Self-Sufficient Carry

Ever since Kai killed the Pirate, the enemy Lumimancer has been turtling and there weren't any good opportunities to score additional kills here. From what Yuel could see, one of their best line of play was to keep pushing the Turret under the Lumimancer's nose. That was good and all, but couldn't they go for a stronger play than that?

Fortunately, an interesting piece of information came up: an allied ward revealed the enemy Vampire heading toward the Wolf Camp near Bot Lane. He surely intended to farm the camp and he might drop by Bot Lane to help with the defense effort. This was a great chance to make a strong convincing play.

[Their Mid is in Mid and their Top is in Top. Perfect.] Yuel nodded to himself. There was no chance anybody from other lanes would interfere with his plan. Only the Lumimancer could help the Vampire out but that guy has already proved himself to be an extreme turtle who didn't want to stick out his neck for others.

"Let's gank the Vampire," Yuel suggested.

"I was thinking about it, actually," Kai said. "The Mid and Top are in their lanes, so we're good as far as those are concerned."

[She really pays attention], Yuel nodded in approval. [I'd kill for Lars to have such a keen map awareness.]

"But," Kai continued. "What about the Lumi? He's right here so he might pull something."

"Maybe. But, remember: we already got plenty of evidence he's the type who doesn't like taking any risks."

"Oh, right. He probably won't be coming."

"Even if he does, I don't see us losing much. It'll be a 2v2 and we can disengage if we don't like how things are going. It's a low-risk high-reward play."

"Huh, I see that now. Alright, I'm in. Let's go get that Vampire."

"Wait," Yuel called out before Kai ventured into the Jungle through the entrance on the enemy side. "It'll be too obvious if we enter the Jungle from here. Let's go through the middle to pretend like we might be going for our Wolf Camp or rotating."

"Taking things to the next level, huh. Alright. I just hope we don't let him slip away."

"We got time," Yuel took into account the fact the Vampire was a bruiser, which meant it'll take the guy a while to clear the camp. So, taking a little detour to conceal their plans was alright.

Yuel and Kai retreated from the enemy's side of the lane and entered the jungle through the middle. This made it look like they were leaving the lane to go elsewhere. Maybe they were going to farm jungle camps? Maybe they were rotating to gank Mid? The enemy must have been asking themselves such questions right now.

[They took the bait.] Yuel smirked as the enemy Mid Laner retreated. That was clearly a countermeasure against a potential Mid gank. The uncertainty surrounding this play diverted the enemy's attention from the real play Yuel cooked up.

"Let me initiate please," Yuel said. "I'll make a wall parallel to you behind the Vampire so just shoot on my sign."

"Sure."

"Okay, so," Yuel positioned the ice wall. "Now!"

He erected the ice wall perfectly. It stretched in parallel to where Kai was positioned. So, no matter how she fires her Impale, it was going to push the Vampire into the wall for sure. All Kai had to do was to quickly throw her spear and the Vampire won't even know what hit him! ... at least, that was the plan.

Kai didn't throw Impale right away. She first waited to the ice wall to form and only then threw her spear. Unfortunately, that was too late.

The ice wall alerted the Vampire about the incoming gank, so he didn't waste any time and turned into a bat. Thanks to his quick reaction, he dodged Kai's Impale and fled from the scene. The gank failed.

"Why didn't you use Impale right away?" Yuel asked. "I gave you the sign early."

"Yeah, I heard the sign. I threw it as soon as there was a wall."

"There was no need to wait for it," Yuel sighed. "I made sure to place the wall in such a way that you'll push the Vampire into it no matter what. You just had to shoot at my sign."

"Well, excuse me," Kai narrowed her eyes. "How was I supposed to know for sure you'll place the wall where I need it? That's why I prefer to place Iron Maiden myself and then impale. That way, I know for sure I can go for it right away."

"I see," Yuel said. Truth to be told, this one was his fault. For some reason, he expected Kai, of all people, to blindly trust him on the first try without any prior practice. He completely forgot he wasn't playing with Lars right now.

Sigh. There was still a long road before his communication skills reach a decent level. Even though he managed to convince Kai to be more cooperative, they still had a long way to go before they could pull off strong plays together.

