Chapter 298: Is 3-0 possible?

2-0

Inside the Aolvfeng Arena, the big score of this final appeared in the center of the screen. On the left player bench, the Vitality group was chatting leisurely with smiles on their faces. The match had reached this point, and many Liquid fans already had changed expressions. They really wanted to see Liquid lift this trophy, but Vitality's form seemed a bit too good!

Most Liquid fans in the arena actually tended to think that Vitality's explosive power was very high, especially Xu Beifang and Zywoo. As for the forum talk about Vitality being able to beat Liquid in a BO5 match, they naturally didn't believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

Liquid fans who often followed forums and matches naturally had a certain understanding of Nice, who often caused heated discussions on forums. In their view, Nice's playstyle was a joke in top-tier confrontations, constantly pushing aggressively, constantly catching the opponent's timing. They felt Xu Beifang's playstyle was opportunistic, and over time, he would be countered by top-tier pros.

Actually, they didn't have such big prejudices against Nice as a player, but because Vitality had defeated their home team in the group stage, and they happened to meet in the finals. Liquid fans were originally shouting on the forums about starting a revenge drama.

But today, as soon as the finals started, Nice hit them all off guard with an incredibly terrifying performance, not only stunning Liquid's players but also leaving these fans stunned.

They only knew at this time that Nice wasn't the 'smart-aleck' superstar who only knew how to play extreme styles in their eyes.

He had unknowingly become a top-tier superstar, and one could see that many players in the future would learn his highly aggressive playstyle.

Xu Beifang's data on Map 1 was too exaggerated, perhaps entering a 'sage mode' like this; his performance on Map 2 wasn't too bright, and Liquid fans could have breathed a sigh of relief, but the problem was that the influence of Xu Beifang on Map 1 was still continuing.

Liquid only slowly found their form in the middle of Map 2, but by then it was already too late.

Although Nice didn't exert force, Vitality's other members stood out to perform. Liquid really wanted to work hard to chase the score back, but losing too many points early on led to too little room for error, making them lose this Vertigo.

This led to them losing two maps at the start of this BO5 confrontation, directly entering the dangerous edge of being eliminated.

Liquid fans looked at the home team members who were actively communicating on stage, and felt a bit better in their hearts; this state at least showed that Liquid hadn't been crushed, and still had combat capability later on.

However, they also understood.

It was too difficult for Liquid to win.

In the next three maps, Liquid couldn't lose a single one; they had to win three in a row.

Coming back from 0-2, no matter what game it is, it wouldn't be an easy thing.

They could only hope that Liquid could create a miracle.

"Vitality's Vertigo intensity is so high."

Even as an opponent, Twistzz felt the gap between them and Vitality on this map. Actually, they should have been prepared; after all, Vitality locked in Vertigo too decisively, and truly entering the confrontation, even if Nice didn't get many kills frontally, some basic utility usage could make them lose many gun positions, feeling timid on the defensive side.

As opponents, they knew Vitality's habits very well.

Vitality on the offensive side, in most cases, started with a default, but while defaulting, they would release Xu Beifang to push forward to fight, in a very aggressive posture, disrupting the opponent's default defense, then feeding the collected information back to the team, integrating information in the middle to attack.

Why is Vitality's combat power so strong now? It's because under this simple mode, most teams just can't play against them, and the role Xu Beifang can play at the front is too great.

But in this Vertigo match, the guy causing trouble at the front didn't even do much, and they already couldn't withstand the pressure, which showed that Liquid and Vitality were completely not on the same level on this map.

Vitality, with the simplest playstyle of default holding and utility pushing, could win against them frontally, not even needing to disrupt their rhythm, just some utility being laid out, and they were already sweating.

Of course, a large part of this was because Liquid's feel wasn't very good in the early stage of Map 2, and it was hard to get an advantage in frontal gunfights.

"They hid too deep."

Liquid's IGL nitr0 sat there and sighed slightly; he knew that tonight, the difficulty for them to make a comeback was great.

Although the chance was slim, he still hoped a North American miracle could appear.

