Chapter 255. The Only Pick (1)

High Protein made all their three bans against Almond. Was this simple and seemingly ignorant strategy the right answer?

As if High Protein had been pretending in the first and second games, they won the third and fourth games consecutively.

[High Protein 2: Balloon Stars: 2]

The score suddenly became 2:2.

***

"GG~~~!"

"Wow, High Protein grabs two consecutive wins with their three bans against Almond! They're on track again!"

OrangeKing nodded.

“When we watched games one and two, a sweep looked possible. Suddenly, High Protein turned it all around! LIL is a game where even the tides can turn if JeonJaPa messes up!"

— That's true.

— JeonJaPa is on another level.

— It just seems like there's a big difference in team power. Only one lane in Balloon Stars is competing.

"The champion that Almond is playing in the mid-lane isn’t enough to overwhelm SweetRadish."

"Yes, Ran in the mid lane was really competitive, but he doesn’t work as well and isn’t solely a mid laner."

"High Protein is focusing on the top lane for a freeway!"

"Anyway, it’s 2:2 with one game left."

The casters needed to explain the additional rules now.

"We’re still waiting for the last game. Let's explain the rules again."

"Okay, the fifth game proceeds with blind picks! No bans, and you don't know who the opponents will pick!"

"What happens if they pick the same champions?"

"It’ll be a mirror match then! And that's fun too!"

"High Protein won the last two games by banning three of Almond's champions. What about this time? They can't ban them like before!"

"I don't know... Maybe they’ll pick champions just to counter Flashy Blade? Or they can just go Flashy Blade vs. Flashy Blade in a mirror match!"

"Well, we don't know anything until it starts! Let's take a break, and we’ll meet back again for the fifth game!"

***

In Balloon Stars' waiting room, five team members were scattered here and there. They hadn't exchanged any words because they were too exhausted to speak.

They felt terrible losing games three and four after winning the first two games. The score was now tied at 2:2, but High Protein had the momentum.

Their gameplay had been poor, and were one-sidedly beaten in the third game. In the fourth game, they wasted a comeback opportunity. Most importantly, the skill gap was too big.

As a result, Balloon Stars felt physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Um..."

Miho thought she should say something, but only the awkward silence continued.

"Is there a way we can win? It's a blind pick now."

That was their last glimmer of hope in this fifth game. They couldn’t possibly win with the standard champion pick phase.

The banning phase limited the range of champions a player could perform well with. If a skill gap between players existed, it naturally widened during the ban pick phase.

"We can choose Flashy Blade again with the blind picks, right?"

Miho tried to lighten the mood by bringing up Flashy Blade, but only the awkward silence returned.

Tako stood up after a while.

"If we choose Flashy Blade, I'll tell you the conditions under which we can win."

He began to draw in mid-air the probability of them winning the game.

"We can win, assuming that the opponent doesn't choose Storm Ninja and doesn't construct a counter-combination."

If the opponent didn't prepare a counter, Balloon Stars could win.

"Of course, Almond's condition is what’s most important at this point..."

Tako turned to Almond, who was sitting in a corner chair, lost in thought.

Almond was still wrestling in his mind with SweetRadish. The third game was somewhat competitive, but he was completely defeated in the fourth game.

He realized that mid-laner Ran only worked against weaker players. The feelings of despair overwhelmed him.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The impure thought of, ‘Why do I have to go this far?’ kept repeating in a corner of his mind.

Distractions were a sign of defeat. Despite clearly knowing that...

"Almond."

Thud.

Tako appeared in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

"?"

Then Almond looked up.

"What are you thinking? I'll decide the picks for you. Leave the thinking to me. Just maintain your condition."

Almond nodded, "Okay."

'He seems out of energy.'

It wasn't just Almond. Everyone on the team looked hopeless in their eyes.

Almond was comparatively better than the others, at least.

"What's with this mood?"

Clap. Clap.

Tako clapped for their attention and stood before the whiteboard.

"Okay, I've sorted my thoughts too. Let's give some feedback now. The final match is coming up!"

The mood remained the same.

Tako knew what this was. It usually happened when preparing for a small tournament. He knew what kind of psychology kicked in when the team was cornered in small tournaments.

"I also know what you are all thinking."

Tako looked at each team member.

"This is just a small tournament, isn't it? It's just a show featured by streamers and clowns. You guys are wondering why you need to struggle this hard to win, right?"

The eyes of the team members wavered as if their thoughts had been exposed.

"I also think like that sometimes, but..."

Thump.

He hit the whiteboard and raised his voice.

"First, even if this is a show for viewers, it's not a show for us. A circus is only a circus to the audience. To the performers, it's a war. You could even die during the show. That's what makes it a circus."

It was true that small tournaments were taken lightly, but if the participants also took it lightly, then viewers would no longer care at all.

Tako wanted them to fulfill their roles as clowns.

"Second. Professionals, no, even trainees often say that they can just casually play in smaller tournaments. They think it doesn’t matter as long as they win the league championship. And then win at Worlds. Do you know the characteristics of these people?"

"..."

"They can't even go to Worlds. They can't even reach the playoffs in the league championship. The really good players give their best even in local capsule room tournaments. That's where the pieces start fitting together."

Of course, they weren't professionals, but that didn't matter.

Tako wasn't talking about the professional life.

"I think you all know this too. Don't give in to strange thoughts just because you're physically tired. We..."

