Fangless Jungler

"Okay, let's take a step back for a moment," Yuel said. "I want to discuss games 4 and 5 again in more detail. I'll explain what sorts of plans I had in mind initially. Plans that, unfortunately, I couldn't realize."

After the enemy mopped Stratus in Game 3, Yuel had been racking his brain to come up with a solution. He had to find a way to counter the new opponents and their organized "Triangle" teamplay.

"I concluded it was best to let our Jungler disrupt them," Yuel explained. "I was hoping Nia would do that for us, but..."

The Napping Phantom unexpectedly succumbed to slumber. In her stead, the memer entered the stage.

"It was an unfortunate turn of events," Yuel said.

"Hey, hey," Luke objected. "Is it just me or did ya just call me bad?"

"Anyway," Yuel continued like it was nothing. "Even though Luke replaced Nia and that threatened to ruin all my plans, I didn't want to give up just yet."

Strong ganks were the best way to thwart the enemy's Triangle formation, Yuel was convinced of that at the time. A strong Jungler would make the enemy sweat and think twice about every move. That would have slowed down the enemy's aggression and gave Stratus more time to respond to the enemy's strong plays.

Unfortunately, the words "strong Jungler" and "Luke" didn't mesh together in one sentence. It was a problem not of player skill but of class preferences. Luke was physically incapable of picking a "strong Jungler" class.

Even so, it didn't change the fact the team needed a strong Jungler at the time. Therefore, Yuel had to find a class that had the potential to be intimidating but also be a class that Luke would be willing to pick up.

"Lars and Kai were also making things difficult for me at the time," Yuel said. "They both wanted to play Carry and I had to find a solution for that too." He sighed and shot a look at the two troublemakers.

"Yeah, I guess that happened..." Kai averted her eyes.

"It did?" Lars asked with a dumb smile. "I already forgot, haha!"

"Anyway," Yuel continued. "With all these constraints in mind, I just barely managed to find one class that'll 'work out', if we can even call it that."

Pyromancer, a mage with enough burst damage to qualify as a pseudo-assassin. With a magical Jungler in the team composition, Lars and Kai were both free to play physical classes. In other words, they could both play Carry that game.

"Of course, Pyromancer is far from being the best magical Jungler out there. But, it's about the only one Luke would be willing to play."

"Hey, hey," Luke objected. "I can play lots of them, ya know? Jungle Warlock, Jungle Lumi, I got it all!"

"Sorry, I'll correct myself. Pyromancer is the only [practical] magical Jungler you're willing to play."

"Throwing shade at mah bois Warlock and Lumi like that." Luke shook his head.

"Anyway," Yuel continued. "That's how I ended up settling on Pyromancer, due to a lack of other practical options. Honestly, I wanted to believe we had a realistic shot with it, but I was optimistic..."

Pyromancer was indeed a practical Jungler. During the mid-game, it transformed into a threatening existence which the enemy had to respect.

But, unfortunately, Pyromancer didn't have much going for it during the early-game. It was perfectly fine during that phase when laning in Mid, but as a Jungler it was just a unit with decent burst damage, but with no CC and with very weak escape options. So, during that phase of the game, every legit assassin class outclassed Pyromancer, save for Rogue.

"Actually, even Rogue is probably better in the early-game." Yuel couldn't believe he just said that, but that was his honest analysis.

"Yep, I'm with you on that," Luke actually agreed for once. "I also think my boi Rogue is way better in general. He's a hella good Jungler, honestly. Dunno why you keep hatin' on him."

"Rogue might be better than Pyromancer in the early-game but he has many other flaws."

"Welp, I still say you should've let me pick it over Pyro if you wanted a proper assassin."

"It would've been great if I could just convince you to pick a proper magical Jungler, but maybe you're right." Yuel sighed. With how badly the Pyromancer pick turned out, it was hard to tell which pick was better. Perhaps Yuel's bias against Rogue blinded him at the time and made him choose wrongly.

Either way, the current discussion wasn't about Yuel's mistakes. It was about his plans for Games 4 and 5, and how Luke's restrictive picks made it impossible for Yuel to form a proper winning game plan.

