In truth, it was no wonder Niko subconsciously thought Meng Lang was talking in his sleep because of the pressure.
FAZE Clan, the “apex predators” of the Legends Stage, were utterly different from any team they had encountered before in the Challengers Stage.
Teams in the Challengers Stage, when they were strong, were often strong in one particular area.
Even a powerhouse like Vitality, with ZywOo, the so-called “standing vice-GOAT,” would often end up in the shocking situation where ZywOo was trapped in elo hell while the other four collectively sleepwalked like four maggots.
But FAZE were different.
The return of their in-game leader, karrigan, and the addition of the prodigy ropz seemed to have supplied the final two perfect pieces to this galactic battleship.
This team had no obvious tactical weaknesses!
Their lineup could only be described as dreamlike:
The fierce fearlessness of team soul rain, the stability and precision of Twistzz, broky’s extremely efficient and reliable defensive AWPing, ropz’s elusive clutch ability, plus karrigan, the “strongest tactical brain” currently at the peak of his calling career, directing everything from behind the scenes.
Every single player was world-class!
By comparison, although Vitality also had the former Astralis duo, Magisk and dupreeh, both once top players, FAZE possessed three high-ranking top players right now.
Ropz, broky, Twistzz, and the others were all at the peak of their individual form. Not only were they among the best in HLTV’s Top 20 rankings, with ropz eighth and broky sixth, they could also step up and carry the team in crucial matches.
It could be said that FAZE were a standard multi-core lineup, with strength in every position!
They were not only strong in individual ability, but also in their near-perfect team chemistry!
In fact, before the Antwerp Major, FaZe Clan had successively claimed the Katowice and EPL championships, winning almost every major event they attended and entering a true “championship harvesting” mode!
Facing such a team—with terrifying lineup depth, blazing-hot form, and one that had just swept them in a final—who on G2 could possibly not feel immense pressure?
And that pressure intensified even further after G2 arrived at the broadcast studio.
—Just as they were making their pre-match preparations, the results of the first four matches on the opening day of the Legends Stage came in one after another. The teams that had come up from the Challengers Stage had lost all four matches!
Liquid fell to Team X!
BNE were crushed by the Fire Team led by Wu Zhuge!
Outsiders.VP lost to the resurrected C9!
Vitality suffered the worst defeat of all. Whether it was because their mentality had been shaken after being beaten by G2 in the advancement match or something else, they were taken out by NIP in a one-sided 16:4 stomp!
In other words, every single team that had fought their way up from the Challengers Stage had been completely wiped out when they encountered the “apex predators” of the Legends Stage in the first round. Not one had survived!
The news was like a heavy boulder pressing down on the hearts of everyone in G2’s lounge. The atmosphere, which had originally been fairly relaxed, instantly became stagnant.
Niko subconsciously rubbed his fingers. Aleksib’s brows were locked tight. Even huNter-, who was usually lively, silently checked his equipment.
As the fifth team to take the stage, they were about to face FAZE, who were in peak form and terrifyingly strong… just thinking about that prospect made it hard to breathe.
Douyu Room 6657.
After Vitality lost to NIP by such a huge margin, the barrage instantly exploded:
“dupreeh: Magisk, you’re not even in Antwerp, where did you go?”
“I’m seriously fucking done! Magisk is such an animal! Did he eat every flash in the face?”
“Wuwuwu! My Pick’Ems are dead!”
“Fuck me! How do you win with apEX having a 0.25 Rating? Pure fucking trash!”
“Feels like apEX’s pig brain overloaded after that advancement match against G2, and he still hasn’t recovered!”
“.”
Looking at the screen full of complaints, Wanjiqi couldn’t help laughing as he said, “Brothers, don’t blame this and that anymore. This is just the rigid hierarchy of CS! Vitality can’t beat NIP, and all I can say is that there’s nothing strange about it, all right? We’ll see whether they can adjust their form afterward.”
Then his tone shifted, and his voice rose by eight degrees. “All right! Vitality’s match is over, so we won’t talk about them anymore. Next up is what everyone has been looking forward to the most—G2 versus FAZE! Let’s see whether they can put on a good show today and overthrow the higher-ranked team!”
Hearing Wanjiqi’s words, the barrage in the livestream immediately flooded the screen again:
“I’m looking forward to your ‘I’m looking forward to it’!”
