In my article "Designating Team Roles" I explored the idea that teams would adapt their defensive strats to the offensive play. This is even more important on the offensive side, and in this article I will look into that idea.

Apart from the economic issues in a pistol round, they can be immensely important as you get a glimpse at their defensive style of play. You get to see where they deem the weakpoints of the map are, whether they play aggressive, who is likely to push, where the weakest players are, etc. If you can bear all this in mind you will be in a much stronger position.

It always helps to do some research about a team before you play them, whether this be watching demos, word of mouth, or merely checking screenshots and match reports to see their strongest and weakest players. If they're sending their weakest player to B every round, the odds are they will be weaker there, and you can use that to your advantage. Of course, this is infinitely easier to do against high profile teams as the information is more accessible, but if you do the ground work it will pay off against any team.

Another very important thing to note is how quickly a team rotates. If they are over rotating fakes are essential, and you can normally win 2 or 3 rounds purely by noticing that. You must note whether they rotated via their entrance or they pushed the site, and what was needed for them to do that. Did they push B tunnels after 1 pick at long or did they hold their position the whole round? Did they rotate to give backup at mid after lots of smokes at CT mid? If they are, then you can use it to your advantage.

You should be on the lookout for what players are using what guns at what positions. If they are holding mid with an AWP on dust2 every round, you can easily counter that with a few flashes and smokes. However, if you fail to recognise this you will be devastated at short every round, and it cuts your area of the map down massively.

You should always be keeping a track of the oppositions money, and basing your strats on this. If you predict an eco your tactic must adapt to this, or you could end up getting rushed and losing a round you shouldn't have. If they can't yet afford an AWP then odds are they will be eco at least at that position, so you might want to hit the opposition's normal AWPer.

A Gotfrag article once suggested a method of matching players in offensive strats. In this method you would match your best players with their middling, your middling with their weakest, and your weakest with their best. Theoretically you should win 2/3 of the picks in this scenario, and if your weakest players play it smart it increases it massively.

These factors are all most effective in roam strats, in which you push various key points and look for a pick. If your players know where to push, where to hold, when to rotate, where to rotate, and the million other factors that you must decide based on the oppositions defensive gameplay then you will put yourself in a much better position for the match.

However, all of this is completely dependent on preparation. No succesful team relies on raw skill and initiative, you must prepare your strats to counter the possible defensive styles. You must have effective eco tactics, counter eco tactics, SMG tactics, defensive pushes, aggressive fakes, passive fakes, double fakes, and numerous other strat types in order to exploit the oppositions weaknesses succesfully.

Another very good Gotfrag article I read was the Checkmate: Good Game series by Michael Lau. In these he drew comparisons between chess and counterstrike. The first article was about predicting, and it really is a brilliant article if any of you want to read it. It analyses how you must adapt your style of play to fit the oppositions style of play, and the best ways to counter them.

Essentially, what this means is you must always be looking to stay one step ahead of your opposition, regardless of the team or map. Prediction and analysis will very often be the difference between a good team and a great team, as well as versatility in your style of play. The more pragmatic your play is the less you are likely to get predicted. Team 3D play every position depending on spawn points, and adapt their setup to the spawns, which makes them practically impossible to predict. Thinking like this separates teams, and if you wish to be a great team you must incorporate it into yours.

Thanks again, hope you liked it. Apologies if it is too short or if I missed anything, or if you generally disliked it, I'm running low on inspiration at the moment.
Felix "xiLeF" Morgan
#xilef