How to run a CS2 scrim

Agree on the details first

• Map, server and start time.
• A server with room for ten players, plus coaches if they join.
• A knife round, or sides picked beforehand.
• Whether you play out all 24 rounds or stop when a team reaches 13, and whether there is overtime.
• Whether the demo and comms are recorded.

Start it on the server

On a Subtick team server, one person types .scrim. That leaves practice, kicks the bots and starts scrim warmup with the knife round and playout on. Competitive settings come back: no infinite ammo, no buddha.

• Everyone types .ready, or .r. When every player on T and CT is ready, the knife round starts.
• .rk turns the knife round on or off, and .playout switches between playing every round and allowing a clinch.
• After the knife, the winners type .stay or .switch.
• .start skips the ready check and starts straight away.

Pauses and timeouts

Someone drops, a headset dies. Pause rather than playing a round four against five.

• .pause or .p pauses at the next freeze time. .tech announces it as a technical pause.
• .unpause needs both teams to type it.
• .tac calls a tactical timeout for your team while the match is live.
• On a server without these commands, an admin can use mp_pause_match and mp_unpause_match in the console.

Record it

A scrim you can't watch back is half a scrim. Scrims on the Subtick team server are recorded with GOTV. Record your TeamSpeak with Subtick Recorder as well: on a scrim played on a Subtick server, the comms line up with the demo exactly.

How comms review works →

Finish and review

• .scrim off ends the scrim and puts the server back on practice.
• .restart goes back to scrim warmup if you need to start again.
• Review the scrim while it is fresh, round by round in 2D.

See every scrim command →