Chapter 449: Side Story 4: Nice

NIKO agreed to Xu Beifang's invitation, but in the end, he still raised his own question:

"Why did you come back after these few years?"

Xu Beifang gave the explanation that he wanted to rest at the time.

But in fact, this reason is a bit hard to say.

At first, he was bored sitting in prison at COL, and he did want to rest, but he didn't want to rest for such a long time at the beginning.

The reason he could rest for so long is because his life state changed.

Secondly, he felt that the CSGO professional arena was meaningless.

Maybe it's not just him who felt this way; many people in the circle at that time must have had this feeling.

Because at that point in time, the CSGO professional arena had already entered a late-stage state.

Even if the vacation company was very active in updating a few new service maps, it couldn't change the state of the entire arena.

After all, the lifespan of this game has been more than 20 years, plus under the leadership of "roll kings" like Xu Beifang and ropz, the depth of the entire profession is being continuously developed.

The tactics and playstyles with relatively high fault tolerance and sufficiently wide application in the arena have all been researched out.

There are no new tricks.

This led to the confrontation in the professional arena becoming relatively formulaic.

Both sides make their own moves in the early stage, exchange fire, then start explosive bombing, and then enter the clutch or save-weapon state.

Plus, those old guys in the professional arena have more or less made up for their regrets, and honors have slowly been won, so the fighting spirit is generally not high.

They play without much energy, and the audience watches it painfully.

Xu Beifang's state has always been quite good. He feels that after returning, as long as he goes through a period of high-intensity confrontation, he can pull his level up.

But the arena was too boring, so he didn't have the desire to go back, so he just took a vacation at home to travel.

This state was maintained until the announcement of CS2 news. Everyone fought for the last Major of CSGO, and countless veterans came out of the arena for the last dance.

But Xu Beifang was more watching. He is different from those old guys. He is 26 years old now and is still in his prime.

As long as CS2 is interesting enough later, he can still return to the professional arena to play for a few years.

Then came the arrival of the brand-new version of CS2.

The range of smoke grenades and the atmosphere of incendiary grenades expanded, the overall feel of firearms changed, map models and pixel points were reset, and it changed from 16 rounds to win to 13 rounds to win.

The entire game has undergone earth-shaking changes.

It has to be said that although V-company likes to vacation, they have ideas for the game.

It's just that when CS2 first arrived, because it was a semi-finished product, it made many CS players painfully switch to Valorant.

However, with subsequent updates, CS2 slowly met everyone's expectations.

And in the professional arena, with the arrival of CS2, countless changes have also occurred.

For example, the little "Nan Niang" donk who emerged. This guy had a performance that almost equaled Xu Beifang's previous record at Cologne last year. Plus, donk once said in an interview that his idol was him, and he often watched Xu Beifang's match recordings to learn, so donk was also teased by netizens as "a graduate of the Nice Academy Rocket Class."

Nowadays, donk is also the brightest new star in the arena, and he has also achieved Xu Beifang's achievements back then - data leading by a cliff.

However, donk's leading by a cliff also has a premise, that is, it must specifically refer to riflers.

Because in today's arena, it is a pattern of confrontation between two kings.

Xu Beifang's former good partner Zywoo can still compete with him.

If it were just like this, he would only be emotional that a fierce person appeared in the professional arena, but he wouldn't have the idea of wanting to go back.

What really made him want to return to the arena was the explosion of the youth storm Mouz in the arena.

The new generation's strongest IGL siuhy, with his instruction manual, took Jimmy, Baolan, and even the criticized torzsi to win several championships.

On NAVI's side, Little Li also realized his dream in the first Major of CS2, becoming a new Major champion.

Plus the CS2 version has gradually stabilized, and the transfer period has arrived.

Xu Beifang feels that now is the best time for his return!

So after confirming the idea of returning, he started pulling people directly.

It looks like he pulled a team together very casually, but he also went through strict analysis.

First of all, NIKO is at odds with the club.

Actually, NIKO's relationship with G2 has been quite good in the past two years, but with the departure of G2's former CEO, G2 club likes to do some things that are not there.

Plus these off-seasons, they didn't actively come to NIKO to talk about renewal.

NIKO complained to Xu Beifang several times before.

Xu Beifang was originally preparing to return, so he included NIKO in the lineup. As long as NIKO joins, his team's firepower points will not be lacking.

And JKS is a quite good player in the lurker position, plus he played in G2 before.

Although he was finally "palaced" away by G2, NIKO still missed that period of time.

Chicken Brother is mainly about combat effectiveness.

As for the last sniper, he didn't plan to have a sniper in the lineup at the beginning, or he really planned to find S1mple at the beginning.

But he thought about it carefully at the time.

S1mple, NIKO, JKS, Elige.

If these four IDs are really taken out, that is definitely synonymous with combat effectiveness.

But if they encounter a disadvantageous situation, it will be fun.

