The second round of their best of three was about to start and the players re-entered the stage.
Just now in the lounge, Frees players, Old Qiao and the data analyst who came with them discussed several options.
First, Yu Sui could also play as a milktank, copying Saints configuration. It would be an endurance battle. Each confrontation, would be a battle to see who would die first. This method was proposed by Chen Huo and was immediately rejected by Old Qiao.
Whether theyd be able to coordinate well on their first try was secondary. The main issue was that although Yu Suis milktank play was also one of the best in high-level matches, it couldnt quite measure up to Angel Swords.
Each player has a skills specialization. While he could use it to play in ordinary matches, the likelihood of success was too small if they use it against Angel Sword.
The second method was for Puppy to abandon his usual style of play. He wont keep control of the back row or serve as eyes for the team. Instead, all four of them would rush to the front line together. They would tough it out and play four-on-four against Saint.
Free wasnt at all scared of Angel Sword and the others.
But then here comes the problem. Who knows how Saint was going to play this round?
What if their sniper didnt come? If Saints sniper had his scope open in the rear, they would immediately know the position of all four of Frees players in the front line. Saints front line players can slip away and continue to use their guerilla style play. Puppys sniper scope would be of no use.
If he were to use it while he was positioned at the edge of the opponents map, the scope of what he could observe would be greatly reduced. Its usefulness would be severely limited.
Despite discussing for the entire 10 minute duration of their rest, in the end, they still werent able to come up with an excellent and feasible counter measure.
The game started immediately. The broadcast director used their in-stadium camera and panned it across the glass room on Team Frees side of the stadium. You could see that the players have been discussing since they sat down.
They put on their headsets and continued their discussion until the game countdown finished. Only then did they gradually stop talking.
Saints new tactic was very successful in the first round. They would probably still use the same tactic they used in the previous game. In the second game, the commentators, the audience in the stadium, and the players watching the live broadcast were most concerned about how Free would respond.
As soon as the game started, the director used Frees perspective for the broadcast.
During the intermission, the two commentators also discussed for a while. They speculated that Puppy, during the opening stages of the game, would no longer be keeping his position in the rear.
Frees four players would act as a group and charge to the front line, using their consistently high damage output to make an overwhelming start. However, contrary to what the two commentators expected, Puppy remained at the rear of the map for this round as well.
Commentator A frowned, This isnt very good. As we can see from the birds eye perspective, Saint has still chosen to fight as a four-person group this time. Theyre charging towards the front line together. They still have one less person on Frees side.
Isnt this going to be a repeat of their disadvantage during the first game?
Commentator B didnt understand either. He frowned, No, it cant be. Theres been no adjustment at all on Frees side? Do they want to try this again?
But... the conclusion of the last game has already shown us, Saints targeted style of play cant be solved head-on with a 3 vs 4.
I dont understand... Commentator A said quickly, Its started. Theyve clashed!
At the intersection of the map, the two teams met. As the commentator said, it played out almost exactly like the opening of the previous game. But this time, Free played very carefully. There was almost no mistakes in the way the three frontline players played.
But after taking down one of Saints players, the three front row players were all killed. Once again, Free only had their sniper, Puppy, left.
This time Puppy didnt even provide enough firepower to suppress Saints advance. He changed positions after firing a shot. He began to simply evade Saint.
I... dont quite understand. Commentator A was confused. Whats wrong with Puppy? It doesnt matter that he didnt go with them to the front line but now, hes not even doing his job as a sniper.
Even though that shot just knocked out a third of Angel Swords blood, thats not fatal. And then, theres no more assists, this...
Commentator B hurriedly made a compromise, Saint obviously came prepared. They prepared this tactic for a long time. How could Free come up with a solution so quickly?
Nevertheless, shouldnt they try out other methods? Obviously, blindly charging in wont work. Now, Saint has upgraded all their equipment and the teams strength has gone up. Theyll be even harder to fight against. Commentator A shook his head, Frees a bit reckless.
You see, here they come again.
