Subbing the Jungler Again

"Hey, welcome back!" Luke greeted the team as they entered the waiting room. "Man, that game was intense! You almost had it at the end there!"

"Yes, it was a good game." Ben nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we were SO close, yo!" Lars exclaimed. "But, don't worry! We gonna get them next game, believe it!"

"Totes, man!" Luke gave a thumbs up, then he noticed the creature napping in Lars's hands. "Also, I'm quite not sure why, but I have a strong feeling I'll be playing in that game, hehe."

"So it appears..." Yuel sighed. "It was a mistake to drag Nia into this game. I should've let her sleep. In a way, you could say it was my fault that we lost."

"If so, then I'm equally guilty," Kai said. "I also thought that bringing her to the stage will wake her up immediately, but turned out we were off the mark."

"Indeed, indeed." Vincent nodded. "We have all underestimated the Slumber Realm that ever insists to drag in our Vanishing Phantom."

"True," Yuel agreed. There was no denying the fact that nobody voiced an argument against putting Nia on stage. [But, I still think it's mostly my fault. Especially, since I'm apparently the one who made her cram all the material on the Leopards late into the night. ]

But, there was no point in getting too hung up on that point. There were far more important matters to consider right now.

With Nia out of commission for a while, it meant that somebody will have to fill in for her. And, the first pick that came to mind was none other than the team's memer, Luke.

[God help us all.] Yuel sighed deeply. [The Leopards are going to tear us apart if we bring memes to the stage.]

Luke was a skilled player, no doubt about it. But unfortunately, his class picks dragged him down to Bronze level. So, no matter how skilled he actually was, he had little future on the competitive scene in his current form.

[But, he's not our only option this time. After all, we have Ben, too.]

This was a small, but important, difference compared to the previous scrimmage. With Ben on board, the team's options increased exponentially!

[... at least, that's what I'd like to tell myself. But, I'm really not sure about sending Ben in as a Jungler.]

Ben was a decent player overall. During club practice, he played Top most of the time, but he was also an excellent Support even though he was usually reluctant to play the role. It seemed like scars from the past were still fresh in his mind, creating a mental block.

Nonetheless, every time Ben was cast in the role, his supporting was exceptionally good, second only to Yuel's in their club. Despite Ben's aversion, it was probably his best role.

[But, we don't actually need another Support, so that's fine. Still, the fact he can play Support so well definitely says a lot about his ability to play Jungler.]

That wasn't just a random guess. Yuel made sure to properly test that theory during club practice as well. He made Ben play Jungler more than a few times, to gauge the guy's potential as a Jungler substitute for the club.

[I knew we'll need a substitute for this game, too.] Yuel sighed deeply. [In the end, all that talk about making Nia exercise and such... it went in one ear and out of the other. Sigh.]

As aggravating as it was, Nia ignored Yuel's criticism when it came to the topic of taking naps. As such, on that front, the girl was barely any better than she was during the Taurus scrimmage. And so, sleepiness still governed over her life.

So truly, it was beyond obvious that Stratus will need a Jungler substitute today, too. And fortunately, Ben performed decently as a Jungler during club practice, but...

[He's a defensive player.] Yuel knotted his brows. [Even as a Jungler, he plays more like a Support in many ways. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's not quite what we need against the Leopards.]

As the recent game has just proven, the Leopards will easily blow Stratus out of the water if the two teams compete in perseverance. After all, the Leopards of this year was a specialized defensive team, very much like Howard's StormBlitz, and maybe even more obnoxious. As such, playing with a defensive Jungler against them was a recipe for disaster.

[We need more offensive power, not less.] Yuel reasoned. [Honestly, the main reason we fell behind in the previous game was that Nia didn't apply enough pressure. That pretty much sealed our fates all by itself. This is how critical it is to have a Jungler who can reliably attack.]

As such, a defensive Jungler was out of the question. At least, it [would have been] if there were better alternatives.

Unfortunately, the memer wasn't that much better in that regard, either. Most of Luke's class picks didn't offer much offensive strength, except for extreme memes like Rogue.

[Ben might be playing defensively, but at least he picks real Jungler classes. That's already a thousand times better than whatever nonsense Luke pulls. So, I suppose we'll have to compensate for that lack of jungling offense by being more aggressive on the lanes.]

"For next game," Yuel started. "I was thinking about having Ben play Jungler."

"M-Me?" Ben jumped. "Um, o-okay, I can do it, but..." He glanced at Luke with guilty eyes.

