Analyzing the Major Champions: Luminosity Gaming's de_overpass

The Major is now behind us. The dust has settled and now that all Dorito crumbs and Mountain Dew puddles are cleaned away from the Nationwide Arena, it is time for some retrospection and analysis. So where better to start than with this Major’s champions: Luminosity Gaming.

The Brazilian squad was able to clinch their first title in the Grand Finals against Na’Vi 2-0 with a closely contested match (19-17) on de_mirage followed by a blowout on de_overpass (16-2). In this article we’ll take a look at how LG managed to pull off such a noteworthy performance on Overpass in the Finals, as well as compare it to their match in the quarterfinals against Virtus.Pro who gave them a more difficult run for their money at 16-11.

You will hear about Luminosity’s CT setups and pushes, their T-side default and tactics, and also what they tend to do on eco and pistol rounds. However, before you go out into the matchmaking world and rage that you teammate died while pushing Party with an AWP after you told him to do so, remember that not everyone has the reaction time of FalleN.

A Look at the Map – Picturesque Berlin

As you’re reading this you probably are already familiar with the crooked and winding layout of the only remaining CS:GO map set in Germany. So let’s not get too hung up on whether “Water” should be called “Short” or vice versa, but get straight to the meat of it – which in this case is map control!

Image by /u/r1segago

As we see in this neat visualization of the initial map control for each team at the start of the round, both CT and T start off with a roughly equal amount of potential map control. However, despite this distribution many people grant the defending team a sizeable advantage over the attackers on Overpass. Hltv.org supports that claim for pro matches and logs a 54 percent win-rate for the CT side.

The reasons for this certainly are the setup of each bomb site. For example, smoke executes onto the B-site are very complicated due to the strong position in Heaven. Yet the most discussed reasons for a Counter-Terrorist advantage on Overpass are the extremely short rotation times. Stairs and Bank at the backside of A offer a direct connection to Heaven or the B-site for the CTs which is basically never contested as you would have to take a Bombsite and then do another risky push to gain control of said area.

For the opposing Terrorists, the safe option of rotating from A to B is all the way back through their spawn and over playground. The two rotation options for the teams are not entirely comparable but one can nevertheless see that the Ts would have to rack up a substantially higher mileage than the CTs when rotating.

This imbalance makes the second rotation opportunity extremely valuable for both teams. The “Connector” area and stairs are, by default, already a contested territory as neither team arrives early enough in the round to establish a solid defense. Yet the fact that this connection between Water and Party offers the Terrorists a counter to the Stairs connection between A and B is responsible for the immense attention this area receives from both Terrorist and Counter Terrorist strategies.

The Pistol Round Setup

Everybody is aware of the impact that the pistol round has on the following half stemming from the subsequent eco or anti-eco rounds. That is why a lot of teams put an emphasize on developing strategies for those special rounds.

- Counter-Terrorist

As CTs however, LG seem to take a more standard approach of covering their angles. The left side picture shows the final match against Na’Vi, while the right sight depicts their win over VP in the quarter finals. Both setups cover all possible entry points for the Terrorists into contested territory with TACO and coldzera playing on the B-site on Monster or Short and FalleN covering the Toilets and Party area. With that, either fnx or fer are tasked with handling A-Long, while the other is free to bolster the defenses of a certain area.

What we notice immediately when comparing the two setups is how LG anticipates their opponent’s playstyle. Preliminary demo analysis probably told them that VP likes to slow down their T-pistol rounds and execute with set nades in contrast to Na’Vi who tend to run a more aggressive style. Corresponding to that, the left hand side map shows a more defensive early setup with fnx at the back of long and fer deep in the B-site. Against VP, on the right hand side the setup is more oriented towards early information gathering. Fer is pushed all the way up Long and fnx already reached the bottom of Connector.

In terms of loadout, LG starts both games with a kit and a smoke on the player not tasked with pushing or instant defending of crucial angles, while the other four purchase armor.

- Terrorist

Not much in terms of variation on the Terrorist side. FalleN takes the role of the support player, buys a smoke and two flashes and the team moves toward the A-site.

The following push is executed extremely cautiously with one player holding the Connector area and the rest of the team working their way through Party and Toilets. Long is only checked by Brazilians once they have already taken toilets. However, in the case of the match against VP (right) fer was able to kill Snax in Connector but got traded by pasha. With LG already pushed up to the upper entrance of Connector, they anticipated an early kill on the biceps and pushed down in force – ultimately getting out-fragged by their opponents.

