Ancient (de_ancient) is the official bomb defusing map for Counter-Strike 2, released as part of Operation Broken Fang in the December 3, 2020 update. Originally released as part of the reserve group, the May 3, 2021 update moved Ancient to the active map pool, replacing the Train map.
History Ancient
Ancient is actually one of the youngest cards in our game, as it first appeared in December 2020 in CS:GO. But now in CS2 we see its latest version.
Only Valve Corporation was involved in the development of the map.The official factions for this map are Elite Division and GIGN. The map takes place in Mexico, as the map displays the landmark Chichen Itza, which is located in Mexico. On May 4, 2021, this card replaced the Train card in the advanced card pool.
The truth is that why terrorists would blow up old castles is still not known. Let’s talk about the tasks on the map right now.
Tasks on the map
In order for the Special Forces to gain the upper hand, one or more of the following actions must be completed: eliminate all enemy terrorists, prevent the installation of a C4 explosive device on any of the bomb zones (A or B) before the end of the allotted time, disarm the explosive device after it is activated terrorists.
In turn, to win, terrorists need to complete one of the following tasks: destroy all members of the special forces or successfully install and protect the bomb from demining.
Review
Ancient holds a special place in the series of maps Valve has released for Counter-Strike, being the third original map after Overpass in 2013 and Canals in 2017. Unlike the initial community reaction to Overpass and Canals, which caused concern among players of all levels due to their design, Ancient was met with more mild criticism regarding its structure.
Ancient stands out with its classic four-leaf clover design, reminiscent of cards like Mirage and Dust II, and moves away from the more unique design introduced in Anubis, the last card added to the official rotation before Ancient.
However, certain issues have arisen among players, especially regarding the agent skins introduced in Shattered Web operations. It has been expressed that some skins may blend in with the brown-green environment around them, making it difficult for players to be detected in certain locations, thus giving some skins an unfair advantage.
Additionally, the lack of a safe place to plant a bomb in Area A was highlighted as a significant problem, since the plant site is between two positions from which counter-terrorists can easily defend if the terrorists do not control the area. An attempt was made to resolve this issue in the September 21, 2021 update.
Other concerns included too much foliage obstructing visibility, performance issues, being too focused on playing as counter-terrorists, and too much of a map control advantage being given to counter-terrorists without any effort.
Despite these initial difficulties, Ancient has demonstrated high popularity among players in both professional and casual play, although it lags behind cards like Mirage, Anubis, and Vertigo in pick frequency.
Interesting Facts
Due to its similarity to the Aztec map and because the textures, props and sounds were named "hr_aztec", it is theorized that The Ancient One began as a remake of the map.
Positions on the Ancient map
