Chapter 439: It

The live broadcast director replayed this wave of kills by Xu Beifang.

Wanjiqi watched and couldn't help but gasp again, "You guys see, Beifang's playstyle is very distinctive; he really likes to actively seek out rhythm and compete for kills."

"The first kill was him actively jumping onto the barrel, then using the height difference to catch device off guard. Then he made a sound of footsteps walking backward, but arrived at an unconventional spot—the subsequent content was quite terrifying."

When the perspective shifted to Xu Beifang standing in the 'flamie' position, the director even deliberately slowed it down. The noise inside the venue became restless again because they saw that after Xu Beifang took down Magisk, he was spraying while running.

Throughout the entire process, most of the bullets Xu Beifang fired were concentrated beside the stone slab, so this run-and-gun spray just now was completely accurate.

This was quite astonishing.

On the Vitality side, Jack and Dou Dou watched the whole thing.

Dou Dou was stunned and asked incredulously, "Beifang, how did you manage to spray the opponent to death with that run-and-gun?"

Xu Beifang smiled and explained, "I was counter-strafing while running."

This kind of run-and-gun spray isn't just pure running; it's firing while counter-strafing, and you have to grasp the rhythm well.

You can't use it in normal situations, but sometimes it can have miraculous effects.

apEX didn't quite understand this technique; he never hit a single shot when he tried run-and-gunning.

But since Xu Beifang said it was a technique, then so be it.

Anyway, all he needed to do was shout "Nice!" and that was it!

Winning this full buy round directly boosted the momentum of the Vitality team.

However, Astralis remained quite calm. After losing this round, they immediately called a tactical timeout to adjust.

Their economy was still decent, and they could continue to play another full buy round. Having suddenly lost a point due to Xu Beifang's individual performance explosion, they now had to find some ways to break the deadlock.

But Vitality wasn't idle either. During the confrontation in this full buy round, Xu Beifang roughly sensed Astralis's offensive strategy.

Their offense today was heavily skewed toward the A site. Previous attacks had also consistently provided connector smokes or connector fires; Astralis had absolutely no desire to attack the connector.

This was different from the Astralis Xu Beifang knew before.

You have to know that in the past, Astralis's offense on Inferno loved to find opportunities from the connector angle.

The opponent doing this was highly likely intending to target Zywoo.

But having only encountered it for one round, he wasn't particularly certain about this thought, so he didn't say anything based on this point.

However, since the opponent called a timeout, he still had some ideas.

"Team Astralis has called a timeout for this round. I feel like they might want to play faster. Since their previous default map control wasn't working, it's natural for them to speed up the tempo," Xu Beifang explained his thoughts. "Shushu, give me your sniper rifle. Later, at the start of the B-site round, Jack will boost me at the Yellow Wall, and I'll use the elevation difference to gain an advantage."

"As for Mid, we can try to coordinate a grenade throw into the Sewer, and then watch out for A2."

Xu Beifang's thoughts were clear, and he directly took over as the in-game leader.

In a CSGO team, this isn't actually a big problem; it's even a common occurrence.

In the Vitality team, most of the commands are issued by Xu Beifang and apEX.

But those guys on the other side of the stage are even more abnormal.

Their commands are decided by all five people.

gla1ve mentioned in an interview before that they have entered a "five-man command" system.

This means that everyone can command the team based on the information and ideas they collect, but when there is a disagreement, gla1ve is the one who makes the final call.

In comparison, Vitality's commands are relatively more unified.

The timeout ended, and everyone stepped out to start.

Xu Beifang took the sniper rifle thrown by Zywoo and sprinted straight toward Banana.

Jack, in the first position, threw a Banana sky-fire first, then quickly crouched down beside the Yellow Wall.

Xu Beifang nimbly jumped onto his head, then opened the scope to look toward the Tree Position.

A Terrorist figure appeared in the sniper scope.

"—Bang!"

【Nice used AWP to kill Magisk】

"Bang!"

In the Astralis player booth, Magisk punched the table in frustration.

But even though he was in a bad mood, he didn't forget his responsibility: "Two at B, Nice has the big sniper."

device was a bit puzzled and asked, "Didn't you throw the window flash?"

When they were discussing tactics just now, they had considered that the opponent might have a sniper rifle, so gla1ve should have thrown it.

Magisk explained: "It's not gla1ve's fault, they did a double boost at the Yellow Wall at the start."

