---
title: 'Your CT Side Mirage is BAD.. here''s how to fix it'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=l8ApAgdU2ho'
video_id: 'l8ApAgdU2ho'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# Your CT Side Mirage is BAD.. here's how to fix it

> Source: [Your CT Side Mirage is BAD.. here's how to fix it](https://youtube.com/watch?v=l8ApAgdU2ho)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive overview of CT-side Mirage in Counter-Strike, breaking down each position's responsibilities and optimal round starts. The creator emphasizes utility usage, positioning, and decision-making to maximize round win potential.

### Key Points

- **Round Start Essentials** [0:00] — Start with a Molotov towards A ramp, a connector smoke, a player flashing over mid, one player running off cat, and one jump spotting upper B.
- **A Anchor Role** [0:35] — The hardest role. Always throw a Molotov at ramp start. Be aware of CT Molotov changes and manipulate it to cover gaps. Flash for mid early, but be cautious if you hear the Molotov extinguished.
- **Connector Player Role** [2:44] — The 'Chad' of the site. Helps A site while fighting mid. Use spawns wisely; path through window and vent if needed. Throw smokes at bottom connector and consider smoking Palace to prevent lurks.
- **Mid Window Player Role** [4:22] — Most impactful CT player. Know different nade lineups to pop window smoke. Use cat jump, ladder jump, underpass jump, and connector jump. Communicate for mid flashes. Rotate to ticket booth mid-to-late round for maximum map control.
- **Cat Player Role** [7:45] — Use good spawns for cat jump or ladder jump. Burn Molotov upper B early to counter rushes. Flash over cat and peek A if ambitious. Play ladder if team goes heavy mid. Support B player if struggling.
- **B Anchor Role** [11:06] — Least desired position. Focus on not losing the round. Let lurker be; they must jump down, giving audio cue. Push upper B with Molotov and smoke to gain control. Drop smoke on site to cut off vision and play hide-and-seek.

### Conclusion

Mastering CT-side Mirage requires understanding each role's utility usage, positioning, and adaptability. Effective communication and map control are key to consistently winning rounds.

