Over the next 11 days I'll be going through a map of each of the twelve teams set to attend this years ESWC, breaking down their set-ups, strategies, strengths and weaknesses as the build up to the biggest ever CS:S event continues.

The other day we took a look at the mighty VeryGames on de_inferno, a map they are particularly strong on. Although the reception of the article series was mixed - with many claiming it's a bad time to be releasing them - I will be continuing the series this evening with the team who will arguably be VeryGames' biggest challengers, mTw. The predominantly German team have been considered one of the best in Europe for many months now, and despite some blips in the past they've proven that, at LAN at least, they are one of the few teams capable of putting pressure on the French side.

The most recent example of that was the i43 CS:S tournament in which the team finished in second place. Despite a rather one sided match against VeryGames in the brackets the grand final was a different story, with mTw picking up a total of 8 rounds, more than any team has ever managed to do at i-series. In order to secure their spot in the i-series tournament the team played through the online qualifiers, and it's their match against eXelon in the online qualifier I'll be breaking down tonight. It's obviously going to be difficult to predict what will happen at the ESWC given the fact that the team have made a recent change to the roster, but for now I'll concentrate on the Online Qualifier. The demo of the match can be downloaded Here.

CT Side:

Standard Pistol Round:

Over the years we've seen numerous weird and wonderful pistol strategies on de_nuke, from playing 2 in vents to pushing outside or rushing lobby, in this case though mTw decided to stick with a much more traditional set-up. Tornadotoni holds outside from CT red whilst nooky hangs around the main/upper bombsite entrance preparing for a push on the upper bombsite. In crows is Humpen whilst weber plays from the upper site - leaving hudzG on ramp alone. It was clear that the team were set up heavily to defend an upper/outside split but the quick rotating ability from both Toni and Humpen means that ramp can also be closed off should the Swedes decide to push.

It's an all-round strong set-up and one that, if played properly should be very difficult to break down, with the only real weakness being ramp (that's if you discount the fact that it's hudzG playing there...)

Passive Upper:

eXelon made a fatal error on the third round by using their good spawn to rush the upper bombsite quickly, and although they got the bomb down it gave mTw notice that the good spawn had been used and it was unlikely the Swedes would try another fast upper take. Taking this into consideration the team left Humpen alone in crows nest whilst nooky and Toni covered outside and hudzG and weber took control of ramp - giving the team almost complete map control. It was a risky play as a quick skylight flash and push on the upper bombsite would have caught a few of the players way out of position, thankfully though eXelon chose not to attempt that and instead walked straight into their strong points.

Having watched through the demo it's extremely difficult to predict exactly how mTw are going to set-up on the CT side as the team seem to change from round to round, depending on a number of things. In this instance it worked perfectly but had things played out differently they could have been a round down with ease.

Lower Passive:

Another extremely unorthodox set-up from mTw leaves eXelon completely baffled as to what area of the map to focus. Humpen moves to the outside garage with his trusty AWP before falling back to back-steps when pressurised, nooky begins the round playing inside the vents awaiting a push from squeeky door whilst hudzG concedes ramp and moves straight into window side lower, leaving both weber and Toni to hold upper from site and crows nest. Again the team seem to be leaving gaps with a set-up ripe to be exploited by a ramp/upper split, but once more eXelon walk straight into the trap set by going for the lower bombsite.

mTw should have cleaned up when that decision was made but some sloppy play from the team allows the Swedes to capitalise and pick up their first round.

Ramp Concede:

Keeping up with the unpredictable play the team switch things up again, sending Humpen to the vents watching the ramp/lower entrance with his AWP. hudzG plays from crows whilst nooky camps out below crows, the other two players take control of upper from the rafters and site. Although seemingly set-up well for an upper push a smart pick outside on nooky from friberg - whilst three other players walk ramp - leaves hudzG in a difficult position, forced to retreat out of crows he's soon taken out and the Swedes pile up crows and through main.

Being hit from all angles and with little to no support both upper players are taken down and eXelon pick up their second round of the game. Although working for the most part, the random set-ups from mTw seem to fall apart when things don't go to plan.

Upper Concede:

Knowing that eXelon have the perfect spawn for an upper rush the team choose to take control of the other areas of the map, conceding upper by sending just one player to crows. Toni hangs around outside waiting for any stragglers whilst nooky bombs straight down back steps in case eXelon choose to hit lower, at the same time both weber and hudzG set-up a solid defence at ramp, almost forcing the Swedes into the upper bombsite which they can then take back from all angles.

