Welcoming the return of Overpass: A decade of iconic moments

Whether you love it or hate it, Overpass has produced some of the most unique highlight moments in Counter-Strike history.

Overpass was a staple of the professional Counter-Strike scene for 10 years, from 2014-2024, and currently sits as the fifth most-played map in HLTV's database. Throughout those years the map bore witness not only to countless historic and iconic moments, but also some incredibly unique moments, thanks to the map's distinctive design when compared to the rest of the pool.

Now, one of the most unique maps in pool is back in action in the professional scene, and fittingly its return will come at one of our game's most prestigious and historic tournaments, IEM Cologne.

With the return of Overpass imminent it's a perfect time to take a stroll down memory lane and remember some of the iconic moments that made the map so special, and pay homage to the elements of the map that make it such a special battleground to this day.

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donk, IEM Katowice 2024, grand final vs. FaZe

Across the history of Counter-Strike, you would be hard pressed to find as emphatic an announcement of a player's elite calibre as the one Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets made with his superlative performance at IEM Katowice 2024. The then-17-year-old underlined his statement of intent with a 1.96-rated grand final, and added a final exclamation mark with a monstrous spray-down highlight on the final map of Overpass.

FaZe already had their backs against the wall, 0-2 down in the series and 0-5 down on the map, but donk drained any hope that might have been lingering in the FaZe camp with an absurdly smooth 4K around Bathrooms.

donk used the layout of the map to perfection, finding a wide off-angle to catch FaZe off-guard before utilizing his impeccable spray control to lay hellfire down the long avenue running alongside Bathrooms.

No doubt the return of Overpass will be a boon for mechanically gifted riflers such as donk as the A bombsite, Bathrooms and the map control fight around Fountain have long been the playground of the game's most proficient rifle wielders.

When Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy first joined Natus Vincere, it was his play in these areas of Overpass that convinced of his elite potential. Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard, as with Outside on Nuke, has fragged for fun in Bathrooms throughout his career. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač has produced some special Overpass games, with a bulk of his kills coming in these areas of the map.

The numerous angles that Overpass provides, and the ability to engage and disengage from fights in a variety of different ways, gives players with the creativity to find the right moments and the skill to execute on those moments a place to run riot.

More iconic moments from Overpass A site:

• Jame, IEM Rio Major, 1v3 clutch vs. MOUZ

• s1mple, IEM Cologne, 2v5 ace clutch vs. NIP

• FalleN, IEM Cologne 2016, 1v4 clutch vs. NAVI

• NEO, DreamHack Open Bucharest 2016, 1v5 ace clutch vs. Dignitas

dupreeh, IEM Katowice 2017, grand final vs. FaZe

There are few bombsites in the game that can lay claim to as many iconic highlights as B on Overpass, and there are few highlights as iconic as Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen's ace against FaZe from the IEM Katowice 2017 grand finals.

Within the game itself, the context of this clip is special. Astralis were 9-11 down and on a virtual full eco, and were very much set to be on the backfoot for the rest of the map. Having lost the first map of the series Astralis were on the verge of being beaten down to an 0-2 deficit, making for an arduous journey if they were to run the series back.

Instead, dupreeh stepped up with the only equipment of note in the round, a Deagle and a kevlar vest, to rescue the map for Astralis in a key moment that may very well have lead to their eventual victory, securing a memorable Major-Katowice double victory in two months, the first inklings of what would eventually become the Astralis era.

Heroic single-man holds are a sight to behold in CS, and the B bombsite on Overpass has blessed us with so many of those moments. Pillar allowing for multi-kills if fought around with perfect timing, Short granting vision into the bombsite but also to Connector, and the iconic skill-check of the Heaven fight, all make the B bombsite a highlight factory.

