CS: Demon King C, you said I was a genius?

Chapter 136 Team Selection
After the last farewell dinner, the atmosphere was not as depressing as expected.

The main reason is that the personnel changes in the NIP team are quite frequent, and everyone has long been accustomed to seeing them coming together and breaking up. There are still opportunities to meet again later. After all, it is not a farewell of life and death.

As we joked back and forth, the atmosphere became harmonious again, more like a dinner among friends.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they started chatting again.

k0nfig patted his slightly swollen belly and started a new topic: "Who do you think will win this Major?"

After all, it is the first Major of CS2, which has special meaning.

Not only ordinary audiences, but also many professional players are looking forward to who will win the final championship trophy.

REZ raised an eyebrow and said, "Who can say for sure? Every team that makes it to the quarterfinals has the ability to win the championship. It just depends on who is in better shape."

Just yesterday, after NIP lost to NAVI, the final eight spots have been confirmed.

The Green Dragon and Mouz teams crushed the opponent without losing a single match and advanced to the championship group with a 3-0 record.

Eternal Flame, C9 and Little Bee each lost one game and successfully entered the next stage of the competition with a 3-1 group stage record, which was considered smooth.

On the other hand, the three teams NAVI, G2 and Faze stumbled and were on the verge of elimination, barely advancing with a record of 3-2.

From this perspective, it is not too regrettable that NIP was eliminated. At least they were not upset by weak teams in this Major. They lost to those powerful teams.

However, when they saw that many of these eight teams were teams they had defeated before, they couldn't help but feel a little unwilling.

If they were luckier, they might still be preparing for the next round of competition.

But e-sports competition is so cruel. If you don’t have the strength to overcome everything, you must be prepared to be eliminated at any time. You will not go far relying solely on luck.

headtr1ck thought about the eight teams that advanced and said:
"I think Faze will win. They're in fantastic form. Even though they lost to Green Dragon in Katowice, they were still runner-up. They're definitely not going to crash this time after all, having been well prepared."

es3tag shook his head and said, "I feel like NAVI has the most hope. You guys could feel the pressure they put on us yesterday."

"This team is in a weird state right now. If they can maintain yesterday's level, they have a great chance of winning the championship."

Everyone fell silent after hearing this, recalling the fear they felt when they were dominated by NAVI yesterday.

They advanced to the knockout stage by defeating NAVI in the loser group in Katowice.

But after just over a month, NAVI gave them the feeling of being a different team.

The attacks were no longer hesitant, but were decisive yet cautious, often catching them off guard.

Su Zhe listened to the discussion and asked in confusion, "Why is no one optimistic about Mouz and Green Dragon? Didn't they both enter the knockout stage with a 3-0 record?"

They have never encountered the Green Dragon team before, but they must have something special to be able to enter the championship group with a perfect record in the legend group.

Mouz was the team they met in the 1-0 group, but they were easily defeated in their strongest Desert City.

Judging from Su Zhe's battle experience, Mouz is really strong.

REZ shook his head. "Mouz's performance is quite good, but their performance isn't that high. They were able to beat us in the group stage, but that doesn't mean they can beat teams with better burst."

REZ laughed as he said this: "And as long as Faze doesn't get eliminated, how can Mouz get eliminated?"

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but laugh. Although the Faze team's current performance is often ups and downs, meeting Mouz is like a father beating his son.

In last year's Asian CAC event, Faze won the championship by defeating Mouz.

"As for the Green Dragon..." Rez shook his head. "Their shortcomings are too obvious. They're a single-core team, and they don't play in the Tower and Town maps."

"Even if we didn't suffer a loss in the draft, it's like... just like us. It's useless to rely on donk alone. Unless sh1ro is in great form or someone else suddenly breaks out, there's no chance of winning the championship."

"Hmm..." Everyone agreed with this view.

They, NIP, know too well the Green Dragon's weaknesses.

As long as donk's performance is restricted, the entire team will be stranded on the road like a car without an engine.