By choosing this tactic and pushing as a team, Luminosity plays to the strengths of the Glock but in turn concedes a large chunk of map control. Also, their dependency on the player in Connector to not get backstabbed while taking A-site is another weak point of this strategy.

Playing CT

Luminosity Gaming likes to split the load of defending de_overpass evenly in a 2-A and 2-B setup with one free agent being able to reinforce the team where it is needed. In detail, the defenders are TACO (Monster) and coldzera (mostly Short) on the B-site, while FalleN is AWPing from Toilets towards the Party area and fnx is covering Long defensively from Toilets. This leaves fer to play from where he is most beneficial to the team's composition, which usually involves Connector.

Interestingly, in the second half of their CT side versus Virtus.Pro, FalleN called for a change in this default setup. You can see above that now three people are dedicated towards the B-site and one player is set into the stairs at Connector. This in turn enables FalleN to push Water and peek towards Short with no risk of getting backstabbed from Connector.

This setup works extremely well against B-site executes from the Terrorists but suffers the severe drawback of leaving Long-A completely uncovered, as fnx spots towards Party from Toilets. While a pro-team might be able to recognize and communicate an A-execute fast enough even without a player on Long, the rotations in a matchmaking game might be too long to make this setup feasible at all skill-levels.

- Eco rounds

LG finished their CT half against Na’Vi with 13-2 and in the process made more $krilla than Thorin. No eco round was needed in that game. Versus VP however, the Brazilians had a number of rounds with no or limited money and surprisingly chose to abandon the aforementioned stack on B in favor of a stack or even a push at A.

As to why this change in tactics was administered, we can only assume. To keep VP guessing, to catch out an overextended Terrorist, to gain information or simply because LG is more confident with the pistols around A, all of these would be valid considerations.

Playing T

If you are expecting me to tell you now of LG’s top secret strategy that led them to victory, the miraculous B-site execute with five smokes and four molotovs that will bring glory to any team smart enough to execute it, I might have to disappoint you. However, what I can offer you is one of the most solidly played default setups you’ll see on de_overpass.

- The Default

Luminosity like to take it slow on Overpass, sending TACO all by his lonesome to hold both access points to the B-site at Monster and Water. The remaining four members of the team then split into Connector and Playground 2-2 or 1-3, depending on their plan in the round.

What happens next is hugely dependent on the gathered information and faced duels. FalleN and fnx are in Connector and score a kill with an AWP? The remaining two members on Playground start pushing and secure the Party area and the exit to Connector so that fnx and FalleN are able to safely wrap around to their mates without losing grasp of their secured map control. All the while this is happening, TACO lurks around the B site and tries to catch out any backstabbing or rotating CT.

A different resolution of this default setup sees the AWPer joining his two teammates on Playground, where they push towards A-Long. In this scenario the progression of the round hinges on who is able to win the long range duel, which in this case is FalleN, who takes out Pasha and enables his team to take control of Long and subsequently of Toilets and the A-site.

Of course, in a quarterfinal of a Major, your opponent is going to know if the chosen strategy of the Ts does not change for several rounds. This is what we see in the above screenshot. VP are forced to hard eco and decide to push into the main force of LG in the playground, catching the bomb carrier off-guard and causing severe problems for the Terrorists.

- Ecos, Anti-Ecos and Aggression?

As the saying goes: Never change a running system. On second round eco? Pistols are strong, so just hit your shots and play default. The enemies had their money reset and are on a safe or quasi buy? Let them come to you and play default. You did the same for six rounds in a row? Okay, maybe surprise them: Rush B!

Recap

Luminosity Gaming is often known for their fast paced play, strong executions and CT side aggression. However at the MLG Major on de_overpass, we’ve seen very cautious as well as slow and methodical play from the champions with only sporadic bursts of high action moments.

The Brazilians show an impressive ability to utilize the short rotation times on the map not only as Counter-Terrorists but also as Terrorists, employing a strong default centered around the Connector.

For their CT setups – at least versus Na’Vi and Virtus.Pro – LG tends to focus towards a stronger defense towards the B-site on gun rounds, surrendering A-Long control partially or even completely.

Of course, we could go into much deeper detail here and analyze the intricacies of each round step-by-step, but for now we’ll leave it at this overview of Luminosity’s playstyle on Overpass. If you’re interested in other teams or other maps, want me to go into more detail or just have general feedback, leave it in the comments below or on Reddit!

Until next time fellas, cheers.