Valorant: I Am Still the World's Best

On the EDG coaching bench.

Watching the second half pistol round, Lao Jiu couldn't help but marvel at Su Ming's timing as he sneaked into site A, saying, "This is the second time today that you've pulled off a solo infiltration, letting others get kills in, right?"

Figure 1 shows a similar operation in Neon Town.

The same bold timing for solo attacks, the same letting go for multiple kills, the same calm back-to-the-basket attacks.

"Yes." After nodded with a smile, "Su Ming has a very strong sense of game and information processing ability, and he is also very bold. Sometimes it's like he has X-ray vision... I reckon that if he were to switch to command, he could handle both smoke emplacement and sentry post positions."

Those who possess both strong awareness and information processing abilities are often renowned endgame masters.

These types of people are either responsible for providing backup or for holding command positions.

Qiuqiu is actually a member of the Endgame Masters, but his skill in single-player puzzles is only so-so.

Because players with high single-target skill must be very bold and dare not search for points.

Not searching for points is not meant in a derogatory way.

Instead, it's when you're playing solo, you subconsciously assume there's no one in a certain spot, and you make a choice to save time and seize the timing.

Before Su Ming joined, the player who was the most skilled at touching objects in the EDG team was actually Zheng Yongkang.

"Playing as a sentry is fine, but switching to command..." Old Nine's face was full of envy for Su Ming's talent, "That would be such a waste of his frontal firepower."

"Indeed." After wholeheartedly agreed.

Su Ming's occasional role as a deputy commander, sharing the burden of thinking with Nobody and offering new ideas, is a great help to the team.

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

"Loud's prize game is here, this point is very important for both sides."

As a Korean, Dae Dong-yeon spoke fluent and clear Mandarin, explaining the situation on the field: "If EDG wins this point, Loud's economy will be ruined, and the score will most likely be 9-7. Don't underestimate the two points; on this offensive map, Hermit, Loud will face tremendous psychological pressure."

Nobody knew this point was crucial.

Facing EDG's slow-control lineup, the opponent will definitely be on high alert and will play very cautiously.

and so……

He chose an unconventional approach of accelerating.

"Let's mention B!" Nobody judged.

The hermit's area B is the smallest of the three points.

This means that the engagement distance is also the shortest, making it suitable for short-range weapons.

Seeing the EDG team gathering at the B bomb site, Da Dongyan, who had a god-like perspective, frowned and sounded anxious.

"It looks like EDG is planning to take B directly? But Lou is trying to control the mid lane first, with three of them standing in the mid lane... Is this... being read out? Or is it just bad luck?"

The answer is bad luck.

Saadhak's strategy was purely to play it safe, so he wanted to control the center first and then quickly defend both sides based on the information he received.

As a result, by sheer luck, they ran into EDG's Rush B.

Loud still gave the water wall to the mid lane by default at the start of the game.

Across from the garage, Su Ming aimed at the ground, cast a [Instant Cloud] to clear the point, and called his teammates to pull out together.

"Brother Wang thought there was no one in the mid lane, so he just grabbed the plane and ran forward?" Da Dongyan exclaimed. "Oh no! Lou's three guys are pushing out from the mid lane right now. Can they hold off this little smoke?"

As soon as he finished speaking, EDG's Jiefeng, Liexiao, and Qianbao emerged from the smoke and appeared in Loud's crosshairs.

But what happened next surprised everyone.

Of the three players in front of Loud, Aspas was naturally the one in the first gun position.

The first thing to appear in the Aspas crosshair was the Hunter Owl, who walked with his skills in hand, looking just like a Pokémon with a three-hit combo.

Perhaps it was too ridiculous for Aspas to witness this scene in a professional match, and he was shocked.

The first shot missed.

Nobody was startled when he saw someone shooting at him. He jumped up and frantically spun the mouse, trying to dodge the bullets.

This actually served the purpose of "jumping and pulling the gun line".

Su Ming reacted extremely quickly. He was originally looking towards the garage, but upon hearing the gunshot, he immediately turned around and killed Aspas with a single shot, protecting his Pokémon.

