Chapter 193: 196. Chapter 193: Who is carrying at the 2018 London Major?

196. Chapter 193: Who is carrying at the 2018 London Major?

Over the next week, Xu Beifang's life became gradually monotonous.

Every day was spent doing basic training in the training room, followed by a schedule packed with FPL training, and occasionally exploring some new utility in map-running practice—the schedule was very dull.

However, he was someone who could endure loneliness; he understood clearly that the efforts made outside the public eye were the key to growth.

Zywoo was also keeping him company at the base these days.

To thank him for his company, Xu Beifang took the initiative to cook a few Huaxia dishes he knew how to make for Zywoo; some Zywoo liked, and some didn't suit his taste, but the relationship between the two clearly became more harmonious.

During these days, Xu Beifang also experimented with the cost of using the skill "Extraordinary Focus."

When the distance between his eyes and the screen was no more than 20 centimeters, Xu Beifang could clearly feel himself entering that state of focus; he could enter the state extremely quickly, and his speed of receiving information increased significantly.

It was a bit like s1mple's match state, the kind of state where after holding an angle with an AWP and taking the opponent out, he would even startle himself.

But being too close to the screen and having his eyes work at high intensity would also lead to easier fatigue.

He had tested it, and in that state, his eyes would be unbearably sore after about an hour.

Therefore, this skill might only be brought out for use in BO1 matches or critical games in a BO3.

However, in normal times, Xu Beifang was still more willing to play matches sitting in a normal posture.

After all, the feeling of sore eyes was not pleasant.

Xu Beifang and Zywoo became two internet-addicted teenagers at the base, and the old-timers on the team slowly returned to the squad.

Their state had visibly changed; each of them was refreshed and full of fighting spirit for the upcoming Major.

Once the entire team was assembled, Vitality boarded a plane to Katowice, preparing to begin their pre-Major training camp.

……

The city of Katowice is a term that cannot be bypassed when it comes to esports.

As one of the hubs of European transportation, Katowice, this Polish coal city, completed its transformation toward esports very early on.

Starting from 2014, the name of Katowice began to appear in the names of well-known esports tournaments like CS: GO, LoL, StarCraft, and others.

Vitality had come to participate in the IEM Katowice European Minor qualifiers in January, but that was a closed event after all; although it was offline, there was no promotion, no audience, and no pre-event hype.

But this time it was different; one could clearly see promotional slogans for the Major tournament on the streets of Katowice.

These days, Vitality also saw CS: GO players wearing different Jerseys walking on the streets of Kato; the match hadn't started yet, but the atmosphere was gradually building up.

After entering Kato, Xu Beifang also clearly felt the difference between the London Major and the Katowice Major.

If the attitude of the London Major organizers was enthusiasm and sincerity, then what Katowice Major expressed as the capital of European esports was called professionalism!

Whether it was communication between the teams and the tournament organizers, or the subsequent food, travel, and follow-up tournament issues after the teams entered Kato, they had everything arranged for you.

The teams coming to participate in the Major only needed to play their matches well; they didn't need to put their minds on anything else.

Under these circumstances, Vitality's training state was also excellent; Apex had a feeling of returning to his peak, though his form was still unstable.

And the data that NBK and RPK put up during the training camp was also quite impressive; at least there was no feeling of them "shitting the bed."

Fulfilling days always pass quickly, and before one knew it, February 12th had arrived.

The Katowice Major Challenger Stage matches would officially begin tomorrow.

And on February 12th, Vitality finally ushered in a short break, entering their media shooting day.

Sitting in the business van arranged by the tournament organizers, they arrived at the studio of the Spodek Arena.

Here, the tournament staff had already set everything up to start taking headshots of them so that the UI belonging to the players could be placed during the broadcast.

The entire Vitality team arrived at the studio and found that the players of FaZe Clan were still in the middle of shooting.

FaZe's ancestral barometer waved at Xu Beifang: "Hello, nice!"

Rain had a deep impression of Xu Beifang; whether it was his strength in matches or being teammates during the London Performance Match, neither would let him easily forget Xu Beifang.

"When did you guys arrive? Didn't see you before." Xu Beifang walked over and high-fived Rain.

