Douyu, Room 6657.
The match hadn’t even started, yet the stream was already filled with a jovial atmosphere and all sorts of baiting chat messages.
“Yo, the big streamer’s here! Sorry you have to take time out of your busy schedule to stream for us. The viewers really feel bad—on behalf of everyone, I kowtow and admit our wrongs!”
“I got caught watching your stream at work by my boss Bruce Wayne. He nodded and said: ‘Good. Keep monitoring the clown.’”
“God Wan, God Wan, do you think G2 can win today?”
“Asking Wan Jiqi whether G2 can win is useless. You gotta ask if Brother Shrimp will agree first.”
“When has Brother Shrimp ever disagreed? He really… I’m crying!”
“Dark said he won’t agree today!”
“Report! Old Ni said Dark agreed too!”
“.”
Wan Jiqi looked at the screen flooded with baiting bullet comments that were practically spilling over the edges. Having just been fed by Sister Yu, he patted his belly contentedly and said with a smile:
“Alright, alright, some of you really need to stop baiting. Any more and the streamroom will get banned. Let me give a simple prediction for today’s match. All I can say is… may those who want to win, win.”
“Someone in chat said, ‘Jiqi, Jiqi, is there anyone in a match who doesn’t want to win?’”
“Bro, that’s not how you gotta look at it,” Wan Jiqi began his “philosophical” analysis with a deadpan face. “Some people say they don’t want to win, but deep down they really want to—just like someone saying no when they really mean yes. Then there are others who say they want to, but they might not actually want it. So when someone asks, they just agree.”
The moment these words left his mouth, the stream chat exploded like a lit powder keg, spamming madly!
“???”
“Please stop baiting my Brother Shrimp. As an eighteen-year-old female college student, I’m crying.”
“You’d better actually be a female college student!”
“Grand Philosopher Wan! I’ve achieved enlightenment!”
“Brother Shrimp: I f*cking thank you!”
Wan Jiqi looked at the chat, chuckled, grunted, and continued, satisfied: “Alright, alright, enough messing around. Let’s watch the match. Today is G2 versus HEROIC. Let’s look at the BP first.”
As he spoke, the BP phase began on the broadcast.
Today, HEROIC had the first ban. They removed Vertigo and Nuke immediately.
G2 banned Ancient, Overpass, and Inferno.
In an instant, only Dust2 and Mirage remained on the board.
Wan Jiqi broke into a grin:
“It looks like G2’s late-ban was pretty smart. They don’t really play Ancient or Overpass anyway. As for Inferno, Dark’s performance in the Challengers stage was decent, but that map is too dependent on team utility coordination and timing. The terrain is complex and, to some extent, limits a gunner like Dark’s peak individual ability.”
“As for the remaining two, HEROIC almost certainly won’t pick Dust2. No matter how confident a team is, after seeing Dark’s monstrous 2.59 rating on Dust2 against Vitality, they wouldn’t tempt fate and insist on playing it—that’d be basically giving away free rounds. So I think it’s most likely Mirage. Plus, Mirage suits the dynamic defense system that the Ideas Guy excels at.”
Wan Jiqi’s analysis was pretty much on point.
Soon, cadiaN, the Ideas Guy and IGL of HEROIC, smiled in the direction of Meng Lang over in the G2 player booths, showed a bit of “respect,” and banned Dust2, leaving the final map—Mirage.
Wan Jiqi was right. Although G2 was very good on this map too, cadiaN felt HEROIC’s competitiveness and tactical depth on Mirage were stronger. And since they could choose sides, cadiaN didn’t hesitate to take the CT side first.
On one hand, Mirage was inherently a CT-sided map; getting more rounds early could actively crush the opponent’s morale.
On the other hand, by taking CT first, cadiaN wanted to use their signature “dynamic defense” to test G2’s mettle.
“Let me briefly explain what dynamic defense is.”
Wan Jiqi spoke while the game loaded. “It differs greatly from classic area defense. It has three main characteristics:
“First, personnel deployment—constant movement. Player positions aren’t fixed; they shift frequently based on tactical needs, quickly switching from a ‘2A-3B’ setup to a ‘4A-1B’ stack gamble defense. Very flexible.
“Second, information gathering—proactive offense. They won’t just wait around. Instead, they actively gather intel through aggression, flash-and-clear, utility probing, and so on, figuring out the enemy’s main attack direction.
