The club's first match as a team began. The most important member to pay attention to was Luke. Not only because it was the first time Yuel saw Luke in a, but also because Luke picked Rogue of all things. Acc to Vi, Luke's Rogue was actually solid, but Yuel had his doubts.

  “A Sentry Ward right off the bat?” Yuel asked.

  “Yep,” Luke replied. “Gotta make sure I got at least one safe route for approag Mid.”

  “I see,” Yuel wasn't sure what to say. It didn’t seem like a bad py but it was unventional and therefore difficult to judge.

  A Sentry Ward had twice the cost of a basic Ward. Therefore, the typical approach was to use cheap Wards during the early-game and only start usiry Wards from around mid-game. Then, during te-game, warding always turned into a ter-warding war of Sentry Wards.

  Yet, Luke went ahead and purchased a Sentry Ward right at the beginning of the game. It eculiar move which, surprisingly, made some sehe purpose of this early Sentry Ward was to ter Stealth Wards, which the enemy was undoubtedly going to purchase at some point to ter Rogue’s stealth. After all, using Stealth Wards was the 101 of tering any Jungler with stealth.

  At least, Luke is putting some thought into it. This was already more than Yuel expected. It showed Luke knew sue tech which was only avaible to the high-level memers. Yuel sidered simir openings fue before but, generally speaking, it felt like the cost-reward wasn’t in Rogue’s favor here.

  Still, it was good to know Luke had a game pn in mind. As for the oof...

  “Say,” Lars titled his head. “What do I buy with Aero? Two Wards or two MP Potions? Or, one of each? How did that thing go, again?”

  He already fot how to open the game as a Mid Laner? Yuel sighed. This was the birdbrain goof at its fi. Yuel evehrough the trouble of creating a build preset for every css Lars pyed so that the goof won’t o stress over it, yet Lars still found a way to get lost iions.

  “Tell me,” Yuel started. “In what world would a Mid Laner begin the game without at least one ward?”

  “ht,” Lars nodded. “My bad, was thinking as a Carry for a moment there, haha.”

  “Really now,” a Yuel made a face. Well, it wasly wrong. The Carry could open the game with anywhere betweeo two wards in the currea, depending on how he agreed to split the burden of warding with the Support.

  However, for a Mid Laner, starting off with at least one ward retty much mandatory. Mid was the only hat was sandwiched by jungle on both sides, so it was the most susceptible to ganks. Therefore, the Mid Laner was responsible for warding at least one side of it, while somebody else could nd a hand oher side. Or, depending on what the team agreed on, the Mid Laner might have to ward both sides himself.

  This was all elementary meta knowledge, but Lars clearly just followed Yuel’s presets without thinking much about them. That goof probably didn't really uand the deeper meanings behind all these meta decisions. Sigh.

  Sometimes, I feel like I should babysit him less so he actually learns how to py. Yuel shook his head.

  “When deg whether you start with one or two wards,” Yuel said. “You o sider what’s more important: an MP Potion to outst your ne oppo on ne or ara ward to defend against ganks.”

  “Mhm, mhm,” Lars nodded with profound uanding. “So, how many wards I need?”

  You didn't even try to think about it! Yuel wao facepalm all the way through his skull. “If you py it right, you should be able to outclear the Eleahis means, you’ll likely get many opportuo advance up the ne and that means a higher ce of being ganked. Also, Aeromancer’s skills aren’t particurly costly and you’ll only need Whirlwind most of the time to clear minions. So, if you take all that into at, what do you think you need more? An MP Potion or a Ward?”

  “Hmm, that's like some advanced math problem.”

  Are you being seriht now? Yuel squinted his eyes.

  “Haha, just kidding!” Lars smacked Yuel on the shoulder. “Of course I gotta buy... Potion of Strength! The only real answer. It gon me rek that dude real fast, yo!”

  “Really funny,” Yuel rolled his eyes.

  While Lars was joking around, he properly bought a Ward as he should. It seemed the goof had at least a minimal level of on sense.

  They wasted quite some time on this banter but, fortunately, matches had a tdown until they truly began. So, that gave pyers enough time to prepare before minions spawhanks to that, Lars wasn’t going to lose anything of note from heading out of the base a little te.

