Counterstrike is a thinking game, and different people think in very different ways. This leads to people having various styles of plays, and if a team utilises this to their advantage it can lead to a much greater success rate. In a gotfrag thread I once read that CS:S gamers could be broken down into 4 main playing styles. I however think that is stupid, and think there are no main categories for players. However, I do think there are definitely strengths and weaknesses which need to be considered when creating team positions and strats.

A basic example is de_inferno CT side. If you have 2 strong AWPers and 3 strong riflers, you will want to create a different setup to a team that has 4 riflers and one AWPer. In 1.6 MiBR used to play a 4/1 split with Cogu holding banana on his own, as they only had one very strong AWPer. However, 4k play a 3/2 split and this works better for them. This shows 2 things. Firstly, there is no ultimate setup that is best for every team, and secondly that the best teams will adapt their play to strengthen their team. The problem with this line of thinking though, is it can be difficult to assess a player's strengths and weaknesses. You often have to play with people for months to know where they play best, what guns they use best, and their general playing style. Often it is easiest to use self evaluation, or demo evaluation.

Self evaluation involves many things. The best way to do it is to record and watch yourself playing and remember why you died, where you should've gone, if you baited, if you pushed when you shouldn't etc. However, this can often be time consuming and boring. An alternative is to keep a pen and paper next to you, and when you died write down why, and then if the same thing keeps coming up you can address it in your style of play. This method requires time and effort also, but less so, and can be done while waiting for the next round instead of in your free time.

Demo evaluation is normally done externally, by an independent individual with a better knowledge of the game than yourself. They don't neccesarily have to be a better player, but if they know the game to a high level they can often assess what you need to improve on most.

Once your gameplay evaluation has been done the leader can start developing strats based on them.

A tactic I found useful if you have 1 AWPer 4 riflers was to split your team into pairs, with the AWPer soloing. This helps develop chemistry between players and improves communication. Also it means members can develop their own setups without the whole team being there. The downside to it will occur if one player is having a bad game and you have to perform a tactical position swap, as the new player will not know all the positions. When using this system it can be best to pair stronger and weaker players together, with the stronger player playing in the most defensive position so he can rotate quicker and hopefully prevent the plant until backup comes.

Inherent in this style of play is creating crossfires between the pairs. The best way to play with 2 people at one position is from a bottleneck with 1 player either side, both holding an angle to prevent the opposition reaching their partner. These can be created in almost any position on any map, and are essential to a strong defensive, particularly on rushes.

Another style for teams with 4 riflers can be the MiBR site, where the AWPer solos the smaller site. This works on some maps better than others, and would be reccomended only with a very strong AWPer. It is not really applicable to Nuke, Dust2, Contra or Mill, but could work on Inferno, Cbble or Train. The key to this setup however, is ensuring there is a strong rifler playing in a position to rotate very quickly. On inferno I would reccomend playing CT connector, on Cbble in CT connector also, and Train playing on outside bomb train by CT steps or CT connector. However, it is all down to personal preference.

If your team has 3 riflers and 2 AWPers you must take a different approach however. In this I would reccomend playing your weakest AWPer and strongest rifler in the larger site, and your other 2 riflers in the other site, with the 5th player either playing in between or at the smaller site with a small site rifler swapping to large site, depending on the map. In this setup the larger site will be worse at getting entry kills but stronger at holding the site for rotates, while the smaller site will get more entry kills and be more effective at stopping rushes. The 5th player is key to this setup as large site will need quick backup to prevent the plant. Therefore, you will want your smartest player playing the 5th position in this setup. An example of this tactic is Cbble. You would have your weakest AWPer and strongest rifler watching skinny or mid, while your strongest AWPer and weakest rifler watched B. This would then leave your 5th to playing in connector area and rotating as neccesary.

As it was said before though, none of these setups are fool proof, and must be adapted to yours and the oppositions gameplay. If a particular player is doing well and getting picks against you in B site repeatedly, try swapping a stronger player in for a weaker one for a few rounds. If you're dominating B but weak at A, try playing a 4/1 instead of a 3/2 for a few rounds. The key to these strats is versatility and being unpredictable. Take a dogmatic attitude and keep trying new things to throw them off guard. These principles also work for offensive picking tactics, in which each player takes a position and pushes it for a pick. They can work on offensive splits also, especially the pairing tactic.

Thanks to Cam and vLT for help with this article, and Wabbit for supporting the articles also. If anyone would like me to do demo evaluation on them or their clan I would be more than happy to, but I do not pretend to be a world class player. Although my friends have appreciated demo evaluation from me it may not be as constructive for more advanced players. However, if interested, contact me on IRC.

Hope you liked this article. I'm currently looking for support at #xilef, and new articles will be released on there an hour before anywhere else. We also have a new website coming tonight or tomorrow, just to provide a source for all articles in one place. Links will be posted in updates.