How to review CS2 demos as a team
Good team review is short and specific. Pick one demo, go round by round through the moments that decided each one, and leave with two or three things to fix at the next practice. Watch the whole team at once in 2D, and only switch to one player's view when you need it.
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Before you start
- Pick one demo, ideally a scrim or match you lost or nearly lost.
- One person drives the replay, usually the coach or the IGL.
- Agree on what you want out of it: one map, one side, or one problem, like a T side that falls apart after the first death.
- Keep it under an hour. A long review turns into a long argument.
What to look at in every round
- Opening duels: who took the first fight, from where, and was it the plan? The team that gets the first kill wins most rounds.
- Trades: when a player died, was a teammate close enough to kill the enemy straight after?
- Untraded deaths: the deaths nobody could trade. They are often the clearest lesson in the demo, because someone was alone and too far from help.
- Utility: which smokes and flashes were thrown, when, and did they do their job? Look for team flashes and grenades that were never used.
- Economy: did the team buy together? One player on a full buy while four save is a round lost before it starts.
- Comms: what was called before the round broke, and did the call come in time?
Go round by round, not minute by minute
Don't watch the demo at normal speed from the start. Skip freeze time and the quiet parts, and stop on the moments above. For each lost round, ask one question: where did it break, and why? Write the answer down in one sentence.
Then look for the same answer in other rounds. A mistake that happens once can be bad luck. A mistake that happens five times is something to practise.
Let the review rail find the moments
In Subtick's 2D viewer, the review rail lists the moments worth stopping on: opening kills, trades, flash assists, wallbangs and clutches. It also lists the mistakes, like deaths nobody traded, team flashes, utility that was never thrown and buys out of sync with the team. Click one and the replay jumps to that tick.
- Pin a note or a drawing to the tick, and it waits on that moment for the rest of the team.
- Stack rounds on one radar to compare the same play across a match, or with a pro round on the same map.
- Play any round back as bots on your own server and walk through it in the game.
Add the comms
Positions show what happened. Comms show why. Record your TeamSpeak and play it in time with the round: solo the IGL to hear the call before the execute, or solo the player who died first to hear whether he asked for the trade.
Questions
How often should a team review demos?
After official matches, and after scrims where something went wrong. Short and often works better than one long session a week.
Who should lead a demo review?
The coach, or the IGL if you have no coach. One person drives the replay and keeps the list of things to fix.
Should we watch demos in 2D or in the game?
Start in 2D, where you see all ten players and every grenade at once. Switch to the game for one player's aim, crosshair placement or movement.
What is an untraded death?
A death where no teammate killed the enemy within a few seconds after. Subtick counts a kill as a trade if it comes within five seconds.