Chapter 13: Feeling dizzy

<An unexpected lawsuit from Ascend…>

“Ascend? Is that like Victory’s agency or something?”

I’d heard of it before. Apparently, even online streamers join agencies nowadays.

There was some specific term for it. Was it MVP? No, that’s not it. MSG? No, that’s not right either. Hmm.

The exact term doesn’t really matter.

Anyway, using Victory’s embarrassing moments as bait finally brought people in.

Welcome to the Magical Fight class!

It’s been a while since I felt my heart racing like this.

“Alright, everyone. Please join #2031.”

To make sure they understood, I also typed it into the channel chat.

[#2031]

Then, I created a custom game for Magical Fight and waited for all ten people to join while chatting.

“Has anyone here played Magical Fight before?”

For games to be fun, the teams need to be balanced, so if there were any veterans, I planned to shove them all onto the opposing team.

Unfortunately, no one raised their hand.

“Everyone’s a newbie!”

But that was actually great news.

It meant people who had never touched Magical Fight were joining because of my stream!

Is this what they call the positive influence of streaming?

If I could just convert half of them, it would be a huge success.

One day, Magical Fight will rise again!

It absolutely will!

Because I will bring it back!

Without fail!

Once all ten players were in the lobby, I started the game.

Unlike Teamfight Arena, where you pick characters before entering the game, in Magical Fight, you select your character in-game.

Just before the character selection phase, I paused the game to give a quick explanation.

“Normally, in a 5v5, we use a 122221 draft pick to balance the team composition, but since it’s everyone’s first time, just pick whatever you want.”

In public lobbies (less experienced players) and private lobbies (more experienced players), you could freely pick characters.

However, in clan matches (where the players were so skilled it was almost scary), the standard rule was to assign one player to each position for a balanced team composition.

The draft worked by deciding pick order with rock-paper-scissors. The first team picked one character, the second team picked two, and it alternated back and forth until the final pick.

<What’s a 122221 pick?>

<Isn’t that just a draft pick?>

<Ah, do you not know? The cross-pick system was originally from Magical Fight.>

<Really?>

<Lies. LOL.>

Looking at the chat, it seemed like people were catching on.

Did Teamfight Arena steal that too? What a bunch of shameless developers.

“Does Teamfight Arena have something like that? I don’t remember seeing it when I played.”

<That’s because you were only playing casual games.>

<No ranked games, huh? (Victory’s rival?)>

<Wait, you’ve never even watched a ranked match stream?>

“Oh, I had Victory teach me when I was learning, so I never really needed to watch streams.”

<Whoa!>

<Learning Teamfight Arena directly from the #1 ranked player. What an honor.>

<Wow, being friends with Victory is so cool. So jealous.>

<Do you have any secret tips you got from Victory? Please share.>

They light up like Christmas trees whenever Victory is mentioned.

He must be really popular.

But this is my stream, and right now, it’s time for Magical Fight education.

Please focus on the lesson.

“Alright, everyone, open your notepad and take notes! For the tank position, we have Uranus and Earth. In the utility position, there’s Saturn, Moon, and Apollo. For bruisers, it’s Mars, Neptune, and Phanes. For area damage, Mercury and Jupiter. Finally, for assassins, there’s Venus, Pluto, and Nox.”

<Is this Greek and Roman mythology?>

<I know this! Those are the names of planets in the solar system.>

<(Info) Those are the names of the magical girls from Magical Girls Chronicle.>

<At least it’s not Akari-chan and Hina-chan, so that’s a relief.>

<Akari is Neptune’s real name, and Hina is Pluto’s real name.>

<…>

<Look at this guy pretending he doesn’t know after seeing it all. LOL.>

<There’s so much, it’s overwhelming, teacher.>

<Why is “assassin” the only role in Korean while the rest are in English?>

“Did I explain things too quickly?”

Now that I think about it, maybe the pace was too fast.

Hearing it once isn’t enough to understand it anyway.

The best way is to just try it.

For beginners, choosing a character based on appearance rather than position or stats might be better, right?

Of course, all they can see during the selection phase is a small icon the size of a program shortcut.

But first impressions matter a lot.

Maybe the character they pick based on the image will feel like fate.

“Choose a character you like based on the picture! I’ll explain it slowly later.”

<Why do you assume there will be a later, teacher?>

<Want to learn about Victory? Then join the game and start working.>

<Game (torture)>

<Hmm, I’m already getting that distinct bad-game vibe.>

No matter how much these trolls try to mock my efforts, I won’t give up.

Long live Magical Fight!

May the thousand-year kingdom reign eternal!

Once all ten players picked their characters, I paused the game again.

“Alright, F1 selects your magical girl, F2 is for the warehouse, and F3 is for the grimoire. Press once to select, and double-click to move the camera there.”

<Warehouse? Why does a game have a warehouse?>

Such curiosity about the game mechanics.

I love this enthusiasm for learning.