Because that's how they, NIP, were eliminated...

"Sigh~" k0nfig suddenly sighed, his expression becoming somewhat melancholic. "No matter who wins the championship, it has nothing to do with us..."

As he said this, he put his arm around Su Zhe's neck, looked at everyone and said, "I'm really happy to play with you all. This may be the happiest time in my professional career over the past few years."

"There's no intrigue, no messy locker room conflicts, everyone is working hard to win the game..."

"Although the final result may not be as expected, at least I am enjoying the whole process. Thank you..."

"Fuck! Brother! Stop it!" headtr1ck suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

Only by experiencing constant changes of teams and teammates can you realize how rare it is to meet suitable teammates.

k0nfig smiled and shook his head, and moved the hand on Su Zhe's shoulder back to his head.

He ruffled Su Zhe's hair and said in a tone that had never been gentle before: "You have the most potential among the five of us."

"No matter which team you join in the future... although it's cruel, remember... losing games is a common occurrence. You can't ignore it, but you can't be too concerned about it either. I believe that sooner or later you will be able to hold that trophy."

"Thank you for your hard work during this period..."

---

The story of the five NIP members ends.

The next day, Su Zhe rejected the invitation from the Major event organizer to participate in an exhibition match and flew directly back to China.

He hadn't won a single championship trophy in the few months he had been at NIP, and he didn't want his first championship to be an exhibition match.

After returning home safely, he saw an interview with team manager THREAT on HLTV news.

In the interview, he made it clear that NIP will make a disruptive lineup change before the next S-level event.

es3tag and k0nfig were demoted indefinitely by the club, headtr1ck was put up for sale, and coach djL was not spared either.

Su Zhe himself failed to renew his contract with the club, and his contract expired, making him a free agent.

A few days ago, several people were working hard in the small training room, but in the blink of an eye, only REZ was left.

Su Zhe looked at the news report and was silent for a few seconds before his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an incoming call in his pocket.

"A strange call from China?"

Su Zhe thought it was a financial sales pitch or a scam call, so he hung up immediately.

But after a few seconds, the strange number called again. "Hello? Arrow? I'm the owner of Team Tianlu. Interested in chatting?"

"Oh?" Su Zhe instantly became interested. "Are there any activities that I'm invited to participate in?"

This question immediately silenced the person on the other end of the line. After two seconds, he spoke up, "I heard your contract with NIP has expired?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Are you interested in joining our Tianlu? If so, you can come to Hangzhou to discuss a contract. I can guarantee that your contract salary will not be lower than those of the top international players, and..."

Su Zhe felt a little amused when he heard this, so he took the initiative to interrupt JasonP:

"If I join T-League, will the team be able to compete for a Major title?"

Jason P on the other end of the phone fell silent again, and after a few seconds, he spoke:

"You're well aware of the situation in domestic CS. Some things have to be done step by step. We're still in the early stages. If you join Tianlu, we'll gradually get better in the future."

"And as long as..."

After hearing these high-sounding words, Su Zhe sighed slightly, declined politely, and hung up the phone.

If it were before, he would definitely join Tianlu or other domestic teams without hesitation with the hope of revitalizing CNCS.

But now, he has long lost these innocent ideas.

Some say the reasons for poor domestic performance are a lack of training matches, a huge gap with foreign markets, a lack of capital, and all the talented young players switching to other FPS games.
If these external conditions were not bad, a few young people with dreams would sooner or later break through the limitations of these conditions and achieve results.

But after meeting the Mongolian team at the Major event, he realized that he had not thought enough.

Could it be that CNCS's training conditions are worse than those of the Mongolian team?

The reason why we cannot get the results may be due to external reasons as well as many unknown internal reasons.

Su Zhe is self-aware and does not think he can change the environment of CNCS on his own.

Even if I have a system, the final result will probably be "becoming one with the dust".
"Alas, all I can do is offer my blessing."