"Just arrived last night, and we were dragged over by the tournament organizers to shoot." As he said this, Rain yawned, "Haven't even woken up yet."

Xu Beifang followed his gaze; NiKo was doing a solo shoot under the set, and he saw him with his arms crossed, looking disdainful, giving the impression of a mature man.

But players in private all knew that this was a goofball.

It was just that this goofball's strength was a little bit too strong.

"Envious of you guys," Xu Beifang said, "We came here a few days ago to adjust in advance, you guys still have rest."

Rain laughed: "What's there to envy? You were originally a Major Top Eight player yourself, you chose to leave... However, trust your own judgment."

The Top Eight from the previous Major could start directly from the Top 16 in this tournament, so FaZe didn't need to roam and fight in the Challenger Stage.

VP's result at the London Major was also Top Eight; if he had stayed at VP, he could have enjoyed this treatment too.

But Rain had also watched some European matches recently, and he didn't think Xu Beifang rebuilding the team was a wrong start.

At the very least, that little fatty next to him who liked to say "I don't know" also had Top 20 level strength.

Zywoo looked at Xu Beifang, who was chatting happily with the FaZe members, with some envy in his eyes.

He didn't understand why Nice could be so amazing, not only knowing Huaxia language and French, but even English so fluently.

With his level of English, if someone came over to say hello, he could only smile awkwardly.

"Who are you playing next? The Challenger Stage bracket should be out, right?" Olofmeister walked over with a smile.

Apex extended his fist to bump with him, then pursed his lips at Xu Beifang: "Playing his fellow countryman, playing Tyloo on the first day."

"That Tyloo from Asia?"

Olofmeister's impression of Tyloo was still quite deep; in the 2018 IEM Sydney semi-finals, they and Tyloo contributed a fairly exciting match.

"Then the pressure shouldn't be too great, right?" Rain said.

Xu Beifang shook his head: "Last year Tyloo was also a dark horse, and there isn't a single team that is particularly weak among those that can enter the Major; whether we can beat them still depends on the match."

"That is indeed the case." Olofmeister nodded, "Just like in London, everyone thought VP would die in the Challenger Stage, who would have thought you kid would drag them into the Champion Stage?"

Xu Beifang looked at the set area; NiKo's poses were changing constantly, and he was even taking the initiative to communicate with the photographer for better movements, extremely vain.

It was clear they would have to wait a while longer before it was their turn.

Xu Beifang also sat on the Sofa, starting to scroll through his phone to check the latest developments in the GO scene.

The London Major was about to begin, and the forums were basically filled with discussions about this tournament.

【Major Challengers Stage homework, hehe, what kind of noob are you after finishing this homework?】

【Tyloo versus Vitality, a battle between the room moderator and the streamer, this is going to be interesting.】

【Can Tie Dan compare to Little Xu? Tie Dan's historical achievements are zero; he's just been doing well with streaming lately, don't overestimate him.】

【This match is indeed worth looking forward to, the confrontation between the new Tyloo and Vitality. Vitality recently took down G2, so we can see how the new Tyloo measures up.】

【Looking forward to nice's performance in the upcoming tournament.】

Domestic forums were very expectant of Xu Beifang's performance, but opinions were mixed regarding Tyloo's roster change.

Although their results in the last two tournaments weren't good, they believed that Mo and DD still had the skill, and replacing them directly with two unknown players was a bit too hasty.

But some people believed that if Tyloo wanted to achieve results, they really had to use strong medicine.

Mo and DD's form was already slipping, so it would be better to preserve the reputation of their late careers.

Mo had also volunteered to step down himself; recently, he had formed CSBoy with Ma Xixi and planned to become a full-time commentator.

Xu Beifang didn't have many thoughts on Tyloo's roster change; whether they had the skill or not, he would wait until they played tomorrow to say.

But he was quite looking forward to this group stage situation; after all, he still had a "suggestion to torture Danking," and it seemed there was hope to complete it tomorrow.

Most of the messages on the forums were discussions about predictions and matches, and Xu Beifang also scrolled through Bilibili, intending to watch some video creations on Bilibili to casually pass the time.

