How To Play Mirage Like a Level 10 (Full Map Guide)

[00:00] What's up, Goober? When I was trying to

[00:01] get to level 10, I wished that I had a

[00:04] level 10 friend or person to show me how

[00:07] they did it, for them to tell me the

[00:09] details of what they did to get to level

[00:12] 10. And that idea is kind of the basis

[00:14] of my channel. Most of my videos, I'm

[00:16] just imagining myself talking to my past

[00:20] non-level 10 self and telling him how to

[00:23] get to level 10. So, that's what this

[00:25] video is. This video is me explaining to

[00:28] pass me how to play Mirage like a level

[00:30] 10. And I can't do that in 10 minutes. I

[00:32] can't do it in 20 minutes. I'm going to

[00:33] do it in however long this video is. I

[00:36] hope you enjoy it. And if you do, if

[00:37] this video does well, I'll make one of

[00:38] these for every single map. Please do

[00:40] make use of the chapters below. You can

[00:42] bounce around, figure out, you know,

[00:44] what sections would be most important

[00:46] for you and watch those. Or you could

[00:47] just watch the entire thing. I wouldn't

[00:49] be upset about that. But before we

[00:50] begin, thank you to Skins Monkey for

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[01:25] description. If you don't know the

[01:27] timings of a map, then you're going to

[01:29] struggle on that map. So, let's talk

[01:31] about the important timings of Mirage.

[01:34] The best CT spawn will beat the best

[01:36] T-spawn to window for this midfight. But

[01:39] if the CT jumps out of window, then the

[01:41] best T-spawn will be able to spot

[01:44] them. In fact, the best T-spawn only

[01:47] beats the worst three CT spawns to

[01:49] window. With the best spawns, a CT

[01:52] player will beat a T player to swing

[01:56] underpass. When running up to short, a

[01:58] CT could have a T right up in their

[02:04] face. Insta smokes will plume and window

[02:07] just around 147, a couple seconds after

[02:10] the CT can make it to window.

[02:15] CTS with the best spawn for connector

[02:17] will get to con around 145. At this

[02:20] point, T's can already be boxes and even

[02:23] towards chair.

[02:27] Oh, okay. Yeah, you made it all the way.

[02:29] Did you know that your timing to get

[02:31] over to

[02:32] twitch.tv/wilsoncs2 and follow me is

[02:34] remarkably fast and very worthwhile?

[02:37] Let's [ __ ] go, dude. Good flashes.

[02:39] Good flashes. as a CT swinging short

[02:41] with the best spawn. T's can't make it

[02:43] to chair even with their best spawn, but

[02:45] they can be quite close to

[02:48] it. Okay, a sight timings. Now, if you

[02:51] run ramp and a CT runs to underbalk,

[02:53] you'll hear each other right about when

[02:55] you get to bottom

[02:58] ramp. If you peak palace on CT side, T's

[03:01] can't cross to the cubby without being

[03:03] spotted. You also hear them if they try.

[03:10] A CT running to under Balk can hear a T

[03:13] in palace once they reach the top of the

[03:15] second flight of

[03:19] stairs. A T with the best spawn running

[03:22] up ramp won't be able to catch a CT with

[03:24] the best spawn crossing towards Khan.

[03:26] However, the best T spawn will always be

[03:29] able to spot the cross. The timing gets

[03:31] spookier the worse the spawn is for the

[03:33] CT. For B timings, the best spawn for

[03:36] short will hear a B- rush coming in

[03:37] before the T's get into

[03:43] apps. Lastly, a CT jumping on top of van

[03:46] will be able to peak T's before they get

[03:48] into close apps. Well, there are the

[03:51] timings for you. Now, let's talk about

[03:53] CT side Mirage. Before we jump into how

[03:56] to play each specific CT position, I'm

[03:59] going to give you just a brief overview

[04:00] of the CT side default. For some reason,

[04:03] I could only spawn T-bots, so please

[04:05] imagine that these are chunky CTs

[04:07] holding these angles. Uh, your first

[04:09] player is the A site anchor. Their job

[04:12] is to control A. Our second player is

[04:14] the connector player. They're going to

[04:16] be aggressing mid early and then also

[04:18] helping out this A player hold A. Our

[04:20] third player is the window player. This

[04:22] is typically the oper. This player could

[04:25] start window, but they also have the

[04:27] freedom to kind of go wherever they want

[04:28] on the map, wherever they think they're

[04:30] going to have impact. Our fourth player

[04:32] is the short player. This player is

[04:34] going to help out mid early, similar to

[04:36] the connector player and window player,

[04:38] but they're also responsible for helping

[04:39] out their B anchor with B executes and B

[04:42] rushes. Our last player is the good old

[04:44] B anchor. This player is going to be

[04:46] playing for info in apps, looking to see

[04:49] is there a lurk, are they rushing B? And

[04:51] they're going to try to stay alive as

[04:52] long as possible if the T's do come

[04:54] towards B. So, you've probably noticed

[04:56] the typical default on Mirage is very

[04:58] mid-heavy, and that's because this is

[05:00] the space to fight for. Outside of that,

[05:02] they're just choke points. And choke

[05:04] points, you can play for info, you can

[05:06] play retake on sights, but middle, this

[05:08] is where the timings really matter. This

[05:10] is the space that you want info on and

[05:12] you want to fight for on these defaults

[05:14] in your

[05:19] pugs. Let's start with how to play A. As

[05:21] an A player, your spawn doesn't really

[05:24] matter all too much. But what does

[05:25] matter is that on gun rounds, you are

[05:28] flashing mid from triple like this. I

[05:30] come around CT and I aim at this Woodbit

[05:32] and I run jump throw that flash. The

[05:34] reason why you throw that flash right as

[05:36] you get to triple at the beginning of

[05:37] the round is because the timing works

[05:39] out where this flash is going to pop

[05:42] right as T's are swinging top mid after

[05:44] you throw the mid flash. And you're

[05:45] going to throw that every single by

[05:46] round, right? And if you're not throwing

[05:48] it on a buy round, then you tell your

[05:49] team, I'm not flashing mid. Okay, very

[05:51] important. After you throw that flash,

[05:53] give ramp a purposeful peak. The reason

[05:55] why you want to do this is that a common

[05:57] play for TE's is to jump up and look for

[05:59] this pick early. Your con player should

[06:01] be mollying ramp for you. But one

[06:03] problem is that there's often a gap

[06:06] behind it like this. And you just need

[06:08] to be ready for this. So after you throw

[06:10] the mid flash, right, throw it, get

[06:12] ready, and then swing this hard and be

[06:14] ready for this fight. After you throw

[06:15] the mid flash and after you give ramp a

[06:17] purposeful peak, what now? Well, you can

[06:19] play a in three different solid ways.

[06:22] Number one is by playing for retick.

[06:24] When you play for retake, you're going

[06:25] to play ticket. Your job when you're

[06:27] playing ticket is number one, getting

[06:29] info, number two, staying alive, and

[06:31] number three, maintaining this CT space.

[06:34] This space is so important because this

[06:36] space is what allows us to retake the

[06:38] site after the bomb is down. When you're

[06:40] playing ticket, you can jump spot ramp

[06:41] like this and just get info on if

[06:44] anybody's walking out ramp or if there's

[06:45] util being thrown over ramp and the TE's

[06:47] are exeing. Be cautious jump spotting

[06:49] like this. This is not good. A te's

[06:51] going to walk out Palace and just

[06:52] destroy you. So jump spot like this. You

[06:54] only need like one frame of visibility,

[06:57] right? Every once in a while during your

[06:58] jump spotting, give Palace a purposeful

[07:00] peak because a Palace player on T-side

[07:02] can hear you jump spotting from front

[07:04] palace. So they might walk out and look

[07:06] for this pick. That's why you want to

[07:07] jump spot not exposed to Palace. So

[07:09] you're jump spotting like this and then

[07:11] give Palace a peak. Okay, nothing. Okay,

[07:13] keep jump spotting. Keep jump spotting.

[07:16] Okay, give Palace a peek. Now, if you

[07:18] see smokes, flashes coming over ramp,

[07:20] your immediate reaction should be

[07:23] throwing a defensive smoke in front of

[07:24] you. Ticket. There are two reasons why

[07:26] throwing the smoke is so good and why

[07:29] you should never throw a ramp smoke if

[07:31] you're playing CT. Reason number one,

[07:33] this smoke prevents T's from taking CT.

[07:36] Obviously, they can still push it and

[07:38] try to take it, but it makes it so much

[07:40] more awkward to push CT and take that

[07:42] space. Reason number two, it provides

[07:44] you with lurk opportunities now and

[07:47] creates ambiguity for the T's. Now with

[07:49] this smoke, even if they smoked UC, CT,

[07:52] they have to worry about you lurking

[07:53] through the the triple side, right?

[07:55] Right here. They have to worry about you

[07:56] lurking through this side. They also

[07:58] have to worry about you just sitting in

[07:59] the smoke and swinging off of sound,

[08:02] right? This is super spooky for TE's and

[08:03] it delays their executes. It delays

[08:05] their plants. It's so good. So stop

[08:07] smoking ramp when you're playing ticket

[08:08] and save your smoke for that defensive

[08:10] smoke. Now, if you're playing ticket,

[08:12] don't feel like you have to 1v5 right

[08:14] here, right? Use that defensive smoke.

[08:16] But also, if your teammates are super

[08:18] committed to mid and they're not

[08:19] fighting through the jungle smoke or the

[08:20] stair smoke, right? They're not really

[08:22] doing much to make make stuff happen,

[08:24] then you shouldn't be aggressive as

[08:26] well. If they're quiet on the jungle

[08:28] side, then you trying to do something

[08:30] from CT isn't going to work because the

[08:32] T's can just focus on you, right?

[08:33] They're not distracted by anything. So,

[08:35] in that case, you're going to play just

[08:36] like fully for retake back up to about

[08:39] here. play anti- flash, right? Don't

[08:41] look, don't just hold CT. You definitely

[08:43] can jiggle it and like time out peaks,

[08:45] but for the most part, you should play

[08:47] anti flash and then bang, if they flash

[08:49] CT, boom, you swing and you you get

[08:51] those kills. That way, you keep this

[08:53] space, right? And you're not like in a

[08:55] position where they can just 2v1 swing

[08:58] you, 3v1 swing you, flash you, and then

[08:59] swing you, right? You don't want to be

[09:01] vulnerable here in CT if your teammates

[09:03] aren't being aggressive jungle. So, you

[09:05] flashed mid, you peaked ramp, and then

[09:07] you went ticket. What else can you do?

[09:09] You can flash mid, you peak ramp, and

[09:11] now you're going to play sight. How do

[09:14] you play sight? Well, there's a few

[09:15] different ways. Number one, you can play

[09:17] off angles. This is one really common

[09:19] off angle here against this door is just

[09:21] holding this ramp walk out here. Another

[09:23] one is right here, holding this angle.

[09:25] Another decent off angle is jumping up

[09:27] firebox. Oops. And then holding this

[09:29] angle here. You can play top default.

[09:31] There's so many off angles on a site.

[09:33] The big thing is that if you play an off

[09:36] angle on a site that is designed to kill

[09:38] a lurk walking out ramp, then you are

[09:41] most likely going to be exposed to

[09:42] palace. So if you want to play an off

[09:45] angle on site, if you want to counter

[09:47] lurks walking out ramp, you kind of need

[09:49] your window player to support you from

[09:51] from jungle or you need your con player

[09:53] to support you from stairs or at least

[09:56] you need one of them to smoke palace for

[09:57] you. If neither are helping you, then a

[10:00] slightly safer way to play it is by

[10:02] timing out peaks. And typically what

[10:04] this looks like is that you're going to

[10:05] sit default. You're going to hold

[10:07] palace, hold palace, hold palace, come

[10:09] over, and then peak ramp. Okay, you're

[10:11] going to come back, hold palace, hold

[10:12] pal. Right, you get it. Come over, peak

[10:14] ramp. The goal here is that if somebody

[10:16] peaks palace, right, you're just ready

[10:17] for it. And then you time out a peak on

[10:19] ramp. So then if somebody's walked out

[10:21] ramp, you hit a nice timing on them

[10:22] where like they've already cleared

[10:24] default and they're aiming somewhere

[10:25] else and then bang, you swing in to kill

[10:26] them. You could also, of course, play

[10:28] under balk here. You also want to be

[10:30] timing out peaks, right? You don't want

[10:32] to just stand here and hold this angle.

[10:34] If somebody's walking out ramp, don't

[10:36] play just like a default angle. If

[10:37] they're half decent, they're going to

[10:38] clear these and just destroy you. Avoid

[10:41] playing on angles against lurks. Time

[10:43] out peaks or play off angles. When you

[10:45] see an execute coming in and you're

[10:47] playing a site or you're playing under

[10:48] balk, don't be afraid of throwing a

[10:50] defensive smoke just like if you were

[10:52] playing ticket. Defensive smokes on A

[10:54] are just so strong because they create

[10:56] so much ambiguity for TE's. If I run out

[10:59] ramp and the CT threw a smoke like this,

[11:01] now instead of being confident, oh, he's

[11:03] he's default, now he can be anywhere

[11:05] from default to triple to CT and I like

[11:08] have to swing him from this one angle.

[11:10] It's super awkward. And it allows the CT

[11:13] to isolate fights much more effectively

[11:15] and to stay alive and delay, delay,

[11:18] delay. You can see all that impact from

[11:20] that one smoke. It is so much better

[11:22] than just smoking ramp. TE's are going

[11:24] to lurk through the ramp smoke. They're

[11:25] going to execute through it. They don't

[11:27] care. Everybody in their mother knows a

[11:28] lamp flash, right? They're just going to

[11:30] exec anyways if you smoke ramp. So use

[11:32] smokes defensively on a site. Use them

[11:34] to find little, you know, isolated

[11:36] fights. Stay alive. Delay, delay, delay.

[11:39] The third way to play a that I'm going

[11:40] to tell you about is by being aggressive

[11:42] and taking ramp or taking palace. Real

[11:44] quick, how you take palace, you just

[11:45] jump up default. All right, we're going.

[11:47] We're going. We're going. It's good to

[11:49] shift after you land. Otherwise, a T

[11:51] could hear you if you make a step peek

[11:53] in here. And then you're going to peek

[11:54] this angle. You're going to hold it. I

[11:56] don't like to hold on angles while

[11:58] standing still. So, I do these little

[12:00] silent strafe movements. And then if

[12:02] nobody peaks me, I'm going to scale on

[12:04] this left side. Peek this angle. Okay,

[12:06] nobody. Peek this angle. Okay, nobody.

[12:09] And then um peak this one. And then I'm

[12:11] good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm clearing.

[12:12] Okay, now I have palace. Right now to

[12:14] take a fight ramp and to try to take

[12:16] ramp. I'll come out CT. You can throw

[12:17] mid flashes like that, too, on the run

[12:19] if you're in a hurry. Um, I'll get to

[12:21] default, gun out, go under, and then

[12:23] peek like this, right? Because I'm

[12:25] worried about a T walking out ramp

[12:27] early. I'm not going to just hold W at

[12:29] ramp and give them a free pick. I'm

[12:31] still going to be ready for a fight as

[12:32] I'm scaling towards ramp. Once I'm here,

[12:34] I like to get mad close to the wall and

[12:36] just wide swing. The reason why I do

[12:38] that is because T's who are sitting here

[12:40] ramp will either be holding jungle low

[12:43] like this or stairs high up like this,

[12:45] right? And if they're holding the

[12:47] stairs, they're typically over towards

[12:48] this side. For both of those crosshair

[12:50] placements, if I get close to this wall

[12:51] and wide swing, they're going to take

[12:52] the fight way out here, which is like

[12:55] really awkward for both of them, right?

[12:57] So, for that reason, close to the wall,

[12:58] bang, wide swing, ramp. Okay, nothing.

[13:01] You can see people's feet from here,

[13:03] right? Some people come here and hold

[13:04] ramp like this. It's actually a terrible

[13:06] spot because if you swing ramp, you can

[13:09] see their feet right here and you can

[13:10] shoot their little toes. Once you're

[13:12] scaling ramp, just be careful of off

[13:14] angles along here and of people on the

[13:16] top, right? You don't want to get caught

[13:17] off guard. And then you can make the

[13:19] decision. Do I want to scale and push T

[13:21] or do I want to stay ramp? If you want

[13:23] to stay ramp, I recommend you play an

[13:25] off angle like this. Sit right here,

[13:27] right? They're going to pre-im ramp

[13:29] right here and then bang, you're right

[13:30] here. Free kill for you, right? And then

[13:32] if the T's do end up coming A, you have

[13:34] a very fast flank. Or even if they know

[13:36] your ramp, this still makes the

[13:38] situation super awkward for the T's

[13:40] taking A. Also, please do if you play

[13:42] for ramp or you play for palace, right?

[13:44] You take one of the two, then tell your

[13:46] teammates that the TE's could lurk out

[13:48] the other, right? If I take ramp, I have

[13:50] to tell my team, hey, palace is open.

[13:52] They could walk out palace. Please do

[13:54] that. Okay, now let's move on to how to

[13:56] play connector. The connector player is

[13:58] a very important part of your CT setup,

[14:01] and that's because they're going to have

[14:03] a hand in the midfights and in the A

[14:06] fights. So, the two most active parts of

[14:09] the map, the con player is going to be

[14:12] aggressing and taking these fights. And

[14:14] if they're winning those fights, then

[14:15] you're probably going to have a really

[14:17] good CT half. As a con player, when

[14:19] you're in spawn, you have a decision to

[14:20] make, and that is if you're going to get

[14:22] to con via window or via a site. This

[14:25] decision should be made by essentially

[14:28] the spawn that you have. There are five

[14:29] spawns. One, two, three, four, five.

