ropz’s deagle clutch shows the true power of CSGO’s best pistol

Durning mousesports showdown with Complexity Gaming at DreamHack Masters Spring, mouz found themselves down a whole map and facing an 8-3 lead from Complexity on Dust 2. In the 12th round however, Robin “ropz” Kool was tired of being bullied. Armed with armor and a Desert Eagle, ropz turned what was an eco round from mousesports into a win against four members of Complexity. And he did it as the last player left alive.

After a mid-to-B split that only eliminated one Complexity member, ropz suddenly found himself all alone against the rest of Complexity. Unfortunately for Benjamin “blameF” Bremmer and the rest of Complexity, ropz had one of his favorite weapons at his disposal: the Desert Eagle.

The weapon rewards precise play. With its ability to kill any opponent with a single headshot opposing its low magazine size and significant recoil, it’s a high-risk, high-reward weapon. But skilled players can offset the Desert Eagle’s weaknesses with proper aim and positioning, just like ropz did against Complexity.

How Ropz pulled off his Desert Eagle clutch

Ropz wins his clutch because of two factors.

First, Complexity underestimates both his ability with the Deagle and what kind of buy ropz has. Here’s what Complexity knows for sure:

• mouz only had one AK-47 on the field, in the hands of Özgür “woxic” Eker
• the rest of mouz only had upgraded pistols
• at best, ropz has an M4A1-S and the Deagle

On top of that, it’s likely that Complexity thinks they know at least one more thing about ropz

• ropz’s stolen M4A1-S is out of ammo, as Owen “oBo” Schlattery likely communicated that to them after he died. Fans can see oBo switch to his USP-S just prior to his death

poizon’s door peek sets up ropz’s clutch

Complexity lacks any information about whether or not ropz has armor, and that makes Valentin “poizon” Vasilev’s solo peek door is risky. poizon doesn’t peek with his AWP, instead choosing to peek with his Tech-9.

Poizon’s widepeek at doors is the right move, but the Tech-9 isn’t. At this range, the only reason poizon would choose the pistol is because of its fast fire rate, a benefit rendered useless given the pistol’s spread at distance. poizon’s choice of weapons here might be due to a Complexity guess that ropz doesn’t have armor. It’s not a bad assumption given mouz’s broken buy, but it’s still a dangerous one.

ropz takes his time with poizon. Instead of spamming and hoping for the miracle headshot, the mouz star realizes that he isn’t fighting an AWP. He takes advantage of the Tech 9’s inaccuracy, patiently waiting until poizon realizes he’s made a mistake and stops to reset the Tech 9’s recoil. ropz takes poizon out with a calm, well-placed headshot.

ropz’s fantastic positioning finishes Complexity

ropz’s next two kills are a result of the mousesports player’s masterful positioning rather than any Complexity mistakes. In fact, the only thing that Complexity can be faulted for here is their urgency to retake the B site. Not only has the bomb only just gone down, but poizon has a defuse kit, and both oBo and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke have dropped their own kits on site.

But ropz positions himself at a headshot angle under the window, forcing the remaining Complexity players to fight him in a position where he has the advantage. While Complexity can eliminate Ropz with only one bullet at 50HP, and ropz too can finish off Complexity with a headshot from the powerful Desert Eagle.

Which, of course, he does.

ropz’s point of view shows how powerful his position is. In addition to the headshot angle, there’s only one spot the CTs can attack him from other than door. That area is shown below.

On the other hand, here’s what both Complexity players have to deal with when they enter the B site through window. ropz could be anywhere in the highlighted area.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is full of these small moments, where a bunch of small decisions can factor into the end of a round. But when ropz is the last one left alive, sometimes all the correct choices in the world don’t amount to much.