Two Substitutions = Two More Worries

"Two subs?" Cato blinked. "My, how peculiar."

"So, they're bringing Vanishing back..." Sonya made a face. "Then again, at his point, I'm not even sure which of their Junglers is the bigger embarrassment."

"So harsh~" Cato giggled. "So, that the other player, EnduringPhoenix. I believe we have nothing on him, right?"

"Right. At least, I've never heard of him."

"Curious, curious." Cato nodded. "A trump card? Or, a desperate attempt?"

"Logically, considering they didn't sub him in when they were in a tight spot against Taurus, I doubt that he's a trump card of any kind."

"Yes, that is unless they were cocky beyond measure and wanted to hide him from us at any cost."

"Do you really think they're the kind of team that has that kind of luxury?"

"Haha, probably not."

Though the possibility definitely existed, it was unfathomable for Stratus not to use their best members against Taurus when they were pressed against a corner. Not to mention, if their goal was to hide this player's existence from the Leopards, then EnduringPhoenix should've made his debut much earlier today to deliver the surprise attack.

So, with all of that in mind, this unknown player had to be something other than a "trump card".

[Then, is he a counter-pick of some sort, perhaps?] Cato couldn't stop himself from wondering about it, even though he knew he won't be able to hit the right answer by guessing blindly. They simply didn't have enough data to work with.

On the other hand, Stratus' other substitute was all too familiar. The eccentric phantom was about to haunt the stage once again.

"One thing you should keep in mind about Vanishing," Cato said. "She dragged her feet a little at the start of the Taurus scrim as well, but later on she went ham. So, she might be a slow starter."

"Right." Sonya nodded. "There is some data to suggest as much."

"So, keep your eyes peeled, everybody," Cato warned. "It means nothing that she was lackluster in the first game. She might still put on a strong performance in this game regardless."

"As if her performance was ever 'strong' to begin with." Sonya scoffed.

[My, such a worrisome attitude.] Cato tapped on his chin. [And, she is supposed to be Vanishing's supervisor in this formation, right? My, so, so worrisome. Maybe I should handle the job myself? ... or maybe not.]

He perished the thought as soon as he remembered who he was dealing with in Bot. There was no way he could manage such a part-time job while facing Yuel and Gunz. These pesky opponents demanded his full attention.

[Even just shot-calling is plenty difficult while I'm busy in Bot.] Cato thought. [So, there's no way I'll be able to keep tabs on Vanishing on top of that.]

As such, somebody else had to handle that job, and the only other player for the job was Sonya.

"I'd like to remind you that, in formation A, it is your responsibility to keep track of Vanishing."

"Of course." Sonya nodded. "Is there any particular reason you felt it was necessary to remind me of it?"

"Just making sure we're all on the same page." Cato smiled meaningfully. [My, it feels like she gets irked whenever Vanishing's name is mentioned. How cute~]

Admittedly, part of the reason Cato brought up the topic was to watch Sonya's delightful irritation. The existence of the unscientific phantom threw a wrench in Sonya's cold, calculated persona. It was so fun to watch these reactions~

But of course, the main point of bringing up this topic was to confirm that Sonya's stance on Vanishing hasn't changed. Sonya still refused to register Vanishing as a truly dangerous player, no matter how much Cato tried to convince her.

[So, depending on how much Sonya underestimates Vanishing, we might be in for a surprise or two in this game.] Cato smiled wryly. [So, I better do everything I can to lower the chance of such surprises, even if it means scoring some negative points with my dear secretary.]

"Just to be clear," Cato addressed everybody. "Just because Sonya will be in charge of supervising Vanishing, it doesn't mean you're allowed to stop paying attention to the jungle. On the contrary, you have to be more alert than ever against this phantom. Keep the jungle in mind at all times and double-check it whenever you're about to do something."

"Paranoia much?" Ronald chuckled. "I mean, we all know how to keep track of the enemy Jungler. That's basic stuff."

"Listen here, young lad," Cato said. "I'm stressing this point because Vanishing is NOT your typical Jungler. We've discussed this extensively during the match review, I hope your little brain still remembers some of that."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember you said that Vanishing is sneaky and all that. But, she ain't gonna sneak up to me!"

"Oh, really? Because you're literally THE player I expect her to sneak up to."

Everybody nodded in agreement to that.

"W-Wha!?" Ronald looked around him in disbelief. Apparently, everybody and their moms agreed with Cato on this one! How could it be!? "Bruh, is this some new kind of group bullying!?"

