Chapter 128: That Ray of Light Remained in Boston

"Congratulations to VP for finally winning the second day of the group stage with a score of 16:2. This is also their first BO1 in the Legends Stage, a victory at the start!" Ai Hua sent his congratulations in the live stream.

His voice was full and clear, and also carried a little joy.

As a commentator, he hoped that the match would have more twists and turns, because the more exciting the match, the more it could bring out the skill of their commentary.

But for VP's match, he hoped to see a good result even more.

Originally, there was some anxiety in his heart before the match started, but the result was this huge score gap, which was still very surprising.

"pasha."

The muscle man raised his head, "Hmm?"

"Played quite well today, I finally enjoyed the feeling of being carried," Xu Beifang reached out his hand, "Looks like the old brother was also very strong in the past."

Xu Beifang was indeed a bit surprised today; after all, pasha's performance in the team had always been mediocre, not quite at the bottom, but he had never carried the match either.

pasha used a little force and patted the palm that was reached out, "That's natural, I was also a top 3 player in the past."

In 2014, when pasha was at his peak, he surpassed a series of star players like kennyS, JW, shox, dupreeh, device, etc., who are now famous, and won the top 3 honor, but unfortunately, time waits for no one.

"Actually, Nice is making fun of you," neo took off his headset and joined in, "He said you were playing poorly before?"

Xu Beifang didn't have that meaning, but hearing neo say this, he started to giggle.

pasha pretended to be angry and came over to give Xu Beifang a hard time.

Having won the match, everyone was very happy, but they weren't too excited emotionally, because the opponent really didn't give them too much pressure.

C9's overall strength was just too poor, and they couldn't construct an effective attack against them, which was the real reason they were able to win with such an exaggerated score today.

But precisely because the score gap was too large, VP's emotions were all very flat; from the trend of the entire match, their victory was a matter of course.

The group played around in the team room, and under kuben's organization, they walked to the next room to enter the post-match handshake session.

The camera followed the VP group to C9's side.

Six months ago, they made a series of upsets at the Boston Major, igniting the eyes of global viewers and eventually winning the championship.

Skadoodle and autimatic showed everyone what it meant to be young and energetic, high-spirited.

But six months later, C9, who once appeared in people's impressions as a dark horse, had quietly fallen again.

Like a beautiful meteor, leaving a deep memory in people's impressions, remaining in that night in Boston.

Having lost the match with such a huge score gap, C9's mood wasn't good, and they had no thoughts of chatting.

VP shook hands with them and went through the motions, then returned to their player area, packed up their peripherals, and started returning to the lounge.

byali had purely been carried today, and now his mood was relaxed, and he was unwrapping a piece of chocolate to replenish energy, "How is the record in the first round? Has anyone counted it?"

"What kind of counting is needed for this? Just look at HLTV," michu retorted.

neo took out his phone from the side and checked on HLTV:

"A total of five matches were played yesterday, G2, Liquid, BIG, compLexity, Tyloo won..."

"What about the two matches today?"

"The first match was mouz vs NiP, NiP won."

byali swallowed the chocolate in his mouth and asked: "What's the situation, Snax didn't perform?"

Their former teammate Snax was now playing for mousesports, so they were still quite concerned about this team.

After all, compared to the conflict with TaZ, Snax left more peacefully for his own future, not to mention any disputes, and the relationship between the group was quite good privately. Just the day before yesterday, byali had played billiards with Snax.

"Snax is okay, although he was at the bottom, he wasn't too bad. This match was purely mouz being comprehensively crushed, with no main carry standing up. ropz's data was 23-20, but he only had a 1.11 rating, obviously there were some unimportant kills."

neo commented: "This young man still has too little experience, playing a bit like an 'old six' (lurker/camper)."

"ropz is a good player, but he still needs to play more matches to absorb experience."

There was no way around this; the lurker position is all about solo scouting and clearing, eating both the team's overall strength and the player's individual ability and match experience.

Between a lurker and an "old six," there is often only a thin line.

Although ropz was a genius teenager handpicked by NiKo, he still needed to spend time growing in matches.

