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

"Get some rest and prepare for tomorrow's match against Team A."

For NA, the rematch against Team A will definitely be a very close contest of skill. After all, the two teams are much more familiar with each other after the last World Championship.

Over the past few months, they have played a lot of training matches against each other, and they have become more and more familiar with each other. Although Li Mo did not use some of his trump cards during this period, with Team A's analytical ability, they can definitely summarize a lot of tactical things from the matches.

The next day arrived quickly, and the match between NA and A in the Swiss round was already highly anticipated before the game. Everyone wanted to know what kind of sparks would fly when these two top teams in the world met again on the world stage.

"Alright, welcome everyone to our IEM competition stage. Today's match is between NA and A. As we all know, these two teams are very familiar with each other. In their previous matches, they have all brought us a very exciting visual feast."

"We know that NA faced a lot of criticism before the tournament. Many people believed that their success in previous matches was due to their unconventional tactics. However, they were thoroughly analyzed before the tournament, so when this inexperienced team steps onto the world stage again, they are likely to expose many problems."

"This statement was actually thought to have been refuted a long time ago, because it is not a valid claim. After all, if we start from the most basic theory, the strength of the Na team is not actually their unconventional tactics, but their strong command and the individual abilities of their players."

Standing on the same stage as Team A again, the players on NA no longer felt the nervousness and inexperience they had during their first encounter. After all, they were no longer inexperienced newcomers to the world stage. The players had already won international championships and had accumulated a wealth of experience playing against top teams. They were no longer prone to nervousness on the spot. Therefore, they were now a team with top-notch individual skills and ample experience.

After the host finished the introductions, both sides took their places. For the NA team, they were determined to give it their all in today's BO1 match, since they had a relatively high win rate against Team A in both scrims and matches.

This match took place on the map "Small Town". Both teams played very well on this map, especially NA, who had maintained a 100% win rate in previous matches, which is an impressive statistic.

Because NA played a lot of matches last year, both domestically and on the world stage, this map was definitely one of their strongest maps. Therefore, it's no surprise that Team A made ample preparations before the match.

"Okay, we see that on both sides, NA will be the attacking side first, while Astralis will be the defending side first. Actually, everyone knows that the map Town is a relatively balanced map in most versions, but for NA and Astralis, this map is obviously biased towards the T side."

After all, top teams clearly have more control over the offensive approach, and even if the defending team comes up with unconventional tactics, they can easily be manipulated by the offensive team using items and various deceptive tactics.

"That's right. Judging from the previous head-to-head record between the two teams, Team A lost to NA in both Inferno maps. Moreover, we know that during the scrims, Team A's head coach once joked that they were completely crushed by NA."

While we know this is likely an exaggeration, it does suggest that after their performance at the last World Championship, Team Na is not, as many believe, going downhill in this tournament. Instead, they are expected to show an even stronger side.

Upon entering this map selection, NA, who were on the attacking side first, weren't particularly concerned about whether they started as the attacking or defending side. However, starting as the attacking side would give them more confidence, both as a team and for the individual players, in establishing a score advantage.

After all, the attacking side has a strong initiative on this map most of the time, and this is even more evident in their previous training.

"Let's start the pistol round by rushing B site, because the enemy probably won't expect us to have such a fast start without any map control. Also, if we choose to have all 5 of us rush mid, it will put a lot of pressure on them."

"OK, Brother Mo."

This early game strategy of accelerating down the middle in the pistol round is actually a tactic Li Mo learned from his match against SQ yesterday. While this tactic may seem impractical, and it's difficult to execute precisely in terms of team discipline and coordination, its element of surprise is what makes it so effective. The team is generally perceived as having extremely meticulous tactical execution from start to finish.

However, their use of such an unconventional tactic to speed up the pace in a pistol round can be very deceptive.

If you can confuse your opponent at the beginning of the game, you will put pressure on them in many rounds throughout the match.

"There is no movement at point A."

"We didn't hear anything in the middle lane or the banana lane either. It feels like the other team is trying to make a silent contact this round." Obviously, Team A didn't get any information at the start of the game because all five members of Team Na went around to the middle lane and immediately placed smoke grenades on both the middle and A main lanes. With two smoke grenades blocking and covering the enemy, it was difficult for the other team to figure out what Team Na's intention was in using such a utility.

