Chapter 194: 198. Chapter 194: Playing the FAMAS, Little Xu is a Professional!

198. Chapter 194: Playing the FAMAS, Little Xu is a Professional!

Happy days off are always short-lived. The next day, the 2019 IEM Katowice Major Challengers Stage officially began.

Netizens also entered spectator mode, and everyone was quite curious about how the first day of competition would go.

For domestic viewers, although the first day's matches were just an appetizer, they were paying close attention as all three teams they were rooting for would be appearing.

Then, with the opening of the Major Challengers Stage, VG brought a surprise to domestic fans in the very first match.

Facing the veteran European powerhouse Fnatic, VG players 259 and A-Zhong blasted out 50 kills between them, ultimately defeating Fnatic with a score of 16-9.

Neither domestic fans nor foreign casual viewers had expected this result.

An upset occurring in the very first match of the Major was a huge surprise.

Many viewers only learned of VG's name while filling out their pick'em brackets, so they were quite shocked that they could defeat Fnatic.

This also made domestic viewers very expectant for the upcoming matches of Vitality and Tyloo.

……

Having just finished a solo match against Leon Kai, the "useless brother" Hamburger only realized the tournament had started after a reminder from the viewers in the chat; he and Leon Kai both turned their attention to the matches.

"It's on! Both sides have entered the preparation stage, and the BP phase is about to start."

The match hadn't officially begun yet, but Hamburger was already impatient to see the action.

As Xu Beifang's second team, Vitality had received many Chinese fans, and the CSGO video creator named 'Useless Brother Hamburger' was no exception.

But after watching them for a few months, he had gradually grown fond of this French team.

Watching them grow from nothing, climbing the rankings step by step, he looked forward to their performance in the tournament.

"Vitality's form has been excellent lately; they played at a very high level in the IEM Sydney qualifiers! Even though the prize money wasn't high and it was just an online event, they still worked very hard to maintain a high level."

"But there are still some doubts about Vitality on the internet. Their performance in the IEM Sydney qualifiers was eye-catching, but it was only an online event. There are many examples of 'online dragons, offline worms.' Whether Vitality can play at their expected level offline is what many viewers are curious about."

In professional CSGO, it is generally believed that Major > all other events, and Offline with audience > Offline without audience > Online events.

And the current Major Challengers Stage has its prestige maxed out; although there are no offline spectators yet, no one would question its intensity.

Hamburger was very much looking forward to Vitality's performance in this Major, to slap the faces of those doubters hard.

Leon Kai added from the side: "Tie Dan joined the main roster before this Major. Although he hasn't produced results yet, as the future warrior hand-picked by Xu Beifang, he definitely has some strength. Although Tyloo's recent results haven't been good, they managed to reach the Legends Stage in the last Major, so they still have the skill."

"And today's first match of the Challengers Stage told us: this is a Major, anything is possible!"

As Leon Kai finished speaking, the BP screen appeared.

The Challengers Stage is a BO1 format, and Vitality had the first ban.

In a BO1, Vitality's BP strategy was quite clear.

They came up and directly removed Train and Overpass.

"They still banned Train."

At the Tyloo player station, Danking shifted on his gaming chair, leaned back, and smacked his lips, feeling it was a pity.

Train was Tyloo's strong map before the roster change, and after the change, Danking's sniping level gave them even better strength on this map.

Danking's recent performance on Train had also been quite good; if they could have played this map, he felt their win rate would have been at least 60%.

However, in a BO1, they had psychological expectations that their strong map would be banned, so they weren't too surprised.

"Tyloo chose to remove Nuke and Overpass. These two tactical maps have never been Tyloo's strong suits." Leon Kai was blunt and muttered, "But banning them like this isn't a solution; Tyloo needs to find a way to practice them!"

If you want to be a top-tier team, you can at most rely on BP rules to avoid playing one map.

If you can't play two maps, you naturally have a flaw that opponents can see and easily exploit.

For the third map, after considering it, Tyloo finally removed Dust II.

Leaving Mirage and Inferno for Vitality to choose from.

"Tyloo wants to play Inferno with us? Then let's play them." The bald coach was quite confident. "They think it's their strong map, but I also think it's one of our strong maps. Since neither of us is afraid, let's clash and see whose Inferno is stronger!"

In this first match of the Katowice Major, this usually kind coach showed amazing aggressiveness.

He believed that Vitality's strength could hold its own in this Major. In the subsequent Legends Stage, they might hit a wall due to map pool issues and so on.

But the Challengers Stage could still be used to build confidence for his players.

And he wasn't just comforting his players; Vitality's Inferno win rate was indeed very high. In their last ten Inferno matches, they had only lost 2, showing their powerful form.

……

Inferno?

In the Tyloo match room, the players exchanged smiles.

With this map left, their confidence increased significantly. On this map, Tyloo had created many, many miracles, which gave them confidence.

Besides, Vitality's current world ranking was only 14th, worse than they were last year.

If they handled it properly, they believed they would be fine.

The map was confirmed, and a few minutes later, both teams entered the server.

The knife round for side selection ended, and Vitality won.

