Chapter 457: 12 Failure is like a slap in the face, it keeps people

The second day of the tournament came to an end.

To be honest, because of the CS2 format, even though one confrontation went into overtime, the overall time was still very short, giving people a very unreal feeling.

It wasn't until VP's players came over to shake hands that the COL group realized they had welcomed their first defeat after reorganizing the roster.

Failure is not a good feeling, especially after you have worked very hard to prepare for the match, and when you enter the match, you even feel that you can take it.

This feeling is quite bad.

Xu Beifang suddenly disliked the post-match handshake session; he felt that replacing the post-match handshake with an elbow bump might be better.

He lowered his head and scanned; the emotions of others on the team were not very good either.

This is certain. They successfully defeated Faze on the first day, and their morale was high, but then they were suddenly beaten by VP, which definitely didn't feel good.

JKS's expression was a bit blank. In today's confrontation, his performance was average, and he didn't produce any particularly eye-catching performance.

Elige was packing up his peripherals, but looking at the figures of the VP group walking away, there was still some unwillingness in his eyes.

NIKO restlessly messed up his hair; the whole person was already a bit "red-heated."

Danking, who usually likes to play around, became silent at this moment.

Xu Beifang was of course also a bit unwilling.

Facing VP, he personally felt they should have taken it.

On the Vertigo map, they should have taken it and used three maps to achieve victory.

But on Vertigo, there were many rounds where problems occurred; everyone was making mistakes, and the match didn't develop as envisioned.

Obviously, VP did better in today's match.

However, thinking on the bright side, sometimes failure is like a slap in the face, which will make them recognize their current situation.

For COL's subsequent development, it is also good news.

Xu Beifang intended to pack up his things and go back to review the match with his teammates.

But IEM Chengdu staff notified him that there was a post-match interview later.

At first, Xu Beifang wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, he still needed some channels to communicate with the outside world, even the fans wanted to know their current state, so he agreed.

"Hello Nice, you just finished an exciting match. How do you view Map 3, Vertigo?" The reporter asked bluntly.

This was too direct, making Xu Beifang gasp. "The feeling of losing the match is really bad. I haven't had this feeling for a long time. The difference between the ladder and professional play is huge. In offline matches, our emotions will be infinitely magnified."

"We really wanted to win this match, but the result wasn't good. Our new roster had some small mistakes."

After waiting for Xu Beifang to answer the first question, the reporter continued to ask: "Then what problems do you think you encountered? Can you talk about it?"

Hearing this, Xu Beifang frowned. If he had to talk about what problems were encountered, the big problem was definitely NIKO playing poorly on the Yellow Cloth, and Danking missing timing in the mid-round a few times due to lack of experience.

But whether as a player in the past or as an IGL now, he wasn't the type to shift responsibility to teammates.

"It's mainly because our proficiency on this map isn't enough. Frankly speaking, I'm actually quite satisfied with my teammates' performance; it's just that I think I could have made better commands in certain rounds on Vertigo." Xu Beifang exhaled deeply. "So not winning today is still quite sad."

"That's how I feel right now."

The reporter heard this and understood that Xu Beifang's patience was exhausted, so he said knowingly: "Your personal performance on Vertigo was as outstanding as ever, but losing to VP just means entering the lower bracket. Looking forward to your performance next."

After the interview, Xu Beifang quickly returned to the lounge and returned to the hotel with his teammates.

On the way back, the teammates had already processed their emotions and appeared quite calm.

It was as if this confrontation was just insignificant.

In fact, the failure of this match didn't have that much impact.

But Xu Beifang understood that even if they still had room for error later, the failure of the first match after the new roster would definitely not feel good to everyone.

Others were resting with their eyes closed, while Xu Beifang opened his phone to check the post-match discussions of netizens.

As a new generation of internet-famous teams, COL received quite a lot of attention.

The failure of this confrontation also sparked a lot of discussion.

The performance of both sides in the first two maps was actually acceptable. Map 1 Overpass was VP's specialty, and Map 2 was COL's specialty.

But COL losing to VP on Map 3 Vertigo was a bit abstract.

After all, VP's Vertigo isn't in the top tier.

In the post-match comment section, Xu Beifang found that everyone's evaluation of him was still good, but the discussions about NIKO and Danking were quite sharp.

