If you can't outfight them, outsmart them.
While other big titles in the competitive scene like DotA2 and League of Legends mostly rely on wits and brainpower for deciding the victor of a game, CS:GO on the other hand requires a combination of, broadly speaking, reflexes, gamesense, movement and aim. While you can't do much about your inherent reflexes, the other aspects of the game definitely have room for improvement, and we're gonna focus on exactly those.
A common misconception is that having good aim and/or movement is enough to get you to your dream rank. NO, you're forgetting the most crucial aspect of the game, gamesense. Gamesense includes a variety of things about the game which can only be learned through playing the game. Grenade lineups, map knowledge, tactical positioning are basic things which are learned through experience. There are also more advanced stuff like knowing meeting points and predicting enemy positions which we'll get to later.
For now, get ready, because we're gonna share with you some tips and secrets which are guaranteed to help you improve at the game, and get you the rank you deserve.
1) Effective Practicing:
You've heard this a lot, right? But did you ever learn how to really practice? No, we're not talking about just jumping into an aimbotz server and killing a thousand innocent bots. We're also not talking about joining an FFA deathmatch server and killing a hundred not-so-innocent players. If you're gonna practice, do it right. Not only do you need to warm up your arms but you also need to get your fingers, wrists and muscle memory going. Here's what you're gonna do to make your practice sessions effective: Join any deathmatch server, for the first couple minutes just focus on getting kills with your favourite weapon, AK, AWP, whatever. When you got the hang of it, stop shooting. Yes, because now you're gonna refine your micro movements: whenever you see an enemy, move your crosshair to his head but don't shoot him. Do your best to survive the firefight, which is just him shooting at you, as long as you can. Do small movements and crouch occasionally, all of it while keeping your crosshair to his head, simulating a competitive encounter. Soon enough you'll get the hang of dodging and shooting at the same time, gaining yourself a huge competitive advantage.
2) Advanced Movement:
Having good movement skills will give you a tremendous advantage in almost all competitive maps. Movement is a heavily underrated aspect of the game which isn't that hard to get the hang of but once mastered can win you rounds which would be otherwise unwinnable. We're not talking about running and jumping here, we're talking airstrafing, long or high jumping and jump-bugging.
Airstrafing can be done in a plethora of different maps available widely on the workshops but the most fun way to learn it is through surfing or bunny hopping. Just find yourself a surf or bunny hopping tutorial and start doing it, it's really easy to learn and will get you down the basics of airstrafing which can be used in competitive to gain a huge edge.
Long or high jumping is best done in KZ maps, which are available in the workshop. They're a bit difficult than bunny hopping or surfing but once you learn them, you can pull off some fancy stunts and game changing plays like the mirage window to cat jump, which requires a bit of both long and high jumping.
Jump bugging is even more advanced and complex but if pulled of correctly, it can completely eliminate any sort of noise you make from jumping and also make you take zero fall damage from any fall. We're not gonna explain how exactly to do it but you can find relevant tutorials online.
If you have friends to play the game with, you can try minigames maps like mg_galaxy to refine your movement, they usually have many game modes and not to mention, are extremely enjoyable.
3) Key to Good Communication:
Communication is a complex aspect of the game. If you think communication is simply giving out callouts in the microphone then you couldn't be more wrong. Communication is the art of precisely and clearly relaying as much information as possible in as little time as possible. Don't waste time on pointless calls on the mic, only say what's necessary. It's your duty to know what information and how much information do your teammates need to make the best use of the situation.
After you die, try to include in your calls not only the place your enemy was at, but also the precise location; For instance, if you die in Cache A main as a ct, don't just say "One A main" and instead say, "One in back of A main" or "One pushing A main". It helps your teammate guarding A decide whether to take an offensive of defensive stance. Include any small details you notice like when an enemy is reloading, or has a nade out.
We get that you might get frustrated after a death, or repeated deaths. But the microphone isn't the place to clear your frustration. Instead of swearing on the mic first thing after you die, try giving the important calls first, then turn off the mic and releasing your frustration on your desk.
Good and effective communication can be the decisive factor in many games, and will gain you respect as an IGL or simply as a player.
4) Map Knowledge:
This is something you'll learn from repetition. The more you play a map, the more you'll learn about its secrets. You'll get an idea about meeting points and get familiar with grenade lineups. Again, practice makes perfect; jump in an offline server and practice smokes, jump throws, or pop flashes. Run around the map finding good positions to peek or camp. You'll be surprised at how much you don't know about the competitive maps without consciously trying to focus on finding them.
Spawn positions are also an extremely important factor and can decide a round. You should follow professional games to know more about how they exploit spawn positions to get easy pick offs on unaware opponents.
If you're an AWPer, try knowing positions for aggressive AWPing. After getting a kill, know where to reposition. These bits of information can be crucial as an AWPer and can denote the difference between a good and a bad AWPer.
5) Reading Your Enemies:
"Read 'em like a book"
Cliché? We don't think so. People are predictable, and you can exploit their patterns to predict their moves. It might seem overwhelming at first but as you consciously try to read your enemies and play around those readings, you can eventually be a mastermind.
Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert is a prime example of this. The former Cloud9 player is infamous for his ability to decipher his opponents' brain and accurately predicting their next moves. There are countless clips of him throughout YouTube and Twitch showcasing this ability of his. He also walks us through his thought processes during his streams as he reads his enemies like an open book; So if you haven't already, you should check them out.
You could also play around what your enemies don't expect you to do. Guardian a site and the enemies smoked it off? Go in the smoke and stay there, hell you can go as far as to refresh the smoke. Do whatever it takes to be unpredictable and it won't be long before you catch an entire enemy team behind their backs; easy ace, right?
Outsmarting your enemies can make a big difference in any skill bracket, and mastering this technique instead of letting your brain go on auto pilot every time you enter a game can go a long way to you finally reaching your dream rank.
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