Chapter 232: 236. Chapter 232: Wanjiqi

236. Chapter 232: Wanjiqi: "Nice's Handgun is too hard!"

Watching the match's final scoreboard, Xu Beifang took off his headset.

At this moment, the various sounds rushing into his ears made him clearly feel the passionate atmosphere of the venue, and his heart couldn't help but surge.

"Both sides displayed an astonishing level of play on Map 1, Inferno," Wanjiqi spoke eloquently in the livestream room. "This duel had both tactical maneuvering and a display of individual skill. FaZe's outstanding individual performance on the offensive side was eye-opening, especially that Desert Eagle of NiKo's; its impact on the situation was immense."

"But sometimes, you are just one step away from victory. Why do CS: GO professional teams favor star players so much?" Wanjiqi's one-man show could only answer itself. "It's because these people can turn the impossible into the possible, and can create miracles beyond our expectations."

He felt that what he said was very pertinent.

Watching the replay of the brilliant kills from Map 1 on the screen, he still couldn't figure out what Nice was thinking during that clutch; how could he possibly pre-fire through the smoke like that?

In the history of brilliant smoke kills in CS: GO, perhaps only gla1ve's spray through smoke at the Nuke B Site could be mentioned in the same breath as him.

That round was truly too critical for Map 1.

The performance of Xu Beifang in that clutch influenced the flow of the latter half of Map 1; although FaZe tried hard to chase, they ultimately stopped before the Match Point, leaving fans to lament the long-drawn-out pain.

This is the influence brought by star players!

Wanjiqi was very satisfied with this; although he had played a match against Liquid during the '18 London Major, he had been beaten up quite badly back then.

He was a bit worried that Xu Beifang would be affected by the offline atmosphere, but fortunately, in this match, Xu Beifang used his performance to let him understand that this guy is a true offline player—the more spectators there are, the more energetic he plays!

Good heavens, now FaZe doesn't even have their "Map 1 Joy" anymore... Looking at the 16:14 numbers on the screen, Wanjiqi couldn't help but feel a joy in his heart.

……

Inside the FaZe practice room.

Having been reset by Vitality in the second half, they had adjusted their emotions and worked hard to chase the score.

Rain and he worked hard to perform, and they successfully chased down quite a few points.

But in the end, they still couldn't take it, and the score was fixed at the ultimate long-pain score of 16:14.

NiKo comforted himself inwardly: "I am an IGL, I must pay attention to my image. I just need to work hard this match, I must set an example to keep everyone calm... the hell I do!!"

The emotions accumulated inside could not be held back; he leaned back against his gaming chair, rolled his eyes, and let out a long sigh.

NiKo chose to follow his inner voice to vent his frustration first.

Otherwise, he highly suspected that if he suffered even the slightest setback on Map 2, his Mindset would explode.

The English-language commentators stood at the casting desk, seeing NiKo's expression, they couldn't help but smile, yet they still tried to stand from FaZe's perspective to help them resolve their worries.

"Although they lost their own map pick, I believe that as long as they adjust their state, FaZe still has a chance to win on Nuke. Nuke is not a strong map for Vitality; the number of times they have proactively picked it can be counted on one hand, and NiKo and Rain's stats on this map have always been good..."

The other commentator didn't think so, and he earnestly replied: "But the problem is, this is Vitality's own map pick; they must have confidence to choose it. Furthermore... Nice and Zywoo's stats on Nuke don't seem bad either."

Since the Challenger Stage, Xu Beifang and Zywoo's stats have consistently been among the best of the group, from the Challenger Stage to the Legends Stage, it has been the same.

Most fans are aware of this situation; after all, if the stats were too poor, this "double-cell" pair would only be able to afford one baguette.

When it comes to the performance of star players, Vitality fans believe they are no worse than any other team, even the Galaxy Battleship.

Noting the team's slightly silent atmosphere, team Coach YNK clapped his hands and began to proactively encourage them: "Stop being so depressed! We aren't EliGE; get the atmosphere up. We only lost one map, and it was such a small score difference; we just had a bit of bad luck on Map 1."

Luck is something truly worth discussing in the world of CS: GO.

There is bad luck like electronic's, and there is good luck like Nice's, who opened a case and got a 661 directly.

When truly entering a match, for the winner, their luck is called the "luck of the strong."

During the confrontation on Map 1, FaZe lost several rounds to Vitality by the narrowest of margins.