[14:33] There's two that are really bad for

[14:35] going A. this back one and this one

[14:37] right here. These two you should just go

[14:39] window. Don't risk going A, otherwise

[14:41] your timing is super bad and somebody

[14:43] can be top ramp fighting you by the time

[14:45] you're crossing. When you're running to

[14:46] con from A, then you should be throwing

[14:48] some util for your A player and that

[14:50] consists of a ramped molly. Now I come

[14:53] around the corner and I aim at the tip

[14:55] of this kind of chimney or whatever that

[14:58] is and just run through the molly. I

[15:00] like this one because it blooms in the

[15:02] far back and it gets kind of deeper

[15:04] ramp. And so T's who are looking for

[15:05] that pick that we talked about when we

[15:07] were talking about the aside player,

[15:08] they can't jump up and fight behind

[15:10] here. They can't fight behind the molly,

[15:11] right? They they're forced to stay down

[15:13] here and only look for the cross. So

[15:15] you're going to come up CT. You're going

[15:16] to throw this molly into ramp and then

[15:17] you're going to cross towards jungle.

[15:19] Make sure you look towards ramp as you

[15:20] cross just so that you get the info. Is

[15:22] somebody there? Is somebody not there?

[15:23] Once you've crossed, you can throw a

[15:25] flash for mid like this. Avoid jump

[15:27] throwing this flash. If you jump through

[15:29] that flash, then it can just hop over

[15:31] people's heads and like not do much like

[15:33] that. Essentially, right as you cross

[15:35] past this wall, you can aim up just in

[15:37] the air here and as you're running, uh,

[15:39] let that flash go. And that's going to

[15:41] blind T's running out mid. Bang. That

[15:44] should help you with whatever you want

[15:45] to do next, whether you want to be

[15:46] aggressive or not. If you don't want to

[15:48] throw that first flash, you feel like

[15:49] the T's aren't insta swinging mid, then

[15:51] you can throw your bottom con smoke and

[15:53] then throw a flash like this and then

[15:55] fight up middle with this flash and look

[15:57] for fights here. Your bread and butter

[16:00] as a connector player is a bottom con

[16:02] smoke. The reason for this is that it

[16:05] makes your life so much easier and you

[16:07] can do a lot of aggressive things with

[16:09] it. For one thing, holding con is

[16:10] naturally difficult because you have a

[16:12] high low situation here, right? If a T

[16:14] peaks down here at the same time as a T

[16:17] peeking up here, you're a dunzo. There's

[16:19] no world where you win that fight. So

[16:21] having a smoke bottom con just isolates

[16:23] this this fight on short for you. This

[16:26] smoke also enables you to do a bunch of

[16:29] aggressive plays and to get really

[16:31] active in mid. When you throw this

[16:33] smoke, it now allows you to lurk out

[16:35] behind it, be safe from top mid, and

[16:37] hold under if you want. Or you can just

[16:39] use the smoke to try to isolate fights

[16:41] towards top mid or towards valley. Or

[16:44] you can jump up on the bench and hold

[16:45] cat like this. And if you hear somebody

[16:47] like spamming top mid, right, they're

[16:48] shooting their their AK, then you can

[16:50] spam through the smoke, get a kill, and

[16:52] then fall back into it. It also gives

[16:53] you this fight here towards top mid. If

[16:56] the T's have an OP, I would generally

[16:58] avoid this fight because this is just an

[17:00] easy angle for an oper, right? You're

[17:02] probably going to lose that fight.

[17:04] Otherwise, if you're feeling confident

[17:05] and you have a window player who's

[17:07] fighting people running out top mid or

[17:09] you have a cat player who's fighting,

[17:10] then I would say go for it and go swing

[17:12] and go fight with them, you can also try

[17:14] to overswing this angle, right?

[17:16] Overswing it and then take a fight here

[17:18] and then swing back and over swing it

[17:20] again. That way you just avoid that that

[17:22] isolated fight that T's have against you

[17:24] right here. Now, sometimes the T's are

[17:26] going to mollycon at the beginning of

[17:28] the round. Sometimes they're going to

[17:29] nade it. Sometimes they're going to

[17:30] smoke it like this. and you're just not

[17:32] going to be able to get active like how

[17:34] you want. I still recommend you throw

[17:36] the bottom midm smoke. That way at the

[17:38] least like you have the option to be

[17:40] aggressive through it. Even if they

[17:42] threw stuff con, still having the smoke

[17:44] down allows you to be aggressive and

[17:45] forces the TE's to respect the fact that

[17:48] you can be aggressive. So it'll slow

[17:50] down kind of whatever they're trying to

[17:52] do mid. In terms of utility as a con

[17:54] player, you can go flash or you can go

[17:57] nade flash. It's kind of a tricky

[17:59] decision. If the T's are smoking

[18:01] connector consistently like every single

[18:03] round, I would buy a grenade every

[18:05] single round. That way you can nade it

[18:07] and if they're running up short, you can

[18:09] actually take those fights and help your

[18:11] short player. Another good use of your H

[18:13] grenade is to nade top mid at the very

[18:15] beginning of the round. If they leave

[18:17] con open and you can get to bottom con

[18:19] and you're not worried about them insta-

[18:21] swinging you, right, we know that the

[18:23] timing, they can already be here by the

[18:25] time you swing bottom con. So, don't do

[18:27] this if you feel like they're insta like

[18:29] dry swinging mid. Do this if they throw

[18:31] a window smoke and they wait for the

[18:33] window smoke, right? If they wait for

[18:35] the window smoke, then you're going to

[18:36] beat their timing to bottom con um

[18:39] before they swing mid. So, that enables

[18:40] you to then come out bottom mid and

[18:42] throw nade like this that'll just nuke

[18:44] them. If they're all sitting here

[18:46] waiting for that window smoke to land,

[18:47] you could do a ton of chunk damage.

[18:50] Also, if the TE's are throwing a top mid

[18:52] smoke quite often, then having an H can

[18:54] be quite good because then you can nade

[18:56] the top mid smoke and fight like that,

[18:59] right? And this can also help your oper.

[19:01] If you come con and your your oper

[19:03] sitting window holding the smoke, then

[19:05] you can n it for them. Um, that landed

[19:08] weird, but still worked. You can n it

[19:09] for them and the oper can just get a

[19:11] pick through the smoke. You might be

[19:12] wondering when should I fight mid versus

[19:14] when should I not fight mid. Now, your

[19:16] default should be fighting for a mid.

[19:18] Mirage middle is incredibly important.

[19:21] This is the space that the T's want to

[19:23] fight for. This is the space that the

[19:24] CTS want to prevent the TE's from

[19:26] taking. But some rounds you're just not

[19:28] going to be able to do that. When your

[19:29] window player has an MP9 and they're

[19:32] just sitting behind the window smoke,

[19:33] not doing anything, your cat

[19:35] player/short player is playing mega

[19:38] passive to sitting here. Then you

[19:40] swinging out mid being aggressive is

[19:43] super risky cuz you're just full solo,

[19:45] right? You're going to be taking like a

[19:46] 1v3, 1v4. So try to prioritize fighting

[19:49] for mid being aggressive when you know

[19:51] that your window player or when you know

[19:53] that your short player is going to do

[19:55] something aggressive with you. You have

[19:56] to be kind of vocal. Say, "Hey, let's

[19:58] fight up mid this round." Ask your

[20:00] window player to nade the window smoke

[20:02] as you fight top mid. Ask your A player

[20:04] to throw a second flash uh so that you

[20:07] can fight mid once you're out bottom

[20:09] con. Now, if your team is just, you

[20:11] know, demuted, they're not saying

[20:12] anything, they're not helping at all,

[20:14] then you will kind of be forced into a

[20:17] more passive play style of just playing

[20:19] for info at con and you're more so going

[20:21] to be playing for the mid round rather

[20:23] than early aggression. You can

[20:25] absolutely still get away with being

[20:26] aggressive early. It's just against good

[20:28] players. Like, if the T's are swinging

[20:30] top mid together, then if you push up

[20:32] mid, you shouldn't be getting that many

[20:34] kills, right? You should probably just

[20:36] die. So, here's a couple things you can

[20:37] do to like make aggressive stuff happen

[20:40] or make fights happen. Number one, if

[20:42] they're not smoking window and they're

[20:43] just insta- swinging window, tell your

[20:45] window player to come double window with

[20:47] you and you guys play high low, right?

[20:48] They go here, you go here, and you just

[20:50] bite them as they swing out mid. Another

[20:52] coordinated aggressive thing you can do

[20:54] to ask your teammates is, hey, let's

[20:55] push mid this round, right? This is good

[20:57] to do when you know that the T's aren't

[20:59] insta swinging mid. As you saw in the

[21:01] timing section, if the if the T's insta

[21:03] swing mid, they'll spot you jumping out

[21:05] window like this. So, if they're

[21:07] throwing like a top mid smoke or they're

[21:08] just waiting for the window smoke to

[21:10] land and you guys have decent mid

[21:12] spawns, then that's a good time for you

[21:13] to push up mid, right? Run out, play

[21:15] ante, and then hard swing. Another thing

[21:17] for you to do is just go double cat,

[21:19] right? In this setup, we can play one

[21:20] window player, one A player playing

[21:22] passive, and you're going to come double

[21:24] cat with your cat rifler short, sorry,

[21:26] cat short, interchangeable NA versus EU

[21:29] lingo. Come double cat. You can throw a

[21:30] flash like this or you can just left and

[21:32] right click a flash behind you and then

[21:34] just, you know, wide swing and just

[21:36] double fight together. And then lastly,

[21:38] if the teeth aren't throwing anything

[21:41] con early and they're just swinging mid,

[21:43] they can also ask your window player or

[21:45] your cap player or a anybody, right?

[21:47] Come double con with you and just double

[21:48] swing high low here and look for fights

[21:51] like that. You will, if you swing high,

[21:53] like be isolated right here, right? So

[21:55] keep that in mind. But you want to be

[21:56] aggressive. You want to get kills. You

[21:57] want to fight for mid. Those are some

[21:59] options for you to do with your

[22:00] teammates that are easy and easy to

[22:01] communicate. Now, in the mid round, your

[22:03] decision-making is going to highly

[22:05] depend on the info you have. Let's say

[22:07] the TE's have taken mid and you haven't

[22:09] really a really been able to be

[22:11] aggressive or fight through con. Then

[22:13] what can you do? Option number one is to

[22:15] reagro mid with your teammates. This

[22:17] could be like your window player

[22:19] swinging window and you flash over

[22:20] window for them from stairs like this.

[22:22] Or this could be you guys doubling con.

[22:24] They just throw a flash towards bottom

[22:25] con. Bang. And you guys go out and clear

[22:27] mid again. Um you can also ask for your

[22:29] A player to throw their oops to throw

[22:32] their right their second flash over mid

[22:34] like that. If you don't feel like you

[22:36] can coordinate like a reagression into

[22:38] middle. One option that's not that bad

[22:39] is getting back into A. This is good if

[22:42] the T's are like four or five middle and

[22:44] you don't want to just be isolated right

[22:46] here. Right? How we talked about how

[22:48] this fight is really bad for you because

[22:49] they can high low swing you. If you

[22:51] don't want to just stand here and take

[22:53] these really bad fights, then you can

[22:55] just leave. Don't play Topcon. Commit

[22:57] back into A and then get into a setup

[22:59] with your A player. If you are able to

[23:01] get over towards ramp and take ramp,

[23:04] then you being ramp and your A player

[23:05] being default is actually a pretty good

[23:07] setup because your A player can just sit

[23:09] here and hold palace while you're

[23:10] holding the jungle cross for your A

[23:13] player. And then once you take contact

[23:15] on this cross from ramp, then your A

[23:16] player from default can swing. they

[23:18] should be getting, you know, at least a

[23:20] double kill if the T's are running up

[23:21] jungle onto a site. The third way you

[23:23] can play around con the mid round is

[23:25] more so from

[23:27] jungle/topcon and just getting info,

[23:29] right? You can jiggle here, see if any

[23:31] T's are going to push you con. If not,

[23:33] okay, good. That's good info to have. If

[23:35] yes, maybe dropping a Molly Topcon if it

[23:37] feels like they're going to rush you

[23:38] after you see them. That can be good.

[23:40] And then after that, you're more so

[23:42] going to be playing from jungle. So back

[23:43] here's not a bad fight. You just have to

[23:45] be worried about your crosshair

[23:46] placement here because if you hold this

[23:48] angle, then if they wide swing con, your

[23:50] crosser is going to be mega far away. So

[23:52] holding an angle like this can be kind

[23:53] of better. That way you're not stuck

[23:55] between two different angles. You can

[23:57] also play off angles kind of up here

[23:59] too. These are okay for catching

[24:01] somebody just lurking up con. But if

[24:03] there's multiple T's pushing you con,

[24:05] then you're very tradable here. So I

[24:07] like this if you just think that there's

[24:08] one con who's going to walk up and

[24:10] you're just going to take an isolated

[24:11] fight. Now, let's say instead of the T's

[24:12] having taken mid early, you guys as CTs

[24:15] took mid early from these T's, there's

[24:17] not a soul here. What do you do? Well, a

[24:20] good thing for you to do is come back

[24:21] towards A and become a second A player.

[24:24] If mid is empty, then that means it's

[24:26] probably going to be a B exec or an A

[24:28] exec. And in pugs and games with

[24:30] randoms, people much prefer going A.

[24:33] Now, how do you counter an A exec from

[24:36] jungle? We're expecting a stair smoke.

[24:38] We're expecting a jungle smoke. So, our

[24:41] plays through jungle are going to be

[24:43] surrounding these two smokes. One thing

[24:45] you can do is if you come to this corner

[24:47] here and you see this wood bit right

[24:48] here, you just left click a molly and

[24:50] you can shift walk, left click, throw a

[24:52] nade. If the TE's are running out ramp,

[24:55] this is going to do a [ __ ] ton of damage

[24:56] to them through this jungle smoke. You

[24:58] can make a ton of plays. Number one, you

[25:00] can nade the smoke, right? And this is

[25:02] especially good if you have your window

[25:03] player here with you and you're just

[25:04] fighting these TE's who are crossing for

[25:06] sight. Number two, you can lurk through

[25:08] the edge of the smoke and play around

[25:10] here. Even if they throw a molly towards

[25:13] here, benches, you can edge the smoke

[25:15] and not burn from the molly. I took one

[25:17] tick, that's unfortunate, but you can

[25:18] sit here and look for a kill and then

[25:20] fall back into the smoke. If you want to

[25:22] be really aggressive, and this is

[25:23] especially good if your A player is

[25:25] playing on site, right, they need help.

[25:27] You can do a flash over the palm trees

[25:29] here. You can left click it or left and

[25:31] right click it. And you can just push

[25:32] this jungle smoke and just go and just

[25:34] fight while your A player is fighting

[25:35] from under default or wherever they are.

[25:37] Another cheeky play you can make is

[25:39] dropping sandwich while these smokes are

[25:41] up. This is good to do if your A player

[25:44] is on site fighting and you want to drop

[25:46] and help them fight, right? You drop

[25:48] sandwich and then you take these fights

[25:49] as they're fighting from default or

[25:51] under. And now you guys have a little

[25:52] crossfire. If you're playing mid early

[25:54] and you notice like, okay, the smokes

[25:56] are coming in. One option you have too

[25:58] is just to full clear under or full

[26:01] clear top mid or do both. If you know

[26:03] that your A player is playing really

[26:04] passive and they're not going to fight

[26:06] the A execute, they're going to play

[26:08] fully for retake. Then you just full

[26:11] clearing these lurks is really effective

[26:13] because you're going to catch a T down

[26:14] here just walking under or you could

[26:16] catch a T trying to lurk out mid early.

[26:18] That way once you clear both of those

[26:20] then you can full focus on the retake

[26:22] and not have to worry about a T walking

[26:24] up con late. One util set you can throw

[26:26] from jungle if you're playing for retake

[26:28] or you're trying to contest the bomb

[26:29] plant is you come into this corner. You

[26:31] see this right window right here. Bottom

[26:33] right you throw your molly. Top right

[26:35] you throw your nade. Bang. This is going

[26:37] to absolutely nuke default and kill

[26:39] anybody who's planting right here in

[26:41] this corner. If you aren't smoked stairs

[26:43] or jungle and the T's are coming out

[26:45] ramp and they're fighting your A player,

[26:47] you can throw a flash like this just

[26:48] against the wall and then swing with

[26:50] that and that'll pop down here. You can

[26:51] also do the same from jungle, right?

[26:53] just run through your flash there and

[26:54] then swing with that and that's going to

[26:55] be really hard for the TE's to react to.

[26:57] Also with your flashes, just flashing

[26:59] behind your A player is really good. Or

[27:02] flashing for ramp just around here,

[27:04] right? Just flashes in front of them.

[27:05] Those are really solid as well. Just

[27:07] communicate them and tell them, "Hey,

[27:08] I'm flashing for you. Tuck. Okay,

[27:10] flashing. Bang." And then tell them to

[27:12] swing. So flashing for your A player.

[27:13] Really solid as a con player. Let's move

[27:15] on to how to play window. Window is the

[27:18] oper position. And the title for this

[27:21] position being window is a bit

[27:22] misleading because if your window player

[27:24] is playing window every single round,

[27:26] then they're doing something wrong. What

[27:28] I mean by that is that the oper should

[27:30] be going where they feel like they're

[27:32] going to have impact where they're going

[27:34] to go get a kill. It's not key that you

[27:36] have a player in window every single

[27:38] round, right? I'm not defending a bomb

[27:41] site here. I'm just defending space.

