Tips for Conquering Matchmaking

Many CSGO players ask the common question on how to rank up in matchmaking or they search for tips to push past certain ranks. I mean, the simple answer is to win your competitive games right? It may seem like an impossible task when you’re queuing solo due to the randomness of teammates. However, you have to work with what you have, assuming your team collectively want to win. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” a quote from John F. Kennedy, which I believe is applicable in the game of CSGO and matchmaking (just replace the word ‘country’ with the word ‘team’). Theoretically, if we consistently put our team in an advantageous position to win rounds, we increase our chances of putting more rounds on the board and ultimately claim the game. This is of course, assuming your team wants to win and is able to convert those advantageous situations into round wins by closing out the rounds.

 

Getting the First Entry Kill

One of the most common methods of obtaining an advantage is to gain the first entry kill of the round, as a result this will give your team a numbers advantage. On the T-side it can give your team access to an open bombsite, split the defence which would make certain areas of the map weaker or force rotations. Therefore, it is imperative to have a competent entry fragger on a team.

In matchmaking, it is not uncommon to be matched with teammates who are unwilling to enter a bombsite first. Here, we find ourselves in a situation where you as a player must take the initiative to help your team find the first entry kills. This can be achieved by actively seeking the entry kills yourself by making a solo play, or you can boost your teammate’s confidence to peek an angle by offering to flash for them.

Think about it, smurf accounts generally are able to run around the server obtaining multi-kills (due to their skill difference) to open up the map for their team. Basically, before they die they have already given their team a numbers advantage and substantial map control, so if their teammates play correctly (with minimal mistakes) the round is easily won. Their skill difference also allows them to clutch rounds for their team, as well as have significant impact calling for their team.  

Play for the Round Win

A majority of players in CSGO place too much emphasis on frags and judge other players based on scoreboard placement. CSGO is a team game, unfortunately the scoreboard does not reveal too much in terms of game impact for each player. We all want to be that star player on top of the scoreboard that we sometimes become greedy or selfish, which can cost our team key rounds and ultimately the game in some circumstances.

A common example of greedy play is during the anti-eco rounds, where the enemy team is on eco. Players with better weapons tend to go roaming solo and hunting for frags, essentially dying unnecessarily, which forces them to rebuy the following round. In extreme circumstances, anti-eco rounds have been lost due to the lack of discipline and overconfidence. Frag hunting is not necessarily a bad move, however players’ must have a decent reason to hunt the enemy team and they should hunt in pairs. Why risk losing weapons if the enemy team has no equipment of value on them? With the numbers, set up crossfires to defend the objective.

Another example is that players over-rotate, particularly when the Terrorists do a four man rush to one bombsite while the last Terrorist attempts to plant the bomb in the other. The CT player sees a bunch of red dots on the radar and wants to get in on the action themselves. A bomb plant can be the difference for the T-side to be buying on the 3rd/18th round or the 4th/19th round. This is a classic matchmaking eco strategy, which I’m quite embarrassed to say sometimes works even at the Global Elite ranks.

I want to use the above video as an example to highlight examples of playing for the team/round. In terms of matchmaking, there are a variety of situations where excellent team play will pull your team ahead and consequently win the round. For example, coordinating a double peek with a teammate or trading effectively will most certainly win you the round in a post-plant situation against the last enemy player.

Giving away your frag without a challenge puts your team in a less favourable position. As a result, this places pressure on your remaining teammates to come up clutch to win rounds. Even if you do have exceptional clutch teammates, it is certainly best to avoid putting your teammates in clutch situations. Therefore, it is important to setup cross fires to ensure effective trade fragging whether it is on CT-side defence or T-side post-plant situations.

Be Dynamic

From my personal experience in matchmaking, I find it so common that teams/players are very stale when it comes to basic strategy in the game. They run out of ideas on how to approach the round and end up hitting the wall. For example, when the CT side is crushing their opponents on de_dust2, the Terrorists tend to go into a passive setup by camping in spawn, outside of long and outside of B tunnels.

Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill stated in a video interview “If I do a strat that works once, I can’t do it again [the strategy] versus a European team.” You have 15 rounds in a half to play with; don’t spend them running the same setup or strategy that clearly did not work in the previous rounds.

