Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

“Alrighty, let’s go!” Lars activated Elven Sight as soon as the minions arrived in the lane. Let’s see what this Korean pro is all about, yo!

Playing a melee class against a ranged marksman was always gonna be kinda wonky, and it was extra hard against Elf who had such an awesome range. So, how was that Korean pro going to handle this challenge!?

There was a chance that this dude would pull off some amazing stunt that’d totally wreck Lars, but he wasn’t scared at all.

Let’s start off with my usual routine. Lars aimed his laser rifle but not at the swordsmen. His target was the bowmen in the back. These squishy dudes had the higher DPS, so he gotta shoot them down first.

Unfortunately, Lars couldn't shoot just these dudes from the front because the swordsmen blocked the path. So, he positioned himself at an angle toward the incoming wave.

It had to be a small angle, about 10 degrees or so. That's because the bigger the angle, the further Lars had to step in to reach the bowmen with his shots.

I remember Yuel said that’s of some triangle rules of something. Lars shrugged. I sure wouldn't know the first thing about proving any of this in geometry class. But, as an experienced shooter, I know this pesky rule like the back of my hand! I'm Pitagolars, yo!

And so, from this position, Lars fired his first shot. ZAP! The laser beam traveled a great distance and pierced through the bowman's head. Bullseye!

Yep, perfect calculation. QED right there, yo. If actual geometry classes were this easy, then Lars would’ve been an honor student ezpz. Alas, his understanding of distances and angles was only within the context of sports and games. Oh well.

Alrighty, another shot- wha!? Just as Lars finished loading his next round, a figure appeared in front of the bowmen he was aiming at! It was none other than Apprentece, the legend himself!

Yo, for real? This dude doesn't fear anything, word. Instead of respecting Lars's great attack range, Apprentece pressed onward as if Lars didn't even exist. I heard dude is cocky and stuff, but this is a whole different level. The thing is, I know he's no amateur, so this might not even be a misplay. Wild.

There were plenty of unfortunate souls in Ranked who underestimated Elf's reach and stepped into Lars's attack range by mistake. Of course, Lars showed these dudes no mercy and barraged them to death. It was the best lesson these dudes could ever get.

But, Apprentece was no such amateur. He clearly knew Lars's range and everything, he even saw it in action just a moment ago. And yet, he willingly stepped in regardless.

What's more, it looked as if dude was doing this very systematically. He approached the minions in such a way that he perfectly blocked the bowmen out of Lars's view. Was that on purpose?

If he was some random dude, I would've thought he stepped into this position by luck. But, this dude is supposed to be pro-level, so he gotta be doing this stuff on purpose, right?

This had to be a calculated move, no question about it. Lars's zoomed-in view was blocked.

Dang, then I'mma shoot one of the other dudes real quick first. Lars shifted his rifle to the left, fired a shot at one of the swordsmen, and then quickly returned his aim to the bowmen.

Dude sure be making my life difficult. Lars shook his head. Did he figure out how to block my line of sight after seeing me shoot just one round? That's some super mega ultra-advanced tech, yo! This gotta be some known anti-Elf strat that I'm not familiar with.

As expected, a Korean pro would know something niche like that. This dude must have trained under the world's best, so his knowledge gonna be top-notch for sure!

But, I feel like there's one thing they forgot to teach him in Korea: the legend of the Gungnir Sniper! ZAP! Lars fired a shot even though the Orc was supposed to be blocking his view.

The laser beam flew closer and closer to the Orc. Anybody would say the shot was on its way to hitting Appretence... but it didn’t!

The beam ALMOST grazed the dude as it passed over his shoulder. It kept flying toward the backline and struck one of the bowmen. Headshot, yo!

Ez game! Lars smiled confidently. I can do this all day. Your pro Korean tactics got nothing on my 200% accuracy!

That shot was perfectly placed, with at least 200% accuracy if not twice that. It was bound to impress even this Korean pro!

