Drastic Improvement
While this guide is about the competitive aspect of CrossFire, much of it applies to FPS in general.
A word of warning. Throughout this guide I will (typically) make no distinction between the value to teams or the value to individuals; although, again, much of it applies to both. It is up to the reader to consider which applies to which. My only advice is to think of the "team" as a single organism with its own ultimate goal rather than a collection of players.
A second word of warning. This guide is a collection of miscellaneous concepts and ideas. Their structure (or application) are in no way organized or refined.
With that said, let's begin.
1. You need to want it.
This is a video game, but becoming "great", or becoming the absolute best at playing it, still takes a lot of work. This seems obvious, but if you don't have the drive to improve, then you will never be truly good at this game. Before you even begin, ask yourself how badly you want it. Understand that some days you will feel like quitting, and understand that you will need to want to improve more than you want to stop playing. In the words of David Sirlin, winning isn't for everyone.
2. Pick one gun, and stick with it.
I don't care what anyone says, constantly switching your guns only hurts you in the long run. It's one thing to say, "I'd rather AK", and then devote yourself to learning the AK. I'm talking about you "hybrids" who can't decide between the AK, the M4, or the AWM. If you try to excel with each, you will never truly be great with any. They are simply too different, and every moment you spend practicing one is a moment you could have spent furthering your understanding of another. The same can be said for your in-game settings. Set your DPI to 400, get your in game sens comfortable, and choose a comfortable rez. Changing only hurts consistency.
3. Remove all emotion from your play.
I spent a lot of time angry at this game. Angry at cheaters, at other players, angry at myself or even the game itself. I spent time ****ing around, just trying to have fun with the game. Unfortunately, neither of these mindsets are very useful when it comes to actually improving.
The best thing you can do is remove all emotion from your gameplay. That isn't to say you can't have fun, but fun shouldn't be your main priority if you're hoping to become great at this game.
A common argument to this is, "But I get better when I'm hyped up", or ****ed off, or whatever emotion they claim helps their play. My only response is, would not it be better to play at that level regardless of what emotions you feel?
And then there are (typically more frequent) times when you have the negative side of emotional play. Playing poorly in an important setting can be one of the worst feelings in the world, and it's hard to distance yourself from that. Any long-term investment of time becomes an emotional investment, whatever it is.
Finally, understand that your emotional concepts of the game should be gone. Remove all aspects of "peek advantage is so gay" from your vocabulary; understand that it is a fundamental part of the game, and accept it for what it is. Do this with all game mechanics.
4. Play the damn game
Play it a lot. Play it until your keyboard breaks. Until your mousepad starts fraying, until your eyes are heavy with sleep. Play it with as many different people as you can, and as often as possible. The more time you invest in the game - moving, aiming, whatever - the more proficient you will be at it. There is simply no substitute for experience. Play against friends, rivals, enemies; do whatever it takes to motivate yourself to keep grinding away.
Play "real" matches, not just scrims or pubs. Play every half out, play best of 3s with overtimes. Play every moment of every round of every half as seriously as you can. Practicing tournament sets makes you better at one thing: winning tournament sets. Practicing glitching into boxes just isn't going to do it.
Never throw rounds away. Never stop trying your absolute best against anyone, for any reason. Don't "glaze over", or play on autopilot. No matter how tired you are, force yourself to play in the moment at all times. Make your opponents aware that you have no idea what trolling or slacking off is. Let your win record speak for itself.
Just play the game.
5. When you lose, understand why you are losing.
Let's say your team plays against Carbon on Port, and loses BL 7-3. So you go in your next practice, and grind a dozen Port scrims out. You scrim Carbon again, and...do about the same. Why?
Perhaps you were taking site in your initial scrim, and they were just retaking you with ease. Perhaps you were losing all the initial trades. Perhaps you couldn't get onto site, or they were catching you with a quick flank each time.
It alarms me that so many players and teams have bad habits or flaws that they are unaware of. You have the ability to save a replay and look over it as a team. You have the ability to see exactly what you are doing wrong relative to the other team, and to address it in practice. Do it.