He felt a bit helpless. Nice has too many tricks on Banana. Starting with a Yellow Wall double boost to pick people off with a sniper rifle is just too niche; it's practically impossible to guard against.

device felt helpless upon hearing this.

CSGO players' playstyles tend to become formulaic in the end; after all, using formulas makes solving problems faster.

But that guy Nice has too many playstyles on Banana—the formulas are so numerous it's exaggerated. He can swap between many different types of formulas, and they just can't defend against them all.

Magisk gave up the first kill at the start, so now they had no choice but to slow down the tempo.

He was in the Sewer, carefully wallbanging through the Mid smoke thrown by Vitality.

But the next second, he saw two HE grenades fly out from the smoke.

device: "Dead!"

"Boom, boom!"

【ZywOo+apEX used HE grenades to kill device】

"Beifang got the first kill on Banana at the start. Although they gave up control of Banana, the mission has been accomplished."

Ma Xixi analyzed, "They also played a fancy trick on the front side, using two grenades to blow device up. At 1:30, Vitality reached a 5-on-3 advantage. This makes Astralis very headache-prone."

"Astralis has already entered a numerical disadvantage. Neither side actually has much information. How will they choose to play this wave?"

"After taking control of Banana, they chose to turn back to hit A, but shox just replenished the second Mid smoke. He seems to have realized something and came to the T-junction to hold a direct angle."

The sound of an incendiary grenade being thrown rang in shox's ears, and he immediately shouted: "Someone is close at Mid, they might be coming out of Mid!"

Having said that, shox nimbly slipped into the Mid smoke.

Zywoo wanted to help pull an angle, but the opponent threw a Link fire, which forced him to retreat.

But it wasn't a big problem, because shox was hiding inside the smoke, quietly listening to the footsteps of the opponents passing by.

The old fox already understood that he had caught an incredible opportunity!

Hearing the footsteps pass, shox slipped out of the smoke directly. Looking at the backs in front of him, he raised his M4A1 and started spraying.

"shox takes one down, two, then sprays and transfers!"

"Sigh, what a pity, the A1 bullets were still a bit short, but gla1ve only has one HP left. apEX pulled out from A2 and directly traded the kill, successfully taking this round."

The score reached 4:2.

Applause erupted in the venue; each kill by Vitality in this round was quite eye-catching.

Wanjiqi praised: "This round was played beautifully. The early design on Banana and Mid directly allowed them to get two kills, and then shox's clever positioning, plus apEX's trade kill—everyone is performing."

"Usually, everyone always thinks that Vitality is strong on this map because Beifang's Banana is very strong."

"That's naturally correct, but if A-site wasn't played well, then Vitality wouldn't be the world's number one Inferno team; it would just be Beifang being the number one Banana jailer."

Ma Xixi nodded: "That's how it is. Actually, Beifang being slightly invisible in the battle is a good thing, because if he needed to stand up and perform all the time, Vitality might really be in trouble."

Xu Beifang and Zywoo are Vitality's star players, the main carries.

But they can't be the ones performing all the time in the match, otherwise, in this level of competition, it would be very strenuous.

After all, the opponents aren't noobs.

If you can't beat them, can't you at least outrun them?

Astralis clearly prepared quite a lot for this map, but shox's form today is very good, which gave Vitality a third point of pressure, making it relatively simple to take points.

Astralis finally discovered that the situation was not looking good. In today's match, they had prepared quite a lot to limit Zywoo.

This was indeed effective; after all, Zywoo hasn't had that kind of outrageous performance from the start until now.

But the problem is that while Zywoo is limited, gla1ve can also pull his teammates away from dueling Zywoo.

But that guy Nice is still in form, and the pressure on Banana is too great.

If it were just Nice performing, that would be fine, but the problem is that shox is also in good form today and is constantly performing, which is very hard to handle.

Plus, having lost two consecutive rounds, their economy has become poor, forcing them to make an ECO adjustment.

But unfortunately, the ECO didn't result in a victory.

The match quickly entered the eighth round, and Astralis got their long guns again. This time, gla1ve chose to speed up toward Link right from the start, playing a fast-paced rush.

At this stage, the early probing from both sides has basically been completed, and all the pre-match preparations are almost gone.

Next, it's all about in-game decision-making and mind games.

Then they set their target on Zywoo. Zywoo used the big sniper to trade four of them at Link, playing so well that Magisk was already painfully covering his face.

From this round on, Astralis became very tortured.