If the confrontation on Map 1 was Nice's personal glory, crushing them with absolute explosive strength. Then this Map 2 was a plain map understanding layout, various small details, small gun positions, and small coordinations slowly accumulated, forming a huge gap.

The arena sounded with rustling noises, and from time to time there were some exclamations. Nitr0 heard the sound and looked over, understanding in his heart that it should be the highlight performance of Map 2, but he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely. His final data in the first half wasn't very excellent, and he didn't have a single highlight; perhaps at this moment, he could only become a background board for those exclamations.

The arena was teeming with people; the audience looked toward the stage with expectant eyes, occasionally breaking into discussion. The spotlights from the dome shone down on the two player booths on stage, where the players' expressions varied, forming a perfect scene of competitive esports.

Watching the replay of the brilliant kills from Map 2 on the screen, the Rain God on the stands shook his head and looked at his teammate beside him: "They really are strong; they are far too comfortable on this map."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Olofmeister respond: "It's not even the same level of understanding..."

Perhaps influenced by the previous map, Liquid lacked form in the early stages and didn't even put much pressure on Vitality. Vitality only needed to keep playing their defaults to gain an advantage in the match.

Vitality didn't have to play many clutches during today's Map 2 confrontation, and apEX didn't rush into making any blunders, which showed they were still in total control and hadn't even used many new tricks.

This made the Faze members realize that the gap between the two sides on this map was still too large.

The Rain God wiped his glasses, looked at the players on stage who were about to start the next confrontation, and asked with some curiosity: "In today's match, they wouldn't really let Vitality pull off a 3-0, would they?"

"Do you think there's a chance we could just finish work with a 3-0?" JackZ asked with some curiosity.

apEX immediately said: "Hey!! You can't just say things like that on the field."

Opening champagne at halftime in a competitive match is still quite terrifying in its effect.

"I don't think it's a big deal."

Xu Beifang, wearing a black eye mask, leaned back in his gaming chair with his eyes closed to rest and responded upon hearing his captain's words.

Today's confrontation was going very smoothly; if this were a BO3 match, they would have already killed the game.

He had hard-carried the entire first map, and although his form had dipped slightly on the second, the team as a whole was still doing very well.

"Although Map 3 is Liquid's map pick, we already beat them once in the group stage, and with our form being this good today, there's no reason we would lose to them."

Xu Beifang called this confidence.

Dust II is a classic old map, but its biggest problem is that it is too classic; the tactics have basically been fully developed.

Everyone understands now that this map is mainly about gunplay, and the tactical focus is not very significant.

And in this gunplay map, their form wasn't bad, so they definitely had to be more confident at this time.

"Indeed, I feel like I've really found my rhythm today." shox touched his chin and fell into a response; if he remembered correctly, he had felt this way back when he was at Titan.

Once entering the match, he felt like everything was under control; even if they encountered any difficulties, everyone could solve them quickly, which was great.

apEX wasn't such a rigid person either; hearing his teammates full of passion, he also shouted: "Then let's take this Dust II together!"

Xu Beifang opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was that dazzling trophy. He rubbed his hands together: "Let's go, let's go! Let's finish work early today; I'm treating everyone after we're done!"

Zywoo's eyes lit up immediately.

The halftime break ended, and both teams returned to the confrontation.

Map: Dust II.

This was Liquid's map pick; Vitality didn't act stubborn and steadily chose to start on the defensive side.

On this map, whether for Vitality or the average win rate of tier-one teams, the defensive side is higher. They didn't want to pull any fancy tricks; playing steadily was enough.

The pistol round began. As the defensive side, apEX only arranged a basic setup.

Knowing that Liquid particularly liked to play A Short, he placed the defensive focus on A Short and Mid, hoping to disrupt Liquid's early tactical deployment through pre-placement.

A Long, however, was left to Xu Beifang alone to defend.

"Liquid, as the offensive side, chose a 3-man utility setup; this amount of utility shows sincerity." Wanjiqi began his commentary, "At the start, Liquid threw an Xbox smoke, obscuring Vitality's vision, and then the main force came to A Long, intending to challenge Xiao Xu."

