Chapter 163: An iron-clad A Site, a paper-thin B Site!

"Congratulations to Vitality for taking the first map of this BO3. They performed exceptionally well on their own map pick," Wanjiqi praised in the live stream.

"Xu Beifang and Zywoo, these two players, also put on quite a performance. Xu Beifang even pulled off an ace with a sniper rifle on A Platform, which is enough to show how intense this match is."

【Xu Beifang's performance is truly top-tier. NBK and RpK have also stood their ground today, unlike the last two days where they were sluggish across the board.】

【If the veterans can hold the pressure, then the two main carries, Xu Beifang and Zywoo, can really shine.】

【It's just that Apex always makes Zywoo buy utility, which is really hard to understand.】

【No choice, Zywoo lives in Apex's basement after all.】

【Tell me more about the basement...】

【...】

Compared to the happy discussions among the netizens, the members of Vitality felt more like they had narrowly escaped a disaster.

A match point in a CS: GO game is a critical node; too many teams have had twisted stories happen at this time, and here I must explain why it is G...

When they were down by the first point chased by allu, their confidence was still sufficient.

After all, highlight plays are something Vitality can pull off, and ENCE can do the same.

Moreover, allu only has large fluctuations in form; his strength is still worthy of his fame.

But after being chased by the opponent for several consecutive points, the shrinking score gap was like a big drum constantly beating in their hearts, making their entire mindset restless.

"Why did the opponent suddenly get so fierce?" "Are we going to be chased into overtime?" "We can't hold the front!"

All sorts of chaotic thoughts surfaced in their minds, which also affected their form.

Fortunately, NBK, who had been underperforming for most of the match, stood up and, in coordination with RpK, delivered a good performance, bringing an end to the duel on Dust II.

"Well played." Xu Beifang bumped fists with RpK beside him. "I almost thought we were going to lose."

"It wasn't easy." NBK remained soft-spoken. "It still had to be your outstanding performance earlier, otherwise, it felt like the first map would have been a bust."

Apex frowned, then said with a grin: "Don't go shaking the morale here. No matter what, we still won this map."

The members of Vitality knew this too. Despite their various emotions, their hearts were still overflowing with the joy of victory.

It was just that they had only won the first map of the BO3, so it wasn't time to cheer and celebrate yet.

They maintained their composure to better handle the upcoming second map, Mirage.

Mirage is considered one of Xu Beifang's strong maps, but it was ENCE's pick. Whether looking at the data they obtained at the match point or ENCE's performance in their recordings, ENCE's performance on this map was quite outstanding.

They absolutely could not afford to let their guard down.

"A few clutch rounds were lost in a way that shouldn't have happened." ENCE coach Twista is a middle-aged esports veteran over 30 and the key figure who has brought this new ENCE to where they are today.

Although his name is similar to that of the current Liquid star player Twistzz, he doesn't envy Twistzz's gunplay, but rather has some fantasies about that head of hair.

With his thinning hair, Twista frowned and explained the problems that appeared in the team during the first half with a serious expression: "The handling of a few clutch rounds could have been better; you were still a bit irrational."

During the match, after calling a timeout as a coach, he used the 40 seconds more to explain specific handling measures and did not point out some of their own mistakes. Now was the time to explain the team's errors and then make adjustments.

Otherwise, he felt that in today's BO3, they would really be steamrolled by this Vitality team.

"And you too, Aleksib." Twista looked at Aleksib. "Don't go head-to-head with them. Find a way to avoid the A Site held by Nice and Zywoo; be firm and just find trouble at the B Site."

Aleksib said helplessly: "I can't avoid them! The timing of that guy's forward pressure is too strange. Once we hit B, it's impossible to leave someone to lock down the A Site area."

"If you can't avoid him, make him move!" Twista said. "Guardian once proposed a theory: if you can't avoid the opponent's star player, then find a way to make him run around the map. In the process of constantly rotating, consume his utility and his energy for holding angles."

Aleksib grabbed his hair back, his head thinking rapidly about how to break the game on Mirage.

Seeing this scene, Twista, as a coach, felt a bit better. Although the ENCE team has many newcomers and sometimes lacks experience.

But their advantage is that they are young. Even if they lose a match, they can quickly adjust their mood and mobilize their desire to win.

He clapped his hands, attracting the attention of the players in the battle room, and then shouted: "Adjust your emotions. It's a BO3 match; there's still plenty of time."

"Vitality certainly has a Top 9 star player, but he only made a name for himself this year. I believe that in next year's Top 20, there will definitely be a place for us."