【With this performance from the Boston Shrimp, even if he runs over to hug Nice's thigh, does he have that level?】

【After entering CS2, he has been crazily changing settings. NIKO thinks he can't find suitable settings, but he just doesn't dare to admit he's not as strong as before】

【G2 traitor, good riddance, good riddance】

【To put it bluntly, your personality limits your achievements. You only pressure yourself like an idiot, you don't let others pull the gun line for you, you throw the utility yourself, you do the entry yourself. As a rifleman, you like playing with a sniper, what's the use?】

【Too torturous, Beifang really can't carry it】

【Can only say this Vertigo was played too humorously】

The evaluation of Danking was even more aggressive:

"Forget it, streamer, he's just an economic black hole, feeding every round while holding the mid with a sniper."

【Why not just forget it, come back and be a streamer. Staying in COL is just delaying the results】

【How many times has he fed the first kill in the mid-round? The front line can't trade at all】

【Might as well go to Valorant and be a floater】

【Can you be of some use!】

These were relatively peaceful comments; there were quite a few that were directly cursing.

Nowadays, as the number of CSGO viewers increases, discussions on the internet have become more extreme. For those teams with traffic, this point is even more obvious.

Just like NIKO, this guy has been controversial since he debuted.

After Danking joined COL this time, he already has the momentum to become the number one streamer in the domestic CSGO streamer section. While eating the traffic, he sometimes also faces backlash.

In the case of playing poorly, those attacks can be quite uncomfortable.

"What are those people on the internet saying about me?" NIKO lowered his head and scrolled through his phone, asking seemingly unintentionally.

Xu Beifang continued to look at the comments and said without raising his head: "Just saying that you and Danking played poorly on Vertigo and things like that. Today's match exceeded their expectations."

He didn't mean to hide it from NIKO, because NIKO could see this even on foreign websites, and the aggressiveness on foreign websites might be even stronger.

"Don't have pressure, our roster is still in the integration period, some problems are normal." Xu Beifang then put away his phone and looked at NIKO. "As for those post-match remarks, your stats today weren't good, they definitely want to find a vent."

"It's okay, I'm used to it."

Xu Beifang and NIKO have a very good relationship and know very well the real reason he left Faze in 2019; it was because the pressure of public opinion was too great.

Back then, as long as the results weren't good, NIKO would be attacked by netizens, even if it wasn't originally NIKO's problem.

Even during the G2 period, as long as he wasn't performing particularly well, after losing a match, he would still become the target of attacks.

Just like that Stockholm Major, his performance in the finals wasn't actually bad, but everyone only remembered those three back-shots on the third floor.

"Losing Vertigo also has my problem." Xu Beifang took the responsibility upon himself. "My decision-making in a few rounds wasn't appropriate."

NIKO shook his head, just looking down at the Apple earphones in his hand: "My recent performance is indeed not very good, this is also a fact, and I have never been stable enough on Vertigo. These are all problems."

His recent state has actually been quite agonizing. His individual state is poor, and he always feels that his aiming isn't as "arm-controlled" as it was during the CSGO era.

At first, he always felt it was caused by the CS2 version update, but later everyone adapted, and he was still in an agonizing state, which made him start to doubt himself.

He inexplicably remembered the words Xu Beifang said to Danking yesterday: "If you're just a little bit short in training, then when you truly need to perform, it will become a lot short."

The former him thought he was the favored son of heaven born for CSGO.

He made a name for himself when he was young, became the idol of countless players and viewers, and staged one wonderful performance after another on the CSGO stage.

But as the favored son of heaven, he was always just a hair's breadth away from glory.

In terms of individual player achievements, he reached TOP2 at his highest, but he couldn't touch the real TOP1.

In terms of honors.

The "heaven-defying" substitute during the Mouz period, Faze's dream shattered in Boston, and the fall in Stockholm during the G2 period.

He was just a few rounds, a few bullets, and a few HP away from real glory, which led to him struggling for many years and ultimately only achieving a "Grand Slam Runner-up" ending.

He once joined G2 and played "brother CS" with hunter, also because his level was still at its peak at the time, feeling that as long as he performed stably, the team could compete for championships like Nice, device, and S1mple.

But now he has reached the end of his peak, and he must find a way out for his future.

He was in a very bad mood today, not really because his stats weren't good.

He didn't actually crave stats; just like the first day's match, his final stats were the lowest on his side, but the match was won smoothly, and his mood was still very good.

But today's match, in the critical rounds, the factor that ultimately led to failure was himself.

This was hard to accept.

After all, he did a lot of psychological construction before leaving G2, but after transferring, the team's performance proved that his decision was correct; COL's current combat power is indeed formidable.