Xu Beifang smiled: "Fortunately, I didn't choose the lurker position at the beginning, otherwise I would have had to sit in jail for a few years."

He had actually considered this point. Compared to the front-line entry fragger and sniper, a lurker couldn't make too huge an impact on the match.

In the attacking end, a good lurker could make the team's attack easier.

But it was very difficult for him to influence the entire battle situation alone.

Xu Beifang was older, not like ropz who debuted so early, so naturally, playing in the front was more realistic.

"Get_Right is still old and strong, already 28 and still carrying. Don't know how these two guys from NiP maintain their state," neo was a bit envious.

He was already 31 now, speaking of which he was only 3 years older than Get_Right, but the two people's states were completely not on the same level.

"What about the other match? I remember it was NaVi vs Astralis," Xu Beifang was also eating a piece of chocolate on the table.

Others were also a bit curious.

The popularity of this match on the internet was also very high; after all, it was a confrontation between the current world number one and world number two, which could be called Mars hitting Earth.

The star players of the teams, device and s1mple, both had the strength to compete for this year's top 1.

And Zeus and gla1ve were also top-tier commanders at the current stage.

Everyone was looking forward to the struggle between the two championship favorites.

"Astralis 16:14 won against NaVi!"

"Long pain..." byali was a bit surprised. NaVi and Astralis's game, it wouldn't be strange whoever won or lost, but such a small gap was interesting.

Losing the match by two points, s1mple must be furious.

"What's the specific situation?"

neo heard the teammates asking, and also clicked on the record to check the situation. Seeing this, he laughed:

"For the star players, both sides are actually about the same, even can be said to be the same. s1mple plus Electronic killed 46, and dupreeh and device killed 46 combined."

"But unfortunately, Edward didn't act like a human today. The 'Mysterious Two Elders' main carry held the pressure today, but the second brother didn't hold up. The 6-21 data is almost like telling NaVi fans 521."

byali widened his eyes: "Single digits!!"

neo nodded: "So even if s1mple is furious, I think it's normal. The other four brothers all exerted force, and they didn't ask you to explode carry, just give a little effort. Only getting 6 kills is really a bit unjustifiable."

Even if he was such a lagging player, he hadn't produced such outrageous data as 6 kills in a whole year, so neo still had the confidence to laugh a little.

kuben hadn't returned from getting the match table, so neo simply dragged everyone to chat about the match just now.

"To be honest, actually, the match just now, I think everyone's handling was quite good."

As soon as he came up, neo explained his thoughts.

michu and others nodded; they actually felt this too.

The overall feeling was very comfortable, everyone's communication frequency was in place, and then according to the on-the-spot handling and some information feedback from teammates, they could easily win the game.

"Nice."

"Hmm?" Xu Beifang responded.

neo took paper and pen from the table in the lounge, and then drew his thoughts on the paper and pen.

"I think our rhythm today was very good, and we can play according to this rhythm later. When the team's front-line pressure isn't big, you can just push to A1 and liberate pasha."

Xu Beifang nodded: "This is of course no problem, I'm not necessarily having to push forward, it's just that many times pushing forward can get opportunities for the team... pushing forward is just one of the means for me to get kills."

"Of course, it's not that you have to guard the back point. If the front can hold, you can play according to today's rhythm, and get information in a slightly more forward place," neo couldn't help but laugh again. "Actually, it's still that problem. If the front can win, then our firepower point is transferred to the front, and you don't have to be so aggressive."

"Mainly because pasha's performance is unstable, his state fluctuates too much."

Xu Beifang shrugged, this was the key problem why he liked to push forward in the match.

He didn't look for opportunities, teammates were often defeated one by one, and he wasn't good at clutch situations, so he could only let the opponent enter the clutch state in advance.

"But if next, pasha can fight back and forth with the opponent in Mid, then you can still push to a position like A1, and occasionally push out to find people."

"Use your forward push to disrupt the opponent's attacking rhythm."

neo's way of looking at problems was still looking at the overall situation.

Xu Beifang being able to get kills in the front point was no problem.

But when not pushing forward, he still hoped that Xu Beifang's position could make the opponent wary.

