Assassin Therapy

Only Andria's pick remained now. "A Sage for me once again, please," she requested.

"Very well." Fiona had no arguments against this. Sage should fare well against Aeromancer since both classes excelled at farming from a distance.

And so, the Valkyries' lineup was settled. Now, StormBlitz had to select one more class, their Jungler.

"Oh, wow." Dan exclaimed. "Vampire? That's like a total 180 compared to the last game. Do you think she's planning to play defense all of a sudden?"

"I highly doubt it," Howard said. "They still picked Impaler, which means they're gunning for the early/mid-game. If I had to guess, she picked Vampire because that's her next best class."

"Yeah, that might be it." Dan nodded. "I mean, not everybody is a pro like me and can play all classes, haha!"

Yeah, for the better and for the worse. Howard remarked silently. I had the feeling Rosemary is the type to main a couple of classes. That's the only way to explain how she performed so well despite being a greenhorn.

Normally, it was unthinkable for a newbie to dominate a competitive game as much as Rosemary did. Especially, it wasn't supposed to ever happen against a powerhouse like StormBlitz.

So, the only way to explain this impossible phenomenon was that Rosemary focused on a handful of specific classes. By learning these few classes extensively, Rosemary was able to speedrun the skill ladder and reach a level that seemed on par with StormBlitz.

But, it's all fakery. Howard asserted. We already banned two classes, so let's see how good her third one actually is. I'm expecting a sharp drop in quality.

"So," Howard started. "Anything you'd like to pick in response to that Vampire?"

"Eh, maybe Lancer?" Dan answered a question with a question. "Feels like all the best meta bruisers are banned or taken, so not much left."

"You don't feel like playing an assassin?"

"Eeeeh, I dunno. It sounds hella risky after how the previous game went down..."

"Is that so." Howard frowned. I had the feeling this might happen.

Flexibility was supposed to be Dan's selling point. As the "Dan-of-all-trades", he could play any Jungler class, even many of the memes.

Alas, right now, he was cutting down his option by half. Out of fear, most likely.

He's acting all cheerful but there's no way the previous game didn't affect him. Howard reasoned. He must've lost a lot of confidence in himself after dying so many times. I have to fix that.

Junglers had to be confident about their actions. Unlike laners, they had to dynamically rotate around the map and make many swift decisions. Any hesitation or uncertainty would hurt their performance.

The way he's now, I'm sure he'll play this game too safe. Howard thought. I'm not entirely opposed, but there's such a thing as playing TOO safe.

Most likely, Dan will try to dodge any dangerous confrontations. He'll minimize risks to avoid what happened in the previous game.

As a result, he won't make many good rotations. That doesn't sound like a very functional Jungler to me.

It was crucial to fix this problem ASAP. A team without a Jungler was always bound to suffer immensely, especially when the enemy had a superb Jungler on their side.

If Rosemary notices Dan's passiveness, she'll start counter-jungling hard. Howard thought. We can't let her build momentum like that again.

As such, it was mandatory to pull Dan out of his slump. But, what was the best way to do it? A pep talk would be nice, but it was far better to boost his confidence with some actions.

"Knight and Vampire are both difficult targets to kill," Howard said. "You should pick an assassin against them." 

"Wut?" Dan blinked. "You really want me to play assassin here?" 

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, you know, the previous game was kinda sus..." Dan lowered his head. The bad memories were probably coming back to haunt him, but he had to face them with his head held high.

"The previous game was the previous game," Howard asserted. "We already established it started on the wrong foot and things just snowballed from there." 

"Well, yeah, but..." 

"Or what, are you planning to let Rosemary dominate the game too? Because if you play it too safe, it'll be the same as giving her all the control."

"Yeah, that's true..." Dan chewed his lips. "I mean, I guess I could try an assassin, but don't blame me if things go wrong, haha."

"No, I'm going to criticize the hell out of you if you start dying again."

"Geeeeeh." Dan groaned. "On second thought, maybe I wanna stick to that Lancer, after all..."

"No, you don't," Howard objected. "So, which assassin do you prefer?"

"Hmm. Ninja could fit the job pretty well…" Dan pondered. "Oh, but that's only if I get opportunities to land my ult on them. Eh, it can get kinda tricky I feel. Hmm. Maybe I need something more straightforward..." 

"Ninja sounds good, actually," Howard said. "Considering their skill level, I doubt they're very good at dealing with stealth"

"Or, so you'd think," Dan said. "But, they've already surprised us once. Who's to say they won't surprise us again?"

"Just play better than them and get these kills. It's that easy."

"Yeaaaah, 'easy'. Haha..."

"At the very least, Lady should be a pretty easy target," Howard said. "I feel like that girl has the map awareness of a Bronze player."

"Haha, sure feels that way."

"We shouldn't even be having this conversation, to be honest," Howard said. "I'm not supposed to work to convince you. You're the one who should be telling me which class you think is best."

"Yeah, that's true…"

"And, normally, you'd go with Ninja without worrying too much about it."

"Yeah, probably." Dan didn't stop to think about it until now, but his instinctive resistance to the Ninja pick was a bit uncharacteristic. Like, he was Dan-of-all-trades! He was supposed to be able to play any Jungler class on demand! That was kinda his whole thing.

Yet, I'm totally chickening out on Ninja right now. Dan shook his head. That last game sure did a number on me…

He didn't want to go through the same experience again. Not today, and not ever again. That shit was downright embarrassing. Rosemary made Dan look like a Bronze X rank, which didn't even exist.

So, of course, Dan wanted to make sure he wouldn't be as vulnerable this time around. And, the safest way to go was to pick a bruiser with good survivability.

But, that's kinda like running away from the problem, isn't it? Dan thought. If I pick a lower-tier bruiser just because I'm worried about getting killed as an assassin, that's already kinda like admitting defeat…

Honestly, he was starting to get a headache from all these mental gymnastics. His flip-floppy brain kept going back and forth between the safe mid-tier Lancer and the risky high-tier Ninja.

"Look," Howard said. "Down to it, you're worried about getting killed, right? So, let me make it straight: if you give up on the assassin pick here, it's the same as letting her kill your fighting spirit. Sure, maybe you'll minimize the chances of actually dying during the game, but you'll be like a walking dead."

"Dang, that sounds like the plot of a depressing flick..." Dan chuckled dryly. "Okay, you've convinced me. Lemme go Ninja and I'll get them kills rolling!"

"That's the spirit."

And so, StormBlitz's last pick was decided. It was a bold pick considering how badly Rosemary washed Dan in the previous game, but that was all the more reason to pick it.

This will boost everybody's morale, not only Dan's. Howard nodded in satisfaction. And, I'm sure this will get a frown or two from our enemies. Good, good.

And so, both lineups were complete.

=== StormBlitz ===

Howard (Aegis): Druid

Ellen (Athena): Seraph

Gilbert (Adapting): Aeromancer

Roi (CleanupHitter): Viking

Dan (Average): Ninja

=== Valkyries ===

Fiona (Rosemary): Vampire

Karen (Lavender): Impaler

Andria (PrinceCharming): Sage

Lua (Nike): Cryomancer

Cornelia (GoldenLady): Knight