Chapter 407: Gods

"Do not dwell on the loss of Map 1; it is impossible for us to give up on the next two maps just because of a failure on the first."

Inside the Big team's practice room, the Coach tried his best to encourage his players with a thick German accent in English.

Among tier-one professional teams, they were a completely lopsided student.

In the subject of 'Dust 2', even when encountering top-tier schools like 'Astralis', 'Vitality', and others, they would not feel any psychological pressure.

But today was a bit terrible; they performed poorly in this subject.

Now that they had lost in their strongest area, it was inevitable to feel a bit uneasy.

The players had not yet adjusted their mindset from the blow of the defeat.

As the Coach of Big, his job was to help them adjust their state.

"It is actually normal for Vitality to have this kind of combat power; you have to know that our opponent today is a Major champion... However, we don't need to fear them. I think the loss on Map 1 was mostly because we didn't handle some details well. We could have potentially scored more points, and those key rounds weren't played well, which led to the loss of Map 1."

TabseN nodded.

MO took a breath, turned his head, and said, "Actually, I do know a few things."

They couldn't help but worry that Vitality would make their blood pressure soar again.

As regulars in tier-one tournaments, apart from failing to make it to the Major on their home turf during the Berlin Major, their overall strength was still recognized by the vast majority of the audience.

【Seriously, have you guys felt it? Xu Beifang seems to enjoy CSGO more now.】

The EPL league has a certain duration, and as the IGL of team Big, TabseN's thoughts on the championship were not particularly strong.

After all, Vitality's starts in the past were always not very ideal.

As a member of the "slow-starter" teams, Vitality's performance after the previous few off-seasons had been quite agonizing and left people speechless.

【It's true, today's Negev and fishing with an AK really amused me.】

"Hmm, my relationship with Danking is pretty good. I once heard Danking complain that in that guy Beifang's life, there is only CSGO. He has put in all his effort to climb upward."

And the opponent, Big, was not bad either.

Listening to the Coach's words, TabseN also perked up.

Ma Xixi suddenly realized: "So that was the moment he knew he had the ability to touch the Major Trophy, which is why he worked so hard."

During the halftime break between the two maps, the audience in the livestream was discussing some of the content that happened in Map 1.

Xantares's Rifle was also quite outstanding.

If those few rounds hadn't been lost, the result might have been different.

【What do you mean? Didn't he like CSGO before too?】

Actually, they had combat power throughout Map 1; it wasn't that there was a huge gap in Gunplay compared to the opponent.

However, over the past two years, as he grew older, JW gradually disappeared from everyone's field of vision.

"But Beifang had no professional experience at 21. If he truly had no talent, then so be it—he wouldn't have made a name for himself anyway. But in his First Time at a Major, he cashed in on his talent, directly becoming a 'Dean' carrying four, dragging VP into the Champion Stage."

But looking at it on Dust 2, although it was occasionally abstract, the overall performance was not bad.

He couldn't help but turn his head to look at smooya, who was wearing big floral shorts.

"This is quite good," Ma Xixi commented, "Before, this guy had too much psychological pressure."

Although it looked like Vitality won by a large margin, they lost quite a few rounds very regrettably.

As the first match for Vitality after the off-season, there were quite a few people watching the game today.

Ma Xixi turned his head curiously, and the friends in the livestream also began to listen carefully.

A tier-one mid-to-lower level, but if limited to 【Dust 2】, their strength could reach the world's top tier.

"However, we still have a chance to get our revenge. Map 2 is Train. Although we aren't the most famous Train King, our level on this map is still much better than Vitality's."

The two were planning to chat for a while longer when they saw the game screen appear.

MO said this and smiled: "It's also fortunate that this person who only has CSGO in his life finally lifted the Major Trophy; otherwise, it would be too much of a pity."

"But although I hope he can easily enjoy CSGO, don't enjoy it too much. Don't be like those other 'content' guys who end up disappearing while enjoying themselves," Ma Xixi couldn't help but tease.

As the first tournament after the off-season, he was mostly focused on synergy and training, but if he could pull off an upset and beat Vitality once, that wouldn't be bad either.