That is, if you don't let people come to see A1, then we will definitely push forward later, forcing the opponent to have to put their eyes on A1.

This way, the pressure on A site can be reduced from the formation.

Xu Beifang was also thinking: "If I am sent into A1, then can byali go to Mid to help later?"

"What about A2 Floor?" michu asked.

"I think it can be released directly," Xu Beifang explained his thoughts. "Since I have already stood in the advantageous gun position in the front point, then he is at most observing A2 Floor in CT Spawn."

"Generally speaking, there won't be a single person silently touching out of A2 Floor. Even if the opponent wants to come out of A2 Floor, they will probably make a sound, and I can hear it and let you retake."

pasha felt that byali could be liberated, but there was another problem: "What if you don't win the gunfight?"

If Xu Beifang didn't win the gunfight in A1, then the defense of A site was basically empty.

"I can basically trade kills in A1, that position is very strong for me!" Xu Beifang was quite confident about this. "Still assuming, if I didn't trade, then the opponent is a fast rush. In this case, byali standing in CT Spawn alone only plays the role of protecting CT Spawn."

"So I think, if I engage in fire at the first moment, pasha can retake CT Spawn from VIP, which can also play the role of protecting CT Spawn."

VP group thought about it and found it was indeed the case.

byali was also thinking about the various situations of facing Archway, "If I am in Archway, there is still a bottom line in this area of Jungle at the first moment."

Previously, pasha guarded this area of VIP alone, once the opponent gave a Link smoke and a Jump Platform smoke, he could only go to CT Spawn to help byali.

Now he had an assault rifle, which could play a certain combat power in Jump Platform, and could also ensure the control of this area.

As for CT Spawn, pasha's AWP was actually very good for a bottom line.

"So we only need to pay the price of A2 Floor possibly being silently touched, and we can make the firepower in Mid more sufficient?" neo asked.

Xu Beifang nodded, and his inspiration also emerged.

"And it seems like it can be played like this in Inferno. After grabbing the Banana Road at the start, leave me alone to hold the point with an AWP, or stand in a tricky position like the Stone Slab. Once I see someone, I'll take one and run back. Then A site will supplement the defense."

neo felt a tingling sensation in his scalp when he heard this.

"Nice, where did you get these ideas, simply a genius."

As a commander, he would frequently analyze the systems and ideas of other teams.

In the past, in some similar defensive duels, he would only feel that the opponent's play was beautiful, but didn't have a concrete concept, more thinking that the opponent's mid-term choices were good.

But Xu Beifang's words just now connected these things directly.

He looked at this teammate before him again, and his eyes were already a bit different.

"Reverse engineering," Xu Beifang replied. "You know I like to watch those players' recordings. Sometimes when I see some duels where their attacks can't get in, I will think about what the reason is."

"I will ignore the concept of gunnery when watching recordings, and reverse engineering is mostly looking at tactical things."

"Just like that time we played Grayhound, everyone pushed forward in A site at the start, and all the information was taken. Even if I stay in the A1 front point and don't push forward later, it's no problem for you to gamble on a 4B heavy defense."

"Because we have too much information on the map, and the opponent's choices in our field of vision later are not many."

VP group gasped.

They knew Xu Beifang was very hardworking, diligent in training every day, and never missed it except for special circumstances.

Day after day doing boring learning like match reviews and professional demo watching.

But they didn't expect him to have such a keen tactical sense.

michu's chin almost dropped, both were stupid gunners, how come you grew a brain secretly?

However, the ideas proposed by Xu Beifang made them feel refreshed, and all thought there was great feasibility.

Xu Beifang naturally wouldn't say that this was a playstyle idea from the future, which was improved by him simply.

VP group discussed this idea on different maps, and they felt that if they played according to this playstyle, then the following matches would be very promising.

It's just that neo was a bit regretful, thinking that Nice should have said his ideas earlier.

This way they could have had more training attempts.

Just when they were full of fighting spirit, the coach kuben finally walked in from outside the lounge.

And brought a bad piece of news: "The opponent for the next BO1 is Astralis!"

The smiles of everyone in the lounge stopped abruptly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 129 =====