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by loner
By now you've assuredly mastered the original 10 Commandments of Counter-Strike. You've pubbed for a long time, and you're pretty good. People respect you in the pub, and you think you're pretty good yourself. It's at this point you realize that you have only just begun to play Counter-Strike. The real fun begins when you leave the pub and play The Counter-Strike Scrimmage. Or maybe you've been playing with the MFO Scrimteam and are just trying to find out what you need to work on. In either case, leave your pubbing shoes at the door, because everything changes the moment you step into The Scrimmage. Without further ado, the Scrim Commandments as recorded by Moses:
1. Thou Shalt Get Five.
You can't start a scrim without the proper number of players, and unless otherwise specified in #findscrim or #calscrim, you need to have 5 players on your team. GET FIVE BEFORE YOU LOOK FOR A SCRIM. When advertising in #findscrim or #calscrim on irc.gamesurge.net, the customary pratice is to advertise, in this order, the number of players (5v5) - Ours/Your Server and Location of Server (West, Central, East) - League (CAL-O, CAL-IM, OGL-Modem, etc.) - Requested map (de_dust2, de_aztec, de_rats_mice_2k_final_beta_7.23232424234, etc.) In other words, a good advertisement would look something like this:
5v5 - Yours Central - CAL-O - de_dust2 - PM
The PM is added as the primary way to contact you for this scrim, but is not necessary because no one is going to contact you via AIM or MSN if you're in IRC anyway, are they? Remember that #findscrim and #calscrim have timers set on how often you may spam your ads—if you go over the limit even once, it’s a temporary ban. Many teams have IRC bots that take care of the advertising for them. Google can help you here.
2. Thou Shalt Go Live On Three
This probably goes without saying, but if you've never scrimmed before you may not realize what is going on, or what you are supposed to do to initiate the scrim. To signal that the scrim will begin, the server should sv_restart three times, initiated either manually by the server admin or by an lo3.cfg file, also initiated by the server admin (which has the added benefit of pissing off nearly everyone in the server). After the third restart, the match is live. This is not the time to TK.
3. Thou Shalt Have One Leader, and One Leader Only. Until he dies.
One person shall be designated the team leader pre-match. Eventually it becomes understood who will be the leader on a set team, but when your team first begins to scrim, or if you join a pug (pick-up game, see #findpug for details) you may need to discuss who on the team can best take command. It is vital that the leader have a microphone and be actively willing to use Voice Comm (i.e. no whiny parents around trying to sleep). Once the leader is determined, it is his job to call the strats for every round, as well as to provide direction during the round itself. However, the leader is not invincible, and sometimes will die early on, leaving the team to wonder what to do next. It is absolutely necessary that a secondary leader be designated pregame as well. Should the leader die early in the round without the team having fully executed their strategy, or if the strategy called by the original leader results in his death and the strategy no longer appears viable, it is up to the secondary leader to make any in-round changes to get the team regrouped and refocused on where they intend to go, or what they need to defend. This is more important on the Terrorist side of maps than the Counter-Terrorist side. While the Terrorist side is more of a dictatorship, the CT side is more of a democracy, where every player has equal voice. Which leads us to the next commandment...
4. When the call is made, THOU SHALT ROTATE
The problem that most teams have as Counter-Terrorists is timing their rotation. Granted, it is difficult at times to rotate, but the most important thing to remember is trust. If your teammate says "I think there might be some at B," you don't have to rotate right away. In fact, at this point it's better that you don't. However, the very SECOND your teammate shouts "BOMB RUSHING LONG A!" into the microphone, even if you heard one hiding in the opposite direction, as long as you are able to run without getting shot in the back, RUN. You stand a much better chance of winning if all 5 players are present BEFORE the bomb is planted, and once the bomb is planted your chances go down drastically. The players at long A (or wherever the other team may be rushing) should make all attempts to hold until they are overwhelmed. However, once their line has been breached, they should make every effort to STAY ALIVE, not retake the bombsite. Hide as best you can until backup arrives. Attacking 5 opposing players one at a time most often proves futile, but 5 players attacking 5 players while one of them is trying to plant is often successful.
5. Thou shalt play for the objectives at all times.
This includes buying kits as often as possible on CT side. But the most important thing about playing for objectives is to remember that in a scrim, there is no glory in killing off the opposing team if it doesn’t result in the winning of the round. As T, if you are the bomb carrier your first objective is to safely get to the bombsite and plant. If someone stands in between you and that objective, then by all means shoot him, but never stop to shoot someone that can either be dealt with by your teammates without endangering yourself or is too far off to keep you from planting.
As a Counter-Terrorist, you must always play to defuse the bomb. If you couldn’t afford a kit, you must have the presence of mind to know that if the bomb is planted you have to absolutely sprint to the bombsite in order to defuse. Stalking your opponent is not an option when you don’t have a kit—you’re going to have to retake the bombsite by brute force. Pray that your aim is on. Keep in mind that while you do have more time when you have a kit, if your teammates are already under fire, stalking one opponent to kill him may result in the deaths of two or three of your teammates if they are trying to defend and are waiting on your support. The most important thing to remember as a CT is that the more of you that are alive, the better your chances are to retake a bombsite. And your teammates can only stay alive so long without backup before they are overwhelmed. Rotate.
6. If there is time, thou shalt fake the defuse.
If you are a CT and there is ample time, faking the defuse can often mean the difference between a won and lost round. If there is even more time, faking twice is even better, because while many players anticipate one fake, few anticipate two. If you know where your opponent is coming from, press the use key once on the bomb and then immediately move your crosshairs to where you expect your opponent to show from. If he does not show up within 3 to 4 seconds, fake again. If he still does not show up, you may have to go for it, depending on how much time you have. But remember that a good fake can’t take the place of a good ninja defuse. If you happen to surprisingly retake a bombsite by yourself and your other opponents have run off in search of you, defusing (with a kit of course, stealing a defuse is nearly impossible without a kit) can often unexpectedly steal a round. Remember to use your head and know when to fake and when to go for it. Don’t try to defuse with other enemies alive unless you know that they’re a good distance off.
