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Valve have officially announced a significant shake-up to the competitive Counter-Strike 2 map pool, reintroducing the iconic map Train to active duty.
This change will debut at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, scheduled for June 2025, marking Train’s return to a Major tournament for the first time since 2019.
Train was removed from the active duty pool in May 2021 to make way for Ancient.
Its absence extended into the release of Counter-Strike 2 earlier in 2023, leaving fans nostalgic for the strategic depth the map offered.
Good morning. @BLASTtv Austin Major:
+Train
-Vertigo— CS2 (@CounterStrike) January 6, 2025
However, in November 2024, Valve brought Train back with a rework aimed at modernising its design while maintaining its classic layout.
Key changes to Train include the removal of the ladder in Pop Dog and a reconfigured route from Ivy to A site.
These updates balance retaining the map’s iconic structure with introducing new opportunities for strategy and gameplay, ensuring its relevance in the fast-evolving competitive scene.
The reintroduction of Train comes at the expense of Vertigo, which will be removed from the active duty pool.
Since its addition in 2019, Vertigo has had a divisive presence in the Counter-Strike community.
Despite numerous updates over the years, the map failed to achieve widespread popularity among players and professional teams.
Recent statistics underscore Vertigo’s struggles: over the past six months, it was the least-played map in HLTV-recorded matches, with only 746 games compared to Dust2’s 1,191 games.
At the Perfect World Shanghai Major, Vertigo saw minimal usage—picked just three times during the elimination stage and entirely skipped during the playoff stage.
Frequent bans by top teams highlighted its declining relevance at the highest level of competition.
The return of Train heralds a new chapter for competitive Counter-Strike.
Teams will need to adapt their strategies and map vetoes to accommodate this shift, making the lead-up to the Austin Major an exciting period of preparation and experimentation.
