After Nia finished "recharging" by stuffing herself with chocolates, her MOBA exam began. It was agreed she'll play Jungler because, according to her, it was her best role.

"You should sit closer," Yuel said. "It'll be hard to communicate when you're all the way out there."

"I like it here," Nia curled into a ball on her chair. Instead of sitting in the center of the room with everybody else, she remained tucked way in her favorite corner.

"Give her a break," Kai said. "Do you have to nitpick everything? Just let her play the way she wants. She can still hear us from here just fine."

"Fine," Yuel sighed in defeat. It felt like every comment he made today just painted him as a villain. Maybe he should lie low for a while and silently observe Nia's performance.

"Got any classes you prefer?" Kai asked.

"Um, Rogue?" 

"Oh! Atta girl!" Luke gave a thumbs up. "A fitting Jungler sub for me, no question."

"Let's not do that," Yuel couldn't hold it in. "Please."

"This time, I gotta agree," Kai nodded. "Rogue is a little weak right now."

"Oh, right" Nia checked something on her phone. “I think it was considered low tier in MOBA?”

Wow, imagine not knowing that. Yuel couldn't believe what he just heard. If there's one thing everybody and their mom knew about the current tier list, it’d be Rogue’s rough placing on the tier list. Virtually every player went through the experience of getting stomped by a Rogue at low levels and thinking it was OP at first, only to later realize it was actually pretty easy to deal with.

Then again, Nia didn't even play Ranked yet. She was still stuck in the qualifier of the MOBA mode. so maybe that lack of knowledge was reasonable. Somewhat.

"Looks like it’s really bad. Then..." Nia flipped through something on her phone. "Ninja is okay, right?"

"Yeah, much better," Kai approved.

"If we go for Ninja, we better pick it last during drafting," Yuel advised. "That'll hamper the enemy's ability to counter it. Ninja isn't the kind of class that'll be banned unless somebody on the other team got a very specific beef with it so we can safely pick it last."

"That's surprisingly considerate for you," Kai said.

"Why, thank you," Yuel forced a smile. This felt like cold war. It wasn’t like he and Kai were fighting per se, but it felt like Kai would jump on every little opportunity to call him out. When did Yuel become the villain here? All he was trying to do was host a proper exam. Sigh.

They couldn’t queue into Ranked as a team because Nia was still stuck in the qualifier, so they went for Casual mode instead. However, Yuel insisted for it to be a Casual match with drafting because clashing with a random unknown team was far from fun or interesting.

Draft Casual was essentially the same as Ranked, just didn’t have the pressure of losing rank points from losing. Many players liked chilling in this mode when they weren’t in the mood for some serious grinding. Therefore, it was very much possible to run into a couple of high-level players in this “Casual” mode.

It took the system a while to match them with somebody but it ultimately did. The drafting phase began.

The enemy's first pick was Viking, most likely for Top. Viking was also a common Jungler pick but most people picked it for Top, especially when it was an early pick. So, Viking will most likely be Yuel's lane opponent. 

 

The counter pick Yuel went for was Monk. It had the ability to escape from clutch situations by becoming temporarily invincible, so Yuel will be able to get away if the Viking gets too close. In addition, it could attack minions from afar with Chakra Bullet so that’ll give him lane advantage while farming.

Later into the drafting phase, the enemy picked Aeromancer. Naturally, Yuel counter picked with Electromancer. 

"Aeromancer and Electromancer, name a more iconic duo," Vincent chuckled.

So far, the team has been holding the upper hand in the drafting. Yuel's Monk countered Viking while Lars's Electromancer countered Aeromancer. The entire game might be decided by those two advantages.

As expected, the enemy didn't ban Ninja. So, it'll be the team's last pick for Nia. The enemy only had one more class to pick so there was little chance for a surprise. At least, that’s how it looked until the last pick was made...

"Orc!?" Yuel jumped. This was terrible. He didn't account for this possibility. This meant the earlier Viking pick was for Jungler, not for Top. It was unclear whether the enemy planned this from the beginning. But, either way, they managed to deliver a devastating surprise with that final pick. 

Orc was dangerous. It was an infamous early-game bully, second only to Dark Knight in its brutality. A pick like this implied the enemy was aiming to end the game early.

This was bad. Yuel picked Monk mainly due to its ability to get away from Viking’s close-quarters pressure but that wasn’t as relevant against Orc. Unlike the Viking, Orc didn't rely on bursting down a single opponent from point-blank. Its attack power was continuously high throughout the early game, so it didn't need to search for an opportunity to get close and kill his lane opponent. Instead, he simply wrecked everybody in his path, minions and players alike.