“Damn it! Something feels off! The first four underdog attempts all lost!”
“I’m a woman, and I think G2 has already won in terms of looks!”
“Internet-celebrity team making a joke of themselves! Just wait to get kicked to death by the galactic battleship!”
“Wuwuwu! Please, let there be one upset! CS with such a rigid hierarchy is really boring!”
“.”
Although the barrage was full of memes and complaints, the livestream’s popularity and VIP count were visibly skyrocketing. In the blink of an eye, the VIP count surged from 50,000 during the Vitality cast to 100,000, and the popularity rose from 3.5 million to 6.5 million.
It was clear that although the viewers said they were not optimistic, deep down, they were looking forward to this focal battle immensely.
After all, Meng Lang was one of the very few CNCS players in all these years to make it into the Major Legends Stage. Just seeing a Chinese face appear on this top-tier stage after so many years since TyLoo was enough to ignite the passion of countless domestic viewers.
“Oh—! The players from both sides are already preparing to go on stage!”
Wanjiqi suddenly shouted, “Looks like the director has given us a pre-match interview with karrigan. Heh, let’s cut over to the English stream first.”
The screen switched. At the English broadcast desk, host Banks was smiling as he interviewed karrigan. Beside him stood broky, carrying his peripherals bag.
Banks: “Welcome, karrigan! Back on the Major stage again, and about to face your old acquaintance Niko and G2. How are you feeling? Looking forward to it?”
karrigan smiled and swayed his body. “Of course I’m looking forward to it. Every match against G2 is interesting.”
Banks: “How confident are you about your journey at this Major?”
karrigan immediately stopped swaying, his tone steady and confident. “Very confident! Since the start of the year, I’ve had full confidence in this FAZE lineup. That isn’t just because of my own form, but also because of the teammates around me. Every one of them can make huge contributions in matches, and having teammates like this supporting me gives me even more confidence. I think the five of us are a very perfect lineup, and I’m also ready to win every championship this year!”
Boom—!
The FAZE fans around them erupted into enthusiastic cheers.
After the cheers died down slightly, Banks smiled and continued, “G2’s newcomer Dark has been extremely eye-catching in the Challengers Stage of this Major. Have you paid attention to him? Will you make any special arrangements against him in today’s match?”
Hearing this, karrigan laughed, looking very relaxed.
“Yes, the young player who said after the match that he wanted to become Top 1. I’ve looked at his stats, and they are indeed very good. But to be honest, we won’t deliberately target Dark as a young player. Our tactics are formulated against G2 as a whole.”
At this point, karrigan suddenly spread his hands tactically. “Well, actually, I even somewhat doubt whether he can maintain the level he had in the Challengers Stage once he reaches the Legends Stage.”
At this moment, broky beside him suddenly cut in, smiling as he said, “I don’t think he crushed his opponents in terms of game IQ. He simply aims accurately and quickly. But CSGO has never been just a pure aiming game.”
Douyu Room 6657.
Hearing this interview, Wanjiqi couldn’t help exclaiming, “Holy shit! karrigan really is confident! What he means, basically, is that he doesn’t take Dark seriously at all.”
“But if you think about it, it makes sense. When you’ve played professionally to karrigan’s age, what kind of prodigy haven’t you seen? No need to look far—ropz, broky, and Twistzz on his own team, which one of them wasn’t a prodigy aimer? To him, maybe this really isn’t anything special, all right!”
He paused, and his tone carried a trace of anticipation again. “That said, I personally definitely still hope Dark can show some pride today and hold on to the form and feel he had in the Challengers Stage! Keep performing today! Don’t be just a flash in the pan, Dark!”
The barrage in the livestream immediately split into several factions:
“Don’t laugh, karrigan’s eye for players is pretty accurate. Dark really might fade into mediocrity.”
“The main thing is the opponent! These apex predators in the Legends Stage are too damn brutal!”
“True. The first four matches were a complete wipeout. This is the fucking rigid hierarchy of CS!”
“Believe in the black bastard! No! Believe in the Black God! Charge!”
“I also want to see the Black God charge one more time!”
“If you can beat FAZE today and slap Big Cousin Pig in the face, you’ll be my Dark Lord!!”
“.”
The pre-match interview interlude soon ended.