6. Back 2 Basics.
There are certain tactics that top level players and teams use to give themselves an advantage over the others. At this point in the game, it's apparent that certain tactics are, quite simply, better than others. This includes things like "playstyle".
Ignore having a "good playstyle". Realize that, given the information in any given situation, there are exactly 2 plays. There is the best possible decision...and mistakes. Any time you make an incorrect play, it is a mistake. Even if you aren't punished for it, it should be noted and improved upon. As time passes, your mistakes will slowly phase out of your play, and you will be left with only the fundamentally optimal lines of play.
Also, create a gameplan. Go into every match with some predetermined idea of what you want to do. Like any skill, creating this gameplan can be developed and improved upon. If you find that it isn't working mid-game, back off from your opponents and reconsider. You have two and a half minutes per round. Take what you know of how they are playing, and search for weaknesses. From that, create a new gameplan and execute it. Once you find it works, mercilessly exploit it until your opponent can stop it. Then repeat these steps, noting what your opponent does that so effectively stops your plan.
As time goes on, you will discover which tactics work in which situations. As these tactics are, ultimately, what will win you your games, they are what you should spend the majority of the time practicing.
7. Play to learn
I see so many teams and players caring too much about their win record rather than actively improving. If you're in a scrim against a team with a phenomenal B-hold, why try to hit A? Slam into B over and over (with a different approach each time; remember, adjust your gameplan) until you find what works. Then, come tournament time, any B hold you come up against will seem relatively easy.
Too many teams get caught up with the idea of, "omg its not working, we have to try something else," meaning abandoning the goal of taking B at all. Or they don't change anything, and keep dying over and over. Play to improve, not just to win scrims.
Now, with those basic rules out of the way, let's get to the heart of the matter: theory and fundamentals.
Theory in of itself does not make you a better player. Rather, it is a tool that helps you understand the game on a fundamental level. Telling you how peek advantage works doesn't tell you how to subtly time your peeks so that you maintain constant advantage, or how to use aggressive movement to cut off options.
Theory is simply a verbal description of the purpose behind individual concepts backing a strategy. By learning the theory, you get a deeper understanding of the game at a much lower cost than through trial and error. Theory in of itself will rarely "solve" a specific situation. But it will always give you deeper insight. Learn the theory behind any given map, situation, site-take, or strategy. The faster you understand why a move is good, the quicker you can broaden your understanding and begin to apply it in your gameplay.
With that said, understand now that if you had the choice between being the smartest player in the game, or being the most technically proficient (aim, movement), then you would always choose the second. More on this later, but keep that idea in the back of your mind.
______________
Tactics are any decision you make. Any actual input you choose to make in-game is a tactic; it's a mean to establish an end (the end being your strategy). A "tactic" is flashing B site before you enter. The "strategy" is planting the bomb at B.
There are only 4 types of tactics.
1. Guaranteed.
2. Limited.
3. Useless.
4. Dangerous.
Guaranteed tactics are those in which your opponent has no reasonable answer to. The ones which give you free map control, free damage, or free kills. The ones which guarantee your opponent can't look at you, or guarantee that your opponent loses their isolated players without being able to trade. Basing your gameplay around these tactics will give you the strongest lines of play.
Limited tactics are your basic mix-up. These are the moves based on situational advantage, where your opponent still has a few options instead of zero. If you can create these opportunities, you have a good chance at tricking or trapping your opponent. Many of these tactics are based on the difficulty found in negating them, or in a very favorable risk-reward payoff. Others are based on guesses or near-guaranteed trap. Others are more defensive, and are designed to get you out of a bad position. These tactics are the basis of "outplaying" your opponent, but are not quite the same thing. More on this later.
Useless tactics are, well...useless. There is something better that you could do. You may trick someone, but in general your opponent could always "deal" with it.
Dangerous tactics are those which give options to your opponent rather than take them away, or force you to remove options of yours. You should stop doing them immediately.
Of the 4 tactics listed above, you should focus on guaranteed beyond anything. Only if you cannot do something guaranteed should you consider your limited options, and even then only if the limited option is low risk. The reason for this is very simple; why would you give your opponent a chance to out-guess you and gain an advantage? If you cannot do something low-risk, or guaranteed, fall back and reposition to maintain or gain advantage.
