Tactical Sacrifice

After ComboBreaker scored two kills in succession, the Leopards gained a huge momentum. Worse still, said kills were on Trever and Gilbert, who were considered the team's key players. Even though everybody in StormBlitz managed to keep themselves together and focus on winning the match, it was quite the mental blow.

Both teams were fairly even until now, but this incident tilted the odds in the Leopards' favor. During the mid game, Breaker became way more active than in the early game. She rotated across the map to gank Yuel's teammates, almost as if she's a second Jungler. The absurd burst of her combo build allow her to eliminate enemies in a flash, so she was even scarier than the actual Jungler. She was like an unstoppable Queen piece, who zigzagged across the board to snatch pawns and pieces.

In these situations, everybody hoped to borrow the help of the Jungler. It was the role with the best global presence, so it was most fitting for countering the enemy's global presence. Alas, Dan couldn't do much when his own turf became a danger zone.

He ran into Breaker once in the Jungle. That ended in an instant, he was torched in a blink of an eye. Not only he failed to stop her incoming gank, but he also fed her further.

After finishing Dan, Breaker continued her rotation as planned. She went after Roi in Top, but thankfully he wiggled his way out of her dangerous gank. He had no HP left and was forced to retreat, but at least he survived.

"Great job making it out alive, bro!" Trever gave a thumb up.

"Easy." Roi grinned and lightly punched Dan's shoulder. "Your sacrifice wasn't in vain, lol."

"You're always welcome." Dan made a face. Thanks to Dan getting eliminated in the jungle, Roi was alerted early about the incoming gank. On top of that, Breaker had to use her combo to kill Dan quickly, so it was still on cooldown by the time she arrived in Top. Thus, most of the gank came down to being barraged by the Pyromancer's fast basic attacks, which Roi's sturdy Knight managed to survive.

"You didn't even swing at her shots." Dan pointed out. "What's wrong? Scared to take her on?"

"No way I gonna swing against her on the first try. She's like a pitcher who gets strikeouts by strength. That's not something you can deal with in your first at-bat."

"How the mighty cleanup fell."

"Shut up, lol. I'll hit her shots all the way to the back screen next time."

Despite the dire circumstances, the team maintained a positive atmosphere. Joking around distracted them from the gravity of the situation. It was a simple, but impressive, technique.

Nevertheless, despite the positive attitude, the team couldn't recover from heavy blows it received during mid game. Breaker's ganks followed by swift kills, which followed by big pushes. StormBlitz members fell behind, in both exp and map control.

Even when a gank didn't result in a kill, it had devastating implications. After chasing Roi away, Breaker pushed the Top Turret together with the Viking. They took the Turret down uncontested. Despite being a mage, Breaker was the enemy's Carry in this composition, so leaving her alone with a tower resulted in losing the tower.

The Turrets in other lanes were in terrible shape too, due to Breaker's earlier ganks. Mid Turret fell down to 20% and Bot Turret was at 50%. With how much Breaker traveled across the map, one would think it'd be easy to push the lanes she was absent from. Alas, that approach was shot down by Freezer, of all people.

Just like Breaker, Freezer's playstyle undergone a drastic change during the mid game. He still maintained a defensive playstyle like before, but he extended his defense to all three lanes. Whenever StormBlitz planned to push an undefended lane, he always showed up to stop that idea. His style was similar to Howard's, except he always handled the defense himself, rather than instructing teammates how to defend better. So, he was like a dumbed down version of Howard. A Mini-Howard, if you will.

Was it even possible to come back from this? It looked like a winning position for the enemy. Breaker assaulted players and pushed lanes, whereas Freezer halted StomBlitz's pushes. With the two of them, the enemy had a mobile combination of offense and defense which covered the entire map. It was difficult to make any progress against this global shut out.

After every StormBlitz member got burnt by Breaker at least once, they all learned to steer clear of her. While her combo was online, getting within its range spelt immediate demise.

"Make sure to announce if you see her using her combo." Gilbert instructed.

