Pasha's Strict Selection

Chapter 49: Pasha's Strict Selection

The man, built like a giant bear, finished his warm-up with a 100kg barbell and signaled to the muscular strongman beside him to follow suit.

If there were any CS:GO players in this gym, they would have recognized the members of VP's golden five. The bear-like man was none other than former VP star player, snax.

The man with the exaggerated muscles beside him had quite a few titles to his name.

Former VP sniper, former VP in-game leader, renowned CS:GO chef, CS:GO's strongest man, CS:GO's best actor, esports Schwarzenegger – Pasha.

Seeing that pasha wasn't responding, snax asked curiously, "I called you over to work out, but you're just scrolling on your phone?"

Pasha chuckled, "I figured you don't have a Major to play in, so I thought I'd bring you here to work out and let off some steam."

Before 2018, they were among the most famous players in the professional scene.

However, with the arrival of the Danish "regular army" and some internal issues, the dynasty gradually fell apart.

Now, in their thirties, they have slowly faded from public view.

Pasha retired quite some time ago. Last year, primarily to give back to his Chinese fans, he started a stream on Huya, which received a pretty good response.

But later, he decided to transition into becoming a professional MMA fighter, so he quit streaming. Now, he trains here every day.

Snax is different. He left VP not long ago and joined a second-tier team called llluminar, where he is mainly focused on mentoring new talent.

"Don't be too upset. The CIS region is too strong this year. You definitely won't be able to climb up with a second-tier team," Pasha said. He felt that snax's current level was only good enough to lead a second-tier team; sending him to play in a Major would likely result in him getting thoroughly thrashed.

"Speaking of which, who do you think will win the Stockholm Major this year?"

Around this time every year, CS:GO players and fans would discuss this topic, especially since neither of them had much to do with the upcoming Major anymore.

"My feeling is it'll be between NIKO and S1mple," Snax said, offering a reasonable prediction. "How many years have these two superstars been playing? Yet neither of them has won a championship."

Then, snax suppressed a laugh and added, "If three runner-up finishes could combine into one championship, then they'd have it."

Pasha punched snax lightly on the chest. "That's too harsh. But a three-way merge would just make a two-star runner-up, wouldn't it?" S1mple had two Major runner-up finishes, and NIKO had one. Combining them would directly result in a two-star runner-up.

As some of the most outstanding players in the current professional scene, it was a regret for many that S1mple and NIKO had never won a championship.

As for Zaiwu, pasha could only wish him luck in the "sweet potato plantation" now. Although he was also a top player, Zaiwu still couldn't escape his path to being a perennial contender.

"With the Danish 'regular army' falling apart, these prodigies finally have a chance to shine, but I still feel it's a bit uncertain," Snax said. "Red Star even managed to get the better of NAVI this year?"

"During the online period, Red Star was constantly dominating NAVI in practice matches. S1mple was completely overwhelmed."

Pasha shook his head. "Red Star, indeed, has the look of a champion, but they have too much of a champion's aura. I feel like they're bound to choke."

"Besides, the team is full of young players. Once they're at the Major venue, their performance might be completely different."

CS:GO matches are entirely different affairs offline compared to online. There are too many excellent online players who are reduced to their original form when they compete offline.

"Whether it's Red Star, NAVI, or G2, any of them winning would create new history," Snax said, shaking his head. "Enough about that, what were you doing scrolling on your phone for half the day? Get back to your next set!"

He found it a bit strange because pasha was a fervent fitness enthusiast and wouldn't normally slack off.

Pasha only then remembered, "I was just stunned by a push notification I saw."

The tall and sturdy snax leaned in. "What notification?"

"It was about the Asian region. Tyloo and VG were both upset and defeated. The team that advanced in the end was a team called Steel Helmet."

"Hmm?" Snax found it odd. "Are there people in Asia who can beat those two teams?" Although Asian CS wasn't on the world stage, Tyloo and VG had left quite an impression. Tyloo had achieved legendary status before, and with their cool team logo, many European fans still liked them. VG, on the other hand, had defeated several world-class teams, even beating teams like NAVI in 2019. So, they had left a deep impression. It was truly astonishing that these two teams were upset.

"Check out the roster of this team. Where did they come from?" Snax felt very strange, as he had never heard of this team name before.

