In early October, CS:GO has changed. The development team has made changes to the economic model of the game. First, defeat in the first round came hand in hand with $500 more. Second, the AUG and SG 553 rifles have decreased in price and now cost only $50 more than the M4 and AK, respectively.
These are serious changes and they have significantly influenced competitive meta. By changing the economy of the pistol, Valve apparently pursued the goal of reducing the impact of the first round on the outcome of the map. Previously, despite the chances of taking a round with a forced purchase, the defeat at the pistol round most often led to a score of 0:3. Obviously, two pistol rounds awarded six rounds out of the required sixteen and that is a lot.
Retired teams are marked in red.
In general, this task was successfully coped with. One illustration of this fact is a team with 80% of victories in the pistol rounds, BIG, departing from a major with a score of 0:3. At the same time, the second lowest in the table of ratings as far as this parameter is concerned, the team ENCE, plays in the finals of the most prestigious tournament. Now pistol rounds have a much weaker effect on the outcome of a particular match. Well done, Valve.
With rifles, it’s a little different. SG 553 had been popular in the narrow stratum of players before, but AUG was completely forgotten. Now the situation is the polar opposite. In a major AUG is used for every fifth kill. This is the most popular rifle for defense. M4 is used almost two and a half times less.
The number of rounds taken in defense and the percentage of kills from AUG
AUG turned out to be an improved version of the M4, which allows you to actively play at any distance. Many pros say that holding corners with it is much easier. Statistics don’t reflect that so much. Over the past five months, the percentage of defense wins on the two most popular maps has increased by several percent.
Despite the fact that it seems a trifle (see what we did there?) – it is also a strong change in balance. These few percents mean that on average, on Inferno and Mirage, the defense began to win one more round.
So far, we can say that Valve successfully managed to shake up the meta in October. With the increased profit for defeats in the pistol round, attacks began to be included earlier in the game to put pressure on the enemy. At the same time, defense players got a rifle at their disposal, which is noticeably better than both the M4 and AK in the distance. It is possible that in the near future the game’s economy will change again.
