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

With Jiang Yang's double gun pentakill, Steel Helmet successfully won the pistol round.

But the second round was a bit unfortunate—Jiang Yang didn’t get to be the "special forces" this time.

He rushed into Banana Path with an MP9, ready to hold the push, but MR opted for a pop flash into a "flying attack" from apartments.

Thankfully, DD and Brother Xiaosa held their ground under immense pressure, pulling off a thrilling 2v5 to counter the attack.

However, since MR went for a full ECO, the game quickly moved into the first rifle round.

In this round, MO made a mid-round read, predicting that MR would send a second wave to clear Banana Path and preemptively reinforced B with a 3-man setup.

Then, Su Di and Jiang Yang coordinated perfectly, taking down five enemies between the two of them.

Watching this unfold from his dorm room, Li Hua instantly perked up.

"Is this the experience of a veteran?"

MO, during the game, didn’t seem to make any standout calls either.

But in this round, he witnessed the true power of experience.

A bold decision at the right moment had turned Steel Helmets’ Banana Path defense into an unbreakable wall.

The strong start even put Li Hua in a good mood.

"4:0 already? This second map is going smoothly, huh?" His roommate Wang Lin said excitedly.

With the rise of the online era, many CS:GO pros had lost their competitive edge, leading to plenty of regrets.

But for CS:GO tournaments, online play was a major evolution.

Over the past few years, a massive influx of new players had joined, and CS:GO was no longer considered a niche game in China.

Hearing his roommate’s words, Li Hua instantly panicked and turned his head. "Dude, don’t jinx it!"

Wang Lin, however, remained relaxed. "Come on, I’m not Ma Xixi. You afraid I’ll curse them?"

"Besides, listen to my analysis."

"Su Di is the top-tier bottom horse in Steel Helmets!" Wang Lin pointed at the kill feed where Su Di’s name was dominating. "If even the bottom horse is popping off like this, I can’t imagine how insane Superman Ma is gonna be!"

Li Hua had to admit his roommate had a point. If Su Di was fragging out, then surely his cousin—Jiang Yang—was about to go nuclear.

Yet, ten minutes later, the score had flipped to 4:6.

After Wang Lin’s "blessing," MR won six consecutive rounds on the offensive side.

Li Hua turned to his roommate, completely speechless. "I don’t even know what to say to you anymore. Let’s just watch the game, man. Your jinxing is unreal."

"Hey, I didn’t think B-site’s defense was gonna be this fragile. Su Di and MO kept getting outplayed by mopoz’s one-way smokes."

"Damn, mopoz’s one-ways are so annoying." Li Hua sighed in frustration.

"And really cursed too. Every time Jiang Yang rotated to B, he just barely missed the action, like electronic’s spirit possessed him."

What had seemed like a solid game was suddenly slipping away, making the spectators anxious.

Every year, they came to watch, hoping a Chinese team would make a breakthrough.

Yet every year, it was the same—a respectable loss, always just short of victory.

Now, with things taking a turn, their worries were creeping back in.

Luckily, in the following rounds, MR finally ran headfirst into Jiang Yang.

The cousin they had all been waiting for did not disappoint—he won two critical duels in a row, securing two rounds for Steel Helmets.

Unfortunately, MR quickly adjusted and started actively avoiding him for the rest of the half.

The first half ended with a classic 6:9 scoreline.

"Inferno actually favors the offense. Terrorists need at least 8 rounds for a decent half, so Steel Helmets are only slightly behind. They still have a chance."

"It all depends on this pistol round. If they win it, they can tie the score." Li Hua heard Ma Xixi’s analysis from his phone.

Li Hua nodded. "Six rounds are workable. If they can execute well on T-side, they can still turn this around."

But their worst fear came true.

The second pistol round went down to the wire, but in the end, alex clutched with just a single point of HP, defusing the bomb at the last second.

Losing the pistol round widened the gap further. Even though Steel Helmets managed to grab a few rounds with strong plays from Jiang Yang and DD, the score had already climbed to 11:13.

Inferno had reached a critical point—just a few rounds left before the match was decided.

Both teams were giving it their all.

Steel Helmets were desperate to close the gap and take the lead, fighting tooth and nail for every round.

Meanwhile, MR was determined to avoid giving them any momentum.

They had learned the hard way—Jiang Yang was not to be underestimated.

No more underestimating him—now they were playing safe, trying to close out Inferno and push the series to Map 3.

But Steel Helmets’ situation was even more dire—their economy was a mess.

Only MO had a decent bank, close to $4K, while everyone else was sitting at $2K.

