After their opponent had used a single Desert Eagle on an ECO round to ace them and turn the round around, Liquid now faced more than just the score being tied 1:1.
More importantly,
they had no money for the next round.
“Fuck.”
Looking at his economy, which had practically been wiped clean, oSee couldn’t help cursing under his breath. He rubbed his brow, trying to break the suffocating silence, and looked toward nitr0. “Bro, that flash of yours… didn’t full-blind him? I saw him turn away.”
“How could it not have full-blinded him?”
nitr0’s tone was extremely certain, even carrying a hint of displeasure at being questioned. “Dude, trust me, that was absolutely a full-blind flash! He definitely couldn’t see a thing!”
“Then that guy’s luck is absurdly good,” oSee muttered, as if trying to convince himself, and also as if giving his teammate a way out.
But when he said that, the voice chat fell into an even deeper silence.
“Was it really just luck?”
NAF finally couldn’t hold it in and muttered softly.
His voice wasn’t loud,
but it was like a needle piercing an overinflated balloon.
“That guy’s Deagle… was fast and accurate. When I swung out earlier, I didn’t even have time to trade before he picked me off.” Those words seemed to tear away the fig leaf of oSee’s “good luck,” laying out the reality none of them wanted to admit before everyone’s eyes.
That was right. The final full-blind headshot was most likely luck.
But before that, those four consecutive shots, every single one a headshot—could that really still be explained away simply as “good luck”?
Everyone on Liquid was silenced once again.
In the end, it was IGL nitr0 who gave a dry cough:
“All right, all right, guys. Admitting that the opponent played well last round isn’t some difficult or shameful thing. That guy… Dark, that Deagle play just now really did show he’s got something. His aim was scorching hot.”
After a pause,
he changed tack:
“But when it comes down to it, that round was still mostly because our own mistake was too huge. We gave him unlimited room to operate!” nitr0’s voice gradually rose, carrying the calm of analysis. “Think about it. With Niko dying instantly and B site having only him with one Deagle, if we hadn’t been so impatient and all forced our way through the smoke, but had instead been a bit more patient and played our coordination properly, no matter how accurate he was, could he really have hit all five of us?”
“Obviously impossible!”
“All right, as long as we know where we went wrong just now, that’s enough! Next time we run into a situation like this, we can avoid it! Everyone, get your spirits up!”
“Next round, we half-buy!”
nitr0 looked at EliGE. “EliGE, I’ll buy you a Deagle! If they can use a Deagle to turn our round around, that doesn’t mean we can’t turn it back on them!”
“Let them taste what it feels like to be overturned too!”
nitr0’s words were like a shot of adrenaline, instantly letting the somewhat dejected Liquid players pull themselves together a little.
EliGE took a deep breath,
then nodded and said:
“OK.”
However, becoming a hero was not easy.
Don’t forget, G2 had the special forces soldier Hunter!
You’re on ECO, right?
For this round, Liquid’s IGL nitr0 also knew Hunter’s “specialty,” so even on this ECO, he still called for a mid smoke, followed by an order to hit B at forty seconds.
Unexpectedly, on G2’s side, Little Li saw through nitr0’s call this time.
As soon as Liquid smoked mid, he quietly slipped out through the smoke to gather information in mid. After discovering there was no one in mid, and no footsteps in second mid either, he immediately had Cousin at connector return to B site.
And so, just as Liquid’s five-man squad arrived, Cousin’s MP9 arrived as well.
“Oh, Liquid’s utility in this hit is very complete—CT smoke, molotovs for coffins and triple box!”
“But Cousin! Cousin is taking the MP9 straight through the smoke, it seems!”
“Niko is being burned at coffins, and before leaving he throws a nade to slow them down!”
“But wait! This flash from Dark! What’s the play?”
Bang—!
Meng Lang, who had fallen back to CT, popped a counter-clear flash, and Cousin swung out of the smoke!
Da-da-da—!
The muzzle flash of the SMG erupted in a massacre!
One magazine directly mowed down four.
EliGE, who had bought a Deagle and wanted to give it a try, had just entered B site and fired one shot toward Niko at coffins before he was blinded.
Immediately afterward, before he could even open his eyes, he entered Cousin’s kill counter.
After Cousin killed four, he was traded by NAF from behind.
Meng Lang came out to trade, directly controlling his spray in one burst and taking down the last player.
Liquid’s ECO half-buy failed.
G2 took the lead.
2:1.
And Liquid’s economy for the next round was still in a very awkward position.
If they wanted rifles and utility, they definitely didn’t have enough money, but if they went ECO, it wasn’t quite necessary either. At the very least, they could still afford Galils.
At this point, Liquid had also been fired up.
So they simply forced again.
But perhaps Meng Lang’s Deagle ace on B site had awakened everyone on G2 ahead of time. Next, the Kid and Cousin over on A site both began to come alive.
Little Li’s calls also began to crush the opposing IGL.
As for Meng Lang and Niko on banana, there was even less to say. Their utility coordination and double-boosts meant that every time Liquid wanted to hit B, they would lose one or two players right from the start.
Then came the avalanche.
For a time, Liquid fell into a vicious cycle.
The poorer they were, the more they forced; the more they forced, the poorer they became.
By the time they realized something was wrong, the score on the board had already been pushed by G2 to 7:1.
Before the next rifle round,
Liquid’s coach called a timeout.
In the player booth, EliGE looked at G2’s stats on the scoreboard and couldn’t help closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Including that Deagle ace round,
a 13/3 K-D.
An average of 1.6 kills per round. That firepower was far fiercer than he had expected.
But wasn’t he clearly just a failed AWPer-turned-rifler? He had even left himself with a hand injury because of his own impulsiveness, and his hand had still been wrapped in bandages when he came on for the match.
What gave him the right to frag like this?
I don’t understand!
EliGE’s expression was complicated.
Behind them, Liquid’s coach quickly had everyone calm down. They couldn’t keep being so impulsive. They had to seize this rifle round, then he rapidly explained the tactic for the next round.
In the 6657 livestream room.
Seeing Liquid call a timeout, Wan Jiqi couldn’t help laughing as he said, “Wow! Today, every single member of G2 is performing! They’re practically a four-horse carriage! Oh, no! A five-horse carriage! God Li’s calling has even started getting kills!”
“And I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but G2 at this Major is kind of magical. Every time Dark starts killing people, the whole team suddenly heats up and starts racking up points like crazy. Seriously! Yesterday’s matches and today’s match were both like this.”
“All right! Liquid’s timeout is almost over. To be honest, only now is this their first rifle round with full armor and full utility. Let’s see if they have anything to show after the timeout.”
Along with Wan Jiqi’s voice, the timeout countdown ended, and the observer’s camera went over to Liquid’s side.
As soon as they came out of T spawn, IGL nitr0 jump-threw a smoke to extinguish the molotov at slab. EliGE, running in as the first man, arrived at banana and, before G2’s T-ramp smoke could disperse, threw a molotov and nade toward car.
“Oh! Both sides have chosen a 3B2A opening this round. G2 opened by throwing a T-ramp smoke to control banana. On Liquid’s side, EliGE threw the car molly and nade on banana and then there’s no further movement. NAF in second mid threw a stairs molly to prevent a second-floor push, and oSee also threw a mid flash from second mid.”
“nitr0! After throwing his banana utility, nitr0 goes straight back home to pick up the bomb, then follows his teammates in second mid to push forward. They jump up from second mid into VIP to control boiler. Looks like this round is meant to hit A?”