The Leopards’ Hyper Aggressive Pick

It was the Leopards' turn to pick again.

"Looks like it's time for the grand reveal~" Cato smiled from ear to ear, imagining the shock on his opponents' faces. It was going to be so delightful to hit them with this super unexpected pick!

With that said, deep down, Cato's feelings about this pick didn't change. Every fiber of his being still disagreed with it.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to go with Orc?" Cato asked one last time. "There are so many other aggressive classes you could pick."

"I think I answered that enough times," Jin said. "I'm going Orc, nothing else."

"I see. A shame." Cato sighed in resignation. Till the very end, he was unable to sway the Emperor's mind. Oh well.

"Then, seeing as Bishop is banned, I'll go Cleric," Cato said. "A cleanse is very valuable to have against a Drow, and we might need the revival as well, seeing as our lineup is abnormally aggressive." 

"Weak pick," Jin criticized.

"Oh? How so?" 

"Too defensive. Not needed." 

"Well, and I'm saying your Orc pick is too aggressive and not needed as well. Does that make us even?" 

"Hmph." Jin scoffed and didn't say anything more. [This pick makes it easier to counter-pick both of us. Whatever.]

There was no need to take this drafting phase too seriously anyway. No matter how good Stratus' picks were going to be, Jin will crush them regardless.

In the end, the Leopards' final picks were Cleric and Orc. The first pick didn't leave much of an impression, but the second pick sent shockwaves across the stadium.

"Huh!?" Kai exclaimed. "Are they being serious?"

"I guess they are..." Yuel was speechless as well. That Orc pick came out of left field. It was in complete contrast to everything the Leopards stood for.

[Howard mentioned that Apprentece favors offense, but I didn't think it was to such a high degree...]

Orc was about the most aggressive pick for Top Laner, second only to Dark Knight. And, since Dark Knight wasn't considered viable at the highest level of play, Orc was essentially the representative of hyper-offense for Top.

[Is he making a statement?] Yuel wondered. [It almost feels like a taunt.]

For one, Kai had already exhibited her irritation. And, the rest of the team was taken aback as well.

"Scary." Nia shuddered. 

"I think this is going to be rough, haha..." Ben smiled dryly.

Even though they all knew how risky the Orc pick was, it nonetheless managed to shake them up to one degree or another. They all understood that the enemy was declaring their superiority and confidence with this pick.

If any other team went for a pick like this, then nobody would've batted an eye. But, these were the Leopards, the regional champions. What's more, they were normally the heralds of defense, which made this aggressive pick even more absurd.

However, one goof was completely unfazed by any of this.

"Yo, finally a cool pick!" Lars exclaimed. "I swear these dudes have been playing defense 24/7. It's about time they picked something more interesting, yo."

"I think this goes a little beyond 'more interesting'," Yuel said.

"Yeah, they kinda went off to the deep end with that one, didn't they?" Lars chuckled. "Gonna be fun to face this aggressive dude! Let's see what he brings to the table!"

"That's right," Kai agreed after recomposing herself. "If he thinks he can get away with a pick like this, then we better show him what we're made of. Let's crush him!"

"Y-Yeah!" Ben tried to join the hype, though his voice was still a little shaky. 

"Scary, but doable." Even Nia expressed unexpected bravery.

Despite the initial shock, the team rebounded quickly. Their mental fortitude was much better than expected.

[I suppose I have Lars to thank for that.] Yuel thought. [They needed that injection of positivity in order to overcome the shock. I wish I could do things like that.]

Even though Yuel also maintained his composure in front of the enemy's bold pick, he wasn't able to express that as loudly as Lars did. As such, he failed to inject the team with the much-needed positivity shot. This was one of the countless communication issues on Yuel's endless TODO list. Sigh.

[Anyway, now that the team is back in order, I can focus on the next pick.]

The enemy's Orc pick had the potential to be nasty for multiple reasons. Its strong early game was one part of it, but there was also Orc's ultimate that turned his allies unkillable. It was one of the best tools in the game for securing risky pushes or turning the tables around during unfavorable team fights.

Nonetheless, normally, Yuel wouldn't necessarily consider playing around an Orc pick. However, this Orc pick assuredly belonged to Apprentece.

[I can imagine Challenger playing Orc too, but he was subbed out.] Yuel thought. [Aside from Challenger, the only other suspect I can think of is Winner, but I doubt he would play Orc as a Jungler, or even as Top. His offense seems to be more on the calculated side, so Orc shouldn't be among his favorites.]

Considering how defensive the rest of the Leopards were, there was nobody other than Apprentece who would possibly pick Orc. In fact, Cato's Cleric pick further reinforced that impression.

[I suspect Cato isn't a big fan of that pick.] Yuel thought. [That's why he's trying to cover all the bases.]

Cleric was an extremely defensive pick, so much so its defensiveness severely hurt its placement on the tier list. Among the "beginner" classes of the game, Cleric was the only one considered viable, but it wasn't popular due to its limited array of utilities.

Down to it, the only reason to pick Cleric was its revival ult. Cato must've picked it to make sure he'll be able to salvage the situation in case his teammates get carried away during aggressive plays. More specifically, it was probably to keep the Orc alive in case something goes wrong.

[The Orc can turn his allies unkillable, and the Cleric can revive the Orc. Strong options.] Yuel nodded. [But, Aquamancer can counter both of them.]

Before going through with the pick, Yuel explained his reasoning to his teammates in the hope of injecting them with further confidence. He couldn't leave all the hard work to Lars on that front.

"Sounds awesome!" Lars gave a thumbs up. "These dudes be trying to spook us with their picks, but ya gonna show them!"

"Damn straight," Kai reinforced.

In the end, it was still Lars and Kai's voices that lifted the team's spirits. Yuel only shared the dry theoretical explanation of his decision, which didn't sound very "hype" all by itself.

[Well, it doesn't matter who exactly improves the team's morale.] Yuel thought. [It's the result that matters. Though, I should really try getting a little better at this...]

And so, the drafting phase of the final game came to a close.

===Stratus===

Yuel (Chessmaster): Aquamancer

Lars (Gunz): Elf

Ben (EnduringPhoenix): Druid

Kai (Beat): Sorcerer

Nia (VanishingFlower): Drow

===Leopards===

Young-jin (Apprentece): Orc

William (AbosluteWinner): Viking

Sonya (TheTheorist): Aeromancer

Cato (Rook): Cleric

Matthew (Merlin): Pirate