Valorant: I Am Still the World's Best

Seeing EDG win their chosen map, Da Dongyan was overjoyed: "EG clearly came prepared, causing EDG a lot of trouble in the first half. But as soon as they switched sides, they couldn't control Raven's Nightfall, completely stunning the opponent!"

"Yes!" Yjj agreed, "Winning this first map is crucial."

"God help me!" Su Di clasped his hands together and prayed softly, "Please let me get picture two directly! No picture three, no picture three—!"

After praying, Su Di began to make circles with his hands, repeatedly chanting:

"Sleep well, Demon1! Sleep well, sleep well..."

"Sleep, Jawgemo! Sleep, sleep..."

【? ? ? 】

【Ha ha ha ha!】

[Amazing! Master Su performed a ritual right there at the World Championship!]

[Keep it up! Just take the second picture!]

I really don't want to see EDG's reclusive player.

EDG's restructuring has never been fully revealed.

Everyone was hoping they had a trick up their sleeve in this picture and would win cleanly 2-0.

Unfortunately, the hermit in picture three, EDG has played two matches in the World Championship so far, against Loud and PRX, with one win and one loss.

The win rate looks decent, having defeated strong teams like Loud... but anyone who watched that match knows that without Raven's performance, which could be described as his "career night," that map would have been finished long ago.

EDG's understanding of the Hermit's map was terrible; everyone played it confused, their mechanics were off, their timing was extremely poor, and their tactics and decision-making were completely exposed.

He turned the tide purely through his personal abilities.

"That flanking maneuver of yours was absolutely ruthless!" Nobody took off his headphones and looked at Su Ming with a smile. "From that point on, EG's mentality completely collapsed!"

Nobody thought they would win with the first picture, but they never expected to win so easily.

They had played against EG in previous scrims and knew their strength—a very powerful North American team.

In terms of gunplay, they are not inferior to their opponents... or rather, the gunplay of all the Chinese teams is quite good. During the group stage, FPX's firepower was evenly matched with EG's, putting EG in a very difficult position.

However, in any highly competitive FPS game, gun skill is only the minimum requirement.

To put it bluntly, it's a simple action like placing the crosshair on the enemy's head, something even a gorilla can do.

The higher you go, the more you compete on your thinking level, your mindset, your skill coordination, your tactical depth, and your understanding of the game and the map.

The current CN teams are lacking in this kind of foundation.

The most obvious manifestation of this is that CN teams often only have one or two strong maps.

You might win once or twice with your first three moves, but by the third time, your opponent will have figured you out and will make corresponding adjustments and countermeasures!

EG clearly came with this in mind, and prepared the KO as their killer move.

But they still lost...

Nobody certainly knew what the biggest change in the team was.

His gaze fell on Su Ming.

After Raven joined the team, EDG's strength increased dramatically. This player with extremely high explosive power can always cover for them in crucial games, and he also brought a "Night Dew" system that is very different from the current meta.

This gave EDG two powerful maps out of nowhere: Deepsea and Genji, instantly giving them the ability to compete with top teams!

"For these three strong maps to win the championship, advancing to the finals as the winner is crucial..."

Nobody revealed a resolute look in his eyes.

He's determined to get the right to ban one out of two!

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

After a short halftime break, the second match began.

— Fission Canyon.

This is the most uniquely constructed map in the Valorant map pool.

...There are many differences in elevation.

...There are four resource points containing skill orbs on the map.

...Both bomb sites A and B need to face three attack routes simultaneously.

It also features the absence of a central path, with ropes connecting both sides, among other characteristics.

This image is so complex that even ranked players get a headache just looking at it, feeling like it's leaking out from all sides, and choose to quit immediately.

Even among professional teams, very few can truly master this map.

"But EDG definitely counts!"

Da Dongyan said, "When Haodong was playing, their win rate on this map was very good. Although there was an example of them being reverse-swept by PRX 11:4, they also defeated Loud at the Tokyo Masters... The point of doubt is that after a roster change, EDG hasn't played this map once. Can they maintain their previous level?"

If we were to rate EG's fission as a 10 out of 10.

So, EDG was at a 7-point level when Haodong was playing.

There is a chance to go toe-to-toe with EG.

The question is, with Hao Dong leaving the team, Nobody taking over the command, and Raven joining, can they still maintain their original level?

Under the expectant gaze of everyone, both sides locked in their respective lineups.

EG (Defense): Jawgemo (Raze), C0M (Hunter), Ethan (Iron Arm), Demon1 (Inferno), Boostio (Chicken).

EDG (Offense): Raven, Zmjjkk, Nobody, Smoggy, CHICHOO.

"EDG picked two Duelists, aren't they going to use sentry positions?"

Daitohiko suppressed the urge to offer a sharp critique and swallowed the words, "How do you play defense?"