  Still, there were some advao heading out of base early. It provided an opportunity to reaemy territory early and sneak a ward onto their side of the map without their knowledge. A normal Ward couldn't expose other wards, so the enemy won’t be able to clear this early sneaky ward.

  However, it was rare to pull off this sneaky py without running into danger. So, it took a daredevil pyer to go for that line of py. Like, for example, a certain Rogue who bought boots and a Sentry Ward as soon as the game began and darted toward enemy jungle on his own.

  “Where exactly are you going?” Yuel asked.

  “Told ya,” Luke said. “I gotta secure a safe ganking route. So, lemme just pce this right here a out. Perfect.”

  Luke retreated from eerritory as soon as he pced his Sentry Ward. Fortunately, he took precautions aered stealth before venturing into eerritory. Therefore, nobody caught him in a.

  With that stealth on, this was actually a retively safe py. A bold py, but a safe ohe pg of the Sentry Ward was also on point. It was right in the middle of an important crossroad which was often warded by Mid Lao defend against ganks. It was highly likely the eeam will drop a ward there soohan ter.

  And, since Luke pced a Sentry Ward, his ward will expose whichever ward the enemy may pce there. That’ll allow him to remove the enemy ward as soon as the ning phase begins. Not bad.

  Meme Jedi or not, Luke definitely had a thought-out game pn. It was more than could be said about a certain goof who couldn't tell left frht unless Yuel held his hand. Sigh.

  “Hehe, gottem,” Luke smirked as his Sentry Ward revealed the enemy Eleancer heading into the jungle. As expected, the enemy pced a ward there and it was a Stealth Ward.

  “That's 80 gold down the drain for ya, pal.” Luke plucked out the Stealth Ward. That alerted the enemy about the presence of a Sentry Ward in that spot but there was absolutely nothing they could do about it right now.

  In theory, somebody oeam could earn 120 gold and immediately return to base and buy a Sentry Ward to ter Luke’s Sentry Ward, but that was too ineffit of a py when the ning phase just began. Whoever was going to volunteer for that bad-forth py was guarao miss out on some important early-game farm.

  Not to mention, unlike a Stealth Ward, a Sentry Ward couldn’t reveal stealthed pyers. So, even if the enemy ter Luke’s Sentry Ward with a Sentry Ward of their own, the e will remain that the area won’t be protected from stealthed ganks. So, it was still a win situation for Luke anyway.

  sidering all that, the enemy probably won’t do anything about Luke’s Sentry Ward. It wasn’t worth the effort. Especially, not for tering a meme like Rogue.

  However, by not seg a Stealth Ward in such a critical spot, the Mid Laner left himself open to stealth ganks that could sneak up to him at any point. In other words, Mid Lane was pletely exposed from Top Jungle’s side and the poor Eleancer will have to live in stant fear ue ganks. Yuel should definitely arrange a gank there at the first opportunity that presents itself.

  If Howard was in charge of the eeam, would he have insisted to ter that Sentry Ward? Yuel smiled wryly as a poihought passed by. He shook his head and trated on the enemy Knight on his ne.

  Knight's passive, Chivalry, slightly increased the defense of nearby minions. As a result, the Knight had a ne advantage over Yuel’s Viking by default. Therefore, if Yuel only focuses on clearing minions, the Knight and his buffed minions will overwhelm him.

  Instead, Yuel made sure to harass the Knight fre. Every time the Knight stepped too close to the frontline, Yuel tossed a the guy. The axe stuck itself deep into the Knight's armor a damage over time, as well as slowed down the Knight's movement.

  However, such aggression didn't go by unnoticed. The Knight's loyal minions respoo such assaults by fog their fire ohey abaheir fight with Yuel's minions and rushed to strike Yuel down.

  However, that art of the pn. While the enemy minions were busy running forward to reach Yuel, they weren't attag anybody during that time period. Oher hand, Yuel's minions tinued fog their fire on the enemy minions.

  Especially, the bowmen weren't affected by the enemy's movements at all. In fact, they weled the enemy's advance because it just made their lives that much easier. The closer the enemy got, the easier it was to shem.

