Before the Asian RMR.
Inside VG's practice room.
A Zhong, nicknamed "the Old Timer with the Shifter," watched with amusement as his team's captain gave an interview.
Thanks to Helmet's crushing performance against Tyloo at the Asian RMR, the event had attracted unprecedented attention over the past couple of days. The folks at the 5E platform had seized the opportunity and decided to stir things up with some trash talk.
They'd come to interview VG's captain, advent, before the match. But fans in the scene preferred to call him by his former ID: 259.
The 5E reporter greeted him, then began the interview. "Hello, Ninth Lord. How are you feeling about today's final against Helmet?"
Rather than answer directly, 259 looked surprised and asked, "Wait, aren't we playing Tyloo? How did it become Helmet?"
[Can't hold it together.]
[Tyloo's had it rough. They've been getting flamed nonstop for two days, and now they're getting dragged all over again.]
[@Sima Yi: Don't stir up Cao Shuang drama. @Wan Ji Qi: Don't stir up NIKO drama. @259: Don't stir up Tyloo drama!]
[259's such a comedian, haha.]
After taking a jab at Tyloo, 259 continued, "We're definitely under a lot of pressure playing Helmet."
"Can you tell us why?" The question clearly caught the 5E reporter off guard.
"After we found out Tyloo lost to Helmet, we stayed up all night preparing to play them. But you know what? Helmet's like some hidden sect in a cultivation novel. I couldn't even find any demos!" 259 barely managed to keep himself from laughing.
A Zhong, watching from nearby, burst out laughing.
He'd made Helmet sound so mysterious just because he couldn't find any footage of them.
259 continued, "Today, against Helmet, we mainly want to see how Ma Xixi's cousin plays. That kid's talent is honestly kind of ridiculous."
"Whether we win or lose doesn't really matter. The main thing is not to disband."
"Helmet has this ability to make teams disband. You play them, and not only can they beat you in the match, they might get you kicked off the team too. So yeah, there's a lot of pressure playing Helmet."
The viewers watching the livestream were in stitches. They'd thought 259 was a rather serious in-game leader, but it turned out he was a comedian too.
After knocking their old rivals Tyloo out of the tournament, 259 had been relentlessly stirring up drama about them.
And with rumors going around that Tyloo might be rebuilding, the viewers could barely contain themselves.
After watching 259 finish the interview, A Zhong was still laughing. "How come I never realized you were such a talker?"
259 rolled his eyes. "I'm with you every day. Even the biggest talker would run out of things to say."
A Zhong didn't take offense. He came over, put an arm around 259's shoulders, and said, "That's what your personality gets you."
259 was usually a pretty levelheaded guy. He'd only decided to fool around during this interview on a whim.
Seeing the puzzled look on 259's face, A Zhong explained, "Remember when we ran into Ma Xixi's cousin at Perfect World?"
"I kept telling you to try talking to him."
A Zhong started playing the Monday-morning quarterback. "If you'd been just a little nicer, maybe he'd be playing for VG's academy team today, and we wouldn't be under so much pressure."
"He was just a one-trick back then. Who could've guessed he'd improve this fast?" 259 retorted.
Unlike the interview, they were genuinely under a lot of pressure today.
After all, Helmet had crushed Tyloo.
And with the cousin playing like he was smurfing, how could they not feel the pressure?
If they'd recruited the cousin back then, they could've avoided all this trouble.
But after thinking it over, 259 said, "Even if we'd signed him, we'd still be under a lot of pressure."
"If Helmet hadn't rattled Tyloo, we wouldn't have beaten them so easily yesterday."
As two of the top teams in China, VG and Tyloo had faced each other frequently.
All year, VG had been just a little behind Tyloo.
But when they played yesterday, Tyloo had been completely off their game. They'd looked like they were desperate to prove themselves, yet unable to get anything done.
Without Helmet, they probably would've faced a Tyloo playing at full strength in the final, and that would've been just as stressful.
"After this Major, want to get in touch with Ma Xixi and bring that kid over?" A Zhong offered. "Kaze and I can both make room for him."
They were getting on in years, and had been thinking about stepping behind the scenes for a while.
The problem was that they hadn't seen any new blood emerging in China.
259 shook his head. "Let's not worry about that. We'll talk after today's match."
He sighed helplessly. "Even if we're willing to take him now, it's up to Ma Xixi whether he wants to let him go."
A while later, the two teams officially began their match.
This Asian RMR match used a BO5 format, meaning the first team to win three maps would take it.
But the team coming from the winners' bracket started with a map advantage.
Once the veto was over, they were automatically awarded the win on the first map.
In other words, Helmet only needed to win two of the remaining four maps.
That was why VG felt so much pressure.
Who wouldn't be thrown off when the other team started with a map lead?
The teams began the veto.
Helmet banned first, removing Vertigo, a map they weren't very good at.
VG immediately banned Dust II. They didn't play that map.
With the bans done, the teams quickly picked their maps.
The final lineup was:
Map 1: Death Amusement Park
Map 2: Inferno
Map 3: Dust II
Map 4: Nuke
Map 5: Ancient Ruins
After the veto, VG quickly moved on to their match on Map 2.
That's right, they went straight to Map 2.