[27:43] However, window is just a very powerful

[27:46] position and it's the best timing to mid

[27:48] that the CTs have. So, starting your

[27:50] half by defaulting towards window and

[27:53] playing in window is good. And then once

[27:55] you recognize what the T's are doing,

[27:57] then you branch out and you mix it up

[27:58] and you do stuff that you think is going

[28:00] to work against what the T's are doing.

[28:02] So, let's start with plays that you can

[28:04] make from window. Let's look at early

[28:06] round spawns, right? We have middle

[28:07] spawn, we have this spawn, and then we

[28:09] have this spawn. these two spawns on the

[28:10] against this wall that are closest to

[28:12] window, they're going to beat every

[28:13] single T-spawn. But this middle spawn is

[28:16] going to lose to the best T-spawn

[28:18] window. So if I use that middle spawn

[28:20] and I peak window, the T could already

[28:22] be out in this space and that's quite

[28:24] spooky. So if you don't have one of the

[28:26] good spawns, either A just don't peak

[28:29] window, right? I don't want to swing

[28:30] window with my OP if I think an oper

[28:32] could already be posted on me, right?

[28:34] They're just most likely going to win

[28:35] that fight. They should. or B, ask your

[28:38] A player to flash mid. As this window

[28:40] player, you have to be very conscious

[28:42] about is my short player fighting mid.

[28:44] Is my con player fighting mid? Is my A

[28:46] player flashing over mid for me at the

[28:48] beginning of the round? Your job when

[28:49] you're sitting window is not to 1v5 T's

[28:52] running out mid. It's impossible with an

[28:54] OP. You can just get one and then fall

[28:56] off, right? But re- peaking into four

[28:59] more people, you're probably just going

[29:00] to die. You need help. Middle on Mirage

[29:02] is a group effort. It's not the window

[29:05] players job to hold mid. That's

[29:07] ridiculous. So, your reaction if your

[29:09] team is not helping you mid early,

[29:11] right? They're not flashing mid, they're

[29:12] not fighting mid, and you have an OP and

[29:14] you have a good spawn, absolutely come

[29:15] up and hold for the peak and try to get

[29:17] one. Uh depending on what you see, you

[29:20] can repeat peak, right? If you get one

[29:21] and then like you see another one swing

[29:23] and you're feeling good, then totally go

[29:24] for the rep. In general, you're probably

[29:26] going to get one and then have to fall

[29:28] off. And this is assuming they're not

[29:30] even smoking window early. If they are

[29:31] smoking window early, sometimes you will

[29:33] just be able to catch them swinging

[29:35] before the smoke pops. Otherwise, this

[29:37] is the must know util as a window

[29:39] player. You're going to come into this

[29:41] corner right here. Crouch. I aim at the

[29:44] corner of this splot right here. Right

[29:46] there. And then right click, jump

[29:48] through. And this is going to explode

[29:51] any window smoke and let you peek

[29:54] middle. Bang. And then I'm peeking

[29:56] middle. What you can also do is the same

[29:58] lineup with a flash. This is

[30:00] significantly better in the mid round

[30:02] when you think that T's are going to be

[30:03] scaled down towards bottom con valley,

[30:05] right? They're going to be in this area.

[30:07] If you throw this at the very beginning

[30:08] of the round, it's not going to blind

[30:10] top mid people really at all. It doesn't

[30:13] do anything, right? If they're boxes and

[30:14] you throw this flash, it's just not

[30:16] going to blind them. So, save it for the

[30:18] mid round, right? Use the nade early.

[30:20] Save your flash with that lineup for

[30:21] later on. Another way you can counter

[30:23] the window smoke is by coming against

[30:25] this pillar, right clicking, and then

[30:27] jumping onto the pallet here in the

[30:29] corner. It blows the smoke open, and it

[30:31] gives you an opportunity to get a pick

[30:33] top it. If the TE's are smoking window,

[30:35] and they're not swinging mid until the

[30:37] smoke lands and plumes, and you don't

[30:39] get any opportunity for a pick, then

[30:41] here's a couple things you can do to

[30:43] counter that. Number one is going for

[30:45] the cat jump or the short jump for you

[30:47] EU folk. This is really good when you

[30:50] think that the T's aren't going to insta

[30:52] swing mid. If you watch the timing

[30:54] section at the beginning, best CT spawn

[30:56] versus best T-spawn, the best T-spawns

[30:59] are going to be able to catch you

[31:00] jumping in the air and you're just going

[31:02] to be dead. Never do this against a team

[31:04] that is just dry swinging, insta

[31:06] swinging mid. It's super spooky. Once

[31:08] you're here, you can either stay here

[31:10] and hold above a top mid smoke. That is

[31:13] a really nice play and an easy way to

[31:14] get a pick. Right. If you're here, you

[31:16] can look here and look against the back

[31:17] wall, get a kill, fall. If they're not

[31:19] throwing a top mid smoke and they're

[31:21] just waiting for window smoke to land,

[31:22] then I would recommend instead of

[31:24] staying up here and holding this, then

[31:26] you make the jump, you fall off, and you

[31:28] get onto this angle here on short. This

[31:29] is so strong because your timing here is

[31:32] so much faster than any short player

[31:34] could ever make it here. So, as they're

[31:36] swinging, they're going to be looking

[31:37] con. Nobody's going to be looking at you

[31:39] because it's just impossible for you to

[31:41] be here unless you did the exact play

[31:43] that you just did. The other movement

[31:44] play that you can make is jumping into

[31:46] ladder room. Now, I'm not going to go

[31:48] into like how to make these jumps. I

[31:50] think that'd be a little bit of a waste

[31:51] of time because there's a lot of videos

[31:53] about how to make these cat jump, the

[31:54] ladder room jump. I'm sure CS2 Kitchen

[31:56] has some good ones. If you make this

[31:58] jump and once you're here on short, your

[32:00] timing once again is so good, especially

[32:02] if the TE's are delaying their midtake.

[32:05] That would kind of be the only time that

[32:06] you're making this play that you're here

[32:08] on short peaking way faster than they're

[32:10] ready for. And if you're, you know,

[32:12] scared to go for this jump or you don't

[32:14] feel confident in it, you can have

[32:15] somebody crouch right here and then just

[32:17] boost you up into ladder. It's not as

[32:19] fast, but you still get there on a

[32:21] timing that the T's won't expect. Aside

[32:23] from the short jump and the ladder room

[32:25] jump, you can just jump out window

[32:26] towards bottom mid. And there's a few

[32:28] things you can do. Number one, you can

[32:30] jump out and then you can just play

[32:31] towards under, right? You can play here,

[32:33] hold this angle or you can just play

[32:34] here and hold this right side angle.

[32:36] It's risky because of course somebody

[32:38] could be under. So either you have a

[32:40] hard read, right? I don't think they're

[32:41] playing under at all. Or you just smoke

[32:43] under and then you be ready for somebody

[32:46] to nade this or to run through it or to

[32:48] try to fight you through it after you

[32:49] get a kill. If you don't want to go

[32:50] under, then your plays should kind of

[32:52] center around going towards con. So if

[32:54] you're jumping out window and you want

[32:55] to do a play towards con, ask your con

[32:57] player to throw a bottom con smoke. That

[32:59] way you can play around it, right? You

[33:00] can hold this cross here. You can also

[33:02] push mid off rip and play in front of

[33:04] the smoke here. play this angle and then

[33:06] bang, you get a kill and then you

[33:07] immediately fall back into the connector

[33:09] smoke. It's just key that if you're

[33:10] jumping out bottom mid with an OP, your

[33:12] con player throws a smoke. That way you

[33:15] have an out. You can't be stuck bottom

[33:17] middle, no con smoke, bang, and then

[33:20] you're just going to get traded, right?

[33:22] You're just going to die. So, make sure

[33:23] they're throwing a bottom con smoke or

[33:24] just ask them to very politely and

[33:26] purposefully, can you please throw

[33:27] bottom con smoke for B? One play that

[33:29] you wouldn't want your con player

[33:30] throwing a bottom con smoke for would be

[33:32] if you want to do the bench peak. This

[33:34] is kind of best if the TE's are smoking

[33:36] in connector like this. Some teams, some

[33:39] players you play against will just throw

[33:41] the smoke every single round. And if

[33:42] they throw that and window, then one

[33:44] thing you can do is jump out window,

[33:45] jump on top of bench and hold this

[33:47] angle. And once the T swings, bang, you

[33:50] get your kill and you just fall back

[33:51] into, you know, the smoke that the T's

[33:53] through and you use that as cover. The

[33:55] reason you don't want your con throw

[33:57] player throwing a smoke is because then

[33:58] it'll just cover the angle and you won't

[34:00] be able to see this cross here.

[34:02] Sometimes as a window player, you're not

[34:04] going to want to just throw your body

[34:06] out at mid, right? You're going to be in

[34:08] a more of a info supportive trying to

[34:11] help your team type role. So when you

[34:12] come window and you hold early and

[34:14] nobody swings, then maybe you get smoked

[34:16] window. If your team wants to still

[34:17] aggro mid or you still want to have a

[34:19] little bit of impact mid, you want to

[34:20] scare the TE's, you can come here into

[34:21] this corner, aim at this line where the

[34:24] roof meets the wall, and then shift.

[34:27] Don't move your mouse. Once you get to

[34:29] the middle window, run and left click

[34:31] throw. Come here. Right here. Don't

[34:34] move. I don't have my mini map, so I

[34:36] might screw that up a little bit, but

[34:37] yeah, there you go. So, if you tell your

[34:39] team you're doing that and you molly top

[34:41] mid boxes and then, you know, you have

[34:43] two people swinging out con or your con

[34:45] player swings and your cap player swings

[34:46] at the same time, right? Everybody's

[34:47] just trying to fight mid at the same

[34:49] time. Your a player flashes. That's kind

[34:51] of the dream scenario, right? In a pug,

[34:53] people are actually fighting mid and

[34:54] you're mollying boxes. You know, I I

[34:56] wouldn't throw this every round. I

[34:57] wouldn't fully trust your teammates to

[34:58] make use of it, but it's definitely a

[35:00] good one to know when you're playing

[35:01] with a good team or a coordinated team

[35:03] on middle outside of window. Dude, the

[35:05] world is your oyster. The Mirage is your

[35:07] oyster as an oper. There's so many plays

[35:10] you can make. So, I I can't talk through

[35:11] every single one, but I'm just going to

[35:12] like rapid fire just spit off some plays

[35:15] just so that maybe there's stuff you

[35:16] haven't thought of. So, number one, Peak

[35:18] Palace. Hold this peak. Bang. Get your

[35:20] kill. Number two, just play ticket. If

[35:22] you play ticket, this is a really

[35:24] effective way to play retake A, right?

[35:25] because you get your one and then you

[35:27] can fall and you can stay alive and now

[35:28] you're playing retake and now you can

[35:30] enable two rifers to go towards Khan and

[35:32] fight mid. It's very valuable for you to

[35:34] be taken on some of these rounds. You

[35:35] can go for a ramp peak. So this is

[35:37] typically if you have the best a spawn,

[35:38] you want to come here and you can just

[35:40] double zoom and look for the head of the

[35:42] person who's crossing. You can also open

[35:44] the angle up for yourself by as you come

[35:46] this way, you jump on the bench, twist

[35:47] your OP and then double peak double zoom

[35:49] from up here. Um that makes the shot a

[35:51] little bit easier to hit. It just takes

[35:53] slightly longer to do that. Of course,

[35:54] you can just start connector with your

[35:56] OP, right? You can just double con

[35:58] early. Either you can smoke bottom con

[36:00] and peak top con. You want to make sure

[36:02] your A player is flashing for you when

[36:03] you do this peak because this is just a

[36:05] fully isolated fight. So, sometimes

[36:06] you're going to have somebody with an OP

[36:08] just holding you here and you don't want

[36:09] to take this dry. Their timing is always

[36:12] going to be better to this spot than

[36:13] your timing to top con. So, kind of

[36:15] disadvantageous if you don't have a

[36:17] flash coming in from A to take that

[36:18] peak. You can also just peak bottom con

[36:20] without that smoke, right? Or you can

[36:22] throw that smoke and then peek in front

[36:24] of it like how you did when you're in

[36:26] windows, right? Similar play, but this

[36:28] time you're just coming through con, you

[36:29] get your one and then you fall back

[36:30] through the smoke, get back into con.

[36:32] You can also just get into a bunch of

[36:33] double A setups with your teammate,

[36:35] right? So if you come towards A and you

[36:38] start at triple and you hold ramp and

[36:39] then your A player gets close to ramp,

[36:41] you can flash them into ramp by aiming

[36:43] at this bit of wood. Flash, bang, and

[36:46] then the rifler here is just swinging

[36:48] into ramp and taking the space. And that

[36:50] way if the T's do like insta run out A,

[36:52] you have two players here, right? You're

[36:53] triple, your A players scaling up

[36:55] towards ramp and you're helping them

[36:57] take space ramp with that flash. Coming

[37:00] towards B with your OP can be really

[37:02] strong because if you know that the T's

[37:04] are lurking one in apps a lot, then you

[37:08] coming apps with your OP is just

[37:10] essentially a free kill, right? They're

[37:11] not expecting the OP to hold apps. So

[37:13] you can either make this van jump, which

[37:15] uh can be quite tricky. I still mess it

[37:17] up sometimes. Um, or you can have

[37:19] somebody boost you, right? They can

[37:21] crouch here and then you jump on top of

[37:22] their head and you go on top. Or if they

[37:24] stand right here, just past this line,

[37:27] you can jump onto their head from here,

[37:29] right? So they'll be standing there, you

[37:31] jump onto their head and then boom,

[37:32] you're up. Alternatives, if you don't

[37:33] want to get into apps, if that feels

[37:35] kind of spooky, then you can just play

[37:36] this angle right on bottom van. You can

[37:38] play on top van. I wouldn't recommend

[37:41] playing this angle. This angle just kind

[37:43] of sucks. I would avoid coming towards

[37:45] apps when you know your opponents are on

[37:47] an eco, right? You don't want to get ran

[37:49] over by tech 9 smack 10's. You also

[37:52] don't want to give a deagle this kind of

[37:54] opportunity to just 1v one you on a

[37:56] headshot angle. So if it's an eco and

[37:58] you really think it's going to be BB,

[38:00] then I would play, you know, further

[38:01] back towards sight and just hold window

[38:03] or even just start short early, right?

[38:05] Start double short and then if it is B,

[38:07] you have these nice long range angles

[38:09] that you can take for a B rush. Coming

[38:11] short with your OP can be quite strong,

[38:13] especially if you do something to get a

[38:15] good timing out here, right? either the

[38:17] window jump to short or the ladder jump

[38:19] to short. But if you're coming through B

[38:21] over to short, getting towards ladder is

[38:24] still kind of ideal. The reason for that

[38:26] is being around this area with an OP,

[38:28] it's really restricting because these

[38:30] fights for you if you look towards con

[38:32] or bench are really bad. These headshot

[38:34] angles are awful for you and then you

[38:36] also have the possibility of somebody

[38:38] swinging here. So that's kind of mid

[38:40] round short is better for a rifler.

[38:42] Early round, your your focus should be

[38:44] getting picks towards top mid from

[38:46] ladder or from a good timing and you're

[38:48] peeking up this way. When you're rifling

[38:50] window, you don't have the ability to

[38:52] just sit here and just hold it dry and

[38:55] get one and fall off with minimal risk.

[38:58] Right? If you come here early and the

[39:00] TE's swing four out mid without smoking

[39:02] window, flashing anything, you're maybe

[39:04] going to get one. Like maybe if you

[39:06] really destroy one person fast,

[39:08] otherwise you're just going to die. you

[39:10] don't have that luxury that you do with

[39:11] an OP to to take that fight. Um,

[39:14] instead, as this window player, you got

[39:16] to get a bit more creative. So, if you

[39:18] want to hold the mid swing dry, it's

[39:20] better to ask your connector player or

[39:23] your short player to come window early

[39:25] with you and you guys double hold it

[39:27] with rifles, right? And then you guys

[39:28] take those fights together. If the TE's

[39:30] aren't into swinging, instead they're

[39:32] throwing the window smoke and they're

[39:33] waiting for it and then they swing, then

[39:34] getting up mid with your rifle is really

[39:37] strong. This is I mean you see Donk make

[39:39] this play so much in his pugs. He just

[39:41] runs up mid and kills people. This is

[39:43] really good to do again together with a

[39:46] teammate, right? Have somebody come with

[39:47] you. You guys double swing and your A

[39:48] player's flashing for you guys from A to

[39:51] go for that peak. Coming double short

[39:53] early too is good. Coming short with

[39:55] your short player and then you guys

[39:56] swing. You can left and right click a

[39:57] flash like that above window to swing.

[39:59] You can also bounce a flash just against

[40:01] the blue bit right there. Bang. And then

[40:03] you guys are double swing off short

[40:04] together. That's really good to do if

[40:06] you have a connector player who will

[40:07] come window and throw the the boxes

[40:09] molly, right? That'll make that play

[40:11] even better. But the molly is kind of a

[40:13] luxury and pugs, you can't really expect

[40:14] people to do that. So even if it's not

[40:16] there, still doing that double swing off

[40:18] short can help you guys control mid. If

[40:20] you don't want to do anything early,

[40:22] then if you're rifling in window,

[40:24] playing more so for the mid round is

[40:26] better. And the reason for that is

[40:28] because you can't take these early

[40:30] fights. Once the T's are scaled up down

[40:32] bottom valley up short, right? We're

[40:35] we're in the mid round. Then they're

[40:36] more vulnerable to more things. Right?

[40:38] If I'm up here short, I'm exposed to

[40:41] con, I'm exposed to window, and somebody

[40:44] who's close short could just swing me

[40:45] here. But early round, if I'm sitting

[40:47] here, right, I'm only exposed to

[40:49] connector. If I'm sitting here, I'm only

[40:50] exposed to short. If I'm sitting here,

[40:52] I'm only exposed to bottom con, right?

