The first thing Miranda wanted was a clear sense of where everyone was at. She opened a word document to jot down notes. And instead of playing as a team, she had each person play a game separately while she watched. Of course she was extremely clear on her own strengths and preferences, she knew Kelly's pretty well, and had some idea of Archie's, but she had no idea of Jacob or Rina's.
"You're gold?" Miranda noted the border around Archie's avatar on the loading screen.
"Yup." He gave her a thumbs up. "Just got it yesterday thanks to that tip about utilizing globals. I've been spamming teleport Traveler and split pushing for wins."
"Do you have any preferences?"
Archie shook his head. "Not really. I still play a little bit of everything but I do play a lot more of whatever is working for me at the time. Oh yeah, do you have any tips on blocking?"
"Not really except to practice."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, you can stick me wherever or on anything. I'm fine with whatever."
"Great. I'll go check on your friends."
"Rina's a god."
"What?" Miranda stumbled. "She's God ranked?"
"Oh, no no no no." Archie laughed at the misunderstanding. "No, she's only bronze. But her animation canceling is absolutely insane. I have no idea how she does it."
"Ah, got it."
Jacob happened to be closer so Miranda went to check on him next. Like her, he wasn't ranked. "I never bothered to play all the placements," he explained. "People flame way more in ranked."
"True. What's your preferred role?"
Jacob frowned. "I don't really know what I'm doing yet. I just know I like playing long range classes."
He was very careful with his positioning from what Miranda could see. Jacob always maintained his maximum attacking range from the enemy. He never stopped moving but tended to be slow at changing direction and he never fired off multiple abilities in quick succession so instead of sounding like jackhammer his keyboard sounded like a small rodent was casually stumbling across the keys. It was kind of relaxing actually.
That said his positioning was safe but far from optimal and the slow speed meant that he was missing a lot of fantastic opportunities. "I've always had slow reactions," he admitted when she asked him about his sedate cadence. "I've never been particularly good at video games. I'll probably drag the team down."
"Eh, don't worry about it. It'll be fine, don't take it too seriously."
Jacob chuckled. "You're like Archie. Guy's got a competitive streak and can be pretty hot blooded but he's super chill." His face fell slightly. "I'm just worried I'm not good enough for Rina. Can't let my girlfriend down."
"It'll work out."
Miranda moved to Rina and was almost punched in the jaw as Rina threw up her fists in victory.
"Haha! Eat that!" She looked back and saw Miranda recovering from having leaned back out of the way. "Oops, sorry."
"All good. You won the game?"
"Nah, not yet." Rina maneuvered her avatar under the Pillar before backing. "What's up?"
"I'm seeing how you all like to play."
"Simple. If I can see an enemy, I try to kill them."
"How's that working for you?"
"It gets me killed a lot by ganks. What'd the others say about me?"
"Well Archie called you a god and Jacob says he wishes he was better for you."
Rina grinned. "That's nice of them not to call me a feeder. Jacob's a huge worrywart but he's sweet and he's cute. He was doting on me so hard the first time I had a bad game trying to make me feel better."
"Are you a feeder?"
"When it doesn't work out which is about half the time."
"And the other half time?"
"I destroy my opposing laner solo over and over again. I always play top or mid. Screw winning the game, I just want to outskill the enemy as many times as I can. Will that be a problem?"
"Nope," chuckled Miranda. "Will you listen to whoever calls the shots?"
"Will they be all over my ass the entire game?"
"Just when the team is making a play or we're trying to coordinate something. Otherwise you're free to do whatever you want as long you're not trying to throw the game away."
"Cool."
Once everyone had finished their games, they gathered around Miranda for her verdict.
"So here's what I have. Let me know if I get anything wrong. Archie is fine playing fill. Kelly and Jacob normally play carry and Rina plays solo lanes."
"What about you?"
"I play fill as well. Rina, I know you play solo lanes, but are you willing to learn jungle?"
"As long as I don't have to farm forever."
Miranda grinned. "Trust me, you won't. I don't want people to focus on roles. I want people to focus on types of classes. I play whatever, Archie plays whatever. Rina, you focus on fighters and your choice of tanks or assassins. Classes that can get up close and personal. Jacob, you focus on classes that have the longest ranges, preferably mages with crowd control and marksmen with mobility. Kelly, play whatever you want and we'll make it work."
"So which lane am I then?" asked Kelly with some confusion.
"Depends on the draft."
Everyone stared at Miranda.