Valve removes Dust 2 from the competitive map pool and reduces the amount of ammo in the AWP

On the night of November 18-19, 2022, Valve released a major update for CS:GO, in which they decided to touch on the competitive component of the game. In the course of the changes, the developers removed the Dust 2 map from the competitive map pool, replacing it with Anubis, and also reduced the amount of ammo in the AWP clip.

Perhaps the most talked about change was the removal of the Dust 2 map. While the community has been asking for changes to the competitive map pool for a long time, many expected to see a rework of Mirage. Nevertheless, the developers have obviously not forgotten about the statistics from the last major, where the Dust 2 card was in the least demand.

From now on, the seventh card is Anubis, which appeared in the game a few years ago, but was returned with an update in the summer. Both maps are still available in casual, DM and competitive modes. Another question is that tournament operators should decide from what moment I will be guided by the new map pool. However, given the official patch note, the changes will definitely take effect before the start of BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.

Comments from professional players:

m0NESY: "What did I just see? AWP was still understandable, but why Dust 2?"

Jame: "I just recently said in an interview that something needs to be removed from the cards so that the old generation is not arrogant. Whoever works hard is the cool one"

kennyS: "Not that... I'm missing Dust 2, 5 bullets instead of 10 for AWP, need to miss less, sounds easy"

flusha: "Worst mappool ever"

NiKo: "Why Dust2? Why are they adding Anubis instead of Tuscan or Cache? I was also against Cobblestone. Can't wait for a year of Anubis changes"

XANTARES: "Why not Cobblestone or Tuscan?"

In addition, Valve listened to pro-players who asked to reduce the influence of the defense side on the game. As a result, the developers reduced the number of rounds in the AWP clip from 10 to 5, and also reduced the range modifier of the M4A1-S from 0.99 to 0.94: now the rifle deals less damage at long range.