Chapter 433: Danking

The incident with Tyloo actually caused quite a stir; quite a few professional players even stepped in to offer subtle commentary.

But as it happened, they were eliminated by Vitality, which meant there were no further developments.

If this had happened during the Group Stage, with Tyloo not yet eliminated, the IEM domestic organizing committee would certainly have had some follow-up actions.

However, Gratisfaction took the initiative to apologize on Twitter. Although the reason he gave—"calling out positions"—was laughable, the matter was barely put to rest.

After finishing his morning training and replying to some messages from friends and family, Xu Beifang started scrolling through Twitter.

The discussion online regarding this matter remained heated.

Many people even rushed over just to watch the drama.

【How do you evaluate the fact that Vitality didn't even spend two hours beating Tyloo in the IEM Beijing semi-finals?】

【My evaluation is that it's a gap in strength; this is the current state of Australian CS.】

【If they swapped in a different Sniper, I feel 100T would still have some room to fight back, but Gratisfaction is not only an idiot, he's also bad!】

【I can only say the Twin Stars were ruthless; those few rounds in Mirage Mid made me stand up.】

【I was at the venue, and I can only say it was too satisfying to watch; Beizige is a man of true character.】

In the 5E APP tournament comment section, many netizens were excitedly venting their emotions.

After all, this stuff was truly infuriating, and the "live position calling" excuse Gratisfaction gave was too hollow.

After all, calling out positions is relatively common in CSGO matches; some experienced players will even take the initiative to utilize the venue.

But the physical soundproofing at the IEM Beijing venue ruled out the factor of calling out positions; as long as the whole audience wasn't shouting together, it wasn't much of a problem.

This also made Gratisfaction's apology completely insincere.

Everyone was disgusted.

But fortunately, Xu Beifang performed well and successfully eliminated 100T, which was a rare consolation for them.

Xu Beifang also discovered that AYCSGO, CSGO Lulu, and quite a few other CSGO bloggers had edited clips from yesterday's match, stepping forward to express their dissatisfaction with that tournament.

AYCSGO edited the round in Nuke where Xu Beifang held the AWP and slaughtered everyone in B Tunnel, using the game of wits between the two sides to illustrate where the gap between the two teams lay.

CSGO Lulu was simple and straightforward, directly editing Gratisfaction's POV.

Well, this guy only had less than 20 kills across two maps, and there were no highlights; it was all one-kill-one-clip, the kind that makes people's eyes go dark just watching it.

Xu Beifang was watching the netizens' roasting with great interest when he heard Leon Kai lean over and say, "Do you know that netizens are saying Astralis is going to take revenge on us this time?"

Xu Beifang looked at Leon Kai quietly: "Should I not know?"

Leon Kai also knew he hadn't organized his words well at the start, so he restated: "I mean, Astralis did a post-match interview yesterday, and the host stirred up trouble, causing gla1ve to respond directly."

Xu Beifang raised an eyebrow and started searching on his phone.

In the IEM Beijing semi-finals, the winner of Group A was them.

Group B was the confrontation between Liquid and Astralis.

Perhaps it was because they had their dynasty's signboard stepped on by Vitality at the Berlin Major, but Astralis showed considerable initiative during the off-season, playing very seriously in several matches.

The strength displayed by Astralis in this state was extraordinary.

At the very least, when they faced Liquid yesterday, they won smoothly with a large score margin.

The confrontation in Group A was the same; they both ended the match 2:0, not letting Liquid take a single map.

And in the first two maps, they didn't even let Liquid get more than 10 points.

Many people were sighing that in this IEM Beijing tournament, the only team capable of fighting Vitality was Astralis.

However, gla1ve took the initiative to accept the reporter's provocation in the post-match interview, which was something Xu Beifang hadn't expected.

While searching for keywords on his phone, he teased: "This gla1ve seems to particularly like talking trash in post-match interviews."

Leon Kai said with a wicked smile: "I just don't know if he has prepared a birthday gift for device."