## Transcript

today we're going to be looking at CT
side Mirage I'm just going to give you a
nice little basic overview of each
position and how the start round should
look for every single round CT side
Mirage to give yourself the best
possible chance to win the round so
overall in CT side Mirage the first
thing you're going to want to see is a
Molly towards a ramp you're probably
going to want to have some sort of
connector smoke early on in the round
with a player flashing over mid
supporting for that player to Peak
window early and then simultaneously
having one player running off cat and
one person jump spotting upper B this is
kind of what it should look like so
first I'm breaking down CT side Mirage
we're going to start with the hardest
roll first the hardest roll don't care
what anybody says is anchoring a your
mid player is probably going to die
you're going to get lurked from Palace
some weenie is going to run out a ramp
in the first 15 seconds and try to run
you down through a Molly so as the
dedicated a player on Mirage the first
thing you want to do is always have a
Molotov always always always just start
the round dump a Molly you could figure
out a couple different ones that land
differently maybe that you can play
around especially with the CT Molly
changes they can always be on the back
side of the wall and peing you towards
triple you need to be aware of this as
the CT player you can try to manipulate
your Molly so it gets further back on
the wall but then it's going to leave
gaps on the other side where it's thin
close to the wall and they can run out
on you you have to be very careful the
Molly is still incredibly good to throw
at the start because one if somebody
runs through it you're going to have the
advantage of them running through a
Molotov ideally taking some damage you
get the audio Q if you can't afford a
Molotov and a gun round you're an idiot
and you need to buy a Molotov so figure
it out now after you Molly ramp if
you're a really good teammate and you're
playing with people the next thing you
want to do is Flash for Middle flashing
for Mid you have to be careful cuz once
again when you're flashing mid if you
hear somebody run out your Molotov or
they extinguish it you're going to be in
a little bit of a compromised spot so be
very careful of where you throw these
flashers from so at the start of rounds
you want to flash over and mid to late
round you want to flash over connector
instead and through connector
positioning genuinely I don't really
want to tell you too many spots because
there are so many different positions
that you can play you can play off angle
you can play Under balk you can play
default you can play triple you can play
sandwich it really comes down to
personal preference realize that if
they're not rushing you you're playing a
game of hide-and seek so you need to
become the hideand-seek champion and
make sure that you're never in a
position where when that one weenie that
decides to walk out on you doesn't know
exactly where you're at to get a free
kill if your teammates are going mid
dying every round fighting in mid and
just leaving you on an island a really
great option in general is just playing
ticket people are nasty and they're
going to One Tap you from time to time
in this position either coming out
Palace or coming out ramp just be ready
for that so be mobile play this box get
comfortable with it this is your home
now connector player the a connector
player is the Chad of the site he
basically ignores his teammate in the a
bomb site but ideally if you're playing
it well you want to be the guy that
actually helps your teammate in a a
little bit while simultaneously fighting
mid and that starts with your spawns if
you are all the way in the back and then
you try to cross a ramp at the start
just keep in mind there's a good chance
that you're going to die and it's
completely your fault don't be afraid to
path through window later behind your
mid mid window player come through the
vent and enter connector this way in the
mid round for the connector player
things that you can do throwing smokes
bottom Con in different ways and getting
comfortable with how I to play around
them is really strong sometimes you
could throw one at the bottom and this
one like that I just threw bleeds out a
little bit right so you can come out
here you can look for a guy walking up
underpass there's little cheeky plays
that you can do and dropping your smoke
early in the round in mid especially if
you know the other team likes to come
out mid can be really powerful
especially combined with your teammates
Flash from a or your teammates Flash
from cat you really want to try to keep
track of your a player's Palace for them
whether that's maybe you don't want to
use it for Mid maybe there's no pressure
in mid you can smoke his Palace to
prevent the lurk and hold it and jiggle
around here and then also maybe try to
get a little cheeky kill and hit a
timing on the a ramp fight if you Peak
this and die though this is your fault
but this is kind of the life of the
connector player you really get to move
relatively freely it's just all decision
making and the only way you're going to
develop that decision- making is by
trying different things and dying a lot
and getting yelled at by your teammates
because that's the real Counter-Strike
experience mid window player the star
first off if you're the window player
and you're not confident what you're
doing or you're really not that great at
it stop playing it go play B the mid
window player Mirage is probably the
single most impactful player on the
entire CT side if you are playing versus
players that have watched many Austin CS
videos the nade guy and they have
instant window smokes first thing you
need to know is different nade lineups
for how you want to n window to pop the
smoke I'm sure you can find one lineup
that's quote unquote better than others
