Valve is more than happy to oblige

It’s as though the voices of thousands of AWPers cried out all at once, and were suddenly silenced—the C-Zed has been brought low from it’s mighty perch. While the community was previously rife with dissidents who despised the initial form of the almighty pistol, they have since been replaced by a chorus lamenting how ineffectual the gun has become. There seems to be no middle ground, as far as Valve is concerned—either the CZ-75 is to be the best eco weapon Counter-Strike has ever seen, or it is to be forgotten for lack of situational uses.

Is this what we asked for?

To be certain, it continues to pack a punch. The fire rate means that it’s still a force to be reckoned with, but the reduced magazine size and slower reload animation means that you have to be more cautious with your sprays. Thankfully Valve saw fit to maintain the total ammo count for the CZ, which means that you now have three clips instead of two, for the same total of 24 shots. The animation for drawing it has been slowed as well, which means that its use as a “pocket rifle” for AWPers to defend themselves with in close quarters is no more.

The nerf is nearly two weeks old as of this writing. The metagame has had plenty of time to shift in response to the change, and as for me personally, the CZ-75 has gone from a common feature of every match to a mythological beast. Sightings are few and far between, with only a few blurry photos remaining which claim to be proof of it’s existence.

Oh, there’s one right up there. You saw it here first, folks!

But seriously, as often as I found myself at the wrong end of a CZ-75 rush that completely decimated my fully equipped stack of teammates, I’m still a little disappointed. The Desolation of AUG was an entirely separate matter, but the end result of that debacle was that a formerly underutilized gun was given new life. The CZ nerf means that there are really no winners, except for those profoundly frustrated by it’s presence.

Professional players like JW and the members of team LDLC are going to have to rethink key strategic purchases without the CZ-75 to fall back on. Props to Valve for keeping a finger on the pulse of the community, but unless the CZ emerges from this cocoon with a few more tweaks under its belt, then the nerf may ultimately prove to be a step backward in balancing.

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Until next time, keep fragging!