Mirage is one of the most played maps in Counter-Strike, if not the most played one at the time of writing this article. I’m not referring to professional playing but on a more casual and amateur level. The simplicity of the map, mixed with how easy it is to learn how to play it with a team on a basic level makes it really compelling, and honestly, it’s a good map just because of that.

As with all other maps, it is composed of different parts, but there’s a particular one that has the most impact on the round success - the Middle. In this article, I’ll tell you why Middle is so important on Mirage and why it should be a top priority to control it when playing, whether on the CT or T-side.

Mirage is one of the older maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but the version you play today is not the same that was available at the release time. Mirage was actually the first map on CS:GO to receive a visual (and gameplay-ish) overhaul, back at the beginning of CS:GO. But the basics remain the same - Middle is important as it has always been.

Why Is Middle So Important on Mirage?

As with other maps, the Middle is a place on the map that connects to other parts of the map, more specifically, the spawns and the bombsites. But, if you think about it, there’s really one other map (at least competitive) where Middle has such direct access to both bombsites at the same time - Cache is the other one and it’s not on the official pool at the moment.

That’s essentially the key part - Mirage’s middle is a highway to either one of the bombsites and also allows for some flanking to happen. That’s really it, to be honest. If you control Middle and remove your opponents from there, whether that is by killing them or by smoking them off, you’re free to do whatever you want, and your opponents need to be prepared for whatever happens.

Also, remember that if you’re playing as a CT and you happen to lose Middle control, the rotations from one bomb site to the other are not exactly the fastest and there’s the possibility a player might already be lurking on Window or near Short to cut your rotation. See where I’m getting at? You can essentially control the entire map just by holding Middle! If you’re reading this article, you most likely haven’t thought about that before and suddenly everything is making sense.

Now just imagine the number of things you haven’t thought about yet about all the maps in Counter-Strike, but that’s for another time…

What Can You Do When You Have Middle Control on Mirage?

Let’s get practical now - you have Middle control and you successfully flushed out all your opponents from there. Now, what can you do?

As a Counter-Terrorist

When you’re defending, you can do a lot of things to surprise the Terrorists. The most basic ones are just trying to get control a bit far ahead than they’re expecting. The CTs generally have Window, Connector, or Short control, but why not push a bit further and maybe protect Middle from behind the boxes? Or even underpass? Or better yet, have a player hugging the Short wall looking at Underpass and another player covering Top Middle from Window - that’s a super strong crossfire setup that will most likely net you more than one kill if they decide to push Middle.

Also, you can just push slowly towards their spawn and just understand what they’re trying to pull. You can push the B apartments and try to catch them off-guard. Or maybe you went Ramp on A and see no one? Well, they might be trying to attack B and by pushing Ramp, you’ve allowed the A players to rotate earlier and defend the bombsite more effectively.

As a Terrorist

If you’re playing as a Terrorist… you’re in for a wild ride. There’s just so much stuff you can do when having the Middle on-lock. First of all, and as I said before, you have easy access to either bombsite. You can go Short or Connector and you’re there. You can easily coordinate two-point pushes to either bombsite with your teammates as well - while some push from Middle, the other players push from Ramps/Palace to A or Apartments to B.

If you’re more into surprising your opponent, you can try to get Window control. Ask for a boost up, otherwise, you’ll end up making noise when jumping from the bench to the window. Remember, there might a player there, so do it with caution. The best strategy is to get up while there’s a Smoke Grenade on the Window. Just be careful because there might a player there on either side of the window. On a perfect approach, you’ll even have a teammate flash for you when the Smoke is fading, but that’s more advanced (although relatively easy, it’s just a matter of timing).

You can also just fake your presence. Get control at the beginning of the round, apply some pressure with Smoke Grenades and other utility and then just retreat. This only makes sense if you’re planning on doing a contact approach to either bomb site, so have everything planned out before doing this. Also, don’t take way too much time after retreating from Middle, as your opponents might try to retake it and they’ll 100% read your intentions after learning that no one is there. Or, you know, you can just leave one player there… just in case.

There’s simply no limit to what you can do as a Terrorist in Middle because you essentially control the pace of the match once you got it under control. Still, make sure to watch all the points from where your opponents might appear, as it’s not that uncommon for retake attempts to be made on Middle.

How Can You Take Control of Middle?

Although this article is not focused on how to take control of Middle, I might as well give you a few tips.

Utility is the holy grail of taking map control, no matter the map or spot. If you’re able to push some opponents back with a well-placed Flashbang or a correctly thrown Smoke Grenade, you just made your life easier. On Mirage, you can easily Smoke the Window and Connector from the Terrorist Spawn and then just run Middle with a few Flashbangs. If you do it with a few players, the trade is bound to happen and you just got an advantage. Remember that, when playing as a Terrorist, you’re always on an advantage when playing with the same number of players alive because, unless they’re stacking on a bombsite, you can always play all together against fewer opponents on a Bombsite.

You can also try some contact approaches, by having one or two players coming from Underpass and applying pressure from both ends. Actually, it’s even better if you’re able to get Middle control with at least a player on Underpass at all times. You never know where your opponents might try to hide.

YouTube and professional matches’ demos are the best resources you have to learn new approaches and tactics on anything Counter-Strike, so use them at will! Thank you for reading this article! See you on Mirage?

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