Counter-Strike 1.6 was a game of fine balance. The pistols were not in any way as powerful as rifles, such as the M4A4 and the AK-47. For this reason, only about 4 guns in the entire game were mainly used; AK-47, M4A4, AWP and also the desert eagle. Compare this to today, with weapons like the UMP-45. This was a meta accepted by the competitive community. Eco rounds were rounds you didn't expect to win, and therefore hardly ever won. They were winnable, sure, with a crazy pistol headshot from across a site, or an overzealous peaker from the anti-eco team, but on the whole they were infinitely more challenging to win, so most teams didn't bother. After all, with paying for ammo, why would you expend valuable cash on a losing situation when you could save it for more desirable buy rounds? Of course you had the deagle, a deadly weapon in the right hands, but it was a high-risk, high-reward strategy (compare it to buying a scout on force buys today). If you didn't get a frag with it, you'd just put yourself at a huge disadvantage for the next round financially (you'd rather have that extra smoke in the next round, right?). It was simply not worth it.

In early Global Offensive, this was all very similar. Old habits meant that players didn't see the value in trying new guns, especially with the early dominance of team NiP, a team steeped in 1.6 strats and game knowledge who didn't feel the need to experiment (and it's difficult to argue with such consistent results as theirs). Ex6tenz, coming from CS:Source with his French VeryGames squad, was just as settled with the meta, and probably didn't even consider aggressive force buys. These ultra-dominant, consistently top 2 in the world teams were what everyone wanted to be, and as such nobody paid much attention to the pistols. However, gradually people started to egg on to the fact that these pistols weren't the same mediocre pieces of kit from 1.6, and valve continually tweaked the pistols simultaneously to try and balance the game out.

Then, on February 12th, 2014, came a gun that really changed the game: the CZ75-auto. This thing was deadly in it's day. Holding tight corners, it could pretty much crush anyone who tried to peak. It was a perfect 'poacher's' gun, allowing you to frag, steal the enemy's rifle and get away from the situation scot-free. This led to a new breed of teams, who were dangerous in any round, with any sort of economy. Fnatic is a strong example of this. They were obviously very capable performers with rifles and AWPs (you can’t win majors without some of the best buy round ability in the world), but their second layer of danger was in force-buys: put some CZ’s and body armour in the hands of ultra-skilled players and they are capable of going toe-to-toe with AK’s and pull off considerable economic damage, if not a round win.

In fact, the strength of pistols may have shaped the CS competitive landscape in perhaps a larger way than most people think. It’s no coincidence that the winning statistics of very strategy-based teams such as Ex6tenz’s men waned throughout 2014 and 2015 in favour of less structured, more aim-heavy and adaptable so-called ‘loose style’ teams such as LDLC (later ENVYUS) and Fnatic. These teams didn’t have the same set strategies and executes, mostly working off picks and adapting to any frags across the map to their advantage, simply overwhelming teams with raw aim rather than super-precise utility usage and movements. Weapons like the CZ75-auto contributed to this, as the über-skilled players of the new top teams could utilize more weapons than previously, and didn’t need utility or pushing in a certain way to make them effective, meaning they were more dangerous in any sort of situation than a team that depended on strategies in certain situations to win them rounds. Take JW as an example, a player who was happy to bring pistols, rifles, snipers- and even shotguns on certain maps- into rounds and consistently frag with any of them. In fact, these pistols were so key to these team’s games that the French LDLC squad earned the nickname LDLCz, due to their penchant for winning rounds with that gun.

December 2014 saw a nerf in the CZ, making it much less effective. Valve practically nerfed it in every way possible, reducing the clip size, decreasing kill reward, making draw time twice as long, and reducing damage and fire rate. A total nerf with no counter-buff that saw the CZ fall in terms of use behind the tec-9 and the Five-seveN, far superior guns even now. However, the next year everything could have changed forever. In December 2015 Valve introduced the R8 Revolver.

This was a new level. Everything you believed was possible with a weapon was re-defined by this pistol. Imagine the Golden Gun from GoldenEye 007, except this pistol had 8 shots instead of 1 per clip. Much like the Golden Gun, you could 1 shot kill with a hit on any part of the body, but unlike the Golden Gun, you could also penetrate players to get collaterals, as people discovered the hard way in the confined corridors of inferno and pretty much any other chokepoint in the game.

Fortunately, the developers at valve quickly spotted the overpowered gun, and it was nerfed into oblivion, never to replace the desert eagle’s slot again.

Despite these nerfs, pistol forces are still a powerful to keep opposing teams on their toes, with several options (all of which are purchasable with any losing or winning bonus cash, or even the money from a bomb plant). The tec-9 plus Kevlar push is viable on any bombsite in the game with a couple of smokes and flashes, using the run-and-gun style to close the distance to your opponent and bring the pain of a one-headshot kill onto any target. The Five-seveN and p250 are strong guns to hold tight corners with as CT, due to their one-shot kill ability against armoured opponents.

In summary, pistols have taken on a completely new role from the pistols of old. No longer are they a rejected part of the metagame, they are now key to success, meaning skilled teams can present enemies very tricky problems regardless of the financial situations. It has taught teams with equipment advantage to respect the enemies nonetheless, as rushing sites can just lead to being mowed down by multiple pistols. I believe that the pistols are on the whole a positive addition to CS, creating more exciting games in which more can happen on a round-to-round basis. It is arguable that the total skill level has dropped throughout the entire game with the addition of these one-shot kill pistols, especially as with ping and lag experienced online the headshots can seem to occur too often, too quickly. Of course, like anything else in CS:GO involving the subject of skill vs luck, it’s all a matter of opinion. And what a mixed bag of opinions this subject produces…

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