Ultimately, Tyloo started as the Terrorists, and Vitality started on Defense.

……

Vitality vs. Tyloo

Map: Inferno

T: Danking, Xcc, BnTeT, Somebody, Attacker

CT: Nice, Zywoo, Apex, NBK, RpK

In the stream, "Go Vitality" and "Go Tyloo" comments flew by. Hamburger hung up the voice chat with Leon Kai and started trying to cast the match.

"Alright, dear viewers, welcome to the 2019 IEM Katowice Major Challengers Stage. I am your caster for this match, Hamburger."

"Right off the bat, we can see Vitality has set up a package in Mid, with two members standing in Connector and A1 respectively, and Apex defending B site alone."

"Nice is holding a USP, peeking Mid from A1. He still wants to take initiative to get information, but what is this? Danking just headshot and killed Nice right at the start?"

"5v4 just 1 minute and 30 seconds into the round?"

Seeing the kill feed in the top right corner, Danking raised an eyebrow, surprised by the style Xu Beifang showed in the match.

To dare to actively peek Mid in the second timing, wasn't Beifang a bit too bold?

But this wave was fortunate that he was on guard, otherwise they really would have been caught moving toward B.

After getting the first kill, Danking didn't move toward the main force, but instead actively came to Mid to look for opportunities.

"Tie Dan is peeking and harassing in Mid. After getting information, he peeks out and instantly kills NBK who was grabbing utility. And he even saw the gun barrel of the second person in Connector. Now it's clear how this should be played."

"B site is starting to speed up. Apex throws an HE grenade to draw blood, but Tyloo rushes directly! Somebody instantly kills Apex! Tyloo's form is a bit good."

Hamburger was a bit surprised. He didn't expect Tyloo to give Vitality a head-on blow right at the start. Three consecutive kills made this clutch impossible to play.

Danking still wanted to be greedy in Mid, but was instantly killed by Zywoo, who had crept out.

However, even after killing Danking, Zywoo and RpK had no desire to retake, so they chose to save their half-armor to prepare for the full-buy round.

During the garbage time of saving weapons, Apex didn't blame the collapse on A site, because in the pistol round, the baseline of frontal aim is more important.

And taking information in Mid in the second timing was his decision.

Tyloo played too carefully in the early stage, with no movement at all, leaving him unable to judge.

At this time, letting the heavily defended A site go out to get information was a wise move, but he didn't expect Danking to be so good with a pistol, instantly killing two people on A site.

The C4 was beeping on B site, and Apex started to set up the tactics for the next round: "We saved two half-armors, we'll force-buy next round."

Then he looked at Xu Beifang, "Nice, I'll drop you a FAMAS later. You buy full armor plus utility. We'll do a 3B setup later. You try to use utility to take control of Banana, and then NBK and I will find a way to crossfire at the near point of Banana to liberate B site."

Recently, Vitality had studied many ideas about dynamic defense. This formulaic playstyle, which has very low requirements for aim, was quickly favored by them.

As long as they rely on Xu Beifang's strength to take control of Banana, and then let Xu Beifang rotate back to A site, in a sense, it forms an iron-barrel-like defense on A site.

Round 2.

Xu Beifang bought full armor, plus a smoke grenade and two flashbangs to use for the battle for Banana. Picking up the FAMAS dropped by Apex, he stepped toward Banana.

Taking out the smoke grenade, he aimed roughly and threw it directly at the T-spawn, sealing off the view of the Banana entrance.

Xu Beifang threw a world-class flashbang with both keys and followed behind NBK to look into Banana.

NBK bought a half-armor MP9 this round and played very aggressively, jumping and rushing forward, quickly clearing the Banana recess and tree position.

"They don't have Banana control."

After gaining control of Banana, Apex immediately pushed forward and arrived at the recess.

NBK stayed at the tree position, and the two formed a crossfire.

Even if Apex only had a no-armor USP in his hand, if the opponent crept in, their crossfire could at least trade one.

Xu Beifang, who was in the back, wasn't in a hurry, waiting for an opportunity near the barrel.

The defensive strength of the two teammates in Banana was indeed a bit too weak, and it was still early, so the teammates on A site didn't feel any pressure in A2, so they weren't in a hurry to retake.

"Vitality's Banana control speed is as fast as ever. With just two pieces of utility, they have taken all control of Banana."

"What about Tyloo in the second timing? Burning the barrel and then clearing the near point?"

Tyloo's actions surprised Hamburger, "They actually actively used fire to clear the point. Is this still Tyloo?"

"A recess fire directly burned Apex out, but the trade kill wasn't good, and Apex hid in the tree position. Now if Apex can actively come out to bait, maybe Vitality's setup still has a chance!"

Tyloo didn't know that someone had been hiding in the tree position early on. If Apex actively came out to die, then in Tyloo's mind, someone had already died in the tree position, making it a 'safe zone'.

Apex listened to the footsteps at the T-spawn in the tree position. They had already communicated in voice chat that as soon as the opponent pushed in, he would immediately rush out to die, creating opportunities for NBK and Nice.

But the sound of a lighter made both people in the tree position fall into despair.

