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

After the BP ended, Jiang Yang quickly entered the first map’s server, but unfortunately, a "Little Tyrant" was already inside.

They waited for a full five minutes, but Mouz’s IGL still hadn’t connected.

Jiang Yang took the initiative to type: “What happened?”

Mouz’s lurker, ropz, replied: “This is just PGL!”

Jiang Yang turned to MO and asked what that meant.

MO explained, “That’s just how PGL is. Their tournaments always have issues. Back in the 2017 Krakow Major, they even smashed a computer during the grand finals.”

“If a PGL event goes smoothly, I’d feel like something was missing.”

Jiang Yang was a bit surprised: “Is it really that bad?”

Over at Mouz’s player area, everyone was waiting for their captain’s setup to be fixed.

The man with the in-game ID dexter, nicknamed Kunkun, shook his head.

“It’s not that. I just feel like we messed up the BP. Even if I regret it now, there’s nothing we can do.” Kunkun sighed, finally realizing the problem.

“We didn’t want to play overly complex maps, but somehow, we ended up banning all of their weak maps instead. Both Mirage and Dust2 are maps where their prodigy shines.”

On the first day of the tournament, Steel.Helmet’s Young had an insane performance—impossible to ignore.

A 1v5 clutch, over 40 kills on Inferno without overtime—he was making a statement.

Every team had taken notice of this rising star.

But today, Kunkun had a momentary lapse in judgment during BP. It felt like they were off to a bad start, and it was making him anxious.

Hearing this, acoR, the movement specialist, chuckled and squeezed Kunkun’s shoulder.

“I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Other than you, isn’t everyone in our team a prodigy?”

He pointed at ropz and White Horse Temple: “These two guys, just like Young, were handpicked by NIKO as future stars.”

Then he pointed at Han King: “And this guy? Do I even need to explain? He’s the most famous prodigy in the scene, an 18-year-old veteran with four years of pro experience.”

“So, really, who here isn’t a prodigy? No pressure, man!”

Han King didn’t respond—just gave a confident smile.

When it came to raw talent, he only acknowledged SenZai as above him.

As for other prodigies? He had seen and beaten plenty.

A few more minutes passed before Kunkun’s setup was finally fixed.

Han King cracked his knuckles—time to start the match.

Today, he was eager to see for himself what this 1v5 highlight prodigy was really made of.

Steel.Helmet vs. Mouz

Map: Mirage

• T-side (Mouz): dexter, bymas, ropz, frozen, acoR
• CT-side (Steel.Helmet): captainMO, DD, xiaosage, Young, Karsa

Pistol Round Begins

MO set up a default 2-1-2—a standard opening.

Jiang Yang, holding a USP, hovered around VIP, scouting for enemy movement at Mid Doors.

“A-site execute incoming!! A1 multiple enemies!!”

The next second, DD’s urgent call for backup came through comms, followed by a kill notification in the top-right corner:

[DD headshot frozen with USP]

Jiang Yang immediately rotated from VIP to A-site, spotting a T-side player pushing from A2 Balcony.

He caught the opponent’s side profile and fired off precise USP shots.

"Pop! Pop!"

[Young headshot ropz with USP]

DD kept calling: “A1 still stacked, I got one more! Another just jumped across!!”

Jiang Yang instantly adjusted his crosshair upward. acoR had just leaped across when Xiaosa was taken down, but Jiang Yang seized the moment and unloaded into acoR’s side.

After securing the kill, acoR tried to retreat, but Jiang Yang’s bullets were faster.

At the same time, DD overextended and got picked off by the last enemy.

But by then, MO and Su Di had already rotated in. Against a single armorless T, they didn’t even give Kunkun a chance to plant the bomb.

Steel.Helmet secured the pistol round, leading 1-0.

Jiang Yang bumped fists with DD: “Nice one, your aim’s on fire today!”

DD laughed: “Feeling good, man.”

Mouz’s pistol round strat had been simple, but Jiang Yang and DD had shut down the push cleanly.

A clean and smooth round.

Meanwhile, in a livestream…

Over at SomeFish 6657’s stream, Wan Ji Qi was casually watching the side-stage match when his chat started spamming messages.

[MAIN STAGE MATCH STARTED!]

He quickly switched back.

“Wait, what? 1-0 already?” Wan Ji Qi was confused.

But as a veteran commentator, Pighead remained calm:

“No worries, Steel.Helmet winning is all that matters. Besides, Mouz is still in their pistol round, right? They’ll play their pistol round when they have pistols, simple as that.”

