Facing COL

On May 2nd, the Fnatic players concluded their less than two-week training camp and gathered to head to Antwerp.

Vitality, Imperial, G2, 9z... many teams participating in the Antwerp Major Challengers Stage had already arrived at the apartment hotel provided by PGL.

Quite a few players also posted team photos and passionate messages to their fans on their social media accounts.

On their first day in Antwerp, Fnatic had no scrims scheduled with other teams. Instead, they gave the players ample time to familiarize themselves with the venue.

For everyone on Fnatic, although there was only a one-hour time difference between the UK and Belgium, they still needed some time to readjust to the environment.

Diet, climate, local conditions, the venue... a series of external factors could, to varying degrees, become crucial in affecting a player's performance.

After landing, Qin Feng first reported his safety to his parents back in China, then immediately began adjusting his condition.

He had to maintain his good form.

During the less than two weeks of training, the form of his four teammates remained inconsistent.

And in less than a week, the Antwerp Challengers Stage would officially begin!

After the training match against Vitality on May 8th.

Coach Samuelsson, who had accompanied the team, looked at the information provided by the analyst in his small notebook with a frown.

According to the records from the analyst, Fnatic had won more than they lost in recent team matches.

However, when Fnatic faced teams with powerful AWPers, their entire team's performance was significantly restricted.

G2 and Vitality were the best examples.

The most important reason was the gap in overall team strength.

If Qin Feng lost a duel against ZywOo or m0NESY, the remaining members of Fnatic would have almost no chance of winning the clutch.

Especially since poizon's form was extremely inconsistent.

Fnatic's biggest problem now was their over-reliance on Qin Feng's AWP.

"The opponents in the Challengers Stage are not strong. The teams we need to pay most attention to are ENCE, Vitality, G2, and Outsiders," Coach Samuelsson began his targeted summary. "But even if we have a high chance of advancing to the Legends Stage, the team still lacks the potential to go further."

"Our team relies too much on Aether, even more so than Vitality relies on ZywOo."

Coach Samuelsson suddenly sighed.

He remembered a joke on HLTV.

The host interviewed "Big Cousin" (karrigan), asking what the biggest weakness of Faze, an international team, was.

"Big Cousin" karrigan replied, "The biggest weakness of an international team is the lack of smooth internal communication and over-reliance on star players. Once the stars can't perform dominantly, the team is basically doomed to fail."

The host then asked, "So how did Faze Clan solve this problem?"

"Big Cousin" replied with a straight face, "That's because we have five star players on our team."

Thinking of this, Samuelsson helplessly glanced at the five Fnatic players in front of him.

In the training matches, apart from Aether who could still maintain a stable performance when facing strong opponents, the remaining players' average Rating was not even 1.

It was too difficult.

Samuelsson patted poizon's shoulder. "poizon, although you are no longer the main AWPer on the team, the team still needs you to step up and become the cornerstone of our victory."

poizon's expression was a bit bitter. "I will try my best, but for some reason, my aim hasn't been good lately."

KRIMZ turned his head. "It's okay, poizon. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. We've already made it to the Antwerp Major stage, you just need to enjoy the upcoming matches."

Samuelsson nodded and began to encourage the players. "That's right, everyone, don't put too much pressure on yourselves."

"Being able to come to the Antwerp offline studio is already without regret for all of you."

"If everyone can play to their full potential, we are confident to face any CS team in the world."

"Tomorrow's first match against COL is crucial, but we just need to play to our normal strength."

"ALEX should have already discussed the maps and tactics with you many times."

"Now, we just need to believe that our training and hard work have not been in vain."

"Let a foundational victory begin our journey!"

"Let's crush them!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Let's go!"

May 9th.

6:00 PM China time.

Two matches of the PGL Antwerp Challengers Stage began simultaneously.

Fnatic, led by Aether, will face COL, led by North America's top sniper junior, and Vitality, led by ZywOo, will face the Kosovo team Bad News Eagles.

Most domestic streamers focused their attention on the secondary stage match between Fnatic and COL.

It was still the CSBOY stream.

"Welcome everyone to the first round of the PGL Challenger Stage, Fnatic versus COL."

"I'm your commentator Ma Xixi."

"And I'm commentator Captain Mo."

"And I'm your third wheel, Ming Ri Qing."

"And who are you guys?"

After the familiar opening, Ma Xixi looked at the in-game screen and spoke first:

"Fnatic saved Nuke and will start as the attacking side."

