Chapter 475: 30m0nesy

"The first half score is locked at 8:4." Ma Xixi looked at the halftime stats provided by the director and exclaimed, "At first glance, Beifang's stats of 16/6 and 130 ADR show he's playing with real confidence today."

MO chimed in over the voice chat: "His feel for the game is excellent today; he's been the one turning the tide in several rounds."

"Look, just in the second round, he got three kills with a FAMAS to break G2's momentum, and in the mid-game, he pulled off a brilliant clutch—that one where he kept shooting through the smoke."

Once MO pointed it out, the viewers in the stream began to recall Xu Beifang's highlight clips from the first half.

The 16 kills and 6 deaths stat wasn't actually that exaggerated.

Because hunter, who was facing him, also had 12 kills, so the gap between the top players on both sides didn't look that large.

But the influence Xu Beifang exerted was something hunter couldn't match.

It wasn't a gap in ability, but a difference in the positions they occupied.

On the map Inferno, as long as you can secure control of Banana, the whole map becomes much easier to play.

COL only struggled in the first few rounds, but after Xu Beifang's dazzling performance in that clutch, the Terrorists found it very hard to gain any advantage on Banana afterward.

Even if COL was mostly defending from the Sandbag area, the Terrorists just couldn't win the trades when they pushed up.

Under these circumstances, it was naturally quite difficult for G2 to score.

At this moment, Ma Xixi noticed a comment drifting by.

【Why is NIKO at the bottom of the scoreboard?】

Ma Xixi took a look; NIKO had put up a 7/9 stat line in the first half, but his ADR was still 87.

"Being at the bottom doesn't mean anything. He just doesn't look outstanding on the scoreboard, but the actual role he played in the match was significant." Ma Xixi's voice was calm and clear as he slowly explained his perspective to the viewers who didn't understand.

"You've all seen the confrontations in the first half; NIKO hasn't been just giving away kills. His deaths were mostly the result of trading in head-on firefights. He played very proactively in the CT Spawn position, and many times he helped share a lot of the pressure for Xiao Xu."

MO laughed on the side: "Perhaps this is the change NIKO has undergone since joining COL. The team doesn't need him to be overly eager to get kills; his playstyle has become more rational."

"This 'Double N' combination is silently creating a chemical reaction. I'm really looking forward to the moment they truly finish gelling."

The combination of Nice and NIKO is COL's greatest charm.

One is the strongest weapon of the CSGO era, the other is a top-tier rifleman.

Their firepower is maxed out.

That's why they really want to see what this COL can achieve.

However, before they could stay immersed in their fantasies for too long, Ma Xixi's words pulled them out of their contemplation: "Having said all that, they are only leading in the first half. If G2 can take the pistol round in the second half, their advantage won't be that great."

Soon, amidst the stirring music, the two sides swapped sides, and the second half officially began.

For the pistol round, NIKO began issuing orders: "Let's play a bit slower. Beifang, take a position on Banana early to hang out, but let's focus our map control on the Side Path side."

"See if the opponents have any intention of pushing up early. If they don't make a move, we'll play for silent contact in the second timing and head toward the Link."

The countdown ended, and everyone began to push according to NIKO's setup.

Xu Beifang received a P250 sent over by Danking and went straight to the Tree position on Banana.

With the first spawn in the pistol round, he could afford to be a bit bolder. Unless the opponents threw two grenades to blow him up directly, this was an advantageous gun position.

He peeked out every few seconds from the Tree position to scout, but G2 made no moves on Banana.

Xu Beifang took over command and spoke up to make mid-round adjustments: "I'm pulling out of Banana. JKS, you hold the flank. Everyone else, follow me and move silently toward the Link."

After setting up the subsequent plan, Xu Beifang led his teammates to push toward Mid.

JKS, holding the flank, chose a rather tricky position to hold an angle.

He stood against the wall on the left side of the T Spawn exit, holding the crossing point of the Banana exit.

This position was quite devious because CTs pushing out of Banana would look toward the T Spawn first and wouldn't see him.

He had a chance to catch someone from the side.

Xu Beifang was leading the main force into the Link when he suddenly heard good news from JKS: "One died pushing out, there's another one on Banana!"

Hearing this, Xu Beifang's eyes lit up instantly.

"Should we speed up?" Elige asked.

