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

Chapter 114 WCA Finals, Against the Legendary Team A!
"Today's knockout stage was truly spectacular, and the clash between two world-class teams, NA and Faze, was a feast for the eyes."

"Although Faze was down 4-11 in the first half, it was clear that they were constantly adjusting their offensive rhythm throughout the first half."

"That's right, especially when they had the advantage, Faze failed to capitalize on several clutch situations to win and catch up, which is a bit of a pity."

The first half is over.

NA gained a huge advantage with a score of 11:4.

If this is a map where offense and defense are evenly matched, then scoring 4 points as the attacking side is only barely acceptable.

However, the map "Shabaab" is biased towards the attacking side, and the attacking side has a significant advantage, especially for strong teams.

Under such circumstances, Faze only managed to score 4 points, which, by all accounts, would be an understatement to say they were on the verge of elimination.

Even though the score difference between the two sides was huge, the fans watching the game and even the commentators on site felt incredibly excited.

Because every round of this match, from the start to the end of the first half, has been incredibly exciting.

Especially in the endgame situations when both sides are facing off, both sides have shown extremely impressive performances.

In particular, Li Mo's sniper rifle and Niko's Desert Eagle solo kill at A site in the pistol round brought the atmosphere of the match to a climax.

In the second half, Faze started communicating even more frantically.

The shift from offense to defense meant they had another chance to catch their breath.

Standing on the same starting line again, already trailing 0-1 and with such a large deficit in the first half, they had no way out but to fight with all their might in the second half to catch up and overtake the score, giving them a chance to win on map three.

However, often the imagination is beautiful, but reality is cruel.

NA was well aware of FaZe's eagerness to catch up.

The more this happens, the less Li Mo, who understands tactics, will rush into battle.

In the pistol round, NA's default setting made FaZe feel like the opposing team had disconnected.

The reason is simple: with 25 seconds left in the match, the five players on Faze didn't even see a single player from NA show their face.

Although Faze didn't push forward, it's normal for both sides to choose some forward positions for peeks in order to gain information during the game.

However, in this pistol round, apart from FaZe seeing two utility items from NA at A site and mid, they obtained almost no other information.

Until there are 25 seconds left in the round.

Na's lightning-fast breakthrough in the mid lane and simultaneous B rush caught Faze off guard.

Under these circumstances, Faze's mid-lane defense was instantly destroyed.

Having secured control of the bomb site, NA gave the opposing team no chance whatsoever.

Anyone trying to approach the middle lane and the B bomb site was caught by NA one by one.

In the following rounds, Faze experienced firsthand what it meant to be overwhelmed by a thunderous offensive that left them breathless.

Ultimately, the score on this map (Figure 2) was 16:7.
Even with all her efforts, Faze was still somewhat unable to cope with NA.

Many of their encounters with NA appeared to be evenly matched, but NA still managed to secure the final victory in the vast majority of those rounds.

"In that case, let's congratulate NA on their 2-0 victory over the formidable Faze, and for successfully advancing to the semifinals of the WCA Global Finals!"

"I believe that viewers who have watched these two matches have gained a new understanding of the NA team."

"To be honest, NA has been constantly redefining our understanding of Chinese teams and our perception of this legendary team."

A legendary team?
It seems that the male commentator's assessment was a bit premature, since NA at that time had not yet won any honors in any top-level world competitions.

But if you think this evaluation is too high, after thinking about it carefully, you will find that it is really hard to find a team that can compare with them.

Aren't Gambit strong?
Is Faze weak?
However, these two teams could only defend against NA and had little chance to fight back.

At this point, many viewers in the European and American regions and the CIS region can only hope that other top teams can stop NA's advance.

Two days later, in the semi-finals, Li Mo led NA to another 2-0 victory over their opponent.

In that case, their final match will be against Astralis.

Similarly, Team A has only lost one game since the group stage, against SK.

Therefore, at this moment, all the viewers who do not want NA to win the WCA Global Finals, which is the most prestigious event in history and comparable to an S-level event, can only pin their hopes on Team A.

Final day.

Almost all members of the Peking University e-sports club who were not in class or were able to ask for leave gathered in front of the big screen to watch the game.

This highly anticipated match was one that no Chinese person who follows CS:GO esports would want to miss.

Moreover, Li Mo, the founder, captain, commander, and absolute core of NA, a team hailed as an "Eastern myth" and a "legendary team that will never appear again in Chinese history," has another very important identity:
A freshman at the School of Software, Peking University!
"Hopefully, Mo can sweep Team A 3-0!"

"Damn, I would never have imagined that CNC could write a script like this!" Four victories against Gambit in the group stage.

In the knockout stage, they defeated Faze 2-0.

They easily crushed Fnatic in the semifinals.

The final match is against Team A!
Having fought their way through the competition without losing a single match, reaching the finals, it's fair to say that at this point, CCS and even the world of CS are focused on this NA team, which has been established for less than half a year!

"It would be great if we could win. Team A has been ridiculously strong lately."

"Actually, I feel that it would be much better if we faced SK in the finals. Mo Ge told me that NA has been studying them very hard for the past few months."

