The fourth game was about to begin. But first, the referee informed Taurus about Stratus subbing out VanishingFlower for LegendaryMemer.

“Huh? VanishingFlower?” Nash cocked his head. “Who’d that, again?”

“Their Jungler,” Rio said.

“Oh, right,” Nash scratched his head. “Totally forgot about him, haha.”

“It was a girl,” Jaiden corrected.

“Ah, really? I don’t even remember seeing her. Was she AFK or something?”

“No, she was definitely there.”

“Like, where?”

“Um, well...” Jaiden scratched his forehead. For some reason, he had trouble recalling any specifics about VanishingFlower.

“She helped defending Mid,” Rio said. “That’s about it.”

“So, a useless scrub, basically,” Nash nodded with a smug. “She probably couldn’t stand watching this alpha Jungler over here wrecking her entire team while she was being useless, so she gave up!”

“I actually remember thinking she had potential,” Jaiden admitted. “I guess it was just Bruce and his gang being careless against her.”

“Our formation probably gave her trouble,” Rio reasoned.

“I’m sure it did,” Jaiden smiled confidently. “There’s no beating our Invincible Triangle!”

“Ya got that right!” Nash pumped a fist.

And so, the drafting phase began.

“You want to ban Impaler again?” Raymond asked.

“Nah,” Jaiden shook his head. “I thought she might be a problematic opponent at first, but after fighting her... Basically, she’s trash. So, I say, let her have her favorite class if she wants it. I don’t care.”

“Hrm, alright,” Raymond proceeded to ban Electromancer. It was a direct attack against his strong lane opponent. As long as the team didn’t request any bans, Raymond would gladly ban every class Gunz played.

“Huh,” Kai narrowed her eyes after the first banning phase came to an end. For some reason, Taurus didn’t ban Impaler this time around. She sensed a hidden message behind that decision.

“Come at me with everything you got, girl! I’ll whoop your ass!” Renegade was surely thinking along these lines right now. That bastard was looking down on her because she failed to beat him last game.

Just you wait. Kai gritted her teeth. I’ll destroy you. I don’t even need Impaler for that. Ranger is good enough to wreck somebody like you.

Kai has already decided to play aggressively this game. Ranger was a great pick for that playstyle because it only had to land its CC once, then the fight was pretty much over against any squishy. Renegade proved he wasn’t an easy target to hit repeatedly, so Kai had to settle this in one go.

Therefore, Kai picked Ranger, contrary to her opponents’ expectations.

"She's not picking Impaler?" Jaiden wondered. 

"I think she's planning to gun for you," Rio said. 

"Heh, I’d be surprised if she didn’t," Jaiden amused himself with the idea that this girl was seeking revenge against him. It was fine by him. Rather, it was exactly what he wished for.

Jaiden wanted to prove to everybody, and especially to the girl herself, that she was trash. Beat didn't have the required skill for reigning as the captain of a team, the same way the girl who stole Jaiden’s spot on StormBlitz didn’t have the necessary skill for that. They were both shams, nothing more.

Therefore, Jaiden welcomed Beat’s quest for revenge. If the girl was going to come at him of her own volition, it’ll only make things easier for him. He'll thoroughly beat her this time.

The competitive stage was no place for those who only pretended to be players. This was the holy ground of warfare, where the best of the best gathered to do battle. Bad players, who wiggled their way in here without the necessary skill, were not welcome here. Only the strong players had the right to be here, and Beat didn't belong to that category.

The drafting phase went on. Jaiden grabbed himself Gunslinger again, Rio went for Cleric because the enemy banned Cryomancer, and Nash also had to settle on a new bruiser because the enemy banned Viking.

"Haha, look at 'em being scared of me!" Nash lifted his chin with a smug across his face.

"Yeah, they're literally shook," Jaiden nodded.

Nash's put on strong a performance last game, so the enemy was naturally wary of him. All in all, the enemy's picks and bans made a lot of sense to Jaiden thus far.

So, Ranger Carry and Pyro Mid. Jaiden nodded to himself. Both picks were aggressive, but not hyper-aggressive like the ones from last game. It was clear the enemy decided to change their approach after losing so badly in the previous game.

"Good job, guys," Jaiden smiled meaningfully. "We showed them we're no pushovers. They’re too scared to go for early-game aggression again."

"Hell yeah, we mopped them good," Nash grinned. "Let's pull them teleporting shenanigans again this time!" 

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rio said.

"Why? C'mon, it gonna work!" Nash gave a thumbs up. "We gonna win the whole thing in like five minutes!" 

