NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60
Chat lines and pick lines.
The long-standing debate in normal games about whether chatting comes first or champion selection does is incredibly profound.
If we trace this debate back and carefully examine the history of Legends of League, we can find that the concept of position selection didn’t exist in ranked games originally.
The pick order was determined based on MMR (Matchmaking Rating), and naturally, the priority for position also followed the order from pick 1 to pick 5.
It’s somewhat of a ranking system based on MMR.
Of course, as you climb the tiers, there’s a bit of a culture that respects each player’s main position, but in most matches, that wasn’t a thing, and pick 5 just had to be the supporter.
Given that, the influence inevitably spread to normal games, and at one point, pick lines became the mainstream over chat lines.
However, just like there is light, there is darkness; over time, the problems with pick line culture began to arise one by one.
-? I’m the mid pick though.
-I’m the first pick!
-?? Is Master Yi mid?
-o.k.
-;;
For instance, there were often cases where someone would pick a mage that’s clearly a mid champion and then claim they were jungling or vice versa.
With so many issues surrounding the pick line itself, the process of introducing position selection into ranked games slowly shifted pick line culture back to chat line culture.
Of course, there are still people who insist on pick lines; however, the mainstream has moved in that direction.
Well…
I’ve rambled on about various things, but in this particular case, there was no need for such debates.
[HoRoLoRoRoLLoRoRo: Aren’t you the first pick?]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim: Just sit back and ride the bus, you deep sea colors!]
Regardless of whether pick lines or chat lines were right or wrong, the enemy was simply insane.
[HoRoLoRoRoLLoRoRo: Ugh.]
[HoRoLoRoRoLLoRoRo: Can the pick 2 go top?]
[HoRoLoRoRoLLoRoRo: Just try to understand.]
With no intention to bicker in chat, I agreed readily.
[Game is fun 4148: Yes.]
There were a few more reasons for my quick agreement, the biggest one being simple.
‘…No smite.’
It was quite awkward for someone who confidently called for jungling.
‘Wait, are people still doing this?’
A few years back, Legends of League underwent a major patch that lowered the entry barrier that had previously been quite high.
They completely eliminated a complicated rune system where you had to purchase dozens of runes just to use them and changed it so that you could set runes during the pick phase.
Naturally, since I don’t have a smurf account, I assumed that it would be a given that the level restriction on summoner spells would also have been removed by then.
But to my surprise, I found that the level restriction on spells still existed…
I guess I didn’t think about the summoner spell level limit because I had never leveled a smurf account.
‘This is a variable.’
Now I truly feel why people grind bots when leveling smurf accounts.
For a freshly created level 1 account entering Legends of League, the rift is an incredibly harsh place.
‘No smite jungle, huh.’
At the same time, memories of old came rushing back.
‘Come to think of it… I used to run ignite instead of smite when I jungle back in the day.’
It sounds ridiculous now, but back then, ignite would work on jungle monsters too, and through traits, you could gain bonus attack and ability power during ignite’s cooldown, which is why I did it.
Well, that was a story from when I was relatively new, and by the time I started playing ranked games, such nonsense would’ve been out of the question.
With these thoughts in mind, I quietly looked at the spells I could use.
‘Hmm, indeed, there are quite a few spells I can’t use.’
The only spells I could use right now were ghost and heal.
It would have been great if I could at least use flash, but sadly, that was a distant wish.
‘My position is top, and I can only use two spells…’
Naturally, two champions came to mind.
‘Uralfu and Hecarim.’
Both champions are more efficient with ghost than flash.
Moreover, since both champions are utilized as junglers, I was quite confident in my proficiency with them.
‘Uralfu is good, but… in this match, it’s this one.’
[Hecarim]
A champion recently dubbed an OP champion, but unfortunately, he became pretty average after getting hit with a heavy nerf.
That said, he’s not unusable, and I often favor him in ranked games.
[Please select a skin!]
…
…
…
[3]
[2]
[1]
The game has begun.
+
[Allied / Enemy]
Top: Hecarim / Timon
Jungle: Lee Sin / Master Yi
Mid: Zed / Malphite
ADC: Ezreal / Vayne
Support: Nami / Blitzcrank
+
‘Hmm.’
What should I say… These are quite nostalgic picks, I’d say?
‘Long time no see.’
Vayne and Blitzcrank are picks I occasionally see while playing, but champions like Timon and Master Yi are the so-called artisan champions that only certain players use.
…Of course, there are much more common terms, but it feels a bit cheap to say them outright.
Finally, the loading is over, and the real game begins.
Silence─
Even though the game has started, there was not a ping in sight, as if early invade defense was just a given.
Well, given that no one has gone AFK, I guess we should be thankful for that.
‘Well, not my problem.’
The jungle, which has to protect its camps, is most heavily affected by early invades.
And I was top.
So while I considered just running straight to top, I decided to go protect the ally blue.
‘Be grateful.’
Our team is the blue team.
While I was hiding in the upper river bush alone, enemy champions including Blitzcrank appeared through the mid lane bush.
Currently, there was no vision of the enemy in our mid, which made this possible.
‘Hm.’
In a flash, the enemy Blitzcrank came rushing in, placing a ward in the bush, revealing my location.
-Blink!
The enemy Blitzcrank boldly used a flash grab.
My spells were ghost and heal.
From a rational standpoint, there was no way I could dodge Blitzcrank’s Q after he used flash.
