Still Can't Get One Right

Nexa looked at mantuu, who had been killed for nothing again, and felt a headache.

In OG's map control system prepared before the match, mantuu's sniper rifle was undoubtedly the most crucial part.

If mantuu's sniper position was counter-killed, the remaining OG players would almost have to retreat to the back to defend.

After all, the team's analyst had already told them that Aether's holding success rate in previous matches had even far surpassed s1mple.

In a 4v5 situation, nexa didn't want to risk his teammates challenging Aether's big sniper.

"Let's gamble. Let's gamble on 4A."

It had to be said that nexa lived up to his reputation as the god of gambling.

If they gambled right, then the 4v5 battle on the bomb site would not be a disadvantage for the CTs, who would even have utility and positional advantages.

If they gambled wrong, they could keep their remaining four rifles and still have the capital to go head-to-head with Fnatic in the next round.

"Okay, I'll fake a pop flash at B and then silently return to A," said valde, who was defending B, nodding.

However, in this round, Fnatic chose a four-one split push tactic.

After a burst of utility at A, ALEX, who was scouting B alone, directly sneaked into the empty B bomb site.

Fnatic naturally chose to rotate through the Sewer to plant the bomb at B. The four OG players, who had lost their positions and information, directly saved their guns.

"This round is mine," mantuu said, looking at the bomb planting notification, rubbing his hair irritably. "His aim was too lucky these two shots. But next time I'll choose a more stable position and will absolutely not let him get a chance to kill me."

Nexa nodded. "Yeah, it's only two rounds. You won't be unlucky enough to lose every round, will you?"

"As long as your big sniper isn't dropped, our grouped-up trades will crush Fnatic's single sniper offense."

"Relax, don't worry about Aether's performance in these two rounds."

"Last round on Vertigo, wasn't your sniper rifle also holding its own?"

"..."

Under normal circumstances, the god of gambling nexa and the analyst's pre-match strategy were not problematic.

OG's analysis team had naturally analyzed plenty of Fnatic's previous match footage.

Except for Qin Feng, the average Rating of Fnatic's other players did not exceed 1. If OG could trade Aether through default trades, then OG would likely gain a significant advantage as CT in the first half.

They weren't asking for players to get a man advantage every time, as long as Aether's offensive sniper was traded out, OG would have practically broken Fnatic's offensive system.

But the only problem was the Sniper Rifle Mastery shard that Qin Feng had just used.

SSS-tier sniper skill was itself a variable on the battlefield, capable of reversing the gap between strong and weak teams.

In the remaining rounds of the entire first half, OG's defense line was completely and ruthlessly torn apart by Qin Feng's sniper rifle.

mantuu completely experienced the despair of being a sniper.

Since Qin Feng picked up the AWP, in ten full buy rounds, mantuu experienced 6 1v1 sniper duels against Qin Feng.

Every single time, the outcome was mantuu's defeat.

Without the cover of flashbangs or the interference of smoke, it was purely a head-on duel. mantuu couldn't even achieve a single victory in a direct sniper duel.

In the final few rounds, mantuu even wished that the enemy's figure wouldn't appear in his sniper scope.

And mantuu's poor sniper performance completely led OG's default defense into a stalemate.

OG, who started with a 5-0 lead, only managed to secure 6 points in the first half.

Fnatic, with a score of 9-6, entered the second half with a 3-point advantage.

After the half ended, the stuffiness in Fnatic's training room was swept away, and excited teammates rushed to Qin Feng's side.

"Aether, you're amazing."

"That sniper rifle just executed mantuu."

"I thought you were the next ZwyOo or s1mple, but you're neither. You are you, the one and only Aether!"

Qin Feng looked at his re-energized teammates and smiled helplessly.

Every round they won, ALEX and mezii would high-five him. By the end of the first half, his hand was a little numb.

"Don't get too excited, the first half just ended."

"Although the CT side has a big advantage in the second half, we still need to be careful of OG's offensive counterattack."

From 0-5 to 9-6, Qin Feng, almost single-handedly, tore through OG's defense line with a sniper rifle.

Even the viewers who were not optimistic about Fnatic at first began to look forward to Qin Feng's subsequent brilliant performance.

When the Terrorists' offensive sniper could tear apart OG's defense line, could the CTs directly prevent OG players from seeing the bomb site just by picking up a sniper?

In stream room 6657 on the Fish platform, Wan Ji Qi did not spare his praise for Qin Feng.

"Brothers, I want to change my 5E nickname right now."

"How about changing it to Fnatic's Aether himself?"

"This sniper is too ridiculous."

"mantuu's holding positions with his sniper rifle, and he never managed to counter Aether's peeking sniper, not even getting a single shot off."

"I can only say Fnatic really struck gold this time."

"I doubt even their coach expected Aether, who stepped in temporarily for Peppzor, to become Fnatic's savior."

"It seems incredibly reasonable now that poizon gave up the main sniper position."

"Aether's sniper rifle didn't betray poizon's trust, nor Fnatic's trust."

"..."

Inside OG's bright and spacious training room.

Nexa's brow was furrowed, his face filled with confusion.

The data provided by the analysts and coaching staff indicated Aether was strong at holding sites with his sniper rifle, but not as effective at breaking through them.

But what had changed with Aether today?

Let alone mantuu, the team's main sniper, even he himself had genuinely felt the terror of Aether's sniper rifle.

It was too fast.

No less impressive than kennyS in 2015.

Most of the time, if an OG defender peeked even slightly, they would be instantly eliminated by Aether's sniper rifle.

If you covered Aether's ID, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was peak s1mple or ZywOo.

Nexa glanced at mantuu, who was already spacing out beside him, and sighed.

"We're really not going to get a single opening."

"In the second half, we're not going to play slow. We're going to speed things up."

"Aether usually defends B. In the pistol round, we'll rush A main directly."

"In the subsequent full buy rounds, we all need to push fast."

"It's too damaging to let Aether constantly pick off players with his sniper rifle."

"A fast, explosive push will prevent Aether from getting any picks."

"We can take a gamble, betting that Fnatic can't defend against our fast push."

"..."

The halftime break passed in the blink of an eye.

After switching sides, the attacking OG team, as expected, chose to fast rush A.

However, they clearly hadn't anticipated that Fnatic had also made corresponding adjustments to their strategy to counter OG's speed.

A coordinated push with three players towards A and one towards A short directly crushed OG's idea of rushing A main from the connector towards the Amusement Park.

After a simple 1-for-4 CT trade, all that remained of the Terrorists was valde, who was peeking from B long.

The bomb dropped. valde, who had crept out from the Terrorist spawn towards the site, had no chance and was instantly taken down by poizon from the fountain.

The pistol round of the second half ended, and the score became 10-6.