Pressure All Comes From Teammates

The Katowice Challengers Stage schedule was extremely tight, requiring the completion of matches for 16 teams within two days to determine the final eight spots for the main event.

Opponents might only be known a day or even a few hours in advance, making it impossible to strategize specifically against them.

When Su Zhe sat in front of his computer to prepare for the match the next day, the initial nervousness was gone.

This kind of thing was like... the first time was filled with nervousness, excitement, and anticipation, but the second time, only excitement and anticipation remained.

Their opponent this time was GL. As long as they could defeat them in this Bo3, Su Zhe would have completed the task assigned by the club manager.

"Are the opponents strong this time? Are they easier to deal with than ENCE yesterday?" Su Zhe asked his teammates after a round of bot practice, wanting to mentally prepare himself.

REZ, standing nearby, chuckled and said, "GL was the runner-up in the last Paris Major. What do you think, are they strong?"

"Huh? That amazing?"

Even players who didn't play CSGO had some understanding of Major tournaments, and they were the runner-up last time?

K0nfig shot REZ a glance. "Don't scare the kid."

Then, he turned to Su Zhe. "Don't listen to his nonsense. Although GL was the runner-up in the last Major, their key in-game leader siuhy and best performing player IM have left the team."

"Overall, they're neither strong nor weak. They're about second-tier level right now."

Su Zhe nodded, having a clearer picture in his mind.

"But you can't be too relaxed. Their current in-game leader is snax!" Es3tag reminded him from the side.

Su Zhe asked curiously, "Snax? Is he very strong?"

"Ummm..." Es3tag hesitated. "He used to be very strong. He was a Top 20 player for four consecutive years and even won a Major."

"Tsk~" k0nfig scoffed. "So what? In 2017, I was ranked 14th among Top players, and he was just barely in the Top 20."

REZ chimed in to deflate k0nfig's ego. "We know you were awesome back then. Prove it by getting into the Top 20 again this year."

K0nfig: ...

Coach djL, hearing the team's casual chat, reminded them, "Alright, the map veto has begun. Let's focus and play the match first."

Starting from the second round, both the winners' bracket and losers' bracket adopted the Bo3 format.

Compared to Bo1, Bo3 was more forgiving for teams with shallower map pools.

After all, most teams had only one or two strong maps. In a Bo1, the opponent might ban them all. But in a Bo3, you could at least secure one map you were proficient at.

The final map selection results were quickly revealed.

Map one was Mirage, which Nip had proactively chosen.

Map two was Inferno, chosen by GL.

Map three was Death Arena.

"I thought they would put Ancient Ruins back in, I didn't expect them to ban it," Headtr1ck said regretfully. He didn't like the Death Arena map.

K0nfig complained, "Do you think they're stupid? GL's win rate on Ancient Ruins recently is only 12%, how could they possibly let it through to the end? Plus, our new young player performed so well on that map yesterday."

"You tell 'em, Arrow."

As he spoke, k0nfig winked at Su Zhe. Although he was older, he still preferred younger people, not in a romantic sense, of course.

Previously, the youngest in the team was headtr1ck. Now that Su Zhe had arrived, Su Zhe was naturally the youngest.

Su Zhe responded with a smile, feeling that k0nfig's mindset was nothing like someone who was about to turn 30.

Soon, with the referee's reminder, both sides began to enter the server for Map One.

Map One: Mirage

GL: AcoR,isak,volt,Keoz,snax

Nip: Es3tag,k0nfig,headtr1ck,REZ,Arrow

As it was Nip's chosen map, GL chose to start on the defensive side.

csboy Live Room.

"Hello, and welcome to the match between Nip and GL. I'm your commentator Ma Xixi."

"And I'm commentator Captain Mo."

"I'm your assistant Ming Ri Qing~"

"And you are?"

[I'm Ming Ri Qing's dog~]

[I'm the Stockholm Major champion MVP player, UZI]

[I'm Danking! I can make it to the Shanghai Major!]

Ma Xixi ignored the absurd bullet screen comments and said, "I'm sure everyone knows where the focus of this match is. Mo, what are your thoughts on Nip's new player, Arrow?"

Mo smiled and replied, "How else would I watch? Sitting down, of course, hahaha, just kidding. I've also carefully reviewed the demo of that match later. I can only say that this new player is very daring. He doesn't have the usual hesitation of a rookie at all. I think that's quite remarkable."

As the former captain of old Tianlu and one of the biggest contributors to leading Tianlu to its peak in CNCS in 2018, his words carried significant weight.

"Oh~" Ma Xixi said with a smile, "I heard that 259 still doesn't think highly of this newcomer?"

"You know about that too?" Mo was a little surprised. This was something he and 259 had only discussed privately!

Ma Xixi said, "What do you think? My sources are extensive."

Mo said helplessly, "Alright, 259 did say that. He said Arrow's playstyle isn't very suitable for the European professional arena, and he might not even last three months in Nip."

The bullet screen, led by Ma Xixi's rhythm, was filled with question marks.

