The final map we’re going to discuss is Mill – a newcomer to the playbook. Mill has earned its way onto the board by becoming an increasingly important map at CPL events and a great map for using deceptive tactics. Everyone understands the far right blue door fake, but most try to attack the right ramp as the Terrorists point of view when faking door. This is strategy is actually a little misguided.

The little blue door

Most defensive teams will use three players in a combination of watching middle and far right. There’s really no need to fake to that side when you’re a terrorist, as those players they are already committed to watching that area. The people that need to be faked are the potential blue door watchers themselves. The difficult part of this fake is keeping the left side guys occupied long enough to allow the sewer guys to reach the blue door.

Time can be an ally here, by letting the Counter-Terrorist’s sweat it out you can buy time. One downside is they will assume you are coming blue door, so one appropriated precaution needs to be taken. One Terrorist at the beginning of the round should watch for the quick flank by the CT’s watching right ramp.

Once the sewer guys have reached the stairs he can quickly run back to the guys on the right. Once he rejoins them, quickly get up the right stairs with smokes and flashes. This should take the attention of the former door watcher away from that area, and will allow you to get out and hit those two defenders from both sides. The guys watching the other site then have to get clear across the map and face what should be 3v3 or 3v4 odds to retake the site.



The last axiom we’re going to discuss is a very simple one; even if the fake isn’t successful it’s still important to run them once or twice a game. Just like an NFL football game, a team that gets too much into a pattern (throw the football every down) and doesn’t prove/show to the other team that he can fake or mix it up will allow the other team to rotate and adjust too quickly. Defensive teams win matches by rotation; offensive teams win matches by slowing those rotations. If you can slow the rotation by putting in their mind that it could be a fake, you are one step closer to winning the round.

We’ve discussed a few basic fake strategies on the more popular maps, but the key is to understand what to look for in designing or following professional strategies. Creation of fake strategies for all three different periods; pistol, save and gun rounds follows distinct patterns and goals. Establishing when to run them, why to run that and how to run them will make a team much better at winning matches, and doing so in a way that they control the pace of the game.


Let's wrap up the four axioms of fake strategies:

1) The Lesser Defended Bombsite is more often the better fake location. There are exceptions, such as Cobble where the Terrorist route between bombsites is extremely long.

2) Needless Deaths on the offensive team, caused by initial faking will cause you to lose rounds, use every player wisely. Taking or putting pressure on a site to force rotation is important but not at too high of a cost.

3) Timing is likely the most important element of a good fake. Whether it’s fast or slow, you must be perfect. Dry runs may be in order to get the timing just right.

4) Faking serves a purpose even in a loss. In big matches, you need to accomplish something in every round if you want to win. Even if you don’t win the round with your fake, you are still changing the pace of the defensive rotations and forcing defenders to question their strategies. Even failed fake attempts instill thoughts that costs them precious time.