In a disadvantageous situation, S1mple likes to put pressure on teammates.

NIKO likes to pressure himself.

JKS chooses to close the microphone.

Elige closes himself off.

What's the point of this!

Although the paper combat effectiveness is strong, the match ultimately requires five people to play together.

So Xu Beifang chose to remove S1mple and chose a guy who was in the contract gap and could liven up the atmosphere among acquaintances.

Danking entered his field of vision.

On the one hand, he really wanted to play brother CS with him, and on the other hand, because he has this talent in livening up the atmosphere.

With him in the team, plus Xu Beifang actively mobilizing, even in a disadvantageous situation, it's not so self-closing.

Now everything is ready, and he is a bit looking forward to what expression netizens will have when they see their lineup.

For the transfer period in the first half of 2023, netizens are still quite looking forward to it.

They all like their teams to be able to strengthen, and like the players they like to be able to go to suitable teams to shine.

After all, entering the first transfer of CS2, Shiro, a former Gambit player who transferred to C9, used practical actions to prove what is called "choice is greater than effort."

Shiro's experience is also relatively complicated.

He was a member of the Gambit team's youth training before, and because the main team of Gambit played too poorly, the entire main team was disbanded, and their youth training went up in a wave.

When CSGO entered the online period, this group of young teenagers once shone for a long time.

Let's put it this way.

At their peak, they could hammer NAVI two BO3s a day.

You have to know that NAVI at that time was still led by S1mple.

However, the problem with young players is mentality. This group of players didn't show the level they should have after truly entering offline, and finally were defeated by NAVI in that Stockholm Major.

Later, with the influence of war, Gambit was politically influenced, and later the entire team was acquired by the North American C9 team.

Later, because there were no results for too long, internal contradictions arose in the team. Shiro couldn't bear the harassment and finally transferred to Green Dragon during the CS2 period, and then under donk's leadership, won several championships in a row.

He proved with his actions what is called "choice is greater than effort."

So in this transfer period, many people also hope that the players they like can learn from Shiro.

However, the first news of the transfer period blinded their eyes.

That is Heroic and Astralis had a wave of player changes.

If it was just changing players, it wouldn't shock many people.

The main reason is that the two young players in the Heroic team, stavn and jabbi, asked the management to kick Cadian, otherwise they didn't want to continue renewing the contract.

stavn and Jabbi, these two young players, were almost brought up by Cadian, this veteran, single-handedly. This wave can be considered a backstab from "disciples." No one will have a good impression of this kind of player.

But if it was just like this, everyone would just be shocked.

Later, the management kicked Cadian, and these two young players still didn't renew the contract.

This directly broke the management's defense, and they directly exposed the things of these two people on the official Twitter.

Fans in the circle directly entered the Twitter of these two players to rush, because this real-life version of "Farmer and the Snake" is really too disgusting.

Then it was Col's parent company acquiring Faze.

Knowing this news, Xu Beifang was stunned. He originally thought that this wave of building a Universe Battleship was enough, but he didn't expect Col's company to think more.

I want the Universe Battleship, and I also want the Galaxy Battleship!

Then it was Cadian transferring to Liquid, Director returning to Liquid, English number one Meizi joining Vitality......

As for the rumors, there are quite a lot.

The most is the Oil Team.

Because the Saudis plan to hold an Esports World Cup next year, they also spent a lot of money to run a CS club.

They hadn't confirmed the lineup here, so they directly paved the way with money.

The general meaning is, no matter what your salary was before, coming here will at least double it for you.

If you think it's not enough, then match the highest salary in the industry.

Of course, because the person in charge of the team is Zonic, the coach of the former Astralis and later Vitality era, he rarely reaches out.

Only true super players will have this treatment when joining.

The entry of the Oil Team made the news of the entire transfer period become relatively messy.

For example, Xu Beifang himself saw that he himself, NIKO, S1mple, device, m0nesy, and even donk had the idea of transferring to the Oil Team.

This made Xu Beifang not know what to do.

He didn't receive the news either.

However, as the transfer period entered the final stage.

NIKO's side had not been confirmed for a long time, which made many people anxious.

Whether staying in G2 or going to the Oil Team, there must be a statement.

And NIKO, who was in the center of their attention, after careful consideration, still followed his inner choice and came to the COL base to meet with other members.

NIKO thought he had considered it for a long time, maybe he was the last one to arrive.

But he didn't expect that he brought Chicken Brother to be happy for several days, and Xu Beifang brought others to arrive late.

As soon as they met, NIKO saw the pink-haired dancer goblin in front of him waving and greeting him excitedly: "Hi! NIKO!"

"Hello, hello." Watching the pink-haired dancer goblin pick up his phone and start taking selfies, calmly adjusting the angle and posing.

This smooth scene made Danking sigh, "Is this the calmness of an old-generation artist?"

NIKO couldn't understand Chinese, but watching Danking put away his phone, he asked thoughtfully: "Need an autograph?"