[40:54] So, as the T's scale further down mid,

[40:57] they become more and more vulnerable to

[41:00] CT aggression, which means you want to

[41:02] hit that timing where, okay, the T

[41:04] smoked window, they took mid, they were

[41:05] at boxes, and now they're scaling down,

[41:07] and now they're trying to do something

[41:09] mid. Right now, they're trying to push

[41:10] short or they're trying to get up con,

[41:11] whatever, but they're sitting in valley,

[41:13] and they're figuring out what they're

[41:14] going to do. That's when it's a really

[41:16] good time to throw this nade and have

[41:18] your connector player swing at the same

[41:20] time and have your short player swing at

[41:22] the same time. or you go double con and

[41:24] let's say bottom con is smoked. That's a

[41:26] good time for you guys to nate it or to

[41:28] flash through and to get really

[41:30] aggressive in retaking mid with your

[41:32] rifles. Regardless of if you're opting

[41:34] or if you're rifling, your positioning

[41:36] in the mid round is incredibly important

[41:38] because you are the rotate player,

[41:40] right? You should be rotating towards A

[41:42] or you should be rotating towards B

[41:43] depending on what's happening on the

[41:45] map. because of how frequent a hits are

[41:48] or a splits are, you should typically be

[41:51] rotating towards ticket instead of

[41:53] rotating towards market. Now, if the T's

[41:55] are in a really bad buy, then the

[41:57] chances of them going towards B goes up

[41:59] and then maybe okay, market's a better

[42:01] decision. On full buy rounds, I would

[42:03] kind of default towards rotating towards

[42:05] ticket if you don't want to stay window.

[42:06] Now, you would want to rotate off of

[42:08] window if let's say you get one and then

[42:11] bang, you're smoked window. Okay, now

[42:13] it's a 5v4. You guys don't need to fight

[42:16] for mid to win this round, right? The

[42:18] T's are at a man disadvantage now.

[42:20] Coming towards ticket, reinforcing A and

[42:22] we kind of give space mid. That's really

[42:24] strong. Another reason you'd want to

[42:26] rotate is because you're sitting window

[42:28] and nothing is happening. It's super

[42:29] boring, right? Nobody's swinging. It's

[42:31] starting to feel like a sight hit is

[42:33] going to come in. Then you should rotate

[42:34] to where you think that sight hit is

[42:36] going to happen. If you think it's a

[42:38] then rotating jungle is okay. The reason

[42:42] why it's not great is because you're

[42:43] going to be facing right side smokes,

[42:45] right? And you can't do a whole lot

[42:47] through these as an offer unless you

[42:48] have a nade and you get a good timing

[42:50] where you nade it, bang, and then you

[42:51] catch some crossing, you get a kill, and

[42:53] then you tuck. Otherwise, you're going

[42:54] to have you're going to have more

[42:55] options to make plays via CT. The last

[42:58] two things I'll say about window just in

[43:00] general, number one, and you probably

[43:01] picked up on it so far, you should OP.

[43:03] You need you should be comfortable

[43:04] opting if you're going to play window.

[43:06] If you don't op as a window player,

[43:07] you're kind of wasting the uh the role.

[43:10] you're wasting the position in a way

[43:11] because it's just you're limited by

[43:13] rifling. Number two is that as this

[43:16] window player and just in general as an

[43:18] oper, you need to be very vocal about

[43:20] what you're doing and what you expect

[43:22] your teammates to do. So, if I'm making

[43:24] a play where I'm jumping out window, I

[43:26] need to tell my team that I need to ask

[43:28] my con player to throw that bottom con

[43:31] smoke if I want it. Otherwise, I might

[43:33] just die out bottom mid. Right? When

[43:34] you're making plays as an oper, you're

[43:36] going to have to rely on your teammates

[43:38] at times. And if you can't rely on your

[43:40] teammates, then you're going to have to

[43:41] play in kind of a bit more of a of a

[43:44] passive way. You could still get away

[43:46] with some aggressive stuff for sure, but

[43:48] certain things just aren't going to work

[43:49] without your teammates help. So, be

[43:51] vocal. Ask for things. Ask for flashes.

[43:53] Ask for smokes. Tell your teammates,

[43:55] "I'm rotating here. Let's go do this,

[43:57] right?" Come up with ideas. Be a vocal

[43:58] player. It's going to help out

[43:59] tremendously. Next, let's talk about how

[44:01] to play short. Short is kind of similar

[44:03] to connector where early round you're

[44:05] going to be focused on mid and helping

[44:07] your teammates with the midfight or just

[44:08] taking these midfights and then more so

[44:10] in the mid round or late round. Then you

[44:12] become a bit more concerned about B or

[44:14] you're concerned about lurks depending

[44:16] on what's going on. But you're going to

[44:17] have a hand in the B fights and a hand

[44:19] in the middle fights. As a connector

[44:21] player, unless you're making the window

[44:23] to short jump or you're doing the ladder

[44:26] jump, you have the worst timing to mid

[44:29] compared to the connector player and the

[44:31] window player. This means that unless

[44:32] your team like has a plan for this

[44:34] round, you need to be running up here

[44:36] towards short staring at the mini map

[44:38] looking at what is my con player doing?

[44:39] What is my window player doing? Are they

[44:41] fighting? Are they passive? What's up

[44:43] with that? Because that's going to

[44:44] inform you on how you should start this

[44:45] round. If you see that your window

[44:47] player is fighting, then you can come

[44:49] around to this left side and throw a

[44:50] flash like this that'll pop above window

[44:52] and it won't blind your window player if

[44:54] they're fighting right here. If they're

[44:55] not fighting, but window isn't smoked

[44:58] and you want them to fight and you say,

[44:59] "Hey guys, let's go fight." Then you can

[45:01] just throw a flash like this above the

[45:02] blue building, bang, and swing with

[45:04] that. And then that one your teammates

[45:05] can swing off of. It's just these

[45:07] flashes that are thrown deeper can blind

[45:09] your window player. So make sure that

[45:11] they're not just like holding it with an

[45:13] OP and then you throw that. You're going

[45:14] to full blind them. If the T's are being

[45:15] really aggressive and like you can hear

[45:17] your con player fighting, you want to

[45:18] get out and you want to help as fast as

[45:20] possible, then come up short, throw a

[45:22] flash like this, and then just bang and

[45:23] just insta swing off of this and look

[45:25] for a fight. You can also just left and

[45:27] right click a flash behind you like

[45:28] this. That works totally fine, too. And

[45:30] neither of those are going to blind your

[45:31] window player. Now, in the timing

[45:33] section, we saw that the short player,

[45:35] even with a really good spawn, can get

[45:37] up and then the TE's will be really

[45:38] close short if they fullon rush it. So,

[45:41] again, stare at the mini map. Think

[45:43] about, is that a possibility for me

[45:45] here, right? Do I hear a window smoke

[45:47] land? Sometimes your window player is

[45:48] going to get smoked off or not peek and

[45:50] just not tell you. What do you know

[45:51] about the round? If you know nothing and

[45:53] you get up short and you hear some

[45:55] footsteps up short, might be better just

[45:56] to block. Just smoke close short. Don't

[45:59] even mess around with that because you

[46:00] could just be swinging short into a 1v5.

[46:02] This is one of those positions where

[46:04] it's just you really kind of depend on

[46:05] your teammates's info because you're so

[46:07] late to the party that if they don't

[46:09] give you info, you kind of have to play

[46:10] the role in a little bit more of a

[46:12] passive way. Now, if the T's aren't

[46:14] going out mid super fast and you have

[46:16] the timing to get towards ladder, then

[46:18] getting towards ladder is really strong

[46:20] if the other team is a mid-heavy team.

[46:23] if the other team is just lurking mid or

[46:25] not really touching mid and they're just

[46:27] going towards sights. Being in ladder is

[46:29] really not that good because if they

[46:31] throw an A execute, you're just going to

[46:33] rotate, right? But if they go B, you're

[46:35] leaving your B player just fully on an

[46:37] island and that's a lot of trust to have

[46:39] in a random random teammate as a B

[46:41] player, right? If you're duoed with them

[46:43] and you trust them more, then committing

[46:45] harder into mid and getting into ladder

[46:46] can be quite good. If you don't really

[46:48] trust them to hold B, then you will want

[46:50] to lean a bit more towards B. some pugs

[46:53] like some games like the other team's

[46:54] just never going to go B and you could

[46:55] just full focus mid. So again, similar

[46:58] to window, similar to con, it's one of

[46:59] those roles where you really have to

[47:00] analyze like what are the T's doing?

[47:02] Where can I put myself where I'm going

[47:03] to have a lot of impact? As a short

[47:05] player, you're often going to be

[47:06] reacting to fights or reacting to sound

[47:09] that your teammates are making. One

[47:11] example is sometimes you're going to be

[47:13] playing close short like this and you're

[47:14] going to be holding bottom con or

[47:16] looking towards bench. And the reason

[47:17] why it can be good to be up close like

[47:19] this is because if somebody's being

[47:21] loud, short, bang, you're just insta

[47:22] swinging and you just kill them here if

[47:24] they're fighting towards Khan. Of

[47:25] course, you have to be worried about

[47:27] chair, right? But you can also throw

[47:30] util towards chair by coming here, just

[47:32] lining it up kind of like this, like the

[47:34] lamp is in the red and just shift walk

[47:36] throw util towards the lamp or a little

[47:38] bit above it. And then that's going to

[47:40] land in chair and molly out chair. So

[47:41] you can throw that and then if you want

[47:42] to aggro up cat, you can just take like

[47:44] a fight here. If you know there's

[47:46] somebody chair, they're going to be here

[47:47] or they're going to be dropped valley

[47:48] and then that allows you to aggress

[47:49] without somebody swinging you from

[47:50] chair. As a short player, you can throw

[47:52] a ton of really useful util for your

[47:55] teammates and just in general. Firstly,

[47:58] you have a really easy way to throw util

[48:01] towards underpass, right? You just throw

[48:02] them over the sign, bang, bang, and

[48:04] you're going to do a [ __ ] ton of damage

[48:06] to people who are close under. You can

[48:08] also resmoke bottom con for your

[48:10] teammate. There's this lineup that's an

[48:11] old CSGO lineup where you come here and

[48:13] you aim like imagine this is a box, you

[48:15] just aim in the middle of it, left click

[48:16] throw. I prefer just coming back here

[48:18] and then at the bottom of this you just

[48:19] left and right click jump throw. Um,

[48:22] this one is much faster and kind of

[48:24] plumes outwards more, which is what you

[48:26] want from a bottom con smoke in CS2. So

[48:28] if you want to respoke bottom con for

[48:30] your teammate, come here, left and right

[48:31] click jump throw at this dark spot.

[48:33] That's the perfect bottom con smoke for

[48:35] for con. If you have a teammate in duo

[48:37] and you want to help them out, you can

[48:38] get into this corner, aim at the left

[48:40] side of this wood thing here and just

[48:42] run left click throw. And this is going

[48:44] to nade the window smoke out so your

[48:46] window player can peek. You can also

[48:47] throw a flash that pops right above

[48:49] window. That's really effective. If you

[48:51] just get back here, right close to this

[48:53] door, you're not exposed to cat. You're

[48:55] going to line it up where this line

[48:57] you're aiming about in the bricks where

[48:59] this line would meet it. Then you're

[49:01] going to run, left click, jump throw,

[49:03] and that flash is going to pop right

[49:04] above window. and anybody that's

[49:06] chilling in valley is going to get full

[49:07] blinded from this. Okay, let's talk

[49:09] about smokes that land on short. One

[49:11] smoke that you're going to be throwing

[49:13] occasionally will be this smoke here.

[49:16] This smoke is really effective. I would

[49:17] say not at the beginning of the round,

[49:19] but more so when the TE's are going to

[49:21] be going up con or they're going to be

[49:23] going up short. At the beginning of the

[49:25] round, it blocks your window player off

[49:27] from getting info short. Somebody can

[49:28] sneak up behind the smoke and kind of

[49:30] use it to isolate fights towards Khan.

[49:31] It just kind of restricts info mid when

[49:33] if we want to take mid, we don't want to

[49:35] restrict info mid, right? It's better in

[49:36] the mid round where let's say T's are

[49:39] grouping short. They just smoked Khan.

[49:41] They want to go up short and then you

[49:42] throw this smoke, right? And then this

[49:43] is really spooky for them to push. Or

[49:45] they do the opposite. They smoke you off

[49:47] short. In reaction, you throw that smoke

[49:50] and now if they want to go up con, they

[49:52] have to worry about you pushing the

[49:53] short smoke because nobody can hold that

[49:55] that smoke from chair anymore, right?

[49:57] You could just push it here and isolate

[49:59] these fights towards con. It's better as

[50:01] kind of a a stuffing tool or as like a

[50:03] scary like, you know, oh [ __ ] now we

[50:05] can't push con or now we can't push

[50:06] short because of the short player threw

[50:08] this smoke. The other smoke that you can

[50:10] kind of make plays around is a top mid

[50:12] smoke. If the TE's are consistently

[50:13] throwing a top mid smoke, then sometimes

[50:16] disrespecting it and getting up this way

[50:18] can be really effective. This is just

[50:20] like a cheeky sneaky little play. In CS

[50:22] GO, people used to push this smoke all

[50:23] the time. I feel like I haven't seen

[50:25] somebody push a top mid smoke in CS2 in

[50:27] like months. I don't know. people just

[50:29] never do it for some reason. So, this

[50:30] can be a cheeky way if they're super

[50:32] heavy mid, right? Push up here. You can

[50:34] even get into the smoke and then walk

[50:35] out this way and just find a couple free

[50:37] kills. Cheeky little play for you to do.

[50:39] One thing to be cautious about when

[50:40] you're swinging mid from short is that

[50:41] you are just exposed to everything,

[50:43] right? The connector player has the

[50:45] luxury of swinging and not being exposed

[50:47] to top left. So, they can isolate fights

[50:49] a bit easier, especially if they have

[50:51] their their smoke down bottom bid. On

[50:53] short, when you swing, you have a

[50:54] terrible timing to short and it's just

[50:57] everything's open. So, if you're being

[50:58] really aggressive short, try to either

[51:00] get somebody to come with you or make

[51:02] sure you're swinging like off somebody

[51:04] else's info. Cuz if you swing and you

[51:06] over swing, you take a fight here and

[51:08] somebody swings here, you should just

[51:10] die, right? You should just lose that

[51:11] fight. So, what you can do if you have

[51:13] teammates who are down to coordinate a

[51:15] little something, uh, if you feel like

[51:17] you're confident swinging off short, you

[51:19] can ask your window player, "Hey, Molly

[51:20] boxes once we get up to short, have a

[51:22] teammate come with you short, and then

[51:23] you guys just flash against the wall and

[51:25] then double swing." And hopefully your A

[51:27] player flashes as well and you guys

[51:28] swing out and you take these fights once

[51:30] boxes is mollyed. When you're being

[51:31] aggressive, if you're confident that

[51:32] you're going to take a fight in this

[51:34] area, then you can throw just a flash

[51:36] valley like that and then swing off of

[51:38] that. It won't blind you and anybody

[51:40] who's left side boxes or playing Dell

[51:42] Plan or just out in the open, right?

[51:44] They're going to be full blinded by this

[51:45] flash and they can't really do anything

[51:47] about it aside from run away and turn.

[51:49] When you do have to turn back and focus

[51:51] on B, don't feel like you have to 1v5

[51:53] T's running out of apps. This is a

[51:55] repeating theme on Mirage I want you to

[51:57] think about is that you don't have to

[51:58] 1v5 people as they're swinging out and

[52:01] taking space. Your job as a cat player

[52:03] is more so to be the person who kills

[52:06] people, but that means that you can be a

[52:08] little bit more bity and a little bit

[52:09] more picky choosy about how you take

[52:11] fights, right? Your B player should be

[52:12] the one who's jump spotting. They get

[52:14] the info, they throw their smoke, and

[52:16] they just try to stay alive, right? They

[52:18] force the TE's to try to go find them.

[52:20] you as this short player get to picky

[52:22] choosy which fights do I want to take

[52:24] and one way you can effectively do that

[52:26] is if the T's are throwing good flashes

[52:28] they're blinding you they're getting out

[52:29] apps is to not fight them in apps but

[52:31] instead fight them as they jump out

[52:33] right you're going to catch T's swinging

[52:35] this way who are trying to clear bench

[52:37] try to find your B player once they're

[52:38] out apps they're going to be more spread

[52:40] out and you're going to be able to

[52:41] isolate fights easier so if you're

[52:42] playing around this right this is a

[52:44] really strong place to play to hold apps

[52:46] from if you're if you're a short player

[52:48] when you play around this Right. Maybe

[52:49] take one fight apps and then let them

[52:51] drop and isolate fights from there. Make

[52:53] them come get you and find you and make

[52:55] them go chase the B anchor as well. If

[52:58] you stand here and let them just fourman

[53:00] swing apps with their Mac 10s, AKs out,

[53:02] right? You're probably just going to get

[53:04] traded. The other thing is that you can

[53:06] throw really good util into apps from

[53:08] short, right? You can throw that nade

[53:09] that's just going to nuke everybody. You

[53:10] can throw a molly from there. So early

[53:12] on in the round, you're going to get B

[53:14] info before your B player does because

[53:16] you're coming up this way towards short,

[53:18] right? you're going to default towards

[53:19] mid early if you hear all those

[53:21] footsteps in apps and make sure please

[53:22] if you play short and you hear people

[53:24] running in apps tell your B player so

[53:26] you hear those footsteps okay you can

[53:27] immediately come back and you can drop

[53:29] you can just util dump it into apps

[53:31] right like that and you can either tuck

[53:33] or you can play towards here this is

[53:35] really effective as well you can also of

[53:37] course play back here this is better to

[53:38] do if the T's are on an eco right you

[53:41] know they're on pistols they're on Mac

[53:42] 10s whatever and you want to maintain

[53:44] that range advantage it's just if you do

[53:46] this and they're on a fullby they're not

[53:48] great fights and you're also super

[53:50] separated from sight. So, it's a bit

[53:52] tricky and sometimes you're going to get

[53:53] smoked off short right here. The last

[53:54] thing I'll mention is that as a short

[53:56] player, your job isn't only to be

[53:58] concerned about short and to be

[53:59] concerned about B, but you're also um

[54:02] responsible for helping your connector

[54:03] player control. That's why T's always

[54:06] have to throw util towards short, right?

