Chapter 219: 223. Chapter 219: What Do You Call a Clash of Gods! (5500 words)

223. Chapter 219: What Do You Call a Clash of Gods! (5500 words)

Hando's economic strategy is very good; he has a Hero AK to use for two consecutive eco rounds.

This allows Vitality to still have decent combat capability on the front lines, but it is just an AK47, and sometimes it is too difficult to face sudden situations.

During the second Hero AK round, Xu Beifang and apex combined for three kills, but unfortunately, they still couldn't complete the clutch.

It was originally a relatively normal match, but after the round ended, stewie2k took an MP9 and whipped rpk's corpse, then used his knife to keep slashing back and forth beside it.

"stewie2k is at it again!!" Xiao Bo frowned, "He's corpse-whipping again!"

【How does this stewie2k dare to do this? What would he play without four boosters?】

【Good, good, good, so that's how you want to play】

【2k doesn't need a reason to whip a corpse, he's an old-school toxic kid】

【No need to force criticism, corpse-whipping is just a tactical maneuver】

【Remember this knife!】

As one of the few famous toxic kids in the CS: GO professional scene, stewie2k's corpse-whipping is not surprising; he is just a player who likes to play like that.

Corpse-whipping is a tactical maneuver; it can make the opponent uncomfortable off the field and disrupt the opponent's Mindset. But more often, it's actually just for fun.

Xu Beifang looked at stewie2k corpse-whipping on the screen, a smile hanging on his face, but a fire burning in his heart.

stewie2k's action succeeded; Xu Beifang felt very unhappy, but he also understood that he would not be affected by this kind of action from stewie2k in his basic operations.

1:3

The match reached the first Full Buy Round, and apex called for a Default Control strategy.

Xu Beifang looked at his position and said, "I'm going to go straight to Banana to contest it; this spawn is good."

"Can you help me throw a Stone Slab Flash later?"

After a few rounds of exchanges, he had also figured out Liquid's personality.

Their playstyle was tough, but they weren't aggressive regarding control of Banana; they couldn't be considered a team that played aggressive Map Control, so he planned to make a move on this point.

"I'll throw the flash for you. Do you want to step on the fire? If you step on the fire, I'll extinguish it for you," Zywoo added quickly from behind; he needed to coordinate according to Xu Beifang's playstyle.

"Let's see how the opponent's positioning plays out," Xu Beifang replied.

Although he had a general idea in his heart, he also needed to adapt according to the opponent's actions.

The countdown ended, and he rushed straight to Banana, threw a Barrel fire, and then moved forward.

The moment he moved forward, Xu Beifang noticed Liquid's utility.

They threw a T Spawn smoke, a Tree Position fire, and a sky flash.

With so little utility on Banana, could it be a double B setup?

Xu Beifang had some thoughts in his mind and started to push forward. Just as he took a step, he was hit by an HE Grenade.

HP -17

The trajectory of the HE Grenade came from the Yellow Wall, and he was even more certain that the opponent had a double B setup; otherwise, they wouldn't be standing in such a deep position.

"I'm pushing up, Zywoo, you can flash at any time, I can step on the fire," Xu Beifang said quickly.

There were only a few seconds left on the Barrel fire, so even stepping on it for two seconds wouldn't be fatal.

Zywoo nodded, looking at Xu Beifang's position on the mini-map, waiting for an opportunity.

But suddenly, an Incendiary Grenade flew over from the Yellow Wall direction, and Xu Beifang immediately knew this was an opportunity.

"Liquid's choice in the Full Buy Round is very bold. After throwing a wave of utility at the start, they left stewie2k alone in Banana. But playing Banana solo, he even wanted to catch a timing and play an unconventional move!"

"But nice just dry-peeked out!"

stewie2k's operational mode is similar to s1mple's; he is a guy who doesn't take the beaten path.

So even when defending B alone, he still dares to go out and look for opportunities.

He thought that the pressure from the initial utility had successfully scared the opponent away.

After all, judging from the utility feedback, Vitality hadn't made any moves on Banana, and they thought apex was going to fly to the Second Floor again!

But he never expected that, silently, someone would suddenly wide-peek out from behind the Stone Slab.

stewie2k was so scared he hurriedly pressed the trigger to Flick.

"Da-da-da..."

【nice used AK47 to get a Headshot kill on stewie2k】

This shot didn't hit!!

After Xu Beifang got the kill, he didn't dwell on the emotions in his heart, but instead jiggled to find an angle to peek at the Sandbag.

There was no one at the Sandbag at first, so he roughly understood the situation at B Site.

"B Site can be taken!! They must have gambled on a 4A setup. Zywoo, help me throw a CT Spawn flash, I'm going to take this CT Spawn guy directly!"