Under the rules, Helmet had already been awarded Map 1, so VG started the match one map down. It put them under immense pressure.
During the game, 259 realized his concern had been justified.
On Map 1, Inferno, Helmet had nearly crushed them.
In the end, VG barely scraped out a 16:13 win on Inferno.
At least they'd taken a map. The teams were now back on even footing, which helped VG breathe a little easier.
But once they got to Dust II, VG were completely overwhelmed.
That guy Jamyoung had already stood out on Inferno, but on Dust II he played even better.
VG managed to score just three rounds in the first half as the CT side.
Then they made a mistake in the second-half pistol round, and Helmet stormed straight to match point. VG fought back for a few rounds, but the final score still ended up at 16:6.
The pressure on VG's players instantly shot through the roof.
The score was now 2:1.
That meant Helmet only had to win one more map for the match to end 3:1.
259 wiped a bead of cold sweat from his brow, even though there wasn't one there. He was starting to feel the pressure.
In Helmet's voice chat, everyone was shouting encouragement.
"Great job, brothers!" MO rallied the team. "We only need to win one of the next two maps. All the pressure's on VG."
"And you saw it on Dust II. They weren't nearly as good as we thought. We've got a chance to win this!"
DD was the kind of player who was always saying "Nice." He rallied the team enthusiastically. "Exactly. Don't get nervous. Let's just keep playing around the cousin. We've got a chance!"
He didn't dare bring up making more stickers. Even though he was confident, he didn't want to tempt fate.
The players encouraged each other, and the halftime break soon ended.
Helmet versus VG.
Map: Nuke
T: zhongKing, aumaN, advent, Kaze, jamyoung
CT: Jamyoung, DD, MO, xiaosage, karsa
"The good news is, at least I won't have to put as much thought into calling on this map," MO said with a grin during the freeze time.
Nuke demanded a great deal from players across the board.
On the CT side, at the very least, players needed to be highly proactive.
If their communication wasn't up to scratch, it was easy to give up a site.
MO could put the weight of calling aside for a while and focus on plugging the gaps.
As the pistol round began, MO asked Jiang Yang, "Want to use the Dual Berettas?"
The map was actually pretty good for the Dual Berettas.
Jiang Yang thought it over. "Sure, I'll give them a try."
MO bought Jiang Yang a pair of Dual Berettas, then picked up a Defuse Kit for himself. "Let's focus on Iron Plate this round and try stacking it."
Jiang Yang considered it. "Then I'll go below the Double Crossfire on Iron Plate and hold that angle."
"I'll play bait by Red Box," Su Di said, explaining his setup too.
DD and xiaosage took up positions on A Site.
With this setup, they were leaving Outer Site completely open.
As the countdown ended, Jiang Yang switched to his knife and went beneath the Double Crossfire on Iron Plate. He held his Dual Berettas, waiting for the right moment.
"They're coming from Iron Plate. Looks like they're about to throw a molly!" Jiang Yang called out quickly. A moment later, a molly flew out of B Tunnel and straight toward Su Di's position.
Burned by the molly, Su Di came out looking like a red-skinned duck. He channeled Billson and chose to die standing.
"Su Di gets forced out by the molly, and VG push in and get the opening kill. But there are still two players on Iron Plate. Can they hold?"
"But MO comes up from Under Third Floor and gets instantly taken out by A Zhong! The Old Timer with the Shifter is in scorching form today!"
"That leaves only the cousin holding Iron Plate!" Ma Xixi said in disbelief. "There's nothing they can do. MO and Su Di both got killed instantly."
With both teammates taken out in a flash, the young Jiang Yang knew he had to step up and hold the site.
He didn't panic. The Dual Berettas in his hands gave him plenty of confidence.
He waited quietly for the other team to reveal themselves.
After getting two kills, VG let their guard down a little and rushed toward the area beneath Iron Plate all at once.
Jiang Yang had meant to let one player pass, and he did let the first one by.
But then he saw the terrorist in the second position look straight at him.
Jiang Yang had no choice but to open fire!
To avoid the enemy's Line of Fire, he kept moving left and right around the Cover, Counter-Strafing wildly. To the other team, it looked like he was just running and shooting.
"Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!"
[Jamyoung killed advent with Dual Berettas]
[Jamyoung headshot zhongKing with Dual Berettas]
[Jamyoung headshot Kaze with Dual Berettas]
"It looked like VG had taken Iron Plate, but the cousin had actually surrounded them!"
"He's tearing them apart with those Dual Berettas! One, two, three!"
"He's still going, but now the two Jamyoungs are whiffing at each other! They're both shooting all over the place. The cousin pulls out his knife and rushes in!"
"Jamyoung backs into a wall—one heavy slash!" Ma Xixi shouted excitedly. "That's 1,500 in the bank! He can buy an AWP next round!"
The Director's camera cut to Jiang Yang. His face was lit up with a sunny smile. He was overjoyed after getting those four kills and knifing a player too.
Then xiaosage caught aumaN sneaking around Outer Site, and they took the pistol round.
The score went to 1:0.
Helmet were naturally all smiles.
259, on the other hand, sighed quietly.
How were they supposed to win when their opponent had a submachine gun in the pistol round?
He's already been crushed.
Before you continue