[54:08] They have to molly it or they have to

[54:09] smoke it or they have to do something

[54:10] when they want to go up connector. So,

[54:12] however you can make it uncomfortable

[54:14] for the TE's to go up con, whether it be

[54:16] right, they smoke you short and then you

[54:18] molly into con, you drop a nade bottom

[54:20] con, or you throw this this smoke and

[54:22] then you lurk out behind it and you push

[54:24] and you try to, you know, catch them.

[54:26] Whatever you can do to either get info

[54:28] con or just make tease uncomfortable in

[54:30] con is really strong. I don't want you

[54:32] to think that short player, your job is

[54:34] only short. That's all you have to be

[54:35] worried about. You should be worried

[54:37] about con 2 and help your con player

[54:38] control that space. And that's why

[54:39] having smokes ready to be able to

[54:41] resmoke bottom con can be really strong

[54:43] as well. The last CT position we're

[54:44] going to talk about is the B anchor. The

[54:47] most boring but also the easiest

[54:50] position on Mirage is the Banker

[54:52] position. And the reason for that is

[54:54] because the floor of being a Banker is

[54:57] really high when you know the utility

[54:59] and you know how to jump spot correctly.

[55:01] You can be like a really bad player or

[55:04] just not really but you could be a

[55:06] really bad player and still be a good

[55:07] beanker. You can be at a lobby that's

[55:09] significantly higher elo than you,

[55:11] everybody's better than you, and still

[55:12] be a good banker. One way you can make

[55:14] efficient use of your molly is by coming

[55:16] here early round like right off of

[55:17] spawn. You're going to aim about here

[55:19] and then you're going to run and left

[55:20] click throw. It's a loosey goosey

[55:21] lineup, but the goal is to get the molly

[55:23] deep into apps. This denies TE's from

[55:25] getting into apps early and it threatens

[55:28] that, hey, now you could be on Balk, you

[55:30] could be in apps. It's very spooky for

[55:32] the TE's. What it also does is that if

[55:34] they're just trying to lurk, maybe it'll

[55:36] make a tick sound. Maybe you get info

[55:37] off of it and your short player will be

[55:39] able to hear that. And then if the T's

[55:40] aren't rushing, then you want to play B

[55:42] for info. The way you do that is by jump

[55:44] spotting, right? Play for info and then

[55:46] use your utility in an efficient way. So

[55:48] there's a couple of different ways you

[55:50] want to jump spot. And the reason I'm

[55:51] talking about this, I know it's boring,

[55:52] jump spotting, but you don't want to get

[55:54] owned while you're jump spotting. If you

[55:55] jump spot incorrectly, people can come

[55:56] here, look for a pick, and just kill

[55:58] you. The two ways you want to jump spot

[55:59] is number one, jumping like this. Uh

[56:01] when you do these side to side jump

[56:03] spots, you want to make sure that when

[56:05] you're coming from this way to that way

[56:07] that you're jumping early enough where

[56:09] you're just getting a glimpse of it. You

[56:11] don't need full visibility for a really

[56:13] long time. This is super unnecessary.

[56:15] You just want a little glimpse. The

[56:16] other way you can jump spot is by being

[56:18] in this corner and then as you come

[56:20] down, right, you're going to jump. As

[56:22] you fall down, you're going to strafe to

[56:23] the right towards the bottom of your

[56:24] jump. And then that gives you a brief uh

[56:27] lookie who into that angle right there.

[56:30] You don't want to jump like this. You're

[56:32] going to die. Jump and then strafe. Jump

[56:34] and then strafe. Jump and then strafe.

[56:36] That way you just get a brief glimpse

[56:37] and you get the info and you're not

[56:39] exposed for very long. When you're jump

[56:40] spotting, you need to be aware of kind

[56:42] of two things. Similar to a where either

[56:44] you're worried about a execute or you're

[56:47] worried about a lurk. If you see a lurk,

[56:49] right, you're jump spotting and you just

[56:51] see one person just walking up, then you

[56:53] don't have to go full panic mode,

[56:54] especially if there's no util coming in,

[56:56] right? If you see one person and util

[56:58] comes in, then you can expect it to be

[56:59] an execute. If you see one person and

[57:01] there's no util, then maybe it's just

[57:02] one lurk and your reaction to that could

[57:04] be a deep nade. Your reaction could be a

[57:06] deep molly and then you want to take the

[57:08] fight, right? Deep molly, jump up, look

[57:09] for the fight. Okay, they fell back

[57:10] behind the molly. Now you kind of

[57:12] reclaimed that app space. You can smoke

[57:14] it if you want. Jump balcony, be

[57:16] aggressive, or if you don't want to be

[57:18] as aggressive and you don't want to use

[57:19] your util, you can fall back and just

[57:20] get into an off angle either towards

[57:22] bench. You can play up here. Oops. It's

[57:25] right on the tip of this right here. And

[57:27] hold this. This is a half decent off

[57:29] angle too right here. As people walk out

[57:31] this way, they're going to be clearing

[57:32] this. They're going to be clearing

[57:33] window and then they expose themselves

[57:34] to you right there. There's a lot of

[57:36] different off angles you can play. So,

[57:38] it's kind of the decision between do I

[57:40] want to, you know, use my util to block

[57:42] them from taking apps or lurking in apps

[57:44] and then I can get into apps or I can

[57:45] just hold it from here, right? Hold the

[57:46] smoke from here or would I rather save

[57:48] my util and hold it expecting them to

[57:51] lurk out. Now, if the T's are executing

[57:53] B, you're jump spotting, you see three

[57:55] people, utils coming over, then your

[57:58] instant reaction should be smoking right

[58:00] here and getting out and staying alive.

[58:02] The reason why the smoke is so good is

[58:04] because if T's are coming out, right,

[58:06] they can't see Jail, which is right

[58:07] here. They can't see bench, they can't

[58:09] see back sight. If they want to take the

[58:11] space, they have to push the smoke or

[58:12] they have to funnel themselves through

[58:14] midsight, which exposes themselves to

[58:16] both short and to bench, which is a

[58:18] really tricky crossfire for them to

[58:20] push. So once you throw the smoke, there

[58:21] are many different ways you can play it,

[58:23] right? You can throw it. You can come

[58:24] here towards jail and just hold the

[58:25] smoke push. You can play bench and hold

[58:27] the van jump. You can get into sight and

[58:29] play a crossfire right here with your

[58:31] short player. You can get really cheeky,

[58:33] throw the smoke, fake the runaway, and

[58:34] then walk back and play towards van. You

[58:37] don't want to do this if the TE's

[58:38] mollied van, right? This smoke I don't

[58:41] think really ever extinguishes the molly

[58:43] unless it's like a really bad van molly.

[58:45] So if they don't molly van, you can fake

[58:46] it and do that and that could get you a

[58:48] couple pretty sweet kills. Otherwise,

[58:50] right, your job as a be anchor, stay

[58:52] alive. If you didn't use your molly

[58:54] earlier, you can drop the smoke and then

[58:56] you can molly midsight like that and

[58:58] then bang, you're staying alive. You're

[59:00] delaying the TE's for an insane amount

[59:02] of time. You're chilling. As a banker,

[59:04] the longer you stay alive and the more

[59:06] space you're able to control and keep as

[59:09] CT space, the easier it is going to be

[59:11] to retake this site or for your team

[59:13] just to win this round. So what I mean

[59:14] by that is that if you stay alive,

[59:16] right, you spot somebody, okay, you

[59:18] throw the smoke, you get out, maybe even

[59:20] run all the way towards empty right

[59:22] here. But if you can control this space,

[59:25] right, this rectangle here, then your

[59:28] retake is so significantly easier.

[59:30] Retaking B is incredibly difficult when

[59:33] T's are able to get up here towards

[59:34] Ebox. When they're able to get up here,

[59:36] right here close door, or even if

[59:38] they're able to get into market, then

[59:40] that retake is like almost impossible.

[59:41] If you can keep this space and allow

[59:43] your team to get out of market and

[59:45] retake the site from the space that

[59:47] you're going to win the round. So,

[59:48] similar to the short player, that means

[59:51] that you don't need to 1v5 spray them

[59:53] down, go for a hero play. That means

[59:55] that if you get back here, you stay

[59:56] alive and you find ones, right? Find

[59:59] one-on-one fights where you can isolate

[1:00:01] them, kill them, stay alive, right? That

[1:00:03] way you maintain the space, you take one

[1:00:06] or two fights that aren't super risky.

[1:00:08] If I just swing this while the TE's are

[1:00:09] running out Balk, I could be taken 1v3,

[1:00:11] right? That's a terrible fight for me.

[1:00:13] So instead, maybe I drop my molly

[1:00:15] default and then I stay alive here in

[1:00:17] empty. And if my short player takes

[1:00:19] contact with a guy midsight right there,

[1:00:22] then bang, I'm going to swing off that.

[1:00:23] I'm going to try to kill them and I'm

[1:00:24] going to try to stay alive. And I'm

[1:00:25] listening, okay, listening if they push

[1:00:27] this smoke. I'm trying to keep a mental

[1:00:29] image of where the TE's are on site so

[1:00:31] that I can try to isolate these fights

[1:00:33] as easy as possible and to stay alive.

[1:00:35] One piece of utility you can use from

[1:00:36] empty that's like surprisingly effective

[1:00:38] is you just aim about straight up maybe

[1:00:40] a little bit more behind you left and

[1:00:42] right click through a flash. This is so

[1:00:44] strong because TE's won't really be able

[1:00:47] to see this. Like obviously a guy

[1:00:48] default could kind of see it but

[1:00:50] somebody over here won't be able to see

[1:00:51] it because it's just covered by the

[1:00:52] green. It's really difficult to react to

[1:00:54] and it doesn't make any bouncing sounds

[1:00:56] and in the flurry of a rush right T's

[1:00:58] are running out like all of them get

[1:01:00] blinded by it and they aren't likely to

[1:01:02] be looking there or noticing a flash

[1:01:05] coming out from empty pillar. Now that

[1:01:06] we know how to play CT side Mirage let's

[1:01:08] talk about the T-side and we're going to

[1:01:10] start just again with a brief overview

[1:01:12] of the T-side default. T-side defaults

[1:01:15] are kind of less talked about in pugs

[1:01:17] and games with randoms, right? You join

[1:01:19] CT, everybody kind of says their

[1:01:20] position hopefully like I'll play

[1:01:22] window, I'll play con. That doesn't

[1:01:23] happen on T-side. It's a bit more flowy,

[1:01:26] less structured. But having a good idea

[1:01:28] for what a T-side default looks like is

[1:01:30] still a really good thing because then

[1:01:32] it allows you to fill the gaps to know

[1:01:34] where to play when you're not sure of

[1:01:36] where you should put yourself. Also,

[1:01:38] again, I was only able to spawn CT bots,

[1:01:40] so imagine that they're they're T's. All

[1:01:42] right, let's start with middle. On your

[1:01:44] typical T-side default, you're going to

[1:01:45] have three players towards mid. Two of

[1:01:47] them are going to be aggressing while

[1:01:48] one is often throwing supporting flashes

[1:01:50] for them. Over towards A, you have your

[1:01:52] A lurk. This player is trying to walk

[1:01:54] out A and get a pick onto the A player

[1:01:56] after these middle players are able to

[1:01:58] take some space down mid. This player

[1:02:00] can rotate, you know, either go ramp or

[1:02:02] they can come through palace and try to

[1:02:03] get a pick here. Either way, it's just

[1:02:05] kind of up to them of which one they

[1:02:07] think they're going to have more success

[1:02:09] lurking at. Our fifth player is the be

[1:02:11] lurk. they get to decide whether they

[1:02:12] want to go underpass and help with mid

[1:02:14] or if they want to go into apps. I'll

[1:02:16] talk more about that decision in the

[1:02:18] role specific sections. The first role

[1:02:20] in the T-side default/ just a general

[1:02:22] concept that's good to know how to do is

[1:02:25] lurking towards a as this a lurk early

[1:02:27] round. You don't really need your smoke.

[1:02:29] Your job as an A lurk is to control ramp

[1:02:31] or control palace and then walk out in

[1:02:33] the mid round and try to get a kill or

[1:02:34] in early round. We'll talk about it

[1:02:36] more, but your smoke isn't super

[1:02:37] important. Your mid players are going to

[1:02:39] need your smoke more. So, if you know

[1:02:40] how to do the instant window smokes,

[1:02:42] it's best that you throw a window smoke

[1:02:44] for your teammates or you just throw a

[1:02:46] topment smoke for them or you throw a

[1:02:49] connector smoke for them, right? If you

[1:02:50] use your smoke for them or like you just

[1:02:52] drop it to them, right? Somebody else

[1:02:53] throws a smoke, you drop it to them, you

[1:02:54] buy double flash, it's better that they

[1:02:56] have those smokes to resoke stuff in

[1:02:58] middle than it is for you to have that

[1:03:00] smoke. Early round as an alert, you're

[1:03:03] going to be doing like one of kind of

[1:03:05] three different things. Number one,

[1:03:06] you're just going to be chilling, right?

[1:03:07] You're going to be just holding the push

[1:03:09] and you're going to be waiting to

[1:03:10] activate in the mid round. Number two,

[1:03:12] if you have a good spawn, then you can

[1:03:13] look for the ramp cross. You can run up,

[1:03:15] come here, be loud, and then just hold

[1:03:17] this cross. See if you can catch

[1:03:18] somebody jumping towards jungle. Number

[1:03:20] three, again, if you also have a good

[1:03:21] spawn, then you can look for a pick ramp

[1:03:23] early by jumping up and just looking for

[1:03:25] this fight. Like we talked about on CT,

[1:03:27] maybe you didn't see it, maybe you did.

[1:03:28] A really effective play that you can

[1:03:29] make is CT's molly ramp. Maybe they

[1:03:32] don't throw a very good molly. So, it

[1:03:34] can be good early on to like see how

[1:03:35] they're throwing their mollies because

[1:03:37] lots of times there's going to be a gap

[1:03:38] here that you can jump on and you can

[1:03:39] look for a fight right here. If you've

[1:03:41] been taking the lurk pretty slow, then

[1:03:43] what you can also do is just immediately

[1:03:44] at the beginning of the round and look

[1:03:46] for this fight. Come out and try to kill

[1:03:47] them. This is especially good if they

[1:03:49] are throwing those mid flashes early and

[1:03:52] then they're resetting and going

[1:03:53] somewhere else. You have a really good

[1:03:54] time. You can just come out and just try

[1:03:55] to take that fight while they triple.

[1:03:57] when you're lurking A and you're playing

[1:03:58] for the mid round, right? You're trying

[1:04:00] to walk out after your teammates have

[1:04:02] done some stuff middle after the CTs,

[1:04:04] you know, one or two of them have died,

[1:04:05] their focus is more so towards mid than

[1:04:07] it is on A. It's really all about timing

[1:04:10] for you. And how you get good timings

[1:04:12] coming out of A is one of two ways.

[1:04:15] Number one, the CT just tells you where

[1:04:17] they are and you swing off that info.

[1:04:19] Sometimes a CT will jump top ticket and

[1:04:21] they'll look towards con like this. This

[1:04:23] is especially common if their con player

[1:04:25] dies and they'll look for this fight

[1:04:26] because they think everybody's middle

[1:04:28] and then you can just instantly swing

[1:04:29] off that or you just hear footstep on

[1:04:31] site and you just activate off of that.

[1:04:32] If the CT isn't giving you any info but

[1:04:35] your teammates are scaling up through

[1:04:36] con, right? The Aplit is happening, you

[1:04:38] need to activate, you need to do

[1:04:39] something, then just dry walking out and

[1:04:41] just searching for this player can be

[1:04:43] really effective. You just have to be

[1:04:44] worried about if you're walking out ramp

[1:04:46] in the mid round and the oper still

[1:04:47] alive, they could just be ticket holding

[1:04:49] you right here. So give this a really

[1:04:50] purposeful peak. Make sure if they are

[1:04:52] opting. Okay, I'm just going to destroy

[1:04:54] this guy if they're just standing there.

[1:04:55] One thing you have to think about as

[1:04:57] this a lurk is that you can't be uber

[1:04:59] scared. If you want to have impact as

[1:05:02] this lurk, you're going to have to take

[1:05:03] risks. And one risk you're going to have

[1:05:05] to take is you're going to have to walk

[1:05:07] through smokes. You're going to get

[1:05:08] smoked palace. Sometimes you're going to

[1:05:10] get smoked ramp. And if your teammates

[1:05:11] are being active, they're going up con

[1:05:13] or you feel like you just have a timing

[1:05:15] for a pick, then you should walk through

[1:05:16] these smokes and not give not worry

[1:05:19] about it, right? The goal here is that

[1:05:20] you just catch a timing where they smoke

[1:05:22] ramp and then they think, "Okay, because

[1:05:24] I smoke ramp, I don't have to look at

[1:05:25] ramp anymore and they feel really

[1:05:26] comfortable with that. You walk through

[1:05:27] the smoke, you get the kill, bang, you

[1:05:29] guys just win the round because you got

[1:05:30] that that entry." If you're lurking

[1:05:32] towards A and your mid players run out

[1:05:33] of util and you want to throw a

[1:05:36] something to help them, then throwing a

[1:05:38] top connector smoke can be really

[1:05:39] effective. You're just going to get into

[1:05:40] this corner. You're going to aim for the

[1:05:42] tip of this palm tree right here in the

[1:05:45] green and just left click jump throw.

