CSGO pros slam divisive Vertigo, call for Valve to rethink “unfair” map
A handful of Counter-Strike stars have lifted the lid on what they like least about the game’s current state, including the “unfair” nature of divisive map Vertigo, the powerful Kreig, and the game’s notoriously slow mobility.
It’s no secret that plenty of CSGO professionals don’t always see eye-to-eye with the game’s developers Valve, especially with the recent drama around the over-tuned nature of the SG 553, more commonly known as the Krieg.
In a new video released by ESL, several stars, including Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, and Ian ‘motm’ Hardy, took aim at their least favorite parts of the title where they ply their trade, including Vertigo and the game’s mobility.
Plenty of CSGO stars, including coldzera and motm, have called for Valve to ‘rethink’ Vertigo in the competitive map pool.Coldzera, who holds the ignominious title of being the first-ever pro player to fall off the skyscraper map at a competitive LAN event, was one of the most outspoken stars when it came to abolishing Vertigo, suggesting it’s “too random.”
“The map pool should definitely be changed, I’m not satisfied by the map pool at the moment, and I think they should remove Vertigo,” he said.
“I don’t know why they keep Vertigo. They had a few changes to the map, but it’s just too random. Things are random. Teams just play aggressive, re-peeking a lot, because no one knows how to play the map really correctly right now.”
The Brazilian superstar suggested Valve could bring other, more popular maps into the fold if they shunted the incomplete Rizzleton Tower map from the pro scene.
“They have so many good maps likes Cobblestone and Cache, and they’re not being in it, so I think that the map needs to be removed [to allow others in],” he added.
coldzera believes Cobblestone or Cache would be better options for the pro map pool.Coldzera wasn’t the only pro that aimed their sights at Vertigo for changes, with ATK’s motm also suggesting the high-flying map could use a few more tweaks to make it more balanced for the team playing as Counter-Terrorists.
“I feel like they need to change Vertigo, because the A-side just feels really unfair for CTs, because if the Ts just take the bomb site they [CTs] have to retake their one choke point and it’s really hard to flank on A-side Vertigo,” he explained.
Vertigo wasn’t the only thing the stars were interested in seeing changed either, with newly-minted Renegades star Oliver ‘DickStacy’ Tierney suggesting the game could add a prone feature, which would be “f**king hilarious” and “a lot of fun.”
Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen also joined in on mobility suggestions, though Heroic’s rifler said he was more interested in seeing the pace of the game “upped” just a bit, partially because he thinks it would change the skill gap between players.
“I would love for there to be more movement, if Valve put up the acceleration — not too much because we don’t want to be as fast-paced as like Call of Duty — then that would be nice, a lot of players would be punished for it,” the Dane said.
For mobile readers, the related segment in the video below begins at 0:29.
Finally, mousesports star Karrigan, who has enjoyed a pile of success in recent times with his European lineup, including at the ESL Pro League finals, and more recently with two fill-ins against G2 Esports, returned the conversation to the Krieg.
According to the CSGO veteran, despite a recent November update returning the SG 553 to its original price point of $3,000, up from $2,750, the Krieg is still just too much of an influence on the game’s current competitive meta.
“It’s too much… I would get Valve to change the Krieg a little, and I think I’m not the only player who is saying that either,” he said.
Karrigan doesn’t think the Krieg has improved much since it’s November nerfs.Whether or not Valve will listen to these ideas from some of the biggest names in the game right now remains to be seen, but it is interesting to hear the pro’s opinions on common issues that many CSGO players agree upon heading into 2020.
And who knows, once the devs hear so many players calling for changes, maybe they’ll take a second look. We may have to cross our fingers, though, and hope they don’t listen to DickStacy’s wacky idea and add ‘prone’ to the game.