[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 392

The strategy was flawless.

They wrapped up the value of Outlaw, whom they deemed the biggest threat from the Korean team, as much as possible, and led the overall Ban/Pick into picks that forced Outlaw to pour his strength into the laner.

Of course, there were some complaints within the team about that.

[“I know Outlaw is good, but isn’t this a bit excessive?”]

[“Yeah, they also have Rainbow and BlackDog.”]

But Li Zhi-Xuan dismissed his team members’ concerns.

“Those two I can deal with MobyDick. But not Outlaw.”

[“Well…”]

Mabing opened his mouth to say something but then fell silent.

Even though they had lost in a completely unrelated 1v1 Tournament, he still hadn’t fully shaken off the fear he felt from Outlaw.

And…

Could the jungle-targeting bans have been quite effective?

[Elise]

Outlaw played an extreme pick called Elise.

It was a choice that even Li Zhi-Xuan, who had led the jungle-targeting bans, hadn’t anticipated.


‘Elise? Sure, she’s good, but… that’s a pick that won’t bring out Outlaw’s true value.’

Elise has powerful early game performance, but on the flip side, she’s a champion with typical expiration characteristics.

Of course, depending on how you play her, you can extend that expiration to a degree, but it’s also true that envisioning Elise going wild at the pro level isn’t easy, and if she slips up even once, it could turn the game upside down.

So Li Zhi-Xuan couldn’t hide a sneer inside.

He felt he understood why Outlaw had made such a pick.

‘No matter how many picks have been cut, to give Outlaw a pick like that… the Korean coaching staff must be past their prime.’

Although they had done five jungle-targeting bans, many champions were still viable for the jungle.

Among those, there were still high-value picks that might not fit the current meta.


But to overlook those and hand Outlaw such a pick?

It was nothing short of a ludicrously poor Ban/Pick.

‘Did they underestimate Outlaw just because he’s a rookie? That’s totally possible.’

On the surface, Outlaw appeared to be a rookie jungler who had just been promoted from Division 2 to Division 1.

According to Coach Jang Seok-Hwan, the Korean league places great importance on hierarchy, so it wasn’t entirely surprising that they wouldn’t give Outlaw a valuable pick.

However, Li Zhi-Xuan thought it was undoubtedly a clear blunder.

[Renekton]

On top of that, the icing on the cake was handing Renekton to the player Rainbow.

He thought it was an act of self-sabotage to give Renekton and Elise to the two players he considered the most threatening on the Korean team?

‘Are they expecting to burst in early game? They’ll realize that’s a miscalculation.’

The game began.

The outcome of this game relied on the bottom lane battle.

Thus, the Chinese team gathered in the bushes below, led by Li Zhi-Xuan and MobyDick, for a fight.

[“The enemy should be there too.”]

“Stay calm.”

Perhaps it was Li Zhi-Xuan’s one line telling them to stay calm, or maybe it was just that the enemy’s bait was good.

[“The enemy is there!”]

Due to the enemy’s bold move, the Chinese team ended up allowing the first move.

Zeri’s basic skill and auto-attack-like skill, q skill, is a no-cost, non-target skill.

Which means, it’s a means to check the bushes without any burden, and at the same time, it means they can go for the first move.

Proving just that, with Zeri and Ruler’s ambush, coupled with the ward placed in the bush, the Chinese team allowed the Korean team to make the first move.

You could argue that it wasn’t a big difference, but being ambushed like that in a scenario with vision blocked by bushes was very bad.

Especially if they had just placed a ward in the enemy bush, and the enemy’s lens turned on, starting the vision battle disadvantageously would be even worse.

-First Blood!

The result of the invade was a complete defeat.

From the start, they lost spells, first blood, and kills.

“It’s okay. It was just an accident.”

It stung a bit to give the other team the chance to snowball early on, which was crucial against the opponent, but he figured it was something they could overcome.

Even though Zeri scored a kill, the bot lane was MobyDick.

He believed that if they could somehow get past the early game, a chance would come again.

[“It looks tough in the bottom lane.”]

MobyDick said.

As he said, even though Zeri and Ruler have a favorable matchup against Lucian and Nami, the items Zeri got were enough to flip the original matchup upside down.

Let’s not forget who the opponents are?

BlackDog and GuineaPig, two players who are considered top-tier not only in Korea but worldwide, right?

“Just hold on a bit. A chance will come soon.”

Although the bottom lane had started off pretty tough, once the timing of Lucian and Nami’s strengths came, they could recover again.

The crack in the flow started at mid.

The matchup between Renekton and Arin was clearly more favorable for Arin, but Li Zhi-Xuan was forgetting one thing.

Namely, that the opponent was Rainbow.

It was a matchup they must not lose.

