Valve officially announced that Train will replace Vertigo in the map pool for the Blast.tv Austin Major 2025. This is a long-awaited return of the legendary map to tournaments, where it has been missing since 2019.  

When was Train removed?

Train was removed from the active map pool in May 2021, being replaced by Ancient. For some time, the map was entirely absent in Counter-Strike 2; however, in November 2024, Train returned with several changes, sparking renewed interest in the map.

Removal of Vertigo

Vertigo appeared in the map pool on March 29, 2019, replacing Cache. The map immediately received some negativity from the entire community. It was changed many times, but this did not help, and the negativity always remained. The map was unpopular in all modes and tournaments. Vertigo remained in the official map pool for 2111 days.

When will Train be added?

The exact date for adding Train to the active map pool has yet to be announced. However, Valve confirmed that the map will be included in the map pool for the Blast.tv Austin Major. It is most likely that the map will be added between January and March so that teams have time to prepare for it.

Official map pool

Train will already be added to the upcoming BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier, which starts on January 14 and runs until January 19 online. The tournament map pool will look like this:

• Dust2
• Mirage
• Inferno
• Nuke
• Train
• Ancient
• Anubis

The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 will take place from June 9 to June 22 in Austin, with the tournament prize pool amounting to $1,250,000. For more details on the tournament, you can follow the link.