CadiaN outlines how competitive CS2 can improve if Valve follows VALORANT’s lead

There’s a huge debacle in the Counter-Strike community right now regarding the length of competitive matches after Valve reduced the number of rounds in CS2 from 30 to 24, adopting the so-called MR12 format and abandoning MR15.

This change was made so players can play more games and more often, according to Valve. While Valve chose to reduce the number of rounds in CS2, it kept overtime exactly like it is in CS:GO at six rounds per overtime, and the game only finishes when a team wins four. The match goes on and the overtime resets if the teams keep tying.

For cadiaN, one of the most renowned Counter-Strike pros in the world, many matches go the distance because of the current overtime system and he thinks Valve could have copied VALORANT’s overtime format to counter that.

“I think sometimes what also drags out the games are the multiple overtimes; I’m more of a fan of the overtime format in VALORANT, to be honest,” cadiaN told Dot Esports on Sept. 5. “You play one round on the attacking side and then you play one on the defensive side, and you win the game when you win two in a row. Sometimes it takes forever in [CS], and that’s a way to save time. I’m not against MR12, but I think it’s going to require some changes to the economy.”

With the way the economic system is currently designed in CS:GO and CS2, teams still have to play economic rounds because they don’t have money to afford a full buy—and this isn’t ideal for MR12, according to cadiaN.

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There are people in the CS community who feel that Valve should tweak or remove the pistol rounds altogether so we get more gun rounds in CS2. But cadiaN isn’t a fan of this change as he thinks there’s a lot of skill involved in winning pistol rounds.

For now, all competitive modes in CS2 have 24 rounds maximum in regulation and Valve already said the Majors will follow suit.

The developer expects the “structure and flow of matches to evolve over time” as the CS community adapts, which has left players thinking that Valve doesn’t plan to change the game’s economy at all. So it’s not likely that cadiaN will see his suggestions getting implemented anytime soon.