On May 2nd, the Fnatic players ended their training camp of less than two weeks and gathered for Antwerp.
Vitality, Imperial, G2, 9z... many teams participating in the Antwerp Major Challenger Group have already arrived at the apartment hotels officially provided by the PGL event.
Many players also posted team photos and passionate messages to fans on their social accounts.
On the first day after arriving in Antwerp, Fnatic did not arrange a training match with other teams, but gave the players time to fully become familiar with the venue.
For everyone at Fnatic, although the time difference between the UK and Belgium is only one hour, it still takes some time for everyone to adapt to the environment here.
Diet, climate, water and soil, venues...a series of external factors may all become more or less the key to affecting a player's performance.
After Qin Feng got off the plane, he first informed his parents in China that they were safe, and then began to adjust his condition.
He has to keep himself in good shape.
In less than two weeks of training, the status of the four teammates was still erratic.
In less than a week, the Antwerp Challenger game will officially begin!
…
On May 8, after the training match with Vitality.
Samuelsson, the coach who traveled with the team, looked at the information given by the analysts in the small book in front of him and frowned.
Judging from the records given by analysts, Fnatic has won more than lost in recent team games.
But once Fnatic faces a team with powerful snipers, the performance of the entire team will be greatly restricted.
The best examples are G2 and Vitality.
The most important reason is the gap in the overall strength of the team.
Once Qin Feng fails in the sniper matchup with ZywOo or m0NESY, the remaining Fnatic players will have almost no chance of winning the endgame.
Especially poizon's state is extremely erratic.
Fnatic's biggest problem now is that it relies too much on Qin Feng's sniper rifle.
"The opponents in the challenger group are not strong. The four teams we need to pay most attention to are ENCE, Vitality, G2, and Outsiders." Coach Samuelsson began to summarize, "But even if we have a high chance of advancing to the legendary group, The team still lacks the possibility to go further.”
"Our team relies too much on Aether, even more than Vitality relies on ZywOo."
Coach Samuelsson suddenly sighed.
He remembered a joke on HLTV.
The host interviewed the eldest cousin, what is the biggest shortcoming of Faze as an international team.
The eldest cousin karrigan replied: "The biggest shortcoming of the international team is that the communication within the team is not smooth and it relies too much on star players. Once the stars cannot perform at a dominant level, the team will basically face failure."
The host asked again: "How did Faze Clan solve this problem?"
The eldest cousin replied without changing his face: "Of course it's because we have five star players on the team."
Thinking of this, Samuelsson glanced helplessly at the five Fnatic players in front of him.
In the training match, except for Aether who was able to maintain a stable state when facing strong enemies, the remaining players even had an average rating of less than 1.
too difficult.
Samuelsson patted Medicine God on the shoulder, "Poizon, although you are no longer the main sniper in the team, the team still needs you to stand up and become the cornerstone of the team's victory."
Medicine God Poizon's expression was a little bitter, "I will try my best, but I don't know why, but my hand feels really bad recently."
KRIMZ turned his head and looked over, "It's okay, poizon. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, we have entered the Antwerp Major stage, you just need to enjoy the next game."
Samuelsson nodded and began to encourage the team members: "Yes, don't put too much pressure on everyone."
"Everyone has no regrets about being able to come to the offline studio in Antwerp."
"If everyone can exert their full strength, then we have the confidence to face any CS team in the world."
"Tomorrow's first game against COL is crucial, but we just need to play to our normal strength."
"ALEX should have told you about maps and tactics many times before."
"Now, we just have to believe that all the previous training and hard work was not in vain."
"Let this decisive victory begin our journey!"
"Kill them!"
"1"
"2"
"3"
"come on!"
…
May 9th.
It's six o'clock in the afternoon China time.
The two games of the PGL Antwerp Challenger Group start at the same time.
They were Fnatic led by Aether facing off against COL led by North America's top sniper junior, and Vitality led by ZywOo facing off against the Bad News Eagles from Kosovo.
Most domestic anchors have focused their attention on the match between Fnatic and COL on the secondary stage of the game.
It’s still a certain CSBOY live broadcast room.
"Welcome everyone to watch the first round of the Challenger Group of the PGL, Fnatic vs. COL."
"I'm the commentator Masisi."
"I am the commentator CaptainMo."
"I am escort Asuka."
"who are you?"
After the familiar opening remarks, Masisi looked at the in-game screen and said first:
"Fnatic retained Nuke in the end and started as the offensive side."
