Win Together, Lose Together

"Vitality chose to rush A Long directly, and Fnatic also started with three A Long pushes."

"ApEX made a direct turn, but Fnatic had already entered the pit."

"ApEX stuck to the edge of the blue box smoke, it seems the CTs in the pit didn't know?"

"poizon in the pit was instantly killed by apEX, this blind push was crucial."

"ALEX is counter-flashing, there's still fire behind A Long, and no one can help apEX right now."

"ApEX is still being flashed, but he's still alive!"

"He's lived too long, he can even get more kills, apEX!"

"He pre-aimed the blue car directly, the last CT by the blue car, he found this kill too!"

"Amazing, this is the French mad dog entry fragger apEX."

"mezii in mid was also held off."

"What's left for Aether is a 1v5 clutch."

"Vitality has reached match point, Aether on B site has no need to save his gun."

"ApEX is holding the spawn by the blue car, is the game about to end?"

"Aether killed apEX, the game isn't over yet."

"A 1v4 clutch, can Aether do it?"

"Eh, ZywOo peeked proactively and was killed by Aether."

"The rest of the Hornets aren't showing themselves."

"Aether doesn't have a defuse kit, and time is running out."

On the Douyu platform, in stream room 6657, Wan Ji Qi's voice carried a hint of regret.

In the stream's clean feed, Qin Feng, without a defuse kit, faced the remaining clutch situation, with no time left to defuse the bomb.

A truly unsolvable clutch.

"Aether's brilliant performance across the three maps ultimately couldn't lead Fnatic to victory."

"It's a shame, Fnatic was just a little short, losing to the Hornets 12-16 on the third map."

"Congratulations to Vitality for being the first to advance to the 3-0 group at the Antwerp Major."

[Aether was playing so well today and still lost, Fnatic was just playing for fun.]

[It's okay, Fnatic is still in the 2-1 group even if they lost, it's not a big problem.]

[Even... even though they lost, they still have glory?]

On the second day of the Antwerp Major Challengers Stage, Fnatic ultimately lost 1-2 to Vitality.

When all the players returned to the training room, coach Samuelsson continued to liven up the atmosphere.

Samuelsson wasn't afraid of losing the match itself, but rather of the pressure that losing this match might bring to Fnatic's players other than Aether.

After all, in the BO3 against the Hornets, apart from Qin Feng's Rating which remained at 1.33, the remaining players' Ratings were around 0.9.

ALEX's was a pitiful 0.73.

"Lads, it's okay to lose this match, after all, we were facing the strongest team in the group, the Hornets."

"ALEX and poizon, don't blame yourselves."

"And don't think that you guys were carrying Aether, we are a team, a whole."

"We celebrate together when we win, and we endure together when we lose."

"It's no big deal that we lost this match, we'll come back strong in the next one."

"You guys should understand what I mean, right?"

After speaking, Samuelsson scanned the players in the training room with some concern.

In CSGO, player performance can fluctuate drastically with changes in mentality, which is why most teams hire sports psychologists.

"Don't worry, coach, we're all veterans who have been through many battles, we won't let losing one match affect our mentality," KRIMZ said earnestly.

"Yeah, it's just losing one match," ALEX said with a relaxed smile. "As long as we're the winners in the end. Back in 2018, C9 was on the verge of elimination in the Major group stage, and they still won the Major championship against Faze in overtime with a 2-1 victory."

"Yeah, we'll win it back tomorrow," Qin Feng added.

Coach Samuelsson nodded with satisfaction as he listened to his players: "That's right, everyone, don't carry too much psychological burden."

"Don't look at community sites like HLTV or the Blue Bird, to avoid affecting your mindset."

"We've already faced G2 in previous matches, so we won't be facing G2 in any subsequent matches, whether they are 2-1 or 2-2."

"This way, we've already played against the two strongest opponents in the group stage, the Hornets and G2."

"Apart from ENCE, there are almost no strong teams left."

"However, ENCE will likely qualify today, so we won't encounter them either."

"In short, let's all practice our maps first and wait for all the matches in this round to finish."

"Once that's done, we'll know who our opponents are, which will make it easier to prepare for them."

"..."

In fact, the Fnatic players' mentality wasn't affected by their loss to the "Little Bees."

The most stressful time for the players was when Aether had just taken over the main AWP position from poizon.

At that time, Fnatic's main AWP, poizon, wasn't performing well, and the team was facing the embarrassing situation of being eliminated from the qualifiers.

If Samuelsson hadn't ultimately decided to have Aether take on the role of the team's main AWP, Fnatic might have completely collapsed under the pressure and missed out on Antwerp.

Now, with Aether as the team's main AWP, the entire team's strength had clearly improved by another level.

Coupled with their impressive run through the Challengers Stage, defeating G2, the entire team's morale had risen significantly.

This loss to the "Little Bees" was merely a minor setback compared to what they had faced before.

Two hours later, the final results of all the matches on the second day were released.

As expected by most, ENCE easily defeated forZe with scores of 16-8 and 16-10 on two maps.

After this match concluded, the schedule for the third day of the Antwerp Major Challengers Stage was officially set.

Fnatic's opponent would be forZe, who had just been easily defeated by ENCE and dropped into the 2-1 group.

"Nice!" Samuelsson excitedly clenched his fist upon seeing the matchups, "Guys, our opponent tomorrow is forZe."

"Many people had predicted forZe would go 0-3."

"Right now, forZe is probably the weakest opponent in the 2-1 group."

"If we win tomorrow, we'll directly advance to the Legends Stage of the Major!"

"ForZe is a team with relatively balanced player skill."

"Aether, your performance tomorrow will be crucial for us."

"You..."

Samuelsson paused at this point.

He suddenly realized that Qin Feng had only been a professional player for less than half a year.

This was likely his first time on an offline stage.

Was the pressure Fnatic was putting on him too much?

Should he perhaps...

Qin Feng's voice suddenly brought Samuelsson back to his senses.

"Don't worry, Coach."

"The team has sacrificed so much for me, I will do my best to perform at my peak."

"This isn't just for the team, but also for my own dream."

"..."

Samuelsson looked at Qin Feng, whose gaze was calm, and felt a sense of emotion.

Not everyone was born to perform on the big stage.

Many talented youngsters dominated in FPL but couldn't even steady their aim in official matches.

Qin Feng's performance on the server, however, was like an emotionless aiming machine.

"Yeah, we believe in you."

Samuelsson didn't say any more and picked up his notebook and the data provided by the analysts.

Pre-match review and opponent analysis were crucial!