh-sh. Sh. Hey. Hey. Piss. Off."