The scene was cheering for Vitality, while their feel for the game was slowly turning cold, and their mindset was also undergoing subtle changes.

Plus, Nice started running around the map like crazy afterward; even if gla1ve wanted to grasp Vitality's positioning, it was very difficult.

Although Nice didn't have any particularly exaggerated performance afterward, Nice's stable output meant that as long as there was a chance to run into someone, Nice could kill one or two.

Only in the final round of the first half did Vitality play a bit too loosely, and A Du seized the opportunity to get a triple kill.

In the end, the first-half score was fixed at an exaggerated 12:3.

During the halftime break, Wanjiqi shook his head looking at the score: "This halftime score is far beyond our expectations."

After the BP ended, most viewers thought that Vitality might take Map 1 with a large score difference, and then in the confrontation on Inferno, both sides might fall into a grueling battle.

But the result is that Vitality's members are all in great form, and the style they played on Inferno seems to be somewhat of a counter to Astralis, completely suppressing them so they couldn't unfold their game.

And I have to say, these Vitality guys are truly fierce. Even shox seems to have found a second spring; he scored 14 kills in the first half, and in my impression, he was performing the whole time. He seems to have found the style of the former world's number one lurker—elusive and annoying to the opponent.

Ma Xixi pondered for a while: "The score gap between the two sides is huge. Astralis only got 3 rounds, which is a lot of pressure. Now it depends on the outcome of the pistol round. If they can't take the pistol round either, then this map is pretty much over."

After the halftime break, the two sides swapped sides for the second-half pistol round.

Vitality, as the attackers, bought two sets of utility, and Xu Beifang, as the team's main carry, got the right to use a P250.

Astralis, in this round, performed a 4A heavy defense. They set up at Link and A1 Shed, making a gamble.

But Vitality pushed silently all the way to Banana, and then a wave of explosive grenades unfolded.

xyp9x, defending B alone, saw Vitality's grenades and thought of many things. He took the initiative to move forward and use his body to bump into the Coffin smoke, wanting to disrupt Vitality's smoke grenade.

But he didn't expect that Vitality was throwing the grenades from the front, and Xu Beifang seized the opportunity to instantly kill him.

After confirming the advantage, Vitality didn't play loosely at all, all huddling up on the bomb site to play crossfire.

Although there was a small problem in the final duel, they still successfully took the victory in the pistol round.

The score reached 13:3.

After taking the pistol round, Astralis chose to rush Mid directly with no armor and USPs.

They were originally rushing down to give away this point, but apEX was a bit panicked facing a group of people charging at his face, and his aim failed.

This led to device getting a Mac-10, and Vitality's overall formation was directly pulled apart.

Afterward, Astralis used the USPs as human flashbangs, with people following up to trade kills, which directly helped them complete the comeback.

Xtqzzz saw this and quickly called a timeout.

"Don't relax just because we have some advantages. Don't give the opponent any chances, okay?" XTQZZZ said angrily, "Originally, if we had taken this round, we could have quickly reached match point and ended this game. Now, because of this one reckless point, it's leading to long nights and many dreams."

He was very worried that Astralis might regain their rhythm and morale because of this round.

After all, losing this round was not something that should have happened.

XTQZZZ's scolding and the sudden comeback also made them calm down.

Xu Beifang also bumped fists with his teammates: "Play well, play well. Don't give any more chances."

Second half, third round.

After being reset, Vitality's economy was a bit poor, so they were forced to do a force buy.

In this round, Xu Beifang used a Desert Eagle to take out three, and Zywoo helped trade one, but unfortunately, they only successfully planted the bomb and still lost in the clutch due to low health.

Although they planted the bomb, their economy was still not very good, so they could only try a no-armor short-gun and flash fly-up.

Unfortunately, it failed in the end.

The score reached 13:5. Vitality finally saved up enough economy for a long gun round, and both sides came to the first long gun round of the second half to play mind games.

"Coming to the long gun round, Vitality didn't buy a big sniper, but device got his big sniper out." Ma Xixi took a breath, "If that's the case, Vitality's early offense should revolve around Banana."

With a big sniper, pushing Mid is easier, and without a big sniper, it's all about using utility and AKs to exert force on Banana.

Xu Beifang arrived at Banana in the first position. He gave the Barrel fire as usual, and Zywoo behind him followed up with an HE grenade.

However, he didn't push in after throwing the fire because this was the first long gun round, and both sides had plenty of utility. Pushing into Banana immediately would definitely mean eating grenades and flashes.

