Chapter 343: Shoot Liquid down hard!

"What are you looking at?"

After Danking finished washing up, he saw Xiaogui already scrolling through his phone in his seat, so he asked curiously.

"Oh, just looking at what everyone on Twitter is saying about your brother," Xiaogui replied casually.

Danking pulled out his chair, sat down, and turned on his computer, feeling a bit puzzled: "Comments? What's there to comment on? Beifang isn't some rookie who just debuted."

Generally speaking, when a rookie debuts, if they put in a stellar performance, many professional players will comment on that rookie's playstyle and operational level.

Xu Beifang's debut, and even his appearance in the tier-one field of vision, had gone through such commentary.

"I see you still don't get it!" Xiaogui raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you watch the stream after training last night?"

"What stream would I watch? Buddy, I was working out yesterday afternoon, and then trained so late, I just fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed."

Because of their failure at the Katowice Major, Tyloo couldn't break into the Legends Stage again, so they had to participate in the Asia-Pacific Minor at the end of July to compete with others for the few remaining qualification spots.

After finishing, Tie Dan felt very conflicted.

In the end, he chose to trust his own eyes and took the initiative to check yesterday's stats on HLTV on his computer.

When he saw the average rating of 2.38 and nearly 80 kills across two matches, Tie Dan was already stunned.

Tie Dan took the phone, and with a casual scroll, he could see acquaintances in the circle discussing that matchup.

Under Tie Dan's notification, Xu Beifang also learned that his team's victory over Astralis had actually reached 7th on the trending list.

"If you have something to say, just say it, don't say half of it!"

But their pre-match predictions were mostly just 2-1, ending the match with a small score gap.

When the two brothers first came to Tyloo Youth Training for a trial, their ratings were both around 1.3; they could only be considered to have a little talent.

So our Oulu brothers are this fierce?

"Heh, 2-0 isn't actually strange; the most outrageous part is your brother's performance," Xiaogui said with some emotion. "He punched Astralis into a daze and brought us professional players the highest mountain in CSGO history."

In the Tyloo training room, Tie Dan looked at Xu Beifang's performance on his phone, his whole body leaning back against the gaming chair. His expression was a bit lost; this situation should last for quite a while...

"A BO3 match with an average rating of 2.38—who wouldn't be confused by that? Beifang has already gone completely viral on the internet today." As Xiaogui said this, he handed his phone to Tie Dan.

But what is this 2-0?

"Sigh..." Xiaogui shook his head. "You missed the birth of a historical moment."

"Vitality is this fierce against Astralis too?" He found it hard to believe. They had actually discussed this match before it started; after all, it could be considered one of the most heavyweight matchups recently.

Xiaogui smiled: "Go check the trending list now."

They still maintained their daily training plan. After breakfast in the morning, they started reviewing yesterday's match, then studied Liquid's footage, and everyone entered their own training.

Later, after truly becoming a professional player, it was like a fish entering water—uncontrollable.

Vitality being able to defeat Astralis 2-0—he felt it was unbelievable.

The second trending topic was Wang Feng releasing a new album.

The first trending topic was a certain actress and a director rumored to be in a scandal.

Trending...

This also led to them working very hard during this period, training until late every night.

The 7th trending topic was Vitality defeating Astralis 2-0!

"Huh?" Tie Dan looked at this trending topic, feeling it was inconceivable.

The waves caused by last night's match were immeasurable. In short, today, besides skins, the rest of the forums were discussions about that crazy performance. Even for skins, most were discussing the skyrocketing price of Xu Beifang's stickers.

He immediately took out his phone, opened Weibo, and started looking for the trending list.

With the arrival of the finals day, the emotions of the Vitality members changed slightly, but the overall schedule followed the normal routine. In XTQZZZ's words, this is called using habit to adjust emotions; one shouldn't have too much emotional fluctuation just because the concept has changed.

But his overall rate of improvement was quite fast.

The teammate's state made Tie Dan understand that something incredible must have happened.

How is it that now, the higher the level of Xu Beifang's matches, the higher his stats get?

Tie Dan was still immersed in the 2.38 average rating stat, stunned, but soon followed Xiaogui's actions and focused his attention on the phone.

In his impression, Xu Beifang was indeed gifted.

He had a deep impression of this point. When they first met, he was just a stupid gunner, and even many technical things needed him to lead the way.

The information that Vitality defeated Astralis could reach 7th on the trending list—he also felt it was unbelievable.

He once again had a new understanding of the popularity of domestic CSGO.

And just now, watching him play against Astralis, why was it like playing against Silvers in matchmaking?

Is this match that simple?

Regarding Xu Beifang, more and more people were affirming his strength. At this time, no one was saying Xu Beifang was a "nervous knife" anymore, because no matter how "nervous" the knife was, this sharp blade had pierced through Astralis with an inconceivable performance. Some people also pinned the title of World No. 1 Rifleman on him. Of course, there were also people saying he was like the NIKO of the past; specifically, whether he could become the World No. 1, honor was a very important part.

