Cam Room and the Practice Game

It was an ambush, sudden and complete.

For about five seconds my face filled the screen—huge, bright eyes glittering as they stared straight out at the viewers.

Beyond the mask, a small mouth twitched, shaping each syllable. Then the screen cut to black.

The viewers sat in silence, as if time itself had stopped. A heartbeat later the chat went up like wildfire.

The frenzy wasn't empty noise. This was a face with more than 1,400 points poured into it: Lovely Doe Eyes 4, Soft Gaze 2, Clear Skin 2—abilities that had cost 1,000, 200, and 200 points respectively. The effect of Lovely Doe Eyes 4, in particular, was absurd. I'd practiced a slight eye-smile in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mirror and found I couldn't look away from myself. It really did feel like standing in front of an actual celebrity.

So that was the situation. Keep the mask sealed tight and anyone would call it a beauty—and not just a beauty, but the rightful owner of blessed genes, incredible figure and all.

Reality's a little different, though. I'm still a long way from a full reveal.

Take the mask off and I looked even stranger than before. I'd ignored the balance of the whole face and over-upgraded only the area around the eyes, and that dissonance threw every other flaw into sharper relief. It didn't look good.

Nothing I can do. I don't have the points yet. It was a choice of focus—a tightrope walk, all to grow the broadcast as fast as possible. And the payoff came right back.

Water Balloons poured in, literally. The collection mission cleared in a flash, and the moment the next one appeared it was already about half full. That wasn't all. Word must have been spreading, because the viewer count started climbing fast—400, 450, 500—and it showed no sign of stopping.

I waited out the howling for a beat of timing, then switched the cam back on and, swallowing the squirm in my gut, bestowed upon them the killer eye-smile I'd practiced in advance.

Alien gibberish burst out everywhere, and the chat plastered itself in gasps. On top of that, the Water Balloons chained on without end, one after another. We still had a game to play with the team. They needed to calm down, at least a little.

I killed the cam again, ran my voice through the modulator, and spoke in a tone a shade more grown-up.

"Good viewers listen to Teacher, don't they? Keep making a fuss and today's broadcast goes on just like this. No cam."

I told the chat mods to clean up after them and slipped into the Discord room Lac had made.

"Hello."

"Oh, Hani's here."

"Then we're all gathered. Everyone finished getting ready? Let's get straight to it."

"Yep."

"Oki!"

Today's practice opponent was none other than Ikueku's team. On tier alone, they were the strongest squad you could name—and the jungler I'd be measured against was a Challenger, which made them a team I was all too conscious of.

"Check the password and everyone get in the lobby."

"Mmhmm."

"Let's go!"

As I entered, I shrank the cam window and tucked it into the bottom right. A few viewers complained, but if we were going to play, there was no helping it. No one was late; everyone was already ready. Lac exchanged a few words with the opposing captain, Ikueku, and passed along that we'd start in three minutes.

"Everyone, cheer for us."

The three minutes flew, and the game began. We'd agreed on a best of three, and the first match opened with us on blue side and the enemy on red.

"Bans go as we planned."

"Okay."

"Understood."

To snipe Ikueku, their ace, we banned Lee Sin and Graves first, then spent the last ban on Aatrox—the enemy top laner's most-played champion—for the sake of a top lane that would be suffering all game. Their bans, by contrast, were piled onto mid. A Platinum having to face a Diamond... in truth, a Master wearing a Diamond's mask. They must have decided the team had no choice but to hand the ban cards to Waka. LeBlanc, Talon, and Sylas, his staples, all went out.

Now it was time to pick. We were blue side, so the first champion was ours.

"What do we take first? Ashe? Zed's still up—Waka, you want to pick first?"

"I can take my time. Kago can't play Zed anyway."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Then I'll just lock Ashe."

Strong in lane, useful at range, armed with an engage, and perfectly respectable late—Ashe was more than worthy of a first pick. Then it was the enemy's turn to lock two champions at once. Unexpectedly, Ziggs and Alistar appeared.

"Doesn't look like they want a bot-lane fight. They're just planning to lie down and take it, huh?"

"Yeah. Ziggs with Teleport, clearing the wave and trying to hold on as long as they can. If that's the case, we should play even more aggressive."

"Want me to go Jarvan or Xin Zhao, then? If support locks Leona, the dives should be clean."

While we talked it over, the time left to choose was bleeding away fast.

"Winning would be nice, but the point is practice. So let's test the picks we already planned."

Lac was right. You don't confuse the purpose of a scrim. The goal isn't the win—it's sharper teamwork and clean data.

"Then I'll take Morgana."

"Jungle goes as planned."

Mia locked Morgana, and I took the Lillia we'd already agreed on. A deer whose prancing looked almost frivolous—but the versatility she could show in a teamfight, and the surprise packed into her ultimate, would mesh with Ashe and Morgana into an even stronger synergy.

And this way, even if top and mid both go AD, the comp still balances.

Their turn again. They hesitated a moment over our picks, then, right at the buzzer, Kindred and Ryze appeared. Kindred was a hard counter to Lillia; it felt like she'd been brought out aimed straight at me. She also carried in much the same way Graves did. Ryze, meanwhile, was clearly fishing for chaos with Realm Warp, and for fast joins onto the map.

"They're committed. Hiding top until the very end and then showing Ryze—they mean to gut the entire topside."

"That's how I read it too. What do we do? Meet them in a roam war?"

Waka was talking about Twisted Fate—usually just called TF—and Lissandra, loaded with hard CC, an engage, and the survivability to match.

"For top, Renekton or Sett should be fine. What do you want to do?"

"I'll take Renekton."

We closed the draft with Renekton and TF. Then, last of all, the enemy produced a pick that made us stare.

"...!"

"No way. This is actually insane."

Top Vayne. A Master-tier top Vayne, into a Gold Renekton—and our jungle was Lillia, hardly a good pick for ganking a Vayne in the first place.

"I think my PTSD is coming back. Please, no more top Vayne!"

Wagyu sounded ready to cry. I felt a little called out myself. When I took top as an off-role, Vayne was exactly what I reached for once I saw the enemy's pick. That was how infamous she was up there. But a locked pick was a locked pick.

Lac told Wagyu not to get greedy for CS, to manage his early resources properly, and to keep dives in mind.

The game began.