The flowchart goes like this:
1. Can I do something guaranteed?
Yes: do it.
No:
2. Can I do something limited with no/low risk?
Yes: do it.
No:
3. Fall back and reposition myself.
Did you notice anything? Useless and Dangerous tactics are not in my flow chart. You should not be using them. Ever.
Another argument against this is one of predictability. Is this style predictable? Yes, it can be. Understand that it does not matter how predictable you are, as long as your opponent is unable to stop it.
Outplaying someone is essentially tricking them. And, since tricking them implicitly states that they can "get" you if they guess correctly, you should try to eliminate this situation as often as possible. In a 1v1, don't spend all of your time maneuvering around the map trying to trick your opponent into thinking that you went to A instead of B. Simply clear the site you're at, and guarantee that you get the bomb down with a solid position to hold it from. The best way to win at almost any competitive game is constant advantage over time. Thus, when you have an advantage, do everything you can to maintain and expand it until the round ends. This means acting immediately on gained positional or numeral (frags, damage) advantages or perceived weaknesses in your opponent.
In essence, what you should seek to do is the optimal thing at all times. Ignore what your "guesses" and "ideas" are as to what your opponents are doing. Every time you try to out-guess them, you give them a chance of outplaying you. Why would you ever give your opponent more options than they had previously? Simply play the best possible lines you can, and allow your opponents to make the mistakes for you.
Remember, anything that is less than the best possible play, is a mistake. Try to reduce these as much as possible, both in how "big" these mistakes are, and in how often they happen.
How? Most players, when making a mistake, do not structure their learning to actively improve. Even when their mistakes are obvious, such as dying, they do not take a moment to consider how they could fix it. They lash out: at the game, at the situation, at themselves. Take a moment - after you make whatever call-out is necessary for your team - to ignore what is happening on your screen. Think back, and try to see exactly why you died. What gave your position away? Why did you get peeked, why did you miss your shot?
After the game, go over those saved replays as mentioned in the introductory rules section. Look for not only the large-scale mistakes of your deaths, but look at all of the tiny, micro-mistakes you make throughout the round. Why did you quick-switch your gun? Why did you make a step, why did you move back and forth between A-long and Mid when your teammates had your back? Why did you flash and then wait 5 seconds to push? Remember, even if you are not punished for your mistake, your mistakes are still there.
To have the "tightest" possible play - the play that leads to the fewest possible mistakes - you must base your strategy on the greatest number of guaranteed tactics that you can. That means if your opponent overextends a single player, you take advantage of it. No matter how inconvenient it is what you were trying to do before they overextended, why would you not simply collapse on the player and take the free frag? I want to go over some of the most common "mistakes" that I see made.
1. Aim.
The actual definition of having good aim is being able to move your crosshair where you want it on your screen without thinking. You should practice this until you hate it. Practice it in TDs, in FFAs, in a private Room with friends. Practice it until your hand cramps. Then, go and practice it more. Practice until you never miss. There is no excuse for having bad aim if you want to be a good player. There simply isn't.
2. Movement.
There is no reason to ever make noise, unless you're rushing balls-out to defuse or help teammates or take advantage of an opening.
Likewise, unless you are boosting or jumping onto something, there is no reason to ever jump. Bunnyhopping is always a suboptimal play. Asian-walk, K-walk, crab walk, ledgewalk, shiftwalk. Practice until you make no noise. Until you can move around the map in perfect silence, always.
3. Peeking.
Don't get peeked. Period. It doesn't matter if you have the coolest, most unexpected spot in the world. Why would you give your opponent the chance to check it and have peek advantage over you? Why would you give them an option where, before, they had none. Play the optimal line; shoulder peek whatever angle you're holding. Shoulder peek it over and over, even if 2 minutes into the round your entire team hasn't seen anyone. Even if the other team hasn't pushed you in 12 rounds.
