Chapter 456: 11Nice riding NIKO, invincible under the heavens!

Xu Beifang slowly woke from his slumber. Perhaps it was the return to the competitive stage, but his sleep quality last night was surprisingly good.

It was actually normal; after all, this team was assembled by him. Although the roster was incredibly powerful, they hadn't faced top-tier teams yet, so he didn't know what level they were at currently.

Yesterday, they successfully defeated Faze on Inferno. While it was partly due to the opponent's lack of familiarity with their playstyle, they had won nonetheless.

Moreover, throughout this confrontation, the entire team operated according to his ideas; it could be said that the entire match went very smoothly.

The players on the team didn't have too many conflicting ideas, and the commands he issued were executed quickly.

In terms of individual ability, although NIKO didn't get many kills, his coordination on Banana was spot on. Two outstanding Banana players, they both understood each other's thoughts very well and often produced tacit cooperation.

As for the A Site, the bald-headed Ji Ge was truly powerful. In the mid-round, he could often withstand the pressure of the opponent's solo lurks and provide stable output.

As a Sniper, Danking was also very proactive in seeking kills. Although he still lacked experience in some decision-making and positioning, he would be capable of great things once he adapted.

JKS didn't show much in this confrontation, as the frontal engagement went smoothly and didn't require the Lurker to transform into a "responsibility god." However, in the advantageous match, he also had many bright spots.

Overall, they didn't encounter any particularly serious problems.

"It's just that my personal positioning and playstyle need adjustment; I was a bit too conservative," Xu Beifang thought.

After transitioning into an In-Game Leader, he was still adapting to the changes between these two roles and needed further adjustments.

This wasn't a big problem; after all, it was a newly formed team, and they definitely needed constant confrontation and adjustment.

A powerful team is always grown through intense confrontation.

Although they won yesterday's match, Xu Beifang still saw many shortcomings.

After running this information through his mind, he got up, put on his gear, went downstairs to jog around the hotel, and awakened this beautiful day.

After a 40-minute jog, he returned to the hotel. While waiting for his sweat to dry, he boredly took out his phone to check the recent trends in the community.

He didn't know until he looked, but he actually discovered some important news.

For instance, Valve suddenly released an announcement in the early hours of today.

The gist of the announcement was that they had fixed certain bugs and then announced that Overpass would be removed from the active map pool in upcoming tournaments. Considering they hadn't decided which map to add, they announced the temporary return of the classic old map, 'Dust 2'.

This was bombshell news, and the impact on the entire tier-one professional scene was huge.

So, during breakfast, Xu Beifang brought this up with his teammates.

"Dust 2 is returning?" JKS frowned. "I thought a new map would appear."

Regarding Valve's adjustments, these active professional players all had a feeling about it.

After all, activity on the competitive stage doesn't just rely on players developing new tactics and techniques; it also relies on Valve adjusting the maps, removing those that have been fully developed, and introducing new ones.

CS2 had been out for a while, and several new maps had been updated, so JKS thought Valve would come up with some new tricks.

Danking, slurping noodles on the side, asked upon hearing this: "Dust 2 won't suddenly be added for IEM Chengdu, right?"

The coach, who was tasting a steamed bun, was speechless. "Of course not, otherwise those Overpass specialist teams would protest."

If Dust 2 were added to the active map pool and Overpass removed, and if the tournament rules took effect immediately, many teams' mentalities would explode.

Therefore, such changes in tournament rules generally do not affect matches that have already officially started.

"I remember it being like that, I'm just afraid I remembered wrong." Danking laughed again. "But it doesn't matter, we have Dust 2 masters in this room! This wave is taking off directly!!"

Hearing Tie Dan say this, the others in the room couldn't help but smile.

Dust 2 is a relatively pure aim-duel map, and their team has no shortage of anything else, just plenty of gunners.

Although it requires high demands on the IGL in stalemates, yesterday's match made them understand that Xu Beifang's leadership is trustworthy.

In this way, even if Dust 2 appears, it's a good thing for them.

They might even be able to pull it out for use after just a little training.

"Of course, this will definitely be a disadvantage for us." Xu Beifang still saw the key to the problem. "Because we now have to train on the old version while also spending time preparing for Dust 2."

During the tournament schedule, this is unavoidable.

They could choose not to train Dust 2 at all during this IEM Chengdu, but other teams with half a month of advance training would definitely lead them in proficiency.

Elige had finished breakfast and was now in deep thought. "And several teams will become very strong because of the appearance of Dust 2, for example, Big..."

In the professional sphere, Dust 2 and Big are almost two bound maps. Although everyone later discovered that Big's Dust 2 was just so-so, Big's Dust 2 was ultimately a specialty, and the level was still very high.

Among current top teams, Green Dragon's Dust 2 also has some substance. The Dust 2 confrontation between Green Dragon and Faze during the CSGO era remains a classic match to this day.

