Chapter 337

16:7

This was the final score of Map 1.

The double-digit score gap deeply stung gla1ve's heart, and he fell into deep thought as he looked at the score.

Having actively chosen to be the attacking side in the first half, he believed that he had suppressed the opponent in terms of calling.

They had attacked the opponent's weak points many times, and he was certain that he had attacked the area Vitality was solo-defending at least three times.

But the problem was that for this team on the other side, a solo defense seemed to be a heavy defense as well.

This Nice can really kill!

They failed to win the pistol round in the second half, which was a bit of a pity, and then entering the long-gun round, they finally managed to gain some advantage, only to be hit by a 2v5 from Vitality.

Watching the 2vN from the Vitality Gemini in the highlights, gla1ve would also exclaim like an ordinary player, marveling at the individual ability of these two.

But once he became the background board, his mood wasn't so beautiful.

After losing that 5v2, Astralis completely lost their feel, until A Du performed in the match point, helping them get a point with a quad-kill.

gla1ve wanted to seize this opportunity to boost the team's morale, trying to let the Cologne audience witness a comeback drama.

He could actually understand Xu Beifang's thinking in that round.

He couldn't help but glance at Xu Beifang's computer, but there was no USB drive there.

Xu Beifang smiled and explained: "It's actually quite simple; it's mainly about predicting their positions."

Xu Beifang's sound-based positioning ability was very strong, and with his attention highly focused, he had gathered the information he wanted.

But his feel was a bit off today; he seemed to have been infected by NAVI, being a bit of a slow starter.

And because of the constant pulling and confrontation, Device basically had no sniper rifle to use throughout the first half, and it was very difficult to restrict Nice.

But the performance of Nice and JackZ directly shattered their fantasies.

Xu Beifang still specifically runs the 'Dissecting the Danes' instance twice to find that feeling.

Astralis fans have always believed that Astralis is the best in the world, that no team has such dominance, and that there is not even a team currently capable of threatening Astralis.

shox squinted at Xu Beifang, the meaning self-evident: You call this simple?

"Sure enough, we don't understand the world of cheaters."

However, compared to Xu Beifang looking at netizens' discussions, apEX preferred to spray with haters on Twitter.

"This is the spray-transfer you were curious about. Magisk on the right wallbanged me, so I finished spraying the bomb site and immediately transferred to the right. There's no problem with that, right?"

Xu Beifang smiled and explained specifically: "There was no one behind, so I knew there were three people in front."

apEX said: "I can understand that, but mainly how did you spray-transfer later? You know gla1ve didn't even fire a shot to mix you."

"So in the first wave, I chose to wait behind the sandbags. I had already pre-aimed, and as long as someone defused, I could pull out and spray them."

The sound feedback from CSGO weapons hitting different materials is completely different.

"Well played, guys. We've taken the first map... As long as we win one of the next two maps, we can show those Danish fans on the forums whether we are worthy of being the world's number one!"

"So think about it: one was standing on the bomb site, and another was on the right. In a 3v1 clutch like this, they definitely wouldn't stand in a straight line, so the last one was likely on the left. I tried spraying to the left, and I killed gla1ve. It's that simple."

When Vitality became world number one, apEX was disgusted by the remarks of Astralis fans on the forums.

At that time, JackZ thought that round was gone.

"I sprayed once and didn't get a kill, so I knew the opponent was going to make a move, so I immediately shrank back so they couldn't trade."

Yet he didn't expect Xu Beifang to win this 1v3 in a way he couldn't understand at all.

In the Vitality team, except for Zywoo who doesn't pay attention to social media, the other members still look at information on the internet.

So now, facing the BO3 against Astralis, starting with a good opening, he was so excited.

"At this time, I waited for them to defuse a second time. When the opponent defused, I changed my pre-aim angle because that angle had been mixed by me, so they were likely to defuse from another angle, so I sprayed directly."