Now they had to decide—force buy or full ECO?

Opportunities were running out.

"Liu Ke, why don’t you drop a few Deagles? Maybe we can get some picks?" Brother Xiaosa suggested.

MO didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he said, "I have a high-risk strat. I’ll go hero AK, and everyone else stays on Glocks."

He explained his plan to Jiang Yang: "When the fight starts, you need to be the third man in. Let the first two run in and bait."

"We’ll make them think we’re full ECO. Then, your AK has to step up and clean up. Otherwise, we have no chance."

"Just get some kills. Their economy isn’t great either. If we can take out two rifles, we’re already winning."

It was a simple yet bold plan.

If they failed to get any kills, Jiang Yang and MO’s economy would be in trouble next round.

But no one pressured Jiang Yang to perform—they knew he was already carrying the team.

Even though he was their strongest firepower, they didn’t want to burden him with too much expectation.

As the timeout continued, MO spoke up again. "Getting here was already a huge achievement."

"I know I’ve said it before, but I have to praise our cousin—he’s been absolutely carrying."

MO let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "Before the tournament started, I saw so many people putting us at 0-3."

Ming Riqing, noticing MO wasn’t done, quickly signaled the referee for an extended timeout.

"Nobody believed we could make it to the Major."

"Nobody thought we’d get this far. But here we are."

"If we lose this match, we’ll only have one more BO3 to fight for a Legends Stage spot."

"I don’t want to go from 2-0 to 2-3 and get eliminated."

"I don’t know if I’ll ever get another shot at a Major, but I know I have to make this one count."

MO wasn’t a man of many words, but at this moment, he spoke up because he knew they needed it.

His speech wasn’t flashy, but the raw emotion hit home.

DD was the first to respond. "Let’s go! We’re not done yet!"

Brother Xiaosa followed. "Stay sharp, guys. Remember Map 1—these guys aren’t unbeatable. We can do this!"

Jiang Yang didn’t say anything.

As the team’s star player, his job wasn’t to speak—it was to act.

With fist bumps exchanged, the tactical pause ended.

They executed MO’s plan.

And so, the hero AK strat began.

DD crouched down, standing right in the fire as he pressed his steel-like left mouse button.

“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!”

[DD used AK-47 to headshot mopoz]

[DD used AK-47 to kill alex]

“The last two still wanted to clutch, but they just burned a goddamn beast out of the fire!”

“They thought not having armor would weaken DD, but they forgot—no-armor AK is DD’s strongest state!!” Ma Xixi shouted passionately in the livestream.

The chat instantly exploded with question marks.

[DD!!!]

[Still the Double-Duo at work! This ace just flipped the game!]

[DD literally embraced the flames—what a madman!]

[Cousin is a highlight machine. With teammates pulling aggro, he just wipes the floor with the enemy.]

...

“Sick play, DD!!”

The team comms were filled with praise. Jiang Yang, who had been sitting up straight, could even see the pained expressions on MR’s players.

MO clenched his fist tightly and turned to Jiang Yang. “Told you, you got this!”

Then, he excitedly continued, “This round was the turning point. MR’s economy just got obliterated. Their average money should be below 3K, mostly between 2-4K.”

“If they force-buy now, it’s either guns with no utility, or utility with no guns.”

This news pumped up the Steel Helmets squad even more—this meant the next round would be much easier for them.

They played out the round exactly as MO planned, taking a steady early-game map control and executing a full-on A-site execute at the 40-second mark.

MR, running a three-man A defense with no utility, got completely cleared out by the execute. They had no chance against Steel Helmets.

Meanwhile, Brother Xiaosa, watching banana for any late-round rotations, took down the enemies trying to save their guns—completely demolishing MR’s economy!

Now, they entered Jiang Yang’s favorite stage—the ECO round.

But even in a match like this, even Jiang Yang felt the weight of the situation. He played incredibly cautiously, sticking to default map control.

As the round started, Jiang Yang and Brother Xiaosa moved to side lane for map control.

Once the early control phase ended, MO called Brother Xiaosa back to carry the bomb while he stayed in the corner, watching for any sneaky plays.

Jiang Yang flicked towards VIP for a quick timing check—right as Brother Xiaosa shouted:

“Mid push!!”

Jiang Yang instantly peeked out—three enemies had their backs turned.

He unleashed a full spray.

“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!”

His recoil control wasn’t as clean as top-tier rifle players, and his full spray was a bit messy, but he managed to take down two. However, he still ate a headshot in return.

After getting the kills, Jiang Yang immediately repositioned.

Just as he moved, a bullet came flying from VIP’s lower platform.

