Competitive Map Pool and Team Roster Changes

Over the past week, we have seen a ton of changes in the CSGO pro scene. From the competitive map pool change to team roster changes in the NA and EU. How will this effect team competitive play? I will give my opinion in a moment but first, let’s go over the changes.

CS:GO Competitive Map Pool Change

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitive map pool is used for matchmaking rank play in-game as well as for the professional scene. The map pool before the change was Mirage, Train, Nuke, Cache, Cobblestone, Overpass, and Dust 2. In the past each time a map is removed from the competitive map pool. The is map is reworked and reintroduced into the map pool. This time Dust 2 is removed and replaced with the reworked Inferno map.

Now the map pool has the following maps; Mirage, Train, Nuke, Cache, Cobblestone, Overpass, and Inferno. Many believe that Dust 2 was a boring map to watch on the professional level. It all came down to switch team has the better aimers and didn’t have to put a strategy into taking a bomb site. Others were questioning why Cobblestone wasn’t removed.

Overwatch, Cobblestone, Train, and Nuke are the maps that have already been removed, reworked, and reintroduced into the competitive map pool. So it was no surprise these maps stayed but Dust 2 was a huge surprise. Dust 2 has been the most played in matchmaking for years because players could use their skill to rank up and not have to truly play with the team.

Personally, I don’t think they should rework Dust 2. If they truly want a dust map in the competitive map pool, they should create Dust 3. I know its only a few people talking about the creation of Dust 3 and I am one of them. Keep the same setup, short rotations for CT-side but have a long path from T-side, and of course, make B site the shortest path to a bomb site so we can keep the old saying “Rush B”.

CSGO NA Team Roster Changes

Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz signs with Team Liquid. Replacing Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin as in-game leader for Team Liquid. With rumors going around that Stanislaw didn’t just leave it was a trade. It is confirmed that it’s not a trade but Hiko did get signed by Optic Gaming days after Stanislaw signed with Team Liquid. Also, Optic Gaming signed Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu as the new coach for the team.

In other NA news, David “DAVEY” Stafford left Splyce to join eUnited. Kory “SEMPHIS” Friesen was picked up by Splyce to replace DAVEY.

CSGO EU Team Roster Changes

The first lineup everyone was talking about were the new G2 Esports team. G2 kept Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro and Richard “shox” Papillon and move Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux to the coaching role. G2 Esports picked up former Team EnVyUs players Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, and Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt.

Days after the G2 Esports new lineup was announced, Team EnVyUs announced their new lineup. EnVyUs kept Christophe “SIXER” Xia and Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer in their lineup. Picked up David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljevic from Vexed and Alexandre “xms” Forté from LDLC. The most notable player in the new lineup is Cédric “RpK” Guipouy from G2 Esports. Team EnVyUs coach is Damien “maLeK” Marcel. Team EnVyUs signs Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and move devoduvek to backup.

The best trading news has to come from GODSENT and Fnatic. Fnatic trade Simon “twist” Eliasson Joakim “disco doplan” Gidetun to GODSENT for Robin “flusha” Rönnquist and Jesper “JW” Wecksell. This means that Fnatic have their 2015 lineup. This roster has to be the most exicting news for Fnatic fans.

In other EU news, LDLC signed Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez to fill the spot Alexandre “xms” Forté left. Nikola “NiKo” Kovac will join Faze after DreamHack Vegas concludes, currently signed to Mousesports. Former Team EnVyUs player Timothée “DEVIL” Démolon formed a new csgo team called MAXISAUCISSE with the following members; Corentin “MAIDHEN” Lashermes,  Younes “YOUYOU” Ait Lalla, Simon “Fuks” Florysiak, and Matthieu “matHEND” Roquigny.

CSGO BR Team Roster Changes

SK Gaming traded Lincoln “fnx” Lau to Immortals for Joao “felps” Vasconcellos. Nobody was surprised by this trade and I am expecting to SK Gaming a little better than before.