Xu Beifang shook his head: "No rush. NIKO, you hold the flank at the Link and keep the guys at A Site in check. Everyone else, walk slowly from the Long Corridor toward B."

Although they had gained a lot of information, the more important thing was that they already had a numerical advantage.

Playing it steady now, there was a high possibility of catching the opponents' timing.

So there was no need to rush into duels to secure victory.

Good patience also brought him an advantage.

Because footsteps soon came from the direction of the CT Spawn.

He had figured it out by now: G2 was playing a 3B2A formation this round, with two pushing up and one covering the rear.

Now, only dupreeh remained inside the B area on Banana.

"Fire discipline, don't rush to kill him. Let him pass. Ji Ge, try to sneak up on him. Danking, you and I will go together."

Danking felt Xu Beifang was overcomplicating things.

However, he didn't voice this thought and just followed quietly behind Xu Beifang, pushing toward the B area silently.

"What kind of strategy is this?" Ma Xixi didn't quite understand this COL playstyle.

From the god's-eye view, COL was walking from the Link through the Long Corridor to B, but they left one person behind in every section they passed.

Their originally concentrated formation had instead become dispersed.

Xu Beifang continued to remind them in the voice chat: "Ji Ge, don't act too early. It's best to wait until we've taken out hunter, then kill that guy in the Library."

This round, he mainly wanted to pull off a rather flashy play.

The CT rotating back from the CT Spawn had missed a critical timing, and Xu Beifang intended to use this timing to get things done.

Nowadays, the influence of the pistol round in CS2 is huge, and he wanted to play it safe for the victory of this round.

Seeing Xu Beifang and Danking had already reached the foot of the B Site, JKS also made some noise to help bait.

Xu Beifang pushed silently to Banana and soon saw hunter holding a pair of Dual Berettas, holding an angle near the Stone Slab.

Danking got excited: "Beifang, give me a chance! I'm saving up to buy a sniper rifle!"

Hearing this, Xu Beifang stopped his actions, his crosshair remaining fixed on hunter's head.

hunter was nervously holding the Stone Slab; dupreeh had essentially left him to fend for himself this round. If the opponents hit A, he would rotate; if they hit B, it would depend on how many he could trade.

His vigilance was maxed out, and he kept swaying in place—a method to increase focus.

But suddenly!

"Ah~"

【Danking killed hunter with a Butterfly Knife】

The seductive sound from the mouth of the "Fly Head" rang out. hunter looked at the screen in disbelief: "How did the CT Spawn let someone through!!"

dupreeh realized it was a missed timing that caused the problem and immediately turned around, wanting to rotate to B to reinforce.

But halfway through his turn, he heard the sound of a Glock.

"Pop!"

【Elige killed hooxi with a Glock headshot】

The situation was looking a bit wrong. m0nesy and nexa rushed out from A2.

And just as he got out, he took a Glock headshot to the face. m0nesy retreated in a hurry.

"dupreeh didn't know that a Terrorist had circled the whole map and snuck behind him, and Danking even went for the knife!"

"Once dupreeh died, G2 realized a timing had been missed, but Ji Ge had also snuck behind dupreeh and shot him in the head!"

"Once dupreeh died, the two at A were instantly surrounded. m0nesy tried to take the initiative, but the moment he peeked, he was tapped in the head by NIKO!" Ma Xixi gradually understood everything. "I couldn't figure out why Beifang wanted to disperse his forces before; it turns out he had already gathered all the information. He wasn't playing it safe; he just wanted to kill G2 in one blow, leaving them no possibility of rotating back!"

Looking at the minimap, Ma Xixi saw that COL's dispersed forces were like a giant net.

Before they made their move, it might have looked like no angle posed a threat to G2.

But when this giant net was fully spread and began to tighten, G2 had no chance of escape.

m0nesy only felt a sense of suffocation.

In his view, the two sides hadn't even officially engaged this round, but in a few seconds, the pistol round was already over.

Because people were already standing in the Library and the Link, they didn't even have a chance to rotate.

Knowing his health was low, COL even actively went for weapon denial.

His health was too low, and nexa had bought utility but no armor.

Neither of them had any combat effectiveness, which resulted in them not even being able to trade a single person.

This pistol round was a complete victory for COL—they pulled off an ACE!