“Mouz didn’t get a bomb plant, so they force-bought Desert Eagles in the second round, trying to get picks mid. But guess what? Cousin’s already popping off!”

“A1 short burst—one kill. Two kills! He’s still moving, still tapping!”

“But Xiaosa from Mid Doors comes in with support, and—BOOM! A flawless 2-man cleanup secures Round 2!”

“Two rounds in, Cousin’s already at 5-0. He’s looking sharp today. Let’s see what happens next, though—the rifle round is coming up.”

Since Mouz hadn’t planted in either round, their economy wasn’t great.

Steel.Helmet decided to be greedy and held onto their MP9s, given Mirage’s close-quarters potential.

Round 3: Mouz’s Mid-to-B Split

Mouz went for a Mid-to-B push, and the two MP9s at B-site became a liability.

Although the A-site trio managed to put up a fight on the retake, ropz clutched in the final moments, denying the defuse.

“My bad, I couldn’t hold.” Jiang Yang blamed himself.

Xiaosa shook his head: “Nothing you could do, man. You were low HP, and I didn’t expect ropz to push through like that. We were half a second away from defusing.”

It was just a case of ropz outplaying them.

MO thought for a moment: “Cousin, how about you try an AWP—no armor—see if you can make a play?”

Jiang Yang took a deep breath. “The position isn’t great, but let’s give it a shot.”

Even without armor, an AWP gave him plenty of room to make plays.

Round 4: The Smoke Bangs

Jiang Yang rushed into VIP, but Mouz immediately smoked Mid Doors, cutting off his vision.

Instead of panicking, an idea popped into his head.

He called in comms: “DD, can you throw me a mid flash?”

“3, 2, 1—Flash out!”

Jiang Yang watched Xiaosa’s screen—as the flash popped, he used the tracer rounds and sound cues to guess the enemy’s position.

“BOOM!”

[Young wallbang headshot dexter through smoke]

The livestream chat exploded.

Halfway through his explanation, Wan Ji Qi couldn’t help but laugh—it was like he just couldn’t keep a straight face anymore.

【Actually, this is quite normal. If you believe someone is there, then someone is there.】

【Let’s first assume there’s someone behind the smoke.】

【If there’s a frame, wouldn’t you shoot?】

【This AWP shot was learned from Phantom Sniper Bro, so it makes sense, right?】

【.REPORT】

Right after that, Wan Ji Qi saw the expressions of the Mouz players as they were taken out, making it even harder for him to hold back his laughter.

Mouz Player Booth

After the round ended, dexter turned to acoR in surprise.

“Did you mess up that smoke?”

On this map, the VIP smoke was a crucial piece of utility. If the smoke landed incorrectly, they’d have to let someone else throw it next time—they couldn’t afford to repeat the same mistake.

acoR looked innocent. “No, I didn’t mess it up. I even double-checked the VIP smoke; it was exactly the right shape.”

Just now, the enemy sniper fired from the left side of the VIP area. acoR had specifically checked that spot—there was no way it could have created a one-way smoke.

“Then how the hell did they shoot me through the smoke?” dexter asked, confused.

acoR shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea!”

Han Wang and ropz exchanged glances.

If what acoR said was true and the smoke wasn’t messed up, then there was only one explanation—

The shot ignored the smoke entirely, hitting through it with zero vision.

This kind of ridiculous move immediately reminded them of the man currently standing at the pinnacle of CS—

S1mple.

He always seemed capable of pulling off these mind-blowing plays.

Mouz lost yet another rifle round. Left with no other options, they decided to just throw a flashbang and try to rush B.

This time, their flash was perfectly timed. The first player in—the Han Wang—saw the CTs in B-site scrambling to fall back.

However, they got briefly delayed by a CT lurking in B Short.

And then, like the tolling of a funeral bell, that terrifying gunshot rang out once again.

As the enemy quickly rotated to reinforce B, Mouz managed to trade for one kill but didn’t have enough time to plant the bomb.

They still had money for another full-buy, but Han Wang was no longer as relaxed as he had been at the start.

Jiang Yang’s stellar performance made the game a breeze for the Steel Helmets squad.

Every round, their star player would take out a couple of enemies early, giving them an overwhelming numbers advantage. As long as they didn’t throw, the enemy had no openings to capitalize on.

They were getting more and more comfortable with this kind of match.

Jiang Yang checked his position and spoke up. “I’ll push A2 this round. DD, cover A1 for me.”