"Can you try it next time please?" Yuel asked. "Don't wait for the wall to appear. Just shoot when I give the sign."

"I can try, sure."

Sometime later, another great opportunity presented itself. Yuel suggested to rotate to Mid and gank the enemy Sorcerer. Once they approached the lane, he gave the same instructions as before.

"I'll make a wall. Impale as soon as you hear my sign."

"Alight."

"So... now!" Yuel raised his voice to make sure Kai didn't miss the sign.

"Ah, oh!" Kai flinched for a moment before shooting. As a result, she thrust her spear a little too late.

Thankfully, this Sorcerer player didn't have the same reaction speed as the Vampire, so the spear successfully impaled him into the ice wall. Yuel extended the stun with Ice Coffin and Kai killed the Sorcerer together with Lars.

"You impaled late again," Yuel commented after the play was over.

"Ah, well," Kai shifted her eyes away. "But, I impaled him, right? We got the kill."

"Only because he didn't react fast enough."

"Yeah, I guess so," Kai shrugged. "You're really bossy, you know that? It's pretty damn hard to shoot a skill blindly like that without even knowing whether a wall will be there or not."

"You just have to trust that the wall to be there and shoot. It's not that hard."

"I'd say it's pretty damn hard, though."

"Okay, noted," Yuel had to concede here. Maybe he was wrongly using Lars and Ellen as prime examples for Carries. Perhaps not everybody could put their faith in the Support's initiation, especially not on the first try. Thinking back on it, Taison also gave Yuel some trouble on this topic but that guy was a total delinquent so Yuel disregarded that experience.

Either way, it seemed like it'd take a while before Yuel and Kai learn to execute quick plays that required trust. Then again, it wasn't like Yuel was particularly interested in it. After all, ultimately, the team's Bot duo will be him and Lars, not him and Kai.

Based on Vincent and Kai's attitude, Yuel has already proven himself as the best Support the team had to offer. So, it was easy for him to seize the position right here and now. All that was left was for Lars to get the Carry role. But, Kai refused to budge on that topic.

Still, in the end, Lars will be the team's Carry. Even though Kai was a solid player, her playstyle didn't work the best for how a Carry should be. She was too self-sufficient for her own good.

For example, no matter how many times Yuel criticized her on this, Kai kept buying two wards every time she returned to base. It was an unnecessary investment for a Carry. Instead, she should have focused on finishing her build faster. Warding in Bot should've been primarily Yuel's job during the early game but Kai insisted to do everything herself.

Kai wanted to initiate herself, to set up kills for herself, to ward herself, and to do literally everything possible herself. It was admirable but also inefficient. The Support and Carry shared a lane in order to split the burden between them, not for one of them to do 100% of the work.

Ironically, as much as Yuel criticized Lars's flaws, these flaws actually made it easier to play Support for that goof. Lars was lacking in a bunch of very specific areas so Yuel covered up for those. And, since Lars knew where his own weaknesses were, he was more than happy to split the burden with Yuel and focus only on the parts he excelled at, such as crushing the opposition in battle.

Compared to Lars, Kai didn't seem to have any glaring weaknesses. That was something Yuel sensed all the way back when he played against her and now he was convinced: she was very self-sufficient, to the point there weren't any big holes in her playstyle.

However, as a result, she wanted to hog all the work herself and didn't feel comfortable sharing any of the burdens with Yuel. That kind of mindset was fine for Mid and Top but not for a Carry. So, even though Yuel would kill for Lars to have amazing map awareness and sharp decision-making like Kai's, he also absolutely didn't want Lars to become anything like Kai.

[I can see her playing a solid Mid.] Yuel nodded to himself. With how self-reliant and all-rounded Kai was, there was no doubt she'd excel in Mid. This was good. It meant that, once Yuel and Lars become the team's official Bot duo, all the other roles will have promising candidates too.

For Mid, there was Kai. For Jungler, there was Luke who, despite his memeing, was a solid player. As for Top, there were two options on the table: Vincent or Ben. Which one will make it into the final roster? Today's practice matches should give Yuel a hint.

After observing Kai enough and understanding what type of player she was, it was time to focus on Ben's performance in Top.