Nice, Elige, and JKS's strength are all very formidable, and Danking is also a player who can liven up the atmosphere. Everything about the team is very good.

But the problem lies with him.

Even if this was just a group stage match, an insignificant group stage match, NIKO inexplicably thought of the future picture.

They were in the finals of the Shanghai Major, others performed well, but he was like this match today, performing extremely poorly on a map he wasn't good at, once again staging the Major nightmare.

Thinking of this, he was a bit lost.

Xu Beifang looked at NIKO, who had put on his earphones and started listening to music, and didn't disturb him.

This is NIKO's personality.

Being on a team with him, he can completely allow you to perform poorly, but he cannot allow himself to perform poorly.

NIKO has many shortcomings in personality; he gets hot-headed easily, likes to pressure himself, and gets nervous easily in real major tournaments.

But he also understands that NIKO also has many advantages. As a rifleman, he is incomparably confident, has a strong desire to win that many players don't have, dares to mock himself, and his attitude towards other teams is also quite humble.

He is a teammate worth relying on.

Now he just needs to give NIKO some time.

On the contrary, for Danking, who seemed heartless on the side, Xu Beifang felt that helping him adjust would be more troublesome.

Others put on eye masks one after another and started to rest, while he scrolled through his phone to kill time.

The aggressiveness of the 5E community is quite strong, and many people feel that Xu Beifang shouldn't have chosen such a group of people.

But he thinks his choice is correct, so he didn't want to explain anything to them at this moment, so he returned to the embrace of Bilibili.

Compared to the 5E community, the comments on Bilibili were relatively milder.

They discussed today's match a lot, but more of it was discussing some problems encountered.

For example, Danking's lack of experience compared to tier-one teams on Vertigo, making it easy to make wrong judgments.

Or NIKO playing very uncomfortably on the Yellow Cloth position, often dying suddenly.

Most of the netizens on Bilibili discussed these two problems.

And then Xu Beifang saw a few discussions.

【Actually, it's quite easy to solve. Beifang used to play Yellow Cloth, now he can completely swap Beifang over, let NIKO play A Slope, Beifang play Yellow Cloth】

【Letting NIKO play Yellow Cloth is actually simple, Beifang just teach him. Beifang has tons of old map experience, knows many positions, the two exchange experience, it can actually be solved】

【Danking's side is actually not that serious, it's just a lack of experience. Since he lacks experience, let the old veterans on the team teach him】

Xu Beifang looked at these comments, and the fans who @ him below, and suddenly heard a familiar sound in his ear.

【Ding!】

【Received suggestion: Help NIKO and Danking overcome the Vertigo difficulty. Suggestion difficulty: 5 stars. Reward after completion: B-rank Treasure Chest...】

Xu Beifang raised his eyebrows; this was an unexpected joy.

After all, he intended to solve this anyway.

His personal personality is to work hard to solve problems. Throughout his career, if he couldn't play with a sniper, he would practice the sniper. If he couldn't play clutches, he would ask other clutch masters for advice and spend time watching demos.

He never wanted to escape or blur out problems; solving them is the only way.

It just so happened that netizens proposed this suggestion, so he could do a suggestion task along the way.

Thinking of this, Xu Beifang replied below this comment: 【Sun Xiaochuan 258 received!】

Then he also put on his eye mask and closed his eyes to rest.

After waiting for a while, the car finally arrived at the destination, and they all returned to the hotel.

The first thing after returning to the hotel, the group, led by Coach Xiaoxiao, entered the training room and started reviewing the match.

This is Coach Xiaoxiao's habit; reviewing immediately after the match can maximize the recall of one's thoughts and ideas during the match.

Then after the Vertigo review, Danking couldn't help but speak: "I'm going out for a smoke, back soon."

After saying that, he walked to the balcony at the end of the hotel corridor and started lighting a cigarette.

Hearing footsteps, he glanced back and found it was Xu Beifang, so he handed one over.

Xu Beifang took the cigarette; he didn't smoke, just came out to comfort Danking.

Danking lit the cigarette and looked at the bustling traffic on the sidewalk below the hotel.

Looking from here, he could even see traffic police catching electric scooters without helmets. If he had nothing to do, he could sit here and watch for a day.

Half the cigarette was smoked, and they watched quietly for a long time.

Finally, Danking couldn't help but say: "Is the gap between me and tier-one teams really that big?"

After the match, from his own perspective, he only thought his timing was bad and the opponent's choices were better.

