Overpass is BACK!

Never a dull day in the Counter-Strike scene. If you thought roster changes would be the only surprising events of the season, think again. Valve just announced another map rotation in the premier and competitive scene. On top of that, a few subtle yet important tweaks have been applied to the incendiary, the mp9 and the CT economy. Let's review it together.

The full patch notes

• Premier Season Three is now open for business
• Added Overpass to the Active Duty Map Pool
• Removed Anubis from the Active Duty Map Pool

Gameplay

• Incendiary Grenade - incendiary grenade fire spreads more rapidly
• MP9 - increased recoil magnitude and substantially reduced jumping accuracy
• In Competitive modes, Counter-Terrorists now receive a $50 team award for each Terrorist eliminated in a round

Hello Overpass, Good bye Anubis

If you're brand new to Counter-Strike, you might not be familiar with Overpass who had been put aside in April 2024 for the revamp and reintroduction of Dust2. It is a fantastically technical map. Yet, in the past it was the target of criticism for its lack of rhythm and the difficulty with which T's can genuinely take map control without using the entirety of their utility belt. Structurally the map has not undergone any significant changes. A couple boxes here and there and a slightly modified angle on Heaven (towards B site) is all we're aware of so far. The surprise comes from the removal of Anubis, among all current maps, which was one of the fresh faces in our competitive landscape.

If the Vitality social media manager had some fun with this announcement, the reality is that the best team in the world might benefit from this change. Historically, Overpass was not at the top of the list for them but a deep dive into their statistics show that, although Anubis had a great winrate, this was not a map they favored in most occasions. The question now is how deeply other teams will apply themselves to adjust to Overpass and possibly challenge the curent kings on this ground.

Incendiary, MP9 and money revamp

If the MP9's nerf (recoil improved and jumping accuracy reduced) obviously hinders the defense and its ability to spray and pray with said SMG, the rest of the adjustments are much more favorable. The speed at which the incendiary spread has now been improved, making it a little more tricky to simply disrespect a defensive molotov, as it has been the case for quite a while now due to the reduced damage. We will have to see whether attacks are generally forced to adapt to this new change. Finally, and more importantly maybe, the new 50 dollars team bonus per frag (on the CT side) may help the defense to deal with financial struggles throughout. Prior to the most recent update, it was famously complicated for CT's to defend after having won a pistol round (due to the weaponry that the T's could afford). With this change, we're hoping to see a little more balance in what both teams can bring to the table in early halves.

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