“Got it.” DD acknowledged.

As the round started, Jiang Yang used his smooth movement skills to jump straight onto A2 Balcony, AWP trained on the entry.

DD threw utility to delay a rush at A1 while watching Jiang Yang’s flank.

After a few rounds of mid-control, Jiang Yang found that the enemy wasn’t giving him any chances.

That insane smoke-through shot earlier? Sure, skill played a role, but luck had a huge part in it too.

Even electronic wouldn’t have bad luck for 16 rounds straight. Luck wasn’t going to always be on his side.

So he focused on leveraging positional advantages to create new openings—whether it was getting boosted onto B2 or climbing up A2 to find the perfect timing.

“Cousin’s AWP is locked onto A2, but this round, Mouz is playing slow, opting for map control.”

“They’re positioning Han Wang outside VIP, which completely locks down B Short.”

“Brother Xiaosa is in the Archway, but Mouz has thrown a smoke inside and followed up with a molotov—but it didn’t fully spread! That might be an opening!”

“Brother Xiaosa peeks, but—oh no! acoR was already holding that angle! One shot to the head, but he survives—just barely!”

Brother Xiaosa got taken out, and Jiang Yang and DD were now in a tough spot.

Brother Xiaosa had been the linchpin connecting A and B. With him dead, mid control and information were completely lost.

Their flanks were now extremely vulnerable.

Jiang Yang thought for a second. “DD, let’s push forward and take control. No point retreating now.”

With Brother Xiaosa gone, there were just too many potential timings at Arch and VIP.

Even trying to fall back to CT spawn would be a huge risk.

But if they could hold A1 and A2, they’d have much more room to maneuver.

“Alright, I’ll push A1.” DD responded.

Jiang Yang moved up from A2, covering DD.

The worst-case scenario? They both die, and B has to save.

But if they could even trade one kill, they’d still have a chance in the late-round.

Jiang Yang executed a “Wong Kar-wai-style single-take” maneuver on A2—but ropz wasn’t there.

However, DD ran into an opponent.

[DD (AK-47) killed ropz]

“Holy sh*t, that was close! He saw me first because of the close-range angle—I almost lost that!” DD gasped.

ropz had been lurking on T-spawn’s boost platform. He pushed out first and saw DD, spraying immediately.

But his recoil control faltered, and DD managed to turn the fight around.

DD barely had time to celebrate before he heard gunfire from the boost platform. Mid-reload, he was taken down instantly.

Jiang Yang stayed patient. There was no reason to rush—he was already in the middle of A2.

“Cousin, don’t push yet. Wait for us to rotate.” MO cautioned.

DD had turned the fight into a 1-for-1 trade, but now they were back to a numbers disadvantage.

Mouz still had the chance to reposition into strong post-plant setups.

Jiang Yang advised, “I’m on A2. Stick together for the retake.”

As long as he held A2, his teammates only needed to watch Arch and VIP.

If they split up and got picked off, their chances in the retake would be slim.

MO and Su Di took his advice and rotated through CT spawn.

“DD gets caught by dexter, and that’s a bomb plant for the Ts!”

“But Steel Helmets’ star player is still up—there’s still room for a clutch!”

Wan Ji Qi, watching the minimap, got hyped. “Two CTs rotating through spawn, but Han Wang heard them! Their positions are known!”

“acoR is holding B Short with the AWP, while Mouz has planted for B Short control.”

“Do they realize there’s an AWP in A2? acoR just turned to hold it—but wait, what just happened!?”

Wan Ji Qi was about to call the round over, but suddenly—acoR got domed.

Even though he had the angle, Cousin just snapped onto him and destroyed him!

Bymas, holding Jungle, peeked out to trade—but that funeral bell rang again.

BANG!

[young (AWP) killed Bymas]

“A2 AWP is online!!”

Kun Kun, hiding at the dead angle, finally made a move, spraying Jiang Yang down.

“Kun Kun gets the trade, but his position is revealed! Han Wang is flanking, but MO and Su Di are forcing the defuse!”

“MO jumps onto Long Box, holding CT—but Han Wang flicks up and deletes him!!”

Wan Ji Qi’s eyes widened. That was a godlike reaction shot!

But it was too late—MO had already stalled long enough, and Su Di finished the defuse.

Mouz called a tactical pause.

Han Wang let out a long breath. “It’s him again!!”

No matter how much of an advantage they had, young kept turning things around.

If this continued, their tactics wouldn’t matter—he was just too damn talented.