Pushing Forward, Triple Kill!

"Alright, the pause is finally over."

"Aether doesn't seem to be playing it safe this time, planning to duel m0NESY with sniper rifles."

"Fnatic didn't use any utility in mid, mezii jumped through while sticking to the wall, and m0NESY got a headshot through mid."

"Aether directly peeked and took down m0NESY from the dark passage!"

"M0NESY is stunned, what's going on?"

"Did Fnatic really start using tactics after the pause?"

"..."

With Qin Feng's first kill, Fnatic finally gained an advantage in map control for the first time.

"Keep pushing, don't just default to defending." ALEX pushed into B1 without hesitation, "Since m0NESY's sniper rifle is gone, we can play more aggressively."

"A Main is open, I'm retreating to the A site immediately." poizon, who had initially contested A Main, warned.

Meanwhile, in the CSboy stream, Ma Xixi was once again analyzing the game situation for the viewers.

"ALEX is pushing B1, he should realize B Site is empty very soon."

"This round, G2 is probably still planning a full execute."

"No problem, they can keep using strats that score."

"But G2 still has the bomb thrown back at their spawn."

"Originally, they intended for m0NESY to control mid, pick up the bomb, and then execute on A Site, but now they have to send Li Zi and JACKZ back to spawn to get the bomb."

"On the minimap, the Fnatic player in mid seems to be planning to push forward."

"Can they intercept Li Zi and JACKZ while they're picking up the bomb?"

The PGL director suddenly switched the camera to Qin Feng's sniper rifle.

At some point, Aether, a defensive sniper known for his stability, had transformed into Fnatic's sharpest blade.

"Is that... Aether with an AWP pushing mid for Fnatic? And KRIMZ is covering the dark passage with an M4A1."

"Are they that confident?"

"Li Zi and JACKZ will definitely be cautious of this position, but do they know Fnatic has Aether pushing forward with a sniper rifle?"

"Unexpected! Li Zi was taken down by Aether in one shot."

"It's over, G2 lost the bomb."

"JACKZ is stunned."

"He threw a flashbang to try and pick it up, can he get it?"

"Here it comes, a world-class Aladdin flashbang, Aether didn't even flinch."

"Go out and duel?"

"Didn't win the duel!"

"Only the two brothers, Bo Hei, are left in the A site pit."

"Nice, Fnatic should be able to get their second point."

"One leads to two, two leads to three."

"..."

The score, as expected, became 2-7.

Fnatic finally secured their first victory in a full buy round.

Qin Feng's triple kill with his sniper rifle had finally helped Fnatic regain some ground.

On the Fnatic player bench, after a round win and high-fives, everyone's mentality seemed to have calmed down considerably.

Knowing they were up against G2, everyone on Fnatic had prepared for the possibility of losing before the match.

However, once the game started, they were still constantly ceding early map control out of fear of making mistakes and giving up the first kill.

Defense in the later stages became even more difficult.

Instead of that, they decided to directly contest G2 at the front lines.

With this thought, ALEX's calls became more aggressive.

A push with three players to contest A Main instantly shattered G2's A gate offense.

The score became 3-7!

Aleksib, out of caution, immediately called G2's first timeout after the round ended.

"We were playing too smoothly in the early stages and got a bit careless." Aleksib glanced at his teammates, "Fnatic has chosen to pressure forward in these last two rounds, we just need to play our default well. Also, m0NESY, you need to be careful of Aether's sniper rifle; as long as you don't fall, our map control advantage during our executes will be significant."

"Don't worry, I'll be more careful from now on. But Aleksib, don't be too nervous. Fnatic isn't exactly a top-tier team after all, and our goal is the Major championship." M0NESY replied.

Aleksib nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed, even with the introduction of the genius Chinese sniper Aether, Fnatic could ultimately only be considered a second-tier team.

If the bald old man KRIMZ still had his skills from a few years ago, G2 might have had to reconsider.

But as for now...

Looking at the economy of each player being over five thousand, Aleksib felt he had been overly cautious.

3-7, the match continued.

G2 finally used their safest default tactic at the start, but the subsequent match didn't go as smoothly as everyone expected.

Aether's triple kill with the sniper rifle seemed to be the switch that activated Fnatic's players.

Thirty seconds into the round, the default ended. G2 chose to push B through mid, but ALEX, hidden in the smoke at spawn, took one of them down.

Qin Feng's AWP in the B pit, covered by smoke from B main, steadily picked off another Terrorist coming from mid.

With 3 versus 5, G2's bomb dropped in the sand and they couldn't rotate, so they could only push forward.

However, poizon, who had rotated around from A main, was already in position.

"Dada, dada."

[Fnatic.poizon used M4A1 to get a headshot kill on G2.M0NESY]

M0NESY, who was holding an angle with his sniper rifle in mid, was instantly taken down.

It was once again Niko and hunter in a 2v5 clutch situation.

"We can see that G2 has adjusted to Fnatic's continuous forward pushes."

"It's clear Aleksib called for a default."

"But their mid-to-B push after the default was executed very poorly."

"And they didn't control A main, so poizon's rotation came very quickly."

"The bomb dropped, and Niko and hunter on B second floor had to go to the sand on B first floor to pick it up."

"They're not fighting? Niko and hunter went back to the backyard to save their guns."

"It's 4-7 now."

"This is getting interesting~"

"Aether was a substitute Fnatic brought in last minute, right?"

"Can G2 only win if the opponent has a substitute?"

"Faze Clan, Fnatic, and Mouz have all beaten G2 when they had a substitute."

"Could it be that Fnatic is going to do it again this time?"

"..."

On the other side, at the G2 player bench, Aleksib frowned as he looked at his teammates saving their guns and the team's economy starting to collapse.

In fact, Aleksib was always aware of G2's weakness.

That is, the team's performance was inconsistent.

In terms of their ceiling, G2 arguably had the skill to contend for the Major championship.

But in terms of their floor, G2 even lost to the little-known Polish team Anonymo in the previous Major Qualifiers.

"Next round, we can still afford a full buy, should we default again? The opponents like to push too much."

While Niko and hunter were saving their guns in the backyard, Aleksib continued to assign tasks to his teammates.

"JACKZ, you go to the wooden boxes in the B site backyard and play default, just don't die."

"M0NESY, use your sniper rifle to continue controlling mid."

"As for A main, let's look at our spawn points."

"If we get a good spawn, whoever it is, go directly to A main and contest them."

"If we don't get a good spawn, we'll flash and take A main on the second wave."

"..."

After the pause, JACKZ's spawn point was in the first wave for contesting A main.

G2 really wanted to take A main, but how could Fnatic let them?

This time, Qin Feng's sniper rifle was in the first position, moving to A main.

JACKZ used a flashbang to peek, but Qin Feng still managed to headshot him the instant he was fully flashed.

As soon as the game started, G2 was in the awkward situation of a 4v5.