Chapter 72

### Chapter 72: Placement Matches

* * *

For every League of Legends player, or more precisely, for those who aim to climb the ranks, there comes a moment that cannot be avoided, a very important moment.

At that moment, some people laugh,

and others cry.

People liken this moment, which can make one feel like they have bipolar disorder, to an important exam that comes once a year.

It's called a placement match.

From now on, I would have to face this important exam, which would determine the direction of my future game performance.

Of course, some might say that placement matches are not that important.

After all, as the number of games increases, one's rank tends to stabilize.

However,

that's only when playing League of Legends casually.

My goal is to become a pro.

Therefore, the higher the rank, the better, and the time it takes to achieve this can be significantly shortened or extended depending on the placement match.

If I were to have an accident during the placement match, my journey to the upper ranks could become infinitely longer.

'I won't take it lightly.'

[Game found!]

[Accept / Decline]

The real placement match began.

*

───────────────

Outlaw has joined the lobby.

Lulululululul has joined the lobby.

TopIsVegetable has joined the lobby.

SY Gosu has joined the lobby.

Agalhamteulbarara has joined the lobby.

───────────────

The first placement match.

The moment I had been waiting for arrived.

'AD Carry.'

I was assigned the AD Carry role from the very first game.

I had set my main position as Jungle and my secondary position as "Any," which led to this outcome.

'Surprising.'

Usually, when you queue with [Jungle/Any], you end up as Jungle or Support.

I had set my position without much thought, never expecting to be assigned AD Carry in the first placement match.

'Well, it doesn't matter.'

Originally, AD Carry was the position I was least confident in.

I had a decent understanding of the champions used in Top and Mid, and my line control was not bad.

Support was also not bad because the role itself shares some similarities with the Jungle.

The problem was with AD Carry.

A relatively unfamiliar position, with requirements that are almost the opposite of the Jungle.

Naturally, I, who was far from being good at physical champions, was not good at AD Carry.

Or rather, I wasn't good at it.

'But that's different now.'

My struggle with AD Carry was a thing of the distant past.

Now? I'm just good at League of Legends, regardless of the position.

It might sound a bit arrogant, but it's true.

[Ezreal]

I quietly selected Ezreal's portrait.

Ezreal is the champion most often chosen by players who are not AD Carries but are assigned to the AD Carry role, and it was the same for me.

Even if you are confident in AD Carry, champion mastery is a different story.

'And Ezreal is also the most fun to play.'

Ezreal's feel, especially after the mid-game 2-core, is one of the charms that draws non-AD Carry players to the AD Carry role.

In fact, one of the reasons I chose "Any" was that I wanted to play various champions.

As the ban/pick phase progressed,

[Agalhamteulbarara: 3rd pick, alt account?]

[Agalhamteulbarara: Going Jungle?]

...Oh.

Actually, this is not uncommon.

As mentioned earlier, the placement match is one of the most important exams for League of Legends players, alongside promotion matches.

Naturally, players take it seriously.

This kind of "not really a concession" is one of the characteristics of players who are desperate for victory.

They don't hesitate to ride the bus of a teammate they suspect is an alt account for the sake of victory.

[Outlaw: I'm fine with any role.]

It wouldn't be right to refuse such a heartfelt request to ride the bus.

[Agalhamteulbarara: OK, let's go Jungle.]

Well, these are the same people who, if I perform poorly in-game, will send a chat like "I should have gone Jungle."

'I don't plan to let that happen.'

The game started.

.

.

.

[Victory]

Perhaps because I had been playing dynamic games, the difficulty of my first placement match was extremely easy.

[Agalhamteulbarara: Giving Jungle is a good judgment, right?]

[Lulululululul: Wow, thanks for carrying.]

[SY Gosu: Playing the game alone, huh;;]

[JinxJinxJinx11: Our Jungle is so OP, it's disgusting.]

[AmYolManTaraTara: Alt account?]

[wqe8jqw5irt: Proxy is dirty.]

I received praise from both my teammates and the enemy team as I left the lobby.

Of course, it was to be expected.

From the enemy team's perspective, it must have felt like being hit by a truck out of nowhere.

'This was easier than I thought.'

Upon reflection, it was only natural.

The temporary tier I was assigned after my first placement match victory was Gold 3.

Considering that the general game environment I had been in was extremely difficult, with a team of five SY players, it was like heaven.

'Well, for a first placement match without any previous record, this is a good start.'

On average, the temporary tier assigned to alt accounts for the first placement match is Silver, based on a win.

This is the result of what people generally call "farming," where they play AI matches and general games simultaneously.

In that sense, my first temporary tier being Gold 3 meant that my 100% win rate in general games had a significant impact on my placement match.

'If I win all 9 remaining games... I'll at least reach Platinum.'

Considering that the games in the Platinum and below tiers are particularly difficult when building an alt account, this was a very good start.

In any tier, but especially in the Silver and Gold tiers, the free channel is a mix of all kinds of players, to the point where it's jokingly called the "free channel."

Alt accounts, proxies, trolls, and so on...

If possible, it's best to quickly pass through or avoid these tiers altogether.

[Game found!]

[Accept / Decline]

The placement matches continued.

[Victory]

[Victory]

.

.

.

[Victory]

Winning, winning, and winning again.

+

[Outlaw]

Solo Queue

­ Unranked

­ 7 Wins 0 Losses

­ Win Rate 100%

+

The record was now 7 wins and 0 losses.

The temporary tier was Platinum 3 with 12 points.

Of course, this was partly due to the fact that I had learned how to win in the general game, a notoriously difficult phase.

In short, in the lower tiers, growth-oriented champions are much more efficient for winning than snowballing champions like Elise.

While the end result may be the same, the difficulty of the process to get there is different.

Among these, the champion I particularly enjoyed was, of course, 'that champion.'

[Master Yi]

From a jungler's perspective, Master Yi is a very attractive and simultaneously awkward champion to face.

He fits the role of a champion that makes "chun" (a Korean onomatopoeia for a sound) sounds, but if he stumbles in the composition or grows for some reason in-game, he can transform into a killing machine.

There are similar champions like Rek'Sai and Kassadin, but Master Yi is much more extreme.

Although the risk is much greater compared to these two champions, his destructive power under certain conditions is almost that of a god-tier champion.

'There are many reasons... but the biggest reason is that it's fun.'

Eventually, Master Yi is a champion that becomes less useful as you reach higher tiers, so I decided to enjoy him while I could.

­Enemy eliminated!

­Embodiment of the battlefield!

I felt a similar emotion to when I first played League of Legends, as I massacred the enemy.

*

8 wins, 0 losses.

The tier was Platinum 2.

I wanted to finish the placement matches on the first day, but I also believed that physical condition is part of skill, so I decided to stop.

Lying on the bed, I checked the community on my smartphone, but there was no mention of Outlaw.

'Well.'

No matter how high the win rate, it's just a general account that hasn't even finished the placement matches yet.

It would be strange if it were mentioned.

'I thought someone might be looking into it... but it was just a worry.'

I felt a mix of relief and disappointment, a very strange feeling.

Is this why women's hearts are compared to reeds?

"...What."

It was a strange feeling to gradually understand something that I didn't need to know.

While aimlessly browsing the community, I noticed that mentions of Prisoner had decreased recently.

'Oh, right...'

The only event that could have reduced the mentions of Prisoner, who had dominated the community for the past few months, was one thing.

­League of Legends Champions Korea, Spring Season begins on the 15th.

­The opening match is SY vs SCV, a big match from the start.

The season had begun.

* * *