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Anton was a bit anxious about this particular game. Not only were the stakes to win a bit higher due to the fact that this is their first home game of the season but it was also the first game where he gets to play for the team in an official match. Though he has learned most of the plays that they have set up he still doesn't feel that he's gotten any closer to being able to use that neutral stance thing. His reaction time has improved a bit. This particular match they're only going to be running one less frontline and have both of their backlines in the match at the same time. It's a different strategy but he's run it before on his previous team. The two of them will simply alternate who is trying to distract the other team's backline while the other focuses on their own frontline and the enemy's frontline. The other team's backline is a lightning type, which would put him at an advantage against Korin. But Wind and Lightning don't really have much of anything to do with each other. Their current arena seems to be taking place in a very large forest-like environment. There are plenty of cameras to still catch all of the action so there is no worry of not being seen. But the trees do make this one more of a strategic game than anything. Or at the very least makes it far less about what the backline is doing than the front line. That may be the point of picking this one, to hide any issues that may need to still be ironed out in his skills.

Anton uses some of his own wind magic to propel him up to the top of the trees to get a good vantage. This is another purpose he can serve. He can stand and behave as a sort of scout as needed. Not only would him up here make it very difficult for anyone but their backline to get at him but gives him a good vantage spot. It won't be perfect and they may still be able to get past his eyes as this form's vision is no better than his human one, though the mask certainly helps in that regard. But he can keep an eye out for movement as best he can while he's up here and so long as he's aware of where all his teammates are there should be no real risk of him potentially hitting one of them. Of course, that's why communication is so key in all of this. Balancing delicately on top of the tree he adopts the stance he would use to throw blades of wind. The trees would make any attempt at a larger spell impractical, but he can still fire this one and maneuver it a bit, especially if he fires it above the tree line and curve it down at the last second, providing another advantage to him being up at the top of the tree-line.

The match proper begins and he pays attention to his surroundings, almost to the point of practically closing his eyes and just listening to the wind. The rest of his team is currently moving around, advancing towards the other side. The sky is already starting to darken up quite a bit as their backline is starting to build up their power. Probably going to start up a storm which would actually end up aiding all three of them, which is an interesting enough choice. But it makes using lightning far easier for them than if there wasn't a storm to draw upon. But Anton is not too concerned about being one of the highest objects on the arena. Theoretically he could be an easy target and likely the other backline will try to hit him at least once but he's ready for such an action. He has had to deal with lightning users before. Their abilities are easy enough to divert. Basically, just bring some lightning rods and make sure they are placed higher up than the individual. It would burn a bit of his own power to maintain these to a location above himself but would make him unable to be hit by a random strike.

Anton takes a deep breath and restrains from trying to get too excited. Though his mask would block any sort of grin, if he isn't careful his tail will start wagging and would ruin his composure and quite likely his reputation. He takes another deep breath and then closes his eyes for a moment. He knows that nothing can hit him up here, at least not this quickly. He also reaches up and raises up his hood as much as he can and simply listens to the forest for a little while. His eyesight is no greater in this form than normal and this high up his sense of smell is not going to do him much of any good. But his giant ears are not just for show and when there's a calm he can hear exceptionally well. There should not be any animals in this forest. Let alone the fact the forest itself is fake, probably made or even maintained by a few wood users. For this he can smell. Though it does smell strongly of pine, he can also tell the fake scent attached to it, letting him know for certain that these are not real trees and will likely collapse back into the ground after maybe a day or two more. No reason to hold back in this regard. But with completely fake trees and no animals, the only sounds that should be in this forest are the movements of the people and the wind. And he knows how the wind sounds, whatever else should be people. For now he isn't able to hear anything out of the ordinary.

"Anton," Korin says over the audio, "throw us a test blade if you would while you're up there."

Anton nods and then remembers the fact that there is no way Korin would be able to even see him do it. But he crouches down a bit more and throws a blade out. He didn't really put any real force behind it. He did give it a decent amount of speed but it isn't something designed to really do all that much. If it can hit something then all the better. But it's a test blade for a reason. He's throwing it out to see their defenses. Lightning can't really stop his attack all that easily just as his wind can't really block lightning. But both can do things to interrupt or deflect the attack of the other and that's what he's checking. He's checking to see if they respond to his attacks and how they respond. They'd know he'd be here and would have some sort of plan in play. And the more they learn about how they respond the more they can plan around that. He fully expects them to throw a bolt of lightning back at him to see how well he can handle it. That's just the way the early portions of the match are going to be, just each side probing the other and trying to find an opening while the supports and frontlines get into position.

This time his attack gets about a few seconds before he'd arc it down when a blast of light shoots up from the forest and intercepts his blade, breaking it apart. Anton crouches down a bit on top of the tree, not so much because of fear or being intimidated, just curiosity. It was not what he expected to happen. His head tilts to the side as he considers what it means. Most likely the support on their team is hanging back and that they are some sort of light user. But he could feel something impact it directly. It was more of a force of light than just light itself.