Before Commentator A finished speaking, the second team battle broke out again in-game. This time, Shi Luo hadnt even waited for Yu Sui to put a shield on him. He went directly for Angel Sword.
Theres no denying it. At present, in the domestic league, Evil is considered to have the fastest response among the strikers. After all, he is a little bit younger. So, its fine to let him attack head-on, but theres no need to be so fierce. Commentator A smiled helplessly, Luo Zai is a bit crazy.
Ah, look, he was killed again.
Commentator B hurriedly tried to give a justification. You said it yourself. Evil is young, this is the courage of young players. Im going to fight head-on against you and see if it works.
If it doesnt work, Ill try again. I dont accept this strange outcome.
Relatively speaking, Chen Huo has become more mature and conservative. You have to first ensure that you arent dead before you can follow up... Uh...
Chen Huos dead. Commentator A hasnt finished speaking yet, when Chen Huo, it seemed like he made a desperate charge at Angel Sword, swinging his gun at him. He was immediately riddled with bullet holes and made into a sieve by the two strikers in front of Angel Sword.
Commentator A was given a frenzied face-slapping. After a second of silence, he said in embarrassment, Chen Huo may also be suffering from a bout of stubbornness. After all, he was dejected about the last game, this...
In the game, after Shi Luo and Chen Huo died, Yu Sui escaped smoothly. While Puppy seemed to have started a stand-alone game. Puppy didnt even fire a single shot this time.
Puppy... Commentator A laughed in spite of himself, No, this shouldnt be. I admit that he had a bad experience in the last game. At the end of the game just now, he looked a bit like he was having a fit but it shouldnt be this bad.
Our pro-players, should be able to adjust their emotions quickly...
Commentator B reluctantly said, Theyre all just people. Theyre not machines. Its understandable, isnt it? Both teams attach great importance to this regular season game.
Both teams are now on a winning streak. Although therell be other matches, we all know that the team that wins this game will basically enter the playoffs as the number one in the regular season. I think the pressure on both sides is quite high.
They have to adjust their mental state quickly. This situations not quite right. Commentator A said as he helplessly watched Chen Huo charge directly at Angel Sword without even a shield. He was unable to stop himself from laughing, Fine. We all know what Chen Huo can really hold a grudge.
But this... is just...
Commentator A shook his head and said, Right now, Free has completely lost it. They must adjust their mental state immediately to have a chance to fight back.
Angel Sword was afraid that fighting would consume a large amount of the final economy and even step on their own resurrection stone. Time was too limited. Now the chance of winning for both teams have reached a delicate balance.
At this moment, they couldnt only fight to the very limit of their abilities and rely on luck.
Yu Sui said between the flashes of gunfire, Fight.
Before he finished speaking, the four had already rushed forward. Shi Luo dodged left and right, evading a few bullets and sweeping away the remaining blood of one of Saints strikers. At the same time, Chen Huo rushed in.
Angel Sword retreated in time but bumped straight into Yu Sui, who had been hiding behind Saint for a long time.
Yu Sui murmured, So youre really good at milking, huh...
Yu Sui stabbed Angel Sword with the dagger and at the same time kicked him away away with a spin kick. The shield on Angel Sword shattered. Puppy then shot Angel Swords head off.
Chen Huos gun was too broken and he was taken out. Yu Sui, calculated the most extreme distance and stuck a shield on Shi Luo. At the same time, he struck at Saints striker. Saints striker only had a sliver of blood, but he fired his last bullet and took out Puppy.
Yu Sui frowned. The shield on his body had broken long ago. There was no time to put on another shield on himself. Saints sniper, Illusion, was still alive.
Barring any mishaps, he was going to be taken out. Yu Sui hacked at Saints striker. At the same instant that Illusion shot him, Whisper also took out Saints remaining striker.
Only Shi Luo and Saints sniper, Illusion, who had already exposed his position were left on the field.
No problem, its the same as when he 1v1 with me that day. Puppy said calmly, Illusion is...F*ck, its too late.
Saints players didnt die as many times as Free did in the early stages and their time to resurrect was shorter than that of Frees. While he was speaking, Angel Sword had already resurrected.
