NOVEL NEXT Chapter 77
Current Tier is Dia 3.
Remaining time is about 3 days.
The journey to becoming a Master has officially begun.
[Game Found!]
[Accept / Decline]
Without a second thought, I accepted.
───────────────
q평e평우리집13평 joined the lobby.
DiaorDai joined the lobby.
Outlaw joined the lobby.
Triangle Mid Laner joined the lobby.
IIIIlIllIIIlI joined the lobby.
───────────────
The average Tier of my teammates, including myself, is around Dia 1.
If we were to combine the tiers of the opposing team, it would probably be around high Dia to low Master queue.
‘What should I do?’
Just when I was pondering for a moment.
[DiaorDai: 3 pick]
[DiaorDai: Can I jungle?]
Well, I mean.
Raising my tier is a bit urgent, but this seems more efficient anyway.
I can perform well anywhere.
[Outlaw: Go ahead]
[DiaorDai: Thanks!]
Suddenly, I became an unexpected Supporter, but personally, I didn’t mind playing Support at all.
After all, the Support position is quite similar to the Jungler in terms of role.
Of course, this is assuming I’m picking what I want to play.
‘By the way, those IDs look familiar…’
Sometimes when playing, I come across such IDs.
It’s like I’ve definitely met them before, but I have no clue where.
For me, this game felt like one of those cases.
The names of my teammates felt oddly familiar.
‘Did I meet them in Normal Games?’
Just in case, I searched for DiaorDai’s ID to find Outlaw but found no record of us meeting.
The same went for the other IDs.
‘Is it just my imagination?’
Well, it’s not that important.
+
[Ban List]
Viego / Ezreal
⛝ / Karthus
Shaku / ⛝
⛝ / ⛝
Ezreal / Lee Sin
+
Before I knew it, the bans were complete.
Seeing this unusually high number of No Bans really made me feel like I entered the hellish zone.
‘For now, we have first pick.’
My team is on the Blue side.
That means we’re the bottom side.
[q평e평우리집13평: Is there anyone who can first pick?]
[q평e평우리집13평: I’d prefer a top first pick;;;]
As is always the case with Blue team top first picks, q평e평우리집13평 opted for a safe pick over a swap.
However, regrettably, none of the teammates seemed to heed such heartfelt pleas from the top.
[Outlaw: Give me Kamal]
Kamal Support is something I occasionally play when I’m stuck in Support, and excluding a few counter picks, I personally think it’s quite useful.
Well… at least in terms of fun.
[q평e평우리집13평: ?]
[q평e평우리집13평: Is that right?]
[Outlaw: Yep]
[q평e평우리집13평: Okay;;;]
– Kamal.
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: Ah]
No sooner had the first pick Support Kamal’s portrait appeared than an anxiety surge erupted from our AD carry.
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: Is it Kamal Support?]
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: Can’t you play another Support?]
Just as I was about to say something.
[Triangle Mid Laner: I searched, seems like 3 pick is their smurf, winrate 100%]
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: ?]
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: No way]
[IIIIlIllIIIlI: What’s their score?]
Thanks to the unexpected support from the 4th pick, the AD carry’s anger seemed to lessen slightly.
[q평e평우리집13평: ?]
[q평e평우리집13평: Are we doing this? Or not?]
[Outlaw: Just give it to me]
After that, champions were picked one by one and the Ban/Pick was completed.
[Teammates / Opponents]
Top: Jason / Sett
Jungle: Xin Zhao / Nidalee
Mid: Sylas / Renekton
ADC: Varus / Aphelios
Support: Kamal / Nautilus
+
Hmm.
Even though I picked Kamal Support as first pick, our AD carry didn’t pick a very good champion for the combo and went with Varus instead.
It seemed like they were determined to manage the lane alone despite it getting weaker due to having Kamal Support.
‘Not bad after all.’
There are two ways to smoothly operate Kamal Support, which is somewhat of a troll pick.
One is to pick a champion like Lucian that specializes in fighting and induce constant skirmishes for gain, or use it alongside stronger lane champions like Varus or Jhin to influence other lanes.
Other than that… well, it’s literally half a troll pick, so it can’t be considered good at all.
Hmm.
For now, our team composition looked like a typical poking setup.
If Jason and Varus shoot from the back, Xin Zhao, Sylas, and Kamal would hold back the frontline of the opponent.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the enemy is completely weak in a standoff.
They have Nidalee, who is relatively strong in a poking and sustain aspect during a standoff.
‘And above all, the initiation is quite strong.’
Sett, Renekton, Nautilus.
While it’s true Renekton is fine, Sett and Nautilus are champions with very strong initiations.
‘Plus, Aphelios has conditional initiation too.’
Given that they’re composed of such champions, if we focus solely on the concept of the composition, we might say we’re countered.
But,
‘The biggest variable in team fights is Xin Zhao and Sylas’s ultimate abilities.’