"COL's Nuke isn't bad either."

"Fnatic shouldn't really pick Nuke, do they have some special tactic planned?"

"Timing the round, 51."

"50"

"49"

"..."

"Alright, no problem."

"I see some viewers spamming 'North America's number one pig junior,' I have to clarify something here."

"You have to understand that COL didn't perform poorly in the PGL Antwerp Major North American qualifiers; they even beat Liquid."

"And this is Aether's first time on a LAN stage, so it's uncertain if he can adapt to the pace of the match."

"Honestly, I'm a bit worried about Aether. The stats show that Aether's offensive AWP isn't as terrifying as his defensive AWP."

[Aether, you're about to face the four gods of CSGO, North America's number one sniper, someone who's 50/50 with me, and who will miss every shot if you get behind him -- junior!]

[Fake North American number one sniper: junior. Real North American number one sniper: sh1ro.]

[This guy is just a sniper with a very low ceiling, he doesn't have the skill, understand? I advise junior to understand the AWP concept first.]

Amidst the barrage of comments and the casters' discussion, the match had already begun.

mezii still handed Qin Feng a P250.

In the first pistol round, Fnatic didn't opt for a standard A-site rush. Instead, they had Qin Feng take a P250 and head to the A-site's outer area to scout.

After all, COL isn't a North American team known for their raw aim.

Even though Fnatic is ranked lower among European teams, they still possess advantages in tactics and aim compared to North American CS teams.

"No one seen in close on the outside or at K1," Qin Feng said, using the cover of the oil barrel outside with his teammate's help, confirming that COL's players hadn't pushed aggressively.

"We don't have an outside smoke, let's regroup and hit A site or Connector," ALEX said, glancing at his teammates' positions on the minimap. "Aether, stop holding the default outside; see if you can pick off the guy at Connector."

"If you can get the pick, we'll have a lot of options, we can hit under third floor or B site."

"If we don't see anyone, we won't push in; we'll just rush A."

ALEX quickly made his decision based on the information from his teammates' voice comms.

Qin Feng nodded and walked towards the T spawn area. "I'll see if I can get a pick later. If I do, we'll follow ALEX's call for a fast execute."

As for the COL player holding Connector alone, it was Grim in the fourth position.

To avoid being traded by the rushing Terrorists at Connector, Grim chose to play a small angle from the ramp's sniper perch to gather information.

This way, even if he took a headshot from a Glock, Grim would still have a chance to retreat to the bombsite with low HP.

However, this didn't stop Fnatic's advance towards Connector.

The first one to peek wasn't Aether, but poizon, armed with a half-armored Glock.

Upon seeing the enemy, Grim didn't immediately retreat to the B bombsite and give up Connector. Instead, he engaged in a dueling match with poizon.

Believing he had the positional advantage, Grim chose to greedily take the fight, intending to kill poizon before retreating.

Unfortunately, after only landing three body shots on poizon, he was taken down by two consecutive Glock headshots from poizon.

[Fnatic.poizon killed COL.Grim with a headshot using Glock-18]

COL's Connector fell.

"Nicely done!"

"poizon instantly eliminated Grim, who was greedily holding Connector. It's 5v4 to start, and COL has completely lost control of the B bombsite."

"Even though Fnatic doesn't have smoke grenades, COL will have a hard time predicting whether Fnatic will go directly down to the B bombsite to plant or rotate around to the third floor."

Mo added, "COL still has two CTs on A, one CT on the third floor who needs to worry about enemies pushing from Connector, and junior at K1 outside should be rotating back to the B site Iron Door or Control Room to defend."

"..."

With a one-kill advantage, ALEX's command was decisive. He called all his teammates to the B Site bombsite to plant the bomb.

K1's junior, still en route to reinforce, hadn't arrived yet, and the Terrorists had already shattered the glass in the Control Room.

In this situation, the CTs had very limited options for reinforcement.

With Connector cut off, COL's players could only choose to reinforce through the Double Doors and the Iron Door.

Unfortunately, JT and floppy, who had planned to go through the Pipe and reinforce via the Iron Door, arrived too late.

"ALEX is in the Control Room, hugging the wall. Will JT check?"

"JT didn't check and was instantly headshot by ALEX's USP."

"floppy tried to trade the kill but missed!"

"ALEX headshot him with the USP again."

