The Seniors' Draft

"A 3v3?" Trever jumped like an excited puppy. "Count me in! Let's teach these kids a lesson or two or twenty!"

"Hey, who ya calling a kid?" Lars grinned. "Bring it on, dude! I gonna make sure this floor looks all sparkly after I'm done mopping it with ya!"

"Heh, cheeky brat. Want a piece of me, eh!?"

"Bring it on, dude!"

They stared each other down like two peacocks about to leap on each other. They were rearing to go at a moment's notice. Compared to them...

"A 3v3?" Alex scratched the back of his head. "What a drag. I thought we only came here to greet your juniors before we go to ProCenter."

"Sorry about that," Aron apologized. "But, you can't let that pass either, can you? These clueless brats claim they can bring the weakest team in the region and all the way to the top like it's nothing. Somebody has to teach them how the real world works, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, whatever," Alex shrugged. "Let's wrap it up in five minutes and get going."

"Heh!" Trever snickered. "Five minutes is too long for these kids."

"Yeah, ya got that right," Lars nodded. "We only need two minutes to whoop yo asses, yo!"

"The idiots are rearing to go as always," Aron turned to Yuel next. "What do you say?"

"Gladly," Yuel accepted right away. "It's not every day we get to practice against players of this caliber. We even got enough people for a 5v5 if you want."

"No, let's keep it at a 3v3. No offense, but I don't want demotivated soldiers on my team. Your clubmates will be rooting for you."

"Fair enough."

"Let's set things up then," Aron walked toward his camp.

"Let's do it, yo!" Lars jumped high in excitement, almost grazing the ceiling with his fingers. "Been a while since we got ourselves some good ass challenge!"

"Yes, that's true," Yuel nodded. This was going to be their first high-level match ever since they transferred here. Unfortunately, it won't be a proper 5v5 but the 3v3 mode had its own depth and was considered competitive enough for people to hold tournaments with cash prizes. It'll be great practice either way.

"Who's your third player?" Kai asked while giving him a look. She clearly wanted to play.

"I wouldn't mind facing such legendary players," Vincent smiled meaningfully.

"Lemme at these guys!" Luke pumped a fist. "I'll show 'em what's up."

Ben was also there, silently affirming how his fighting spirit.

[Well, I'm glad they're all so eager.] Yuel smiled wryly. [But, there can only be one. Who do I pick?]

The 3v3 mode had a map with only two lanes. The usual formation was 1-1-1: One Top, one Bot, and one Jungler. Lars will definitely be a laner. As for Yuel, he could either jungle or lane.

[If I want to play it safe, Kai is the best option.] According to his evaluation, Kai was indisputably the best player on the team after Yuel and Lars. She was at least one league above the rest. No matter whether she lanes or jungles, she'll be the strongest pick for this team.

At the same time, this was a rare opportunity to get some experience against high-level players. Playing such a match will greatly benefit a freshman like Nia. In addition, it was a great opportunity to test her "Vanishing Phantom" against real competitive players and see whether it had any footing to stand on.

[But, I can't do that now, can I?] Yuel smiled wryly. After making such a grandiose speech in front of Aron, Yuel couldn't possibly let the club suffer an embarrassing defeat. He had to go for the win here.

"Kai, you're up," Yuel said.

"Good choice," Kai nodded. "Let's show these pompous bastards we got this."

"As expected from Chessmaster," Vincent nodded. "Picking the most secure path to victory. Too bad I wasn't chosen to become a warrior of Valhalla, but I'm sure Kai will do a better job anyway. Go catch them, tiger."

"Meh, y'all sleeping on the power of memes," Luke shrugged. "Welp, I'll leave this one to you, cap. Make us proud!"

"Okay!" Lars thrust a fist. "Let's do this thing!"

"Sure," Yuel locked his fist with Lars's.

"Is that what we're doing?" Kai glanced aside with an awkward expression. "Fine." She sighed and locked her fists with the boys.

With the team decided, match preparations began.

"Hey, Lars," Trever called out before departing. "I'll be taking Bot, so seeya there! That is, unless you scared, haha."

"The only one here who got a reason to be scared is you, dude," Lars pointed at Trever. "Bot it is! Let's have a good one, yo!"

"You got it."

Both teams parted ways and set up their tablets on different ends of the room. There were only two computers in the room, so they agreed that everybody will be playing on tablets.

"Just to make it clear," Aron said. "We don't go easy. This isn't a friendly match. Yuel and Lars aren't the types to pull any punches, so treat it like a tournament match."

"Ya got it, fam," Trever gave a thumbs up.

"What a drag," Alex sighed. "Why are we doing this, again? I thought you only came here to check on your juniors before we go to practice."

"C'mon, man," Trever shook his head. "Ya thought we'd come all the way here and not even play a round with the kids? I betcha Aron planned all of this from the start, am I right?"

"Perhaps," Aron maintained a poker face.

"Well, that's cute and all," Alex said. "But, you drag me into this?"

"Apologies, that wasn't in plans," Aron admitted. "I had a 2v2 in mind. But, after hearing Yuel's little speech of confidence, things changed."

"Heh," Trever chuckled. "Little Yuel sure grew up, huh. Who would have thought he'd be able to speak up and vouch for his pals like that?"

"It was indeed a surprise," Aron frowned. "And, I'm not sure it's entirely a pleasant one."

"Huh? Why not?"

"We'll see," Aron turned to Alex again. "Anyway, sorry for dragging you into this. Just think of it as a warm-up for today's practice. These brats might be middle-schoolers but they pack a punch."

"Whatever," Alex shrugged. "Let's just get this over with."

