novelraw Chapter 191 : What's the Big Deal About Scrims?
Chapter 191 : What's the Big Deal About Scrims?
What's the Big Deal About Scrims?
Late night.
After the group drawing for CrazySmurf's group stage had ended, the Mystic League community began to flood with far more posts than usual.
[Money Damas advances to playoffs!]
[Group A is totally screwed, lololol]
[Is this the tournament where the qualifiers are more fun than the main event!?]
[Honestly, should we suspect this whole thing is rigged?]
It was thanks to the fans of each participating team gathering in one place. Even though the regular matches hadn't even started, fans were already making predictions about which teams would make the playoffs just by looking at the tournament bracket.
However, such prediction posts died down quickly.
[To be honest, there's been so much shake-up this time that it's impossible to predict.]
[For real, lol, besides Money Damas, I really have no idea.]
[We'll have to watch the scrims first before judging!]
[You can't skip Group A's scrim, lololol]
It was because there wasn't enough data to make predictions. So, the community's interest shifted to the upcoming practice matches—scrims.
Along with this, discussions that occurred during every tournament resurfaced.
[Shouldn't they just do as many scrims as possible?]
[No, lol, the right way is to do as few scrims as possible!]
It was the perennial debate about the appropriate number of scrims.
This was not only a hot topic among amateur competitions—whenever pro tournaments were held, the issue of scrim frequency always dominated community discussions.
[EU: scrim as much as possible (999+)]
Among them, a post favoring "the more scrims, the better"—the all-in camp—quickly rose to the top.
[Wow, lol, honestly it's ridiculous I even have to explain this
But since there are so many newbies, I'll try to be as nice as possible
Q1. Why do scrims exist in the first place?
First, you need to understand why we scrim to accept why more is better, right?
The most important thing about scrims is that both teams can get 'familiar' with each other.
Why? Because playing head-to-head is completely different from just watching broadcasts.
If you play without any scrims, the game can end up flat because teams can't adapt.
And then the organizers, the teams—and f***, even us viewers, are left dumbfounded!
To prevent this kind of disaster, scrims are a must.
Q2. So what's the point of getting 'familiar'?
Honestly, if you got it from Q1 you shouldn't need Q2, lol
But let me write it out anyway, just in case.
There's an English proverb:
'Practice makes perfect'
I translated it for you, OK?
The more scrims teams play, the better they figure each other out.
So the chance of 'mistakes' goes down.
And with fewer mistakes, isn't that a real 'skill' showdown?
From our perspective too, a game is cleanest when both sides make no mistakes.
If my team makes a mistake? Annoying as hell! They're good and yet I get pissed anyway.
But if the other team slips up?
Then some dude starts going, 'That was just a mistake, not their real skill~' and that's even more aggravating!
So for everyone's sake, lots of scrims are good, OK?]
[-Clean summary, thumbs up]
[-Legendary, finally someone who knows their stuff]
[-Exactly, this is right]
[-Idiots create haters, that's all I'm saying]
[-No joke, sometimes the entire fandom just gets disgusting]
[-Isn't Godple already perfect without practice?]
[-Ah, because that's 'perfect-perfect']
[-What's a double perfect, lololol]
But if that post alone could settle things, it wouldn't be a topic of debate at all.
[Is doing lots of scrims good? Total BS. (999+)]
On the other hand, the "minimalist" camp that argues fewer scrims are better also gathered support and trended.
[LOL at pretending to be a know-it-all.
I won't even call out your tone, though it's already cringy.
Why? Because people are going to read your post and just parrot it back anyway, acting like they get it.
Q1. You call it a skill game only if teams get 'familiar'?
〈If there are fewer mistakes, it's a real 'skill' battle, right?〉
I just straight-up copy-pasted. FFS.
Reading this, my sanity almost left the building—I nearly reported it to the police, lolol
Which tournament says mistakes don't count as part of skill? Of course mistakes are part of the game!
〈'Practice makes perfect'〉
All they did was translate a single sentence and played like it was a big reveal, lol.
Sure, practicing hard to reduce mistakes is good. That's fair.
But that's talking about personal practice, fFS!
Have you ever seen a player ask the opposing team, 'Let's practice to cut down on mistakes together'?
