The next CS2 map pool change could officially set us back to square one

Following the conclusion of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, it’s assumed that the end of CS2 Premier Season 3 is just around the corner. Over the last year, Valve has set expectations among the community by making a new CS2 map pool change every six months, coinciding with the end of the Premier seasons. But with rumors about the map coming back into the pool at some point in the next few weeks, we could find ourselves going around in circles.

Anubis’ comeback would not be the shakeup we need to see

As it stands, the Active Duty CS2 map pool feels pretty stale. Mirage is ancient, not to be confused with Ancient, which is fine. Inferno has never quite been a favorite in CS2, while Dust2 feels stagnant. Overpass and Nuke are strong tactical options, but people just don’t really play Train. When you look at the options in reserve, we’re pretty much left with just Anubis and Vertigo. The former was insanely T-sided when it came out of the map pool earlier this year, and the latter was just plain bad, despite Valve’s desperate attempts to rework it multiple times.

After the Budapest Major, Valve surprisingly removed the Anubis Collection Package from the Counter-Strike store. This is pretty unprecedented, and alongside Valve’s recent call for weapon skins inspired by “Arabesque Art and Arabian Mythology” has led to rumors that a new collection will be released for the map. Naturally, this would only make sense if Valve is planning to re-add Anubis in the next CS2 map pool change. This is the feeling in the pro scene, too, with SPUNJ recently commenting on murmurs of its return.

If the murmurs of +anubis are true I have a decent level of interest to see it re-enter the map pool.

You would hope it has had some tweaks to the overall layout to mitigate the issues the CT side would experience which forced them to gamble or go aggressive.

But I think what…

— Chad Burchill (@SPUNJ) December 15, 2025

I want to preface this by saying Anubis is a great map, and should be part of the Counter-Strike map pool. It replacing something like Inferno would be a very good change, provided it has some changes made to the layout to make it more CT-sided. Previously, it was massively imbalanced, and it couldn’t return to the pool in that state. But ultimately, it isn’t exciting. It isn’t fresh. It’s Valve rejigging the CS2 map pool, rather than being brave with it. Map for map, it might prove to be an upgrade, but it still feels like lateral movement by not bringing anything new to the table. Back to square one.

Go brand-new, or return to old faithful

In my mind, the next CS2 map pool change should do one of two things – go brand-new, taking a leap on a map we’ve never seen before entering the map pool for the first time, or return to an old faithful such as Cache and Cobblestone.

Valve bought Cache earlier this year. We know Cache will be added to CS2 eventually – it’s just a matter of when Valve can finish it. But it doesn’t seem as though it’s imminent, even if its return feels like the most exciting way to really shake up the map pool for the first time in years. Unlikely for this time around.

The current slate of CS2 leaks indicates that a Winter remake of Cobblestone is in the works, too, Cobblestone hasn’t featured in the Active Duty CS map pool since 2018, an even longer hiatus than Cache. If the map enjoyed a few changes, that could represent an interesting option for Valve to really reinvigorate the CS2 map pool with the upcoming change.

But wouldn’t it be interesting if we actually got something new? The last time Valve added a brand-new map was Anubis in 2022, then Ancient in 2021. Before that, it was Vertigo in 2019. Everything else was added in 2012 and 2013, when Valve was still expanding the map pool to have seven maps in the first place. This means that the current period between Anubis’ addition and now is the longest gap between brand-new maps since the 2013-2019 gap between Cobblestone/Overpass and Vertigo.

There’s no doubt that Counter-Strike has grown massively in recent years, helped of course by the release of CS2. Valve has remade old maps in Source 2, but it has yet to have that one statement map that really shows off the capabilities of the updated engine. Instead, Valve is treading water, and it feels like it wants to stay risk-averse in its next CS2 map pool change. That would be immensely disappointing, even if I’d be happy to see Anubis make a return. But it feels like we’re owed something new to dive into the details of. For casual players, it would be a welcome refresh. And for pros, it would become a real arms race, with those mastering a new map able to stake their claim among the best teams of 2026. Everybody wins.