Welcome back good people of Counter Strike: Global Offensive! By now you should know what to expect from this series: thorough analysis of default Terrorist rounds, played by the best teams in the world. If this concept seems utterly strange to you, you might want to take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of the column.

Today, we will examine a piece of what makes the longest standing CS:GO roster of any professional team, Virtus.Pro, a force to be reckoned with on de_mirage. With 141 maps played and 93 wins, the Poles boast a win-rate of 65.9% on this map, which is only matched by fnatic at 67.8%. Without their solid setups and executions on the Terrorist side, Mirage probably would not be banned that often against pasza, TaZ and friends.

Map knowledge equals map control

But before we jump into the demo and go into more detail, let’s first have a closer look on Valve's newest iteration of maps with too much sand. The rule to never change a running system still applies and in this case it refers to the well-known three lane setup consisting of A and B Bombsites with multiple access points, as well as a middle area with connections to both sites.

As was true for de_cache in the last installment, mid presents the most important choke point of the map due to the tactical versatility that is achieved by controlling connector, cat-walk and underpass. A most promising prospect for everyone seeking to destroy the explosive crates on either site, were it not for this damned CT AWP that always seems to be posted in window before you reach top mid.

Apart from this most important anchor position (which can be smoked off from T-Spawn, despite of what the guys in MM tell you!), the defenders tend to play either two players on each bomb site or three CTs on A. When disregarding the choke points coming from middle, A site still offers two entrances that have to be covered, while the B spot forces the Terrorists to attack through the narrow corridor in apartments that can be covered by a single player.

Even though analysts and pro players might tell you otherwise, for the sake of this article let’s assume Mirage is a relatively even map. Standing and clicking is still easier than executing a strategy. This only shifts when each defender has to cover more than one angle, which incidentally is also the reason why trade frags are preferable as Terrorists and why smokes are so important on CT.

At least in our demo today, which features Virtus.Pro versus last week’s stars Team EnVyUs in the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2, the Ts were only slightly favored.

The default

Virtus.Pro would not be Virtus.Plow if they did not come prepared into each T-round with a plan in mind. The Poles tend to set up a clear strategy towards a certain choke point right from the start in most rounds. On their Terrorist half versus EnVy they only twice showed a versatile enough disposition to qualify as possible default.

Nevertheless we can learn quite a lot not only from this fact, but also from the shown default round itself. First, the amount of Mirage’s choke points can enable a single, well executed attack with multiple players onto one of them to completely shatter the defense of that area.

Following, a default setup has to take advantage of this. How? The key is the introduction of a role we’ll from now on call “free agent”. On the above map screenshot this free player is the bomb-carrier byali (marked by the red circle) and in this case is oriented towards the A-site.

While his comrades hold angles to cover for eventual CT pushes, the free agent amasses his team's manpower towards a certain choke point or bomb site to prepare for a possible execute without fully committing from the start of the round. With this variable in the default, the attacking team has the opportunity to tactically focus on one side of the map while still being able to shift once the first frags happen.

Apart from the free agent, Virtus.Pro cover their angles with 1 player towards B, 1 in mid, one on T ramp and one in palace. The default in the analyzed round you are about to see is resolved into a relatively fast A-split. Jumping to the next section we’ll have a closer look at each player, their roles, positions and grenade work starting from the “top” half of the map on B.

Taking it apart

Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski: B and underground

In Virtus.Pro’s default setup, Snax is tasked to ensure that no CT is flanking the team over B-apartments. However, due to the very lengthy way it would take a B-site defender to rotate all the way over T-spawn in the case of an A-execute, Snax attention on faster rounds is mostly focused towards the underground area.

In the above situation it is even required from him to focus on this passage. The angle that Snax’ has to play is hugely dependent on information given by pasza – who we will discuss next. The scenario from the screenshot above has catwalk and window smoked off to allow for a save rotation of the Terrorist into top mid. However this in turn implies that a CT player could drop down from window into underpass, trying to backstab a push onto B.

If underground is secured by the mid player, the Terrorist with orientation towards B has only one choke point left: apartments. Depending on the weapon of choice and the respective player’s confidence in his or her ability to play the angle, apartments can be a warrantor for opening frags. Nevertheless, rotation times for Terrorists are still long on Mirage and the impact of a single frag on the far off bomb-site is diminished by that, while losing an AWP without any follow up is as devastating on MM as in a pro match.

After the default is completed and resolved towards a choke point, the B-player will either lead the charge onto the site or have taken mid control to ensure a third access point to A via connector.

