Freezetime Checklist

Counter-strike Freezetime?

Freezetime is exactly as it sounds. It's the the time before a round starts in which the players are frozen in place but can still buy weapons. In most leagues the freezetime is set to around 10 seconds.

There are many things that need to be done within these precious seconds such as:

• Call out the amount of money you have (eg. 1.5 = 1,500)
• Determine whether to buy or save(eco) based on your team's money situation
• Quickly dictate(if strat-caller) or listen to, the strategy planned for the new round
• If in a scrim, call out your position (if in a match, your team should know your position anyway).
• Stay positive and motivate your team, don't whine or complain

Why is freezetime so important?

Because in Counter-Strike, every second counts. For most teams, the majority of planning to any strategy is done before the round even begins, during freezetime. It's great to adjust strategies on the fly, but only the best of teams are able to pull off the coordination required to make huge adjustments to strategies after freezetime and even if they are able, the time they have to do so is extremely limited (if on the offensive). Consistently good teams have one thing in common, they are very efficient during freezetime.

Get a good strategy-caller

A good team always has a great strat-caller that utilizes every second of freezetime and goes through a checklist in an almost systematic formation. Some common questions they ask themselves are:

• "Do we need certain grenades for the upcoming strategy?"

• "Why did the strategy fail last round"

• "What can we do this round to counter what happened last round"

• or "What can we do to replicate last round's success?"

These are all questions that your team's designated strat caller should be assessing at all times during those precious 10 seconds before a round.

Have faith in your strat-caller

The main thing to remember is, "Too many cooks spoil the broth". You need to have faith and follow your team's designated strat-caller and assume his order's are the right one's, even if they're not. Your team's strat-caller should be the most experienced player on the team in terms of league play, but not necessarily the best individual player. This is the main reason that teams improve with age; team-mates learn to believe in their leader's strategy calls and follow them without question.

Remember, make sure to keep calm or you may end up with an unorganized, failing team such as the one depicted in this video.