CS2 Premier Mode is an Unmitigated Mess

Despite the official launch, CS2's Premier game mode often results in disappointing one-sided matches with horrible teammates

Rank calibration concerns were a common gripe in Global Offensive, but the current state of Premier matchmaking in Counter Strike 2 appears to have exacerbated these issues. Sure, these problems may just be because the game just released, and it’s not unnatural to find yourself in weird lobbies. However, you would expect Valve to at least make the matchmaking system better than the mess that was CSGO. Let’s dive into the most common issues haunting the Premier matches right now. 

Unsatisfying One-Sided Games

Even if players are winning over 80% of their matches, it mostly consists of boring, one-sided games where they triumph over the opposing squads. If you have tuned into the live streams of current or former professionals in these last few days, it’s mostly them dominating with huge round differentials. 

This is especially the case when players are five-stacking lobbies, where, except for a few games once in a while, they are getting into games that are way too easy to be enjoyable. 

The same thing happens when players are faced with a defeat, as, instead of a close matchup, they get run over by the opposing squad. 

It’s obvious that the current ranking system is failing to bring players together for a fair Counter Strike game. Rather, the matches end up being extremely one-sided, no matter if it’s a win or a loss. 

“Bot” Teammates in Premier

Even if you were ranked Legendary Eagle Master or higher in Global Offensive, you likely have been in CS2 Premier lobbies where most of your teammates appeared to be way lower in the skill tree. As a result, you are forced to play with individuals with terrible positioning, little to no comms, and overall bot-like tendencies. 

Players in the community pointed out this issue even during the Beta release of the game, and it has persisted in the worldwide release. “Premier is just a matter of who has less bots = wins.” – one user stated in an HLTV forum thread. This factor also plays into the matches being one-sided, and it’s overall not very enjoyable to play with people who have little to no game sense, especially when you used to be a high-elo player in CSGO. 

Adding insult to injury, many players who used to constantly spam Mirage and Inferno in CSGO’s matchmaking are now finding themselves forced to play other maps in CS2 Premier since this mode features a map ban system. As a result, many of your teammates are likely to be clueless about maps like Nuke, Ancient and Vertigo, which worsens their performance, making the match less enjoyable. 

Five Stacks Overpowering

While it does not happen every game, a lot of the time, you go against lobbies with a five-stack or four-stack. This issue, many times, results in unfavorable games where you face defeat, and the score reflects how one-sided the match was. Putting a five-stack against lobbies where only two or three people are queued together usually gives a lot of advantages to the stacked squad. 

On top of that, the problem of getting bad teammates when solo or duo queuing makes it worse when you go against a five-stack team. As a result, unless you play with three or four other friends, the games are going to be way too hard.

While this is not the biggest issue with CS2 Premier, it does feel a lot worse because of the previous problems we mentioned, which is the terrible rank calibration. Many players who had over 10,000 rank points in the Beta have received less than 2,000 points after the official release, which, again, points to the faulty ranking of Valve.

Solution to This Mess

These problems have carried themselves over from CSGO, and while they persist, the answer to having decent matchmaking is still going to be FACEIT unless you find four decent teammates for a five-stack lobby. FACEIT is a platform dedicated to holding Counter Strike matchmaking on private servers. Not only are you likely to have teammates and the opposing side of the same skill group on FACEIT, but you will also receive higher rank points when you face much stronger opponents, which is not a feature present in the Premier mode of Counter Strike 2. 

Counter Strike 2 is on top of the Steam chart right now, averaging nearly a million players every day for the last month. Looking at these numbers, the successor of arguably the greatest tactical shooter has succeeded in its rework. However, these issues in the Premier mode have passed over from Global Offensive, and Valve needs to pay attention and employ a fairer matchmaking system.