Chapter 93: The Rise of the Meta Leader

R​ea​d on KatReadingCa​fe

Four days have passed since the successful hack explanation.

Today, we were ramping up our practice for the upcoming tournament.

Though we called it practice, we hadn’t actually played as a full team yet.

We hadn’t even finalized our positions.

Plus, with Jia unnie being a complete newbie and Ra-hee unnie practically a newbie as well, the focus was still on each of us getting a feel for the game individually.

In this situation, I found myself…

“Unnie, in situations like that, it’s better to give the attack buff. See, the DPS are still at full health, right?”

『Ah, I see. I need to keep an eye on their HP regularly.』

“Yes. And only heal the tanks when their HP is critically low. Focus more on the DPS.”

『Huh? Why? If I heal the tanks, won’t their ultimates charge faster?』

“It’s better to charge the ultimates of other healers first rather than Mercy’s.”

I was giving Jia unnie a one-on-one tutorial.

Even though I’m technically a newbie myself, it felt natural for me to take on the role of teaching her, which was a bit surprising.

• Lulu-chan’s game sense is insane.
• Her experience watching pro matches really shows
• It’s so frustrating watching Mercy players in solo queue who only heal tanks LOL
• Mercy’s ultimate value is kinda meh.

Fortunately, my advice wasn’t completely off.

I know there are quite a few high-tier players among the Cherries, but even though I allowed them to give advice, surprisingly, not many did.

I think it’s because of what happened with General a few days ago.

After he praised me so highly, the Cherries started saying, “We can’t give Lulu-chan advice.”

“Wow, unnie. You’ve improved so much!”

『Huh? Really…?』

“Yes! Your escapes are so clean now, and your timing for revives is great. It’s clear you’ve been practicing a lot.”

『Thanks… Actually, I’ve been playing a lot during off-stream hours. I’ve been trying out other characters besides Mercy too…』

I figured as much.

I had some idea from our group chats, but improving this much in just four days is truly impressive.

Ra-hee unnie at least had some experience with Overwatch, even if she was only Silver, so it made sense that her skills would come back quickly.

But Jia unnie was a complete newbie, so I was really worried about her.

Yet, she’s improved so much that it’s almost unrecognizable.

『Ah, by the way, Lulu.』

“Yes, unnie.”

『Did you hear? A new character is coming to Overwatch tomorrow.』

After watching three of her games through screen sharing, Jia unnie brought this up during a short break.

It was something I’d been keeping an eye on as well.

“Ah, I heard. I actually told the CEO that it might be better to start practicing after the new character is released.”

『After the new character is released? Why?』

“You never know. The new character might be really good, so it could be better to practice around them.”

『I guess that makes sense.』

• From the trailer alone, it’s hard to tell if it’s good.
• Isn’t it just a mini Reinhardt?
• The skills seem a bit underwhelming

Since only the trailer had been released, with no detailed skill descriptions, the viewers didn’t seem to have high expectations for the new character.

But my opinion was completely different.

That’s because the new character releasing tomorrow, Brigitte, was one of the most overpowered characters in Overwatch history, a character so infamous that she single-handedly shifted the meta.

‘Brigitte.’

I repeated her name in my head and smiled confidently.

If there was a card that could lead our team to victory, it was this character.

＊＊＊＊＊

[Overwatch Gallery]

• How’s Brigitte’s performance?
• She can break through barriers and CC? wtf?
• Why isn’t her ultimate disappearing? What’s going on?
• I’m an idiot for trusting Blizzard

The next day.

Finally, Overwatch’s new character, Brigitte, was released, and the previously quiet Gallery was buzzing with excitement—mostly negative.

First of all, her performance was overwhelmingly strong.

Her passive ability healed allies in an area.

Her E skill allowed her to heal a specific ally from a distance, with excess healing converted into shields.

Her Shift skill knocked back enemies and dealt significant damage with a short cooldown.

But the real problems were her shield bash, which could stun enemies through barriers and her ultimate, which granted permanent shields to all allies.

These abilities were simply too overpowered.

However, since she had just been released, there wasn’t much research on team compositions yet.

Opinions were divided on which characters paired well with her, and some argued that she was difficult to use in the traditional 2-tank, 2-healer, 2-DPS composition.

Amidst all this, there was one person smiling confidently…

“…Perfect.”

That person was none other than Da-jeong, the only one who remembered all the metas and strategies Brigitte had influenced.

＊＊＊＊＊

Today, less than two days after Brigitte’s release, we finally gathered on Discord for our first official scrim.

Yesterday, we spent almost the entire day practicing, even during off-stream hours.

Now, it was time to show the results of that practice in our first official scrim.