At this moment, a video cover caught his attention.

The video cover was a meme with Xu Beifang's head photoshopped onto Superman's body; as the person himself, it was hard not to notice.

The title below:

"nice: 1200 hours of CS, suddenly enlightened and became a god! 【Who is carrying at the 2018 London Major?】"

The video author was named: Nian Lan Who Charges Forward.

This video made Xu Beifang a bit curious, so he clicked to see what it was about.

"Let's dance!!"

Passionate electronic music poured out from the video, and Rain, sitting nearby, heard the music and looked over.

Xu Beifang didn't mind Rain's gaze and continued watching the video content. A hexagonal Radar Chart began to appear in the center of the video, followed by various explanations:

The six angles of the hexagon represented KPR (Kills Per Round), APR (Assists Per Round), Entry Kills Per Round, Non-Throwaway Rate (Contribution Rounds), Multi-Kill Rounds, and overall Rating.

The next second, data began to appear on the screen, showing the average data for players at the London Major.

Kills Per Round: 0.65

Survival Per Round: 0.31

Entry Kills Per Round: 0.10

Non-Throwaway Rate: 68%

Multi-Kill Rounds: 16%

Overall Rating: 1.02

With the surging music, data for individual players began to appear, based on the team.

Inside the white-lined hexagon, there was a smaller blue hexagon, allowing one to clearly perceive the position of the average data.

Because it was a video made by a fellow countryman, the data for the Tyloo players appeared first.

The first to appear was XCC, who was far ahead in kills per round and multi-kill rounds; the orange-yellow shape representing his data was almost reaching the edge of the hexagon.

The area above the video began to be flooded with 【Sorry XCC】.

Immediately following was BnTeT's data; as Tyloo's Dage, he played a trade-kill position.

Except for his entry kills per round, which were far below the average, his other five data points all exceeded the average, making his overall performance quite bright.

Next was Captain Mo's data; his data chart was an isosceles trapezoid, except this trapezoid was inside the average data, and it was very small.

【Whose subordinate is this?】

【Watch the timing of entering the site!】

【Mo-steriously confused】

Xu Beifang couldn't help but laugh as he watched.

Data couldn't represent everything; after all, Mo used to play an information-gathering position within the Tyloo team, doing the dirty work.

Otherwise, the others on Tyloo wouldn't have been able to play so comfortably.

The second team that followed made the big Rain next to him light up, because the player appearing was none other than FaZe Clan.

"nice, pause for a second," Rain said to Xu Beifang, then waved to call Olofmeister and the others over, "Come watch this video, it's super interesting!"

Xu Beifang had no objections; he placed his phone on the table, dragged the progress bar forward a bit, and clicked play.

The members of FaZe Clan and Vitality all gathered around; everyone liked to join in the fun.

Rain also explained to everyone that the blue frame was the London Major average data.

The first FaZe Clan player was Olofmeister.

It could only be said that he was worthy of being one of the legendary CSGO players; in this hexagonal data chart, Olofmeister's kills per round, Rating, multi-kill rounds, and non-throwaway rate all overlapped with the outer edge of the hexagon, while his survival per round and entry kills per round were a bit lower, but still exceeded the average data.

Olofmeister saw this data and said with some surprise: "Looks like I'm still maintaining my form quite well."

Next to appear was Rain; his data at the London Major was relatively mediocre, only counting as a role player, with four items higher than the average, but only by a little.

The data for GuardiaN, who appeared next, was slightly better than Rain's, while the data for Karrigan, who appeared after, was a bit worse; not a single item kept up with the average, but the shape representing his data was still much larger than Mo's.

Next to appear was NiKo, who was still filming; this time, NiKo didn't play very aggressively, and in terms of entry kills per round and survival per round, he was only just slightly above the average.

But as a star player, NiKo's kills per round shot straight out of the hexagon.

"Good heavens, NiKo's data at the London Major is completely off the charts!" Rain was somewhat surprised.

The next team to appear was NAVI; as the runners-up of the London Major, they were also quite curious to see what their stats would look like when visualized in this hexagonal format.

