Yuel moved on to analyze Nia's performance. "I'll start by saying that in the two games in which you were awake, you played well."
"Oh no…" Nia could already imagine the scary stuff that'll follow this positive opening. The alien robot was going to eat her alive!
"The Leopards were on guard against your playstyle from the get-go," Yuel continued. "But, you still managed to slip past their radars a few times."
"Yeah, but it was really rough," Nia attested. "They were keeping an eye on me 24/7. It's amazing I even got anything done."
"Yes," Yuel agreed, "So, tell me, what did you learn from that experience?"
"Hmm. That I can disappear even against the regional champions?" Nia tilted her head. "Yeah, I guess that felt like the most important revelation."
"Oh, but did you REALLY manage to disappear all by yourself?" Yuel asked. "Or, was it thanks to something else that your vanishing act was a success?"
"It was all me." Nia lifted her chin. "I figured out their wards and stuff."
"True, that was definitely a key ingredient in your success," Yuel agreed. "But, how many times did you really manage to find a good gank opportunity all by yourself?"
"Eh, that's..." Nia hung her head. "Not a whole lot, honestly. I kept lying low, waiting for the right moment, but they just wouldn't let me do anything. Bullies."
"And yet, you managed to get a few successful ganks going, right?" Yuel asked. "Can you explain how you did it and what were the main contributing factors?"
"It was almost always during some complicated situations, right? The target was distracted by something big, so I managed to vanish for long enough to hit them."
"Yes, exactly." Yuel nodded. "So, what did that teach you?"
"That I need to prayge for these kinds of situations to happen a lot, I guess." Nia joined her hands together and started praying to the God of Ganks.
"That's a very passive conclusion you reached there," Yuel said. "It didn't cross your mind that maybe you could try arranging more situations like these by yourself? You shouldn't rely on luck for it."
"Eeeeh?" Nia exclaimed. "No way I can make these 200 IQ situations happen."
"So, you're saying you're fine with not being able to gank strong teams unless you're lucky?"
"No way. I wanna gank them."
"Then, you have to start creating gank opportunities," Yuel said matter-of-factly. "Trust me, the opportunities won't just find you on their own. You're the one who has to search for them."
"Ok, then I'll find them," Nia declared. "Do they have an email address? I'll send them a message."
"It's [email protected]."
"Gufu..." Nia's head dropped. "But wait, you're good at making these kinds of situations happen, right? So, can't you just keep doing that? Pretty please?"
"I can and I will," Yuel said. "But, as the shot-caller, I have to pay close attention to the entire map. I can't always be busy with searching for good opportunities for you specifically."
"Ok, ok." Nia nodded. "So, how much money do you want for the job? I can give you a portion of my lunch money. Only a small portion, though!"
"Are you trying to pass me as some sort of delinquent?" Yuel made a face. "Listen, I understand that being a proactive Jungler is still new for you, and it's not trivial to learn, but there's no way around it. A player like you who lays low and aims to strike during optimal conditions must be a playmaker, there's no other way."
"I don't remember you ever grilling Luke about this," Nia pointed out.
"Because his playstyle is very different from yours," Yuel explained. "He rotates to lanes far more frequently than you do because he doesn't care about disappearing from the enemy's radar. So, he might be getting fewer kills than you do overall, but he's almost always around to lend a hand."
"Tch." Nia pouted. "And here I thought I found a way to wiggle out of this..."
"Well, if you don't want to become a playmaker so badly, then the alternative is to adopt Luke's playstyle of frequent rotations."
"What? To go to lanes all the time? Eeeeeeh..." Nia made a face.
"Yes, I figured that'd be your reaction," Yuel said. "That's why I didn't even suggest it. You specialize in assassinations, and I think it's fine for you to focus on that playstyle."
"Yep, I like hitting people from behind when they least expect it!"
"And, you're very good at it," Yuel said. "But, as you saw, our enemies have been taking notes. You can assume that all the teams we face from now on will be on guard against your, especially defensive teams like Storm and Leo."
"Bullies. All of them."
"Frankly," Yuel continued. "In an ideal world, you'd want to combine your assassination playstyle with more frequent rotations. If you could do that, you wouldn't have to work as hard to justify your stealthy playstyle."
"But, if I rotate around too much, I'll never be able to vanish."
"Yes, I figured you'd say so." Yuel nodded. "All in all, going down that route feels like too big of a change before the regionals. I don't recommend even trying it during practice. Who knows, you might pick up bad habits."
"Yeah, I'm not doing it. No way. Not even if you pay me."
"Then, start setting up gank opportunities by yourself, you loafer," Yuel said. "You spend entire games doing nothing but clearing camps. Any newbie Junlger can do that. You have to be better than that. Much better."
"Tch, and I would've have gotten away with it too, if not for these meddling newbies." Nia grumped. "But, I really dunno how to set up any of these gank situations. Send halp pls."
"I never said it's going to be easy or that you have to tackle this issue alone," Yuel said. "I'll give you as much advice as I can, but ultimately, this is about YOUR playstyle, so you have to do most of the legwork yourself. I suggest studying the ganks that worked against the Leopards and going from there."
"Ok." Nia nodded obediently. There weren't any snarky or dodgy replies, which meant she was on board with this work plan.
Finally, we sorted this part out. Yuel sighed in relief now that he could finally move on to the next topic. And, to think that this isn't even the main topic I have for Nia...