Decisive Map, Mirage!

Fnatic's training room.

ALEX picked up the data provided by the analysts and coaching staff, his tone relaxed.

"This is the most crucial round, brothers."

"We've almost figured out OG's playstyle in these last two rounds. They're targeting Aether's AWP."

"But now, it's clear that Aether's sniper rifle is no longer something mantuu can handle."

"If the opponents get more than 5 consecutive rounds in a full buy, we'll call a timeout immediately to break their momentum."

"Sustained momentum is OG's only hope for victory."

"Play well, everyone."

"I guess it's time to say 'Let's go' now?"

ALEX rarely showed a relaxed smile, placing the back of his right hand in the center of the group.

The other team members also placed their hands on top, and in unison, they shouted:

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Let's go!"

In stream room 6657.

Seeing that the knife round and side selection were over, Wan Ji Qi quickly entered commentator mode.

"Alright, let's stop chatting and watch the match, shall we?"

"On map three, OG won the knife round and chose to start as CT."

"Right off the bat, mezii gave Aether a P250 again, and then they pushed straight through mid."

"Nexa in the Archway heard a million footsteps from mid. Is Nexa going to run?"

"He didn't run. Nexa is going to let them enter the Archway first and then trade crossfire with his teammate at B Small."

"Fnatic pushed the Archway at speed. Nexa didn't dare to peek, and Valde at B Small was instantly killed by Aether."

"Nexa in the Archway wanted to trade the kill but lost the duel to poizon, who entered the Archway."

"OG gambled on a 3B start this round. Now, only niko, who is scouting behind the spawn at A site, remains."

"Little niko didn't choose to defend spawn, wanting to use his USP to turn the man advantage around."

"Can he do it?"

"He couldn't! poizon, who picked up nexa's USP, didn't give little niko a chance to fire."

[Does OG not even control mid? This is truly abstract.]

[Fnatic, charge for me!]

[God of Medicine, kill them for me. If Fnatic wins the match today, I'll be your decade-long fan (limited to today).]

After getting a headshot double kill, poizon regained some confidence as he watched ALEX successfully plant the bomb: "Let's go, everyone. If we win this round, we can design our own autographs."

"Pop."

[OG.FlameZ headshotted Fnatic.poizon with a USP]

poizon, who made a slight misstep in his positioning, was taken down by flameZ from B Small.

"So, don't make such bold predictions casually." Qin Feng teased with a smile.

"Just hide in the bombsite. When they make noise, we'll all peek out and trade." ALEX, as the team captain, cautiously reminded his teammates.

If they could win the pistol round, Fnatic, starting as Terrorists, would have a high probability of controlling the pace of the first half.

"Mm." KRIMZ, who always had a serious expression, nodded.

However, OG's remaining two CTs, to preserve their 100 armor, did not choose to rotate back.

Seeing the bomb explode, ALEX continued to lay out the strategy.

"For the second round, we'll buy at most two Mac-10s to save money."

"Aether's sniper rifle feels good. We need to let Aether buy a Scout Rifle to control mid and secure map control during the initial default phase."

"After securing default map control, we'll have many options for our attack."

"We can either double-up on A through the Archway or double-up on B through B Small and B Second Floor."

"In short, you don't need to take too much risk. Our strategy still revolves around Aether."

"..."

On the other side, in OG's training room.

"Next round, pure eco, gamble on a site."

"If they have more rifles, we'll go for a 5-A gamble."

"If they decide to rush B, we'll go straight to the B Second Floor to save our guns and not let their Mac-10s make money."

As he spoke, nexa seemed to recall something and looked at mantuu beside him, hesitating slightly. "It's just that mantuu, you still won't have a Scout Rifle in the third round."

"It's fine," mantuu shook his head. "Aether probably won't have a sniper either in the third round. Even if I hold an angle with a rifle, I won't be at a disadvantage."

As he said this, mantuu clenched his fist.

On the last map, he had indeed been eliminated by the enemy sniper, Aether.

But could he really be eliminated by the enemy every single round?

The third map, Mirage, might just be his chance to wash away the shame of the previous round!

Shaking his head and resetting his mindset, mantuu followed the footsteps of his four teammates and hid directly in the dead box in A site.

However, even though a minute had passed since the start of the round, the OG players still hadn't seen any enemies in their sight.

"If we don't see anyone in 30 seconds, we'll rotate to B," the gambling god nexa glanced at the remaining 55 seconds of game time. "They probably..."

[The bomb has been planted]

Nexa: ...

"We can see that OG chose a 5-A gamble on a pure ECO round."

"However, Fnatic did not choose to attack A site, which was heavily defended by OG."

"A B rush through B Small and B Second Floor directly entered the undefended B site."

"The remaining 5 CTs have no intention of rotating back, and all 5 of them have hidden towards the A Second Floor."

Wan Ji Qi watched the situation on the field and continued to analyze it on the stream.

"Actually, OG's choice of a 5-A gamble is not without its merits."

"If they had encountered Fnatic attacking A, they might have had a chance to trade the Terrorists' economy."

"If Fnatic attacked B, the pure ECO OG wouldn't let the Terrorists' SMGs make money."

As he said this, Wan Ji Qi glanced at the weapons of the Fnatic players again.

Only ALEX and poizon had AKs.

Qin Feng picked up a Scout Rifle to control mid, while mezii and KRIMZ, who were leading the charge, were only holding Mac-10s worth 1050 yuan.

On the other hand, OG, who had chosen a pure ECO in the second round, could afford five M4s in the third round.

Of course, the OG players were naturally well aware of this.

mantuu, bored, frantically spammed F to switch his short sword and looked at the team's in-game leader, nexa. "For the next full buy round, how about we try a trick in mid?"

"Can you smoke off the Sewer and then boost me to peek mid?"

"Their guns aren't fully kitted, so I won't be at a disadvantage in an M4 versus M4 duel."

"Okay," Nexa glanced at the team's star player, vadle. "But they have two SMGs, vadle, be careful on your own at B."

As the OG players communicated, the third round of the game had already begun.

Nexa, who was near the VIP, directly cut through the wooden board with his knife and performed a fluid-spinning jump to the exit of the Sewer.

mantuu followed nexa down and threw a one-way smoke for a boost peek.

Standing on nexa below him in the boost position, mantuu suddenly felt a surge of excitement.

Fnatic had smoked off VIP and the passage smoke, meaning they would likely rely on Aether's Scout Rifle or AWP to control the map's mid.

And now, it was his best chance to get a kill and regain his confidence.

Thinking this, mantuu saw the Terrorists flying out of his vision.

"The boost peek is out?"

mantuu instinctively pulled his trigger.