Chapter 320: Self-Cultivation of an Old Six

"Bang!"

NIKO slammed his fist heavily on the table, the exaggerated force shaking the keyboard and mouse so they jumped up.

Their match against Mouz had just come to an end, and Faze had disappointed the fans once again. They were defeated by "Faze Youth Training" today with a score of 2-0.

The day after the match ended, Xu Beifang, in the hotel, looked at this scene, not knowing what to say.

These two good friends of his were in a life-or-death confrontation. The winner would continue to the final round of the group stage to strive for qualification, while the loser would have the same fate as FURIA, preparing for the Berlin Major in advance.

NIKO is one of the most powerful riflemen on this planet, and Xu Beifang could see clearly that the strategy NEO adopted in this match made NIKO more aggressive and active at the front point.

NIKO's overall play was indeed flawless, but perhaps because Mouz played many practice matches against Vitality, Mouz adapted very quickly to this playstyle, so they didn't feel too much pressure.

Plus, Faze had quite a few problems in the confrontation due to low integration.

In this BO3, they didn't win the first map, and didn't win the second map.

Xu Beifang had seen fans complaining in the live stream chat:

"Did they team-build with G2 before the match? How did they learn all this corporate culture?"

Faze lost too many matches they shouldn't have lost, making this match very difficult to play.

As Karrigan gradually entered the state, ropz and the left-handed sniper god began to perform, and Faze played very arduously.

Under high pressure, NIKO's personality problems also began to appear.

His personality actually always had the look of a team big brother. Whenever the team was at a loss on the front, he really wanted to fight out a piece of sky for the team.

But in this situation, he would often be very anxious.

But the more anxious, the more panicked, which instead made it easier for him to make mistakes.

Finally, this BO3 ended, and NIKO, who was pinned with high hopes, only got a 1.03 rating, even worse than most of the time when he was the IGL.

A competitive personality allowed NIKO to walk to his current position, but personality reasons also made him stop in adversity.

NIKO's disappointed expression after the match made Xu Beifang's expression a bit complex.

He absolutely didn't want to leave the Cologne stage in this way.

Today's morning training had just ended, and there was still some time before lunch. Xu Beifang simply opened the forum to surf, adjusting his mood.

ESL Cologne is the last major tournament before the Major, and the surfing popularity in the forum has always been good. Plus, since last night, it officially entered the elimination state, and everyone's discussion was much more than usual.

【How to evaluate Beifang's performance Outside against FURIA? He blocked FURIA Outside all by himself.】

【My evaluation is: Holy crap, Gua!】

【Astralis lost to FURIA on Nuke, FURIA lost to Vitality, so Vitality > Astralis? (Sarcastic)】

【You are the logic master!】

【Art is white-giving!】

【Art dry-pulling, Art death, really too top-tier.】

【FURIA's overall details are still not in place, this is the gap between a first-tier team and a top-tier team. Vitality is more steady in the match.】

【Indeed, in the confrontation of Nuke, I am outstandingly calm, the score can't give me too much psychological fluctuation.】

Vitality fans in the forum didn't hide their praise at all.

From their perspective, the confrontation of this BO3 was indeed played quite well.

apEX and shox didn't have many brain farts, and the twin stars also played beautifully, which was a very eye-catching performance.

Plus, because of the loss on the first day, Vitality fell into the lower bracket and had no room for error.

Fans were still very worried that they would be eliminated in the group stage.

Xu Beifang found that there were still viewers chatting about apEX and arT's command styles.

【You say, if apEX is replaced by arT, what will this lineup be like?】

【I can't imagine what FURIA will be like, but Vitality might rush to the CT spawn in 1 minute 30 seconds.】

【Don't even need Xiao Xu to charge, arT has already rushed out with a Bizon.】

【There is still a gap. Vitality was able to win three major tournament championships in a row this year, and Dou Dou still deserves a lot of credit.】

【What credit? Isn't it just a few unknown tournaments? Has apEX commanded a Major championship?】

Some netizens felt that apEX's command was very suitable for Vitality, and they had lifted three major tournament trophies this year, and the honor was already there.

But some people felt that apEX was just a pure pressure monster. If Vitality replaced him, the subsequent matches would definitely be played more brilliantly. In their eyes, apEX was just a professional player like a comedian, completely different from gla1ve, Karrigan, NEO, and this group of orthodox IGLs.

Xu Beifang shook his head.