However,
-Whooosh.
‘What?’
Blitzcrank’s hand slices through the air.
It wasn’t because of my incredible movement.
The enemy Blitzcrank simply missed the grab.
It was a bizarre prediction shot that I could not comprehend.
‘……’
Honestly, I was a bit surprised but thanks to that, I managed to get away without using any spells.
As soon as the minions arrived in lane, I slowly headed towards the lane with them.
Since it was a melee versus ranged matchup, I was feeling a bit cautious about going in confidently from the start.
‘Hm. Can’t see Timon.’
I couldn’t find Timon.
Based on the patterns I usually observed from Timons, he was likely hiding somewhere using his passive.
‘Hide and seek, huh.’
Let’s see your hair peek out.
I entered the bush and swung my Q at the place I predicted Timon might be.
At that moment.
-Whooosh!
Perhaps he didn’t expect me to use Q in the bush; Timon, who had been hiding through his passive, appeared.
Of course, I found his choice a little puzzling.
‘Uh… Is this right, my friend?’
Currently, my spells are ghost and heal.
And the enemy’s spells are flash and ignite.
At first glance, it looks like Timon has a significant advantage with his spell setup, but the problem is that I am Hecarim.
Hecarim’s passive grants bonus attack damage based on movement speed.
And both ghost and heal increase movement speed.
Moreover, given the nature of melee and ranged champions, it’s common sense that if a melee champion engages, they have the advantage.
‘Guess this area lacks even that basic understanding.’
I boldly used ghost to recover and avoid the healing reduction from ignite.
Due to the characteristics of lower tiers, there’s a strong tendency to recklessly use ignite as soon as it’s available without considering the enemy’s healing spells.
Then it was simple.
Had Timon remained hidden till the end, it would’ve been a different story, but the moment he revealed himself awkwardly, his fate was nearly sealed.
-First Blood!
After that, the teleport-less Timon hurried back to lane, but the level gap between us widened significantly.
[Timon – Level 1]
‘Trying to push the lane? Not a chance.’
As Timon walked over to try and cs, I charged towards him without hesitation.
‘You’re blinded. Just wait… Q, Q nice, now.’
The moment the duration of the blinds ended, Hecarim’s vicious front leg lunged toward Timon’s little head.
-You have slain an enemy!
In an instant, I had 2 kills.
It was essentially the end of the top lane battle.
‘Is he leaving?’
The lane was already frozen, and Timon’s push-power wasn’t great among top champions.
So unless there’s interference from other lanes, there was no way out of this hell.
‘Kind of feel bad about this.’
In the scarce field of new players in Legends of League, Timon seemed like one of the few remaining pure newbies.
As I finished dismantling the top lane…
It was as if we had made a silent promise, and Lee Sin and Master Yi bumped into each other at the top crab.
[Lee Sin – Level 3]
[Master Yi – Level 3]
Then, yet another exchange occurred, as if they’d made some sort of pact.
One of the common misconceptions people have is that Master Yi is a late-game champion and is very weak early on.
This is often true, but there’s one flaw: Master Yi’s early game is definitely not weak.
‘He may not excel in escape or chase, but in a direct mismatch, he’s high tier.’
Of course, even though things might turn out that Lee Sin wins in a level 3 matchup, it highly depends on the situation.
For example, if Lee Sin throws out his Q like an idiot now.
‘Looks like Lee Sin lost.’
Master Yi dodged Lee Sin’s Q with his own Q and absorbed damage with Meditate right as Lee Sin was using his E, also executing an auto-attack cancel.
Granted, Lee Sin wasn’t doing great either, but that’s just how good the enemy Master Yi was.
‘At least he should be roughly Diamond level.’
Dodging the incoming sonic wave with his Q, he also managed to block Lee Sin’s E skill with an appropriately timed Meditate while executing an auto-attack cancel.
It wasn’t the kind of mechanics you’d expect from a mid-tier player.
‘Well, it could just be luck.’
[⨷] [⨷]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin) has marked Maester Yi (Master Yi)]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin) has marked Maester Yi (Master Yi)]
As Lee Sin realized that all his skills had missed, he seemed to panic and frantically pinged.
‘Hmm.’
I was in a dilemma.
If I go help now, I can save Lee Sin, but that means I’m abandoning an entire lane wave and more importantly, I’d risk unwinding the frozen line I had so painstakingly set.
If this were a game I usually played, there’d be no need to think twice.
No matter how important the lane is, it pales compared to kills and control of the engagements.
But…
‘Whether Lee Sin is worth that much, I’m uncertain.’
I assure you, my feelings aren’t mixed due to what happened during the pick phase.
Absolutely not.
As I was mulling that over, Lee Sin, having lost the exchange, awkwardly flashed but couldn’t shake off Master Yi.
-Our ally has been slain!
Just as Lee Sin took a tidy kill from Master Yi, chat started to blow up.
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin) – Hecarim]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin) – Hecarim]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin): No.]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin): Why didn’t you come?]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin): You would’ve killed him.]
[Yanghak Yong Bukhwa Kim (Lee Sin): Damn it.]
‘So this is what it tastes like.’
Does the person who goes to top become a top worshipper?
Or are the people who go to top inherently like this?
This remains one of the oldest conundrums in Legends of League.
However, right now, I strangely feel that I might know the answer.
Instead of chatting, I replaced my answer with an adorable penguin emoji.
『🐧』
Lord, please allow me to become a beast today.