At that time, SK was swept by Team A, which undoubtedly put them in the spotlight.

Everyone knows that Team A spent the vast majority of their efforts targeting NA, while other teams didn't conduct much detailed research on them.

As it turned out, SK was completely outmatched by Team A and was utterly laughed at.

This situation has maximized the popularity and prestige of this competition.

"Welcome everyone to the 2017 WCA CS:GO Global Finals! Today's matchup is between NA and Astralis!"

"I believe everyone has been looking forward to this match for a long time, and I also believe that these two teams will bring you a visual feast today."

"First of all, let's welcome the legendary team from the CN region, NA!"

After the host's introduction, the entire NA team, led by Li Mo, took the stage, and the audience erupted in applause!
If NA didn't have that many fans overseas before participating in this WCA tournament, now that they've played for a while, a lot of overseas viewers have gone from haters to neutral observers, and from neutral observers to fans.

There's no way around it; Li Mo and this powerful NA team are just too captivating to resist.

After the host finished the introductions, both teams came to the computer.

Image 1: Purgatory Town!
This NA map selection undoubtedly brings CN's tradition to the world championship stage of this caliber for the first time.

Team A attacks first, while team na plays a defensive round first.

Looking at the Infernal Town map from a data perspective, the positioning of both sides, particularly the CT side, is especially important in this situation.

So for NA, they first gained a certain advantage by acting as CTs in both offensive and defensive positions.

For the Infernal map, both NA and Astralis have a very high win rate on this map, with both teams having a significantly higher win rate than average in previous professional matches.

Especially considering the previous matches, NA's data on this map is quite comprehensive, which means that after they choose this map, the opponent must have a clear understanding of their attack and strategy.

The reason for choosing Inferno as the first map is that the strategy and overall win rate of this map are very high in both training matches and professional matches. Moreover, they have hidden a lot of tactics on this map, and their unconventional tactics have not been exposed in previous matches.

For NA, their desire to win the WCA Global Finals is undeniable. They not only urgently need results in the World Championship to prove their team's worth, but more importantly, as a team in its early stages, they need a lot of support, which requires results to back them up.

Choosing the Infernal Town map was undoubtedly a move to secure an early victory in the finals, as the opposing team's strength was undeniable. This legendary team had already written numerous myths and created many incredible miracles.

Therefore, even Li Mo dared not be careless when facing Team A. Although their current performance in the competition was excellent, and they had achieved an impressive winning percentage in the previous group stage and knockout stage, facing a team that had studied them so thoroughly, NA still felt some pressure.

Arrive at the map of Purgatory Town.

Firstly, as the defending team, NA will undoubtedly need to implement some unconventional defensive tactics. However, Li Mo believes that Team A is also very clear about this, so the opposing team will certainly not choose to continue with conventional offensive tactics.

Judging from the initial positioning, Team A seemed very cautious in facing Team A's defense. Their initial personnel deployment clearly opted for a standard, default positioning.

With this positioning, the attacking team doesn't put themselves in a position where they can't retreat. This means that if they attempt an attack but don't achieve significant results, or if they gain a lot of information from the forward position, they have the leeway to reposition.

After making some data-driven attempts at the front points in the early stages, the attacking team chose to launch a coordinated attack from area A, which is a fairly standard offensive strategy.

The attacking team's positioning is actually not conducive to the defending team's counter-clearing. In this situation, although Team A's chosen tactics are relatively conventional, at least they will not cause major problems or a series of irreversible consequences.

They are well aware that playing too many unconventional tactics against NA, especially if done too frequently, may not always yield good results. Judging from the results of previous matches against NA, unconventional tactics are best used when there is a surprise, rather than throughout the entire game.

After moving to the front point, Team A immediately chose to suppress Building A2.

Because it can be said that in order to organize such an attack, the attacking positions of both A2 and A1 are very important.

So, the coordinated attack between A2 and A1 was very well executed in this wave of attacks, and all the items were provided very appropriately in the first instance.

In this situation, the defending player NA sensed the opponent's offensive intention and did not choose to make a reckless move to the forward position.

If the defender lingers at the front for too long, it will obviously give the opponent an opportunity to outnumber them. In such a situation, the defender will lose their positional advantage and will be outnumbered by the attacker.

In the first clash between the two sides, the defending side lost some health due to the fire and lightning, but the attacking side had already achieved their tactical objective.

Their original idea was to use the items in the first wave to obtain information about the front position and force the defenders to retreat to defend the point.

For the defending team, they didn't lose too much either. As long as they weren't killed in the initial bombardment and suppression by the opposing team, or even if they switched positions and pushed to the back post, their teammates could advance from other positions. A full-strength team is a very good defensive strategy.

Such a defensive maneuver can still be effective for the attacking team after they have control of the bomb site, so this wave of retreats is unexpectedly difficult for the attacking team to execute.

Because the attacking side actually wanted to find some opportunities to engage in gunfights at the front points. The pressure they exerted by their coordinated attack from A2 and A1 was very intense. If I say they were forcing a gunfight, it would hit Team A right in the head. But in a situation like this, especially in the pistol round, where both sides lack long guns and utility, NA's handling of the attack was already very good.

(End of this chapter)