When the countdown ended,
the second round quickly began.
In the 6657 livestream room, Wan Jiqi immediately noticed something unusual.
“Eh! For this round, Vitality has chosen to force-buy. Two Tec-9s, one hairdryer, one shotgun, one Galil—T-side force-buy? Could it be the classic apEX fly-second-floor tactic again?”
“And what about G2? Oh! Still 3A2B. Dark and Niko on Banana don’t need to be watched for now; Vitality is clearly going A this round. G2’s defensive setup on A is also the classic three-man A hold.”
At this moment, the three players in A were Cousin, Little Li, and Kid.
Cousin was still staying in Pit, watching Apartments, while Little Li and Kid took Connector and A1 Stables respectively, forming a crossfire against any T-side mid push.
“Eh? It doesn’t look like a second-floor rush. At the very least, it’s not a simple second-floor rush.”
Wan Jiqi spotted the clue and cast at a rapid pace. “Vitality’s Misutaaa and Magisk opened by throwing utility toward Banana from T-spawn, putting pressure on Banana. They don’t want Old Ni and Dark to take control of Banana too early. Of the other three, two are in A Apartments, while apEX has quietly crept into Boiler.”
At this moment, the match timer read 1:27.
Little Li, jiggle-peeking at Connector, timed it and directly threw a Mid smoke—because he didn’t know whether the opponents were force-buying or ecoing this round, he was playing relatively cautiously.
However, after throwing utility toward Banana at the start, Magisk saw the smoke and silently crept close to Mid.
He held a Tec-9 in his hands, looking as though he was ready at any moment to burst through the smoke and attack Connector.
“Confirmed! Vitality is definitely hitting A this round. Now at 1:16, Misutaaa, watching the flank from Underpass, confirms no one has pushed out Banana and directly throws a Connector retake cutoff smoke, blocking off the vision for a Connector rotation back to A site in advance!”
“Oh! Vitality is preparing to execute!”
Wan Jiqi’s voice suddenly rose.
The next second, as apEX, who had silently taken control of Boiler, threw out a Connector smoke.
It was as if it were a signal!
A1 pop flash!
A Apartments Pit flash!
Stables direct-angle flash!
Three flashes almost burst at the same time!
In an instant, it was as if three pale suns rose over the A bombsite at once!
The blinding white light instantly intertwined and overlapped, turning the entire A site into a pure-white purgatory that swallowed everything. All the CTs’ vision was completely stripped away, leaving only a despairing whiteness on their screens.
“My god! That’s way too white! apEX comes out first from Boiler with the shotgun and directly takes down Kid under Stables, who’d been completely blinded by the flash.
“Kid was a little slow there! Actually, it was Li-God’s problem. Li-God’s vision was blocked by the Connector smoke. Since he didn’t have a gun position, he turned away immediately, and it seems he didn’t tell Kid either. When Kid got flashed, he could only sit there waiting to die.”
“So what about this round? dupreeh and ZywOo in A Apartments are coming out! Can Cousin in Pit get one?”
“Pit nade! Cousin gets chunked! ZywOo is out! What! Galil straight one-tap headshot—yes sir!”
“No chance given at all, Big Potato! Cousin didn’t get a single one! This is bad! The bomb carriers have already taken A site. Now in A, only Li-God remains in Connector.”
“But Li-God has a home he can’t go back to. That early Connector retake cutoff smoke from Misutaaa in Underpass completely blocks his vision for the retake.”
“Right now, G2 is in a 3v5. This round feels a little difficult! What does Li-God do? He chooses to wait first for Old Ni and Dark to rotate from B!”
Wait! Magisk! Magisk, what are you doing?”
Suddenly,
Wan Jiqi’s voice rose again!
Magisk, who had already crept close to Mid and hidden in the smoke when Little Li threw the Mid smoke, did not attack A1 together with his teammates when they exploded out with flashes from A1 and A Apartments.
Instead, he alone pushed through the Connector smoke and caught the timing on Little Li, who had arrived at the Library doorway. Hearing someone planting the bomb, Little Li was holding a grenade and trying to lob it through the Connector retake cutoff smoke toward the site!