Although he would sometimes complain about Dou Dou's brain farts in the match, the idea of changing an IGL never popped up in his mind.

Vitality could achieve the current results, everyone paid huge efforts.

apEX's team-building idea with players as the core, and the command philosophy of using information warfare in the match, Xu Beifang also recognized very much.

As an IGL, Dou Dou, while giving the correct ideas, wouldn't make them feel very offended.

Outside the match, he could also get along with them very harmoniously.

Xu Beifang felt that Dou Dou was a very good IGL.

And he also understood that these netizens who thought apEX's results were not good were also questioning him.

There was no way for this kind of questioning; only by using results to respond.

Xu Beifang continued to flip down and soon saw the heartbroken voice of Faze fans in the forum.

He could actually understand that this galaxy battleship Faze had too many star player fans. They pinned high hopes on Faze, but they died in the group stage. Many Faze fans had already bought offline tickets, preparing to support them.

But the tickets were already bought, and they even thought about shouting the "Fazeup" slogan together when the time came, but the home team didn't enter the playoffs, which was definitely a heartbreaking thing.

Xu Beifang continued to swipe down and soon saw a CSGO-related video.

"Unexpected July Red and Black List: Se Fu's Casual Talk on the GO Circle"

An acquaintance~

Xu Beifang raised his eyebrows. As a reporter under Perfect World, Xu Beifang had contacted Se Fu many times.

After a short stay, he clicked on the video and entered to check the content.

The chubby Se Fu appeared in front of the camera, waving at the camera:

"Hello everyone, this is Se Fu. Today is the 5th day of August, bringing you the red and black list of the professional circle in July."

"It's also been a long time for everyone. Mainly because there were relatively few matches in June and July, the final material volume was not much. We deliberated on some small matches for a long time, and in the end, we couldn't put them out."

First, Se Fu released 4 black-list players, they were: adreN, tiziaN, TACO, SANJI, and sAw.

Among these black-list players, Da Jin Ya (adreN) belonged to the most important level.

During these two months, he was kicked out by FAZE, mainly because his performance was too sluggish.

His average rating in the first two months was only 0.92.

You know, even as the current VP tool man SANJI, the data was 0.94, although it was also very sluggish.

Other players were also more or less because of state reasons, and they didn't play satisfactorily.

Of course, there were also bullet screens that didn't understand the evaluation of this black list:

【Why can SANJI be rated so low?】

【Indeed, my SANJI plays no-armor Desert Eagle every round, economy is all contributed to the team, this data is quite good.】

【This Se Fu is purely looking at match data to evaluate, speechless.】

Although VP's matches were relatively boring, there were still people who liked this, so some people sent bullet screens to shout grievances for SANJI.

In their view, SANJI was a good guy, the tool man attribute was full, what else do you want?

But Xu Beifang felt that Se Fu's evaluation had no problem. First, SANJI was the person playing that position in the VP team, and contributing his economy because of tactical contributions was what he should do.

SANJI's professional attitude in the match was definitely no problem, but besides this attitude, the time he performed was indeed too little.

The red-list players who appeared next also verified Xu Beifang's thoughts.

Even the 10th place on the red list, Karrigan, had 0.94 data.

SANJI's data didn't even exceed the IGL who was "gun-horse" in the public impression, which was enough to show his poor performance.

"Karrigan is really a respectable player. At the high age of 28, he can still lead a new team to rejuvenate. Mouz went from last year's top-tier prison to this year's improved results, Karrigan's credit is indispensable."

"In the winning situation of the match, Karrigan can stand up to inspire people, and in the losing situation, he can also twist the rope and express himself calmly. In this young team, Karrigan really did very well."

Xu Beifang had a deep feeling about this point.

Last year, ropz sat in the prison of Mouz, complaining to Xu Beifang several times that he wanted to leave. After all, carrying hard and still not winning the game was not a thing.

But after Karrigan joined Mouz, the situation began to improve, and the feedback from ropz was very good.

The house-bound boy was almost turning into a sunny boy.

"The 9th place on the red list is sdy of Green Dragon..."

"The 8th place on the red list is..."

"..."

"The 4th place on the red list is Jame. Although VP's matches are very boring now, you have to admit that Jame's save-gun playstyle can allow them to achieve good results. As the team's IGL and sniper, Jame played an average of 1.23 high data. Although this data may have some moisture because of Jame's playstyle, we have to admit that he is definitely the strongest new star IGL in 2019."

