Remote Intimidation

Lumimancer wasn't exactly a great mage for laning. However, when Kai heard about the likely Lionfolk pick from the enemy, she embraced this obscure pick. In fact, she even had some experience playing as a power Lumimancer. She liked picking the class when she was stuck playing Support with randoms.

As per usual with online matchmaking, she was often stuck with an idiot Carry in the lane. So, she gave up on playing Support for them and went for a power build. It was a surprisingly viable approach with Lumimancer that even allowed her to carry a few games. It has been a long time since she last had to resort to such measures, but the memory of the power Lumimancer was burned into her mind, probably because it was surprising that it worked.

So, despite being rusty, Kai remembered the general routine. As soon as she arrived on the lane, she cast Ray of Light around the clashing swordsmen. Bright sunlight shone upon everybody in the area, damaging enemies and healing allies.

Lumimancer's clearing speed was on the slower side but it had this nice gimmick to it. It took Ray of Light a while to clear the enemy swordsmen, but the spell constantly healed allied swordsmen and kept them alive. So, by the end of the clash, the swordsman survived with decent HP.

At least, that's how things should have played out. However, her lane opponent ended up being a Sorcerer, of all things. This was going to be fun...

Zap! A black sphere emerged out of thin air. The Sorcerer tactically placed it between his swordsman and bowmen. A moment later, he used Dimensional Collapse and the orb exploded inwards, generating a sudden gravity pull. It sucked in the swordsmen and the bowmen, making them bump into each other in the center.

Due to how many minions bumped into each other, the entire minion wave received heavy damage. However, that wasn't the worst part of it. With the swordsman pulled back, they left the healing area of Ray of Light. Meanwhile, the enemy swordsman advanced.

And so, Kai's slow-burn wave-clearing has been stripped of its one and only redeeming factor: the healing. With her swordsmen now fighting outside the reach of Ray of Light, they had no advantage over their opponents.

In the end, her frontline collapsed first because she failed to out-damage the Dimensional Collapse. So, she had no choice but to retreat behind her bowmen and eventually all the way back to the Turret.

[Yeah, about what I expected.] Kai frowned. This was why she didn't like this matchup the moment she saw it. The Sorcerer's ability to easily reposition minions was the worst thing possible for a Lumimancer who was trying to farm. What the hell she was supposed to do about this?

"So, turns out he knows how to play," Kai directed that at Yuel. "Still waiting for my compensation."

"I'll gank as soon as I finish over here," Yuel said. He was currently busy slaying down the wolves located near Bot. There was no chance of contesting the griffins because Aron got to them first, so he settled on getting the wolves in peace. At least, this time, there were no unpleasant surprise attacks awaiting him.

Once Yuel finished off the Wolf Camp, he headed toward Top.

[Where would Aron place wards?] Yuel analyzed the mini-map on the way. Most likely, Aron was the one responsible for most of the warding on the enemy team, the same as Yuel for his team. So, if Yuel can read Aron's warding patterns, he'll be able to sneak by most of the wards.

Fortunately, Aron was the calculated type, the same as Yuel. As such, Aron has most likely placed his wards in the best meta spots. Therefore, Yuel just had to look at his own wards and mirror their locations; that was probably close to how Aron placed them as well.

One ward was definitely around the griffins. It was such an important central location that Aron (or at least somebody from his team) definitely placed a ward over there.

Next, where would the other wards be? Yuel placed his own second ward near the Wolf Camp, right above Bot. It granted him vision of the camp and alerted Lars of any invaders heading to Bot. Since the enemies were aware of Lars's skill, they will most certainly focus their ganks on Bot to keep him in check. As such, it was of utmost importance to prepare against ganks on Bot.

Yuel discussed his warding plans ahead of time with the team, so Kai knew there won't be a ward on her side of the jungle. As such, she went ahead and bought one herself. Quite the initiative right there. This was one of those cases when her self-sufficient nature was great. She was born to play Mid, no question about it.

With all of that in mind, how did the warding looked on the enemy's side of the map? Probably quite similar. Aron must have covered two areas just like Yuel did, then another teammate covered the remaining one. So, it was natural to assume the enemy will spot Yuel rotating to Top no matter which path he takes.

[Too bad I'm not ganking Bot. It'd be much easier.] Yuel sighed. The two lanes had slight asymmetry in their layouts. Bot had a jungle entrance in the middle of the lane so Yuel could easily gank from there without venturing into enemy territory.