"This guy entered the industry quite late. Others are genius teenagers who drop out of school to play professionally; for example, Han Wang started playing professionally at 14, and I remember JKS was around ten years old..."

He was implying JW; as a former top player, JW was the benchmark for "content" players.

smooya, as a Sniper, performed right up there with the first tier.

It was just that they lost at a few important nodes, which always left people feeling somewhat unwilling.

Big was adjusting their Mindset to deal with the confrontation on Map 2, while the audience watching the stream was already discussing the content of Map 1.

【The treacherous Xu Beifang】

【It just feels like his heartstrings were pulled too tight before; now he's starting to enjoy the fun of the game.】

There were too many players who left regrets in the world of CSGO; he still hoped that Xu Beifang's future professional career could be more complete.

This statement was indeed correct; Vitality's fixed Ban Map before was Train. Although it was unknown what tricks they had up their sleeves, their overall tactical experience on this map was definitely insufficient.

"Alright, let's keep our eyes on the game!" Ma Xixi rubbed his hands, "Seriously, I'm quite looking forward to Vitality's Train."

The map Train is actually very comprehensive.

In professional confrontation, it not only requires an excellent Sniper, but the requirements for the judgment of the IGLs' game of wits on both sides are also very high. The Bomb Sites with many cover structures also require good communication among the players.

Vitality and Big's battle of wits on Map 1 was back-and-forth and played quite well; he was still somewhat unsatisfied.

But after he started casting Map 2 with anticipation, he found that the situation was a bit off.

If using a 10-point scale, the quality of offense and defense on both sides might be an 8. With the off-season just passed, their requirements were not high.

But after arriving at Map 2, Train, the quality of offense and defense on both sides could only be a 6.

Ma Xixi thought Vitality had been holding back a big move during the off-season, but he didn't expect it to be a "big" mess.

Because looking at it overall, Vitality's offensive problems were huge: utility flashed their own teammates, the order of utility usage had flaws, and the synchronization was even more suffocating.

However, Big wasn't doing much better on their side.

As the team's Rifleman, the "Turkish First Fierce Man" had used Xantarespeek to tear through each of the Gemini stars once, but more often than not, he would be taken out as soon as he peeked.

Problems with team synergy led to communication issues for Big, and combined with some of Vitality's unconventional playstyles, their overall performance became extremely chaotic.

The first half was more than halfway through, and the score had unknowingly reached 3:7.

Although Vitality was playing quite abstractly, the two sides looked evenly matched, which left Ma Xixi somewhat speechless.

【Is this match NAVI playing G2?】

Glancing at the question in the chat, Ma Xixi couldn't hold it in for a second.

Indeed, matches between NAVI and G2 always featured these abstract scenes; if you covered the team logos, it really looked just like them.

"There are 5 rounds left in the first half. This next Long Gun Round is a critical round; it all depends on who can take it."

……

Playing on a map one isn't proficient in is indeed strenuous.

Although they had practiced in the Ladder for a while, the pressure from the Ladder, even in S-tier queues, wasn't high. Now that the intensity had ramped up, they started making constant mistakes.

However, they didn't get tilted by these errors. They knew from the start that their proficiency on this map was low, and today was mainly about the Coach picking it to release a Smoke Grenade.

So they simply started playing to learn through competition.

Xu Beifang was actually enjoying it; the map Train was quite interesting to play.

Dou Dou was still thinking about the play for this round, and Xu Beifang offered a suggestion: "We've been scoring points in the Green Corridor for the past few rounds. The opponents might counter-push from the Green Corridor this round. Should we send more people to have a fight in the Green Corridor first?"

apEX shook his head: "Forget it. Let shox handle the Green Corridor solo. If we try to counter-push that position, we'll easily get hit by utility, and the return on investment isn't proportional."

"Beifang, you coordinate with Zywoo and see if you can take out smooya's sniper. Do a Double Peek inside the Terrorist Hall. Jack and I will do the Default for B and the Red Stairs; we'll focus on gathering information in the early stage."

Listening to Dou Dou's instructions, Xu Beifang went straight to the T Spawn and quickly found his position.

