Introducing Premier with Seasonal Leaderboards

Tonight, Valve has announced the biggest update to Counter-Strike so far. Premier becomes the new competitive landscape for Counter-Strike fans, complete with regional leaderboards and seasons. The system completely overhauls the matchmaking service that fans have come to grow and love, but wanted more out of. It looks to be a direct challenge to the rise of ESEA and FACEIT as these competitive features fit seamlessly for the average fan.

Valve is introducing an ELO-based system, allowing players to reach a more specific ranking rather than the previous Counter-Strike divisions. These rankings will go towards "seasonal" leaderboards among friends, regions, and the world.

With some Counter-Strike players potentially not ready for these "Premier" matches yet, you can hone skills on individual maps as previous skill groups can be calculated on a "per map basis" meaning that those who were Globals on Vertigo, could still be Silver III on Mirage.

The updates are a welcome sight for fans who are looking for more actionable items within the client to use instead of paying a monthly service for FACEIT. Time will tell how fans like the new structure in CS2, but for now, this appears to be a welcome change.