Valorant: I Am Still the World's Best

DRX players' bench.

This 0-6 deficit at the start left all five of them scratching their heads in frustration.

The mindset and atmosphere were fine, just a little confused.

"You've got too much attention on Jetway."

The DRX coach explained, "His playstyle is to force you to engage in gunfights with him. If you take a step back, he will gradually encroach on your space, constantly compressing your area until he gets a kill or draws the attention of multiple players."

...like a vicious wolf that keeps approaching step by step, determined not to stop until it bites off a piece of flesh.

"Don't be afraid to face guns, children."

The DRX coach laughed, "We don't like to engage in direct gunfights on defense because that relies on individual skill and is affected by 'form'. Setting up positions and coordinating with each other are the more stable approaches."

"However, this is merely a decision-making bias, and has nothing to do with individual ability. In terms of individual ability, are we weaker than EDG?"

After receiving some inspirational words, the DRX players were in high spirits.

Yeah... Every time we see someone, we retreat to the back and coordinate our attacks. Are we weaker than them?

Seeing the morale boosted, the coach pulled out his trump card and quickly laid out a set of established tactics.

The pause has ended.

DRX immediately executes the coach's instructions; they are highly efficient and disciplined in execution, with an extremely low error rate.

At the start of the seventh round, Su Ming had just stepped into tunnel B when he saw the enemy Rez's [Float Parade] flying towards him.

After he knocked it down, he was immediately pushed away by the shadow, forced to light a cigarette at his feet and retreat to the rear.

Immediately, one-way smoke from channel B arrived.

The combination of Razor and Shadow is still very authoritative in B-street of Neon Town.

Seeing the one-way smoke at B exit, Su Ming immediately moved to the back post to set up his gun and relay information to his teammates.

...If someone were to go and explore this kind of place, it wouldn't just be daring to touch it, it would be daring to give it away.

"If the enemy controls B, we'll just take down the A2 iron plate."

At Grandpa Badi's command, Zheng Yongkang immediately lunged towards Building A2.

But soon, as soon as he took off, he was snapped off by Stax and Zest from a distance using a double-person straight frame.

"They've set up a trap," Zheng Yongkang said dejectedly. "They've figured out that if we lose B-Tong, they'll come looking for trouble."

Nobody frowned.

The opposing team only had a simple double-stack setup, without deploying any equipment, yet they perfectly blocked this attack point.

Jiefeng made a single touch on one side, and the ball was intercepted.

The front only features Rez, Skye, and Stardust.

The trio's skills are strong, but they're too weak; they lack strong crowd control items.

The strength of the Sky Duel system lies in the presence of three highly mobile entities: the bird/dog and the dual duelists. These entities can move into positions at super-fast speeds, create firing lines for each other, and provide mutual support and fire, resulting in an exceptionally powerful explosive capability.

But now, the Jetway has become a thorn in the side, and its overall strength has inevitably declined.

All the opponent needs to do is dodge an item, and then they can just wait for you, Raz, to fly in and get yourself killed.

"B Tong kept refilling the cigarettes," Su Ming said.

This version has short skill cooldowns, so there's no pressure at point A. The Shadow can keep the smoke from B tunnel going indefinitely.

"Let's gather and fight on one side."

With fewer people available during the map control phase, Nobody had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

EDG teamed up and made a big push on A.

"But DRX's three players are heavily defending A, while B has too much map control."

In the live stream, Su Di was commentating at lightning speed: "Raven went in and killed Buzz, but was quickly finished off. The rest of EDG were held up by utility. Huh? Two people got killed by utility? Captain Xiba, you're so good at using smoke grenades, why don't you use them all?"

On the field, Stax used a series of illusions to control the gun, killing Qiuqiu and Zhang Zhao.

The remaining Nobody was also taken care of by Mako, who had circled around from behind.

The score is 6-1.

"They're not putting enough pressure on themselves, so they're not taking the pressure anymore."

Nobody said, "Xiao Ming, I really need to control you. Come on, let's have a little push."

"OK."

Su Ming had no objection.

In the next minute, EDG's main force regrouped and forced the opposing team's Ryze and Shadow Shaman, who were controlling B, to retreat. They then immediately returned to attack A.

But DRX is too experienced.

As soon as EDG left B tunnel, they used a bird to get information that no one was in B tunnel, and promptly switched to defending A area, setting up a heavy defense of 4A.

EDG's double duel bombs penetrate the point, bravely storming the police station in Area A.

Kang Kang and Su Ming were very accurate this time, managing to exchange three players in the midst of the chaotic battle.

However, the main force was held back by the props, and Ball was killed by the Stax smoke.

