Climbing your way up the ranks with your trusty friends undeniably elevates your CS2 experience and infuses it with lasting memories. However, friend groups come in all sizes, and perhaps you’ve found yourself with a trio of comrades, leading you to wonder if CS2 allows 4-stacks in ranked games. Let’s find out!
Does CS2 Allow 4-Stacks?
CS2 gives players the freedom to form 4-stacks in all game modes except for Premier. This decision to retain CS:GO’s queueing system has been welcomed by the CS2 community, who don’t have to fear breaking their friend groups or searching for extra players.
However, Valve seems to have been inspired by Valorant and the third-party platform FACEIT when it comes to disallowing 4-stacks in Premier, leaving players divided on whether this was a judicious change or not.
Why Are 4-Stacks Not Allowed In Premier Mode In CS2?
CS2 inherits CS:GO’s unique feature of kicking out uncooperative teammates through voting. However, this mechanic has a history of being misused by 4-stacks, who use it to troll the solo-queuing player who had the misfortune of joining their team. Trust me, we’ve been on the receiving end and it doesn’t feel good.
There has also been an ever-growing trend of toxicity against the 5th player by 4-stacks, as the odd-one-out had to take the brunt of comm abuse and scapegoating, leading to highly unpleasant experiences for many Counter-Strike enthusiasts.
Removing the ability to form 4-stacks for Premier fixes these problems, as friend groups now either have to full-stack or have more than one solo-queuing player in their team. While this decision makes perfect sense for many, the CS2 community has been quick to point out the drawbacks of this “unreasonable” rule.
Drawbacks For Not Queuing 4-Stacks In Premier Mode
A lot of players who play in 4-stack have protested the 4-stack rule as they and their friends now find themselves deprived of the Premier experience. Players have expressed that bullying will just be as common no matter if you play as a duo, trio or a 4-stack.
Additionally, players have noticed that the new queuing system seems to give an edge to 5-stack players as they are much more likely to be put up against teams consisting of solo-queuers. By banning 4-stacks and making space for more solo-queuers, Valve might be inadvertently making the competitive experience unfair for players.
These very valid issues have led the community to speculate if Valve is willing to introduce any changes to the Premier queuing system in future updates.
Will There Be More Updates On The Queuing System In CS2?
According to CS2 data miner Aquarius, we can expect more changes to the Premier mode as CS2 dishes out its updates. However, while the improvements will largely be focused on introducing a leaderboard name registration, the 4-stack ban is expected to be permanent.
Conclusion
While allowing 4-stacks on classic competitive and other game modes, Valve’s decision to ban parties of size 4 queuing together has met with a mixed response from the CS2 community. Do you think Valve made the right choice? Let us know your thoughts and insights in the comments below!