Do You Even Know the Worth of a Sniper?

"Fuck, what does this mean?" ALEX frowned as he looked at the game screen, which had gone into a timeout.

As a competitor, ALEX had naturally read through the full PGL tournament rules before the match.

In theory, once a player dealt damage in-game, a rollback wasn't allowed.

Now Eternal Fire was saying they couldn't find their bomb.

Had they really not noticed their bomb was missing in the first place?

"So what do we do now?" mezii glanced at ALEX beside him and picked up a banana to munch on.

"According to the organizers' rules, we can't roll back. But if we agree, they might allow it." ALEX frowned.

KRIMZ just said casually, "I'm fine with whatever you decide. If we roll back, we roll back. We're on fire."

In fact, it wasn't just Fnatic's players who thought so. The commentators and spectators were of the same mind.

Including the previous map, DUST2, Fnatic had already scored eight rounds in a row.

And in all eight rounds, the Eternal Fire players hadn't even seen what a Bomb Site looked like.

Even if the game was rolled back, it would only give Eternal Fire a chance to cling to life.

But no one could have expected the match to be interrupted by an incredibly long timeout.

"What's up with the organizers?"

Watching the game remain paused, Wan Ji Qi got bored and started chatting with the stream's viewers.

"Even if they're rolling the game back, there's no reason for both sides to take this long to discuss it."

"Losing the bomb should be an extremely rare bug. There's no need to worry about it affecting the rest of the match."

No one knew that this sudden timeout would last a full thirty minutes.

Wan Ji Qi even found time to watch Yao Ren Miao dance on Bilibili.

It was only after thirty minutes that a PGL official referee announced the match would resume.

"Phew... Is the match finally starting?" After seeing a message from a viewer, Wan Ji Qi left the dance stream and opened PGL's clean feed. "Let's take a look. The score is 3–0, and Eternal Fire still has five rifles."

"So Fnatic did end up agreeing to a rollback."

"But I don't know why the game was paused for a full thirty minutes."

"Except for Aether, most of Fnatic are battle-hardened veterans. I wonder if such a long pause will affect their aim or their mindset."

Wan Ji Qi's concern was shared by viewers in many livestreams.

[Seriously, can they stop being such a pain? They drag things out for half an hour to let everyone's aim cool off, then get the rounds taken back. I used to like Eternal Fire, but now...]

[What's wrong with a rollback? Pro players are there to win. If there's a bug, isn't rolling back normal?]

[A rollback is perfectly normal. The problem is that even after Fnatic agreed to it, the game was paused for half an hour. Don't viewers' time matter too?]

In truth, Qin Feng didn't feel too much resentment toward Eternal Fire for what they'd done.

For a professional team to report a bug to the referee was perfectly reasonable.

But having the match delayed by a full half hour had still left him more than a little annoyed.

"Aether, isn't your position a bit too aggressive?" ALEX asked hesitantly as Qin Feng requested a pop flash for a retake on Banana Alley.

The coach had promised Qin Feng the freedom to choose his positions and catch people off guard, but using an AWP to pick someone on Banana Alley was still too risky.

If he missed a shot, the Terrorists farther back could easily wallbang him and finish him off.

Not to mention the grenades coming one after another from T Spawn.

"No, not really." As he spoke, Qin Feng stepped over the burning barrel and reached the gap in the wooden boards. Blinded, he instinctively pulled the trigger on his AWP.

Bang.

[Fnatic.Aether killed Eternal Fire.ImoRR with a headshot using the AWP]

After retreating to the back of B Site, Qin Feng continued answering ALEX's question:

"I just want to tell Eternal Fire that the rounds we're supposed to win are ours in the end."

Momentum was one of the key factors that decided a game.

Maybe Eternal Fire really couldn't figure out how to break through Fnatic's double-AWP defense. Or maybe Fnatic's players had already settled their nerves.

Throughout the first half, Fnatic gave Eternal Fire very few chances to score.

The only round Eternal Fire managed to take came when XANTARES pulled off two outrageous XANTARES peeks in mid at A1, ripping apart the AWP covering Connector and ALEX's M4 in A Books.

But that was as far as they got.

After the sides switched, Fnatic gave Eternal Fire no chance to catch up.

First, a B-site Banana Alley rush tore through the defense and won them the Pistol Round. Then a default setup with all five players holding angles with rifles shut down Eternal Fire's aggressive push.

The match ended 16–1, putting the series score at 2–0 and sending Fnatic into the 2–2 pool of the European Major Group A qualifiers.

If Fnatic won one more best-of-three, they would qualify directly for the Challenger Stage of the PGL Major Antwerp.

April 20.

The final round of Group A in the PGL Major Antwerp qualifiers.

Fnatic faced OG, a European lineup led by the gambler nexa.

The teams quickly finished banning and picking maps.

OG banned Nuke and picked Vertigo.

Fnatic banned Ancient and picked Overpass.

The remaining map was Mirage.

Before the match began, OG's coach ruggah kept pacing behind his players, studying the data provided by their analyst as if weighing something over.

At last, ruggah gritted his teeth and walked over to the team's AWPer, mantuu.

"Be careful, mantuu. Their AWPer is a little strange."

"That Chinese prodigy, Aether."

"After playing so many matches, his rating is still around 1.5."

"And our analyst brought up another issue: his reaction time when holding angles is incredibly fast. He doesn't seem to get distracted at all."

"Try not to repeek him when he has his AWP trained on you."

mantuu smiled, unconcerned.

"Got it, coach."

mantuu didn't take the coach's warning too seriously.

What kind of AWPers had he faced before joining OG?

The AWPer from Navi, the AWPer from Mouz, the AWPer from forze.

And which teams' AWPers had Aether beaten up?

Eternal Fire, and GL's AWPer.

Do you even know what a real AWPer is worth?

As an esports player from the UK, mantuu naturally knew what his compatriots mezii and ALEX were capable of.

Could they beat OG?

No way!

They just weren't good enough, you know?

Seeing mantuu nod, coach ruggah finally relaxed.

Even in the 2–2 pool, teams weren't all equal.

OG had lost to powerhouse Navi and a forze in top form.

Fnatic, on the other hand, had lost to Heroic in average form and the little-known SAW.

Not to mention that Mouz, one of the favorites to qualify, had been beaten by OG in the very first best-of-one.

Thinking of that, the coach finally put his mind at ease.

"Play well and stay calm."

"Fnatic is still a team that only started playing together recently."

"They made it into the 2–2 pool largely because they brought in Aether, leaving their opponents unable to read their tactics."

"As for this match, our analyst has already figured out Aether's favorite positions!"