Counter-Strike Global Offensive, one of the most popular Esports currently within the competitive gaming community, is a game that quite wonderfully blends in both mechanical skill and tactical knowledge at its highest levels of play. To most individuals, it seems almost axiomatic that teams and individuals who lack in either one of those dimensions will suffer when faced with an opponent who has a clear grasp on both. However despite this pervasive knowledge within the community in which it seems that the professional Counter-Strike community seems to have only a nascent understanding of the true value of a system at the highest level.

If one were to take a look around at the depth of the talent present within the current competitive scene it quickly becomes clear that there is a preponderance of mechanically talented players who are simply not performing to the level that their skill dictates should be possible for them. In the current scene, this includes legendary names such as Dennis, Kjaerbye, and countless others. It is not only European names that can be pointed to, but the North American scene has also populated a graveyard with names of aim stars who simply never lived up to their potential, Shroud, Roca, Desi, and more. While a large portion of the underperformance does lie on the shoulders of those players, after all, individual responsibility is a huge part of life, it does feel like there is a bit more to the tale. After all at various points in time, usually in more structured environments or at least circumstances in which they understood their role, these individuals were able to do significant damage at the highest level of competition.

For those familiar with the National Football League a quick mental association can be established between the Wide Receiver position in the NFL and the countless mechanically gifted players within the Counter-Strike scene who are unable to ever let their gifts shine at the highest level. The NFL is a tough playground for wide receivers, even the ones who are blessed with the type of talent that comes only a few times each generation, because of the fact that they need the correct circumstances for them in order to demonstrate their talents. Without an adequate quarterback to throw them the ball, even players such as Larry Fitzgerald are unable to put the level of production that they are truly capable of.

Individuals may point to the Wide Receiver as being an extreme example, after all, there is no such dependency on another player to throw you the ball or something along those lines within Counter-Strike. Be that as it may, the fact of the matter is that a proper system within Counter-Strike does, in fact, enhance individuals games. A proper system puts individuals in proper circumstances from which they are better set up to flourish. These circumstances can be as simple as a properly timed flashbang which displaces a CT or T and allows you to take a more advantageous or evenly weighted fight, or even something as complex as a multi-pronged execute onto a site which, through the utilization of multiple angles, can leave the opponents flustered and quickly overrun. Conversely, the absence of a system can have a hugely detrimental effect, after all, nothing is more difficult than attempting to simply brute force your way to a victory as the highest level of Counter-Strike has undoubtedly reached the point where such an approach will be picked apart by the opponent with glee.

One great example of this is the system of Cloud 9 during their summer run of 2015, powered by the intellectual brilliance of Seangares. During Cloud 9’s consecutive runs to finals at international lans, they were powered by the fragging brilliance of Shroud and Skadoodle. However, those two individuals did not manage to find similar levels of success throughout any other portions in their career, dropping off from being hailed as some of the best stars in the games to at some points being looked at as the reason for the long period of mediocrity that Cloud 9 faced. If one were to really dig into the tape of that run it quickly becomes clear that the reason those individuals were able to succeed was that they were put in positions in which they could thrive by the system of Seangares. In shroud’s case, Sean’s system called for an entry fragger, in the form of Freakazoid, who would mindlessly run into brick walls and therefore create space which ultimately Shroud could capitalize on by utilizing his god given talent, the almost robotic like aim he was famous for. Similarly, Sean also helped Skadoodle flourish by maneuvering him around the map almost as a high powered chess piece. Sean was so successful with this maneuvering, and Skadoodle with his precision AWPing, that at some points individuals were questioning whether the best AWPer in the world was Guardian or Skadoodle, smack dab in the middle of Guardian’s prime.

Skadoodle and Shroud are not the only examples of mechanically gifted individuals who in the right system were able to flourish, nor will they be the last. On the other hand though, if future talents can come to truly understand the benefits of a system, perhaps we will see a reduction in the number of aim stars who simply burst onto the scene for their fifteen minutes of fame when they catch fire only to never find consistency at the highest levels.