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Is the 2025 CS2 Map Pool the Worst in History? (By Banks)

Articles
Jan 17
470 views 4 mins read

On January 6, 2025, the Counter-Strike X account announced +Train, -Vertigo, giving us a new map pool to start the 2025 season. The map pool change is supposed to improve the game and make things more interesting, but are we still in a bad position?

Now, I am personally a massive Vertigo hater. It isn’t a standard Counter-Strike map, it isn’t conventional, and it has consistently been the least played map, even after the changes meant to improve it. It feels like Vertigo was a map you either loved or hated, but at least in the professional scene, it was more hated than loved.

I am now unsure if this change has really helped anything, though. I love Train—it was my favorite and most played map back in 1.6. To me, it was the greatest map across all versions of the game. It was uniquely designed, offered a lot of tactical options, and with each version, it improved—until now.

Is the 2025 CS2 Map Pool the Worst in History?

It seems like with the current Train, the changes were too drastic. We’ve turned it into an A-rush simulator with the occasional B pop. We’ve transformed Popdog into a much larger, open space with no ladder. 5 Train has gone off the tracks and turned… Now, we haven’t seen how it plays out competitively yet, but it seems far from the finished version. So, we are effectively entering the season with an unready map in the pool, replacing Vertigo.

Is the 2025 CS2 Map Pool the Worst in History?

So, looking at the current map pool:

  • Mirage
  • Dust2
  • Anubis
  • Ancient
  • Inferno
  • Nuke
  • Train

Mirage, Ancient, Nuke, Dust2, and Inferno are all played very well at the highest level, giving us a consistent map pool that works and delivers good games. Many people are calling for Overpass to be added, or perhaps for Cobblestone or Cache to return. However, these could just be fans who love living in nostalgia.

Now back to the topic of this being the worst map pool in Counter-Strike history. We can’t really say that. Looking back at Counter-Strike history—perhaps as far back as 1.5 or even earlier (I honestly can’t remember)—CPL had an insane pool, even with Aztec and Prodigy included. It’s clear that the current map pool isn’t as bad as some people think. There are seven maps in the pool. Train is brand new and in heavy need of updates, which will certainly come once we see how it’s played at the professional level. As for Inferno, despite its changes, it’s still not at its best—but it’s not an unplayable map or one that everyone is trying to avoid.

If 5/7 of the maps in the pool can be played at a high level by professional teams, delivering exciting and epic moments—and, in my opinion, including Inferno in that list makes it 6/7—then this conversation about the worst map pool to start the 2025 season isn’t accurate. Many fans want Cobblestone and Cache back, believing that would immediately fix everything. While I appreciate the nostalgia, Cobblestone in its current state still needs tweaking, and Cache—I haven’t touched it in a long time, so I can’t comment. Personally, I’d rather see Thera or Mills added, offering something completely brand new for professional players to geek out over.

Is the 2025 CS2 Map Pool the Worst in History?

At the end of the day, going into the 2025 season, we are still going to see highly competitive games. Professional teams were informed about Train being added back at the Major, so they could prepare. However, early on, we’re unlikely to see it played often—perhaps just a handful of times at BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice. The interesting part will be seeing teams that previously banned Vertigo. Do they instantly adopt Train and try to gain a veto advantage? It was a big favorite for B1ad3 in the past…

Final thoughts on this is that we should remember that although Train is not perfect or ready, it’s still better than Vertigo. With Train being tested and played more frequently, there will be plenty of opportunities for updates and adjustments. I hope it evolves into a stable, fantastic map for Counter-Strike and continues to be one of the greatest maps across all versions of the game. One thing is for sure—this is NOT the worst map pool in Counter-Strike history. Counter-Strike 2 continues to receive improvements and updates—not always as quickly as people want, but they’re happening. We should trust the process Valve is going through because, so far, they’ve done well for the game!

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