[1:05:46] This is going to land Topcon and Topcon

[1:05:48] smokes. We'll talk about it more when we

[1:05:50] talk about mid defaulting. But the

[1:05:51] topcon smoke is the perfect smoke for

[1:05:54] the mid round on T-side. It blocks these

[1:05:57] angles from A so then A players can't

[1:05:59] see if you're going up short and it also

[1:06:01] lets your con players sneak out and

[1:06:03] pressure A through these two lurks. In

[1:06:06] your Mirage games, filling this role as

[1:06:08] the A lurk can be really effective when

[1:06:10] your team is able to take mid, but then

[1:06:12] we just get fully stuck mid. If you go

[1:06:14] mid with your teammate and we're like

[1:06:15] teammates and we're like four out mid,

[1:06:17] five out mid, we take mid and then we're

[1:06:19] just we don't know where to go. We don't

[1:06:20] know what to do. Then it's better for

[1:06:22] you to go towards A and be a lurk

[1:06:24] instead of being one of those mid

[1:06:25] defaulters. That's because if you're A

[1:06:27] and you're lurking out, you can be a

[1:06:29] voice. You could say, "Hey, I'm walking

[1:06:30] out A. You guys should pinch. You guys

[1:06:31] should go through con." Or if you just

[1:06:33] get to pick on A, bang, that's a really

[1:06:35] good incentive for your teammates to

[1:06:36] speed up con and to actually do

[1:06:38] something from mid. So filling this gap

[1:06:40] can be really effective, but it kind of

[1:06:43] hinges on the fact that your team is

[1:06:45] able to do something mid, right? They're

[1:06:46] able to pressure mid, they're able to

[1:06:48] get kills. If the rest of your team is

[1:06:50] super passive and not taking any space,

[1:06:52] then you lurking A isn't going to be

[1:06:54] very effective because the CTs will take

[1:06:57] mid, see nobody's here, and then just

[1:06:58] come towards A and just hold you. That's

[1:07:00] when lurks aren't going to be good

[1:07:01] towards A. If another person is lurking

[1:07:03] A or somebody else comes with you, then

[1:07:06] you guys should try to do something

[1:07:07] together. It's useless for you to sit

[1:07:09] ramp and hold ramp while your teammate

[1:07:11] is walking out palace. You guys should

[1:07:13] try to double. Either you come ramp,

[1:07:15] they go palace, and you walk out at the

[1:07:16] same time, or you go double together.

[1:07:18] Double palace typically isn't that

[1:07:20] great. If you're doubling, like, you

[1:07:22] know, your teammates's right next to

[1:07:23] you, you guys should come double ramp

[1:07:24] and walk out ramp and contact it like

[1:07:26] this. That's much more effective than

[1:07:27] double palace. Next, let's talk about

[1:07:29] the three mid defaulters. Sash, just in

[1:07:31] general, how to take middle on Mirage.

[1:07:33] Your mid tank starts in spawn. And what

[1:07:35] I mean by that is that you're going to

[1:07:37] throw all the smokes you need to take

[1:07:38] mid from spawn. And so you need to

[1:07:40] coordinate with your teammates who's

[1:07:42] throwing what? And also what's our pace

[1:07:44] going to be when we go out mid. There

[1:07:46] are instant window smokes you can learn

[1:07:48] from a handful of spawns. And I would

[1:07:50] highly recommend that you do. They're so

[1:07:51] strong and they're actually surprisingly

[1:07:53] easy to learn. If you don't want to do

[1:07:55] that or you just want to know how to

[1:07:56] smoke window, you come here against this

[1:07:58] bin and then you aim. You see, I think

[1:08:01] of this as a square where this meets

[1:08:02] this. And then I aim for the bottom kind

[1:08:05] of left of it right there. And I hold D,

[1:08:07] jump throw. The instant smokes are

[1:08:09] better because they land significantly

[1:08:11] faster. And they're also faster to

[1:08:13] throw. The other two smokes you should

[1:08:15] know from spawn is a top mid smoke. So

[1:08:17] you're just going to go to this other

[1:08:18] side of the bin for that. And then

[1:08:20] you're going to aim at the tip of this

[1:08:21] antenna right here. Just a left click

[1:08:23] throw that plumes out far enough left

[1:08:26] where it's going to cover you entirely

[1:08:28] from bottom con on your cross towards

[1:08:30] boxes. The third smoke you should know

[1:08:32] is a connector smoke. And one consistent

[1:08:34] way to throw it is you jump on top of

[1:08:35] the bin. You crouch, you aim at where

[1:08:37] the rug meets this point where the

[1:08:40] orange and tan meet. So right here. And

[1:08:42] then while you're crouch, left click,

[1:08:44] jump throw. That's going to land inside

[1:08:47] connector and smoke fully smoke it off

[1:08:50] if you want to cross towards short. So,

[1:08:52] what smokes should you throw mid and

[1:08:54] why? I would say on most of your

[1:08:56] defaults, you should have either a top

[1:08:59] mid smoke and a window smoke. This

[1:09:01] combination is really solid. Or you

[1:09:04] should have a window smoke and a

[1:09:05] connector smoke. If your team is only

[1:09:07] throwing a window smoke, then you're

[1:09:09] giving the CTs a lot of space in

[1:09:12] connector and in short to swing you and

[1:09:14] fight you guys out mid, right? Coming

[1:09:16] out mid without a con smoke or without a

[1:09:17] top midm smoke, very spooky. So, if you

[1:09:20] are on a team like that and nobody's

[1:09:21] throwing, let's say you're throwing

[1:09:23] window and nobody else is throwing a

[1:09:24] smoke mid, either ask somebody to drop

[1:09:27] you a smoke mid, so you can throw both,

[1:09:28] or ask somebody to molly con at the very

[1:09:31] beginning, or you could molly con at the

[1:09:33] very beginning, right? That way, if you

[1:09:34] molly bottom con, that gives you some

[1:09:36] space to get out mid and relieves some

[1:09:38] pressure from being swung on from both

[1:09:40] short and connector. Another way you can

[1:09:42] take mid is just by dry swinging it. If

[1:09:44] you have a good spawn for mid and some

[1:09:45] of your teammates have good spawns, then

[1:09:47] just tell them, "Hey, let's go dry swing

[1:09:49] mid, right? Let's just go fight it."

[1:09:50] When you guys dry swing, it's typically

[1:09:52] best to do this if you don't think that

[1:09:54] they're OP. If they're OP, like we

[1:09:56] talked about on CT side and you dry

[1:09:58] swing this, they can get one and fall

[1:10:00] off and it's really hard to trade that.

[1:10:01] But if you think that their rifles or

[1:10:03] their eco, then just dry swinging mid

[1:10:05] with numbers is really effective. Now,

[1:10:07] let's say you're not dry swinging and

[1:10:09] you want to get out mid, you have a top

[1:10:10] mid smoke and you have a window smoke.

[1:10:12] What util should you be throwing from

[1:10:14] top mid? There's quite a few different

[1:10:15] things that you can throw that will be

[1:10:17] really effective at stopping CT

[1:10:19] aggression or getting CTs off of angles.

[1:10:21] The first one is this, just a flash over

[1:10:23] top mid boxes. This is going to blind

[1:10:25] any CTs who are pushing up mid like

[1:10:27] that. The second one is a flash towards

[1:10:29] connector. This is going to pop bottom

[1:10:32] mid right here. And if anybody's running

[1:10:34] up con and they're going to go for a

[1:10:35] peak, this flash is going to fullblind

[1:10:38] them. If you feel like the CTs could be

[1:10:40] bottom mid, could be valley right right

[1:10:43] here, and you're worried about swinging

[1:10:44] this dry, you can throw flashes towards

[1:10:46] valley just like that. And that's going

[1:10:48] to full blind them as you're swinging,

[1:10:49] especially if they're sitting here or if

[1:10:51] they're sitting under, they have to full

[1:10:52] dodge that. And bottom con, of course,

[1:10:54] from stairs, you can throw some really

[1:10:56] good supporting flashes. One is called

[1:10:58] the uh what is this called? The big

[1:11:00] flash. Uh I got made fun of by

[1:11:02] Freakazoid by asking him for this flash

[1:11:04] because he said it's such an old flash,

[1:11:06] but it's still so effective. It's going

[1:11:07] to blind an oper who's sitting window

[1:11:09] and lets you just swing out mid if if

[1:11:11] window's not smoked. Less aggressive

[1:11:13] flashes, but flashes that are meant to

[1:11:15] deal with aggression. You're going to

[1:11:17] throw from around here. And you could

[1:11:18] just throw these towards uh towards

[1:11:20] Valley, right? Your teammates are going

[1:11:22] to have to turn them. But you just tell

[1:11:23] them that, hey, turn the flash. Bang.

[1:11:25] And then they swing. And if anybody's

[1:11:26] chilling valley or being aggressive,

[1:11:28] they should just kill them because

[1:11:29] they're going to be full blind. When you

[1:11:30] have a decent spawn towards top mid,

[1:11:32] then throwing some sort of piece of util

[1:11:34] towards Khan, especially if we're not

[1:11:36] smoking conh is really good. You don't

[1:11:38] want the con player on CT to feel really

[1:11:41] confident with just running out mid and

[1:11:43] fighting you guys. So throw a nade into

[1:11:45] con or throw a molly. If somebody's here

[1:11:47] with you, ask them to double nade it

[1:11:48] with you. That can be really effective

[1:11:50] as well. Once you're scaling out mid,

[1:11:52] you want to get away from boxes. Being

[1:11:54] boxes feels very safe and it's good to

[1:11:57] be boxes if the CTs are being really

[1:11:59] aggressive, right? If they're swinging

[1:12:00] short, if they're swinging con, then

[1:12:02] being here is really solid. But the

[1:12:04] longer the round goes on, the more

[1:12:06] useless you are sitting boxes, right?

[1:12:09] So, if you cross mid at the very

[1:12:11] beginning of the round and you get

[1:12:12] towards boxes, cool. Definitely like

[1:12:14] hang out here for a little bit. Look for

[1:12:16] a fight. If your team is defaulting, you

[1:12:18] don't have to be super speedy. see if

[1:12:20] the CTs are going to readress into you.

[1:12:22] And then you can throw a window smoke

[1:12:24] from behind boxes right here. Just aim.

[1:12:26] I typically aim just a bit to the right

[1:12:27] of this uh antenna and just run left

[1:12:30] click throw and that's going to be a

[1:12:31] nice window smoke for you. You can throw

[1:12:34] that same lineup for window with your

[1:12:35] molly if you don't have a smoke. You can

[1:12:37] also smoke short from here. This cubby

[1:12:40] just aim for the tip of this antenna.

[1:12:41] Left click throw. You can flash

[1:12:43] connector by coming into this corner,

[1:12:46] this other corner. You see this kind of

[1:12:48] X right here? just on the right side.

[1:12:50] Left click and bang. This is gonna pop

[1:12:53] right in front of con. So tell your

[1:12:54] teammate turn it. Bang. And then they

[1:12:55] swing off of it. Another way you can

[1:12:57] flash con is from right here. You're

[1:12:58] just going to come against this wall and

[1:13:00] then aim above the middle of connector

[1:13:03] right here. So I see this, you know,

[1:13:05] little vague tan line top of that where

[1:13:07] the where it meets the roof and left

[1:13:09] click throw and boom. That's your con

[1:13:11] flash. And that's going to get any oper

[1:13:13] or rifler who's sitting here off of the

[1:13:15] angle. The typical kind of way you're

[1:13:17] going to scale out mid with your

[1:13:18] teammates is one person is going to play

[1:13:21] towards chair. They're going to get out

[1:13:22] here and hold the short aggress. Another

[1:13:24] player is going to get down in valley

[1:13:26] and look towards con and they're often

[1:13:28] going to throw a topcon smoke like that.

[1:13:30] I'll talk more about that in a moment.

[1:13:32] And the third player will either stay

[1:13:33] top mid and hold towards window or hold

[1:13:35] towards short or hold a con peak or

[1:13:38] they're going to get up short. And these

[1:13:40] two, right, once one guy's up short and

[1:13:42] this guy's down to here in valley, these

[1:13:43] two can double swing con in a high low

[1:13:46] and make this fight super awkward for a

[1:13:48] con player. So, if you feel like you go

[1:13:50] out mid and then you're constantly being

[1:13:51] surprised by CT swinging stuff and

[1:13:54] you're not holding it and you die, then

[1:13:56] you probably should take a look at how

[1:13:58] you're positioned compared to where your

[1:14:00] teammates are. Right? If your teammate

[1:14:02] comes short and then you double up short

[1:14:04] with them and nobody's here towards

[1:14:05] chair, well, if a short player swings,

[1:14:08] right, bang. That's just an easy double

[1:14:09] for them and they're not in a position

[1:14:11] to get traded by anybody because we

[1:14:13] don't have anybody who could kill them.

[1:14:14] So, back to the top con smoke. The

[1:14:16] reason why this smoke is so so strong

[1:14:18] and why more people should be throwing

[1:14:20] it on their defaults, you'll see it a

[1:14:21] ton in proplay and I barely ever see it

[1:14:24] in pugs, especially lower elo pugs.

[1:14:26] Nobody throws a top smoke. It's so good

[1:14:28] because it gives you access to con,

[1:14:29] right? If a CT wants to fight con, they

[1:14:31] just have to commit in front of the

[1:14:32] smoke and they have no help from their

[1:14:33] teammates. Super awkward. Most of the

[1:14:35] time a CT just won't play in con when

[1:14:37] this top con smoke lands. They'll just

[1:14:39] get out of con and then from a CT

[1:14:42] perspective the smoke is super awkward

[1:14:43] because they can push, you know, TE's

[1:14:45] could push this side, they can push this

[1:14:47] side, they can just push through the

[1:14:48] smoke, they can flash into the smoke and

[1:14:50] I wouldn't be able to see the flash,

[1:14:51] right? I can show you one just right

[1:14:53] click, just drop a flash in. Bang. And

[1:14:56] then as a CT, I just can't react to

[1:14:58] that. I'm holding I'm holding. Bang. I'm

[1:14:59] blind. Right? If you're a T and you're

[1:15:01] getting up con and you throw a top con

[1:15:03] smoke, it also allows you to throw util

[1:15:05] towards jungle, right? Whether you want

[1:15:07] to smoke jungle off or whether you want

[1:15:08] to molly deep jungle off and then flash

[1:15:10] through and take it and get out. Bang.

[1:15:13] It's just suffocating for CTs throwing

[1:15:16] the smoke. So, please throw top smoke

[1:15:17] more. And the way you can throw it is

[1:15:19] left side. You just aim at this like

[1:15:20] electrical box here and just shift walk,

[1:15:22] left click, throw. That's going to land

[1:15:24] top. If you're coming from this side,

[1:15:27] then you aim just to the left of this

[1:15:28] lamp, this light right here, shift walk,

[1:15:30] left click, throw, and both of those are

[1:15:32] going to land nicely into topcon. So,

[1:15:34] use the smoke as a lurk smoke, walk

[1:15:36] through it, get upstairs, and look for

[1:15:37] this fight against jungle, walk through

[1:15:39] the right side. Or you can do a split

[1:15:41] where like one teammate goes there, you

[1:15:43] go stairs, right? Coordinate that with a

[1:15:45] teammate. That's really effective as

[1:15:46] well because if a CT is holding one and

[1:15:48] they kill them, then the other teammate

[1:15:49] can just trade them from the other side.

[1:15:51] I talked about all the ways it helps

[1:15:52] with your A take, right? But it also

[1:15:54] helps with your short take. You throw a

[1:15:56] Topcon smoke, this smoke doesn't

[1:15:58] indicate, hey, we're going up short

[1:16:00] right now. But a smoke towards bottomcon

[1:16:02] does. If I throw this smoke in the mid

[1:16:05] round, uh, this tells the CTs they're

[1:16:08] probably not coming. A, right? And so

[1:16:09] because I throw that smoke, it's more

[1:16:11] likely that once we're going up short, a

[1:16:13] CT is going to sit here really

[1:16:14] confidently and just spam through the

[1:16:16] smoke and just try to kill all of us as

[1:16:17] we're going up short. But I can get a CT

[1:16:20] out of position by throwing a Topcon

[1:16:22] smoke. They play around here, jungle,

[1:16:24] right? They're worried about the push.

[1:16:25] They also have to worry about a window

[1:16:26] lurk. And then bang, we're running up

[1:16:28] short. They're not in a position to

[1:16:29] really action off of that sound or that

[1:16:31] info and boom, our short take is much

[1:16:33] easier. When you're in doubt with what

[1:16:35] to do with your smoke mid, right, window

[1:16:37] is always the place where you should be

[1:16:39] resmoking. You pretty much never want to

[1:16:41] leave window open. So, smoke window or

[1:16:44] smoke top con. Smoking short is good for

[1:16:47] like set like we are going up con this

[1:16:50] round, right? But it also acts as a

[1:16:52] smoke against us because if I throw this

[1:16:54] smoke in the mid round, then we just

[1:16:57] can't go short for 20 seconds, right?