"As you all know, we lost Game 4 quite decisively," Yuel continued. "A big part of it was due to Luke not being able to threaten the enemy with strong ganks."

"So, you're saying it's all my fault?"

"Not all of it, but definitely some of it. I couldn't come up with many good shot-calls for you and you didn't find many good opportunities yourself. You at least agree with that much, right?"

"Yeah, that's fair," Luke said. "It's true that, during the early-game, [Pyro isn't that hot]. Huehue, get it?"

"2/10 joke." Yuel scoffed and played a regular unedited replay of Game 4. "As you can see, one thing led to another and we lost control of the game fairly early, just like it happened in Game 3. From that point onward, Luke had to stay on the defense most of the time."

"Yep, sure did." Luke nodded. "I hope you not gonna say my Pyro sucked on the defense or some shit."

"No, not at all. You played solid defense. Pyromancer is a Mid Laner in the first place so, naturally, you contributed a lot."

"Hey, hear. This guy can actually praise people too!"

"You can take it as a 'praise' if you want, but it shows an inherent problem with your pick. The fact it was better for you to stay on the defense than to jungle was a big issue."

"Oh shit, here we go again..."

"It's true, though," Yuel continued. "Your Pyromancer had very little hope of achieving anything meaningful if you continued jungling. Even a perfectly timed gank could easily miss its mark because Pyromancer isn't a real assassin. We both knew that. That's why you didn't object to playing defense in the second half, right?"

"Welp, that's true..." Luke smiled wryly.

"If you picked a proper Jungler, we would've had far more options to try. There were some opportunities to gank the enemy in a big way, but nobody was up to the task."

"Eh, I dunno." Luke shrugged. "I think we were just losing pretty dang bad back there. I didn't see any of these 'opportunities' you're talking about. Everybody had to be on the defense in order to survive."

"That's not true," Yuel objected. "Staying 100% on the defense wasn't going to improve our position."

"We just had to wait for the enemy to overextend. Ez."

"I'll remind you we weren't playing against online opponents who had a high chance of blundering. Taurus is a competitive team. They weren't going to commit any big mistakes from an advantageous position."

"Yeaaaah, I guess ya right. Then, what were we supposed to do? Launch an attack? From that position???"

"Perhaps. It would have been possible to do if we had a reliable Jungler. At the very least, we could've tried turning the tables around with a strong gank."

"I dunno about that, chief. I mean, you said it yourself, right? Them bros were pretty damn good. They wouldn't fall for that shit."

"True, it's possible we would have failed to turn things around even with a stronger Jungler. But, just having a "strong Jungler" on the team would have put a lot of pressure on the enemy. They would have had to think twice about launching such a reckless offense, so I'm sure we wouldn't have found ourselves in such a bad position in the first place."

"That's a lot of assumptions. But, I guess I can see it, sorta." Luke shrugged.

"So," Yuel concluded. "That's Game 4 in a nutshell. My entire idea of countering the enemy with a threatening Jungler didn't come to fruition. Why? Because we didn't have a Jungler that was up to the task."

"Again with them insults, huh."

"Right, I'll correct myself. We didn't have a Jungler [class] that was up to the task. We simply couldn't pick one. The team couldn't realize the game plan I had in mind, all because somebody insisted to pick memes."

"Hey, don't only blame me," Luke said. "You just gotta come up with a better plan next time, haha."

"Actually, you're right," Yuel admitted. "That's what I tried to do for Game 5 after learning from my mistake. But, then I realized we barely have any viable options to work with."

"What do you mean? I can play lots of stuff. Druid, Cryo, Lumi-"

"Yes, that's what I mean by 'nothing'. None of these are good Jungler picks."

"Hey, don't insult mah bois like that!" Luke smiled mischievously. "They're all fine Junglers in the right hands. Just gimme the stage and I'mma make them shine on it!"

[I hope he knows he's talking nonsense.] Yuel sighed. "Anyway, due to the lack of any good options-"

"But they exist, thooooo!"

"[Due to the lack of any GOOD options]," Yuel stressed. "I had no choice but to settle on something like Knight."

"Knight is dope too. What's your problem with it?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Except for the fact it's not a class designed for jungling."

