CS:GO is a team game and because of that the construction of teams is incredibly important. It requires knowledge of players, how they fit, and what you need. In the current era, there are three systems that have come to define the three extremes of how to build a team in CS:GO. They are: the Danish system, the Finn “Karrigan” Andersen system, and the Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo system.

The Danish machine:

I named this not because they were the originators (every national region uses this), but because they are the most successful at it right now. Even though Denmark is a relatively small country compared to the overall CS population in the world, they have produced the most talent of any single country. The system itself has been used throughout Counter-Strike history and is the most common that you’ll find.

It is a grassroots system. It is where players meet up at local LAN parties to compete on a small scale to see who is the best. Through these clashes they gain mentors, rivals, and friends. Multiple small groups like this band together and eventually they fight against other small groups until you get to a national level, and eventually the international level.

Every scene has some iteration of this, some larger than others. Some die out, some get bigger, and in the case of Denmark, it is the most robust in the world right now. Every player no matter their level can find a group and then compete together. At every step of the way, they meet better players and leaders, people who are further down the path of CS than they are and who can explain how the system, the team, and the player all interact with each other.

One of the biggest factors is because of players like Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen, an amazing in-game leader who wasn’t good enough individually to play at the highest level. Despite that, many of the people he has played with have gone on to do better things. In contrast, many of the equivalent leaders of other scenes have already quit.

Because the scene is so robust, the top team can farm the team below them and that team below them is forced to change in turn. The Danish call it the Rene “Cajunb” Borg effect as he often switched lineups forcing the entire Danish scene to roster shuffle with him. This creates a ripple effect as each leader in the chain is forced to help raise a new rising talent, creating a seemingly never-ending talent pool coming out of Denmark.

Karrigan the Pioneer:

The second type of system is the international mix. In CS 1.6, NoA were the first to make an international mix to success, but were never able to continue it and other teams never followed suite. As more money has come into the scene, it has become more viable with the first international mix being Kinguin. Large credit has to be given to FaZe for constantly upgrading their roster with better players over time and in large part it is their ability as General Managers that has made this system viable in CS:GO. But the reason I’ve named it after Karrigan is because he was the leader who took their system and took it to the top of the world and this is what forced the rest of the CS:GO world to react. He has proven the concept that you can lead a team filled with players from all different countries to the top of CS:GO.

As Karrigan is no longer inhibited by national borders, he can now recruit players from anywhere in the world. This lets him get a much wider range of talent to choose from. On the other hand, this means he loses the cultural understanding of his players, how they learned, what they learned, and what they are good at. The reason Karrigan has been so successful is because he understands and analyzes all of the top players and can figure out how to use them effectively.

Just look at the incredible rise of every player that has played under him since his joining of FaZe. Aleski “allu” Jalli’s AWP improved leads and bounds under Karrigan’s wing. Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey reinvented himself as an incredible support player. Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs, Havard “rain” Bygaard, and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer have all risen in form while under Karrigan’s reign.

While he isn’t the sole reason for their rise in fame, he must be given credit for continuously finding ways to make his various line-ups work with almost no time to prepare. Karrigan’s incredible success along with the increasing amount of teams that want CS:GO line-ups has made him a pioneer as many others have tried to copy his formula, but with much less success. Teams like Mouz, OpTic, and PENTA are teams that have followed the FaZe’s footsteps.

FalleN the teacher:

The final system is named after FalleN. While is is of a similar premise to the Danish system, there is a subtle difference. In the Danish system an up-and-comer is taught CS by the leader, but there is a clear tactical structure put into place.

The FalleN system is different in how extreme that teaching goes. In the past, it was common for players to teach their skills and for those teaching to become widespread. One of the most famous examples in Brazilian CS was Jonas “bsl” Alsaker Vikan joining mibr.

But Fallen is the extreme version of that. When a player comes under FalleN’s wings they all learn the FalleN style. That is how he sees the entire game, what his theoretical strategies of how to win the game work, what the roles are within the system, how the roles affect the entire map, and the kind of space that is needed to play off of all of that.

This is why when you try to define the style of SK along the lines of tactical or loose, you run into a conundrum. There is a lot of freedom in what each of the individual players is allowed to do. But there are specific restraints as well. The team rarely goes out of the overall idea of FalleN thinks CS should be played, so you cannot know where an individual or tactic was called.

But more than just the theory of CS, FalleN has tried to instill a personal philosophy of growth into his players. Winning is important, but to become the best in the world, it isn’t enough to win a tournament. You have to constantly change and improve. Those who did not adhere to this philosophy eventually came to the wayside. Ricardo “boltz” Prass didn’t take this seriously the first time around was was removed. Lincoln “fnx” Lau was kicked because he no longer had the drive. Joao “felps” Vasconcellos was unhappy with the changes he had to make with his own game and voluntarily stepped down. Boltz came back onto the roster after he had learned what it was he was missing the first time around.

The FalleN system can be likened to a team culture in any other sport. It is a system, where the leader instills his beliefs into his players and the players in turn make it their own. This is also why FalleN is the only in-game leader that can also be a star level player as he gets more time to focus on his individual skill as he can trust his team to play according to the overall principles he had laid out so long ago.

The Danish machine, the pioneering of Karrigan, the teaching of FalleN. These are the three core systems of how to build a team in CS:GO and every other team is a mix of these three. It is amazing how even in the philosophies of team building that we can see such individuality and polarizing answers to such a complex problem as CS.