This is a good point to remind you that, ultimately, you want to adhere to your flow chart of tactics. A prime example is holding Mexico's water as a GR. If you are boosted above the water, your opponent should not look up as they peek; it's infeasible. This is an example of a low-risk "limited" tactic. You expect it to trap your opponent moreso than trick them. However, it's much better to have a guaranteed tactic of repeatedly shoulder-peeking from A doors, or from B arches, or from behind pickle. The guaranteed advantage is that; guaranteed.
If you lose a game in a match, the odds are that you will counter-pick a second map. People tend to pick "their" map when they get into a tournament. A map they have "mastered", or tend to do well on. Remove that concept from your mind. Your team should be great at every single map, should have strategies and experience on all of them.
Instead of picking a map that you "do good" on, look at your opponents' tendencies. Look at why you lost the map you did. Look at the type of gameplay your opponents were taking advantage of, or were using to win. Then, pick a map which reduces that gameplay. If they were slowly playing picks on Black Widow, then rotating back and forth around...perhaps Ankara is not the best choice, even if it is "your" map. Mexico, or Sub Base, would be far better. If they were playing a hyper-aggressive CT side, then you should choose a map which limits their ability to do so.
Pick to the situation.
A word of warning. Throughout this guide I will (typically) make no distinction between the value to teams or the value to individuals; although, again, much of it applies to both. It is up to the reader to consider which applies to which. My only advice is to think of the "team" as a single organism with its own ultimate goal rather than a collection of players.
A second word of warning. This guide is a collection of miscellaneous concepts and ideas. Their structure (or application) are in no way organized or refined.
With that said, let's begin.
Introductory Rules
1. You need to want it.
This is a video game, but becoming "great", or becoming the absolute best at playing it, still takes a lot of work. This seems obvious, but if you don't have the drive to improve, then you will never be truly good at this game. Before you even begin, ask yourself how badly you want it. Understand that some days you will feel like quitting, and understand that you will need to want to improve more than you want to stop playing. In the words of David Sirlin, winning isn't for everyone.
2. Pick one gun, and stick with it.
I don't care what anyone says, constantly switching your guns only hurts you in the long run. It's one thing to say, "I'd rather AK", and then devote yourself to learning the AK. I'm talking about you "hybrids" who can't decide between the AK, the M4, or the AWM. If you try to excel with each, you will never truly be great with any. They are simply too different, and every moment you spend practicing one is a moment you could have spent furthering your understanding of another. The same can be said for your in-game settings. Set your DPI to 400, get your in game sens comfortable, and choose a comfortable rez. Changing only hurts consistency.
3. Remove all emotion from your play.
I spent a lot of time angry at this game. Angry at cheaters, at other players, angry at myself or even the game itself. I spent time ****ing around, just trying to have fun with the game. Unfortunately, neither of these mindsets are very useful when it comes to actually improving.
The best thing you can do is remove all emotion from your gameplay. That isn't to say you can't have fun, but fun shouldn't be your main priority if you're hoping to become great at this game.
A common argument to this is, "But I get better when I'm hyped up", or ****ed off, or whatever emotion they claim helps their play. My only response is, would not it be better to play at that level regardless of what emotions you feel?
And then there are (typically more frequent) times when you have the negative side of emotional play. Playing poorly in an important setting can be one of the worst feelings in the world, and it's hard to distance yourself from that. Any long-term investment of time becomes an emotional investment, whatever it is.
Finally, understand that your emotional concepts of the game should be gone. Remove all aspects of "peek advantage is so gay" from your vocabulary; understand that it is a fundamental part of the game, and accept it for what it is. Do this with all game mechanics.
4. Play the damn game
Play it a lot. Play it until your keyboard breaks. Until your mousepad starts fraying, until your eyes are heavy with sleep. Play it with as many different people as you can, and as often as possible. The more time you invest in the game - moving, aiming, whatever - the more proficient you will be at it. There is simply no substitute for experience. Play against friends, rivals, enemies; do whatever it takes to motivate yourself to keep grinding away.
Play "real" matches, not just scrims or pubs. Play every half out, play best of 3s with overtimes. Play every moment of every round of every half as seriously as you can. Practicing tournament sets makes you better at one thing: winning tournament sets. Practicing glitching into boxes just isn't going to do it.