"But the scene of Xiao Xu getting 10 kills in the Map 1 pistol round is still fresh in our minds; can they really succeed?"

Xu Beifang secured control of A Long at the first opportunity; he stood at the A Long corner and held a direct angle on A Door.

His teammates held A Short tightly, allowing him to only worry about the front for the time being.

"No one seen at Mid, everyone watch your sides."

Zywoo was boosted to A Short by apEX at the start. Seeing the opponent throw the Xbox smoke but remain quiet for a long time, he took the initiative to peek outside, but didn't see a single person.

If there's no one at Mid, then the opponent must be planning a one-wave rush.

Xu Beifang heightened his vigilance, but the next second, a flashbang exploded in his face. He immediately pulled the trigger and tried to slip away, but the sound of a headshot rang in his ears.

【Nice+nitr0 used a flashbang and USP to headshot kill Elige】

【stewie2K used a P250 to headshot kill Nice】

"Liquid's flashbangs are coming in. Xiao Xu's pre-aiming was excellent; he traded one while blinded, but was instantly traded back by the follow-up."

"It's a 1-for-1 trade at A Long, but Xiao Xu also gathered a lot of information. He knows there are at least two people at A Long; this trade of numbers is still very valuable."

Time was still early. apEX had also returned to A Platform at the second timing, standing inside A Short with Zywoo.

After Xu Beifang was killed, apEX chose to abandon Mid and played a gamble setup.

apEX believed that after Liquid traded numbers at A Long, they would think Vitality would rotate quickly, so they might rotate their attack.

In that case, this double A Short setup might gain an advantage.

shox at B Site conducted some local command; he let JackZ stand with him at the B Site sniper position.

If Liquid were to execute a bomb site take at B later, he would peek first to take a shot, help JackZ secure the timing, and then let JackZ output damage.

Xu Beifang's evaluation of this was—that's very shox!

Liquid got a kill at A Long, and the one they killed was the ID they feared most, so their confidence surged instantly.

Moreover, this 3-man utility allocation was originally prepared for an explosive push at A Long.

They had no reason to rotate and play some fancy tricks.

"apEX is in position at A Short, coordinating with a flashbang to counter-flash Mid, wanting to catch the Terrorists in a rotation timing."

Wanjiqi said: "But Liquid had no intention of rotating at all. They had already prepared their utility at A Long, and nitr0 threw an A Short cut-off fire from A Long! This fire is top-tier!"

"He directly cut off the connection between Zywoo and apEX, and they threw an A Site CT Spawn smoke from the front of A Long, and started charging toward the bomb site!"

apEX at A Short was cut off by the fire, and with all sorts of utility exploding at A Long, he immediately shouted: "They're hitting A, everyone can rush to A."

He stood at the A Short corner, actively peeking out to take a shot and scout for information.

But he only saw one person slide out, and with a "bang," apEX was instantly killed.

【stewie2K used a P250 to headshot kill apEX】

"apEX was instantly killed, the A bomb site fell in an instant, and here, Elige still has an A Short smoke in his hand, directly obscuring the vision of A Short. The bomb is planted; this pistol round is very hard for Vitality to handle!"

apEX is just like that, making people love and hate him at the same time.

His movement makes fans never know if the next second will be a surprise or a shock.

If he hadn't given himself away in this wave, once he died, the numbers would be at a disadvantage, and the frontal retake could only be solved by dueling.

Liquid was also playing to win; knowing the Frenchmen's pistols were very strong, they didn't come out to duel at all.

Zywoo and the others saw that they really couldn't find a flaw, so they had to take the initiative, but as soon as they made contact, they were hit by Liquid's flashbangs.

Liquid's utility setup for this pistol round maximized the effect of their three-man utility.

Finally, in a somewhat intense duel at A Site, Liquid finally secured their first pistol round.

The Liquid fans off-stage, watching their primary team take the pistol round and the lead, all had the urge to shed tears.

It wasn't easy!

Not in good form, that's all for today...