We hadn’t officially assigned positions, but they were roughly determined based on our main characters.

Ra-hee unnie was the main tank, Yuna was the off-tank, Chae-yoon unnie was the main DPS, I was the off-DPS, Jia unnie was the main healer, and the CEO was the off-healer.

『Today’s finally our first scrim, huh?』

『Yeah. I’m kind of nervous.』

『Why are you nervous? It’s not even the tournament. Let’s just have fun.』

『Right, unnie! We have our ultimate weapon, after all!』

Surely she’s not talking about me…?

As Yuna confidently declared, I broke out in a cold sweat.

I appreciate the trust, but it’s a bit overwhelming.

• Scrim hype~
• The opposing team is Nyangtamon
• Nyangtamon’s gonna tear CEO apart LOL
• Nyangtamon’s main is Winston too
• Can’t wait to see CEO suffer

Meanwhile, the Cherries were also excited for our first official scrim, cheering us on enthusiastically.

By the way, the opposing team included Nyangtamon, the CEO’s real-life friend.

That’s why their team name was “Nyangta and the Butlers.”

Their team consisted of one Gold, three Platinums, and two Diamonds, so their overall strength wasn’t highly rated.

However, since they were a group of players who often played Overwatch with Nyangtamon, their team synergy was highly praised.

There were even rumors that they had beaten a viewer team with three Masters in a scrim.

This was definitely not an opponent to underestimate.

TotalGamingGeniusNyangtamon: Haebom.

TotalGamingGeniusNyangtamon: Prepare to die

KangHaebom: Go easy on us.

KangHaebom: We have newbies too.

TotalGamingGeniusNyangtamon: Don’t worry, I’ll only kill you.

• The chat is brutal.
• If CEO’s scared, I’m upvoting

As soon as we entered the lobby, Nyangtamon declared war on the CEO.

Nyangtamon’s main is Winston, right?

And our CEO is playing the off-healer, a position that’s easy to dive.

So, it’s safe to assume that Nyangtamon’s threat isn’t an empty one.

But we can’t back down either.

“CEO, should we use it right away?”

『Huh? You want to use it from the first match?』

『Is it okay to show it already?』

When I dropped the meaningful hint, the CEO and Chae-yoon unnie questioned me.

Since it was a card we’d prepared with great ambition, they must have felt it was too much pressure to reveal it in the very first scrim.

But it’s fine.

The secret card I had in mind wasn’t just this one.

No, in fact, this was more of a trap card disguised as a secret weapon.

“Yes, it’s fine. We need to practice it anyway.”

『Alright, if our youngest says so, let’s give it a try.』

• ?
• Did they prepare something special?
• I’m looking forward to it.

Since we hadn’t shown any special strategies during our practice streams, the viewers began to show curiosity.

TotalGamingGeniusNyangtamon: First map, King’s Row?

KangHaebom: Sure, let’s go.

With the first map decided, we started on the attacking side and picked our characters as we had practiced during off-stream hours.

[“For justice!”]

Ra-hee unnie, our main tank, picked Reinhardt.

[“We are stronger together.”]

Yuna, our off-tank, picked Zarya.

[“I will help you all.”]

Jia unnie, our main healer, picked Mercy.

[“Through the eye of tranquility.”]

The CEO, our off-healer, picked Zenyatta.

Up to this point, it was a composition we often used.

Of course, it’s a bit hard to call our tank line meta, since the mainstream meta tanks, Winston and D.Va, are too difficult for us, so we usually stick to these picks.

But there was one change.

No, actually, two changes.

First, Chae-yoon unnie, who usually played a hitscan DPS…

[“The soul of the wolf.”]

…picked Hanzo, my main character.

And second…

Click-

[“I will be your shield!”]

I, the off-DPS, picked Brigitte, a healer, instead of a DPS character.

This completed our 2-tank, 1-DPS, 3-healer composition.

• Huh?
• What’s this? Lilith is playing Hanzo?
• Isn’t this 3 healers?
• The DPS is too weak.
• Why are they making Lulu-chan play a healer…

Perhaps because of the performance I showed last time, the viewers seemed to assume I would hard-carry as a DPS.

Many questioned why I, the ace, was being given a healer role…

But don’t worry.

This character, Brigitte, isn’t just a healer—she’s a DPS, healer, and tank all in one. A broken character.

“Stay close to me in the backline. Unnies and Yuna, take care of the frontline.”

『Got it!』

『CEO, I’m counting on you, Lulu.』

『Alright, let’s go.』

『Sh-should I call out if I’m low on health? Everyone?』

『I’ll just focus on swinging my hammer.』

Listening to my teammates’ determined voices, I adjusted my stance.

Bring it on.