"The 3rd place on the red list is our familiar s1mple. As TOP1, his state last month was relatively sluggish, only getting a 1.24 rating."

Xu Beifang was silent for a while after listening.

But Se Fu's words really had no problem. 1.24 for the man known as the USB boy was really a sluggish state.

"The 2nd place on the red list is our domestic player Nice. In the ECS Season 7 league last month, he played an average of 1.28 high rating as a rifleman. As a breakthrough player in the team, the breakthrough success rate is as high as 45.2%. What does this data mean? On average, every map, he can get 4.5 first kills, and his breakthrough proportion is as high as 33.2%."

After Xu Beifang's ID photo appeared for a second, the bullet screen instantly increased:

【This first half is indeed too fierce.】

【Beifang's rifleman power suppressing s1mple is a bit exaggerated.】

【In July ECS, Xiao Xu was simply like frying fish, this data is indeed normal.】

【What is outrageous about Beifang is not his breakthrough success rate, but that he can have such a high breakthrough success rate under the condition of an exaggerated breakthrough proportion.】

【I still can't forget that eye-catching big sharp point in Nian Lan's video.】

【It is indeed outrageous, the first kill part was pierced out.】

"Finally, the 1st place on the red list is Vitality's sniper ZywOo. In the ECS in July, he played an average of 1.34 data and also got the highest AWP kills. ZywOo even played the highest +95 KD ratio. This data represents that throughout the tournament, ZywOo killed 95 more people than he died. Also ranked first is the 84% kills per round. ZywOo is still the final weapon of France."

"It's just because the team has the strongest spear that makes us often ignore his light."

Xu Beifang heard this, with an expression of "as expected."

After ZywOo found his state in ECS, his performance was really very, very good. Being able to get the first place data on the red list could be considered normal.

Without ZywOo's performance, relying only on his own performance, wanting to dominate the first-tier stage could only be thought of in a dream.

Back in the VP period, he had already verified this idea.

Although he wasn't that strong back then, one-dragging-four still left a deep impression on him.

Speaking of becoming stronger.

Most of Xu Beifang's data had already stepped into the 90s, and even positioning, recoil control, and offensive awareness data had entered the 95s. It was quite difficult to improve afterward.

Looking at the system backpack, Xu Beifang found that unknowingly, there were more than 200 "D-grade treasure chests."

His heart moved.

【Do you want to use 100 "D-grade treasure chests" to exchange for "B-grade treasure chests"?】

"Yes."

【B-grade treasure chest is opening...】

【Congratulations to the host +1120 Listen-to-Advice Value...】

【Congratulations to the host for obtaining the intermediate lurker technique insight: How to get kills without injury. PS: From now on, you will become a true "No-Backer," and the opponent's cursing will be the beginning of your pleasure.】

Intermediate lurker technique?

Xu Beifang raised his eyebrows.

This technique insight had some conflict with his own position.

But he was no longer the Xu Beifang who had just started. Many of his playstyles had already taken shape and wouldn't be influenced by some experience insights.

So his heart moved.

The screen in front of him shattered, and he entered the system space again.

First, he saw GeT_RiGhT's perspective. As the man who invented the concept of "lurker," GeT_RiGhT was too exaggerated in his peak period.

"When you don't know GeT_RiGhT's position, you might as well look behind you."

This is the praise for GeT_RiGhT.

But today, what appeared in his mind were some of GeT_RiGhT's more dangerous playstyles.

This was an offensive round on Inferno. When the entire team's offensive direction was the B site, GeT_RiGhT was lurking in the VIP.

The B site front had already started fighting, and he clearly heard the footsteps of someone going down the middle.

GeT_RiGhT didn't intercept that CT, told his teammates his information, and soon rushed toward the opponent's CT spawn, directly carrying out a wave of counter-encirclement.

This playstyle of letting people pass, plus his overall clearing speed was relatively slow, so it was easy to have problems.

But in the end, when he cut his knife and snuck to the CT spawn, the gain was also quite exaggerated. Two big backs were placed in front of him, and GeT_RiGhT sprayed them all down.

This playstyle was relatively dangerous, but the gain brought was often relatively high.

Immediately after, his perspective came to BlameF.

The handling in GeT_RiGhT's perspective just now, even if it was relatively dangerous, he also told his teammates all the information.

But coming to BlameF here, it became quite interesting.

