Flexibility: Its role in taking you from Amateur to Pro in E-Sport

Flexibility is Key.

In the volatile environment of online combat, your usually finding yourself in different situations that require a great deal of flexibility to come out best. A continuous round in CS:GO is a process of observation, processing information and taking action. A thought process happening at a blistering pace. Those who come out best are the ones who are making the best on the fly decisions based on previous experience and analyzing the play as it unfolds.

In nature, the most efficient and flexible creatures survive to continue their gene. In business the most efficient and flexible businesses survive, adapting to trends and changes in the world such as legislation and consumer habits.

Gaming is no different. Your aim is to win, your opponent's goal is the same. Your path is to mold yourself like water around your opponent and flow to their weakness.

Those players and teams who are most flexible to changes and adapt best are the ones who prove most successful and most consistent. Remember that a large portion of a players success or skill is measured in their consistency and a key component to consistency is the ability to adapt to your opponents play style to come out on top.

You're playing a team who are using an unfamiliar strategy to you and in that moment it seems to be eating through your team with nothing you can do about it. Chances are your probably not defending in a manner that gives you the best chance. Weather your level of experience limits your possibilities to find an effective solution or you're not giving it the attention it deserves is up to you to decide.

Mediocre teams will take longer to react and adapt to unexpected plays. Therefore losing more rounds. Pro teams adapt quickly and effectively to whats happening around them. They're aware of whats unfolding because of effective communication and can therefore adapt.

The difference between a pro team and an amateur team is that a pro team not only recognizes when something isn't working but they are prepared to deal with it confidently and already have a solution to it. They understand the importance of flexibility and molding what they are doing to give them the best chance at success against what their opponents are doing.

Usually all that's required to change the pace of a game is to mix things up. Its up to you to understand what factors may need change. It might be your teams positioning on the map, it might be the level of aggressiveness or lack of that needs to be tweaked or considering the fact that what you're doing is being read like a book.

The most flexible team recognizes when they need to adapt before it becomes a problem.

Oliver "Huk_!!!!" Barrett