The two-plus hours flew by, and the results of both teams' tryouts on the two maps were in.
The five players on X team finally understood why Nip had invited a rookie with absolutely no big-tournament experience to try out.
His reactions were ridiculously fast!
His reads made him easy to counter tactically, but with reactions and aim like that, he was way too strong in a straight-up fight.
They'd lost count of how many times they'd died to this guy called Arrow.
After the scrims, sjuush asked in the room, baffled, "Where did you find this rookie? His talent is absurd. I've never run into him on the Ladder before, either."
Seeing that, k0nfig grinned and typed back, "You think you'd be lucky enough to find someone like that?"
Sjuush: ?
Looking at the reply, he couldn't help laughing, too. He could only chalk it up to Nip's ridiculous luck, though he didn't give it much more thought.
After several years of constant turnover, what good was having great aim in the CSGO professional scene?
Influenced by their former captain, Point Brother, he'd always believed that teamwork and coordination mattered far more than individual skill.
Hadn't they finished runner-up at the Rio Major without a single star player on the roster?
Every team had its own take on CSGO.
In coach djL's eyes, Su Zhe still had plenty of room to improve after his performances in the two scrims, but overall, he was quite satisfied.
And Su Zhe kept pulling off eye-catching plays throughout the matches. In short, he had a real feel for the game.
He thought the young man lacked only experience, which came with time. As long as he learned quickly, he could soon become a sharp weapon for the team.
After the scrims, he smiled at Su Zhe and said, "Take a break here. I'll go print out your stats. Then come with me to see the team manager."
With that, djL headed to the printing room next door.
After the coach turned and left, Su Zhe let out a long breath.
He felt completely spent after today's two scrims. He'd used everything he'd learned from watching all those match demos.
But in plenty of situations, he'd still been on the back foot. He couldn't help thinking that no professional player was easy to deal with.
Even players he'd never heard of before had been able to use their experience to put him under a lot of pressure.
Meanwhile, k0nfig got up and came over to slap him a high five. "Bro, you played great today! You were so aggressive!"
Su Zhe: ...
That counted as aggressive? He felt like he'd spent both scrims today walking on eggshells!
Of course, he couldn't just say that. Not knowing what else to say, he awkwardly replied, "It's mostly that your monitors are great, and the internet's good..."
"Pfft!" REZ was the first to crack up. That was one way of putting it. But then he remembered that Su Zhe's ping had been over 100 whenever they queued together, and he kind of understood.
Es3tag looked much more relaxed now, too. A performance like that ought to earn Su Zhe the team manager's approval.
He'd worried Su Zhe might get nervous at his tryout and underperform. Instead, he'd done pretty well.
Putting up a decent performance in a match like that had already exceeded his expectations.
He was growing more and more eager to see what kind of change Arrow might bring to their team, which was already as stagnant as a pool of still water.
DjL moved quickly. A few minutes later, he returned to the Training Room with several sheets of paper.
"Hey, Arrow, come with me."
Su Zhe got up and followed him out. As he left, k0nfig gave him an encouraging thumbs-up.
Su Zhe followed the coach to the team manager's office. To his surprise, the manager drank tea, and was savoring a freshly brewed cup with a look of pure enjoyment.
Team manager THREAT took the stat sheets djL handed him and gave them a quick look. Then he motioned for djL to leave, saying he wanted to talk with Su Zhe alone.
"Have a seat."
He looked at Su Zhe, sitting across from him, and asked a few basic questions.
Things like his age and how long he'd been playing. Every now and then, he glanced at the stats in his hands.
Everything looked very promising. Su Zhe had even performed better than the several players who'd tried out for Nip before him, but something still felt off.
The idea of bringing a player with no big-tournament experience onto his team made him very uncomfortable.
There were already examples proving that a genuine prodigy could go straight into top-level competition and perform well, but they were few and far between.
Not to mention the cautionary examples: top-three sniper Tom Cruise, and Bao Lan, who'd signed a record-breaking €600,000 contract. Both had faded away after joining their clubs.
So THREAT couldn't help asking, "As a Chinese player, why aren't you going pro in your own country? I remember there are quite a few professional teams there."
Su Zhe's mouth twitched. If he'd gone pro back home, he'd probably be currying favor with management on a Youth Training team, trying to pull strings to get promoted to the Main Team as a substitute sooner.
He understood now. Even a prodigy as talented as Zai Wu would have to buy management two cartons of Huazi cigarettes to get promoted from a domestic Youth Training team.
After thinking it over, Su Zhe replied, "You know, I've actually been a Nip fan for ten years. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of going pro with Nip. Back then, I was inspired by the Dogman and Forest...@%*"
After more than ten minutes of Su Zhe's rambling, THREAT wore an expression of pure enjoyment.
He, too, was reminiscing about the team's former glory, completely forgetting that Su Zhe had been only eight years old ten years ago.
Su Zhe said, "So when I found out I had the talent to go pro in CSGO, the first team I wanted to join was Nip!"
"Restore Nip to its former glory! I'll do whatever it takes!"
"Good!" THREAT couldn't help clapping. "Honestly, your tryout results have completely lived up to my expectations."
Then he took another sip of hot tea. "But that said, you should know how hard it is for a complete rookie to break into the top-level professional scene."
"I can offer you a contract with the team, but you'll have to prove yourself with results."
"How about this? The IEM Katowice qualifiers are coming up soon. If the team qualifies and you perform well, I can keep you in the starting lineup afterward."
"But if you turn out like those other rookies, I'd suggest joining our Youth Training team and continuing to develop."
Su Zhe agreed immediately.
He still didn't know how tough the Katowice qualifiers would be.
But as long as he became a starter, even for just one day, he'd complete that Countdown task in his system!
Then, even if he could only join the Youth Training team, he could still slowly grow stronger with the help of the system.
After getting Su Zhe's agreement, THREAT pulled a contract out of his folder. He looked at the two-year term and suddenly thought of Bao Lan.
Then he changed the two-year contract to three months and handed it over again--
Who would've thought Green Dragon would actually win it all? Donk really changed how I think about entry fraggers.
You know, I've actually been a Green Dragon fan for ten years.
Before you continue