Valorant: I Am Still the World's Best

"I have a feeling that Fnc is in a tough spot against PRX given their current form..." Qiuqiu muttered.

Today's practice match was against FNC again.

It's worth mentioning that when EDG wanted to schedule scrimmages with top-tier teams in the past, even if the teams didn't refuse, they would most likely have to wait in line.

The teams that EDG practices with the most are none other than a few teams from the Pacific region and a few teams from the CN region, which have closer ties with EDG.

To be honest, only training in the Pacific Ocean had any effect.

Practicing with teams from the same region, just like Fnc did with them back then, all of them had a bit of a "helping out" mentality.

But ever since EDG defeated PRX, the situation has completely changed.

The number of scrim invitations increased, and the teams queuing up changed from EDG to other teams.

Even EG, who previously didn't take the CN region seriously, took the initiative to send an invitation. EDG made it clear that their schedule was full and they had other scrimmages, to which EG replied, "It's okay, we'll wait, no rush."

Respect is indeed earned through strength.

"How should I put it, Fnc is still very strong, but they don't have the absolute dominance they had at the Tokyo Masters."

Qiuqiu shared her feelings.

"The performance of all five players has declined to some extent, especially Little Prince, who has a negative record in all three games. For a three-time champion to perform like this in scrims shows that it's not just a matter of his touch."

"Don't worry about Fnc yet, let's summarize today," Wang Senxu interrupted him. "Today we mainly practiced the Hermitage. Everyone should share their thoughts on our new lineup!"

Training matches usually consist of two maps. If both sides feel they have gained something from the experience, then an additional map will be added.

The rules are simple: the opponent chooses a map they want to practice, and your team chooses one. Usually, you pick a map that's strong against the opponent, either to learn something from them or to test the effectiveness of your own team's strategy.

Fnc chose the stronghold of Originium, made adjustments to the lineup, and had Derke practice Night Dew.

But the result in that game was only so-so. Derke's Night Dew is not mature enough; his operation and decision-making were very stiff in several key rounds, which is completely different from when he plays Jetwind.

As for EDG, they mainly practiced Hermitage today.

The reason for choosing this picture is simple—

Loud will almost certainly choose the Hermitage.

This is their absolute strongest map, with an absurdly high win rate.

EDG's ban on Lotus Ancient City is also well-practiced on the opposing team, so there aren't enough ban slots to counter it. The only thing they can do is focus on improving the strength of this map.

The lineup has also changed.

Raven, Nobody, Smoggy, CHICHOO, Zmjjkk.

The strategy against PRX changed from a double vanguard lineup to a double smoke lineup.

"I feel the current lineup is pretty good."

Zheng Yongkang shared his feelings, saying that when Life was on the team, he was famous for playing with wallets, so his proficiency was not an issue.

"Playing with a sniper rifle on this map is much more comfortable than with a sniper rifle; it's less likely to get hit by skills. Zhang Zhao's firepower is also stronger after using smoke grenades compared to when he used Iron Arm."

"that is……"

Zheng Yongkang turned his gaze to Su Ming.

"Our lineup doesn't have a flashy support, so Xiaoming will be under a lot of pressure to get into the point."

"It's okay," Su Ming said seriously. "I can play even without consuming resources. Rather than putting all the eggs in my basket, I think it's more important that everyone has a comfortable time."

His ideas coincided with Potter's.

Rather than forcibly pursuing a particular version, Su Ming believes that matching the player's playstyle is more important.

"My brother is great, no further explanation needed!"

Wang Senxu, in a high-pitched voice, cosplayed as a little fangirl.

In the past few days, a large number of Raven's "ten-year veteran fans" have appeared online... especially the number of female fans has surged.

Even though they were all older than Su Ming, they were all calling him "brother" in the comments and live chat, and some even made their own idol-style support videos. In the end, even some male fans joined in, making the whole comment section look weird.

Wang Senxu is surfing intensely, and he's already used this to skewer Su Ming no less than five times today.

Su Ming opened his phone expressionlessly and started scrolling through Douyin (TikTok).

Absolutely ignore it.

The more you pay attention to this person, the more enthusiastic they become.

