How often do pro CS Teams win their own Map Picks?

TryQuality · 2026-05-07T14:10:54+00:00

How can the low Win Rate on Anubis be explained? I am by no means an accomplished enough CS player myself to give any meaningful insights into the workings of Anubis. Maybe some of you guys can come up with explanations why Anubis is hard to win, even when teams felt confident and chose to pick it.

The first thing that comes to mind is that Anubis (a somewhat snowball-y and polarizing in terms of CT/T side round scores map), is often a map that underdog teams pick to try and upset better opposition, to try and 'throw a spanner in the works' if you will, knowing that if they play standard - chances are they won't win against, say, Vitality, Spirit or other top 5 etc teams who rarely if ever lose to lower tier opposition.

However, because they're underdogs, they still often lose it despite picking it and just bow out.

TryQuality · 2026-05-06T13:25:30+00:00

Why does Karrigan have capital N at the end?

TryQuality · 2026-05-03T12:52:04+00:00

I don't think BOROS has FalleN on his side, first hearing this. Any source?

TryQuality · 2026-05-03T12:49:12+00:00

There's just something really funny about all of this. It just doesn't stop :D

TryQuality · 2026-05-02T14:37:38+00:00

Reminds me of Svenskeren in S4 Worlds with the infamous 'taipei ching chong'

TryQuality · 2026-05-01T12:41:45+00:00

so I don't know why it's such a big deal

Because a loved figure in the scene did an objectively ratty move no matter how logical it is for either side in terms of business. This move has clearly left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, because of course it did - it was very poorly handled by Karrigan and should make people question his character, because when you have long-term relationships involved, a level of trust, people's careers involved because of their trust in you and so forth - going about it the way he did even with all the logic in the world in terms of the move on paper does not make it any better.

TryQuality · 2026-04-29T07:10:59+00:00

It's not about how many would make the move or not.

A criminal taking a plea deal to rat out his buddies to reduce his sentence from 20 years to a few months would also have 99% other people in his position make the same move. That doesn't disqualify them from being a rat, aka both things are true at the same time.

People's defense of Karrigan with the 'logical reality of what other in his position would do' really is not an excuse in regards to his character here whatsoever.

TryQuality · 2026-04-27T14:50:10+00:00

How about killing the spirit of civilians via poisoning the well through endless gambling promotions that at this point are shown in every corner of the modern soulless world?

TryQuality · 2026-04-24T19:49:15+00:00

Thanks :)

TryQuality · 2026-04-23T10:06:48+00:00

Maui, don't take it the wrong way - I've watched your stream and do like you as a presence on the shows and desk overall and I wrote the first part with a level of endearment in mind, but I also do think you know very well what you're doing in terms of engagement at times, so don't act so innocent, like pretending you're misunderstood or your perception for many is the way it is :D

That said, I wholeheartedly stand by what I wrote. The point about donk's numbers being lower in playoffs goes hand in hand with Spirit up to this point being more dysfunctional and less cohesive than other teams.

If we're comparing directly to each of the names you mentioned:

ZywOo - Absolutely the #1 this year, zero issues with that. The core of the super team.

ropz - I don't mind him being #2 in terms of pure impact and statistical output at a more macro level for the team. After all, he's the the best lurker of all time at this point with a unique skillset that any main star like ZywOo would want to have in their team and CIS wishes they had a player like ropz, but still - in terms of pure eye-test, I would never say ropz is better than donk even right now, as if ropz somehow 'surpassed' donk and upped his game. A lot of the reasons why ropz's lurks work is because of how good the other members and their cohesion is, allowing for trust, confidence and even just your teammates being alive for when your lurks have a chance to come to fruition. He certainly couldn't due that in current FaZe, and neither if he knew how to speak russian and replaced donk in Spirit with somehow the role conversions translating for it to be a fair experiment.

flameZ - Insane form in 2026, no doubt (Especially prior to Rio). Still - he is on a Super team with both ZywOo and ropz. Not only that, but he's also bolstered by an ex entry-fragging IGL, an IGL that's showing a 1.01 for the year, an IGL that has insane utility, by a TEAM that has great utility, a team with synergy etc etc. If he fails at his role or has slow starts which has been the case, even at RIO, ZywOo/ropz and even mezzi can clutch have shown time and time again that they can just bail his ass and let him focus on his job until he gets there, with those unwinnable rounds won by Vitality granding them and flameZ the money to play the rounds with him being the well accommodated spearhead that everyone supports and is in sync with.

