One of the biggest talking points within the Counter Strike community throughout the course of the year so far has been the topic of map pool changes. So far, in 2016, the Counter Strike community has been treated with two map pool changes, first with the removal of inferno in favor of Nuke and then subsequently the expected reintroduction of Inferno into the map pool at the cost of another map within the pool. This article is an attempt to take a look at the impact that changes within the competitive map pool can have on the prominent professional scene that currently exists for Counter Strike Global Offensive.

Small Changes with Large Consequences

An initial glance into the changes within the competitive map pool can leave people walking away with the assumption that theoretically not much should change within the competitive landscape. After all, the best teams in the current state of things should easily be able to become just as good at the new map right?

Sadly things do not play out as one expects them to, and in the case of a changing map pool the entire status quo amongst top teams can change. Take Ninja’s in Pyjamas as one of the most famous examples of this exact property playing out. While there were a large amount of factors at play in regards to the overall decline of Ninja’s in Pyjamas as a team, the removal of Nuke from the competitive map pool played no small part.

Another great example of a team declining in part due to map pool changes was the previous, and most famous, iteration of Natus Vincere. The lineup that included Zeus seemed to be on top of the world at the beginning of the year, consistently making deep runs into events. However upon one of their strong maps being taken out, Inferno, and being replaced by a map which they would come to struggle heavily on Natus Vincere began to dip in terms of overall performance levels.

At the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that something that seems as inconsequential as a simple one map change in the competitive playlist can ultimately come to drastically affect the top of the mountain.

What to Expect Now

One of the things completely up in the air for the Counter Strike community currently is which map will Inferno ultimately come to replace. There is no clear consensus on what path Valve should come to take, some look to a tactically lacking map like Cobblestone to be taken out of the pool while others call for Inferno to replace Nuke, a map which they deem to be a prime example of how not to rework a map.

There remains a large variety of branches that the Counter Strike professional scene can come to follow depending on what map gets taken out in order to make room for Inferno. If Cobblestone comes to be taken out then one can only wonder how teams like Virtus Pro, who have established it as a pseudo home map, would come to be affected. On the other hand, the question also exists of how exactly the removal of Nuke would affect the current road that Dignitas is traveling in attempts to become the next elite team on the international block. Any one of these hypotheticals could potentially come to fruition over the next few months, as soon as Valve ultimately decides which map they will look to take out of the pool.

At the End of the Road

The map pool in Counter Strike Global Offensive has always been dynamic, constantly changing around based upon the whims of a higher entity. The year of 2016 has been no different for the Counter Strike community as changes in the map pool have led to extremely wild periods within the scene. This upcoming chapter in Counter Strike history looks to be no different as once again Valve has introduced a surprise twist into the map pool.

While an endless pool of speculations can be drawn from in order to attempt to figure out the current future of the Counter Strike scene the fact of the matter is that there exists only one true remedy for this cloudy future. Only time is able to tell how the scene ultimately will come to play out after this shifting in the competitive playlist.

Images courtesy of HLTV.org