pasha's Handpicked

The bear-like man warmed up a little with a 100-kilogram barbell, then gestured for the muscular hulk beside him to join in.

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

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

Former VP AWPer, former VP in-game leader, famous CS:GO chef, strongest man in CS:GO, best actor in CS:GO, esports' Arnold Schwarzenegger—pasha.

Seeing that pasha hadn't moved, snax asked in confusion, "You called me over to work out, but you're just scrolling on your phone?"

Pasha laughed. "I figured you had no Major to play, so I brought you here to work off some steam."

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

But with the arrival of the Danish superteam, along with some internal issues, their dynasty had gradually fallen apart.

Now, in their thirties, they had slowly faded from the public eye.

Pasha had retired early. Last year, he'd mainly started streaming on Huya to give back to his Chinese fans, and it had gone pretty well.

But later, he decided to transition into a professional MMA fighter, so he gave up streaming. These days, he trained here every day.

Snax was different. Not long after leaving VP, he joined a tier-two team called Illuminar, and now he mainly coached rookies.

"Don't take it too hard. The CIS region is just too strong this year. There's no way you'd make it with a tier-two team."

Pasha figured snax was only good enough to coach a tier-two team now. If he tried to play in a Major again, he'd probably just come back battered and bruised.

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

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

"I'd say it'll come down to NIKO and S1mple," Snax said, making a reasonable prediction. "How long have those two been rivals? And between them, they still haven't won a single championship."

Then snax stifled a laugh. "If three runner-up finishes could be combined into one championship, they'd have one between them."

Pasha punched snax in the chest. "That's harsh. But combining three would give you a two-star runner-up finish, wouldn't it?"

S1mple had two Major runner-up finishes, and NIKO had one. Put together, that made a two-star runner-up finish.

As two of the best players in the professional scene today,

S1mple and NIKO had yet to win a championship, which was a big disappointment for many people.

As for Zaiwu, all pasha could do now was wish him luck in the potato plantation.

Though Zaiwu was also a top-tier player, he still couldn't seem to escape the prison king's path.

"The Danish superteam has fallen apart, so these talented youngsters finally have their chance. Still, I think it's a bit uncertain," Snax said. "Red Star even outperformed NAVI this year."

"During the online era, Red Star kept schooling NAVI. They even left S1mple completely stunned."

Pasha shook his head. "Red Star does look like a champion, but they look too much like one. I have a feeling they'll choke."

"And they're all young players. Once they get to the Major in person, they might not play the same way."

Offline and online CS:GO matches were completely different.

There had been plenty of great online players who got exposed once they played offline.

"Whether it's Red Star, NAVI, or G2, whichever team wins will make history," Snax said, shaking his head. "Enough about that. What have you been scrolling on your phone for all this time? Get on with your next set!"

He was a little puzzled. Pasha was a fitness fanatic, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn't slack off.

Only then did pasha remember. "I just saw a post that caught me off guard."

The hulking snax leaned over. "What post?"

"Over in the Asian region, both Tyloo and VG got upset. The team that qualified in the end was called Steel Helmet."

"Huh?" Snax found it strange. "There are teams in Asia that can beat those two?"

Asian CS might not have been taken seriously, but Tyloo and VG had still made a strong impression.

Tyloo had once reached the Legends Stage, and their logo was cool, so plenty of European players still liked them.

VG had beaten several world-class teams. In 2019, they'd even taken down a team at NAVI's level.

So they'd left quite an impression.

It was astonishing that both teams had been upset.

"Look into this team. Who are they? What's their story?"

Snax thought it was strange. He'd never even heard of the team before.

Pasha took a look and immediately grinned. "Well, I'll be! I know these guys!"

He spotted DD and MO's IDs at a glance.

DD and MO were both old-timers. The old VP had played against them back in the day.

As luck would have it, they'd even been demolished by Tyloo.

But they'd all gotten along pretty well at the time. They'd even crouched down for a smoke together after the match.

