Chapter 38: Ecosystem Destruction Species

The short one-week break was over.

[Today too! The name of ST is solid!]
[No, if they win with this combination, what are the other teams supposed to do in the future!]
[The coaches of the Master League will have a headache, but Coach Ahn Jaehoon is just happy!]

It’s been a while since the second round started, but the name ST, reigning at the top of the Master League standings, hasn’t changed.

And as much as that, the atmosphere of the league was filled with the idea that they just needed to beat ST once, no matter what.

Because if they could somehow take down that invincible armada just once, the spotlight would shine on them.

“So, did you analyze it?”

The coach and coaching staff of KTT 3rd division, the traditional sponsor derby opponent who will soon face ST3, stayed late and put their heads together.

“First of all, the top side is hopeless.”
“Why?”
“The top laner is a rookie, but he was famous as a mid laner before, so his champion pool is wide, and his laning is amazing. He also makes good decisions on his own in team fights.”

So, digging into the top lane is impossible.

There was a considerable possibility that if they poked around unnecessarily, the bottom lane would receive infinite ganks and explode.

“And Ox, I really can’t figure out what he’s thinking.”

He mindlessly eats monsters in the Twisted Forest, and even while eating, he suddenly jumps out and intervenes in the lane.

“His decisions are just different every time. But, it’s also the optimal decision.”
“He wasn’t like this last season, right?”
“He loved it when we messed up his pathing.”

Even if the laners didn’t have the initiative, if they secretly stole a Twisted Forest monster from Ox’s side, his pathing would get tangled and he’d self-destruct.

“…Tsk, I guess it’s true that True is in charge of all his decisions.”
“I guess so. It’s not easy for a player to do that.”

Even in solo queue, there are a truckload of people overflowing with ego, so it’s even more so for pros.

“But honestly, even if I was still active, I’d listen to True.”
“You’d listen to a middle schooler?”
“Think about what True does in scrims. Would you even think of defying her?”
“……”

Since KTT had already suffered all sorts of bizarre methods during scrims—of course, all the other teams had suffered as well—they couldn’t refute that statement.

“So, let’s leave the top and hunter, mid…ha.”

The more they watched the analysis videos, the more hopeless the player named True became.

“It’s not like she can’t play assassin champions, she’s good at support champions, and even her initiation and team fighting are amazing.”

The bullfrog of the Master League.

No, this player shouldn’t be in this well in the first place.

“No matter how much I think about it, I think she could carry with a random pick.”

The fact that there was no refutation clearly showed what True’s evaluation was in the Master League.

“Anyway, let’s move on from mid, too.”
“Let’s look at the bottom.”

Even if they couldn’t do anything about the top side, KTT had something to say about the bottom lane.

“Actually, even though they weren’t relatively bad last season, objectively speaking, ST’s bottom lane is about mid-tier in the Master League, right?”

Strike’s aggression and mechanics are definitely not to be underestimated compared to others of his age, but he’s overly emotional and still lacks experience.

And in Bell’s case, he’s decent at team fights, but he lacks the necessary vision as a support and the ability to trade damage or see kill opportunities in the laning phase.

Of course, the vision issue wasn’t highlighted much thanks to the insane initiative of the top side.

“Still, they’re guys with clear strengths and weaknesses, so it’s a bit of a relief.”
“If only the top side doesn’t intervene, I think our bottom lane can somehow dry them out.”

Another coach grumbled at those words.

“That’s why everyone’s failing.”
“Then should we just go extremely?”

Suddenly, one of the coaches had an idea.

“Why don’t we just cut off all the aggressive hunter champions?”
“Are you trying to ruin the ban-pick? How many aggressive picks are there among hunter champions?”
“Anyway, there are three OP picks now, so it’s ambiguous what to ban.”

If the opponent doesn’t ban, KTT, who has the second pick in the first game, gets two OP champions for free, so it’s good, and even if they ban one, they can share one each.

“…Sigh. Can we use all five ban cards on hunters?”

Of course, the opponent isn’t stupid either.

Rather, since Coach Ahn Jaehoon even has experience as a 1st division coach, he can change the direction of the ban-pick at any time.

“If they pick a hunter in the first or second turn, we’re screwed.”
“And abandon the bot lane?”
“Hmm…”

ST’s relative weakness, the bottom lane.