at the end of the day you need to know
as the window guy how to n the window
smoke your spawns matter probably the
most being the window guy I'm talking
about cat jump ladder jump underpass
jump and connector jump and when you
come up here you just want to make sure
you communicate to your teammates that
you need mid flashes and you hold right
here and anybody coming out is basically
a freebie if you get even closer to this
it becomes incredibly hard for them to
flash you because they have to throw
them over or anything they throw out mid
will come across your scope so you can
duck out of the view and then rep peek
your next option which is a little bit
trickier is the ladder
jump you can come here and you can come
out post here now if you're oping please
understand this angle is awful and you
should only be here if you are
absolutely certain they will not go
underneath if you sit here with an op
the mid guy with a rifle will just walk
down here and pop you in the head like
an idiot I prefer to come out with this
and then hold further out so that way
people can't transition into the midr
ramp once again you need to have a good
spawn because well yeah you can jump
underpass if I jump underpass and I
don't have a good spawn they're going to
see me and I'm going to feel like an
idiot as a Molotov and H flashes come
out and I just get absolutely bombarded
underneath one more option and the
easiest one that you can do make sure
you have your teammates flashing a jump
out window and come out and path to
connector this way you're catching
anybody coming out early that's going to
be crossing the boxes this is a very
safe pick however the higher up in like
ELO or matchmaking rating you go this
will be harder to do people will start
to Molly this a lot of annoying people
will just double n this off the bat and
you're just going to fall over like a
pylon to start the round so to kind of
wrap up the window position on Mirage
you really are just the rotate King you
are trying to predict where the other
team is going and always be supporting
your teammates and allowing your
connector player and your C player to to
just kind of be free because a lot of
times you're going to be smoked in the
mid rounds if you don't have good spawns
what I would call your default boring
rotation that is always powerful to do
when you get smoked off or you feel like
there's no more value you can get out of
the window position leave window come CT
spawn and go ticket ticket offers mid to
late round are the most
obnoxious people to play against and it
is so hard to deal with one you're in a
very difficult position for them to deal
with two you have access to Palace you
have access to a ramp you have access to
connector and you have access to cat you
can potentially basically look
everywhere except for upper B in the mid
toate round and if they make any mistake
with their util and you make the correct
choice there's a high probability that
you're going to take people out in the
mid round and you are very hard to deal
with especially if you tell your
teammate and yell at them to go play
somewhere close a ramp so you can sit
top ticket all right next up we're going
to talk about the cat player so similar
to the window player as a cat player if
you have good spawns you should feel
pretty confident in being able to one
make the cat jump and two the more
effective one for you as the cat player
the ladder jump you can get in here
early without them seeing and if you
stay in here one you have cat very
safely you you avoid all the youtil
early and two if they were to go out mid
quickly and try to do any sort of cheeky
cat split they have no info that you're
here and the chances of them expecting
you are really low and clearing you
could be really low as well depending on
how fast they come out mid I try to make
sure that the person that I randomly am
playing with in these pickup games is
set up for success as much as possible
and that means I start every single
round I just burn my Molly upper B it's
not the best Molly in the world you just
Chuck it up there Bounce It Off the Wall
it just helps with the B- rush so much
if they decide to do a crazy Rush you're
going to hear them but also on top of
that they're going to have to smoke the
molotov which is a great indicator for
your anchor that's on be with you to
then Molly and then if you're ready for
it and what what I'll get into next is
when they smoke that Molly and you are
over here you can just bounce this and I
guarantee you you will need at least two
players for 50 damage every single time
they do a b rush now we kind of focus
more on Mid if your connector player and
your window player are not fighting you
need to be mindful of that and
understand where you can and can't be
and where the enemies can and can't be
for whatever reason window is smoked and
your connector player cannot see middle
te's can rush you immediately and meet
you at bricks when you get around here
you can hear everything you can hear the
guy rushing underpass you can hear the
people rushing up or B and most
importantly when you get closer to
Bricks you're going to hear anybody
scaling up cat right here if you look at
my radar you can see the audio queue and
how far it goes anybody that is trying
to scale up cat quickly you will hear
them later in the rounds you're not
going to have your Molly because like I
said I like to use it for my upper
player so really all you're going to
have at your disposal is an H grenade
and flashes and what I like to do is
early on I like to flash over like this
and maybe take a peek and a if I feel
really ambitious or I'm feeling I might
come out a little bit wider another
version of this flash especially if you
hear them coming up cat is you can
bounce a flash here off this wall and it
lands closer so that way anybody coming
up cat is actually going to catch it
just a little bit and if they try to