Danking finally understood, it turns out NIKO treated him as a fan!

Taking photos, group photos, and autographs in one go!

He raised his head unwillingly and asked: "Am I that unknown?"

Xu Beifang comforted: "Maybe it's this pink hair that made him not recognize you, you are still quite famous."

Danking shook his head: "I also said that I would start from scratch after entering the new team, and specifically dyed my hair, but I was still careless."

Xu Beifang also followed up with an introduction, and after mentioning the ID, NIKO also remembered.

After all, in many of Xu Beifang's live streaming clips, there was Danking's figure, and he still had an impression.

A few people chatted casually and soon walked into Col's base.

After Danking entered Col, he looked at everything around him like someone who had never seen the world.

But others in the room didn't say anything.

After all, when they first came, they also felt this way.

Col's base is exceptionally atmospheric.

There is a cafe, fruit area, game area, trophy display area in the lobby, and even many Col employees are playing PS5 and the like on the projection. The whole space is exceptionally large, and various equipment is also quite sufficient.

Xu Beifang said: "When we are tired of training, we can come down and play casually."

Danking's painful mask came out: "What kind of bitter life did I live in Tyloo before!"

Col base's equipment is indeed luxurious, and Xu Beifang was also shocked when he first came.

As long as they can think of recreational facilities, such as Switch, PS5, racing simulation equipment, arcade equipment, pool tables......

"Experience it slowly later." Xu Beifang patted Danking on the shoulder and then privately chatted with his boss on his phone.

Soon he took them one by one to negotiate with the boss.

His own contract has always been with Col, now he just needs to renew it, it just took some time to look at the contract later.

During these few days, the members of Col are now gradually getting familiar with each other.

When eating in the base restaurant, Danking couldn't help but ask: "NIKO, didn't you play brother CS with your cousin, hunter, before? Didn't hunter keep you?"

NIKO smiled bitterly: "If I could, of course I would choose to continue playing with him, but I have already touched the peak, and my state is sliding down. I don't have many years left in the arena. I must find a team that can give me the motivation to fight."

Although G2 has m0nesy there, in a real top-level confrontation, two output points are not enough.

Hunter's performance is not stable enough now, and hooxi is indeed good as an IGL, but his marksmanship is too poor, which leads to a lack of frontal firepower in G2.

Until now, he doesn't understand why JKS was kicked. Obviously, JKS is a very good lurker, at least much better than nexa as a lurker.

Staying in G2 and seeing no future, he could only find his own way out.

Brother CS is good, but he is still very eager for the championship in his heart.

He doesn't want to be the runner-up again and again.

Now this lineup of Col, except for Danking who is not very familiar, he highly recognizes the strength of others.

He also feels that this lineup can make a name for itself.

Others heard NIKO's answer and understood more or less. Except for Elige, others also had this idea.

After being kicked by G2, JKS also had invitations from other teams, but he wanted to go to a tier-one team because he knew he was older and had no chance to fight from tier-two again.

And Danking also understands that he can't make a name for himself in Asia by himself, and he was invited by his own brother.

He wants to progress

Ji Ge was simpler; his contract was already at Col.

He couldn't run even if he wanted to, besides.

Does he need to run? He's lucky to have even gotten into this lineup, okay?

Now that the contracts are mostly sorted out, they are about to start training.

JKS was eating steak when he suddenly looked up at Xu Beifang, "By the way, Beifang, with this lineup, who's going to be the commander?"

He had suddenly remembered that this lineup didn't have a particularly outstanding commander.

Elige tentatively said: "How about a structure without a commander?"

Entering CS2, plus his teammates were all veterans, he felt that relying on everyone's adaptability and established tactics, it wasn't impossible to play.

"No commander won't work!"

"Beifang, what exactly are you thinking? You found a bunch of gunners like us, and without a commander, how are we supposed to fight those gunners in the top tier?" NIKO stomped his foot and glared at Xu Beifang.

Xu Beifang smiled calmly: "Haha, it's simple! I'll just be the commander!"

After saying this, Xu Beifang's leader aura was no longer hidden and revealed itself.

"I used to be the combat commander and tactical designer for Vitality!"

In an instant, the room fell silent again.

Xu Beifang wore a blue and white jersey, his hair flying, a smile on his lips, as if he had returned to that stage.

His eyes were full of determination, and he suddenly chanted:

"In my youth I knew the hardships of the game, yet I still let Dou Dou drift among the clouds!"

"Charging head-on all the way, my body like lightning; I walk alone through the sea of gunfire!"

"Everyone speaks of the commander's tears, but I rouse the courage of the gunners!"

"Today I point my sword at the commander's seat, surpassing Dou, surpassing Hu, and even surpassing all!"

At this moment, the top-tier gunner who broke the myth that being a commander is a gunner's graveyard finally took his first step back into CS.

PS: A bit crazy, don't say anything, I'm having a barbecue...