As nexa was finally killed, dupreeh felt the pressure increase even more.

The score had reached 9:4, and COL had saved several pieces of armor in the pistol round; they only needed to spend 350 to top up to full armor.

If they chose to ECO to adjust their economy, COL's margin for error would be directly boosted.

dupreeh gritted his teeth and had the team force buy.

In this force-buy round, m0nesy and nexa set up a combo at A2, catching JKS and Elige pushing at the perfect second timing.

Their coordination with short-range guns forced a 1-for-2 result.

This was still considered good news for G2.

In the mid-game, G2 shifted to a 2A2B formation, wanting to play it safe for the clutch.

COL chose to execute an explosive bomb attack on A, and m0nesy in the Pit was forcefully eaten by Xu Beifang.

It was a simple head-on duel between the two, but m0nesy just couldn't beat Xu Beifang.

With his AK failing, the others had nothing left to play with.

dupreeh at B rotated back with a Desert Eagle, and this "Cobalt Imprisonment" took out both Xu Beifang and NIKO with two bullets.

At this critical moment, Danking thrillingly won this 1v1 clutch.

G2 actively called for a tactical timeout, and COL began to discuss as well.

"How is that old guy dupreeh still so good at fighting!" Although he won the clutch, Danking complained, "That Desert Eagle is exaggerated; he almost took me out too."

"dupreeh is a Major attendance award winner, what did you expect?" NIKO said.

As a star player, dupreeh might not have the strength of the top-tier guys, but he is truly stable and occasionally has decent explosive power.

Even if his level has declined due to age, he is still an excellent player.

"Hmph, so what? Aren't we still suppressing them?"

Danking's words soon made several people smile knowingly.

Indeed, G2's strength isn't bad, but aren't they being suppressed by them the whole time on this map?

COL's atmosphere was relaxed, while G2's was indeed rather gloomy.

dupreeh's excellent performance in the clutch gave them hope for a comeback, but in the end, they couldn't secure a single kill, and that hope dimmed once again.

If they could have turned this round around, they would have gained the margin for error to mount a comeback.

But since they couldn't win, it would be very difficult to mount a comeback from here.

After the timeout ended, dupreeh bought a flashbang, intending to swarm out at B in the second timing to force a fight.

The timing of the anti-flash was decent, but the result was not ideal.

COL's AK firepower was simply too fierce, easily melting them; they couldn't even trade a single person.

The score reached 11:4, with a 7-point gap between the two sides.

And if they lost this gun round, COL would reach match point, and G2 would have absolutely no margin for error.

The only good news was that m0nesy finally had a sniper rifle to use.

They could only pin their hopes of victory on this sniper rifle now.

The first gun round of the second half officially arrived.

Xu Beifang's spawn was very good, and NIKO directly told Xu Beifang to try controlling Banana.

According to common sense, Banana is actually not easy to control this round.

Because in the first gun round, both sides have plenty of utility, and the utility damage on Banana is something you'll definitely feel.

But for top-tier players like them, this conventional thinking can sometimes be used for reverse psychology.

So before entering Banana, Xu Beifang reminded his teammates: "I'm ready to seize an opportunity on Banana; you guys look for the timing to coordinate with me."

Danking wanted to advise against it, but thinking about how the person playing Banana was Xu Beifang, he kept the words in his throat.

After entering Banana, Xu Beifang threw a fire at the Barrel as usual.

The prerequisite for playing unconventionally is that all the preparatory actions must be the same as usual, making the opponents think they are playing a conventional opening.

Of course, this playstyle comes with a price.

Just like now, Xu Beifang, who rushed into Banana, took a HE grenade at the start, losing 40 HP instantly.

But this round, he was playing that kind of aggressive style; even though he was down to half health, he didn't stop his steps, instead continuing to push forward.

NIKO at the Banana entrance helped throw a mid-section smoke, making it look like they intended to counter the CT's push.

And in this situation, Xu Beifang mixed his way to the near point of the Stone Slab in one go.

"Beifang stepped on the utility and stuck to the near point. He also heard the voices of the two people at the near point. dupreeh threw a HE grenade at the near point, and m0nesy's sniper rifle is holding at the Yellow Wall, ready to fire at any time."

"The near-point grenade exploded, and Beifang is down to one-shot health. Is he still not acting?"