But reviewing from the God's eye view after the match, he found that many rounds were completely him giving opportunities to the opponent. He had too many irrelevant movements and too many taken-for-granted movements.

Although he had retired before, he was beaten up by Xu Beifang and Zaiwu in turns anyway.

He also believed that he couldn't achieve too outstanding results on the current team.

But in reality, he thought he at least had the strength of a tier-one sniper.

But today's Vertigo, VP beat him up, as if beating him back to reality.

Xu Beifang didn't answer directly, looking at the traffic on the main road, and answered quietly: "If you're bad, practice more."

"NMMDW!" Danking originally thought Xu Beifang would comfort him, but seeing him say this answer with an expressionless face, he was instantly speechless.

"What else can you do?" Xu Beifang shrugged with a smile. "You've retired for so long, and even when you were professional before, you weren't famous for experience and sophistication. Meeting a discipline killer like VP and being beaten by experience is a very normal thing."

"Then you mock me as soon as you come up?" Danking was full of resentment.

Xu Beifang sighed: "Where did I mock you? Think about how I, your brother, came all the way here?"

"Listen to advice?"

Xu Beifang shook his index finger lightly: "No, I meet problems and solve them. If my cognition hasn't reached it, I ask. To put it simply, you can also understand it as 'if you're bad, practice more'."

"If your aim isn't good, ask how to practice aim. If your awareness isn't good, run to ask Xiaogui how to play clutches." Danking thought, "It seems it really is."

Hearing this, Xu Beifang knew he had succeeded halfway.

"So look, brother is heart-to-heart with you, and you play mind games with brother." Xu Beifang was full of sadness. "Forget it, the feelings have faded."

Danking immediately said: "Hey hey hey, I'm just sad, understand brother."

Seeing Tie Dan become heartless again, Xu Beifang knew this guy's mentality had been adjusted back.

Although netizens always teased Danking as a COL "connection hire," in reality, Xu Beifang didn't think Danking was weak. His team-building this time wasn't random, and his choice of sniper was also carefully considered.

Danking hadn't played on the tier-one stage for a long time, so there would definitely be some problems with experience now, after all, his state hadn't reached its peak.

But his reaction, positioning, and explosive power were all there.

As a sniper for a tier-one team, it's okay, even if he can't compete with real T0-level snipers.

But it fits Xu Beifang's needs very well.

That's enough.

This guy retired for two years after all, and now returning, it's normal to be unadapted to the playstyle of tier-one teams.

"But Beifang, give me some advice too. My experience is indeed lacking. How should I adjust later?" Danking asked bluntly. He trusted Xu Beifang; Xu Beifang's theoretical knowledge was quite rich throughout his journey, and he had encountered too many situations.

Xu Beifang thought for a while: "For experience, the best way is to stack it with matches."

Tie Dan immediately wanted to say that what he lacked now was matches.

Xu Beifang immediately said: "But conditions don't allow it now. If you want to stack experience quickly, there are two ways."

"Tell me in detail."

"One is to ask people with rich experience. Our team is a group of old veterans with rich experience. You can take the initiative to ask. In terms of rifle positioning and timing, you can ask Ji Ge."

Danking was a bit surprised: "Ask Ji Ge? Shouldn't it be asking you and NIKO?"

Xu Beifang shook his head: "The situation with me and NIKO is a bit special, just like S1mple, you know? Actually, our playstyles aren't recommended for others to learn, because we top-tier guys know too much. You aren't at that stage of experience yet, so learning it is useless."

"NIKO is just in a bad state recently. You haven't figured it out yourself, so asking him isn't appropriate."

Danking nodded: "That's true, I see NIKO playing quite chaotically recently."

He took another puff of the cigarette and said: "Then I'll go bother Ji Ge later."

Xu Beifang nodded: "As for the sniper side, you can actually ask NIKO more."

"Didn't you just say don't ask NIKO?"

Xu Beifang laughed wickedly: "His sniper positioning is a rifleman's playstyle, so after you understand NIKO's positioning, distinguish carefully and pick the useful positions to learn. As for those rifleman positions, it's equivalent to helping you rule out wrong answers."

"You really are a material for an IGL."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Xu Beifang said with a smile.

"What's the second method?" Danking asked.

Xu Beifang thought for a while: "Actually, it's simple. This is a method NIKO told me. You go find yesterday's or today's match, look at the opponent's perspective, and think about how to kill 'Danking'."

"I play against myself?"

"You can think of it that way." Xu Beifang responded. "It sounds a bit abstract, but it's actually quite useful."