After Su Zhe sighed, he focused his gaze on the computer screen in front of him, then controlled the mouse and clicked to start broadcasting.

"Hello! Brothers! Good evening, long time no see, let's go for the perfect first place today"

---

Su Zhe thought that he would become more relaxed after returning to China. At most, he would just complete his daily system training tasks and start live broadcasts.

However, the continuous invitations to business activities still forced him to travel out of town from time to time.

Even though he had rejected many requests, he only stayed at home for two days in a week.

Although I could refuse them all, there was no other way, as some of the offers were simply too much.

The appearance fee is often six figures a day. How can he refuse it when he is already bored at home?
The most outrageous thing was that he was actually invited by his high school alma mater to give a speech. When Su Zhe heard the news, he thought he had heard it wrong.

His grades in high school were not ideal, and when he was in college he even wanted to rent a house near the school to start a new life.

Am I qualified to give a speech to the fresh flower buds in my current state?

So for their healthy growth, Su Zhe decisively chose to refuse.

Mainly because it conflicted with an event with a 20 yuan appearance fee...

As the days passed, the Major schedule thousands of miles away also came to an end.

G2, which was highly expected, fell in the semi-finals and was captured by NAVI again.

Faze also completed their revenge in Katowice, defeating the Green Dragon in the semi-finals.

After the two teams met in the final, Galaxy Battleship was finally defeated by NAVI led by Leonardo DiCaprio, winning the bo2 with a big score of 1-3 and winning the first Major championship of CS2.

This result was beyond the expectations of most viewers, resulting in many people failing to get the diamond coins from this Major.

Afterwards, as the Copenhagen Major came to a complete end, the major teams entered a short off-season and began to enjoy their rare vacation.

But after every Major, there is a regular feature, which is the transfer between major teams.

Although netizens have no major competitions to watch for the time being, they are also paying attention to the news during the transfer period, hoping that their favorite home teams will be strengthened.

However, the first-tier teams have basically not made any moves, and they basically only make big moves during the off-season at the end of the year.

The various news coming from HLTV are basically transfers between second- and third-tier teams.

After the Major, Su Zhe turned down all commercial activities and began to look forward to whether a team would invite him to join, but the result was somewhat beyond his expectations.

As a free agent without a contract, he also performed brilliantly in the Major, which undoubtedly made him a hot commodity.

But most of the teams that contacted him were second-tier teams. There were also first-tier teams, but they all required him to sit on the bench for a period of time.

Because the off-season is very short after the Major at the beginning of the year, the IEM Chengdu competition is about to begin, and the 19th ESL event is not far away.

In order not to affect the performance of their own team, the first-line team will not give up the pre-coordinated lineup and choose Su Zhe, who is still an unknown.

After all, if a team wants to achieve good results, it is not a simple 1+1 arithmetic problem, there are many things to consider.

After Su Zhe once again chose to reject the invitation of a second-tier team, he sighed inwardly.

Should he continue to find a second-tier team to hang out with for a few months? Or should he go to those top-tier teams to check out the water dispenser?
In desperation, he logged into the X software which he hadn't used for a long time, ignored the content that could not be viewed directly, and sent a job application message.

The general meaning is that when looking for a job, the team must be competitive and the player must be able to start.

After sending out the job application, the first message I received was actually from my old employer NIP.

THREAT's reply roughly meant that NIP's door would always be open to him, and as long as he agreed, they could buy him a plane ticket to Sweden now.

Moreover, the contracts of other team members have also been negotiated. As long as he returns to NIP, he will definitely have the competitiveness to win the championship in S-level competitions.

After seeing this, Su Zhe simply chose to ignore it. Not to mention THREAT's character, he had no idea where NIP's championship competitiveness came from as for those people they re-signed.

Mouz also approached him, but the terms offered were quite low.

The team with the highest salary is the Blue Star team far away in North America.

Su Zhe was confused as he looked at the private messages.

(End of this chapter)