"Yeah, be loud and clear!" Trever commanded like a drill officer. Everybody understood the importance of this, so there were no objections. The difference between Breaker with combo and Breaker without combo was like the difference between a leopard and a cat. One was definitely much scarier than the other. They only had a chance to strike her down while Spellbook of Doom was on cooldown.

Playing defensively around Breaker showed some results. It hindered her ability to score kills via ganks and allowed StormBlitz to fight back. Trever even scored a couple of kills by suddenly switching from defense to offense once Breaker's combo went on cooldown. The fact he had solid defense despite being an aggressive player really helped the team out.

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to get the upper hand. The defensive strategy proved effective, but it was a reactive approach which failed to steal the initiative. The Leopards already had a huge momentum and they kept pushing, while StormBlitz had their hands full with defending.

Before long, the match transitioned into its team fighting phase. This is where things had a chance to change for the better, since Breaker's combo couldn't hit an entire team. After one teammate was bursted down, the rest could focus on Breaker and take her out.

But, things only changed for the worse. Freezer became an even more prominent threat than before, due to the utility his Warlock brough to the table. Warlock's Eldritch Nightmare single-handedly disoriented the whole enemy team during a fight, tilting the odds in the Leopards' favor as soon as a team fight started.

The intensity of the disorientation got weaker with more enemies inside the ult's range, so it wasn't too oppressive in full blown 5v5 fights. However, these were relatively rare until late game. Most of the clashes between teams were 2v2 or 3v3 right now, in which Eldritch Nightmare was super effective.

Things couldn't go on like this. Something had to change. Something, anything.

By now, Yuel grasped how his opponents played. Breaker and Freezer's sudden playstyle shift during mid game threw him off at first, but now his analysis was back on track. Unfortunately, he was late, possibly too late. The team lagged behind on gold, exp and map control, with enemy super minions spawning in Mid.

Following Gilbert's shot-calling, the team prioritized defense. Everybody had their hands full fending off the enemy's pushes. this was no time to conjure offensive counters.

Countless ideas naturally formed in Yuel's mind, but he didn't voice them. This wasn't some practice match or a personal entry exam, so he couldn't suggest any experimental tactics. This official scrimmage emulated a real competitive match, so winning at any cost was a must.

By sitting on this stage, he carried the wills of those who didn't make it into the second string. Therefore, he wasn't allowed to put on a sloppy performance. Reckless plans, which could backfire, had no place in this situation.

They had to play safe and wait for their opportunity. There's always a chance the enemy would misplay somewhere down the line. A single misplay in late game could flip the situation on its head, Yuel experienced countless turnabouts like that in both Casual and Ranked.

Alas, this was neither Casual nor Ranked. The enemy team was made of coordinated competitive players, who were all experienced seniors on top of that. They knew how to correctly play every phase of the game. Early, mid or late game - it didn't' matter. They refused to commit glaring mistakes that could be exploited. With every passing moment, the chances of mounting a comeback seemed slimmer and slimmer.

"Hey, bro." Trever called out. "You've been awfully quiet the whole match. What's wrong? Still sleepy?"

"No, I'm awake." Yuel answered. "Though, I wouldn't mind if turns out I'm still napping and this is a nightmare I'm having."

"Haha, I feel ya. So what's wrong? Pressure?"

"I believe I got over it by now." Yuel shook his head. "I just don't have anything to add. Gilbert's shot-calling has been solid."

"Yeah, Gil's calls are tight and all, but it's just the basic stuff. We need DA STUFF, ya know?"

"Are you asking me to come up with an aggressive counterplay? In this situation?"

"Yeah, use your tactics shmactics or whatever. Isn't that what you're here for?"

"I'd like to believe I'm here because I'm a good Support player."

"Nah, it's all about your crazy tactics."

"Ugh." Yuel grumped.

"Just pulling ya leg." Trever smacked Yuel on the back. "You're a good Support, sure. But, it's your crazy ideas we need right now."

"There's a place and time for everything." Yuel said. "I use aggressive tactics in practice matches and Ranked, but this is an official match and we're behind. I can't suggest plays that can easily cost us the game."

"You think too hard about the consequences." Gilbert said. "That just proves you're nervous."

