Aspects of Game Awareness in Competitive Counter Strike

I wrote this for my friends who are either stuck in lower skill groups or are relatively new to the game and have low amount of experience in counter strike. Just thought I will share it on this sub-reddit too, in case it might help someone. This is my personal opinion based on thousands of hours playing and learning about this game from as many good resources as possible. I reached supreme as my highest rank in soloq for what its worth (not much) and I don't claim to be an expert so feel free to correct me, if I may be mistaken about something. Overall I feel these are the the very fundamental non-mechanical aspects of the game that lower ranks and newer players struggle with the most. Hope it helps someone. Thanks

Know the difference between team deathmatch and counter strike. The objective in deathmatch is to kill as many people as possible and avoid getting killed as much as possible. The objective in counter strike is to plant the bomb and defend it from getting defused as T. As ct your objective is to stop the bomb from getting planted and defusing it in time, if it does get planted. In counter strike "kills" are only a means to an end, not an end in itself. In other words, kills are beneficial if they help you to achieve your objective. In most other cases, they are meaningless. The game will reward your team with a point if you successfully complete the objective, it is blind to everything else that is happening in the round. You can flick one tap a guy across the map. The game does not care. Your team still has zero points unless that kill wins you the round or helps in doing so.

Counter strike is played at two levels. The micro-level which is you, your cross-hair, and what you see on your screen and your micro-level mind games with a specific individual from the enemy team. And the macro-level, which is kind of a game of chess and rock/paper/scissors both at the same time where 10 players are moving dynamically across the map and reacting and responding to events in the game. Every player MUST always be aware of the status of the macro-level game at any point in the round. That is to say, you need to be aware of the location of your teammates, known enemy positions and possible/expected enemy positions as well as any other relevant info you get or is relayed to you during the course of the round. This should be second-nature, you kind of do it sub-consciously. For this you need to learn to quickly glance at the map, every few seconds, and stay alert to absorb any info provided from team comms. This is a necessary and important skill you must master. You need to do this at all times, everyone does that, and there are no excuses for not doing it. Based on all this information, you form a mental picture of how the round is developing and you can then ask yourself the question, given the available information, what can I as an individual and/or my team as a collective do at this point in time, which will give my team the best possible chaance of winning the round while taking the minimum amount of riisk. Notice there is no mention of kills in all this. Kills are helpful only if they are necessary to execute the plan that you formed with your team.

While we are on that subject, all kills are not created equal. Mowing down five guys with glocks will show 5 kills next to your name on the scoreboard, but your teammate who went to bombsite A and one tapped the awper which gave you control of the site and most likely the round, has 1 kill which is 10 times more important and valuable then your easy five kills. Any decent observer of the game, will ignore your 5 anti-eco kills. Also contrary to popular opinion just because you got the most kills in a round or even the most kills during the game does not mean your kills were the most valuable or you had the the biggest contribution in winning the round/game. You as a player will be judged on how well you did YOUR role in the context of a specific round. Did you make the right decisions based on the information available to you? in that round at that point? Did you hit the shots you were "supposed to hit" and win the duels you were supposed to win? Yes? You have an A grade, congratulations. Did you go above and beyond that? You have a distinction.

If you are not the guy being setup for kills or the enemy generally do not attack your site, you will not have a high amount of kills, no matter how good your aim is, or how good you are individually. Bottom line, know what the scoreboard can tell about the performance of the players and what it cannot tell, and use it accordingly. Last example, your teammate got the entry and you killed 2 people camping in post-plant when they did not know where you are or they were fighting other people and you shot them in the back. His kill is more important then your 2 kills. enough said on people's obsession with kills.

ALWAYS play to win the round. All good counter strike players play and do whatever is necessary to win the round, while taking on the minimal riisk possible. All bad counter strike players, play for kills and whine about getting baited or dieing, or brag about their kills if they are doing well in that department. It is a team game, you win and lose as a team. If running with your kniife out and dieing will give your team the best possible chaance of winning the round, be fearless in doing so, and have zero hesitation in following the optimal course of action. You can have 5 kills in a round and still lose the round, and in that case, no one cares about your 5 kills. On the other hand, you can have zero kills and still win the round for your team. For example, by having a great read, baiting for your teammate, throwing a great flash etc. etc.

