Rise

“Orion’s gonna go in right now! I’m telling you, Fatty, he’s going to try something!” Read XIII screamed into his headset. He was still in the QQ call with Tian Tian, watching Lightless’ stream of CN•HOOK2’s final game from the Assassins’ Gaming House in Taiwan.

Tian Tian nodded once before replying with a rare seriousness, “I see it. But I know Lin Feng. And knowing him… he’s probably planning on making a move too! Both Lin Feng and Orion have an opportunity here… The real question is who is going to grasp that chance first.”

Read XIII cleared his throat and grimaced. “Listen to me, Fatty. Assassions has gone up against Warriors plenty of times, I said that already, right? I’ve gone up against Orion enough times to understand him. He’s a rotten bastard and a prick. Out of all the Midlaners I’ve seen, he’s unique. Little shitter has a micropenis and he’s constantly overcompensating for it with aggression. That’s his personality and his playstyle. Just an aggressive asshat.”

The Mid lane was the shortest lane on Summoner’s Rift, and the one with the highest experience because it took less time for the minion waves to arrive. In high ELO games and in professional play, Midlaners almost never attempted taking down their counterparts alone. It was simply too risky. If something went wrong during the engage, or they went in too deep and got flanked by the Jungler who came in for a gank, recovering from that was nigh impossible. The only time a player would attempt to make such a reckless decision is if they had complete and utter confidence in their skills and mechanics.

Orion was a unique Midlaner who possessed both the confidence and recklessness required to attempt a play like that. He was the only one in the current circle of World-class Midlaners would would consistently attempt to solo kill his lane opponent in an evenly matched situation. And shockingly enough, Orion’s success rate at the play was insanely high. He had honed his skills to the point where they compensated for the risk.

The topic had come up in an interview with Orion. His reply was, “What? You think I’m being too aggressive? You wanna know why I play so recklessly? OH! You think it’s risky to go in like that, yes? Haha! Who told you it was risky? One of these analysts that sit around talking about what we do because they figured out they couldn’t play as good? Hahahaha! Listen! Apart from Rake, because he’s just a monster, there ain’t a single Midlaner I can’t win against! It’s not a risk when I know I can win, you feel me?”

That interview summed up everything that went on in Orion’s head during a game. If he decided to go in for the kill, it was because he knew he could get the kill. There was no risk in his mind. And he had justified his supreme confidence on multiple occasions. Even the Moon Emperor had been solo killed by Orion in the past on a few rare occasions.

Tian Tian considered Read XIII’s assessment of Orion for a minute. Then he said, “I-hm. I-I’m not… What I mean is, I don’t know Orion that well. Definitely not as well as you know him. But I know Lin Feng! I believe in Lin Feng! He can take Orion. Back in his prime, when everyone knew the name Maple, Lin Feng wasn’t scared of anyone! He’d always go in for the kill and he’d always get it. Orion might be confident, but Lin Feng is more confident than him! I know this for a fact!”

“Alright, alright, Fatty. Simmer down. I know you believe in Lin Feng. If anyone’s got a shot at taking that arrogant son of a whore Orion down a few pegs, it’s Maple.” Read XIII took a deep breath and then continued, “Zed versus Yasuo. Ninja versus swordsman. Fuck, it’s like I’m watching an old school Japanese film!” He looked at the match-up in mid and muttered, “If those two really are about to go at it soon, we’re gonna be in for one fucking hell of a show!”