This was a wave of Nuke push. Their main force was slowly controlling the map Outside, but at this time, a CT had already pushed over from the back, and they had a teammate successfully stolen.

BlameF reacted at the first time, but at this time there was someone in the back, the thought in his mind was actually not to catch him and clear the hidden danger.

But rather, "I didn't trade the kill at the first time, I am very mysterious, I can eat him without injury."

This thought instantly made Xu Beifang unable to hold it.

Then, he set a relatively tricky gun position.

The teammate at the Red Box thought someone was managing the back, so he didn't watch.

Letting the sneaking CT steal another one without injury, and then BlameF peeked out to trade.

"This is truly toxic."

Xu Beifang hadn't carefully analyzed BlameF's DEMO, and now he realized that this guy's playstyle was indeed toxic.

This was purely a "selling teammates" playstyle.

Sure enough, it was worthy of the "Self-Cultivation of an Old Six."

Later, he also felt the more dangerous playstyles of several other lurkers from the system.

shox liked to play one-sell-one-play, or be an ostrich in a specific cover.

xyp9x's powerful awareness, relying on powerful awareness to sneak behind the opponent.

perfect0 liked to split the opponent's position.

ropz chose some playstyles of letting people pass to get information in specific situations.

These lurkers all had some relatively "old six" ideas in their minds.

But only BlameF gave Xu Beifang the feeling that it was truly toxic.

That kind of thought of his was committing a crime.

After the screen shattered, Xu Beifang felt his understanding had improved slightly.

In this insight, most of it was still some lurker's ideas and understanding.

Xu Beifang now at least knew when some excellent lurkers would choose to attack.

As long as he thought clearly, he could carry out a wave of counter-push to judge the opponent's position.

And as a breakthrough player, sometimes when he walked alone, he also became a lurker and could use these ideas.

However, after this insight was finished, several people still left a deep impression on him.

For example, ropz, this guy played scientifically, reasonably, and as a team.

As a lurker, he could always give the team very correct feedback. Even if he couldn't make a name for himself on the front, he could help the team gain some advantages in his position.

And Xu Beifang had paid attention to ropz's data.

As a lurker, being able to have a good first-kill success rate, fewer first deaths, and excellent clutch win rate.

Fewer first deaths allowed ropz to always exert pressure at key points, making opponents feel that someone was always hanging behind them.

A good first-kill success rate allowed him to open a breakthrough when the team couldn't open the situation in the main offensive area.

The clutch win rate goes without saying. This position originally played more clutches, and him winning one more clutch meant one more hope for the team to win.

As for this guy BlameF, the data was very inflated.

Xu Beifang flipped through the forum and found that the discussion about BlameF was also not small.

Exaggerated muscles, everyone originally thought this would be a top-tier breakthrough player or a rifleman.

But when he really got to the match, he found that this guy was an old six.

【This BlameF playing in the match is really disgusting, it made me vomit.】

【I thought of my teammates who don't trade kills in the ladder.】

【This BlameF is too toxic.】

【This guy only plays information guns, really sells teammates, I can't stand this playstyle.】

【But this playstyle of his can win games, are you angry?】

【Vitality was crushed before, this set of playstyle still has something to say.】

【Hope Vitality meets Heroic again tonight and directly crushes BlameF.】

【Crush BlameF? Don't be a Heroic second battle again.】

BlameF's "selling teammates" playstyle made many people disgusted.

If he was just toxic in playstyle, that would be it.

But this guy was timid in the full-buy round and directly punched hard in the ECO, making people inexplicably think of ladder teammates.

Vitality's opponent in the final match of the group stage tonight was exactly Heroic, and they would meet BlameF again.

For this match, Vitality also made quite a lot of preparations.

apEX, knowing the opponent was Heroic, got up early this morning and watched several Heroic recordings, more focused on watching BlameF's perspective.

Because last time, their defense was completely disrupted by this person, BlameF.

Xu Beifang had just obtained some lurker insights, recalled some of BlameF's thoughts in the match, and had ideas for tonight's match in his mind.

In the afternoon, after finishing preparations, Vitality arrived at the Cologne group stage match venue.

But when entering the venue, Xu Beifang was unexpectedly caught by an old friend.

"Hi, Beifang!" Li Wenzhe, who was live streaming, stretched out his hand and shook hands with Xu Beifang, "Do you have time for an interview? Wanted to catch you for several days, but never bumped into you."

"Of course, it's a coincidence today. I only saw Se Fu's red and black list in the morning, and I was caught by you in the afternoon."

