The sed game began. Naturally, everybody in StormBlitz was a little on edge this time around, given how the previous game pyed out.

  “Make sure you stick together more than usual in the opening,” Howard said. “I know this isn’t an ideal arra for pg wards around the jungle, but better safe than sorry.”

  Even though Vampire didn’t have the same explosive early game as Werewolf, Howard still refused to let his guard down. The previous game taught him to never EVER uimate Rosemary’s ability.

  In some ways, she reminds me of Yuel’s shenanigans. Howard thought. But, she’s also very different, too. She’s more… methodical, I guess?

  Rosemary pulled off some very aggressive pys that could’ve easily e across as “cocky” or “risky”, but in practice, they weren’t. She simply found niche opportuo g pys and exploited them effitly.

  Yuel is the type to shoot for these kinds of pys evehere’s risk, but Rosemary? Not so much. Howard analyzed. So, unlike Yuel, she won’t try anything crazy so long as we don’t show her any openings. But, I’ve e to realize that’s surprisingly easier said than done against her…

  Howard always made sure his team didn’t leave any openings for the eo exploit. heless, Rosemary mao wiggle her way into the few tiny cracks Howard failed to cover. It was holy quite astonishing.

  Even the Leopards couldn’t do anything like that, except for their Korean trump card. But, that guy is a walking cheat engine, so we don’t talk about that.

  The scrim against the Leopards was drawn out because her side mao crack the others’ defense. Yet, Rosemary achieved just that in the very first game of the day. It was unreal.

  It seemed like the "La Princess" niame was more than just a fancy title for the loeer. The girl indeed had talent, and apparently in many different sports, not just Cssmancers.

  If her eeam was full of pyers just as good as her, then I'd be sweating right now. Howard smiled wryly. But, unfortunately for her, the rest of her teammates are nothing to write home about.

  At present, the Valkyries only posed a threat when Rosemary had strong momentum. Without that, the team was nothing.

  And, I'll make sure that’s how things stay. You're not going to get any more snowball opportuoday, “princess”.

  Following Howard's instrus, everybody in StormBlitz stuck close together during the opening. While it was on practice to keep each other at arm's length during the opening, Howard went the extra mile and made everybody travel in pairs.

  This arra was far from optimal from meta perspective because it slowed down the process of warding the juhe opening was supposed to be a brief phase where pyers pced wards a straight to the jungle camps. But here, the pyers had to waste some extra time on grouping up and moving together.

  We have to give up on some of the better warding spots to save time, but I'm fih that. Howard thought. As long as we don't let them gain any momentum then it's our win, easy as that.

  Even if Rosemary pnned any funny business, then this arra would surely kill her pns in their infancy. And indeed, nothing unusual happened in the opening this time around. Everybody fiheir warding, cleared the jungle camps, and headed to their respective nes. So far, there was no sign of Rosemary trying anything funny.

  Let’s keep it that way. Howard asserted. I guess we’re going to py today a little more defehan I inally pnned, but that's fine. As long as it s us ving wins, then it's all good.

  Frankly, Howard had very different pns for today. He saw this scrim as an opportunity for StormBlitz to practie offense for a ge, seeing as their oppos were "amateurs". In particur, he wao use this occasion as an opportunity for Julia to gain more on-stage experience.

  As, Rosemary shut the door on that pn. She forced StormBlitz to take the game 100% seriously and stick to their usual defensive pystyle. It was a bit unfortunate.

  Following that mi, Howard stantly instructed his troops on how to best reinforce their defehroughout the game. He had no iion of leaving even the smallest cra the team’s formation this time around.

  "Roi, retreat to the tower," Howard ordered. "Their Jungler might be ing over there."

  "Gotcha!" Roi did as instructed a back to his side of the ne. He was gonna lose on some precious farm but it was way better thaing his ass ganked, lol.

  A few moments ter, a ward revealed Rosemary passing through the upper parts of Top Ju really looked like she nning to gank Top, but as, the opportunity was denied.

  The question is, what will she do ? Howard wondered. She seems like the type who tries to capitalize on every little opportunity to the fullest. When things don't go her way, she just finds something else to take advantage of.

  Rosemary was an absurdly effit Jungler in that se always felt like she ed orong py into another, aking a break.

  So, is she going to steal the wolves ? Howard wondered. She’s already e this far for the gank, so I'm sure she wants to put her current position to good use.

  In fact, it wasn't an exaggeration to assume that Rosemary chose this particur time to gank because the Wolf Camp was about to respawn. She probably had a ward around the camp to keep track of the respawn timing.

  Hmm. I tell Roi to go over there and zone her out. Howard thought. But, is that worth it?

  No, it probably didn't. It would easily develop into a dangerous 1v1, or even a 1v2 if Lady joins the fray in a timely fashion. In fact, Rosemary might be hoping to bait out that kind of defensive shot-call from Howard.

  She's also a chess pyer, right? I've got some experieh those... Howard smiled wryly. These guys think like ten turns ahead. It's hard to keep up.

  Yuel ofte for bait pys like these. He made it seem like there was an obvious ao his attack, only for that ao turn into mispy. This might be one of these occasions, so it was best to keep Roi safe a Rosemary steal that farm untested.

  And ihis safe approach successfully pyed around the enemy's ploy.

  So, they chose not to respond. Fiona cluded after verifying Hitter’s position. The mareated to the tower and stayed there, showing no signs of moving in to protect his Wolf Camp.

  And, their Ninja is in Bot Jungle, so he ot e over here on time, either. Fiona analyzed. So, the camp should be free for the taking.

  And so, Fiona proceeded to sweep the camp. She got to steal some farm and optimize her character's growth, but she was not truly tent with this oute.

  Yet again, I was not able to bait a respo of them. Fiona frowned. It appears they are fully i on pying this round defensively.

  After the previous game, StormBlitz must have had a wake-up call. They realized they could not be careless against Fiona as that would spell their doom. And so, this time around, they prioritized defense over everything else.

  Sihey insist on not giving us any obvious openings, the burden lies on our team to push offense, but…

  So far, none of the nes was able to create the necessary momentum. In Bot, Karen and Lua failed to make a dent in the absolute defense of Aegis and Athena. Meanwhile, in Mid, Andria maintained her typical chill pystyle without trying to press offense.

  As for Top, things were... plicated.

  DarkestCymore