Chapter 352

Arriving at Vertigo, Twistzz's touch was surprisingly good. Liquid was able to get 9 points on the offensive side in the first half, and Twistzz contributed significantly to that.

His exaggerated form helped the team successfully break the deadlock in several rounds.

This excellent form continued into the second half after the side swap.

In the second-half pistol round, Vitality chose a second-timing speed push to B Site.

Good explosive grenade tactics gained Vitality a decent advantage in the head-on explosion, but Twistzz subsequently used a USP to pull off an amazing four-kill play.

apEX looked at the kill feed in the top right corner and felt a slight headache.

Individual form is the most uncontrollable factor; Beifang's explosive form could make their matches much easier.

The outstanding performance of the opposing player could also make their tactical deployment much more difficult.

Although they lost the pistol round, they successfully planted the bomb, so after consideration, the group chose to do a full ECO, planning to save money to play a full buy round in the third round; only Xu Beifang got the Hero Galil dropped by JackZ.

Most of the audience didn't have high hopes for Vitality's Hero Galil.

After getting a response from apEX, he immediately threw a Yellow Cloth smoke, blocking the vision of the Yellow Cloth.

Since Xu Beifang could be Spider-Man behind the sandbags, he could also create an invisible man there to delay Vitality's map control time.

Hearing this, the Vitality players looked at Xu Beifang one after another.

"Vitality's steady approach of waiting for the second timing is also fine, because Liquid is still trying to throw grenades at the second timing. They really want to trade JackZ, but fortunately, they didn't push forward this time, otherwise, with several players at low health at the start, it would be very difficult to operate later."

"Don't worry, this is a T-sided map after all, and those two kills brought my touch back a bit," Xu Beifang said, stretching his body and pulling the monitor closer. "Next, it's time to turn up the intensity on them!"

With the exchange of utility between both sides, the map quieted down for a moment.

The score reached 6:11.

At the second timing, apEX came over to join them. He hadn't gotten much information, so he took the initiative to ask: "Beifang, how are you planning to play this?"

"The opponent's positioning is so fast!" JackZ retreated quickly after being hit. At his current health, one grenade would send him flying, so he had to run back quickly.

"Use utility to clear it first, make sure there's no one in these forward positions, then we'll see about the rest," Xu Beifang fed back.

Both sides had already had one round of fire contact; for the subsequent information gathering, trying to play with silent contact might be very difficult.

Elige also had a flash of inspiration, thinking of the scene in the first half where Xu Beifang was Spider-Man behind the sandbags.

"shox, you're holding B1, don't rush to push forward, just staying alive is enough. And for A-slope, you two just say if you have any needs... My idea is that at the second timing, we'll do an explosive push from A-slope, or a mid-to-A pinch is fine."

After all, Astralis's Hero Galil performance on Nuke was still fresh in their minds; whoever held it died.

stewie2K peeked out with an SSG 08 and shot JackZ once.

In the end, Liquid used utility coordination to take the clutch.

Relying on good pre-aiming, his first shot headshot Twistzz, who had come to scout information on B1.

Being able to plant a bomb in an ECO round is already a huge win for the T-side, not to mention they also took down three of the opponent's long guns; it could be said to be a bumper harvest.

Looking at him turning into a "Little Yellow Man," the Vitality players felt extremely reassured.

"They are doing some probing moves under A-slope. Vitality is calmly nibbling away at Liquid's map control. As long as they finish burning the sandbags and confirm no one is there, they can call their teammates over and directly execute an explosive push to A."

JackZ, in the first position, threw an incendiary directly towards the A-small slope, trying to persuade the CT who came to grab the position to retreat.

However, although they planted the bomb, Vitality ultimately failed to win this round.

"stewie2K shot JackZ at the start, making it impossible for Vitality to speed up their A-site map control, so they can only wait for the second timing to push slowly."

"But this smoke grenade from Elige!" Ma Xixi raised his eyebrows. "Although there was no one standing at the sandbags, Elige directly used the smoke grenade to extinguish the sandbag fire. He created an illusion that someone was at the sandbags!"

"But it's still a pity. If I had landed that shot, maybe we would have turned the game around." Han Dou could understand, but not seizing the opportunity in front of him still made him feel a bit unhappy.

