The drafting phase for the third game began. The Leopards started it off with a Berserker pick, an odd choice for such a defensive team.

"Could it be that our foes are planning to shift gears in this game!?" Vincent exclaimed. "This entire time, we thought they only possessed the Ultimate Defense personal skill. But, could it be that they also have access to the Ultimate Offense noble phantasm!?"

"It's too early to conclude that they're planning to play offense," Yuel said. "We've seen them pick one or two aggressive classes before."

"Indeed, that we did. Those picks always went to the Absolute Duo, did they not?"

"Yes, and it usually happened in their alternative formation, the one where they weren't in Bot."

Even so, this particular pick was a little peculiar. For one, it gave away too much information. It strongly suggested that the Leopards were going to use their second formation for this game.

And they didn't even ban Knight. Yuel frowned. Knight has a favorable matchup against Berserker, so it should have been a priority ban.

Knight was one of the most popular top laners due to its all-rounder kit. It didn’t have any notable weaknesses except for its lack of self-sustain, which wasn’t a big factor in the current meta.

No class really countered Knight and it had generally favorable matchups against most top laners. As such, the rule of thumb was to either pick the class or ban it.

Then again, the number of bans is limited and Pirate is also a high-priority ban. Yuel thought. The fact they chose to ban Pirate over Knight suggests they’re more concerned about how things will play out in Bot.

This only further reinforced the theory that the enemy was planning to switch formations for this game.

Back when AbsoluteWinner and AbsoluteChallenger were in Bot, the enemy didn’t show any signs of being worried about the matchup against Yuel and Lars. The “Absolute Duo” was mechanically strong, so it had no trouble dealing with Lars’s destructive offense.

On the other hand, the Bot duo of the alternative formation wasn’t anything like that. Cato and Merlin were both theory players with slightly above-average mechanical skill. They’ll surely struggle against Lars’s offense, so they’ll aim to avoid frontal confrontations at all costs.

So, they banned Pirate to keep it out of Lars’s hands. Fair enough. Yuel nodded. Little do they know that Elf is Lars’s next best class. It’s an unexpected third class for him, which is part of the reason I wanted him to master it.

There were numerous classes Lars could pick for his third marksman. The goof liked Elf due to its sniping ability, but he also liked a bunch of other classes as well, especially the ones that allowed him to go on a rampage.

Out of all these options, Yuel strongly advocated for Elf. Why? Because it brings something different to the table.

Trickshooter and Gunslinger were both offense-oriented marksmen, whereas Elf was a more defensive one that focused on out-ranging his opponents.

Learning how to utilize a class like this was bound to expand Lars’s array of skills. In fact, much of the growth Lars experienced in terms of defensive skills was likely a result of him practicing Elf.

But, there’s a little bit of competition for Elf today. Yuel thought. If the Leopards are really planning to use their other formation, then Merlin will probably try to pick Elf.

In all the scrimmages in which Merlin played Carry, the guy always picked Elf. EVERY. SINGLE. GAME.

It was the exact same story as his Warlock in Mid. As long as the class was available, Merlin always insta-locked it.

So, we have to pick it first. Yuel concluded. I’m not a fan of picking the Carry so early, but it is what it is.

Yuel selected Elf and moved on. With this one pick, he both secured a strong class for Lars and also denied the enemy one of their main classes, killing two birds with one stone.

This pick should royally screw Merlin in Bot, right?

But wait, what if Merlin plays Mid, after all? Yuel felt paranoia creeping up on him. I can’t shake the feeling that something is off. Cato is being way too obvious with their plans so far. It reeks like a trap.

The Leopards’ bans and first pick - everything strongly suggested that they were going to use their second formation in this game. It was so obvious that it felt wrong.

The element of surprise was supposed to be one of the main points selling points of using a different formation. Cato should’ve tried to confuse Yuel and keep him guessing until the very last moment.

Yet, right now, Cato was shoving the answer right in Yuel’s face. Why?

Is he playing mind games? I wouldn’t put it past him. Yuel frowned as he recalled a few replays he watched of Cato’s chess. The lunatic liked making some head-scratching moves, apparently for the sole purpose of messing with his opponents.

At least, I couldn’t figure out the point of these moves. Yuel shrugged. Anyway, these overly obvious picks and bans are either another Cato moment, or they might be a legit trap.

As such, the possibility of the Leopards pulling a switcheroo and using the previous formation wasn’t entirely off the table yet. So, there was a chance that Merlin will be playing in Mid again.

“Kai, I forgot to ask. What was your impression of Merlin’s Sorcerer? Was he strong?”

“Nah, a total scrub.”

“Really now…” Yuel made a face.

“Heh, just pulling your leg.” Kai chuckled. This was a competitive stage, so nobody here was a “scrub”. She learned that the hard way in the previous scrimmage.

“He did alright with Sorcerer.” Kai shrugged. “Honestly, it’s a little hard to judge his performance because we had such a strong start. He had to play from behind pretty much the entire time, but he hung in there.”

“How would you say his Sorcerer compares to his Aeromancer and Warlock?”

“Well, I didn’t play his Warlock,” Kai said. “But, based on the replays, I’d say his Sorcerer isn’t up to par. His Aero and Warlock looked more airtight.”

“I see.”

This answer was in line with Yuel’s impression as well. Merlin seemed like the type to focus on very specific classes and play only those, over and over and over. In Mid he mained Warlock and in Bot it was Elf. These must’ve been his best classes. Every other class lagged in comparison.

"Kai, what do you say about picking Sorcerer in this game?" Yuel asked.

"Sure, that works. Are you trying to counter Merlin some more?"

"Yes, that's the idea,” Yuel said. “I want to see how much we can corner him. Maybe at some point, he’ll be forced to pick a class he’s terrible with."

"Sounds like wishful thinking if you ask me," Kai said. "But, I'm in. Let's see what he picks next."

"That’s provided he's going to play in Mid this game."

"Oh!" Vincent exclaimed. "So, you suppose it's time for our opponents to unleash their second form!? To shuffle their entire roster and force us to re-learn the match-up from scratch!?"

"Yes, now would be a good time for them to do it," Yuel said. "They lost the previous game, so they probably want to switch things up."

"Indeed, indeed.” Vincent nodded. “Right now, they must be feeling frustrated that their original formation failed them, therefore they choose to evolve to the next stage!"

"I wouldn't go as far as saying that it ‘failed’ them, but I'm sure it showed them the limits of that formation against us. It's their other formation that I'm most wary of."

The Leopards’ first formation was very defensive across the board. The team’s only two aggressive players, AbsoluteWinner and AbsoluteChalleneger, were both stuck in Bot, so they couldn't extend their aggression to other lanes that easily.

That formation was very effective against teams with weak Bot duos. In matches like that, the "Absolute Duo" steamrolled the competition and easily gained an early lead in Bot. From there, the duo often went for strong pushes that swung the entire game in the Leopards’ favor.

Fortunately, this formation wasn’t that ineffective against Stratus. Yuel and Lars were more than capable of fending off the “Absolute Duo”.

It’s interesting, actually. Yuel thought. They knew what we are capable of, yet they still chose to start with that formation first. Maybe they were just testing the waters? If so, with this game, the match begins for real now.

With that in mind, Yuel had to adjust the team’s lineup accordingly...