“Third, and most importantly, control trading. The tactical core is contesting map control against the attackers through utility and rotations, rather than playing a passive default defense.
“In short, it’s like playing chess. The IGL is thinking about how to trade the least resources for the greatest advantage. The goal is to have the defensive setup always pointed at the enemy’s most likely main attack through constant probing and adjustment before the T-side can launch their full execute, turning passivity into initiative.”
“This style forms a stark contrast with the ‘intelligent default’ and steady map-control style that God Li excels at,” Wan Jiqi summarized. “One is aggressive as fire; one is immovable as a mountain. One is radical, chasing the ceiling; one is steady, securing the floor.
“There’s no absolute superiority between the two, because the Ideas Guy’s style has obvious weaknesses too. It demands extremely high team coordination and communication. If the communication falters or the execution is lacking, the constant movement instead creates gaps in the line, letting opponents slip through. When that happens, it looks really ugly.”
…
BP concluded, and the match officially began.
G2 versus HEROIC!
Map: Mirage.
CT (Counter-Terrorist): cadiaN, stavn, TeSeS, sjuush, Jabbi.
T (Terrorist): NiKo, huNter-, m0NESY, Aleksib, Dark.
The pistol round officially began.
This round G2 started on the T-side. Little Li set the tactic early: default for map control and info, then fake a B hit in the second wave while actually rotating to hit A.
Why the second wave?
Because on pistol rounds, T-side can easily rush in one wave, which leads many CT IGLs to love gambling with stacked defenses.
If they guess wrong, they can still retake—there’s a chance.
But once they guess right,
they basically secure the round for free.
Little Li was opening with reverse psychology!
In Room 6657, Wan Jiqi commentated rapidly: “First, let’s look at the pistol round loadouts. G2 bought two sets of utility, four Glocks, and the Kid bought a P250 for himself.”
“Someone in chat asked, ‘Why doesn’t Dark get the P250?’ Bro, Dark’s current role on the team is more of a lurker. In pistol rounds he often doesn’t walk with the main group—he needs to gather intel alone or watch the flank. A P250 isn’t that useful for him. Also, I remember he doesn’t really use that gun much. Otherwise, with Dark’s current standing and hot form on the team, this lone P250 would definitely go to him.”
“Okay, that’s not important. Let’s look at HEROIC’s side. The CTs also bought two sets of utility. cadiaN called a standard 2B-3A setup. Oh! cadiaN is being aggressive! He pushed alone to the front of B Apartments, tucked behind the wall to gather info!”
“What about G2? Looking at the movements, it seems like a fake-B-hit-A setup… Dark is alone near the Sewer Stairs. Time is almost 1:20. The B-site smoke blooms. He’s responsible for throwing the flash and decoy to create distractions!”
“But this is a bit of a misplay! cadiaN pushed way too aggressively forward. He can clearly hear the footsteps outside B and knows there’s actually no one out there! So what will cadiaN do? Will he tell his A-site teammates to immediately retake B?”
“Oh! Wait! cadiaN isn’t calling for an immediate retake! He’s telling his A-site teammates to use smokes and flashes to seal off the A-site entrances! I get it! He wants to pretend A is heavily stacked, creating the illusion of a strong A hold. He wants to make Little Li back off and turn the main attack toward B, which they are actually weakly defending!”
When it came to casting, Wan Jiqi genuinely had no flaws in his read.
Sure enough, once the A-site CTs threw their utility and the smoke wall went up, Little Li hesitated the moment he saw it from the IGL perspective.
Because normally CTs only buy one set of utility on pistol rounds. If you’re popping that many smokes in A, how many people are over there?
A-site on Mirage also has too many CT angles. It’s easy to defend and hard to attack. T-side utility is scarce on pistol rounds, so you can’t block all the crucial smokes. It’s already hard to hit.
Combine these two factors, and with plenty of rotate time left, Little Li decisively called an order to hit B!
Thus, the fake B became a real B!
Wan Jiqi’s expression changed dramatically:
“Oh no! God Li took the bait!”
Indeed!
On cadiaN’s side, after successfully using A-site utility to delay and misdirect, he counted the time and immediately ordered his two A-site teammates, sjuush and Jabbi, to rotate back to B on silent footsteps! In an instant, they formed a 4B stacked defense!