A fire was thrown into the tree position, and Apex and NBK were forced to rush out to fight the opponent.

Xu Beifang, who was behind, saw this scene and knew he couldn't wait any longer. He actively stepped on top of the barrel. For the Terrorists pushing into Banana, this was a very difficult head-peeking position to deal with.

Xu Beifang could have such powerful dominance in Banana because of these endless little tricks.

Attacker held a "hairdryer" (MAC-10) and sprayed, burning both CTs to death in the fire with one spray.

After getting these kills, he smiled and said: "Good thing I burned the fire, otherwise this wave might have been ambushed."

He really didn't expect that two people would be standing at the near point at the start of Banana. Meeting European teams, he felt the huge difference in rhythm compared to Asia.

Getting two kills, Attacker switched to his knife and rushed forward.

Two people had already died in Banana, and no one was trading, so it was very likely a 3A setup.

But just as he walked a few steps forward, he heard his head being hit with a "bang-bang" sound.

【Nice used FAMAS to headshot and kill Attacker】

"On the barrel!!" Attacker was quite surprised, but immediately gave a quick callout to his teammates.

Danking held a Galil and pushed forward, adjusting his pre-aim while moving, intending to tear Xu Beifang apart directly.

Xu Beifang didn't stand still. After getting the first kill, he glanced at the mini-map—Zywoo, holding a full-armor Desert Eagle, was rushing over.

He calculated the positions of the Terrorists and Zywoo. If he were killed, Zywoo could arrive at B site first.

So Xu Beifang planned to fight in Banana.

After getting off the barrel, he retreated a few steps to avoid the opponent hearing the sound of him pulling the pin, and directly threw a double-key flashbang.

"Boom!"

The flashbang exploded, and Xu Beifang strafed out, seeing the Terrorists in Banana covering their eyes and jumping toward the recess at a glance.

FAMAS spray-chased; the first short spray only hit the person in the recess four times, and the FAMAS damage was not enough to kill him.

Xu Beifang saw someone coming out of the T-spawn again, immediately pulled back a small distance to dodge the opponent's pre-aim, and then output again.

The crosshair quickly aimed at the head. In such a narrow passage, it was very convenient for him to adjust quickly.

"Nice caught the timing in Banana and killed one. He could stop now, but according to his personality, it is absolutely impossible to stop here!!"

"Throwing his own flash! Killing his own people! The FAMAS hit Danking down to a sliver of health, and Xcc came out of the T-spawn to trade, but didn't beat Nice either!!"

"Nice is still pushing forward. He wants to trade the Terrorist in the recess, but BnTeT strafed out from the T-spawn. Nice was finally traded, ending his sinful life!!"

【Do you understand what the world's best FAMAS user is!!】

【Hero FAMAS, Little Xu is a professional!】

【This wave bit the bullet and took 2.9 people, I'm stunned】

……

The 5v3 clutch was forcibly traded for two by a FAMAS, and if it weren't for Danking's fast reaction, this wave would have been 1v3. This exchange in Banana didn't profit Tyloo; instead, they fell into a passive position.

"Wait for the remaining 20 seconds, and then we'll group up and push Banana together." BnTeT communicated with the others in the unique Tyloo language.

Danking heard this and also crept forward slowly.

Time passed bit by bit, and they kept listening to the movement in the long corridor, but didn't hear any footsteps of retaking.

Giving a CT-spawn smoke and adding a coffin fire, Tyloo started to rush directly.

Not finding anyone at first, Somebody directly took the bomb and started planting next to the coffin.

BnTeT continued to clear the three-box and dead point, and then suddenly saw a police officer shake out from the three-box.

"Bang!"

【Zywoo used Desert Eagle to headshot and kill BnTeT】

Zywoo picked up the AK47 on the ground, strafed left, and sprayed at Somebody, who was hurriedly switching weapons.

Danking saw this situation and hurriedly came to help.

He held the three-box, waiting for Zywoo to strafe.

But the time above his head had jumped to red, and Zywoo didn't risk being counter-killed to attack at the first moment.

"The opponent only has a sliver of health." Xu Beifang reminded.

Zywoo remained steady, and only when he heard Danking's approaching footsteps did he strafe out and spray at Danking's body.

【Zywoo used AK47 to kill Danking】

……

"This..."

In the CSBoy stream, Mo, who was casting the match, had his expression freeze.

Although he had left Tyloo, he was still very concerned about his old team and wanted to see what they would be like now that he wasn't there.

The opening pistol round was very beautiful, but the situation changed suddenly in the second round.

After getting two kills in Banana, they started switching to knives. Is Attacker playing the ladder?

The subsequent 20-second attack had no problems, but why didn't they clear the points?

Where did this bad habit come from!

20 seconds was completely enough!

BnTeT, what are you doing?

This was turned around by Vitality? Didn't get any of the pistol round bonus??

As Tyloo's former captain, Mo's expectations for them dropped a level.

But the match was still early, so Mo adjusted his breathing and planned to continue watching Tyloo's performance in the full-buy round.

…… ===== CHAPTER 195 =====