"What are you afraid of!" Danking finally finished his breakfast and looked at Xu Beifang, saying confidently, "Others are just Dust 2 specialists, we have a top-tier Dust 2 God King here!"

"The holder of several Dust 2 records is still on our team."

A group of people suddenly realized: that's right.

Compared to those specialists, their current captain is the real heavyweight.

On the Dust 2 map, Xu Beifang has developed several utility lineups that can be called perverted and has also produced countless eye-catching operations.

The current half-time kill record, full-match kill record, and even the map rating holder for Dust 2 is the guy next to them.

Regarding the biggest beneficiary of Dust 2's return, it seems it really is them.

Thinking of this, the mood of the whole group improved.

"I'm actually not worried about the return of Dust 2." NIKO frowned and said with a serious face, "I'm just thinking, GL, that Overpass specialist team, knowing Overpass is gone, won't they retire on the spot?"

Although what NIKO said was outrageous, the description of "retiring on the spot" was a bit too apt; it was truly hard to hold back laughter.

"It's just a bit of a pity." NIKO became a bit resentful again.

Xu Beifang gave a puzzled look.

"Dust 2 returning is indeed good, but why isn't Cache returning?" NIKO wailed directly.

For this former Forklift King, he really wanted to improve on Cache.

NIKO's two most eye-catching highlight reels were when he used a Desert Eagle on Cache to pull off two inhuman five-kill clutches.

On the Cache map, he felt he could truly carry at will.

"Cache has no chance of returning." Xu Beifang interrupted NIKO's delusions. "The Cache map creator doesn't accept Valve's buyout, which means if Cache appears once in a tournament, Valve has to pay the Cache creator once. Who can stand that?"

NIKO shrugged: "People always have to have some regrets."

He actually had psychological expectations that Cache couldn't return, but regret is just like that; it always makes people look forward to it.

Just like how he failed many, many times at the Major, yet he would always look forward to the next time he could prove his worth and show his style at a Major.

"Everyone's finished eating, right? Then it's about time to start today's training." Coach T. C reminded.

The group of people also started their daily training routine one after another.

On the European team side, morning training is actually similar; most of it is individual basic practice to maintain a basic state for the day.

The afternoon stage is for practice matches, but since they are in the tournament schedule, they don't need practice matches and can go directly to the venue to compete.

After the morning warm-up training ended, while waiting for lunch, Xu Beifang leaned on the sofa and scrolled through his phone.

The first day of the IEM Chengdu tournament had officially ended. As the first offline tournament since Xu Beifang's return, the number of viewers was quite high.

On the recording posted by Wanjiqi on Bilibili, it already had 20,000 views in just one day.

Below, there were quite a few people "trolling."

【I've discovered that everything might be destined. Look, the core of COL is now destined to belong to niCe, nikO, eLige】

【Don't be too outrageous. I can only say that today's Inferno was indeed powerful, but it's not yet at the level to be hyped to that extent】

【Evil Doctor NIKO tried to create the perfect IGL, and in the end, he found Nice!】

【I can only say, too much IGL, Beishen!】

【Beishen is truly the only true god. During the GO era, he suppressed the world with force. Coming to the CS2 era, is he going to evolve into suppressing these old rivals with strategy too?】

Besides the trolling and praise, there were also many players discussing the level exposed by COL in this first confrontation.

First, what made their eyes light up was definitely Xu Beifang's performance after his return.

A former star player returning doesn't mean the performance will be very good.

S1mple, who had hidden away to run an esports class, had already demonstrated this once. He was bought by the Oil Team to be a firefighter, but the final effect could only be described as unsatisfactory.

It left many viewers who expected S1mple to explode with performance somewhat disappointed.

But Xu Beifang's return this time, at least in this match against Faze, saw him put up quite good data.

In terms of aiming, although there wasn't the kind of terrifying performance from before, it gave fans the feeling of returning to basics. He played smarter now; the kills he should get, he simply wouldn't miss.

And because of the issue of transitioning to IGL, it sparked even more discussion.

【Calling an expert, can Nice's transition to IGL succeed?】

【After watching the first day's match, I personally tend to think it has already succeeded. Nice once served as an IGL when he was at Vitality, it's just that back then he was mostly assisting apEX in executing commands, but you've all seen what apEX's IGL became in the following years】

【Indeed, Dou Dou's IGL only has the occasional hard aim as a merit, but aim is already a foundation for Beifang. Today's Inferno against Faze directly blew up Faze with mid-round decision-making, which is a bit scary】

Even Wanjiqi couldn't help but speak up below: 【Looking at it now, Nice's IGL level is indeed very good. You have to know, the most outstanding point of Karrigan's IGL is mid-round decision-making, but he was blown up by Beifang in his strongest area. Even if it's just one match, it completely proves that Beifang has the potential to become an IGL.】

He later added: 【However, Beifang has no psychological burden. Even if the transition isn't successful, just playing his original style is enough to be eye-catching.】

Xu Beifang glanced at the time; it was replied to at 4 AM today.

