Five more IEM Sydney moments that wouldn't have happened in CS:GO

18-10-2023 20:42

Counter-Strike 2's new mechanics offer a lot of opportunities for innovation, and teams have continued to showcase them at IEM Sydney.

Vitality dismantle new Overpass boost

In their first elimination match against Vitality on day one of the Australian tournament, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants set up a new two-man boost on Overpass, one of the maps that were fully overhauled for Counter-Strike 2.

Unfortunately for them, though, it did not work out in their favor. Instead of posting up passively Vitality rode out to meet FaZe in the field to dismantle the boost in the overtime affair.

Twistzz fools iM with a smoke-clear fake

Much has been made of the new smoke-clearing mechanic and its potential uses, and IEM Sydney has continued to show the breadth of possibilities when it comes to that particular utilization of the HE grenade.

Here's how Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken used it against Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan to gain a split-second advantage in a heads-up duel:

FaZe's meta-changing Inferno smoke

As you can probably tell already, FaZe have been some of the biggest innovators at the Australian tournament.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company liked Inferno in CS:GO already and it has remained their favorite map so far in Sydney. That might be the case thanks to the removed skyboxes in Counter-Strike 2, which open up entirely new avenues for utility and in particular one Mid smoke that you can throw immediately from any default spawn point as CT.

FaZe used this smoke in nearly every round to win the series against Natus Vincere, who undoubtedly knew about it from FaZe's previous match against Vitality but still struggled to find a way to deal with it.

KaiR0N- solves the 1v2 puzzle

If his performances in Sydney are any indication, Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin has taken to Counter-Strike 2 like fish to water. In the semi-finals-deciding match against MOUZ, the BetBoom youngster showcased great presence of mind when he used an HE grenade to solve a tricky clutch scenario.

G2's simple but effective Ancient Mid execute

Tier-one teams likely need a bit more time with Counter-Strike 2 to concoct more elaborate strats involving the HE grenade and smoke interaction, but some have already begun to scratch the surface.

Despite having just a few days of practice in the new game, G2 used a nifty grenade and pop-flash combination to take Mid control on Ancient in their day three matchup against ENCE.

Five rounds from IEM Sydney day 1 that wouldn't have happened in CS:GO

sheeesh

2023-10-18 20:45

5 replies

Good plays. But i have been told CS2 was unplayable?

2023-10-18 21:43

4 replies

Its not ESL ready, we should not play it.

2023-10-19 09:41

You can bring out a polished game and people will call it unplayable.

2023-10-19 10:36

1 reply

mostly the complain from the pros are about the MR12 and economy. IT is horrible right now and the game feel so fast it barely leave any impact. All game feel like a quick game in R6S

2023-10-19 20:01

when you try to imitate the best gun-play and movement of modern times almost anything will fall short...

2023-10-20 08:34

Idk I know a lot of people dont like the game, but i like seeing the pros play, its something new, i watched csgo for so long, seeing a sorta different game with different possibilities in tactical approach with smokes etc is pretty fun, seeing who can adapt the quickest.

2023-10-18 20:46

yeah, but on the pro scene it's also easier to see how broken the hitboxes are and as well the strange peeker advantage.

2023-10-18 22:53

hitboxes are the same, it's a subtick issue

2023-10-19 03:12

3 replies

Nop, not even close

2023-10-19 04:54

which is the problem, because it means we have been right for years when we said hitboxes are off.

2023-10-19 06:00

Well hit boxes are actually good, but what you see (stream or spec a player in game) is not what that player see. The problem is server-client desync, and plus you have 64tick information delivery. So when you die behind the wall, you were already dead but the server didn't gave you that information in time, cause of 64tickl update rate. -Subtick works and server knows when you are dead, clicks are precise, but 64tick update rate is bad, so everything works even worse on your screen. If you have that server-client desync, then you have even worse situation client-server-client desync, and you get big Peaker's advantage. They should bring 128tick back, work a little bit on netcode and we would have much better game.

2023-10-19 07:23

2023-10-18 21:19

This game is a lot more fun to watch than it is to play

2023-10-18 21:21

exactly

2023-10-19 00:15

something new that needs to be polished and worked on, maybe january 2024 or perhaps before the major

2023-10-18 21:22

2 replies

Just hoping we get a massive update soon. CS2 still hasn't gotten its first proper giant update. Just small ones that we get usually 2-3 times a week.

2023-10-19 05:03

I would preffer if they just stop rushing small updates that create other problema/debates, look into the situation seriously and like u said release on massive update that kinda covers most issues pro's, normal players have been complaining about

2023-10-19 09:34

i think the game is fine. im hitting my hops abit shittier.. but all in all. i think the new features like the smokes and molly's are sick. people love to complain... valve doesnt really care all THAT much. after all, what they've done with cs after taking over all those years ago... fucking beautiful. they've stayed true to what cs is. look at COD. cod has become such a trash game. i loved cod4 promod. i love cs2

2023-10-18 21:25

cod has been trash forever. it's only you that grown up and realized

2023-10-18 21:55

true af

2023-10-18 23:13

Nope. CoD 1-4 were stellar games, SP and MP. And with MW2 there was a change of direction from somewhat authentic action to lolakimboshotguntomahawksorandom action.

2023-10-19 07:57

Maybe you had fun with them. Maybe you got sucked in by marketing narratives (a lot of money goes into it). Doesn't change the fact that the games were always very shitty. When the first CoD came out counter-strike was already on the market and clearly superior.

2023-10-19 12:20

Mouz played that 2-1 poorly. Should have never come to that clutch. But KaiRON is a beast.

2023-10-18 21:36

twistzz fake is actually smart, rest are mid

2023-10-18 21:53

2023-10-19 00:43

that inferno smoke is literally game changer

2023-10-19 08:44

Depends, if you counter it with a proper flash+nade timing like G2 did on ancient, then Ropz' position is fucked. It's a nice smoke, but I doub't we will see it utilized as often in the future, because once the Ts have figured out how to counter it, it's going do be a huge risk for the CTs. My guess is, it becomes more of a mindgame like Nuke yard smokes, that you just drop to make the enemy guess if something goes on behind it or not.

2023-10-19 08:58

yeah that's the point, then can simply throw them out and the T's will have to waste a lot of time and utilities just to clear that space, which previously was "given" to them for free.

2023-10-19 15:55

Wow

2023-10-18 21:56

The game is bad, we know.

2023-10-18 23:15

2023-10-19 10:05

Twistzz play was godlike for this beginning of pro cs2.

2023-10-19 00:29

good article

2023-10-19 09:36

That twistzz move is so good

2023-10-19 10:37

G2's simple but effective Ancient Mid execute: WHAT A PLAY

2023-10-19 10:40

That was slick from Twistzz

2023-10-19 20:06

I think CS2 is a fail so far due to 64 tick, and nothing but an upgrade to the tick rate (even just to 96 Hz) will change my mind on that. BUT I will say that the HE dissolving smokes is a great mechanic because it takes the worst piece of util besides decoys and elevates it to something you want to buy every round. You will never want to not buy a HE now, and they managed to give it this power without increasing its damage. Neat. Now if only they fixed the tickrate and gave the decoy a purpose.

2023-10-20 00:35