Season 5: Chapter 83. Because I Like Them (1)

BokChoy felt something sharp pass through his chest for a moment. He looked back at his notes.

‘Nothing wrong here.’

The ban-pick itself went fine. Whatever the opponent took, whatever they picked, he had secured the champions he wanted. Then, what was this feeling? This sense of deja vu?

‘Hmm...’

BokChoy had seen this somewhere before and was unsure what to make of it. He just shook his head and proceeded with the picks.

His plan remained the same: pick high-value champions for mid and ADC. Mid was the ranged mage, Baby Dragon Draco. ADC was Terrorist Bonnie. Both of them were absolute monsters in the late game, given enough time.

Sweet Radish explained to the viewers, "It looks like BokChoy is building the composition he wants. You often see the high-value pairing of Draco and Bonnie in LIL Champions."

Sweet Potato asked, "Wait. Analyst Sweet Radish, if you tried to pick something like that in solo queue, you'd get completely dismantled. Why does it work so well in a tournament setting?"

High-value picks in solo queue generally meant getting beaten up all game and surrendering at twenty minutes.

"Because it’s not just the person holding the high-value pick. Their teammates' ability to drag the game into the late game is on a completely different level. The other side also consists of pros. That's why this composition has a high floor. It's harder to win against someone who outplays you, but almost impossible to completely blow it."

"Ah...?"

"Ultimately, it's because Saury's laning win rate is simulated at near-peak current stats. That's the foundation for this kind of build."

Puzzled, Almond asked, "JeonJaPa is mid though. Doesn't he just win?"

— ?

— ...?

— lmao

— Legendary...

— lmaooooo

LIL players, irritated by the JeonJaPa hype, flooded the chat in disbelief.

Sweet Radish smiled. "Ah, right. I understand why you'd think that."

Most who didn't really follow LIL always thought JeonJaPa would just show up and dominate. Sweet Radish had experienced this all the time.

"Of course, if the real JeonJaPa appeared, he'd adapt his play to the current meta. If it's the old JeonJaPa as-is, that's a different story."

“Yes, I agree.” Almond had asked the question and then agreed.

— ?

— ???

— What lmao

— He's just cutting off the explanation when it gets too long, the streaming god

— lmaooooo

— Explanation cut!

Almond had cut off the explanation, but Sweet Radish kept going regardless. He was a little worked up. It had been a while since his area of expertise came up.

"Games advance in their combat understanding. Players win and lose against each other. That data accumulates and becomes the meta, you see? No matter how great a player is, it becomes difficult if they're fighting on old data."

Almond replied, "I see."

— lmaooooo

— Empty response lmao

— Put some soul in it...

— He told you not to explain it, Radish

Viewers assumed Almond was just going through the motions.

‘I see.’

Almond genuinely hadn't known this. Sports like archery certainly advanced over time too.

‘E-sports is all digital data, though... The pace of development is completely different.’

However, the speed of progress here was incomparable.

‘So, I'm in trouble?’

He'd brought Choi Sa-Rang because she was JeonJaPa, but old data wouldn’t cut it? JeonJaPa wasn't actually the strongest anymore?!

"Okay, now we have Choi Sa-Rang's final pick remaining."

The ban-pick phase was nearly over.

"We haven't seen the mid pick yet."

"That's right."

Thud.

[Flashy Blade Swift]

Flashy Blade appeared.

"What!?" Sweet Radish's eyes went wide.

BlackTea let out an ungodly noise. "YES! Let's GO!"

— There's a strange person in the commentary panel

— Someone’s too excited

— lmaooooo

It was JeonJaPa's signature pick. Of course, that reaction made sense.

"Ah, Flashy Blade. There's some threat to it, but..."

That said, Flashy Blade was a pick that had almost completely fallen out of pro-level play in the current meta. Sweet Radish was somewhat skeptical.

— Doesn't look like she's trying to win

— It's JeonJaPa tho, so who knows lmao

— it's a simulator tho

— Is this... actually going to work without the real person playing it?? Lmao

— If JeonJaPa himself showed up, he’d win lmao

Either way, the ban-pick phase concluded.

Dun dun!

[Enter Tactics]

In the LIL Champions Simulator, once ban-pick ended, there were five minutes to input tactics. The method was simple. They simply talked to the players through the mic.

"It’s the tactics input phase. Looks like Choi Sa-Rang is saying quite a lot while BokChoy is already done. He probably thinks he's won with the ban-picks."

Depending on the ban-picks, there could be a lot or very little to say tactically. There wouldn’t be much to discuss if the ban-picks went smoothly. A quick mention to focus on a certain player and the pros would figure the rest out themselves.

"Choi Sa-Rang moved through the ban-picks quite quickly, yet she's taking time here?"

Sa-Rang continued taking her time. Normally, this phase wrapped up within two minutes. She was on her third minute.

"Wait. Sweet Radish, if your ban-pick is good, shouldn't you have less to say?"

— lmaooo that's true

— Sweet Potato lmao

— He keeps poking because he went all-in

Black Tea snapped at Sweet Potato. "No, the whole point is that ban-picks need detailed strategy execution!"

"Agreed." Almond agreed too.

Sweet Radish mediated between them. "I think she has a strong grasp of each player's individual traits. CK was originally a single team, so the win rate will naturally increase if the tactics are well-constructed. Anyway, the time limit just ran out!"

