Tell Me Your Reason for Pushing

"It's really hard to imagine that Arrow is a player on the field for the first time. His performance in the first half was quite brilliant. ENCE organized several attacks targeting A, but they were all thwarted, causing ENCE to not dare to have any ideas about Nip's A site in the following rounds."

Wan Jiqi praised Su Zhe's KDA of 16-7-3 in the first half.

Although the tactics of both sides were considered standard, and some of Arrow's moves were a bit unconventional, it did not overshadow his contribution to the team.

Otherwise, the first half could have been a close match.

[But Xiao Zhe is really too brave! He seized quite a few opportunities well]

[This A site defense makes me feel both scared and relieved. I thought it was going to be a complete giveaway, but he caught everyone!]

[This playstyle... why do I feel like I encounter it often in Perfect Ranked Matches?]

[It really is like beating an old master with unconventional moves, but his aim is really accurate!]

[Do you guys actually understand the game? This is clearly the game sense from "Zai Wu" (doge)]

[Good heavens, you're also an old fan of "Sen Zai Ni's" stream, aren't you!]

When the viewers in the stream learned that Su Zhe was the one who went from C+ scrub to a star player in just a few months, they mostly watched this match with amusement.

They didn't expect him to perform exceptionally well; just not dragging the team down would have been satisfying enough, especially since domestic teams didn't even qualify for Katowice this time.

But unexpectedly, he actually carried them!

The brief halftime break ended quickly, and Nip switched to the offensive side.

With the score advantage, Su Zhe's slight nervousness vanished.

"Come on! If we win the pistol round, they won't have a chance to come back!" As the round timer began, es3tag started setting up the strategy for the pistol round.

"Let's control B connection first. Headtr1ck, you'll stand on the platform to watch mid. Arrow, you'll go to A Hall alone and wait for my command to fake. We'll pressure the dark room later and hit B directly."

The reason why Ancient is a CT-sided map, besides the fast CT rotations, is mainly because the defenders can easily gain control of mid.

This makes it very difficult for the attackers to rotate, often requiring them to circle half the map to complete a rotation.

Therefore, the attacker's strategy on this map is either to harass A then hit B, or to go directly for a fast A hit. Es3tag chose the former.

The countdown ended. Su Zhe bought a half-armor and walked to A Hall, starting to jiggle peek and hold an angle.

"No one is close in the dark room, they might be holding from further away." Rez's voice came through the comms.

"Bang bang."

"There's a donut." K0nfig, standing on the platform, stepped out to take a look. Both sides exchanged a few shots but no kills were made.

Es3tag analyzed the situation and guessed that ENCE was using a double A hold. He planned to have Su Zhe harass A site a bit before throwing smokes into the B site.

"Nip's attacking intention is very clear, they're going to rush B next. ENCE is holding a 3B2A setup. They don't have anyone at the back, instead choosing to let their teammates at the back handle it," Wan Jiqi made his judgment based on the situation.

"But ENCE made the first move! They're planning to clear A Hall first and then completely free up the A site!"

"Hades has an anti-flash! Can Arrow notice it!?"

ENCE's actions were much faster than Nip had imagined.

If they could kill the Terrorist holding default in A Hall, they could then set up a 4B hold with one person watching the donut to prevent Terrorists from rotating.

When Su Zhe saw a black dot appear in his vision, he reacted extremely quickly, immediately turning and throwing a pop flash.

After the flashbang detonated, he quickly adjusted his aim, his crosshair landing on the CT who had pushed out.

"Bang bang! Pfft!"

[Arrow used Glock to headshot and kill Goofy]

After getting the kill, Su Zhe intended to push out and look for more kills to prevent any follow-up shots from other CTs.

Upon seeing his teammate fall, hades had already decided to fall back and defend. He didn't expect the Terrorist to have the guts to push out so quickly.

As he retreated, he began to reposition, but his aim was still a step behind.

"Bang bang..."

[Arrow used Glock to headshot and kill hades]

"ENCE's anti-flash has backfired! Arrow single-handedly broke through the A site defense!"

"Is this how a freelancer plays? Does he think there's no one behind him?"