[1:16:59] We're kind of forced into making a

[1:17:01] connector or window play. Let's talk

[1:17:02] about some solo plays/ just some

[1:17:04] aggressive plays you can make towards

[1:17:06] middle. This one you do need a little

[1:17:07] help from a teammate. Ask a teammate to

[1:17:09] throw a top mid smoke for you. It

[1:17:11] doesn't even have to be a very good top

[1:17:13] mid smoke as long as it blocks window,

[1:17:14] which that one somehow didn't. Throw a

[1:17:16] top mid smoke for you. You're going to

[1:17:17] come up. You're going to flash con and

[1:17:19] then you're going to molly window and

[1:17:20] then you're going to jump through the

[1:17:21] midm smoke. You're going to hold window.

[1:17:23] Okay, nothing. And then you're going to

[1:17:24] insta swing con. This you're so fast and

[1:17:26] you're here bottom con is such an

[1:17:28] unexpected timing. Lots of times you're

[1:17:30] just going to kill somebody top con

[1:17:31] who's just not ready for you. Once

[1:17:32] you're towards bottom mid, a really

[1:17:34] cheeky play you can make is if you stand

[1:17:36] here against the bench and you aim at

[1:17:37] this red dot and then right click jump

[1:17:40] throw and then jump up window, this

[1:17:42] flash is going to pop here and it's not

[1:17:44] going to blind you. So, even if a CT

[1:17:46] hears you running on the bench and knows

[1:17:48] you're about to peak this, they're just

[1:17:50] going to eat this flash and die for it.

[1:17:52] If you're able to lurk into ladder at

[1:17:55] some point in the round, then you just

[1:17:57] chilling here is really strong. I don't

[1:17:59] want you to go ladder when your team is

[1:18:02] being loud up short and they're trying

[1:18:04] to split B. There's no reason to get

[1:18:06] into ladder unless you're really just

[1:18:08] hardcore. I'm going to hold the rotate.

[1:18:10] But if you don't have sight yet, then

[1:18:11] why are you holding rotates? You should

[1:18:12] just go B and clear out sight with your

[1:18:14] teammates. But if as a solo player, you

[1:18:16] come out mid. Maybe the CT weird smoke

[1:18:18] that allows you to lurk into ladder and

[1:18:20] then bang, you get in here just chilling

[1:18:22] here and listening right from ladder,

[1:18:24] you can hear a beep anchor rotate. You

[1:18:27] can hear the short player rotate. You

[1:18:28] can hear the window player rotate. Being

[1:18:30] in this spot, even if you don't get a

[1:18:32] kill, will just give you so much info.

[1:18:34] And then, of course, from here, you're

[1:18:36] the ultimate rotate holder. If your team

[1:18:39] goes out A, then you can hold the short

[1:18:40] rotate right here, and you can hold the

[1:18:42] jungle rotate right here. And this is so

[1:18:44] good if the CTs aren't expecting you to

[1:18:46] be in ladder. Last on our T-side

[1:18:47] default, let's talk about the B lurk.

[1:18:50] The B lurk is quite a flexible position.

[1:18:52] You don't see a ton of action because

[1:18:55] you're not taking really early fights

[1:18:57] for the most part, but you do kind of

[1:18:59] get to pick and choose what you do.

[1:19:01] Sometimes you can go four mid and that's

[1:19:03] totally fine, right? Four outdid.

[1:19:04] Sometimes you're going to go into apps

[1:19:06] and you're going to lurk apps and you're

[1:19:07] going to see if the T's are or if the

[1:19:09] CTs are pushing apps. And sometimes

[1:19:11] you're going to go underpass and you're

[1:19:12] going to work underpass and you're going

[1:19:14] to help your mid players take mid from

[1:19:16] underpass. So when should you do what

[1:19:19] and when should you go try to be a beer?

[1:19:21] I often beer if I'm running towards

[1:19:24] middle and I see okay three other people

[1:19:26] have already gone towards mid. I'll just

[1:19:27] go towards B. I think having four top

[1:19:30] mid can be quite strong if you're using

[1:19:32] the fact that you have four top mid,

[1:19:34] right? You're being really aggressive.

[1:19:35] You're all swinging together. But if

[1:19:37] we're defaulting people aren't really

[1:19:39] calming, then I think it's better to

[1:19:41] have a be lurk. So I will fill that role

[1:19:43] when it's needed. Early on in games, I

[1:19:46] think it's most effective if you do lurk

[1:19:48] towards apps. Being a lurk towards apps

[1:19:51] can be pretty useless because if the B

[1:19:53] player is playing it well, right,

[1:19:54] they're jump spotting. They're just

[1:19:55] seeing if you're there or not. Then

[1:19:56] there's not a whole lot you can do. But

[1:19:58] by lurking in apps early in games, you

[1:20:01] can try to find gaps. You can try to get

[1:20:02] a read on the B player, right? Are they

[1:20:04] pushing every round? What are they

[1:20:06] doing? And you can see if like they're

[1:20:08] just giving you a ton of space and

[1:20:09] letting you lurk up. And if they're not

[1:20:10] jump spotting, they're not taking info.

[1:20:12] That's really good info for you and for

[1:20:14] your team because that allows you to

[1:20:16] say, "Hey, we should just do a contact

[1:20:17] play B. We should all just silently walk

[1:20:19] up apps together and just look for this

[1:20:22] this guy, right? And then once we take

[1:20:24] contact with backside, boom, we shoot.

[1:20:25] And then now we're being loud now that

[1:20:27] we got the kill." Getting idea of how

[1:20:28] the biers playing the site on CT side um

[1:20:32] is really effective as a T-side beer.

[1:20:34] So, let's say you do that and you spot

[1:20:35] them just jump spotting you over and

[1:20:37] over again and okay, obviously I'm not

[1:20:39] really going to do much in apps if I try

[1:20:41] to do that because they're just going to

[1:20:42] jump spot, get info, and then not give

[1:20:44] me a good fight. Then I'm going to start

[1:20:45] most of my rounds by going towards

[1:20:47] underpass. Now, if you want to go fast

[1:20:49] towards underpass, you can come out from

[1:20:50] TV, scale towards this left side, and

[1:20:52] then once you're about here, just right

[1:20:54] click a flash directly in front of you,

[1:20:56] just like 90° upwards, right? Just full

[1:20:59] hor uh straight in front of you. I'm

[1:21:02] sorry, I recorded so much, dude. My

[1:21:03] brain is fried. Uh, bang. This flash is

[1:21:06] going to pop lower. So, CT who's running

[1:21:07] up. Boom. They get blinded. They either

[1:21:10] have to fall or just swing into you

[1:21:11] blind and you should get that kill. Easy

[1:21:13] peasy. Now, one thing is after you throw

[1:21:14] this flash, right? Throw it and then

[1:21:17] turn. Turn and then swing. The reason

[1:21:18] for that is as a CT, you can throw this.

[1:21:21] You come under, then you throw a flash

[1:21:23] like that. Bang. And then you swing with

[1:21:25] that, right? So, if both of you do a

[1:21:27] fast underpass play and both of you are

[1:21:29] flashing, then you want to be the one

[1:21:32] who plays anti. If you're not going

[1:21:33] underpass fast, like you're not throwing

[1:21:35] that flash, you're not going to play

[1:21:36] ante. Then you should spot it like this.

[1:21:39] If you immediately start walking down

[1:21:41] and hold like this, then you're just

[1:21:43] going to get blinded and a CT is going

[1:21:44] to swing you and they're going to

[1:21:45] destroy you if they're a decent player

[1:21:46] and they're pushing under. So play it

[1:21:48] more passive if you're not going to go

[1:21:50] fast, right? Play up here, spot it, time

[1:21:52] out peak, see if they're going to push,

[1:21:54] and then once you feel confident, okay,

[1:21:55] they're not taking underpass fast, then

[1:21:57] speed up towards under and start taking

[1:21:59] it. Being in underpass is an awful place

[1:22:02] to be if your teammates aren't

[1:22:04] pressuring top mid. If your teammates

[1:22:06] aren't out top mid and like they don't

[1:22:08] have smokes down, they're not doing

[1:22:09] anything. Mid is empty and you're

[1:22:11] walking up under, you're just begging

[1:22:13] for a CT to swing you here and this is a

[1:22:16] super favorable fight for the CT because

[1:22:18] there's such little space here. Their

[1:22:20] crosser placement is just so easy. They

[1:22:21] should just destroy you every time and

[1:22:23] you just have to hold W into them when

[1:22:24] walking this way. It's super awkward.

[1:22:26] But when you're scaling under, don't

[1:22:27] just shift and just hold W. go in

[1:22:30] diagonals like this. And you can crouch,

[1:22:33] hold W and A uh and W and D. Crouch and

[1:22:36] go in diagonals. And just make sure that

[1:22:38] if a CT peaks you, you're not going just

[1:22:40] straight at them. They're going to

[1:22:42] destroy you. You're going in diagonals

[1:22:44] and you can fight back. Once you're up

[1:22:46] under pass, if you're worried about a CT

[1:22:48] holding you on this angle, you can just

[1:22:50] bounce a flash like this. Bang. And just

[1:22:52] get them off of that angle. That's

[1:22:53] pretty annoying as a CT. They can just

[1:22:55] try to edge the flash out barely like

[1:22:58] that. But if they do that, I mean, you

[1:23:00] know exactly where they're playing. You

[1:23:01] should just [ __ ] on them with your

[1:23:02] crosshair placement. Um, and then it

[1:23:04] goes the same if somebody's holding you

[1:23:05] here. Bottom con, they're going to be

[1:23:07] forced to turn this or get full blinded

[1:23:09] by it. Once you've pushed up underpass,

[1:23:11] there are generally two things that you

[1:23:13] can do that will kind of speed up the

[1:23:15] round and allow you guys to take some

[1:23:17] space. Number one is boost somebody into

[1:23:19] window. Window should be smoked. You

[1:23:21] come here, you boost somebody into

[1:23:23] window. This is good because if

[1:23:24] somebody's like being loud jumping into

[1:23:26] window, then the CDs know, okay,

[1:23:27] somebody's in window. Boost somebody

[1:23:29] silently into window or you get boosted,

[1:23:30] ask somebody else to boost you. Or the

[1:23:32] second option is to throw a topcon

[1:23:34] smoke. Like we talked about in our mid

[1:23:36] default, this topcon smoke allows you

[1:23:38] guys to do something, right? You can

[1:23:40] lurk through it, you can push a, you can

[1:23:41] go up short, whatever. If you're going

[1:23:42] up short, if your teammates are going up

[1:23:44] short, then either you getting boosted

[1:23:45] into window and you hold the rotates,

[1:23:47] you're chilling here, you're playing

[1:23:48] sound, or you walk back towards apps and

[1:23:50] then you go towards B. That's efficient,

[1:23:52] too. You can also smoke short from under

[1:23:54] just loosey goosey. You just run it

[1:23:56] against run through it against the right

[1:23:58] side of that. I uh never do this to be

[1:24:01] honest with you. I will always prefer to

[1:24:03] throw a topcon smoke than a short smoke.

[1:24:05] So it is an option, but I would say you

[1:24:08] should prioritize your smoke for top. B

[1:24:10] isn't really like A where when you lurk

[1:24:13] in B apps, it's pretty tricky to get a

[1:24:16] pick on the B player, right? either

[1:24:18] they're going to be jump spotting or

[1:24:19] they're going to be playing one of the a

[1:24:22] billion different off angles that can

[1:24:24] catch you walking out B, right? So, as a

[1:24:27] B lurk, don't feel like you have to be

[1:24:28] walking out apps and finding this B

[1:24:30] pick. That's super hard to do. Instead,

[1:24:32] get a read on what the B player is doing

[1:24:33] and help your teammates take mid, go

[1:24:35] underpass, have some impact there. So,

[1:24:38] that's how you play each position. Let's

[1:24:39] talk about now how to execute a site.

[1:24:42] The two most important smokes on a site

[1:24:44] execute is your jungle smoke and your

[1:24:47] stair smoke. The reason why you wouldn't

[1:24:49] want to smoke CT is because you want to

[1:24:51] take CT. If US come out a you plant bomb

[1:24:54] and you're able to take CT control, you

[1:24:56] should just win that round. You having

[1:24:58] this space, having ramp, having palace,

[1:25:00] bomb is planted for everything, that's a

[1:25:02] super difficult retake for CTs. So,

[1:25:04] here's two different ways you can throw

[1:25:06] right side smokes on your own. If you

[1:25:08] get up to this door and somebody drops

[1:25:10] you a smoke, you can stand here on the

[1:25:12] right side of it. For the first smoke,

[1:25:13] you're going to aim just in the jumble

[1:25:14] of these wires. Left click, jump throw.

[1:25:16] Second smoke, you're going to aim at the

[1:25:18] corner of this roof, just off into the

[1:25:20] blue a little bit, and left click, jump

[1:25:21] throw. You should throw this one first,

[1:25:23] actually, the stair smoke, and then

[1:25:24] throw the jungle smoke because the stair

[1:25:26] smoke takes longer to land. But this is

[1:25:28] what they look like. Boom. Jungle smoke

[1:25:30] and stairs are smoked. The disadvantage

[1:25:32] to these is that they go super high in

[1:25:35] the sky. So if an A player sees them,

[1:25:38] they can call the smokes, tell their

[1:25:39] team, "Hey, the T's are smoking A really

[1:25:42] far in advance, right? Because they take

[1:25:43] so long to land. So it's better to throw

[1:25:45] these when you can, if you can get up on

[1:25:47] top of this bit, have somebody drop you

[1:25:49] a smoke up here, they can drop you a

[1:25:51] smoke here, right? They just jump and

[1:25:52] toss the smoke there. You come up, you

[1:25:54] drop one smoke there, and then you go

[1:25:56] grab the smoke that they dropped. Once

[1:25:57] you're up here with both smokes, you're

[1:25:59] going to get into this corner with the

[1:26:01] wood plank. For your jungle smoke,

[1:26:03] you're going to aim up above the middle

[1:26:05] of this bit, just right in the middle.

[1:26:07] Left click, throw. Stair smoke, there's

[1:26:09] this like kind of hook right here, and

[1:26:11] you're going to left and right click,

[1:26:12] jump throw your smoke at the tip of this

[1:26:14] hook, this splotch right here. Left and

[1:26:16] right click, jump throw. These are going

[1:26:17] to land much faster than those other

[1:26:19] smokes that I showed you. It's just a

[1:26:21] bit more of a pain to get up and get

[1:26:23] into this corner than it is to be at the

[1:26:25] door. If you do want to throw CT smoke,

[1:26:27] the best way you can do it is come

[1:26:28] against this corner. It's kind of weird

[1:26:30] clipping, but I get all the way

[1:26:32] horizontal. And then once you start to

[1:26:33] go forward, you back up and you just

[1:26:34] stay on this horizontal edge right here.

[1:26:36] And then you're going to aim for the

[1:26:37] middle of this stick that sticks out.

[1:26:40] Left click, jump throw. The great thing

[1:26:41] about this CT smoke, why it's better

[1:26:43] than others, is it's going to land on

[1:26:45] ticket. Boom. And it's going to plume

[1:26:47] upwards heavily. So CTS can still jump

[1:26:50] up all the way up here, but they can't

[1:26:52] make plays on top of this middle bit.

[1:26:54] It's a really nice CT smoke. If you just

[1:26:55] threw these smokes, these right side

[1:26:57] smokes, then you can flash for your team

[1:26:59] by sending one flash deep and then

[1:27:01] sending one lamp flash. The deep flash

[1:27:03] is intended to push any oper off of CT,

[1:27:06] right? If there's an opering here, then

[1:27:08] bang, the flash pops, they're blinded,

[1:27:09] they have to run away, and then you send

[1:27:11] one lamp flash to blind anybody that's

[1:27:14] close to ring. Bang, boom, they're

[1:27:16] swinging. Anybody here would be blind.

[1:27:17] Anybody close would be blind by this

[1:27:19] lamp flash. If you just threw the right

[1:27:21] side smokes from up here, wait for them

[1:27:23] to land and then you can throw one deep

[1:27:24] flash towards CT and then you're going

[1:27:26] to right click a flash, hold it, shift

[1:27:28] walk, and then jump throw right when you

[1:27:30] get to the end of this. And this flash

[1:27:31] is going to pop right here and blind

[1:27:33] anybody who's playing very close and it

[1:27:35] won't blind your teammates. Now, my best

[1:27:36] tip for you as the person who's throwing

[1:27:39] smokes or throwing flashes on a execs or

[1:27:41] on any exec ever on any map is that you

[1:27:44] kind of need to turn into an IGL. You

[1:27:46] need to dictate the timing. You need to

[1:27:47] tell your team what to do. If you come

[1:27:49] up and you throw the smokes and then you

[1:27:51] don't say anything, you don't tell your

[1:27:52] team what smokes you're throwing. You

[1:27:54] don't say anything. You just throw a

[1:27:55] flash and then you run out. Don't be

[1:27:57] shocked if your team isn't going. You

[1:27:59] haven't told them anything. You haven't

[1:28:01] told them when the flash is going. You

[1:28:03] haven't told them what you're smoking,

[1:28:04] when is when it's going to be smoked,

[1:28:05] right? So, you need to communicate when

[1:28:07] you're throwing these execs, right? Tell

[1:28:09] your team, "Hey, okay, shift walk, shift

[1:28:10] walk." All right, smoking jungle now.

[1:28:12] I'm smoking stairs. Let's wait. I'll

[1:28:13] flash for you. Just wait, wait, wait.

[1:28:15] And then we listen for them to pop.

[1:28:16] Bloom bloom. Okay, I'm flashing CT. I'm

[1:28:19] going to flash close. Ready, go, go, go,

[1:28:20] go, go, go, go, go. Right. Like, be

[1:28:22] active. Be vocal. Tell your team what to

[1:28:24] do. So many people get upset that their

[1:28:26] team like doesn't go on execs or I Oh, I

[1:28:28] threw util, but nobody went out. It's

[1:28:30] because you didn't tell them to go out

[1:28:32] and you also didn't give them like a

[1:28:34] reason why it's okay to go out, right?