A Sniper on the defensive side usually has a bodyguard nearby when controlling the front points.

But no one was standing at the Sandbag, and there was no Flashbang feedback inside B Site; this information let Xu Beifang know Liquid's positioning.

This is the result of match experience combined with rapid Information Processing.

"nice is at it again! The Entry Kill is in hand, but B Site is already undefended. Does he understand?"

Watching Xu Beifang's movement, Xiao Bo had a smile on his face, "nice, he understands!! He is way too familiar with this place, Banana!"

"naf, who is Retake-ing from CT Spawn, immediately throws a smoke grenade, but nice really knows how to play; he doesn't even look at the Bomb Site, he just goes to cause trouble for the guy at CT Spawn!"

"The CT Spawn flash pops, naf is Flash-ed, a good flash paired with a good player, nice is tearing through B Site!!"

With two consecutive kills in hand, Xu Beifang didn't get carried away looking for people; he just occupied the shooting angle at the Church. He remained very rational.

"You can come to B directly, seal a CT Spawn smoke, and then just search the Bomb Site."

rpk: "Coming, coming!!"

nbk looked at the kill feed in the top right corner and said with some surprise: "B Site was just torn through like that??"

"Nice, fucking awesome!!" Apex shouted excitedly in the voice chat in Chinese, "Don't give them any chances, run towards B Site!"

A 3v5 is not a guaranteed winning round; they still cannot let their guard down.

But the viewers watching the livestream could see that Liquid had no intention of a Retake at all.

This round was originally a setup relying on A, with them leaning towards the Bomb Site, waiting for Vitality to fly to Second Floor.

Yet they didn't expect B Site to be broken through by a single person.

A 3v5 Clutch, a disadvantage in numbers, unknown information...

Furthermore, because of the intense exchanges in the previous few rounds, their economy had never been very good.

Entering the garbage time of a Save Weapon, nitr0 pressed Tab to take a look at the scoreboard.

"Good heavens, it's already 10/3?? 197 ADR, this hand is a bit too hot."

Twistzz said somewhat tactfully: "This map is a strong map for Xu Beifang, his Banana is very strong."

He and Xu Beifang don't clash much in matches, but they meet often in FPL.

He feels that Xu Beifang's dominance in Banana is just like electronic in Pit; it's very meaningful.

You know Xu Beifang is coming to contest the position in Banana, wanting to duel you. But you just can't beat him—this is how some fans evaluate Xu Beifang.

Twistzz feels the fans are slightly exaggerating, but it's not far off.

Hearing Twistzz's evaluation, nitr0 considered for a good while and said: "For this point, A Site will defend as usual; for B Site, let Banana hold with short guns at the Yellow Wall and play an anti-rush."

As an IGL, he has watched quite a few of Vitality's match recordings.

Although he knows Xu Beifang plays well in Banana, he still chooses to trust his teammates' performance.

But 30 seconds later, as nitr0 pushed a Smoke Grenade from Connector towards Mid, he heard gunfire ring out in Banana.

【Xu Beifang used AK47 to Headshot kill stewie2k with a Flashbang】

nitr0 realized the situation was not right and immediately shouted: "naf, use utility to stall, we are on the way to Retake."

The A Site trio was rushing madly towards B Site, but what awaited them was the kill feed appearing in the top right corner again.

【Zywoo used AK47 to kill naf】

"They flashed and pushed out, I was Full White and got taken out."

naf's mood was quite bad; as the main defender of B Site, he clearly felt the pressure brought by the opponent.

Vitality's actions were too decisive, and their reading of the B Site positioning information was a bit too fast.

B Site failed to trade for an effective kill again, but this time Liquid did not choose to Save Weapon.

Last round the distance was too far; even if the Clutch was won, there might not be time to Defuse.

Now that they had already Retaken to the outskirts of B Site, if they didn't try one more time, it would be a bit unjustifiable.

20 seconds later, the A Site trio, like gods of war, traded 3 kills in this passive-numbered Clutch—but they only traded 3.

nitr0 let out a breath and extended his fist to the left and right: "Nice try."

"Beautiful, rpk!!" Xu Beifang shouted excitedly.

Twistzz and Ji Ge had great timing in this Clutch and successfully pinned him down, and the subsequent Zywoo taking one out was also traded by a Trade Kill; the situation was very critical for a moment.

Fortunately, in the final Clutch, rpk stood up, and two consecutive Headshots turned the Clutch from danger to safety.

nbk on the side was also not polite at all, directly spraying at stewie2k's corpse beside the Yellow Wall, not giving the opponent any face.

Xu Beifang saw this scene, and a smile hung on his face.

In Vitality, only Apex likes to shout at the opposite side and request interactions; this kind of corpse-shooting play is something they basically don't do.

