Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been at the forefront of Steam and esports in general. After the huge success of CS 1.6 and CS Source, Valve delivered an amazing third installment to the series.
Considered as one of the best first-person shooters on the market, CS:GO has gotten a lot of traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. CS:GO’s player count reached a peak last March.
The game has remained almost the same since its release.
There have been tons of operations, and the introduction of the battle royale mode is named “Danger Zone”. But the base game has not had any significant updates. This might be subject to change, with the rumored “Source 2” update.
CS:GO has always been a multiplayer game, so playing with trustworthy and friendly teammates is a must. But what do you need to do to add a friend on CS:GO?
How To Find Friends To Play CS:GO With or Against
If none of your IRL friends are into CS:GO, it will be fairly difficult to find some friendly players in-game. But, there are a few players here and there, who are good at the game, and also really friendly.
Now, how do you add these players?
A) In-game Friend Request
The only way to add a friend in-game is by adding them on Steam. So if you want to add someone you recently played with, you can do it either in-game or through the Steam Community tab.
If you want to add them in-game, simply click on the Friends tab and select the “Recently” option when you’re in a lobby. Once you’re there, simply click on their profile, and add them as friends.
But if you just want to add a friend, and you know their username, you need to navigate to the Steam Community tab. After that, input their name on the “Find Friends” search bar. Locate their profile and add them as friends.
Then again, there are entire Discord servers, each of which has thousands of friendly players…
B) Top 5 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Discord Servers
While Reddit is a great place to find friendly players, Discord is the best one by far. Here are the top 5 CS:GO discord servers we could find:
#5 – ESEA: The official server for ESEA, a platform where you can play CS:GO tournaments for real money. It’s also one of the best platforms for competitive play.
#4 – ESL CS:GO: Much like ESEA, but more well-known, the ESL discord server is your best bet if you want to find a professional teammate.
#3 – /r/LearnCSGO: If you’re still new to the game, then this server is for you. Just like their subreddit, you’ll find players who will guide you, by giving you tips and helping you out.
#2 – CSGO Discord: A self-proclaimed “friendly server” here you’ll find friendly players who want to rank up as much as you do.
#1 – /r/GlobalOffensive: The CS:GO discord server, as well as the best subreddit for CS:GO, has over 150k members, so you’ll surely find someone who wants to play with you.
There are also more traditional ways to find friends…
C) CS:GO Steam Groups
CS:GO groups were the first way you could find friends to play the game with. You can join a group by going to the Steam Community tab and inputting the group’s name on the respective search bar.
A user on Reddit also keeps a post updated with the official esports teams’ Steam groups. Most of these are private, though, so don’t expect to get accepted into all of them.
D) G1 Community
Officially open… The G1 community is here and it will stay for long.
You can look for players, groups, teams, and clan members, all very easily.
With the portfolio builder, you can also get seen by CS:GO teams looking to recruit for their tryouts or even brands wanting to sponsor new talent.
Is that you? Let us know!
Register now for free and say hi!
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Competitive Scene
CS:GO is considered as one of the most competitive games out there. So, you’ll need to know the basics of how the Ranked Mode works.
A competitive match on CS:GO follows a simple format. But, before you can play a ranked match, you’ll need to have a rank of Private Rank 2 and above. This shouldn’t take more than 1 hour of casual matches.
Every competitive match consists of two teams of 5 playing against each other for 30 rounds. The winning team is the one that wins 16 rounds. If the final score is 15-15, the match will end in a draw.
This isn’t the same in third-party matchmaking platforms like ESEA and Faceit, as well as professional matches, where the match will go into overtime. If you want to learn more about CS:GO professional matches, make sure to read one of our articles.
Once you win 10 competitive matches, you will get your competitive rank (which is different from the profile rank). There are a total of 18 ranks, ranging from Silver I (the worst one) to The Global Elite (the best one). You can see a full list of the ranks here.
Speaking of ranks, you might notice that after a while you’ll hit a stalemate. Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. It just means that you need to get to know the game better. CS:GO guns have a specific spray pattern, so learning to control the recoil is the best way to get better.
If you are stuck in Gold Nova II and want to rank up, have a quick read through this.
You could also learn from the best players in the game. But who are those players?
3 Best CS:GO Players of All-Time
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Considered as the best player we’ve seen in the CS:GO competitive scene, and also included in our 2019’s best cs:go player list, s1mple is a beast. He’s picked up more than 10 MVPs in tournaments from 2016, playing for Navi.