Loud's two teammates immediately followed up with shots.

But they were facing a hunter who used "Provocation" and the two men with the highest EDG stats.

Bang bang bang—!

After a fierce exchange of fire, EDG surprisingly only lost one Hunter, winning the chaotic battle on this lane with a one-for-three trade.

After upgrading their weapons, EDG went straight to site B and planted the bomb.

"Well……"

Da Dongyan and Ye Lian were speechless for a moment, looking at each other, both of them barely able to hold back their laughter.

Amazing!

How did they even win?

[Brother Wang has a seductive charm when he jumps up; he seduce everyone on the other side.]

[No joke, that frontal firepower is really fierce, right? The young player was able to do a 180° gun swing like that, and he blew Laupa out of the water.]

Yes, Kang Kang fired quickly; the two men who came out to finish them off were both shot and controlled to death by him.

Watching EDG's matches is like this: a lighthearted comedy with a touch of dramatic numerical impact.

The remaining two Loud players chose to save their guns.

This point was secured, bringing the score to 8-7.

Nobody couldn't hide his joy at the result, but muttered, "Dude, you guys are so unfair! I died even while providing cover for your attacks, couldn't you have killed them faster?"

"I'm sorry, Wang Senxu baby," Kang Kang said softly, using a high-pitched, disgusting voice, "I'll definitely protect you next time!"

Su Ming and Zhang Zhao exchanged a glance and both sighed helplessly.

The fourth round of the second half began quickly.

The audience thought Loud had easily secured the point, but he showed amazing resilience.

They bought three more stingers, then handed the two long guns they had saved in the previous game to Aspas and Less, and launched another push down the middle lane, sending Aspas to the bottom of the VIP window as a "nail".

To avoid alerting the enemy, Loud didn't even provide a water wall.

EDG, who returned to control the mid lane immediately after their previous loss, never expected that their opponent would push out from the mid lane again!

"That's really unexpected!"

Ye Lian watched as Kang Kang, Qiu Qiu, and Zhang Zhao, who had jumped out of the VIP section and walked past without searching for points, put on masks of pain.

aspas calmly let the opponent go, then with a precise positioning and sweeping spin, he secured a triple kill with Phantom.

Su Ming and Nobody had no choice but to save their guns.

The score is 8-8.

[Big stars don't even bother searching for trending topics!]

Regarding the trident's synergy...

Couldn't EDG improve their discipline?

New viewers are still criticizing, while veteran viewers have already ordered Crazy Thursday.

Oh my god, is it going to stick to me again?

[Don't do this, bro, I have a heart condition!]

"Nice!!"

"Let's Fucking Go!!!"

Loud's players stood up from their chairs, bumped fists with each other, and shouted passionately.

Nobody immediately took the blame: "My bad, my bad. I didn't expect the other side to dare to pressure like that. That was a pure idiot countering a pro player."

"What's our strategy for the next round?" Su Ming glanced at the economy panel. "We've secured two long-range weapons; should we go for a strong push?"

"Rise!" Nobody declared firmly. "If they can turn it around, why can't we? Are we weaker than them?"

They've made mistakes, they've given away kills, but they've never backed down... That's always been EDG's style.

Nobody knew very well that in this situation where both sides were turning the tide, if one side backed down first, the morale of the entire team would plummet.

The fifth round of the second half begins.

Viper rises [Poison Curtain], Nobody cuts his knife and heads towards A short, preparing to fly the plane to get information on point A.

But just as he stepped into the smoke, a series of phantom gunshots suddenly rang out from A University, instantly killing him.

The moment Noboby was killed, his entire face revealed a mask of pain.

His timing in the second map was really bad; it's hard to say whether it was just bad luck or the opponent's timing was perfect.

House seemingly endless rain.

Nobody just had a problem here. Zheng Yongkang, who went to control the ball at C University, was also taken down by two opposing players pushing forward.

The situation instantly turned into a five-on-three numerical advantage for Loud.

They immediately tightened their defenses, set up positions at the rear, and gave EDG no chance to engage in a gunfight, waiting for them to make a mistake.

