[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 331

Facing a team competing for the Red Cup.

Moreover, considering that it’s a request coming at a crucial time during the Red Cup season, logically, the right thing to do would be to decline.

Still, GRS was a Chinese team, and helping them could potentially affect the Korean teams negatively.

But then…

“I still want to try.”

I want to feel firsthand our team’s capabilities and see what one of the strong contenders for the Red Cup is like.

“Hoo…”

“GRS is all set! How about you guys?”

With Baek Seong-an’s shout, the team members answered one by one.

“Ready.”

“Totally ready.”

“All set.”

Baek Seong-an continued, “They said we can choose the first game side, which side do you prefer?”

There wasn’t much to ponder.

“Um, Red.”

“Not bad, but why?”

“I want to see what moves they make.”

From a ban/pick perspective, the Blue side has the advantage of first picking, while the Red side’s strength lies in the last pick.

In other words, Blue has the edge in matching its composition, while Red excels at countering the opponent’s composition.

“Okay, then let’s go Red.”

The decision was made.

And without further ado, the ban/pick officially commenced.

[Gangplank]

The opponent’s first ban was Gangplank.

It’s probably because he’s a highly-tiered pick recently, and Seon-woo can handle him effortlessly.

“Come to think of it, Seon-woo has been playing him a lot in solo queue lately.”

While I was momentarily lost in thought, Seon-woo spoke up.

[“What should we ban?”]

“Um… I don’t know.”

[“How about Akali?”]

“Seems good.”

[“Shall we ban Akali?”]

[“Yeah, let’s just go with Akali.”]

[“Okay.”]

Finally, our first ban was decided.

[Akalin]

The opponent swiftly followed suit with their bans.

[Lucian]

[“Renekton.”]

[“Yeah.”]

[Renekton]

The opponents continued to ban at a fast pace.

[Karuma]

[“What should we do for the last ban?”]

“Um, anything is fine.”

[“Then I’ll use it for mid. Their mid is quite strong.”]

“Sure.”

[Becks]

At last, the first bans from both sides were completed.

+

[Ban List]

Gangplank / Akali

Lucian / Renekton

Karuma / Becks

+

The opponent’s side is Blue.

Which means they have first pick.

[Ari]

The opponent’s first pick is Ari.

Once a champion that dominated the meta and then basically vanished, Ari had made a comeback recently after a remake and was now consistently being picked.

[“As expected.”]

Baek Seong-an nodded as if he had anticipated it.

[“Baegah, you take her.”]

[“Got it.”]

[Baegah]

[“What do we do now?”]

[“Um, Yujin, do you have a jungler you want to pick?”]

“I don’t know…”

In this situation, a respectable jungler…

“I’ll go for a late pick.”

[“Okay. Jaem-min, what do you want?”]

[“…Why am I being asked immediately?”]

“You’re the spoon.”

[“Ugh, I’m not doing it.”]

[“Jaem-min wants you to pick Jhin.”]

[“Sure.”]

[“Why Jhin all of a sudden! No, don’t pick him!”]

Of course, Kim Jae-min’s protests wouldn’t reach anyone.

[Jhin]

[“…I don’t care.”]

[“You always do.”]

[“That’s not true! I’m a complete carry machine!”]

[“Yeah, no you’re not.”]

And then…

The ban/pick was finished.

+

[GRS / OLZ]

Top: Ornn / Aatrox

Jungle: Graves / Lee Sin

Mid: Ari / Baegah

Bot: Samira / Jhin

Support: Nautilus / Leona

+

The overall composition was a typical top-heavy versus bot-heavy setup.

The opponents would rely on Ornn as a shield to endure up top while growing stronger in the mid-jungle and bot lane, whereas we’d need to maneuver around Jhin’s powerful lane presence and engaging capabilities.

However, with Baegah in our team, who had high growth potential, it wouldn’t be correct to say we were at a complete disadvantage.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

[“Everyone, let’s go!”]

“Let’s do it!”

[“Fight!”]

The game officially began.

*

Coach Jang Seok-Hwan said, “Since you set up the scrim as you wanted, make sure to execute it properly.”

“Yes, thank you.”

