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.

The same was said about the steam controller, but in the end it was still shit compared to a mouse. It's just not feasible in a game as competitive as csgo.

It’s not for everyone, but calling it shit just because it doesn’t work easily for your liking is
a bit much since it’s still usable to some. I beat plethora of shooters on gyro and it wasn’t that much harder than playing on mouse once I got used to it.