By the time the whole G2 squad truly assembled and launched their B-site attack, they found themselves slamming into a steel wall!
They were facing multiple CTs already holding angles on couch, van, market window, and B Short, forming a perfect crossfire!
Although Meng Lang, Glock in hand, managed to make a play with his individual skill in the chaos, tagging two players down to low health, he was eventually locked behind the couch with no escape. He was easily finished off by the remaining two CTs and stavn, who had finally rotated over from A.
【HEROIC-stavn headshot G2-Dark with USP!】
Meng Lang dealt quite a bit of damage but didn’t secure any kills.
“That’s the Ideas Guy’s dynamic defense!”
Wan Jiqi couldn’t help shaking his head with a smile. “This impromptu 4B stack is too thick! He read God Li’s mind completely. Not only did he see through this fake, he turned it around and lured the enemy in—inviting the guest into the urn…”
Wan Jiqi was about to enthusiastically analyze the brilliance of this tactic when, suddenly, from the finished round on screen, a rapid, grating burst of gunfire rang out!
Pfft-pfft-pfft—pfft-pfft-pfft—!
It was stavn! His character stood near the couch, firing his USP madly at Meng Lang’s fallen corpse!
In the blink of an eye, he dumped a whole fresh magazine of bullets straight into Meng Lang’s motionless body!
Wan Jiqi froze. He looked closer and exclaimed, “Holy sh*t! Did he just straight-up start spraying the corpse? What’s the meaning of this, bro! He’s trying to tilt Dark right from the start! He wants to spray Dark’s mentality unstable. He knows young players tilt easily.”
“But really, don’t do this kind of thing. Seriously, stop spraying.”
Unexpectedly, as if controlled by Big-Shot Wan himself, just as he finished speaking, stavn reloaded his USP and, taking advantage of the round still ending, fired two more shots into the body on the ground!
“What?! Finished one mag and kept going? Got addicted to corpse-spraying?”
Wan Jiqi’s voice jumped an octave.
“Holy sh*t! Little Angel?! No! Little Dog Sh*t!”
“Was it necessary to use two mags? What grudge is this?”
“You f*cking killed a guy behind the couch who was already tagged by teammates, a guy who couldn’t even move, and you’re corpse-spraying? What for?! Is this human?! This little dog sh*t isn’t even human anymore. Holy sh*t! I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
Wan Jiqi was clearly losing his composure from the consecutive, inexplicable corpse-shooting, rambling incoherently. The chat in Room 6657 also erupted massively!
“???”
“What the hell are you spraying?”
“Little Dog Sh*t is really disgusting!”
“Such terrible manners!”
“.”
“Why can’t he spray? Is esports a library now?”
“Certain streamers and viewers in this room, don’t be so thin-skinned!”
“Old Fo quote: If spraying corpses makes you play worse, I’d do it ten times. That’s esports!”
“TL;DR: If the enemy gets mad after corpse-spraying, it means you did it right!”
“HEROIC fans already starting to defend this?”
“.”
The viewers and baiters in the streamroom argued back and forth, spamming like crazy.
But right at this moment, the director’s camera cut to the player booths on both sides.
In the HEROIC booth.
cadiaN looked at stavn’s actions, shook his head helplessly with a smile, seeming not to approve of his teammate’s overly张扬 behavior, but said nothing.
Jabbi bent down close to stavn and gave him a thumbs-up, a mischievous grin on his face.
stavn himself spread his hands and shrugged, pretending to look innocent as if to say, *I didn’t do anything*—except the uncontrollable smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth completely betrayed his true thoughts.
Yes, he genuinely wanted to mess with Meng Lang’s mental state.
At the same time, the director’s camera keenly cut to a close-up of Meng Lang in the G2 booth.
But contrary to everyone’s expectations, Meng Lang’s face was completely unperturbed, showing no anger or frustration whatsoever.
He even took the initiative to give NiKo a faint, reassuring smile when NiKo turned to look at him, seemingly wanting to offer comfort.
“That’s right! Don’t let it affect you!”
Wan Jiqi immediately said, his tone approving. “This little dog sh*t is clearly trying to tilt you. Stay calm, Dark! As long as you stabilize your mental state and play your game, even if you can’t get revenge immediately, there will always be a chance later!”