Mistakes during matches are also the players' skill, including the prowess of the team leader, coach, or the director.
Understand?
Q2. So why do as few scrims as possible?
It's crazy how you only talk about what's in your favor and skip over all the downsides.
Saying teams need to get familiar with each other through scrims because it's different than just watching? Let's even say that's right.
But is it just the players getting familiar?
It's a team game. A team game!
Teamwork and strategy are obviously important too, right?
The more scrims, the more each side exposes their strategies and response plans—how does that make it a true battle of skill?
If you knew how much effort team leaders put into ban-picks, you wouldn't want too many scrims!
And here's what's really wild.
Once strategies are exposed, then everything is up to individual mechanics. What is this, mystic League where one player just solos everyone? If mechanics were all that mattered, why even bother with strategy?
Man, stuff like this being called 'know-it-all' makes my brain hurt.]
[-Rebuttal, lol]
[-YES! This is what I'm talking about]
[-Wow, felt like I was writing this myself]
[-No joke, this covers everything I wanted to say]
[-Of course people agree with that, they've never had to sweat over strategy]
With the heated exchanges, the community caught fire.
[If you don't expose your strats, there can't be any twists, fFS]
[Worried about players thinking too much, so you just don't practice?]
[You have to stress over it for epic matches to happen, right?]
[Honestly, as a viewer, the more I get to watch, the better!]
With every burst of posts on one side...
[If you want tons of matches, just watch more streams, lol]
[Don't you want to see games that are different from 'normal' during tournaments?]
[You get surprise matches only with less strategy exposure!]
[Can't underestimate teams that panic after scrim results]
It would be met with another burst from the other side. Shockingly, that was just the mainstream. Within each team's fandom, opinions were further divided.
[Money Damas has to scrim a lot because everything was open last tournament]
[Meta's different from last season, maybe better to hide strats]
[Caffeine gets better at analysis the more scrims he has, lol]
[LattePro's so experienced the other side might try bluffing?]
[Still, plus Alpha is a rookie, so they'd better hide everything]
[On the other hand, the best move as a rookie is to limit strats and force a mechanics duel]
So even though debates burned within every team's fandom...
There was one team whose vibe was utterly different.
[Why is the community acting like this?]
[Is the number of scrims that important?]
[When's PerG-Day's schedule coming out?]
The PerG-Day fans were peaceful, almost as if the saying "watching a fire from across the river" had come to life.
And there was one reason for this.
[It's only because other teams can't scientifically guarantee a win, lol]
[Don't you know Uhwooper?]
[As long as Godple is calling the shots, they win. That's it.]
It was because of their overwhelming faith in PerG-Day's victory, and above all, in Lee Gyeongbok's abilities.
[Still, it seems better not to do too many]
[Godple and Ecl don't have much experience, so they have fewer champion options]
[Yeah, just look over the rivals and call it a day]
Even when posts debating scrim numbers went up...
[Doesn't really matter if we do a lot, lol]
[For real, guess we're just in for another legendary match?]
[From a viewer's perspective, anyway, it's all good!]
Not having any worries, everyone stayed lighthearted.
And above all, they all knew exactly what their place was as 'viewers.'
[Do you think community bickering changes anything?]
[Team leaders will make the call anyway, lol]
[Is debating like this even fun?]
[???: Winning is fun.]
[Lol, all Purple viewers care about is seeing wins, right?]
And so, in that peaceful atmosphere...
[Oh! The schedule's out!]
[No way, lol, it's already tomorrow!?]
[Hyped for sweet rocket-fast matches, love it, lol]
The news they'd been waiting for finally dropped.
* * *
The next day, late afternoon.
PerG-Day's first scrim stream was about to begin. The broadcast wasn't even live and the waiting room count had already passed 30,000.
― Woah! Over 30,000!
― Seriously, why are there so many people? LOL
― Probably because it's the earliest scrim in all of Group 4?
Fans of not only PerG-Day, but also rival teams joined to size up the competition.
― Lots of accounts without subscription badges
― What gives? Are those foreigners?
― So not subscribing makes you an outsider now, lolol
― Scouts reporting in!
― LattePro fans, hands up!
The opponent for this scrim was 'Plus Alpha'. Most of the influx was made up of fans from the next scrim opponent, team LattePro.
