The dust has settled on Counter-Strike 2’s first outing at IEM Sydney, giving pros and fans alike a chance to witness top-tier CS2 for the first time. For G2’s NiKo, the game felt much smoother on LAN, but he believes its format and economy are fatally flawed.
While NiKo admitted he and G2 had limited CS2 practice in the lead-up to last week’s CS2 debut—partly due to ESL Pro League and BLAST’s Fall Showdown taking place in CS:GO—he isn’t a fan of MR12 right now. “I think it’s safe to say the current state of MR12 is not optimal,” NiKo said to Dot Esports.
“Maybe I’m just not used to it but I don’t think it fits CS,” he added, explaining the shift to the shorter format would have made sense with an adjusted economy. With fewer rounds to play, economy resets are brutal, especially on the CT side where it’s common for teams to double eco after dissolving their loss bonus.
“You should not be forced to make more than one eco or have a good buy round in MR12,” NiKo believes. “After pistol rounds, you don’t have to force, but if you are reset in the middle of the half you’ll have to double eco. Those rounds should not be happening.”
A team’s CT side has never been more important than in CS2 thanks to MR12, which sees teams play 12 rounds a half as opposed to 15. It means less room for error and smarter economy management—something NiKo has already taken into account in regards to his choice of M4.
NiKo lent into using the M4A1 for 20 percent of his kills over the past three months, according to HLTV, while the unsilenced variant accounted for just nine percent. IEM Sydney, however, saw the superstar rifler drop away from the ‘A1. Partially, the game’s new weapon loadout system allows him to flex into both, but despite preferring the ‘A4, MR12 is impacting his decision at the beginning of halves.
“I’ll start the half with the M4A1 while the economy is lower and once we grow some economy I’ll use the A4, so that’s why I’m leaning into it more,” he said to Dot, adding that the ‘A4 feels even stronger in CS2 because he believes its spray registers hits better. “I preferred the M4A4 in CS:GO, it was just too expensive. Now that I can have both in CS2, I’m using both.”
Ultimately, NiKo wants the economy looked at, which Valve may require a little more data from CS2 before adjusting. NiKo floated the idea of boosting loss bonus as high as $2,400, which would give teams who lose a round the chance to recover much faster and pick up the more expensive (and effective) weapons more often.
That said, it may just be an MR12 thing, which won’t be going away anytime soon. “I think we are having a lot of useless rounds for such short maps,” NiKo said. “There has to be a balance. Even if the economy was better, I still wouldn’t like MR12.”
G2 fell to Complexity at IEM Sydney, with the American squad spoiling Justin “jks” Savage’s homecoming tournament in the semifinals. Despite the state that G2 left the tournament in—which included a devastating 13-3 loss on Ancient—it was an overall positive experience for NiKo.
“I’m positively surprised with how we have performed at this event,” he said. “We are trying to improve every game, watch other teams and how they play—we’re growing again as a team at this tournament.”
NiKo and G2 have a week or two to recover before embarking for China ahead of the CS2 Asia Championships. With the likes of Astralis, ENCE, FaZe, and MOUZ in attendance, G2’s experience in Sydney will be highly valuable leading into the end of the 2023 competitive season.
