Counter Strike has always been known for its ranked matchmaking, but CS2 has introduced some additional changes to the competitive mode. Players are still able to compete against each other in the standard Counter Strike gameplay and advance in the CS2 ranking system, with one new introduction – the premier mode.
But what are the differences between the two game modes? Here at Skinsmonkey we present a guide to competitive and premier modes in Counter Strike 2!
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CS2 Premier VS Competitive+
The competitive mode in Counter Strike 2 works almost identically to CS:GO. After finishing a number of placement matches, you will receive one of the different CS2 ranks available in the game, depending on your performance. Like in the previous version of the game, the matches are a standard 5v5 diffuse game, with a slight difference. The matches are now shorter and only 13 victorious rounds are necessary to win the entire match.
When playing competitive mode, you and your friends can select which maps you want to play on from the active duty map pool, meaning that if you really hate any of the maps you can easily avoid them and stick only to those that you enjoy. However, there’s one significant change to competitive mode in Counter Strike 2 – you know get an individual rank for every specific map. This means that you can, for example, have the highest rank in CS2, Global Elite on Office, and Gold on Vertigo. Every map you play measures your skill level and matches you with other players appropriately. You will have to score a different rank for every particular map, and if the rank differences between you and your friends are too big, you won’t be able to play together on the selected mode.
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What Is CS2 Premier Mode?
One of the new introductions in Counter Strike 2 is the premier mode, completely new way to play competitive mode in CS2. Premier mode gives players more space to balance out the game, by selecting which map specifically do they want to play and on what size. Premier mode can be a more balanced way to enjoy the competitive mode in CS2, and will most likely provide you with better experience.
Instead of selecting specific maps, both of the teams get to cast votes on the map they’ll play in a pick and ban system. First, both of the teams vote on banning maps, each map with the most ban votes gets banned from the pool. The first team bans two maps from the active duty pool, then the second team casts votes to ban three maps. The first team then bans one more map, leaving the final map in the pool as the one that the match will take place on. To balance things out, the second team chooses which side they want to start: CT or Terrorist.
Premier mode plays pretty much the same as the standard competitive mode. The matches are a standard 5v5 defuse. The first team to score 13 rounds wins the whole match.
Do Both Competitive Modes Have The Same Ranks?
While the competitive mode has a different ranking for each of the seven maps, the premier mode has a completely different take on CS2 ranks. Instead of a single rank, in the premier mode every player receives a CS rating, new stat used to measure the overall skill of every individual player against other CS2 players in the same region.
Just like with a competitive rank, in order to get your first CS rating you must win 10 placement matches, which will decide your position in the ranking. CS rating is represented by a number between 0 and 40,000. Players can also compare their standing with other players in a global leaderboard, where they can check the individual CS rating of every player and see how they compare with players from their region.
Instead of ranks, CS rating comes in colors. For every 5000 rating points, there is a different color. These are:
- 0-4,999 – Grey
- 5,000-9,999 – Light Blue
- 10,000-14,999 – Blue
- 15,000-19,999 – Purple
- 20,000-24,999 – Pink
- 25,000-29,999 – Red
- 30,000+ – Yellow/Gold
Instead of matching with players from your skill group, in premier mode you will be matched with players who have a CS rating similar to yours. This should allow you to easily check the skill level of the players in your game, and should technically offer a more balanced experience.
Do You Need Prime Status To Play Premier Mode?
If you only have the free version of Counter Strike 2, you won’t be able to play premier mode. Just like the standard competitive mode, you’ll need CS2 Prime upgrade in order to enjoy this new game mode. This is in order to protect the matchmaking process from bots and smurfs. CS prime was already necessary to play competitive mode in CS:GO, and it has been successful in reducing the number of smurfs, botters and CS2 cheaters, since it made creating throwaway accounts more difficult. If you want to enjoy the new premier mode, you’ll need to spend $15.
Summing Up
Here are all the most important differences between premier and competitive, that you should be aware of. If you ever need any more news or info about CS2 and the new features added in this version of the game, or want to score some free CS2 (CS:GO) skins, be sure to check out the rest of our blog!
A true gaming enthusiast, especially Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rust. At SkinsMonkey, he is involved in creating game guides based on his own experience.
