In a game of chess, three games are being played simultaneously at all times; the board game, the mind game and the time game. Although all three are part of one entity, it is imperative for us to differentiate them in order to have a clear image of the whole picture. Likewise, in a game of Counter-Strike, the game can be played very similarly; when playing competitively, we are also playing the mind, board and time game.

All three categories are divided from 2 main categories that stem from each and every game. Without going too in-depth into “game theory” (this will be another article) we call these two categories tactics and strategy.

Hence, the 3 sub categories can be divided as follows: Under tactics we have the board game and the time game, and under the strategy we have the mind game.





Removing ourselves from the implicit meaning of the two terms, tactics and strategy (forget about the dictionary terminology that me and Mark ‘jESUIT’ Cheben had a rather interesting debate about prior to the introduction of this article), the two terms will have to be defined before advancement into this piece.

Tactics are an organized and/or systematic response towards the immediate change of circumstances that occur within the game. These responses are moves that enable the subject engaging into these actions to win under the rules of the game. Tactics are founded upon “cause and effect”. A certain cause occurs, thus triggering an effect – tactic then is a response to that cause under the rules of the game.
Therefore, in a game of chess, when white begins it’s first move by doing a ‘King-pawn’ variation, a tactical response to the game could be a Sicilian Defense variation in order to ‘challenge’ the King-pawn. Similarly, in a game of Counter-Strike when one team flashes Catwalk on de_dust2 – a tactical response would be to flash back in order to ‘challenge’ that cause.

Strategy, on the other hand, is very much the opposite of what Tactic represents. If Tactic is a response to a cause, then Strategy is the axiom representing what kind of response to take before the cause.