After CS2 changed the MR15 format to MR12, winning the pistol round became crucial.
However, Grey Wu didn't think too much of it. Ancient Ruins was a CT-sided map to begin with, and getting five rounds in the first half would be a passing grade for them.
What puzzled him was when Nip had started playing so aggressively.
The enemy team had proactively pushed out of A site to look for kills, catching them completely off guard.
ENCE's force buy didn't go any better. They rushed B with Tec-9s and utility, only for headtr1ck's MP9 to mow them down.
Fortunately, kalar managed to sneak in a plant amid the chaos, meaning ENCE only needed to save for one more round before they could afford a full buy.
Before long, the score reached 3–0, and the two sides entered a crucial full-buy round.
After a moment's thought, Grey Wu called, "This round, let's fake an explosion at B. We'll use utility to take B connector and put pressure on their B site.
"Once we've baited them into rotating to B, we'll take Mid slowly on the second timing and hit Donut. As long as we can trade out the A anchor, we should be able to plant without much trouble."
Hades sounded hesitant. "Isn't their A anchor that rookie called Arrow? He's already got a 5–1 KD, and he's looking pretty sharp. Are we sure we want to hit A?"
Grey Wu laughed. "What's there to be afraid of? He's still a rookie, no matter what. One of his five kills was in the pistol round, and another was against an eco. That number's perfectly normal."
That explanation put ENCE's minds at ease.
But Grey Wu sighed inwardly. I'm still better suited to calling for a team of Danes. Back when I was on Team Liquid, who would've questioned my tactics?
This round, though, es3tag didn't need ENCE to force him to use his utility. He'd set up in a 3-1-1 Defensive Formation right from the start.
At the beginning of the round, k0nfig and Su Zhe ran a little two-man play. They threw damage utility toward T Spawn, then tried to get the opening kill.
When they saw no one at T Spawn, k0nfig warned them over voice chat, "Haven't seen anyone Mid. There might be a lot of them at B connector, so be careful."
Then he and Su Zhe each returned to their positions.
As the seconds ticked by, ENCE's default setup left everyone on Nip feeling increasingly tense.
REZ suggested, "How about we clear Small Dark Room first? If they explode onto B with their utility, three of us won't be able to hold it."
Es3tag hesitated, then was just about to agree when a smoke landed at his feet from the second lane.
"ENCE are faking an explosion at B site. Will Nip get baited into rotating? If they leave the young Arrow alone to anchor A, there's no way they can win this full-buy round!"
Wan Jiqi had barely had a second to worry about Nip before his heart sank.
They'd been baited into rotating—and Su Zhe and k0nfig were both trying to flank through Donut and Mid.
Wan Jiqi suddenly understood why Nip's results had been so poor for such a long time.
Was this really a retake a human being would make? They hadn't even seen anyone at B site, and A site was already rotating. But since they were already committed, he could only grit his teeth and keep casting.
"Arrow and K0nfig are going through Donut, planning to wrap around from B short, but ENCE are slowly pushing out through Mid!"
"Players from T Spawn are trying to pinch A site together with B short. Can k0nfig tell that someone's holding the angle from B short?"
"He can! He pre-aimed as he swung out and took down dycha at B short, but hades is coming out of T Spawn right on time!"
"Only Arrow's left. He just needs to fall back to Donut and wait for his teammates to retake—huh? He's pushing out to look for a kill?"
Wan Jiqi saw black. He wanted to yell, Are you CT or T, for fuck's sake? How is swinging that far out any different from handing them a free kill?
As soon as Su Zhe heard k0nfig call that there were two players at T Spawn, he swung out without hesitation.
Grey Wu was at T Spawn, about to prime a flash to send his Mid teammates into Donut for a kill.
Then he saw the other side make an utterly brazen swing out of nowhere.
Hades, in the lead, spotted the CT and hurried to adjust his crosshair. But Su Zhe had swung out with his crosshair already aimed in. He only needed a slight correction before firing.
"Tat-tat-tat~"
[Arrow] killed [hades] with the M4A1 Silenced
Grey Wu, holding his utility behind them, hurried to pull the AK off his back, but he was a moment too slow.
"Tat-tat-tat~"
[Arrow] headshot and killed [gla1ve] with the M4A1 Silenced
"Uh..." Wan Jiqi was at a loss for words. Could this rookie actually be playing on another level? Did he realize he could catch their timing all along? But that was way too risky!
"Arrow got two kills in Mid. That leaves only kalar and Goofy, who were pushing up A site."
"In a 4v2 retake, Goofy managed to plant the bomb, but they were at too much of a numbers disadvantage. Kalar traded out REZ, who was rotating back from CT spawn, but then es3tag, who'd wrapped around through Ancient Ruins, caught him from the side."
"Goofy was all alone and couldn't do anything. He got traded out too. ENCE will have to half buy next round, and the score's about to hit 5–0!"
[Holy crap! I always knew that kid Arrow had potential. Didn't expect him to get a double kill like that.]
"Seriously, his game sense is incredible. He even caught that timing."
"A 7–1 KD! He's definitely the team's core player!"
"Is anyone from Tianlu in the Live Room!? Just asking if you regret it yet!"
Su Zhe's crucial double kill set the viewers in the Live Room buzzing.
The moment they won the round, cheers erupted from Nip's side of the stage as well.
Es3tag bumped fists with Su Zhe. "That was sick! You came through when it mattered again! Without that double kill in Mid, we would've lost that round."
Headtr1ck said excitedly, "Looks like we'll have no trouble getting past ENCE and into the winners' bracket!"
The huge lead had brought Nip's confidence roaring back.
Only coach djL, standing behind them, furrowed his brow and fell silent.
He'd watched Su Zhe's perspective the whole time. The play had been crucial, sure, but something about it still felt off.
After rubbing his chin and thinking it over for a while, he finally figured it out. "We're up by five rounds. What the hell am I worrying about? A win's a win!"
They could review the match after it was over!
Then, as ENCE entered their second full-buy round, they called their first timeout of the map.
Even during the timeout, Grey Wu still couldn't understand why they'd lost both crucial rounds because of that one player, Arrow.
In his years as a professional and all the experience he'd accumulated, Su Zhe's decisions had been nothing short of brainless.
Why would he play like that? How could he play like that?
And yet that one player had left them at a massive disadvantage right from the start.
"Let's control Small Dark Room and pinch B next round..."
After the timeout, ENCE finally got their first point on the attack.
Just when they thought they were about to turn things around and string together some rounds, disaster struck as they tried to take map control of B connector in the next round. Goofy, holding the default position in A Garden, delivered the bad news.
"They pushed out from A site! I lost the duel..."
Grey Wu: ...
Losing control of half the map made it easy for Nip to figure out their game plan.
With no other options, Grey Wu hurriedly called for an explosion onto B. But when it came time to trade kills, Nip had already been waiting for them and secured the round.
The huge gap in the score forced ENCE to call another timeout. Grey Wu made another adjustment to counter Nip's pushes, and they finally started picking up rounds again.
But they still knew far too little about rookie Arrow's habits.
Ever since this rookie joined, Nip had felt like a strange team altogether. With the score weighing on them, ENCE had precious little room to experiment.
By the end of the first half, the score stood at 8–4.
Before you continue