But since stewie2k played like that first, he naturally has to be able to endure them corpse-shooting back.

It's a match, after all; it's only interesting if there's give and take.

The match quickly reached the 9th round, the score on the big screen was 5:3, and Liquid finally saved enough economy for a Full Buy Round.

At the Liquid player station, nitr0 looked at the minimap, his brows locked tight, "How about we try defending from the back point in Banana?" Twistzz suggested thoughtfully, wanting to expand the IGL's train of thought.

In fact, he was also a bit annoyed; they hadn't been able to get effective trades in B Site for two rounds, and they had been Retaking from 3A the whole time; even if you let xyp9x come, he couldn't hold it.

nitr0 hesitated for a long while and finally shook his head, not agreeing with Twistzz's suggestion.

"For Banana, we'll play a wave of heavy control, taking control of Banana immediately at the first moment. Even if we can't kill Xu Beifang, forcing him out of Banana is fine."

For several consecutive Full Buy Rounds, the two buddies at B had been blocked in their defense in Banana.

The opponent's Xu Beifang played too aggressively, always making them lose control of Banana in the early stage of the round.

As a Tier 1 IGL, nitr0 understood very well.

Front-point defense fails, switch to back-point defense.

For other teams, it might have some effect, but Vitality is different.

Xu Beifang's attacking speed in Banana is too fast; if you don't control the front point, he might have already taken the Barrel and Sandbag area within 20 seconds of the start.

By then, even if B Site uses anti-utility to stall for time, the utility won't be enough.

The front point is lost too early, and with the opponent applying a little pressure, they are forced to use anti-utility to stall for time.

The only solution is for him to come over and reinforce in the second timing, forming a heavy 3B defense.

But the problem is, that is too passive.

So if they can force Xu Beifang back during the scramble for Banana, even if it's just forcing him back in the early stage, it can give their two B brothers a lot of buffer time.

The preparation phase began, Apex took a look at the team members' positions, and then said: "Xu Beifang's position is good, keep making plays around Banana; if he can get kills in Banana, we'll group up and hit B directly."

"Otherwise, just do a fast hit on A Site."

Apex looked at Xu Beifang, who seemed to be about to be sucked into the screen, and felt very comfortable.

Today, the offense from nice is just too strong; he really is like the dream team Zywoo mentioned in that interview, and all the others have to do is cheer him on from behind.

For several rounds in a row, nice and Zywoo have coordinated to punch through B Site; they only need to go over, plant the bomb, and take the ensuing Clutch.

Xiao Bo never imagined the match would be this easy!

"nice, be careful, if it's not working, just back out," NBK reminded him from the side.

"What do you mean?"

"... Uh." NBK thought for a moment, then stated his judgment, "You're applying too much pressure on Banana; given Liquid's personality, it's hard to make them just give in."

This is the experience of a veteran; Xu Beifang is playing too aggressively and applying too much pressure.

Liquid is a very tough team by nature, and they will definitely try different methods to deal with Xu Beifang next.

Xu Beifang listened to NBK's reminder and smiled: "If the situation isn't right, I'll run away."

The countdown ended, and he still dove into Banana as usual.

The experience of a veteran is the most precious thing a team can have.

After Xu Beifang threw the Barrel fire and just jumped to the Tree Position, he saw a bunch of utility flying toward him head-on.

He hurriedly jumped onto the Wood Pile at the Tree Position and then tossed a Smoke Grenade to the side to protect himself.

This Smoke Grenade was his One-way Smoke for the Tree Position, but Xu Beifang didn't rush to nudge forward for information at first; instead, he hid inside the smoke at a deeper position.

Apex, who was at the T spawn, saw that the situation wasn't right and helped him by throwing several Flashbangs in return.

Flashes were constant in the sky over Banana, and as a Top 9 player, he had glory on his face.

"Ding—"

Turning away from a Flashbang, Xu Beifang quickly stepped forward to gain vision—a CT peeked out at the same time, wanting to follow the flash to counter-push.

"Da-da-da..."

【nice killed stewie2k with an AK47】

After getting the kill, Xu Beifang didn't dare to linger in his original position and immediately jumped into the Smoke Grenade on his right.

Sure enough, someone soon prefired and sprayed at the Wood Pile on the Tree Position.

"The opponents seem to be starting with 3 at B," Xu Beifang said over voice chat.

No sooner had he spoken than he was hit by a grenade, his health instantly dropping below 20, scaring him into quickly retreating.

"Go, go, go, fast execute A Site, let's pinch from Connector and A1 together!"

Even if the information wasn't clear, Apex still trusted Xu Beifang's judgment.

At the IGL's command, Vitality moved quickly.

"Liquid is still relying on utility to push toward the Banana Road Middle; they still want to clear out Banana," Xiao Bo said, modulating his tone.

