Train to make tier 1 debut in BLAST Bounty

7-1-2025 12:49

The new map pool will be played in the first tournament of the season.

BLAST Bounty will kick off on January 14, with Train in the map pool

Train will be part of the map pool for BLAST Bounty Season 1, the tournament organizer has confirmed to HLTV. The move follows Valve's announcement that the recently remade map will be part of the pool for the Austin Major.

Train will replace Vertigo, which had been part of the Active Duty pool since 2019. Over the years, Vertigo had undergone several changes as Valve hoped to make the map more appealing to casual and professional players alike, but without success. It remained the least-played map at the competitive level, perma-banned by most teams.

Train to replace Vertigo for Austin Major

Kicking off on January 14, BLAST Bounty will see 32 teams compete in a single-elimination bracket for the lion's share of a $500,000 prize pool.

The first two rounds will be played online, with the tournament then moving to BLAST's studio in Copenhagen with the top eight teams.

Nice

2025-01-07 12:50

ALEKSIB TRAIN IS BACK

111

10 replies

It's interesting if they will risk it right of the bat

2025-01-07 12:59

What map would they ditch for train tho? 🤔

2025-01-07 13:08

8 replies

inferno?

2025-01-07 13:11

They announced -vertigo

2025-01-07 13:16

it's in the article... do people even read anything or just the title??

2025-01-07 13:21

2 replies

he is talking about navi

2025-01-07 13:22

1 reply

my bad

2025-01-07 14:33

Why ditch anything? Play all maps and don't always have to ban the same map and give your opponent their best map

2025-01-07 16:09

Cause it's one elss map to practice, therefore you can spend more time practicing the rest of the pool. That's like 90% of the reason why most teams have a permaban

2025-01-07 17:01

If you want to consistently perform well at events, you can't rely on revamping your entire playbook for every match. I think they'd be better off just winning the veto against every top team and beating them on their mediocre maps.

2025-01-07 19:08

Rip vert

RIP BOZO*

2025-01-07 12:51

wtf

New perma ban map lets go!!

expected from a lv3 faceit

2025-01-07 13:25

lvl 10 but sure buddy you do you :D

2025-01-07 15:23

bruh

lets go

Poggers Vertigo finally is DONE

2025-01-07 12:52

W valve

2025-01-07 12:53

juna kulkee kari tapio

rip bozo

let the hype *train* start 🤣🤣🤣

2025-01-07 12:54

youtube.com/watch?v=ETo5l_RFgPY

Why not announce this right after the major?

the players already knew

Donk confirmed pros knew after major

2025-01-07 15:09

W now bring back overpass to the active map pool while you are at it

+1111111

2025-01-07 12:55

hmmmmm

I dont like de_tranni so much tbh

Yes! Finally no Vertigo, train is back! Can't wait to see it!

2025-01-07 12:56

good that they got rid of vtg finally but the new train is awful..

2025-01-07 12:57

Yeah it kinda is, but now that it's in the map pool and pros are gonna be forced to play the map and it's gonna get a lot of spotlight, they can start tweaking it like they did with ancient.

2025-01-07 13:09

true that, A and ivy area are just atrocious imo

2025-01-07 13:24

2025-01-07 13:02

Shitigo era end.W move

2025-01-07 13:04

Ihaaa, good decision!

2025-01-07 13:05

I understood it as they will have it ready for Austin major, not for bounty?

i hope every team just bans it from the get go

2025-01-07 13:13

hltv.org/news/40693/train-to-replace-ver..

I wonder when Valve decide to finally replace mirage, because it"s the only map in active pool since release of CSGO......

2025-01-07 13:20

5 replies

Never as long as it stays as popular as it is I would think

2025-01-07 13:28

the problem is it"s not that popular like before... and it shouldn"t work that way... noone was playing vertigo, but if Valve keeps changing active pool, teams will have to practice and start to play maps which they didn"t prefer to play before and it"s gonna be more interesting for fans to watch, than watching the same shit over and over again, like recent major, where almost every single BO3 was played either on Ancient or dust2... i think fans would love to see some people play vertigo or other maps...

2025-01-07 13:50

Vertigo is neither fun to play or watch. It should be deleted, not force to be played on

2025-01-07 15:51

Overpass should return and replace mirage for good 2-3 years

2025-01-07 13:36

I like mirage its puggy yet more strategic than dust 2 to watch

2025-01-07 13:39

I can only see train if spirit play vs vitality since they permaban inferno and ancient. Everybody going to ban train instead of vertigo on blast at least

2025-01-07 13:31

please fix it

2025-01-07 13:34

I CANT WAIT FOR IT

2025-01-07 13:42

I dont know why they want to constantly release a map with less then a week from event. Like they announced it for Major later this year already which was finally them giving a heads up. Then they put it in right away anyways. Like im sure they had to get the players to agree to it but you have to understand they're all like, "yeah sure add it.(We'll all just perma ban it anyways)."

2025-01-07 13:46

Faze will dominate this map somehow

2025-01-07 13:48

sh1ro masterclass incoming

2025-01-07 13:59

s1mple is back!!!!

2025-01-07 14:05

very nice

2025-01-07 14:15

2025-01-07 14:36

-d2 +overpass/cache and everything will be just perfect

2025-01-07 14:44

loool damn that was fast

2025-01-07 15:12

actually hype to see train played professionally. should be fun to see how the meta develops and the inevitable changes valve make.

2025-01-07 15:22

Ok this is an improvement, but seriously, bring back Overpass. That was probably my second favorite if not favorite map to play in CS2. -inferno +overpass (and if +cache comes out -d2)

2025-01-07 15:48

-nuke +overpass Overpass uses it's verticality better than nuke, but still spread for longer range fights. More appealing visually.

2025-01-07 16:05

Nuke is a classic, great map, and unique. No reason to get rid of it. d2 is pretty boring these days and ancient does it better, and for me (and many others) inferno is just too damn small with boring, tiny choke points and awful bomb sites. But everyone has their own way of playing and preferences so we won't all agree on all maps

2025-01-07 17:27