In the final 2v2 situation, Mako somehow managed to sneak out from the middle lane, circle around behind them, and catch the two players off guard.

The score is 6-2.

"That Mako is too cunning!" Zhang Zhao muttered.

"Stax is even more sneaky, isn't it?" Qiuqiu said dejectedly, "I didn't even see anyone and got killed twice. I really don't want to play anymore."

"They're such good at defense, four Aces!" Zheng Yongkang sighed.

Before Nobody became the commander, he would sometimes grumble with his teammates, but after becoming the commander, he never had time for that; his mind was always racing.

—Without Su Ming, they lack strength in direct confrontation.

— Su Ming has arrived, and their sideline defense lacks strength.

This isn't Su Ming's problem, but rather the problem of the original EDG quartet.

When Haodong was there, they were always the team with a high winning percentage on the defensive side.

It's not just because the defense suits Zheng Yongkang's Mingju's performance, but also because... their offensive map control is terrible.

EDG's matches often feature a seemingly ineffective map control maneuver, followed by them grouping up and using explosive attacks.

Why did it rot?

The reason is simple: EDG doesn't have a single player who can truly touch the sidelines.

Note that the sideline and the sentry post often overlap, but they are not the same thing.

Qiuqiu is more suited to the role of a point guard and a last-ditch effort in the endgame.

Looking back at our previous opponents...

GIA goes without saying; they were a team that got eliminated in the first round of the World Championship and were the fourth seed from Europe.

PRX doesn't like map control, and their style is similar to EDG's, favoring bombs and chaotic battles.

Loud also played Neon Town in the first map, but this map is not Loud's strong map. They had simply studied EDG and were countered by their variations.

In the second map, Loud dominated the Hermits during the map control phase, but lost to Su Ming's 'Life.Game' level individual performance.

EDG's weakness in map control has always existed, but it has been masked or compensated for by various factors.

When playing against teams like DRX, who excel at defense and map control, this problem is immediately exposed.

"We can still play even with weak flanks, but our offensive tactics will be more predictable and easier for opponents to analyze..."

Nobody thought to himself.

Unless they achieve an unparalleled level of explosive burst damage, they won't have to worry about being studied by others.

Just like the PRX's invincible "dump truck" today.

"Six points in the first half was actually enough. DRX's offense isn't strong. After probably wanted to save his two timeouts for the second half, so he didn't call any..."

Nobody understands the coach's thinking, but as the commander, he genuinely wants to address this weakness in the team so that he can have more options.

Soon, the ninth round began.

In this round, Nobody allowed Su Ming to move freely, letting him continue to apply pressure on the sidelines.

He carefully observed Su Ming's gameplay, putting himself in Su Ming's shoes and thinking about what he would find uncomfortable if he were in Su Ming's shoes.

In the ninth round, the main EDG team went to control B tunnel, while Su Ming went to A area to play by himself.

Stax sent out a dog to retrieve information, and upon seeing that it was a Jetwind, it immediately became respectful.

They didn't even aim at the guns, just set up a small gap to get information and a lottery gun.

When Jetwind couldn't resist moving to an aggressive position, he called Zest, and the two of them used items to pull out the enemy.

Su Ming was extremely focused this time. After dodging the instant burst flash, he used his counterattack to lock down Stax before Zest finished him off.

He managed to achieve a 1-for-1 trade solely through his individual skill.

If the opponent doesn't make a mistake and doesn't give you a chance, a 1-for-1 trade is the limit.

Moreover, such bursts of individual ability are unstable; what works this round may not work next round.

As soon as Su Ming died, Nobody immediately called for a second round of silent A-level attacks.

DRX, lacking the ability to acquire information, was unable to read the information in this round and was directly defeated by EDG's speedrun.

The score is 7-2.

"Nice!! I get it!"

Nobody looked at Su Ming and gave him an extremely bright and sunny smile.

His eyes were so wide they were practically slits from laughing, revealing his large front teeth.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Su Ming felt uneasy under his gaze and couldn't help but make the same sound effect as Kun Kun.

"You know you look like an alien when you smile, Wang Senxu. Is it really worth getting only one point?"

This verbal hurt was nothing to Nobody. He maintained his expression and smiled, "I'm not smiling because I got points, but because I thought of ways to make you have a comfortable time."

"Oh?"

This made Su Ming feel wide awake.

"How can you make me feel good?"

Nobody turned to Smoggy: "Zhang Zhao, I have a task for you."

"What's wrong?"

The cold-faced man who was called turned his head in confusion.

"You'll be Xiaoming's dog."

Upon hearing this, he didn't hesitate for a moment.

"good!"