“COL’s Nuke is not bad either.”
"It stands to reason that Fantic is unlikely to choose the map of Nuclear Crisis. Have you prepared any tactics?"
"The next time, 51."
"50"
"49"
"..."
"no problem."
"I saw someone in the audience crazy about Junior, the number one pig in North America. I must explain something here."
"You have to know that COL's performance in the PGL Antwerp Major North American qualifiers was not bad, and they even beat Liquid."
"Furthermore, this is the first time Aether has come to the offline stage, so I'm not sure whether it can adapt to the rhythm of the game."
"To be honest, I'm still a little worried about Aether. After all, game data shows that Aether's offensive snipers are often not as scary as his defensive snipers."
[Aether, you will face the four great phantom gods of CSGO, the number one sniper in North America, oSee and I are at a 50-50 ratio, and I will show you no matter what gun you have as long as you keep your back - junior! 】
[The fake number one sniper in North America: junior. The real number one sniper in North America: sh1ro. 】
[This person is originally a sniper with a very low upper limit. You know he doesn’t have this ability. I advise Junior to first understand the concept of this awp. 】
…
Amid the barrage and chats between the commentators, the game has already begun.
mezii still gave Qin Feng a P250.
In the first round of the pistol round, Fnatic did not choose the conventional wave of bombs in area A. Instead, they asked Qin Feng to pick up the P250 and go to the outfield of area A to observe.
After all, COL is not a North American team known for its marksmanship.
Even though Fnatic ranks low among the European teams, it still has many advantages in tactics and marksmanship compared to the North American CS teams.
"No one was seen near the outfield or K1." Qin Feng used the cover of his teammates on the oil barrels in the outfield to confirm that the COL players did not press forward rashly.
"We don't have a ray of smoke in the outfield. Let's regroup and play A pack or connect the iron plate." ALEX glanced at the positions of his teammates on the mini map. "Aether, don't default to the outfield. See if you can smoke the connected person." .”
"If we can get rid of it, we have a lot of room to choose. We can go downstairs on the third floor or to the B point."
"We won't enter if we can't see anyone. We'll just hit A with a wave of bombs."
ALEX quickly made his own decision based on the information given in his teammates' voices.
Qin Feng nodded and walked directly to the location of the gangster hall. "I will see if I can draw a shot. If I draw it, we will directly listen to ALEX's shot to speed up."
As for COL's single-handedly connecting the iron plate, it is Grim at position 4.
In order to avoid being hit by the bandits who were rushing directly to the iron plate, Grim chose to snipe on the slope with a small body to detect the enemy.
In this way, even if he is hit in the head by Glock, Grim can still have a chance to return to the pack with residual health.
However, this does not prevent Fnatic from connecting.
The one who took the lead was not Aether, but the fully armored Glock poizon.
After meeting the man, Grim did not choose to retreat to the B site immediately and let go of the connecting iron plate. Instead, he fired at Poizon one after another.
Grim, who thought he had the advantage of gun position, chose to be greedy for the gun, thinking of killing the poizon and then retreating.
Unfortunately, he only shot Poizon three times in the body, and was taken away by Poizon with two consecutive Glock bullets to the head.
[Fnatic.poizon used Glock-18 to kill COL.Grim with a headshot]
COL connection iron plate fell.
"pretty!"
"Poizon directly killed Grim who was connected to the iron plate and greedy for guns. At the beginning of 5 on 4, COL completely lost control of the B package point."
"Although Fnatic does not have smoke bombs, it is difficult for COL to judge whether it is to go directly to the B bag point to make a bag or to go around the third floor."
Mo added: "COL still has two CTs in A. One CT is downstairs on the third floor and has to worry about the enemies that are exposed. The junior in K1 in the outfield should return to the iron gate or control room in area B to defend. .”
"..."
With the advantage of one head in hand, ALEX's commander did not hesitate and directly called all his teammates to the B area to pack up.
K1's junior guard has not yet arrived, and the glass in the control room has been broken by the bandits.
In this case, CT's options for back-defense are quite limited.
When the connecting iron plate was broken, several COL players had no choice but to use the double doors and iron doors to return to defense.
Unfortunately, JT and floppy, who walked down the pipe and planned to return to the defense through the iron gate, arrived late.
"ALEX is standing against the wall under the control room. Will JT search?"