But absurdly, Li Zhi-Xuan could not withstand the pressure of Renekton and lost the lead in the push, and that pressure led to a call from the jungler.

“I think we need to watch mid. Rainbow’s movements don’t seem normal. It looks like they’re aiming for a 2v2 fight in mid jungle.”

A judgment error due to the opponent’s strong pressure.

And that mistake soon had to pay a brutal price as Elise showed up at the bottom.

-Our ally has fallen!

Elise’s dive at the bottom.

To be honest, even Li Zhi-Xuan hadn’t neglected the thought of a dive at the bottom.

However, given that the opponent’s AD champion was Zeri, he had set aside some worries about that.

Due to Zeri’s champion nature, hiding behind a turret makes diving that champion difficult.

But he underestimated Outlaw too much.

To be exact, when Outlaw picked Elise, he subconsciously overlooked the inherent strengths of that champion.

A champion specialized in early snowballing and even more specialized in diving.

Zeri’s kill quickly became 4 kills, effectively ending the bottom lane fight.

And naturally, the dragon became the opponent’s charge as well.

But none of the representatives of the Chinese team, including Li Zhi-Xuan, were ready to give up.

[“Let’s look at K’Sante.”]

With Mabing’s call, Vayne rushed into the top lane to take down K’Sante.

Although they had somewhat reassured the game that was completely falling apart, it still wasn’t enough.

[“I can’t handle the laning. Let’s rotate lanes.”]

It was MobyDick’s call.

As he said, continuing to lane in the bottom would just give room for another dive angle, so they chose to break the phase.

However, the opponent was still formidable.

Even after trying to make the enemy pay a little more by moving the lane, Zeri never came up and smashed the turret down to the last second.

If that happened, the top side should naturally turn 4:5, leading the Rift Herald to the Chinese team, but in a situation where the balance of power was already broken, that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

“But we have to do it.”

If they couldn’t secure the Rift Herald here, the game would plainly cascade into the hands of the Korean team.

Hence, he held on tight and tried to provoke a fight over the Rift Herald before Zeri joined.

Right, until Mabing’s Vayne was suddenly ambushed by Elise and Renekton.

[“Ah…”]

Not yet, it’s not over yet.

Li Zhi-Xuan and the Chinese team didn’t back down; they kept trying to buy time by rotating lanes.

They kept shaking the opponent and tried to induce what one would call a trash game, but the Korean team handled even that flexibly as if they were laughing it off.

He had momentarily forgotten.

That the past LCKR was originally known as the LCKR of operation, showing strengths in their operational tactics.

“Hold on. Hold on somehow!”

The Rift Herald that Outlaw had been saving crashed into the mid first turret, reducing its health drastically, and soon after, the subsequent pressure caused the mid first turret to break.

-Red team’s turret has been destroyed!

The mid first turret, which they absolutely had to protect.

The core of their vision and the top priority bastion preventing all snowballing possible was the mid first turret.

Once that broke, they could no longer resist the flow of the game.

From now on, their jungle would no longer belong to them.

The moment they approached the bushes, Elise’s cocoon flew in, threatening their lives, and everywhere they needed to place wards was covered in the opponent’s pink wards.

It was suffocating.

What was even more maddening for Li Zhi-Xuan was the approaching fact that the 20-minute mark they desperately wanted to avoid was near.

Baron spawn time.

Sadly, the Chinese team now had not even the minimum strength needed to go and stop Baron.

-Blue team has slain the Baron Nashor!

They merely waited powerless for the opponent to eat Baron and advance.

Baron-buffed minions surged forth.

If only their dealers had farmed well, they might have tried something despite the growth difference, but their Lucian was completely botched and unable to put out even the bare minimum damage.

In other words, there were no variables left.

Even in such a situation, Li Zhi-Xuan kept trying to seize the opponents’ gaps, again and again.

“Focus Zeri!”

The Arin-Vayne combo rushed in, and they tried desperately to take out the enemy Zeri, firing off their ultimates.

However, sadly, that attempt was easily thwarted by the absurdly powerful damage from the enemy Elise.

Vayne’s ultimate exploded, and as Arin was dragged away by K’Sante’s ultimate, she too was taken down.

“What kind of damage…!”

Li Zhi-Xuan finally realized.

Perhaps it was a blunder to have given Outlaw Elise after all.

No, the very thought that they could limit Outlaw with the Ban/Pick was a huge miscalculation.

On top of that, he had also underestimated the might of the other Korean team players.

-Finish!

The opponent, having slaughtered all their allies, didn’t stop advancing.

Inhibitor, twin turrets, and then the Nexus.

[Defeat]

The letters, which he never even imagined, loomed over Nightmare like a nightmare.