It isn’t entirely uncommon for teams to win their opponents’ map picks within the professional Counter-Strike scene.
With readily available statistics online showing which team favors which map (and even the tactics used to win those maps), professional CS:GO is a strange mashup of multidimensional chess mixed with ferocious aim-duels and outlandish clutch situations that no one has any business in winning.
Often, it can come down to which team is better prepared for their upcoming opponents, and many fast-rising teams (such as Complexity) are known for grinding through an obscene number of simulations and demos to gain any form of an upper hand.
This multidimensional strategy that surrounds the CS:GO scene on all three tiers has seemed to have eluded the French team Vitality, as today they’ve taken their second loss in a row on their map pick of Vertigo in a relatively decisive manner.
Their first map drop was on the 17th against the ever-prepared Complexity in a Bo3 format that resulted in a two-map sweep.
Complexity picked Nuke which was played first, and Vitality picked Vertigo. Complexity held the first half even (7:8) with them starting on T for Nuke, and blew Vitality away with the second half on CT on the back of seven consecutive elimination round points being tallied.
Vertigo saw much of the same regarding scorelines as Vitality began on T and ended the first half (7:8) before Complexity took the T sided reigns and again managed seven elimination points in the second while the French managed four.
Today, Vitality played against mousesports to determine who was moving forward, and the endemic problem once again resurfaced.
.@mousesports lock in the final European playoffs spot!
They take down @TeamVitality 2-0 in the series.
16-14 Nuke
16-8 Vertigo#ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMUbM0 pic.twitter.com/8QqEpeETO0— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 19, 2020
Mousesports picked the first map of Nuke (stop us if you’ve heard this before) and Vitality opted for Vertigo. Vitaliyt managed four points in the first half of Nuke on CT which ended (4:11). It wasn’t entirely over yet, as Vitality managed a mean ten points in the second before mousesports could pick up the remaining five they needed to clutch their map pick.
Then Vitality began a frustrating stint on T side for Vertigo, where they managed five points to mousesports ten. The second half somehow managed to be even less fruitful for the team as they managed to run home only three points before mousesports picked up the remaining six they needed.
Some are beginning to wonder if Vertigo is cursed for Vitality, but the option is likely far less outlandish and occult.
In an era of online Counter-Strike where connections and latency become a fickle breeze which can sway the pendulum of advantage wildly, this is coming down to preparation and watching demos of your opponents to counter their favored strategies.