However, Top Jungle didn't offer such an option. A thick wall separated the lane from the jungle across nearly the entire lane, so the best entrance for a gank laid in enemy territory. Of course, he could also enter the lane from allied territory, but such a telegraphed gank won't achieve much.

In conclusion, Yuel's best option was to approach from the enemy's side of the jungle. However, that side was most certainly heavily warded against ganks from all directions.

[I wish I had stealth.] Yuel chewed his lips. Even though he promised Kai a gank, it wasn't so easy. Nevertheless, he had to do something. This Lumimancer vs. Sorcerer matchup was rough. The game just started and Kai has already lost substantial lane control.

Fortunately, Aron was probably far from the middle of the jungle right now. Due to the enemy's invasion at game start, Aron still had plenty of jungle camps to clear; they kept him busy for a while.

As such, Yuel had some leverage here. He had the option of going for a slow "gank" without fully committing to it right away.

[Let's try scaring him a little.] Yuel decided. It didn't seem feasible to get a solid gank going right now, so the second-best option was to scare Alex and make the guy retreat. That should help Kai regain some lane control.

In order to not waste too much time on this experiment, Yuel cut through the center of the map, passing by the empty Griffin Camp. Soon, he arrived in the middle of the enemy jungle. There was no doubt that a ward caught a glimpse of him somewhere along the path and alerted the enemy. However, that only made the gank narrative more believable, so it played in Yuel's favor.

What the enemy wards should have shown was Yuel heading toward Top on the enemy side of the Jungle. In other words, it had to be an incoming gank.

"Alex, the Viking is heading in your direction," Aron alerted.

"Yeah, saw it," Alex stared at the mini-map for a couple of seconds.

With how the matchup was shaping up in Top, it was only natural for the enemy to start ganking as soon as possible. If they do nothing, Freezer will run away with it for zero effort. It'd be awesome, honestly.

Alas, the opponents were serious players so they won't give up so easily. Well, that made things fun in their own right. It gave Alex a reason to actually try.

Considering how seriously the other team took this much, they've surely discussed how to handle the disadvantageous matchup in Top. So, clearly, a gank was heading towards Alex and he had to retreat. Or, did he?

[Something about this gank feels lazy.] Alex thought. [Chessmaster. He was the shot-caller from the scrimmage, right? He should have good map awareness and know where wards go.]

If so, was there any chance this calculated player didn't consider the possibility of a ward near the Griffin Camp? No way. In fact, there's no doubt that he placed a ward over there too. So, he should've guessed that Aron placed a ward over there as well.

And yet, Chessmaster ran straight through the warded area anyway. He didn't even try sticking to the edges of the walls or anything to minimize the chances of being spotted. It's almost like he was asking to be spotted.

[Is he trying to scare me?] Alex wondered. There was a chance this whole "gank" was just a fraud and Chessmaster had no intention of ganking Alex right now.

With that said, not taking precautions against this potential gank would be a huge risk. Sorcerer didn't have any mobility skills to speak of, so any Viking that gets close will have no trouble killing Alex. Therefore, he had to retreat now if he wanted to get away.

Even though there was still some uncertainty about the enemy's intentions, he slowly backpedaled from the middle of the lane. A new minion wave was on its way and he should have been on the front to quickly clear it out, but he chose to withdraw from the optimal farming position. However, he didn't go all the way back to his tower.

"Why so slow on the retreat?" Aron asked. "He's coming after you."

"Is he, really?" Alex asked. "I have a feeling it's a magic show. He showed he's on the way to alert me, but I don't think he's really coming."

"Hrm, I wouldn't put it past him."

"Had a feeling," Alex nodded. "And yet, I still have to retreat at least a little. He can always change plans midway based on my reaction. What a nasty way to apply pressure."

"I'd intercept him but I'm too far," Aron shook his head. "He probably took my positioning into account as well."

"You think he snuck in some wards on our side?"

"Possible. Or, he estimated it based on he would be doing right now in my shoes. For the better or the worse, we're both the types who prefer sticking to optimal plays."

"You mean, the boring bunch," Trever chuckled. "You gotta play with your heart more."

"We already got one troublemaker to cover that area," Aron retorted. "Anyway, Alex. I trust your judgment on this one. I can't tell whether this is Yuel's 'magic show', as you called it. But, I can at least confirm it's a possibility when Yuel is involved."

