Chapter 359: The Huge Update Brought by the Butterfly Effect!

Time is always ruthless. In the blink of an eye, Vitality's vacation had passed. Although this club base wasn't as big as G2's, it was still very comfortable when the members gathered. During the vacation days, Xu Beifang didn't spend much time on the Faceit ladder, but even if he only put in the same amount of time as an ordinary professional player, it couldn't hide his superior strength. Two days ago, he had successfully reached the top of Faceit once again.

Previously, when visiting G2, Nian Lan's radar chart was just a beginning. It let players and professionals who had already somewhat forgotten Xu Beifang's performance understand once again how terrifying this guy's ceiling was. Later, charging to the top of Faceit lightly confirmed their thoughts again.

Xu Beifang had anticipated this in his heart. The whole circle knew that in the upcoming Major, Xu Beifang would definitely not escape being targeted, after all, his performance in Cologne was too good, too stunning.

If he were allowed to put up such an outstanding performance in the upcoming Major, what would other teams even play for!

Just give the championship trophy to you directly.

In this atmosphere, many viewers also started to look forward to the upcoming Major.

In Cologne, they all wanted to see the birth of a demon king.

But when this monster is truly born, they hope a hero will stand up and be able to defeat this Demon King.

Because Xu Beifang's performance in Cologne was too terrifying; he was basically doing the work of two people.

Too superhuman.

This point is just like Astralis; in the past year or so, they have put up a dominant performance in professional matches.

Danking knocked on the door, and only after receiving permission did he take Xiaogui into Vitality's training room.

"You guys really go all out when playing against your brothers, huh." Xiaogui also laughed on the side.

What pained them the most was the individual skill aspect, where they were almost pinned to the ground and beaten by Xu Beifang.

In the end, under Tyloo's recommendation, they came to the apartment next to the one they rented.

And then they entered a "try it and you'll die" phase.

As soon as he entered the door, Tie Dan punched Xu Beifang directly: "We aren't playing practice matches with you guys anymore; these practice matches have beaten all my confidence away."

The two teams thus resumed their daily routine of scheduling practice matches.

So after Vitality settled in Berlin, Baicai suggested trying a practice match with Vitality.

Coming here counts as a rare friend tea party session after daily training.

But in fact, after reuniting in Berlin, Tyloo was very much looking forward to facing Vitality; they wanted to see in the practice matches how Xu Beifang managed to put up such an exaggerated performance.

People always pursue excitement; when Astralis hangs high on the throne in the sky, everyone hopes a dark horse can stand out and smash them.

Whether it was head-on duels or defense, their first-kill rate was extremely high, which led to the head-on fights being very difficult.

However, they also hoped that some team could limit this monster Xu Beifang and bring this monster back to the level of a "god."

The Vitality players briefly gathered at the Paris base before boarding a plane to Berlin, starting their pre-Major training camp life.

In the last few months, Tie Dan has gradually gotten into the zone, becoming a true Sniper.

It is worth mentioning that because the training camp started too early, it hadn't reached the time when the Major tournament organizers provided hotels, so they spent quite a lot of time finding a training base initially.

Xiaogui smiled smugly: "That's for sure, you think we've been practicing for nothing these past few months?"

Even now, they hope a team will appear to break Astralis's dominance at the Major.

But deep down, they gradually grew to dislike Astralis, because this king has sat on the throne for too long.

Tyloo could even tell that Vitality wasn't being particularly serious, mostly practicing with them to find their form, but even so, they still had their heads smashed in.

In the practice matches, Xu Beifang's presence was incredibly strong.

So whether it was Tyloo or Tie Dan, they were looking forward to the confrontation with Vitality in the practice matches again; they wanted to see what kind of state the exaggerated Vitality from Cologne would be in.

Tyloo was comprehensively crushed by Vitality in established tactics, in-game decision-making, default map control, discipline, pushing rhythm, and even their relatively confident individual skills.

As the Major approached, discussions about these topics on the internet also increased.

Because of their excellent performance in the Asian region, Tyloo is now very confident, even a bit bloated; after all, in the entire Asian region, their performance is already a bit like "fish-frying."

