Chapter 109: Learning the Advanced 4-Protect-1 Tactic from Next Door!

In 2018, Huaxia hosted several relatively successful international tournaments, such as the CAS Asia Championship, the CAC Asia Invitational, IEM Shanghai, the Hong Kong Zotai Cup, and a series of other events.

This gave this game, which only entered open beta in 2017, a decent level of popularity.

Among these, news recently arrived that the first domestic team, Tyloo, and Xu Beifang, who is currently at VP, would be participating in the Major Qualifier, and viewers on domestic forums were very expectant.

【Nice and Tyloo, good luck abroad! Looking forward to them making it into the Major main event and getting good results this time.】

【Bold prediction: Tyloo gets eliminated 0-3.】

【Don't say that, Tyloo is currently ranked 11th in the world, and they've had the level to compete for a Major spot in the previous few Majors too.】

【I feel like VP can make it to the main event, but the pressure is huge; the old guys' level is just too unstable.】

【Actually, if they called Snax back, it wouldn't feel like there's much pressure. Right now, other than little Xu, there are no other core offensive threats on the VP roster.】

【The road ahead is very difficult, and this playstyle of Nice's might not necessarily yield good results at a major tournament.】

There were all sorts of voices on domestic forums: anticipation, disparagement, utilitarian "jinxing," encouragement...

Meanwhile, far away in London, VP and Tyloo both ushered in their first day of competition.

Tyloo encountered Gambit in the first day's group stage, and the overall pressure was not high.

After all, they had already witnessed Gambit's strength during the IEM Shanghai tournament. Although they didn't specifically face Gambit, one could tell from their overall performance and post-match analysis that this team's level had declined severely since Zeus left.

However, Tyloo remained battle-ready; after all, it was the first day of the tournament, and it was best to start with a win.

As for VP, the result was not very ideal.

Because they encountered what could be called one of the strongest teams in the entire qualifier, the legendary team from Sweden—Ninjas in Pyjamas, abbreviated as NiP, nicknamed the "Pajama Ninjas."

When mentioning the history of CS: GO, they are a team that cannot be bypassed.

As one of the first groups of teams to transition from CS 1.6 to CS: GO, combined with powerful individual ability within the team, they displayed a terrifyingly dominant performance in early CS: GO tournaments—a terrifying record of 87 maps without a single loss.

This absurd 87-win streak has yet to be broken by any team to this day.

This team has countless fans across the globe, and the roster even contains legendary players of the caliber of GeT_RiGhT; wherever they go, that place becomes their home turf.

VP even has quite a few people who are fans of this legendary player.

And the team also has Gunner players like f0rest, REZ, and dennis; the pressure on VP when facing them is immense.

One can also perceive many things from their current state: NiP is currently ranked 6th in the world on HLTV, while VP is 19th.

At 8:00 PM London time, the members of VP arrived at the match room inside the venue and took their seats.

The members of NiP were in the match room to their left, and they had even just greeted them very amicably, yet the members of VP could not relax.

After both sides finished the map veto, the map was finally determined to be Mirage.

Taking advantage of the few minutes before the start of the match, as the Coach, kuben began the pre-match pep talk.

"Everyone, adjust your Mindset; for this match, we should just try our best to show our own style." He hadn't expected to run into one of the strongest teams in this qualifier in the very first match, and in an instant, his originally calm Mindset was under maximum pressure.

"It's fortunate that they chose Mirage; our performance on this map recently hasn't been bad, especially starting as the CT."

These words gave the VP players some confidence; after all, in their last three games on Mirage, their overall performance had been very good, and they had ultimately secured victory.

Immediately after, kuben came to Xu Beifang's side and began to soothe his emotions: "Don't be nervous, just play like you're playing on the ranked queue or in previous matches. Although NiP's ranking is higher, think about it—MIBR's ranking isn't bad either, didn't they fall to us?"

"So as long as we can play at our usual level in this match, there's still a chance to win."

Xu Beifang nodded as he listened; the most advantageous thing for them was that today's Bo1 map was Mirage. This map has a simple structure but is highly comprehensive, which can compensate for some of their shortcomings.

But while he thought about it well, once he actually entered the match, Xu Beifang truly felt the pressure.

From NiP's wave of utility usage on A Site in the Pistol Round, the coordination of their utility and the speed of their Trade Kills made him feel the intensity of a Major level. The gap between this and the matches in Asia previously widened instantly; it was equivalent to the intensity of a final.

Fortunately, Xu Beifang performed well in the Pistol Round, relying on cover and constant jiggling to secure a triple kill, helping the team win this point.

But in the second round, NiP chose a Force Buy; within 40 seconds, they accelerated into B Site. MiCHu was one-tapped by REZ's Desert Eagle, signaling the fall of B Site.

Xu Beifang, while attempting a Retake, was also followed and tapped to death by the "old six" dennis, who was perched on the edge of the VIP area, with a Desert Eagle.

VP was immediately Reset.

Entering the third round, facing VP's Force Buy, dennis, this Swedish Pistol King, also used 4 Headshots to officially announce the arrival of the Major to Xu Beifang.

