Pick Rate Of CS:GO Maps During 2023: Statistics

With the end of the first half of 2023, many platforms are eager to understand what impact a CS:GO new patch has had during these six months. In this regard, they analyze different statistics from Valve’s community through artificial intelligence (AI).

As a result, we have compared the studies extracted from such platforms and taken between January and July of this year on Matchmaking servers. It is also worth noting that these studies are based on the analysis of more than seven million games in the competitive scene. Below, you can find the most and the least popular CS:GO scenarios. Without further delay, let’s jump right into it!

Top 5 Most Played Maps in Matchmaking

With respect to the csgo rank stats, which you can check on cover.gg, Mirage continues to lead a ranking of the most played maps of CS:GO, but this time, the protagonists of this map are the players of the 30 professional teams in the competitive stage. 30.1% of Mirage is chased by other maps that always appear in the most played ones. Here are the top 5 mythical maps, put in sequential order.

Mirage

Source: thegamer.com

As we have already mentioned, Mirage is found to be the most popular map for Valve shooter players. This scenario presents good data, which experiences a huge increase in prominence. In the last quarter of the 2023 season, this map occupied third place, but with 30.1% (percentage of total matches played, both long and short) it assaults the top of the podium in the first half of 2023.

The main fan of Mirage in the editorial office is the author of the CS section Fedya Khvan. “Mirage is a very simple map, you can master the basic strategies on it in a few hours. At the same time, it is easy to implement interesting ideas on it. Both hard shooters and brilliant strategists can play on the map, it’s very cool,” Fedya believes.

Inferno and Dust 2

Source: counterstrike.fandom.com

The most popular map in the history of Counter-Strike was 2 points short of being in the top 5. Over the 20 years of Dust2’s existence, we have memorized every corner on it and have heard more than once about the minuses and pluses of the location. Is she too banal? But fun and easy for beginners. Is there a lack of strategic depth here? But there are a lot of places for skill shootouts.

Mirage continues to lead this table, but Inferno is approaching after having 20.6%. Dust2 continues to occupy third place with 20.4% despite losing prominence compared to previous statistics. We can explain this by the fact that CS:GO casual players continue to play a large percentage of their games in it.

Nuke and Overpass

Source: counterstrike.fandom.com

Very far from the top three mythical maps are Nuke (8.3%) and Overpass (6.4%). As you probably know, both maps are unbalanced due to the CT-sided advantage. Nevertheless, they belong to the competitive map pool and have some prominence for shooter fans.

Despite the infamous imbalance towards defense, the map has always attracted a variety of positions (street, ramp, point A – they are all radically different from each other) and an interesting structure with two bombsites located one above the other.

Igor Larionov put Nuke in second place in the rating: “No map gives the same satisfaction from victories for the attack. This is a complex location that does not parasitize on the hackneyed structure of “mid and two points on the sides”, but offers a unique structure.”

The Least Popular Maps in Matchmaking

Typically, Valve releases new patch updates annually after analyzing matches and decisive results from a certain period. That’s why it is crucial to understand which maps are the least popular and which ones should be removed next from the competitive scene.

Vertigo in Valve’s sights

Source: reddit.com

The situation with Vertigo is not much better – many pro-players sincerely hate it, and sometimes it is very difficult to find a match on it in matchmaking. Over the past few years, the location has often changed and, apparently, so far they have not found the perfect option.

As mentioned in the popularity ranking on the Matchmaking servers, a change in the map pool may be approaching. In principle, Mirage and Inferno seem untouchable. Overpass has been around for a short time on the scene, something that also happens with Dust 2. Despite the little popularity in Ancient, everything indicates that Valve could sacrifice a Vertigo that does not end up hooking a large part of the protagonists after having 4.8%.

Ancient and Train

Source: counter-strike.net

This classification is closed by Ancient (2.3%) and Train (1.8%). The case of Train is the most logical after disappearing from the competitive scene and being a very unbalanced map in favor of the CT side. However, Ancient’s poor statistics in Matchmaking are surprising. Although it is a map that can be seen in competition, the last map of the shooter has not penetrated correctly into the most casual scene of CS:GO. Thinking about changes related to Dust 2 or Mirage seems unlikely to see the popularity of fans.

The Most Played Maps on Faceit

Unlike Matchmaking, the big difference is shortened in the more than two million games analyzed on Faceit. Despite this fact, Mirage continues to lead this table with 28.1%, but Inferno is approaching after having 24.2%. With 13.5%, Dust2 is still the third most played map for another half of the year. As in MM, Vertigo, Ancient, and Train close the classification.

A Final Word

This study confirms the enormous presence and popularity of Mirage in the CS:GO community despite having many detractors. On the other hand, the low percentages of Nuke and Overpass can be related to the complicated use of the utility to perform on these two unbalanced maps in favor of CT.

Valve has its data and knows very well the tastes and priorities of its players, so it is not at all crazy to think about future modifications in the less popular maps of the most casual CS:GO community.