And in this patch version, OP picks mostly come from the bottom and mid.

If the bottom lane had a lot of leeway, it might be different, but there was no room for the hunter to be in the first pick.

Therefore, the opponent had no choice but to complete the bottom and mid combination during the pick time after the first ban.

“This might actually work.”

One of the disadvantages of players who only played aggressive hunters is that they can’t help but show their habits when playing other champions.

Even if True gives the orders for team fights or joining, the time difference that occurs at the moment of giving instructions can’t be helped, and that gap would be larger than usual.

That’s what KTT should aim for.

“We just need to somehow prevent the mid from roaming to the bottom, and our hunter can just live in the bottom lane.”
“What champions have good mid-lane clear?”

The KTT coaching staff, who had found a bit of hope, worked hard to create the ban-picks, leading their sleepy bodies.

ST’s practice room.

Ox’s secret practice of herbivore champions, which started secretly with Eun Seol’s command, not an order, since the break, was slowly showing results.

“This is comfortable.”

Ox realized that some herbivore champions, who can be considered one-person even if they just press R and explode in the middle of the enemy, are blatantly comfortable.

Of course, for Eun Seol and the coaching staff, who had to reduce his pathing to reach this level, it was an infuriating statement.

“It’s good that you realized it now…”

If they weren’t talking in a virtual space wearing VR right now, he would have gotten a flick on the forehead.

“No, yeah. This is right. It’s weird that you can’t do the easy ones when you’re good at the harder ones.”
“…I was a bit disastrous with this type last season.”
“I’ve never seen a guy who tried to rub his body against the opponent’s AD Carry while holding Zilean.”
“……”

Coach Ahn Jaehoon just laughed, but that alone was terrifying for someone.

“Anyway, how does it look to you, Eun Seol?”
“If I’m good?”
“No. Do you think it will work in the Master League?”
“No. If I bring this to the next game, that set will be ruined.”

He practiced repeatedly to shorten the time to clear all the monsters in the Twisted Forest, but his ability to respond to unexpected situations was still very lacking.

“He can’t respond if the opponent comes to counter-jungle.”

It was even worse when combined with Bell’s vision problem.

No matter how much they take the initiative in the mid, it’s impossible to enter and exit the dark Twisted Forest like it’s their own home.

Besides, it’s too much of a burden for me to create all of Ox’s paths in real-time.

After all, having the hunter choose this kind of champion is to prevent my overload, so it’s putting the cart before the horse.

“Then if all my hunter champions are blocked, can I do something else?”
“What, did our Chang Hyun prepare something in the meantime?”
“Well, there’s a champion that can catch vision well, has high value if the KTT we’re going to face next uses double marksmen, and has even higher value in the late game.”
“…There’s something like that, but why don’t I know about it?”

The coach opened the champion list and looked through it to see if he had missed anything, but he couldn’t find a champion that met those criteria.

“So, what is it?”
“Teemo.”
“Get out.”

I knew it.

“No, Coach, this is really good, you know?”
“What are you talking about, really.”
“Jungling is surprisingly fast, he can fill Bell’s lack of vision with mushrooms, if the opponent comes out with double marksmen, my single blind will make them useless, and later on, if the opponent steps on just one mushroom, they’ll lose half their HP, you know?”

And as I listened to him say that he could even kite with his physical skills because he’s a ranged champion—

‘Hmm.’

It’s surprisingly convincing.

At first, the coach looked like he was asking what kind of nonsense was this, but as he listened, he started to look like it made sense.

“He can even go top, so we can use the swap mind game!”

That’s the level of practicing only Teemo instead of practicing the champions he’s supposed to.

It was quite refreshing to see a person who looked like he could tear Teemo apart several times over, praising him.

Meanwhile, Fluke maintained a serious, serious expression.

“Why would I use that in the top lane, Hyung?”
“Who knows. It could happen.”
“There will be no instance of me using that in my professional life.”

Since he must have encountered Teemo the most while solo queuing, his hatred for Teemo is justified.

“Anyway, I’m going to discuss the ban-pick with the other coaches, so keep playing solo queue. Okay?”
“Are you seriously considering this?”
“I’m going!”
“Coach?”

As always.

The top laner could do nothing.