Sure enough, his judgment was flawless; the moment he left, a grenade exploded exactly where he had just been.

But the opponent's positioning was far better than JackZ's.

Then Xu Beifang continued to use the Desert Eagle to one-tap NAF, who was supporting B!

These two shots directly sent the live audience into a state of carnival.

However, the specific tactics still had to be arranged by apEX.

After confirming no one was at A-small slope, with Xu Beifang holding the angle, apEX threw another sandbag fire to clear the sandbags.

Fortunately, Xu Beifang successfully threw a long-slope smoke, blocking the vision of the sandbags scouting under A-slope.

As the round started, Vitality didn't intend to play any overly fancy tactics with the opponent. Xu Beifang, with good positioning, went directly to B1 to find the opponent for a duel.

Immediately after, he threw a fire at the A-small corner, making a move as if to forcefully control A-small.

At this moment, Xu Beifang had already entered the "second stage," just waiting for his soul to be captured by the monitor.

JackZ threw another flashbang, letting Xu Beifang clear the close angle.

Liquid's retake came too fast, and since this round was an ECO round for Vitality, they didn't buy armor or utility, making it very difficult to face the retake head-on.

"Let's stick to the default for the start, don't let Liquid push out. Zywoo, you can buy an AWP to hold mid, and later I'll go to the elevator room to coordinate with you to clear the mid close angle."

Noticing apEX's mood, Xu Beifang comforted him: "Dou Dou, it's fine, we didn't lose anything."

On the Vitality player bench, apEX's expression was somewhat unwilling. From his perspective, Xu Beifang had already broken through two people head-on, so they should have taken this round.

After the countdown ended, Xu Beifang followed JackZ to the area below B1.

However, Xu Beifang didn't rush to push forward. JackZ being hit to low health at the start would bring some chain reactions in the early stage.

"Tricky!" Xu Beifang looked at the smoke-filled sandbags and felt a bit of a toothache.

He communicated with Han Dou, letting Han Dou hold the sandbags for him, trying to take the initiative to find the enemies at the bomb site to fight.

But just as he prepared, the opponent threw a slope smoke, causing him to lose vision of the bomb site.

Liquid's two pieces of utility were thrown too disgustingly, just happening to hit the key nodes of their attack, which was very awkward now.

There were 50 seconds left, not yet at the point where a full-scale attack was necessary.

"Should we rotate to B?" JackZ asked. This probing of A-site had been repeatedly frustrated, and now they had no utility left, and couldn't clear the person at the sandbags, which was very uncomfortable.

"Let's stick to A. Let's not show any movement now, hold our positions for a while longer and see if the opponent makes a mistake," apEX made a mid-game decision. "And shox, you and Beifang swap positions. Beifang, you go to the B1 side, I'll need you to perform a feint at B site later."

shox was a bit strange: "I can also do a feint explosive push at B site."

He didn't understand why Beifang needed to be swapped over.

"We need your fire and grenades to clear the site," apEX replied.

Only then did shox stop talking.

Xu Beifang swapped to below B1, and shox also came to the front.

However, even though shox reinforced the front, they didn't rush to attack, but quietly held their guns in place, wanting to wait for the CT behind the sandbags to make a mistake.

Finally, at 35 seconds, apEX gave the command, letting Xu Beifang start a feint from B-stairs.

The director noticed Xu Beifang's perspective and cut the camera directly.

Xu Beifang was already pushing forward with big steps.

This wave was purely to influence the opponent's judgment, so he didn't clear the angles very meticulously; instead, it felt somewhat bold and unconstrained.

Headshot position, right side of the wooden board, left-hand box...

He searched the general positions, but didn't see anyone from the opponent.

Xu Beifang thought for a moment; on this map, Liquid's main B-site defender was Twistzz.

And Twistzz, his gunplay is excellent, that's unquestionable.

But his positioning is slightly abstract.

He always likes to choose those "aim-duel" positions.

And a position he likes very much at B-site is the B-site ninja spot, also known as the pillar dead spot.

Thinking of Twistzz's habit, Xu Beifang came to the box, found a general reference point on the wall, and prepared his pre-aim.

Iguodala!