"We'll see how it goes," Jaiden was neutral. "We've already shown them this trick once, so it'll be harder to catch them off guard a second time. I bet they'll be prepared for it."

"Nah, they'll never see it coming!" 

"Who knows. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t," Jaiden said. He didn't fully reject the idea, but he didn't believe this trick will work a second time, especially not against a team with Gunz and Chessmaster in it. Those two will adapt for sure.

The way they shifted away from hyper-aggression shows me they’re prepared this time. Jaiden thought. One of the main reasons his Teleport tactic worked so well last game, was because they were dealing with early-game classes.

For most classes, early death wasn't the end of the world. Sure, it was a bummer and setback, but it didn’t rob them of their entire future. However, for an early-game class, early death was detrimental.

The entire idea behind picking early-game classes was to dominate the early-game and ride to victory on that success. However, an early death completely robbed the player of such opportunities, and things only got harder for them from there. In other words, a single death could shut down the class’s entire game plan.

Knowing that, Jaiden and Co. had the luxury to not push towers right away last game. There was no hurry. Instead of rushing tower, they could focus on scoring kills.

Every time they killed an enemy who had an early-game class, they also killed that player’s chances of being relevant for the rest of the game. So, by making every opponent suffer an early death, Taurus secured the game by default. It was that easy.

But, it won't work this time. Stratus has just finished picking their Top Laner and it was a difficult target to take down.

Monk, huh, Jaiden smiled wryly. It was a class with one of the best evasion skills in the game, as it turned the Monk immune to everything. On top of that, Monk was a late-game class, so early deaths won’t tickle it. Yep, we won’t catch him off guard this time. We better take this game slowly like we usually do.

The Monk pick successfully planted that intentional mindset.

This should discourage them from teleporting around. Yuel nodded to himself as he locked in his class. Monk was evasive enough to discourage enemies from ganking him too often. In addition, it was a late-game class that didn’t lose too much from early deaths.

Pyromancer and Ranger were also mid/late game classes. Therefore, the lineup Yuel came up with should be doing a good job discouraging the enemy’s Teleport shenanigans.

I hope they just give up on it. Yuel thought.

Frankly, he didn't have enough time to come up with a proper counter for the enemy’s Teleport ganks. He knew this tactic existed, but he never faced it at such a high level. Their opponents almost made it look like a legit tactic.

The drafting phase went on. There was only one more pick left.

Until now, Stratus has been making "sensible" picks. Yuel ordered the picks in a way that’d look “logical” to the enemy. That should put the enemy at ease, making them think they understood Stratus’s entire game plan for the upcoming game.

However, Yuel was just putting wool over their eyes. Taurus probably assumed that Pyromancer will go in Mid. Hopefully, it influenced some of their decision-making for the worse

All this calculated drafting was leading to this final pick, in which Stratus unveiled the big of their lineup. The last pick was none other than Lars's Trickshooter for Mid!

"... what?" Jaiden rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "Did they just pick Shooter?" 

"Yep, they sure did," Nash nodded. "What's wrong?" 

"I thought they already had a Carry..." 

"Hm? Oh," Nash came to a stop. "What the actual freak? The heck are they doing? Did someone lock-in the wrong thing? Haha, scrubs."

"I’m guessing their Ranger is the Jungler?" Jaiden scratched his head. Pyromancer as Mid, Trickshooter as Carry, and Ranger as Jungler. On paper, that should make sense. It’d perfectly explain the enemy’s lineup.

Nevertheless, his expression remained severe. Something was off. It was like a jigsaw puzzle in which all the parts seemed to fit perfectly at first but, once he took a step back to look at the bigger picture, there were numerous errors.

Wait, if it's Trickshooter... Jaiden found himself grinning all of a sudden. Could it be? Was Gunz returning to Bot to become Jaiden’s opponent!?

HELL YEAH! Jaiden pumped a fist. He couldn't ask for anything better! It was Gunz, the beast Jaiden wanted to challenge since forever!

And, it was a Trickshooter, too! That should be Gunz's strongest class. The guy dominated the Leopards with it last year. This game gonna be a blast!

"Good for you," Rio smiled weakly. He knew this was a big deal for Jaiden. Ever since Jaiden watched that scrimmage last year, he has been working harder and harder to improve his skill alongside his friends. Chessmaster and Gunz motivated him that much.

"These guys are the same year as us, but look at them go! They're kicking some serious butt!" Jaiden was jumping around like an excited child back then. "No wonder these guys made it into StormBlitz. They're way better than me right now. I gotta work super hard to catch up!"