With Angel Sword, there was no way Shi Luo could fight one-on-two, but he couldnt let Saint advance. Shi Luo was full of bullets and began to output frantically. His expression was calm. In his heart, he was counting down Saints economy.
1200, 1000, 800, 500...
We can still get this.
After Yu Sui was resurrected, it was too late to put a shield on anyone. Once again, he stubbornly fought, single-handedly stabbing to death one of Saints striker, while over on the other side, Shi Luo directly shot to death Angel Sword.
Within that same second, Saints economy had bottomed out. Saints last surviving wounded striker, carried the last purification dish and set it down. The next second the purification dish slowly started to work...
In that same second, Yu Sui cut down Saints striker. Puppy had been madly fighting with Illusion. One on one, Puppy wasnt afraid of Illusion. Illusion knew this very well.
Illusion didnt want to fight with Puppy at all. With so little of their economy left, what Illusion needed to do now was to snipe Frees resurrection stone. But the purification dish hadnt completely cleared the fog yet. The resurrection stone looked blurred and he couldnt see anything.
Illusion was afraid that Puppy would take his head in the next second, and gritted his teeth. He took a blind shot into the fading poisonous fog!
The bullet passed through Frees resurrection stone.
Game over.
Oh my God......
Commentator A was shocked, Im already... unable to explain. This, this...
It really was just half a second. If Illusion had died half a second earlier, he couldnt have fired that shot. And he couldnt see clearly at the time. That was a completely blind shot!
If he was just a little less lucky, Free would have absolutely won! Commentator B explained quickly amidst his shock, Of course, it cant be said that Saint won this round by luck. In that situation just now, both sides played to the absolute limit.
Who won and who lost, probably, all we can say is that... this time the goddess of luck smiled upon Saint. Let us congratulate Saint!
Commentator A hadnt recovered from the game yet. He kept clapping his hands, Yes, lets congratulate Saint, but also give Free a round of applause. Although Free lost the second round, they already found the way to overcome Saints tactic.
All they lacked was a little luck and some intensive follow-up training. Congratulations to Saint once again!
In the soundproof room, Chen Huo took off his headphones, F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!
I f*cking... Puppy made as if to speak then stopped, Just a little bit, I...
This is the first time we faced against it, we already did the best we could. Yu Sui got up to pack his peripherals, Lets go.
Yu Sui noticed that Shi Luo didnt get up. He turned to look at Shi Luo, Evil?
Before Shi Luo got up, he looked at his monitor and shook his head slightly, Im fine.
The game was over, Shi Luo didnt need to control it anymore. There were too many negative emotions in his heart right now and he couldnt resolve it at the moment.
This was the first time hed gotten a 0-2 since coming to Free. Shi Luo felt a little bit suffocated. If he went out now and heard the commentators talk about medic twin stars, Shi Luo was worried that he would lose control.
But Shi Luo didnt need Yu Sui to console him or anything.
To play in the playoffs, to win the championship, to go to the World Championships, to become a world class-player like the three other players in the team, this was the only way.
After half a minute, Shi Luo got up to pack up his peripherals. He took his messy mouse, keyboard and mouse pad out of the soundproof room, and walked into the backstage corridor amidst the cheers from the audience for Saint.
The second he entered backstage, Shi Luo took a deep breath and suddenly realized that Yu Sui had experienced this same situation countless times years back.
The others had already returned to the lounge, and only Yu Sui was left waiting for Shi Luo, carrying his own peripherals.
Yu Sui looked straight at Shi Luo, and said softly, You really dont need me to...?
Shi Luo knew what Yu Sui was talking about. He knew Yu Sui wanted to help him regulate his emotions, but Shi Luo instinctively frowned and refused, No need!
Thinking of how Yu Sui had probably endured this when he was only sixteen or seventeen, Shi Luo already felt that this was nothing. He glanced at Yu Sui and muttered in a low voice, Wait until tonight...wait until I sort out my emotions and then Ill deal with you.
Yu Sui was startled and smiled, Okay.