Chapter 116: smooya: I

Entering the first full-buy round of the second half.

Neo began setting up their defensive tactics: "We'll stick to the standard 2-2-1. Two go to Green Corridor, two stand at Outside, and I'll hold B Site Low Slope alone to gather information."

Michu said, "Then I'll head straight to Red Stairs."

In the standard 2-2-1 formation on Train, especially when pasha had picked up an AWP, he would usually cover michu as he went to take control of Red Stairs.

An excellent Red Stairs defender could cause too much trouble for the attacking side; Tyloo had already proven this to them at IEM Shanghai.

Xu Beifang and byali, meanwhile, headed to Green Corridor to defend as a duo.

The countdown ended, michu threw an Incendiary Grenade toward T Spawn, and then strode directly toward Red Stairs.

But as a primary B-site player, his T Spawn fire had a slight flaw; it didn't land deep enough.

smooya had only come to T Hall as usual, intending to counter-peek the sniper position.

Seeing the fire, he immediately had an idea.

He took his AWP directly to the left exit of T Hall, then found an angle to hard-scope the Electric Box crossing.

—Bang!

As michu's silhouette emerged from behind the Electric Box, the AWP bullet pierced through the black smoke of the fire and struck him in the stomach.

【smooya used AWP to kill michu】

"They stepped through the fire at T Spawn to snipe me!" michu quickly relayed the information.

"This is trouble," pasha thought to himself. His positioning wasn't great for this wave, so even after getting into place, he couldn't even see smooya.

He held his angle waiting for the opponent to peek, but was blinded by a Flashbang thrown from T Spawn, forcing him to fire a shot and reposition.

There was no need to guess; that Flashbang was meant to cover smooya's retreat.

Getting the opening kill with an AWP put immense pressure on VP.

Because the timing was just too early!!

Moreover, smooya definitely knew michu intended to control Red Stairs; now that michu was dead, the opponents also knew Red Stairs was empty.

With too much information leaked at the start, they became very passive.

"Nice, give me a Flashbang, I'm going to proactively clear out from Green Corridor." byali didn't intend to let the opponents slowly push; with a disadvantage in numbers, their playstyle needed to be bolder.

There was an Incendiary Grenade they had thrown on the left side of the Green Corridor hallway, allowing byali to reach the near point safely.

"Flash out!"

Xu Beifang was ready and threw a pop-flash.

Hearing the sound, byali swung out immediately.

But he was still a bit too impatient and didn't wait for the Flashbang to pop before peeking.

This allowed the "Leader" (tabsen) in Green Corridor to get the information first, leading to a direct face-to-face firefight.

【tabsen used AK-47 headshot to kill byali】

After getting the kill, the Leader was fully blinded by the Flashbang.

"Damn it! byali was too impatient!" Wanjiqi sighed, "He clearly could have waited for the Flashbang to pop before peeking; there was a major issue with his handling of the details."

He saw it clearly from the god's-eye view: with byali dead, they were left in a 3v5 clutch.

Furthermore, the Terrorists had gathered most of the information on them; if they couldn't find a way to break the deadlock, even stalling with utility would just be a slow death.

"Nice, what do you think? Can you find an opportunity on your side?" With the team on the back foot, neo was more willing to look toward the team's ace.

Xu Beifang held Green Corridor for a few seconds without giving a definitive answer: "They didn't dare come for me. I just threw a flash, so they likely know I'm in Green Corridor. They've probably got angles held; it's not easy to push."

Having played for a few days in the Major Qualifier, Xu Beifang had a certain understanding of the deterrent power of his ID, even if it wasn't as exaggerated as s1mple's.

But unless necessary, knowing his position, opponents were generally unwilling to come looking for trouble with him.

This was a normal mindset; if they were playing other teams tomorrow, they would definitely avoid the ace when attacking.

"Information is mostly leaked, and they don't dare push Green Corridor..." neo muttered, summarizing the intel.

byali added, "The bomb carrier was in Green Corridor just now!"

"The bomb carrier!!" neo instantly understood their likely subsequent offensive strategy, "Nice and pasha, come straight to B Site to gamble! They should be looking to speed up B Site next."

