Being clutch. Let's explain the word before we start this article. Being clutch is basically just being in a tough situation and knowing how to win the round for your team when the odds are against you. 1 on 4's, 2 on 5's, 1 on 1's. Pretty much any situation you are going to be in when there's more people alive on the other team than yours.

Now I'm pretty bad at counter-strike, hence the reason I write articles rather than competing in CPL matches. One thing I am good at though, is winning rounds during these clutch situations. So listen up people!

The Radar

The first tip, and probably the biggest help in this article, is PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR RADAR. Your radar is like the mirrors on your car; you always need to be checking it and be aware of what's going on around you. Also, communicate. Know exactly what your team is watching and know where they are exactly. This way as soon as they die, you have a very good idea of where the opponents came from and where your teammate died. The reason for this is that as soon as they die, or begin a gun fight, you can already be planning your counter-attack while still in your spot.

Teamwork

When you are in a situation while being alive with one other teammate, it is important to have teamwork. Now on pistol rounds you are going to handle your situation a little different than a gun round. On pistol rounds if you are the last two alive, you ALWAYS need to stick together. If you do this, I guarantee you will win the round. If you split up on a pistol round, your opponent(s) have a way better chance of picking you off, where as being together, it will be much harder to kill both of you with one pistol.

During gun rounds I suggest the exact opposite. You should split up, but have good timing together so that you can both be attacking from different angles and create a pickle sort of situation. If you two stay together on a gun round, there is a very good chance that the enemy will be able to random you and spray you down with one clip.

Using The Map

Pretty much everyone reading this article probably has a pretty good idea about the timing on all of the maps. If you don't, I suggest you start paying a lot more attention. When you are in a 1 on 1 or even a 2 on 1, this is going to be extremely beneficial for you. I'll give you a situation.

Let's say you are on dust2 on the Catwalk, your opponent is on the Long A ramp, and you are in a gun fight with him. Now, you should always have flash bangs, just for the reason that they will be your best friend in a clutch round. So you are in this gun fight and you throw your flash bang at him to temporarily blind him. Now you IMMEDIATELY fall back and go around to Long A. If you don't believe me, try it out. I guarantee you will catch the guy with his side turned to you still looking at the Catwalk if you hauled ass and ran non-stop to the Long A pit.

De_Nuke

All I have to say about nuke is no matter if you are offense or defense in a clutch situation, never go to the freaking rafters. There are so many reasons why this is stupid I could go on all day. Basically the biggest reason you don't want to go there is because if you are in a gunfight in the rafters and you get knocked down to low health, you're screwed, especially as a CT. The other reason is that there is no possible way to get off of the rafters onto the floor without making noise. Even if you slip into the middle part of the bars and drop to the hut, you're making noise. The other team will know exactly where you are and you just blew your chances of getting the drop on them.

One other tip I have for nuke is the use of smoke grenades as CT. I remember at ESWC when we (3D) played the Brazilian team Revoltz. These guys had at least three smokes every round for the lower bombsite and it really messed us up. 99% of teams hide in the doors when they plant the lower bombsite. So when you have multiple smokes for the doors, the offense will have to come after you.

Delaying The Bomb

As terrorist, you really need to practice this. There are a few different ways to do this that are very effective. The first way is by planting the bomb in an open spot. Some examples are: far out in the A bombsite so you can hide on the catwalk, to the left of the boxes in the B bombsite on inferno so you can hide in the side hall, or in front of the boxes in the upper bombsite in front of the boxes on nuke so you can hide outside. What you should notice about all the examples I've given is the fact that there is a wall you can hide behind that will let you strafe out back and forth to make the CT not be able to defuse without chasing you down. If he actually does this, he probably won't even have enough time to defuse if you did your job right.

The other way, is a lot more fun and usually gets a lot of laughs. Pretty much you just use the advantage of EAX sound. Any map that has boxes on it in the bombsite, you'll be able to pull this off. Just float around the bombsite boxes and don't even try to kill the last CT alive. Just keep moving around and he will have to chase you, but if you're good enough, he won't be able to find you even though you are right behind the box.

The Do's and Dont's of Guns

I'm going to start off by saying unless you're KSharp reading this article, never ever ever use an AWP in a 1 on 1 or whatever the situation is. You have no idea where your enemy is hiding and when he pops out at you, it's going to be very hard to to flick shot him like a badass. If anything, gun run the AWP while you have an automatic rifle. What's gun running? Having two guns and keep dropping them as you're running and keep picking them up, so after you win the round you'll still have an AWP for the next round.

The #1 gun I suggest you look for during a clutch situation is a colt with a silencer on it. You'll be able to pull off some pretty ninja moves if the other team has no idea where you are.

Well everyone, I have a million more tips, but frankly this article is getting pretty long and I just plain don't feel like talking to you anymore! If anything just practice practice practice. Get more experience, get in more clutch situations. The more you do this and the more you learn people's tendencies this will just come to you naturally and just be automatic. So keep on truckin' everyone. I'm outta here.