Tutorial on Spy-cicle vs Knife

The spycicle vs knife discussion again, after getting the question quite a lot I decided to explain a little, cons and pros of each knife.

Okay so, we have the spycicle. It is like a silent killer; opposite the knife it have the ability to stab people silent, which is very good in the higher division of spying, where staying alive and not get caught is main priority. The only thing it will leave behind is a trace, which is the ice statues of the people, you have killed, but that’s not a big problem.

See, a lot of spies use the stock knife because they like to go for trickstabs on pyros and shit, since the spycicle wont be able to do this, because of the meltdown and 15 seconds cooldown for the knife. But trickstabs in competitive really means nothing, it can some rare times be helpful when you’re in a desperate situation, but if we look at the whole, it’s kinda useless. Especially in higher divisions people are so aware that you wont be able to get these stabs on the pyros.

I myself was like one of the newer spies, in the beginning I hated the spycicle, because my style was involving going close to the enemy and backstab them. Where every time I was going for the combo, literally one second from stabbing either the medic or the heavy, my spycicle would melt because a pyro would burst me on fire. I figured out how to play spycicle more smart later on, decided to actually use my gun and not only the knife, which is another thing newer spies don’t take advantage of. SO USE YOUR GUN FOR GOD SAKE. Think of spycicle like a plan B, if your stab wont work, or you get bursted in flames, pull out your revolver and finish off the medic/heavy or whoever you’re trying to pick off.

You will play much smarter when you don’t have your spycicle for 15 seconds, it will give you some time, to fade out and enemy team will forget to spycheck for awhile. You will also not always be detected by a suspiscous pyro that spychecks everywhere, if let’s say you’re hiding in a corner with Cloak and Dagger.

In my opinion spycicle is a good upgrade for the spy, but you will need to know how to use it properly, and definitely not use it like a normal knife, well otherwise you might aswell use the normal knife. You need to think smarter, the spycicle, DR combo will give you another level of escaping opportunities, so use it well.

Normal knife on the other hand, decently good in lower levels, if you believe you can take out pyros better with the knife than with your gun. But will have a loud scream from the guy you backstab, and once you’re on fire, you’re most likely caught.
But in the end it depends on your situation, playstyle and what division you play in my opinion. I see spycicle as a good upgrade for my playstyle, so it’s a personal opinion in the end really.