As the god of the Iron Plate, FlameZ's stats were nearly touching the edges of the hexagon in five categories, with only his Entry Kill per round sitting at the average line.

The music swelled to a climax, and accompanied by a transition animation, s1mple's official portrait appeared on the screen.

"So stylish??"

The members of FaZe Clan were stunned, not expecting there to be an entrance effect.

"That's just too cool!!"

Then they saw s1mple appear on the screen with a look of disdain, his hexagonal stats hovering above his head like something inhuman.

All six of s1mple's stats were far above the average, and in fact, only his Entry Kill per round was still within the hexagon; the other stats had all broken the charts!

The most exaggerated part was the spike pointing downward, where his non-baiting rate reached a staggering 81.6%, the highest stat of this London Major!

【Holy Crab!!】

【Is this s1mple cheating?】

【Supermodel War God】

The Professional Players present couldn't hold it together when they saw this result.

"Is this guy even human??"

"An 81.6% average non-baiting rate, he's basically hard-carrying every round!"

"Young people these days are too exaggerated."

They became even more expectant to see what the subsequent 'top player' stats would look like.

Then they saw NAVI's second data monster.

As the unluckiest person in CS: GO, electronic's stats were defined by their consistency; he was just a step away from being a hexagonal war god.

He even achieved the highest rating of the London Major: 1.36!

After NAVI, the VP stats followed immediately; Vitality looked at their teammate beside them, wanting to see what Xu Beifang's stats actually looked like—Best Rookie wasn't just talk.

Then, seeing the VP stats go by one after another, they could barely keep it together.

Because among the four members of VP, only pasha and michu reached the average.

It really was one carrying four!

But this only made them look forward to it even more.

The impassioned drumbeat of the music sounded, and a photo of Xu Beifang shouting with his arms raised appeared in everyone's field of vision.

If he remembered correctly, this should be a scene from the ZOTAC Cup.

The moment the data chart appeared, the few people in the room were stunned.

"For real??"

"Your Entry Kill is pulled this high??"

"If your survival was a bit higher, the whole hexagon would be overflowing!!"

On the data chart, except for the round survival stat which barely reached the average, Xu Beifang's stats were off the charts.

The other five stats exceeded the expected level, covering the original hexagon; his Entry Kill rate was as high as 0.21, piercing straight out into a corner, looking extremely absurd.

This meant that Xu Beifang consistently secured an Entry Kill every 5 rounds, and since this data spanned the entire London Major, it was enough to show just how aggressive his playstyle was!

rain shook his head as he looked at the data, as if he were getting to know Xu Beifang all over again.

Xu Beifang hadn't expected his own stats to look so exaggerated when visualized.

【Lü Bu!!!】

【Damn, Beishen!!】

【World's Number One Pressure!!】

【Is this the terrifying ability of one carrying four?】

【Truly a damn superman!!】

【A real villain!】

"Looks like I'll have to be careful when we play against you next," rain said. "If we run into you head-on, we'll get smashed."

"Young people these days are too terrifying!"

Xu Beifang laughed: "I think it's alright; before, it was mainly because I was given all the resources to achieve those results."

The reason he was able to carry four in the London Major was mainly because the members of VP trusted him and were willing to let him farm the stats.

Only then did the final result appear so extreme; the other four members of VP barely reached the average stats, while he looked like a war god.

"Where did you watch this video? Are there stats for other tournaments?" GuardiaN felt a bit unsatisfied after watching the whole video. "Can you see it on Twitter?"

Xu Beifang replied: "Right now, he should only be posting it on platforms in Huaxia. I'll help you urge him to see if he can make an English version."

"This video is actually quite interesting," rain added. "But I suddenly feel sorry for Tyloo now. How did they end up running into a guy like you right off the bat?"

"They have no chance in tomorrow's match!"

There was definitely a gap between these kinds of stats and in-game performance, but with stats like Xu Beifang's, rain couldn't imagine how Tyloo would limit him.

No extra chapters today; the month has come to a successful end, and I will tally up the extra chapters for this month in a little while.

And this is the final night, so I'm asking for votes at the end of the month; if you don't cast them now, they'll be gone tomorrow.