Gaming
Counter-Strike is all about knowing when to push, when to hold and when to just hit E and pray.
The first major Counter-Strike tournament of 2016 concluded earlier this month in familiarly explosive fashion, with Fnatic retaining their grip at the top of the competitive scene. However, the standout moment for many turned out to be the Swedish team's averting of one specific explosion during the early group stages.
Defusing bombs is nothing special in a typical match. With the way rounds play out, most (if not all) of the Terrorists are dead and it's a simple case of crouching down and holding a button until you win. But when the odds are stacked against the Counter-Terrorists, there are only two options: going in sneaky-like, or becoming a trigger-finger god with nerves of adamantium.
Olofmeister, Fnatic vs Questionmark, StarLadder i-Series 2016
Early in last weekend's StarLadder series, Olof 'Olofmeister' Kajbjer chose the latter approach. Going in against three opponents for a late defuse wouldn't normally happen, but with Valve and official tournament organisers changing the round and bomb timers to be longer in the final patch of last year, there's more time to play with.
This worked out squarely in Fnatic's favour, as Olof polished off the majority of the team formerly known as TSM and stopped the bomb with just 0.008 seconds left on the clock. On the 128-tick servers tournaments use, that's the final tick before 0, so it doesn't get much closer than that. Apart from defusing on 0, but who's going to manage that, right?...Right?
Taz, Virtus.Pro vs Titan, FragBite Masters 2014
Though not quite managing the fabled 0.00 defuse, Virtus.Pro's Taz did pull off an equally – if not more impressive – stunt during 2014's FragBite Masters. Faced with the similar one-on-three match-up Olof ended up in last weekend, Taz made the same decision to go down fighting, but with even less time in the round. Whether it was so fast it caught Titan off guard, or the remaining members of the French team just made mistakes in choosing to peek, it's safe to say that this was the game-winning moment. Saving his team from a 16–9 defeat, VP came all the way back to tie the game, and then win in overtime.
Kioshima, EnVyUs vs TSM, DreamHack London 2015
Not every defuse comes down to the bomb timer. The added time pressure of different types of grenades serve to control the flow of the game, all the way down to the crucial last seconds. Kioshima showed his mastery of this knowledge at last year's DreamHack London, in a two-on-one retake against TSM – who appear to have some bad luck when it comes to daring defuses.
After dropping cajunb, and knowing karrigan was off-site, with too little health to risk a peek, there was only one course of action that could stop him. When the molotov lands at his feet, a perfectly placed throw from karrigan, there's nothing anyone can do except wait and see which ticks out first: kio's health or the bomb defusal.
Shroud, Cloud9 vs CounterLogic, CEVO Season 6 2015
Not all grenades are last-ditch offensive attempts in a defusal scenario. The famous pub strat of ninja defuses under cover of smoke doesn't work too often against pros, being observant as they are. But taking advantage of a defender out of position can give a fast ninja apprentice the time needed to get in and pop a flash to coincide with the moment they hear the telltale beep of starting defusal. Cloud9's Shroud found the perfect opportunity to employ this showy tactic against fellow Americans CounterLogic last year.
swag, iBUYPOWER vs Team Liquid, CEVO Season 6 2015
The younger generation is always looking to show up their elders, and here we see infamous US prodigy Braxton 'swag' Pierce pull off the same manoeuvre, but without the grenade. Popping two ridiculous shots in a three-on-one retake, and managing to slip in the defuse with a man alive was sparks of what could have come from the start of last year. Sadly, just weeks after this CEVO game, swag was embroiled in the match-fixing scandal that saw seven banned from all Valve events. Pros don't fake, indeed.
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