Counter-Strike 2 has two ranked modes, and each one measures your level differently. Premier gives you a single number, your CS Rating, and its colour shows where you stand. Competitive uses the classic skill groups from Silver to Global Elite, tracked separately for every map. This guide explains how both systems work, how many wins you need to get a rating, what the colours mean, how maps are picked in Premier since 22 September 2026 and what happens when a season ends. Everything applies to the PC version and the current Premier Season Five as of 19 October 2026.
Premier and Competitive: two separate ladders
Premier is the CS2 ranked mode with a map pick. It’s played on the Active Duty maps, the same pool used in professional tournaments, and the teams choose the map before the match starts. The result is one number, your CS Rating, plus world, regional and friends leaderboards.
Competitive works the old way. You choose the map yourself and your level is shown as one of 18 skill groups from Silver to Global Elite. Premier requires Prime Status, which we cover in our Prime and VAC guide.
| Mode | Ranking | Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Premier | CS Rating (one number with a colour) | Active Duty, map pick before the match |
| Competitive | 18 skill groups, separate for each map | you pick the map yourself |
Competitive ranks: one per map
Competitive doesn’t give you one rank for the whole game. Your skill group is calculated for each map on its own, so you can sit several groups higher on Mirage than on Nuke. That makes sense: if you’ve played one map a hundred times and another twice, you won’t be equally good on both.
A map rank only appears once you’ve collected the required number of wins on that map, and it’s wins that count, not matches played. On 21 January 2026 Valve adjusted the underlying values behind Competitive ranks. Existing skill groups expired and reappear once you earn the required wins on the map again. If a map rank disappeared after January 2026, that reset is why.
CS Rating in Premier
You get your CS Rating after 10 wins in Premier. Until then you play without a visible number. The same applies at the start of every season: your rating is recalculated based on the previous season and you reveal it again with another 10 wins.
Before every match you can see how much rating is at stake. Whether you gain or lose depends on your team winning or losing, and win and loss streaks amplify the change. A good run moves you up faster, a bad one drags you down harder.
CS Rating colours
The rating is split into colour tiers of 5,000 points each.
| Colour | CS Rating |
|---|---|
| Grey | 0–4,999 |
| Light blue | 5,000–9,999 |
| Blue | 10,000–14,999 |
| Purple | 15,000–19,999 |
| Pink | 20,000–24,999 |
| Red | 25,000–29,999 |
| Gold | 30,000 and above |
Premier map pick since 22 September 2026
On 22 September 2026 Valve changed how the map is chosen in Premier and explained it in the patch notes. Teams used to ban until one map was left, and that’s still what most older guides describe. Now maps are picked and a random draw decides which one you play:
- Team 1 picks one map.
- Team 2 picks two maps.
- Team 1 picks the fourth and final map.
- The game randomly draws one of those four maps, and that’s the one you play.
The picks come from the Active Duty pool. As of 19 October 2026 that’s Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage and Nuke. The pool changes with the seasons, and our CS2 map pool guide tracks every change.
Match length and overtime
Premier, Competitive and the Majors are all played to a maximum of 24 rounds, MR12 with 12 rounds per half. At 12–12 the match goes to a six-round overtime. Premier only plays one overtime, so the first team to 16 round wins takes the match. If overtime ends 15–15, the match is a draw.
Premier seasons and what happens at a reset
Premier runs in seasons. Valve starts each new season with a game update and has often changed the map pool at the same time.
| Season | Start |
|---|---|
| Season One | 27 September 2023 |
| Season Two | 28 January 2025 |
| Season Three | 16 July 2025 |
| Season Four | 21 January 2026 |
| Season Five | 8 July 2026 (running as of 19 October 2026) |
As of 19 October 2026 Valve hasn’t announced when Season Five ends. Once a new season starts, your rating is recalculated from the previous one and shows up again after 10 wins.
Season medals
Every season you can earn a medal. Its colour matches the highest CS Rating you reached during the season, not the one you finish on. Wins add stripes, one for every 25 wins, up to five. According to Valve’s announcement, you get the medal if you meet three conditions:
- your account is in good standing,
- you have at least 25 Premier wins in the season,
- you have an active CS Rating when the season ends.
Premier or FACEIT?
Alongside official Premier, plenty of players use FACEIT, which has its own Elo and skill levels 1 to 10. If you have Prime and enough Premier wins, FACEIT converts your starting Elo from your Premier rating from the last season; otherwise you start at 1,000 Elo. Our guide to FACEIT and servers shows how to connect. If you’re new to the game, start with what CS2 is and how it differs from CS:GO.
Join our Discord to find teammates for Premier and Competitive and talk through the maps that work for you: Discord GamersTogether.
FAQ
Ten won matches. Losses don’t count towards it. After a new season starts, you have to reveal your rating again with ten wins.
Because Competitive calculates your skill group for each map separately. On a map you play all the time you can have a completely different rank than on one you queue once a month.
Each colour covers a band of 5,000 points: grey up to 4,999, then light blue, blue, purple, pink, red and gold from 30,000.
Since 22 September 2026 team 1 picks one map, team 2 picks two and team 1 picks the last one. The game then randomly draws one of the four. Older guides describe a ban phase that no longer applies.
Valve hadn’t announced an end date as of 19 October 2026. The season has been running since 8 July 2026, and once it ends your rating is recalculated and reappears after ten wins.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. Find more guides in our CS2 guides and the latest updates in CS2 news.