Frequently Asked Questions

Empress.GG is a free competitive matchmaking platform for Counter-Strike 2 and CS:GO. We offer 5v5 matches on dedicated servers with a transparent MMR system. Each game has its own queue, map pool, and independent rankings.

Click 'Log in with Steam' to authenticate with your Steam account. You'll then complete registration by verifying your email, choosing a username, and meeting the minimum 100-hour CS2 playtime requirement.

You need a Steam account with at least 100 hours of CS2 playtime and a verified email address. These requirements help maintain a quality competitive environment.

Yes, the core competitive matchmaking experience is completely free.

When you hit Find Match, our system queues you in your two closest ping regions. It searches for 10 players within a compatible MMR range. The longer you wait, the wider the MMR range becomes to find you a match faster.

For solo players, we automatically select your two lowest-ping regions to queue in. For parties, we use the party leader's best regions and calculate the lowest average ping across all members to pick an optimal server.

Yes! Create a party of up to 5 players and queue together. Solo and duo players are primarily matched against other small groups, while larger stacks face similar-sized parties for fairness.

After all 10 players accept, each team's captain takes turns banning maps from the pool of 7. CS2 maps: Mirage, Inferno, Dust2, Nuke, Ancient, Anubis, Train. CS:GO maps: Mirage, Inferno, Dust2, Nuke, Cache, Vertigo, Train. Captains alternate bans until one map remains — that's your match map.

Players who don't accept within the time limit are simply removed from the queue. Everyone else continues searching automatically — no penalties, no wasted time.

We use a Glicko-2 rating system. New players must win 5 placement matches before receiving their initial rank. Your placement MMR is determined by your performance during these matches — win against stronger opponents and you'll place higher. After placement, your rating adjusts based on match outcomes, factoring in your rating deviation and the strength of your opponents.

New players are Unranked until they win 5 placement matches. After placements, you receive an initial MMR based on your performance and are assigned a rank. There are 10 rank tiers: Unranked (placements), Bronze (1,000+), Silver (4,000+), Gold (7,000+), Platinum (10,000+), Diamond (13,000+), Prodigy (16,000+), Master (19,000+), Elite (22,000+), and Champion (25,000+). The minimum MMR floor after placement is 1,000.

Team captains are chosen from solo players or party leaders on each team. Among eligible candidates, the player with the highest MMR is selected. Captains are responsible for the map veto process.

The map pool consists of 7 maps. Team captains alternate banning one map at a time. After 6 bans (3 per team), the last remaining map is played. Each captain has 30 seconds per ban, with an auto-ban if time expires.

Abandoning a match results in escalating cooldowns and MMR penalties. Repeated abandons lead to progressively longer competitive bans. Don't leave your teammates hanging.

Yes, Empress.GG operates on competitive seasons. At the start of each new season, MMR undergoes a soft reset. Your seasonal stats, peak rank, and match history are preserved on your profile.

CS2 matches run on 128-tick DatHost servers. CS:GO matches run on dedicated 128-tick servers. All servers are spun up on-demand for each match to ensure optimal performance.

We currently support US East (Virginia), US Central (Chicago), and US West (California). The system automatically selects the best region based on your ping.

While we have begun slowly implementing match demo features on the site, match demos are not ready for download. We will be releasing it soon!

We support Counter-Strike 2 and CS:GO. Each game has its own matchmaking queue, map pool, server infrastructure, and independent MMR track. Your rank in one game does not affect the other.

Use the bug report form accessible from your dashboard. Include as much detail as possible — steps to reproduce, screenshots, and your browser information help us fix issues faster.

Search for players by username from the friends panel in your sidebar. Send a friend request and once accepted, you can see their online status and invite them to your party.

Yes! Upload a custom avatar, equip cosmetic playercard backgrounds, and link your social accounts (Discord, Twitter, Twitch) to personalize your profile.

You can report players through their profile page or from the post-match screen. Include the reason for your report and our moderation team will review it.

Your username is chosen during registration and is unique across the platform. Username changes may be available through the settings page.