After successfully roping Nahum into her operation, all that was left for Marim was to… figure out the actual operation!
I just hafta emulate Chessmaster's genius. Ez. Marim thought back on all the absurd high-risk, high-reward plays she analyzed. They always seemed unreasonable at first glance, but Marim was usually able to figure out why they were justified after spending some time dissecting the replays.
Sometimes it took her hours to figure out all the delicate nuances, but her mind was blown every time she understood the reasoning. And, she also started to notice a repeating pattern.
I'm pretty sure the first thing he asks himself is: "What are the enemy's weaknesses?" Most of his tactics seem to hinge on that question.
Chessmaster optimized his tactics for dealing with the specific opponents at hand. He figured out their weak spots and hit those as hard as he could.
In a vacuum, many of his strats seemed questionable. However, in any given situation, his tactics "somehow worked". It wasn't magic. He just picked the right move, for the right time, and against the right opponent.
So, I need to do the same here. Marim thought. Alright, so my opponents are Beat and Memer. I gotta figure out something they're bad at. Or at least, something that'll just work well against them.
First, there was Beat, Marim's lane opponent. They had already exchanged blows twice this game, so there was some data to work with.
Well, to be fair, we didn't actually fight each other at all. Marim realized. Beat always retreats when I have the opportunity to push. She doesn't even challenge me.
Based on past scrims, Beat's playstyle had one of two modes: hella aggressive or hella meek. There was no in-between for this girl.
To be honest, I still can't figure out when and how she decides her mode. She played hella aggressively earlier in this scrim, but now against me, she's being super defensive. But hey, I guess the reason doesn't matter. I just have to make sure I know what to expect.
Judging by past scrims, it seemed like Beat was generally stuck in the "same mode" so long as she was facing the same opponent. For example, she always played more aggressively against Merlin and more defensively against Theorist. Why? Who the hell even knew?
Anyway, for one reason or another, Beat chose the "meek" approach against Marim. So, based on past records, Beat will stick to this mode for the entire game.
So, she should retreat if I push. Marim deduced so, but she wasn't 100% convinced. Any chance this is a trap? Well, I've never seen her pull that kind of switcheroo before, so for now, I'll believe she's really planning to play defensively.
It was a risky assumption to make, but it perfectly aligned with the data at hand. The math checked out.
There are ups and downs to this. Marim reasoned. It'll be great if she lets me push without any resistance, but it'll also mean we'll have a hard time hitting her because her guard is up. Then, what about focusing Memer?
The guy was playing Orc, so he was naturally hungry for extra farm. Given an attractive opportunity, he'll try to go after Marim for sure.
I can take advantage of that. Let's see how it'd play out... Marim closed her eyes for a moment and started up a simulation in her head.
Let's see now. I advance, Beat retreats. Logical.
Then, Memer sees me "overextending" and comes at me from behind. Probable.
The situation will look like a pincer, but… At this critical point, the simulation started turning noisy. The deeper Marim simulated, the harder it was to predict the outcome.
Errr. Hmmm. This is where it's starting to get a little too hypothetical to my taste, but let's go on.
It'd be a pincer situation, alright, but likely not a very coordinated one. Beat should be preoccupied with retreating due to her chosen playstyle mode, so the two opponents should be quite far apart when the pincer starts. There should be some breathing room for Marim; she won't be sandwiched too badly.
Hmm. Is that right? Marim second-guessed her own simulation. There was some room for doubt about how smoothly that part would go. After all, she had witnessed Stratus' amazing teamwork and adaptation firsthand. These guys were serious business.
Hmmmmm. I guess from here I'm entering conjecture territory. Marim kept it real. From here on out, the rest of the simulation was going to be a little sussy. But she pushed forth anyway to check how things might look like.
If Nahum shows up on time, I'm pretty sure we can double-team Memer.
I mean, it should take Beat a while to join the fray, right? So it'd be a 2v1 situation at least for a couple of seconds.
Yeah, that sounds feasible. We should be able to get some things done in that time.
Bzzzt. The simulation turned to noise after this point. That was the limit of Marim's predictive ability for this delicate situation.
I wish I could at least simulate how the 2v1 battle will play out, but that's beyond me. These guys are too strong for me to predict with any accuracy. Marim sighed in resignation. I wonder, can Chessmaster simulate further than that? Can he accurately tell the way the 2v1 would play out?
There was a good chance he could. That wouldn't be surprising, given his record of absurd shot-calls. To make those work, he needed some insane reads on the enemy to the point he could simulate at least five steps ahead.
Unfortunately, Marim couldn't quite do that at her current level. The best she could tell was that a brief 2v1 was inevitable. It was anybody's guess how things would play out from there.
In theory, I don't see what can go wrong. Marim reasoned. But this is competitive Mancers, and we're playing against Chessmaster. So, always expect the unexpected.
Regardless, despite the mild degree of uncertainty, Marim strongly believed this was a solid plan. It sounded like the kind of tactic Chessmaster would endorse, so it had to be on the right track.
All that was left was coaxing Nahum into this play, but that should be easy at this point. She had already convinced the guy to rotate to Mid, so he should be willing enough to go along with the rest of the plan.
And so, the stage was set. Will Marim's emulation of Chessmaster's tactics bear fruit? Or, will everything blow up in her face!? The only way to find out was by testing it in action!