But the atmosphere in Room 6657 had reversed quite a bit all at once. Even the troll barrages that usually spammed the screen had decreased a lot!
There was no helping it. The main reason was that Big Cousin Pig’s pre-match interview was simply too good at drawing hatred!
Although everyone knew that was just his personality.
But maxing out the taunt and saying it outright, and the person he was taunting was the “college student” our village had finally produced after so much effort—fine, we can curse and troll him privately ourselves, but what do you mean, Big Cousin Pig, putting on that face before the match has even started?
While heated discussion was raging outside the field, the fifth round of the first matchday of the Legends Stage, G2 versus FAZE, was about to begin!
Both teams’ players were ready, and the BP was finally starting.
In this match, G2 banned maps first, immediately removing Overpass and Ancient.
FAZE’s three consecutive bans removed Mirage, Inferno, and Dust2.
Just like that, only Nuke and Vertigo were left on the field.
In Room 6657, Wanjiqi burst out laughing.
“No, bro! You’re telling me this is not deliberately targeting Dark? You’re already targeting him to death in the map veto, all right!”
“Mirage and Inferno are both currently strong maps for Dark! No need to even mention Dust2! Dark dropped 43 kills on Dust2 and produced the highest Rating of the Challengers Stage! A huge gap ahead of Degster’s second-place 1.83 single-map highest Rating! Absolutely the best of the best, all right! And now karrigan has removed them all right away.”
At this point, Wanjiqi sucked in a breath. “Then this is going to be difficult now! G2 doesn’t play Vertigo! Although Nuke is a strong map for G2 as a team, Dark’s performance on Nuke has been relatively average. This final BP is going to be hard to handle.”
At the FAZE player booth, karrigan watched from across the stage as G2’s coach and Aleksib stared at the screen with tightly furrowed brows, discussing intensely in low voices. The corner of his mouth couldn’t help curling into a smile as he exchanged a knowing look with the teammates around him.
Throwing out a bit of smoke before the match—surely no one actually believed it, right?
That kid with the ID Dark had put up such outrageous Ratings in the Challengers Stage, his stats dazzling to the point of being blinding. How could karrigan possibly not value him?
As one of the callers who studied opponents the most thoroughly, he had already watched Dark’s match VODs from the Challengers Stage over and over several times.
But he understood an even deeper principle: CSGO was not a game of gun skill alone. Especially for a “rifler” type like Dark, who clearly relied on extreme reaction speed and crosshair placement, there was one map that could be called their “demon-revealing mirror”—Nuke.
The structure of this map was extremely unique. Underground, ramp, outside, and the A site were stacked layer upon layer, forming a complex three-dimensional battlefield.
Its narrow passages, numerous corners, and complicated information positions meant that if one tried to force through with individual gun skill alone, it was very easy to fall into a web of crossfires or be effortlessly neutralized by the opponent through terrain and utility.
A pure aimer, on this map, could easily be slowly devoured like an insect in a jar by experienced opponents through crossfires, utility restrictions, or tactical rotations because of aggressive movement or poor positioning, and then be easily “arrested” after falling into a trap.
In other words, on Nuke, having only a crosshair and no brain would not work.
This was exactly karrigan’s targeting in the BP.
So, when he saw the BP end exactly as he expected—
After hesitating again and again, G2’s young player named Dark turned his head and said something to coach xtqzzz and captain Aleksib. Then the coach finally steeled his heart, removed Vertigo, which they almost never played and where their win rate was miserable, and left Nuke as the final map…
At that moment, the smile on karrigan’s face fully bloomed.
“Nice!”
At the FAZE player booth, ropz, broky, and the others exchanged glances, all seeing smiles in one another’s eyes.
From the very first ban, this round of BP today had completely fallen into karrigan’s calculations. It could be said that they had won right at the starting line!
What everyone on FAZE did not know, however, was that
what Meng Lang had just turned around and said to the conflicted Aleksib and coach XTQZZZ was:
Leave Nuke!
My Nuke is ridiculously fucking strong right now!
……
A moment later,
Antwerp Major Legends Stage,
Opening matchday, fifth round!
G2 versus FAZE Clan.
Map: Nuke!
T side (Attackers):
rain, Twistzz, broky, ropz, karrigan.
CT side (Defenders):
NiKo, huNter-, m0NESY, Aleksib, Dark!!