His impression of Xu Beifang had changed from the rookie he duo-queued with back then to a guy who could potentially become a top-tier rifleman.

Then, he still wouldn't give up and went to watch a clipped version of Xu Beifang's main perspective.

It's just that in Xu Beifang's own cognition, he felt that just winning against Astralis shouldn't have such high popularity.

Tie Dan supported Xu Beifang, and coupled with their relationship with Vitality, they were more willing to see Vitality win.

After searching hard, Xu Beifang came to a notorious forum—the Anti-Pressure Scapegoat Bar.

Hmm, this is the most famous toilet for LOL events.

【Let some GO players talk about what level this guy Nice is. I accidentally clicked into the stream last night; why was he chasing people and killing them? Isn't our domestic CSGO not very good?】

This topic post was the reason why this match had such high popularity domestically.

Xu Beifang took a glance; the replies below were already considered very popular.

【You can think of him as an older Faker. Although this guy debuted relatively late, he started chasing a group of pro players in his first year.】

【How to put it? Last night's matchup was almost the most exciting individual show in CSGO history.】

【The guy above is wrong. Someone summarized the data earlier and found that Nice's average rating in this Cologne has already reached 1.73. If he can maintain this performance in the finals, he can tie or even surpass the record of 1.7 average rating created by NIKO in a tournament.】

【Just understand it like this: if he switched to LOL, this guy wouldn't be trading two for one in every team fight; that would be him throwing.】

【No one can be compared, but last night's match was equivalent to RNG playing SKT, Uzi dragging four and hammering SKT, and with stats like 20 kills and two or three deaths every game.】

【At the current stage, it seems no rifleman can beat him in a duel.】

Looking at the netizens' praise for him, a smile hung on Xu Beifang's face.

However, he didn't think he could compare to that guy Faker.

He is currently more about explosive power and stability in matches, but Faker can maintain his powerful dominance in League of Legends for ten years as one day.

Especially after reaching the peak, Faker can still maintain diligent learning and diligent improvement.

Xu Beifang had no reason not to admire this guy.

These comments on the internet made Xu Beifang feel like he was invincible, as if today's Cologne championship and the subsequent Major trophy were placed at the door, and he could get them as soon as he walked out.

Xu Beifang shook his head and processed these emotions slightly.

Appropriately watching netizens' hype can be physically and mentally refreshing.

But watching too much also easily makes one bloated.

Fortunately, Xu Beifang's adjustment ability has always been strong. In this morning's review, although his teammates were marveling at Xu Beifang's individual performance,

he also found quite a few of his own mistakes from it.

And he also understood very well that the match against Astralis last night was actually still very dangerous.

His crazy playstyle consumed a lot of the team's resources, and coupled with the first encounter, both sides didn't have a deep understanding of each other.

This led to a series of point losses for both sides once a mistake occurred.

Zywoo might not have adapted to Astralis's rigorous playstyle; many times he only traded one, and then was eaten by subsequent utility or trade kills.

Recalling the last moments of Inferno last night, if it weren't for his state exploding and winning that 1v4 round, the match would have probably gone into overtime, and maybe they would have been dragged into overtime by Astralis.

"It's still that I'm not strong enough; I was targeted too hard by Astralis in the early stages."

Xu Beifang shook his head. If he could capture the opponent's thoughts faster and find more reasonable ways to handle it, their early stage on Inferno might not have been beaten so miserably.

It's just that after taking a look at the system panel, his stats still had some room for improvement, but at this stage, wanting to improve required a large amount of Listen-to-Advice Value.

But besides daily tasks, the only suggestion task left in Xu Beifang's system was a "chasing for updates" task.

This was mainly because after IEM Sydney ended, Xu Beifang designed a movement map, and netizens were looking forward to his subsequent new map works.

He did have ideas in his head, but he didn't have the time and energy to make it at this stage.

No matter what, he would have to wait until after the Major ended before he had free time to put together a new map for netizens to play.

I'm still too anxious... Xu Beifang muttered. After simply reviewing the things in his head, he cleared up his somewhat bad mood.

Let's just take it slow.

"Hey, these Liquid fans really have hard mouths!" apEX's angry shouting came from beside him.

Xu Beifang leaned over to take a look and found that this Dou Dou was arguing with netizens again.

This guy's habits are different from theirs; Xu Beifang prefers watching netizens brag, Zywoo doesn't pay attention at all, and apEX sometimes goes down to argue with netizens.

Actually, Xu Beifang wasn't surprised. Even if this guy was on-site, if someone attacked Vitality's teammates, apEX would help argue back without hesitation.

"What did they say?" Xu Beifang asked.