The remaining three members of EDG walked all the way to outside A without seeing anyone, except for Skye who was spinning and jumping behind the box in A area. They then guessed Loud's decision.

"What do you mean? Should we go in?" Qiuqiu asked.

"We have no choice but to go in!" Su Ming said calmly.

Without any map rights and lacking information, the pressure to transfer points will only increase.

After deciding to make a big splash, the EDG team began to take action.

Smoggy pushes the black area on the left side of A site, boldly TPing in.

Ball (Viper) throws [Miasma] + [Snake Kiss] at the police spawn point to prevent follow-up shots.

Su Ming took two steps forward, used Q+crouch, and landed on the box in mid-air without any recovery time.

As soon as I reached the box, I saw a Viper moving in the groove on the left side of area A. At the same time, a Skye Flashbang exploded from behind the box.

Beep—!

The moment the birds chirped, Su Ming flicked the mouse, smoothly removing the flash.

In his hand, the blue Gaia madman trembled and fired!

Boom!

[EDG.Raven headshots Loud.Saadhak]

He could flash from behind, but Smoggy couldn't turn his camera during the teleport, so he was caught out and taken down by cauanzin who pulled him out from behind the box.

Qiuqiu steadied the gun and successfully avenged Smoggy.

1 for 2.

The 3v5 situation turned into a 2v3 situation. Although EDG was still at a disadvantage, they now had room to maneuver.

"Be careful when planting the bomb, the Sea God has a big one!" Nobody warned.

Ball went forward and planted the bomb, then faked two attacks, trying to bait out Poseidon's ultimate move.

Loud was too experienced to be fooled. He waited for them to plant the bomb before using his ultimate move to clear the entire bomb site.

Unfortunately, Qiuqiu had no choice but to install the energy generator.

"We can't back out." Su Ming frowned.

If Loud is forced out of Area A by Poseidon's ultimate ability, the subsequent water wall and spherical water shield will allow him to easily defuse the bomb.

"Let's unleash our ultimate attack!"

Qiuqiu's thinking aligned with his.

Five seconds later, Loud's anti-Qing message arrived.

Poseidon's [Raging Waves] are activated.

"—Watch me turn the tide!"

A domain belonging to the sea god covered the entire A area.

This Poseidon's Domain automatically detects the enemy's location, condenses a small-scale circular water wave, and launches a shockwave against the enemy.

Compared to the Iron Arm ultimate, which also shocks enemies, this skill has the advantage of a longer duration and the ability to obtain enemy location information.

However, the disadvantages are equally obvious.

Running with large strides can help avoid the vibrations of the water.

Su Ming activated [Wind Chaser], standing to the left of the box in Area A, moving while simultaneously blocking the police station's exit.

To avoid the water's waves, he kept moving around, which gave away his voice.

"The young player is under too much pressure here!" Da Dongyan quickly explained, "By exposing your footwork like that, the enemy can hear your position and come out to fire their information gun. You're at a huge disadvantage! Look, Less has already aimed at the approximate position and pulled out!"

"Whoa!!!" Ye Lian exclaimed in surprise, "Raven really managed to hold them off! The madman's shots are one-shot kills, he didn't give Less a chance to fire at all!"

From the audience's perspective, Su Ming's reaction speed was absurd. The moment Qi Le's half-arm appeared in his field of vision, he stopped abruptly and fired like an automatic trigger.

But the moment he stopped and fired, he was immediately hit by Poseidon's [Raging Waves].

Su Ming's perspective was plunged into a gray-white oscillation. As the crosshair swayed, tuyz swiftly pulled out from the police spawn point to finish off the enemy.

In the moment of crisis, Qiuqiu, who was standing on the right side of the box, shot Tuyz off the side.

He himself was taken in by Aspas on the A2 floor.

After killing one person and confirming Su Ming's location, Aspas activated [Wind Chaser] without hesitation, flew from the A2 building to the box, switched to the short cannon, and strode forward to arrest Jetwind!

"It's over!"

Countless fans who support the CN team share the same thought.

...being hit from above and then from below.

...being affected by the shock debuff.