Have you ever seen Bilibili at 4 AM?

Well, Zhutourou has.

Perhaps Wanjiqi was a bit high on the conversation last night and started interacting directly in the comment section.

A fan asked below: 【Wan God, give a sharp review, is the COL roster a scam or a galaxy battleship?】

Wanjiqi replied: 【I personally think it's a galaxy battleship. After all, in this first offline match for COL, Beifang transformed into a ship-breaker and tore Faze apart. And you need to know, COL is still in a period of integration, whether it's Beifang's IGL or other members, they are all in the adaptation stage. In this stage, they can already beat Faze. When they truly enter the honeymoon period, how terrifying will they be?】

【When Beifang debuted, everyone liked to call him Lü Bu. Looking at it now, Beifang completely has the potential to be the world's number one gunner IGL, plus NIKO, the world's number one entry fragger, it forms Lü Bu riding Dian Wei, invincible under the heavens!】

Below was a photo of Lü Bu riding a horse, but the commenting fans photoshopped Xu Beifang and NIKO's heads onto Lü Bu and the horse respectively, which was quite amusing.

【Nalan Tianlu!】

The subsequent comments quickly went off-topic.

Xu Beifang couldn't help but smile as he watched.

However, he didn't care much about the netizens' evaluations.

Especially for titles like "World's Number One IGL," he had no psychological fluctuations.

He wanted to be the IGL for this team simply because it was appropriate. He had no dream of being an IGL; it was just that calling the commands and tactics himself made it easier to win the game.

But he was quite appreciative of the netizens' praise.

It's just that he wouldn't think of himself as truly the "World's Number One Gunner IGL" because of this.

Just like what he thought when he woke up and reviewed the match this morning, he felt his IGL was still not flexible enough, and the playstyle of everyone on the roster still needed adjustment.

After all, they are a professional team, not just five players getting together to play a game.

When facing Faze, he focused more on mid-round decision-making, while neglecting his own strength—early-round entry design.

And he hadn't arranged his own position well either.

Previously, he considered that as an IGL, he couldn't consume too many resources, otherwise, others on the team might play very uncomfortably.

But thinking carefully, he actually wasn't that resource-hungry; it was just that when he was at Vitality, he needed to consume resources to create miracles.

In other words, on the defensive side, he could actually put his position further forward, try to deal more damage in the early round, and then let others take over the clutch.

He switched to the 5E mobile app to check the situation of other teams in the first round yesterday.

First was the confrontation between two domestic teams. LVG faced FURIA on the first day, and the final map selection was Ancient.

In the end, they still died to the cliché problem of domestic teams—details!

In high-intensity confrontation, LVG's details were squeezed out of shape. When attacking, people would always die inexplicably.

Once a head count appeared in the match, the entire team's formation would instantly fall into chaos.

Immediately after was Tyloo. On the first day, Tyloo encountered Mouz, led by the new generation IGL siuhy.

They thought Tyloo would die silently in this match, but unexpectedly, Tyloo achieved quite good results.

They once brought the score to 11:11, but unfortunately, they couldn't hold their breath and ultimately lost the match in a long-drawn-out way.

Xu Beifang was quite surprised, so he took the initiative to find the match recording and watched it on his computer.

Halfway through the match, he heard Danking on the side say speechlessly: "259 this..."

"This..."

Danking's complaint got stuck because he was completely confused. He was also watching idly, seeing Xu Beifang watching Tyloo's match, and this chase for points almost brought out his Tyloo soul.

But in the critical round, 259 faced a Tec-9 and didn't kill one person with a full spray at a side angle.

He really found it hard to understand that a professional player was sitting in front of the screen.

Then, in the final round, he saw 259 at the near point of the Long Pipe, and with his teammate having already crippled the Terrorist, he pulled out and couldn't follow up with a shot.

"259 really should practice his aim. This aim isn't even as good as Karrigan's, right?" Danking was already wearing a mask of pain.

Whether it was him or Xu Beifang, they always held a glimmer of hope for Tyloo; after all, they had watched Tyloo achieve some results back in the day.

Unexpectedly, these hopes slowly turned into despair.

Honestly, Mouz is a team that can enter the Major Top 8 with a 3-0 record.

Tyloo being able to play like this against Mouz is actually not bad; one could even hype it up as "losing with honor."

But always being just a little bit short makes people feel very disgusted.

It's like your strength can get you into the finals of major tournaments, but you're always just a little bit short of winning the championship in every final.

The runner-up result is already outstanding enough, but one is always unwilling to accept it.

"This scene gave me a bit of PTSD." Tie Dan complained. "When I was at Tyloo, it was always like this."