Tat-tat-tat—!
Close-range Tec-9 into the side.
Little Li, grenade in hand, had no chance to fight back at all, and was taken out by Magisk’s sneak attack.
With that, the situation instantly became a 2v5. Vitality’s five players had seized A site almost completely unscathed.
“Wow! Vitality played this T-side eco force-buy flash-execute tactic way too well! Every CT position was pressured by utility—either blinded or forced out of their gun angle. It completely counters G2’s classic 3A setup of Connector, Stables, and Pit.”
“How should I put it? All I can say is that Vitality dared to come out today and pick Inferno for a reason. At least in terms of preparation, they’ve done their homework very thoroughly. G2’s Inferno looks like it’s already been studied through and through by Vitality.”
“Then it’s over. Now that Li-God, who was defending Connector, has also fallen, A is completely lost. This 2v5 retake feels unnecessary to even attempt. There are gun lines everywhere on A site. They can choose to save.”
Wan Jiqi shook his head and sighed.
And that was indeed the case. Little Li’s face turned slightly pale. He took two deep breaths, and in the end could only helplessly call for a save.
Meng Lang was young and hot-blooded.
He did want to give it a try.
But the price of trying was too high.
After being overturned by an eco force-buy, they would have no money next round. If they handed over the two M4A1s they still had, then the next round would only be worse.
“Forget it, forget it.”
Old Ni also shook his head.
Meng Lang could only hold Library for a moment, watching to see if anyone came through Connector so he could pick one off.
Unfortunately, all of Vitality went up through Boiler into Apartments and left through the side path. They did not even show themselves in Mid.
A moment later,
the bomb timer grew increasingly urgent, and after all of Vitality evacuated the danger zone, it exploded!
Vitality’s force-buy comeback succeeded!
The next second, while Old Ni was still sighing, a man on the other side who looked rather like Mr. Bean abruptly stood up, waving his arms and legs as he shouted toward G2’s player booth:
“Hey Bro! Are You Blind!? Are You Blind!?”
“Were you flashed white? Were you flashed white?”
He raised a hand to cover his eyes, asked three times in a row, then shrugged and sat back down with a cheeky grin.
In that previous round, Kid had been the first one blinded under Stables before being shot down by apEX’s shotgun. Hearing such blatant in-your-face mockery, his face instantly turned pale with anger.
Niko gave a wry smile and shook his head, saying to Kid, “He’s trying to mess with your mentality. Don’t fall for it.”
Hoo—!
Kid took a deep breath and nodded. His expression also became focused.
Niko turned to look at Meng Lang again.
Only to find that the latter was sitting steady and motionless, which immediately comforted him.
In truth, it was not that Meng Lang’s mentality was particularly good.
Mainly, he preferred to speak after he hit back.
You got mocked after being overturned by an eco force-buy.
What was there to say?
At this moment, the score was 1:1. Vitality had successfully overturned with an eco force-buy, and their economy had become a thorough advantage.
Third round.
G2, of course, was not convinced.
Even without money, they chose to half-buy.
As in-game leader, Little Li also made full use of the two hero rifles saved from the previous CT round. He bought an MP9 and proactively swapped positions with Meng Lang.
He sent Meng Lang to defend Connector, forming a Mid crossfire with Kid at Stables.
He himself took the MP9 and utility to defend the back of B with Old Ni.
At the same time, Little Li did not forget to remind Kid that if the opponents threw utility this round, he had to immediately fall back from Stables. He absolutely had to survive first; only by staying alive would there be a chance to play the retake.
Kid had bought half armor and a Desert Eagle this round. Hearing that, he nodded.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Meng Lang sitting beside him, thinking to himself that he also had to use the Deagle this round to properly prove himself—after all, before Meng Lang joined G2, Kid had been G2’s best Deagle player beneath Niko!
However, Vitality did not give Kid a “stage” this round.
The moment the T-spawn smoke faded,
Vitality directly threw a Coffins flash and charged toward B site with heavy footsteps.