……

The early movement at A-site was very loud, and NAF, who was supporting B, went directly to CT spawn to help watch mid. This round, Twistzz was scouting B-site alone.

He and NAF had already communicated; he would hide in the ninja spot to peek and scout, and if there was someone, NAF would directly help flash from CT spawn, a "good flash with a good person" play.

Twistzz, hiding behind cover, also heard the footsteps from the stairs, but when he peeked to the left, he didn't see anyone, and the footsteps seemed to have disappeared.

Twistzz suspected he had misheard and took the initiative to look to the right.

He saw a T-side player pull out from behind the box.

"Bang!"

【Nice used AK47 to headshot Twistzz】

After getting the kill, Xu Beifang quickly glanced at the time at the top—29 seconds, still time to rotate!

"Brothers, I got the first kill at B-site!! Come help me take B!"

He only saw Twistzz alone at B-site, so A-site was very likely defended by 4 people; trying to rely on explosive grenades to enter head-on was too difficult.

While shouting in the voice chat, Xu Beifang took out a smoke grenade and peeked to throw the electric box smoke.

But the moment he peeked to throw the smoke, he saw another CT standing next to the electric box.

"NAF is very anxious. With Twistzz dead and Beifang's smoke grenade exploding, he must hurry to take back the bomb site."

"But Beifang's suppression is very strong. NAF only peeked a small angle and was hit by two shots; NAF didn't dare to pull out wide at all."

Xu Beifang passed the information that there was someone at the electric box to his teammates, saw JackZ coming with the bomb, and then retreated to cover to reload.

"Time is running out, Beifang, you go plant the bomb, I'll go to the front to help you block the opponent."

To be honest, this rotation was still too rushed, just a somewhat helpless choice.

JackZ rushed out with the idea of using his life to delay time, and Xu Beifang didn't intend to let him down. After changing the magazine, he immediately picked up the bomb and rushed into the bomb site to start planting.

"There are only 10 seconds left, both sides are desperately rushing to B-site, but NAF is very steady. His idea now is to defuse the bomb and delay as much as possible."

"As long as Beifang's planting is delayed, this round is gone. But JackZ, at low health, rushed up with an AK. Damn, this guy is using his body to help delay time!"

"JackZ's brave charge successfully seized a good opportunity. NAF was directly taken down by the spray from the side. JackZ's mission was perfectly completed, but he couldn't leave from this position because the jump platform and CT spawn were already in place."

"JackZ is still operating, can he still fight this? Pity, he hit nitr0 to low health with a burst, but was also traded out."

"But Elige pulled out from the jump platform to trade, and this shot landed. It's over now!" Ma Xixi explained quickly. "Because shox and Zywoo were feinting with utility at A, they were a bit slow on the rotation, and there was only Beifang at the bomb site."

"But there's very little time left, Beifang must get this bomb planted!"

Xu Beifang's expression was solemn; JackZ and apEX's interception was done very well, but Elige's counterattack left them somewhat at a loss.

He really wanted to stand up and engage the opponent, but reason made him lower his head and start planting the bomb.

He planted the bomb; even if he was killed, Zywoo and shox, who were rushing over, still had a possibility of operating.

If the bomb couldn't be planted, then this full-buy round would be directly lost.

Elige heard the ticking of the bomb at the site, and after taking down apEX, he immediately rushed forward.

As long as he took down Xu Beifang, this round would be considered won.

The moment he pulled out, he didn't see any enemies at the bomb site.

Ji Ge understood that this wave might take some extra effort.

But the next second, Xu Beifang, who had planted the bomb, popped his head out from the bomb site.

Elige immediately started spraying with his M4.

"Da da... Bang!"

【Nice used AK47 to headshot Elige】

Elige's mentality exploded instantly, and he slapped his desk with one hand.

It was already uncomfortable enough to let the opponent plant the bomb, and now, even after shooting first, he was one-tapped by the opponent turning around; this was really too disgusting.

"Beifang turned around and slapped Ji Ge in the face, counter-killing Ji Ge while at low health!" Ma Xixi explained quickly. "But the situation is still critical; Liquid's trades are coming one after another!"

After counter-killing Elige, Xu Beifang didn't relax, because while taking down Elige, he saw from his vision that the CT to the left of the electric box smoke was spraying towards this area.