Back at the Berlin Major, gla1ve was also provoked in the post-match interview after the semi-finals; at the time, he also stated with supreme confidence that Astralis would become the defending champion and would use that championship as a birthday gift for device.

As it turned out, the gift wasn't delivered in the end, because the championship was taken by Vitality.

Xu Beifang checked it out and finally saw the specific content of the interview on 5E's official account:

"gla1ve: We will prove that we are still the world's strongest!"

Xu Beifang clicked on the video curiously; the video was also an interview in front of an IEM billboard, and Xu Beifang had reason to suspect it was also grabbed right after the match.

At the very beginning of the video, the reporter and gla1ve exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then the two officially entered the topic.

"You just won against Liquid in the BO3; how do you feel right now? How do you evaluate your performance today?"

Facing the reporter's question, gla1ve's state was quite relaxed: "It feels pretty good to be able to beat Liquid; after all, this way we can face Vitality again in the finals."

Xu Beifang raised an eyebrow; these words were quite targeted.

gla1ve might as well have pointed at Xu Beifang's nose and said: "I'm damn well coming for you!"

gla1ve continued answering: "As for today's performance, if it's out of 10, I'd give it a 7. We still had quite a few mistakes on the offensive side of Map 1; it was a bit uncalled for."

This guy gla1ve is quite harsh on himself and his teammates.

Xu Beifang had finished watching both maps and knew that Astralis had some mistakes on Map 1, but it was harmless; yet gla1ve still remembered it—this was the pursuit this guy had for himself and his team.

It was precisely because of this pursuit that Astralis could become Astralis.

However, the reporter noticed a key point in gla1ve's words—Vitality.

He immediately asked: "Do you really want to face Vitality again?"

gla1ve smiled; he didn't hide his anticipation for the upcoming match.

"Vitality defeated us at the Berlin Major. At that time, our state hadn't reached its best, because we hadn't had any opponents for a long time; we were actually a bit slack."

【Slack? For over a year, there wasn't a single team on the circuit that could fight.】

【Before, there was only Liquid that could fight, but Liquid could only be reduced to Astralis's punching bag; hilarious.】

【These words are too real.】

【Only Astralis has the confidence to say they haven't had any opponents for a long time.】

Although gla1ve's words were quite arrogant, Astralis had the capital to be arrogant; after all, before the Berlin Major, they had ruled this circuit single-handedly.

As long as there was a large-scale tournament they participated in, Astralis had a high probability of entering the finals; once in the finals, the championship was basically a sure thing.

They specialized in exaggeration.

At that time, they were already a bit "lonely at the top"; it was quite normal to develop a sense of slackness under such circumstances.

But immediately after, gla1ve changed his tone: "It's also thanks to the appearance of Vitality that our entire team has been revitalized; now our competitive spirit has returned."

This point was also visible to the naked eye; Astralis played quite seriously in this IEM Beijing tournament, not just in attitude, but everyone's state was excellent.

Astralis was already the team with the strongest discipline in the world, and coupled with the good personal state of the players, many people felt they could win the championship.

The reporter asked: "Last question, do you have anything you want to say to Vitality?"

gla1ve looked up and let out a breath, then said very seriously: "Since the Berlin Major, I've watched quite a few Astralis fans become Vitality fans, watching the outside world's attitude toward us change."

"Everything around me is telling me that the dynasty we built has collapsed and left."

Being able to say these words calmly was very difficult for gla1ve.

After all, he had watched the dynasty he built collapse bit by bit before his eyes; that feeling was definitely not pleasant.

"But!" gla1ve's eyes gradually became firm, "I will prove in the upcoming IEM Beijing tournament that we still have the ability to win the championship, proving that the Danish dynasty has not collapsed!"

"We will be the spoiler in front of Vitality's Grand Slam, even if it's just for that 100,000 dollars!"

At the end, gla1ve even made a small joke.

This also reminded many people that this IEM Beijing tournament was also the last tournament for Vitality to make a run at the Grand Slam.

