Vertigo set to depart from the active duty pool

After pros and casuals expressing their discontent towards Vertigo's place in the active duty map pool, the map is finally set to retire from the active duty map pool, making way for Counter-Strike 2's latest addition- Train. Vertigo is among the least played maps in the competitive space in 2024, only marginally ahead of Dust2 which was added halfway into the year.

A reworked train returned to Counter-Strike in November, fully leveraging the capabilities of the Source 2 engine to deliver stunning visuals. Certain areas of the map like pop-dog were overhauled to provide a fresh gameplay experience. The map is set in a rainy environment which once against takes full advantage of Source 2's water physics.

Vertigo was also reworked recently to open up a path towards mid from A-site in an attempt to introduce a fresh gameplay element. CT-Backdoor and A-Heaven's connection was also closed out but the map did not see any significant increase in it's pick rate after the changes.

The community has received the change with great positivity, however, the change is not yet enforced. Vertigo still holds it's place in the current version of the game and as per Counter-Strike's tweet, Train will make it's way into the active duty pool sometime before the BLAST.tv Austin Major which is set to take place in June.