Professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta plays at ECS.
© FACEIT / Joe Brady
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CS:GO pros reveal how to rank out of Silver
We caught up with players at the ECS Finals to get their advice on how you can finally make it out of Silver.
By Mike Stubbs
5 min readPublished on
You may not want to shout about it, but chances are that you've probably been ranked Silver in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at one time or another. Reddit may laugh at the skill of players ranked Silver on a regular basis, and the pro players may watch Silver matches and just laugh, but for many, the struggle of Silver is real. No one really wants to be there, but making it to Gold Nova 1 isn't an easy task.
You can blame the bad team-mates, the smurfs, the game itself or any other excuse you can think of, but really, there's only one reason you'll find yourself in Silver – you’ve just not performed well enough to make it into the glory of Gold.
Fear not, though. We've made the journey out of Silver, and it really isn't as hard as it can seem at times. Master some of the basics and you'll be well on your way, but, of course, that's easier said than done. That's why we went to the very best CS:GO players and coaches in the world during the ECS Season Five finals to get their tips on how to make that final step from Silver to Gold Nova 1.

Chet 'ImAPet' Singh – NRG Esports (Coach)

I'd definitely say make a deathmatch routine. 100 frags with an AK, 100 frags with an M4 is a good start, and then learning 'nades over time. Get in an offline server, learn some grenade strats – basic smokes and flashes. Nothing crazy. That should make your game a lot better.

Tarik 'tarik' Celik – Cloud9

I think when you're on that kind of level, you should just try to focus more on having fun, because you can't really focus too much on certain things. If you want to work on your aim, then there are certain things you can do, but overall, I'd say if you're in the Silvers, just try to have fun with your friends.
If you can, try to play with friends who are better than you, because then you can pick up better tendencies through watching and them giving you advice. Overall, just try to have a good time and don't stress yourself out too much.
Pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif  plays at ECS.
Magisk has a lot of tips for Silvers© FACEIT / Joe Brady

Timothy 'autimatic' Ta – Cloud9

I'd say that you should start playing Fortnite, because that's the game that you should be playing. I feel like my game has improved since playing Fortnite. This might sound stupid, but in Fortnite you have to use your whole entire mousepad to build, if that makes sense.
In Counter-Strike you don't have to have your mouse in certain positions on your mousepad, and it feels uncomfortable when you're there, but when you play Fortnite you have to be comfortable at every spot in your mousepad in order to build and shoot and everything. I feel like that certainly helps, but if you don't want to play Fortnite, I would just say that you should watch a demo of a good player and copy our play styles.

Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub – G2 Esports

I think it's the same with everything: you've got to commit to it. Counter-Strike is one of the things that if you commit to it, you're going to get better. So, the advice I give to everyone who asks me, is to play CS a lot. Be productive, don't play just to play. Play something useful, such as deathmatch. There are many ways to improve yourself, but playing is the key, of course.

Emil 'Magisk' Reif – Astralis

It depends on what you want. If you want to play to be good at matchmaking or play to be good on a team, I think it's different. If you want to be a better player, I think it's important to work on your decision making, especially in competitive scenarios. Your decision making, what you do in high-pressure situations and, of course, aim, is always important. You need to be able to out-aim your enemy – not specifically all of the time – but be able to hit your shots when you need to.
You need to have a good understanding of the game, and that comes with the experience of playing a lot, maybe watching team demos and people play. Find new demos and watch specific players in the same positions as you play so you can learn something new or you can realise, 'Okay they play this really well, maybe I can do that myself'.
In general, ask yourself, 'when do I need to make a play, and when not?'. For example, if you have a five versus three situation, there's no reason to make a big play and gamble the round. Just play it with your team-mates, and maybe group up with them. Then you're almost certain to win the round. If you have a three against four situation, and your team-mate is in a bad way, that's maybe when you should try and make a play to win the round.
Generally, being able to do standard smokes, flashes and utility usage is important. I think at the high levels, that's one of the reasons Astralis are so good, because we're very strong with utility. We know when a smoke grenade is needed or not, and a lot of people now realise that we're really good with the HE 'nades. I think that gives you a huge advantage.
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