“?????”
“WTF??? What’s wrong with this guy’s hand?”
“Bro, are you serious? Playing a Major wrapped in bandages?”
“Where did G2 pick up this patient? Recycling trash EG didn’t want, huh?”
“.”
“I can’t hold it in! This scene is too beautiful, I don’t dare look!”
“What did Wanjiqi just say? Dark was about to pull off something big? Damn, the match hasn’t even started and he’s already blown up huge?”
“Oh no! Wan the Big Hand actually called it!”
“.”
In the 6657 livestream room, the chat that had just been spamming “Nini Haihai” suddenly changed style; question marks and laughter filled the entire screen.
Wanjiqi stared at the feed and froze for a moment before blurting out subconsciously:
“Holy shit? He’s really going on stage with bandages?”
“No, bro! I really didn’t expect this. First time in Major history, right? A player with a hand injury forcing himself to play? Dark’s move really is a bit of performance art.”
But he quickly tried to patch things up:
“Still, to be fair, Dark has indeed always had an old hand injury. Back when he was on EG, his form fluctuated a lot because of this problem… Of course, how he performs today will still have to be proven in the match.”
But the chat wasn’t buying it at all:
“Proven my ass! What’s there to play now?”
“Obviously his old injury flared up again. G2 failed the ‘quality inspection,’ huh.”
“They must be regretting the roster move now. The problem is, there’s no way to return the goods.”
“Place your bets, place your bets! Betting Dark’s Rating won’t break 0.5 today!”
“If that’s really the case, don’t even return him. I suggest he just retire right here!”
“True. CNCS is already embarrassing enough. No need to make it even worse.”
“.”
The 6657 livestream room was flooded with trolls and haters.
Wanjiqi had a decent relationship with Meng Lang. People didn’t call him Big Brother Wan for nothing; otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that if Meng Lang retired, he could come to Shijiazhuang and stream the secondary broadcast.
Although seeing Meng Lang come on with bandages today really had almost made even him lose it, when he looked at Meng Lang’s calm eyes on the screen, there was none of the listlessness or nervousness of a patient. Instead, there was even a sharp edge of eagerness.
Wanjiqi hurriedly helped shift the flamers’ attention.
“Oh right! Sister He ordered me a lobster today. It was awful, way worse than Boston lobster. Hey! Speaking of Boston, your streamer suddenly remembered an interesting little story about NiKo in Boston!”
“Someone’s asking, Machine, Machine, what Boston story? Then I’ll give the viewers who don’t know a quick rundown.”
The Boston story was the 2018 Boston Major. On Inferno, FAZE played C9 and reached match point. With twenty seconds left on Inferno, they made an extreme rotation to hit B, only for the triple-box brothers to be taken out one by one by 2K, sending the game into overtime. In the end, C9 won the championship on home soil in Boston, and Young Master Ni also missed out on the Major trophy.
After Wanjiqi finished recounting it as if it were family treasure, he laughed and said, “The funny thing is, in today’s match, all the key characters from our little story are on the server. Tell me, isn’t that hilarious?”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Is it funny? I feel like it’s not as funny as the bowl-chef blowing up CN’s biggest Niko Fans CLUB just to change the subject for his good brother Dark-trash.”
“You’re being a bit Keqing, you’ve made us all Ganyu. Is your brain not very Ningguang? I really want to give you a Klee!”
“Niko: Say that again?”
“The key thing is, Dark-trash is going to the battlefield wrapped in bandages this time. Why do I feel like he’s aiming to give Shrimp Bro another Antwerp story?”
“.”
At the same time, at EG’s player seats.
At this moment, aside from 2K, the others noticed the bandages on Meng Lang’s hand, and undisguised laughter immediately rang out in the team voice chat.
“Holy shit!!! He’s actually still wearing that thing!” autimatic from the little clique almost burst out laughing. “Bro, is he here to be funny?”
