
Playing on LAN has always been the pinnacle of esports. In an offline environment, a lot of factors come into play that just aren’t present when players compete online—pressure, setup, audience (if there is one), experience, and much more. Top-tier CS2 teams have one of the most challenging schedules in esports. Back in the day, teams and players complained there weren’t enough events, even though it was hard to attend any of them. But in recent history, teams have had to plan their schedules and tournament attendance carefully. Boot camps and tight tournament cycles can lead to fatigue and burnout.
All these facts made us look at which top teams played the most LAN maps in the past six months since the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024. There are still more than a few S-tier CS2 tournaments left until the end of 2024, and some teams have already put in the grind more than others, keeping in mind that there was a tournament break for all teams from mid-June to mid-July.
G2 played a total of 104 maps in the past six months and is the only team to play more than 100. Of course, that kind of presence gives you a lot of experience but also provides a lot of information to your opponents about how you perform on LAN and what your preferences are. They played all those maps across nine events, including the PGL CS2 Major and the still ongoing EPL Season 20. A significant contribution to their numbers comes from their performance. They never placed lower than 8th (BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024), and they won IEM Dallas 2024. An overall average rating of 1.10 in 104 LAN maps just solidifies their current placement in the world ranking, which is 4th.
Finn “karrigan” Andersen and co. played 99 LAN maps and are currently ranked 6th in the world. Similar to G2 Esports, they played at the same nine events as G2 but with less success. FaZe won IEM Chengdu 2024 right after losing to Natus Vincere in the grand finals of the PGL CS2 Major. After that, they struggled to reach the Top 4 and usually finished in 5th-8th place. Their average rating of 1.07 corresponds with their results and current ranking.
With just two LAN maps less played than FaZe, The MongolZ took 3rd place. Since they may not be one of the best teams in the world, they had to put in more work to reach those numbers. They played 12 events, including the PGL CS2 Major Opening Stage and IEM Cologne Play-In. They won MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2024 in their homeland and, most notably, YaLLa Compas 2024, with appearances at some S-tier and A-tier events. Their average rating is the same as G2’s but with fewer matches against top contenders.
Virtus.pro and Heroic are behind the top three with 87 LAN maps, followed by Ninjas in Pyjamas with 85. For example, Vitality played even less, with only 77 maps, and has the best average rating of all teams at LANs in the past six months—1.14. Attending one event less than FaZe and G2, they won IEM Cologne 2024 and secured two more finals. Perhaps that preparation and/or rest time helped them to peak later in the season. All of this could be important for upcoming competitions like the BLAST Premier World Final 2024 and Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
Of course, nothing brings teams together like LAN events; some would argue not even boot camps. Only when you arrive at LAN, when things go south, can you recognize and work on issues that otherwise would never come up. But, as mentioned before, there can be too much.
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levelzjee
13.09.2024
levelzjee
13.09.2024