"Yeah, relax, bro." Trever patted Yuel on the shoulder. "This is just the first game, we got four more afterwards. If you don't start playing your usual game now, when will ya? You've been picked for the team because on how you usually play, so just do your thing, bro."

"Just do my thing..." Yuel mumbled. Looking back on it, what did he even do this whole match? Warding, rescuing allies and setting up ganks - these were all textbook Support plays. He didn't perform poorly, but neither did he achieve anything of note. He spent most of the game studying his opponents, but he didn't put much of that data to use. He only suggested little plays here and there, when they had low risk.

He was overly careful with every little thing he suggested, he spent too much time analyzing enemies and he did everything he could to avoid messing up. It took him a while to realize, but... Yes, he was nervous after all. Anxiety ate away at him and constrained his actions. In a desperate attempt to not mess up this match, he ended up putting on a subpar performance, which ironically only hurt the team's chances. How stupid.

"I got some ideas." Yuel announced. "But, they don't mesh well with how we've been playing the late game so far." He turned to Gilbert. "Your game plan is to defend until the enemy make a mistake, right? I don't think this approach is wrong in itself, but my ideas prioritize going on the offensive. Is that fine?"

"Going on the offensive in this situation?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, kid is crazy!" Trever laughed. "I like it!"

"Well," Gilbert smiled wryly. "If you got an idea how to get us out of this mess, you're welcome to apply your magic. You're right that I've been doing the 'defend and wait' strategy, but I wouldn't call it a 'game plan'. It's just a desperate attempt to not look bad going down. I can't really picture us winning here."

"I see." All this time, Yuel was sure Gilbert confidently issued orders with some sort of winning strategy in mind. But, Gilbert just clung to the only option available, without showing any signs of doubt. Thanks to that, the team didn't lose morale and kept fighting hard, no matter how harsh the circumstances got.

This was the complete opposite of what Yuel did. He doubted his own strategies due to their risk factor and stayed quiet. It was that much easier following Gilbert's confident lead instead of voicing his own ideas. Yuel ran away from the challenge and pushed all the responsibility on Gilbert. That's so low.

No more. As everybody said, Yuel should just play his usual game. He was picked for the second string, it meant Aron and Howard believed in the skill he showcased in the club. They didn't put him on the team just to fill the Support spot, they also expected the rest of the package from him, like his usual counterplay tactics.

"Alright, I understand." Yuel steeled himself. "I'd like to take over the shot-calling for a while, if possible."

"Go ahead." Gilbert nodded.

"Thanks." Yuel took a deep breath. Was this match still winnable for StormBlitz? Enemy super minions pushed Mid and the rest of StormBlitz's Golems ran low on HP. The enemy pushed aggressively in both Top and Bot, aiming to take out these remaining Golems.

The situation was grim, but Yuel had to craft a plan. One by one, he pieced data and ideas in his head like a puzzle. There's no time to formulate the whole winning strategy, but hope wasn't lost. There's a sequence of plays which could lead them closer to victory. Whether it'd convert into a victory from there remained to be seen, but he didn't have the luxury to ponder about that right now.

"First, their Pyromancer is going to rotate to Top." Yuel stated.

"How do you figure?" Gilbert asked. "Both Top and Bot look like perfectly fine options."

"Um, well..." Yuel clammed up. Why was it, again? He concluded her next destination the moment she showed up in Mid, but he couldn't for the life of him recall the steps toward that conclusion.

"Hey, hey." Trever exclaimed. "Don't pressure him, bro. We don't have anything better anyway, so let's play along with his tactics shmactics. I bet it's something simple anyway, like seeing her rotate from Mid to Top a lot or something."

"Did she really do that often?"

"Hell if I remember."

"She did, actually." Yuel stated. "I just remembered. There are other factors too, but the biggest is how she has a tendency to rotate upwards. She usually starts in Bot, goes to Mid and from there to Top."

"Hmm, I see." Gilbert was only partially convinced, but that's nothing new. Their shot-calling styles were simply too different. Gilbert always went for the best play at any given time, whereas Yuel suggested unconventional plays, which had a chance to either tank or pay off big time. Nevertheless, Yuel often brought results with his style. Therefore, Gilbert surrendered the shot-caller role, trusting Yuel's ability.