Big's Default was solid; they threw a Smoke Grenade at the entrance of the Terrorist Hall at the start to deny them the ability to scout information early on.

But Zywoo jumped directly onto Xu Beifang's head, using the height difference to scout the Sniper Position and the Bomb Site.

However, after holding the angle for a while, they still didn't see any sign of the CTs. Before the Smoke Grenade dissipated, they broke the Double Peek and decided to rethink their plan.

"There are many people in the Green Corridor!" shox sent information, "They counter-flashed and pushed out, and they also threw a smoke outside. You guys need to send someone to help me, otherwise, I might get pinned down."

Xu Beifang's experience was correct; they had been scoring points by expanding from the Green Corridor in previous rounds. After Big saved up enough economy, they intended to take the Green Corridor at the start of this round to resolve the Green Corridor issue first.

apEX's handling of the situation wasn't bad either; if they had come over as a group this round, the utility the opponents used to counter-push the Green Corridor would have been enough to give them a hard time.

It was just that they lacked a bit of experience. Leaving him alone there, once the opponents threw a Smoke Grenade, it was very difficult for him to handle.

This was the price of insufficient map proficiency. There was no immediate solution; they could only accumulate experience through match after match.

Zywoo immediately ran over to help shox out, while Xu Beifang held the angle inside the Terrorist Hall.

"Both sides exchanged some simple utility in the early stage. Big is running a 4-1 setup this round, and it seems like Big intends to play an unconventional aggressive push. In the second timing, Xantares and tiziaN have already gathered at the Terrorist Hall entrance. smooya threw a Flashbang, intending to send them in directly!"

Xu Beifang heard the sound inside the Terrorist Hall. After Zywoo left, he pulled his overall positioning back a bit.

Unlike Vitality, he had quite a bit of understanding of this map; after all, he often picked this map when he was at VP.

He knew that the close-range position in the Terrorist Hall was very difficult to defend solo, so he approached this position more with a defensive, back-point posture to counter-peek.

After hearing the Flashbang pop, he didn't peek out immediately but waited for a timing before jiggling.

"Rat-tat-tat!"

The M4A4 bullets hit the wall behind him.

tiziaN counter-pushed to clear the angle and caught a glimpse of someone at the corner of the Terrorist Hall, scaring him into quickly dragging his crosshair over to spray.

But the opponent took a step back, and he knew it was going to be bad.

Sure enough, the next second, the opponent rushed out with a probe.

"Bang!"

【Nice used AK47 to get a Headshot kill on tiziaN】

"They rushed into the Terrorist Hall wanting to find an opportunity, but the aim duel was lost to Beifang. This counter-push was actually eaten by Beifang instead. But there is still one person in the Terrorist Hall; does Beifang know this information?"

"Beifang didn't peek out immediately to Trade Kill and is still jiggling at the close point!" Ma Xixi laughed, "Beifang knows! He's still waiting for the opponent to come find him."

MO took a breath: "And this guy is really meticulous. I don't know if this wave was luck, but smooya is also holding an angle from far away. If he comes out to find Xantares, he might get pinned down directly."

Xantares was waiting at the close point for Xu Beifang to rush out, but after holding the corner for a long time, he only heard the sound of Xu Beifang constantly jiggling.

This guy's Consciousness is like he has wallhacks... Xantares couldn't help but complain in his heart, then threw a Molotov at the corner inside the Terrorist Hall and hopped away quickly.

On his way back, he specifically checked the Red Stairs a few times to avoid getting his side stolen by a timing.

But Vitality didn't play such an aggressive synchronization, so he managed to escape a disaster.

Vitality naturally didn't need to take such risky actions; it was mainly because they hadn't cleared the Red Stairs yet, and they weren't sure if anyone was there.

Moreover, Xu Beifang got the Entry Kill, and they were in a 5v4 Clutch, so there was no need to be in a rush.

Dou Dou glanced at the team's positions and quickly gave the order: "Shushu, after you help shox clear the close point, return directly to the T Spawn and push with Beifang. Later, we'll execute the NAVI-style A-split."

