CS: I’m Only 16, and You Want Me to Stage an Old Veteran Comeback?

"16:10, we’ve defeated Liquid today!!" Wan Ji Qi passionately commented in the livestream, "Amazing play right there!!"

"They call themselves Liquid, but today Steel Helmets just took down Liquid!"

"They’ve successfully claimed their first win in the Legendary Group, and Cousin is carrying the legacy of CNCS, pushing forward. With each new victory, CNCS's record is being pushed to new heights!"

In the 2018 London Major, Tianlu made the best domestic CS:GO achievement. They had also reached the Legendary Group, but that year, they were eliminated with a 1-3 record in record time.

Wan Ji Qi didn’t have high expectations for Steel Helmets, as aside from Jiang Yang, the other four veterans were in unstable form. DD could still have some moments of brilliance reminiscent of their past, but overall, they relied heavily on Jiang Yang to perform.

As for making it to the top eight, he didn’t really think it was possible, hoping only for them to play more games and accumulate experience.

But today, Jiang Yang’s performance still impressed Wan Ji Qi.

"Entering the Legendary Group, Cousin’s performance is still such a pleasant surprise."

"Though Liquid isn’t that great on Death Park (Overpass map), Steel Helmets isn’t exactly high level either, the game was completely carried by individual skill, and Cousin’s performance today was simply amazing."

"Some brothers always say he’s like CNS1mple, but I personally feel his sniper game is more like device—steady and reliable. You can really see his sniper accuracy is top-notch!"

Wan Ji Qi became more excited as he spoke: "And you gotta know, this kid is only 16 years old! He’s so young and has so much time ahead of him to keep improving."

"He’s got TOP level talent, even though I’ve made wrong predictions before, I still wanna say, the upcoming 2022 is going to be young’s year!"

【Could Yang God bring Steel Helmets to the championship group this time?】

【Wan Ji Qi is getting way too excited, is this really a TOP-level player?】

【Not to mention, Cousin really has that special feeling, alright?】

【His talent is definitely surpassing Sen Zai, forever young! Just like his ID.】

【That last move was indeed impressive, Cousin is truly a highlight maker.】

【It’s a pity Ma Xixi flew to Stockholm, otherwise, it would be even more exciting to see his family cheering him on.】

On the players' bench.

Su Di was glowing with excitement as he took off his headphones and turned to look at the youngest member of the team.

"This is what professional CS:GO

He was still immersed in the rush of easy wins. Today, his stats weren’t at the bottom for once, but he didn’t make any key kills or decisions either. He was just a role player, following along with the team. By the time he was ready to make an impact, the match had ended.

"So this is a Major? It’s actually pretty simple..." Su Di thought to himself. If he were to casually say this when back in China, it would probably sound arrogant.

But this victory proved that Jiang Yang was absolutely capable of competing with top-tier players.

Steel Helmets had little chance of making it into the top eight, but Jiang Yang was different.

The fighting power he demonstrated today proved that he could withstand the pressure from the top teams.

After this Major, if he joins a better team and finds the right people, he could definitely be a contender for a Major championship.

"Cousin is way too strong, they were up against Liquid, man!"

Su Di walked up and high-fived Jiang Yang.

As the weakest member of the team, Su Di had a clear understanding of Jiang Yang’s strength.

Jiang Yang had saved Steel Helmets from disaster multiple times, but Su Di didn’t want anyone asking why Steel Helmets had gotten into trouble in the first place.

The MVP Jiang Yang just smiled and high-fived everyone: "So what if it’s Liquid?"

Before he could finish, a group of people around him yelled in unison: "Let’s win first, then talk!"

They all burst into laughter, and Jiang Yang couldn’t help but laugh too.

Over the past few days, they had started to get used to Jiang Yang’s personality.

Although he was a young guy who liked to mess around, sometimes pulling off some weird tricks,

he was also extremely competitive at heart.

Facing world-class teams, he wouldn’t be intimidated by their fame. Instead, he always believed that he could win.

Perhaps it was this mindset that allowed him to pull off the "impossible" plays over and over again.