"Give a burst of flashbangs to the middle lane, then we immediately accelerate. Note that after gaining control of the middle lane, we leave one person there to cut off the enemy's rotation. Then, we should try to push forward along the banana path, otherwise, if the enemy can easily reach the front, it will be difficult for us to contain them with pistols when we lack utility items."

In Li Mo's opinion, if they can break through the middle lane in this pistol round and the opponent doesn't have a heavy defense there, they have a very high chance of winning the round.

After all, pistol rounds are relatively short on utility. If the attacking team successfully takes control of the middle lane and plants the C4, the defending team won't be able to use utility to create gaps in key positions during their rotation. In this situation, it's actually quite difficult for the defending team to clear points.

In previous training matches, Li Mo rarely used these tactics, which might be considered high-risk. However, during yesterday's match against SQ, Li Mo discovered that the stronger the opponent, the less likely they were to anticipate such tactics.

After all, when top teams clash, unless each player has exceptional individual skill, they often have to rely on gun skills to overcome obstacles. In such cases, the use of tactics becomes particularly crucial.

"Na chose to make a bold attempt to speed things up in this round. If you watched yesterday's game, you must remember this tactic."

"Yes, this tactic was used by SQ against Na on the Dust 2 map. In fact, these two maps have some similarities. For example, in terms of map design, both are divided in two by the middle lane, and there are some key points."

Relatively speaking, Inferno has more map content than Dust2, which means that after NA uses this tactic, Team A will find it harder to anticipate them making a fast-paced 5-man push through the mid-lane pistol round on this map.

Under normal circumstances, even if you want to break through from the middle, you need to coordinate with the gun line on the second floor. More importantly, if you don't break through from the middle, you need to first use utility to try and clear out points before making a deeper push.

However, judging from this round, Na clearly didn't gather any information at the start, instead simply launching a single attack. Team A probably didn't anticipate this speedup, so from an omniscient perspective, they have a relatively high chance of achieving their tactical objectives in this round.

Because Team A, without prior warning, was still using a standard defensive formation. While this 1-2-1 formation could put some pressure on the middle lane, we know that's under normal circumstances. In this round, however, NA's five players instantly used all their items to break through the middle, leaving Team A with little chance to defend.

While the commentators were describing the possible scenarios on the field, Na's five players instantly broke through to the middle lane. Although Team A, upon hearing their footsteps, considered using items to counter them, or at least slow down the attackers' advance, this actually played into Na's trap.

Because their five-man speed-up gave them an overwhelming numerical advantage, the opposing team, lacking sufficient firepower in the pistol round and with limited utility, found it difficult to contain them. Furthermore, in the process of throwing their utility, they inadvertently lost the possibility of retreat. Since they were already positioned far forward, failing to immediately pull away meant that the two players in the middle lane would be instantly torn apart.

"If the five opponents on the middle lane accelerate their attack, the people at the bomb site should try to hide and see if they can sneak up on the side or behind us. Otherwise, even if we manage to engage, and once the people at the bomb site come back to defend, it will be very difficult for us to fight back."

It's obvious. The two players from Team A who were killed only realized just how terrifying the enemy's speed boost was before they died. From the start of the round until now, both sides had been relatively silent. However, NA's smoke grenades in the middle and B site completely disrupted their vision. Therefore, during the pistol round, Team A didn't dare to make any overly aggressive attempts; they also didn't dare to risk going out through the smoke to gather information.

In this situation, they were unaware that Na had actually advanced to the mid-lane front point with 5 players, and then, in an instant, like a lion, completely tore apart their already fragile defense.

In fact, Team A considers the current 3v5 defensive situation to be extremely difficult. After all, NA has already taken control of all their advantageous positions on the field. More importantly, their opponents, even when at a disadvantage, often manage to change the course of the game and reverse their initial disadvantage through their tactics and Li Mo's command.

In this kind of game, they are already in a very passive position. It can be said that the only breakthrough is the person who is buried at the bomb site. Can he withstand the pressure and have a chance to take down more of NA's people?

However, as we all know, the Na team is known for its extremely strict discipline. Therefore, given that they knew there was one person on each side of the mid lane, and logically, with only one person at point B in a semi-defensive position, it's highly likely there was another person at A2 just now.

Therefore, they will now conduct strict checks on both the location on the second floor and other hiding places within the bomb site to prevent the other side from seizing an opportunity and changing the situation.

(End of this chapter)