[Isn't it, bro, does 259 have no self-awareness? Don't want Little Zhe, and now you're cursing him!]

[Is 259 in the live room? If Little Zhe can last three months in Nip, you should retire directly!]

[Even if he's not the best, he can still join Nip. When Tianlu played against Nip before, they were praised to the skies.]

[Little Zhe played so well yesterday, how could a Rating of 1.53 get kicked from Nip, unless their management is a CS]

Mo looked at the bullet screen and didn't understand why Ma Xixi suddenly brought this up. Just as he was about to ask privately on his phone, the match had already started.

Ma Xixi's deep voice came, "Mo, let's sync the time..."

Es3tag planned a bomb rush on A Site for the pistol round, intending to execute a fast attack.

After purchasing half armor at the start, Su Zhe headed towards the A2 Floor position, planning to provide support fire with his four teammates at A1.

"Just throw the smoke under the platform directly. Be careful of the enemy pushing from B2 to gather information and retake early," Es3tag gave the order without hesitation.

This round, the CTs had a standard 3A2B defensive setup. Snax had bought dual pistols and was holding the close point on the second floor.

As soon as his teammate said the Terrorists had thrown a smoke at the Archway, he knew he had gambled correctly this round. He then pushed directly into A2 Floor with his dual pistols.

As long as he could get a kill, he could coordinate with his teammates at CT Spawn to form crossfire.

As a result, just as he peeked out and saw the Terrorists, he heard the sound of his own headshot.

"Bang bang! Pfft!"

[Arrow used Glock to kill snax with a headshot]

"WDF! Is this newcomer's reaction that fast!" the eliminated snax said with annoyance.

"Oh~ The rookie prodigy Arrow successfully intercepted snax, who was trying to push forward. His direct confrontation ability is indeed strong!" Ma Xixi exclaimed as he saw the kill.

"The Terrorists at A1 are also coming out, but acoR at CT Spawn is accurate! USP took down two consecutive players! Volt at the Archway timed his push perfectly through the smoke and also got a kill!"

"Fortunately, k0nfig's reaction was fast and he finished off volt!"

In just a few seconds, the situation on the field changed rapidly, forming a 2v3 scenario.

"There's one more in CT Spawn! Be careful! The remaining two should be defending B!" Se3tag shouted in voice chat!

He didn't expect that even with Arrow securing the first kill at the start, they would still be at a numbers disadvantage.

Receiving the information, Su Zhe directly pre-aimed the CT Spawn position and swung out.

AcoR in CT Spawn intended to retreat and wait for his teammates from B point to retake before using their numbers advantage to play the clutch.

But how could Su Zhe miss such a good kill opportunity? Seeing the CT jumping and preparing to enter cover, he first hit him in the body, causing a slow, then began to shoot wildly.

"Bang bang bang!"

[Arrow used Glock to get a headshot kill on acoR]

"Good shot! Hold the CT Spawn position first! Someone's already at the close point!" K0nfig said into his mic, having already flanked to the Long Box position.

Upon hearing this, Su Zhe immediately jumped down from the second floor, intending to rush CT Spawn with k0nfig to trade kills. However, he didn't expect Keoz, who was defending B, to choose to rotate back through the VIP window.

As they were about to take control of CT Spawn, Keoz directly emerged from the Archway smoke.

Keoz immediately opened fire upon seeing the Terrorist with his back turned at the Long Box position, easily securing k0nfig's kill.

"He came out of the smoke!" the eliminated k0nfig immediately shouted.

But Su Zhe's reaction was faster. As soon as he heard the USP firing, he turned his aim to the right.

"Bang bang!"

[Arrow used Glock to get a headshot kill on Keoz]

"Three kills in the pistol round already! It's a 1v1 clutch! What's the play? The bomb is on him, and lsak in CT Spawn is wisely choosing to hide and stall!"

"That's smart. If you don't plant, I won't come out! But Arrow can completely choose to plant the safe bomb at A1!"

Su Zhe held the CT Spawn position for a long time. Seeing that the CTs weren't giving him any opportunities, he directly moved to the safe bomb site at A1 and began to drop the bomb.

When he heard the CTs peeking out and firing to harass him, he immediately switched weapons and flanked to the right of the Long Box.

When lsak realized the C4 wasn't a real plant, he immediately felt something was wrong. He hurriedly turned his crosshair to the left of the Long Box.

But he found the Terrorist's dark muzzle already aimed at him.

"Bang bang! Pfft!"

[Arrow used Glock to get a headshot kill on lsak]

"Nice! Arrow! You got four kills!" K0nfig's excited voice came through the headset.

"Is the feel this good right from the start? I missed my last few shots!" Headtr1ck said happily. When he saw himself and his teammates getting killed one after another, he thought the Pistol Round was lost.

"Not bad!" Su Zhe breathed a sigh of relief after fist-bumping with his teammates.

He didn't feel the opponent's aim was that accurate, but the pressure from his teammates at the start was a bit too much.

However, he didn't mean to complain. Everyone has times when their feel is off.

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