"Say whaaaat?" Luke jumped. "C'mon man, you know I'm the pro Jungler sub of this team! You can't do me dirty like that, fam."

"Sorry, but we don't have time to mess around against the Leopards. We need to turn things around before they decide we're no match for them, or else they'll start rotating players around." [Not to mention, there's also that phantom Korean player we have to drag out of the shadows as soon as possible.]

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying!" Luke nodded. "We don't have time to mess around, man. That's why you gotta pick the best man for the job."

"Correct."

"Meaning, you gotta pick me! I'm yo man!"

"No, you are not."

"Wha-!? Are you saying Benny boy is a better Jungler than me!? I'm SHOCKED, fam. Literally shaking right now."

"No, I don't think he's a 'better Jungler' per se," Yuel admitted. "As far as skill goes, you're the better player in that role."

"Right? Right? So c'mon, what the heck are you even on about with that dumb idea? You gotta pick me, your friendly neighborhood memer!"

"This again..." Yuel sighed. "I suppose I'll have to explain this once more, for the millionth time. Yes, you're the better Jungler, but your class picks are atrocious. So, I rather have a less skilled teammate who knows how to play the relevant classes, rather than a teammate who has more skill but wastes all of it on bad jokes."

"Damn, the burn." Luke laughed dryly. "Are ya'll hearing this shit, guys? There's no way you all agree with this nonsense, do you?"

"As much as I'd like to agree with Yuel," Kai said. "There's just one concern there. Namely, that Ben is a hella passive player, even when he plays Jungler."

"Indeed, indeed." Vincent nodded repeatedly. "Such is his trade, for he is dubbed the Eternal Peacekeeper! He holds the uncanny ability to bend reality to his desires and deflect any and all intentions of aggression that come his way. Truly, it's an EX rank Noble Phantasm!"

"Riiiiight." Kai rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the point is, if the previous game is anything to go by, then we need a better offense to crush the Leopards."

"True, that's my conclusion as well," Yuel agreed.

"So, you see the problem, right? I'm sorry to say this, but Ben won't strengthen our offense too much. His setups are cool, but we already have you, the Support, to do setups for us. So, we better get somebody who can properly gank."

"And, who do you propose, then?" Yuel asked. "A memer who mostly plays Setup Junglers?"

"Oh. That's a fair point, actually." Kai crossed her arms. "Yeah, that doesn't sound too healthy for our offense either."

"Right. That's why I think we should go with Ben and make up for the lack of offense by playing more aggressively on the lanes. Because, no matter who we pick as the Jungler, we'll have to make up for the lack of offense either way."

"Huehue, boi." Luke snickered. "That's where you're completely wrong, my friend!"

"Excuse me?"

"Hehehe. Looks like it's finally time to let the cat out of the bag!"

[I have a bad feeling about this...] Yuel made a face but nonetheless listened with full attention.

"Well then," Luke started. "You probably thought I didn't listen much during that boring Taurus scrimmage review, right? But nope! I heard every single dang word."

"Oh? Then, does it mean you actually started playing some meta classes in secret? If so, that would be amazing-"

"Nah, it ain't anything boring like that." Luke immediately destroyed that ray of hope. As a professional memer, it was his sacred duty to shoot down such boring ideas on the spot. "I obviously ignored all that nonsense you said about how I should be playing a meta class and stuff."

"Because of course you did..."

"Buuuuuuut!" Luke thumped on his chest. "I heard ya loud and clear when you said I lack 'offensive classes'. Ya made me realize I really mostly practiced Setup Junglers."

"Well, I'm glad at least [some] of the criticism sunk in."

"Yep." Luke nodded. "So anyway, this srs bsns realization led me to consult a bunch of pro memers on the net. Basically, I asked them to hit me up with the most savage Jungler memes they could come up with!"

"Well, on one hand, I'm glad you took something away from that match review and put the effort to change things up," Yuel said. "On the other hand, I have a feeling your efforts were a little misplaced..."

"Nah, it was the perfect solution, man!" Luke insisted. "These absolute mad lads took the matter super srs and hooked me up with the craziest suggestion ever!"

"I can imagine..."

"I mean, it's probably an idea that most of you wondered about at least once," Luke said, "But, even I never seriously tried to master it, not until recently! It suddenly hit me that this was exactly the class I was looking for, so I researched it like crazy and got a lot of practice in!"

The guy was brimming with confidence. An attitude like that would normally be reassuring for the team, but in this case, it was all the more reason for worry...