“The game’s system doesn’t let purchased items go directly to your character. You have to select the warehouse, click the shop next to it, buy the item, and use the warehouse skill to transfer it. It’s easier if you hotkey the shop—click the shop and press Control plus a number. Later, you can open it with that number. It’s a handy tip, so make sure to remember it!”

<Wow, this is a real garbage game.>

<I thought pressing P opened the shop?>

<That’s Teamfight Arena.>

“Replenishing items during combat is part of the skill element! Blocking the shop during battles, like in Teamfight Arena, is flawed design.”

<Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s a masterpiece, teacher.>

“Stop bashing the game without even trying it!”

<Do you need to eat it to know if it’s poop?>

<Even just watching the stream, it looks awful.>

<Gross.>

The crowd’s mood was sour.

I admit the controls for this game are clunky.

But once you get used to it, that clunkiness becomes part of the charm.

This isn’t the time to back down!

Stay strong, Legend!

Now that I explained the shop, I needed to cover the items within it.

I enthusiastically described the items, advising which ones were useful early game and how to use them.

<All the items are consumables? Are they insane?>

<Wow, I can’t even use one active item properly.>

<Warning: If you’re over 25, don’t buy more than three active items. Your fingers will betray you.>

<As expected of a game Victory enjoyed—it’s deep.>

Honestly, easy games are boring.

Magical Fight isn’t too hard; Teamfight Arena is just too easy!

“Finally, there’s one last crucial system—the grimoire system.”

<Wait, there’s more?>

<What kind of barrier to entry is this?>

The difficulty of getting into the game is what makes it fun!

To address the growing negativity, I kept my explanation short and simple.

“In the F3 grimoire, you can allocate stat points. You get five points per level, so spend them on what seems useful. Each character has unique traits, so just choose what feels right for now.”

Like Teamfight Arena, Magical Fight also has traits that enhance characters and abilities with special effects.

But really, Teamfight Arena copied that from Magical Fight. Trash knock-off game.

Unlike Teamfight Arena, where certain traits are automatically granted at specific levels, in Magical Fight, traits consume level-up points.

Choosing whether to spend those points on stats, traits, or the grimoire adds an element of skill to the game.

With so many layers to explore, isn’t this truly a masterpiece?

“Grimoire 2 resets cooldowns, Grimoire 3 fully restores health, Grimoire 4 restores full mana, Grimoire 5 resurrects, and Grimoire 6 teleports you. Each grimoire has a 30-second cooldown, but using Grimoire 1 removes cooldowns for 20 seconds. You’ll understand once you try it yourself.”

<Wow, there’s so much to learn.>

<How long has this game been paused LOL?>

<Why not just tell them to watch a YouTube tutorial?>

<Fun fact: This game is so dead there aren’t any beginner guides on YouTube.>

<2 O???>

<Didn’t know something could be missing even on YouTube.>

<Who even plays this game?>

<Well, you’re playing it, LOL.>

This anti-intellectual attitude that difficulty is bad! I refuse to accept it!

But since I must be a kind teacher in front of newbies, I’ll hold back from arguing.

“You’ve probably played Teamfight Arena before, so in the early stages, just find creeps to level up. After that, look for opportunities to engage and rack up kill scores. Alright, I’ll unpause now. One, two, three.”

Considering the streaming delay, I also announced the unpause in chat.

The explanations were over; now it was time to dive into practice!

Once they play, they’ll quickly realize how fun it is!

<What’s with this person?>

<This is overwhelming, teacher.>

<Feels like they’re attacking us because we called it a trash game.>

<Are you insane?>

“Oh, I’m not shaking the screen; I’m reading the map.”

The minimap does display ally and enemy units, but can it really be more accurate than seeing the positions directly?

Constantly checking ally vision is a basic part of gameplay.

<Why are you spinning the map five times a second?>

<Stop!>

<This is torture, teacher.>

<I’m turning off the stream.>

<Can you even see anything doing this???>

<You don’t do this in Teamfight Arena too, do you?>

<What is this, a supercomputer instead of a brain?>

“Alright, alright. I’ll slow it down.”

Maybe the map reading was too intense for beginners.

Streaming requires you to consider these things, huh.

I compromised and spun the camera only once every two seconds.

This should be easier to follow, right?

<Spinning slower doesn’t fix it.>

<Please just show us your character, teacher…>

<I’ve blocked the screen, but it’s still unbearable.>

<It’s slower, but I still feel like throwing up.>

“Wait, are you teasing me? Didn’t you all play Teamfight Arena? Don’t you map-read there?”

<Isn’t map reading done with the minimap? Is this how it’s supposed to be?>

<Even pro players don’t do this.>

<I heard Victory does this, though…>

<Gasp!>

<As expected, Victory’s rival.>

<To reach the top of the top, you have to play like this.>

<No wonder they didn’t feel human. Turns out they were all machines LOL.>

<I’m not a robot!>

<Forget hacks; they were just a machine all along.>

Wait, normal people don’t play like this?

I’ve never watched someone else play games, so I didn’t know.

But… this is a game where vision is critical.

If you’re not playing like this, aren’t you doing it wrong?

Next episode coming soon.