Which CS:GO Map Has The Best Team from These 5?
Each and every map in CS:GO is different. From its pacing, its stronger side, effective weapon choices and overall strategy, Valve has done a great job in producing a collection of maps that each feel fresh and varied.
Naturally, different teams are going to thrive on different maps. From the teams that love the double AWP, to those who pride themselves on rushing out of the traps and going for a quick pistol round, here’s our take on the most popular CS:GO maps coming into 2020 and who we expect to see dominate them.
Inferno
Dominant Side: Fnatic
Inferno is the most important map currently in the Counter-Strike pool, with most sides fancying themselves on it heading into each and every event they enter. And whilst the likes of Astralis, Liquid and Mousesports all have records to be proud of on the map, we’ve singled out Fnatic as the side we would most trust our money with.
Whilst their T-Side might not quite be on the level of the sides above them in the latest HLTV rankings, Unikrn’s esports betting odds tend to show that Inferno is probably a map you want to hone your CT side towards. Whilst 53% of opening pistol rounds fall to the Terrorists, 50.8% of rounds swing back towards the Counter-Terrorist side, evening out for a map win rate of just over 51% for the blues, which suits the AWPing power of JW and the rifling of KRIMZ just fine.
Dust 2
Dominant Side: NA’VI
We saw Dust 2 played more times than any other map during the recent IEM Katowice Championship, and quite frankly no one played it better than eventual champions Natus Vincere. Again, this is a map that the likes of Astralis and Liquid have looked far too good on at times, however both of those sides were vanquished in some style by the Russian/Ukrainian force out in Poland.
Liquid were beaten 16-11, however Astralis provided the real shock by being out-thought, out-muscled and completely dominated in a 16-5 pummelling. In those two matchups alone, S1mple found an incredible 49 kills in what was a scarcely believable showing from the Ukrainiaen superstar. Until someone finds a way of stopping them, we have to crown their showing at Katowice as the best Dust 2 performances we’ve seen in a long while.
Vertigo
Dominant Side: Astralis
Vertigo is easily the most controversial map in the current competitive pool, with many pros being very vocal on their hopes that CS:GO’s newest map might be fazed out in the months ahead. The map is just so unbalanced at the moment, with the CT side forced to stall their retakes time after time once the T side performs a A site plant.
Team Liquid had an unbeaten run on Vertigo heading into the StarLadder major last year, so plenty of eyebrows were raised when Astralis picked it as their map choice during their quarter-final matchup against the NA team. The Danes however put on a blinding display winning 16-8 and have since gone onto record a win percentage of 77% on Vertigo, a higher win percentage than any other map the Danes have played.
Mirage
Dominant Side: Evil Geniuses
2020 has not been a kind year to the Evil Geniuses so far, with the North American side currently on in the midst of their worst run of form for quite some time, dropping them out of the world’s top 10 and lowering their win rate to below 50% for three months straight now. Their win rate however does jump back up to 75% on Mirage, the best rate of any side in the top 10 currently, where the skills of Ethan and Stanislaw in particular really jump to the fold.
Ethan in particular has proven himself to be a great rifler on the CT side, a side that is arguably more dominant on Mirage than any other map in the pool at the moment. Statistically, T sides only pick up around 47% of the map’s wins which is a pretty scary level of variance in comparison to say Dust 2 (51%), Inferno (49%) and even Vertigo (51%).
Train
Dominant Side: Mousesport
Train is another map that is so heavily favoured on the CT side that most teams are still struggling to really find a level of consistency that we can truly call ‘dominant’ at the moment. However, Mousesport’s revival into the top 5 rankings has been built around a series of solid performances on the map; the European side are currently sat with a win rate of 62%, their best of any map, which is comfortably ahead of the likes of G2 (59%), Fnatic (59%), Liquid (57%) and Vitality (50%), the sides immediately beneath them in the latest rankings.