Looking at it now, although the process was painful, the result is good.

CSGO players all joke: "No need to watch Astralis's matches; wake up and it's another victory."

The subsequent matches will become much smoother.

Looking at Xu Beifang, who was just smiling faintly, Tie Dan recalled: "Just that last round, you really didn't take our Outside seriously; I sanctioned you for several rounds, right."

"I don't mind." Xu Beifang shrugged, "You guys put almost all your forces over to watch me; in this situation, even if I don't get the first kill, as long as I drag out enough time, it's already an effective death... My teammates have enough time to take control of other areas of the map, so in the end, we still got a big advantage."

These past few months, they played so painfully; after all, scheduling practice matches with European teams while bearing a high ping of over 100 is quite frustrating.

The temporary bases for Vitality and Tyloo were less than 100 meters apart.

Tie Dan also wanted to confirm whether his brother had been possessed, why he could put up that level of performance.

He even sometimes suspected that this guy Xu Beifang was controlling his stats.

When Tyloo thought that he, roaming alone, was a major threat and spent a lot of effort specifically coming to clear him, Vitality's goal had already been reached; they successfully dragged their opponents into their rhythm.

Xu Beifang's excellent performance in Cologne was seen by them; when watching the match on live streams before, Danking couldn't help but exclaim in the live stream room with exaggerated words like "If Beifang were a human, he would have eaten the screen directly."

Xiaogui had a deep impression of this; in practice matches, Xu Beifang basically maintained a rating of around 1.5.

In practice matches, except for very rare explosive performances.

After IEM Sydney, because of the stimulation brought by Xu Beifang, Xiaogui took the initiative to ask Xu Beifang for advice on how the team could become stronger; Xu Beifang advised them to have more contact with European teams, and only by swimming in the shark pool would they have a chance to become sharks.

"But I'm also quite surprised; training with you guys this time feels very different from before." Xu Beifang, sitting in the gaming chair, looked at Tie Dan's chin, "It feels less impetuous when playing than before; at least the fundamentals are solid."

Their strength has clearly become stronger; at least when qualifying for the Major, they were more at ease.

"It has indeed become much stronger, but we need to spend more time in the future; having the opportunity to participate in top-tier tournaments, even if it's training through competition, is good." Xu Beifang took a sip of water, "Don't take the domestic rhythm too seriously; if you really want to achieve results and reach the peak, the process will definitely not be particularly good."

Tyloo successfully entered the Major Legends Stage in 2018, which led to domestic audiences having many, many expectations for this team; these expectations and heat brought a bit too much pressure on Tyloo, and they often fell into a cycle of self-doubt.

Xu Beifang actually felt that their performance has declined significantly now, so they could temporarily put down their past glory, start again from zero, and approach it from the perspective of cultivating a new team; the effect might actually be better.

But this is also what he saw from the perspective of an outsider; if he were truly in Tyloo's position, he might not think so easily.

Xiaogui was silent for a while and went to find apEX to brag.

Tie Dan asked Xu Beifang to open the recording of the previous practice match; he expressed confusion about a decision Xu Beifang made in that practice match.

But before Xu Beifang could open the demo recording, he heard JackZ exclaim from the side.

"Damn, did this Vacation Agency change its nature?"

Old Jack's shout instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the training room.

Although Tie Dan and Xiaogui didn't know what Old Jack was shouting in French, Xu Beifang quickly helped explain.

During this break, Xu Beifang's battle of wits with the Vacation Agency became their pastime during free time; seeing the Vacation Agency working overtime like crazy, they were also very happy.

After all, Valve used to be really too lazy, feeling like they didn't care about their own game at all.

Operation tomorrow, Source 2 the day after—this is a meme used to tease the lazy dogs at the Vacation Agency.

No player would like this kind of operator; they all like operators who are more active and work harder.

Xu Beifang forcing the Vacation Agency to work overtime was something they loved to see.

"You only just saw the interaction between Beifang and the Vacation Agency? Your internet surfing speed is way too slow." apex expressed disdain for Old Jack's internet speed.

jackz stared fixedly at his phone, not changing at all because of Hando's teasing, but instead added: "Hando, don't treat me like an old man; I've been browsing Twitter every day during my breaks these days; I've already seen the interaction between Beifang and the Vacation Agency... I'm saying the Vacation Agency changed its nature now because the Vacation Agency just had another big update!"