The opponent's bomb position was exposed, and they knew pasha's position as the primary B defender; it wasn't hard to deduce that the one throwing the flash in Green Corridor was Nice.

They wouldn't dare try Green Corridor; if the bomb were dropped, the entire game state would become unpredictable.

It was more likely that BIG would regroup to organize another attack.

Of course, it was also possible they would coordinate from T Spawn and Red Stairs to push A Site.

But there was no help for it; a 3v5 clutch was already a numerical disadvantage, and they had to sacrifice something.

If the gamble didn't pay off, they would just save their weapons.

VP set up a three-man position on B Site, waiting for the opponents to arrive.

"VP rotated three to B at the last second, abandoning Outside entirely. How will BIG handle this? Will they send someone to probe Green Corridor?"

"They didn't. Nice standing alone in Green Corridor provided a huge deterrent; even after the smoke cleared, they didn't dare push, leaving only one to watch the flank to prevent him from pushing out."

"But over here, BIG really didn't dare hit A; they turned around to hit B instead!!"

Two teammates were in position at the middle of Three Paths and the Site Coil, but Xu Beifang didn't intend to sit and wait for death; he climbed the stairs and snuck up to the High Slope.

Then he crept forward step by step...

Soon, the sound of utility echoed in his ears, and he knew someone might be hiding in B2.

He swung out, and three Terrorists throwing utility stood right in front of him!

As the Terrorists released their utility and jumped into the air, they saw that reckless guy from the High Slope peek out in their peripheral vision!

At that moment, they were scared out of their wits!

What the hell is a surprise!!

Xu Beifang aimed quickly and unleashed a frantic spray at the group of Terrorists!

Bullets flew from the muzzle, causing massive damage in the narrow B2 hallway; blood splattered, and men kept falling.

The entire B2 hallway instantly turned into a mess!

"Teammates are playing default on the site, letting Xiao Xu out again, sneaking up the High Slope alone."

"BIG happened to be executing their grenade set, and he heard the sound! He swung out wide!!!" Wanjiqi's originally calm voice suddenly became impassioned due to Xu Beifang's play.

"His choice wasn't the most rational, but he successfully caught an incredible timing!! A spray transfer with the M4, taking down two and leaving two crippled!!"

"smooya barely managed to trade the kill; BIG feels like they've just survived a disaster."

【Nice used M4A4 headshot to kill tabsen】

【Nice used M4A4 to kill nex】

【smooya used AWP to kill Nice】

"Now it's a 3v2; will BIG continue to hit B?"

"The two crippled ones in B2 aren't rushing; they chose to rotate from Red Stairs, and the Green Corridor player has already reached the baseline."

"BIG is still playing it steady, while neo has already rotated back to CT Mid, holding one bomb carrier dead; is there a chance here!!"

"smooya!! It's him standing up again, helping BIG turn danger into safety, and pasha knows the remaining positions are all on A Site, so he begins to rotate."

"But this is really hard to play; BIG knows the last one is on B Site, so he can only come out from Red Stairs or CT Mid; the two are holding separate angles, it depends on the specific execution."

pasha calmed his heart, carefully thinking about the opponent's position in his mind.

Arriving at CT Mid, he shoulder-peeked toward the baseline.

—Bang!

The AWP fired!

【pashabiceps used AWP to kill godb】

"1v1!!" Xu Beifang's callout sounded expectant, "I think I sprayed him twice from A2."

"I think I hit him once just now," neo added.

Hearing this, pasha switched to his pistol and began to push forward.

He roughly understood the opponent was behind the bomb car or between Five-Six Tracks.

He jump-peeked onto the bomb car, instantly seeing a Terrorist holding an AWP below.

—Bang!

"Puff puff!!"

【pashabiceps used USP pistol to kill smooya】

"Niiiiiiiiice!!!!"

The moment the kill was secured, cheers exploded in the VP team room.

"That clutch was beautiful!!" byali shouted in the voice chat.

A 3v5 clutch, won through a series of gambles, aggressive peeks, retake interceptions, and a 1v2 solo play.

