[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 417

After a commotion subsided, I wanted to say that peace had returned to our team, but sadly, that was a distant wish.

Our team and peace were, in a way, the least compatible combination.

“Ah! Jungler!”

“Your jungler is right here.”

“Not you, sis!”

Kim Jae-min, who was crying her eyes out, returned to her usual self as if nothing had happened.

…I’m just leaving it as it is.

A wave of regret hit me a bit late, but it was far too late for that now.

“Sis, couldn’t you watch me a bit longer here?”

“I wanted to, but I thought that turn was better used in the bottom lane.”

Putting Jae-min aside, our team’s preparations for the season were progressing smoothly.

Our scrim results were quite respectable too; for the most part, we could win unless we forced a carry pick onto the bottom lane and ended up failing.

Of course, we did have losses, but there weren’t many times when we felt the opponent was unbeatable.

The atmosphere during our scrims was excellent, and I was gaining confidence that we could perform well as the season officially started.

“Today, you know? It’s an important scrim.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The reason Baek Seong-an said that was simple.

Today’s opponent was none other than SCV, a traditional powerhouse in LCKR, and a team with quite a history with us.

That’s right, SCV, home to the BlackDog and WhiteCat beast bottom duo.

SCV and our team had a deep connection.

When SCV won after defeating SY, which had Rainbow, they mentioned getting a lot of help from scrims with our team, and at that time, Jaem-min mistakenly spilled some internal team info.

A strong team among strong teams.

Even though they unfortunately faced defeat in the recent Red Cup, at least within LCKR, they were the defending champions and undeniably one of the strongest teams.

That was SCV.

“So, what do we do today?”

Baek Seong-an’s question was straightforward.

Would we implement a tailored strategy against SCV, or would we face them straight up purely for practice?

“Let’s go standard for the first game.”

“Sounds right? It’s practice after all.”

“No, let’s go totally standard today.”

“Are you sure? We worked hard to prepare for this.”

“We can adjust in the actual match.”

Custom strategies are better saved for later.

After all, the opponent might come up with countermeasures.

In other words, it’s like saving your cards.

“Saving cards is good, but saving too much isn’t great for team morale. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking it through.”

As Baek Seong-an said, keeping our strategies hidden can be a good choice, but if we hold back too much and keep losing, the team’s morale can drop significantly.

Given the nature of Legends of League, where mentality and team cohesion are crucial, defeats can take away more than you’d think.

“We just need to win.”

“Sounds good. Let’s win.”

Baek Seong-an said with a light smile.

“Let’s do our best, everyone.”

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s do it as we discussed, okay?”

“Okay.”

The team members were hyped up.

The vibe had been really good lately, and now that we were facing SCV, it was hard not to be excited.

[“Aah, mic check. Mic check. Can you hear me well?”]


[“Loud and clear.”]


“Yeah, I can hear you.”


[“Me too.”]


[“Okay.”]


[“Then I’ll say we’re ready.”]

As soon as Baek Seong-an said everything was ready on SCV’s side, the scrim against SCV officially began.

We were blue side.

In other words, we had the first pick.

[“Let’s give the opponent what they want for the first game. Let’s see what they’ll do.”]


[“Yeah. So, who will we ban?”]


[“First, let’s ban Aatrox.”]


[“Sure.”]

And so our first ban was decided.

[Aatrox]

Then it was the opponent’s turn to ban.

[Kindred]

The opponent’s first ban was quite frank.

Especially when thinking about how Kindred hasn’t been much of a pick in the recent meta.


[“They’re banning Kindred.”]


[“Yeah. That’s a bit surprising.”]

While we anticipated they would invest bans in the jungle, we didn’t expect something this overt.

Especially considering this was just a scrim and not an actual match.

[“There’s nothing wrong with it.”]


Baek Seong-an remained unfazed.


In fact, he seemed to see it as a pretty good opportunity.

[“Let’s stick to the plan. Let’s ban Maokai.”]


[“Okay.”]