[Maybe this a chance to redeem myself for that scrimmage.] Alex smiled wryly. The last time he played against Chessmaster and Gunz, he put on a shabby performance. His Warlock was decent but the moment it was banned, Alex crumbled and performed as good as a Bronze player; it was a disaster. So, this time, he'll show these kids what he really packed.

To speed up the setup process, both teams agreed to blind drafting.

"A Trickshooter is coming," Aron said. "With all classes available, there's no way they won't go for their best classes. For Lars, it doesn't get any better than Trickshooter."

"Yep, no question about that," Trever agreed.

"I hope you remember with which classes you had the most success against his Shooter."

"Sure do. My Ranger and Pirate gave the kid the most trouble."

"Is that so," Aron stroked his chin. "Go for Pirate, then. It's the safer out of the two."

"C'mon, you worry about me? We're playing some middle schoolers, remember? I can handle myself. Ranger is da way!"

"I know you like your Ranger, but it's not as useful in Clash. There won't be as many opportunities to clear camps on such a small map, so Ranger's passive is wasted."

"Hmm, guess you got a point."

The map of Clash, the 3v3 mode, only had two lanes. In essence, it was almost like the regular MOBA map but without the middle lane. It was as if Top Jungle and Bot Jugnoe were combined into one and shrunk in size. And, the smaller the jungle, the fewer camps it had. Thus, there was no much point for Aron and Trever to employ their trademark "Two Junglers" tactic this game. Aron alone will suffice.

"Okay, Pirate it is," Trever said. "I think it had a higher win ratio anyway."

"I assumed as much," Aron nodded. Both classes had a way to stump a wild Trickshooter, but Pirate was the safer class and the one that came online faster. So, even though Ranger was Trever's favorite, his Pirate performed better in most situations.

"Keep in mind," Aron advised Alex. "Yuel will decide their classes and he's the calculating type. He'll use any data in his disposal to counter pick."

"You mean Chessmaster, right?"

"Yes."

"I remember something to that effect. He was the shot-caller during that scrimmage, wasn't he?"

"I'm surprised you figured that out." After all, neither team was directly told who was the other's shot-caller.

"Just a hunch," Alex said.

"Heh, this guy and his 'hunches'," Trever smacked Alex on the back. "A finna mind reader, I tell ya."

"Anyway," Aron continued. "Keep that in mind. Yuel loves using data and he will never NOT counter pick you when he can."

"Never... Not counter..." Trever counted on his fingers. "Aha! So, ya saying he always counters everybody, right?"

"Indeed."

"Haha, totally figured that one out!"

"Oh look, we got a genius here," Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, that's a nice tidbit but how are you gonna make use of it?"

"I won't, unfortunately," Aron said. "Since all classes are go, it'd be dumb to not pick my best. Yuel knows I fancy Lion and I'm sure he'll try to counter pick, but that's fine. It's not like Lion got any hard counters, so the most Yuel can do is prioritize classes that can get out of the ult. Besides, they'll pick Trickshooter either way so at least one of them will be vulnerable to my ult."

"Reasonable," Alex said. "Though, it sounds like none of us is going to counter-pick the counter-picker at this rate. I mean, I only played a couple of matches against them so we don't know each other."

"Fair enough. Just keep in mind that if you gave Yuel any information at all during that scrimmage, he'll use it to counter pick you this match."

"Seriously? You say he gonna remember whatever dirt he gathered on me all the way back then?"

"Most certainly. His memory is impeccable when it comes to things like that."

"No kidding," Trever added. "I swear that brat remembers literally every millisecond of his life from the moment he was born. I've even seen him reproduce full chess matches from memory. Kid's a genius, no joke."

[I believe many chess players can reproduce matches from memory, but it sure sounds impressive.] Alex thought. "Alright, I hear you. I was sure Warlock is a no-brainer pick here but Yuel saw me play it." [Even worse, he probably thinks that's the only class I can play.]

Back during the Leopards vs. StormBlitz scrimmage, Alex was far from his top shape. He barely practiced during club activity and mostly played Warlock because of how easy it was to perform with it. So, back then, Warlock could indeed be considered Alex's one and only viable class.

The moment Warlock was banned and Alex switched to Electromancer, he started messing up all over the place. The enemy picked up on that and took advantage of this weakness. Franky, it was probably Alex's most embarrassing performance ever.

But, it was an important experience. Thanks to being thoroughly destroyed back then, Alex realized where he stood and that he became a shell of his former self. That was the wake-up slap he needed. Since then, he returned to his daily practice in the hope of regaining his form.

Unfortunately, he didn't make it in time for the regionals. He improved a lot but it wasn't enough to make him count among the first-string. If only he kept working hard like that throughout the entirety of middle school...

Either way, all of that was in the past. Alex has regained his form since then. In fact, he was better than ever, if he might say so himself. Warlock remained his best class, it was like a buddy who supported him during his darkest hours. However, Alex made to polish his skill with other classes to roughly the same level; he was no longer a one-trick pony.

"When you say the guy likes counter picking," Alex inquired. "How much are we talking about? Does he like it enough to pick Lumimancer as a laner against a Warlock?"

"Possible," Aron answered. "Against a Support Warlock, you'll see a Support Lumi every single time. Against Mid Warlock, it depends. Mid Lumi isn't exactly high-tier pick and Yuel generally prefers sticking to high tier, so it depends on the rest of the lineup. If you ask me, he's much more likely to go for it in a 3v3 if he believes you'll pick Warlock."

"Figured," Alex said. "Alright, I'll go with Sorcerer then. It'll kill any funny ideas like countering with Lumi or Pyro."

"Sounds good," Aron nodded.

With that, the seniors' team was decided:

Aron (Frown): Lionfolk

Trever (WildDragon): Pirate

Alex (Freezer): Sorcerer