The Mid Priest's Resurgence
The mid-game phase of the Priest's Return match had been fiercely contested. ZX had already been playing together for a year, and they skillfully leveraged the lane advantages inherent to their composition. Top had died twice to their relentless early dives, but things began to stabilize once the Priest joined the fray. [Killstreak Broken!]
STD Asphen (Paladin) [+450G] kill > ZX Assassin (Ninja)
During the enemy's third dive, the Priest intervened, cleanly shutting down every follow-up and even cutting down the enemy Ninja who had been snowballing kills since the start. The timing for the first objective, Cerberus, was awkward for ZX—their mid laner had just respawned, leaving them unable to contest. As a result, they were forced to surrender Cerberus.
STD Oracle has slain Cerberus.
From the moment the higher-scaling side secured a 1-3 kill lead and stole Cerberus, it looked as though ZX would be completely overwhelmed by STD's aggressive tempo. Yet ZX, the team that had won both Spring and Summer splits of the VKC, immediately punished the isolated ADC the moment their mid laner respawned. A coordinated dive from mid and top reclaimed bot lane priority for them.
ZX Hades (Wraith Knight) [+300G] kill > STD CSkiller (Outlaw)
Once bot priority flipped, the pressure became relentless. ZX focused on squeezing every advantage before the teamfight phase, constantly threatening the bot lane while carefully avoiding angles where the Priest could intervene. The growth gap on bot slowly widened.
'This isn't going to be easy...'
Shin Jaehyun and Han Seongkwang's synergy was worse than expected. Their calls kept clashing, and just now both had used their dashes when only one was necessary.
"Why the hell did you drop Black Hole in such a weird spot?"
"Huh? Your positioning was so off that I had no choice but to put it there."
They were clearly frustrated with each other as well. Even though this was their first time using voice comms together, they immediately started arguing about what had gone wrong.
"You need to take an aggressive position if you want to get anything done. If we're going late anyway, we should at least force a bot trade and use mid pressure to stall objectives."
"This guy doesn't understand how to play Mid Priest at all. The ideal way is to wait for the team to set up and look for a counter-gank."
"Even in that situation, if the Saintess comes down first we could have gotten more value."
"You think the enemy is going to just sit there and wait? That only works against weak teams."
"...Whatever. Lane's back up, so let's talk about this later."
The two continued bickering even as they returned to lane after barely surviving the trip home.
ZX Hades (Wraith Knight) [+350G] kill > STD Asphen (Paladin)
Even Park Seongjun, whose mental had been shaken by the deteriorating atmosphere, fell to one of Hades' sudden kill angles. The momentum swung back toward ZX once again. They inevitably gave up the second objective, Wyvern.
ZX Hades has slain Wyvern.
'Ha... this really isn't easy.'
The permanent movement speed and attack speed buffs from the poke composition were painful. Cerberus, on the other hand, was specialized for turret destruction—terrifying in enemy hands, but offering little value when taken by your own team. The mid-game skirmishes heavily favored ZX.
'And the problem isn't just in-game.'
If the only issue had been falling behind in the game itself, that would have been manageable. The bigger problem was the bot duo's increasingly heated arguments. They were still using polite language, but neither was backing down from their own opinions.
'Even in scrims, it's rare to see people fight this much inside the game.'
At least they weren't hurling insults—they were simply questioning each other's decisions. That was a small silver lining. Still, if every fight left the team atmosphere like this, it would become a serious issue.
Of course, their arguments stemmed from a genuine desire to win. Having experienced that same hunger in my previous life, I could see it as a constructive process. Just as that thought crossed my mind—
"Ah, seriously...!"
Han Seongkwang raised his voice mid-argument, and the mood instantly turned ice-cold.
During the brief lull after ZX secured the Wyvern, I analyzed why the two kept clashing and quickly understood the root cause. Both had strong personal standards, stubbornness, and considerable egos. As the ADC, Shin Jaehyun preferred plays with higher risk and reward, using scrims to gather data regardless of the outcome. Han Seongkwang, the support, prioritized team synergy and guaranteed value from the composition over individual mechanics.
In short, Shin Jaehyun treated scrims as experiments where the data itself mattered more than winning, while Han Seongkwang wanted to experiment but still win by maximizing synergy. Their opposing interpretations of the late-game composition only added fuel to the fire.
'Unexpected. I thought Han Seongkwang's off-meta style would mesh well with Shin Jaehyun, but they're completely at odds today.'
Having finally gotten to play Mid Priest after so long, only to struggle this much, and now dealing with the bot duo's infighting, I was starting to get genuinely annoyed.
"Everyone, tone it down a bit."
"If we give up the dragon too, it's basically over. We should at least try something during the dragon fight."
My tone was a little forceful, but I figured they needed a firm reminder to get their heads straight.
"Ah, sorry..."
"Sorry, Saintess."
'They should've done this from the start.'
From now on, I planned to shut both of them up equally. At the same time, I intended to satisfy both of their wishes—letting Shin Jaehyun practice teamfight coordination and allowing Han Seongkwang to leverage the composition's strengths to win.
For that, the upcoming dragon fight was crucial. I quickly briefed everyone on the situation and assigned roles.
"The enemy is about to start the dragon. If we blow someone up right when they start, we can actually turn this."
"The moment they begin bursting the dragon, Top, funnel all your buffs to me. ADC, use your ultimate on their ADC first."
"Support, cast Meteor into the dragon pit. Save Black Hole until after my buffs expire."
The core of my plan was a full-buff massacre using the two buffers—Paladin and Priest—on four of our team members. By mid-to-late game, our main damage dealer, the Outlaw, had fallen too far behind to burst anyone. ZX had been playing conservatively, assuming we lacked damage. However, the Priest—who had gained an edge in mid and top skirmishes—was well-developed. They wouldn't expect the Priest to suddenly become the primary damage dealer, especially while receiving every buff at once. For the first two seconds, the damage output would be monstrous.
*Sacrifice: Reduces the Priest's health to grant one nearby ally increased attack speed and movement speed for 2 seconds.
*Divine Power: Increases one nearby ally's attack power and defense for 2 seconds.
Even so, breaking through the well-fed Wraith Knight wouldn't be easy. Their Starlight Archer could cleanse crowd control with Veil of the Night Sky, and their Commander offered little value even if killed. But if we placed the Outlaw's ultimate, Bounty, on their ADC to draw focus, we could create an opening to instantly burst their unprotected Ninja.
*Bounty: Places a bounty on an enemy. The marked enemy has greatly reduced defense, and all allies who participate in their kill receive bonus gold.
"Now."
The moment ZX began attacking the dragon, the Priest—empowered by the Paladin's Divine Power, Holy Blessing, and their own Sacrifice—launched the ambush.
*Holy Blessing: Doubles the effect of all buffs on one nearby ally for 4 seconds.