"JT didn't search, and was directly shot in the head by the USP picked up by ALEX."
"floppy replenished his gun, but he didn't replenish it!"
"He was shot in the head again by ALEX's USP."
"ALEX actually performed well today."
Masisi's voice was a little surprised.
"The last two CTs left are FaNg and junior who go through the iron gate in area B. What they have to face is a 2-on-5 endgame."
"Want to protect yourself?"
"No guarantee, Junior just pushed open the iron door and wanted to try."
"Take away the poizon who was in the pedicure position and get back to guarding you with a steel helmet."
"FaNg wanted to make up for poizon, but KRIMZ didn't give him this chance."
"1-0, Fnatic took the lead in winning the pistol round."
"..."
After winning the crucial pistol round, Fnatic's players breathed a sigh of relief.
ALEX even miraculously transformed into the team's rope twister.
"Poizon broke the point beautifully."
"If you hit Grim and their B area with a direct headshot, you're going to destroy them directly."
KRIMZ also nodded, "Yeah, don't stress poizon, maybe you can get back to your previous state."
While walking on the default road at the start, ALEX reminded: "The opponent COL is a team that likes to get stronger after losing the pistol round. We must not give them a chance to come back."
"Our analysts have mentioned before that once COL loses the pistol round as a defender on Nuke, it will almost always end up being a mix of Sandhawk and MP9."
"However, their sand hawks tend to defend close to the point, so we don't have to worry about being beaten by the sand hawks in the outfield."
"Besides, their sand eagles are not very good at playing."
"But to be on the safe side, we can only buy two hair dryers."
"This one can seal off the first line of smoke in the outfield and control the outfield and garage, and then see if you can go around to the third floor."
"..."
Of course, judging from the results, ALEX's worries are unnecessary.
Although COL chose to strengthen MP9 and Sand Eagle, they did not choose to attack forward due to their inferior firearms. Instead, except for the connected Grim, they huddled up in area A and area B to defend the package points.
This also allowed everyone in Fnatic to successfully complete a wave of double A on the third floor and the main entrance.
The attacker didn't even drop a gun.
This undoubtedly does not make all Fnatic players relax.
On a map like Nuclear Crisis, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the economic accumulation of bandits is undoubtedly very important.
Otherwise, if the economy is not good, even with an economic bonus of 3,400, you will still face the embarrassing situation of one point equaling two points if you continue to lose points.
The score went smoothly to 3-0.
The fourth round is the first long gun round on the map of Nuclear Crisis.
Since they never dropped their guns, the bandits' firearms were still uneven.
ALEX glanced at his and his teammates' firearms.
Two AKs, a bird sniper, and two hair dryers.
"Aetehr, do you want to get a sniper rifle yourself?" ALEX took a look at the team's economy. "Even if your sniper rifle is lost this round, we will still have money to sniper you next round."
Qin Feng shook his head: "It's not necessary. COL probably doesn't have the money to buy a sniper rifle."
"If the opponent really makes a 5-for-0 and picks up the sniper rifle, maybe it will help their economy."
"We have many small guns like this. It can actually be used for tactical purposes. If I snipe, I will have to slow down the attack rhythm."
Listening to Qin Feng's answer, ALEX nodded.
"Okay then, let's close the outfield and use the smoke to knock down K1."
"COL knows that we don't have enough firearms, so there is a high probability that we will take measures to prevent RUSH."
"We just did the opposite."
"Use the AK in KRIMZ and poizon's hands to complete the break point against K1."
"We placed the K1 seal and played it at the same time to see if we could place the package directly."
"There are not enough weapons in this game, our goal is to increase COL's economy and subcontract."
"..."
As the game started, Qin Feng first used a bird sniper to target the oil barrel.
After completing the basic acquiescence, the teammates returned to the bandit's first-line smoke bomb position in the outfield.
At 1 minute and 20 seconds, three smoke bombs were released, blocking the field of view of the police investigation.
Although the team members on the third floor of COL chose smoke bombs, they did not suffer any damage.
Everyone in Fnatic got to K1 without any injuries.
Masisi, who was explaining, frowned.
"Fantic's short-range shotgun dropped K1 in the outfield. Is this really reasonable?"
"We can see that the Grim connected to the iron plate has chosen to rewind, and we will soon be able to obtain information about no one in the gang hall."
"Junior, who was guarding the front door, went straight down the iron pipe and went back."
"Can junior hold on?"
"..."
