The Counter-Strike 2 map pool is always a constant point of discussion. Everyone has their favourite map, everyone has their least favourite, and there’s almost always someone calling for either Mirage or Inferno to be removed.

Regardless of which side of that debate you sit, there is some solace to be taken in the fact that Valve have become much more active with map pool changes, with a map change following each of the four CS2 Majors so far. So, at the StarLadder Budapest Major, we spoke with a number of top players and analysts to get their thoughts on the active duty map pool.

Which map should leave the pool?

As we mentioned earlier, Mirage is often a map that is quickly brought up when people debate which map should exit the pool. It has been part of the active duty pool ever since the release of CS:GO, and although it has seen some changes it that time, the lack of real substantial changes like what has happened to Overpass, Nuke, or Inferno has led to many people in the community considering it to be “stale.” 

Sadly, if you are one of those people, you’re not likely to get your wish any time soon. As Martin “STYKO” Styk says: “Valve looks at a lot of data. Mirage is very popular, it’s the go-to map, you don’t need to be a good player to be good at it.”

So what map can go? Well, if you’re Danny “zonic” Sorensen, then you’d be asking for Overpass or Inferno. The reason for one is obvious: it’s the Falcons’ perma-ban, whilst the other is results-oriented. And given what happened to Falcons on Inferno at the BLAST Austin Major, who can really blame him for that?

Dislike of Inferno is a view shared by STYKO, who said: “Get Inferno out. The map is just stale; the volumetric smokes take too much of the chokepoints. Watching it is painful because of the saving, casters have said it’s ‘meh.’

“Usually when Inferno is GOATed it’s when a team overperforms, rather than the map itself being good.”

So, if Inferno is the map that people seem to think should leave, then what map should come into the pool? As Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg points out, it just isn’t that simple.

Which map should enter the pool?

The CS2 map pool is balanced around two different styles of play. The brawl-heavy “pugging” maps, such as Mirage, and the more tactical maps, like Nuke. Given that Counter-Strike is a tactical FPS, a map pool that slightly favours those tactical maps is always preferred. 

The problem then, is that Cache seems to be the map everyone thinks will be returning, with even the recently released 2026 service medal seemingly hinting towards it. In Mauisnake’s eyes, that means that only one of three maps can be removed in order not to sacrifice the balance:

Mauisnake said: “We already have a few brawl-y maps in Mirage, Ancient, and Dust2, so I feel like if you keep any of those three and take out any of the others, now you’re taking away a more tactical map.”

The brawl-y nature of Cache is something that STYKO also picked up on. “We should bring in Cache, but it will need to change a lot. It’s incredibly flat, there’s not much elevation, it will be headshot paradise for a lot of players, and I’m not sure how that will play out.” 

And of course, given that zonic’s team has two headshot machines in Nikola “NiKo” Kovac and Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, he said it would be a “good map for us.”

Changes once a map comes into the pool represent another problem. Overpass came into the pool as strong as it has ever been, but Train still faces criticism compared to its CS:GO counterpart.

Given that STYKO said that Cache will need a lot of changes in order to be more suited to the CS2 meta, is it ideal that another map comes in without being in perfect condition for competitive play?