Thinking about it now, if they had been a bit luckier, perhaps the ones smiling openly right now would be them.

History is always written by the victors, and luck, too, always stands on the side of the winner.

Even though they knew luck couldn't be influenced, hearing YNK's comfort at this moment made them feel a bit better.

Noting the expressions of the team members, YNK's face slowly showed a smile: "Besides, we have studied it before; Vitality's Nuke isn't strong. They might just think our Nuke isn't good, so they picked it to counter us."

"But actually, from the moment they wanted to counter us, they were already three points weaker than us in their hearts!"

"Besides, haven't we studied it?"

Rain added from the side: "Vitality's weak point on this map is very obvious; the defense at Outside is like paper. We can easily make a move by utilizing this point."

"Right!" YNK secretly gave Rain a thumbs up. "So I'm saying, as long as we target their Outside to play on Map 2, this match will still be very easy to take..."

……

The halftime break ended, and both sides entered Map 2—Nuke.

This was Vitality's map pick, and FaZe took the CT side without any hesitation.

apEX began to set up the tactics for the Pistol Round: "For this round, the final offensive direction is to go to the B Site. NBK, you have a good position, buy a set of utility yourself and push through the door to the Guandao."

"Zywoo and RpK, follow me. Later, I will throw a Flashbang to initiate an attack on the Yellow Room."

Finally, he tossed a P250 to Xu Beifang: "As for Nice, you just grab your own opportunities at Outside."

Xu Beifang said to apEX: "This is a very imaginative Pistol Round tactic."

Xu Beifang's tactical sense has always been quite good, so after apEX arranged the tactics, he rehearsed how to push forward in his mind.

This is a tactic that fires at 3 points, but it is not a tactic that pushes at 3 points simultaneously.

Initiating from three areas requires mutual coordination and pulling to create timing and space for their offense.

This relies heavily on their tactical coordination and chemistry.

If information transmission and communication are poor, pushing from three areas simultaneously could very likely become the reason for an accelerated collapse.

Picking up the P250, Xu Beifang headed straight for the Outside Sniper Position.

He was not in a hurry to push; he just stood at the back to collect information while waiting for his teammates to apply pressure.

He was alone at Outside, so he absolutely could not be the first to act.

"FaZe starts on defense, GuardiaN jumped onto the Yellow Room with dualies. NBK threw a smoke after blasting the door to try and go down the Guandao, but GuardiaN's spray through the smoke with the dualies directly reduced NBK to low health; it seems he won't be going down the Guandao."

"Because of Vitality, the purchase rate of the $400 dualies has become much higher in the Pistol Round."

This point about weapon purchases in the Pistol Round has been carried forward by many top-tier teams.

For instance, the tactic of buying a P250 on the attacking side spread because of how NaVi supports s1mple.

As for the Dual Berettas, everyone mainly sees Vitality picking them.

Previously, people generally thought the $400 Dual Berettas weren't cost-effective; although they have many bullets, their damage and burst potential are inferior to the $500 CZ75.

It wasn't until this year, when the CZ75 was nerfed, that Xu Beifang put up quite a few good performances with the Dual Berettas in professional matches.

Everyone tried them out and discovered that these Dual Berettas are indeed quite useful.

Although their instant burst is inferior to the CZ75, the massive amount of ammo combined with a decent fire rate makes them very powerful in close-range firefights.

GuardiaN noticed someone trying to push through the smoke, so he didn't stop firing his Dual Berettas at all; with a spray of bullets, NBK was left heavily wounded and forced to retreat back to the Iron Door.

"I can't get into the Guandao for now, you two need to watch the flanks."

Listening to NBK's report, apEX issued a new decision: "NBK, come over to the Iron Plate to help with Pulling Gun Lines, Zywoo, go to Outside to help nice, we will push the Iron Plate and Outside together."

His original idea was to have NBK go straight into the Guandao to harass the opponents like a fly, making it impossible for them to maintain a good defensive formation.

But since NBK failed his first wave of contesting the Guandao, the pressure on their flanks became a bit high.

The only way forward now is to use himself as bait.

Let the opponents focus their attention on the Iron Plate so that there is an opportunity Outside.

"Outside is a coordinated push by the twin stars, and pressure is being applied at the Iron Plate at the same time; NBK is already jumping out to Pull Gun Lines."

"Pressure is applied at the Iron Plate, Olofmeister retreats immediately after Firing, NiKo rotates to cover under Sanlou, and both sides have engaged in an intense firefight!"

