The jungle camps were about to spawn. With AbsoluteChallenger at 20% HP, the guy was bound to recall to base because he was just one Dark Blast away from dying.

Or, maybe he’ll be reckless again? Perhaps he’ll stay behind to farm the Ogre Camp despite the danger?

Either scenario works in our favor. Yuel thought. But, knowing Cato, he must’ve issued an immediate recall. So, we likely won’t be getting any kills here. Still, we can steal the Ogre Camp very easily.

He instructed the striking team accordingly. And so, the operation began.

Lars, Kai, and Luke grouped up and dived deep into enemy territory together. Their destination was none other than the enemy’s Ogre Camp.

“Them dudes are still here, yo,” Lars reported. “But, like ya said, I really don’t see the Cryo dude anywhere. Looks like he recalled.”

“Figured.” Yuel nodded. “So, attack the Ogre Camp as planned.”

“Okey-dokey!”

“Let’s do dis, boiiiis!” Luke and Lars ran up ahead, with Kai carefully following them from behind as the rearguard. Even though they were the aggressors, Yuel made sure they maintained a careful formation, just in case.

It’s unlikely for Cato to try anything here, but we have to be on guard. Yuel thought. He might choose to rotate from Top in order to help out. After all, getting the red buff for Mid is more important than getting the blue buff for Top.

Nonetheless, it was doubtful that Cato would make any drastic moves here. The guy was all about maintaining a clean defensive formation, so he probably won’t go for any moves that’ll make the board messier than it already was.

On the other hand, Yuel was fine with flipping the board on its head and making it as messy as necessary. After all, the meta was just a set of guidelines, not hard rules.

Some situations called for innovation that strayed away from the standard. A good strategist had to recognize such irregular situations and adjust his game plan accordingly.

Though, if I had the choice, then I’d also rather not put myself in irregular situations like this. Yuel thought. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to follow the meta with Luke on the team. Sigh.

The more Yuel practiced with Luke in the club, the more he realized that following the meta wasn’t good enough when Luke was in the lineup. Oftentimes, it was necessary to make some important adjustments and practically build the entire team’s strategy around Luke’s irregular picks.

I even feel like I’ve become pretty good at doing this, as much as I hate to admit it. Yuel consulted many guides online to find the best ways to make use of off-meta Jungle picks. Even though he droned to Luke 24/7 about going meta, Yuel himself actually researched off-meta picks under the assumption that Luke won’t budge on his stance.

Until that blockhead stops being so stubborn, I have no choice but to learn how to make the most out of his memes. Yuel sighed. It’d be ideal if Nia could play an entire match without falling asleep, but she’s a stubborn troublemaker as well. Seriously, why are all our Junglers so cursed...?

Seriously, it was a pain. But, until either of the two brats decides to grow up, it was up to Yuel to make the most of their quirky features.

I’ve played more than enough games with Luke’s Dark Knight, and I’ve researched the pros and cons of it. So, at the very least, this game isn’t going to be a crushing defeat, not under my watch.

In fact, so far, Stratus was off to a great start. They forced AbsoluteChallenger to recall early due to injury, leaving only Merlin and AbsoluteWinner in Bot Jungle

Even better, the enemy duo was composed of Sorcerer and Seraph, two classes that were extremely weak in the early-game. Especially Sorcerer, who couldn’t even put on a fight until hitting Lv. 2.

There’s no way they’ll fight back. Yuel concluded. We can take their Ogre Camp for free without any worries.

And truly, everything went according to plan without a hitch. Lars, Kai, and Luke arrived at the enemy’s Ogre Camp without anybody to contest them.

Merlin and Winner watched this development from the sidelines and then decided to back away. They had no interest in starting a fight with these odds; they were both outnumbered and outpowered.

Instead of contesting the Ogre Camp, Merlin and Winner went separate ways, each headed to their respective lane. This was all the evidence Yuel needed.

“They’re giving up the Ogre Camp,” Yuel concluded. “Clear it out and give the buff to Kai. Then, Kai should go to Mid while Lars and Luke go to Bot.”

“Oh, we gonna stick together?” Luke asked. “Haha, am I gonna be DK Support now? Cool!”

“Yes, you will be a Support, for like 5 seconds. Clear out the lane, and then both of you should rotate to our Ogre Camp.”

“Oh, I see watcha doing there! Okay, I like this plan!”

And so, the plan was set in motion. The trio assaulted the Ogre Camp and cleared it out almost instantly, largely thanks to Luke’s overwhelming Dark Blast.

Kai took the power buff and headed to Mid Lane. She fearlessly entered the lane through the enemy side of the lane, completely disrespecting the Sorcerer who arrived there before her.

Hmph. Try to hit me if you dare. Kai lifted her chin as she jogged past the Sorcerer. The guy was still Lv. 1, so he wouldn’t dare to pull anything here.

Huh, he hasn’t even cleared any of the minions yet. Kai noticed.

Even though she arrived in the lane a couple of seconds after Merlin has already started farming, all her minions were still intact. Sure, they lost nearly half their HP, most likely from Repelling Force. Nonetheless, they were still very much alive.

Pretty sure I can catch up. Kai fired electric basic attacks at the minions. She hit each of them in order, applying an Electric Charge to each of them. Then, she unleashed Chain Lightning, firing a spear of lightning that pierced through the first swordsman.

From there, the lightning leaped from one minion to another, damaging all of them and applying further Electric Charges. After three bounces, the lightning exploded in the minions’ faces, dealing damage and applying even more Electric Charges.

The swordsman who received the full damage of Chain Lightning’s first attack had already collapsed, and his peers were about to follow suit. In fact, Kai could erase them from existence with a single snap of her fingers by using Electrical Explosion.

I’m SO tempted, but that’d just be a waste of MP. Kai stopped herself at the last moment. Merlin is going to burn lots of his MP by relying on his 3 instead of his 2, so I’ll just save up until he recalls and then go all out.

After leveling Repelling Force, Merlin will surely level up Magia Orb next in order to improve his wave-clearing speed. In other words, in the next wave, he’ll be using Repelling Force once again, which was far more costly than Dimensional Collapse.

These first two waves gonna burn out a big chunk of his MP. Kai concluded. And after that, even once he starts farming normally, he still doesn’t have the power buff.

In other words, Kai was bound to overwhelm that turtle on all fronts. This was going to be easy mode.

That is, unless their damn Jungler shows up again. Kai grumped. Well, we’ll see how it goes.

Either way, Stratus’ successful early invade put Kai in a great position for dominating the lane. She was stronger than her opponent thanks to the power buff, and she’ll also have an easy time being more conservative than her opponent in terms of MP. Basically, she was winning both in terms of strength and endurance.

So c’mon, go ahead and turtle to your heart’s content. Kai smiled confidently as she blasted away the enemy minions. I have so many advantages this time that I can’t even blame you for playing defensively.

While Kai was asserting dominance in Mid, Lars and Luke moved on to Bot Lane together.

All in all, Stratus opened this game in a somewhat unconventional, but definitely dominant, manner. And, with Yuel’s shot-calling, they were only going to keep pressing that advantage further!