Chapter 364: Tactical Design
The match between Starlight and Frost and the Demon King Team was scheduled for the first slot on Saturday.
When the league officials had originally arranged this schedule, they were likely considering the Demon King Team's popularity.
After all, before the season started, Starlight and Frost was still just a B+ team.
But who would have thought that by the time this match actually began, the Starlight and Frost team would have already taken off!
This had made the showdown between Starlight and Frost and the Demon King team the most anticipated match of the weekend!
It was even more eye-catching than the second match, which was scheduled for the prime time slot!
It had even surprised the league officials a little.
This matchup was full of talking points.
Even spectators who weren't as attuned to the changes in the Kubfu professional circuit over the past two years could easily see from many outward signs that these were two teams with completely different philosophies!
The Demon King Team was skilled in tactics and calculation, but their players and Pokémon often had a low ceiling, and their existing Pokémon tended to grow very slowly.
In other words, their intel was always reliable.
But Starlight and Frost was the exact opposite.
This was a young and vibrant team. Their players and Pokémon seemed to be improving every single day!
Not to mention Arthur, even players like Aaron, Ivy, and Bianca had shown very obvious changes compared to last year!
One side was like an ancient demon king from a bygone era.
The other was like a young hero of a new age!
A battle between a demon king and a hero was about to unfold!
Before the match, Arthur was studying the Demon King Team's player data along with the team's analysts.
The update frequency of their player data was low because their Pokémon progressed slowly. Much of the data from two or three years ago could still be valid.
But in turn, the amount of data was immense! Because their players had so many Pokémon! A ridiculous number!
The oldest main player on the Demon King Team was named Sam. He was over fifty this year and had been a main singles player for over twenty years. He had a full thirty-eight Pokémon at or above the professional level.
In a 6-on-3 singles match, where only six Pokémon can be registered, he could form six different teams without any repeats and still have some left over.
This person was also a regular at the All-Stars, with a very stable win rate.
Because no matter what kind of player he faced, he could almost always produce a counter Pokémon with a type advantage.
In addition, the Demon King Team also had the All-Star main player Lucas, the All-Star captain Leo, and the All-Star doubles players Dylan and Peter. Their lineup was incredibly stacked!
Among them, Dylan was the player who had commanded the Whimsicott against Arthur last year. He actually had a signature Kommo-o, but last season, for the sake of a tactical advantage, he had been willing to give up his pseudo-legendary and temporarily command a force-matured Pokémon to face Arthur.
Trusting tactics over one's own main Pokémon—a typical Demon King Team mindset.
Although Arthur had never liked this team, he had to admit that their competitive strength was real, and very strong!
Just going through the data for their main players with the analysts was giving Arthur a headache—there was just so much of it!
Just then, Captain Leo came to find him.
"I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
To this question, Arthur's answer was very direct.
"Whatever."
"..."
Leo's smile stiffened slightly.
But he quickly got to the point.
"The good news is, you don't have to look at the data for all five main players. It'll save you a lot of time."
Arthur was confused.
"The opponent doesn't have a fixed player order. How can we be sure who I'll be facing?"
If you're not sure who your opponent will be, you naturally have to look at the data for every main player.
The Demon King Team was rich and powerful. They had added another main player this year. Not counting their captain, they still had three starting mains and two substitutes, a total of five people. If you printed out all their data, the stack would be half a person tall…
As he spoke, Leo winked.
"That's the bad news I was about to tell you. According to the head coach's… ahem, according to the head coach's wishes, for this match, you only need to study the data of one person. And that person is the Demon King Team's captain, Leo."
"?!"
It was a good thing Arthur had such strong composure. He only raised an eyebrow slightly. Anyone else would have probably jumped up by now.
"The head coach means… she wants me to play the captain's match?"
Arthur asked so calmly that it made Leo a bit disappointed.
This rookie was sometimes really no fun. Getting a strong reaction out of him was as hard as climbing a mountain.
Of course, this disappointment was just a fleeting thought. Leo wasn't deliberately trying to tease Arthur.
He then explained, "That's right. You'll be playing the captain's match. The main point of this tactical design isn't actually your match, but to let me go and catch their Lucas. Lucas's ace is a Dragonite, and he also has several other powerful Dragon-type Pokémon. If I can face him, I should be able to reliably take him down and reduce some of the pressure on the team."
Only then did Arthur understand why Leo seemed to be in such a good mood.
The coach's arrangement had undoubtedly given him the perfect stage to shine.
You have to remember, the captain was known in the circuit as the Dragon Slayer! His ace Pokémon were Cloyster, Azumarill, and Weavile.
All of them could beat a Dragonite like it was their own son.
He had been looking forward to facing Lucas for a long time.
To gain a type advantage in a match against the Demon King Team—in a way, wasn't this a form of NTR?
No wonder Leo had come to find him with a smile on his face, looking full of energy.
Leo then added, "You don't need to be under too much pressure either. The head coach's main strategic goal this time is to end the match before the captain's battle! We'll deliberately hide this plan. This way, if I successfully catch Lucas, and the others also perform well, we might be able to create a big enough point difference against the Demon King Team in the regular singles and doubles matches! Then, all you'll have to do is hold the line in the captain's match and not lose too many points. With your Gengar and that Charizard that can Mega Evolve, holding the line shouldn't be too difficult."
Leo patted Arthur's shoulder, encouraging him.
In his eyes, Arthur was, after all, just an eighteen-year-old boy. It was his first time facing a 12-on-6 captain's battle, and he didn't even have enough Pokémon. It was inevitable that he would be nervous.
All he had to do was maintain his composure, perform normally, and not let the point difference get too wide.
But what he didn't know was that with Arthur's two lifetimes of experience, being nervous was impossible. It would never happen in this lifetime.
What Arthur was actually thinking was: Can you guys really execute the plan that smoothly?
It wasn't that he didn't trust his teammates, but at this moment, he had a premonition: the Demon King Team would not let them end the match so easily before the captain's battle.
Arthur had seen it last year. Their tactical designs were incredibly hard to defend against.
But on second thought, this didn't seem to be too serious a problem.
Just need to hold the line in the captain's battle?
As it happened, what Arthur wanted was much more than that!
But for now, there was no need to show his lack of confidence in his teammates.
"Alright. I'll do my best," Arthur replied calmly.
At this moment, Leo didn't think much of it. His main goal was just to convey the head coach's tactical design.
He never would have imagined that a rookie who had just entered the main singles sequence, at the age of eighteen, was not afraid of the captain's battle at all. In fact, he was eager to try
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