Marcelo “coldzera” David
Coldzera started his career with Dexterity. He found the most success during 2016-2018 when he played with SK Gaming, being named as the Best Player for 2017 and 2018. Nowadays, you can find him as the main rifler of FaZe Clan.
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
One of the best players in CS:GO history, FaZe’s own NiKo has to be in the top 3 players in CS:GO. Being the second and third-best player in 2017 and 2018 respectively, it was sad to see NiKo drop during 2019. But, with the addition of coldzera to his team, we can expect him to go back to the top soon.
But no player is good on their own. There’s always a team backing them up…
Best CS:GO Teams of All-Time
While there are more than 10 teams that stand out when talking about CS:GO esports, there are four teams that are better than the other ones.
Depending on who you ask, you’ll hear that the best CS:GO team is either Fnatic or Astralis. That is true.
Fnatic has had some of the best players in the sport. But that’s not what makes them the best. They have been performing amazingly in Majors consistently, winning 3 of them in the past 6 years.
As for Astralis, they have been dominating the past two years. They were the winners of the last three majors, as well as the Atlanta Major in 2017, making them the team with the most Major wins.
The other teams that deserve a mention are Natus Vincere (NaVi) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP). Both of these are the arch-rivals of Astralis and Fnatic, respectively. NiP have also one of the most infamous Majors, the ESL One Cologne 2014.
And what if you want to join a pro team?
CS:GO Pro Team (Recruiting/Recruitment)
Well, the road to esports isn’t an easy one. However, some teams are willing to try you out.
In the CS:GO esports scene, you’ll notice that there are both amateur and professional teams.
You’ll probably know the professional ones, like FaZe Clan, NiP, Navi etc. The amateur ones, known in-game as clans, usually consist of players who are friends, or fairly good at the game.
These aren’t usually part of any Major.
Now as for how you can get noticed by teams… you’ll need to train hard. Just look at players like s1mple and NiKo. Once you’re at a good level, you should start playing in tournaments.
However, you can find more information about how to get into a CS:GO team here.
How To Get Good At CS:GO
As most gamers would say “git gud kid”. And that’s sometimes true. We can’t always be the best, but we can always get better in a game.
There are certainly a lot of ways that can help you get better in CS:GO. The most efficient way to get good at CS:GO is by playing the game with players that are as good or better than you. This way, it’s always a challenge to play as good as them, so you’ll keep trying to get better.
You could also try watching professional CS:GO players play. Study their playstyle, get to know their decision-making depending on the situation. After you’ve acquired all of the necessary knowledge, try to implement it in-game.
If you want to learn more about getting good in CS:GO, here’s another great guide (“The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to CS:GO”).
Now, let’s talk a bit more about the professional scene. Let’s try to find out why the EU has dominated the scene so much…
Why Is the EU so Good at CS:GO
Just like we mentioned above, getting good in CS:GO takes a lot of practice. And most EU teams are indeed getting tons more practice, compared to the teams in the US.
For example, it has to be said that, when it comes to a competitive level, EU teams are much more likely to compete regularly in tournaments. This happens because most of the major tournaments are based in Europe.
At the same time, some professionals have suggested that US teams don’t have any major star players. While the EU has kennyS, s1mple, and NiKo (many of which you can find here), the closest that US teams ever had to such stardom was shroud, but he stopped playing CS:GO competitively.
Now, that’s enough about CS: GO’s competitive scene. Let’s get on with some common questions…
Is CS:GO free-to-play (F2P)?
Well, yes. Valve opted for the free-to-play model back in 2020. This way, you can access everything the game has to offer… for free.
But that has come with some flaws. The “F2P experience” is horrendous. You’ll likely have at least two players hacking on every match.
So, while the game is playable for free, if you want to play seriously, you’ll have to purchase it.
This is why many have characterized the new model as pay to win.
Is CS:GO pay-to-win?
We’d say that CS:GO isn’t pay-to-win. While the game experience is much better when you’ve bought the game, you’re not gaining an advantage by buying the game.
The only other aspect that’s purchasable is weapon and player skins. These offer no gameplay advantage, though. Except from one time.
In 2019, Valve introduced a camo skin that blended perfectly on a specific spot on the map Mirage. However, that was patched quickly.
Speaking of skins…
How does the CS:GO Skin Market Work
The CS:GO skin economy has brought many gamblers to the game. In CS:GO, you can buy cases (loot boxes) that can give you skins that have real value. And while you can’t (legally) sell these skins for real money, you can still trade them with other players.
And while trading can’t bring you the earnings that the esports teams get, it can certainly bring enough to be considered a side hustle.
