Scrims are getting very popular in the e-sport scene. In this guide I will explain what CS:GO Scrims are and how you can join them.
What is a CS:GO Scrim?
A CS:GO scrim is a preseason, warmup, or friendly game like in soccer. It prepares top teams but also beginners for tournaments and big events. The word scrim comes from scrimmage and skirmish. 
Through CS:GO scrims teams can perfectly prepare for the important matches and get some experience and playtime to train with their lineup.
When playing CS:GO on a high level or pro level, it’s essential to play as often as possible versus really good opponents to improve the skill. Besides the ranked matchmaking, CS:GO scrims allow to play single games or even small scrim tournament games to get into the right mood for the real competition. More and more CS:GO scrims arise and a lot of new websites allow to play those scrims. E-sport scrims have two kind of playing: team and solo scrims.
What are CS:GO Pro Scrims?
Any CS:GO player can play scrims, but CS:GO pro scrims are focused on matching pro teams against each other. Like that the skill level is high, both teams can learn a lot and it’s perfect to stream and moderate these games on twitch.
If you are an active CS:GO stream-viewer, you know that Scrims are great and whenever there is a friendly pro scrim, it feels a bit like a real competition, since both teams want to win.
Another special thing about Pro scrims is that fans and normal players in some cases get an invite for CS:GO pro scrims to join them and they get the possibility to play against top pro players and top streamers.
What are CS:GO Scrimmage Maps?
In july 2019, Valve added Scrimmage maps to CS:GO. These maps do not really have the same outcome as CS:GO scrims, but they are comparable somehow. These “Scrimmage Maps” include Ruby, Breach, Seaside, Chlorine and Mirage. 
If you play CS:GO Scrimmage maps, it’s a real competitive matchmaking mode. While in the normal CS:GO matchmaking mode playing with friends of a different rank is forbidden, on scrimmage maps it’s possible. These matches tie in all players to play like if it’s a ranked match, but it’s not – the CS:GO ranks will not be affected.
Scrimmage Maps are a great option for everyone because you can play against others with much higher skill and learn a lot, without losing your rank. It’s forbidden to leave those matches, like that Valve is giving players the chance to test out new maps without losing their rank.
You also get XP for playing to increase your CS:GO profile ranks and service medals.
How does CS:GO
Scrims work?
A scrim has to be arranged between at least two parties and can be started in a very casual way. In the past you could have said it’s a fun war or training war, now it’s called scrim. To organize a single scrim game, the team captains can just arrange a time and a server and all of the players join at a specific time. 
The mode has to be chosen: It can be like in CS:GO ranked matchmaking a best of 30 (BO30), which would mean the first team that wins 16 rounds wins, but any other mode can be played as well.
CS:GO scrims often work as a small tournament that a third party organization is managing. These scrims can even have a small timed ladder or tournament tree, which can be organized with online tools like challonge.com.
Some pro teams love to send their players into boot camps, where all of them sit together in one room and train for big e-sport tournaments. For boot camps, CS:GO scrims are the perfect place to improve team play.
How can I join a Counterstrike Scrim?
Today it’s easy to join such scrims in Counterstrike, simply google the term CS:GO scrims and sign up for several sites. It’s useful to be in a team so that your team can simply play against another full team. If you have a real CS:GO clan, the team captain can arrange those scrims. 
To play a CS:GO scrim set up a community server, set a password and every player who takes part has to join the server. If you join a real clan as a single player, you can profit from several things, they often have their own CS:GO clan server, which works perfectly for scrims.
Another great option to play CS:GO scrims are to join Discord servers and streaming communities. Often streamers, communities, or clans arrange scrims and you can simply enter.
How does Scrims work in Fortnite, Dota 2 and League of Legends?
Scrims are not only popular in CS:GO, in other games like Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch or Fortnite scrims get played more and more often. In some games like Fortnite, scrims are quite hard to arrange.
CS:GO is perfect to play scrims trough community and clan servers. In some cases, the game developer itself is giving the chance to join scrims as well, just like with the scrimmage maps.