The round is dynamic and constantly evolving over time. You need to be able to adjust and adopt at the drop of a dime, as everything will not always go according to your initial plan, teammates may die, other team may make an unexpected move, someone may fail a smoke, etc etc. So you need to constantly analyse the state of the round as of that moment, and make the best possible play which will give you the best chaance of winning the round while taking the least amount of riisk. For example, you plan to execute on B at start of the round out of spawn. You move 5 towards B and see 4 CTs rushing towards you from B site, don't be stubborn and dumb and say we are still going B come hell or high-water. You abort your initial plan, because as of that moment, given the information available to you, it is not the optimal plan and you take the path of least resistance and go A.

Most outcomes of rounds are decided based on which team makes the best mid-round decisions. You (mostly) default as T and gather information. Some early round kills may be exchanged and other stuff may happen. And both sides are left with some sort of X vs X situation. 5 vs 4, 2 vs 3, 3 vs 4 etc. etc. The side which plays this situation the best while working on their strengths and shielding their weakness will win the round. In order to do this you need to be able to react fast, extremely fast, based on something that happens, a window of opportunity may open just for a second, if you as an individual and your team as a collective are able seize that opportunity you will stand as victors, if you are too slow and indecisive, that window will be long gone, and you are back to square one.

Take initiative when it is needed. If you pushing long as T on dust 2, and no one is smoking/flashing CT or holding the push through CT smoke and you are further back, take initiative and hold the goddam smoke, and call to your team, ct smoke is held so they have one less thing to worry about and they can focus on the site. Plug holes, which are not plugged. And be alert enough to recognise things which no one is attending to. Be alert and respond quickly to what your teammate is saying/asking from you. Keep the information processing time of your brain as low as possible. You don't need to be TOLD everything, use your own brain as well. If someone is not holding a choke point, hold the god-dam angle and call it. also play with your team and listen to your teammates at all times. Team-play plus Tactics plus Playing smart will always win over individual skill, even at the highest level. That is how the game is designed with the low time to kill damage model, one man is not supposed to get more then 1 kill, or 2 on a good day. Anything more is a mega bonus. Individual skill can win you rounds here and there but it is teamplay and tactics which win you the game.

Know your role in the round, no one is going to explicitly state your role, in a pug environment, you need to have enough game sense to understand what your best role would be given your position and place in the round. This is not team cs, you need to be able to improvise on the spot. If you are hitting a site as a team and you happen to be at the front of the pack. No prizes for guessing your job is to entry. Good players will judge you on how well you did "your job" and not how many kills you get. As an entry 90 percent of the time you will die and that is expected. If you get one kill you have done great, if you get 2, you are a God. But that is not your job. Your job is to run in fearlessly, be as hard to hit as possible, and a) create space for your team b) give fast, accurate, useful and concise info about the enemy positions/guns/damage status so that your teammates have the best chaance of trading you. If you run in and die but gave great info and make space for your team, you have done your job. Your marks are 10 out of 10 for your role in that round. If you can't hear your team, or your teammates can't hear you, sort it out in advance or as soon as the issue is spotted. Don't mention it after the fact.

When you hit a site as a team, key buzzword is TRADE, TRADE, TRADE and then play the post-plant. That can only happen if people do their role. Entry runs in like a maniac, and gives info and people following him, should have proper spacing with the entry and also amongst themselves. If you are too far apart, and run in one by one, you will all die against any good player. If you are too close, you will still die and get mowed down by one guy. You need to have the appropriate spacing so that you are able to swing just as the the enemy is shooting or done shooting your teammate and his recoil has not reset. So you move in when he is most vulnerable and kill him boom. This is a good bait. And that is your job if you are behind the entry. You are the baiter, it is not a derogatory term, it is your role. In-fact if you do not bait correctly and ensure the kill, you have not done your job and you are bad at your role. you need to do it well/correctly if your team wants to win.

