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

October 28, 2021 – Thursday

Jiang Yang groggily heard his phone buzzing with a notification. It was a message from his deskmate, Li Hua. He clicked on it and took a look.

Li Hua:

"Home alone, feeling lonely!"

"Hot, intense, and thrilling gameplay! An experience like never before!"

"Crazy Thursday! V me 50 to ease my sorrow!"

The message was decorated with a bunch of heart and fire emojis.

The first line instantly woke Jiang Yang up. But after reading to the end, he realized he'd been tricked.

"You woke me up first thing in the morning with this nonsense," Jiang Yang complained on WeChat.

Stockholm and China weren’t in the same time zone—about a six-hour gap. It was midday back home, but in Stockholm, it was only a little after 6 AM. Neither of them really paid much attention to it.

Li Hua casually continued the conversation. "Yesterday’s match was such a shame. Su Di and Brother Xiaosa were off their game—you must’ve felt so much pressure."

"It’s fine, the other team just played better," Jiang Yang replied without blaming his teammates.

Li Hua, however, disagreed. "The team was just too weak. If they had held their ground or at least not died so quickly, we could’ve won Mirage."

As Jiang Yang’s close deskmate, Li Hua had been following his journey ever since he made it to the Major. Every time Jiang Yang won, he would send a congratulatory message—practically his number one fan. But yesterday’s match had left him feeling utterly powerless.

Initially, everyone thought that since X-Team and Mouz, both veteran teams, had been crushed by Steel Helmets, they should have no trouble securing a direct promotion against Firefly, a relatively unknown team.

But watching the actual game sent everyone’s blood pressure soaring.

Normally, as long as Jiang Yang and DD were performing, Steel Helmets could still play with some structure. But yesterday, DD had no rhythm at all, leaving Jiang Yang to fight alone in what felt like a prison sentence.

Two maps, nearly 50 kills, leading in frags even while playing from behind—Jiang Yang had burned himself out. The whole thing was just frustrating to watch.

"Can’t be helped," Jiang Yang said. "My old brothers have given it their all—there’s no point in blaming anyone."

"Besides," he added with a smirk, "I’ll let you in on a little secret—we’ve already found a way to fix the problem."

Li Hua immediately perked up. "What way?"

Jiang Yang carefully typed out his response:

"It’s actually pretty simple. Since Su Di isn’t delivering enough firepower, we’ll push him to the frontlines. Then, we’ll move DD to B-site. And finally, you V me 50, so I can solve my lunch problem."

Li Hua, eating lunch in his dorm, instantly sent a voice message: "Screw you!"

After messing around with his friend for a bit, Jiang Yang felt refreshed. He quickly said goodbye and got out of bed. Since he was already awake, he might as well get up and start training.

While brushing his teeth, he casually scrolled through forums on his phone.

Just like Li Hua, many Chinese viewers were feeling frustrated on his behalf.

With a 2-0 record, all Steel Helmets needed was to win a single BO3 to tie China’s all-time best performance and qualify for the Legends Stage, the official Major main event.

Jiang Yang had done everything he could, but the veterans just couldn’t hold on.

Watching him hard-carry and still lose—it was painful.

Now, the overall score stood at 2-1. They weren’t eliminated yet, but many fans were already worried about a 2-3 disaster.

However, some of China’s top CS:GO streamers were actively trying to calm the community down, hoping not to add extra pressure on Steel Helmets’ players.

Jiang Yang planned to mention it to MO later—maybe MO could help stabilize the team’s mindset. The roster was already stretched thin. If they crumbled any further, it’d be game over.

Building Tension & Major Pick’Em Predictions

Beyond discussions about Steel Helmets, the stakes were getting even higher.

With the third day of matches approaching, teams would start dropping like flies.

The Major Challenger Stage Pick’Em was on the line. By the end of today’s matches, fans would know whether their predictions had paid off.

Online debates were raging.

Jiang Yang didn’t bother checking. He was confident in his Pick’Em choices—if things played out right, he’d be getting a Diamond Coin.

And when that happened, he was going to print it out, slap it onto his cousin’s face, and ask:

"Do you even know CS:GO?"

Unexpected News from Cousin Ma Xixi

Just as he was about to put his phone down, another WeChat notification popped up.

Today was weirdly busy. Everyone was reaching out to him.

Jiang Yang glanced at the screen—it was his cousin, Ma Xixi.

Ma Xixi:

"My visa is getting processed again. Should be all good this time—don’t lose hope, Yang Yang!"

Jiang Yang’s eyes lit up. "Cousin, you’re coming?!" He immediately sent a voice message.

