win.gg
Win.gg Counter-Strike Broken Fang Premier now open to all players, Zeus gets changed

Broken Fang Premier now open to all players, Zeus gets changed

M Alzamora
M Alzamora Published 30/03/2021

Tuesday’s update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive opened up a part of Operation Broken Fang to all players and added a skin to CSGO’s most underused weapon, but two unannounced changes are what players should be paying attention to.

Even though this week’s CSGO update wasn’t a big one, it did open up CSGO’s pick-and-ban matchmaking to the game’s entire player base right before it fixed a long-standing mistake on CSGO’s taser, the Zeus X-27. Here’s CSGO’s changelist for March 9.

CSGO’s Broken Fang Premier mode goes global

Many players had been waiting for the traditional price drop that usually comes after the final week of the game’s operations, but Tuesday’s patch didn’t lower CSGO’s battlepass from its $14.99 price point. Instead, Valve announced that it had opened up the operation’s pick-and-ban style competitive mode, Broken Fang Premier, to all players.

Broken Fang Premier adds a new twist to CSGO’s competitive format, creating a best-of-one game mode where instead of queuing for specific maps, each team bans maps from CSGO’s competitive pool until only one remains. The mode should be a ton of fun, especially when players can queue with the same teammates. But solo queuers are at the mercy of their teammates for that match, and reports of widespread cheaters steered many players away from Premier.

Valve may have revealed the reason why so many players complained about cheaters in Broken Fang’s premium queue. In the update, Valve also announced that any players who had already bought the Broken Fang Operation pass would be queued into Broken Fang Premier and CSGO’s Prime matchmaking, leading some to believe that anyone who had purchased the pass was placed into the Premier queue regardless of whether or not they had Prime status. In a perfect world, that wouldn’t be a big deal. But CSGO has long been a major target for cheaters, and the CSGO Prime Upgrade is one of the ways Valve keeps cheaters away from its more dedicated players.

It’s tough to tell whether or not Premier overrode Prime Matchmaking, but Valve’s clarification on what pass holders would get since the pass’ exclusive Premier mode is no longer exclusive may have given away the game. 

Zeus finally fixed with texture update

The patch’s only other listed change was to the Zeus X-27, CSGO’s one-shot taser. According to the game’s patch notes, Valve “adjusted [the] Zeus texture to read Zeus X-27,” finally fixing a long-standing issue. With this change, the weapon’s texture now reflects its actual name.

As for the rest of Operation Broken Fang and its limited-time missions, players who purchased the pass have until April 30 to complete their missions and earn their Platinum coin. And since it would be an odd move for Valve to release Fang’s Premier mode to CSGO’s player base and then put the pass on sale, it’s likely that Broken Fang will remain $14.99 until it end.

The Broken Fang Premium Pass is available in the CSGO store at the bottom of the main menu, and players probably shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for a discount. 

M Alzamora M Alzamora
About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

View full profile
Read Also
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 News
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 Ben Boland The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...
MLBB is the most-watched game from the EWC, and it’s hard to see another game beating it Esports Betting
MLBB is the most-watched game from the EWC, and it’s hard to see another game beating it Michael Hassall The Esports World Cup 2026 has officially passed its midway point and viewership figures for the tournament have surpassed many expectations so far, as per Esports Charts. The viewership tracking site revealed new statistics for the event on Aug. 6, showcasing just how many games had set new records in viewership, including one name leading the way in views: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. MLBB leads the viewership charts with the ...
CS2 at the EWC 2026 Preview: Odds, Details, Predictions and More Counter-Strike
CS2 at the EWC 2026 Preview: Odds, Details, Predictions and More Owen Harsono Top-tier Counter-Strike action returns at the Esports World Cup, as 32 of the best teams will take the trip to Paris to compete for millions of dollars. If you’re looking to watch the event, here’s everything you need to know and which teams to keep an eye on. The Esports World Cup is one of the largest CS2 events if we’re looking at prize pools, as $2,000,000 will be distributed ...
Opinion: Is Esports Tracing the Same Evolutionary Path As Traditional Sports? News
Opinion: Is Esports Tracing the Same Evolutionary Path As Traditional Sports? Cecilia Ciocchetti What happens when an industry compresses centuries of sporting evolution into less than a decade or two? Communities become global audiences overnight, rivalries spread through social media within minutes, and tournaments turn into entertainment products faster than ever before. And so what took traditional sports centuries to build has taken esports a fraction of that. From local communities to sold out arenas, and from informal matches to Olympic-style events, the ...
BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-final predictions: who’s making it to the grand final? Counter-Strike
BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-final predictions: who’s making it to the grand final? Owen Harsono The top four teams we’re seeing at the BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-finals are far from what anyone would expect before the tournament began, but here we are. We’re only three matches from crowning a winner, so let’s take a look at the best BLAST Bounty semi-final predictions for both upcoming matchups. Starting the semi-finals off is a banger of a series between FaZe Clan and Team Spirit, which is one ...
We Ranked The Top 5 Most Hated CS2 Maps Counter-Strike
We Ranked The Top 5 Most Hated CS2 Maps Owen Harsono If you’re a Counter-Strike player, you probably have that one map you always ban first in every Premier game — and you're not alone as almost everyone has one too. Below, we’ll take a look at the most hated maps in Counter-Strike history and explain why they are disliked by the community at large. Anubis is one of the newer releases in the Counter-Strike 2 map pool, but it has ...
The Top 10 Best Clutches in Counter-Strike History Ranked Counter-Strike
The Top 10 Best Clutches in Counter-Strike History Ranked Owen Harsono Pulling off an impossible clutch is one of the greatest hits of dopamine any Counter-Strike 2 player can ever feel. However, pulling them off at the highest level can be a little tricky since everyone is so coordinated. That’s exactly why mind-blowing clutches are remembered forever. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at the 10 best clutches in Counter-Strike history. We’re opening the list with former mousesports ...