"How long has it been since I've seen you win a clutch?" neo teased.

pasha rolled his eyes at neo while defusing the bomb.

He had just won a clutch, and now he was being undermined; did he want him to let go of the defuse!

Of course, he only thought that to himself; having won such a hard-fought clutch, he wouldn't throw the round with a silly mistake.

A technical timeout appeared on the game screen again.

Xu Beifang asked in the public chat what was going on.

tabsen: smooya punched the table and knocked the monitor over, the screen is black now, give us a moment.

This answer left the VP team speechless.

neo typed back: Looks like smooya is preparing to be device's successor; the tournament staff will hate him.

nex: lol

The tournament staff looked at smooya, speechless.

smooya said with an innocent face, "I didn't touch it, I just punched the table."

The staff quickly had professionals come over to repair it, re-plugging all the interfaces, and breathed a sigh of relief when they found it was just the monitor cable that had been pulled out.

Otherwise, temporarily replacing a monitor or other equipment would take too much time, significantly impacting the continuity of the match.

But computer issues were a common occurrence in matches.

If there were no equipment issues, some players would even feel like something was missing.

smooya sighed and shifted his attention back: "We didn't even win that clutch, I'm speechless."

This remark put some pressure on the other BIG members, even though they knew smooya just lacked emotional intelligence.

But the words still inevitably hurt them a little.

smooya had indeed played that round well, stealing an opening kill, trading the kill when caught out of timing in B2, and even taking down a retaking opponent during the rotation.

He had taken down three with the sniper rifle that round; those 4750 were well spent.

But the others hadn't achieved the expected results; if they could have just gotten one more kill, they would have won that full-buy round.

They felt a sudden pressure.

Having planted the bomb, plus the loss-bonus economy, they could still afford to play another full-buy round.

Fortunately, in the subsequent rapid A-site grenade execute, smooya and tabsen combined for a four-kill, narrowly winning the round, which made them breathe a sigh of relief.

The score reached 12:9.

"No big deal, they don't have much money; if they lose this round, they'll go straight to ECO," byali said.

Although the attacking side won the previous round, they lost four full-buy weapons; compared to them, their economy was severely crippled!

"Controlling Red Stairs at the start isn't easy, let's change our approach and take control of Green Corridor instead," neo wasn't a rigid commander, "michu, you follow to Green Corridor too; we can play a bit more aggressively this time."

Calculating the opponent's economy, knowing the attacking side didn't have much money, aside from guarding against smooya's AWP, they didn't need to be so anxious overall.

The countdown ended, and Xu Beifang led two teammates straight to Green Corridor.

pasha took his AWP and jumped to the side of the Five Paths train car at the start, then scoped in to push T Spawn.

He had to help the three teammates in Green Corridor confirm there was no AWP holding T Spawn directly; otherwise, getting picked off from T Spawn would make the main force very uncomfortable.

michu held a Flashbang at the T-junction, while Xu Beifang and byali leaned forward.

A Flashbang popped, and the two cleared the near-point information without seeing any presence of the opponent.

"Should we keep watching Outside?" michu pulled out a second Flashbang.

There were two areas Outside Green Corridor; the first was the near-point Trash Can area, and the other was a very long distance, from the T Spawn point all the way to Green Corridor, comparable to the distance from Dust 2 Pit to A Platform, or even further.

"Forget it, I'll push the smoke directly; just taking Green Corridor is enough," Xu Beifang knew the opponent had a sniper rifle, and based on pasha's feedback, no one was holding angles in T Hall, so pushing Outside would be too dangerous.

smooya held his AWP at the far point Outside, watching the smoke grenade thrown from Green Corridor, only then feeling relieved, and turned to hold his angle.

Following the Leader's tactical instructions, they each grabbed their utility, waiting for the command to execute a rapid A-site hit.

"pasha is very aggressive with the AWP here, proactively pushing T Hall to get full information; nex is standing in the corner, what about this position?"

"nex fires first, but is still taken down by pasha in one shot; the advantage of a sniper rifle holding an angle is just too great!"

