Following Valve’s confirmation that Train will replace Vertigo in the map pool for the Austin Major, ESL has become the first major CS2 tournament organizer to update its map pool before the commencement of the 2025 season.
Train has been one of the most iconic maps ever since its inception in their earlier versions of Counter-Strike. It was removed from the pool during the CSGO era and fans have wanted it back ever since. While Valve has added a few new maps to the pool, fans did not cool their demand for Train to be back and now we have it.
This change will impact all ESL tournaments including the likes of ESEA Advanced, with tournaments kicking off as early as January 2025, we might see many teams integrate Train into their map pool moving forward.
ESL making this change might prompt other major tournament organizers to follow suit. BLAST who will open the CS2 2025 season for tier-1 as already included Train in its map pool. PGL being the only major tournament organizer left are yet to annoucne the change for the plethora of tournaments that they have lined up for the year.
