Despite its high play rate, Mirage is often the subject of hate in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. AWP maestro Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has picked sides, explaining why Mirage is a good map and why its haters are wrong.
Mirage may be the most-played match in official matchmaking, but some professional players want it gone. Abai “HObbit” Hasenov’s tweet regarding Mirage sparked an interesting discussion about whether the map should be removed. Numerous CSGO players pitched in with their thoughts. While most pro players voted against Mirage staying, s1mple made clear that it deserves to stay.
In fact, the pro player claimed that anyone opposed to having Mirage in the competitive map pool simply doesn’t understand CSGO.
Responding to Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev, s1mple said that Mirage is the best map on which to outplay opponents due to its balanced design. The pro player received backlash from some for his “hot take,” but others had his back.
The most recent Leetify survey revealed Mirage as the most popular CSGO map. About 30% of CSGO players opt to run it in their comp games, with Inferno coming close at 20%. Besides Dust 2, no map is in close competition with the classic trio, but it seems that pro players want a change of scenery. While these stats indeed align with the casual player base, HObbit, sdy, and other pros disagree.
According to s1mple, Valve should remove the least-played maps in CSGO, which puts Vertigo, Ancient, and Overpass in the spotlight. The pro player explained that Mirage is a balanced map, allowing both sides to outplay the other with superior skill and strategy.
One may say that s1mple’s opinion is biased as Mirage is statistically his best map, but numbers back his claims of balance.
HLTV showed that both sides have a 50% chance of winning on Mirage, making it a perfectly balanced map. s1mple’s opinion earned him the support of players who swear by Mirage for their own reasons. Its simple layout and legible graphics are the top reasons cited, as is its solid performance on low-end machines. Conversely, Ancient’s lush scenery and dark alleys may appear choppy on low-end computers, even on low settings.
Whatever the case, it’s unlikely Valve will switch up the competitive map pool soon. The developer recently pulled Train out of active duty in favor of Ancient, which is still the least-played map. It’d be a while before the developer considers overhauling another older map and adding another new location to the mix.
Statistics say that CSGO players are still struggling to warm up to Ancient, the newest addition to the game’s competitive map pool. Still, Ancient is more popular than Train in 2022. The jungle-themed map has generously been played in professional games, but most players don’t seem to like Ancient and instead stick to the classic trio of Dust 2, Inferno, and Mirage.
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