After the first round of utility was given, Xu Beifang casually threw a flashbang into the Banana sky, still remaining motionless.

The next second, an HE grenade flew out from the Yellow Room and exploded in the middle of Banana.

Alright, now they could enter Banana.

He was controlling the map methodically when the sound of a big sniper shot suddenly rang out at Mid. apEX shouted: "There's a big sniper at A-site. device is really daring to peek at this timing."

With the sniper rifle at A-site, plus the utility the opponent gave on Banana, Xu Beifang judged that only two people were defending B-site.

So after considering it, he said: "Shushu, give a Yellow Wall fire. We'll push forward quickly to press them back."

Zywoo immediately threw a fire, and seeing Xu Beifang's movement to push forward, he started grabbing a flash: "Giving a Stone Slab flash."

Xu Beifang turned his back to the flash, then quickly cleared the close angles.

"Banana is still a place that must be contested. Vitality's map control speed is as fast as ever. Their movements are too skillful. Beifang is pushing forward, the utility was just thrown in place, and the speed is maxed out."

"Beifang has cleared Banana, but looking at the movements on B-site, it seems they don't intend to just defend safely at the back. Astralis still has ideas about Banana!"

gla1ve leaned against the Dead Point Water Tank and started grabbing a set of anti-rush utility.

A smoke grenade was thrown first, and then looking at xyp9x's movement at the front, he threw the flashbang.

Xu Beifang pushed quickly to the vicinity of the Barrel. Seeing the flashbang thrown into the Banana sky, he realized something was wrong.

He was too familiar with the offensive and defensive flow of Banana. Seeing the opponent's counter-smoke, he immediately knew what the opponent was going to do next.

"The opponent is going to counter-rush!"

Zywoo immediately said: "I'm holding the Headshot Position directly from the Tree Position wood pile."

Xu Beifang responded: "Then I'm turning away from the flash."

The two communicated the playstyle quickly, and the next second the flashbang exploded.

Zywoo on the Banana wood pile was fully flashed, but Xu Beifang, who had turned away from the flash at the close point, immediately turned his head and peeked at an angle to the right.

"Da-da-da!"

【Nice used AK47 to headshot kill xyp9x】

"Vitality was prepared long ago. Beifang turned his back and directly killed xyp9x who came out to counter-rush. The reaction speed was too fast!" Ma Xixi said, "gla1ve is now throwing a fire back. Although he forced Beifang to retreat, the order of execution was completely wrong."

In Ma Xixi's understanding, if gla1ve had thrown the Stone Slab smoke, then the Barrel fire, and then the counter-flash, then even if xyp9x died, he would definitely have been able to trade Xu Beifang.

However, MO on the side shook his head: "He couldn't do it."

"Because Vitality's pushing speed is very fast. If he didn't seize the time to counter-rush this wave, then Beifang would use flashbangs to clear this B-tunnel and force Astralis back to the bomb site."

"He threw a smoke grenade, Beifang was already alert. If he threw the fire, there would be no chance to throw the flash, and it might have ended up burning a 'daddy' out."

Ma Xixi thought about it and found that it was indeed possible.

If the close point at the Barrel was burned, Xu Beifang would either retreat or push forward to duel xyp9x.

Judging by the form of the two today, Xu Beifang would very likely directly kill xyp9x and then kill gla1ve as well.

If that really happened, Astralis's counter-rush would be even more embarrassing.

Seeing the kill information in the top right, apEX immediately asked if they could speed up.

But Xu Beifang was forced back by that incendiary grenade, and it was too late to speed up: "The opponent might have already rotated back."

In CSGO mind games, time is always the most wonderful part. Sometimes it's just a mistake in thought, and it might be the loss of timing.

If they didn't rush in directly in the first wave, the difficulty afterward would be very high.

apEX was also straightforward: "Not a big problem, then let's just go over and hit A."

Thanks to Xu Beifang's kill, Astralis only has 4 people left, and there is only one person in B-site. At this time, they might call people back to reinforce.

Then there would be no pressure for them to attack A-site.

Listening to apEX's command, they left Zywoo to watch the flank, and the others started pushing toward A-site.

Because the focus of map control in the early stage was on Banana, shox was very careful and didn't control A2 deeply.

After Xu Beifang was in position, he had Jack boost him onto VIP, and coordinated with shox to clear A2.

"Vitality didn't rush after getting the kill, but instead decided to turn back to hit A." Ma Xixi looked at the match UI and took a breath, "But is hitting A this wave really a good choice?"

