Counter Pick Checkmate

"C'mon! One more!" Ignis waved her controller and grin beamed on her face. It made her look like a brat who wanted to mess around. Even though Yuel lost terribly in the previous game, it was hard to hate Ignis's attitude. She was really just a Classmancers geek. "One more!"

"May I?" Yuel turned to Howard, who held the most authority in this house right now because Ignis was totally hammered.

"You got no choice," Howard's lips curved into a smirk. "Once you start playing her when she's drunk, you better be prepared to play her own until she knocks herself out."

"Yep~" Ellen added with an impish smile. "Be ready to stay here aaaaaall night~"

"That'll be a problem," Yuel had no plans staying over. "But I'm not in a hurry so I'll play as many matches I can."

"Good, good!" Ignis nodded repeatedly and exaggeratedly, making it feel like her head will fly off her neck at any moment. "That's the spirit, Chesskid!"

"The name's Yuel."

"Nooooope. You're Chesskid. Real pros use their nicks," Ignis puffed her cheeks, leaving no room for argument. Thinking about it, Yuel also referred to her as "Ignis" even though that's her IGN and not her real name. What was even her real name? That kind of information wasn't always trivial to find online. Pro players were really best known by their nicknames and not any real name. But, even so...

"It's not Chesskid," Yuel argued. "It's Chessmaster."

"Pft, yeah, right! You're ten years too young to have such a coky name!"

[Actually, this name was your brother's idea...]

"So, Chesskid suits ya just *hic* right now."

"Is that so," Yuel made a face. He felt obligated to shoot something back. "I didn't see you calling Howard and Ellen by their nicknames."

"Weeeeell," Ignis shrugged. "Wardy is Wardy and Elly is Elly."

[You're making so much sense that you're blowing my mind!]

"She just hates her real name," Ellen whispered. "So, she wants everybody to call her Ignis."

"What's her real name?" Yuel asked in a whisper.

"It's Heather."

"Don't see a problem with it," Yuel shrugged.

"Nuuuuuu!" Ignis roared out of the blue. "I'm nooooo Heather! I'm Ignis! IG-NIS! Drill that into yo *hic*!" She poked Yuel's temple as if to transmit this data into his brain.

"Fine," Yuel conceded. "You're Ignis."

"Damn right, kiddo! All hail Ignis!" She threw both hands in the air to celebrate.

[What are you, five?] Yuel sighed. "I'll call you Ignis, so you call me Chessmaster."

"Nope."

[Gah! This woman! I swear...!]

"If you don't like it, then c'mon! Try and *hic* me, Chesskid."

"You're on," Yuel clenched the controller. Despite the huge skill gap between them, he'll do it. He'll beat Ignis, somehow. There had to be a way.

"That's the spirit." Ignis grinned. "You got trashed real bad last round, so I'mma boost you to Lv.10. Or, you need more?"

"Five levels is fine," Honestly, considering the outcome of their previous game, it's possibly Yuel needed more than that to fight Ignis on equal footing. But, Howard claimed he defeated Ignis consistently with a handicap of five levels, so Yuel had to try it too.

"Come at me then." Ignis tinkered with the settings and instantly locked her pick. Yuel didn't hear any sounds of scrolling across the selection screen, so Ignis obviously picked Warrior again.

"Um, I know you picked Warrior," Yuel said. Despite the suboptimal conditions of this match, he still wanted to keep things fair.

"Yeah," Ignis admitted. "Whoever wins gotta stay with that class for next round."

"Huh? Why?"

"House rules!"

"I see," In that case, knowing that Ignis picked Warrior wasn't cheating. On the contrary, it's information Yuel was expected to abuse according to these "house rules". An interesting rule, which was undoubtedly created to give the loser a chance to get revenge. After all, knowing the enemy's pick ahead of time was huge in 1v1.

Not to make excuses or anything, but Yuel lost so badly in part because Ignis saw his Knight pick and picked Warrior in response. Yuel didn't think of it as a counter pick at the time, but it's clear Ignis considered it as such. At least, she must have played the Warrior vs. Knight matchup enough times to know how to overwhelm Knight as a Warrior.

Now, it's Yuel's turn to counter-pick. This was a chance. With a five-levels handicap, information about Ignis's pick and some experience playing against her Warrior - Yuel will come up with a much better game plan this time. The skill gap between them was undeniably huge, but he should be able to reduce it with proper planning and preparation.

Now then, how should he go about countering Warrior in 1v1? Considering Ignis's overwhelming strength, Yuel needed a class that'd enable him to play more defensively this time around. Going head-to-head with Ignis will spell death to him, he barely even touched her in their previous fights.

Therefore, a long-ranged class was a good starting point. Preferably, one with consistent DPS rather than burst, because Ignis always knew how to dodge at all the right moments. In other words, Yuel needed a marksman. Bonus points if it has some good escape tools to help thwarting Ignis's offense.

