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

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

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.

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