Without a doubt, Nuke was a famous CT-sided map. With the advantage of terrain, starting on defense was theoretically more favorable.
Unfortunately, FAZE had poor luck and lost the knife round, so G2 naturally chose to start CT first.
But at this moment, karrigan, FAZE’s in-game leader on the attacking side, appeared extremely optimistic. Possessing natural leadership, he clapped his hands and encouraged his teammates in a relaxed tone:
“Brothers, hard first, easy later! Let’s knock them down on the T side first! Hit their mentality hard!”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over his teammates before he deliberately added:
“And looking at it from another angle, since they’re on CT, that Dark won’t be able to buy his best weapon, the AK, in the first half. Once we kill his feel right from the start and mess up his rhythm, when we switch to CT in the second half, the match will be much easier!”
His old teammate, “Rain God” rain, smiled and played along by asking, “Then how are you planning to start?”
karrigan smiled confidently, his command simple and direct: “Easy! Pistol round, rush ramp! Make use of our Glocks’ advantage in close-range fights and break through with one fast hit!”
In truth, there was an even deeper intention behind this command.
He had studied G2’s defensive positions and knew Meng Lang was G2’s main ramp defender on CT side. Since he wanted to “cool down” Meng Lang’s gun feel, then naturally, he had to start applying pressure from the very first moment!
What’s more, the pre-match data showed that
G2’s pistol-round win rate at this Major was “a pile of shit.” In that case, they might as well concentrate their firepower from the start and smash straight through the ramp guarded by this newcomer!
……
Douyu Room 6657.
Looking at the loaded match, Wanjiqi smiled and said, “All right! Dear viewers, this is the Antwerp Major Legends Stage match between G2 and FAZE. I am your caster, Wanjiqi, Ma Xing! Next, let’s first watch this pistol round. I hope G2’s pistol round can show some improvement today. They really have won only a handful of pistol rounds at this Major.”
“Now let’s look at the opening. On the T side, FAZE have bought two sets of utility, but only one smoke. Oh? karrigan directly jump-throws a main-door smoke out of spawn. Are they going for an outside split onto A?”
“Wait! No!”
Wanjiqi’s voice suddenly rose. “The main-door smoke is a feint! karrigan has directly called a rush ramp! All five FAZE players are grouping up and charging straight at ramp!”
Along with Wanjiqi’s voice, the director’s camera quickly cut to FAZE’s perspective.
At connector, the five Ts gathered.
Ropz was seen accurately throwing a Molotov toward the box at close ramp, commonly known as the “scalp position,” while a flashbang flew over the top of ramp. This was a classic one-way flash to cover his teammates’ charge.
“Rain God rain is leading the way! He doesn’t hesitate in the slightest! Because in a rush-ramp tactic, the first one out is there to draw the crosshair anyway. The Director Twistzz, broky, and ropz behind him are all top-tier aimers, so they’ll definitely be able to trade. Rain trusts his teammates very much!”
Wanjiqi’s voice also grew louder!
“FAZE are going for the hard breakthrough! It seems G2 have had part of their attention drawn away by karrigan’s opening main-door smoke. Right now, only Dark is watching ramp!”
“This is bad! Once Dark dies here, his teammates on heaven won’t be able to help in time, and FAZE will directly take the B site!”
“What will Dark do here? He’s been burned off ramp by ropz’s scalp-box Molotov. Will he go down to lower first to protect himself and wait for his teammates?”
“Wait! What?!”
Wanjiqi’s tone was full of shock. “Dark didn’t choose to go down and save himself! He directly self-flashed and swung back out!”
The director’s camera instantly locked tightly onto Meng Lang’s first-person perspective. The moment he was burned off ramp, not only did he not retreat, he instead decisively pulled out a flashbang and threw it against the wall. Under cover of the flash exploding, he pulled out from the ramp slope with his USP in hand!
Pff—!
The crisp gunshot unique to the USP’s silencer rang out!
【G2-Dark killed FAZE-rain with a USP headshot】
He first instantly dropped Rain God, who was at the very front!
Then, without stopping,
he quickly strafed across the ramp slope!
The three aimers following up from FAZE—Twistzz, broky, and ropz—had all successfully turned from the flash with their top-tier reactions, but they never imagined that this CT, who should have been forced back by the Molotov, not only had not run, but had instead actively swung out to take the duel!
