The Eco Round

One of the things that truly gets to me as an experienced counter-strike player is the amount of players out there who have no idea what an eco round is. The eco round is short for economical round and the short version of the explanation is: a round where you buy nothing or next to nothing.

The value of the eco round is probably hard to learn since the eco round's nature is quite counter intuitive. Not buying a gun, armor and helmet, grenades, and a defuse kit surely does not sound like a good way to win the round, and it is not. The gain lies within the fact that counter-strike is played over the course of multiple rounds. You save your money to fight another day, or in this case, another round.

Think of it this way. If the opposing team has the firepower advantage and the armor advantage as well as the auxiliary advantage (grenades, flashes, smokes) and your team only has the funds to match one out of the three categories, the odds are that you are not favored to win even if you spend your hard earned cash. Your chances of winning that round increase if you buy guns anyway, but if you do not that money was wasted.

The eco round allows your team to sacrifice one round to equalize the next (note: in some cases you need to sacrifice more than one round e.g. second and third as counter terrorists side after losing the first). The point is that you would rather play one equally favored round and one disfavored one, compared to two disfavored ones. This is especially true since there is no risk involved in the eco round, but the "buy what you can"-round risks your team economy.

When should your team go for the eco round? Whenever a member of your team cannot afford to buy a gun and armor plus helmet. Sometimes you should also take into consideration if your team can afford the necessary auxiliaries as when deciding when to eco. If you press "tab" and reveal the scoreboard, your team's statistics as well as each player's funds will be visible. Once again, communication is key, not all players have the good habit of checking team funds each round, so make sure that you inform your team if your funds are low. This is crucial to prevent your teammates from buying when all members cannot afford to.

Sometimes, however, there are just one or two persons who need to eco, but the rest of the team have all the money they need. If any of the other members can afford to buy their own equipment (gun, armor and helmet) as well as an additional gun, then they are able to and should buy a gun for their poverty ridden team members.

Before I end this segment I will yet again stress how important it is to keep track of your team's money, not just your personal funds. Whatever you do, do not be the guy who goes gung-ho and always buys the biggest gun affordable. It is very frustrating having that guy on your team, and it reduces your chances of winning a great deal. If winning is not what you care about, which in itself is alright, then maybe competitive matchmaking is not for you. Do not grief your team mates, eco the round.

Over and out!