On September 22, 2026, Valve rolled out a major CS2 update that completely changed some aspects of the game, adding silent reloads for all weapons, implementing the Rush game mode, and reintroducing clan tags back to the shooter, among other changes. The biggest change for Premier players, though, was to the map veto process.
Prior to the update, the two teams took turns banning maps until only one remained in the pool. With the September 22 update, Valve replaced that with a pick-based system. To put it simply, Team 1 picks one map, Team 2 picks two, and Team 1 picks a final one. One of the picked maps is then randomly selected for that game.
The old format had a clear downside. Less popular maps were repeatedly eliminated during the ban phase, while the more popular maps were played every other game.
But how is Valve’s new map veto system faring against that? With a few months of data now available, we can see how much the new system has changed what people actually play.
Mirage and Dust 2 Pick Rates Drop in CS2
According to data from Leetify, Mirage and Dust 2 have taken the biggest hit with the map veto change. Before the update, the two maps dominated Premier, with Mirage peaking at around 25% of matches and Dust 2 trailing just behind at roughly 24%. Since the change, Mirage has dropped to 20.3% and Dust 2 to 19.8% as of October 20.
Cache, Anubis, Nuke and Inferno rise
The big winners are the maps that were frequently banned under the old system:
- Cache: The biggest swing. It had fallen as low as 6.6% of Premier matches before the update and has since climbed to 11.2%, a jump of roughly 70%.
- Anubis: Up from around 8% to 11.9%.
- Inferno: Up to 13.9%, now the third most played map.
- Nuke: Up slightly to 11.9%.
Ancient is the only map outside the top two to lose ground. It slipped from around 11.5% to 10.9%, making it the least played map in the pool.
The data suggests that the old ban system was funneling players into the same two maps. By letting each team choose maps they want to play instead of only removing the ones they don’t, Valve has created a relatively more even distribution. Mirage and Dust 2 are still the most played maps by a mile, but their lead over the rest of the pool has considerably shrunk.
The data covers approximately 12.7 million Premier matches played between July 29 and October 20, 2026, as seen by Leetify.