Pasha took a look and immediately laughed, "Whoa, this is an acquaintance!" He spotted the IDs DD and MO at a glance. DD and MO were also veterans, and the old VP team had competed against them before. In fact, quite inconveniently, they had been crushed by Tyloo. However, everyone had been on good terms back then, even smoking together after matches.

"Are they two back in action?" Pasha said, teasing his old teammate. "Look at them. They've led a second-tier team all the way to the Major, while yours is just barely hanging on."

Snax rolled his eyes and ignored pasha, continuing to read.

"...In the Asian RMR tournament, Steel Helmet, led by former Tyloo veterans MO and DD, displayed astonishing strength. They went undefeated from the open qualifiers all the way to defeating Tyloo and VG, securing the sole ticket to the Asian RMR and successfully advancing to the Major qualifiers."

"However, compared to these CNCS veterans, the player who impressed even more was young."

"The newcomer, young, demonstrated terrifying individual skill throughout the entire Asian RMR tournament. His average rating in the Asian RMR was 1.78. Compared to RMR data from other regions, he remained in a league of his own, far ahead of everyone else."

Pasha and snax exchanged glances. Snax incredulously rubbed his eyes and asked in surprise, "Did the editor make a mistake with the stats?"

"1.78? Are you sure that's not a single match stat?"

Pasha continued reading and then saw the editor list young's stats for every single match.

Now he was sure, it definitely wasn't a mistake.

Because at a glance, there were many matches where his rating exceeded 2.

Pasha and snax looked at each other, both a bit confused by the stats.

An average rating of 1.78 basically meant that young, this young player, was essentially dominating every match as if he were playing against bots.

Keep in mind, his opponents weren't some internet cafe teams or random players; they included teams of Tyloo and VG's caliber.

Pasha instantly became interested in this young player.

He continued reading: "Good heavens, he's also that Ma Xixi's cousin!"

He knew Ma Xixi. Ma Xixi had streamed on Huya for a while last year. As a top streamer in his category, they had interacted for some time.

This connection did surprise him.

"...There is confirmed news that half a month ago, this 16-year-old prodigy, young, had only played for 500 hours. After successfully defeating VG and qualifying, his playtime was still just over 700 hours."

"Huh??" Pasha exclaimed, "Even Yu Shen wasn't this terrifying."

500 hours to play professionally, wasn't that a bit too exaggerated?

And it wasn't just about playing professionally; he was dominating in professional matches!

He's only 16 years old!

And he achieved this in just 500 hours. Pasha was truly starting to doubt.

Snax said to pasha, "Go search for the VODs and see what's up with this guy. He's really a bit too monstrous!"

Pasha also got excited. The two of them immediately stopped their workout and searched for match recordings on their phones.

They initially thought they'd have to wait until they got back to HLTV to find them, but they discovered that quite a few people were following this team, and VODs were available on Twitter.

Then, as they watched, the two of them couldn't stop exclaiming.

If they hadn't known that young was only 16 years old and had such short playtime, they would have just thought he had extraordinary talent.

But now that they knew, it was no longer just about extraordinary talent.

It was as if the CS god was personally feeding him, and young was still being picky about it.

By the end, both of them felt their resolve cracking.

It was hard to comprehend how someone could achieve in 500 hours what they had taken over ten thousand hours to accomplish.

Snax declared he was broken, and hard to console.

Pasha's eyes were filled with admiration: "And this guy is clearly a player who excels in actual combat. Some of his mid-to-late game decision-making is still quite rough, and there are obviously more reasonable ways to handle things, but sometimes he just instinctively makes the right play."

"And over several matches, haven't you noticed? He's constantly adapting and getting stronger!"

"In an environment like Asia, could such a talented player emerge?"

As a man who had organized CS training camps, his thoughts were a bit peculiar.

Pasha said, "Snax, tell me, if this level of prodigy trained in Europe for a few years and ironed out these shortcomings, what would he become?"

For pasha, this was like the joy of nurturing a character in a game.

After all, young is only 16 years old!

Even if he played professionally for 10 years, he would only be 26, still in his prime!

His future potential was immense!

He absolutely had the possibility of becoming a top-tier player!

It was just looking at the thin arms and legs on young's avatar that made pasha frown.

It would be better if he had a bit more muscle.

After all, with his style, he would definitely go down the path of "Muscle CS" in the future.

How could you have Muscle CS without muscles?

After thinking for a moment, pasha posted a tweet.