"It's really hard to believe Arrow is playing onstage for the first time. He had a great first half. ENCE launched several attacks aimed at A Site, but every one of them was shut down. After that, they didn't dare try anything against Nip's A Area for the rest of the half."
Wan Jiqi praised Su Zhe's first-half KDA of 16-7-3.
Though both teams' tactics had been fairly conventional and some of Arrow's moves had looked a little bizarre, none of that could hide how much he'd contributed to his team.
Otherwise, the first half could easily have been evenly matched.
[But Xiao Zhe is just too brave! He's seized so many great opportunities.]
[The way he defends A Site makes me feel both nervous and reassured. It looks like he's about to give away a kill, but then he takes them all down!]
[This playstyle... why do I feel like I run into it all the time on the Perfect World Ladder?]
[It really does feel like a clumsy punch taking down a master, but his aim is seriously good!]
[Do you guys even understand the game? That's obviously Game Sense from "Zai Wu" (doge).]
[Good grief, are you an old fan of the "Sen Zai Ni" Live Room too?]
When the viewers in the Live Room found out that Su Zhe was the player who'd climbed from C+ just a few months ago, most of them had watched the match for the sheer novelty of it.
They hadn't expected him to put on a great performance. As long as he played decently and didn't drag the team down, they'd have been satisfied. After all, no Chinese team had even qualified for Katowice this time.
But they hadn't expected him to carry the team!
The short halftime break soon ended, and Nip switched sides to attack.
Their lead made the last trace of nervousness in Su Zhe's heart disappear.
"Come on! If we can win the Pistol Round, they won't have a chance to come back!" As the round countdown began, es3tag started laying out their pistol-round strategy.
"First, we'll take control of B connector. Headtr1ck, stand on the platform and keep an eye on Mid. Arrow, go alone to A hall and wait for my signal to Fake Take. Then, on the Second Timing, we'll put pressure on Small Dark Room before hitting B directly."
Ancient Ruins was a CT-sided map not only because CTs could rotate quickly, but mainly because the defenders could easily take control of Mid.
That made it difficult for the attackers to rotate. They often had to go halfway around the map to switch sites.
So, the attacking side's usual strategies on this map were either to draw attention to A before hitting B, or to Speed Up and hit A directly. Es3tag chose the former.
When the countdown ended, Su Zhe bought Half Armor and made his way to A hall. He started shoulder-peeking and holding his angle, playing the default.
"No one close in Small Dark Room. They might be holding a direct angle from far back." REZ's voice came through the comms.
"Bang, bang."
"There's one in Donut." K0nfig stepped out from the platform to take a look. The two sides exchanged a few shots, but neither got a kill.
After analyzing the situation, es3tag guessed that ENCE had two players on A. He planned to have Su Zhe make a brief nuisance of himself at A Site, then throw one or two smokes before going into B site.
"Nip's intentions are clear. They're about to throw their utility and hit B. ENCE has three players on B and two on A. They don't have anyone in VIP; instead, they've sent a teammate to cover the back line," Wan Jiqi said, offering his read of the situation.
"But ENCE are making the first move! They're going to Counter Flash A hall and take control of A Area!"
"Hades has a Counter Flash ready! Can Arrow read it!?"
ENCE moved much faster than Nip had expected.
If they could get a kill on the Terrorist holding A hall, they could simply have four players block B and leave one in Donut to prevent a rotation.
As soon as Su Zhe spotted a dark shape in his field of view, he reacted quickly and turned away to avoid the flash.
The flash popped. He quickly turned back, and his crosshair met the CT as he swung out wide.
"Bang, bang! Thud!"
[Arrow killed Goofy with a Glock headshot]
After getting the kill, Su Zhe worried that another CT might swing out to trade. He decided to take the initiative, Pulling the Line to Look for Kill.
Seeing his teammate die, hades had already decided to fall back to Back Point and defend. He hadn't expected the Terrorist to swing out so quickly. As he retreated, he immediately tried to line up his shot, but he was outmatched in the head-on fight.
"Bang, bang..."
[Arrow killed hades with a Glock headshot]
"ENCE's Counter Flash has blown up in their faces! Arrow has torn through the defense at A Site all by himself!"