Xin Zhao’s ultimate is perfect for knocking away incoming enemies, while Sylas’s ultimate seems to have many ways to utilize depending on the current status of enemy ultimates.
So, even though the outwardly apparent composition might seem countered, based on how our frontline plays it, we could create entirely different scenarios.
‘Kamal… well, let’s just see how it goes.’
It sounds a bit funny to say after I picked it, but Kamal Support is a champion with as many clear strengths as there are glaring weaknesses.
But the important thing is to showcase the meaning of the pick, right?
[Please select your champion!]
[Please select your skin!]
Lost in all these thoughts, the game began.
+
───────────────
Jungler – Sett
Nadali – Nidalee
MIDIA – Renekton
Hwangpelios – Aphelios
NamiOnly – Nautilus
───────────────
+
At first glance, it’s not a particularly special loading screen.
However, upon seeing the opponent’s jungler’s nickname, I couldn’t help but take a moment to be stunned.
[Nadali – Nidalee]
I knew that nickname.
“…They’re still here.”
Gatekeepers.
There are beings referred to as such.
They generally refer to players hanging between Platinum 1-Dia 4 and Dia 2-Master, and usually, when simply mentioned as “Gatekeeper,” it leans more towards the latter than the former.
Normally, Dia gatekeepers might have a very good substitute term, yet.
Anyway… this is a story from a long time ago, back when I had just started playing Legends of League.
It was during Season 2.
When I was just starting to climb tiers as a Prisoner, Nadali and I first met in the roughly 2000 points range, back when Platinum was still the standard.
At that time, my score was 2010, and Nadali’s current score was lower than mine, but their top rating was higher than mine back then.
-[All][Nadali (Master Yi): Wow, the opposing jungler is trash]
-[All][Nadali (Master Yi): Is it nice to win because of team difference?]
Considering the climate during that time, where people spoke of scores based on top ratings, it was understandable that Nadali might not have been able to accept losing to me.
Well, since it was a time when I was actively climbing in score, it was only natural that my score was always the top rating.
-[All][Prisoner (Skarner): It’s a jungle difference]
-[All][Nadali (Master Yi): LOL, * you, I’ll beat you up]
Back then, I was quite easy to provoke, probably because I was young.
-[All][Prisoner (Rakan): Let’s see then, LOL]
That was the beginning of our cursed connection.
I still remember that day.
It was on a weekday early morning.
-[All][Nadali (Master Yi): LOL, we met again. This time, I’m gonna wreck you.]
-[All][Prisoner (Rakan): Go ahead, LOL]
Perhaps due to the peculiar nature of the weekday early morning, or maybe because we were continuously queuing with a toxic vibe, Nadali and I ended up facing each other for an astonishing 8 games in a row.
Back then, there were no position selections, but amazingly, in 7 out of those games, I was on the opposing team, and in one game, we were on the same team, however, upon seeing our fights from the pick screen, the teammate dodged immediately.
The result was 4 wins and 3 losses.
-[Prisoner: 1 pick, opposing jungler Master Yi is a one-trick ban, go ahead]
Ultimately, I won, but that was also because I had targeted and banned Nadali’s Master Yi, which I’d picked since I was starting to play.
-[All][Nadali (Rakan): Ugh, * that sniper ban]
-[All][Nadali (Rakan): Are you afraid?]
Though I couldn’t meet Nadali after that, in some sense, Nadali has become my first rival.
‘Did I black out for about three days after facing them 7 times in a row? That was some insane stuff.’
I started to control the number of games I played in a day ever since then.
I remember how my mother cried sadly… Even though my mind felt fuzzy, the sound of her crying still echoed in my ears.
‘But hey… that guy is still here.’
It’s not incomprehensible.
There’s a common trait among so-called gatekeeper players; in terms of their maximum potential, they generally possess higher skills than their current “Tier,” yet they remain there.
Why? If you ask, there can be many reasons, but overall, the most significant reason is that they have considerable flaws from a mental perspective.
-You don’t deserve to win.
One of the endings faced by those trapped in the poison of excessive game numbers is exactly these gatekeepers.
They’ve played far too many games in similar ranges and forms, so even a slight early disadvantage can lead to a clear trajectory of knowing how things will roll.
Therefore, they easily give up.
-Not doing, bye
The problem is, their throwing often forces games they could have won into losses.
Due to the policy of Legends of League being rather lenient towards trolling, these players always come back, regardless of facing several penalties.
-Ah, I ran into that jerk again
-? Quit? Not doing, bye
And it starts all over again.
Whether it’s trolling or disconnecting, this cycle continues.
The bad reputation gained solidifies as ‘gatekeeper’, and along with a decrease in team morale, their win rates dip even further.
Naturally, they become trapped there.
And others also begin trying to drag others down to keep themselves where they are.
Whether ally or enemy.
They become gatekeepers guarding the door (門).
‘Shall I teach that jerk a lesson again?’
-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!
The game has begun.