He landed it, huh. Jin found himself mildly impressed with that shot. That laser beam cut it very close, so much so that even Jin was convinced the shot would hit him. However, it didn't.

The beam just barely avoided grazing his shoulder. At first glance, it looked as if the shot was aimed at Jin and missed him by a tiny margin. But no, that beam wasn't directed at Jin at all. Instead, it cleanly hit one of the bowmen in the back, and it scored a headshot to boot.

What a showoff. Jin scoffed. You’re not a Gunslinger, so you don’t get any bonuses for headshots. You’re just running the risk of missing shots for no good reason.

Landing headshots at any opportunity seemed like Gunz’s signature. It was as impressive as it was dumb and risky.

But yes, I’m starting to see why everybody is making a fuss about this guy. Jin admitted. Now that I saw how he dealt with my counterplay, I can agree that this guy is a rather advanced mechanical monkey.

Most sensible Elf opponents would’ve switched their focus to the swordsmen. However, Gunz stuck to his guns and overpowered Jin’s tactic with sheer skill.

What’s more, Gunz chose the perfect timing to deliver that shot. Jin was exactly in the middle of swinging his sledgehammer at the time, so he was a static target that couldn’t move unexpectedly. The angle, distance, and timing of Gunz’s shot were top-notch.

I can see this level of execution shocking the lazy western players, but I’ve run into more than enough mechanically skilled players like that in Korea. Jin recollected. In fact, over there, this level of execution wasn’t even considered that impressive. Everybody was expected to polish their mechanical skill to perfection regardless of their innate talent. Some just had an easier time doing that than others, that’s all.

Talent was a great booster but there was no substitute for hard work and a consistent training regime. As long as the player practiced the right thing on a regular basis, they were bound to reach a skill level that wasn’t that far below Gunz’s.

I’m sure everybody here thinks I’m also some incredibly “talented” player when in reality it’s all practice. Lots, and lots, and lots of practice.

The same must’ve applied to Gunz as well. He possessed innate talent, but he surely also had to practice these snipes a lot in order to master them to this extent.

It was actually a bit impressive to run into a middle schooler over here who possessed such a high level of execution. Until now, Jin was certain that only pros had any execution to speak of in the West.

With that said, maybe it was too early to praise Gunz for just one accurate shot.

It might’ve been a fluke. I wonder, can he do it twice in a row? Jin swung his sledgehammer once again, giving his opponent another opportunity to shoot.

ZAP! A laser beam came out immediately. Once again, the shot headed straight toward Jin, yet it missed him ever so slightly.

Instead, the beam went on to hit a bowman. And, it was a headshot yet again.

Alright, he seems like the real deal. Jin conceded. But, he’s not using the quickscoping tech, so there’s a simple way to counter him.

Ideally, Jin wanted to advance past the enemy frontline and wipe out the bowmen at the back. However, if he moves any further into enemy territory, he’ll no longer be able to block Gunz’s line of sight. That’ll make it too easy for Gunz to continue sniping Jin’s bowmen. It wasn’t acceptable.

I’d still win the overall exchange even then, but he’ll take out most of my bowmen if I allow this. If that happens, I won’t be able to push hard after that.

Jin didn’t want to compromise on anything. He wanted to both eliminate the enemy bowmen and continue blocking Gunz’s line of sight. But, was there any line of play that could satisfy both conditions at the same time?

The answer was very simple, actually. Jin just had to get hit by one of Gunz’s shots. Once that happens, his swordsmen will start advancing on Gunz and the enemy swordsmen will have to chase them.

If Jin arranges the entire scene optimally, then the positions of the enemy swordsmen and bowmen will overlap at some point. Then, Jin will be able to hit the enemy’s entire brigade with his sledgehammer swings.

But to begin any of this, Jin first had to get hit by one of these clean snipes. Was it even possible to achieve that as long as Gunz was firing his beams with near-perfect timing and accuracy...?