That dazzling performance dragged Jaiden out of the depression he was drowning in at the time. Back then, he was putting on a strong facade in front of everybody, but Rio knew there was boundless sorrow hidden underneath. The failure of getting into StormBlitz haunted Jaiden to no end. On the surface, Jaiden was training seriously like everybody expected him to, but his heart wasn't in it.

Rio's heart ached when he watched Jaiden go about daily life like this. Jaiden was a zombie who pretended to be alive. He was strong and talented, but none of that amounted to anything without the necessary motivation.

Then, things changed. The scrimmage between StormBlitz and the Leopards changed everything. The performances of Chessmaster and Gunz ignited a flame in Zombie Jaiden and brought him back to life. For the first time, he witnessed the skills of the other players his age who made it into StormBlitz. That made him realize many things.

Perhaps StormBlitz's selection exam was rigged to some degree, but not everybody cheated their way in. Some of them were really that good. They were strong enough to give even the Leopards some heat.

It deeply impressed Jaiden and made him chase the backs of those two powerful players. They already “defeated” him once during the entrance exam, but next time he'll win for sure, that's what he promised Rio and Nash. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Jaiden has been working all this time for the sole purpose of standing on this stage today and crossing blades with Chessmaster and Gunz.

Though, I think he kind of forgot about them over time. Rio smiled mischievously. He didn’t even recognize their faces at first. 

Though, it was only reasonable. Jaiden has only seen Chessmaster and Gunz once on stage. What left the biggest impression on him was their strong performance in the game, not their looks.

As Jaiden immersed himself in hard training, he gradually stopped raving so much about Chessmaster and Gunz. His priorities shifted from beating those two opponents to winning the regionals.

It was a good thing. There was no reason for him to be hung up on two strangers he never interacted with. Besides, it was unfair that Rio couldn't lift Jaiden's spirits no matter how hard he tried, yet some strangers from StormBlitz achieved that so easily. Hmph.

Even though Jaiden stopped talking about Chessmaster and Gunz over time, he definitely remembered they existed. He wanted to test his mettle against them, to prove his worth. That’s why today was an important day for him.

Good for you. Rio smiled. He was happy for Jaiden, he really was. Finally, Jaiden got his dearest wish granted. He was playing against Chessmaster and Gunz, the two who kindled a flame in his decaying heart. Finally, he got an opportunity to clash with them and thoroughly crush them, to prove he was the superior player all along. It was StormBlitz's fault not accepting Jaiden. He totally deserved to get in.

With all of that in mind, it was easy to understand why Jaiden was so excited about facing Gunz’s Trickshooter. It was supposed to be the strongest form of that monster. If Jaiden prevails in this fight, he’ll prove he was stronger than Chessmaster and Gunz beyond a shadow of a doubt.

On the other hand, I can't say I'm thrilled about fighting this Trickshooter. Rio shuddered. Chessmaster and Gunz were amazing last year, even Rio was awe-struck by some of their plays. They were so amazing, that they scared him a little.

It was difficult to accurately measure Chessmaster’s skill during that scrimmage. He seemed to be the team's strategist, and probably the shot-caller too. Therefore, his biggest contribution wasn’t through his personal plays, but rather through the orders he gave his teammates. 

Therefore, Rio simply assumed that every sophisticated play StormBlitz did was Chessmaster's idea. That painted Chessmaster as an unrivaled tactician with bizarre ideas. Facing a team led by such a strategist was terrifying.

On the other hand, Gunz’s skill was much easier to analyze. Basically, the guy was a mechanical monster. He shot down everybody in his path without ever slowing down.

Especially, with a Trickshooter in hand, that monster was unparalleled. Gunz’s performance awed Nash the most, but even Jaiden probably considered Gunz to be the more dangerous player out of the two. On the other hand, Rio believed that Chessmaster’s calculated tactics were way more dangerous.

Either way, Chessmaster and Gunz were the real deal. It wasn’t a stretch to call them geniuses. If they finally decide to become serious and return to play Bot, Jaiden and Rio will have a hard time.

But, we’ll win. Rio clenched his hands. Jaiden will win. He’s way better than them.

Once they topple Chessmaster and Gunz at the peak of their strength, Jaiden will finally be able to move on. With the enemy picking Trickshooter this game, perhaps the upcoming match will present such an opportunity. Or, maybe not yet...

 

Lineups:

Yuel (Chessmaster): Monk

Lars (Gunz): Trickshooter

Luke (LegendaryMemer): Pyromancer

Kai (Beat): Ranger

Vincent (InfromationBlackhole):  Lumimancer

 

Jaiden (Renegade): Gunslinger

Nash (StormMonster): Lancer

Rio (Laplace): Cleric

Raymond (Nirvana): Warlock

Zeph (DragonMaster): Knight