"gla1ve is quite bold. After losing a person in B-site, he didn't let his teammates reinforce B-site, but instead set up a 3A1 structure in A-site. He gambled on a positioning that focused on A-site in the second timing."

Although Vitality has a numerical advantage now, Astralis's positioning is really meant to deal with a fast A-site rush.

Now Astralis has one person standing above and below the Shed, and device has his big sniper holding a direct angle at A1. The outcome of this round is really hard to say.

Through the commentator's explanation, the audience in the venue also understood that the outcome of this round might just be in this confrontation.

Astralis fans all looked at the big screen nervously because they understood that whether Astralis has a chance to continue chasing points might depend on this round.

If this round is taken, the morale will really be up, and Astralis will be able to rely on their resilience to chase points like crazy.

The front-line members were all in position. Jack gave a Link smoke, and apEX followed up with a Link back-site smoke.

Zywoo had already arrived at the Sewer, ready to give a flashbang for the back of A1.

"Vitality is preparing to start the explosive grenades, but A Du on the Shed is turning away from the flash in advance, and Magisk under the Shed is in a position that won't be flashed. This wave Vitality might be in bad shape!"

Everyone was ready, and at apEX's command, they started the synchronized attack.

The moment Xu Beifang rushed out of the Boiler Room, he saw a fly-head at A1 covering his eyes fire a shot with a big sniper.

The opponent retreated very quickly, so he didn't bother with the A1 big sniper, but instead pulled out an angle listening to the gunshot.

With this look, he saw one person standing above and below the Shed, and these two people were outputting wildly at his teammates behind him.

Xu Beifang heard the gunfire from the Shed first, so his crosshair also went toward the Shed. Looking at the fly-head firing on the Shed, he fired a burst, killed him instantly, and then pulled down instantly.

"Da-da-da-da-da-da!"

"Vitality started the explosion directly, but Astralis's design meant that not many of them were flashed. A Du and Magisk were outputting wildly..." Wanjiqi sped up his speech, but suddenly he saw the director cut to Xu Beifang's perspective. Xu Beifang, holding an AK47, killed A Du on the Shed in an exaggerated posture, then continued to spray downward, killing Magisk under the Shed as well.

"A Du and Magisk were outputting wildly at the Terrorists in Mid, no one noticed Xu Beifang in the Boiler Room, but what kind of spray transfer is this!!" Wanjiqi was shocked, "He killed everyone above and below the Shed in one burst!"

"device, who recovered his vision, wanted to peek again, but he ran into Nice's spray bullets and was instantly killed as well!!"

Ma Xixi laughed on the side: "Holy crap brothers, this guy used a spray transfer to draw a horizontally reversed 'L' in the air!"

"The speed of Beifang's movement this wave even saved Jack and apEX in Mid!"

"gla1ve is still on his way wanting to retake, but he doesn't need to retake anymore, because this clutch is simply unplayable!"

【???】

【Did he just spin around?】

【This transfer positioning is too scary, how does he control the trajectory like an arm?】

【Why did no one shoot Nice this wave!】

【They missed the person they shouldn't have missed the most】

【Nice!!!】

【This is the charm of the world's number one, every skill of his is maxed out!】

【This spray transfer, he didn't even use 20 bullets】

According to common sense, Astralis made this design, and Vitality fell into the trap.

This wave of firefight was quite disadvantageous for Vitality; after all, this 3A1 design is very restrictive for an A-site rush.

But they didn't expect that Xu Beifang would kill all the enemies in his field of vision at light speed.

This is really a bit abnormal.

"Nice!! Nice!!"

"Nice!! Nice!!"

The whole venue started chanting Xu Beifang's ID. At this moment, the audience at the scene was conquered by Xu Beifang's personal ability.

And in the Astralis battle room, after losing this local confrontation.

The three players in A-site looked at each other.

They wanted to say something, but in the end, they said nothing.

gla1ve comforted them that Inferno wasn't over yet, but they knew in their hearts that the morale they had finally gained from the comeback had been broken.

There was no chance left in this match.

It was no different from what they predicted. In the next few rounds, their defense started leaking everywhere, and they were basically pushed all the way by Vitality.

The final score was fixed at 16:5.

On this map, which was once their strongest, they were crushed by Vitality by a large score.

gla1ve looked at the audience cheering for Vitality off the stage, and for a moment, he was a bit lost.