The opponent's state exploded and they took the lead; they were quite experienced in this, so they handled it with ease.

The Vitality members nodded without hesitation: "No problem."

gla1ve let out a long breath: "It's okay, everyone adjust. Map 2 is our map pick; let's play well and take it back."

"Don't think too much, Big Smart," Device said to comfort him. "This round was mainly my problem; my sniper rifle failed to restrict him."

Xu Beifang understood information, positioning, and movement rhythm behind smoke too well.

apEX took off his headphones, excitedly bumped fists with him, and also awakened the XTQZZZ in his memories.

"The opponent only threw a smoke grenade, which means they didn't have any follow-up incendiaries. Staying in that position, I only needed to worry about being counter-mixed."

"I didn't have time to ask just now, but the first clutch in the second half—that 1v3 smoke-mix clutch," JackZ asked curiously, "How did you do it?"

In the pre-match preparation, they had considered this as well.

shox said: "It seems indeed quite simple... my ass!"

As a sniper, one should be able to restrict the opponent's rifleman.

At that time, Xu Beifang didn't see any information at the start, so he chose to actively enter the construction site, wanting to hold for enemies who might come from behind.

Yet he didn't expect all three opponents to come from the front, and they even blocked his vision with smoke.

"Listen to me slowly," Xu Beifang continued from his previous words. "The opponent smoked and defused. I sprayed through, and I clearly heard someone get hit by bullets—at least two shots."

He could have found his feel later, but after being instantly killed by Nice several times, he was already numb.

He looked at Xu Beifang speechlessly. Under the high pressure of a 1v3, to still have such clear thinking and say this isn't a cheat?

But fortunately, this human-like cheat was their teammate.

NICE Internet Cafe was full of joy. Most of the people here were Vitality fans, and seeing Vitality take the first map, they were naturally overjoyed.

When Vitality lost to Heroic in the first match of the group stage, many of them had followed along in scolding Vitality, not understanding how the world number one could lose to such an unknown team.

But as Vitality's state gradually warmed up and improved, they didn't have as much desire to complain.

Plus, before the semi-finals, the discussion of the two teams on the forum was too "neutral," and people naturally like the underdog story.

Now that Vitality had gained the advantage, it was exactly what they wanted.

"Brother Nanfang, it seems I'm really working as a net cafe manager for you."

Xiao Ming held a cup of milk tea but didn't take a single sip, because his eyes had already seen the post-match data of Map 1.

This ESL Cologne used ten-player data; after a map ended, everyone's data and headshots were released.

Although a group of handsome men appeared, Xu Beifang, who just looked a bit heroic, instead instantly attracted their attention.

After working out, Xu Beifang looked cleaner and more sunny, but he still couldn't compare to top handsome guys like shox and device.

But esports is never about comparing looks.

Xu Beifang's exaggerated data made a group of people in the 'NICE Internet Cafe' competition area exclaim.

"If this Beifang is even human, I'll eat all the snacks in the net cafe!"

"So you're just here to cheat food and drink."

"This data really isn't human."

"I'm thinking if I can get this data while smurfing."

"Too damn perverted."

Xu Nanfang looked at the people exclaiming in the competition area, hummed twice against the wall, quite proud.

Watching his younger brother shine on the field, he felt a sense of reflected glory.

He patted Xiao Ming on the shoulder: "Get ready to work part-time as a manager; it seems you'll be working for me for a few days."

Data on the screen:

Nice

35 kills, 5 assists, 10 deaths

Survival rate: 82.6%

Average damage per round: 144.2

Rating 2.0 (Tactical Score): 2.33

"This is too overpowered."

The competition area projection broadcasted Wanjiqi's somewhat confused voice: "This Map 1 was completely individual ability crushing Astralis. This Beifang is really too awesome."

Wanjiqi laughed: "No, brothers, do you know what my mindset was before the start? I was already prepared for the two teams to pull against each other, with all three maps going to overtime. Today I even specially prepared a cup of Americano, ready to stay up all night."