Jiang Yang snapped his crosshair over and fired a single shot.

“Bang!”

But he noticed something—one more enemy at A-site hadn’t revealed himself yet.

He pressed R to reload, then instantly swapped back to his rifle.

Right then, he heard footsteps dropping from VIP.

All of this was within Jiang Yang’s calculations. One more tap—down goes Fly Head.

Ma Xixi, watching the stream, was ecstatic. “Gotta love Cousin on ECO rounds!”

Jiang Yang’s ECO plays had become a meme in China’s CS:GO scene. Even Steel Helmets’ post-match comments were filled with memes of him.

Chat went wild.

[The ECO god is back!!]

[No one stabilizes ECO rounds like him.]

[I can smell the pistols coming out!]

[Knew something was missing—Cousin wasn’t in ECO mode yet!]

[Steel Helmets without Cousin’s ECO is like Vitality without apEX rushing ladder.]

[Shame he had an AK. If it was his MP9, this would’ve been peak entertainment.]

With the score at 14:13, Steel Helmets took the lead for the first time.

“Stay sharp, they’re gonna have rifles next round,” MO reminded.

Jiang Yang immediately bought an AWP.

As always, he held A1 for a pick. But this time, MR threw a deep smoke mid right off the bat.

Something felt off. He immediately called out, “Watch side lane—something’s not right!”

His call was timely, but MR’s utility was even more precise.

Soon, the sound of gunfire erupted from side lane, and three kill feeds popped up in the top-right corner.

[Dav1g+sunPayus Flashbang used M4A1 to headshot DD]

[Dav1g+sunPayus Flashbang used M4A1 to headshot CaptainMO]

[karsa+DD used AK-47 to kill Dav1g]

[DeathZz used FAMAS to headshot Karsa]

Jiang Yang’s heart sank. MR had just steamrolled them with a surprise push, leaving only him and Brother Xiaosa alive.

A 2v4 clutch—an uphill battle.

“VIP lower has a backup player, connector has a flash guy, they’re running a 2-2 split now,” MO called out helplessly. “Try to make a play. We have money next round.”

Jiang Yang frowned. They had worked so hard to build this momentum, only for it to be shattered by an aggressive push.

He took a deep breath and signaled Brother Xiaosa to fake an attack on B.

Brother Xiaosa played along, moving into B-site.

Then—unexpectedly—the kill feed lit up.

[Brother Xiaosa killed coffin player!]

“I pre-aimed coffin! Get over here—” But before he could finish, he was taken down in a firefight with the CT at B-site entrance.

Jiang Yang inhaled deeply. Now it was a 1v3.

His fingers tightened around the mouse, AWP scope trained on VIP’s lower platform, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Then, out of the corner of his screen—lower tunnels.

A head popped up.

Jiang Yang flicked downward.

“—Bang!”

DeathZz, expecting Jiang Yang to be in banana, had peeked out carelessly—only to get instantly deleted.

Ma Xixi was on his feet. “Cousin just hit a nasty flick! Now it’s a 1v2!!”

sunPayus, who had been rotating mid, immediately turned back, jumping around to retreat.

Jiang Yang heard the footsteps and knew the positions—one at A-site, one in library.

His chance was now. Without hesitation, he sprinted up A1.

The CT in connector couldn’t reach pit in time. Jiang Yang only needed to check two angles—site and library.

He paused for a moment, steadied his aim, and swung site.

“OH!! The blind shot!!”

“Cousin anticipated the position!” Ma Xixi screamed, “It’s 1v1!! sunPayus never expected him to prefire with the AWP!!”

Now, only alex remained.

Jiang Yang made a bold choice—he positioned himself in graveyard.

The chat held its breath.

[AWP in graveyard?? He’s only got one shot!]

alex arrived from A1, throwing a molly—straight into pit.

“He thinks someone’s in pit—he’s going for a ninja defuse!”

“But—he’s exposed to graveyard!!”

Jiang Yang pulled the trigger.

“BANG!!”

The screen froze.

The kill feed popped up—[young killed alex]

Steel Helmets comms exploded.

“F***ing CLUTCH!!!”

“Cousin, I love you!!!”

DD was practically shouting, “I feel like crying—we’re one round away!!”

15:13. Match point.

MR had no money left. They had to force-buy.

Steel Helmets took it slow, playing flawlessly. When they executed A-site, MR’s 3-site setup got dismantled in an instant.

The last kill came from small pit—game over.

Jiang Yang ripped off his headset, threw his fist into the air, and screamed:

“WE MADE LEGENDS!! I’M GETTING A STICKER!!”