7. Thou shalt flash, nade, and smoke relentlessly.
With all the emphasis on rotation, you would think that as a CT you could blame your teammates for not backing you up all the time. Well the fact is, no matter how fast your opponents are rushing, rotation still takes time. If your position is being rushed hard, it is your job to first call the rush so that your teammates can begin rotating, and second to begin throwing flashes and HE grenades as much as possible. Flashbangs are not just for blinding before you launch an attack—they also serve the much greater purpose of slowing down your opponents’ rush. A well-placed flash will provide three to four more seconds of rotation time for your teammates, and remember that you have two flashes. Often you will have a partner helping you; they too should launch an all-out flash and grenade assault. You and your partner should also throw HE grenades in pairs—this will maximize the damage on your opponents and often result in at least one kill. Remember that if your opponents are coming VERY quickly you can often throw your HEs directly in front of where they will be a few seconds later and they won’t have time to slow down, landing directly on your grenade and providing you with an easy kill. Grenades are key to slowing down a rush. You MUST throw them while your teammates are rotating, and don’t throw them wastefully early on. As a matter of fact, never throw grenades unless you know exactly where your opponent is and what use your grenades will provide. But when your opponents are rushing, think grenades first, guns second.
As a terrorist, smokes and flashes are much more useful than HE grenades are. Often as a terrorist you will find yourself on the business end of a vicious choke point in the map, and the only way to overcome this is if your opponents can’t see you. Every player should smoke and flash choke points as much as possible. But remember, when a choke point is flashed, GO. Don’t wait for your teammates to go, just GO. You should expect your teammates to follow. If they don’t, you can blame them for baiting. And no…
8. THOU SHALT NOT BAIT.
If camping was the worst thing you could do in The Ten Commandments, then baiting is by far the worst thing you can do that will be covered in The Scrim Commandments. Baiting is the same as “kill-stealing” in a pub, but with the added audacity of leaving your teammate to die while you wait for the opportune moment to strike (often as soon as your teammate dies). Just don’t. Going out in groups is always safer than going out single file. Yes, someone will probably die in the initial rush, but one dying is always better for the team than the whole team dying because they all baited each other. And remember that your teammates are not baiting just because you died first if they are right behind you. Often the first player out has to take one for the team. But by the same token you shouldn’t always find yourself at the back of the pack either. Be fair. If you’re first in spawn you should be the first out launching the assault as well (assuming you’re rushing as Ts). Baiting is bad; trusting your teammates is key to forming a good team, and if you don’t back up your boys, there can be no trust.
AND KILLS DON’T MATTER IN A MATCH, SON.
9. Thou shalt know when to clutch (and when not to).
You’re the last CT left and the bomb is planted. What do you do? Press the tab key (or whatever you happen to have bound to +showscores). You must know exactly who you’re up against (if it’s their clutch man or their worst player), and how many you’re up against before you face the first opponent, otherwise you may try to defuse and not realize that there are more opponents just waiting for you to make your move. You must also keep in mind how much money you currently have and if your team will have money the next round. You have to think that if you have an awp, you are not going to overcome more than one or two opponents by yourself. You may choose to drop the awp if there are other guns around, but by the same token, there is no shame in saving the awp against five opposing players—the money saved by not losing this valuable weapon is often enough to provide a net profit of more rounds later on by throwing a round that would be very difficult to win. But remember that a full-on assault with an awp will get you killed almost every single time; if you do try to retake a bombsite by yourself, or even with one partner, drop the awp, because you aren’t going to take out 5 opponents with the single bullets and slow reload time of the awp. Five on one situations are most often times where you should save ANY gun that you have—winning one of these is VERY difficult, and you would probably be better served waiting on terrorists to leave the bombsite and kill a few, or just hide with your gun. However, if you saved and all you have is a USP then by all means, give it a shot. You’ve got nothing to lose when you saved, and saving your USP (or glock) is definitely cause for ridicule by your teammates. Don’t find yourself in that situation. Use your head. And remember that if you do successfully clutch, there is about a 4 second delay between the time you defuse the bomb (or the bomb goes off, as it were) and when the next round starts. Pick up an awp, your teammates will always be grateful. And lastly…
10. Thou shalt take it easy.
A scrim is not the end of the world, and neither is a real match. Most likely your life and future will not depend on winning every single match (unless you have some weird arrangement with the Mafia or are attending the CPL…). You will lose; it’s inevitable. And it’s OK. Try to refrain from yelling at your teammates, if you’re unhappy they likely are already unhappy as well and don’t need your verbal “support” to let them know how they’re doing. Sure blowing off a little steam is good, just keep your finger off the keys while you do it. Also, be sure to let your teammates know when they do a good job, especially if you’re the leader. A little support can go a long way.
If you’ve read all of these Commandments, and really try to follow them, you should be well on your way to successful scrims. Keep in mind that if your team has set strategies, it is up to you to know them backwards and forwards. Know your positions and rotation routes. Know where your teammates will be playing, and know that if they die, their spot is vulnerable and probably is being attacked. If your team planted the bomb, don’t run off—stick around and cover it until the last minute. Flashes out after you plant. Using your head and not your crosshairs is often what wins scrims. If you can learn to use your head, your aim won’t have to be perfect because you’ll be killing your opponents even before they know you’re there. Good luck!
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