Watching his teammates exchange fire at the Iron Plate on the minimap, Zywoo chose to stay Outside, while Xu Beifang sprinted rapidly toward K1.

There was a frantic firefight at the Iron Plate, and he didn't find any enemies inside K1 either.

This made Xu Beifang speed up.

"It's over, the bomb was still forced out by Olofmeister, NiKo continues to pull right from under Sanlou to find an angle—today he really wants to take down apEX, and he has eaten up apEX again!"

Xu Beifang's movement speed was very fast; just as apEX at the Iron Plate was Trade Killed, he had already arrived at the entrance of the Iron Plate from inside B Site.

Holding a P250, he Fired and Tapped at NiKo.

"Pop-pop-pop!"

Xu Beifang snuck out from B Site and saw half of NiKo's side profile.

He wanted to aim for the head before Firing, but NiKo's Reaction was too fast, so he could only Fire the P250 at the body to deal damage.

Fortunately, the second advantage of the P250 is that its damage is sufficient; even hitting the body can cause decent damage.

But NiKo's Reaction was truly fast; seeing the situation was unfavorable, he immediately moved two character widths to the right and crouched, shrinking into Xu Beifang's blind spot.

"NiKo has one HP left, but the bomb is dropped in this area; it's hard to handle." Xu Beifang retreated back into B Site and used the safety of cover to reload.

Zywoo looked serious, glanced at the minimap, and asked, "Can you get the bomb? If you can get the bomb, I can pick one off first, otherwise I'll just have to dry peek."

A 2v4 Clutch, with one minute remaining.

However, judging from the information reported by his teammates, apEX had just left Rain heavily wounded, and combined with the NiKo that Xu Beifang left wounded, there were two low-health enemies; there was still an opportunity to play this Clutch.

Nuke, like the Katowice venue, quieted down for a moment, allowing everyone to catch their breath and start thinking about the winning odds for both sides in this Clutch.

From a god's-eye view, FaZe has a huge advantage in this round.

For one, the bomb is dropped in an area they can defend.

For another, they have a 4v2 numerical advantage.

But for Vitality, it's not like there's no chance to make a play.

After all, as long as Zywoo and Xu Beifang are still alive, anything is possible.

After reloading, Xu Beifang used a half-body peek to scout for information.

He didn't find any enemies holding a direct angle at first, so he slowly pushed forward while walking silently and finally picked up the bomb.

Zywoo had already snuck to under Sanlou by this time, and seeing this, NBK suggested, "How about we take the Iron Plate together, then go up to Sanlou and rotate to A."

Xu Beifang shook his head and countered, "Can't play that way, my position here is at a huge disadvantage; once the bomb is dropped, Zywoo won't be able to play."

"I'll just Plant the bomb directly in B Site; let's get the plant money first."

Successfully getting the bomb was a good result, but FaZe's intention to avoid fighting made them even more frustrated.

The opponent avoiding a fight clearly meant they didn't intend to give him a chance to pick them off one by one.

FaZe's intention was already very clear—you can Plant, but we will group up and not let you pick us off.

nice is indeed strong with a Handgun, but our ability to Trade Kill is not weak either.

However, he and Zywoo were not grouped up either, which provided a certain opportunity. Xu Beifang entered B Site and started to Plant.

"nice is Planting directly; now Zywoo needs to choose a position that can coordinate with nice," Wanjiqi commentated quickly, "Zywoo chooses to sneak into the Guandao to Retake; did you hear the footsteps in the Guandao?"

"I heard them, but GuardiaN is aiming at the front while walking toward the Guandao!"

"GuardiaN is spraying his Dual Berettas at the Zhengmen, but he's been counter-killed by Zywoo!!"

"Although Zywoo got the kill, the pressure on B Site has reached its limit; the main force has started rushing into the B Bomb Site!"

Footsteps rang out overhead; after Xu Beifang finished Planting the bomb, he moved to the Dead Point under the Control Room.

At this moment, his Crosshair was carefully aimed upward; a police officer was pushing horizontally from the outside of the Control Room toward the Bomb Site.

Xu Beifang originally wanted to let him pass to catch a gap in information.

But the CT overhead had the Consciousness to look toward his side, so Xu Beifang had no choice but to pull the trigger.

"Pop!"

【nice used P250 to get a Headshot on rain】

Although he took one down, the weight in Xu Beifang's heart didn't lift.

