Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Vol.7 Ch.6: Problem Kids

The club activity went on. Ben continued playing Top for three more games so that gave Yuel more insight. It didn't change the fact Yuel will have to go over replays as well. But, at least, playing alongside Ben gave him a rough idea of Ben's level.

As Vincent implied, Ben was very good at freezing lanes. In every match, Top lane was locked in a status quo during the early-game. Sometimes, even during the mid-game.

Even ganks didn't take place in Top because the situation was never inviting. Junglers from both sides occasionally tried to set something but that rarely went anywhere. Truly, Ben had the Eternal Peacemaker ability!

Ugh, I feel like I'm losing brain cells from thinking in these terms. Yuel shuddered. Why did Vincent's analysis always have to be so accurate and yet so dumb at the same time? Sigh.

Of course, it wasn't like Ben had any superpowers the way the clown suggested. From what Yuel could tell, Ben just played carefully and peacefully, so it established a comfortable status quo in the lane. Neither side wanted to commit to any risky plays so they maintained the stalemate. As a result, the lane remained frozen.

As expected, this playstyle didn't work against every type of opponent. During the third match, Ben faced an extremely aggressive lane opponent. It was clear the guy was out for blood because he picked Dark Knight. There was no chance a Dark Knight player would ever agree to a truce on the lane during the early-game because that'd be equivalent to losing.

Therefore, the Dark Knight didn't play nice. He aggressed on Ben at every opportunity and fished for a kill.

"Ah, oh!" Ben flinched as the Dark Knight pushed him back to the Turret. It took Ben a while to react to the Dark Knight's sudden aggression, so he lost a lot of HP before getting away. It seemed like the thought of fighting back didn't even cross Ben's mind, which made sense in a Vanguard vs. Dark Knight matchup. So, Ben did well to retreat.

Unfortunately, his retreat was too slow and he lost unnecessary HP in the process. On top of that, he was forced into defending under his Turret and the enemy was about to invade it.

Ben had to make a difficult decision: should he stay to defend the lane with just 30% HP and risk getting killed? Or, should he recall to base and let the Dark Knight push the Turret for free?

"Um, I," Ben mumbled something but Yuel couldn't make it from across the room. They weren't playing with headphones like in a tournament, so Yuel couldn't pick up that low voice.

"I see, I see," Vincent nodded repeatedly as he approached Ben's seat. "You need some help over here, right?"

"Um, yes," Ben nodded. "A gank could help. Or, maybe someone could defend the lane while I recall. Oh, but only if you're free, of course. Don't want to bother you..." His voice went from quiet to complete silence. However, Vincent was going to make up for it with his loudness.

"Everybody, you heard the man!" Vincent's voice boomed. "Ben's Eternal Peacemaker was shattered! The opponent is wielding the Dark Anti-Peace Sword of Doom! He's going ham on the lane and plans to pressure Ben into submission! So, what will Chessmaster's call be!?" He stretched a hand toward Yuel as if shoving a microphone in Yuel's face..

"A gank won't work here," Yuel said. Since Luke was sticking to his Druid Jungler meme, he was still a "set-up" type of Jungler who could only set up a kill for the laner. So, Luke didn't have the strength to scare away the Dark Knight. On top of that, Ben played a defensive class, so he won't get a kill even with Luke's setup.

"Luke, can you defend Top for a bit?" Yuel asked.

"No problemo," Luke gave a thumbs up. "On it, pal."