"Confirming the planter is still at the bomb site, Liquid has already rushed up. As long as they take him down, they can slowly play this clutch after the smoke."

"Beifang's position is locked, but after counter-killing Ji Ge, he instantly took down nitr0 who was mixing in the smoke. stewie2K came over from the right side of the electric box to trade—"

"He couldn't beat Beifang either. What kind of spray transfer is this?!!"

The live audience was in an uproar, the stream paused for a second, and then the barrage filled the screen.

【Ah???】

【Liquid's three people couldn't trade Nice?】

【What is Liquid playing??】

【This is the World No. 1 spray transfer, don't be too exaggerated!】

【It's not that Liquid played badly, it's purely that Nice is too outrageous, okay?】

Ma Xixi held his head with both hands in the studio: "What is this spray transfer! The moment he finished planting, he counter-attacked and headshot Elige, then instantly took down nitr0 in the smoke, and then turned his gun to take down stewie2K. He was locked in at the bomb site alone, yet he forcefully pulled off a four-kill!!"

"This is too exaggerated. He really stood at the bomb site and became a rotating turret. This guy just started spinning."

"Damn, look at Han Dou and JackZ's expressions, they've turned into French comedians."

Xu Beifang's exaggerated spray transfer took down all the CTs rushing over one after another. The cheers at the scene were so astonishing at this moment, and it also ignited the emotions in their hearts.

JackZ held his head with both hands, his expression full of shock, as if saying "This is even possible."

Although he knew Xu Beifang's individual ability was very strong, watching the low-health Xu Beifang catch everyone with one spray transfer, he still felt somewhat bewildered.

apEX was an extremely emotional person to begin with; the amazing kills + the cheers of the live audience completely ignited him.

Han Dou meticulously lifted his headset, then stood up and shouted: "Keep coming to duel Beifang, keep sending yourselves to him!!"

The stage was very far away, and with the scene being so noisy, his voice was destined not to reach Liquid's player bench.

He didn't care if the opponent could hear him; being happy himself was enough!

In this round, Liquid played very well head-on, disgusting them with their real and fake utility.

Xu Beifang got the first kill with a feint at B-site, finally earning them a glimmer of hope.

But the subsequent exchanges were constant, the numbers were frantically traded, and the balance of victory felt like it was tilting towards Liquid.

And Xu Beifang's transfer directly got him hyped up.

shox also shook his head and sighed: "Just exaggerated, man. I didn't even see anyone this round, and we took it. I can't even be happy."

"You at least let me have some experience, you jerk!"

Listening to shox's teasing, the group of Vitality players couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Oh, the opponent called a timeout," Zywoo said.

The match entered the timeout screen.

It was mainly because Elige's mentality was a bit unbalanced; they took the initiative to call it to calm down.

In fact, they were also very helpless; they didn't think their mistakes in this round were that big.

In the early A-site game, nitr0 and Elige's two smoke grenades were thrown very well, dragging the opponent's attack to the point where they had no temper.

But even so, they were still found a breakthrough by Nice.

"How is this guy's breakthrough ability so strong!" Elige couldn't help but complain.

Twistzz was found an opportunity and one-tapped; him defending alone, there was actually nothing to blame, after all, the pressure of defending the small site alone was very high.

The focus was still on the firefight at the bomb site; Elige got a headshot, but nitr0 and stewie2K didn't even manage to touch Xu Beifang.

Their playstyle was indeed fine; after getting the information, they immediately rushed up to trade.

But who could have imagined Xu Beifang could spin like that!

……

Liquid called a timeout, besides adjusting their mentality, they also wanted to cool down Xu Beifang's touch.

However, in the following rounds, the match didn't go as they wished.

In the second round of the second half, they lost three long guns, and in the first full-buy round, they were all killed again; their economy directly exploded.

It wasn't until the 20th round that Liquid finally saved enough economy to play a full-buy round.

However, Xu Beifang had almost figured out their defensive patterns.

On the defensive side, Xu Beifang felt really uncomfortable playing at A-slope.

But now that he had come to the offensive side, it was Liquid who felt uncomfortable.

He could almost get a first kill at A-slope every round, and in several rounds, he had already gotten two kills before the explosive grenade attack.