Elf seemed like a good option. It could snipe from afar and could get out of sticky situations with Elven Leap. It was a popular defensive Carry pick for a reason.

[Maybe this is how Howard adopted that defensive style of his.] Yuel wondered. If Howard plays against somebody as strong as Ignis every day, it's only natural to develop a defensive mentality and get that much better at defending. Even Yuel, who favored offensive tactics, resorted to thinking about defense. Ignis was such an overwhelming opponent that he couldn't even imagine himself going on the offensive and winning against her, not in a million years.

But, was that really good enough? Unless Yuel scores at least one kill, he'll never win the 1v1. Even with his advantage of five levels, Elf's attacks won't be a threat unless Yuel actually lands them. Unfortunately, based on past experience, landing shots on Ignis was a huge challenge in its own right. Yuel wasn't some sharpshooter like Lars, so he couldn't reliably snipe an elusive enemy like Ignis.

The only way he had to cheat around this issue was with the Elf's ult, Nature's Embrace, which rooted an enemy in place. Ignis will dodge any obvious attempts to root her, but Yuel was confident about landing at least one successful hit, considering the ult's long distance and fast casting speed.

But, what's next? Suppose Yuel roots Ignis and turns her into an easy target for his shots, will he be able to kill her before the root effect runs out? A difficult calculation. It will greatly depend on what items they start with.

Yuel will most likely be able to kill her if he buys a crit item and scores some critical hits while Ignis is rooted. But, that like rolling dice. Critical hits will be very inconsistent with just one crit item.

Not to mention, this whole play will fall through spot if Ignis buys Cleanse to negate the root of Nature's Embrace. This wasn't good enough. Yuel needed something more decisive.

The general idea of pining Ignis in place and shooting her down was good, it's probably the only way he could ever hope to kill her. But, to actually kill her tanky Warrior in one play, he needed a marksman who could pack a punch. He needed more DPS, or at least a way to temporarily boost his DPS to threatening levels. A defensive class like Elf didn't cut it.

So, what marksmen could pin Ignis in place and deal a lot of damage... Ranger? That's an interesting idea to explore. If he can-

"C'mon!" Ignis pouted. "*hic* something already! Let's play!"

"Just a second." Yuel almost reached the solution he was looking for. He only had to determine whether Ranger was good enough to-

"Diiiing dooong! A second passed."

"Fine..." Yuel sighed and picked Ranger. He no choice but to trust his rough estimation and make this work. Somehow.

During the loading screen, Yuel kept thinking about various scenarios and how he'll checkmate Ignis. As he went over the most common variations of how 1v1's early game usually played out, he became more and more confident about this pick. If his calculations were right, Ranger had a very real chance of checkmating Ignis!

For the first item, Yuel built Morning Star. It provided attack power and crit chance, but both in small doses. The crit chance of the next attack increased every time he failed to score a crit, but that's all this item had to offer. It was on the cheaper side, but Yuel had a reason to do things this way.

With the leftover gold he had, he purchased Blink. If push comes to shove, he'll have to rely on blinking for the checkmate he had in mind. Whether he'll be able to correctly blink amidst the unfolding situation, that remained to be seen.

With Morning Star and Blink, he was ready to leave the base. The next decision he had to make was regarding the jungle camp to start from. Last game, he attempted to invade Ignis's blue camp to score an early kill on her, but she dodged him and took the red buff instead.

Will Ignis go for the Ogre Camp again? Perhaps. But, Yuel really wanted to snatch that power buff for himself. Ranger didn't need much cooldown reduction or MP5 for 1v1, but power was of utmost importance. Yuel had to able to deliver as much damage as possible to create the checkmate he envisioned.

Therefore, he headed for the Ogre Camp. If he finds Ignis there, he can try killing her on the spot. If not, he'll simply take the buff.

"Hehe," Ignis chuckled. "Thought I'll be going for red again? Too bad! I'm doing blue this time!"

"What? Impossible. Can't believe it." Yuel rolled his eyes.

"I totally fooled ya, Chesskid! Haha."

"Oh no. I've been outsmarted."

"Totally! I'm just the *hic*!"

[As long as you're enjoying herself.] Yuel shrugged. It's better for him if Ignis doesn't suspect a thing and keeps underestimating him.

Yuel defeated the ogres and took the red buff, while Ignis beat the wraiths and took the blue buff. They both arrived in the lane at the same time.

Yet again, Ignis started with Spiked Buckler. In other words, she most likely bought a utility skill as well. Blink again? Or, maybe Cleanse? It's probably Cleanse to counter Ranger's CC. Yuel already prepared himself for this worst-case scenario.

With all his planning and preparation, how will he fare against Ignis this time around? Will he be able to force her into the checkmate he envisioned? Now, the real fight was about to begin!