Xu Beifang smiled, then signaled his teammates to go first, and he would come to find them later.

"Today is the last match of the group stage. You will face Heroic, who defeated you on the first day. Tell me your thoughts?" Li Wenzhe asked this question on behalf of the audience.

He also did quite a lot of homework before the interview and understood very well what interview content domestic players wanted to see.

"Last time, it was mainly being ambushed by Heroic's style. After all, BlameF's playstyle... um, very special." Xu Beifang deliberated for a long time, "But after clashing once, we also made preparations for the match. I believe we won't have problems in this match."

Li Wenzhe was live streaming in real-time. Although it was a bit laggy, the audience still understood what Xu Beifang said.

【Hahahaha】

【High EQ: Style is very special, Low EQ: Extreme old six!】

【Beifang understands the ways of the world.】

Xu Beifang's pause instantly made the audience understand what it meant, and suddenly the whole screen was "hahaha."

Li Wenzhe also lowered his head and smiled, then recovered and asked: "Everyone is actually looking forward to your confrontation with Astralis. If there is a chance later, do you think you can defeat Astralis if you meet them?"

Xu Beifang pondered for a long time, then said: "Briefly clashed with Astralis before and won once, but if we meet in a BO3 later, it's really hard to say. After all, we have few clashes with Astralis and have no experience."

"However, we have been studying them for a long time. In other words, we are already studying the opponents in the playoffs."

His words made the audience in the live stream instantly happy, and Li Wenzhe also couldn't help it.

Xu Beifang finished accepting this question, shook hands with Li Wenzhe again, and started to rush to the lounge.

"Hope to go offline to cheer for you in a few days!"

"As you wish!" Xu Beifang gave a positive answer this time.

Before, in the BO1 confrontation, they did lose to Heroic.

But they had just arrived in Cologne, and it was a BO1 confrontation, so it was normal to have a rollover.

But when it really came to the BO3 match, if they still lost, then they really had to find problems from themselves.

Xu Beifang didn't think they would lose to Heroic in today's match.

After entering the lounge, he followed the team to scan the information for today, and was notified by the staff that they could enter the venue.

Walking in the player tunnel, apEX gritted his teeth and said: "Today we must crush Heroic hard and let them know our power."

After losing that BO1, apEX's data was relatively small, and the public opinion on the internet for his evaluation was generally not good.

This is the IGL.

If the match is won, basically no one says you are good.

But if the match is lost and your data is not good, everyone will think it is your command problem.

However, to be honest, Dou Dou was indeed a bit confused in that match, but overall it was them who didn't find the state.

But in the matches of these two days, they also slowly found their match state back.

apEX believed that as long as he could keep his mindset steady, this match couldn't be lost.

Douyu Room 6657.

"The lower bracket match, Vitality vs Heroic BO3, this match has quite a lot of highlights."

Watching the players enter, Wanjiqi analyzed for the audience.

"Although Vitality's twin stars are very strong, BlameF, stavn, and es3tag have all performed quite well in matches recently, plus the style of Danish teams is relatively rigorous, they are very good at catching opponents' mistakes."

Immediately after, Wanjiqi's tone changed: "But it's not that Vitality can't win. As the current world number one, their ability in BO3 is quite terrifying. As long as they are not affected by Heroic's rhythm, and Xiao Xu and Zywoo perform, the overall winning chance is quite large."

"Alright, without further ado, let's enter the BP stage."

"Heroic removed Train, Vitality removed Dust 2."

"Heroic chose Overpass as the first hand, this is one of their strong maps, but if I remember correctly, Vitality doesn't play badly on this map either." Wanjiqi took a breath, "This Heroic is a bit looking down on people, Vitality's Inferno is not banned, and there is no targeting at all in BP."

"Sure enough, Vitality directly took Inferno." Wanjiqi said, "If I remember correctly, Vitality has already played an amazing 10-game winning streak on Inferno. I really didn't expect Heroic to dare to choose it actively."

"Finally, a Nuke was reserved. This BP, Vitality is not afraid at all."

In Wanjiqi's puzzled gaze, the players of both sides entered the final preparation time.

Xu Beifang also adjusted his sitting posture. The first map of the BO3 had too much influence in the match. He wanted to play a good start so that his teammates wouldn't have so much pressure.

Vitality members rubbed their hands and started to enter the server of Map one. ===== CHAPTER 321 =====