Elige and Nitr0 weren't in bad form, they just couldn't beat Xu Beifang head-on.

And Xu Beifang didn't necessarily fight them head-on; when he was attacking, those little tricks and gimmicks always made the Liquid members defending A-slope very passive.

The audience in the venue watched as Xu Beifang alone ruled A-slope, beating Liquid until they were scurrying for cover.

The score between the two sides was also constantly changing.

The gap between the two sides was getting smaller and smaller, and Vitality even tied the score.

Throughout the process, there was only one round where, relying on stewie2K's sniper rifle, Liquid successfully regained one point; the other rounds were all steamrolled by Xu Beifang.

But the state explosion in a single round didn't affect Vitality's scoring rhythm. Accompanied by a double four-kill from Xu Beifang and Zywoo, the score finally reached 15:12.

Vitality, who trailed the opponent by 3 rounds in the first half, instead prioritized getting to match point.

"Phew!!" apEX patted his face. "Win one more round, and we win the Cologne championship!"

Although the match wasn't over yet, being only one step away from victory already made him fantasize about lifting the trophy later.

"No, no, calm down." Han Dou took a deep breath.

Once a member of G2, he also understood very well that match point is also the most fatal time.

Because too many people would have psychological fluctuations because of this time.

"Han Dou, stop calming down! Think about how to play this point!" Xu Beifang shouted with a smile; his mentality was fine, being only one step away from victory.

The reminder now was just to let Han Dou divert his attention.

Listening to Xu Beifang's reminder, apEX finally returned his thinking to the right track.

"We've played A-site so many times before, why don't we speed up and play B this time," JackZ said his thoughts, also providing ideas for apEX.

shox denied this proposal: "Liquid's playstyle in these few points is to come over to grab B-stairs in the early stage, get control of this area, and defend A-site from the back. B-site still has quite a lot of utility in the first timing."

"It's not easy to find opportunities at A-site in the early stage either; Liquid shrinks into the bomb site right from the start," Xu Beifang added.

Listening to the information from both, apEX touched his chin: "How about, we fly?"

……

"Ah, it feels like Liquid's trend is gone. Since the full-buy round, Beifang's head-on breakthrough has been too fierce; it's really like frying fish, Liquid has no way to fight back," Ma Xixi summarized. "Now, as long as Vitality takes one more point, they can win this ESL One Cologne championship!"

"Liquid's economy isn't particularly ideal. In this point, only Ji Ge has an M4 in his hand, and the others are mixed with FAMAS and MP9. The tactical timeout just now was their last stubbornness."

"Nitr0 is trying his best to arrange his tactics, but can it work?"

"The Vitality fans at the scene can't hold back anymore; they've all stood up from their seats. The Vitality team flag is fluttering in the Lanxess Arena. 3 match points, can Vitality take it?"

The dome lights were already shining on the trophy; everything was self-evident.

The match officially started in this tense atmosphere.

nitr0's tactical arrangement was completed.

The countdown ended, and Twistzz and NAF followed Captain to the B-site area.

"After giving the first set of utility later, take down below B-stairs, Twistzz stays, give another set at the second timing, and then immediately reinforce A."

nitr0, who wasn't good at gambling points, also thought of the gambling point playstyle at this moment.

There was really no other way; they had been forced into a desperate situation by Vitality.

Only by gambling could they gain some advantage.

nitr0, in the first position, directly threw a fire under B-stairs, and NAF also threw a grenade.

"Utility at B-site is constant. Liquid's first wave of B-site map control is very solid. They threw a B1 smoke, making it impossible for the opponent to get vision of this area." Ma Xixi was commentating on Liquid's actions, but suddenly saw the director cut the camera to the T-spawn mid area.

Xu Beifang and Zywoo were doing a very strange action.

Zywoo crouched at the T-spawn headshot position, and Xu Beifang jumped directly onto Zywoo's head from the stair railing.

Then Xu Beifang, who was on top of his head, jumped.

Seeing this action, Ma Xixi instantly got excited: "What does it mean, the two are going to runboost? But where can this position go?"

After the words fell, he saw the Gemini in the vision walking towards the area outside the map.

"They're going to fall off!" Ma Xixi shouted anxiously.