The opponent's sniper rifle pushed directly to the Olof Position, and the Leader didn't hesitate anymore, launching a rapid grenade execute.

CT Mid smoke, Six Tracks end smoke, Six Tracks middle fire, plus continuous A-site Flashbangs, they launched a fierce offensive!

The moment the site execute happened, Xu Beifang, who was holding the smoke Outside Green Corridor, began to touch the smoke and move forward.

Finding no one left Outside, he opened his stride and hurried along.

"They should be speeding up! Be careful, I'm flanking!!" Xu Beifang relayed the information to his teammates.

pasha was holding T Spawn in Six Tracks, but the opponent's continuous Flashbangs blinded his vision completely.

When his vision returned, just as he wanted to get some information, he found someone had already rushed into his face.

"Da-da-da..."

【tabsen used AK-47 to kill pashabiceps】

"tabsen used his teammates' Flashbangs to rush directly to the site area; his speed is very fast!"

"At the same time, byali was focused down by Red Stairs and tabsen jumping onto the bomb car; michu was also taken down by smooya after pushing through the smoke in Six Tracks! The numbers instantly became 2v4!! How can they play this?" Wanjiqi expressed that he couldn't understand the firefight on A Site at all.

The Terrorists' speed was indeed unexpected, but the CTs' response was a bit too crude.

"But at the same time, Nice has also snuck into T Hall; how many can he take down?"

"smooya is throwing utility in Six Tracks, Xiao Xu isn't in a hurry! He's looking for more opportunities!"

Xu Beifang held down the silent walk key and moved to the right, starting to look for other Terrorists.

As the Red Stairs smoke dissipated, he saw a Terrorist standing at the corner, and the bomb carrier kneeling halfway to plant the bomb!

Xu Beifang planned the firing order in his mind, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

"Nice isn't in a hurry, he's looking for other people's positions; he caught a great timing, this is a timing that can turn the advantage back!"

"But can Nice really turn the advantage back?"

"Nice takes down smooya first! A back-step turn to counter-peek Red Stairs, a spray takes down godb too!!"

"Peeking toward the bomb car again, can he win?"

"A triple kill!! BIG, who had it in the bag, is left with only tizian!! The 2v4 clutch has become a 2v1!!"

【Nice!!!!】

【He caught another incredible timing!!】

【Can only say Xiao Xu really doesn't know how to defend, he's always attacking!】

【This forward push is too perverted!!】

【Big heart, how many times has this been now, forcing a world-save.】

"This flank is absolutely perfect!!" Wanjiqi adjusted his state in the live stream and continued to commentate:

"neo caught the side, but was turned on by tizian and hit twice in the head, ah!!"

"This actually turned into a 1v1, Nice's health is still very healthy, this... no suspense!!" Wanjiqi shouted excitedly in the live stream, "Textbook spray control, the choice of timing is also quite on point."

"Nice used a four-kill to crush BIG's successful grenade execute; BIG has no money next round!"

Wanjiqi summarized: "BIG actually played well enough this round; despite losing a man early, they took the site without losing anyone during the attack."

"But they never expected that a reckless guy had already snuck into T Hall, a fatal timing, a timing they wouldn't have thought of, burying BIG directly!"

The aces of both sides were performing back and forth, which the audience in the live stream found quite exciting.

For VP, winning this round was also very exciting.

Winning the round without letting the opponent plant the bomb meant the Terrorists' economy was shattered.

They smoothly pushed the score to 14:9.

Both sides had entered the final confrontation, and the match had entered a white-hot stage.

But after all, this was a CT-sided map; with the attacking side trailing by 5 rounds, it was really difficult to catch up.

Both sides seesawed, and even though smooya and tabsen's performances were beautiful, they still couldn't play a big role in the overall game state.

The score on Train was fixed at 16:10.

VP took Map 2 of the match, dragging the game into Map 3—the do-or-die round!

Looking at everyone's feedback, not many agree with changing the monthly ticket bonus rule, so we'll keep it as is, and I'll work hard to pay it off slowly every day.

Also, did you receive the CS2 qualification today? Coffee didn't...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 117 =====