You’d have to be a masochist to actually play this on steam deck or with any controller.
Unless they have some sort of “steam deck only” matchmaking, but even then it’s just not made for controller.
It’s not a standard xbox controller. There’s a gyro with several ways to handle it, including flick, which does take a little time to get used to, but works really well as a mouse substitution for such an environment. Some people are just that good with a thumbstick as well and can easily enjoy casual gamemodes.
Steam Deck is a capable beast, even for a game like Counter-Strike.
At its core, CS is a competitive shooter. Having casual maps and modes is fun but the game should not cater to this play mode. If valve tries to make it casual friendly they will disappoint the competitive players and will not be able to compete with other casual shooters.
Basically I don’t want then to cater too much to the casual scene
This isn’t what’s happening, though? What are you on about?