So, our next ban was Maokai.

[Maokai]

We decided to let the bottom lane picks go and see how SCV’s beast duo would react to that.

Of course, SCV might hold back their best picks, but we could just push them to reveal their power.

[“Viego”]

The opponent’s second ban was Viego.

It seemed they were continuing their focus on the jungle.

[“They even banned this.”]


“Right? Viego hasn’t been doing much lately. So unfair.”


[“It’s good to eliminate the ban cards.”]


Baek Seong-an remarked.


[“Renekton too.”]


[“Sure.”]

Our final ban was Renekton.

[Renekton]

Then, the opponent’s last ban was also a jungle ban.

[Nidalee]

Even though Nidalee had been seeing some action in solo queue, it was a tricky pick for team games, yet they went ahead and banned her as well.

[“Wow, your sister must be scary. I’ve never seen this Nidalee ban before.”]


[“Right.”]


“Stop talking nonsense.”


[“What’s the problem? It’s not even a tournament right now.”]


“Because I’m worried they’d do the same in an actual tournament.”


[“Come on, would I really do that?”]


“Yeah, you totally would.”


[“Haha, come on.”]

If only I could speak…

[“What should we do?”]


[“Since this game is heavily about the bottom lane, let’s take our pick there first. What do you think of Kai’Sa? Are you okay with that, Jaem-min?”]


[“I can manage anything.”]


[“Okay, let’s pick Kai’Sa.”]

Thus, our first pick became Kai’Sa, who was arguably the hottest pick in the recent meta.

[Kai’Sa]

However, with the current trend of building AP rather than AD on Kai’Sa, the upper lane would probably need to prioritize their AD picks.

Of course, we could still play Kai’Sa as AD, but often it made sense to use another pick instead if we were going that route.

Given that the goal of this game was to see how Jaem-min held up against SCV’s beast duo, we were ready to invest in him.

How far could OLZ’s bottom duo go against SCV’s legendary pairing?

We were looking forward to finding out.

[Rakan]


[Rumble]

The opponent picked Rakan and Rumble first.

Currently, Rumble’s tier had risen significantly because his only downside, his time limit, had been virtually eliminated.

[“Rumble, huh… Do you want to pick first, Yeon-woo?”]


[“I don’t mind either way.”]


[“Alright. Let’s pick top first. It would be nice to grab a jungler too. What AD can you play, Yeon-woo?”]


[“Jason is an option.”]


[“Then let’s grab Jason.”]

So our second pick was locked in as Jason.

[Jason]

And onto the third pick.

[“How about we grab our jungler here? If we wait longer, we might lose options.”]


“Let’s do that.”


[“What do you think would be good?”]


“I think Sejuani could work.”


[“Are you sure?”]


“Yeah.”


[“Are you serious about this pick?”]


“Yep.”

It was obvious why Baek Seong-an was questioning that.

If I played the tanky Sejuani, it would only add more pressure on our damage dealers.

Especially with Kim Jae-min playing Kai’Sa, who would be greatly burdened.

“It was a combination we had to try eventually.”


[“That’s true. Let’s think of it as a practice run.”]

Finally, the opponent’s third pick was revealed.

[Tristana]

Since they picked Rumble earlier, Tristana, an AD champion, came in for balance in the mid lane.

Given today’s meta, where AD carries tend to run AP trees more often, Tristana had climbed the ranks due to her ability to clear waves, making this a solid pick.

[“Hmm, as expected.”]


“It’s not bad at all. AllDay’s Tristana was one we had to watch.”


[“Okay. Let’s see the rest of the bans.”]

After picking three champions each, we returned to the ban phase.

So far, we had Kai’Sa, Jason, and Sejuani picked, leaving mid and support as the remaining lanes.

While both Jason and Sejuani could be played in the mid or top lanes, it made sense to ban towards mid or support roles.

It should have been that way…

[Graves]

The opponent’s relentless jungle bans hadn’t ceased yet, almost as if they couldn’t believe I was playing Sejuani.