“Oh! 1:20! Vitality seems to have guessed that G2 wouldn’t leave both remaining hero rifles on Banana this round. Someone would definitely go to A, so they’ve chosen to speed up into B!”
“Sandbags molotov! CT upper and lower smokes! Triple box and first-second boxes fully burned!”
“Li-God’s MP9 is holding close, but this time Vitality has learned from experience. They clear very carefully, and Big Potato personally takes point with an AK! Little Li wants to leave but can’t—yes sir! He’s directly cleared out!”
“Old Ni is burned out from triple box! He throws a cutoff smoke!”
“But Vitality is definitely going to push through this smoke. Old Ni throws a self-service flash under the platform! What happens? How many can this hero M4 take?”
“What? Not even one?”
“Big Potato turns from the flash and comes up with one AK shot to pluck him off!”
“My god! This is pure stats! Big Potato as a player really is too all-rounded!”
“Dark! Dark is rotating back from CT spawn! But Magisk in Church is holding the CT crossing! What does Dark do?”
“Oh! That counter-strafe! Dark slaps Magisk dead in one shot!”
“But to be fair, his M4 really isn’t as good as his AK, and now he has no HP left! Wait! ZywOo’s nade through the smoke!”
Bang—!
Flames burst out in all directions!
Meng Lang, alert in his heart, had already switched to knife and started sprinting!
But helplessly, his HP was too low.
“Oh! This nade directly takes down Dark!”
“Then CT has no way to retake this round either. How are they supposed to retake with only a Deagle and an MP9 left?” Wan Jiqi sighed and said, “Really, G2 shouldn’t stubbornly keep force-buying now. Just take a proper eco and get a full rifle round. On a map like Inferno, if you don’t take more rounds on CT side, how are you going to play T side later?”
After this force-buy failed, Little Li also realized they could not continue acting on impulse. The next round, he decisively chose to eco. At the start, he threw a quick T-spawn smoke and directly called for his teammates to five-stack A, setting up a four-man “Calabash Brothers” formation in Connector, all holding together.
He had tried to find a pattern.
He felt that since the opposing apEX had gone B once, then A once, the next one should be A.
Moreover, with rifles against pistols, a tactic of attacking Connector from Mid and wrapping A1 to hit A site was clearly much better than the terrain around B site.
Unfortunately, Wan Jiqi’s earlier words had been right.
G2’s Inferno against Liquid yesterday had truly been studied overnight by Vitality until they understood it completely.
In this round, apEX only briefly sprayed down Mid, popped a Connector arch smoke, and immediately sped into B, taking B site in the blink of an eye.
With that, despite losing the pistol round, Vitality had taken three rounds in a row.
The score reached 3:1.
In the 6657 livestream chat, Vitality and ZywOo fans immediately began flooding the screen.
“Hahahahaha!”
“I said it ages ago. A team like G2 can only beat NA trash like EG and Liquid! Once they run into a team like Vitality, they get completely smothered.”
“Why has Dark gone quiet? Where are those filial sons who were hyping up Dark as a genius youngster?”
“LMAO! He hid at the start and got one lucky round, and now he’s directly turned on invisibility mode?”
“This Dark fanbase is such a clown show. Every day it’s CN genius youngster, but in the end he farmed two NA scrubs and then beautifully went invisible to save KD the moment he met Big Potato.”
“Big Potato: Genius is merely the threshold for meeting me.”
“Honestly, just watch the match. Don’t put on some CN-player filter.”
“True. If Dark is really fundamentally a top player, would he have spent two and a half years playing second- and third-tier tournaments in North America? Someone like that is basically just a born noob. He pops off for two rounds when he’s feeling it and you start hyping him?”
“.”
ZywOo and Vitality fans spammed the livestream chat like mad. G2 fans wanted to retort.
But most of the barrage’s firepower was concentrated on Meng Lang alone.
By the end, even they began to doubt themselves. Had they been carried away by the winning streak over the past two days, so much so that their expectations for this major-stage rookie Dark had become overly optimistic?
Against a strong team, was this guy really still G2’s perfect final piece?