"As I said, the Pyromancer will rotate to Top next." Yuel repeated. "I'd like to take her out first. Dan, can you please return to base to heal? Then, head into the jungle to intercept her. Her rotation path should be something like this." He drew on the map via pings.

"Well, I don't mind" Dan said. "But, I don't think I can take care of her myself. Lancer just doesn't have the burst for that, her combo will screw me over."

"It's alright, I only need you to slow down her rotation." Yuel said. "I recommend selling your Piercing Spear and Fury Knuckles to buy Deus Shield, so you can last longer and bait out her ult."

"Huh? Two items for one? Even though I already got a full build?"

"Yes, that'll counter her better." Yuel said. "Especially, the stun of Deus Shield will help buying time."

"Buying time? Sounds like you're sending him to die, lol." Roi laughed.

"It'll be great if he kills her, but that's unlikely." Yuel said. "You can think of this play as sacrificing a piece to take the Queen."

"Lol, calling that chick 'Queen'. Did she woo you with her combos or something?"

"I meant chess Queen, the strongest piece-"

"Yeah, Yeah, I know. Don't be so serious, lol."

"So, you're literally asking me to sacrifice myself? Nasty." Dan frowned.

"Of course he does, he's the Chessmaster after all. Lol."

"Well, I kinda get why I'm the only one for the job." Dan said. "Gilbert is stuck guarding Mid, Trever must push Bot and the rest are dead. But, suppose I buy some time before dying, what's next?"

"Trever will rotate over there, right after finishing the next wave." Yuel explained.

"Wait, what?" Trever was taken aback. "I'm the last line of defense in Bot, I can't leave. Our Golem is half-dead, they'll push it all the way the moment I rotate."

"Yes, you're absolutely right." Yuel nodded

"I know, right? So, no way I can rotate any time soon."

"No, it's precisely BECAUSE of that that you CAN rotate."

"Wut?"

"The enemy also know you must stay to defend." Yuel explained. "Pushing a wave against a Carry is hard. With that in mind, they'll try pushing Top next. That's also where the Pyromancer is headed next, so everything falls into place."

"Heh, that's some advanced reverse psychology shenanigans right there." Trever chuckled. "So, you telling me they won't bother pushing Bot any time soon, because they know I must stay here to guard. Therefore, I'm actually free to rotate? I've never heard such genius nonsense before in my life. I swear only you could come up with something stupid like this. I like it!"

"Still , Gilbert insisted. "What do we do if they go for Bot anyway?"

"No problem." Yuel answered. "You're already guarding the base and I'll be able stall them once I respawn. There's definitely risk involved, I won't claim otherwise. That's why I've been quiet all this time in the first place."

"Risk shmisk!" Trever exclaimed. "It sounds fun, so let's do it! It's not like we got any better ideas anyway.

"Hmm, that's also true. Fine." Gilbert reluctantly approved.

"Then, we're really going with this?" Dan confirmed one last time. Everybody seemed supportive of the idea, to one degree or another. "Heh, guess I should have expected absurd stuff when Yuel is calling the shots. Okay, I'm off to die then."

"Good luck, bro!"

"Break a leg, lol."

Following Yuel's instructions, Dan sold Piercing Spear and Fury Knuckles to buy Deus Shield. Normally, it'd be unthinkable to break up a finished build like that. However, Yuel suggested this play without batting an eye, so there it had to make some sense in this specific situation... right? Well, at the very least, Deus Shield wasn't an uncommon item for Lancer.

Lancer was a bruiser, making his builds rather flexible. He could prioritize either offense or defense, depending on the situation at hand and the role he was going for. Dan already built an Assassin Lancer, going down the offensive route to execute swift ganks.

Nevertheless, Yuel judged that Dan would be more useful for the team as a bruiser right now. It felt odd switching styles this late into the game, especially at the cost of losing his full build, Still, Dan really wanted to know how deep the rabbit hole went, so he played along. Yuel must had had greater plans for him later down the road, right? Something more than suiciding on enemies like a freaking kamikaze, right? There was definitely going to be something bigger... right?