"So don't worry, play with your confidence!"

Although it was ENCE's map pick, taking the first map smoothly made the Vitality members feel quite good.

The second map, Mirage, is also one of the top three maps in Vitality's current map pool, and they have a certain amount of confidence in it.

But once the second map match truly began, they discovered that this match was much more difficult than they had imagined.

The early stage of the first half relied on the performance of Zywoo and Apex to successfully take the pistol round.

But in the second round, ENCE chose to force buy, and with a quick second-timing B-rush, they used Tec-9s to smash Vitality's B Site.

If one were to summarize after the match, these two rounds could basically become the overall tone of Vitality's defense.

An iron-clad A Site, a paper-thin B Site!

Later, Apex actively stepped into the B Site, forming a heavy 3-man defense, but amidst ENCE's skilled trade kills and coordination, their 3-man B defense could only produce mediocre trades.

By the end of the first half, Vitality had only scored 5 points.

In the second half, Zywoo was a bit unlucky and suddenly became somewhat invisible.

Xu Beifang and RpK stood up and performed, but ENCE's allu and sergej were also in hot form, and the two sides engaged in a brilliant duel.

But in the end, the score for the second map was fixed at 16:9.

Vitality and ENCE each took their own map picks, and this duel deciding the Major qualification entered the final life-or-death third map!

After the halftime adjustment, the mood of the Vitality members was not too bad.

Thanks to the optimistic mindset of the French, they focused more on the problems themselves.

Winning the knife round, Vitality started as the defensive side on the third map, Overpass.

"Except for eco rounds and special tactical rounds, let's separate Nice and Zywoo for the default defense on the third map," the bald coach made a decision during the final warm-up time.

"The defensive strength at B Site is still lacking a bit. NBK and RpK have rich match experience, but their form isn't good. Let's see if this adjustment can make up for the deficiency."

NBK and RpK felt a bit frustrated hearing this. Once, they were players who could command the wind and rain on the field, but now they had become the team's bottom line, needing newcomers to cover for them.

"Nice, defend A solo, be a bit steady. Everyone else, follow me and gamble 4-man B," Apex implemented some targeted tactics.

As an IGL, he was quite familiar with some of the opponent's playstyles on various maps.

ENCE likes to hit B in the pistol round on Overpass, plus that B-site targeted playstyle on the second map, so gambling B was a normal decision.

Xu Beifang bought a half-armor and headed straight for Mid.

Apex told him to be steady, but that didn't mean he had to cower in the back.

Some information about the T-spawn in the early stage still had to be obtained.

Xu Beifang walked directly into Mid and took a glance at the situation at the T-spawn.

"No one at T-spawn! Watch out for the speed."

After saying that, he retreated directly toward the bomb site. The early information had been obtained, and now it was time to be steady.

……

"ENCE has two sets of utility, giving a B2-floor fast smoke and a Construction Site smoke, coordinating with flashbangs to directly hit a B-site fast rush," Wanjiqi glanced at the mini-map. "But Vitality happens to have a heavy B-site defense this round, having long since laid a net to wait for ENCE to come over!"

"Apex gave a Cylinder smoke, protecting RpK, which forces ENCE to come from the front to peek."

"But Apex is constantly peeking around the cylinder, with two teammates behind him helping him output, and there's someone holding an angle inside B1; ENCE simply can't rush in!"

"After a fierce exchange of fire, Aleksib finally got their team's first kill, and the pistol round was declared over."

Relying on the successful gamble to take the pistol round, Apex was very excited and bumped fists with Xu Beifang: "Is my gamble this round awesome? The opponent couldn't even enter the bomb site."

"Truly awesome!" Xu Beifang also praised.

He held A solo and won the round, although he didn't participate, the tactical victory was still something to be happy about.

Losing the pistol round and failing to plant the bomb, Aleksib chose to buy a flashbang and then let the main force go to Construction Site to engage in a firefight with the opponent.

This flashbang had a very good effect, successfully flashing Apex who was pushing forward, achieving a 1-for-1 trade.

It's just that in the second timing, RpK at Construction Site and Xu Beifang in the Sewer fired simultaneously, performing a synchronized coordination.

They successfully killed all 4 remaining armorless terrorists in Construction Site.

Losing only one and successfully taking the second point, Vitality could accept this result too well.

Third round.

The opponent had already entered a full-buy round. Apex glanced at the team's positioning: "Nice, give me your MP9, you buy a rifle. The others don't need to change their weapons for now."

"We're starting with a 3A-2B setup. NBK, follow Nice to clear the Sewer at the start, then Zywoo, go over and give enough pressure to the T-spawn, let's take control of the Sewer first."