Having made this mistake before, Wang Senxu shouted "brother" in falsetto for an entire afternoon in the training room, to the point that Zheng Yongkang wanted to hit him with a keyboard.

-----------------

late at night.

After training, Su Ming went to the training room for an extra half hour of shooting practice, as usual.

After returning to my room, I took a shower and changed into clean clothes.

This has become a fixed ritual before each gacha pull... In Su Ming's own words, when it comes to gacha pulls, you still have to believe in metaphysics.

—A professional player reminiscing while drawing a specialization for duels.

Extraction successful.

—Remembering the Coordinates: VCT 2024 Shanghai Masters Group Stage

—DRG vs TH.

Su Ming entered the memory and looked at the computer screen with practiced ease, searching for the ID of the person who was currently participating in the memory.

...DRG.Tvirusluke.

"what?"

Su Ming looked bewildered.

Where did this capable assistant come from?

Su Ming looked around and spotted a familiar face.

It turned out to be Zheng Yongkang's good friend, FPX.nizhaoTZH, who was recently eliminated.

At this point, his ID also changed to DRG.nizhaoTZH.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that all of my teammates, except for one white person, were Chinese.

"This is a Chinese team!"

Su Ming suddenly realized.

It seems that this team only appeared after VCT CN was officially established.

Su Ming watched this match, a recollection of the past, with a sense of anticipation.

One hour later.

Su Ming made the classic "subway, old man, cell phone" expression.

Figure 1 shows Senhandong Harbor, which is not included in the picture pool.

Figure 2 shows the new map for 2023, Sunset City, which has not yet been released.

The two images are completely useless from a tactical perspective; I just had bad luck with this lottery.

But this is not the point.

The key point is...

"This DRG is really bad."

Both scores were 13-5, indicating a crushing defeat by the opponent.

Almost all the players on the team had negative records.

Watching the entire match, Su Ming's biggest impression of DRG was that the team had absolutely no system.

It's not that the system is crude, it's that it doesn't exist at all.

On the offensive end, there was no complete set of map control and rotation tactics; they only practiced bombing.

Their defensive positioning was outrageously loose; all five players were fighting their own way, relying entirely on bare-handed gunfights.

Calling them a professional team is an understatement; they're more like random players with decent aim from the ranked ladder.

Luke, whom Su Ming possessed this time, also performed poorly. He occasionally had a flash of brilliance and showed off his skills in one or two rounds, but otherwise he consistently dealt with garbage time.

"This kind of reminiscing is completely worthless."

Su Ming initially wanted to quit the Memory event, but then he thought, since he had already drawn the cards, he might as well see what the conditions for clearing the event and the rewards were.

—Recalling the way to clear the game: Change history, lead the team to defeat TH, and defend the glory of the home field!

— Completion Reward: God Luke (Slightly increases your chances of achieving a Life Game-level performance in matches)

Holy crap!

Su Ming swore, which was uncommon for him.

This was the first time he had ever seen such a talent that had nothing to do with the player's ability, but rather seemed somewhat mystical.

——Life Game.

A concept in the competitive field: Some players, in certain specific competitions, will suddenly deliver an incredible performance that far exceeds their normal level—surpassing everyone's expectations and even the player's own understanding.

Just like Nobody's match against Loud in Tokyo, where he was hit by Iron Arm Shock and managed to kill three opponents. After watching the replay, he said, "I don't know how I managed to do that."

This kind of thing can't be trained, it's uncontrollable, it relies on luck and some inexplicable state.

And this talent... can actually "slightly increase the probability"?

I just don't know exactly how "slightly" means.

If it's too little, it doesn't seem to be of much use.

In contrast, the difficulty of completing this remembrance level is ridiculously high.

Su Ming had already clearly seen TH's strength in his memories: close cooperation, solid individual abilities, and extremely strong team execution, at least at the level of the top three in the world.

What he had to do was lead four teammates—four teammates with perfect records, no coordination, and virtually no teamwork—to defeat this powerful team.

This is ridiculously difficult.

"Fine, I'll just consider this my prison sentence."

Su Ming gritted his teeth and chose to take over the task of recalling memories.