Two Danish players Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen and Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander set out to prove to tournament organizers that Molotov cocktails don't belong in competitive matches. To achieve that goal they called upon numerous players from top teams and gathered their opinions about this matter.

In the aftermath of ESWC's announcement to allow Molotov cocktails (and their CT-side counterparts Incendiary grenades), numerous players spoke against that decision and claimed that those grenades have no place in competitive Counter Strike.



Two Danish players, Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen from team HastaLaVista and Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander from Cph Wolves set out on a project to gather all those opinions in one place, contacting fellow players who support that claim in hope of changing the minds of the organizers, such as the ones at ESWC and ESL.

"gla1ve and I chose to start a project about getting rid of molotovs in official tournaments. The reason behind this is that it's destroying the competitive game and makes it boring. We have the impression that average, and top teams, feel the same about this matter, that's why we chose to contact teams that have competed in different online tournaments and teams that have been playing actively (practice). We hope with this gathering of information and different points of view that the event organizers will choose to listen to the community instead of enforcing rules that have no backing among their target group." explains Lauridsen.

The two Danes provided us with all the statements they gathered, including players from practically all top teams at the moment:

Allan "Rejin" Petersen from PRIME

"I think the molotov is ruining the game as Counter-strike is. When you can lock down a site totaly for rushes it will destroy the metagame.. Also you can lockdown (on inferno) banana like 40-45 seconds, with molotov/smokes. So it is a NO GO for me."

Richard "Xizt" Landström from NiP

"We would prefer playing without molotovs, yes"

Mário "Fyx" Rodrigues from k1ck

"I think molotovs should be banned from competitions because they're too strong comparing to the other grenades, slowing and basically taking alot of damage, and in most cases actually killing someone when trying to get through one. The use of molotovs will make the game slow and in my opinion with less interest comparing to the other titles."

Niclas "enkay J" Krumhorn from gamed!de

"I do not like the molotovs since they take all the pace out of the game and are too imbalanced !"

Taneli "disturbed" Veikkola from ex-ROCCAT

"In my opinion molotovs should be disallowed, because at the moment any rush attempts by terrorist side will be too easily blocked by CT's using molotovs. Molotovs also inflict too much damage and the they should be nerffed a bit. Molotovs also help to improve teams who like to play "slowly" and it decreases the changes of teams who've used to play fast and offensive. I like the idea of molotovs but now they're too powerful, like in nuke."

Dennis "Rytter" Rytter from EYES ON U

"I don't want molotovs. You can with molotovs get the opponent away from banana at inferno for like 1 minute if you start out smoking them out, and then using molo afterwards. It's so awful so much CT sided every map will be."

Sam "DaZeD" Marine from Area51

"Molotovs ruin the game, playing the game with them is just brutal when it comes to competitive play. Imagine having a strat that you work on where you throw multiple flashes and smokes and are very confident in, calling the strat, and as soon as you attempt to execute a rain of fire comes down upon you and makes you want to leave the server. They take zero skill to use either, you sit there with a molotov prones at feet above hut, and when you get flashes you toss it down... it's a joke. Without molotovs the game is much much better."

Joel "emilio" Mako from H2k

"I didn't appreciate it in the beginning, trying to get used to it. But of course I would love to not have it :))))"

James "Mx" Smale from mousesports

"Molotov completely alters Counter strike game play, that has been standard for many many years. Rushing is IMPOSSIBLE with molotovs unless you're nuts. It breaks the whole game dynamic, and should be banned."

Johan "nahoy" Gustafsson from ColdGame

"We think that molotovs ruining the game. In some of the maps you can throw molotovs from spawn in a certain place to stop rushes really easy and so on. When you are playing Terrorist and have planted the bomb, you can just throw a molotov on the bomb to prevent Counter terrorist from defusing"

Samal "SFM" Mikkelsen from RECESSION

"Me and the other guys in my team think that the molotov should be banned from all serious tournaments. At this point it is still not useable in serious matches - it ruins the tempo of the game."

Kristoffer "hoddi" Huotar from hiGhrollers

"we are against molotov in csgo :) don't play with it on praccs and so on, it should be banned tbh"

Joona "natu" Leppänen from WinFakt

"Molotovs are not suitable for competetive gameplay. The only thing they will do to the game is slow it down, which is not good for spectating experience. The effectiveness of them is just far too decisive in certain situations, which shouldn't be possible in top tier competetive play."

Phil "Whindanski" Nicholas from fm.TOXiC

"I think the molotov hinders the game in a big way. I think in terms of rushes for the T's it makes it hard for them to attack the sites. It stops the flow of the game and it really does slow down the use of fast tactics for the T's. The game does not need them and they haven't been used in any version of the game. We need to get rid of them and bring csgo back to the roots of other cs versions"

Alexander "rdl" Redl from Team X

"All I can say is that for the sake of the people watching the games and for the general fun to play the game, don't add molotovs to the tournaments. It will slow down the games and make it shit to watch."

Joshua "steel" Nissan from mTw

"Valve is trying to re-invent the wheel by adding the molotov grenade (among other new weapons) into a game that has had a standardized set of league rules. The time it took to refine these rules should not be overlooked by mindlessly adding in new features just because they're cool. Molotovs should be banned from leagues and tournaments."

Alexander "Lk" Lemeshev from zNation

"Well, it's kinda obvious that we should have molotov oFF. It's just game ruin and there's nothing to do with it. Valve's fixed it a bit, that's great but there's still a huge advantage for the using side."

Daniel "barsiC" Fanous from Lions

"When I started playing csgo I was very positive to the usage of molotovs, but when I had a chance to try it out in a competitive match I realised that it was too strong. You can stop a rush entirely by throwing one molotov and disabling the whole site, for example if you hold the b site on dust2 and they rush, if you throw a molotov in the tunnel they cant rush through it because you take too much damage from it and it will allow your teammates to rotate before they even got a chance to enter the b site. And as T in a afterplant situation if u spam the bomb with molotovs there is nothing the CTs can do."

With not many noteworthy names missing from this list, it is pretty safe to say that the majority of the competitive scene agrees that Molotovs should be banned.

In addition to these select few from the competitive scene, everyone else can also speak up by signing the petition that Lauridsen and Rossander have set up.



However, it remains to be seen whether league and tournament organizers will react to this player outreach. In the mean time tell us what you think about this subject, do you agree that Molotov cocktails should be banned from competitive play and why?

