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

The day after returning to China, Li Mo immediately threw himself into his intense research work, and he also had to deal with some trivial matters concerning the elective courses for the class he was in charge of.

There's no way around it. Since he's chosen so many paths—academics, research, and career—he's obviously under a lot of pressure at his age, and the burden on his shoulders is very heavy.

Especially before going abroad, during a conversation with Li Mo, his advisor gave him a strict order: he must publish a top-tier journal article before his senior year.

Upon hearing this news, Li Mo was somewhat surprised, but after thinking about it, it was also within expectations. After all, he already had a certain foundation in scientific research, and his abilities in this area far surpassed those of many undergraduates at Peking University. Moreover, most importantly, he had an extremely strong talent for both scientific research and thesis writing, so it was perfectly normal for his supervisor to have such high expectations for him.

In fact, Li Mo was well aware that the reason his mentor, Professor Qian Buting, repeatedly emphasized the importance of publishing in top journals was to remind him that with his talent in academics and scientific research, he must not waste it and devote all his time to playing professionally. In his mentor's view, although it was his dream, it was not something that could accompany him for a lifetime.

From the very beginning, during his discussions with his mentor, Li Mo had expressed his own thoughts: he didn't actually plan to dedicate too much time to playing professionally. His expected plan was to win championships at all levels within three years, achieving a Grand Slam, after which he would gradually fade out of the CS:GO professional scene.

Qian Buting understood and was willing to support Li Mo's ideas. From the beginning, Qian Buting also provided him with many ideas on combining e-sports and software engineering in his thesis and research topics, which provided Li Mo with tremendous support and help.

However, both Li Mo and Qian Buting were very clear that this was not a long-term endeavor. During their time playing professionally, they could not relax their efforts and progress in their studies and research, and they would have to sacrifice some of their spare time to spend on these things. Because for research and studies, every second counts. At Peking University, students who want to pursue a research career will spend a lot of time on this during their first year of study.

Although Li Mu can conduct a lot of analysis and research in a relatively short time, he certainly cannot relax his efforts in this area and needs to devote a lot of time to scientific research and academic studies. In addition, because he took over the undergraduate elective course, Li Mu also spent a lot of energy on this aspect, because he did not want the elective course he was teaching to be a weak course or one that could not provide students with helpful content.

Therefore, under such circumstances, Li Mo was also aware of the situation.

The reason my advisor set a time limit for me—to publish a paper in a top-tier journal before my senior year—was actually a subtle way of reminding me and putting pressure on me. It's important to understand that the publication process for a paper of this caliber is extremely lengthy and requires a great deal of time for repeated revisions.

Therefore, after returning to China, Li Mo devoted most of his time to completing his elective courses and developing his thesis proposal. In fact, he already had a preliminary idea while collecting and summarizing literature, and he also had a relatively innovative idea for his thesis topic. His supervisor gave positive feedback on this idea, telling him that if he could develop this topic further and collect experimental data to support the theory, it would definitely be an excellent paper, and very likely to reach the level of a top-tier journal.

It must be said that Qian Buting indeed placed very high hopes on Li Mo. You know, for most undergraduates, master's students, and doctoral students, publishing a paper in a top journal is almost an unbelievable thing. But it was because of his contact and discussions with Li Mo, and the constant feedback he received from Li Mo on her learning and research process, that Qian Buting believed that Li Mo had such ability and at least had considerable potential.

Often, you must set your initial goals for something high. If your initial goals are not high enough, then when you encounter resistance and during the execution process, the final result will inevitably be lower than expected after being compromised.

After two busy days, Li Mo finally arrived at NA's base to train with everyone.

After the WCA World Championship, Li Mo gained a lot. Although he believed that his abilities and strength, and even his theoretical knowledge and analysis, had reached the level of top team coaches and tactical analysts, he still lacked real experience. After experiencing this world championship, he also realized many of his team's shortcomings and problems.

Moreover, in every World Championship-level competition, while showcasing strength against top teams, teams also expose many of their tactics. If you can't develop new tactical approaches and improve your team's style and other aspects during this process, you'll easily be targeted and encounter significant resistance in subsequent matches.

At this stage, Li Mo believes that the biggest problem for his team is the lack of two maps.

Firstly, on the Nuclear Crisis map, their teamwork, especially the tactical coordination between the two players, was not good enough. Moreover, Shen Miaoxue, as a free agent, often had some personal problems on this map, and her understanding of the items and the map was not good enough.

