Introduction
With the release of CS2, we’ve seen a lot of focus on Premier Mode as the game’s main competitive game mode. Some of you might not even know this, but the mode was also available in CS:GO; it just wasn’t very popular. Now that it’s getting a lot more traction and attention from Valve it’s a good idea to have the CS2 Premier Mode explained thoroughly so you know exactly what to expect when you dive in.
What is CS2 Premier Mode?
Premier Mode is the official main competitive gameplay avenue for CS2. Much like in other competitive games, there’ll be official leaderboards so that players can compete for the highest ranks with their friends, region, and even the entire world.
Players who wish to be ranked on the leaderboards first need to receive a CS2 rating (see CS2 Ranks and the CS2 Rating System Explained) which you get after winning ten placement matches.
There are currently three leaderboards to compete in:
Naturally, you’ll need to be quite the phenomenon to appear on the first pages of the global CS2 ranking, and being a consistent presence in your region’s ranks (or even the world’s ranks) might get you noticed as the next talent in the Counter-Strike scene. By adding a ranked system like this, Valve hopes to convince more people to play CS2 on official Valve servers rather than via third party like FaceIt, as was the case with CS:GO.
Note:players who have never received a CS Rating can’t queue with players who have already received a CS Rating. There’s also a limit to how far apart players’ ratings can be when queuing up together.
How to Get A CS2 Rating
If you want to appear on the leaderboards, you’ll need a CS2 rating. You get a CS2 rating by winning (not playing; you have to win) 10 placement matches. You will then be assigned a number ranging from 0-35000, and this number is your CS Rating.
CS Ratings Explained
In CS2’s Premier Mode, your rank will consist of a number instead of a rank like Gold Nova and the likes, which was the system that was used back in CS:GO. These ranks still appear in CS2’s competitive mode (more on that in our CS2 Ranks and Rating article) but are completely gone from Premier Mode.
CS2 ratings are a bit more difficult to distinguish than CS:GO ranks, but if you look closely you’ll notice that there are still ranked tiers. Depending on your CS Rating, your number will have a different color. The CS Rating colors are as follows:
| CS Rating Color | CS Rating |
|---|
| Grey | 0 – 4999 |
| Light Blue | 5000 – 9999 |
| Dark Blue | 10000 – 14999 |
| Purple | 15000 – 19999 |
| Pink | 20000 – 24999 |
| Red | 25000 – 29999 |
| Gold | 30000 – 35000 |
Important to note is that, before you get into a new rating tier, you have to play a promotion/demotion match. This means that, if you’re at a rating of 9982 and you win your match, your rating will stop at 9999 and you will play a promotion match to get over that threshold.
Premier Mode Matchmaking
In CS2, the first team to reach 13 rounds wins the match. If you end up at 12-12, there’ll be one overtime period where teams try to reach 16 rounds, but if this overtime doesn’t produce a winner (i.e. the overtime ends in 15-15) the match will be considered a draw. Teams switch sides after 12 rounds.
One noticeable and rather unique feature about Premier Matchmaking is that players have to be ready to play every single map. Prior to the start of the match, there’ll be a pick phase where teams take turns picking maps they want to play:
- Team 1 chooses 1 map
- Team 2 chooses 2 maps
- Team 1 chooses 1 map
The game will then randomly select a map from the pool of 4 chosen maps, which is the map the match will be played on.
CS2 Map Pool in Premier Mode
The map pool rotates. You can find the current Premier map pool here.
As you’ve no doubt gathered, you need to be able to play on all currently active maps if you truly want to climb the CS2 leaderboards since there’s no way to eliminate certain maps from contention unless you’re always queuing with a stack and you’ve made an agreement beforehand.
How to Gain CS Rating
If you want to improve your CS rating, the objective is simple: win matches. Prior to each match, you will clearly see how much Rating you stand to gain (or lose) so you know what you’re up against. We can logically assume that the system takes win streaks and loss streaks into account, as well as the level of your opponents, but there are no specifics on how exactly the rating system works.
We do know that personal performance does not play a part: your rating gain/loss is decided before the match, so there’s no way you can influence that. As long as you win, it doesn’t matter if you go 1/13 or you carry the game by going 30/13.
If your CS2 rating is newly calibrated (i.e. you’ve only just played your placement matches) or your rating is far off from your hidden MMR, then your win/loss amounts might be higher, as the system will attempt to move players faster after calibration to ensure that players end up in the correct rating tier. This was added in an update in October of 2023.
See: CS2 Guide for Beginners – 15 Effective Tips and Tricks
Difference Between Premier Mode and Competitive Mode
As explained more in-depth in our CS2 Ranks and Rating System article, there are some key differences between Premier Mode and Competitive Mode.
In Competitive Mode, you can choose the map you want to queue for. If you want, you could play Mirage every single time by just queueing Mirage.
You also get a rank per map. This rank is based on the ranking system we saw in CS:GO (from Silver to Global Elite) but rather than having one rank for all maps you could theoretically be Silver IV on Mirage and Global Elite on Vertigo.
All of this makes Competitive Mode the ideal training ground for players who want to grind the Premier Mode ladder. If there’s a new map or you are just learning the ropes on a certain map, just queue it in Competitive. Due to the new ranking system you won’t end up against elite players right away, and it’ll allow you to practice the map at your own pace.
Conclusion
Valve has decided to make Premier Mode the competitive avenue for serious Counter-Strike players. With a pick/ban phase that mirrors what the pros do at tournaments and a robust ranking system that’s a lot more dynamic than what we saw in CS:GO, there’s no doubt that Premier is a fun way to flex your competitive skills.
