Damn. Just... damn.
The Counter-Strike community’s been freaking out about an economy round ace pulled off by EnvyUS player Happy—and with good reason. It’s completely ridiculous. First, just watch. It will make your eyeballs explode out of your head no matter how familiar you are with the game:
Happy downed the entire opposing team in the blink of an eye. Through a smoke screen. With a cheapo, slow-firing desert eagle.
Now an explanation: This took place during an economy round for Envy, which is to say that they didn’t have the cash for good weapons (and armor) in addition to grenades. So they bought pistols. Humble, humble pistols. The opposing team, TSM, was in the midst of a force buy round, which means they didn’t have enough money to shell out for the absolute best gear, but they grabbed the best stuff they could given the circumstances.
And then Happy turned all those dollar signs to dust in seconds.
This is all the more impressive because the desert eagle isn’t a great weapon for, well, any of that. For one, it can only bring down enemies in one hit with headshots. For two, it forces you to wait about a second (an eternity in Counter-Strike time) between shots. As Redditor Gazorpozorpfield put it, “This requires insane aim, precise maps knowledge to the point of knowing where the corner of the building was without even being able to see it and the ability to predict the other team. He had all of these things down perfectly.”
There has, however, been some debate about the full merit of Happy’s ace. While few fans are taking away from Happy’s accomplishment (that level of aim and prescience is unreal), some chalk TSM’s complete lack of response up to Counter-Strike’s recent animation overhaul. In short, they contend that the new animations give people peeking (for instance, around a corner) a massive advantage. They point to Happy’s ace as a sign that peeking is now broken, overpowered.
Still, you can’t deny that it’s an incredible sight, one of the most impressive Counter-Strike plays in recent memory. Perhaps time and debate will re-christen it as something else, but for the moment this is some god-tier Counter-Strike.
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