  On top of all these advahis game pn also drew all the minions to Yuel's side of the hey got too far away from the Knight, so his Chivalry effect didn’t reach them. If the Knight wao maintain the Chivalry aura on them, he’d have to advan the o the point of overextending.

  However, only a fool would wander into the Viking's domain like that. If the Knight dares to e any closer, Yuel will catch him with Takedown and toss the fool into the Turret's rahat should easily vert into a kill. If not, it'll at least bring the Knight low enough to force him to recall. In that case, Yuel will win the ne.

  This Knight seemed to uand all of that, so he obediently waited for the minions to e to him. It’d be great if Yuel could score a kill or two with this simple tactic, but at the same time, that'd make the match a little b. Where was the fun when his ne oppo couldn’t pose a challenge?

  The only dowo Yuel’s game pn was that the enemy minions mao sneak a few shots on him. However, it was a small price to pay pared to the huge ne advantage he was going to win from this exge. Not to mention, Viking's passive, Battle Ecstasy, boosted his power and defense depending on how much HP he lost. So, being bold and aggressive like that actually pyed to Viking's strengths.

  Once Yuel finished clearing the enemy minions on his side of the ne, he advaoward the enemy side along with the few minions who survived the csh. Naturally, the enemy Knight had no choice but retreat to his Turret. There was nothing that guy could do alone against Yuel and his brigade.

  While the Knight was hugging his Turret, Yuel used this time to veo the enemy jungle and drop a ward at an important crossroad. Three paths verged on that crossroad: one leading to Top, one leading to the enemy’s Wolf Camp and another leading to the enemy’s Wraith Camp.

  By gaining vision over such a tactical area, Yuel will know when the enemy Jungler was nearby. Whether the Jungler was just farming camps or ing to the ne fank, Yuel will be able to tell with this one ward. It was a critical meta ward that retty much pced by every Top Laner.

  In fact, the enemy Knight has most likely already pced a simir ward on Yuel's side of the jungle while Yuel was busy luring all the minions to his side. Yuel already informed the team of this possibility, especially Luke who was the most likely to pass through that area while jungling.

  After pg down this important ward, Yuel immediately returo ne as if nothing happened. I just stepped into the jungle for a moment and theurned. Nothing suspicious.

  Of course, any experienced pyer could tell Yuel went to pce a ward, but the enemy had no proof. Maybe Yuel just pretended he went to pce a ward but he actually hasn't done anything? On high-level of py, such mind games were a legit tactic. Every bit of paranoia a py could seed in the oppo’s mind was useful.

  Even though he returo ne, he couldn’t help his minions much with the push. They got a few hits on the eurret, but the Turret bombarded them while the Knight cut them down. Needless to say, the little guys didn't st long.

  However, brought the tower’s HP down by about 5%. It was better than nothing. If Yuel keeps getting opportunities like this every time, he and his minions will eventually shave off all of the tower's HP.

  During the seinion wave, Yuel repeated the exact same routine. He threw a the Knight, which drew the enemy minions to his territory. There, he fihem off with the help of his minions.

  Once he won the exge, he advanced all the way to the eurret area together with his minions. However, he didn't dare to step into the Turret's firing rahe Turret’s bolts dealt devastating damage during the early-game because pyers had a low level, so Yuel didn’t want to take the risk.

  heless, his presence all the way out here was of utmost importance. By advang all the way out here with his little army, Yuel pressured the oppo into retreating all the way to the Turret. Without Yuel leading this herd, the Knight might have chosen to csh with the minions in the middle of the o halt their advahat would have cost him some HP but he would have gained more exp and gold and would have prevented any damage from reag his tower.

  That's why Yuel traveled to the very border of the enemy's tower and stared down his oppo. It was nothing more than pressure but it worked. The Knight could try to retaliate, but that was ill-advised against a Viking and this Knight was smart enough to uand that.

  Speaking of pressure from afar, there was somebody who could apply great pressure on Yuel in the current situation: the enemy Jungler. Yuel was extending deep into eerritory. So, if the Lancer were to pop out of the jungle right now, Yuel would have a very bad time.