Just as Yuel predicted, ComboBreaker left Mid and headed to Top through the Top Jungle. One of Yuel's wards briefly exposed her, so Dan knew exactly where to find her. All that's left was to assault her, and pray he wasn't going to be wrecked on the spot.

"Oh, I ran into their Lancer." Jennir reported to the team. "I think his ult is still down?"

"Yeaaah, probably." Alex replied with a yawn. "Just ignore him and get to Top already. Let's push all the way to their Colossus and get this snoozefest over with already."

"Yep, I hear ya." Jennifer nodded. "No need to waste my combo here. Not like he has the balls to challenge me any- oh?" She blinked.

The Lancer darted toward her, what a freak. It's like getting destroyed three times already wasn't enough for him. A scrub who couldn't take a hint, huh.

There's no way he could 1v1 her. She knew it, he knew it, everybody and their mom knew it. Yet, he insisted to fight. What a scrub. The enemy team proved itself a little more competent than she originally expected, but this was just sad. In the end, they were just a bunch of freshmen and juniors, they had nothing on the Leopards' lineup of seniors.

"Well, seems like the fool wants to suicide on me." Jennifer licked her lips. "I'mma accept the free kill, thanks in advance."

"Yeah, whatever." Alex shrugged. "Just get here already so we can close the game."

But, Jennifer no longer listened. All her attention was concentrated on the enemy in front of her. For a combo player, even the tiniest inaccuracy could result in disaster. Therefore, unrelated crap had to be filtered out.

The world around her ceased to exist. Only the jungle displayed on the monitor was real right now, the entire universe was compressed into that small space. That was her entire world, the only thing that mattered right now.

The Lancer charged straight at her, no doubt preparing to leap. [He's seriously going for Lunge? This scrub just refuses to learn, huh. Seems like he wasn't burned enough!]

Jennifer answered the telegraphed attack by casting Pillar of Fire under her feet. Then, she immediately rolled aside.

The Lancer came down crashing from the sky, but all that awaited him was burning ground. Too bad, sucker! Ez game ez life.

But, she wasn't done yet! She activated Burning Spirit to boost attack speed and barraged the Lancer. The attacks weren't only lightning speed, they also hit like trucks. She was empowered by the Pillar of Fire she cast earlier and her attacks shredded the Lancer's defense, thanks to Demonic Arm.

Right before the Lancer left the burning area to continue his offense, she activated Spellbook of Doom. A single tick from Pillar of Fire was enough to proc the powerful combo effect. Here came some real damage!

"Hasta la vista, baby." Jennifer grinned triumphantly as she unleashed Flame Wave, deleting her target from existence... or so it should had went. "Eh? Wha?" She blinked.

Something was wrong. Very very VERY wrong. The Lancer somehow retained over 20% HP. Not only that, but his armor fired a shockwave, stunning Jennifer.

[Wha, when did he-!?] Jennifer instinctively hit the TAB button, confirming her suspicion.

Deus Shield, a defensive item which granted protections and HP. At Lv.3, it also released a stunning shockwave when the player dropped below 30% HP. When did he buy it? Didn't he build an Assassin Lancer!? Last time she checked, this guy had a finished build! What gave!? He ruined his full build, dropping from 5 items to 4, to afford the pricy Deus Shield. The heck was going on!?

"Oh, crap!" Jennifer realized her foolishness and shook her head. Even the slightest distraction was poisonous for a combo player, she was no exception to the rule. Focus! FOCUS!

While she was stunned by this unexpected mess, the Lancer closed the distance. He struck her with a sweeping attack, lowering her defense and mobility. Right after, he followed with a barrage of basic attacks. They packed a punch, even though he traded two offensive items for a defensive one. The rest of his build still provided more than enough power to pressure Jennifer, a squishy combo mage who couldn't afford any defensive items in her build.