“Looks like the aftereffects of that punch were worse than we thought.” 2K followed up with a sarcastic tone, his voice full of gloating. “Likes trying his hardest? Likes being a tragic hero? Let’s satisfy him! Later, we’ll just keep hitting his side and let him put on a proper show!”
“Got you!”
RUSH, another member of the old C9 clique, grinned and imitated the Chinese 2K had said last time. “Pick the soft persimmon to squeeze, right?”
After he said that, the others all laughed as well. EG’s team comms were filled with cheerful air, as though victory had already been secured in advance.
The referee confirmed that both sides were ready.
In the Swiss round of the Major Challengers Stage, the matches were BO1. Only the third-round matches involving advancement and elimination would be BO3.
After the coin toss, EG won and banned first.
As expected, since Meng Lang had come from EG, they knew very well which maps he was good at. They opened by removing Dust II, then casually locked out Ancient as well—they knew that the simpler the map, the better Meng Lang played.
G2 also went with conventional bans.
Overpass, Nuke, and then Inferno.
“G2 banned Inferno too?”
In the 6657 livestream room, Wanjiqi muttered to himself, “Is it to prevent a Boston story? That’s fine too. Now there’s only Vertigo and Mirage left. What do we say?”
At EG’s player seats.
“Remove Vertigo.”
2K said with full confidence, “Someone on the other side doesn’t understand how to play Mirage. It’ll basically be five versus four.”
“Then lock Mirage.”
And so, among the final two maps, EG removed Vertigo and left Mirage.
After the map veto ended, 2K glanced toward the other side, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Back then, you whiffed here.
Will this map be your inner demon?
“Oh? Mirage!”
Wanjiqi’s pitch rose. “EG left Mirage! This map really is one of EG’s traditional strong maps. After all, EG was rebuilt this year around the 2K-led C9 Boston Major champion clique. This map is undoubtedly a stage that combines aim and tactics.
But then again, G2’s Mirage isn’t weak either, right? EG is this confident?”
The chat began guessing one after another:
“Do you even need to think? They’re obviously targeting him!”
“I remember now! Dark’s last dance on EG was on this map!”
“Banana-man playing mind games, huh?”
“Oh no! Can G2 do it this game!!”
“.”
However, at G2’s player seats.
Seeing this map pick, Meng Lang was only slightly startled. Then his eyes lit up.
Mirage…
This was… perfect!
He subconsciously rubbed the bandages wrapped around his right hand, and scenes instantly flashed through his mind of the countless brutal battles he had fought against FaZe’s galactic battleship on that map within the meditation space.
[Mirage: 90 (3↑)]
After spending simulation points on frantic training over the past few nights, his understanding of this map had finally reached the T0 level!
Mending the pen after the sheep were lost!
And just in time!
Coach XTQZZZ leaned over and quickly gave a few tactical instructions, especially emphasizing Meng Lang’s defense in B short and telling Xiao Lizi to take extra care of him. The other side was very likely to treat B as the breakthrough point.
Meng Lang nodded, took a deep breath, put on the noise-canceling headset, and shut out all the noise from the outside world—doubt, mockery, worry.
BP ended.
The match officially began.
Map: Mirage!
EG versus G2!
T: Brehze, Stewie2K, autimatic, CeRq, RUSH
CT: NiKo, huNter, m0NESY, Aleksib, Dark!
“All right, welcome to day one of the 2022 Antwerp Challengers Stage, G2 versus EG. I’m your commentator Wanjiqi. Let’s look at the pistol round first.”
“First, let’s look at the pistol-round setup. On CT side, G2 has four Kevlar USPs. Xiao Lizi has no armor and bought a full set of utility. They opened with a 3B heavy defense! The remaining Nini Haihai are holding A, one apartments and one Jungle. Then what about the T side?”
“Oh! EG bought two sets of utility. Are they going to throw an early Window smoke?”
“They didn’t throw it! Wait! EG’s pathing—they didn’t go B. They’re gathering directly at A main! Are they going to explode onto A?”
Wanjiqi was somewhat shocked!