The first two rounds were taken smoothly, and in this point, the weapons of both sides were reversed.

Moreover, there were three MP9s in the team; if they forced a change, the economy would be too disadvantaged, so Apex planned to shorten the engagement distance in the early stage to leverage the advantage of the submachine guns.

"Okay." Xu Beifang nodded. "Then I'll peek horizontally later, NBK, help me trade."

The preparation time ended, and everyone stepped out.

Xu Beifang followed NBK toward the Sewer, and Zywoo followed behind and threw a T-spawn fire, which is also a piece of utility that must be known for Overpass defense.

After giving the T-spawn fire, Zywoo threw a smoke grenade toward Mid to cover his safety, creating an illusion for the opponent that he was going to play a one-way smoke.

Then he threw an HE grenade toward the T-spawn inside the smoke.

Zywoo's set of harassment was considered complete.

The exchange of utility between the two sides in Mid made Sergej in the Sewer less nervous. He held his SG553, preparing to push forward, and later synchronize with his teammates to control Construction Site.

Suddenly, a CT peeked horizontally, followed by a second one!

He immediately crouched and fired, but the opponent's focus fire speed was too fast.

【NBK used MP9 to kill Sergej】

"There are two people in the Sewer, the opponent has three people all in Mid!" Sergej quickly relayed this information in the voice chat.

This time he guessed that someone might be in the Sewer, but the information from his teammates at T-spawn made him subconsciously think there was only one person in the Sewer. How could he have known there would be such a double-man dry-peek to counter-clear.

He directly gave away the first kill.

"Two in the Sewer? One more in Mid?" After Aleksib summarized the information, he immediately started running wildly from A Long.

Seeing this scene, Wanjiqi began his analysis: "Aleksib feels he has caught a remarkable timing! He thinks the opponent's 3 A-site players are all in Mid and the Sewer area. If he can go down from the Bank and take out the two people at B Site, this round will be won directly."

"But Zywoo is holding in the A Long Toilet, listening clearly to Aleksib's footsteps. Although he only has an MP9, Zywoo's short spray took out Aleksib's side directly."

Wanjiqi had only one word to summarize Zywoo's operation this time—rational!

After harassing Mid at the start, he knew A Long might leak an opportunity, so he hurried over to cover A Long. After hearing the footsteps, he faced the wall to hide, letting Aleksib pass a bit before stealing his side.

A textbook-like delicate operation.

Getting one kill each in the Sewer and A Long, it was now 5-on-3, and Vitality began to shrink their formation.

But NBK, who was walking behind, heard the sound of the Sewer door opening and immediately looked back.

"Da-da-da!"

【xseven used AK47 to headshot kill NBK】

"Zywoo, you go to B. I still have quite a lot of utility, I'll hold A solo and try." Xu Beifang explained his thoughts in the voice chat.

It was originally a 5-on-3 big advantage clutch, but NBK was suddenly intercepted, turning it into a 4-on-3 small advantage.

The defensive pressure on the B Site of this map is greater. Because of the offensive environment of A point, he can easily use utility to stall them.

Zywoo began to rotate back to B Site, but after a while, seeing no movement, he actively walked a few steps toward A again.

Just at this moment, Apex reminded him in the voice chat, and then coordinated with RpK for a counter-clear of the Long Pipe.

With the help of a flashbang, RpK successfully took down Aerial and also saw the dropped bomb.

Now the opponent's offensive intent was laid bare, and Xu Beifang and Zywoo hurried toward B Site.

After taking down the terrorist at the Long Pipe, there was a 2-on-2 face-to-face remaining at B Site.

After a burst of gunfire, they still didn't win this wave.

However, trading two in a 2-on-3 face-to-face was already a very good result for Zywoo and Xu Beifang.

"It's left as a 1-on-2 clutch for allu, he seems to have seen Zywoo jumping toward Water Underpass!"

"allu is circling with Zywoo, Zywoo is also holding his position, but allu did it! He crouched and peeked out, directly headshotting Zywoo!"

"Only Xu Beifang is left to accept this 1-on-1. allu is still pre-aiming, but Xu Beifang at B2 floor used the AUG to take allu down with two shots from long range. Xu Beifang didn't give him any room to operate."

"Although allu was pre-aiming, Xu Beifang was holding the crossing with the AUG scoped in. He knew the bomb was at the Long Pipe, allu definitely had to go over to pick it up."

"3:0, Vitality has regained some feeling after entering the third map."

Two more chapters today.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 164 =====