Worst of all, Monk was a relatively slow lane clearer, that was the compensation for the ability to clear from afar. Viking wasn't a particularly fast clearer either so, in that matchup, the extra attack range would have played a huge role.

But, against Orc’s overwhelming clearing speed? The extra range was practically useless. This was going be one hell of a laning phase, that's for sure.

"I got counter picked hard," Yuel explained everybody the gist of the problem.

"To think that somebody out there was able to outsmart the great Chessmaster!" Vincent made noise.

"It's just bad luck," Yuel said. "It's impossible to account for everything when there are so many classes in the game. Besides, Orc is a rather rare pick in the current meta even though it's a decent class. Didn't expect to see it."

"All I hear is excuses." 

"I guess you're right," Yuel smiled wryly. No matter how he twists it, this was clearly his mess up. I’ll have to reflect on it later.

But, until then, his top priority was to deal with the situation at hand. How should he defuse an Orc in this matchup?

Just like Dark Knight, Orc was a class that could easily snowball during the early-game but fell off later into the game. So, as long as Yuel survives through the early-game without any unfortunate incidents, things will work out. However, with his Monk pick...

"Nia, I'll need you to gank Top a lot," Yuel said.

"Me?" Nia looked around as if expecting to find somebody else with the same name.

"Yes, you. You're the Jungler so you got the most flexibility in terms of ganks. I’m not sure I'll be able to stall Orc by myself so prioritize Top for ganks. We have to make sure he's constantly scared of the possibility of being ganked. That'll make him think twice about pushing."

"Ok," Nia replied briefly. It was hard to tell whether she understood the importance of her role in all of this but at least she didn't object. As long as she ganks Top every now and then, it should put enough pressure on the Orc and stop him in his tracks.

The drafting phase came to an end and the match began. Yuel started off with Giant Warhammer, a primitive item that offered nothing more than sheer power and a little bit of penetration at Lv.3  It was the most aggressive option he could go for during the early-game for such a low price. Though, even this much power probably won’t bother the Orc much.

Once Yuel arrived on the lane, the enemy's onslaught began. The guy knew he had the upper hand and utilized his advantage right away.

The Orc darted toward Yuel's swordsmen and brought down his axe. Wham! A swordsman was gone. Just like that, in a single hit, one of Yuel’s frontline minions was gone. 

The Orc swung his axe again. Another swordsman was gone. Then, a third strike. Yuel's entire frontline disappeared. Such was the terrifying strength of an early-game Orc. While it wasn’t as overwhelming as Dark Knight’s ability to clear an entire wave with Dark Blast, the brute strength of these basic attacks was more than enough to bully most lane opponents.

While Dark Knight's lane bullying strength laid in his powerful Dark Blast, Orc's strength laid in his high attack power. Orc’s passive, Gang Up, boosted his attack power for every nearby ally. It was similar to Warrior's passive, except it buffed based on the number of allies instead of the number of enemies.

And, the buffs were much greater. While Warrior only gained a little bit of power from nearby enemy minions, Orc gained twice the amount. Together with Orc’s already higher base attack power, that made Orc a terrifying force during the early-game. He crushed every minion in his path like they were ants.

Yuel's Monk had no chance of contesting the lane against this. In fact, no Top Laner held a real chance except for Dark Knight. All Yuel could do was stay behind and shoot minions from afar.

Monk was a melee fighter like most bruisers but he had the Chakra Bullet skill which fired a ranged shot. The Monk charged his fist with wind energy and thrust it forth. A blast of wind shot from the fist and slammed into a minion. Unfortunately, the damage was far from impressive, even with the Giant Warhammer in his build. The damage was just slightly higher than that of his basic attack.

However, the good news was that Yuel could shoot multiple times in a row because Chakra Bullet was a toggle ability. Once turned on, all of Yuel's basic attacks became ranged. So, he stayed in the rear and repeatedly thrust his fists to generate blasts of wind.

Unfortunately, this great effect didn't last forever. Each shot of Chakra Bullet cost one point of Chakra, which was a special resource that replaced MP for the Monk. The Monk started the game with just 6 Chakra and got 1 Max Chakra per level so, right now, Yuel could only shoot seven times before running out.

On top of that, unlike MP, Chakra didn't replenish over time. Instead, the Monk had to meditate to restore it. After exhausting all his Chakra, Yuel retreated to his tower and stopped moving. Shortly, the Monk went out of "combat mode" and sat down to meditate. Staying in this pose gradually restored Yuel's Chakra.

