NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 29
As I mentioned earlier, 3 Min Top School Honorary Member isn’t incapable of playing top.
However, his unique top-laning ability sometimes messes up the game a bit, making it hard for a mid-laner like me, who’s supposed to be the anchor, to fully trust him.
[Me: Just checking… You’re not an assassin sent to stop the number one, right?]
[3 Min Top School Honorary Member: It all depends on you.]
In other words, he’s saying just shut up and gank already.
‘It’ll work out somehow.’
Since we’re just one step away from being number one, normally if the lanes tangled up, we’d dodge, but since we’re in a duo, I couldn’t just do that.
‘The lanes aren’t that tangled up anyway.’
Like I said before, top laners can usually move to mid without much trouble, and ADCs can often double as supporters.
Even if our team’s power isn’t at 100%, it doesn’t mean we can’t play.
In the midst of various commotions…
The ban/pick phase proceeded.
[Ban List]
Sylas / Ezreal
⛝ / Karthus
Senna / Gwen
Thresh / O’kang
Shaku / Lee Sin
Our team’s base is the upper base.
In other words, we’re the last pick.
– Selecting…
The opposing team’s first ban is Ezreal.
Thinking from a usual perspective, since I’m the ADC, it could make sense to ban Ezreal, but there’s a possibility of lane swaps, and these days, Ezreal is just such a strong champion that it wasn’t a particularly meaningful deduction.
[Samira]
A decent pick.
Among the current ADCs, she’s treated as a Tier 1 champion along with Ezreal, so picking her first isn’t a problem.
– Selecting…
– Selecting…
Now it’s time for our 1st and 2nd picks to be made.
[Kamal]
[Jinx]
Even though the 2nd pick, SY Longbow, went ahead and picked, the 1st pick, Top School Honorary Member, did so without hesitation.
‘A bit surprising.’
Given we were in a duo, I thought he’d whine per his usual personality about wanting to swap, but it seemed he figured since he’s mid, it wouldn’t matter much.
‘I guess.’
Usually, Kamal mostly plays top.
In the past, he would often play jungle or mid, but due to ongoing nerfs, he’s become unplayable in the jungle, and while it’s still possible to use him in mid, it’s not really being done.
Nevertheless, considering he’s fundamentally a champion that can swap between top and mid, he picked without any pressure.
As I said earlier, champions that can switch between positions typically benefit from having the last pick twice or more.
The ban/pick continued.
Now it’s time for the opposing team’s 2nd and 3rd picks.
[Elise]
[Renekton]
Renekton and Elise.
I was somewhat convinced our top would be Kamal, so this pick came as no surprise.
No, even if Kamal went to a different lane, I had experienced that destruction first-hand in a previous match.
‘They’re clearly out to annihilate Kamal.’
If 3 Min Top School Honorary Member were playing top, he wouldn’t have hesitated to dodge at all.
Of course, that said, it wasn’t time to relax just yet.
If they figured out Kamal was going mid, Renekton could definitely follow him there.
[MAX WooChan: Hmm…]
[MAX WooChan: Jungle’s out, so is a swap possible?]
[MAX WooChan: Still don’t know where Renekton is…]
Could there really be a law of maintaining top lane integrity? 3 Min Top School Honorary Member suddenly went quiet, but then his pick instinct popped out from somewhere.
Well, since Elise was already in, I didn’t see a reason to decline, so I accepted happily.
[Prisoner: Okay, just a sec.]
[MAX WooChan: Neat.]
Umm, let’s see…
The opponent’s ADC is Samira, and the jungler is Elise. So far, there shouldn’t be too many trolls on the opposing side.
The problem is Renekton…
‘They might be top for now, but if they see Kamal going mid, they could easily follow him.’
Damage balance is also an issue.
We already have Kamal and Jinx on our side.
I don’t know what our top will pick, but it’d be good to have AP champions for proper damage balance.
‘Karthus is banned, so what’s left…’
Excluding champions like Lillian who’s essentially rendered unplayable due to terrible nerfs, the options left are Nidalee, Ekko, Rumble, Leblanc, and Diana.
Removing Ekko and Leblanc, who are particularly weak early on…
‘Picking among Nidalee, Rumble, and Diana seems like the way to go.’
Statistically, the champion with the highest win rate against Elise is Diana among those three.