Always play as a team, and with your team. If someone suggests something play with him and listen to him, if you can't do that for whatever reason or you have a bettter plan, then say so clearly and loudly so there is no confusion. If someone asks for a flash, that flash needs to come in the next 2 seconds, not 10 hours from now. Also it is a good idea to say "flash" when you throw the flash and "bang" when it pops so your teammate does not get confused distinguishing between your flash and enemy flashes and other random noise/chaos and peek at wrong time or get blind by enemy flash or even your own flash. Last but not least, remember the objective and keep the objective above everything else. If it means letting your teammate die, so be it, his life is not important. If completing the objective requires you to help your teammate, and dance infront of him with your kniife out and act as a meat shield, then that is what you do. You or your teammates are not the center of the universe. The only thing that matters is whether your team gets a point at the end of the round or not.

One final point about a common mistake that many people make, do not judge or justify how good a decision is by its outcome. By the same token, a good decision does not become bad by an unfavourable outcome. That's dumb. You or your team can do something which is stupid as hell but still win the round, but that does not mean what you did was right. It just means you got lucky, or hit some amazing shots or your enemy fucked up. But no one would say you are a good cs player or you are a good cs team, despite the fact that the outcome was in your favour. For example, lets say you have 3 teammates alive as a T and the enemy only has one. You go B as a group and see/hear that the lone CT is on bombsite B. You have to make a decision here whether you go back to A or go B. The criteria for the best decision is that "it should give your team the best possible chaance of winning the round while assuming the minimum amount of riisk". In this scenario, the correct answer, based on this criteria is to go back to A. You could go B and kill the guy on B or trade him and still win the round. But that will not make your bad decision good. It will still be a bad decision and any analyst or commentator will say you are a bad team or a bad cs player for making that decision. This is because doing so was a riisk as there is a chaance, albeit a small one, that the CT kills all 3 and you lose the round. There is a fine line between stupidity and bravery, know the difference between the two. An analogy of this situation is that as the Ts if you go B you are bettting that if you role a dice you will NOT get a SIX. Where getting a six represents the low probability that the enemy will Kill all 3 of you. But there is still a SMALL RiISK that you MIGHT get a six, which is a riisk taken for no additional reward. So be smart and don't play dice, and do whatever is necessary to guarantee the round. It could be the case that you lose the round because of your stupidity and you get money fucked and lose the following rounds and maybe even lose the whole game. All this because of one dumb act of bravado. If there were 2 top tier pro teams playing a big tournament, and they were in the same situation as above, the Ts would never go B and always go A, because they put ensuring the objective above their egos and play good counter strike, based on sound principles. They don't do this because they are scared or pussies or they feel their aim is not good. They do this because they are not stupid. riisk taken for no reward is dumb and it does not make you a stud.

Long story short, in order to be consistent as a player and as a team, always take the path of least resistance that minimises the riisk incurred in achieving your objective. This is not rocket science, most of the above is common sense, and that is how the whole world plays counter strike. These are the fundamentals and basics of the game, that a player at any level should be familiar with.

Some Random Tid Bits

Rules for Rotation: Every site has an "anchor" player. If help is needed on the other site, he will stay put. He will only rotate if one of two conditions are met. Otherwise he will never rotate.

1. Bomb is Down and your team has complete control over the bomb

2. The bomb is spotted and the enemy team does not have enough time to go back to the other site.

Contrary to popular belief mere spotting of bomb is NOT sufficient condition for the anchor to rotate. Because the other team can run strategies where they show bomb on one site and have 1/2 guys lurking on the other site (or not). When your anchor rotates they kill him or let him go and have the site for free. And the bomb goes back to the other site. you most likely lose this round.