Although the take back of the upper bombsite is almost perfect the team leave a huge gap behind them at ramp by choosing to both rotate up crows. This allows Fifflaren the space needed to wrap behind them and effectively win the teams third round of the half.

Dual AWP:

Much like VeryGames did against mTw on de_inferno the German side went with a dual AWP strategy, with both Humpen and hudzG picking up the green gun. The players set up outside and ramp respectively and although hudzG was picked off by a fast ramp rush the rotator did enough to prevent the Swedes picking up any momentum and the round was swiftly shut down. Straight afterwards they chose to run the same dual AWP strategy but this time Humpen played around crows, backing up both ramp and upper when called upon.

Although a risky strategy it paid off in this instance, against a team better prepared though it could prove costly for mTw to try it.

T Side:

Aggressive Pistol:

mTw were lucky enough to get the good spawn on the very first round and used it well with an extremely quick push on the A bombsite, sending 4 out of squeeky without so much as a flashbang whilst Humpen delayed outside to pick off rotators. Despite getting the early picks and managing to plant the bomb the team were undone by their failure to smoke of main entrance and subsequent failure to kill an in-form gem. Had they done that they would have been looking at a much easier match than it turned out to be.

Standard T Set-Up:

On the third round the team pick up ak47's and move straight into what appears to be their standard set-up. Toni boosts outside onto the yellow container whilst humpen and nooky head into lobby to hold for any pushes, whilst this is going on weber and hudzG work their way into ramp slowly, looking for an opening. After feeling around the eXelon defence for 30 or 40 seconds the team mobilise and take ramp before heading down to the lower bombsite.

Some well placed smokes on the toxic side of lower manage to cut off an entire half of the site, which means they can focus on the window side. Some nice flashes in window side should be enough to take control of the lower area but eXelon have a man well placed on the lower bombsite which catches the team off guard, the resulting exchange ends in mTw rescinding control of lower and eventually losing the round.

Main/Hut Split:

After a failed push on the upper bombsite when the team had a good spawn they change it around slightly, this time sending three outside towards main quickly whilst one holds lobby and nooky waits on the roof with flashbangs. On their approach to main nooky smokes up crows and flings his flashbangs in each of the two skylights, giving almost free entry to the upper bombsite to the men coming from main and hut. The strat worked perfectly as mTw burst onto upper, picking up three kills and getting the bomb down, however after that things took a turn for the worst.

Yep, it's the round that both haunted and XperteN worked some magic to win an un-winnable 2v5 situation, a round that they had absolutely no right to take. Again mTw are getting into good positions and they are controlling much of the map, but they are failing to capitalise on the openings. Sloppy play.

Upper Take:

After an unsuccessful deagle round the team get their hands on some automatic weaponry once more and try the same strat again, only this time the players fake a quick ramp push, forcing haunted to rotate off before quickly backtracking outside to set up for the main/hut split. The smoke and flashes from nooky prove devastating once again and the team take upper easily before planting the bomb and taking up good post plant positions. Again though very sloppy play from the team almost cost them a round as they gifted Ted 'haunted' Svensson 4 kills - with a headshot on the 5th and final mTw member - as he attempted to take back the upper bombsite by himself.

The team seem to get complacent once the hard work is done and more often than not it costs them guns, money and sometimes rounds - a habit they must cut out if they hope to take gold at the ESWC.

Summary:

de_nuke is and has been one of mTw's stronger maps for a long time now and it's easy to see why, their random and impossible to predict CT side set-ups are enough to throw any team off their stride and keep them guessing throughout the entire half, it does come with a weakness though. With the players effectively holding a different area of the map each round the communication appears to be lacking at times and, as eXelon proved, when they lose one or two players they find it very difficult to bring it back due to the confusion.

Although the match against eXelon went to overtime judging by the number of bomb plants and openings mTw created it should have been a much more one sided results. A number of first picks were wasted by opportunism and over aggressiveness whilst the teams sloppy play when at an advantage remains a constant problem that must be dealt with. A difficult to predict, risky set-up on CT and a solid but silly set-up on T, results on this map could vary wildly for mTw.