CS2: The differences between Premier and Competitive matchmaking, explained

The launch of Counter-Strike 2 has shaken up the game’s two core ranked modes in Premier and Competitive, with each offering its own progression system that should keep the most competitive players sated for a long time.

For those playing CS2 for the first time after a lengthy CS:GO career, be prepared to start from scratch when it comes to both your new Premier rating and your map-specific skill groups. Even if you played Premier during the Limited Test, you will have to win 10 more matches to get your CS Rating back.

If you’ve been out of the loop for a while and don’t know the difference between Premier and Competitive, or if you just want a refresher of the changes made for CS2, then we’ve got you covered.

How Premier works in CS2 Honestly this part might determine whether you win or lose. Premier CS2 map selection, explained

Premier uses a map veto-and-pick system that allows both sides to vote on the map they want to play. During that process, the first team bans two maps from the seven in the active duty map pool. Then the second team chooses three maps to ban. The first team then selects the final map to ban, leaving the last remaining map as the one to be played. Then, the second team gets to decide which side to start on: CT or T.

Votes on which maps to ban are determined by each member of a team casting their own separate votes for the maps they want to ban. The maps with the most ban votes at the end of a voting phase are the ones that are banned.

Premier CS2 rank and rating, explained

Instead of a skill group rank like Competitive, Premier now features a new metric called CS Rating. CS Rating gives you a number that effectively represents you Elo or rank rating, designating how you stack up against friends, players in your region, and players around the world.

CS Rating will reset with each Premier season, and each season features a global leaderboard. As of the morning of Sept. 28, less than 24 hours after CS2 officially launched, less than 100 players across the world have a CS Rating of 15,000 or higher.

How Competitive works in CS2 Nine maps, nine skill groups to rank up. Screenshot by Dot Esports. Competitive CS2 map selection, explained

Competitive in CS2 is very much the same as how it worked in CS:GO. When queuing for Competitive, you and your party members will select the map or maps you want to play on, and will only queue for matches against players also queueing for one of those maps.

Competitive CS2 rank and rating, explained

The biggest difference in CS2 compared to CS:GO is how the Competitive skill groups work now. Instead of one catch-all skill group for Competitive as a whole, you now have a skill group rating for each specific map. Only your skill group for the map you play on will be affected after a game, but players now have a new mountain to climb in reaching Global Elite across all nine eligible maps.

VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.