Valve made massive changes to Counter-Strike in 2018. We saw pistol reworks, new weapons, map rotations, UI changes, a battle royale mode and a free to play model altogether fundamentally change the game and its meta. Now that the AUG and SG have been given the spotlight they deserve in the meta, it is time to find another way to push the game forward. The biggest difficulty with finding a new way to shape the meta is doing it without the change taking over the game entirely. There have been changes to Counter-Strike on many different fronts but it is time Valve turns their attention toward changes to utility. On September 14th, 2017, Ghost in-game leader Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan uploaded a video to his YouTube channel called “Steel’s Thoughts: Meta shifting CSGO update suggestion”. Through the first two and a half minutes, he discusses the meta shifts throughout CS:GO’s entirety. What follows that is the most important statement in the video: “What if I said they should make an update where you can carry an additional grenade if its a decoy?”

This is a simple question that too often is dismissed in conversation. With the CS landscape constantly evolving, now is the perfect time to take a complete look at this option. Astralis spent 2018 opening the eyes and minds of fans and pros alike, and our entire thought process on utility usage was changed. The newfound importance of utility usage brings us to the topic at hand. The next way to elevate the game of Counter-Strike is to open the door for a fifth piece of utility to be purchased, only if it is a decoy.

The decoy’s fundamental use is to imitate a flashbang, make the sound of the strongest weapon you have and to make the enemy think you are appearing on their radar for approximately 15 seconds. If nothing else, the decoy being thrown can make you question whether or not you are sure of the information you are receiving. This is fundamental to Counter-Strike and it is exactly why the decoy would fit into the meta. The best teams can use utility to spread misinformation to their enemies and make them make mistakes. A decoy does exactly that. When used properly in tandem with the right tactics, the decoy can be a nightmare for opponents. The community realized the AUG and SG are viable weapons after Valve gave us a reason to actually use it. The same goes for the decoy. If Valve gave the community an opportunity to try out the decoy, there would be a quick realization that it could be impactful.

On T-side there is a plethora of things you can do with a decoy. The decoy can be used as early as pistol round. If you are playing against a group of people that aggressively rotate, you can use a decoy to use that habit against them early and without risking your players.

On T-side Cache, you could have the bomb-carrier and two teammates wait outside of B while the two others head toward A. The two going A would drop their decoys in A-main and execute a simple pistol strategy onto A. After dropping both decoys down, throwing out the smoke for truck and flashing out, the next step is execution. Getting into the site after dropping the decoys and getting damage done is vital to the strategy. You have to be able to do enough damage to spread misinformation to those on the site you are hitting before they call your bluff. If you hurt or frag an opponent before they realize that two of those four targets are decoys, then the bad call comes in and you force an incorrect rotate. When the bad rotate happens, the group of three with the bomb can take the three versus one match, get the bomb down and win the round.

If the decoy were an available fifth grenade, a strategy like that would work well against teams that were aggressive in their rotations. If you can execute a strategy like that early, you can force an aggressive team to immediately hit the brakes and feel uncomfortable about the pace they are playing defensively, giving you the mental edge. You then have the opportunity to work in fakes and double-fakes throughout the rest of the T-half. You can take that tactical framework and apply it to any strategy in any round in a match, and at fifty dollars the investment is so low that it’s nearly impossible to waste. The only true way to waste a decoy is to throw it across the map right after the round starts.

Decoys can be effective across most tactical facets of CS and can be used in varied situations, depending on the players in the server. They do not exclusively have to be used in set pieces to be effective. In heat of the moment situations a decoy can be used to force a player to make a fatal error. Although pro-level examples are few and far between, at the IEM Katowice Major, Team Liquid’s Nick ‘nitr0’ Canella used a decoy to fake-flash ENCE AWPer Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli. Nitr0 throwing the decoy caused allu to give up his dominant position and allowed nitr0 to swing and frag teammate Jere ‘sergej’ Salo who was defusing the bomb.

That clip is a prime example of how impactful the decoy can be even when using it in the most remedial manner. It may seem obvious to the viewer, but in the heat of the moment, the decoy looking just like a flashbang is enough misinformation to cause a round-losing mistake.

If you are playing CT-side and you want to gamble stack a site temporarily, you could drop a decoy before you leave to help deter any opponents from hitting the site while your teammate anchors. Although the pattern of a decoy can be predictable, an opponent AWPer dropping a decoy near you will make you reconsider hitting that site because you truly do not know if they left or not.

As a CT, you can also use a decoy to fake-flash your teammate into the opponents. If timed and executed properly, you can catch them looking away from the pseudo-flash and get a free frag. In a lot of instances where one teammate flashes the other in, you can substitute the flash for a decoy and keep your flash for late round scenarios.

Alternatively, players who lurk for their team can use decoys with impact. In mid-to-late round situations, you could break vent with a decoy on Cache and crunch A-site while your lurk works B. Breaking vent with a decoy will give a sound cue to the CT-side at B, as well as a visual cue to reinforce the B-hit. Another example would be to use a decoy late round in window on Mirage to bait the CT-side to think you are taking window and connector control, when you are really hitting B-site.

That is only the beginning. If you gave the players freedom to buy a decoy in a fifth slot, the level of tactics would benefit short term and long term. With Valve being as open as they have ever been to change, now is the perfect time. Enabling such a small and cheap piece of utility to be bought in tandem with the other grenades will allow players across all skill levels to throw it all at the wall and see what sticks. This change would absolutely welcome new strategies into meta and force old strategies out. It could spice up matchmaking games for the average player and it has potential to shake up the pro scene. “The decoy update” could be historic for Counter-Strike. It is time for Valve to help us find out.