As Jiang Yang was enjoying the high-fives with Ming Riqing, MO suddenly had an epiphany.

Maybe they had spent too much time in CS:GO, having too clear an understanding of the rules and the players’ skills. That might not be such a good thing after all.

DD leaned toward Jiang Yang, lightly elbowing him: "That last point, Cousin, you were ridiculous. We agreed I’d bait, but you killed all of them by yourself."

Jiang Yang happily shared: "I just thought, there were only two left. If I died, they’d never guess your position. You should have taken the kill, and then we’d have a 3v1 situation. Would’ve been an easy win."

"Who would have thought that in the end, they couldn’t beat me?"

He casually said, almost bragging.

His incredibly quick reflexes gave him the ability to pull off impossible plays.

The joy that this talent brought him was almost overwhelming.

It was clear that the '30-year-old Jiang Yang' could be easily dominated by his raw talent.

Relying purely on talent and instinct allowed him to win many fights, and that was enough in most cases.

But he understood the consequences of relying solely on talent. He knew he had to keep practicing and avoid depending too much on his instincts.

Relying on talent and instinct isn’t necessarily bad, but at this stage, his understanding of the game needed to improve.

He had to work on raising his game awareness and turn those tactical decisions into instincts. When that happened, the instinctual plays would become much more meaningful.

Jiang Yang’s thoughts were quickly interrupted, as they needed to head to the Liquid players’ room for post-match handshakes.

As soon as the match ended, the livestream switched to the Liquid players’ bench.

Elige exploded with frustration when Fallen was killed in the last round, and he slapped the table in anger.

"[American curse], what are we even playing?" The esports pro slammed his fist on the table, letting out his frustration.

He knew about Steel Helmets—they were the biggest dark horse in the Challenger Group.

But from start to finish, they were just a team of streamers.

Though Elige knew his team was in bad form, he never expected they would lose to this team of streamers.

As North America’s last hope, Elige carried the weight of many eyes on him.

Two years ago, Liquid had a hundred-day grand slam achievement and almost became the world’s strongest team.

But now, he never imagined they would lose to a team of streamers.

The frustration he had with his team, with himself, and with the past all exploded in that one slap.

Originally, stewie2K had planned to throw some sarcastic remarks at Fallen, but when Chicken suddenly exploded, stewie2K was startled and quickly kept his temper in check.

Despite that, he was still clearly upset.

Liquid couldn’t forget their past glory.

The five players back then were so dominant, crushing teams with pure gun skills, earning the nickname "auto-aim team".

But when they tried to recruit a good sniper to take the team further, they ended up ruining their performance.

Today, Fallen, the sniper, was completely outclassed by his counterpart from the other team.

stewie2K certainly looked for a reason to blame Fallen—he wasn’t about to blame himself.

Fallen, the Brazilian father figure, could feel the tension in the team.

But there was nothing he could do.

At 30 years old, his form had seriously declined.

How could he compare himself to a 16-year-old?

Moreover, his playstyle leaned more towards that of a traditional sniper—holding angles and collaborating with teammates to perform counter-push tactics.

Unlike the newer generation, like Sen Zai, who aggressively hunts down opponents with a sniper rifle, going for the opening kills.

Even though he got blown away in this match, the old veteran could still accept it.

After all, in CS:GO, new talents are constantly emerging, and it’s only natural for someone like him to be gradually phased out.

Though still a bit reluctant, Jiang Yang’s performance today had managed to convince him.

As he watched the Steel Helmets members walking toward him, the old veteran extended his hand to Jiang Yang and shook it, saying, “You were impressive today.”

In response to the praise, Jiang Yang simply said, “Thank you.”

He wasn’t very familiar with the Liquid players, and Liquid didn’t have any “social terrorists” among them. Nowadays, it was just casual acquaintances, exchanging a simple “GG” as they parted ways.

But while shaking hands with NAF, Jiang Yang couldn’t help but notice that NAF seemed like he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

Liquid had lost the first round of the match. Although they were disappointed, they didn’t make it too obvious.