Aside from Shen Miaoxue's individual issues, their tactical approach on the Death Amusement Park map had some flaws. Li Mo only discovered this during the match, as his accumulated data and experience from previous matches against domestic teams were questionable. Previously, they had always considered this map their strong suit, especially Li Mo, who had a deep understanding of it.

However, there's clearly a misconception here: while one may have a deep understanding of the map and be able to master it well, at the team level, when facing top teams, some tactics can have the opposite effect. Especially their unconventional positioning and playstyles from previous scrims, if used against top teams, would appear somewhat reckless, increasing the likelihood of problems.

So, after returning to China this time, Li Mo chose the Overpass map for the first time to review the game and explain the map to them.

Actually, regarding this map, Li Mo's previous explanations focused on unconventional tactics, neglecting some of the map's fundamentals. As a result, the team members are now overlooking some basic aspects of this map.

First of all, the Death Park map has a three-dimensional structure and many complex rotation routes and diverse tactical options. Regarding this map, Li Mo began by explaining many basic aspects from the CT side's perspective.

"As the CT side, taking control of the construction site as soon as possible can suppress the T side's efficiency in transitioning to B. If we cannot gain control of the construction site, then remember to use utility items as soon as possible, such as smoke grenades to block short pipes and incendiary grenades to buy time and delay the attack."

"If you're playing against the terrorists, controlling the construction site is also very important, because occupying the construction site can simultaneously threaten point B and the sewers, creating space for rotation. What you must pay attention to here is backflash, anti-CT flashbangs, and underwater gun setup."

Regarding the Overpass map, Li Mo often played as a free agent in the past because he liked to play this map in a very unpredictable way. He had a very deep understanding of the map and knew exactly where and when the opponent would appear. After judging the opponent's tactical intentions, he could pose a great threat to the opponent as a free agent.

It could even be said that in previous matches, on this map, both the attacking and defending sides were very afraid of him appearing on the side or behind them, because Li Mo was already very familiar with this map in his earlier ranked games, and he was able to achieve many unconventional positioning and item kills on this map.

However, at the team level, especially in professional competitions, when top players and teams face off, individual performance is greatly compressed. If Li Mo keeps trying to gank solo, once the opponent figures out the tactic and counters it, they are very likely to catch him directly.

So if Li Mo's side is dealt with first, then NA will be in a very passive position.

According to Li Mo's understanding, many teams from Europe, America, the CIS, and even China have already conducted very detailed analyses and reviews of each of their maps. In this research process, as long as these tactics are demonstrated in matches, all of them will be exposed to the public, especially habitual playstyles. If the opponent learns and exploits these tactics, it can be very dangerous.

What impressed Li Mo the most was the group stage of the WCA Global Finals. When they faced a second-tier team on the Overpass map, they experienced unprecedented pressure and tension regarding the score.

To be honest, due to time constraints, it could be argued that Li Mo underestimated his opponents. Before the match, he only studied the top teams and did not do any research or analysis on the second-tier teams. For him, time was very tight, and he didn't have enough time to analyze all the teams. Moreover, in his opinion, it was unnecessary, because in the face of an absolute difference in strength, doing too much research and analysis is not very meaningful.

However, precisely because of this, he didn't expect that the opposing team from the Asia-Pacific region had done extensive research on their performance on the Overpass map before the match and had developed a series of targeted tactics. As a result, they not only lost the pistol round but also allowed the opposing team to take consecutive points in the first half. Even though they kept making adjustments, they were still down a very large score of 9-6 by the end of the first half.

This was an unexpected result for both Li Mo and NA. Even though they displayed exceptional individual skills in the second half, completely turning the tide and ultimately allowing the opponent to score only 4 points, the game exposed many problems, especially serving as a wake-up call for Li Mo.

Previously, he often thought about concealing his tactics, hoping to keep the opponent from knowing what unconventional tactics he had. However, in reality, these tactics would eventually be exposed to the public and studied by the opposing side, unless Li Mo could continuously come up with entirely new strategies that had not yet appeared.

However, in reality, the tactics that Li Mo could research and develop that were effective in actual combat were ultimately limited, because the effective combinations that could be formed by combining maps and these props were limited.

Therefore, Li Mo now wants his team to return to the fundamentals. On one hand, their individual understanding of the map, key positions, and standard teamwork must be thoroughly mastered. On the other hand, it's crucial to strengthen the individual abilities of the players. This will raise the team's minimum performance level, rather than relying on unconventional tactics and Li Mo's overall command. (End of Chapter)