"But who would have thought that Map 1 would end so cleanly and neatly, and Astralis didn't even get a big score? It's truly terrifying."

【2.33 rating, whose cheater is this?】

【Actually, I think it's mainly because Magisk is on the other side; this triggered the passive skill of the VP player.】

【One point of fatherly love, haha.】

【Seriously, I thought Beifang's playstyle would be countered to death by Astralis's system, but as a result...】

【A reckless man uses individual ability to open up a world.】

"Nice played well. He was firing on all cylinders in Map 1."

After Overpass ended, NIKO on the stands couldn't stop praising.

Because of Astralis's strong dominance in the professional scene, the ecosystem had become a bit stagnant. Everyone hoped that a few new teams would appear that could threaten Astralis's status.

Seeing Vitality defeat Astralis so smoothly in Map 1, NIKO felt a bit excited.

Looking at the players on stage actively discussing and preparing for Map 2, he was also quite emotional: "I really didn't expect Nice to be able to explode alone and drag the team forward."

Then he bumped his shoulder against NEO next to him: "What's your situation? Could it be that Nice was acting before? Look, he can drag the team forward alone. Wasn't it 4-protect-1 before?"

NEO smiled bitterly: "The situation is very different."

"At that time, although VP was also 4-protect-1, only Nice was performing, and the state of others was very unstable. The force points were too few."

"Today's match looks like Nice is carrying alone, but Vitality's defense and offense game is overall fine. You've watched the whole match; do you think anyone on Vitality is dragging them down?"

NIKO thought for a few seconds and shook his head.

Although the performance of others wasn't very eye-catching, it would be an insult to say they were dragging them down; their overall performance was still commendable.

"Nice doesn't have this level of performance today, and Vitality can still rely on their base level to fight Astralis. At least they can get some points."

"But with Nice performing, Astralis is completely stunned, their rhythm is messed up, and they can't play at all."

NEO sighed: "That's why pasha and I have always regretted it. When we met Nice, our levels had declined too much. If we had half our peak strength, I think we could have made VP a dynasty at that time."

Although NEO was subtle to his face, he had a very good impression of that big boy with a strange playstyle and hard work.

"Sure enough, you have another man living in your heart!" NIKO scolded shyly.

NEO rolled his eyes at him speechlessly.

Seeing that he couldn't tease NEO, NIKO continued: "To be honest, in today's match, Vitality won't really crush Astralis, will they?"

Hearing this, Rain and others looked at him very strangely.

NIKO felt a bit prickly under his teammates' gazes: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rain raised his eyebrows: "I was just thinking, if Nice can maintain this level of performance, Astralis might really be crushed by Vitality. That would be really fun to watch."

Olofmeister also nodded: "Not to mention, think about what Astralis fans will look like on the internet after the match. That will definitely be very interesting."

Rain heard this and directly raised the light board with 'Nice' written on it and shook it, expressing his thoughts.

"We are leading by one map, but it's just a lead. In CSGO, nothing is certain until the last moment. You know our opponent is a dynasty team; they have rich experience, and the drama of coming from behind has been staged countless times by them!"

"And most importantly, Map 2 is Inferno, which Astralis actively chose. Our Inferno is strong, but their win rate is higher than ours... Inferno is a map where individual ability might be weakened; it is ultimately a map that leans toward tactics, so we must be mentally prepared."

"Finally, one point: no matter when, we must keep calm. Don't have too much psychological fluctuation because of losing points. Believe that even if the opponent reaches match point, we have a chance to chase the score back."

"Finally, relax a little. Nice's performance in Map 1 has brought us a lot of fault tolerance, so the pressure is more on the opponent."

Before Map 2 started, XTQZZZ gave a short pep talk to the members. After his adjustment, the Vitality players slowly entered the state.

Finally, following the referee's reminder, they entered the Map 2 server one after another.