He simply said, "Then we need to score more points on offense!"

EDG won the first pistol round very narrowly.

Two players were eliminated in the default phase, leaving it a 3v5 situation. Nobody stepped up and turned the tide, securing a quadra kill.

Eco points were also secured without a hitch.

With the superior bomb-bursting capabilities of their two Duel and two Vanguard units, EDG played admirably in the first half. Everyone displayed exceptional gun skills, with Nobody going on a killing spree, reaching the top of the rankings and perfectly embodying the concept of "commanding with guns." The score at halftime was 8-4.

Upon seeing the score, Daitohiko frowned.

In other maps, scoring eight points on offense might guarantee a win, but with the split map... even scoring ten points on offense doesn't guarantee a win.

This is the ultimate offensive map!

What alarmed him even more was Raven's performance.

Daitohiko really likes this player. He has high stats, doesn't rely solely on talent, and combines skill and understanding. He's very gifted.

But in this battle, Raven's spirituality vanished, and he became a 'dumb gunman'.

He didn't do anything special; he just followed the team into the area, provided fire support, and died quite naturally, without the director even showing it on camera.

—Meimei has gone invisible!

—Neither a scam nor a C, just hanging around there!

If it were a different ID, this performance would be acceptable.

but……

"You're my father!" Da Dongyan silently expressed his filial piety in his heart.

From initially reporting Raven, feeling resentful and questioning him when they first encountered him in ranked matches, to watching his games, being captivated by him, being impressed, and feeling like family, it only took him a month.

But his filial piety could not change the outcome.

In the second half, EG demonstrated absolute dominance on strong maps, not losing a single point after the switch and using extremely smooth fast breaks to reverse the score to 13-8.

EG redeemed themselves by choosing the right map!

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

After the defeat in Figure 2, Su Ming leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the failure displayed on the results panel.

He knew he wasn't good at fission... There wasn't a match with this image in any of the memories he had drawn so far, so he had After give him a thorough lesson.

But the diagram is too complicated, and the preparation time is too short. How much can he learn?

They were still able to contribute offensively in the first half.

When he switched to the defensive side, Su Ming felt that the timing was terrible on this map. He was constantly being flanked, his skills were ice cold, and in the end, his record was even worse than when he played against DRX on Sky Island.

In this match, I clearly dragged the team down.

In the past, losing a game meant you could start over, but in reality, there's no chance to do it again.

Perhaps if we lose the second game in this decisive match, everything will change.

Seeing Su Ming lost in self-blame, Su Di couldn't help but say, "Raven's performance on the field was so amazing that many people may have forgotten that he's just a rookie who's only been in the professional scene for a month. Map understanding is something that can only be accumulated through time and experience. His performance on strong maps like Deepsea is already amazing!"

"Yeah, right!" Da Dongyan nodded repeatedly. "Getting this far has already been incredibly difficult; we're already the best in team history. We can't ask for more! Moderators, ban everyone stirring up trouble in the live stream for 365 days!"

In his desperation, Daitohiko no longer concealed his filial piety.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much negative reaction in the comments.

Even God makes mistakes.

It's normal to lose; EG's split push is too strong, even PRX didn't dare to let them pass.

[To be honest, it's only when a rookie makes it to the finals that problems are exposed; Suarez is truly naive!]

Demon1 is still on fire this round! He even managed to get first place while playing in the smoke position!

[Go EDG! You've done really well to get this far!]

[Yeah, they've reached the top three in the world, there's really nothing to criticize. By that standard, every team in Vladimir would be criticized.]

Perhaps when Valorant becomes even more popular, and there are more people involved, it will become a mixed bag.

But now that the Chinese server has just opened, apart from a few cheaters, the overall atmosphere is very good, and everyone is united against external forces.

Some netizens also started discussing picture three.

[Hermit... I feel like EDG can't get past this map; they get dizzy playing it!]

Yes, the result in Figure 2 really affected her performance. I feel it will be difficult for Raven to step up like she did last time in Figure 3.

[They're probably going to go to the lower bracket. We'll see if they face Fnatic or have a rematch with PRX.]

I think there's a chance; EG isn't particularly strong on this map!

Backstage, Zheng Yongkang had already noticed Su Ming's mood. He walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't blame yourself. Everyone has maps they're not good at. We Hermits messed up so badly before, but you were the one who covered for us, weren't you?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Su Ming shook his head, his expression returning to normal. "Fission is indeed difficult; I'll practice more later. Let's discuss the Hermit's tactics now..."

Seeing Su Ming recover so quickly, Nobody was stunned for a moment, then felt a little relieved.

Failure is an inevitable part of every professional player's journey.

It is their attitude towards failure that divides the contestants into different groups.