This is actually how top-tier players play, because top-tier players are targeted too many times, so most of them use similar methods to counter-target.

Looking at Danking's thoughtful look, Xu Beifang said: "Alright, finish this cigarette and we'll go in. We only lost to VP. Tomorrow's match is the critical one. If we lose that BO3, our home-field advantage will be completely gone."

The group stage uses a double-elimination system, and they have already lost one match.

If they lose another one, they will be eliminated directly, and then they might only be able to watch the IEM Chengdu offline tournament as spectators.

After Danking figured it out, he smoked the cigarette butt to the end and followed Xu Beifang's footsteps.

Walking to the door of the training room, he heard the coach's voice inside.

"Actually, you don't have to blame yourselves too much. I also had problems with the BP in this match. Don't have too much pressure."

Xu Beifang felt a warmth in his heart. Coach Xiaoxiao is still the same. Although his talent as a coach isn't particularly outstanding, just like in the early days of COL, after losing a match, he wouldn't put all the responsibility on the players.

He opened the door and walked in, and the gazes of the others in the room immediately turned over.

"Alright, it's just losing a BO3, there's no need for everyone to be so miserable." Xu Beifang looked around the room. JKS and Elige didn't have much emotional fluctuation, only NIKO was still turning into a pressure cooker.

"We reviewed the problems on Vertigo just now. NIKO, you don't have any rebuttal to those problems, right?" Xu Beifang gave an example. "It's just that the Vertigo proficiency isn't enough, and the problem of frequently changing settings."

NIKO pursed his lips; he had already started waiting to be held accountable by his teammates.

"Since the problem is out, then in the following time, you practice Vertigo more during training. As for the settings problem, you also try more. I believe in your feeling. There must be a reason why you aren't adapted now." Xu Beifang walked to the computer and took the phone that was charging. "Alright, let's go have dinner now. After dinner, tomorrow's opponent will be out. We'll chat about BP together then and watch a recording of them."

After saying that, he started leading his teammates out.

NIKO was still waiting for the teammates to blame each other, and the training room might become a mess, but Xu Beifang's "thunder was loud but rain was small," ending it so simply, making him instantly stunned. "That's it?"

Even Elige and JKS were a bit surprised.

After all, arguing after a review is the norm for an esports team.

Various blame-shifting, cliques, and isolation are even more common.

But Xu Beifang lightly brushed off this failure, which still surprised them a bit.

Xu Beifang looked at their eyes and roughly understood what they were thinking, complaining speechlessly: "Even if you don't believe in yourselves, believe in my vision."

What does it mean to not believe in yourself, but also believe in his vision... This made NIKO want to roll his eyes.

Is this guy so narcissistic now?

"It's a fact that NIKO isn't playing Vertigo well now. He didn't play well when he was at G2, you all know."

Elige and JKS nodded. Mentioning NIKO reminds them of the humorous Yellow Cloth, and even the humorous shrimp paste.

His Vertigo is too extreme; either he explodes with carry, or he transforms into a "Red Devil."

Xu Beifang said: "Since there's a problem, we'll just solve it. He isn't playing Vertigo well now, so NIKO will practice more. As long as NIKO doesn't reject it and practices actively, I think it's not a particularly difficult thing for him."

"If he really tried hard and that position doesn't fit him, then we'll make some adjustments within the team."

NIKO inhaled and looked at Xu Beifang: "Forget it, being brothers is in the heart."

Elige and JKS's eyes also changed a bit. At this moment, they finally felt the charm of "Nice."

Not to mention anything else, what was done today is indeed flawless.

Solve problems when they arise, instead of arguing until you die.

This is too much to their taste.

"Don't, you'd better play Yellow Cloth well first." Xu Beifang teased. "That Yellow Cloth of yours is indeed too humorous."

NIKO rolled his eyes.

As expected, you can't have any good words for this guy.

"Alright, let's go eat. We have to watch the recording when we come back."

After saying that, Xu Beifang led his teammates out to have dinner.

To be honest, he was inexplicably moved.

Back in the old VP days, adjusting everyone's emotions and post-match comfort were all handled by pasha.

Now he has also embarked on the path of the big brother.

IGL doesn't just mean powerful discourse power, but also heavy responsibility.

The team is not easy to lead.

PS: The revisions are barely okay, not so bitter and deep. Mainly to pull up the emotions of Danking and Ni a bit, otherwise COL becoming a pure "mud truck" would be meaningless. ===== CHAPTER 458 =====