Zywoo was still on his way; he had to take down one more, so that Zywoo could have an extremely simple 1v1 Clutch.

But his position was locked down, and this situation was still hard to play.

Xu Beifang's health was still healthy, and hearing footsteps approaching the Iron Plate Slope, he chose to take the initiative.

Almost the moment he peeked, a CT appeared right in his face.

"Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!"

There was no time for precise aiming; he fired the P250 directly to output damage.

【nice used P250 to kill adren】

"nice played this Dead Point so well, getting consecutive instant kills and saving the Clutch again." Wanjiqi already had a smile on his face, "Don't tell me he's going to pull off this Clutch too!"

"Zywoo has already made footsteps at the vent; the initiative is now in Vitality's hands."

"niko is shift-walking to find nice, excellent Pre-aim, locking onto nice's position tightly. If he can take one out, then niko still has a chance to handle this Clutch. Can he handle it?"

"niko didn't win the duel!!" Wanjiqi said excitedly, "After reloading, nice pulled out and landed a one-tap; this is just too solid!"

Wanjiqi explained to the audience: "Zywoo's arrival this round was really slow because he couldn't help his teammate at this position in the first place; he could only rely on nice to handle as much as possible, then Zywoo would come to clean up the Clutch."

"Who would have known, nice, with his position locked down from the front, relied on a tiny piece of cover to finish off the Clutch!"

【Holy crap! Beizige!!】

【They won a 2v4??】

【This P250 drop was really worth it】

【Beizige, you really are my daddy!!】

【What a display of filial piety!】

【...】

Da Jin Ya blamed himself in the voice chat: "My fault, I didn't win the head-to-head duel against him this round."

In this Clutch, both niko and Rain were at one HP; as someone at full health, he should have been the main force in this Clutch.

Yet he failed to deal with nice in the head-to-head duel, which led to the stalemate and ultimately losing this 4v2 Clutch.

"Hey~" Hearing his teammate's dejected voice, niko laughed it off, "Don't blame yourself, nice's aim was just too accurate in this Clutch."

niko was not a player skilled at handling emotions, but as a star player on a team, he was very clear about one thing—that is, he could not put pressure on the team like s1mple.

He did not want internal team drama to happen to him.

Although he wouldn't be as boisterous as the already standing apex on the opposing side, niko still valued team atmosphere quite highly.

However, looking at that smiling Eastern face on the other side, niko couldn't help but complain: "So good at using a handgun?"

nice had gotten a five-kill in the Pistol Round at the start of Map 1, and now, right at the start of Map 2, he had pulled off a three-kill.

It could only be described as absurd.

After losing the Pistol Round, FaZe chose to go for a Force Buy.

But Vitality gave a line smoke at the start of the offensive side and quickly went down K1.

Rain and niko heard the movement and both snuck down from the Guandao, preparing to intercept the K1 rush.

But they didn't expect that before they could camp anyone at K1, a wave of grenades was deployed at the Inner Site.

They tentatively attempted a Retake, but still failed to win.

In the following round, niko directed the team to adjust their economy; this round, he personally used a Desert Eagle to tear apart nice at Outside.

It just still didn't help the team secure the victory, and the score smoothly reached 3:0.

The first Full Buy Round of the first half began.

The smooth scoring in the early stages put apex in a very good mood.

"Let's change up our offense for this point; we've hit Iron Plate and we've hit Inner Site. This round, we'll give Outside a line smoke, shift-walk down K1. Zywoo and NBK, you two stay in Terrorist Hall to play Default, and we'll see later whether to execute a grenade set or rotate to cover the rear."

apex was the type of IGL who always wanted to keep the tempo in his own hands.

On the offensive side, he didn't like to play mind games back and forth with the opponent.

As long as he believed the opponent hadn't read his intentions in the early stage, then his tactics were already a success.

He believed that in this first Full Buy Round, the opponent couldn't possibly expect him to send people in a silent K1 push.

"But we'll need to be careful when entering K1 later; FaZe likes to have people push directly into K1 during Full Buy Rounds."

After the countdown ended, the members of Vitality executed a grenade set and entered K1 directly.

Because of the complexity of the map structure, there are many types of Default setups on Nuke.

Some like heavy defense at Outside, some like heavy defense at Iron Plate, and some like to play aggressively...

The fundamental reason is that there are too many positions for the CTs to watch on this map; the difference between conservative and aggressive strategies leads to differences in Default setups.

