If you are an active CS:GO player and play on de_inferno, you may have already noticed that having Banana control is really important whether you are playing as CT or T. On both sides, being able to take Banana for your team gives you leverage in terms of information and of course in terms of map control. One team that can do this very well is the Danish team, Astralis.

Starting off, let's take a look at each side's advantages of being the "King of Banana"!

Playing as Counter-Terrorist:

You take map control away from the Terrorists in order to have your B players positioned down Banana in a crossfire setup, which makes it very hard for the attacking team to take Banana back and lowers their possibility of attacking B that round.

Having your B players down Banana also gives them a lot of information that is useful. In short terms, your A players will be more prepared and in better set-ups to defend an A hit, because they already know that the Ts don't have Banana so it's more likely that they will attack the A site. Some teams even risk leaving only one player on Banana. This is almost always the AWPer as it's easier for him to hold the position alone, so the team can stack the A site with four players ready to defend.

Playing as Terrorist:

It is the reverse of what we've seen above, as you take map control away from the Counter-Terrorists in order to have two or three of your players on Banana, holding there and gathering information from the CTs which keeps them uncertain if you are going to make a play on A or on B. For example, you can have two of your players take Banana Control early round (as it will be shown below) and then only leave one player there, trying to sell a fake, to make one of the CTs from A rotate to B, while the rest of the team gathers on A to make a play.

As in the situation above, it also gives your team a lot of information on where the CTs on B are playing, what utility have they used, what utility have they left. This information will help your team make a decision on which bombsite they want to attack.

Enough theory! Let's hop to the practical part - how to do it successfully!

Standard Banana Control as CT

(Graphic made with csgoboard)

As a CT team securing Banana control, Astralis make a full buy with their B players also buying:

2 Molotovs: One of them to burn the wood area as well as the area on the left and the other one will be used as a closer molotov to make it impossible for the Ts to cross;
1 Smoke: Used to cover the Banana entrance as shown in the graphic above;
Couple of Flashbangs: Used after the molotovs vanish so the CTs can progress.

Now on to the POVs!

Deep Smoke Player: This player will be responsible for smoking off the Banana entrance and throwing his molotov close to the wall. He will then be the player progressing down Banana after his teammate's flash. This is exactly how Astralis uses this player and this role is usually played by Xyp9x.

Deep Molotov Player: He will start by throwing his molotov down Banana and quickly set up his flashbang to throw it when the first player asks so they can progress together. The support player in the Banana, baiting and delivering utility to his teammate. This player would be the in-game leader for the Danish team, gla1ve.

Down below you can see how it looks, before the player takes control down Banana (when the molotovs are still up) and then after the player moves on.

(Before)

(After)

You want to get Banana like this most of the time, but as always you also want to change things a little so you don't get predictable and can always catch the Ts by surprise, so take a look at some variations you can apply in this set-up!

AWP Banana Peek:

As most people know, dev1ce is the AWPer for Astralis, so you will see him do this kind of play often. This variation consists on having the AWPer take a peek down Banana with support from the second B player. It's better to only do this set-up when the AWPer has a decent spawn to go Banana. In order to do it, check out how down below.

AWPer: A smoke and an AWP, all that's needed. This player will run to Banana, drop his smoke against the wall so it covers an eventual molotov that the Ts might throw, and then he takes a peek, falling back immediately.

Support Player: This player will be the "seat belt" for the AWPer. He will flash so the AWPer can peek and then makes sure that the AWPer doesn't die. Once again if we apply this to the Danes' game, gla1ve would do the job.

Astralis are recently known for changing the CS:GO meta with their utility. Their executes and grenade stacks are getting more and more popular. So the name speaks for itself. You don't want to this too often but in some rounds, if you want to catch the Terrorists by surprise and get an entry kill earlier in the round, just take three players over to B, all of them holding a frag grenade. As they get to Banana, they throw their nades and see the result. At least one of the Ts should die. One of the CTs can then quickly rotate back to A and return to the standard defense.

These are some of the options you have to change your Banana Control a little, but (of course) you can come up with your own ideas and ways of doing it.

Standard Banana Control as T

(Graphic made with csgoboard)

Banana is easier for CTs to control and because of that, you will need more utility to clear positions and push CTs out when you play as a Terrorist. So, like Astralis, you'll need:

3 Molotovs: One Molotov to the Car area, one to the Sandbags area and last but not least one for the Corridor so the CTs can't AWP from there and they will be pushed back onto the site;
Flashbangs: As always, flashbangs are crucial when executing a strategy and they are even more important when getting control of some specific area in the map as Banana.

Theories aside!

First Spawn: As the spawn is crucial as a Terrorist trying to control Banana, there won't be players linked to a specific role, instead, there will be player spawns linked to a specific role. The first spawn player will have the duty to molotov the Car area, flash once against the wall, and quickly position himself in Security.

Second Spawn: This player will run straight to Banana, following the first one and will throw his molotov to the Sandbags area, burning anyone playing there. He will then hug the right wall and wait for a popflash.

Third Spawn: The last player needed for this strategy will get to Banana late, so he will deploy his molotov to the Corridor in order to push any CT players left back onto the bombsite. He will then throw a popflash over the wall so the other two teammates can clear and take Banana easier.

Just like on the CT side, you should switch up your set-up as a Terrorist as well, meaning that some rounds you take Banana control, the next one you stop and give CTs Banana, and then start taking control again. Changing the way you make things and the way your team is placed across the map can sometimes catch CTs off-guard and open a window of opportunity that you can take. The Danes are a reference when talking about Banana Control because of their methodical approach, as shown above.

Conclusion

There are multiple ways of getting Banana control whether you are playing on T side or CT side. On both of them, you want to always tweak the way you do things a little bit so you don't get predictable and the other team cannot find an easy way of counter what you are doing. Astralis are a really good team when it comes to put all this things together and playing on banana. Take a look at some of their demos and see for yourself so you can learn new and good things, also be creative, using your own ideas or based on the ones above, and you will see improved results! Stay tuned.

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