The fifth game between Stratus and the Tycoons began. Each team made one substitution for this final round, though for very different reasons.
"So, it's LegendaryMemer in this round," Nahum said. "It looks like they're underestimating us in this final game."
"I dunno about that," Marim retorted. "These random substitutions between Vanishing and Memer never made any sense to me. I've looked into all the times it happened, and there wasn't any pattern I could figure out."
"Then, you haven't looked hard enough," Nahum argued. "Don't they usually swap her out once she starts underperforming?"
"Yes, that's what historical data suggest." Nahum nodded. "This is why I'm saying this substitution is like an insult. Vanishing has been on-point the entire scrim."
"But, her impact kinda diminished in the last game, didn't it?" Marim asked. "At least, I didn't feel like she was as oppressive before."
"Hrm. Jake, what do you think?" Nahum asked. "You're the one who's keeping track of her, so you should know best."
Jake scratched his head. "What did she even do in the last game, again? Darn it, her actions are so easy to forget for some reason, haha…"
Marim gave him a look. "That's very reassuring to hear from the one who was supposed to keep tabs on her."
"Hey, it's not my fault," Jake argued. "This seems to be a law of physics at this point. Every team so far misplayed against Vanishing at one point or another, so how do you expect us to defy such an axiom?"
"Are you for real?" Marim barely held back the urge to smack the guy. "Countering Vanishing is a simple matter of paying attention, that's all it takes."
"Heh, easier said than done." Jake scoffed. "It might look easy to keep track of her from the side, but it's a lot harder to execute during an active game."
"All I'm hearing is excuses." Marim shrugged. "Anyway, I'm one of those who watched from the side, so I can tell Vanishing wasn't as sharp in the last game. I bet that's the reason they swapped her out."
"Perhaps so," Nahum said. "Either way, this is a chance for us. Now that Stratus is weakened, we can finally calculate the path to victory!"
"Hey, Memer can be dangerous too, you know?" Marim pointed out. "His DK is pretty wild."
"True, and Stratus is the type of team that can build an early-game lineup that synergizes with DK," Nahum added. "So, math and logic suggest they will go with a hyper-aggressive comp this round."
"Yeah, most likely," Marim agreed. "So, we just have to stall them out, right? I mean, if we starve the DK in the early-game, it'll practically become a 5v4."
"Yes, that's the strategy." Nahum nodded. "In fact, we've already discussed plans for this exact scenario during meetings, right? I must say, it feels great when preparations pay off like this!"
Marim shrugged. "You know, you'd experience this kind of catharsis way more often if the club practiced more. You'd be ready to take on anything at any time."
"Hrm. Perhaps so." Nahum didn't deny it. "But, that's asking us to allocate even more of our precious time to a video game. The teachers would hang you for proposing something so outrageous."
"Pft." Marim scoffed. "Who cares what the teachers say? They've got an agenda to push. Never trust these snakes to say anything that'd actually benefit you."
Nahum cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "I'm amazed you haven't been kicked out of school yet."
"Heh, but you know I'm right. The only thing they care about is that your grades don't drop. So, they immediately oppose anything that's fun. They see it as a distraction."
In the teachers' minds, anything that could even remotely hurt a student's grades was no good. And, video games were known for being addictive by design, so many teachers didn't view the Classmancers club in a positive light.
So, to not step on the teachers' toes, the Tycoons historically kept their practice time short. And, at some point, it became a tradition that nobody questioned anymore.
Clearly, this wasn't working for them. The Tycoons remained a bottom-feeding team for all these years, only a tiny bit better than the old Stratus. And now that Stratus seriously upped its game, the Tycoons have become the new F-tier team of the region.
"If you wanna win, you've gotta practice," Marim said matter-of-factly. "Look at Status, for example. Do you think they reached that level by practicing 4 hours a week?"
"Hrm. Most likely not," Nahum conceded. "Judging by how polished their skills are, as well as the fact that they went toe-to-toe with the Leopards, the only reasonable conclusion is that they practice quite extensively."
"Right? So, we'd better do the same if we ever want to take it to the next level."
"A logical statement," Nahum said. "But, unlike them, we don't have as much luxury time. The education in our school is on a whole other level. We must work that much harder than others to keep the grades up."
"Do we? I've never felt that way."
"Yes, because you're an outliner..." Nahum grimaced as he said that, and the rest of the club members expressed similar disdain. After all, how could they not? Marim was a huge anomaly, a lawless rogue.
While everybody else was studying hard to excel in academics and secure a successful future, Marim was just goofing about. Yet, somehow, her grades kept up with the others'. She wasn't exactly the crème de la crème, but she nonetheless belonged to the upper echelon of students. It defied logic. It was like witchcraft.
And now, this witch was whispering poison into their ears. "It's pretty dang sad, honestly. The school brainwashed ya'll into thinking that grades are the most important thing in life."
"Because they are," Nahum asserted. "They're the pathway to getting accepted into a prestigious high school."
"And what do you need that for?"
"Hmph, isn't it obvious?" Nahum sneered. "Good grades in a highly regarded high school are like a free ticket to a high-profile university."
"Okay. And what are you gonna go to university for?"
"Seriously? Such nonsensical questions." Nahum shook his head. "Once I finish an academic degree with excellence, I can aim for the best jobs out there."
"Hah." Marim spat a sigh. "So, you're basically gonna enslave yourself to studying for the next 6+ years. Sounds super fun."
"You may not like it, but this is the necessary procedure for securing a successful future," Nahum asserted. "As you say, we don't take Mancers as seriously as some other teams do. But, those teams don't take their studies as seriously as we do. So, it's just a difference in life priorities."
"I guess so." Marim shrugged. She didn't have anything snarky to say about this except that it was lame. Like, where was the fun in becoming a boring nerd like that?
Nah, I wouldn't be able to live like that, no thank you. Marim thought. If I'm not having fun doing something, then there's no way I'll ever excel at it anyway.
All that crap about "working hard" only had meaning when the person was actually passionate about what they were doing. If they merely followed the system's orders without a lick of motivation, then it was going to be a huge waste of time.
In fact, the same applied to following the meta in Classmancers. Most players who considered themselves "serious" about the game swore by tier lists and followed meta strategies to a T. They expected these "best practices" to win the games for them.
And sure, these methods worked to an extent. They generally directed people in the right direction toward optimal plays.
But anybody who was overly reliant on the meta was eventually going to crash into a wall. Without a genuine passion to improve at the game and to study what makes the meta tick, these sheep had no hope of actually achieving grandeur.
In that sense, I can respect Memer. Marim thought. He purposely chooses off-meta stuff, which is technically a "bad idea". But he sometimes manages to deliver results without having the class to carry him.
Marim herself was no stranger to experimenting with all sorts of odd picks, including Dark Knight. Though in her case, she practiced the DK variant that was actually meta at one point in time. And, actually, it was still decently strong nowadays despite being forgotten by everybody… which sparked an idea!
"Stalling the DK is good and all," Marim said. "But, I have a better plan. Just lemme pick DK before Memer can take it."
Needless to say, this suggestion made many eyebrows rise...