In the first round, niko didn't intend to be too aggressive; he would just play Default Defense to collect the opponent's offensive habits and adapt accordingly.

"Same old positions, I'm in the Warehouse, Rain is at Zhengmen, Da Jin Ya, just go straight into K1."

As for the other two, GuardiaN usually roams around Sanlou, and Olofmeister is the fixed Iron Plate defender, no need to plan their positions.

"At the start, they gave a line smoke at Outside; niko just threw an HE Grenade at Outside and had no other thoughts."

"But after giving the line smoke, the Terrorists all shift-walked directly into K1; will this information become a foreshadowing for this round?"

Under the cover of the line smoke, Xu Beifang took the lead and snuck into K1.

Because of the previous structural adjustments, Xu Beifang's position was moved from the Inner Site to Outside.

Although he had gained 'Rain's understanding of Outside', he did not give up on learning techniques for Outside and K1 because of that.

For some outstanding Outside players, even those at the second tier, he had worked hard to study their POV to collide with his own ideas.

Regarding the attack on K1, Xu Beifang had found a very good solution from niko's POV.

The K1 area is flat, and if you control your positioning well, you can manage to face only one angle.

Therefore, Pre-aim is the best solution for this area.

"Da Jin Ya is standing at the T-junction of K1; this position is used to watch the gap. Once he gets information, he runs back and throws a fire to delay time."

"In such a tricky position, does nice have a play?"

Xu Beifang found a reference point on the wall, then instantly peeked to the right.

Half of the CT's body appeared in his field of vision; he instantly performed a Counter-strafing and Firing.

"Bang!"

【nice used SG553 to get a Headshot kill on adren】

(Da Jin Ya's position, the protagonist got vision through the blue door gap and insta-killed him.)

The director kept the camera on Da Jin Ya for the entire duration of this kill, so although the audience didn't see the killer's first-person perspective, the victim's perspective was absolutely stunning, and a wave of gasps erupted inside the Spodek Arena.

The moment he was insta-killed, Da Jin Ya's fist was already raised high.

He wanted to slam it down with a pained expression, but ultimately sighed and called out the info: "nice insta-killed me, only confirmed one in K1."

Watching the figure of Olofmeister beginning his Retake, Da Jin Ya felt somewhat helpless.

Since entering the offline tournament today, his form hadn't been very good, and his luck had also been consistently poor.

As the team's newcomer, he wanted to perform well and help the team achieve good results. Even if he couldn't put up great stats in such a critical match, he still didn't want to be the member who held the team back.

So, knowing his form was off, he played very conservatively, only using the method of holding gaps to gather information, without even the intention of engaging in a firefight.

Yet even so, through such a tiny gap, nice still pulled out and insta-killed him the moment he appeared.

VAC, are you disconnected?... Da Jin Ya complained inwardly; now he could only hope that Olofmeister would perform a time-machine mod and turn the timeline back to 2015.

As the defender of Iron Plate, knowing the opponent had gotten a kill in K1, Olofmeister's Retake speed was the fastest.

He threw an Incendiary Grenade toward the vent, and taking advantage of the moment the Incendiary Grenade exploded, he jumped directly to the Dead Point under the Control Room.

Unsure how many people the opponent had in K1, the Guandao didn't dare to come down at any time, and GuardiaN had to help him cover Iron Plate.

Olofmeister understood that whether there was a possibility of a successful Retake this round depended on how many he could trade.

He hid in the same spot where nice had produced a highlight during the Pistol Round, quietly waited for a timing, and then instantly peeked out.

"Olofmeister waited for an opportunity in Dead Point, nice is still wary of Iron Plate; this seems to be Olofmeister's chance, he strafes out directly and sprays... but Olofmeister didn't win the duel against nice, Olofmeister fired first, but was instead Headshot and counter-killed by nice!"

"Da Jin Ya and Olofmeister have both fallen, it's too late to rotate to B now. Plus, NBK has silently crept out from the Yellow Room and backstabbed Rain at the front; FaZe has no way to play this anymore and can only Save Weapon."

Since entering the offline tournament, Xu Beifang's form had been excellent, and the success of his entry-fragging made the subsequent stages go very smoothly.

Vitality began to take points consecutively, and under Xu Beifang's fierce offensive, FaZe began to retreat steadily.

It wasn't until the 7th round that they finally managed to take their first point, relying on Olofmeister's performance.

At this moment, FaZe's Coach, ynk, finally reacted and hurriedly called a timeout to let the team adjust their issues.