How will the Counter-Strike 2 mappool change after PGL Major Copenhagen 2024?
This year, the Counter-Strike 2 tournament schedule is so tight that even after the end of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the teams have no time to rest; IEM Chengdu 2024 will start in China the other day. But despite this, the game has long been in need of large-scale gameplay updates: they concern not only ordinary players, but also the esports scene. Everyone is already fed up with the current list of competitive maps, and the economics of the MR12 round system raises big questions, since the attacking side has a huge advantage in most locations. It is most logical to make these changes after the first major in the discipline, because this will mark the transition to a new stage in the development of the shooter. In this article we will discuss possible changes to the Counter-Strike 2 mappool and maps that may disappear from tournaments.
What maps can replace?
Valve’s decisions often turn out to be extremely unpredictable, for example, as was the case with replacing the cult classic map Dust 2 with Anubis. But there are several locations in the competitive scene right now that should be removed for various reasons.
Over all the CS2 LAN tournaments held, the most unpopular maps turned out to be Inferno and Vertigo. The first of them has always been one of the most popular on the professional scene, but players apparently didn’t really like the location changes in the updated version of the shooter. Only 137 official matches were played there. The fate of the map is a bit difficult to predict since it was the last one to be updated, but it will most likely remain in the mappool with some big changes.
The situation with Vertigo is completely different. The map was criticized back in CS:GO, after which it received drastic changes, however, this did not affect the opinion of esportsmen and ordinary players. It still remains one of the most disliked maps in the official mappool and has every chance of leaving it after PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. It did not receive any changes in CS2, and it was played only 150 times on LAN. The map is one of the first candidates for replacement.
If we follow the trend with Dust 2, Mirage may also leave the mappool. Now the map is the most outdated and it is high time to radically update it, because everyone is tired of it. While it does not fall far out of the mappool in terms of frequency of choice by teams, 181 matches were played on it on the LAN, but all games on Mirage look approximately the same. The map is still the most popular among casual players, but it’s time to replace it with something new. Back in the CS2 closed beta, there were rumors about a possible remake of Mirage and it would be nice to get one.
The remaining maps should remain unchanged. Ancient and Anubis were the last to be introduced and after important changes they became the most popular maps in the professional scene – they were picked 252 and 205 times respectively. Overpass, on the other hand, received a remake in CS2 and is unlikely to disappear from the mappool now, despite the fact that it lags slightly behind other maps in terms of peak frequency. Nuke is in a similar situation, although it has the greatest dominance of special forces, the developers will make do with only minor balance adjustments.
What maps will be added?
The list of applicants to return to the mappool is quite long. We still haven’t seen Dust 2, which received a new version for CS2, in the list of official maps, as well as Train, which was already featured in the shooter’s trailers. However, Valve, as usual, keeps everything secret and we will learn about the readiness of the cult map only after it appears in the game. In the case of Dust 2, there is some probability that the map will not return to the mappool at all. The company made only minor graphical changes to the new version of the map, it could only be transferred for its fans, and now the developers can work on a completely new Dust 3.
There have also been frequent rumors about a possible Cobblestone remake. The map will be made in a winter style, and the textures for it were glowing in the game files back in August 2023. The map has a lot of fans, but it hasn’t been in the game since 2019 and it’s high time to introduce a new version of it.
One of the most famous authors, FMPONE, is also working on the updated maps. He has already released a remake of Santorini called Thera. The map was in one of the CS:GO operations, which means that there are chances of its introduction into the official mappool, because CS2 players clearly want to get something completely new, and not just reworked old locations. But the main attention of FMPONE fans is more focused on the active development of the Cache remake. The map will be completely redesigned, and the new version will be closer to the classic version that everyone loved. It is not yet known when it will be ready, but there is no doubt that it will become part of the official mappool.
At the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 after-party, a Valve employee spoke to reporters about the work on new maps. Perhaps instead of remakes we will see completely fresh locations that have not yet been seen in CS:GO. But one of the maps will be a place with a train, which still hints at the appearance of Train.
Possible mappool expansion
Valve also has a non-standard option, which was proposed by Engin MAJ3R Kupeli from Eternal Fire. He believes that the developers may not remove maps from the mappool, but expand it to 11 locations. Then it will be replenished with Dust 2, Train, Cache and Cobblestone. This should make matches on the professional scene more varied and the mapveto stage more unpredictable. Teams that train a large number of maps will have an advantage in BO3 and BO5, making the system fairer. But Valve can also add not four locations, but only two: the result will be similar, so this decision depends only on the developers and the readiness of these maps.
We can imagine what mapveto will look like with these changes.
Mappool expansion to 9 maps:
BO3:
- Teams A and B ban two maps each;
- Teams A and B each choose one map;
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Remaining Decider.
BO5:
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Teams A and B each choose two maps;
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Remaining Decider.
Mappool expansion to 11 maps:
BO3:
- Teams A and B ban two maps each;
- Teams A and B each choose one map;
- Teams A and B ban two maps each;
- Remaining Decider.
BO5:
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Teams A and B each choose one map;
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Teams A and B each choose one map;
- Teams A and B are ban one map each;
- Remaining Decider.
So far, Counter-Strike 2 has received the only major update since the game’s release. It’s high time for Valve to make drastic decisions and make large-scale changes to ensure that gamers remain interested in the shooter, because the competition in 2024 is quite high. In addition to new maps, we are also expecting economic changes, a delayed operation, an anti-cheat update and new modes. But knowing Valve, things could go completely differently.