The Counter-Strike 2 map pool is all the time a relentless level of dialogue. Everybody has their favorite map, everybody has their least favorite, and there’s virtually all the time somebody calling for both Mirage or Inferno to be eliminated.
No matter which facet of that debate you sit, there may be some solace to be taken in the truth that Valve have turn into way more lively with map pool adjustments, with a map change following every of the 4 CS2 Majors to date. So, on the StarLadder Budapest Main, we spoke with quite a lot of high gamers and analysts to get their ideas on the lively obligation map pool.
Which map ought to go away the pool?
As we talked about earlier, Mirage is usually a map that’s rapidly introduced up when folks debate which map ought to exit the pool. It has been a part of the lively obligation pool ever because the launch of CS:GO, and though it has seen some adjustments it that point, the dearth of actual substantial adjustments like what has occurred to Overpass, Nuke, or Inferno has led to many individuals in the neighborhood contemplating it to be “stale.”
Sadly, if you’re a type of folks, you’re not more likely to get your want any time quickly. As Martin “STYKO” Styk says: “Valve seems to be at lots of information. Mirage could be very common, it’s the go-to map, you don’t must be an excellent participant to be good at it.”
So what map can go? Properly, should you’re Danny “zonic” Sorensen, then you definately’d be asking for Overpass or Inferno. The explanation for one is clear: it’s the Falcons’ perma-ban, while the opposite is results-oriented. And given what occurred to Falcons on Inferno on the BLAST Austin Main, who can actually blame him for that?
Dislike of Inferno is a view shared by STYKO, who stated: “Get Inferno out. The map is simply stale; the volumetric smokes take an excessive amount of of the chokepoints. Watching it’s painful due to the saving, casters have stated it’s ‘meh.’
“Normally when Inferno is GOATed it’s when a workforce overperforms, fairly than the map itself being good.”
So, if Inferno is the map that individuals appear to suppose ought to go away, then what map ought to come into the pool? As Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg factors out, it simply isn’t that easy.
Which map ought to enter the pool?
The CS2 map pool is balanced round two totally different types of play. The brawl-heavy “pugging” maps, resembling Mirage, and the extra tactical maps, like Nuke. Provided that Counter-Strike is a tactical FPS, a map pool that barely favours these tactical maps is all the time most well-liked.
The issue then, is that Cache appears to be the map everybody thinks shall be returning, with even the not too long ago launched 2026 service medal seemingly hinting in direction of it. In Mauisnake’s eyes, that implies that solely certainly one of three maps may be eliminated so as to not sacrifice the steadiness:
Mauisnake stated: “We have already got a couple of brawl-y maps in Mirage, Historic, and Dust2, so I really feel like should you hold any of these three and take out any of the others, now you’re taking away a extra tactical map.”
The brawl-y nature of Cache is one thing that STYKO additionally picked up on. “We should always usher in Cache, nevertheless it might want to change so much. It’s extremely flat, there’s not a lot elevation, it is going to be headshot paradise for lots of gamers, and I’m unsure how that can play out.”
And naturally, provided that zonic’s workforce has two headshot machines in Nikola “NiKo” Kovac and Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, he stated it might be a “good map for us.”
Modifications as soon as a map comes into the pool signify one other drawback. Overpass got here into the pool as sturdy because it has ever been, however Practice nonetheless faces criticism in comparison with its CS:GO counterpart.
Provided that STYKO stated that Cache will want lots of adjustments as a way to be extra suited to the CS2 meta, is it preferrred that one other map is available in with out being in good situation for aggressive play?