"Good enough for me," Alex nodded. He stuck to his guns and didn't retreat all the way. Nevertheless, this partial retreat messed up his ability to continue the efficient farming routine he has been using until now.

The two minion waves clashed in the middle of the lane, but Alex was too far to place a Magia Orb in the middle of the enemy formation. As such, he couldn't take advantage of Dimensional Collapse to pull all enemy minions to one spot.

Fortunately, Dimensional Collapse wasn't the only spell Sorcerer had for farming. There was an alternative, the long-range option: Repelling Force. Alas, with this one, it was much harder to hit the entire minion wave in one shot, especially from this range. Alex had to perfectly calculate the distance and angle to fire an orb that'll travel through the entire minion wave.

It was possible on paper but extremely difficult to pull off. A slight miscalculation of a couple of pixels will make his spell miss a third of the enemy wave. That's how tight the aim had to be.

[Execution, huh. What a pain.] Alex sighed. [But, gotta do what I gotta do.]

After the fateful scrimmage with StormBlitz, Alex learned an important lesson. No matter how good of a player he thought he was, it was a child's play to shut him down by banning Warlock, the only one class he really played. He should've known that all along, but in Ranked nobody targeted him specifically so Warlock bans only happened every once in a while.

On the other hand, in a competitive match, the enemy was going to use any information at their disposal to strike where it hurt the most. Somebody in StormBlitz, perhaps Chessmaster, saw Alex playing a solid Warlock, so they banned the class. Poof! Gone! Just like that, with a click of a button, they stripped Alex of his strongest tool. And, at the time, his only tool...

It was a fitting slap in the face for his laziness. He thought he could coast by maining one easy class, but that mentality came back to bite him in the ass. That's why, ever since, he has been raising his mastery in every meta mage class, for both Mid and Support.

A few months ago, executing the Sorcerer's alternative farming routine would have been beyond him. His orbs would have missed the target by at least half a screen.

However, the way he was now - he could pull it off. It was still a drag, but he could do it. He had to do it. After all, he practiced it along with countless other setups.

First, he created a Magia Orb in front of him. It was crucial to align the orb on the same axis as the enemy minions. Otherwise, it won't be possible to send this thing flying in a way that'd hit the entire enemy wave. It was like knocking down bowling pins; he had to aim for the center.

After carefully placing the orb, he unleashed Repelling Force. A magical gust erupted at his command and rammed into the deployed orb. The impact shot the orb forth, right into the enemy wave.

[Hmm. I'd give myself a 7/10.] Alex judged. His orb successfully passed through the enemy wave, but the angle wasn't perfect. The orb only hit two of the swordsmen and two of the bowmen. So, only 4/6 of the targets ate big damage.

It wasn't the best result but it was satisfactory. After all, hitting the entire minion wave with one orb was borderline inhuman. The orb had to be [perfectly] centered on the minions and graze the ones on the sides [just] enough to register as a hit. Pulling this off every time would be godlike mastery. Even in Practice mode, under optimal conditions, Alex could only do that once in three attempts on a good day.

In fact, even in the pro scene, that was uncommon. Only the absolute highest level Sorcerer pros could nail this reliably. Most of the time, if a pro player had to resort to Repelling Force for framing, they created two adjacent orbs and sent both of them flying forward. One orb swept through the left side of the minion wave and the other through the right, with both grazing the center for double damage. That was the most surefire way to do this.

It was a good setup and Alex practiced it, but he had no time to set it up here. It required two deployed Magia Orbs, so at least one of them had to be placed in advance. Alas, Alex didn't foresee this development, so he wasn't prepared.

[Next time I'll be ready.] Alex nodded to himself. All in all, he delivered an adequate response to this whole "gank" pressure situation. His Sorcerer was finally viable for competitive-level gameplay. That was good to know.

Thanks to this semi-successful backup farming option, Alex came out of this situation with minimal losses. It took more than a low-budget magic show to scare him into surrendering lane control. After all, he was Freezer; his specialty was to freeze lanes from disadvantage.

Though, for that skill to come into play, the enemy first had to actually force Alex into a disadvantageous situation. After all, what point was there to freezing a lane when he could gain an advantage so easily?

[Alright then, let's see if these kids have what it takes to give me trouble.] Alex cracked his neck. Was that Viking coming here? Or, was it just a smokescreen? Either way, Alex was ready to face whatever nonsense these guys had in store. He'll avoid ganks and he'll maintain lane control, that was his silent promise.