"I was just scrolling Twitter and saw someone talking about the upcoming finals. Most people said Liquid will be hard to win next," apEX said.

Xu Beifang nodded. He performed at this level yesterday, so it's normal for netizens to think so.

"Then some Liquid fans said below that Liquid will let everyone see our true state next. Astralis lost the match because they had little contact with us. Liquid and us have had many confrontations, so they will definitely be fully prepared next... Plus Liquid's state is so excellent, they can trade you with fast trade kills." apEX raised his right hand. "You say, can I endure this? I argued with him immediately."

Xu Beifang held his forehead with his right hand: "What's there to argue about? Everyone's thoughts are different, just like our fans definitely support us, and Liquid's fans definitely support them."

apEX shook his head: "That's how it's said, but I'm not convinced. What kind of stinky fish and rotten shrimp is Liquid? nitr0, stewie2K, can they compare to you?"

"You just picked the two weakest to compare..."

"I don't care, in my heart, you are the number one rifleman!" apEX patted Xu Beifang's shoulder. "So tonight, shoot Liquid down hard for me! Use that kind of outrageous data to make Liquid fans speechless!"

【Beep!】

【Suggestion received: Defeat Liquid with an exaggerated performance. Suggestion difficulty: 5 stars. Reward after completion depends on task completion.】

Xu Beifang raised an eyebrow.

Now I have to perform!

Although I don't know the reward for the suggestion task yet, as long as I perform better, the reward will definitely be better.

"gla1ve, you just experienced a failure; your mood now must not be very good..."

gla1ve's clothes were already casual, and his hairstyle had changed, but judging from his deep dark circles, it was clear he didn't sleep well last night.

He took a deep breath and then started to answer: "My god, the feeling of losing a match is too uncomfortable."

They had lost once in the last ECS, and were even carried away at light speed, but that time was to test some new things, and he was mentally prepared, so he didn't feel particularly uncomfortable losing.

But this Cologne is different. The next match is the Major. Even with three Major trophies in hand, Astralis still wants to stand on that stage again and lift the trophy.

So everyone in Cologne started adjusting their state to the best, preparing to lift the cup with a perfect record and welcome the next Major.

"We really want to win; we really want to prove to everyone that Astralis still has the strength to enter the finals, and we are still that best team."

Speaking of this, gla1ve suddenly looked up. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit sad: "But in this major tournament, we were flattened by Nice's individual ability. We know Vitality's preparation is also very sufficient, but I never thought of such an ending."

For an IGL, the decision-making was fine, and the tactics were fine.

In the end, there was a problem with the player's individual ability.

This is the most helpless thing.

gla1ve let out a long breath and tidied up his emotions: "This time in Cologne, we tried our best, but obviously, our performance was still not enough. Vitality deserves that victory last night."

"But for us, that crushing defeat yesterday also woke us up from a beautiful dream. Staying in a high place for too long made us lose our sense of crisis, and our strength stopped moving forward. It seems that for this point, I have to thank Nice."

For Astralis, that failure last night was too long overdue. They had difficulty handling their emotions until long after the match.

Watching gla1ve almost crying in the post-match interview, the Liquid members were suddenly speechless; no one could feel relaxed.

As one of the kings of the first half of the year, Liquid and Astralis had played many, many times, but lost more and won less, and they were even teased as "Liquid's Great Tonic."

But it was that Astralis they found hard to defeat that was beaten 2-0 in front of Vitality, and that guy who had a very good relationship with them used individual ability to flatten these Danes.

The Liquid coach felt relieved when he saw this scene.

He showed Liquid this post-match interview because he wanted this feeling.

This time Liquid's grouping was relatively good. From the group stage to the playoffs, they didn't encounter any strong enemies along the way and almost flattened their way into the finals.

This made the Liquid group a bit arrogant, thinking that their current state was very good, and relying on this state, defeating Vitality would be easy.

They actually knew Vitality's ability. At IEM Sydney, they were hammered by Vitality in the finals.

Xu Beifang's three five-kills still left a deep impression on them.

It's just that this time the state was too smooth, giving them an illusion that they could flatten their way to lift the championship.

But the scene of their old rivals being hammered could let them come back to their senses from this blind arrogance.

Suppressing the players' emotions, he took the initiative to speak again: "It's not the first time we've played against Vitality. You all know how difficult this team is. I think you all understand Nice's strength."

The Director and Elige and others nodded.

The Liquid coach continued: "Yesterday's Group B semi-finals also let us see how terrifying Nice's state is. So for this final, we need to calm down and not get messed up because of some mistakes."

As he said this, he smiled again: "However, everyone don't be under too much pressure. Although Nice's state is excellent, it was obvious yesterday that other Vitality members were not in state."

"Nice dragging four yesterday was already a miracle. If others' state is still so lukewarm, and we rely on fast trade kills to hit Nice, it will be hard for him to operate, and our winning chances are still quite large."