Never throw rounds away. Never stop trying your absolute best against anyone, for any reason. Don't "glaze over", or play on autopilot. No matter how tired you are, force yourself to play in the moment at all times. Make your opponents aware that you have no idea what trolling or slacking off is. Let your win record speak for itself.
Just play the game.
5. When you lose, understand why you are losing.
Let's say your team plays against Carbon on Port, and loses BL 7-3. So you go in your next practice, and grind a dozen Port scrims out. You scrim Carbon again, and...do about the same. Why?
Perhaps you were taking site in your initial scrim, and they were just retaking you with ease. Perhaps you were losing all the initial trades. Perhaps you couldn't get onto site, or they were catching you with a quick flank each time.
It alarms me that so many players and teams have bad habits or flaws that they are unaware of. You have the ability to save a replay and look over it as a team. You have the ability to see exactly what you are doing wrong relative to the other team, and to address it in practice. Do it.
6. Back 2 Basics.
There are certain tactics that top level players and teams use to give themselves an advantage over the others. At this point in the game, it's apparent that certain tactics are, quite simply, better than others. This includes things like "playstyle".
Ignore having a "good playstyle". Realize that, given the information in any given situation, there are exactly 2 plays. There is the best possible decision...and mistakes. Any time you make an incorrect play, it is a mistake. Even if you aren't punished for it, it should be noted and improved upon. As time passes, your mistakes will slowly phase out of your play, and you will be left with only the fundamentally optimal lines of play.
Also, create a gameplan. Go into every match with some predetermined idea of what you want to do. Like any skill, creating this gameplan can be developed and improved upon. If you find that it isn't working mid-game, back off from your opponents and reconsider. You have two and a half minutes per round. Take what you know of how they are playing, and search for weaknesses. From that, create a new gameplan and execute it. Once you find it works, mercilessly exploit it until your opponent can stop it. Then repeat these steps, noting what your opponent does that so effectively stops your plan.
As time goes on, you will discover which tactics work in which situations. As these tactics are, ultimately, what will win you your games, they are what you should spend the majority of the time practicing.
7. Play to learn
I see so many teams and players caring too much about their win record rather than actively improving. If you're in a scrim against a team with a phenomenal B-hold, why try to hit A? Slam into B over and over (with a different approach each time; remember, adjust your gameplan) until you find what works. Then, come tournament time, any B hold you come up against will seem relatively easy.
Too many teams get caught up with the idea of, "omg its not working, we have to try something else," meaning abandoning the goal of taking B at all. Or they don't change anything, and keep dying over and over. Play to improve, not just to win scrims.
Now, with those basic rules out of the way, let's get to the heart of the matter: theory and fundamentals.
The Fundamentals
Theory as a Tool
Theory as a Tool
Theory in of itself does not make you a better player. Rather, it is a tool that helps you understand the game on a fundamental level. Telling you how peek advantage works doesn't tell you how to subtly time your peeks so that you maintain constant advantage, or how to use aggressive movement to cut off options.
Theory is simply a verbal description of the purpose behind individual concepts backing a strategy. By learning the theory, you get a deeper understanding of the game at a much lower cost than through trial and error. Theory in of itself will rarely "solve" a specific situation. But it will always give you deeper insight. Learn the theory behind any given map, situation, site-take, or strategy. The faster you understand why a move is good, the quicker you can broaden your understanding and begin to apply it in your gameplay.
With that said, understand now that if you had the choice between being the smartest player in the game, or being the most technically proficient (aim, movement), then you would always choose the second. More on this later, but keep that idea in the back of your mind.
______________
Developing Tactics: Choosing what to do
Tactics are any decision you make. Any actual input you choose to make in-game is a tactic; it's a mean to establish an end (the end being your strategy). A "tactic" is flashing B site before you enter. The "strategy" is planting the bomb at B.
There are only 4 types of tactics.
1. Guaranteed.
2. Limited.
3. Useless.
4. Dangerous.
Guaranteed tactics are those in which your opponent has no reasonable answer to. The ones which give you free map control, free damage, or free kills. The ones which guarantee your opponent can't look at you, or guarantee that your opponent loses their isolated players without being able to trade. Basing your gameplay around these tactics will give you the strongest lines of play.