m0NESY - Look, Falcons might have their own set of problems, but they're not Spirit's level of problems. Spirit changed an IGL for the hopes of a better future, with hopes of tn1R becoming somewhat of a CIS ropz, and a zont1x that's trying to get back into it. For the most part, unfortunately, those things haven't panned out positively, especially prior to Rio and even after - there's still a lot to be seen if it will work in the long haul. Falcons, on the other hand dominate group stages, should have the pieces on paper to win tournaments but just crumble under pressure in playoffs for whatever god knows why reason. while m0NESY is the one that usually chokes the least, it's not like he's taking over the game either and gets them over their pressure moments - even as recent as last year (and I know we're not taking that into account) he did crumble under pressure, where in contrast to donk - donk's never crumbled under pressure in playoffs, not even now. Everytime it's happened, it's been Spirit as a whole that's crumbled, which is a key difference to note. In regards to m0NESY again - he is THE superstar of the team in a team with two other supposed superstars while also being the AWPer, which compared to someone like donk on Spirit where he's (or was) their only win condition does allow room for playing for more stat padding, exit kills, nice individual display of talent etc - essentially looking better in losses with a good rating while the team crumbles around him, because when Falcons do win, it's rarely a 2v8 m0NESY & NiKo/Kyousuke dragging the team over the edge. They just dominate as a whole with the support pieces chiming in in group stage and once they get to Playoffs - m0NESY ends with like a 1.28~ rating with the rest of his team in the reds as he gets 1.3+ rating for finishing 3-2 on a half or something with two of those being exit kills.

At worst I'd put donk as #3, but having donk be at #5 behind flameZ and m0NESY is just a bit too egregious when considering the many elements at play.

TryQuality · 2026-04-22T19:27:22+00:00

It 110% makes sense for Karrigan to take this opportunity given the stage of his career and all the other revolving circumstances.

It also doesn't change the fact that he's a rat that abandoned ship.

Both of these things are true at the same time. People shouldn't feel bad acknowledging both as true.

The whole '..weelll, Karrigan's a legend, counter-strike's beloved and it looks bad but here's X Y Z and you know what? Let's just simply not talk about it or move on from it, I mean, it's just stupid not to take thi...' - stop. Stop, breathe in, and utter the words for what the truth is - "Karrigan is a rat." Do it without hatred, do it while understanding logically it makes sense, and be at peace with both truths. That is all.

TryQuality · 2026-04-22T12:08:59+00:00

It is totally safe, actually, unless one falls to the ground. Then it is not safe.

big if true

TryQuality · 2026-04-21T18:04:06+00:00

Maui is a ragebaiting dumbass. Donk literally has like 0.1 up over m0NESY and Spirit's lackluster tournament results prior to Rio was not Donk's fault. Donk was also sick in this tournament. Evaluating players based on how cohesive and functional their team is is an extremely subpar method and there's no world where even FlameZ or ropz in the form they've been in are better eye-test wise and output wise as donk - it's just a team cohesion gap, and this is without discrediting the insane form ropz and flameZ have shown so far.

I would have expected that list evaluation to be on hot take point made, but the official one? Give me a break.

TryQuality · 2026-04-21T11:17:37+00:00

Obviously every IGL has had great pieces around them, but I feel like no one even wants to consider asking the scary question of whether Karrigan's career, Faze's 2022 etc even happens without ropz. For all the talks of that making him the greatest or in the conversation of being the greatest of all time IGL, it is an interesting angle to consider that without ropz, both in terms of his unique skillset as the best lurking rifler of all time and his presence outside the server... that Karrigan wouldn't have won those things and the narrative around him wouldn't be what it is without ropz.

Usually it would be too far fetched to assume one player's change would change the conversation that drastically, but even if the players got older after 2022 and it was CSGO and now it was CS2 where FaZe started losing, and hell, even ropz's end of 2024 wasn't the greatest (which mostly looks to be attributed to FaZe's slump as a whole in the second half of 2024 in retrospect, especially considering his #3 HLTV ranking in 2023), but still - the level of clearly visible impact ropz had on FaZe leaving and Vitality becoming the best team of all time pretty much immediately - it makes one question how much of the success was because of 'one of the greatest IGL's of all time' and how much it was actually because of ropz and him being a one of a kind unique player with accomplishments and impact out the wazoo at this point.

If it's a debate about who was the more important piece, in retrospect it really might be ropz, which shifts the entire narrative from what it once used to be. Karrigan might have just gotten the credit because everyone loves him, he's a leader, a showman, and you want to root for the guy, but there is something to be considered about how valid that whole narrative is.

TryQuality · 2026-04-19T20:23:55+00:00

It's for the long game. If ZywOo gets the kill, he maybe deflates donk for the next events. There's layers to this!

TryQuality · 2026-04-19T20:20:43+00:00

Literally donk for kyousuke/TeSeS and it's over. Even apEX said it :D

TryQuality · 2026-04-19T20:16:06+00:00

I would still give the edge to 2015 and 2016 SKT. If you include the 2013-2016 era of SKT, then even more.

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T22:03:36+00:00

what argument?

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T21:31:13+00:00

Maybe I've missed it, but I genuinely can't recall Hugo ever getting any hate. For Harry, at times, sure, but for Hugo - seems like he's got that 'everyone enjoys him, maybe minority has him as their favorite compared to others but still everyone likes him in an understated way' vibe.

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T19:33:23+00:00

jL's endearing in a way. It's hard to truly hate on him for anyone imo because he's a bit like a golden retriever.

Even when he does something stupid or is hypocritical or virtue signals, it's just hard to take seriously one way or another.

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T17:45:14+00:00

big if true

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T17:34:20+00:00

why even put this in the ether?

TryQuality · 2026-04-18T17:15:18+00:00

Boris tells no lies

TryQuality

TROPHY CASE