Ma Xixi had initially run into issues with his documents, and Jiang Yang thought he had given up on coming. But now, it looked like he was still trying to make it work.

Ma Xixi replied almost instantly:

"Of course! So don’t get discouraged—I’m coming to coach for Major, let me have my fun too!"

Hearing that, Jiang Yang grinned from ear to ear. "I got this, no worries!"

With that settled, Jiang Yang’s fighting spirit surged.

When Ma Xixi arrived, he’d stand behind them, holding a menu—mid-match, they’d call a tactical pause just to decide what to eat for dinner.

If Jiang Yang pulled off a highlight play, he’d immediately turn around and punch his cousin for good measure.

The only question was—could his cousin take the hit?

Imagining the scene, Jiang Yang happily hopped his way to the training room, ready for another day of practice.

FPL Smurfing & Tactical Adjustments

After warming up, Jiang Yang jumped into FPL to farm some noobs.

Since it was still early, most of the Major pros in his hotel weren’t even awake yet.

The opponents he matched with were mostly non-Major pros and high-level pub players.

His new playstyle completely blindsided them.

After a few games, Jiang Yang did a quick review and spotted some flaws.

But instead of rushing, he took his time—studying donk’s plays in a simulated match, analyzing and fine-tuning his approach before re-entering FPL.

CSBOY Livestream Banter

Meanwhile, in the CSBOY livestream, Ma Xixi was casually chatting with viewers before the matches began.

Viewer: "Xixi, are you streaming Steel Helmets’ match later?"

Ma Xixi blinked. "Bro… this team was literally born from the CSBOY stream, and you’re asking if we’re streaming the match?"

Then he smirked. "Should I let you guys vote? See if we should stream it or not?"

But almost immediately, he changed his mind. "Nah, I know you guys. You’d all vote ‘no’ just to mess with me. Not falling for that one!"

The chat exploded with laughter.

Another viewer asked:

Viewer: "Who’s Steel Helmets playing today?"

Ma Xixi answered, "MR—a fully Spanish team that’s been on the rise. Their lineup is: alex, mopoz, DeathZz, Sunpayus, and dav1g."

He warned chat about mopoz’s deadly one-way smokes and the team’s underrated potential.

Then, PGL released the star player comparison graphic—Jiang Yang vs. Sunpayus.

Sunpayus: Rating 1.26 (solid stats for a rising star).

Jiang Yang: Rating 1.79 (utterly cracked).

The chat lost it.

“WTF?! 0.5 rating difference?!”

“That’s just unfair!”

“MR’s coach better start praying…”

Both teams removed one more map each, leaving Ancient as the deciding map.

With the veto finalized, the BO3 match maps were:

• Map 1: Mirage
• Map 2: Inferno
• Map 3: Ancient

As the teams used their last few minutes for warm-up, they then entered the Mirage server, ready to start the match.

CSBOY Livestream

In the CSBOY livestream, Ma Xixi yelled excitedly as the match screen appeared.

"Alright, welcome everyone to the first map of Steel Helmets vs. MR—Mirage! I’m your caster, Ma Xixi!"

"Steel Helmets start on T-side, and they’re rushing B on pistol round!"

"But wait! There are three defenders on B!"

"DD jumps down and gets the first kill! The defender outside site is hard-holding, but DD turns around and takes him out!"

"Alex manages to drop Xiaosa, but DD trades him immediately!"

"DD keeps charging forward—he’s unstoppable! He storms into Market and takes down mopoz on the retake!"

"Where’s the ace?! Give DD the ace!"

"But SunPayus finally shuts him down. Still, DD has done his job—charging in like a madman and securing four kills. That was insane!"

The chat exploded with hype, spamming praises for DD’s insane pistol round.

Thanks to DD’s fearless entry, Steel Helmets easily secured the pistol round.

"Nice! DD’s entry was insane!" MO praised before quickly setting up the strategy for Round 2.

"They’ll probably force-buy this round. I’m worried they might stack B."

"Here’s the plan: Cousin throws a VIP smoke at mid. Xiaosa holds mid solo. The rest of us explode onto A-site."

It was a simple but effective strategy—limit the enemy’s map control and leverage their superior weapons.

As the round started, they executed the plan perfectly.

Jiang Yang threw the VIP smoke and rotated towards A Long, carefully watching for an aggressive CT push.

But then—bad news flashed on the top-right corner of the screen.

【SunPayus - Desert Eagle headshot - xiaosage】

Xiaosa sighed in voice chat. "I peeked Arch for info, and he just wide-swung me with a one-tap."