Limited tactics are your basic mix-up. These are the moves based on situational advantage, where your opponent still has a few options instead of zero. If you can create these opportunities, you have a good chance at tricking or trapping your opponent. Many of these tactics are based on the difficulty found in negating them, or in a very favorable risk-reward payoff. Others are based on guesses or near-guaranteed trap. Others are more defensive, and are designed to get you out of a bad position. These tactics are the basis of "outplaying" your opponent, but are not quite the same thing. More on this later.
Useless tactics are, well...useless. There is something better that you could do. You may trick someone, but in general your opponent could always "deal" with it.
Dangerous tactics are those which give options to your opponent rather than take them away, or force you to remove options of yours. You should stop doing them immediately.
Of the 4 tactics listed above, you should focus on guaranteed beyond anything. Only if you cannot do something guaranteed should you consider your limited options, and even then only if the limited option is low risk. The reason for this is very simple; why would you give your opponent a chance to out-guess you and gain an advantage? If you cannot do something low-risk, or guaranteed, fall back and reposition to maintain or gain advantage.
The flowchart goes like this:
1. Can I do something guaranteed?
Yes: do it.
No:
2. Can I do something limited with no/low risk?
Yes: do it.
No:
3. Fall back and reposition myself.
Did you notice anything? Useless and Dangerous tactics are not in my flow chart. You should not be using them. Ever.
Another argument against this is one of predictability. Is this style predictable? Yes, it can be. Understand that it does not matter how predictable you are, as long as your opponent is unable to stop it.
Outplaying your opponents
Outplaying someone is essentially tricking them. And, since tricking them implicitly states that they can "get" you if they guess correctly, you should try to eliminate this situation as often as possible. In a 1v1, don't spend all of your time maneuvering around the map trying to trick your opponent into thinking that you went to A instead of B. Simply clear the site you're at, and guarantee that you get the bomb down with a solid position to hold it from. The best way to win at almost any competitive game is constant advantage over time. Thus, when you have an advantage, do everything you can to maintain and expand it until the round ends. This means acting immediately on gained positional or numeral (frags, damage) advantages or perceived weaknesses in your opponent.
In essence, what you should seek to do is the optimal thing at all times. Ignore what your "guesses" and "ideas" are as to what your opponents are doing. Every time you try to out-guess them, you give them a chance of outplaying you. Why would you ever give your opponent more options than they had previously? Simply play the best possible lines you can, and allow your opponents to make the mistakes for you.
Mistakes
Remember, anything that is less than the best possible play, is a mistake. Try to reduce these as much as possible, both in how "big" these mistakes are, and in how often they happen.
How? Most players, when making a mistake, do not structure their learning to actively improve. Even when their mistakes are obvious, such as dying, they do not take a moment to consider how they could fix it. They lash out: at the game, at the situation, at themselves. Take a moment - after you make whatever call-out is necessary for your team - to ignore what is happening on your screen. Think back, and try to see exactly why you died. What gave your position away? Why did you get peeked, why did you miss your shot?
After the game, go over those saved replays as mentioned in the introductory rules section. Look for not only the large-scale mistakes of your deaths, but look at all of the tiny, micro-mistakes you make throughout the round. Why did you quick-switch your gun? Why did you make a step, why did you move back and forth between A-long and Mid when your teammates had your back? Why did you flash and then wait 5 seconds to push? Remember, even if you are not punished for your mistake, your mistakes are still there.
Tightening up your Gameplay
To have the "tightest" possible play - the play that leads to the fewest possible mistakes - you must base your strategy on the greatest number of guaranteed tactics that you can. That means if your opponent overextends a single player, you take advantage of it. No matter how inconvenient it is what you were trying to do before they overextended, why would you not simply collapse on the player and take the free frag? I want to go over some of the most common "mistakes" that I see made.
1. Aim.
The actual definition of having good aim is being able to move your crosshair where you want it on your screen without thinking. You should practice this until you hate it. Practice it in TDs, in FFAs, in a private Room with friends. Practice it until your hand cramps. Then, go and practice it more. Practice until you never miss. There is no excuse for having bad aim if you want to be a good player. There simply isn't.