Based on the picks so far, a brawl is expected in the top side, so Diana seemed like a good idea.
[Prisoner: I’ll take Diana.]
[Diana]
Not long after, the support also made a pick.
[Alistar]
Our support picked Alistar.
At least he’s less reliant on target champions, so it wasn’t a bad choice.
Now it’s time for the opposing team’s 4th and 5th picks.
Meaning, I can make my pick after seeing their complete combination.
‘This is why late picks for the red team are great.’
It’s often said that the red team’s star is the last pick, while the blue team’s star is the first pick.
That just shows how important late picks for the red team and early picks for the blue team are.
‘Technically, it’s not really my pick, but…’
Since I’m picking after the jungle, it didn’t carry too much significance aside from the overall combination.
And soon the opposing team finished their last two picks.
[Jui]
[Nautilus]
All standard and unremarkable champions.
But for some reason…
The moment I saw Jui, I felt a strange, unknown déjà vu.
‘Could it be…?’
Instinctively, I checked my friends list.
I remembered that while I was chatting with 3 Min Top School Honorary Member earlier, Rainbow had logged on.
+
[SY Rainbow]
Champion selection in progress.
+
Caught in the same queue at the same time.
What are the odds of that happening?
This is crystal clear.
‘It’s there.’
Rainbow is on the opposing team.
‘…Should I just dodge?’
Our mid is 3 Min Top School Honorary Member, and their mid is the Red Cup 2-time champion?
Yikes.
No matter how much I dislike blaming my team, the gap between a Red Cup champion and a top laner not in his main position is astonishingly vast.
I hurriedly messaged 3 Min Top School Honorary Member in a private chat.
[Me: Yo.]
[Me: I think Rainbow’s on the opposing team.]
I was hoping 3 Min Top School Honorary Member would dodge instead of me.
[3 Min Top School Honorary Member: So?]
[3 Min Top School Honorary Member: It might actually be good for me, I’ll win this. Let’s go.]
Yeah, I figured you’d say that.
While we chatted about nothing significant, it was soon my turn to pick.
[Prisoner: What can I get you?]
[MAX WooChan: Hmm…]
[MAX WooChan: Just a sec.]
[MAX WooChan: Give me Kunn.]
Kunn.
It’s a traditional counter to Renekton.
…Only if we’re considering a 1v1 scenario.
Even though Kunn’s skill set counters Renekton, he can’t fully counter Elise too.
Moreover, Kunn himself isn’t the best champion in team fights, so unless I could completely suppress Renekton, he isn’t a particularly great choice.
‘This is something… Is it supposed to be reassuring or should I take it as trust?’
Whatever the case, it’s a genuinely cliché top laner choice.
‘If I lose top, it basically means we lose the game.’
I could understand why they developed such a mindset.
If you’re wondering, you can always just go play a game on top yourself.
You’ll get it right away.
And finally…
The ban/pick phase was complete.
[Our Team / Opponent Team]
Top: Kunn / Renekton
Jungle: Diana / Elise
Mid: Kamal / Jui
ADC: Jinx / Samira
Support: Alistar / Nautilus
‘By the way, it’s one AP… this is going to be heavy on me.’
When the damage balance leans one way, the champion with either 1 AP or 1 AD needs to grow well.
Of course, I’m not entirely unsure.
In fact, it’s a scenario where I need to carry, so I’ll just need to focus even more.
Soon, the loading screen popped up.
───────────────
SCV KING – Renekton
yytvxxiaojin – Elise
SY Rainbow – Jui
SCV WhiteCat – Samira
MAX Lineover – Nautilus
───────────────
Not surprisingly, the opposing mid’s nickname feels too familiar, almost striking.
‘Rainbow.’
This isn’t my first time facing Rainbow as an opponent.
Rainbow is considered an old-school gamer, and I’ve encountered him endlessly in solo queue.
As an enemy and as an ally.
And each time, I felt a sort of huge wall.
Yoon-ki also felt this giant wall, but ultimately, he found a way to manage and kept a decent win rate.
However, it wasn’t as much with Rainbow.
‘Complete mid laner.’
There are no tactics, no weaknesses.
There’s only one way to beat Rainbow.
It’s to win in a pure power vs power clash.
‘But our mid is…’
[3 Min Top School Honorary Member – Kamal]
…Well, somehow it should be fine.
I can see why optimists emerge.