Wan Jiqi's tone was filled with surprise and confusion. If the minimap were covered, he would have thought Su Zhe had three or four big guys behind him waiting for follow-up shots.

"Nice!! Good kills! Arrow, go hold the CT spawn to cut off their rotation! We'll rotate through mid directly!" Es3tag shouted excitedly upon seeing the kill feed, immediately changing the planned tactic.

In a 5v3 situation, Grego knew the importance of this round and immediately organized the players at B to rotate back.

However, even knowing the opponent might be holding CT spawn, they still lost one player during the rotation and were delayed in their return.

In a 4v2 clutch situation, with Nip having planted the bomb and set up their positions, ENCE was forced to lose the crucial pistol round in this desperate scenario.

"Nice! Arrow!" As soon as the pistol round was won, k0nfig couldn't help but shout, "You're amazing!"

Others also cheered in the voice chat. Although they didn't know what happened on A site, the fact that he single-handedly broke the site was true, and the fact that he managed to stop one player during the three-person retake was also true.

This result was enough. They hadn't expected the match to go this way before the game, and some had even prepared to fall into the lower bracket.

They never expected a rookie to perform so outstandingly in a match.

After losing the pistol round, the members of ENCE were starting to lose their composure.

As a team that had only been together for less than a month, it was naturally difficult for them to rally their spirits in such a disadvantageous match.

In the following rounds, Nip, leveraging the economic advantage gained from the pistol round, directly pushed the score to 11.

After entering the buy rounds, ENCE managed to secure a point through an unconventional push at the dark room, but it still wasn't enough for them to mount a comeback.

Ultimately, the Bo1 match ended with a score of 13-5.

"Well played, Arrow!"

After the match, es3tag stood up and fist-bumped Su Zhe. As the in-game leader, he knew exactly why they had managed to win the match smoothly.

ENCE had been shut down multiple times by Su Zhe's defense in A site during the first half, and his decisive performance in the crucial pistol round of the second half had completely shattered ENCE's hopes of a comeback.

"Exactly! Our defense on B site barely moved. It's like half of my old skill," K0nfig chimed in, giving Su Zhe a thumbs-up.

REZ, upon hearing this, chuckled and teased him, "Get outta here. Half your skill? I think you were just dazed from playing against Semper and Niko back in the day!"

Amidst the laughter, everyone felt a sense of camaraderie, and their fondness for Su Zhe grew.

While they had a good impression of Su Zhe before, it was all predicated on his ability to make useful contributions to the team.

After all, a significant portion of their salary was tied to tournament prize money. Who would want to bring someone who dragged the team down?

The last time they played against ENCE on Ancient, even though their opponents had a completely new lineup, the main reason they lost was that maxster, who was temporarily filling in, couldn't handle the defensive pressure in A site.

He would call for support at the slightest sign of trouble in voice chat, completely disrupting their overall defensive rhythm.

DjL, also smiling, glanced at the ENCE players' bench and reminded them, "Alright guys, time to go shake hands with the opponents. Don't keep them waiting."

After the match, the Nip players took the team bus provided by the tournament organizers back to the hotel.

Upon arriving, djL said, "We'll rest later. Let's go over today's match first."

K0nfig asked in confusion, "Didn't we play pretty well today? What's there to review?"

DjL: .

He really wished k0nfig could have stood behind Su Zhe to understand how nerve-wracking it had been.

In the hotel's dedicated practice room, the team gathered around a circle, watching the demo on the big screen.

It was Su Zhe's first-person perspective when he pushed aggressively after k0nfig's death and secured a double kill.

DjL paused the playback and turned to Su Zhe, "Can you tell me what your thought process was during that play?"

Su Zhe recalled the situation and explained his genuine thought: "I just felt like their aim was pretty bad, and I could catch them off guard, so I decided to push out aggressively."

Nip players: ?

Although Su Zhe spoke calmly, why did they feel like this newcomer was a bit arrogant!

Su Zhe looked at their expressions and, seeing their confusion, explained again, "That's really what I was thinking!"

Nip players: Good grief, he's even more arrogant!