The Liquid coach said so.

July 8, 2019, Saturday.

Suitable for: Sacrifices, encoffining, burials...

Xu Beifang planned a one-stop service, directly arranging it for Liquid.

The Lanxess Arena, which can hold nearly 20,000 people, was packed.

The venue was already filled with light boards and glow sticks, and the lights from the dome made the audience increasingly restless.

Because of the sudden increase in popularity, tickets for the finals were hard to come by.

Someone on the internet calculated Xu Beifang's stats and found that his average tournament rating had already reached 1.73. In the next match, even if he played at an average rating of 1.0, he would break the Cologne rating record of all previous years.

So quite a few audience members came to witness history.

S1mple was sitting in the front row of the stands. Today, the entire NAVI team came to watch the match, and his arrogant eyes could easily attract the attention of people around him.

"Do you think Vitality can win today?" Electronic asked curiously.

Although he is usually unhappy and looks forward to getting off work every day, as a rifleman, seeing Xu Beifang play such an exaggerated performance, he was still looking forward to what kind of miracles Xu Beifang could create next.

S1mple didn't speak, just handed the phone over.

Electronic took a look; it was a pre-match discussion about this final on Twitter:

【By the way, is tonight's final the one with the least suspense? I know the result before it even starts.】

【Actually, there is still suspense. I want to see what kind of stats Nice can play in this state.】

【You're overthinking it. Vitality is strong, but only Nice is in good state; how can they win like this?】

【Yesterday's match against Astralis already told you the answer.】

【Is there any player whose state has no fluctuations? Don't take a moment as forever, okay?】

【To be fair, Liquid isn't without a chance. Elige's state has been excellent recently, and the Director's state has also warmed up, looking a bit like an "aim-bot director." Nice isn't that easy to handle them.】

Electronic smiled.

Fans hoping for the Director to find his state in a key match is better than believing he can be favored by the Goddess of Luck in a key match.

The Director's state, just like his bad luck, has always been a big problem.

If the Director can stabilize his state and stop being unlucky, then they would have the ability to wrestle with Xu Beifang.

But the problem is, the Director can't stabilize his state, and he has always been unlucky.

However, he felt it wasn't wrong either; state explosion is a temporary thing after all.

Nice might indeed have a good feel, but that was yesterday's thing.

After all, the past is the past, and now is now.

He just wanted to chat with S1mple, when he heard deafening shouts around him.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

"..."

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

At the moment the countdown ended, the audience's cheers reached their peak, and the entire venue was in an uproar.

Dian Ge could see S1mple talking, but couldn't hear the specific sound at all.

The surrounding light dimmed, and then several LED screens in front lit up simultaneously. The scene of Cologne appeared on the screen, and slowly, the match scenes of Cologne over the years also appeared slowly.

Then a group appeared to sing to warm up the venue, but the people invited this time weren't great. S1mple in the stands felt that only one singer looked like Olofmeister, and the others didn't feel like anything.

"Welcome to the 2019 ESL ONE Cologne finals match site!"

The host was wearing a light blue suit, and his muscles supported the suit high, looking extra secure.

"After many rounds of fierce competition, only two of the 16 teams are left standing on this stage. Today will also be the last match of this ESL Cologne. Let's look forward to who will win the championship trophy."

"So, let us first invite Team Liquid!!!!"

The host waved his hand, guiding the audience toward the player tunnel.

The lights on the dome began to shine, and the Liquid members walked out of the player tunnel in big strides. The Director had flowing hair, was chewing gum, and walked confidently toward the stage.

The enthusiasm of the on-site audience was like fire, and the waving glow sticks were earth-shaking; the feeling on-site was quite shocking.

After Liquid high-fived the audience all the way and finally stood still on the stage, the host picked up the cue card again and took a deep breath: "Then next, let us invite the qualifier from Group B, Vitality!!!"

The lights in the player tunnel on the left side of the stands lit up, and apEX walked out leading the way.

But the moment Xu Beifang appeared in the field of vision, the shouts on-site rose another level.

Today's match, many people came just to watch Xu Beifang's performance, so seeing him enter, naturally, they were very crazy.

The host's actions were also very crisp and neat. After Vitality walked onto the stage from the player tunnel and stood still, he elongated his voice again:

"Liquid has been looking forward to this championship for a long time; they urgently hope to use a championship trophy to find their state back. But on the other side, Vitality has already lifted the trophy in three tournaments. If they win this match, they will continue to impact their winning streak of major tournament championships."

"Both sides have reasons they cannot lose, but there is only one winner. Let us wait and see who will lift the final championship trophy!!!"

The air column machines around the stage erupted with cheers. In the white mist, the players from both sides walked into their battle rooms and started preparing for the upcoming finals!

... ===== CHAPTER 344 =====