This scrim was against a team that had just been promoted to the Korean 1st Division.

This demanding scrim was a strong request from Li Zhi-Xuan.

Although it was a one-sided request, the scrim wasn’t solely a benefit for GRS.

Depending on the situation, there was a risk of GRS’s strategies being exposed to the Korean team.

Hence, for the first scrim, they had arranged a rather solid ban/pick, but…

“I wonder how it will go…”

With the crucial Red Cup stage ahead, this scrim against OLZ could introduce variables.

Whether those variables would be positive or negative was uncertain, but Coach Jang Seok-Hwan hoped for the former.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

The game began in earnest at last.

The early invade occurred without any major incidents, as if both teams had an unspoken agreement.

Well, considering the meaning of a scrim, it might have been an inevitable occurrence.

If the game tilted too much during the early invade, the purpose of practice would have been undermined.

“I guess practicing over the invade scenario is good, but…”

It seemed both teams wanted to clash with their full strength this game.

-Minion spawn!

The real laning phase commenced, and Nightmare Li Zhi-Xuan observed his opponent, the mid laner, Getback.

Getback, Baegah, was currently Li Zhi-Xuan’s opponent.

“Getback Baek Seong-an.”

From what Li Zhi-Xuan had gathered, to be frank, Getback wasn’t an exceptional player.

But even so, was he not fulfilling his role on the OLZ team? That too, was not the case.

On the contrary, his ambiguity was actually enhancing the presence of the Outlaw jungler, OLZ’s strongest weapon.

Strictly speaking, if they could swap Getback and Rainbow, they would certainly do so.

However, given how rare players like Rainbow are, Getback was a perfect fit for OLZ’s character as a mid laner.

“No matter what, the focus of the game is mid. If mid falls, no matter how great an Outlaw is, it won’t matter. I’ll push him hard.”

The matchup of Arin versus Baegah represented a battle of psychology and skill shots.

However, in terms of movement, Arin was definitely more agile.

Li Zhi-Xuan’s Arin started to heavily pressure Baegah from early on.

Even though Arin kept applying pressure and trading damage, Baegah managed to momentarily evade the onslaught, accepting some minor losses.

It wasn’t purely retreating.

In the process, Li Zhi-Xuan felt an unknown pressure creeping in.

‘…What was that?’

Though it was not a time when the jungler should be around, Li Zhi-Xuan felt as if Lee Sin was lurking in the bushes.

Along with that came suspicion.

‘Outlaw isn’t an ordinary player.’

‘Thinking he’s absent was a mistake from the start.’

‘What if all of this is a trap?’

‘What if Getback’s movements are also for that reason?’

‘No… Getback is a clever player. He might utilize even that.’

‘But if Outlaw is around…’

The possible and impossible scenarios swirled in Li Zhi-Xuan’s mind.

The pressure brought by the Outlaw jungler was massive.

However,

‘…Huh?’

That pressure somehow vanished as Baegah peacefully resumed farming.

Li Zhi-Xuan felt almost ashamed for his moment of panic.

‘Was I played?’

No, to be precise, Getback never made any deliberate moves to deceive.

He simply retreated on his own accord out of caution.

‘Am I… being toyed with?’

Li Zhi-Xuan gritted his teeth.

He knew Getback had done nothing.

Yet, feeling foolish for having been fooled, Li Zhi-Xuan decided to act.

[“Watch mid.”]

MaBing’s Graves headed over.

Li Zhi-Xuan’s Arin also began to pressure Baegah’s Getback harder than before.

In other words, crossing the line at this point.

‘Let’s see if you can withstand this.’

MaBing advanced towards the opposing Kalista.

Seeing that, Li Zhi-Xuan signaled just before dashing in.

[“Let’s go.”]

With a daring dash and charm, Baegah’s Getback was caught off guard and found himself CC’d.

At the same time, MaBing’s Graves, who had dashed over, executed a perfect wall Q combo with Baegah.

Getback’s already fragile health fell sharply.

-First Blood!

-Enemy eliminated!

A successful mid dive.

Just as Arin, who had taken tower shots, was about to back off,

Thud!

A sonic wave came flying from somewhere, and Outlaw’s Lee Sin appeared.