"But Vitality has already changed their direction of attack, throwing Book Smoke and Arch Smoke, directly speeding up to hit Connector!"

"Ji Ge at the Bomb Site throws a flash toward Connector, suppressing the Connector push for a moment, and nitr0 has also rotated back to the Library, firing wildly to help his teammates bait!"

"Ji Ge takes down Apex with one shot, but nice's Trade Kill is fast! However, nitr0 mixed through the Book Smoke and killed the low-HP nice; the trade of players between the two sides is very rapid!"

In a 3v3 Clutch, Vitality quickly occupied the Bomb Site.

"Twistzz isn't dead, he should be around the Small Pit or the Pit!" Xu Beifang quickly reminded them over voice chat.

In professional matches, a lot of information can be deduced from positioning.

The most classic example is 'everyone knows electronic is in the Pit'; the Liquid member responsible for defending the Pit today is Twistzz, and since he hasn't been killed, they still need to be vigilant.

"He's in the Small Pit, that smoke by the Grass Car was thrown by him," Zywoo said quickly over voice chat. "I can throw a Graveyard flash and try to catch him."

With people still left in the Small Pit and the Pit, once the B Site CTs rotated back, they would be locked into the Bomb Site.

Therefore, they had to take down the Small Pit and the Pit quickly to open up the defensive lines of sight.

"I'll do it!" NBK took on this task.

Watching NBK's movements, Xiao Bo knew what they were thinking.

"A pop-flash, and NBK jumps directly into the Small Pit to catch Twistzz, but Twistzz dodges the flash; Vitality is stuck in an awkward spot for a moment!"

"Hearing footsteps, knowing Twistzz moved toward the Bomb Site, they throw fire at the Pit, but Twistzz steps on the fire and trades out RpK, and he even hits Zywoo down to one HP!!"

The spectacular moment on the field made Xiao Bo excited too: "He's paying tribute to Olofmeister, a Fire Dancer!"

"nitr0 and NAF have already rotated back to Connector; the two of them are directly pushing through the smoke to catch Zywoo. It's a 2v1 Clutch, coming straight for a head-on aim duel!"

Zywoo is at the Default bomb position, holding an AK47 and jiggle-peeking to spray.

While firing, he avoids exposing too much of his body as much as possible.

Everyone on Vitality is holding their breath; this Clutch is very difficult, the opponents have locked down Zywoo's position, and it's a face-up confrontation for both sides, relying solely on mechanical execution.

Because of Twistzz's performance in the Pit, the Clutch situation for this round is a bit dire.

If they can take this round, they will basically have a large lead in the first half!

Although the Clutch is difficult, Vitality's number two player has already raised his hands, as if expecting something.

Zywoo seizes the opportunity, peeking left and right to hit the two CTs who appear in his field of vision to low health.

But because he needs to control his positioning, there is no time for him to aim for a one-tap kill.

The opponents are constantly pushing, compressing Zywoo's position.

Zywoo's expression is calm; he pulls out a Flashbang and tosses it toward the upper right.

Before the flash pops, he peeks out to the left to find someone to duel.

"Zywoo seizes the opportunity and directly takes down NAF at the far point! The flash pops, nitr0 is fully flashed, Zywoo!!!"

【Holy crap, this is truly gods fighting!!】

【nice 1v3 on Banana and killed one while getting away unscathed, Twistzz locked down the Pit and counter-killed two, Zywoo 1v2 Clutch】

【Today's match is simply a feast for Gunners!】

【This Zywoo is too calm, he isn't giving any chances at all...】

"nice!!!!"

The moment Zywoo won, everyone on the Vitality player bench roared with excitement.

Xu Beifang, whose arm had been raised for a while, lifted it high and roared with all his might.

oc〇

apex even let out a long howl toward the sky, venting the agitated emotions in his heart.

Everyone else also had looks of astonishment; originally, rain had bought enough time in the Pit and even achieved the feat of a 1-for-2 trade.

Liquid decisively pushed through the smoke to lock down Zywoo's position, and everyone thought it was over.

But this Flashbang from Zywoo was so inspired, it directly turned the tide of the engagement!

"Your Positioning Control is simply absurd!" Xu Beifang laughed from the side.

Zywoo chuckled: "Your two kills in the early stage were crucial, otherwise this Clutch would have been hard to play."

He let out a long breath and then remarked: "rain in the Pit is so strong, he almost turned it around."

In this wave, rain only had a little less health; otherwise, if he had been given one more second, Zywoo would have truly been wiped out by rain.

One can only say he is worthy of being the man whose hairstyle is directly proportional to his strength.

They were overjoyed on their side, while Liquid finally couldn't withstand the pressure and called for the First Time timeout of this match.