2. Movement.
There is no reason to ever make noise, unless you're rushing balls-out to defuse or help teammates or take advantage of an opening.
Likewise, unless you are boosting or jumping onto something, there is no reason to ever jump. Bunnyhopping is always a suboptimal play. Asian-walk, K-walk, crab walk, ledgewalk, shiftwalk. Practice until you make no noise. Until you can move around the map in perfect silence, always.
3. Peeking.
Don't get peeked. Period. It doesn't matter if you have the coolest, most unexpected spot in the world. Why would you give your opponent the chance to check it and have peek advantage over you? Why would you give them an option where, before, they had none. Play the optimal line; shoulder peek whatever angle you're holding. Shoulder peek it over and over, even if 2 minutes into the round your entire team hasn't seen anyone. Even if the other team hasn't pushed you in 12 rounds.
This is a good point to remind you that, ultimately, you want to adhere to your flow chart of tactics. A prime example is holding Mexico's water as a GR. If you are boosted above the water, your opponent should not look up as they peek; it's infeasible. This is an example of a low-risk "limited" tactic. You expect it to trap your opponent moreso than trick them. However, it's much better to have a guaranteed tactic of repeatedly shoulder-peeking from A doors, or from B arches, or from behind pickle. The guaranteed advantage is that; guaranteed.
Counter-picking Maps
If you lose a game in a match, the odds are that you will counter-pick a second map. People tend to pick "their" map when they get into a tournament. A map they have "mastered", or tend to do well on. Remove that concept from your mind. Your team should be great at every single map, should have strategies and experience on all of them.
Instead of picking a map that you "do good" on, look at your opponents' tendencies. Look at why you lost the map you did. Look at the type of gameplay your opponents were taking advantage of, or were using to win. Then, pick a map which reduces that gameplay. If they were slowly playing picks on Black Widow, then rotating back and forth around...perhaps Ankara is not the best choice, even if it is "your" map. Mexico, or Sub Base, would be far better. If they were playing a hyper-aggressive CT side, then you should choose a map which limits their ability to do so.
Pick to the situation.
More to come...?
Comments
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lionheartban wrote: »Why is your IP address the same as x0tek's forum account Ellustrial?
[21:20] RTB_0.tek: So the first time I did badly on client, I sort of laughed it off. Then again. Then again.
[21:20] RTB_0.tek: It got into my head haha. Out of I think 8 matches I did well in perhaps 2 halves.
[21:21] RTB_0.tek: So I took a break after WCG. I texted Logic that I was done for a few, and just dropped off.
[21:21] RTB_0.tek: (By the way, my name is Reid Weston-Taylor Johnson, who that actually knew me DIDN'T think it was obvious?)
[21:22] † Ha †: Yeah dog, now im fo sho dats u
[21:23] RTB_0.tek: I'd had an alt that I'd been using a couple of weeks before to practice my aim in peace, and I started playing on that. Played a few 1v1s, got haccused a lot, so I figured I'd troll people. Started recording 1v1s
[21:23] RTB_0.tek: Eventually played a guy named Prizm., who asked if I wanted to scrim. This was like two weeks after WCG. I wanted to work on the issues in my mentality / confidence in crossfire in peace, so I said sure
[21:24] † Ha †: So you are daking
[21:24] † Ha †: yeah you can't trick me ****er
[21:24] RTB_0.tek: And stuck to using my middle name of weston, cause I really had absolutely no confidence in CF and didn't want to deal with anymore drama
[21:25] † Ha †: pff
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: I thought it would be really obvious, since all of RTB has me on Facebook
[21:25] † Ha †: Was I one of the first to guess that was you?
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: But apparantly they didn't know until I started putting out daily scrim videos
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: No, some kid in the <3egasgirls mumble did
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: "That's x0tek, wtf?"
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: I thought it was really funny, so I kept the troll going
[21:25] † Ha †: I was one of the first hmm?
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: I don't know
[21:25] RTB_0.tek: Probably not
[21:26] RTB_0.tek: No offense, it was REALLY obvious
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