"Meh, that's a narrow-minded way of thinking. Sometimes, a class can surpass the designer's intents!"

"Sounds like a line you picked up from a memeing guide." Yuel narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, that's how we got stuck with a Jungler Knight in the last game. By no means was it a choice I was happy with. It's just that I couldn't find anything better in what little time we had to prepare."

"Bruh, I keep tellin' ya. You should've just let me play Rogue. I would've rekt these guys!"

"I don't believe that for a second," Yuel continued. "Anyway, about Game 5 itself."

"Yep, what about it?" Luke asked. "You gonna say I played an awesome Jungler Knight, right? Right?"

"In fact, yes, you did play a decent Jungler Knight," Yuel agreed even though he wanted to deny it with every fiber of his existence. "But, all I mean by that is that you played Knight decently [in that role], a role that Knight has no business playing in the first place because his kit isn't suited for it."

"So, I blew it out of the water, didn't I? Must've totally surprised ya, hehe."

"Not at all. I already knew how well you play Jungler Knight. I wouldn't let you pick a meme class I wasn't confident you could play."

"Fair enough. But anyway, I played just fine, right? So okay, GG. My turn in the roaster is over. Time to pack, guys!

"Sit down, young man," Yuel ordered. "I haven't gotten to the main point yet."

"Alright, alright." Luke sighed. "Then, out with it already, Mr. Roaster. Hit me, daddy."

"I'll start by saying something general about Game 5 as a whole." Yuel took the conversation a step back. "It was a close game, wasn't it?" He directed the question to everybody in the room.

"Yep, sure was," Luke answered without thinking twice.

"Indeed!" Vincent made noise. "It was a worthy showdown! Both teams invoked the utmost of their abilities, fighting to the bitter end! Our chances of victory looked slim to nonexistent. Nevertheless, at the very end, we made a magnificent comeback and crushed the opposition!"

"Yeah, it came down to the wire," Kai agreed.

"I thought you'll lose..." Nia mumbled her honest opinion about the replay she watched. That game was scary.

"It was one heck of a rocky ride." Lars smiled meaningfully. "But, I know that look. It's a trick question, isn't it? So, nope! It was actually ezpz! We totally wrecked these dudes, yo!"

"You might be joking," Yuel said. "But, that's actually much closer to the truth. In Game 5, with me and Lars in Bot and Lars playing Gunslinger, our team was actually quite stronger than Taurus' lineup. We should've had a much easier time winning."

"Heh, good job patting yourself on the back there." Luke snickered.

"Say what you will, but it's undeniable that Lars and I fared well in Bot. We had the lane under control."

"Welp, that's facts alright." Luke didn't have any objections there.

"At the same time, the situation in Top was more complicated, but it eventually started swinging in our favor as well. So, Mid was the only lane we were clearly losing in."

"Geh..." Kai shifted her eyes away.

"It was unfortunate we couldn't gain an advantage in all three lanes," Yuel continued. "But, that's alright. Controlling Mid alone shouldn't have given the enemy enough footing to gain map advantage."

"But," Luke interjected. "These mad lads just went ahead and ganked Mid outta nowhere, haha!"

"Yes, they did." Yuel nodded. "Do you want to know why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? Them dudes be crazy like that."

"It's a ballsy move, for sure. But, that's not all there is to it. They were clearly not afraid of committing to such a play. Can you guess why?"

"Because their cap was totally mopping the floor with Kai in Mid?"

"Grr..." Kai gritted her teeth and shot a glare at Luke, but said nothing. [As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. I had my ass handed to me in Mid in the early-game...]

"You're not entirely wrong," Yuel continued. "The fact Kai was losing in Mid definitely played a factor. Also, some of them were actively underestimating Kai as a player, so that boosted their confidence. But, these weren't the only factors."

"There's more?" Luke titled his head. "Are ya sure you're not just overthinking this? Dudes just wanted to act cool and gank Mid together. What more is there to it?"

"In addition to all that, it's clear they weren't afraid of being counter-ganked," Yuel explained. "A bold push like that on Mid was like sending us an invitation to gank them, yet they didn't care. Why? Because our team didn't have a real Jungler to speak of."