"Is this how a lurker is supposed to play? Does he think he's got three more people behind him?"
Wan Jiqi sounded shocked and baffled. If the Minimap had been covered up, he would've thought Su Zhe had three or four huge guys behind him, ready to trade kills.
"Nice!! Great kills! Arrow, go hold CT Spawn and cut off the rotation! We'll rotate through Mid!" When es3tag saw the kill feed in the top-right corner, he shouted his approval and immediately changed the Set Tactics.
Facing a five-versus-three, Aleksib knew how important this round was and immediately called for the players at B to rotate.
But even though they knew the other side might be holding CT Spawn to cut them off, they still lost one player in the retake, and their rotation was delayed.
In a two-versus-four retake, with Nip already in position after planting the bomb, ENCE could only resign themselves to losing the crucial Pistol Round.
"Nice! Arrow!" The moment they won the Pistol Round, k0nfig couldn't hold back a shout. "You're insane!"
The others also cheered over comms. They didn't know what had happened at A Site, but he'd broken the site alone, and then successfully cut off one of the three players trying to retake.
That was more than enough. Before the match, they hadn't expected it to go this way. Some of them had even prepared themselves for a drop to the lower bracket.
They'd never imagined a newcomer would play so well.
After losing the Pistol Round, ENCE's morale crumbled a little.
They'd been together for less than a month. Naturally, it was hard for them to rally their spirits in such a disadvantageous match.
In the rounds that followed, Nip used their economic advantage from the Pistol Round to reach eleven points.
Once the teams reached the Full Buy Round, ENCE managed to scrape out a point with an unconventional push into Small Dark Room. But it still wasn't enough to mount a comeback.
The Bo1 ended with the score at 13-5.
"Great game, Arrow!"
After the match, es3tag stood up and bumped fists with Su Zhe. As the team's in-game leader, he knew exactly why they'd won.
Their defense of A Area in the first half had made ENCE stumble again and again. Then Su Zhe's performance in the crucial Pistol Round had crushed any hope ENCE had of coming back.
"Exactly! We barely even had to move on B. You've got half the skill I had back in the day," K0nfig said, giving Su Zhe a thumbs-up.
REZ laughed and called him out. "Oh, shut it. Half your skill? You were probably getting your head blown off by Semper and Niko back then!"
Everyone laughed, and the mood between them was easygoing. They liked Su Zhe more and more.
They'd already had a good impression of Su Zhe, but that had all depended on whether he could make a useful contribution to the team.
After all, a large part of their income came from tournament prize money. Who wanted to carry someone who dragged the team down?
The last time they'd played ENCE on Ancient Ruins, all five of their opponents had been different. But the main reason they'd lost that match was that maxster, who'd been filling in temporarily, couldn't handle the pressure of defending A Area.
At the slightest sign of trouble, he'd call for help over comms, throwing off their entire Defensive Rhythm.
DjL smiled too. After glancing at ENCE's side of the stage, he reminded them, "All right, guys. Time to go shake hands with the other team. Don't keep them waiting."
After the match, Nip took the shuttle bus provided by the tournament organizers straight back to the hotel.
After they got off, djL said, "Rest later. First, let's review today's match."
K0nfig asked, puzzled, "Didn't we play pretty well today? What is there to review?"
DjL: .
He really wanted k0nfig to stand behind Su Zhe and see how nerve-racking it was.
Inside the hotel's dedicated Training Room, they sat in a circle and watched the demo on the big screen.
It was the first-person view of Su Zhe pushing forward on his own and getting a double kill after k0nfig died.
DjL paused the video and turned to Su Zhe. "Can you tell me what you were thinking here?"
Su Zhe recalled the moment and gave his honest answer. "I just felt like their aim was pretty bad, and I could catch them off guard, so I swung out wide."
The Nip players: ?
Su Zhe had said it so matter-of-factly, but why did this newcomer seem kind of cocky?
Su Zhe saw their puzzled expressions and explained again, "I really was thinking that!"
The Nip players: Good grief, he's even cockier than we thought!
Before you continue