Overwatch Season 20 map pool changes Control, Hybrid, Escort

Olivia Richman Published 03/01/2020

Blizzard has revealed the map pool for Overwatch’s 20th competitive season. 

All three of the Assault maps from Season 19 have returned in Season 20, including Temple of Anubis, Hanamura, and Volskaya Industries. 

While Assault has remained the same, Escort saw a pretty big change, with Watchpoint Gibraltar and Route 66 no longer in the pool. Instead, Dorado and Rialto will join Havana in the new rotation. Hybrid also saw some updates, with Hollywood being replaced by Numbani. Eichenwalde and King’s Row have remained in the map pool. 

The Control maps have also undergone some updates for Season 20. Nepal and Liajang Tower are no more. Meanwhile Numbani will live to see another season, this time accompanied by Illios and Oasis. 

Here’s an overview, put together by Blame the Controller: 

While fans were excited over some of their favorite maps entering the Season 20 pool, the untouched 2CP map list garnered a negative response overall. This may be due to the Overwatch community’s dislike of Assault maps overall. The game mode has long been considered the least favorite, and many of the maps have been ruled unbalanced and unfair, with most heavily favoring one side of the map over the other. 

“Can Blizzard just remove 2CP from the game. I dont think anyone in the playerbase enjoys playing TOA or Hanamura. Volskaya is alright,” one fan tweeted. 

Season 19 was the first time a limited map pool was used in Overwatch’s competitive mode. The change was announced at the Overwatch panel at BlizzCon, with attendees reporting that Season 19 would only have 12 maps instead of the usual 21. The biggest news, however, was the absence of Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony. This is a change that stuck with Season 20 as well. 

Paris and Horizon were the two most despised 2CP maps in the game. They were so disliked that many players admitted to purposely dodging the map in matchmaking, willing to lose 50 SR just to avoid them. It appears that Blizzard has listened and continued to bar these unbalanced maps from Season 20, but fans are most likely hoping Overwatch 2 will introduce a new map type that will elimiate 2CP from competitive altogether. 

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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