He hadn't returned to Tyloo, and part of it was because of this.

When he was at Tyloo, every offline tournament he relied on his own performance, and there was always some hope, a chance to pull off an upset.

But it was often just a little bit short.

Xu Beifang smiled: "So you can't be lazy in training. Even if it's just to let you get one more kill, if you always feel it's 'good enough' in training, you'll always be a little bit short at critical moments."

Danking was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Why do you want to be Yang Jian again? As expected, the old TV shows are still interesting."

He changed the subject, but Xu Beifang understood that Danking had listened.

He continued to watch the confrontation of other teams. After Tyloo and LVG both lost in the first round, they coincidentally bumped into each other in the second round.

And perhaps because their spirit was broken by Mouz, in this internal civil war, Tyloo played quite poorly, and LVG ultimately won.

C9 encountered the Australian team flyquest in the first round; this Australian team was the former Grayhound roster.

Everyone thought C9 could easily win, but unexpectedly, a major upset occurred. C9 was beaten up by this Australian team on the Ancient map.

Then there were the other two veteran strong teams in Group B, Astralis.

To be honest, if they faced them, Xu Beifang felt there wouldn't be any pressure.

This team had also just undergone a reorganization.

The "snake and rat" brothers, stavn and jabbi, had joined.

The team that could truly put pressure on him was now scattered across various teams.

The members of Astralis in their prime, just like their system, melted silently into the CS circle.

Now only device is left on this team, and he has also transitioned to an IGL for this tournament.

To be honest, the combat power of this A Team is not weak either.

Although the reputation of the snake and rat brothers is bad, their strength is indeed there; otherwise, A Team wouldn't have thought of poaching them during the off-season.

Plus the human limit device, A Team has a total of three TOP-level players, and this level is quite high.

But comparing paper strength, COL is now only stronger, not weaker.

But very unfortunately, the opponent COL encountered in the second round of the group stage was not A Team, but the opponent they least wanted to meet—VP.

Xu Beifang knew VP very well; after all, Jame's playstyle is quite interesting. Question Jame, understand Jame, become...

No, no one can become Jame yet.

Jame's playstyle is quite special, and this team's floor can be said to be one of the highest among tier-one teams.

And Jame also proved with his strength that his playstyle is feasible even at a Major.

But since they met, they would try hard to play every round well and try to take victory from VP's hands.

Starting from the second round, the group stage BP became a BO3 format.

After three rounds of BP, the final match maps were locked on Overpass, Inferno, and Vertigo.

Overpass is one of VP's specialty maps. By logic, they wouldn't want to let it through, but COL's map pool isn't rich enough at this stage, and they default to banning Anubis.

So Overpass was forced to be let through.

However, from the moment they entered Overpass, they felt the gap in proficiency with VP on this map. VP could always get kills by trading or positioning, and they would have fewer people as they played.

Although they relied on strong clutch ability, both sides went back and forth in the early stages, but as the battle line lengthened, the gap slowly appeared.

Especially after entering the second half, failing to win the pistol round had too much impact. They had no room for error, and although they managed to get two points later, they were still pushed over in one wave.

The score of Map 1 was locked at 8:13.

After entering Inferno, the situation directly reversed. On this map, COL played relatively comfortably.

Xu Beifang also completely released himself. Often, he and NIKO would cooperate to blow up a site, and others just had to come over to plant the bomb. VP was also straightforward; many times when they saw an area cleared, they didn't even think about retaking and started saving weapons directly.

But saving weapons too many times, while providing room for error, is meaningless if you can't score.

In the end, on the Inferno map, Xu Beifang and NIKO combined for 50 kills.

Locking the score at 13:7.

Then the match entered Vertigo, which many viewers dislike.

The offense and defense of Vertigo are relatively boring, and VP's matches are also relatively boring. Putting these two buffs together is a bit of torture.

But on this Map 3 that decided the outcome, VP's Jame and Fame were performing crazily.

On the COL side, Xu Beifang was still killing crazily on this map, but because of VP's strong discipline, he didn't dare to be too arrogant.

Fortunately, there was Elige as his solid backing, making him feel less pressure.

But the problem was that NIKO's performance on this map wasn't good. Under such high pressure, he was ultimately a bit anxious and made mistakes many times.

As a Sniper, Danking wasn't anxious at first, but the problem was that he lacked experience against tier-one strong teams and often suffered from lack of experience.

Both of their performances were a bit off, plus some critical rounds weren't played well.

Even though Xu Beifang and Elige exerted force to drag the match into overtime, they still lost in the first overtime.

Ultimately, in the second round of IEM Chengdu, COL welcomed their first defeat since forming the roster.

They woke up from the ecstasy after the upset, understood where the current problems were, and were forced into the 1-1 lower bracket.

... ===== CHAPTER 457 =====