"They're back?" Pasha said, taking a jab at his old teammate. "Look at them. They took a tier-two team all the way to the Major, while you're half-dead over here."

Snax rolled his eyes, ignored pasha, and kept reading.

"...At the Asian RMR, Steel Helmet, led by former Tyloo legends MO and DD, showed tremendous strength. They won every match from the open qualifiers onward, defeating both Tyloo and VG to claim Asia's only RMR slot and qualify for the Major Qualifier."

"But even more impressive than these CNCS legends is a player named young."

"This rookie, young, displayed a terrifying level of individual skill throughout the Asian RMR. His average rating was 1.78, putting him far ahead of the competition even compared with RMR statistics from other regions."

Pasha and snax exchanged a look. Snax rubbed his eyes in disbelief and asked, "Did the writer get the stats wrong?"

"1.78? Are you sure that isn't for a single match?"

Pasha kept reading, and saw that the writer had listed young's stats for every match.

That settled it. The numbers definitely weren't a typo.

A quick glance showed that he'd had a rating above 2 in several matches.

Pasha and snax looked at each other, both struggling to make sense of the stats.

An average rating of 1.78 basically meant young had been farming every single match.

And it wasn't as if he'd been playing against internet café teams or random stacks. His opponents had included teams like Tyloo and VG.

Pasha immediately grew interested in the rookie.

He continued reading. "No way, he's Ma Xixi's cousin!"

He knew Ma Xixi. Last year, pasha had streamed on Huya for a while, and Ma Xixi was one of the platform's top streamers. The two of them had chatted for some time.

That connection surprised him.

"...According to confirmed reports, half a month ago, the 16-year-old prodigy young had only 500 hours in the game. After beating VG to qualify, his playtime had barely passed 700 hours."

"Huh?" Pasha blurted out. "Even Rain God wasn't this ridiculous."

Wasn't it absurd to go pro after only 500 hours?

And it wasn't just that he'd gone pro. He was dominating professional matches!

The kid was only sixteen!

And he'd done all that with just 500 hours of playtime. Pasha was starting to have doubts.

Snax said to pasha, "Look up some replays and see what this guy's like. He really is a freak!"

Pasha was fired up too. The two of them stopped working out and searched for match replays on their phones.

They'd thought they'd have to wait until they got home to find them on HLTV, but it turned out quite a few people were following the team. There were full match recordings on Twitter.

As they watched one match after another, the two of them kept gasping in amazement.

If they hadn't known young was only sixteen and had so little playtime, they would've just thought he was incredibly talented.

But now that they knew, it was more than just talent.

It was like the god of CS was chasing after him, spoon-feeding him, and young was still picking and choosing what he wanted to eat.

By the end, both of them felt their faith in the game crumbling.

They just couldn't understand how someone with 500 hours could do what it had taken them more than 10,000 hours to learn.

Snax was officially tilted, and he was going to be hard to console.

Pasha's eyes were full of astonishment. "And this guy's definitely a player who learns through practice. Some of his mid- and late-round decisions are still pretty rough. There are clearly better ways to handle things, but sometimes he just goes on instinct and gets it right."

"And after watching a few matches, did you notice? He keeps adapting and getting better!"

"How can there be a prodigy of this caliber in a place like Asia?"

As a man who had run a CS training camp, he had some unusual thoughts on the matter.

Pasha said, "Snax, what do you think a prodigy like this could become if he trained in Europe for a few years and worked on those weaknesses?"

For pasha, it was a thrilling chance to watch someone grow.

After all, young was only sixteen!

Even if he spent ten years playing professionally, he'd only be twenty-six, still in his prime!

He had tremendous potential for growth!

He could absolutely become a top-tier player!

But seeing young's avatar, with his skinny arms and legs, pasha frowned.

It'd be even better if he put on some muscle.

With his style, he'd definitely have to go down the road of muscle CS.

How could he play muscle CS without any muscles?

After thinking it over, pasha sent out a tweet.