After all, it was only the first round, not an elimination.

...

While Jiang Yang was focused on NAF, the viewers in the livestream were more concerned with stewie2K.

Speaking of stewie2K, he was once hailed as a shining star of the Chinese community.

However, after an incident where he lost his bag on a domestic flight and tweeted “This is China, so it’s not surprising,” the tweet caused a huge uproar in the CS:GO community. His previously great reputation took a sharp dive.

If it were just about losing something and complaining, it wouldn't have been such a big deal.

The main issue was his regional discrimination, and then later it was discovered that the bag had just been misplaced and found, yet he didn’t bother to tweet a clarification.

As a result, many CSGO players in China felt quite disgusted with him.

So, when Jiang Yang shook hands with him, the displeased look on stewie2K’s face didn’t go unnoticed. In the chat of the “Play Machine” livestream, viewers were having a great time.

[“A great day starts with watching Jiao Jiao get wrecked!”]

[“Woohoo~ Lost again, Sima thing!”]

[“So unlucky, seeing 2K’s face ruins my whole day, such bad luck.”]

[“Banana man’s family is done for, haha.”]

Play Machine laughed, “Don’t rush, I’ll show you guys the 1V1 boxing match between Banana and his classmate later, alright?”

As he spoke, the stream started to replay the highlights of the match.

He watched as the kill shots flashed by, noticing Jiang Yang’s 1V3 play on the attacking side.

That was a crucial round, one of the turning points of the first half.

After that round, Steel Helmets started to gain some momentum.

But Play Machine decided to switch the livestream feed to the 2V4 clutch by Jiang Yang and DD.

He took a moment to reflect and said, “This round was really something.”

“Sure, the previous round was exciting, but it didn’t put as much pressure on Liquid.”

“However, this 2V4 was the real blow to Liquid’s confidence. The most important thing was that after Godfather’s double kill, he couldn’t even react quickly enough to defuse the bomb. That was really stupid.”

Play Machine also noticed the dumbfounded expression on Godfather’s face as Chicken King realized they couldn’t defuse.

Indeed, when someone is speechless, there’s nothing they can say.

“Sometimes, luck plays a part. Originally, everyone thought they were going to lose, but who would’ve thought Steel Helmets still had that sixth player—Godfather!” Play Machine laughed foolishly.

After analyzing a few more of Jiang Yang’s brilliant highlights, Play Machine stretched lazily. “Now, let’s take a look at Little Cousin’s stats today.”

His instinct was to check Jiang Yang’s stats first.

After reviewing the whole match, he had a good sense of who played best, except for those situations with dueling dads.

Unfortunately, Steel Helmets relied heavily on Jiang Yang for the carry, and DD could occasionally step up and carry as well.

ID: young

Kills/Assists/Deaths: 30/4/15

Average Damage: 121.5

No Free Kills Rate: 100%

Rating: 1.71

[“???"]

[“100% No Free Kills Rate?”]

[“What the heck, I’ve been playing for so many years and this is the first time I’ve seen such stats.”]

[“So this guy’s been CARRYING the whole game?”]

[“1.71 is already crazy enough, but why do I feel like Little Cousin is blending in with everyone else?”]

[“What does 100% KAST even mean?”]

Play Machine explained, “Little Cousin really did carry today. He’s become the 100% Blinded Man!”

“This means every single round out of the 26 rounds, either he killed or assisted. No round went without him contributing.”

“In this league, that means in every one of those 26 teamfights, Little Cousin was there. That’s greatness, no words needed.”

Play Machine took a deep breath. “Actually, I really think Liquid’s condition wasn’t too bad today. It’s just that Little Cousin played so well.”

“His performance was outstanding, which is why they were able to beat Liquid on this map and claim the first win of the day.”

“He’s also shown everyone that even in the Legends Stage, he can still perform at his expected level.”

Looking at this highlight data, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation. “Now they don’t need to carry too much psychological burden. After all, Steel Helmets have tied CNCS’s historical record. Next, they just need Little Cousin to keep performing steadily.”