There are few things as satisfying as winning a clutch in CS:GO. You know you’re alone against the world, with all your teammate's eyes fixed on what you’re doing and, in the end, you manage to come out on top against one, two, or even more opponents.

Not only that, but winning clutches can a lot of times be the difference maker between winning or losing a match. How many times have we considered a win to be almost certainly due to a big man advantage in a decisive round and suddenly the tides turn in favor of the player who’s lonely. It’s just… incredible!

In this article, I’ll give you a few tips on how to improve your chances of succeeding in these situations by forcing 1v1s against your opponents - because that’s the big secret.

But let’s start from the beginning - why should you force 1v1s in clutch situations?

If you’re playing against a semi-decent team or players, you’ll only win clutches due to poor plays by your opponents, that’s just how it is. If they play together, you’ll most likely have no chance since they’ll trade the kill as soon as possible. By forcing your opponents to play alone and face you in 1v1 situations, you make your chances of coming out on top realistic - you just need to hit your shots.

That’s why you should always look to do that, although it gets harder to do the better your opponents are.

What can you do to isolate opponents?

Let’s talk about the most basic things you can do to try and isolate opponents from each other. All of the things I’m going to say applies to every clutch situation, no matter the number of opponents alive.

Try to surprise them and play fast - Sometimes, thinking out of the box, and acting as soon as possible before your opponents have time to position themselves can grant you an easy kill and enough space to retreat to safety.

Use your utility and force them to play separately - Let’s say you know one player is on Inferno’s B bombsite and the other one is in CT. If you have a Smoke Grenade, you can smoke the CT cross and play fast to force a 1v1 against the player on Site. Just remember that you have to act fast, as the CT will most likely run to help his teammate as soon as possible.

Use the cover around you - If you use what the map has to offer, you can make sure you’re only visible from one or two spots at a time, giving you an easier time hiding from opponents and forcing duels the way you want.

A good example I can give you is playing alone on Dust2’s B Bombsite while defending a planted bomb against the CTs that are trying to come into the site. If you play around the Triple Stack, you can get cover from two of the possible three entrances at a time. You can hide from Tunnels and Door while only looking at Window. You can look at Door and avoid the other two… it’s a perfect spot. But, in the end, it’s up to you - you really have to hit your shots.

Don’t get cornered; push the fight

A crucial tip I can give you that does not apply solely to clutch situations is to avoid getting cornered. Let’s say you’re defending a bombsite, all your immediate backup dies and you have the information that your opponents are pushing from two different sides. Don’t stay put! Instead, push one of the sides.

By doing that, you’ll most likely face a single opponent while avoiding the trade possibility from the other one. Ideally, you’ll win that fight and just run away to create some space between you and your opponent, allowing you to recover from the situation.

Naturally, you’ll have some situations where there will be more than one opponent waiting for you, but that’s better than facing even more from different positions. The only situation I can recommend you to stay put in is when you have good enough cover to take the first duel and be safe from the second position.

Remember that this is not a golden rule, so to say. Every CS:GO round is different and you’ll never face an opponent that makes exactly the same decision twice, which means that you’ll have to make different decisions in different situations. Even if you lose, try to understand what you have done wrong and use that to improve your gameplay for the next time it happens.

Using utility can be the difference-maker

I’ve said this earlier in the article, but this is so important it deserves its own part. Utility is one of the most important things in CS:GO and there’s something that so many players do wrong - dying with the unused utility. A single Flashbang or Smoke Grenade can sometimes help you more than you know, you just have to make sure to use them quickly to avoid being caught with them in your hands.

After you use what you have, just make sure to play fast to reap as many rewards as you can from it - whether that is by flashing and playing on the time your opponent is flashed, or smoking and using the “wall” you just created to hide or to force that first 1v1.

You can use utility in two ways - offensive or defense. You can use it to create an opening to push your opponents into the 1v1 you want to create, or you can use it defensively, to make sure you’re in a 1v1 situation when they finally push you. A Smoke is a good way to create the second - just make sure you’re smoking behind cover, otherwise, you’ll just get shot behind the smoke.

The possibilities are endless, and you won’t be able to come out on top in every round. That’s just how the game works (unless you’re constantly playing against bad opponents).

Learn from your mistakes - that’s the best tip anyone can give you. When you die in a situation that you think you could have done better, just study that round. Download the demo afterward and see what you could have done better. I wouldn’t focus too much on the opponents' position, as that will most likely change the next time you’re in a similar situation. Instead, look at where you are, the utility you have and how you worked that situation, and how you died.

Next, just think about what you could have done differently and what those changes would bring you. Maybe it’s a different position for the smoke, maybe it’s retreating to a corner instead of pushing out, you name it… the possibilities are (generally) endless!

Thank you for reading this article! Hopefully, it will help you reach the next level and understand better how you could play clutch situations in a way that will improve your chances of winning!

You can reach out to me for feedback or suggestions via Twitter.