Shin Saengnim’s Shin.
The pressure recovers the memory of the Worlds Championship.
The hyper-carry rookie, Yujin.
Even Prefot of the golden flash.
With all of us hitting our peaks, we managed to lead the game until mid-game.
But just until there.
“Can you watch this?”
“We should remove that part.”
“No, we need to keep it!”
Unlike our flustered team, the opponent, despite losing small skirmishes, continued to rotate personnel to the side lanes and accumulate advantages.
By the time the game hit the 40-minute mark, centered around a lost teamfight, the game stood at a difference of 4800gold.
We were almost 5000 gold behind.
‘They’re definitely skilled.’
The opposing team, all players who retired while still being good at League of Legends due to personal circumstances, were still showing consistent skills and popularity.
They had already proven their ability by defeating a tier-2 professional team within LCK content; there was no questioning their skills.
“Are they taking Baron?”
“I have an ultimate in 10 seconds, give me time to cut it out.”
After taking down Shin Saengnim on the side, the opponent began to take the Baron.
Apparently, they were truly planning to cement their lead.
With a combo not particularly slow against Baron, they were dealing burst damage faster than expected.
“I’ll go for the steal, don’t use your ultimate on me, Shin.”
Pressure spoke with determination.
The current gold difference was about 5000, and a failure would leave the game completely out of reach.
‘What can I do?’
4000, 3000, 2000.
As the Baron’s health continued to drop, I calculated every possible option.
What’s the best judgment I can make right now?
What if the steal fails?
Even if we’re right on judgment but fail due to mechanical reasons?
“The steal is on!”
As the Baron’s health dropped to 1800, Pressure used ultimates from behind the nest and dove in.
Naturally, the opponents stopped their damage and attempted to interrupt Pressure with their own skills.
“I’ll burst it from here!”
Using Azir’s long-range advantage behind the Baron nest to fill the damage gap, we brought the Baron’s health down to 980 instantly.
With crowd control still available, we could still use a strong offensive spell.
[Your ally stole the Baron Nashor!]
A message appeared signaling the successful steal as teammates quickly called back again.
“Back now, back!”
“Let’s reassemble after they retreat.”
“Azir, get out slowly!”
Everyone wanted to regroup, but a different option appeared to me.
‘Hunting Baron has drained quite a bit of health.’
It was the Baron variant with the highest damage, dealing 20% of current health, which had reduced the opponent’s overall health.
Coupled with the sand soldiers recently positioned in the nest, and the opponents’ missing flashes from the previous fight, along with my recent flash usage,
This was a decisive moment we had to take.
“Kai’Sa, get ready to combo!”
After using e and q skills to dive in, I quickly executed a flash ultimate combo.
The opponent, believing the Baron fight was done, was caught off guard by my initiation and swept up.
“Shin, ultimate on Kai’Sa! She has Zhonya’s Hourglass!”
By the mid-late game, most enemies hit by Azir’s ultimate and the two sand soldiers were left near death.
“Bro, focus me!”
Yujin’s Kai’Sa dived into the middle of the enemy using ultimate and followed up with a q skill.
In this round, Kai’Sa was built for AD, and it rained missiles like a storm.
After my skill cooldowns refreshed and I began poking enemies with my skills after finishing Zhonya’s Hourglass,
[Finish them off!]
We were able to achieve a perfect teamfight victory.
“Should we end the game going through mid?”
“Seems a bit iffy, though…”
With the opponent’s tier-3 turrets still up and their bot-lane duo coming back soon, I addressed my hesitating teammates.
“Try ending it with the super minion wave. We’ve got Baron and if Kai’Sa uses her e to push, it should be over.”
Even if the opposing bot-lane duo respawns, their remaining teammates won’t for at least another 10 seconds.
“We can push with Shin’s W.”
“Okay, let’s go with Seo Ha’s call.”
“Then I can tank it from the front?”
After destroying their tier-3 turrets and inhibitor, the opposing bot-lane duo respawned and blocked our path.
Their goal must be not to get us but to buy time until their teammates can revive.
There was no reason to accommodate them.
“Provoked Ashe!”
Shin walked forward to provoke Ashe while the remaining teammates focused down the turret.
At this point, the turret was practically nonexistent.
[Victory!]
Relief surged as we saw the blue screen.
“…But we still have one more match.”
Just one more match to go.
“Steal? Steal? Wow!! Pressure!”
“Looking at the replay, but it seems like Para’s Azir dealt a crucial burst, right?”
“The Arts and Sports Specialty Team, can claim to have put out a fire by stealing the Baron. The remaining challenge lies in…”
“Uh…Uh? A dive!!!”
“Para dove into the enemy team and lifted all five players! And Yujin!”