― But there aren't any real foreigners, huh?
― Isn't that because Godple put language restrictions?'
― Maybe they could only join yesterday's drawing stream? Kinda unfortunate, lol
― Oh? What's that?
― Riot Games official channel just went live?
― Huh? The official channel is streaming this?
― Wait what? No broadcast from here?
― Not Korea, the North America channel is up
Suddenly there was a report in chat.
It wasn't Riot Games Korea; it was NA headquarters livestreaming the scrim.
― Huh? The main HQ, not Korea?
― What's going on, what's going on?
― Lolol, probably because of all the viewers during the group drawing yesterday
― Wow, so because Godple's channel is hard to access, they opened it to more?
― But it's not translation or interpretation, just the stream?
― They opened it up since it didn't overlap with MCS broadcast, lol
― And you guys understood all that?
― Purple viewers' level is scary high
Listeners who went and checked the channel explained the situation.
So naturally, PerG-Day's fans—and fans of all stripes—were impressed.
― Wow, lol, 15k on the official channel now
― Yeah, those numbers would justify it
― Damn, godple really is world-class
― Caffeine gets some foreigners on his streams too, but only like a thousand or so, lol
Even LattePro's fans couldn't help but marvel.
All attention was soon back on the broadcast as the scheduled time approached and the video changed.
Unlike usual, the scene was the Mystic League scrim lobby.
"Trha! This is Genome, the man who practices at the genetic level!"
"Hello! I'm Pride!"
The two team leaders each greeted the viewers. The chat filled with cheers as the camera panned across both teams' players.
"So Pride, today, we're hosting Group A's first scrim match?"
"That's right. PerG-Day and Plus Alpha, both teams reached this decision after much discussion."
Each took turns speaking, making sure neither hogged the mic.
"Fortunately, there were no serious objections from either side. And so, we both agreed to finish pre-league scrims in a single shot—just one match today!"
― What?
― Only one scrim!?
― Probably because both sides are rookies, lolol
― Good call, otherwise LattePro would benefit by default
― Yeah, but in another sense, this is pretty nuts
― What's so nuts, lololol
There were some murmurs in chat at Genome's words, but no major backlash.
"We moved up the schedule, too. Today will be a best of three, tournament rules."
Nodding to confirm with the Plus Alpha chat, pride agreed.
"We'll both be revealing our hands today, even if it's just for this one match."
"But no matter the result, this isn't the end."
Genome and Pride exchanged confident smiles, looking each other in the eye.
"The real showdown..."
"...will be settled in the main tournament!"
The two then turned toward their respective teammates.
― PerG-Day! PerG-Day! PerG-Day!
― Uhwooper is Science!
― What is science?
― LOL, is all of science just Uhwooper now?
― Legendary ON!
Genome checked the chat, then let out a light breath and looked at his team.
Skullkim and Bakjapcho looked a bit tense, but the other two were as relaxed as ever.
[The opposing team has banned the champion 'Yami' from the battlefield.]
Before he could even continue, the result popped up.
Plus Alpha, starting the ban phase, locked in 'Yami' as their first ban.
― Obviously, this is the only choice
― If Godple gets Perfect Yami, it's over, lol
― To be honest, perfect Yami is busted
― Any team, even LattePro, would ban this
Both the viewers and the PerG-Day team saw this coming.
"As expected, yami is first."
"Let's just go with the plan we discussed."
PerG-Day also had their preset ban list. Genome immediately banned Pride's main champion, the assassin Zen.
― PerG-Day is going with a textbook ban, lol
― If Pride grabs Zen, it's pretty crazy
― Knew the first ban would happen, for real
― Spoiler: Next is Barzan
The response was as predicted. Sure enough, just as viewers forecasted, pride banned 'Barzan' next.
Though all of Lee Gyeongbok's main champions were banned, viewers delighted in the situation.
― Lol, stop spoiling the bans!
― Gotta banlock Godple, always, lol
― Fact: Even Purple viewers wanted this.
― Busted...
― Godple's third favorite champ? Gotta see that!
Lee Gyeongbok chuckled after seeing the chat. Genome exchanged glances with his teammates and nodded.
The ban-pick was progressing exactly as expected.
His next ban was Pride's second main AD Carry, the marksman K.
― Oh?