"Big update?"

Hearing this, a group of people leaned over.

"Wise as I am." Xu Beifang didn't even move from his seat, directly taking out his phone to open the Vacation Agency's Twitter.

He took a look and found that jackz was indeed not talking nonsense; the Vacation Agency's recent workload could be called exaggerated.

After crazily fixing a large wave of bugs, they even came up with another large wave of updates.

The content at the beginning of the update announcement was standard, but when it came to the firearms section, the style changed instantly.

【... Firearms】

【SG553 has reduced fire rate and accuracy, making its cost-performance ratio similar to other rifles...】

【AUG has increased shooting accuracy in a standing state, and reduced accuracy after scoping in...】

【M4A1 price adjusted to 2900, increased damage to the body...】

【AWP bullet count reduced to 5, to reduce fault tolerance...】

【...】

"Ah!!!" After seeing the content of the Vacation Agency's Twitter, many people in the room exclaimed in surprise.

"I finally understand jackz's mood just now." shox said sincerely; not to mention jackz's surprise, the sudden big update from the Vacation Agency also stunned them.

You know, the last update was three months ago; for professional players used to CSGO updating only once every six months or even a year, this update speed is a bit exaggerated.

"Big move; an update before the Major, are they planning to see everyone's adaptability?" Xu Beifang also gasped; it was his first time feeling the butterfly effect.

If he remembered correctly, in his previous life, after the Berlin Major ended, the SG553 hadn't been nerfed yet.

As a result, this time, such a big wave of updates came before the Berlin Major.

Change represents variables; this update added even more uncertainty to the upcoming Major.

However, he was mentally prepared for this; after all, he was reborn as a professional player, and too many things had already changed.

It's not surprising that some changes occurred later due to his influence.

"Hiss~" Tie Dan's English is also good now, and he also saw the update content from the Vacation Agency.

He and Xiaogui looked at each other and then said goodbye to Xu Beifang.

Regarding this sudden update, Tyloo also needed to go back and discuss it carefully; at least their entire team had to adapt to this update content.

After the two from Tyloo left, the group in the Vitality training room also started discussing.

"This wave is mostly an update to firearms content, but the overall impact is still very large." Head Coach xtqzzz said; because of the precedent of ENCE, they knew very well how much a firearms update could affect professional matches.

If a certain weapon suddenly becomes a version powerhouse, it is a great opportunity for some younger teams to rise, because young people's adaptability is always fast.

By the time those older players have just adapted to these weapons, the young people might have already reaped the benefits.

"It's a good thing you practice every gun, Beifang." jackz turned around and smiled, "At least these version updates don't have much impact on you."

As Vitality's absolute big brother, Xu Beifang's performance can affect the upper limit of the entire Vitality team, so at the first moment of the update, the first thing they considered was the impact on Xu Beifang.

"As a T1 rifleman, Elige is in a more difficult position." shox said gloatingly, "Elige's rise this year is largely due to reaping the benefits of the SG553; I guess this update will make Ji Ge very uncomfortable."

Xu Beifang felt that it wasn't just Ji Ge, even Liquid's performance might decline as a result.

Elige himself belongs to the spray-style player; he is even a master of spray recoil control; the previous buff of the SG553 allowed Elige to reap the benefits, coupled with the explosion of his own form, he put up quite an excellent performance in the first-tier arena.

But now that the SG553 is nerfed and Liquid's stable daddy's form is declining, the upcoming matches might be very hard to handle.

"With this version update, not only will Beifang not be affected, he might even become stronger." apex gave his inference.

"How so?"

"Look, although the SG553 is nerfed, the AWP is also nerfed; the AWP's bullet count is halved, so there definitely won't be as much fault tolerance in the future."

jackz thought for a moment: "5 bullets should be enough, right? I talked about this with device when I met him on the ladder before, and he said 5 bullets don't have much impact."

shox shook his head: "How could it not have much impact? Think about KennyS's playstyle; how could 5 bullets be enough for him."