…
Soon after, the match entered the second round.
In the G2 booth, seeing that Meng Lang had only dealt damage without getting a kill last round and was low on money, Little Li turned and asked, “This round we’ll default early then rush B Apartments. Meng, you don’t have much money. Want me to buy you a Scout?”
During the qualifier against Vitality, Meng Lang’s Scout performance on Inferno and Dust2 had left a deep impression on Little Li.
But Meng Lang shook his head upon hearing this, refusing decisively.
“Buy the Scout for Ilya,” Meng Lang said. “This round I’ll buy the MAC-10 myself. I’ll take first entry into B.”
On a force-buy, after an early default, they definitely needed to group up and rush in one wave.
At this point, an SMG with fierce close-range firepower and fast movement speed was clearly more threatening and better for breaking through than a Scout that needed to hold angles and was weak up close.
Little Li’s eyes lit up!
For a B-site hit, the inside of B site and the connector passage had narrow terrain with lots of close-quarters combat. The MAC-10 was indeed more suitable than the Scout.
“Got it! Let’s run it!”
In Room 6657, Wan Jiqi looked at the equipment choices:
“Oh! G2 is force buying this round! Dark didn’t buy his familiar Deagle or Scout—instead he bought a MAC-10!”
“Looks like Little Li is feeling himself today with his calls! If there’s a chance to try, he doesn’t want to give up the round easily. They’re in a 3-1-1 setup: 1A (Cousin), 1 mid (NiKo), 3B (Aleksib, m0NESY, Dark). Looks like they plan to harass A site and mid VIP and Arch early, then stack for a B rush.”
“Oh! Wait! cadiaN’s calls are still super flexible! He and Brother Dragon immediately double-aggressed from B Short toward mid! Looks like they want to push all the way and take mid control by force!”
“Old Ni over at mid threw a smoke for the long T-crossing and tucked behind Sandbags! Eh, wait! cadiaN and Brother Dragon threw a Molotov at Sandbags to clear!”
“Oh no! Old Ni got burned out! Fire-roasted shrimp! Brother Dragon sprayed him down with an M4A1 and easily took out Old Ni! Old Ni’s Desert Eagle fired one shot through the flames, hitting the body but not dealing fatal damage!”
“But wait! Even though Old Ni died, he got crucial info that two CTs pushed aggressively through B Short to mid! That means B site is likely empty inside! Little Li immediately called for an execute!”
In an instant!
Van and couch Molotovs!
Market window smoke!
B Connector smoke!
The standard B-site execute package was completed in an instant!
The moment the execute bloomed, Meng Lang held his MAC-10 and, like an unleashed stray dog, charged into B site first through the cover of smokes and flames!
He quickly cleared van and couch, confirming no one was close. Then he circled the perimeter to scout, confirming B site was temporarily safe. He immediately came to the B-site side of the B Connector smoke and hard-locked the only retake route for cadiaN and Brother Dragon—the two CTs who had pushed out B Short!
At the same time, the corner of his eye also kept watch toward the market window smoke.
At this time, Cousin, who was responsible for the A-site harassment, had already started rotating toward B.
Little Li jumped down from the window, had the Kid hold market door with the Scout, and dove straight into the site smoke to start planting.
By now, cadiaN was already calling for a fast retake in voice comms.
The three A-site CTs—sjuush, Jabbi, and stavn—quickly assembled and retook from market.
sjuush, leading the charge, had just exited market when the Kid’s Scout precisely tagged him in the body, instantly draining his health!
But Jabbi, muscling through the gap before the Kid’s second Scout shot, successfully traded the kill!
“Nice, bro!”
stavn immediately thumbs-upped Jabbi in voice comms.
Jabbi raised his eyebrows smugly, seemingly showing off toward the G2 booth.
At the same time, the low-health sjuush, who had fallen back into market, heard faint footsteps from behind the B Connector smoke wall near B site.
He didn’t recklessly jump out the market window again. Instead, he waited patiently for the moment Brother Dragon pulled out from B Connector through the smoke. The two formed a tacit synchronous double peek, pincering that T tucked in the corner!
“Oh! This double peek! The timing is perfect! Dark is sandwiched in the angle between the couch and the wall! This position is rough!”