"Hey, rude! You offended my feelings just now, man. [Sob]."

"Are you saying you were an [actual] Jungler in that game? Please." Yuel shook his head. "You were just a roaming Support, that's why the enemy wasn't scared of you in the slightest. They knew you weren't dangerous by yourself. You could only gank them hard when you had teammates to cooperate with."

"Makes sense, I guess," Luke reluctantly agreed.

"If you played a more intimidating Jungler, they'd have to think twice or thrice about making such a bold rotation to Mid. They'd constantly have to keep in mind that our team had a dangerous Jungler who could single-handedly gank and kill any of them. It would have put a lot of pressure on them and might have discouraged from pushing Mid altogether."

"That's a lot of hypothetical talk there..." Luke forced a smile.

"This is all part of the game's rules," Yuel insisted. "I'm sure even you agree that, if the enemy has an intimidating Jungler, then you'd always have to think twice about overextending anywhere on the map, right?"

"That's true, I guess," Luke reluctantly agreed. "But, just because there's a srs bsns enemy Jungler, it doesn't mean you never gonna extend anywhere."

"Correct. Nothing is absolute," Yuel agreed. "But, you'd be far more willing to take the risk when the enemy doesn't have such a dangerous Jungler, right?"

"Well, yeah. That's common sense for ya."

"And therein lies the problem," Yuel repeated his point. "Your Knight wasn't intimidating in the slightest as a Jungler, so the enemy felt like they had permission to do whatever they wanted. You were like a Knight piece that hasn't moved from its starting position, so you couldn't apply any pressure on the rest of the board."

"Wut?"

"Oh, right." Yuel realized he got carried away. There was no way Luke would understand that. "My bad, it was a chess analogy. Is there any other team sport you know well?"

"Soccer! Explain it to me in soccer terms, man. I'm dying to hear it." Luke grinned confidently. [Kek, goteem! No way this nerd knows anything about soccer.]

"Soccer? Okay." Yuel took a couple of seconds to come up with an appropriate example.

[Wait, is he really gonna do it?] Luke gulped. [Don't tell me this guy is also some sort of big brain in soccer too. I have a bad feeling about this...]

"For example," Yuel started. "Imagine you're a forward."

"You bet I am! I be scoring goals left and right, boi!"

"Right. As the forward, your main job is to score goals. As long as you're consistently posing that threat, the enemy will have to pay attention to you."

"Damn straight! Gotta make 'em scrubs sweat."

"Right. And, naturally, the enemy will constantly try to stop the ball from ever reaching you if you're that good."

"Totes, man. You betcha the ball gonna be rolling to me all the time so I can get them goals!"

"Correct. That's a rough description of how an ideal forward should be like. Unfortunately, you're not that kind of forward."

"Wait, what!? Nuuuuuu! My glorious soccer career ended before it even started...!"

"Don't worry, you have other things going for you," Yuel explained. "You might not be an ideal forward, but you're decent at passing the ball around and organizing plays. So, that makes you strong in the midfield."

"Dang, sounds like I'm carrying that entire team!"

"Perhaps you are," Yuel said. "Anyway, since you're so good in the midfield, you often go over there to help the team despite being a forward."

"Welp, ain't I just the nicest dude in the world?"

"You really are. But remember, you're a forward. Your job is to score goals and put pressure on the enemy defense. But tell me, how scary is a forward who hangs out around the midfield the entire game?"

"That's not really a forward at that point. That's a mid-fielder."

"Correct. But, nevertheless, you [are] the team's forward. The team needs somebody on the offense and there's nobody else for the job. Now tell me, how much pressure do you think a forward like that applies on the enemy team?"

"Welp, I feel sorry for the guy, but it doesn't sound like he gonna score much this season."

"Exactly. And, the other team won't feel pressured by him either," Yuel explained. "So, how do you think the enemy defenders will be playing that game?"

"Hmm." Luke crossed his arms. "Well, if they don't have to worry too much about defending, they can just take it easy. Like, ya know, bring a nice sofa over there and take a good nap, haha."

"Or, they can advance their line of defense closer to the midfield, to put more pressure on the center."