...The short-range gun pinpointed its location, and it jumped and sprayed the enemy at point-blank range.

To anyone else, this was an impossible 1v1.

The home crowd had already started their huge celebrations.

Under this overwhelming pressure, Su Ming's consciousness seemed to have fallen into the deep sea.

...Quiet, detached.

In the gray-white perspective, the moment the enemy Jetpack jumped out from the box, his crosshair suddenly snapped to it.

boom!

[EDG.Raven headshots Loud.Aspas]

Jiefeng knelt down on the ground.

The majestic Gaia Tree grew from her body.

"Wow!!! I did it!!!"

Ye Lian and Da Dongyan jumped up from their chairs, hugged each other, and shouted in unison, their faces flushed.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! A shockwave hit him???"

"Can you blame Aspas? He didn't make any mistakes; his decisions and actions were all correct! Close-range jump-pull with a short-range cannon is absolutely authoritative, but Raven just kept hitting him so accurately that he couldn't even fire a shot!"

"This is the most powerful weapon in FPS games: absolute accuracy! Absolute numerical superiority!"

Ye Lian was still not satisfied and wished she could fire that shot ten times over.

Did they win even in a three-on-five situation?

As an Aspas fan, I don't want to say it, but it's true, Jetwind was Diff.

[The young player's accuracy was impeccable; he must have entered a state of flow. Qiuqiu was also crucial, securing two reliable kills with follow-up shots; otherwise, there wouldn't have been any follow-up.]

[Smoggy: The three of us are amazing!]

[Stop the baseless bashing. Without my brother Zhang Zhao's push to criticize, would your Raven even get any attention?]

[The young player was in phenomenal form this game; he carried the team from the first half onwards.]

Da Dongyan chuckled as he glanced at the EDG players' bench.

"The EDG guys have gone crazy!"

On the contestant's bench, Zheng Yongkang stared wide-eyed at Su Ming with an incredulous look, his lips forming an "O" shape to show off his liver-colored face.

Wang Senxu smiled foolishly as usual.

Even Zhang Zhao, who usually has the most indifferent expression, was full of amazement at this moment, shaking his head and sighing repeatedly.

Only Qiuqiu hadn't seen the first-person perspective and was getting anxious, scratching her head and repeatedly asking, "How did they win?"

Loud's player bench.

The group fell silent.

This five-on-three endgame situation is a sure thing; it's almost impossible to lose.

Their handling and decision-making may not have been the most stable, but they were definitely not wrong.

Until the final shot, everyone on Loud felt they had the upper hand and believed it would be a close call.

With this loss, Loud's economy, which had finally started to improve, has deteriorated again.

However, a decline in morale is more fatal than an economic collapse.

"Should we force this point too?"

As Dai Dongyan watched the next point, Loud pulled out five more needles, and he was overjoyed.

"Loud's gone crazy! They're thinking, 'If you guys can flip it, why can't we?'"

"But EDG clearly read the game; they weren't in a hurry to speed things up, just slowly controlling the map and setting up their guns! I knew it the moment I saw their positioning; EDG had this game in the bag!"

[Shut up, you pig-headed idiot!]

[Stop jinxing it, okay? Let's watch the game quietly.]

The comments section quickly silenced him, fearing that his superstitious beliefs might be taking effect.

Fortunately, EDG didn't give in to the haters. They relied on their weapon advantage, coordinated their attacks, and secured the win with superior firepower.

Loud's economy has hit rock bottom, and they'll lose the next point as well.

The score suddenly became 11-8.

Strictly speaking, a 3-point difference isn't that significant.

However, after three consecutive wins, EDG has shaken off its previous predicament. Its economy and ultimate skill points have entered a healthy positive cycle, giving it a high margin for error.

Under these circumstances, Loud managed to secure two points through sheer resilience, but ultimately EDG still managed to take the win.

In the final point, Su Ming swept the ball with a triple kill, securing the victory.

The score in the second picture, "Hermitage," was 13:10.

In the first quarterfinal match of the Los Angeles Championship, EDG defeated Loud with a score of 2-0.

Advance to the winners' bracket semifinals!