This was life advice.

Bang!

Tako struck the whiteboard and shouted, "Don't you want to win at least once in life!? Even if it's just a small tournament! Wouldn't that have some value? Huh?"

The expressions in the team members’ eyes slightly changed.

The weak thoughts of comforting themselves that it had been good enough to come this far disappeared.

"Don't you want to confirm whether we can do this or not!"

"I want to confirm!" Miho raised her hand first and shouted.

She had been looking for an opportunity to shift the atmosphere.

Afterward, encouraging words like “Let's do this!” and “Go for it!” followed.

The words that Tako said earlier echoed in Almond’s mind.

“Don't you want to win...? Even if it's just a small tournament.”

Even if some considered this stage a small tournament, the words “Don't you want to win?” resonated with Almond.

Even if it had been a small domestic championship ten years ago, the excitement that Almond felt wasn’t small by any means.

Everyone said the Olympics were the real deal and the national championship wasn’t important. In hindsight, that championship had been as real as anything else for Sang-Hyeon. It fueled his heart even after ten long years.

The size of the stage didn't matter regarding what made one's heart beat. What others thought about the competition wasn’t important. If he wanted to win, that was enough. In fact, it was more than enough.

"Are you guys ready to hear my surefire strategy?"

Everyone nodded in unison.

Tako began to draw something on the whiteboard, apparently pleased with the look in their eyes.

"I thought of something because of Miho earlier. When I think about it, their position seems like this."

The diagram he drew was complicated, but the point was simple.

If Flashy Blade didn't meet a counter champion, High Protein would lose.

"This will be their biggest concern right now. Do you think they'd want to face Flashy Blade without a counter after losing so badly in games one and two?"

Their heads shook. Of course, High Protein wouldn't.

This was the final match.

"They must be preparing a Flashy Blade counter, right? Knowing this in a blind pick is a huge advantage."

The only other option was if High Protein dared to not counter Flashy Blade.

"If this were a professional game... they could adjust picks like the jungler or ADC to counter. Since they aren’t professionals, they can't deal with that many champions to counter Flashy Blade. From their standpoint, they only have two options.”

Zip.

Tako drew lines for the two case scenarios.

[Flashy Blade] [Storm Ninja]

"These are the two."

"If we choose Flashy Blade, it's going to be a mirror match, or we’ll meet another pick, right? But they would think we wouldn't pick Storm Ninja, so it would be a relatively safe pick."

Next, he pointed to Storm Ninja.

"If they pick Storm Ninja, they would be totally fine against Flashy Blade. Even if they don't, this pick can be applied without a problem. It's not perfect, but it's one of the strongest picks for SweetRadish."

This way, the enemy's mid-laner could be narrowed down to two choices.

"And one more thing, there's one more pick we can be sure of."

[Valkyrie]

Tako underlined that champion.

"This character is OP, so she got banned every time. We don't have anyone who plays her anyway, so we banned her until now."

Almond was well aware of that champion. She could fly through the sky and rain down blades, making for a tough opponent.

"She’s a must pick for High Protein because she’s also good against Flashy Blade. If she catches Flashy Blade in her area of effect, Flashy Blade won’t be able to do anything. She’s appeared on Acorn Jelly's roster before."

With this, they narrowed down the range of choices for two lanes.

"So, we’ll go with this plan and decide Almond's pick."

Slide.

Tako listed the possible options for Almond. However, only one champion fitted all the criteria.

***

Five games were set to be played. Fans of the two teams waged their own war online.

[They were just a secret weapon one trick pony~ LOL!]

[They can't do anything when Flashy Blade is banned.]

[What can you guys do without Almond?]

Those supporting High Protein argued that Balloon Stars couldn't do anything without Almond.

[Cowardly going 5 on 1 with 3 bans]

[We were wrong!]

[Don't you have any pride, SweetRadish?]

Balloon Stars’ side argued that using three bans on Almond was a cowardly act.

For the record, Balloon Stars had lost the last two games consecutively.

Given LIL Pro's nature, the team that won most recently was considered stronger. Public opinion leaned toward High Protein.

— Isn't that the problem? They can't do anything with 3 bans?

└ Really, LOL. They can't even stand up to Storm Ninja.

└ They should’ve gone with Melly... they didn't bring out Melly even once.

└ That projectile from Spirtmaster is for training... would SweetRadish get hit by such slow projectiles?

— Mid laner Ran was really bad... SweetRadish is too skilled at dodging.

└ Right... Ran was never supposed to be a mid laner...

└ In front of a skilled player like SweetRadish, you'll get completely destroyed if you bring out a flawed mid-laner champion. Almond should've practiced standard mid-laner champions.

└ That's why he went with Flashy Blade. What more can you practice at this point?

At that moment, the live screen returned with the casters exclaiming.

"Now! Into the ban picks. No, into the blind pick phase!"

Whoosh.

The screen quickly switched.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The picks began without a moment's hesitation.

"Wow~! As expected, blind picks are intense. Aren't they?!"

"Absolutely! You don't have to think much! Just bring out the best combination you've prepared! That's it!"

Thud...!

Cheers erupted from the audience when Balloon Stars confirmed their last pick.

— Woooooooooah!

A woman behind Almond removed her blue hood and her golden hair flowed out.

[Long time no see?]

A smile appeared on her red lips as she greeted him.