But the next second, he saw Xu Beifang, who had been launched, turn in the air, switch to his AK47, and finally land on B-stairs.

Ma Xixi: "!!!"

"Boom!"

The flashbang exploded, and Xu Beifang also landed on the B-site stairs through the runboost technique.

When they took action, Han Dou just threw a flashbang synchronously at B1.

The flashbang didn't play much of a role, just confusing the opponent's judgment.

After landing, Xu Beifang instantly saw three CTs in his vision.

One was standing on the B-stairs in front of him, looking at him with a big back, and then two CTs were walking back.

One was in the middle of the big road, and the other was near the wooden board direction.

Xu Beifang didn't be polite, holding his AK47 and firing directly.

"Top-tier double runboost! Nice was directly sent to B-stairs here. Beifang one-tapped Twistzz at the close angle with a burst, then spray transfer! One, two, three! These three brothers at B-site were all taken down!!" Ma Xixi anticipated that Vitality might win this round, but didn't expect the winning edge to appear so early.

You know, the time is only 1:43 now, and this is still the result after Beifang's burst spray transfer!

MO shouted with a smile: "I said it, Vitality definitely hid a lot of things on this map; these are all big ultimate moves!!"

"This wave is too top-tier. This runboost directly rushed to Liquid's rear, stealing them all. Liquid's B-site trio was directly cleared; they can't play at all!!"

【Nice used AK47 to headshot Twistzz】

【Nice used AK47 to kill nitr0】

【Nice used AK47 to headshot NAF】

Looking at the three kills in the top right corner, Elige was stunned: "What's the situation? Why is everyone at B-site dead?"

He was very anxious, mainly because he didn't want to face the news of his teammates' sudden deaths.

Originally, according to the plan, the three at B-site would control the map at the start, and then gradually empty B.

Now the tactical goal was reached; B-site was indeed emptied.

But it's not even 1:40 yet; the round has just begun.

Did the opponent turn on bullet tracking or something? They could kill their B-site at the start?

Twistzz was also bewildered: "I don't know either, I didn't even see him."

He was really innocent; after his teammates finished throwing utility, he held that smoke grenade the whole time, very sure that no one had passed through.

And at this time, it was impossible for the opponent to pass through B1.

Elige fell into silence, but his remaining reason still made him retake to the sandbags at the first time.

Because the default play in this round wasn't deep, his retake speed was fast, and he soon arrived at the jump platform to hold the angle.

Soon, he saw a T-side player rushing out directly with an AK47.

Elige sprayed as soon as he raised his gun, but his mentality had already been affected at this moment; while holding the angle, he didn't hit with the first shot.

When he wanted to control the gun and pull back later, he saw the opponent crouch.

"Bang!"

【Nice used AK47 to headshot Elige】

"Yeah!!!"

The shouts at the scene were so piercing at this moment. stewie2K, who was usually jumpy, was so steady, so quiet, and so autistic at this moment.

He could only walk back silently to take this impossible clutch.

The match entered match point, a 1V5 clutch; he couldn't think of how to operate.

"Give Beifang information, he's got four, he can get a five-kill!" JackZ looked at the kill information in the top right corner and shouted loudly in the voice chat.

Hearing this, Xu Beifang hurriedly shouted: "Don't! Let's not make mistakes, winning is more important, don't have problems!"

Although it was 5 vs 1, the possibility of problems was almost zero, but Xu Beifang himself had won a 1V5 clutch, so there was no need to take risks for a five-kill at this time.

Listening to Xu Beifang's words, the Vitality crowd started to stabilize in place. B-stairs, electric box smoke, and electric box fire were constantly given.

Liquid's four members who had been killed had already taken off their headsets and leaned back in their gaming chairs, silent.

stewie2K looked at the opponent's utility, and in his heart, he already knew the ending. He could already imagine that everyone in the match's stream was congratulating Vitality at this moment.

But as the C4 sound became more urgent, he finally chose to hide in the smoke grenade and took the initiative to pull out.

He didn't choose to save his KD in the end, but chose to die standing.

"——Bang!"

"Da da da!"

Gunfire erupted inside B-site, and as the AK bullets passed through the CT's chest, blood splashed.

The big screen image froze, and the score at the top of the big screen reached 16:12.

……