【Holy crap, it seems if Vitality defeats Astralis, they will become the second Grand Slam winner.】

【Indeed, they are just one match away, sigh!】

【If they defeat Astralis today, then the era belonging to Vitality will truly arrive!】

【Isn't Astralis different? If they defeat Vitality in this match, then Vitality will still be a challenger.】

【That's not necessarily true; Vitality's current level is already on par with Astralis, they are just missing the honors.】

There were also some Astralis fans who felt that the timing of Vitality's appearance was simply too good.

Because Vitality suddenly appeared when Astralis was about to head downhill, and with powerful strength, they snatched away the Major trophy that should have been a three-peat.

This gave them a not-insignificant blow, and it also allowed this group of people from Astralis to feel that they still had opponents on the circuit.

The passion of this group of old dogs from Astralis for the circuit, for the game, and for the pursuit of victory would rise again.

If they could defeat Vitality and take revenge in this IEM Beijing tournament, then they could truly take back everything of theirs and continue the time of the "Danish Dynasty."

At this moment, the confrontation between the two teams felt as if it were destined.

Everyone had a vague feeling that this confrontation would determine the landscape of the CSGO professional circuit for a long time to come.

If Vitality winning the Berlin Major was a formal announcement of their arrival to Astralis.

Then this IEM Beijing was a thorough showdown with Astralis.

If Vitality successfully won, then Astralis's spirit might not be able to keep up at all.

And if Astralis successfully won, then they could use this momentum to present a stance of two powers standing side-by-side with Vitality.

The netizens were talking very mysteriously; Xu Beifang didn't care about this, he just hoped that the upcoming final wouldn't encounter too many obstacles.

He was determined to win this Grand Slam.

Leon Kai bumped Xu Beifang with his shoulder, looking like he wanted to see the world burn: "This gla1ve has already started talking trash to us; Beifang, don't you have anything to say?"

Every time these external matters came up, it was Xu Beifang who handled them, and he understood that with Xu Beifang's personality, now that the other side had started talking trash, he definitely wouldn't sit idly by.

Xu Beifang shrugged: "You can rest assured when I do things."

It was just pre-match trash talk; he hung out with netizens every day, so his trash-talking level had long been maxed out.

So, he soon had a plan in his heart.

The necessary preparations had been completed, and Vitality drove to the Beijing University Gymnasium.

But when the vehicle arrived at the entrance of the venue, there were already quite a few fans there cheering and showing support.

Xu Beifang looked closely and even saw Danking and the Tyloo crowd holding live streaming equipment in the crowd.

The moment Xu Beifang stepped out of the car, it drew cheers from quite a few people.

As the player with the most fans, Xu Beifang received too much love.

He waved at the fans at the venue entrance, greeted them simply, and pointed at the live streaming equipment on Danking: "What is this?"

"Oh, I just finished an interview here today, and quite a few fans said they wanted to come here to hang out with me, so I thought I'd start an outdoor stream; since I'm idle anyway, why not make some money?" Danking answered very calmly.

This was very Danking, but it also exceeded his expectations.

So Xu Beifang gave Danking a thumbs up and intended to walk inside through the player tunnel.

That group of fans also knew that it wasn't appropriate to interact with Xu Beifang right now, so they just shouted one after another to cheer for Xu Beifang:

"Beifang, you must do your best!"

"I'll be cheering for you in the live stream room!"

"Beizige, charge, charge, charge!"

Danking shamelessly leaned over to Xu Beifang's side, using his phone camera to film him: "Master Xu, when will you win the Grand Slam?"

Xu Beifang immediately understood that Tie Dan was playing on the meme from *Fist of Legend*, and he immediately imitated it: "I don't know, what do you think?"

Danking chuckled: "Today, it's today!"

Xu Beifang walked into the player tunnel and waved at him: "I'll take your lucky words then!"

Danking didn't care at all; the two of them sang in harmony, and the gifts in the live stream room were almost exploding.

This wave was simply a win-win!

He won two waves by himself!

November 10, 2019, 1:00 PM.

The IEM official live stream room was packed.