[1:28:35] With your flashbangs, use your flashbang

[1:28:38] as a way to make people go, right? If I

[1:28:41] say, "I'm flashing for you. Ready?

[1:28:42] Ready? Flashing now. Here we go." Bang.

[1:28:45] If I'm like enthusiastic telling them,

[1:28:47] "Bang, here we go." You know, it makes

[1:28:48] them want to go because they feel like

[1:28:50] they're going to get a kill off the

[1:28:51] flash. Sure, sometimes people are still

[1:28:53] going to bait. Sometimes they're still

[1:28:54] not going to want to entry, but try to

[1:28:56] be proactive like that. Try to get

[1:28:57] people to go do [ __ ] because you can't

[1:29:00] do everything for them. Right now, when

[1:29:01] you're coming out a let's say somebody

[1:29:03] else threw smokes for you and you're

[1:29:04] entrying or you're just one of the

[1:29:06] rifers up front, don't get stuck Tetris,

[1:29:08] right? You threw smokes. Don't just get

[1:29:10] stuck around here. You want to path out

[1:29:12] to the left. Clear CT. clear under. You

[1:29:15] want to get active, get out. So, if

[1:29:17] you're the very first person, be okay

[1:29:19] turning your back towards jungle,

[1:29:20] turning your back towards CT, hard

[1:29:22] clearing under, hard clearing CT, right?

[1:29:24] You should have somebody next to you

[1:29:25] just following you, ready to trade you

[1:29:27] or holding stuff that you're not

[1:29:28] holding. And if you see somebody else

[1:29:30] entering in this path, then you should

[1:29:33] follow them. Be the trader. What I see a

[1:29:35] lot of people do is that instead of

[1:29:36] scaling towards the left, they scale out

[1:29:38] towards the right towards sandwich. And

[1:29:40] then they get close to this jungle

[1:29:41] smoke. They're not able to take CT.

[1:29:43] Rotates come in and then finally by the

[1:29:45] time they get up here to try to take CT,

[1:29:47] there's two people CT. These jungle

[1:29:48] smokes are gone, right? When you swing

[1:29:50] out to the right, you're not really

[1:29:52] clearing all too much. Of course, you're

[1:29:54] clearing kind of ninja, but you're not

[1:29:55] clearing under. Somebody could still be

[1:29:57] default. You want to get out into sight

[1:29:59] and hard clear stuff and take the space

[1:30:01] as fast as possible because you don't

[1:30:03] want to waste the timing on these right

[1:30:05] side smokes. Once these right side

[1:30:07] smokes are gone, A is really scary.

[1:30:09] There's a ton of space open CT and

[1:30:11] jungle. We want to make use of those

[1:30:12] right side smokes and take CT while

[1:30:15] they're still up. So then boom, we take

[1:30:17] CT. Okay, now that we have CT, these

[1:30:19] smokes are starting to fade and we're in

[1:30:21] a really comfortable spot from Tetris.

[1:30:23] If you know like you have info,

[1:30:25] somebody's default or somebody's under

[1:30:27] balk, then it's totally okay to pause

[1:30:29] for a second and throw some util to

[1:30:31] clear him out. If you're Tetris, you're

[1:30:33] coming out ramp, you just bank mollies

[1:30:35] against the left side of the sign. Those

[1:30:37] are going to land under Balk and flush

[1:30:39] out any CT plane there. You can also, of

[1:30:41] course, just like jiggle this and the

[1:30:42] molly default like that. If you're one

[1:30:44] of the people who is late to the party,

[1:30:47] right, you're like fourth or fifth out

[1:30:49] and your teammates are scaling up sight,

[1:30:50] throwing flashes into CT is always good.

[1:30:54] You want to delay these CT retakes. And

[1:30:57] you should also tell your team when

[1:30:58] you're doing this. That way, if the

[1:31:00] opponents are playing retake, right,

[1:31:01] there's a CT just chilling here holding

[1:31:03] this. Bang, this flash pops, and then

[1:31:05] your teammates swing and kill them. They

[1:31:07] might even turn that, but hopefully your

[1:31:08] teammates just swing as it pops, so then

[1:31:10] they kill them while they're turned. For

[1:31:11] the most part, you're going to be

[1:31:12] planting default. If the if you have the

[1:31:15] opportunity to, planting back triple is

[1:31:17] significantly better than planting

[1:31:18] default because now it's planted for

[1:31:20] ramp. If you plant back triple, this

[1:31:22] crossfire between CT and ramp is brutal

[1:31:25] trying to diffuse the spawn. It's so

[1:31:26] difficult. Planting default totally

[1:31:28] fine. But if you can try to get towards

[1:31:30] back triple and plant here. One thing

[1:31:32] you have to be worried about when you're

[1:31:33] executing A and you're scaling out is a

[1:31:35] CT playing through the jungle smoke

[1:31:37] here. So in reaction you can molly it

[1:31:39] like that. Molly their swing. This

[1:31:41] prevents them from being aggressive.

[1:31:43] They can't just hard swing out. But they

[1:31:45] can edge the smoke here and play like

[1:31:46] this. That is a concern. They won't take

[1:31:48] from the molly. So be mindful of that.

[1:31:50] Be ready for that. Right. There's some

[1:31:51] really important things you need to know

[1:31:52] if you're palace during an A execute.

[1:31:55] One thing that is key is that you're not

[1:31:58] scared. is that you're going to swing

[1:31:59] when your teammates are taking sight.

[1:32:01] And the reason for that is that if your

[1:32:02] teammates are running out ramp, they're

[1:32:04] being aggressive. You need to kill this

[1:32:06] default player. If somebody's default

[1:32:07] and they're just staying alive, you you

[1:32:09] can't give them the timing where they

[1:32:11] can throw a flash, they can throw a

[1:32:12] defensive smoke, they can do something

[1:32:13] to delay, delay, delay. Your job is to

[1:32:15] swing and just kill this player. You can

[1:32:17] throw some pretty good utility from

[1:32:19] palace. One is the underbali. You come

[1:32:21] to this second pillar, the close second

[1:32:23] pillar closest to the balk just on the

[1:32:24] edge of it. You aim where the roof meets

[1:32:27] the wall right here or the the tiling

[1:32:29] and then you run run run run run run run

[1:32:30] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:30] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:30] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:30] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run run run run

[1:32:31] run run run run run run run and then

[1:32:32] about when your crosshair meets like the

[1:32:34] the top of this light that's when you

[1:32:35] let go and that's going to molly under

[1:32:36] balcon you can also throw a pretty nifty

[1:32:39] flash from the middle of this pillar you

[1:32:41] come here this is the closest pillar to

[1:32:42] the balcony you see on the wall there's

[1:32:45] this crack right here and there's a dark

[1:32:47] line like this line that separates a

[1:32:48] lighter bit from a darker bit you go uh

[1:32:51] where this crack meets that line and

[1:32:52] left click throw this flash is going to

[1:32:54] bounce and pop right here. So, anybody

[1:32:57] playing default is going to eat this

[1:32:59] flash. Anybody playing on top of Balk

[1:33:02] can definitely react to it, but if they

[1:33:04] don't, they're also going to get blinded

[1:33:05] by it. If the CTs are smoking Palace at

[1:33:08] the beginning of every single round and

[1:33:10] you're getting ready for an A execute,

[1:33:12] then get this lineup ready because this

[1:33:14] is an excellent flash to push the smoke

[1:33:16] with. One thing you do have to be

[1:33:18] concerned about is that it could blind

[1:33:19] your teammates if they're already swung

[1:33:22] super far out. I mean, that one didn't,

[1:33:23] but if they're already really far out,

[1:33:24] it will blind them. So, throw it like as

[1:33:27] your teammates are throwing lamp flashes

[1:33:29] as they're coming out ramp. That's a

[1:33:30] good timing to throw it. If you get up

[1:33:31] to close palace like this, then you can

[1:33:33] just throw util towards under balk for

[1:33:36] free, right? Throwing a flash is

[1:33:37] surprisingly really good when you throw

[1:33:39] it under because if a player's default,

[1:33:41] you throw this flash, they have to turn

[1:33:43] it or else they're just going to eat it

[1:33:44] or even if they're looking at you, this

[1:33:46] is still just going to blind them. It

[1:33:47] puts a lot of pressure on this player.

[1:33:49] Last thing I'll say about the palace

[1:33:50] player is that you don't have to commit

[1:33:52] out of palace. Palace is a super strong

[1:33:54] postplant spot and a really strong spot

[1:33:57] to hold CT aggression on CT. We went

[1:33:59] over ways that you can make plays

[1:34:01] through the jungle smoke through the

[1:34:02] stair smoke. A lot of those ways, a lot

[1:34:04] of those plays is countered by a patient

[1:34:07] palace player, right? So if you do as a

[1:34:09] CT, if you make the sandwich drop, a

[1:34:11] palace player will just punish you for

[1:34:13] that. If you swing through the jungle

[1:34:14] smoke, a palace player should be ready

[1:34:16] for this, too. they can easily see

[1:34:18] flashbangs thrown from jungle so they

[1:34:20] can react off of it. Tell their

[1:34:21] teammates, "Hey, they're they're

[1:34:22] flashing jungle care." If you really

[1:34:23] need numbers to take CT, then okay, go

[1:34:26] help your team take CT. You can also

[1:34:28] flash CT from palace for your teammates,

[1:34:30] too. Otherwise, I would recommend

[1:34:32] staying palace regardless of where the

[1:34:34] bomb is planted. You're in a really good

[1:34:35] postplot, and it's not really worth

[1:34:37] giving that up unless you really have

[1:34:39] to. One thing I need to mention is that

[1:34:41] if you've been going mid every round,

[1:34:43] right, your teammates have been

[1:34:44] pressuring mid and then all of a sudden

[1:34:45] you guys don't do anything mid, it might

[1:34:47] be kind of obvious that you're executing

[1:34:49] A. So, it can be good for you or a

[1:34:51] teammate to throw a top mid smoke and

[1:34:53] even to come up and throw a couple

[1:34:55] flashes towards mid and then come back

[1:34:56] towards A. That way, the CTs don't get

[1:34:59] full info mid and they still have to

[1:35:01] worry about T's being top mid being

[1:35:03] boxes and they're not going to come back

[1:35:05] and stack a site based off of that mid

[1:35:07] info. Next, let's talk about how to do a

[1:35:09] good B- rush. B- rushes are good to do

[1:35:11] on lowbys, of course, because you're

[1:35:13] going to close distance. You're going to

[1:35:15] take a lot of close-range fights when

[1:35:16] you get out B. They're also good to do

[1:35:18] when you know that their B anchor is

[1:35:19] just bad, right? If they're not playing

[1:35:21] well, then just abusing that can be

[1:35:23] really, really strong. One thing I see

[1:35:25] in lower elos is that people will play

[1:35:27] two A, one con, one window, and then one

[1:35:29] towards B. And a lot of low elo mirage

[1:35:32] games are super winnable if you just go

[1:35:34] B every round until you force the CTs to

[1:35:36] actually play two players towards B. So

[1:35:38] if you recognize like every time we go A

[1:35:40] there's like four [ __ ] people there,

[1:35:42] just go B. Just send a B. Here's how a B

[1:35:45] rush works. And this is incredibly

[1:35:47] important because what I'm about to talk

[1:35:48] about applies to pretty much every rush

[1:35:50] ever. So you know, lock in. Your

[1:35:53] responsibility in a rush is going to be

[1:35:55] based on your spawn. If you have the

[1:35:58] best spawn, then you need to use it. If

[1:36:00] you have the best spawn, you can't be

[1:36:02] the person who stops and throws a window

[1:36:04] smoke. You're wasting your spawn, right?

[1:36:06] We rush so that we can exploit that

[1:36:08] early timing. When we exploit early

[1:36:10] timings, we have a better idea of where

[1:36:12] CTS are going to play and we're going to

[1:36:14] get there sometimes before they expect

[1:36:16] us to be there. So, you have best spawn,

[1:36:18] you're going to be the entry, you're

[1:36:20] going first. You need to be aggressive

[1:36:22] and you need to take space on Bite

[1:36:24] Mirage. You can come out, you can throw

[1:36:25] a flash like this. That's going to

[1:36:27] bounce through the window. You can also

[1:36:28] throw one just against here on the

[1:36:31] bottom of this bit. This flash is going

[1:36:33] to pop out here and blind any short

[1:36:34] player playing like this. Bang, they're

[1:36:36] blind. So, first spawn, you can focus on

[1:36:38] a flash. You can throw that one. You can

[1:36:40] also throw this one. And then you are

[1:36:41] jumping out window. Okay, you're jumping

[1:36:45] out the window. If you're first spawn on

[1:36:46] a B- rush on Mirage, you're jumping out

[1:36:48] the window. No ifs, ands, or buts about

[1:36:50] it. All right, the second spawn, the

[1:36:52] second closest player to wherever we're

[1:36:54] rushing is following the entry and

[1:36:57] playing firefight. Firefight means, like

[1:36:59] I said, you're going to extinguish

[1:37:00] whatever molly the CTs throw. As this

[1:37:02] firefight player, I'm going to have my

[1:37:03] smoke out ready before the CTs even

[1:37:06] throw the molly, right? I'm going to

[1:37:08] expect this molly. So, I'm following my

[1:37:09] entry. The molly comes out. I molly

[1:37:11] this. I smoke the molly and then I

[1:37:14] screwed up the movement, but and then

[1:37:16] I'm going to follow the entry wherever

[1:37:18] they go. The reason for that is because

[1:37:20] if my entry runs out window, right,

[1:37:23] they're taking space, they get out here

[1:37:24] and they hit the short player for 99

[1:37:26] damage and then they die. If we don't

[1:37:28] have somebody to trade them, then what

[1:37:30] are we doing, right? If I'm with my

[1:37:32] entry, I'm on their ass and I follow

[1:37:34] them and then I trade that kill. Huge.

[1:37:36] That kill grants us a ton of space. You

[1:37:38] win rushes through trading. So, as a

[1:37:42] second player, follow your entry.

[1:37:43] Wherever they go, you go. Your job is to

[1:37:46] trade them and to smoke the molly early.

[1:37:47] The third and the fourth spawn are going

[1:37:50] to just look for kills, right? They're

[1:37:52] going to come out apps. They don't need

[1:37:54] to jump through the window. If you're on

[1:37:55] low by like Tech 9 Mac 10, you

[1:37:57] definitely can. But if you're on a

[1:37:58] fullby, then these two players can just

[1:38:00] search. You could think of it as like

[1:38:01] two pairs of twos, right? The entry and

[1:38:03] the trader are going out. They're taking

[1:38:05] space. The other two are clearing the

[1:38:07] rest of the space, and they're more so

[1:38:09] looking for fights. They're more so

[1:38:11] looking for the kill. They're not

[1:38:12] necessarily being relentless like going,

[1:38:14] going, going. they can be a bit more

[1:38:16] patient with how they take the fights.

[1:38:17] That means that as this third or fourth

[1:38:18] spawn, if you have util, right, you have

[1:38:21] a molly, you have nade, you can molly

[1:38:23] towards van, you can come up, you can

[1:38:24] molly jail like that. That's really

[1:38:26] effective. Molly jail, molly bench.

[1:38:27] Sometimes this doesn't spread all the

[1:38:28] way, but that one did. Another really

[1:38:30] good molly to throw is a backite molly.

[1:38:32] You throw this and it mollies empty

[1:38:34] pillar right here. That, you know, if

[1:38:36] you watch the banker bit, that flushes a

[1:38:37] banker out and forces them to fight you

[1:38:39] guys, which is really good. You want to

[1:38:41] kill that guy as fast as possible. The

[1:38:43] fifth player is typically the util

[1:38:45] thrower, the support player. They're

[1:38:46] going to come here. Most often on

[1:38:48] Mirage, they're going to throw a window

[1:38:49] smoke. I aim at this corner and just

[1:38:51] slightly to the right right here. That

[1:38:53] way, the smoke consistently lands within

[1:38:56] the window. Boom. There we go. And then

[1:38:58] I'm going to throw supporting flashes

[1:39:00] for my teammates. And to do that, I'm

[1:39:01] just going to come top underpass. I'm

[1:39:03] going to aim around the top of the

[1:39:04] window and just run jump throw these

[1:39:06] flashes. If I'm worried about a short

[1:39:07] player, I can throw one deep flash

[1:39:09] there. And then I can shift walk a flash

[1:39:10] throwing it like that. That way that

[1:39:12] shorter flash is going to blind any

[1:39:14] short player sitting around here. Let's

[1:39:16] talk about some solo plays you can make

[1:39:18] on T-side to get picks and open the

[1:39:20] round up towards middle. Having the best

[1:39:22] mid spawn, go dry swing it. If you don't

[1:39:25] think that the CTs have an OP, then you

[1:39:28] should pretty much always just dry swing

[1:39:29] mid with your best spawn and take this

[1:39:31] duel against the window player. As we

[1:39:33] looked at in the timing section, only

[1:39:35] two of the five CT spawns beat the best

[1:39:37] CT spawn, which means there's only a 40%

[1:39:41] chance that the window player will be

[1:39:43] window before you swing mid. So, you

[1:39:45] have an advantage. Just fight. Go take

[1:39:47] it. Go take that 1v one. With a good

[1:39:49] mid/b spawn, going fast underpass can be

[1:39:52] really effective as well. You're just

[1:39:53] going to come into apps. You're going to

[1:39:54] aim like this with your flash, right

[1:39:56] click it, jump out, and then turn it.

[1:39:58] It's going to pop right there. And then