Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 2

Vol.12 Ch.14: Yuel's Self-Criticism

"What I told Lars applies to everybody here," Yuel said. "We've pretty much played all our cards in this scrimmage, so you can expect all our future opponents to know everything we're going to bring to the table. So, it's a good idea to innovate some of your gameplay before the next match."

"But," Kai interjected. "The same way they gonna know our tech, we also gonna know their tricks. They can get our replays and we can get theirs."

"Correct," Yuel agreed. "Especially, a lot of data should be available on the Leopards because their tradition is to scrimmage against every team in the region."

"Every team!? For real!?" Luke jumped. "Man, these guys don't skip leg day."

"Yes. they're quite busy. They'll have their first scrimmage in two days, and then another one a week and a half after that. So, we'll have two of their matches to study before facing them, whereas they'll only get to see one match of ours"

"Information advantage!" Vincent pumped his fist. "I love the sound of that! The underdog shall triumph over the regional champion thanks to the power of information!"

"That's only provided they'll actually show all their cards in these two games," Yuel said. "They have a big club, so they can rotate many different players for these scrimmages. I've studied them last year, so I know a few things about how their coach operates."

The Leopards had the biggest middle school club in the region because their school treated it as a prestigious sports club. Their club was far superior to the rest of the Classmancers clubs in the region, so much that it was the only club with a professional coach.

Since the school passionately supported the club and urged students to join, naturally the club housed many players every year As such, the Leopards had the luxury to rotate through many different players across their many scrimmages.

And, that's exactly what their coach did. Instead of making the Leopards' first-string play through all the games, the coach often let other players fill in every now and then.

"Based on what I observed last year," Yuel explained. "They start out most games with their first-string. Then, after the first couple of games, their coach makes a call."

If the Leopards' first-string overwhelmed the enemy, then it was time to rotate players around. Essentially, such weak opponents lost their rights to compete against the Leopards' best. Such was the inevitable fate of many teams in the region. Most of them only lasted for 2~3 games before being deemed unworthy.

In fact, in Stratus' case, the call was usually made after a single game. That's all it took to convince the Leopards that Stratus was no competition for them.

StormBlitz was one of the few to consistently earn the right to fight until the very end. Last year, they held their ground against the Leopards' first-string during the entire scrimmage and even won. Though, they ultimately lost at the regionals.

"So," Kai said. "If they start subbing different players against us, it means they don't consider us a threat?"

"At the very least, it means their coach doesn't consider it necessary to go all out against us to win the scrimmage. So, he'd most likely choose to sub out the first-string in order to minimize the amount of data they show their rivals."

"Tch, cocky bastards." Kai clicked her tongue.

"Personally," Vincent said. "I believe this is an act of mercy on Mr. Rodriguez's part."

"Mercy?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "They're literally making fun of their opponents."

"Not at all," Vincent argued. "Mr. Rodriguez would only ever sub out the first-string when it overwhelms the opposition too much, to the point it's not even a competition. In other words, only when the other team is completely, utterly, and thoroughly crushed."