Sa-Rang had used every second of the five minutes.

[Tactics Input Complete]

"Alright. Begin!"

[Game Start]

The simulation launched. It ran at four to five times the speed of a normal LIL match. Champions moved rapidly across the field.

From here, nobody could do anything. This was the players' time. Everyone watched in silence.

Sweet Potato and Almond, who'd gone all-in, were essentially praying.

‘Please let them win.Ah... I didn't know JeonJaPa wasn't the strongest anymore...’

Some time passed.

[JeonJaPa Double Kill!]

Everyone lit up, even Sweet Radish.

"Th-this..."

His eyes darted around as he pieced together what had happened.

"BokChoy's jungler has been completely neutralized?"

— What

— Fr

— He got eaten alive

— That's real

— So mid is just...

The highlight replayed. Flashy Blade took the initiative. After reaching level six, he immediately committed.

"The jungler can't do its job. The moment Flashy Blade hit level six, he went completely aggressive on Draco... This!?"

Slaaaaaash!

A blade instantly cut through and killed Draco.

“Flashy Blade is normally a melee fighter, and Draco is a ranged mage. Getting poked constantly would be awful, but I overlooked something."

"What is it?" Sweet Potato asked because he genuinely wanted to know. "What is it!! What did you overlook!! Tell me!!"

— lmaooooooo

— The swearing is coming out!

— Because he went all-in!lmaooo

— LOL

"JeonJaPa has a stat called ranged evasion rate. This specifically scales up the more you master his main picks. When he's on Flashy Blade, the ranged evasion rate is already over fifty percent. If you fire two ranged attacks, one of them is guaranteed to be dodged! Even if you have twice the stats, the effective damage output is the same!"

— What?!

— First time I've seen Sweet Radish talk this much lmao

— Oh so the evasion rate is that high

— Did she really track all those detailed stats?? lmao

"Ah, damn...! That's just awful luck." Sweet Potato wasn't pretending to be a commentator anymore.

— lmaooooo

— The mask is off lmao

— lmao fr

— Bad luck he says

Thud!

Sweet Radish whacked the back of his head. "It's not luck! Starting from the jungle pathing, this disaster happening at level six was designed from the beginning, you idiot!"

Sweet Radish had put a lot of money on BokChoy, but seeing this design laid out before him, he couldn't help feeling excited. Sweet Potato's refusal to acknowledge this annoyed him.

— Oh...

— Fr?

— This was actually intentional???

— Wow lmao

"So, this is why! This and that and the other thing..."

Sweet Radish went through each stat in detail.

‘What is he even saying?’

Sweet Potato understood none of it.

BlackTea followed along and agreed. "Oh. Three bans on the jungle, the unusual pathing, plus JeonJaPa's uniquely high Flashy Blade mastery stat was used to counter-gank for the double kill... It’s hard to call this a coincidence."

"Agreed!" Almond chimed in with noticeably more energy.

He'd be the most excited person in the room after that double kill.

— The energy lmao

— lmaooooo

— His voice perked right up lmao

— Even Almond gets a boost when there's money on the line

— This is why gambling is dangerous...

"The game isn't over yet, everyone. High-value compositions are called that for a reason. Even after taking some deaths, you can claw back from this."

True to the composition's late-game nature, a path to victory still existed so long as the game hadn’t completely imploded. As if they had heard that, the CK team started pressing.

"Oh no... the b-bot lane too!"

[Cosmic Double Kill!]

Sa-Rang's team achieved another double kill.

"The jungler intervened on the bot side, mid applied pressure everywhere, and now a disaster has erupted!?"

"Ah..." Sweet Potato was completely hollow-eyed now.

"Cosmic is the only current active player on the CK team, so his stats are genuinely substantial! The bot lane was already not losing on stats alone! This accident was always going to happen. And what's most remarkable...!"

Sweet Radish lit up. It had been a while since he'd seen play like this.

"This is actually a really old strategy. The extreme snowball push approach? But the balance is perfect. Mid is holding the line through mastery while carrying some value with Flashy Blade. That's the masterstroke here..."

"Ugh. My ears are bleeding." Sweet Potato signaled for him to stop.

Sweet Radish couldn't. "Even if it's a simulator! It genuinely feels like JeonJaPa came back to life after all this time! What exactly happened during the tactics input? Did she hack the code or something? Incredible!"

He kept marveling as the CK team moved with all the precision of their prime.

"YES! Break it all! Kill them all!" Black Tea screamed with pure excitement while the chat flew up.

— Kill them all!

— She used Flash on Saury!

— LOL

— lmaooo

— They're actually steamrolling this??

— This is overwhelming

— CK absolutely CRUSHING!

The excitement only settled once the game completely ended.

[Choi Sa-Rang]

[Victory]

In the end, Choi Sa-Rang won. From this point forward, Almond became the most excited person in the room.

"YEEEEAH!"

Craaaaash!

A massive pile of chips flooded toward him.

In the same instant, Sweet Potato hit zero. "No, NOOOOO!"

Thud.

Sweet Potato collapsed onto the floor. "I... I'm... I'm Potato Servant again?!"

— lmaooooooo

— In the beginning, there was Potato Servant...

— The birth of Potato Servant

— Double Potato Servant lmaooo

— lmao Potato Servant confirmed

— Potato Servant again LOL

— Penalty confirmed hahaha