"Yep, I guess they can try that. Sounds a little risky, tho."

"Yes, it's risky to do when a dangerous forward is around. But, without that threat? They're free to neglect the defense a little in favor of placing more pressure on the midfield. By controlling the midfield, they'll seize control over the entire game."

"Heh, smart bastards."

"That's exactly what happened in Game 5," Yuel said. "Your Knight was the forward who played more like a mid-fielder and didn't pressure the enemy enough. As a result, they felt they could take risks that normally shouldn't be allowed."

"Hrmmm." Luke crossed his arms. It seemed he still wasn't sold on this analogy.

"Let's put it this way," Yuel said. "In soccer, do you agree that a forward who sticks to the midfield won't put too much pressure on the enemy defenders?"

"Well yeah, duh."

"And, do you agree these defenders are far more likely to ignore the forward and focus on controlling the mid?"

"Well, it depends on the team, but yeah. I can see that happen."

"So, it's the same logic for Classmancers. When you play 'Setup Jungler', you don't put enough pressure on the enemy. And, if the enemy doesn't fear getting ganked, they'll play bolder and try to dominate Mid."

"Yeah, I think I see what you're saying." Luke was finally cracking. The soccer analogy was working surprisingly well. "Man, I didn't expect you to know your stuff in soccer too. Totally pwned me there, haha. Are you some sort of professional sport tactician or something?"

"I just enjoy the tactics of sports games," Yuel said. "Soccer happens to be one of the games I've researched before. Sounds like you're into it as well."

"Yeah, I... used to play it a lot." Luke shifted his eyes away. " A fun game. We play sometimes during lunch breaks. Wanna join us?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass." Yuel smiled awkwardly. [I've already come to terms with the fact I can't play any games that require proper coordination and stamina. I just don't have these.]

"Hey, I wanna!" Lars raised a hand. "I usually play some basket during lunch, but I can join ya dudes sometimes too."

"Awesome!" Luke grinned. "I have a feeling you're one heck of a player!"

"Believe it, yo!"

The two exchanged thumbs up.

"So, back on topic," Yuel said. "Luke, do you understand the problem now?"

"Yeah, I kinda get it." Luke sighed. "You're saying I'm not gangsta enough. That's why nobody is scared."

"You can put it that way, I guess," Yuel said reluctantly. "Did you see how StormMonster plays? That's how a proper Jungler should be. He should be a presence that constantly puts pressure on the entire enemy team. That's the main thing you're lacking for becoming the team's main Jungler."

"Wait a sec," Luke objected. "What about Nia then? I don't see you chewing her out on this stuff."

"Nia doesn't have that problem."

"Really? I never see her putting much pressure on anybody. Doesn't everybody forget she even exists? She's a dang phantom."

"True, but she plays proper assassin classes that can gank efficiently. So, when the enemy team forgets about her existence and goes for a reckless play, Nia can capitalize on that and gank them. On the other hand, you usually can't do that."

"Man, this is getting way too complicated for me." Luke made a face. "In short, you want me to play something like real scary, right? Something that gonna scare them scrubs shitless."

"Yes, that's the gist of it. In other words, I want you to play high-tier Jungler classes."

"Ain't happening." Luke waved his hand.

"I see..." Yuel twitched. Even after this long talk, Luke remained unmoving in his position. Just how much of a blockhead could this guy be!?

"But, I hear ya," Luke said. "I'll cook something up. I'm sure there's a meme class that can get the job done."

"I highly doubt it," Yuel said. "Memes are memes because they can't perform as a proper Jungler should. If they could, they'd no longer be memes at that point."

"Nah, don't worry, man. I'll find it! I'mma hit all my online groups and ask them to give me the absolute best meme!"

"Good luck with that. Once you're ready to give up, I hope you'll finally consider picking high tier classes."

"Naaaaaah."

And so, the advice fell on deaf ears. Or, did it? Perhaps the Meme Jedi will find a unique solution while sticking to his values. He'll harness the Meme Force and become a true master! By the time the next scrimmage comes around, he'll have a spicy meme up his sleeve that'll knock everybody off their feet!

Or, maybe not. Who could tell?