Later, when it came to the Full Buy Round, NiP's rhythm for Mid Map Control was also quite fluid; even though pasha bought an AWP, he couldn't get much control over Mid.

Their information on the map was being nibbled away by NiP bit by bit with utility, followed by a quick push with a split-A or split-B execution.

Even if Xu Beifang could trade for an advantageous kill on the front line, MiCHu and NEO could not win the Clutch when rotating back to B Site for a Retake.

The score reached 1:7 before they knew it.

Xu Beifang finally realized: he couldn't hold the front-line defense, so he gave up on the Bomb Site.

He once again started his grand project of pushing forward; this scene made the viewers in the livestream chat exclaim that he was back.

One forward push gathered all the information on A Site, putting VP into a "gambling" state, and combined with his flanking from the rear, they successfully took a point at this metaphysical score.

But facing VP's gamble, NiP's Reaction was quite fast; they immediately made adjustments afterward and didn't let him be that rampant.

Xu Beifang's subsequent forward pushes could often gain an advantage based on his Gunplay, but the success rate was much lower than when he was in Hong Kong; after all, the opponents had sent REZ over.

This direct disciple of "Old F," the successor to friberg, was a top-tier Gunner with a dual nature of god and demon.

In the skirmishes at the front, he traded blows back and forth with Xu Beifang, although Xu Beifang's win rate was higher.

But often, after securing one kill, he could only retreat with low health.

He could steadily win in the mind games against REZ, but pasha and the others couldn't win their aim duels against the "dog-headed man."

Finally, the first half ended, and VP only secured 5 points.

As the CT, this was a failing score.

But during the halftime break, they could only encourage each other, hoping to put on a better performance in the second half.

They had prepared quite a few offensive tactics on Mirage.

It's just that CS: GO is ultimately a game of Gunplay; the role of tactics is only to better execute one's Gunplay.

The opponent wasn't a weak team, and in this situation, although Xu Beifang had his moments, it wasn't enough to carry the team.

In the Pistol Round, a wave of B Small into B was directly met with a triple kill by f0rest at B Small, and the Pistol Round was declared a rout.

Entering the Full Buy Round, Xu Beifang used skins that were not at all flashy and began his mysterious Eastern dry-peek, accelerating in one wave to catch three of NiP's A Site defenders off guard, successfully allowing the team to win this round without taking any damage.

But NiP's Reaction was fast; knowing he liked to play unconventionally, they executed their subsequent Default very thoroughly.

In this situation, VP could only execute a One-Wave Flow with grenade spam.

Although Xu Beifang performed well in the following rounds, it was not enough to tip the scales of victory toward VP's side.

The final score was locked at 11:16.

Facing the strongest rival in the Group Stage, VP lost their first day's match.

Xu Beifang put up a 24/3/18 stat line on this map, but he finally felt the strength of a world-class top team.

After losing the match, Xu Beifang rubbed his temples.

Although he had psychological expectations, he was still very unwilling to accept it; 11:16, it looked like only a 5-point difference, and it seemed like with a little effort they could have fought back—that was what made it even more disappointing.

While packing up his peripherals, the NiP players walked over.

GeT_RiGhT walked to his side and reached out his hand toward him.

Xu Beifang shook hands with him.

"Young man, you played well. Keep it up, don't be discouraged."

Xu Beifang's dejected mood improved quite a bit because of his opponent's friendliness, and he answered with a smile:

"But I still couldn't beat you guys."

GeT_RiGhT laughed: "If we were blown out by a rookie like you right off the bat, wouldn't all our years of hard work be in vain?"

"Keep it up! I hope to see your outstanding performance later on."

GeT_RiGhT patted Xu Beifang on the shoulder, his eyes sincere.

He truly felt that this VP rookie played very well, even though VP ultimately lost the match.

Because whether it was from the stats or the difficulty of dealing with him in the match, the young man in front of him took the top spot.

After being pushed early initially, they sent REZ to watch over this guy, but they didn't expect that REZ couldn't keep him in check, which was quite interesting.

In the subsequent offensive side, they also kept seeing this guy getting kills and points.

After shaking hands and leaving, GeT_RiGhT looked back at Xu Beifang, who was packing his peripherals, and sighed:

"It's a bit of a pity; he won't achieve results at VP. Why don't we optimize f0rest? I'll ask pasha to buy him over."

"Hey, hey! I'm still here."

"Oh, then we'll talk about this when you're not here."

Watching his seniors bickering like children, REZ's mood also improved.

Honestly, they were both young, and when he was assigned to face Nice head-on, he didn't think much of it.

But after clashing, he found he couldn't really win head-on, which made him feel a bit frustrated; one had to know that Nice was the one pushing out, while he was often in a holding stance.

However, he was a bit speechless; in many rounds, this guy on the opposite side would pre-fire as if he had wallhacks.

It looked like he was just running and gunning! Not giving anyone a way to live.

Fortunately, they won in the end... REZ let out a sigh of relief and followed the main group.

VP lost the first day's match in their collision with NiP.

Regarding this, the Tyloo members expressed that it was a great pity, but they could understand; after all, if they were to go and collide with NiP, they might just die on the road—the gap in strength was a bit too large.