NAVI had a classic three-angle A-split tactic on this map that was very outstanding. The tactic involved synchronizing from the T Spawn, Green Corridor, and Red Stairs to surround the A-site, almost encompassing the entire A-site.

At their current level, they didn't need to develop tactics yet; it would be better to take existing ones and adapt them.

"Flashbang in the Green Corridor to counter-push. Jack and apEX also coordinated to clear the Red Stairs, but nex caught a remarkable timing; he snuck up from the Low Slope!"

"He didn't dare to touch the Red Stairs, but instead snuck all the way from the T Second Floor to the T Spawn. Big also understood that he had caught a remarkable timing and directly used utility to start stalling for time. They had already confirmed that Vitality was going to hit A, and now they were just waiting for nex to steal an opportunity!"

The CTs were frantically using counter-utility to stall their offensive rhythm, but Vitality wasn't in a hurry.

Instead, they were waiting for the final synchronization.

"The Smoke Grenade at the T Spawn has dissipated. Zywoo threw a Five-Six Paths smoke, but he didn't know that someone had already come up behind him!"

"nex saw Zywoo, but he wasn't in a hurry to fire; he wanted to get more kills!"

Once the T Spawn smoke cleared, smooya also stood on the Six Tracks, and his sniper rifle started holding the T Spawn directly because he heard nex call out that there was someone at the T Spawn.

The Terrorists' explosive utility started to unfold one after another, and the pressure from all angles surged up.

smooya glanced at the mini-map, then shifted his focus back to the center of the screen; a black shadow drifted past T Spawn within his field of vision, and he immediately started Firing!

"Bang—"

【smooya used an AWP to get a Headshot kill on nex】

"Vitality has no idea that a 'Six' is creeping up behind them..." Ma Xixi was still setting the scene for the viewers when he saw the tail behind them suddenly drop dead.

"Ah!" Ma Xixi was dumbfounded, "This is a huge disaster! smooya's big Sniper Rifle just took out nex, who was flanking, with a single shot! What on earth is this?"

Xu Beifang was stunned when he saw the kill feed in the top right corner, but he still immediately performed the action he was supposed to.

He jumped directly onto the back of the truck at Six Tracks and climbed up the ladder.

His plan was that since smooya had that big Sniper Rifle at the end of Six Tracks, he could provide counter-cover from the top, or even catch a good timing.

At the very least, he would be helping his teammates gather some information.

But he didn't expect that in the middle section of the Six Tracks carriage, there was also a CT hanging there scouting.

The moment he climbed up, almost as a conditioned reflex, Xu Beifang aimed, pulled the trigger, and then instantly climbed back down.

"Bang!"

【Nice used an AK47 to get a Headshot kill on Xantares】

"Huh?" MO was also stunned, "What is going on with Beifang here? He was hanging on the ladder and just one-tapped Xantares? You have to know that hanging on a ladder is inaccurate!"

"Paying tribute to S1mple, are we!"

After Xu Beifang fired that shot out of reflex, even he was surprised, and then he couldn't help but laugh: "There's still a sniper at Six Tracks, brothers, let's take him out first!"

But smooya was not so easily taken out; after he came down, he immediately set up a counter-angle on Green Corridor, relying on his Consciousness and Reaction to solo-kill shox.

But unfortunately, although he got a kill, it had no impact on the situation.

Because the player at Bomb Site was directly pinned down and killed by Zywoo's Sniper Rifle.

In a 1v4 Clutch, with his own position locked down, he couldn't do a thing.

smooya tried his best for a moment, but was sprayed down to a sliver of health by apEX and immediately ran away.

Listening to the C4 ticking away at Bomb Site, Ma Xixi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The plot of this round was truly a battle of 'gods'.

At the start, Xu Beifang relied on delicate handling to get the Entry Kill, then nex caught a timing that could have reversed the situation, and everyone thought Big was going to take the point.

But they didn't expect that nex, who was flanking, wouldn't be reacted to by Zywoo and Xu Beifang's transparent world-level Reaction, but instead would be finished off by his own team's big Sniper Rifle.

Xu Beifang was still hanging on the ladder here and got a Headshot on Xantares.

What is all this!

Ma Xixi stated that he had never seen such a convoluted round.

……