1-1, Forcing a Draw Against OG

The second round of the second half, Fnatic's Anti-Eco round.

With three rifles and two MP9s, Fnatic gave OG no more chances.

OG, who had mixed TEC-9s and Desert Eagles, had just broken through the long pipe smoke when Qin Feng, waiting behind the smoke with an MP9, mercilessly mowed them down.

The remaining two, despite rushing out during Qin Feng's reload timing to finish him off, were quickly eliminated by Qin Feng's teammate at the B bombsite.

Another pure E for OG.

The score naturally shifted to 12-6.

"Let's speed things up. If we lose, we still have map three," Nexa thought, considering Fnatic's previous weapon loadout. "Control the sewer for a bit. Fnatic's weapons probably aren't complete yet; they'll likely have SMGs holding the close angles in the sewer."

Nexa was already indifferent to the outcome of map two.

If mantuu's sniper rifle could go toe-to-toe with Aether's AWP, perhaps nexa would still be thinking about how to counter Aether.

But now... Nexa was already contemplating tactics for Mirage.

"Fnatic's first full buy round. Because they didn't swap out two MP9s, mezii and KRIMZ decided to push up the sewer directly."

"Aether took mezii's sniper rifle and set up on the low wall at A's restrooms."

Wan Ji Qi watched the live stream, feeling a bit worried for Fnatic's players.

"Oh? OG chose to clear the sewer. The god of gambling got this one right."

"It's over. Fnatic has no one at the fountain or mid-restrooms. poizon and KRIMZ are about to be sandwiched."

"Two flashes forced the CTs to reposition."

"KRIMZ smoked off the fire, and poizon threw another smoke at the sewer's iron door."

"They want to retreat to the B bombsite through the iron door."

"Can they make it?"

"They can't. The AK holding the sewer is the dean, valde, who instantly unloaded a burst of AK bullets, obliterating the two behind the smoke."

"Still a bit too young to play with smoke against the Danes."

"..."

In Fnatic's training room, Qin Feng glanced at the kill feed in the upper right corner before turning to his IGL, ALEX.

"What do you think? Save?"

"Or gamble for a pick?"

With poizon and KRIMZ dead in the sewer, Qin Feng clearly needed to reposition quickly.

"Hmm... if you want to go for it, you can try to get a pick," ALEX said, looking at Qin Feng's 25-8 KD, abandoning the idea of telling Qin Feng to save. "We're leading by a lot anyway. It would be great if you could get your aim warmed up."

Qin Feng nodded at ALEX. "I'll go check the sewer exit from the restrooms. If I die, you two just save."

OG had cleared the sewer, and continuing to hold behind the low wall at A's restrooms was clearly not a rational decision.

Instead, it was better to gamble that the OG players who cleared the sewer would choose to continue clearing A short.

Walking with the AWP scope open revealed no sound, so Qin Feng, who slowly moved to the front of the restrooms, naturally wasn't worried about being heard by an enemy potentially hiding at the balloon.

"Aether, be careful. There's absolutely no sound or utility from B," ALEX, positioned underwater at the B bombsite, reminded him.

As for OG's offensive movements, the viewers in the stream, including Wan Ji Qi, saw them clearly.

"After clearing the sewer, OG seems to be planning a fast push through A short. Is it because they suspect Aether's AWP might be guarding the B bombsite?"

"But no one expected that after their teammates in the sewer died, Aether's big sniper was actually holding the close angle at the sewer exit."

"OG, playing it safe with a silent approach, is about to run into Aether's direct AWP?"

The casters, Wan Ji Qi, suddenly sat up straight, his eyes fixed on Aether's first-person perspective on the screen.

"Aether peeked with the 1x scope and moved, so the little niko, who was initially defaulting at the balloon position, didn't hear anything."

"Little niko, jumping down from the balloon position, lined up perfectly with valde exiting the sewer."

"Can Aether seize this opportunity?"

"He did it, Aether!"

"Another 1v2 clutch, taking down little niko and valde."

"Nexa, still at the fountain, wanted to trade the kill, but Aether didn't expose himself."

"What? Aether still chose to repeek."

"Nexa's AK didn't hold the angle!"

"Triple kill! Aether, with his sniper rifle alone at the A site, directly gave Fnatic a man advantage in the late round."

Wan Ji Qi suddenly looked at Aether's ID with a touch of emotion.

He had a premonition that it wouldn't be long before Aether became a top superstar like s1mple or ZywOo.

Regardless of whether Aether could lead Fnatic to the Antwerp Major, this special experience would undoubtedly be mentioned repeatedly in the future.

After Qin Feng's triple kill, the chat in Wan Ji Qi's stream was naturally filled with comments from viewers.

[I now announce the two MVPs of this match: Fnatic.mantuu and Fnatic.Aether.]

[Seriously, this sniper rifle has the vibe of kennyS from 2015.]

[OG is completely stunned, feels like Fnatic has a great chance on map three.]

In the following match time, the entire OG team seemed to be completely dominated by Qin Feng.

16-6, Fnatic, relying on Qin Feng's sniper rifle, took their map pick, Overpass, without shedding a drop of blood.

After map two concluded, Wan Ji Qi's excitement was still hard to contain.

"Map two has ended, the score is locked at 16-6."

"No one expected that OG, after a 5-0 start, would only manage to take one more round in the next 17."

"It all started from the moment Aether picked up the sniper rifle."

"mantuu seemed completely unable to adapt to Fnatic's offensive system, constantly being single-handedly broken through by Aether's site-entry sniping."

"We have reason to believe OG did their homework on Aether's sniping before the match."

"However, even with OG targeting him, Aether still delivered a perfect 32-9 score with his AWP on the map, Death Amusement Park."

"The director's camera also showed Aether high-fiving his teammates in the training room."

"He is the undisputed MVP of this map."

"Oh my god, did you guys see that?"

"Aether high-fived his teammates every round before."

"After one map, Aether's hands must be red from high-fiving ALEX and mezii."

"I have to say, he is Fnatic's undisputed hero."

"..."

Outside Fnatic's training room, coach Samuelsson's tightly furrowed brow had long since relaxed.

Qin Feng's performance in the second game was simply too explosive.

Initially, he had worried that Qin Feng would be affected by the first game.

As it stands now, Samuelsson had every reason to believe Qin Feng could lead Fnatic to victory on the third map, Mirage.

Samuelsson was now incredibly glad he had added Qin Feng on Steam earlier.

However, upon thinking of this, he suddenly felt a bit regretful.

Even with his strong recommendation, the team had only signed Aether to a two-month contract.

If they had signed a one-year contract, even if Fnatic eventually chose to sell Qin Feng, the buyout fee they could have received would surely not be a small sum.

"Sigh, I'm afraid it's no longer a question of whether Fnatic chooses to renew Qin Feng's contract," Samuelsson suddenly sighed.

He knew that Fnatic, in its current state, lacked the capability to compete with top international teams for Qin Feng.

In two months, it might be Qin Feng who no longer wanted to choose Fnatic.