"Hmph, as if it's a secret that you're the most careless of us by far." William shrugged. "Especially, you're extra careless when you don't take your opponents seriously."

"But I'm taking them seriously, word!"

"Yeah, you did. For one game."

"Right? I took them like super seriously! Way more than they deserved, to be honest."

"Question is, are you going to keep taking them this seriously after we won that game so decisively?"

"Ah, well..." Ronald quieted down. "I mean, they're clearly not that good considering we mopped them, haha."

[There it is...] Cato and William sighed at the same time. Slowly but surely, Ronald was reverting back to his usual carefree self. This was bad.

[My, how fun. Adding yet another problem for me to deal with.] Cato's fake smile twitched. [I swear, if this brat gets his arse ganked like an idiot...! ... no, stay calm. No need to get worked out about this just yet.]

Sonya and Ronald already showed they had some attitude issues toward the next game, so Cato wasn't allowed to add any more oil to that fire. He had to stay calm and rational in spite of his teammates' shortcomings.

"Anyway," Cato summarized. "Just make sure that ALL of you pay extra attention to the jungle in this game. And, don't hesitate to ask Sonya about anything related to Vanishing at any point in the game. In fact, it would be great if you bombard Sonya with questions, to make sure she's constantly on top of her game~"

"I'm quite sure that 'bombarding' me with questions won't be necessary," Sonya asserted. "But, you're free to ask me about Vanishing's movements whenever you deem it necessary. I'll gladly share all the data I have."

[With that said, I'm not sure the others will make much use of this service.] Cato thought. [We don't have much experience playing against Junglers like this.]

They tried to practice this setup where one player constantly monitored the enemy Jungler, but it was hard to make good use of this approach during random Ranked matches. They never really ran into Junglers that required that much special attention. As such, it was a fact that the Leopards were a little underprepared in that regard.

[So, it looks like I'll have to pester Sonya with questions on a regular basis~] Cato couldn't help but snicker as he imagined his endless questions getting on his secretary's nerves. It was going to be some much fun~

[With all that said, I'm still a little worried.] Cato thought. [We have to use everything at our disposal to minimize the threat.]

Fortunately, they prepared a few more countermeasures for Vanishing ahead of time. One of them was banning her favorite classes, namely the classes with stealth. In particular, it seemed like her favorite was Ninja.

[But, I can't ban it right now since we're going second.] Cato shook his head. [My, I really dislike how limited our banning options are.]

Trickshooter and Gunslinger absolutely had to be banned. And, since the team was going second this time, Cato also had to be the one who bans Shadow Walker.

[We don't actually know for sure whether Vanishing can play Shadow, but there's a good reason to believe she can.]

In all the games Vanishing had participated in thus far, ShadowWalker was always off-limits for her. As such, nobody knew what was Vanishing's relationship with Shadow.

[Shadow doesn't exactly have "stealth" per se, but it's close enough.] Cato thought. [So, there's little doubt in my mind that Vanishing can play it.]

And so, the protocol demanded Cato ban Shadow Walker along with Trickshooter and a Gunslinger. Thus, he had no bans left for Ninja and Drow.

[But, that's alright. Whichever stealth class she picks, we'll just have to counter-pick her... or not.]

Yuel shut down that option right away by banning Lumimancer, the best class for the job. So irksome.

There were a few other classes that could make it easier to keep track of an elusive Jungler, but none of them were nearly as efficient as Lumimancer's ult. As such, none of the alternative options was worth picking just for the purpose of dealing with Vanishing.

[My, things sure aren't looking hot for us at the moment. I hope I'm just overthinking this, but…]

There were multiple issues plaguing the team at the moment. Sonya refused to treat Vanishing as a legitimate threat, Ronald started to underestimate the enemy, and it was impossible to counter Vanishing during the drafting phase in any way. Truly, things weren't looking good for the Leopards in this round.

Was VanishingFlower going to prove herself as a difficult adversary in this game? Or, were Cato's worries misplaced and he was becoming paranoid…?

=== Stratus ===

Yuel (Chessmaster): Warlock

Lars (Gunz): Elf

Ben (EnduringPhoenix): Vanguard

Kai (Beat): Sorcerer

Nia (VanishingFlower): Ninja

=== Leopards ===

Cato (Rook): Cryomancer

Matthew (Merlin): Seraph

Ronald (AbsoluteChallenger): Dragonborn

Sonya (TheTheorist): Aeromancer

William (AbsoluteWinner): Lionfolk