For the T-side, figure out the default setup for the CTs and work around attacking weaker areas of the map. Note down what worked for the rounds you won, it could be as simple as getting picks or being able to take control of certain areas of the map. If a strategy failed, think about why it didn’t work and what you could do differently to make it work in another round.

Likewise, for the CT-side, if a certain setup is not working, figure out the reasons why and attempt to fix it. For example, on de_dust2 the Ts have been successfully taking long against the solo defender early in the round. Instead of ignoring the issue or flaming your teammate for being unable to hold long, send an extra player towards Long to deal with early aggression by the Ts.

Depending on your opponents skill level, they may adapt to your play style and therefore you must be dynamic in your approaches to each round. Being able to read your opponents puts you one step ahead of them, so that is another reason why it is important to have an arsenal of tricks up your sleeve.

 

Minimise Unforced Errors

A round that your team loses can be traced outright back to one mistake or it could possibly be that your opponent made an outstanding play. It is similar to the game of tennis, where the statisticians compare statistics such as unforced errors and backhand/forehand winners. I’m sure many of you have witnessed CSGO frag clips, where it wasn’t so much brilliant play but rather just poor play by the enemy team and vice versa. As a player, you have a certain amount of control over the unforced errors made during a round and ideally you want to minimise these types of mistakes.

As seen in professional matches, mistakes at the higher levels of CSGO usually do not go unpunished. Any mistake that your opponent makes is a window of opportunity to capitalise and give your team the upper hand. You cannot make the same mistake and expect it to go unpunished by more skilled opponents. Hence, this could possibly be a reason why you are not ranking up in matchmaking.

Go back over the demo for the games you have lost and analyse the rounds your team loses. Was it due to mistakes or was it because of an amazing play by your opponent? When analysing these rounds, ensure that there is proper reasoning as to why a play is good/bad.

Sometimes you can play a 1v1 situation perfectly without mistakes but your opponent just outclassed you to clutch the round or a bit of luck fell on their side. This can happen quite often and usually there is not much you can do about these types of situations. In these types of cases, you can still learn from the round lost by examining what you could have done better after the game. The whole idea of minimising unforced errors is to reduce the chance of handing your opponent the edge in the round/game because minor mistakes add up in the long run. Remember, it is a one round difference between a win and a tie (16-14 vs 15-15), and a two round difference between a win and a loss (16-14 vs 14-16).

Expect the Unexpected

At the end of the day, it is matchmaking and being matched with random opponents means not every round/game will play out the exact way. Each player has their own unique play style and will vary vastly in their decision making process. Therefore, you must account for the randomness factor that comes with being matched with random opponents and expect the unexpected. This includes players making outright illogical decisions and just doing it for the sake of it.

A quote that is relatable to CSGO, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” If you get caught off guard one round, make sure you punish your enemy that makes the same play against you on the following round. To this day, I still experience teammates being caught off guard by common matchmaking plays. Some examples include:

• Extreme aggression by an enemy pushing an area of the map in consecutive rounds
• 5 man eco rushes
• 4 man fake rush one site while the 5th player plants the bomb at the other site on a T side eco round
• 2 man bait set-ups on the CT side
• Not checking/clearing that one angle/spot
• Opponents pushing through smoke

Not everyone thinks the same, what catches one player off-guard may not catch another player off-guard. Just make sure not to make the same mistake twice and to learn from them. Don't get caught off-guard, expect the unexpected.

CSGO is a team game; don’t be discouraged if you don’t win your matches. As long as you are focusing on working on improving yourself as an individual player, you will eventually find yourself rising the ranks of matchmaking. This includes how well you communicate and play with your given team. By putting your team in a superior position to win rounds and reducing the chances of conceding that advantage back, you're more likely to secure more rounds in matchmaking. After all, you have limited control in who you are matched with and how well your teammates perform in the game. Remember to have fun, stay calm, and not worry about deranking. Your rank will improve once you start putting more energy in improving yourself as a player. There are plenty of CSGO video and written resources out there, which I will leave for you to go discover, just make sure that the resources are consistent and are created by credible players. 

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