And the crosshair of Meng Lang’s USP, having absorbed the experience from the previous simulation space, no longer placed itself directly on the head. Instead, it used the USP’s unique recoil to “bounce” onto heads in succession!
Pff—!
Pff—!
Pff—!
The USP shots rang out one after another with an extremely rhythmic cadence!
Like Death calling out names!
【G2-Dark killed FAZE-Twistzz with a USP headshot】
【G2-Dark killed FAZE-broky with a USP headshot】
【G2-Dark killed FAZE-ropz with a USP headshot】
Every shot a headshot!
In Room 6657, Wanjiqi could be heard exclaiming and counting like a counter:
“Oh! One! Rain God! Two! The Director! Three! Broky! Four!!! ROPZ!!! Dark has taken four in one breath! My god! Dark! Is your USP actually this terrifying too? This is way too precise, way too elegant!”
After exclaiming, Wanjiqi’s speaking speed suddenly shot up again!
“But Dark doesn’t have much HP left! On FAZE’s side, only karrigan remains! He’s playing ring-around-the-rosy with karrigan at ramp! karrigan knows G2’s retake is about to arrive, and he doesn’t dare stay at ramp with Dark for too long. He’s preparing to jump straight down ramp to lower and at least try to plant the bomb!”
“As for Dark, his job is already done. With his HP this low, he only needs to wait here for his teammates from heaven and outside to come down K1 and pinch together!”
“Wait! What? Dark is chasing straight down!”
Suddenly, Wanjiqi’s voice was filled with disbelief.
“Oh! karrigan heard the footsteps! He’s turned around! Glock aimed into the air!”
“But Dark! Whoa—!!!” Wanjiqi let out his signature ultra-bubbly voice, his sound almost twisting. “Dark fires another USP jump shot in midair! Headshot! He takes karrigan’s head off! Five kills! Dark completes a five-kill at ramp! ACE!!!”
【G2-Dark killed FAZE-karrigan with a USP midair headshot】
Five kills!
ACE!
The barrage in Room 6657 instantly exploded completely:
【Holy shit!!!!!!】
【He instantly killed them all?! This USP is a headlock cheat, right?!】
【That self-flash swing was invincible! What kind of mysterious serving window is this?!】
【That final midair headshot was way too ridiculous!】
【karrigan: Weren’t we supposed to arrest the aimer? Why did I get slaughtered like a pig?】
【FAZE: The five of us rushed ramp, and then got surrounded by him alone?】
【That reaction! That crosshair placement! You’re the Bandage God of War, aren’t you!!】
【G2’s pistol round… was fucking lifted up by Dark alone!】
At G2’s player booth, cheers immediately erupted!
“Holy shit! Nice, brother!”
huNter- was the first to shout.
Niko and m0NESY also excitedly high-fived Meng Lang.
Aleksib let out a long breath, a relieved smile appearing on his face.
In this round, when they realized FAZE’s information was fake outside but true ramp, they had all thought ramp would fall and that they would have to go to B site for an extremely difficult retake!
But once the opponent entered B, planted the bomb, and spread out their gun positions, in a pistol round with no defuse kit, the other side would not even need to take duels with them. Just delaying would be enough to drag them to death, and the chance of a successful retake would be pitifully low.
However, Aleksib had never expected
that all his worries would be unnecessary. Meng Lang had simply stood at ramp, alone, with one USP, and killed the entire FAZE team!
Too vicious!
Meng Lang himself also let out a long breath, the corner of his mouth revealing a faint smile.
“Good luck.”
This was half true.
When he took the first four just now, relying on the basic USP gun-skill bonus from fusing with Xiaoju’s remnant body, and after mastering the rhythm of “recoil-bounce” headshots, he still had a little confidence.
But that final jump kill on karrigan!
Although he knew that when firing the USP while jumping in midair, it could still maintain relatively high accuracy, far surpassing other pistols, that thing was still full of uncertainty!
To hit the soul with one shot—
saying it was good luck was honestly the truth.
At this moment, at Faze’s player booth, everyone was somewhat stunned!
The atmosphere that had just been filled with ease and confidence seemed to have been instantly shattered by a USP named “Dark”!
karrigan looked at his gray-white screen. The fat on his cheeks twitched slightly. The smug smile of someone who had been calmly plotting everything just now completely froze.
Then slowly disappeared.