[There's no escape, I gotta take him out. NOW! ]Jennifer made a fast judgment and activated her ult, Blaze of Inferno. Wasting it in a 1v1 like this was regrettable, but it was either the ult or her life. With respawn times clocking at half a minute at this stage of the match, she couldn't afford to fall here!

『You have killed an enemy!』

Phew, safe. Amidst the whole mess, she missed the 2 seconds window in which Spellbook tremendously buffed her spells. Nevertheless, even a vanilla Blaze of Inferno was enough to delete what little remained of the Lancer's HP. She dropped to 40% HP in all this commotion, but at least she survived through it.

"Alrighty," Jennifer exhaled. "This fight turned out way crazier than I expected, but at least it's over now."

As a result of the whole mess, both her combo potential and her ult were now on cooldown. But, she only needed basic attacks to push Top anyway, so everything was A-OK. With the pesky Lancer out of the way, she headed toward Top as planned-

"Ack!?" A wild enemy appeared! The Ranger! The hell he was doing all the way out here!? Wasn't he defending Bot last time she saw him!?

"Agh, he got me..." Jennifer couldn't put on a real fight with her spells on cooldown. She attempted to flee, but it was probably futile. Burning Spirit was on cooldown, so no mobility buff for her. Flame Wave wasn't ready either, so she couldn't even smack that schmuck with any serious damage. It was a game over.

While his wolf pinned Jennifer to the ground, the Ranger rekt her with bolts from his crossbow.

『You have been killed!』

"Man, they pulled a fast one on me." Jennifer bit her nail, still processing what the flipping heck just happened. "The heck was that Ranger even doing all the way out here? Wasn't he defending Bot? I didn't hear any missing calls."

"Well," Alex shrugged. "Everybody probably assumed he'll keep pushing Bot after clearing the wave." He knitted his eyebrows as he examined Jennifer's monitor, showing uncanny interest in the match for a change.

"I should have refreshed the Ward in Bot, my bad" Albert admitted. "Their Druid keeps taking it out, so I got tired of renewing it."

"Nah, don't beat yourself over it." Jennifer shook her head. "That rotation was some serious BS. Like, how he even considered leaving Bot unprotected when the Golem is almost dead? I swear, these guys are worse than Bronze players sometimes."

"Or are they?" Alex questioned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What if the two plays are connected?"

"Wut?"

"The Lancer's suicide attack and the Ranger's rotation. Individually, each of them looks like a poor misplay. But, if you look at the combined result they produced - it's not half bad, actually."

"Huh? What are you on about, man?" Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "He left Bot totally open, we can invade it right away."

"Except, do we actually have anybody in Bot to who can push right away?"

"Oh, shit." Jennifer crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Well, this blows."

"In other words," Alex said. "We can't punish that 'misplay' of the Ranger. We were sure he won't leave Bot any time soon, so we focused on Top instead."

"Yeah, okay. But, how does that make his stupid rotation a good play? Please, you're drunk."

"As I said, by itself it's pretty shaky. But, if you also take the Lancer's suicide attack into account, then they basically traded a Jungler for a Carry there."

"Hah, you're saying they planned this from the get-go?" Jennifer sneered. "Please, who plays like that? They've been playing pretty standard so far, no way they planned that kind of nonsense."

"Don't forget their Lancer changed his build right before this happened. This whole thing stinks."

"Nah, you're making shit up, man."

"Yeah, probably." Alex shrugged, already regretting he took this match seriously for even a second. "Anyway, what now? The plan was to help you push Top, but that's down the toilet now."

"No problem, just push it all the way yourselves!" Jennifer pumped a fist.. "Cody tanks, Joey smacks the Golem and you clear minions. We're still pressuring these scrubs hard, we got this!"

"But, my clear speed is... Well, whatever." Alex shrugged. "Sucks that we can't push all the way without you, I want this borefest over with already. Just the thought that we'll have to fight these guys four more times puts me to sleep."

"Hey now, stop being a lazy fuck and do your job."

"I know, I know. What a pain." Alex sighed.

At the time, they had no idea. The peculiar play by the Lancer and Ranger, which led to Jennifer's death, was just the first step in Yuel's turnaround strategy.