LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 455
Every day filled with scrims, solo queues, and tournaments, there comes a moment when you start to feel a little detached from winning and losing.
It should definitely feel special, but every moment starts feeling like just another day grind.
Maybe the biggest reason is that our team has been on a winning streak, even taking down strong opponents like SCV in the league.
It’s a time when winning feels like a given.
Maybe that’s why the team atmosphere has been soaring lately.
It feels almost arrogant, to be honest.
“So, who should we scrim against next? BOQ reached out this time.”
“BOQ? Pfft, we’ll just beat them easily. Do we really need to play them?”
“Right?”
On the side, Kim Jae-min was fanning the flames, or maybe Baek Seong-an was catching a bit of a buzz, because he just started pointing fingers at potential scrim opponents.
“Ah, scrim? Sorry, but we have other plans that day.”
Our team’s stock was rising day by day, and now we were at a point where we could choose who to scrim against.
Of course, there were times in the past where we’d decline scrims if schedules clashed, but now, even if there wasn’t a clash, if Baek Seong-an deemed a team subpar, we’d boldly turn down the scrim.
At this point, we could afford to do that.
“I think scrimming against this team might be worse than just practicing solo. It feels wrong giving them data for no reason.”
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to try out some experimental picks in a scrim? It’s different from solo queue after all…”
“If we schedule scrims too tightly, we’ll get tired. We need to manage our condition.”
Of course, if Baek Seong-an was taking this stance, it was right for me to snap back to reality.
But I didn’t.
…To be honest, I was kind of getting swept up in the team’s vibe too.
I mean, who are we?
We’re OLZ!
Want to scrim with us? Grab a ticket and wait in line, ho ho!
Coming from a background of always being the challenger or rookie, it felt surreal to be in a position where we could turn down challenges.
That’s probably why we were getting a bit cocky.
And then, as we were living the good life, news came to our team.
“Hey, Yujin. The next match will be played on the new patch version. You know that, right?”
“Uh… Already?”
The upcoming patch applied to the live server was a significant overhaul in many ways.
Large-scale patches during the season aren’t common, but they have happened from time to time.
“Yeah, and with the new critters added, top lane is going to become quite important, so we’ll need to keep an eye on it.”
“Hmm, top should be fine. Yeonwoo is good at it.”
“That’s true, but there’s something fishy in the patch notes.”
I had played quite a bit of solo queue after the patch dropped, but nothing notably changed in terms of gameplay.
The early game top lane had become crucial due to the critter control and, as a result, jungle movements were becoming critically important too?
‘We’ll figure it out when we get there.’
The fact that we were going into the next match on the new patch meant that scrims would also need to align with the patch version.
Since this was quite a large patch, many things must have changed.
‘Well, I’m still confident.’
Today’s scrim opponent is SS Class.
Currently the bottom team in LCKR after GBP got relegated, yet they were noted by experts for having potential. But for us, riding a high, they didn’t seem all that intimidating.
In fact, our scrim results against SS Class were basically a perfect record, so it wasn’t baseless confidence.
“Who are we scrimming today, hyung?”
“SS Class.”
“Aha, can I try an experimental pick today? Top two-pick has been good in solo queue lately.”
“Oh, that sounds good. We’ve got to use it at some point, so let’s try it today.”
While running experimental picks is the essence of scrims, deep down we were all convinced we’d win.
Our team’s atmosphere was just that good.
“Alright, let’s give it our all today.”
“Do we really need to hype up for SS? We’ll wreck them.”
“…I’m genuinely scared you might say that out loud somewhere.”
“C’mon, no way I’d say that outside!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Hmm, maybe…”
And just like that, the scrim against SS Class began.
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[OLZ / SS Class]
Top: Twisted Fate / Rek’Sai
Jungle: Sejuani / Xin Zhao
Mid: Orianna / Taliyah
Bot: Kalista / Senna
Support: Renata Glasc / Tahm Kench
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The overall ban/pick scenario showed we had chosen strong lane picks for top and mid.
So the combination of Kalista and Renata’s potent lane dominance would be our center stage.
It should definitely go as planned…
The early invade phase passed without a hitch, and I thought a standard laning phase would start as usual.
That was until Senna and Tahm Kench from the enemy team appeared in the top lane.
…Lane swap?
[“Huh? What’s this. The enemy is lane swapping?”]
[“Wait, does this mean Yeonwoo won’t get any experience?”]
[“…I’ll try to hold out.”]
Our bot had already moved up to the top, but the first wave was approaching.
To respond to a lane swap, we needed to at least wait for the first wave to pass.
Naturally, because of the pressure from the enemy’s Senna and Tahm Kench, our Twisted Fate couldn’t even take experience.
[“Jae-min, we need to pressure them too so they can’t get experience.”]
“Okay!”
Of course, the same went for the enemy Rek’Sai.
[“Wait, where is Rek’Sai?”]
The moment Jae-min called it out.
[“Rek’Sai is mid!”]
With Baek Seong-an’s scream, Rek’Sai dove into mid, using the flash to land a knock-up on Orianna.
Then, the hail of Taliyah’s Q burst through, chunking Orianna’s health and burning her flash.
[“Ah dang… at least I survived. Rek’Sai has no flash.”]
A trade of flashes between the enemy Rek’Sai and our Orianna.
[“If that’s the case, I’ll have to go home for the lane. If their jungle comes, I’m a goner.”]
However, since our Orianna had taken significant damage, a recall and teleport became inevitable.
The enemy Rek’Sai was striking mid as our team was losing out because she hadn’t even gotten any experience.
‘This isn’t good.’
There have been moments in the history of Legends of League when lane swap metas weren’t present.
In fact, there were times when the lane swap meta was quite popular for a lengthy period.
Nevertheless, one problem was that this time was now quite far behind us, making it completely unfamiliar territory for our relatively new team.
Sure, we had lane swapped before, but that was solely for surprise tactics to catch the enemy off-guard, not because we had a good understanding of the lane swap.
That’s right.
Our team, aka OLZ, was practically novices in the lane swap meta.
I myself hadn’t done lane swaps in solo queue for ages, but that was due to the fact that I was a jungler, so my impact wasn’t significant, and most importantly, lane swaps in solo queue and team play aren’t the same.
In solo queue, lane swaps are used to flip champion matchups to gain early-game advantages, but in tournaments, it’s a whole different ball game.
In tournaments, lane swaps go beyond merely countering matchup advantages; they completely alter the game’s flow through collective team movement.
Just like right now.
After slamming a big wave at top and while the enemy was scouting for recall timings, our response was just a tad slow.
[“Jae-min, we need to recall.”]
[“Huh? If we just push a little more, I can get one more wave.”]
“Gotta recall! We need to follow the enemy’s tempo.”
Finally, after some convincing from Kim Ji-hoon, Jae-min reluctantly hit the recall button.
Creak, creak.
I could start to hear a cracking sound we’d never heard within our team.
Legends of League, at its core, is not much different from a turn-based game.
If the enemy team’s tempo is faster, then that means they can take their turn first.
– The red team has slain the Infernal Dragon!
The enemy’s bot duo, recalling one turn earlier, heads down to bottom, naturally giving them control over the dragon, and the first dragon slips away.
If we had managed to snag a critter while they did that, it could have been a tradeoff, but we were already slow, and by the time we reached the critter, the enemy was already aware of it.
Even in that sort of situation, going for the critter would expose the shields of the enemy bot’s turret, which was relatively empty.
As the new meta kicked in, OLZ, which had been standing firm until now, began to waver.