The CS2 Matchmaking reminds a lot of people of Valorant's ranked game mode. But is it really like that? And was Riot's shooter the inspiration? Here is how Matchmaking will look like in CS2.
Counter Strike 2 is on its way. It can't be much longer until we get a first glance at Valve's new first-person shooter. Right now. We only have a rough idea, when the game will come out, but we know quite a bit about its Matchmaking system.
So if you want to know how your way to Global Elite (or more realistically: Master Guardian Two) will look, stick around, cause here is all we know.
CS2 Copies Valorant's Matchmaking
How often have we seen great battles on Mirage, Inferno or Dust 2 ending in a close 16:14 win (or loss, at least in most of my games). This seems to be a thing of the past. A recent update from Valve themselves show, what the future of Matchmaking in Counter Strike will look like,
The update contains, that the half-time in a competitive match will come 3 rounds earlier than in CS:GO. After 12 rounds, the sides will change, with 13 rounds needed to win a game. “Max rounds 12” also known as MR12 has been a point of discussion in the Counter Strike community for years now. Yet, it is likely that it will come to CS2 as the prime Matchmaking length.
Additionally, Inferno got added to the game, the Premier mode was released for CS2, coming in with a video from Valve explaining it.
Some people are wondering, why Valve are changing to MR12, saying they copied from Riot's prime shooter Valorant. Well, Riot's inspiration for a lot of things in Valorant was Counter Strike 1.6, where MR12 and a maximum game length of 30 minutes were a standard.
Other changes to the Matchmaking format that were found by the leaker Aquarius are, that the Short Matchmaking (MR8) gets removed, freezetime will go up from 15 to 20 seconds and time-outs will stay the same (4×30 seconds per team). Additionally, there will be an overtime, if the game is tied up. This overtime will be as we know it from Faceit. 3 rounds on each side, first to 4 wins. But there will only be one overtime, if there isn't a winner after this, the game will still be tied.
Why People Like MR12
Counter Strike has become a lot more strategic in the last couple of years. The result: longer game times. An average CS:GO match lasts 38 minutes (this number includes surrendered matches), some of those games will last for more than an hour. A lot of time for people with limited free time.
When taking a look at the competitive side of the game, the numbers become even higher. With a Tier 1 game lasting more than an hour on average. We love bo3's and bo5's but goddamn, who has the time to watch all of this? As much as I love bo3's, I see why there are more and more best of 1's in the calendar.
MR12 would help on both sides. Making games shorter for everyone, so we can enjoy more Counter Strike. The game devs had this to say about the addition of MR12:
Over the past decade, we’ve shipped updates to the economy and weapon balance to trim the fat and reduce the number of uncontested rounds in a match of CS.Because of these changes, exciting competitive matches can be resolved with fewer rounds. And shorter matches mean players can play more, and more often. So with CS2, we’re moving to a maximum of 24 rounds in regulation time (with a 6 round overtime in case of a tie) for Premier, Competitive, and the Majors.We expect the structure and flow of matches to evolve over time as the community adapts. And we’re excited to see where they go next.
And MR12 would help G2, since they are known for choking the moment they have 14 rounds on the board.
Why People Dislike MR12
People are against change, at least most of the time. MR15 has worked fantastically, since CS:GO has been the prime first-person shooter for years now. Everyone who ever played CS know, how fine its economy system has been crafted over the past years. Creating a balance on such a thin layer, every little tweak could break it. The economy system in CS is made for MR15. It wouldn't work on MR12 as well as it does on MR15.
An example: You are starting on the Terrorist side. You win the Pistol round, your opponent forces into the second round, and you win this round again. Your opponent has to save money now, while you still have some high-rewarding SMG's equipped. Your team wins round 3. The same thing happens on the CT-side, and you are halfway through a game. Risking an early AWP-buy can be something you can't recover from in a half. Risks get less rewarded, comebacks are less likely, and we get to experience less gun rounds.
In the competitive scene, MR12 is disliked by almost everyone. Less gun rounds means less tactics and plays. Pistol rounds get more important than ever. Former FaZe Coach and Analyst Janko “YNk” Paulovic had this to say about MR12 following a charity CS:GO tournament, that was played with MR12:
I don't think MR12 has competitive viability, MR15 is ideal in my opinion since it gives you enough opportunity to come back into a game even if you lose the pistols or have some unlucky rounds. I believe that if we just tweak the economy a bit it will be a much better change than switching to MR12.
Current FaZe-Rifler Robin “ropz” Kool was asked in a livestream on his thoughts:
.@ropz opinion on MR12 pic.twitter.com/ZcwvhXCosA
— NarT (@NartOutHere) August 23, 2023
The discussion surrounding MR12 will be fueled up again after Valve's changes. Since Valve has also opened up a lot of Limited Test slots, you might wanna boot up the game and have a look for yourself, so you can decide, whether you like MR12 or not. For more updates, you can always return to EarlyGame, we cover almost anything.