Monk's low amounts of initial Chakra was the main reason it was subpar in the early-game. On paper, a bruiser who could fire ranged attacks like that should be able to bully most melee bruisers on lane. However, the number of shots was greatly restricted and the Monk had to take a long break before he could start his engine again.

Monk will become much scarier around mid-game once it starts carrying loads of Chakra but, until then, it didn't bring much to the table. Since Yuel expected to face a Viking, he wasn't too concerned with the early-game when he drafted Monk. After all, Viking was also a mid-game class because his true power only kicked off once he got his ult up. So, Yuel thought he wouldn't have to worry about anything until the mid-game. How wrong he turned out to be...

WHAM. The Orc swung a huge war hammer in front of him. The assault blasted off all of Yuel's bowmen in one hit. The little guys flew all across the lane like lifeless ragdolls.

Yes, that's right. Orc had more than just one-shot basic attacks in his arsenal. He also had access to a cone AoE attack via the Sledgehammer skill. The cone attack dealt less damage than his basics but it still allowed him to take out Yuel's entire group of bowmen in one hit.

This Orc player sure knew what he was doing and was pulling out all the stops. It was frustrating but that’s how Orc should play against weaker opponents. Gaining this sort of lane advantage was the entire purpose behind picking a class like Orc in the first place.

Yuel didn’t even try to contest this strength. Instead, he retreated to his Turret and sat down with his legs crossed. The enemy’s upcoming push was inevitable so Yuel could only brace himself for the worst. The enemy will come to him and he'll be ready to greet them after he restores his Chakra back to full.

Yuel already hit Lv.3 so his max number of Chakra Bullet shots was at eight. Before the enemy formation got to raid his tower, Yuel stood up and fired at the rushing minions. The more minions he takes outside the Turret's range, the better.

Against an Orc, it was inevitable to let some minions invade the tower and lose farm as a result. So, Yuel tried to keep those losses to a minimum by sniping incoming minions before they got in. He managed to clear the enemy's frontline in time but the three bowmen invaded and began their assault on his Turret.

Yuel’s Chakra was exhausted again so he had to deal with these invaders personally. In other words, get in there and punch these invaders in the face. But, as he got closer, a whip lashed at him.

Orc used Scourge to deliver a line attack by whipping in front of him. Since Yuel was the only target in range, the whiplash also stunned him for a brief moment.

But, that's all the attack did to him. It dealt alright damage and it briefly stunned Yuel but the Orc couldn't follow up on this attack in any way. After all, even though Yuel was stunned, he was still under his tower. As such, the Orc didn't dare to come any closer to attack for that’d incur the Turret’s wrath.

So, at first glance, this whiplash was nothing more than a poke. But, this kind of single poke without follow-ups was rather pointless against Monk, who had increased HP5 during Meditation. The next time Yuel mediates, he'll quickly heal up this damage and return to full health. So, as far as hindering Yuel was concerned, the damage of this poke did nothing.

However, that wasn't the end of the skill's effect. After lashing with the whip, the Orc kept the whip in hand instead of returning to his default axe. In other words, his basic attacks temporarily transformed from axe swings to whip lashes. That gave him extra reach and he had every intention to make the best of it.

I see this guy is pulling out all the stops. Yuel frowned. He didn't have a good answer to this move. This Orc player definitely knew how to make the most out of this matchup; most likely a high rank.

The Orc ignored Yuel's presence and invaded the tower's area with a scourge in hand. He took advantage of the extra range and whipped the Turret from a distance. This way, he didn't have to venture too deep into the tower area to get hits on the Turret.

Should I spook him? Yuel wondered. It'll be bad if the Orc feels too comfortable with this situation and turns it into a routine. If this repeats for a couple more waves, it won’t take long for the Orc to tear down the Turret with his high damage. The guy even built Ninja Tabi, the shoes that increase attack speed. Clearly, the guy had every intention to bring the Turret down as quickly as possible.

Therefore, Yuel ignored the enemy minions and went after the Orc instead. All his Chakra was exhausted so he could only attack with fists. So, he had to be in the Orc's face to deliver any damage.

That'd be a risky situation. Even though Monk was a bruiser, Orc won't need to work too hard to take him down. That’s how crazy Orc's early-game damage was. He'd need about five or six attacks to kill Yuel.

Granted, it could've taken more hits than that if Yuel built a defensive item first. However, he hoped to contest the lane so he went for Giant Warhammer, the most aggressive early game option he had. It helped him to clear minions faster and lose less farm but it also left him more vulnerable against the Orc in fights.