Your role as a CT player:

1. Try to get advance info of enemy attack

2. If attack commences, delay and stall as long as possible with nades etc to buy time for back up to arrive so back up has a greater chaance to retake the site and defuse the bomb in time

3. Once the enemies starts coming into the site, stand your ground and fight to your death. Don't run away (by running away I mean do not leave the site premises completely and give the site for free, but this is contextual, maybe you got a quick kill or two, you have the right to leave the site and use bettter numbers to retake, you are also ok to dance around obstacles within the site, and delay the plant for as long as possible by staying alive for as long as possible and taking a fight only when it is impossible to avoid). Also no one expects you to kill all 5 if the Ts hit your site. If you get 1, you did OK, if you get 2 you did great. Anything more, and you are a God. One exception to this rule is when you are playing a retake setup on one site (usually a site which is easier to retake). In that case, it is OK to just spot for info and don't fight. Or just use your nades to stall without taking fights or riisking your life. If you get smoked off completely, it is OK to play retake in that situation as well, all this is contextual.

Communication: Call numbers and call the bomb. You can also see the bomb on the map if your teammates see the bomb. So irrespective of his call of bomb, you should know when bomb is spotted, screaming "B, B , B" is not a good call, the more you progress through the ranks, the more these kind of calls will be punished heavily by the enemy. I will put my hand up and say I am guilty of this mistake as well (even though I am aware of it). Unless you call All "A" or All long, your teammates would know they need to watch out for any possible lurkers or flankers while they rotate to come to help you. Otherwise they can run with their kniife out, without any fear, to get to you as fast as possible. Calling numbers and calling bomb will also make you less vulnerable to fakes.

Final Thoughts: Be positive and respect all your teammates, irrespective of their ability in a video game. If you are bettter then someone, it does not give you license to be a dickhead. If you want respect, give respect, no matter how good you are, no one will respect you, if you act like an asshole. Know the difference between constructive and polite criticism, communicated in a respectful manner, so that the other person does not get offended and degrading a person for making mistakes or being bad at the game. It's OK to be bad at a video game, or be bad at anything else for that matter.

Also helpful tips or identification of mistakes, here and there, is good, but don't bombard people with so much feedback that they feel overwhelmed. Or fear that every single time they fuck up even slightly 4 people will laugh at them or yell in their ears that they suck. In such a case, they will get up-tight and play nervous and also lose all confidence and second-guess every single move they make. More likely then not they will play even worse then how they normally do, and you will even lose any minor contribution you would have got from them. So its a lose-lose situation for all parties and it will not help you to win more games of counter strike.

Expect people to play at their skill level, if someone is a lower skill level, he is going to play like a low-skill level player, this is expected and there should be no surprises, and he is not going to improve overnight or right in the middle of that game, right after your "live coaching".

If you are relying on such players to win the round for you, or play any role in winning the round, you will always be frustrated. As that is simply not going to happen. You are also putting undue pressure on him to do what he simply lacks the skill to do. mechanical or otherwise. Just let them do their thing and have fun, while providing moderate amount of guidance and if they do something good, consider it a bonus. A Christmas present. With that approach you will always be pleased by how they are playing. And they will also have a bettter time in game.

TLDR: If you can take away just one thing from all this, be continuously obsessed with one question and one question only (both as an individual and as a team) and that question is "how are we winning this god-dam round?" if you can articulate an answer to that question that you can explain to your little brother or sister, with regards to the logic of HOW and WHY your plan should work, you will automatically become twice the player and twice the team you are. I can guarantee this much.

It is a useful exercise to unbind the scoreboard key, there is nothing of value in the scoreboard while you are in game. Scoreboard is a reflection (and in many cases an inaccurate reflection) of what happened in the past. It is only a distraction and takes your mind off the present moment. In 90 percent of the cases, the scoreboard is of little benefit while in game and in more cases then not it has a detrimental effect on your and your team's performance. Your job is to focus on the present moment and the current round. Each round is an independent event (not exactly but it is a useful approximation for the current context). If you did well in the past, you may play overconfident, overextend or do something stupid and cause your team to lose the current round.

If you did badly in the past, you may hesitate to make the right move because you lost confidence or you start playing scared. Most likely this will have a snowball effect, and you will under perform for the rest of the game, in general. What happened in the past is gone. It cannot be changed. Focus on the controllables and the only thing within your control is with respect to the best thing you can do, in the present moment, to help your team win the current round. This is also a useful life lesson.

Thanks