Watching The Defense

Like we read on the previous page, in my opinion the defense is the most important side to study of your opponent as it has the least variety.

What I like to do to start off is basically get a map overview and hold down fast forward and get a general idea of what to look for. First I look for spots that usually have 2 people playing them (i.e. B on de_dust2). I am going to use the Rival playbook as an example to help understand how I go through this.

hanes/masternook

Rival likes to run 2 in B leaving middle either open or covered by ph33r from inside of spawn. Either way, these two are a deadly combo in the B bombsite with colts.

These two are going to be playing inside of this bombsite 99% of the time with m4's. When they enter the bombsite they throw the traditional flashbangs to slow down a possible rush and then go into the actual site. From here masternook boosts hanes on the platform and from here pretty much anything coming through B is getting annihilated.

Once on the platform hanes plays very defensively and baits masternook who will see the enemies first because he is floating around the bombsite. After the enemy spots masternook, hanes is always there to crossfire immediately with colt spam and stop whatever is coming out of that tunnel.

These 2 are covering middle/B so I group them together. The reasoning is because these two are going to be covering each other the most and it is best to know not only where they play, but where the partner is going to be after you kill the first opponent.

Now this was an easy one to start out with since they leave middle open and cover B from inside the bombsite. On a map like dust2 if a team likes to set up like this they usually leave middle open, but not completely open. Hanes is the one always focusing on B tunnels while masternook backs him up and spots middle every now and then.

Notes

*Defensive note* While in the site masternook likes to toss an HE nade over the B tunnels wall to hear if the offense is working it slowly, much like de_train.

I like to toss in notes. These aren't things that we see often, but they are very effective styles of play that individuals like to do that usually get them a lot of kills, helps them get a good idea where enemies are, or a very odd spot they play once a match, but it works so watch out for it.

Let's see what I am talking about in the larger bombsite and figuring out the various setups a team may do.

Stevenson/Tyndale/Bechdholt

1. One Long A two catwalk

This will have Tyndale sniping Long A either pushed up or back towards the bombsite with an AWP and Stevenson and Bechdholt covering catwalk aggressively with colts or in a headstack near the stairs. Your basic A setup.

2. Three Long A

This will be an obvious push with the team leading into Long A with several nades. From here they hold in three spaced out positions watching the rush. After the rush is secured they will attempt various stacks on the boxes at Long A. Don't worry though, if catwalk is taken these guys take it back just as easily as with the spawn hugging strat. These three will be leading from Long A with a great series of flash bangs to flash the catwalk and HE grenades into the actual bombsite.

3. Catwalk strat

This is a lot like Rival's normal setup with all three on the catwalk. Two will be watching the catwalk near the stair area or sometimes pushed up a little farther while one has his colt out and the other jumps to spot the lower B hallways. Meanwhile one sits at the double stacked boxes at the top of the stairs watching Long A, usually with a flash out to slow the Long A rush as soon as possible. Once again EG is giving up an area, but they have great practice with flashes and HE's to cover the entire site when the offense takes over, expect the same in this setup.

This is where we see a nice variety of A setups rather than just a default 2 catwalk 1 watching long with an AWP. In situations like this it is all about "keys". Keys are basically things you can do to predict what setup your opponent is in.

Lets see how we can predict each of the above setups. The key is going to be the catwalk. If it were me I would have a fake snake through B coming down the stairs and throwing nades up onto the catwalk near stairs. From here I would have 2 push catwalk with flashes around each corner and peeking to kill. Basically if you don't see EG by the time you get to the top of the stairs they are going to be pushed long A.

But what if they are at catwalk? Well if you nade a team down to red health every round they won't want to do that setup anymore. Even if they adjust and start setting up in a 1 long 2 catwalk setup they were forced to adjust. You just forced your opponent to cover an area in styles they do not practice, setup in headstacks they never do, and that is what offense is all about. Make the defense play in a way they do not practice.