  And indeed, just as Yuel checked the mini-map, the ward he pced revealed the Lancer hanging out nearby in the jungle. Based on the dire the Lancer was moving in, it was likely the Lancer was heading toward the his was the right time to scoot.

  By the time the Lancer reached Top Lane, Yuel has already retreated all the way to his side of the ne.

  Sorry, no dice. Yuel wasn't going to be caught by such a low effank. The Lancer’s presence applied enough pressure made him retreat but that's all he was going to get out of that py. And holy, even as a pressuring tactic, this Lancer's py was on the weaker side.

  He didn’t have to walk all the way to the ne. Yuel shook his head.

  The Lancer should have realized he won't be getting any kills as soon as Yuel begareating. At that point, the Jungler's presence has ready served its purpose as a pressure tool, so there was no reason for him to keep traveling toward the was a waste of his precious time as a Jungler.

  I wish I could see his rank. Yuel's team was a mish-mash of different ranks, so there’s a good ce the system matched them against a team with a simir sad of ranks. If so, this Lancer might be among the lower ranks on the eeam.

  That’s something to keep in mind. If enough evidence accumutes to suggest that this Lancer was the enemy’s weakest link, it’ll be a good idea to focus him first.

  The minion wave arrived. This time, the Knight decided to switch things up. He was fed up with Yuel’s aggro tactics, so provoked Yuel’s minions with Honorable Duel before Yuel got to execute his usual pn. The provoke effect made the minions focus the Knight, so he retreated toward his side of the o lure them away, simir to Yuel’s tactic.

  “Ty this game! See? I lure minions too!” That’s probably what the Knight was thinking right now. His py was essentially a copy of how Yuel has been handling the past two waves.

  However, there was one key difference. Uhe Knight, Yuel wasn’t afraid to advance along the h his minions.

  A ry but you chose poorly. Yuel smiled meaningfully. It was cute how the Knight tried to switch things up this round but that only made him fall into Yuel’s trap. This was a great opportunity for Yuel to press onward and deliver a devastating blow.

  He chased the retreating Knight and threw a the guy. The axe dug deep into the Knight’s armor and got stu it. Now, it was time to activate the follow-up skill: Axe Blitz!

  Yuel blinked across the ne and appeared right in the Knight’s faow, both Yuel and all his minions were about to ruhe Knight! If Yuel had access to his ult, he could summon additional soldiers and this would have turned into a plete sughter. Unfortunately, he was still at Lv.4, so he had to make do with the manpower he had at hand.

  The Knight realized the danger and tried to dash away with Shield Bash, but Yuel was faster. He already buffered the input for his Takedown during the blinking animation, so it came out as soon as Yuel appeared in front of the Knight.

  The Knight began transitioning into the dashing animation of Shield Bash, but the Viking ed his arms around the enemy’s metal armor and smmed the Knight into the ground. It dealt sizeable damage and dazed the Knight, making him recover slowly from this assault. So, for a brief moment, the Knight was pletely vulnerable.

  In that short period of time, all of Yuel’s minions caught to the Knight and were ready to strike. A flurry of sshes and shots followed! Yuel sshed, his swordsmen sshed and his bowmen fired. There was no mercy to be found in this gang assault.

  Yuel also made sure to body-block the Knight’s escape route, so the Knight had a hard time retreating from the se. Shield Bash was on cooldown because Yuel’s Takedown interrupted it after it was already activated, so the Knight's only real option was to slowly run away while being swarmed from all sides.

  The Knight could use his eed to ride away but that’d suicide. He’d receive extra damage while mounting the steed, so all many attacks hitting him would bee even more devastating. He’d die on the spot.

  Yuel half-hoped the Knight would it this mistake. But, for the better or the worse, this Knight was more petent than and simply rolled past Yuel’s body-blog.

  He’s not bad. Yuel o himself. If he rolled away just a little earlier, he might have gotten away. But, he’s done for.

  You have killed an enemy!

  FIRST BLOOD!

  Yuel drew the first blood of the match, so the team was off to a strong start in Top Lane. However, how will Lars fare as a Mid Laner? And, what else will Luke bring to the table with his “high-level memeing”?

  The ao these questions will dictate the dire this match will take.