CS: A young talent from Peking University, you want me to play professionally?

Chapter 113 Rain God enters zone mode, Desert Eagle instantly kills two people!

After losing another point, FaZe clearly realized that they had been doing a good job controlling the map from the beginning. Their biggest problem was that they didn't speed up when they should have and didn't slow down when they should have. This kind of problem is actually fatal for the attacking side.

It's important to understand that in most situations, the crucial moments for an attack are fleeting. If you fail to seize the optimal opportunity to accelerate the pace of the attack immediately, and the defending team changes positions or becomes prepared, establishing a good offensive rhythm becomes significantly easier.

"Don't overthink it. Once we've secured a very good position at the front, we should launch an attack quickly."

"They know exactly what choices we will make after we have control of the map, so trying to play a psychological game with them will undoubtedly have a higher chance of failure. Most of the time, we can only gain an advantage by using an offensive rhythm that they don't expect."

"In terms of gun skill, we were not much worse than the other side from start to finish, so we just needed to treat them as a normal team and keep our mindset."

During the preparation phase, Niko continued speaking over the voice message.

"Actually, everyone understands the principle. The most important thing is that many times we feel that we have the situation under control. But for some reason, in our natural offensive, the opponent finds a flaw and we lose the game. This is what is most unacceptable to us."

"First of all, you should understand that this is perfectly normal, because the opponent is NA and has Cobra."

"Secondly, thinking about these things is meaningless for our current match. Everyone just needs to understand that although we are only in the first stage of the knockout stage, we are already on the edge of a cliff. If we lose, we will be eliminated from all the subsequent matches. So everyone should treat this as our last match in this competition."

"That's indeed the case. If we lose this match, we won't even have a chance to reach map three. We must bring our best form and strength, and not overthink things. I could clearly sense that you guys were a bit restless at times, and when making crucial decisions, you often chose the wrong outcome, causing us to squander what was originally a good situation."

During the preparation phase, Niko and his teammates had a very intense discussion because, for FaZe, while they had experienced defeats before, they had never encountered anything like this. The pressure on the five of them was no less than that on Gambit, who were being completely overwhelmed.

Niko is well aware that if everyone's mentality is not corrected, the point difference will only get bigger and bigger, because there are almost no good ways to put a lot of pressure on NA on the defensive end.

Most importantly, their offensive strategies are always accurately countered, and Na is able to adjust very quickly in response to their attacks, and they also have a good anticipation of their mid-lane ganking tactics. Therefore, under these circumstances, FaZe doesn't have much time left to adjust.

They called a timeout not long into the first half, so they couldn't call another one. If they did, once the second half began and the defense encountered some difficult offensive problems that they couldn't handle, they would need to consult with their coaching staff and get guidance. Without a timeout, this would be impossible.

Therefore, for them, the only option is to rely on communication among the players to make adjustments and try to score as many points as possible in the first half. It's important to know that on this map, the attacking side has a significantly higher win rate. This is because for strong teams, this map is not only a direct contest of gun skill, but also requires the application of unconventional tactics.

On this incredibly classic map, most teams know exactly how to attack and defend. However, without unconventional strategies that can be effectively implemented, it's impossible to gain control of the situation and maintain a lead in the score.

So, now that we've entered the economic phase again, FaZe and their team are still planning to go back and make some moves, especially with the Desert Eagles. For them, the gap is widening, which is more important to FaZe now. Without a good countermeasure, the only way to potentially turn the tide is to keep attacking.

In this round, Na opted for an unconventional defensive strategy, with four players positioned at A site and one at B. This defensive setup anticipated FaZe's attempt to break through A site during the echo phase. Given the map's reliance on pistols, without firearms, A site is practically the only area where they can find opportunities, perhaps with weapons like the Desert Eagle. Otherwise, engaging in pistol combat in mid or other areas is extremely difficult.

However, in reality, NA's defensive positioning is somewhat risky because by doing so, they are essentially giving up information on almost all the standard positions on the map. From the mid lane, there's absolutely no information. If the attacking side chooses to attack from outside their building positions, then naturally, the attacking side will face no resistance or difficulty, at least not at the bomb site below.

"Don't rush A main. Let's speed up and rush the side path. I feel that the opponent is likely to heavily defend A main this round. If we speed up the side path, we should be able to avoid the opponent's main defense."

FaZe originally planned to use this round to target the five players at A site. Even if they couldn't successfully eliminate all of Na's defenders at A site and plant the C4, they wanted to get as many kills as possible and take down the enemy's long-range units.

