Most of the avoidable trouble in a Counter-Strike 2 evening happens before the first round. A microphone is on the wrong device, somebody's game is still updating, someone forgot which maps are in the pool this month. We now run a short check right before the queue button, and it fits into about five minutes of voice chat.
The list we read out
Each of us answers in turn, one line each:
- Sound: can you hear the team, and can the team hear you?
- Game: is the client updated and sitting on the main menu?
- Eyes: is your crosshair where you left it, and are the video settings unchanged?
- Maps: which of the maps in the current pool do you want to avoid, and which do you want?
- Body: water, snack, and a quick stretch of the wrists.
It sounds almost silly written down. In practice it takes five voices and about three sentences each, and it replaces the usual ten minutes of troubleshooting in the middle of the first map.
Counter-Strike 2 screenshot — © Valve, official Steam store page.
Why the order matters
Sound comes first because it is the one thing that hurts everybody. If one player cannot hear, the rest of the check is wasted. The map question comes last on purpose: by then people are talking, and the first decision of the night is made together instead of by whoever types fastest.
What we do not add
We do not discuss strategy during the check. We do not go through everyone's settings. If something looks wrong, we note the name and handle it after the first map. The point is a quick, shared start, not a team meeting.
The idea of treating the five minutes before the match as a short, repeatable routine comes from this team routine, which also explains how to set the queue time for the group. We only changed the wording to suit our own chat.