Counter-Strike as Minecraft makes for the chillest clutch of all time

Counter-Strike edited to look like it's being played with the Minecraft HUD.

(Image credit: Valve)

The clutch is one of the core elements of Counter-Strike's competitive appeal. They can occur in more-or-less any scenario where one team is heavily outnumbered, but I'd argue the classic clutch, the purest of all the clutches, is a 1vs4 scenario around a ticking bomb site. These moments are when the legends are born, when the best players in the world show why they're the best. And when everyone else flashbangs themselves then gets one-shot.

Counter-Striker KlenKluke recorded one clutch moment and, because reasons, decided to edit it as if the game was played with Minecraft's HUD and in some respects its items. To be clear this is not a mod, it's just a very cool video.

There's so much to admire here (as well as the sick aim). The switching between inventory icons at the bottom, the bomb timer's recreation in Minecraft fashion, the little death text, and, especially, the fact that the AK-47 is shooting arrows at the unfortunate Counter-Terrorists. The creator's also done something funky with the aspect ratio to make the various elements look like they fit together.

More than anything else though, the thing that took the least work makes this: Minecraft's music is legit some of the most calming, chilled-out tunesmithing you can get. Layered atop a high-intensity moment like this, along with the visual flourishes, it manages to turn a nailbiting clutch into some sort of zen experience. You can't imagine the CTs ever getting a shot in: the Minecraft music tells you that would be wrong.

As mentioned this isn't a mod, and creator KlenKluke has no intentions of making it into one (there is, however, a Counter-Strike Fall Guys mod that is better than Fall Guys). The venerable shooter will be a decade old come 2022 but the game and the community around it remain huge and vital, with its status as the king of competitive shooters still unchanged. This video does prompt one thought though: Minecraft music kit? Volvo pls?

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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."