Jarosław 'paszaBiceps' Jarząbkowski: Your friend in middle

Finally some spots where the weapon you are holding makes all the difference! Middle on most maps tends to be one of the longest angles and is therefore predestined to see sniper duels. So, it’s a natural spot for a great AWP player like paszaBiceps, were the match we’re looking at not played during the time where pasza tended to play with rifles.

Due to the spot being played with a rifle, the well-known angle towards window is not really an option. In the default of Virtus.Pro, pasza positions himself in the above spot to catch a possible drop from window off guard. To safely get behind the boxes in top mid, the team smokes off catwalk and window from T-spawn (smoke lands on catwalk) and pasza Molotovs connector as well as flashes himself out.

Through this heavy grenade usage VP is able to generate a lot of map control in the middle area. A follow up smoke towards window from the man with the massive arms allows the B-player Snax to safely push from underground and establish middle as Terrorist ground.

Of course, the classic AWP angle is still viable for playing middle. Just keep in mind that which team arrives at the position first is hugely dependent on spawns (and on movement through that hole). If in doubt, flash yourself out.

Filip 'NEO' Kubski: Looking for picks on T-ramp

On a map, there is usually that one spot that gets smoked off as soon as the round starts. Mid on Dust2 and Cache, banana on Inferno or, in this case, T-ramp on Mirage. The dubious honor to work this choke point falls to NEO and his big green gun.

This screenshot shows him trying to take advantage of a small imperfection of EnVy’s smoke, 15 seconds after the round started. Anyone holding from the corner of stairs would have been dead as the slight dislocation of the thrown grenade resulted in a one way smoke for the terrorists.

In matchmaking however, you are often left to deal with much worse smokes that tend to go much too deep into the arch way. While this does not offer you the opportunity for a one way, it enables the terrorists to easily flash and push through that smoke. Once on tetris, playing together with the apartments player becomes much easier.

As the smoke starts to clear, NEO chooses to take an offensive position on the right wall, trying to catch players in sandwich or at the double stack off guard. A very high risk, high reward play that is only viable because VP already took mid control at this point and byali as free agent decided to also push T-ramp.

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas: Lonely in the palace

Palace is firmly divided: Until you are visible from stairs or jungle, it’s Terrorist turf; once you pass this point however, the CTs have a major advantage. The reasoning for this on both sides is that you would have to check nearly a dozen angles from where you could be shot at once you start pushing.

TaZ chooses to take a very narrow, safe angle to defend against possible counter aggression. A CT breaking into palace could spell doom for VPs round, as byali chose to focus towards T-ramp with the bomb. Further, the Pole would be at a distinct disadvantage when playing for a pick – not only because he is up against kennyS and Happy with AWPs but also apEX with an auto sniper.

Once the execution onto the site starts, TaZ turns the corner and begins to clear sandwich, tetris and balcony but is immediately greeted with a smoke to the face. He reacts by underhand throwing a smoke close onto balcony, blocking the CT-spawn player, followed by a flash into the smoke bringing himself into the above position. From here, TaZ is able to peek towards jungle, stairs and to a lesser extent CT-spawn, offering a huge fragging potential for the A-split.

Paweł 'byali' Bieliński: A few words on free agents

Byali represents multiple roles in Virtus.Pro’s default that tend to go hand in hand: Supporting player, bomb carrier and free agent. As such, he throws the smoke that enables pasza to cross to top mid at the start of the round, as the timing at which he arrives at his chosen spot is less important.

In the analyzed round he opted to push T-ramp with NEO as is mostly the only option when focusing on A. While everybody likes cuddling, the narrow space out of palace is not ideal to play with multiple people.

When operating as free agent irrespective of the played position, byali has to take care of multiple things. He has to make sure the bomb is always at a safe but easily accessible spot, know all the required grenades and, finally, be mindful of his teammates positioning and weapons.

For the round we are talking about this translated to: Providing the smoke for middle, placing the bomb close to T-ramp and pushing past NEO’s AWP once the execute started.

While one could produce such schemes for all spots on the map, this would not only obliterate the scope of this (already lengthy) edition, the details are often dependent on factors like team communication and enemy positioning.

TL;DR

Playing default on Mirage is difficult. The long distances between the different Terrorist spots diminish the impact of picks across the map and executing towards a bomb site usually takes all the available man power.

Virtus.Pro try to solve this problem by plowing through most rounds with a predefined tactic that is executed from 1:45. When playing default, byali as free agent determines where the focus of the team will concentrate towards. Once a bomb site is picked, the team rotates in such a way that all angles are still secured. Through this, they “move” the default across the map until they get to the point of execution.

If you have made it here, I thank you for reading and hope you learned something. If you have any questions or comments, leave them here or on reddit. Next time it’s NiPs turn on de_train. Until then!

Are you into fantasy leagues? Then check out AlphaDraft and put together your allstar lineup!