― Looks like both sides want to tie down their respective aces before starting!
― Now it gets real, lol
― So who's Plus Alpha going to target next after Godple?
― Who else? Ecl, probably
― Spoiler: Guyen's getting banned
Viewers were full of anticipation.
Each side's first two bans had been predictable, but now the strategies would surface in the third round.
Perhaps for that reason, plus Alpha's next choice took more time than before.
-?
― Not banning Guyen?
― What's going on?
― Maybe they're targeting bot lane?
― If they want to empower Pride, maybe that's it
― Not much time left, huh?
Each pick had a one-minute time limit. If not chosen in time, teams would lose their pick.
With around 10 seconds left, pride locked in the choice.
[The opposing team has banned the champion 'Shaka' from the battlefield.]
Chat filled with question marks.
― Huh?
― Suddenly Shaka?
― Has Godple been practicing Shaka?
― Or did they just randomly pick a jungler?
'Mad Clown' Shaka is a carnivorous jungler. While Lee Gyeongbok could certainly use him as a threat, there were still plenty of other junglers left.
On the surface, it looked like a random choice.
"They must've thought it through."
But Genome immediately understood their intent and explained to his team.
"Shaka is my jungler champion."
Shaka was one of Genome's chief picks as a jungler. Eclipse tilted his head.
"They're targeting you, not the DD? Then why Shaka?"
"Probably to stop a position swap."
Position swap.
Literally, it meant swapping team members' roles fluidly.
― Oh? That makes sense, lol
― Genome jungling with Godple at mid?
― Sure, mid laners can call the shots, after all
― Haha, godple would also destroy if he played mid
Viewers agreed with that logic. Genome darted his eyes around, calculating. As his time ticked down, he made his pick.
"We'll strengthen the bot lane."
His next ban was the opposing support's main champion, the 'Magic Fairy' Lolo.
― Now it's easier for the Golcho duo to do their thing
― Yeah, for this match, how Pride plays bottom will be key
― Should be an easy win, right?
― Isn't the win already a given?
― Did you just question science?
― Do you also believe in a flat earth?
After both teams finished banning, the screen was obscured. Champion picks were set to private to prevent ghosting.
― Will Godple's pick be...!?
― Who's the third Perfect-Revamp subject!?
― What new champion is he going to revolutionize this time!?
― OP? Nope, it's PP: Perfect Powered!
― Lol, that's actually true
While anticipation built, the champion picks concluded.
Everyone's eyes widened.
― What the—?
― Brave? Why Brave?
― Wow, lol, pride's going jungle?
― Position swap scouting paid off
Pride, traditionally a bot lane AD Carry, had picked the jungler 'Gang Boss' Brave.
His original jungle teammate switched to another lane.
They'd prepared this, so Plus Alpha had banned Shaka in case PerG-Day mirrored the strategy.
― Brave is still technically an AD Carry, so he'll do fine...
― So in the main tournament, do you need to use all three bans on Pride?
― Yeah, if you want to fully contain Pride
― Let's see how this goes before deciding
Some chat about this arose, but it quickly faded amid another surprise.
Because something even more astonishing had stolen everyone's attention.
"Never saw that coming..."
Pride muttered, frowning, eyes locked on Lee Gyeongbok—the key danger man.
― LOL, this is too good
― What's he trying to hint at?
― Is this a mind game, or is he for real?
― Whatever it is, it's gonna rock
Viewers were utterly delighted.
Because the champion chosen by Lee Gyeongbok was—
"No way. Didn't think he'd pick Lagnel."
It was Claw Tracker Lagnel, elephant's main champion.
Lee Gyeongbok met Pride's gaze and smiled leisurely.
'Better the familiar.'
Before every TierOne match, Lee Gyeongbok had practiced against Elephant's Lagnel to help Elephant improve.
Just as, through divine energy, he had learned Eclipse's swordplay from EldenSoul—
'Familiar is more comfortable.'
He had mastered Elephant's Lagnel style.
― If Godple plays Lagnel, it's over, lol
― Isn't he just better than Elephant at it?
― Damn, can't miss Perfect-Lagnel!
― Definitely going to be legendary
With eyes set on him, Lee Gyeongbok declared:
"Let's get started."
PerG-Day versus Plus Alpha.
The first game began.