Therefore, if possible, Yuel rather avoid getting too close to the Orc, even under tower. The fewer chances the Orc gets to hit him during the early game, the better. Nevertheless, Yuel had to take the risk this once in order to slow down the Orc’s future pushes.

Against most opponents, it was enough to show them that they’d become a target whenever they push the tower. That usually made them retreat right away. So, Yuel made it very clear that he was going to charge at the Orc to. Hopefully, that’d scare the guy away before Yuel even gets there.

Unfortunately, this Orc didn't budge. He kept whipping the tower without a care in the world. Ballsy of him. Very ballsy.

You're one of those, huh. I see. This opponent had no fear. Or, at least, he pretended to have no fear. So, there was no choice but to go all the way against him. Yuel had to prove he had the upper hand in this position and that he knew how to take advantage of it.

While Yuel was approaching, the Orc cracked his whip again. However, this time, the lash wasn't aimed at the tower. The thorny whip shot right at Yuel!

"Wha!?" Yuel jerked. He was supposed to be the one delivering the attack, yet the Orc beat him to the punch! So cheeky!

However, hitting Yuel was a grave mistake. It triggered the tower and made it focus its fire on the Orc. If they fight under these conditions, Yuel will win with ease even against Orc’s high damage output. No matter how strong it was during the early-game, there was no beating the damage of early-game Turrets. These guys were the true top tier early-game fighters of this game.

For the better or the worse, this Orc wasn't just a reckless fool. He dashed out of the tower's area after landing that risky hit. The tower wasn't fast enough to snipe him so he got away scot-free. On top of that, Yuel couldn't get to the Orc in time to land any hits. Thus, the Orc suffered literally no damage whatsoever from this exchange.

WHISH. The thorny whip cracked again and slashed Yuel. This time, the attack came from outside the tower area. The Orc took advantage of the scourge's superior range to reach Yuel from all the way over out here.

He isn't just a cocky aggressive player. He knows what he's doing. Yuel concluded. This Orc forced Yuel to come to close and then struck twice while maintaining distance. That was almost 40% HP gone. Even after Yuel mediates, this will leave some marks.

Still, despite the negatives, Yuel successfully drew the Orc away from the tower area. Now, he just had to take care of the remaining minions and the push will be over. Or, so he thought.

This guy... Yuel frowned. The Orc stepped into the tower area again as soon as Yuel shifted his attention to the minions. Such goddamn persistence! This guy was dead set on taking any damage he could get on the tower. This created a dilemma.

Do I clear the minions first? Or, do I keep zoning him out and let the Turret handle the minions? Unfortunately, he’s not going to let me do both at once. Let’s see then, which approach will keep my tower safer?

Yuel couldn't answer right away. Based on a rough estimation, the damage from minions was likely more dangerous, especially from the bowmen. Normally, their damage was nowhere near that of an Orc’s. However, they were a gang and their dealt extra damage to towers. So, these little guys seemed to be the greater threat here.

Yuel took out the minions one by one and let the Orc freely hit the Turret. Once only two minions remained under the tower, the Orc ceased his attacks and retreated. And so, the invade has been successfully deflected. However, it’ll have lasting effects.

Yuel's HP was at 60% after all the pokes, which was effectively around 70% HP after he meditates. But, much worse than that, the tower fell to 75% HP during this push. That was the real disaster of this exchange.

Technically, the game was designed in such a way that Turrets were extremely sturdy during the early-game compared to the damage output of minions and players. So, it shouldn’t have been possible to push a Turret too hard during the first couple of waves. However, when almost the entire pack of minions made it to Turret and the pusher was an Orc, it was possible to delete a quarter of the Turret's HP on the very first wave.

This was bad. Three more pushes like that and the Turret’s HP will crumble. Yuel had to find a counter to this Orc’s cocky tactic but he was drawing a blank for now. There was one idea to try during the next wave but it won’t help him win lane advantage; it’ll merely stall the Orc a little. That won’t fix the issue in the long run.

The real solution would be to kill the Orc. Or, at least, to scare the Orc away before he wipes out Yuel’s troops. But, by himself, Monk didn't have the tools to pull anything like that against an Orc. To achieve that, a gank was necessary. 

As such, Nia's help was mandatory. She'll need to gank the Orc and drive him away. That’ll also serve as a great test for her Jungler skills. She mained assassins, so she had to be good at ganking to make the most out of these classes.

Will Nia be able to turn the tides around and help Yuel reclaim the lane?