More iconic moments from Overpass B site:

• GuardiaN, IEM Katowice 2018, 1v5 clutch vs. fnatic

• GuardiaN, ESL Pro League Season 4, ace vs. MOUZ

• xms, Europe Minor PGL Krakow 2017, five bullet ace vs. Kinguin

• fnx, IEM Katowice 2016, 1v2 ace clutch vs. fnatic

• olofmeister, ESL One Cologne 2014, defuse in fire vs. Dignitas

• Twistzz, IEM Cologne 2022, 1v3 clutch vs. NAVI

• tiziaN, FACEIT Major 2018, flick one-tap from Barrels vs. Renegades

• device, BLAST Global Final 2020, 1v4 vs. Vitality

olofmeister, DreamHack Winter 2014, quarter-final vs. LDLC

One of the most infamous in-game moments in CS history was also an immensely creative one, and it was perpetrated by fnatic and Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer in the deciding map of a titanic quarter-final between them and LDLC.

The Frenchmen and the Swedes were the two best teams in the world, and the general consensus was that whoever won this quarter-final would go on to win the entire Major. With fnatic 3-13 down in the deciding map, they pulled out a controversial pixelboost, one that they had discovered before the tournament and intentionally kept secret to avoid it being banned.

The boost was so powerful it brought them back from the brink to win the map, but the utter outrage it caused among the community led first to DreamHack saying the map would be replayed, before fnatic withdrew from the event under the intense pressure.

You can argue about the fairness of the boost and whether or not fnatic should have been punished for it, but you cannot deny the spice it added to the game and showed just how creative a team could be on Overpass.

Since said infamous boost, Overpass has become a playground for the nerds of the CS world to find interesting new boosts that can change the way the map functions. Luminosity and Natus Vincere illustrated an incredible back-and-forth of creativity at IEM Katowice in 2016, becoming locked in a battle of boosting wits.

The innumerable boosts around the B bombsite, the boost near the sign on the A bombsite, or the crazy four-man boost from spawn, are all prime examples of how Overpass allows for creativity not seen to the same degree on any other map.

More Overpass boosts:

• w0nderful kills Heaven player with four-man boost in CT-spawn

• apEX kills Construction player with jumping boost from Graffiti

• iM kills Connector player with crazy boost

• mezii kills player walking out of T spawn with boost on Short B

• GuardiaN kills Optimus player with three-man boost from Long A

• GuardiaN kills Flowerpot player with three-man boost in Party

Astralis, StarLadder Berlin 2019, quarter-final vs. Liquid

Astralis' era went down in history for all the right reasons, but there was a pause to their dominance. In 2019 the Danes endured the infamous BLASTralis stutter in their hegemony, skipping top tournaments to favour BLAST events amidst stories of burnout amongst the ranks.

Liquid took full advantage of Astralis' apparent weakness, rocketing themselves to the tip of the mountain with six back-to-back Big Event wins to head into the Major as the favourites to take the trophy, and they were poised to take Astralis all the way in the quarter-final.

0-1 down after losing Astralis' map pick, Liquid were set to bring the series back level on their own selection of Overpass. The NA squad were 11-7 up thanks to winning a CT force-buy early in the second half, and this was at a time when Overpass was fairly CT-sided.

Astralis found a higher gear in a dire moment to show the kind of resilience that ensured they were never down and out in any map. The Danes utilized their carefully calculated style of attacking play to wear Liquid down round after round, running the map all the way back to earn a 16-13 win.

As Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo recently stated upon the announcement of Overpass' return, the slow, methodical nature of the map lends itself to teams heavy on the tactical side of the game, and Astralis embodied that in emphatic fashion to secure their memorable comeback.

Sure, the map may be CT sided, but a team that fully understands the many nuances of Overpass and can strangle the map control away from the defense can perform miracles on the map, giving it a unique flavour similar to another well-respected map for top-level pro games, Nuke.

More tactical masterclass Overpass games:

• Complexity vs. Imperial, IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR qualification match

• Luminosity vs. fnatic, IEM Katowice 2016 grand final

• Luminosity vs. NAVI, IEM Katowice 2016 semi-final

• Astralis vs. NAVI, FACEIT Major London 2018 grand final