It was unfortunate but not uncommon when facing a strong Deagle player.

MO made a quick decision. "No hesitation—execute A now!"

Jiang Yang warned, "A1 close angle isn’t cleared yet. Someone needs to push with me."

Since the CTs were on pistols, they had a huge advantage in close-range fights. They needed utility or trade frags to clear angles safely.

"Got it. Su Di, go help Cousin. I’ll smoke Connector—push in together."

A2 Balcony was left unchecked, but if they cleared A1, they could synchronize their site take.

Jiang Yang readied his AK-47 and carefully pre-aimed every angle as he moved up.

Without any prior info, his crosshair placement was razor-sharp.

He cleared the left side of A1, then adjusted for Balcony.

The moment he peeked out, he spotted a Deagle aimed right at him.

Jiang Yang crouched instantly and fired.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

【young - AK-47 headshot - SunPayus】

"Cousin with the crisp pre-aim takes down SunPayus on Balcony! But… was that a bait?"

"It was!!"

"There’s still an MP9 waiting close A1!"

Jiang Yang had a bad feeling about that last duel. The Deagle hold felt off, so he trusted his instincts and pre-aimed close A1.

Sure enough—there was a hidden MP9 defender.

"Smoking Connector! DD, move from A2 Balcony and sync the push!" MO commanded.

DD immediately started shifting into position.

Hearing footsteps above, Jiang Yang instantly warned: "A2 has one!"

Reacting instantly, Jiang Yang swung wide—and saw a Deagle holding the angle.

The CT overexposed himself, allowing Jiang Yang to land a clean triple-burst headshot.

"Cousin is on fire! He clears out three defenders on A—Steel Helmets storm into the bombsite!"

With all three A-site defenders eliminated, MR had no choice but to save their weapons for the next round.

"MR is falling back, picking up a Galil from Mid to play for the next round."

Steel Helmets didn’t chase the saves too aggressively—their own economy wasn’t strong enough to risk unnecessary fights.

With this flawless execution, they took a 2-0 lead.

Round 3 – Mid to B Split

For the third round, MO switched things up, calling for a delayed Mid to B split.

Jiang Yang and DD positioned themselves at Mid, preparing to execute a B Short smoke and push together.

However, MR changed their approach—instead of playing passively, they jumped down from VIP for an aggressive mid push.

Their plan was clear: send unarmored USP players in first, followed by Galils and Deagles to clean up the trades.

And it worked perfectly.

Jiang Yang and DD were blindsided by a pop flash, completely whited out.

DD, still flashed, sprayed blindly in Mid’s direction.

"DD sprays one down while full-blind! But can he follow up?!"

"Nope! Mopoz trades him immediately with the Galil!"

Ma Xixi sounded worried. "This puts Cousin in a tough spot. He’s stuck in Mid Corner, and his position is locked down!"

"A2 is flashing for a counter-push, but no one can help him right now. Can he at least get one trade?"

If Jiang Yang didn’t get a kill here, MR would have a 4v3 advantage with three rifles in play.

Even though some MR players had no armor, that wouldn’t matter in a gunfight.

Jiang Yang recovered his vision and knew he was trapped.

He didn’t wide swing immediately, since the CTs were likely holding his angle.

Instead, he faked a micro-peek.

Mopoz immediately fired, thinking it was the real swing. But when he realized it was just a bait, he stopped shooting.

In that split second, Jiang Yang wide-swung and fired first.

"BANG!"

【young - AK-47 headshot - mopoz】

"YOUNG SURVIVES ON 10 HP!"

Mopoz was shocked.

His crosshair was already locked on that angle, and he even stopped shooting to readjust.

Yet, Jiang Yang still won the duel—his reaction speed was ridiculous.

Behind mopoz, dav1g was holding the same angle with a Deagle, expecting to clean up the kill.

Since Jiang Yang hadn’t heard a follow-up shot, he thought Mid was clear.

He turned away—and immediately got hit in the chest by a Deagle round.

Jiang Yang instinctively flicked back.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

【young - AK-47 headshot - dav1g】

"HOLY SH*T! WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ma Xixi shouted.

"Did you guys see that flick?!"

DD, who had just died, was staring in disbelief.

"Bro, what was that shot?!"

Jiang Yang grinned. "Instinct."

This unreal clutch moment completely turned the round around.

B-site was secured, and Steel Helmets locked in a 3-0 lead.

After reviewing the play, Jiang Yang realized something:

"MR… isn’t actually that strong."

Some of their setups felt like amateur mistakes.

Maybe…

They weren’t ready for what Steel Helmets had in store.