[?????]
[Wow, a super dive]
[Did he spot that angle?]
“Yujin is kiting! Kiting!”
“And Para finishes it off!”
[Wow…]
[It’s like Para has a different gameplay level ㅇㅇ]
[But didn’t the opponent stupidly walk into it?]
[If Para had messed up once, the game would’ve exploded]
[Spotting the angle in that situation is pure confidence, criticizing the opponent for walking into it is absurd ㅋㅋ]
[Can we wrap this game?]
“Meanwhile, as Arts and Sports Specialty Team advances toward mid-lane, do you think they can close it out?”
“Their lanes aren’t the cleanest, but it’s worth trying.”
[It doesn’t seem like it’ll end]
[Probably won’t finish…]
[Save the cannon minion and it’ll end]
[Ashe has Luna, so it’s over, right?]
“Count and Lucia are resisting as much as they can.”
“Shin didn’t do as much as expected, but ‘I will take care of the finishing myself!’ and with the successful double provocation from Shin Saengnim…”
“Thus the game is over! Zzz~”
[Great, Seo Ha]
[Queen Seo Ha is a renowned Azir specialist, from now on, I’ll think of her that way]
[No room for errors… No room for errors… No room for errors…]
[5000 gold? Alpaban lol just one super dive is enough to end the game]
[Out of 10 players, the one who saw that opportunity is legendary]
“Seo Ha, really impressive.”
“Wow, how did you spot that at the end?”
“You’re crazy.”
“Honestly, my diving in as soon as I pressed ultimate counts too. Acknowledge that, will you?”
As soon as we entered the waiting room, the team showered me with admiration.
Honestly, revisiting it, it was a flawless play even by my previous incarnation’s standards.
‘Would I have been able to pull it off in my previous life?’
Thinking back, I doubt I would have seen the angle back then, and even with experience, I probably would have died before using Zhonya’s Hourglass correctly.
“Guys, now that we’ve come this far, we should aim for the championship, right?”
“Seriously, I’m more nervous now than at the end of Worlds.”
“That’s taking it a bit too far, isn’t it?”
“We must do it.”
Having taken the fourth set, the momentum swung back to our side.
Teammates were regaining confidence.
At this moment, everyone felt united toward one goal.
“So, have any ideas for bans and picks?”
“Shin is probably going to be banned.”
“Probably Kai’Sa as well.”
“Should we tank after selecting Ziggs in bot-lane?”
As team ban/pick discussions heated up, I offered one idea.
“How about Mordekaiser in top lane?”
“Mordekaiser?”
Though a slow-footed champion, Mordekaiser could handle AP duties with high expectations for front-lining capabilities.
“Opponent is likely considering pulling out an AP top lane, maybe Gwen or Ryze.”
“I can do Mordekaiser, but…”
The reasoning behind Mordekaiser was simple.
It was a strategy we used when facing strong top-lane teams in my previous life; if we pull their ace from top lane, the 4v4 teamfights would be in our favor.
And we’d win.
It’s a simple formula.
“If they ban AP, I’ll take Mordekaiser.”
“Seo Ha, any preferences for mid-lane?”
“Since it’s game-deciding time, let’s do one last dance.”
“I’ll grab what’s left.”
Thus, we proceeded to the fifth set ban/pick.
The opponent banned Shin and picked Gwen in top lane.
They showed confidence that anything could be crushed once Shin was removed.
Indeed, outside the early game of the fourth set, our top-lane had led in all the games.
“Doing Mordekaiser?”
“Let’s head to the chamber of truth.”
“That’s not the current meta, it’s about area control.”
“What’s that, you OP fan?”
Having selected the enemy in blue side due to their loss in the fourth set, we were auto-positioned in red.
After selecting Mordekaiser, we had one more pick left.
“So, shall I take Ugong?”
“Let’s go with a teamfight-optimized composition.”
The jungler we selected was Ugong, a champion capable of strong skirmishes post-level 6.
The opponent, seemingly looking to increase tempo earlier, brought in Nidalee.
“Then, should I pick mid based on earlier discussions?”
“That’s likely the best route.”
“Unless we want to eat Ashe.”
“Since the opponent plans to divide Ashe with Jiksu in bot-lane, it’s fine to give it up.”
Just as expected, the picks aligned with our initial estimates.
The lineup we intended was successfully formed.
.
.
.
“Got the middle lane.”
[Slaying spree!]
“Woah, a triple kill in solo…”
“Amazing that they would willingly allow a gank after playing as well as that.”
“If they don’t release this hold, we can’t win side lanes until the end of the game.”
“Nice. Even in the fifth set, it seems the opponent is crumbling.”
So if the expected picks came in,
It was time for my solo stage to begin.
