Patience vs. Princess

The second game began. Naturally, everybody in StormBlitz was a little on edge this time around, given how the previous game played out.

"Make sure you stick together more than usual in the opening," Howard said. "I know this isn't an ideal arrangement for placing wards around the jungle, but better safe than sorry."

Even though Vampire didn't have the same explosive early game as Werewolf, Howard still refused to let his guard down. The previous game taught him to never EVER underestimate Rosemary's ability.

In some ways, she reminds me of Yuel's shenanigans. Howard thought. But, she's also very different, too. She's more… methodical, I guess?

Rosemary pulled off some very aggressive plays that could've easily come across as "cocky" or "risky", but in practice, they weren't. She simply found niche opportunities to go for big plays and exploited them efficiently.

Yuel is the type to shoot for these kinds of plays even when there's risk, but Rosemary? Not so much. Howard analyzed. So, unlike Yuel, she won't try anything crazy so long as we don't show her any openings. But, I've come to realize that's surprisingly easier said than done against her…

Howard always made sure his team didn't leave any openings for the enemy to exploit. Nonetheless, Rosemary managed to wiggle her way into the few tiny cracks Howard failed to cover. It was honestly quite astonishing.

Even the Leopards couldn't do anything like that, except for their Korean trump card. But, that guy is a walking cheat engine, so we don't talk about that.

The scrim against the Leopards was drawn out because neither side managed to crack the others' defense. Yet, Rosemary achieved just that in the very first game of the day. It was unreal.

It seemed like the "Landberht Princess" nickname was more than just a fancy title for the local newspaper. The girl indeed had talent, and apparently in many different sports, not just Classmancers.

If her entire team was full of players just as good as her, then I'd be sweating right now. Howard smiled wryly. But, unfortunately for her, the rest of her teammates are nothing to write home about.

At present, the Valkyries only posed a threat when Rosemary had strong momentum. Without that, the team was nothing.

And, I'll make sure that's how things stay. You're not going to get any more snowball opportunities today, "princess".

Following Howard's instructions, everybody in StormBlitz stuck close together during the opening. While it was common practice to keep each other at arm's length during the opening, Howard went the extra mile and made everybody travel in pairs.

This arrangement was far from optimal from meta perspective because it slowed down the process of warding the jungle. The opening was supposed to be a brief phase where players placed wards and went straight to the jungle camps. But here, the players had to waste some extra time on grouping up and moving together.

We have to give up on some of the better warding spots to save time, but I'm fine with that. Howard thought. As long as we don't let them gain any momentum then it's our win, easy as that.

Even if Rosemary planned any funny business, then this arrangement would surely kill her plans in their infancy. And indeed, nothing unusual happened in the opening this time around. Everybody finished their warding, cleared the jungle camps, and headed to their respective lanes. So far, there was no sign of Rosemary trying anything funny.

Let's keep it that way. Howard asserted. I guess we're going to play today a little more defensively than I originally planned, but that's fine. As long as it nets us convincing wins, then it's all good.

Frankly, Howard had very different plans for today. He saw this scrim as an opportunity for StormBlitz to practice some offense for a change, seeing as their opponents were "amateurs". In particular, he wanted to use this occasion as an opportunity for Julia to gain more on-stage experience.

Alas, Rosemary shut the door on that plan. She forced StormBlitz to take the game 100% seriously and stick to their usual defensive playstyle. It was a bit unfortunate.

Following that mindset, Howard constantly instructed his troops on how to best reinforce their defenses throughout the game. He had no intention of leaving even the smallest crack in the team's formation this time around.

"Roi, retreat to the tower," Howard ordered. "Their Jungler might be coming over there."

"Gotcha!" Roi did as instructed and went back to his side of the lane. He was gonna lose on some precious farm but it was way better than getting his ass ganked, lol.

A few moments later, a ward revealed Rosemary passing through the upper parts of Top Jungle. It really looked like she was planning to gank Top, but alas, the opportunity was denied.

The question is, what will she do next? Howard wondered. She seems like the type who tries to capitalize on every little opportunity to the fullest. When things don't go her way, she just finds something else to take advantage of.

Rosemary was an absurdly efficient Jungler in that sense. It always felt like she chained one strong play into another, never taking a break.

So, is she going to steal the wolves next? Howard wondered. She's already come this far for the gank, so I'm sure she wants to put her current position to good use.

In fact, it wasn't an exaggeration to assume that Rosemary chose this particular time to go for a gank because the Wolf Camp was about to respawn. She probably had a ward around the camp to keep track of the respawn timing.

Hmm. I can tell Roi to go over there and zone her out. Howard thought. But, is that worth it?

No, it probably didn't. It would easily develop into a dangerous 1v1, or even a 1v2 if Lady joins the fray in a timely fashion. In fact, Rosemary might be hoping to bait out that kind of defensive shot-call from Howard.

She's also a chess player, right? I've got some experience with those... Howard smiled wryly. These guys can think like ten turns ahead. It's hard to keep up.

Yuel often went for bait plays like these. He made it seem like there was an obvious answer to his attack, only for that answer to turn into misplay. This might be one of these occasions, so it was best to keep Roi safe and let Rosemary steal that farm uncontested.

And indeed, this safe approach successfully played around the enemy's ploy.

So, they chose not to respond. Fiona concluded after verifying Hitter's position. The man retreated to the tower and stayed there, showing no signs of moving in to protect his Wolf Camp.

And, their Ninja is in Bot Jungle, so he cannot come over here on time, either. Fiona analyzed. So, the camp should be free for the taking.

And so, Fiona proceeded to sweep the camp. She got to steal some farm and optimize her character's growth, but she was not truly content with this outcome.

Yet again, I was not able to bait a response out of them. Fiona frowned. It appears they are fully intent on playing this round defensively.

After the previous game, StormBlitz must have had a wake-up call. They realized they could not be careless against Fiona as that would spell their doom. And so, this time around, they prioritized defense over everything else.

Since they insist on not giving us any obvious openings, the burden lies on our team to push offense, but…

So far, none of the lanes was able to create the necessary momentum. In Bot, Karen and Lua failed to make a dent in the absolute defense of Aegis and Athena. Meanwhile, in Mid, Andria maintained her typical chill playstyle without trying to press offense.

As for Top, things were... complicated.