Wan Jiqi exclaimed.
“But wait! What?!”
Accompanied by Wan Jiqi’s abruptly rising scream!
In the camera, Meng Lang, facing gunfire from two directions, didn’t panic at all! The unassuming MAC-10 in his hands let out a rapid, lethal *dada-da*!
Muzzle flash spat out. First, an extremely fast burst precisely headshotted Brother Dragon, who had swung out from the B Connector smoke!
【G2-Dark headshot HEROIC-TeSeS with MAC-10.】
Then, almost by muscle memory and with unbelievable reaction speed, he whipped around. His body hopped slightly, and in mid-air he sprayed down toward the low-health sjuush swinging out from market!
Bullets poured over him like a bucket of water, instantly devouring sjuush!
【G2-Dark killed HEROIC-sjuush with MAC-10.】
And he wasn’t done!
After deleting two players, Meng Lang didn’t stop. He spun around and charged directly into the fading B Connector smoke!
He ran straight into cadiaN, who was trying to lurk out to check the situation!
Meng Lang didn’t give him time to react. He jumped and pressed his MAC-10 against cadiaN’s scalp, wildly spraying!
【G2-Dark headshot HEROIC-cadiaN with MAC-10.】
Triple kill!
What a terrifying MAC-10!!
In just two or three seconds, three kill feed lines!
The stream chat instantly exploded:
【Holy sh*t! Dark with this MAC-10!】
【One mag wiped out three?】
【Hopping and bouncing out, killing everyone around!】
【This fire rate, this spray control—is he even human?】
【So satisfying! You gotta hop-shoot with the MAC-10!】
But during this Meng Lang individual showcase, Little Li, who was planting in site, and Cousin, who was rushing over to support from dog hole, were also killed by stavn and Jabbi from market.
The situation instantly became a 1v2 post-plant clutch!
The C4 had been successfully planted!
Meng Lang was all alone, facing the remaining “Danish besties” Jabbi and stavn!
“Oh! Dark picked up the Kid’s dropped Scout and jumped straight up to B Apartments! Because Little Li planted a B Apartments bomb! This position is perfect for holding angles with a sniper rifle!”
“Dark! You can’t rush this! If you rush, it’ll go wrong! You have to be patient. Use the Scout’s range advantage to hold angles!”
“Wait! Jabbi threw a site smoke and swung out from market first! He wants to enter the smoke first! stavn is holding for him, but Dark scopes in and hits a body shot!”
“What a fast flick! Taken down Jabbi! Beautiful!”
【G2-Dark killed HEROIC-Jabbi with SSG08.】
“Oh right! Jabbi had been bodyshot by the Kid’s Scout earlier—he wasn’t on full health! So now it’s just a 1v1 duel between Dark and stavn!”
“stavn has crouch-walked to the base of the B Apartments wall. He’s listening for sound. He’s waiting for Dark to make a footstep sound in B Apartments!”
“But Dark refuses to give any audio! After killing Jabbi, he changed positions, tucked into the inner corner of B Apartments, motionless. He isn’t rushing at all!”
“Dark is playing so stably! Not giving stavn any chance!”
“stavn! Little Dog Sh*t! What are you gonna do? Time’s running out!”
“stavn can’t wait anymore! He’s moving, wanting to go to the bomb site to fake a defuse and bait Dark out! Dark! Don’t take the bait!”
“Wait! What?!”
Amidst Wan Jiqi’s screams,
almost the instant stavn carefully shifted from the base of the B Apartments wall, trying to feel his way toward the site, his back was inevitably, if only briefly, exposed to the space above B Apartments!
And in this flash of lightning!
From the B Apartments window above, a figure lunged down like an eagle seizing a serpent!
It was Meng Lang!
Wind howled!
At some point, he had already switched to his knife!
The moving stavn seemed to hear the abnormal sound overhead. Panic seized his heart, and he instinctively looked up!
A shadow flickered above!
He didn’t have time to raise his crosshair!
The cold edge of Meng Lang’s knife, carrying the force of his descent, cleaved down upon his head!
Die for me!!!
The sound of steel sinking into flesh rang out!
【G2-Dark knifed HEROIC-stavn.】
Knifing the “Little Angel”!
In an instant,
every major tournament stream chat at home and abroad exploded!!!