Taking Control - Successfully Winning Anti-Eco Rounds
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5 Nov 15

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gMp, contributors

gMp

Taking Control - Successfully Winning Anti-Eco Rounds

Anti-Eco rounds are crucial to win for your team's economy and I'll explain how to win them.

Anti-Eco rounds are ones which you and your team SHOULD win most of the time. That doesn't mean you can be careless in regards to what you do in the round. The two approaches that are sound and give your team the highest chances of winning on Terrorist side are "Clustering" and "Holding for Pushes". On Counter-Terrorist side playing "default" is a sound way to win. However, it is near impossible to win every single Anti-Eco your team plays and these strategies shouldn't be regarded as perfect.

Terrorist side strategies

Clustering

Clustering on an Anti-Eco round is generally used on Terrorist and means that your team will play as two different clusters of players, one containing two players and the other three. This is highly effective when you expect the opponents want to hold from peculiar spots. This is because if one of your pod goes down to an unexpected enemy you can quickly respond with a trade kill, which results in the enemies having a very difficult time trying to retrieve your gun that was dropped from your fallen team member. Being able to control your weapons, even those of deceased players, can prove fruitful in these rounds, giving you a much higher chance of winning. Clustering also works as one group which effectively means you are rushing a bombsite as one unit. Rushing on a full gun round is usually a bad idea but when you know you have superior equipment you can out-muscle your opponents with superior weaponry and numbers.


Holding for Pushes

When you hold for pushes as a Terrorist, you take a defensive setup on your side of the map which immediately forces the CT players to have to stay passive or effectively walk into the grinder that is the Terrorist team. This is also very good for baiting out bombsite stacks, as if the CTs aren't pushed within the first minute or so of the round they will probably send some of their players back to the other bombsite giving them more info but less firepower on each bombsite. If the CTs show no aggression in a minute or so then you should coordinate with your team and push a bombsite as a unit. This is extremely good if you expect the CTs to have no armour and possibly push their bombsites in order to catch you out.


Counter-Terrorist side strategies

Playing Default

When you have superior equipment as a Counter-Terrorist on an Anti-Eco round your setup and strategy should mostly stay the same as when you think the Terrorists have guns. Depending on the map, these will usually consist of either 2 A, 1 Mid, 2B if the map has a middle or 3 A, 2 B if it doesn't. There are obviously variations of these setups, but I'm just looking at the most common. This way of playing requires very little explanation, as you're sitting in a bombsite for the round. However, you need to smoke off choke points and rotate if necessary. Smoking choke points may sound easy but it isn't as mindless as it sounds. There is no need to smoke the choke point off if the enemy is not pressuring you or not even there. Smoke is only needed if you know the enemy is likely to attack (i.e throwing smokes over). This is the ideal way to use your smokes, as they will last longer into the round if they are only used to keep the enemies intel blocked off.

Taking Map Control

Basically, taking map control as a Counter-Terrorist on an Anti-Eco round gives you the power to control the tempo of the game and take the fight to the Terrorists which ensures that they can't take you by surprise. This is a viable was to play if you expect the Ts to have no armour so the aimpunch of your fast firing rifles/SMGs will give them a very tough time while trying to aim back at you. Generally the Ts will not be able to answer back against this, as your superior equipment will give you a massive advantage. If utilised correctly, pushing as a team to take map control can give you a quick way to win rounds and a great suprising tactic. However, if you become to willing to attempt these rounds and try it several times the opponents may be able to adapt and give themselves a great oppurtunity to win an eco round.

Riskier Strategy

Both Sides - "One Man Army"

I refer to this style of playing Anti-Ecos as One Man Army because it is just that, all players moving by themselves without taking any precautions and thinking they're invincible. This is more commonly seen in PuGs (Pick up Games) by players that have been matchmade together. This is far riskier because if your opponents are able to isolate you one at a time and pick up those kills then rifles/SMGs become retrievable. This is a detriment to your economy as well as a benefit to theirs because it assists them in either winning their eco rounds (in which they now have guns) or simply it enables your opponents to save that weapon and use it in the next round. Even if only one or two of your team members play like this it becomes far more of a struggle to win your Anti-Eco because you've effectively gifted guns to your opponents.

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