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

Chapter 118 Team A Breaks Through the Middle Lane Again

Following this eco round, Team A once again tried to find a chance to turn the tide by force buy.

Furthermore, thanks to their accurate shot with a sniper rifle in the middle lane, which headshot and killed the vehicle amidst the smoke, they successfully gained control of the middle lane front point.

With this breakthrough at point A, somebody and Shen Miaoxue's double-team was directly eliminated.

Everything is developing in the direction Team A wants.

"Nice!"

"Don't push forward, their CT position might have already recovered!"

Even with a significant advantage, Team A remains remarkably calm, especially gla1ve, who is in charge of the team.

They all knew very well that if they wanted to gradually turn the score around and keep chasing points, a stable mindset was essential.

On the defensive side.

Actually, somebody and Shen Miaoxue wanted to retreat immediately, but the opponent's combination of the "hair dryer" and "bomb" tactics worked very well, killing them both.

When Li Mo returned to defend from point B, he and Ling, who was counter-attacking from the middle lane, launched a counter-attack.

The two players directly eliminated three attackers from bomb site A.

Furthermore, since Xyp9x on the second floor was also instantly killed by Li Mo, the advantage that the attacking side had previously established vanished in an instant.

Only dupreeh remained, and he had no way to deal with Li Mo and Ling. After being forced out of the pit by fire, he was killed.

Next.

Having lost the previous two games and opting for a force buy instead of an eco round, they are now stuck in a disastrous cycle again, lacking economy and forced to eco once more.

In terms of map layout, on the Infernal map, if the attacking team doesn't have enough weaponry and can only rely on equipment, they can gain control of the map. However, against a defensive team like NA, who have a strong overall economy, Astralis faces immense pressure.

In this round where they were at a significant disadvantage in both weaponry and equipment, their only option was to first gain control of the middle lane, clearly indicating that they wanted to attempt an attack on point A.

For this map, if the attacking team doesn't have a full arsenal of weapons and items, attempting an attack will be extremely difficult, and they'll likely be wiped out by the defense.

Especially in the banana lane, the defending team can use their superior firepower and utility to disrupt the attacking team's initial momentum. Since the attackers often lack sufficient firepower and utility at this point, the defending team needs tactical coordination and cooperation. They must utilize their advantages to clear the area and counter any attempts by the attackers to break through.

In this situation, Team A's score disadvantage is widening. More importantly, their strategy is still somewhat overly reliant on their own turn-based economy. If they don't adopt a more rational approach to the game, they could potentially lose even more points.

However, because they couldn't show any fear in the face of the opponent, and more importantly, because their pre-match preparation and research were thorough, they didn't feel particularly pressured during the game. Furthermore, based on previous matches, they were even capable of turning the tide in eco rounds. Therefore, they didn't feel much pressure facing the opponent. And for an offensive team that was already at a disadvantage in the first half, being able to maintain such an offensive rhythm and prevent the score from becoming completely one-sided is already an acceptable result.

Meanwhile, Team A was also very clear that this score only prevented them from being completely overwhelmed. Winning this map was still extremely difficult. Therefore, they needed to score 4 or 5 points on offense to have any chance of catching up in the second half on defense. With such a large score gap and their very poor economy, finding opportunities was extremely challenging.

Therefore, under these circumstances, they still chose to go to the middle lane first to gain control of the map. Without firearms, they knew, based on the previous situation, that the only opportunity they could find was in the middle lane.

However, on this side, Somebody, who was defending the second floor, has made a significant adjustment in his strategy after being eliminated in the previous round. He is now giving the opponent absolutely no chance.

Once the timing is right, the first step is to use items to delay the attack from the second floor. In this situation, it is undoubtedly a very prudent choice, because smoke grenades and fire can greatly delay the opponent's attack time.

Furthermore, without revealing their positions, Team A would find it difficult to gain control of the bomb site from the second floor and further threaten it. For the attacking team, the second floor offered no opportunity for gunfights, putting them in a very difficult position. Splitting and maneuvering on the second floor would undoubtedly consume a significant amount of time. If the attacking team wasted too much time in the mid-lane and second-floor skirmishes, they wouldn't have the time to rotate later. While Team A could accept this situation even if they couldn't gain control of the bomb site, their biggest problem was their large score deficit. Therefore, if they couldn't find opportunities, the pressure on them would only increase.

"Let's try to break through the middle lane and the second floor together. After giving them the items, let's see if we can directly push the second floor and then accelerate the position of the first floor."

"If we can take control of the second floor, we still need to secure the study space. If we don't, the pressure on our handbag shop will be immense later."

