In this article, I'll be looking at the different ways various pro teams play their Counter-Terrorist sides on the map de_inferno. I'll explain what each one is designed for and how each one is effective by describing each player's individual role. I'll also leave links so you can see each setup in action.

- Fnatic (Pronax era)

In the Pronax-era of Fnatic, they were well-known to smoke off the bottom of Banana, forcing the Terrorists to have delayed Banana control, or even to deny Banana control completely for that round. This is effective as it forces the Terrorists to play towards A, and will delay any kind of B-site take. Here's a diagram - each white/green dot represents a Counter Terrorist player.

In this example against Virtus.Pro, this smoke means the Polish side are forced to play up in Middle and Second Middle, before deciding to do a B-take through CT Spawn as they don't have map control in Banana. Fnatic are automatically in position to deal with this push due to Olofmeister being able to leave Krimz to hold Banana and being able to play towards CT Spawn. This means that throughout the entire execute, Virtus.Pro are 'sandwiched', and have to fall back to a last ditch attempt at taking the A bombsite, leading to a round win from Fnatic. In the following round, they perform the same thing and smoke the bottom of Banana. Trying to prevent what happened last time, Virtus.Pro try to take back Banana control with some reckless aggression by pushing through the smoke, which leads to them losing their players fast and putting Fnatic on match point.

Here and here are two different video tutorials on various ways to throw this smoke from CT Spawn. This isn't vital though, as the Fnatic players often threw the smoke as they were pushing down Banana by bouncing it off the right wall (the white fence).

This setup can fail if you rely on one player to hold Banana - the Terrorists can flash through the smoke, or just push through and win through sheer number advantage. In this instance, it's usually more advisable to keep two Counter-Terrorists holding at the bottom of Banana.

- Fnatic (Dennis era)

After Dennis replaced Pronax in Fnatic, they took a different approach to Inferno. The positioning they use is much more applicable to your matchmaking games, as it requires less coordination and is versatile for a variety of strategies. It has a standard setup on the B-site, with one playing the CT Spawn angle and the other playing somewhere on the site, usually at Coils. However, on the A-site is where the dynamic aspect of the setup is shown. One player (JW) plays the close angle on the Balcony, one player (Dennis) plays inside the bombsite, and the final player (usually Olofmeister or Flusha) plays inside Arch or CT Spawn. Here's a diagram - each white/green dot represents a Counter-Terrorist player.

This is effective as it accounts for the three main strategies that involve the A-site. One is when the Terrorists attempt to take site by pushing through Short and Apartments. Here, the player inside the bombsite and the player on Balcony form a crossfire, which is extremely strong in holding off bombsite takes.

The other standard method to take the A bombsite is by pushing through Long/Arch side, and wrapping round the site. This is sometimes accompanied by players pushing through Short. In this case, the player holding near CT Spawn can pincer the Terrorists if the player inside the bombsite moves to help, or they can at least delay the push onto site. Any players coming from Short can be held off by the player on Balcony.

Finally, any kind of B bombsite take through CT Spawn can be hindered: The player at Arch can hold them off, or at least slow the Terrorists by placing a smoke or incendiary grenade, whilst the player inside the site can rotate to Library to help stop the push. That's a lot of information to take in, so here's it all visualised for you:

(The orange dots are the Terrorists, the blue lines are where the Counter Terrorists are looking, and the white arrows are where a player is moving to).

The issue with this setup is that it relies heavily on individual skill, and players being able to hold well. If one player is having a tough time, consider pairing up (so you can trade frag or do more damage) or consider using a different setup from this article.

Here is an example round at the recent Starladder Starseries XIV Finals, where Fnatic faced Luminosity. The Brazilians perform a variant of the 2nd A-site take that I outlined above. Note that the player playing inside the site is key to this setup's success, as they buy time for the players defending B to rotate in and help out.

- Na'Vi/Luminosity

Both Na'Vi and Luminosity often utilize a setup that can be extremely effective at stopping the Terrorists from even reaching the bombsite. On the B bombsite, the setup is nearly always the same for Na'Vi, with a pair of CTs holding near Car. Na'Vi occasionally smoke the bottom of Banana akin to Fnatic, and keep Flamie playing close while Seized plays at Car:

Luminosity normally run a default hold at the top of Banana, either by smoking near Car or by smoking off top Banana by the entrance to site.

On the A-site, Na'Vi's setup revolves around having two players on Short side (usually Zeus and Edward) and one player (usually GuardiaN) holding Library side. The first setup is having one CT (Edward) holding at the back of Pit, whilst the other player (Zeus) holds Short from next to the bombsite. Both players are aiming towards Short, which means any Terrorists that are pushing onto site are funnelled into a hail of CT bullets. GuardiaN is holding at Arch; he can either fall back to CT and wait for rotates from B if the Terrorists try to enter CT Spawn, or can rotate to Library and help the players on Short if the push is focused on the other side of the site.

Their second setup involves Edward playing in Apartments (although he'll occasionally play Graveyard), holding a tight angle on Balcony, whilst Zeus and GuardiaN form a crossfire at the top of Middle. GuardiaN holds Arch side as before, and Zeus holds Short. This is a very powerful combination of positions that is easy to pull off in Matchmaking and is consistently strong as it requires good coordination to break. Moreover, it relies less on individual skill to hold site; the players can support each other quickly. If GuardiaN is smoked off and the Terrorists push Short, Edward can quickly leave Apartments and help Zeus. If Zeus is smoked off, GuardiaN can fall back to Arch and get help from the players on B. The players at the top of Middle naturally support each other with the crossfire. Here's a visualisation of both setups (the blue lines are where the Counter Terrorists are looking):

The second setup's effectiveness can be seen here in a ESWC 2015 game against Cloud 9.

Luminosity's A-site setup is similar to Na'Vi's first setup, however it has two players working together - usually holding a close angle on Short (TACO and fnx) whilst fer holds Arch. The players on Short will also occasionally boost each other onto the roof near Boiler - if you're unsure about this it's explained in this previous guide here. They'll also occasionally have a player holding Truck whilst another holds from inside the site, to form a crossfire on Short, or they'll have a two player setup in Pit.

This setup is strong if a committed A push comes in from the Terrorists, but is weak if the player at Arch goes down (and thus a lot of pressure is on the player on Library side to hold). The best way to counter this setup is to have a quick and unexpected B-split. Fnatic performed this on a pistol round to exploit the "Achilles heel" of this setup - this is explained in a guide here.

- Dignitas

Finally, I'd like to take a quick look at a setup that Dignitas' own team performed recently in the Red Dot Invitational Finals against EnVyUs. Initially, MSL gets the opening frag in Banana, before getting another later - forcing the Terrorists to make a response play towards A. They push up Middle and out Boiler, where the setup comes in. Two players hold the tight angle watching Boiler/Top Mid from Short - however only one player (tenzki) faces them. The other player holding there, Rubino, waits until tenzki goes down before peeking out and trading the frag:

After this, Rubino is killed, however by then a player has rotated from B and has moved to Arch side to trade the frag, turning it into an unwinnable 3 versus 1 for the last remaining French player. This may be a little complicated to comprehend, sohere's a video clip of the round unfolding (my apologies to non-Russian speakers for the stream, it was all I could find).

Overall, I hope this guide helps you understand the different methods players can use to hold the bombsites on Inferno, and maybe you'll apply them to some of your games in the future. Good luck!

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