As soon as this update came out, he thought of his old brother.

What kind of playstyle is K-Bao?

As one of the fastest professional players in the CSGO professional circle, KennyS's sniper rifle focuses on being fast and fast.

By the time other snipers finish one bullet, KennyS has already flicked through a magazine.

"At least he could flick 5 more before, now he has to reload halfway through; how can the impact not be big."

Hearing shox's words, Old Jack thought about that scene: the AWP flicked a few shots, then was forced to reload and was directly ridden in the face by the opponent's MAC-10 to get a haircut; that would be too painful.

"It's a good thing Zywoo isn't affected much." apex said; this might be the only good news.

Thanks to Zywoo's consciousness-based playstyle, he doesn't shoot crazily like S1mple and KennyS, focusing more on holding angles and picking people off.

This update will definitely have an impact, but it's definitely not as big as the impact on that kind of aggressive offensive sniping.

"But I think you guys are thinking too simply." Xu Beifang pointed to the third item of the firearms update content, which is the one about the M4A1.

"This is the focus of this update!"

Everyone heard this and turned their attention to the update content about the M4A1.

The price dropped to 2900, and the damage to the body was increased.

"Dropped 300 bucks, the impact shouldn't be that big, right? I remember the M4A1 was quite hard to use before." apex expressed his thoughts.

In the previous few versions, the M4A1 silenced weapon was still quite easy to use, but after several nerfs later, it had become a sentimental weapon.

You would want to use it from time to time, but once you really entered the match, a spray would always feel like scraping.

The gap between the defensive side and the offensive side's firearms was already large; many times they would spray with the M4A1, and after a long time, they would be headshot by an AK; that feeling was simply not too sour.

So even the loyal fans of the A1 gave up on this weapon in a very short time.

But now with the price drop + damage increase, apex believes that many professional players will re-choose this weapon.

"I see you guys still don't understand."

Xu Beifang shook his head and then decisively updated the game on Steam.

The internet speed here is not fast; after waiting for a while, the game finished updating.

After entering the game, Xu Beifang went straight to the aim training map; after the firearms update, he was here to test the damage.

He went straight to the point and picked up the M4A1 weapon.

It wasn't a big deal not to test it, but after this test, everyone in the Vitality training room was a bit stunned.

"The damage increased by this much??"

"Is this Vacation Agency sick? Will anyone use an AK in the future?"

"Cheap, silenced, high damage; how does it feel like the upcoming A1 is even more perverted than the previous AUG."

"It's over, another wheelchair gun is coming out."

In Xu Beifang's test, the M4A1's damage already exceeded the M4A4; this silenced weapon can kill a person with 4 shots to the body.

In the case of hitting the body, the M4A1 damage is enough to rival the AK47.

Except for the disadvantage of not being able to one-tap, the M4A1 is already better than the AK in other aspects.

Xu Beifang looked at his surprised teammates and spread his hands: "This is my previous concern; the Vacation Agency can always give us some big work when the game is stable."

He understood that the Vacation Agency felt that the A1 weapon's appearance rate was too low and wanted to make the A1 active on the competition field again.

But the price drop + damage increase, this wave of improvement is too exaggerated.

"This gun is too simple, so simple that even Karrigan can play it very well; it can completely cover up the defects of individual ability, so you will see many former spray-control monsters put up very beautiful performances in the matches."

Some veterans who are not performing well might even usher in a new spring because of the rise of this firearm.

Hearing Xu Beifang's explanation, the members in the Vitality room realized what the Vacation Agency had done this time.

This time, the upper limit of individual ability was cut a bit, but everyone's lower limit was also raised a bit.

This situation is friendly to veterans like apex and shox, but for players with strong individual abilities like Xu Beifang and Zywoo, the gap between them and ordinary professional players will be bridged a bit because of the firearms.

After all, if the A4 recoil control is not good and a spray goes off, there is no follow-up.

But the A1 can be considered a wheelchair gun, basically pointing where you hit; once a spray is fired, unless it's run-and-gun, the bullets are concentrated in that area.

apex couldn't help but complain: "This Vacation Agency really doesn't do human things!"