Red: Making the Switch

Posted by: -Radical-

For many years in the Counter-Strike gaming community, names have come and gone but only a few have stuck around in gamers heads to remember, one of these being Louis "Red" Nyberg. Over the years, Louis has traveled around the world with the teams that he has been in. Though, last June he delivered a shocker to the gaming community as he made the switch to Counter-Strike: Source joining the Swedish team EYEBallers, who were to be drafted as the Stockholm Magnetik Season One team.

As many people have noticed, some people find it difficult being able to switch from the original Counter-Strike edition, to the most modern version being Counter-Strike: Source due to it having some changes in the game. Louis decided, to write about how he overcame the change, and managed to move his game play into Counter-Strike: Source. You can find this article below, as usual if you have any questions that you would like to be answered by Red, leave it as a comment and he will be happy to assist you with answering it to the best of his knowledge.

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One of the talked about topics in the universe of Counter-Strike nowadays has to be what is the switch from 1.6 to Source going to be like. The common image in a very big crowd within the 1.6 community is that the game is simply easy. It's not that simple and here's what I've gathered throughout my switch to playing Counter-Strike: Source.

I've played years and years of CS 1.6 on a very high level and through those years I've come to build a huge variety of ways to proceed in different situations which are mostly done by instinct. I think one of the first obstacles when switching to Source is basically unlearning some of the things that you would do in 1.6. Such as taking angles and waiting for your opponent which is a very effective way of playing in 1.6 but in Source I'd say 9 out of 10 times the one moving is going to be killing you while your sitting in an angle. One of the biggest emphasises goes to the flashes where in 1.6 you could make alot of huge plays basically by sneaking up to a spot without flashes but in Source you're most likely screwd if you try and do the same. Knowing how to use the grenades efficiently was one of my priorities initially since the flashes and HE's are really effective when thrown correctly.

Attitude plays a huge part aswell in your progression. If you come out playing Source thinking you're the best and then become really frustrated when things don't go as planned right off the pat and you're getting owned from places you had no idea of. You've got to be open to learning new things and patterns. One of the most important things in becoming a good Source player has got to be good instincts and ability to play aggressive. Just watch any CGS Source match or any other Source match for that matter and you'll soon notice most of the time - biggest kills are made early on in the rounds by aggressive play - especially from the defensive team. Variation of well thrown flashes and smart play combined with spot on aiming is most of the time all it takes to stop the attacking team.

One of the most frustrating things in the beginning for me was how the movement differs. In 1.6 I used to be very shifty and my movement was always very slick and spot on but in Source especially on a map like de_train I felt really vulnerable with my glumsy movement. Knowing all the boxes you can get on, all the little corners that are in your own advantage plays a big part in the switch.

Playing with players who've already been playing Source for a while makes the switch a whole alot easier when you get to watch them play and sink in information every round while watching them. They can show you those small but important things that you wouldn't most likely notice. Watching lots of POV demos in the beginning never hurts either. But that doesn't suit everyone. Infact it could be in your advantage if you don't watch too much of what the current Source players do in situations as you might come up something new they hadn't thought about. That could really surprise your opponent big time. End of the day it's a mixture of both worlds. There are things you want to learn by watching and there are things you're better off doing as you feel the best. Who knows you might even start a new trend yourself and everyone tries to copy what you pulled off? :) When you're in a situation where you're alone - in 1.6 one step could make a worlds difference in the outcome of that round. In Source you've got to have more of a deathmatch mentality towards it and make quick decisions and just use your flashes efficiently. The game is very much aim orientated and in Source a crazy aimer is usually the one pulling it off. 1.6 was more of a waiting game and one where smarts were in a very decisive part.

Just like in any game there are no shortcuts in becoming an effective player in Source. It takes hours of practice - both scrims and individual (my advice would be CSSDM) to really get comfortable. If you are wondering about switching to Source then prepare yourself to be surprised from how fast paced the game is and how one single player can have such a huge impact in a round - even more so than what in 1.6, infact very much more. Getting used to the small details of the maps, the movement, the differential of how to control the spray and all the mumbojumbo is going to take a while to sink in completily. Just take it as a whole different game with the same idea as the previous versions and you should actually enjoy it because it's always fun to learn new things and confront situations you haven't confronted before. :)

Now that we've gone through my view's on the switch - here are some of my keypoint advices:

- The right attitude
- Ability to unlearn some of 1.6's playingstyle
- Adjust to the new environment ingame
- Adjust to the different movement
- Learn the nades inside out!
- Loads and LOADS of practice

Time to go practice!