Xu Beifang wasn't in a hurry; the more it was like this, the more he needed to be calm to operate.

dupreeh threw a grenade at the near point, and seeing no movement from the opponent, he assumed the near point was safe.

So he walked straight to the vicinity of the Barrel and sprayed a burst through the smoke into Banana, attempting to deal some damage.

And Xu Beifang, after hearing the information that there were two people at the near point, asked his teammates behind him for a HE grenade.

His health was too low; if it were a flashbang, the opponents might just press him to death with a spray.

But if it were a HE grenade, most professional players would subconsciously want to dodge it.

He could seize a glimmer of hope from that!

NIKO, following Xu Beifang's idea, threw a grenade directly between the Yellow Wall and the Sandbag.

dupreeh, who had sprayed half a magazine, subconsciously slipped backward to avoid the opponent's line of fire hitting him.

And m0nesy on the side, seeing the grenade fly over, also subconsciously gave up his angle to dodge backward.

Xu Beifang seized the opportunity and strafed out directly.

"Da da da!"

The sound of the AK47 rang out. dupreeh, who was jumping backward, didn't even know what had happened before he suddenly dropped dead.

Xu Beifang took out dupreeh and got the first kill. He didn't rush to chase m0nesy with footsteps.

Instead, he walked forward silently.

"dupreeh threw a grenade and thought there was no one at the near point, but he didn't expect Beizige to have taken full utility damage and still be hiding behind the Stone Slab. This time, he leaked his timing to dodge the grenade and was directly caught and killed by Beifang!"

"COL has once again secured the first kill on Banana!" Ma Xixi said loudly.

MO followed up: "Although he got the first kill, his health is already low. Will he continue to push toward the B area?"

"m0nesy is holding Banana with a big sniper, waiting for the opponent to speed up, but another HE grenade comes over on Banana, scaring him off. The kid threw a B-tunnel smoke and returned to the Three Boxes."

"But Beifang's guts are truly huge!" Ma Xixi gasped as he watched the stream. "He only has one HP left, but he's still very actively pushing forward. This bold decision also allowed him to get the information that the kid is at the bomb site."

"He walked straight through the smoke and caught him, also roughly locking down that the kid is at the Three Boxes. Does m0nesy know this information?"

"He doesn't know, and he was directly held and killed by Beifang!"

【Nice killed m0nesy with an AK47 headshot】

"Ah!?" m0nesy was very puzzled as to why Xu Beifang would appear in this position, but he immediately reported the information to his teammates.

He could understand Xu Beifang's playstyle of tanking utility just to catch them on a timing.

After all, risk and reward coexist.

But he couldn't understand why, after getting the first kill, Nice would still choose this playstyle of walking through smoke to catch an opportunity.

Even the kings of "dry peeking" in the early days of CNCS didn't play like you!

Are you getting a bit too urbanized?

m0nesy was quite miserable. He had finally saved up money to buy a big sniper, intending to rely on this big sniper to exert force.

As a result, he didn't even get to fire a shot before the situation collapsed instantly.

What the hell is there to play anymore!

The only consolation was that dupreeh had rotated back early, and he successfully caught the low-health Nice.

But the good times didn't last, because COL's movements were too fast; the CT Spawn smoke was thrown, and the B site fell instantly.

The premature loss of the B area meant COL still had a large amount of utility to use, and Danking picked up his big sniper. G2 attempted to play this retake, but only traded one person.

G2's members were already a bit "red" (tilted) at this moment.

They had finally saved up money to gamble on a gun round, but in an instant, they were crushed by Nice's tricks.

What the hell is there to play anymore.

And after reaching match point, their economy became a bit awkward again.

But the match had already reached match point, and they had no other choice but to spend all their money to force buy.

But 8 match points were simply too far away, and COL didn't give them that chance.

COL proceeded with map control in an orderly manner, and finally, relying on a breakthrough on A by JKS and Elige, they successfully took this round.

In the end, on this Inferno, the score was locked at 13:4.

When COL swapped to the offensive side, they didn't even manage to take a single point.

PS: The new book will have to be delayed for some time. I previously planned to write a "baby flow" story, but after carefully expanding it, I found it wasn't very suitable, because most first-tier tournaments require you to be 16 to participate, so I'm preparing again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 476 =====