And in their first-day matchup against Gambit, although there were some thrilling moments, they ultimately took down this listless Gambit and entered the 1-0 group.

On the second day of the qualifiers, VP faced OpTic, whom they had met once before at the Hong Kong Zotai Cup.

The Bo1 map was still Mirage, and this time it was VP's map pick; they were the Terrorists attacking first.

A pure Danish roster led by k0nfig; Xu Beifang had a certain impression of this player, after all, he was the final straw that would eventually drag down Astralis.

Xu Beifang's only impression of him was that his bones weren't good and he was a bit calcium-deficient; he had no concept of his overall strength.

But since they were a team that hadn't even beaten Team Kinguin at the Zotai Cup, he didn't care; from before the match started, Xu Beifang had marked his opponent as a weakling.

Perhaps it was the mood from losing to NiP yesterday still hidden in his heart that allowed him to put up a very exaggerated performance today.

Even though the rest of VP were in poor form, the entire map lasted 26 rounds, and Xu Beifang put up 31-3-18 stats with a post-match rating of 1.56, single-handedly carrying the team to win this match.

After this match ended, everyone in the CS: GO national server's livestream room was very surprised.

【Holy cow! 31-18, where are the people who said Nice wouldn't cut it at the Major??】

【Yesterday everyone was shouting about the White Gate Tower, today my Hulao Pass is here, damn it!!!】

【This guy is a cheater!!】

【To be fair, this OpTic lost really unjustly; B Site was pierced through so many times, but A Site was pierced through by Lü Bu every single time.】

【Today's Nice has that NiKo flavor; he's invincible head-on, damn.】

The moment they won the match, Xu Beifang shouted loudly in the room.

Everyone else on the team was also incredibly excited; although they encountered the slightly weaker OpTic today, Neo and pasha still hadn't found their form.

In this level of competition, a team's floor is a very important part.

They were dragging the team down at the floor level, but fortunately, Nice's performance was fierce enough to single-handedly carry the team to victory, so how could they not be excited.

After composing their emotions, this time it was VP's turn to go to the opponent's side for the post-match handshake.

The same process, but the two gave off very different feelings.

While shaking hands, k0nfig looked at the high-spirited Xu Beifang; he wanted to say something harsh, but after looking at the "sword-wielding guard" pasha on the side, he swallowed the harsh words back down.

Besides, thinking about it carefully, their loss in this round wasn't unjust.

After all, as his team's top player, his stats were 22-21, a gap of nearly 10 kills from that guy on the opposite side.

Being able to get this score was more reliant on the team's performance.

Relying on the team members' form being better than the opposing veterans, but they were able to rely on the team to find opportunities against VP.

VP was still able to rely on the individual ability of their new player to crush them.

They had long anticipated the result of this match, yet they were still unwilling to accept it; after all, having lost today's match, they had entered the 0-2 group, and if they failed to win in tomorrow's best-of-three, they would have purely come to London for a one-round tour.

VP was unaware of their emotions.

But the fast-paced tournament schedule caused his sense of excitement from the victory to quickly fade away.

After returning to the hotel training room, Neo also made an important decision:

"From now on, we will play with Nice as the absolute core, and all tactics will be built around him!"

Neo understood in his heart that their decline in form had not been obvious in Asia, perhaps because Nice's ability to carry had masked these situations.

But once they truly entered the Major, all the teams were firing on all cylinders.

With the sunlight shining directly down, shadows had nowhere to hide, and their shortcomings were all exposed.

In this situation, continuing to play with the previous Default playstyle would only lead to them being crushed by these players without even realizing it.

Rather than that, it would be better to proactively switch to a riskier playstyle and leverage the team's strengths!

Playing to one's strengths and avoiding weaknesses is a very important point in all competitive disciplines.

"Do the rest of you have any thoughts?" Neo asked.

Everyone shook their heads, indicating there was no problem.

But Byali frowned and asked: "Is it the same as the Protect the Emperor tactic Navi used before? But we've seen the effectiveness of the Protect the Emperor tactic; does this really work?"

He did not object to playing while protecting Nice, he just had reservations about this type of tactic.

"This type of tactic has great limitations," Neo also understood this point, "but its limitations are based on competing for a championship; do you think we can compete for a championship in our current state?"

These words directly silenced Byali.

"So we are just using this playstyle to push ourselves to better results!"

"As for its limitations, we don't need to worry about that much right now."

Neo turned his head again to look at Xu Beifang: "Nice, what are your own thoughts?"

At this proposal from the in-game leader, the first impression that flashed through Xu Beifang's mind was RNG's Protect 1.

He felt quite emotional in his heart, not expecting that, without realizing it, he had gone from the bottom of the team hierarchy to the team's status, and finally to the team's emperor.

Suddenly changing the core playstyle was a huge gamble by Neo, because it represented intense uncertainty.

But if they maintained the status quo in their current state, Xu Beifang had no doubt about the fact that they might be eliminated from the qualifiers next.

Xu Beifang thought for a good while before solemnly replying:

"You can always trust me!"

(End of chapter)