"ALEX is actually performing today."

Ma Xixi's voice held a hint of surprise.

"The last two remaining CTs are FaNg and junior, coming through the B Site Iron Door. They're facing a 2v5 clutch."

"Should we save?"

"No, junior directly pushed open the Iron Door to try."

"He was taken down by poizon, who was holding an angle. What a save, you Steel Helmet."

"FaNg tried to finish off poizon, but KRIMZ didn't give him the chance."

"1-0, Fnatic takes the pistol round first."

"..."

After securing the crucial pistol round, Fnatic's players breathed a collective sigh of relief.

ALEX had even miraculously transformed into the team's clutch player.

"poizon's entry frag was brilliant."

"You headshot Grim and them, essentially breaking through B Site directly."

KRIMZ nodded in agreement, "Yeah, poizon, don't feel pressured. Maybe you can find your old form."

As ALEX walked along the default opening path, he reminded them, "The opposing COL likes to force buy after losing the pistol round. We absolutely cannot give them a chance to come back."

"Our analyst mentioned before that on Nuke, if COL loses the pistol round on defense, they almost always force buy Desert Eagles with MP9s."

"However, their Desert Eagles are usually held close for defense, so we don't have to worry too much about getting picked off in the outer area by them."

"Besides, they aren't very good with Desert Eagles."

"But just to be safe, we'll buy at most two Mac-10s."

"This round, we can smoke off the outer area's first line to control outside and garage, then see if we can rotate to the third floor."

"..."

Of course, as it turned out, ALEX's worries were unnecessary.

Although COL had force-bought MP9s and Desert Eagles, their weapon disadvantage meant they didn't push aggressively. Instead, except for Grim at Connector, they all hunkered down in the A Site and B Site bombsite defenses.

This allowed the Fnatic players to successfully execute a pincer attack on A Site from the third floor and the main entrance.

The attacking side didn't even lose a single gun.

This undoubtedly relieved all the Fnatic players.

On the map Nuke, which is difficult to attack but easy to defend, the Terrorists' economic accumulation is undoubtedly very important.

Otherwise, with a poor economy, even with a $3400 economic bonus, they would still face the awkward situation where one round is worth two if they continuously lose rounds.

The score quickly became 3-0.

The fourth round, the first full buy round on Nuke.

Because they hadn't lost any guns, the Terrorists' weaponry was still incomplete.

ALEX glanced at his and his teammates' guns.

Two AKs, one Scout Rifle, two Mac-10s.

"Aetehr, do you want to buy a sniper rifle yourself?" ALEX looked at the team's economy. "Even if you lose your sniper rifle this round, we'll still have the money to buy you one next round."

Qin Feng shook his head, "There's no need. COL probably doesn't have the money to buy a sniper rifle this round either."

"If they somehow manage a 5-0 kill trade and pick up the sniper rifle, their economy might get boosted."

"We have a lot of pistols this round, so we can play tactics. If I buy a sniper, it'll slow down our attack tempo."

Hearing Qin Feng's response, ALEX nodded.

"Alright, this time we'll smoke off the outer area's first line and push K1."

"COL knows our guns aren't complete, so they'll likely prepare for a rush."

"Let's do the opposite."

"We'll use the AKs in KRIMZ and poizon's hands to break through K1."

"We'll take K1, plant one side while fighting, and see if we can plant the bomb directly."

"We don't have a full buy this round, so our goal is to hit COL's economy hard and plant the bomb."

"..."

As the match began, Qin Feng first positioned himself with the Scout Rifle by the oil barrel.

Meanwhile, after completing their basic defaults, his teammates returned to the T-spawn outer line smoke and flash positions.

At 1 minute and 20 seconds, three smoke grenades were thrown, blocking the CTs' vision from the outer area.

The COL players under the third floor, despite choosing to mix into the smoke, took no damage.

Fnatic members safely descended onto K1 without taking any damage.

Ma Xixi, who was casting, frowned.

"Fnatic using short-range weapons and outer smokes to take K1, is that really logical?"

"We can see Grim at the Connector has chosen to rotate back, and will soon get information that the T-hall is empty."

"Junior, guarding the main entrance, has directly retreated down the pipe."

"Can junior hold it?"

"..."

Thanks to BingerQAQ for the 100-point reward.

Thanks to Linzhi Ge for the 100-point reward.

Thanks to A Rui Wu Ming for the 100-point reward!!!