BLAST has announced that Train will make its long-awaited competitive CS2 debut at BLAST Bounty. The map will replace Vertigo for the upcoming CS2 tournament, which has been a staple of the Counter-Strike map pool since 2019. Train itself has been out of the map pool since 2021, but it is finally set to make a return.
CS2 Train coming to BLAST Bounty
The news of Train’s CS2 debut at BLAST Bounty comes hot on the heels of Valve’s announcement that the map would be replacing Vertigo in the map pool in time for the BLAST.tv Austin Major, which won’t be played until June. However, it seems that tournament organizers have had the go-ahead from Valve to introduce the map much sooner than that.
It remains to be seen if Valve will make the switch for the CS2 Premier game mode. Usually, map pool changes are made with no announcement, coming across competitive modes and the esports scene at the same time. That hasn’t been the case here, although there’s still plenty of time before BLAST Bounty for Valve to switch out the maps.
Is Train coming too early?
The reaction to Train’s arrival has been mixed, to say the least, especially from pro players. The new version of Train was only added to the game around seven weeks ago, and made some significant changes to the map’s layout. This will have a strange impact on how the map plays on a professional level, and some feel it has arrived too early without enough iterations and testing. Take NAVI iM’s opinion, for example:
However, ENCE’s sdy had a much more optimistic view on the CS2 map pool situation:
My take is similar to sdy’s. It’s extremely rare that a map comes in and doesn’t need an overhaul. Remember Ancient’s Temple having a giant hole that looked into Donut? Vertigo has gone through tons of big changes over the years, and even a staple like Nuke had several imperfect iterations before landing on the current version. Something like Anubis, which played well from the word “go,” is the exception, not the rule.
CS players are famously reluctant to change, but we’re sure Train will be fine once the pros push it to its limits and find out the imbalances it hides right now. You’ll be able to watch Train’s debut at BLAST Bounty, although it’s unclear if it’ll also be present at coming ESL and PGL events in 2025.