The score is very close, and no one has pulled ahead yet. Furthermore, Na's economy isn't exactly strong right now.

"OK." After the tactics were finalized, the five people on this side executed them very well. They then immediately accelerated their movement along the side path.

Because Na's position at point a is known to be able to hear from the corner near the front, the five players on FaZe's side also learned this information after taking big steps onto the small path.

However, NA still encountered some problems. After FaZe accelerated to the front point and used the first wave of utility on A site, Lin chose to push out to check the situation, and his weapon advantage was obvious.

Few people expected that Rain's precise Desert Eagle kill would take down both Ling and Shen Miaoxue from NA's side.

While their tactical double-pull maneuver was executed well and their coordination was solid, their positioning was problematic. Blindly pushing out from that position meant the enemy team, with the aid of items, had five members. This made it difficult for the two of them to exert pressure. Furthermore, at that distance, the Desert Eagle also had excellent opportunities for a quick kill.

"Nice!"

Rain's precise Desert Eagle double kill undoubtedly ignited the emotions of FaZe's five players. In previous rounds, they had been playing very dullly. Even though they had done extensive research and analysis on Na'Zone before the match, once on the field, they found that all the data seemed utterly inadequate in the face of the real competition. You can never imagine a team being able to execute so many incredible defensive plays and tactics on a map that has been almost completely figured out.

More importantly, it's important to understand that the individual skill level of the players on the NA team is simply outrageous. Their three main riflemen are capable of handling extremely difficult clutch situations at any time.

For professional teams, especially top players, their form can sometimes determine the ceiling of an individual player, or even the entire team. In the previously stressful environment, the possibility of them reaching their full potential was extremely low. Therefore, this double kill by their teammates has significantly boosted the morale of all five members of FaZe's team.

It's worth noting that in most cases, it's NA who pulls off incredible comebacks using pistols. But in this round, FaZe, despite being at a complete disadvantage in weaponry and utility, managed to secure two kills against NA, both with Desert Eagles. Such a kill undoubtedly boosts the players' confidence and elevates the team's morale.

"Let's give up the forward positions to the other side first, because we can't do a good job of covering them right now."

Although there were still two of them at A University, Li Mo knew very well that if somebody and he were to go out and try to take down the attacking team's advance, not only would it be extremely difficult, but from a tactical point of view, their best responsibility right now was to retreat, because there was no support from other gun lines, and they had run out of items, so it was really difficult to go out now.

And although FaZe killed two of their teammates, it's unlikely that FaZe can get those two rifles right now, because their current position is a large, exposed area on A site.

FaZe's current attempt to plant a bomb site presents them with an opportunity, given their numerical advantage and strong control over the A site. The pressure of receiving utility drops immediately is immense. However, if FaZe attempts a counter-purge despite their numerical disadvantage, they can leverage their superior numbers to launch multiple gunfights. If FaZe tries to handle the situation, their two remaining players at A site could potentially be eliminated.

After gaining control of more than half of A site and having complete control of the side path, FaZe still opted to counter-clear the A side path from a forward position. They believed that if Na wanted to win despite their numerical disadvantage, they would need to find a weapon outside of A site. For both teams, a direct confrontation was unlikely. Even though Na's three surviving players all had long-range weapons, without support from multiple firing lines and a standard double-push or utility counter-clear, they posed little threat to FaZe.

"Brother Mo, should I go to the CT position to create a close-range firing line, or go to the alley to apply close-range pressure on them?"

During the retake, the fact that the payload was not encountered means that FaZe did not spread out their defense of the bomb site.

This was actually a very wise choice, because although they eliminated two members of NA's team and planted the C4, given their inferior weaponry and limited utility, they didn't face significant pressure in expanding their map control.

After all, they've paid a heavy price to gain control of the bomb site. Given their previous reliance on certain tactics, this overspending means they're already relatively weak against the defenders' counter-clearing capabilities. Now, if they try to infiltrate outside the bomb site, they might be caught off guard by CT's rotating defense. More importantly, they don't need to control the map outside the bomb site right now because NA is under immense pressure at A main. They need to ensure they don't get caught off guard at close range or get hit by a powerful utility pull, so they can stall until the C4 is ready.

In fact, the defending team anticipated that the opposing team might try to delay at the bomb site. Therefore, the players at point B moved with long strides throughout their rotation back to defend. They knew that the attacking team wouldn't be setting up defenses on the outside, so their priority was to quickly secure a forward position to provide support for point A.

(End of this chapter)