Nearing the end of the year, IEM Beijing was already one of the biggest tournaments, and coupled with the fact that today was the final, and there had been so many rhythms and discussions before, the number of people coming to watch the match was very high.

There were even many ordinary players who didn't usually like watching matches coming to join the fun, wanting to witness history and see if Vitality would achieve the Grand Slam today.

However, the first match that truly entered the final wasn't the confrontation between Vitality and Astralis.

The organizers of IEM Beijing learned from the experience of the previous Berlin Major.

Although the Berlin Major was a historic moment, Vitality successfully defeated Astralis and lifted the first championship in their team's history.

But that match, Vitality was too fierce and didn't give Astralis much room to operate, which led to the final looking like a plain 2:0, and the entire final didn't even last two hours.

Although it was exciting, it still made people roast it endlessly.

So this time, they specially added a performance match to avoid the match ending in two hours.

At 1:00 PM, the IEM official live stream room officially started the analysis screen, and it wasn't until 1:20 that the IEM Beijing performance match officially started.

Danking was a bit of a character, directly bringing his live streaming equipment to the big stage.

This performance match mainly invited two domestic teams, plus a few foreign hosts and commentators to play around.

It was mainly to liven up the atmosphere.

Danking was actually always just messing around and playing casually.

But that group from VG treated this performance match as a real match, and in the end, it got the whole Tyloo group fired up too.

This kind of performance match was relatively boring.

But for the audience, it was still a gain; at the very least, they got to watch one more match of Tyloo vs. VG.

After the guests of the performance match left the stage one after another, the background music at the venue also started to become restless.

The lights in the venue slowly went out, and at this moment, everyone realized that the opening ceremony of the IEM Beijing final was officially coming.

Accompanied by the countdown appearing on the big screen, the audience at the venue also tacitly cooperated and shouted in unison, welcoming the official arrival of the final.

The sound waves in the venue continued to intensify, and when the countdown reached "0", it also reached its peak, and the venue was filled with applause.

The lights on the dome also shone on the center of the stage at this moment, and the very center of the lights belonged to the reward for the IEM Beijing champion—a very exquisite and dazzling trophy.

Immediately after, the host walked out from somewhere: "Hello, audience at the venue and in front of the screens, welcome to watch the final of the Intel Extreme Masters IEM Beijing!"

"After half a month of fierce confrontation, this tournament has also come to an end, and now only the two strongest teams remain on the stage!"

"And today, they will once again compete on this stage for the qualification to lift the trophy!"

"Without further ado, let us first welcome Astralis!"

"Commander gla1ve! Sniper device! Entry Fragger Magisk! Rifleman dupreeh! Clutch Master Xyp9x!"

This time the host was quite wild, and every shout was followed by the player's nickname; this wild style sounded a bit awkward, but combined with the excited cheers of the audience at the venue, it felt a bit awkward yet burning.

The members of Astralis walked out from the player tunnel one after another.

The screams in the venue were constant; even if Astralis's dominance wasn't as strong as before, their number of fans worldwide was still very high, and quite a few people had even started to miss the former Astralis dynasty.

"Then next, let us invite Vitality!!"

"First is Commander apEX! Sniper ZywOo! Entry Fragger Nice Beizige! Rifleman JackZ! Clutch Master shox!"

It was the same introduction method, but when introducing Xu Beifang, the cheers at the venue were thunderous.

Countless audience members welcomed Xu Beifang's appearance with cheers.

The camera swept across the venue, and the number of people wearing Vitality jerseys to show support was a bit exaggerated.

Quite a few fans even held support items belonging to Xu Beifang in their hands.

Such as "Beizige, activate Stage 2!", "Beifang, stop killing, Mom is scared", "Old VP tradition: Guaranteed win, guaranteed jump off the building", etc.

There was even a standee of device, on which it was clearly written: "I play Nice?"

The players from both sides were already standing on the stage, and the host shouted with a drawn-out voice: "Both teams want to lift the championship in the end, so let us see in the match who is the winner!"

"The game is about to begin!!" ===== CHAPTER 434 =====