Playing with a team, being that professional, semi-professional, or even amateur, requires that you have your team as organized as possible. Having team roles assigned can be the most effective way to create that organization and to facilitate your team's ability to play set plays or executes. For that, we are going to go through the team roles that most teams have, their functions, and lastly, why is it that important to have them.

The In-Game Leader

This player plays the captain role inside the server. Also known as IGL, he's the one who is going to call all the shots for the team and requires the most trust and respect from the other team members. Not everyone can play this role, because, besides the knowledge and experience that it takes to call the right plays, it's also a role that asks for a great leader personality that doesn't question himself making calls and keeps his players in the right mindset during the game, whether they're winning or losing.

This is also seen as an "unfair role" because typically the IGL is the one that ends up bottom fragging and, from the outside perspective, they can be called less skilled or can be the first one judged when the team loses. This is an unfair way to look at things because people need to understand that the IGL is the one that takes most time creating tactics for the team and adjusting their errors, and spends less time developing their skill, aim, or mechanics. We have many examples from great IGLs that inside the game play additional roles. Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo, known by most as the best IGL in the game, also plays amazingly the AWP role, placing highly on the scoreboard many times.

The Entry Fragger

The player that takes this role is the one that will always try and open the bombsites and, when called for by a strat, will be the one to take the first fights. This role requires very good mechanical play from the player as well as map knowledge, because he needs to be aware of all the angles where he can be shot from and which angles he's exposed to when entering the site. This is usually the player that dies the most inside the server because he's usually the one getting traded. Even if he gets a frag when entering the site, he usually dies after, giving the information to his teammates so that they can trade afterwards.

When we see an entry-fragger doing well in terms of K/D, this usually means that his team is smashing their T side because he's constantly being able to enter the site, kill the first defender, and not die, giving his team a man advantage for the afterplant position.

Many teams have also a second entry fragger, and his role is purely to get the trades when entering the bombsite. This position doesn't exactly need to be nominated because when the entry fragger enters the site he has his team right behind him, but many teams have this role assigned so that the first and second player in are always known and they can have better synergy to never miss the trade frags.

The Support Player

This is by far the role that gets less credit by the outsiders and, in pair with the IGL, the most unfair role, but it's one of the most important ones within the team. Without the support players, a team would never work, the executes would never work, and the stars of the team would never show up.

The role of this player is simple, but one that takes a lot of training. His job is to set up for the stars of the team, the entry fraggers and AWPers, to get in and have the biggest chances on their side to kill the enemy successfully. This player is the one that will always flash for his teammates and will be the one that will know the smokes for everyone in the team so that he can do their job in case they die.

Being one of the last players to enter the site, due to them flashing the team in, this player will be left a lot of times to clutch or to play in a disadvantage position in case the CTs defended the execute well. With this, the support players require also a lot of experience and a calm demeanor. To clutch the round you need to have huge game knowledge to predict what the enemy team is doing and how to counter their plays. They're seen most of the times as the "bad" player or the player with a not so good score because if the first players in die, they're the ones always left in a bad situation and with the hardest chances to get a successful round and, if the first players in get the kills, he only plays the afterplant positions, but, in pair with the IGL, a team wouldn't work without them.

The AWPer

The most versatile role inside the team is the one that plays with the AWP. Like it was said before, Fallen is the IGL but also the AWP player for his team. Anyone suited can take this role and even inside a round, the AWP can become the entry fragger or the support. Executes and plays depend a lot of times on the sniper player.

This is also the role that goes and plays a part on the CT side and it's there where can be used in the most fun way. CTs can play with double AWP, which means that they'll have two players with that gun, defending different parts of the map. Being such an important and hard gun to counter, it is very viable for the defensive side to use it on two parts of the map to gain more control that way.

Being an AWPer takes a lot from your playstyle. If you're an aggressive rifler and take the sniper as well, it's expected for you to be an aggressive AWPer, and this is what happens with most hybrid players that play both the rifle and AWP role. The players that only play with the big green gun will, most of the time, be more passive and take less risky angles. They understand better the positioning for their role and, unlike the aggressive AWPer, won't take the risky peeks to try to get an entry on the round.

Why Is Having Team Roles So Important?

After explaining all the roles, you can probably answer this yourself but either way I'll give it to you. Team roles organize your team, they tell you who is doing what, and define how the round is going to start and end.

When starting up a team, the first thing to assign is the players' roles. Make sure you have the right players in the right positions within the team. This will be something that will take some time. A player when entering a team can be the entry fragger but, after playing some matches, can change roles, and this is completely normal because not every team will play the same and roles will have different playstyles from team to team.

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