History and the current state

Pugging – the future of player development?

ropz playing for mousesports

A balanced diet of everything to maximize odds of success

About the author

Tomi Kovanen, more commonly known as "lurppis", is one of Finland's most prominent Counter-Strike experts. Kovanen started his career as a player back in 2004, retiring in early-2012. During his active years, Kovanen represented teams such as hoorai, Team ROCCAT, 4Kings and Evil Genuises.



Following his retirement, Kovanen has continued to be an influential member of the scene, sharing his expertise as a columnist, analyst, commentator and a frequent user of Twitter ( Tomi Kovanen, more commonly known as "lurppis", is one of Finland's most prominent Counter-Strike experts. Kovanen started his career as a player back in 2004, retiring in early-2012. During his active years, Kovanen represented teams such as hoorai, Team ROCCAT, 4Kings and Evil Genuises.Following his retirement, Kovanen has continued to be an influential member of the scene, sharing his expertise as a columnist, analyst, commentator and a frequent user of Twitter ( @lurppis ).

In the dark days of Counter-Strike’s history – before CS:GO was ever announced in 2011, let alone released in 2012 – the path towards competitive play, let alone the top levels of it, was not at all obvious. Many old school players – including yours truly – started off by playing on public servers, and in ClanBase ladders with friends. Without good performances in the latter, it would have been near-impossible to move forward. You could only be as good as the best team you had represented.ESEA’s popularity in the U.S. gave Americans an alternative, but lack of skill levels to group players by in the old days made it tough to judge players based on pick-up games (PUGs). Valve’s matchmaking made it very easy for newcomers to play in a team-like setting, but few players took the games seriously, and even the highest rank of Global Elite meant little – even in the lower levels of play. Up until the rise of the likes ofand, there was no alternative, but now it seems doors are wide open.Besides the popular PUG system and top league FPL – where PlesseN and ropz were noticed, andmounted his comeback to the top from – FACEIT has had lower tier PUGs available for all users for ages. However, the recent launch of country-specific hubs that allow top players to qualify for FPL, will only further democratize the system and make it easier for youngsters to sign up. For a 13-year-old playing with foreigners might not always feel comfortable, but the threshold is likely significantly lower when able to play with fellow countrymen. This is easily, up until now, the golden time to break through.But we must ask a question – if the sole goal is developing as a player for a chance at a professional career, is pugging up to ten hours a day the best way forward? Would the likes of ropz and PlesseN have developed faster in a more traditional setting, if given a chance? I have no doubt the answer remains a robust yes.Whencut ties with PlesseN and brought in, the reason was apparently the former's lack of experience in a team-setting. No doubt his ceiling was higher, and wenton had remained a sub-1.00 rating player, but the Black and Orange felt they could nonetheless do better in the short-term by fielding a player with a better understanding of what it meant to play in a team. You do not learn how to communicate effectively – and by effectively, I mean at a truly high level – without playing in a team. Nor is it easy to get experience in playing the right way.What then, you could be wondering, might be the best way forward? If you are a 13-year-old reading this, trying to figure out how to become the next olofmeister or device, what should you do to the maximize the chances? As always, the best way is likely something in the middle of the two extremes.Today players have a myriad of methods to practice. Websites teach you every imaginable grenade you might need to learn to throw. CSDM lets you shoot at a hundred people in no time (no, CSDM did not exist until years after I started in late 2002). Duel maps let you train the most common aim duels from competitive play. Pre-aim maps teach you great crosshair placement. Clips of tricks, analyses of playing tactics, and just about everything else is available online, 24/7 in easily digestible form. That might sound great, but it is both a curse and a blessing – it makes learning easier for everyone, thus putting more pressure on you.But doing all of the above, even when clocking in hundreds of hours of PUGs each month, may not be enough. At the very least, it likely is not the optimal way to go, if you are hoping to maximize your chances of finding success at the top of the Counter-Strike world. Instead, I recommend a more balanced approach, combining all the best tools of today.Learn the basics of the game in PUGs and matchmaking, while using the aforementioned resources whenever possible. Practice tips and grenades before playing, play CSDM and aim maps daily to improve your mechanical skill. Watch demos of players playing your spots to understand why they do what they do, when they do it. But when possible, join a team. As seen in the fnatic example and ropz’s interview , there is no substitute for playing with a team.Find four players with similar goals to yours, and then combine team practice with all of the above. Fans are often incredibly impressed when a newcomer today breaks through in just two years of play, but you must realize the resources are there for hard-working and smart people to get far ahead of the curve.Today it is possible to learn everything – assuming you are willing to put in the kind of work that will annoy your friends, smart enough to learn just about everything on the first try, and ambitious enough to keep going when things do not work out – to reach the top in the shortest time possible. And it goes two ways – the top professionals must also keep learning, for today the challengers learn faster.The future of player development is here, and it is a combination of all the tools available.