swing you bricks they'll be fully blind
but as rounds settle down you can one
play Closer to the bomb site if your B
player's been having a rough time you
might want to be there more to support
him or option two the other team just
likes to kind of play in mid and this is
the more popular option if you are
playing and like you know just pick up
games because everybody just sits in mid
for 40 seconds and if you get inside
ladder with those flashes and they don't
know you're here it's really hard to
clear you out most people drop a Molly
it only burns the bottom you're an
absolute menace to deal with just keep
in mind if you put your back against the
wall here they can see you underneath
the window so kind of always stay close
to this wall but in general playing in
ladder if the team likes to go heavy mid
is very powerful if your teammate B has
been struggling maybe choose not to do
that so that way you can be in a closer
position to help them so last and very
much the least the position pretty much
nobody ever wants to play B you can't
really like win the rounds for your team
all you could do is not lose them
hopefully your cat player is mauling for
you if you're in a low ELO game or any
sort of game maybe just ask your cat
player to do that for you if he says no
I guess you're out of luck so some
things that you should be mindful of is
the B players one is somebody lurking
vers you all the time sometimes you have
those games where there's a guy up or B
every single round and that dude just
loves being up there and honestly if he
wants to be up there just let him be up
there this is so important they cannot
take the bomb site on the plat they have
to jump down and when they jump down
there's always an audio cue fighting the
guy in Upper if you're feeling it go for
it but if you're having a rough game
there's no reason for you to have to
give thisy guy kill if you're in one of
those games where everybody just runs
mid death balls and there's very few
players up here get comfortable with
pushing one let's say your homie Molly
is for you early and then you that could
set up you just bouncing a Molly off
this wall here you don't need to get
super fancy and while that Molly's up
you can just come up here safely know
that you can access this upper area and
you have two options you can just let it
burn and fizzle out and maybe you play
up here or maybe you try to walk up
further but what I like like to do is
when I'm forced to play this spot cuz I
would never willingly play here is Molly
deep upper you come up here and you just
get up here and drop a smoke now once
you drop this smoke you've kind of cut
it all off right you can do a lot more
than just like sit and you know me
telling you to jump spot up or B and you
know try to make sure you're moving and
not just going hey shoot me you do have
options you are going to have to
practice it you will probably die if
you're doing stuff like this this is
really powerful when your teammates lose
mid if your cat player comes back and
can even just do something as stupid as
just toss a flash right here I'm going
to tell you right now if your team loses
mid but you get into this position right
here and you just hold them coming into
the doorway you are so valuable to your
team because your cat player can maybe
lean towards window your players can
stack towards a you give your team so
much map control by you being up here
because they just don't have to worry
about anybody coming up or B and two if
they decide to split cat well great news
if they put anybody up or B you're more
than likely going to kill them and
second when they take the bomb site now
you have them Consolidated into the B
bomb site and they don't have upper b
control so last but not least the famous
B- Rush your teammate's moling this for
you and is a great person okay when you
hear the other team smoke or you just
hear a rush in general some really good
things to do the first and foremost is
Lally just dropping a smoke in this
area there's some set ones and you can
find different way to throw it so maybe
you get a little bit more value out of
the smoke so you can like look over it
but throwing this smoke and then playing
anywhere back of sight is really
powerful don't run around though after
you throw the smoke remember this is
hide and seek you got to be the
hideand-seek champion either hiding
bench maybe you could come over here and
you can wait for them to swing you on
default you could back up and play like
an off angle for them jumping down that
you could do a lot of different things
it's just to cut off the site and then
the only way they can see you right is
if they come up over which then if
somebody's rotating they can clean them
up easily and last but not least a very
common spot when you throw the smoke is
just sitting in this corner but you got
to be careful even in this corner
because decent players and decent teams
will scale quickly and might wrap you so
maybe even be really close to the smoke
while you're blind so that way while
you're getting flashed you're not just
sitting in a corner while they run
through it and getting killed if you
have enough time because your teammate
was really cool and you got the early
warning system off dropping this smoke
like this and then maybe dropping a
Molly either on Plat or dropping it
underneath the window are both very good
options dropping on Plat forces them to
jump out the window which means you're
isolating where the te's can be for your
team in the rotates and then dropping it
on the ground means that anybody trying
to jump out the window fast and move is
going to tick and burn and you're going
to know that as well I appreciate you
guys watching the video please if you
guys did enjoy the video don't forget to
like comment subscribe hit the Bell all
that good stuff let us know in the
comments below what map you'd like to
see next or maybe if you want me to do a
tside for dust 2 or Mirage