After issuing the order, the attacking team also had to engage in high-risk maneuvering. They needed to attempt a breakthrough on the second floor, because if they didn't gain control of the bomb site, they would face too many lines of fire if they tried to accelerate their advance. Under such immense pressure, their options were extremely limited.

So after receiving the items, the two players from Team A on the second floor immediately moved out, effectively placing all five of their players on bomb site 1. Tactically, they had no intention of rotating to another site; instead, they wanted to completely control the bomb site before planting it, even if they ultimately won the round. At least they would have Jinju to fight in the next round.

After the previous round of accelerated attacks by the attacking team on the second floor, the defenders on the second floor were mentally prepared. Although they didn't use any items, their teammates on the banana path hadn't detected any information about the attacking team. Given the current situation and the significant disadvantage in weaponry, attempting to break through the banana path now would be unreasonable.

Especially after the opposing team gave up a utility item in the middle lane, it undoubtedly sent a message that they still wanted to launch an offensive in the end. So, after realizing this, the defenders on the second floor used their utility items to delay the attackers, and then retreated to the back point as soon as possible in the face of the attackers' utility pressure.

Since the attackers were unable to kill the defenders on the second floor even after using their items, they were starting to panic. During their advance, they managed to kill somebody who jumped down from the second floor.

The defending team's guns from the bomb site instantly eliminated the two opposing players who had peeked out from the second floor. Therefore, in this situation, such a kill exchange is actually very disadvantageous for the attacking team.

Although the attacking team killed the defenders on the second floor, they failed to obtain the defenders' rifles or actually take down the second floor.

More importantly, they lost two players in this wave, and now the defending team in the middle lane has also moved over. They are now completely pinned down at the A bomb site.

Moreover, being outnumbered and lacking long spears, finding an opportunity to turn the tide is extremely difficult for them. Therefore, in this back-and-forth struggle, the attacking side's chances of winning this round are now very slim.

It's fair to say their initial tactical approach was flawless and their deployment extremely reasonable. If they could secure the A1 position on the second floor and the study, even with a disadvantage in weaponry and a significant advantage in weaponry and utility for the defending side, they would have a substantial positional advantage once they gained control of the bomb site. This would give them a strong ability to respond effectively even to counter-attacks from the defending side.

However, after losing two players on the second floor, the attacking team is now outnumbered and hasn't acquired any long-range weapons. Most critically, they are completely trapped in this position, making it extremely difficult to find opportunities, and they haven't been able to find a better counter-strategy for the bomb site. Their control of the map is being gradually eroded, and they are facing the defenders' relentless chipping away at their advantage.

"No need to rush. They don't have any good opportunities right now."

"All we need to do is hold their positions."

Given the current situation, it's a difficult opportunity to find a suitable location, and a great deal of time has already been wasted. Even if they could turn back to deal with the defenders in the middle and then launch an attack, it would be too late.

For the attacking side, the most sensible option is to open fire and try to destroy the defenders' weapons.

Even if they could all disarm the defending team, it wouldn't have much strategic significance, as the defending team's economy is already nearly maxed out. Therefore, in this situation, even if they try to find opportunities to engage in firefights, it would be a drop in the ocean, better than nothing.

After confirming the coordinated strategy after the attack, the attacking side chose to engage in a gunfight with the defending side. This gunfight was something the defending side had already anticipated. Furthermore, with their significant advantage in firearms, they were well-prepared to deal with the attacking side's last-ditch counterattack.

Even though the individual abilities of the three players on the attacking team A are undeniable, they were unable to create good opportunities for their opponents during gunfights due to their inferior firearms and equipment, and ultimately failed to trade any of their defenders.

After this, while the attacking team executed their tactics well, finding good opportunities in this situation proved quite difficult. This was because NA was constantly adjusting their strategy, especially as their players became increasingly mature. Having learned from their previous mistakes, they made timely adjustments and prevented Team A from easily breaching the second floor.

The only saving grace was that after losing the first round, they were back in a rifle round. In this fully armored, fully-equipped matchup, Team A was clearly more confident. Furthermore, they made timely adjustments to their initial positioning, not immediately pushing down the middle but instead moving directly to the banana lane to use utility and clear the defenders' positions.

On the defensive side, if they can create kills at the front using utility, the attacking side can accelerate their advance on that point. They understand that in most cases, the defensive side won't heavily defend a key point. Because the attacking side will have to pay a significant price to capture Banana, the defensive side usually deploys more personnel to control it.

(End of this chapter)