But that does give them a useful lead and gives him the opportunity to locate where their support is. From the radio he can hear that Korin is doing a strategy similar to what he had done in his last match in the minor league. Whenever he smells that a lightning is about to strike he throws out one of the lightning rods as far out as he can and have it absorb the lightning. He does have some just staying up but they aren't as safe to do so. They do send a blast of lightning at him but he has it more than prepared and it doesn't even get close enough for him to smell it. Growing somewhat bored of the situation he decides to play distraction and to test their defenses more thoroughly, sending a couple blades at the same time down the arena. Again there is next to no power in them and this time he finds no response at all. Meaning they figured out there's no weight behind them so he corrects that by putting all the force he can muster into one and throwing it at where the support was located, thoroughly destroying a tree in the process.

He actually gets a message from Mellisandre to play up the distraction even more since they're almost in position. And since he knows he's in a position of relative safety he decides to flex out a bit, whipping the wind of the storm into a bigger frenzy and throwing blades out frequently, some with no weight and some with quite a bit. He makes sure that all of the ones he actually sends down are nowhere near where his allies are. And he knows this from when Mellisandre reports which ones she's seeing at any given time by a simple beep through the radio.

He actually finds that it works a bit better than he was somewhat expecting. In part because they may be thinking he's trying to prove himself and thus is a liability, especially since he's making himself a target by being as visible as he is. But he's being very cautious about how he's using his own magic and is very difficult for anyone on the enemy team from reaching him.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be doing all that much in drawing out the backline. He's not even able to pinpoint the locations of anyone on their team other than occasionally where their support is when they shoot up an attack to block one of his seemingly at random. But how much of that is a diversion as well he can't tell, but Mellisandre told him to go ahead and keep it up, even though he knows that he is going to slowly burn through his reserves. On the off chance they may be getting close, Anton jumps up into the air and propels himself to another tree a ways away. It isn't as tall, but it'll suffice and can give him another view to potentially find people. For the time being he simply has to trust in Mellisandre's decisions as he's not the shot caller of this team and assume that Korin has everything under control. He looks up a bit at the storm still raging. It's a very slow fight, all things considered. He wonders if it's going to be a matter of endurance since there has not been a single bell tolled. Both teams are still at four members. And if there has been any contact he hasn't been told about it.

"All set," he hears Korin say over the radio.

"As are we," Mellisandre says as well. "Okay, Anton, we're going to need you to draw them out. I had hoped they'd be able to flank one but they've entrenched themselves too much that we won't be able to get at them without putting ourselves in serious risk. I think they're waiting to see what we do or for you to exhaust yourself before making any move. So I say give them what they want. Go God mode if you think you can pull it off. Draw their attention and know that they may take you out in the process so do your best to go out with a bang."

"Fine, but I'll be expecting you to collect my outfit for me then."

Anton was not pleased with the situation. He fully understands the advantage. If he can get them all to focus on him they'll leave themselves open to the others to win the match, especially if it means allowing Korin to make his move without them countering it correctly. Still sucks to have to sacrifice himself. But that's the name of the game. Sometimes a pawn is more useful dead if it means victory. So he starts gathering up some of the rain and branches and spinning them around him faster and faster, creating a small little tornado focused around him. He has to be careful not to pull his own air or he could suffocate himself. Not that it wouldn't affect his real body, but it would set a bad impression to knock himself out on his first match. But once he has it to the level of being confident on it being visible enough he steps off the top of the tree, letting the wind carry him further up. As it is in a much more dangerous location he makes sure he still has all of the lightning rods with him. There is another strike as he starts moving forward but it is easily enough to avoid. Knowing he is limited on time he actually pushes himself quite fast towards the other team. All the while he keeps his eyes open and looking for sign of motion. He still remembers where his own team is so any sign of anyone else is an enemy. He's half tempted to try and shout at them, but the wind would likely eat up his voice as he's whipped it up a bit too fast to even really hear much of anything. He could still hear through the radio.

He sees a blast from their support coming at him, trying to drive him off but he chooses to simply avoid it. He's half tempted to see if this close he could actually grab it or not. It is entirely possible since it does have mass. But that can wait for another time. He's not here to test his skills against their support. He sees motion and throws one of the lightning rods at it, feeling it connect with something soft. No clue how much it did but it still brings a smile to his face. He starts sucking in more branches and bringing the lightning rod back, though that's much harder now as he has no real connection to it and his control isn't that precise to grab something that far away. But he makes do and another bolt of lightning, this time from the ground barely misses him. He raises up his arms and throws it towards where the bolt came from, trying to create another tornado in that location. But he's already starting to exhaust himself. He can already feel the tingling in his fingers, a sensation getting closer and closer to pain. The support strikes out at him and it connects, but the winds knocked off enough of the force that it didn't really do too much to him. But it did cause a break in his own personal tornado and that gave enough of a window that someone else seems to have planted a spear right into his stomach. He looks down, not really feeling any pain and starts to fall out of the sky, trying to use what little energy he has left before the connection is severed to push the body somewhere that the outfit would be the least likely to get ruined and easiest to find. And as he feels the connection break he can only hope that it was enough.