Rise

This game that Legend was playing against KG, it held far more significance than everyone realized. Literally everyone. Analysts, professionals players, shoutcasters, spectators, and even the most erudite of aquatic audiences who watched and argued on streams, all of them believed that Legend would win. Easily. It was a forgone conclusion, so much so that no one had even considered what would happen if they didn’t win. Everyone except for Phoenix. He knew, he’d been thinking about it for a while now. If Legend lost this game, then their last game against Flash suddenly became important again. Because if they lost to Flash, they would end up in a three-way tiebreaker with KG and Flash. All three of them would be at 4 wins and 2 losses. He didn’t want to see that happen. He had to win this game! But that was easier said than done. It was becoming harder and harder to do that with every passing second. He stared at his screen, indecisively considering the possibilities and his next move.

Phoenix hit the Tab key and looked at the score. The Riven had picked up a triple kill and sat at 6/0/0. She was fed. She’d snowballed. There was nothing they could realistically do to stop her, beyond stalling. Sitting in their base and hoping they could hold off long enough to mount a comeback in the super late game. But it didn’t stop there. That last teamfight, one where all of them got killed and KG had gotten an ace, that was where the Riven situation went from just plain bad to a nightmare. Uch… He sighed and rubbed his temples to soothe the pounding headache from this game.

Putting aside the Riven, there was also a fed Tristana. Tristana needed levels and items to become strong. But once she did, she was one of the best carries in the game. The last teamfight had brought her to that point. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, KG also had a Xerath, a mage champion with absurdly long range. Legend’s champions could hide all the way in their fountain and Xerath could still snipe them down with magic from outside their base! And it wasn’t like Legend could dash in and kill KG. The only immobile threat was the Xerath, and he was the weakest of the three carries! Not to mention that Rek’Sai and Thresh. All of the champions KG had picked, their team composition, were ones who scaled hard. The longer the game went on, the more difficult it would get to take them down.

No matter how Phoenix looked at it, his team was losing and he couldn’t think of a single strategy to turn this game around. He shook his head, once, then looked down at his hands. This game was finished. His team had lost, he knew it but he just didn’t want to admit it. There’s gotta be something we can do! But there wasn’t. The only way Legend could win was if KG miraculously decided to surrender for some unknowable reason. Anything short of that, the game would end in a victory for KG. KG had beaten them.

Phoenix bit on his lips and focused back on the game. He wouldn’t give up, not until Legend’s Nexus exploded! He would fight and do everything he could to turn this game around. Not everything was lost! They were still playing the game! Anything could happen! Maybe KG would screw up like they’d done only a week ago! That would see Legend pull out an easy victory. He didn’t care how small the chance of that was, just that there was a chance. And as long as there was a chance, he would fight. He would give it everything he had and play to win!

✹

On Summoner’s Rift, Legend held on for dear life. They wouldn’t give up, even after losing the big teamfight at 15 minutes. Their towers fell and they lost control over the map and the pace of the game, but they were holding on. They stopped giving away kills and played completely on the defensive. All they had to do was drag this game out. Get to the super late game where every Champion hit the maximum level of 18 and the 6 items their inventories could hold. But they couldn’t. KG’s advantage was too big. God Roundy split pushed on his Riven and took down the inhibitor in top lane at 31 minutes. Their base was broken open. The game was lost. Phoenix knew it. All of Legend knew it. In their desperation, they went for one more teamfight. Dragon had just spawned, so they rushed over the map, through an ocean of KG’s wards, to fight for this objective and try to win something.

KG saw Legend running towards the Dragon pit. One final attempt of desperation. They wouldn’t let it happen! This game was theirs, and this Dragon would also be theirs! They rushed towards the Dragon pit and gathered in the river brush right above the alcove. Legend had it warded. KG knew this, but didn’t care. Legend didn’t seem to care either as they tried to take the Dragon down, standing practically on top of each other.

Tian Tian was the first to move. He dashed forward–Valor!–and then flashed. His Riven reappeared in the middle of Legend’s team. She raised her sword up in the air and let out a shout, a green shockwave erupting out around her–Ki Burst! She landed a perfect five man stun. A green energy wrapped around her sword and she started lashing out with a series of strikes–Broken Wings!