Despite Valve Time dragging on for the second competitive season in Counter-Strike 2, its release happened last night. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog will tell you about all the important changes that have occurred with the game.
New season — new skins! You can update your inventory in just a few clicks and without overpaying at CS.MONEY!
No Armory update, only gameplay changes
Let’s start our overview with what Valve has managed to surprise us with. Like many others, we were expecting an Armory update. At the very least, we were thinking about a new limited skin and, at most — an update to the skin collection or a new line of charms.
But Valve decided not to distract our attention from the gameplay, and no new skins appeared in CS2 yesterday.
Officially: Train replaced Vertigo
It seems that Valve wants to synchronize map pool rotations with competitive seasons. Season 2 in Counter-Strike will last until the end of the Austin Major, and we will probably see a new map pool when Season 3 starts.
But back to Train. Professional players are already playing this map extensively, and it’s already providing more enjoyment than Vertigo. By the way, we have a guide on how to play the new Train — it contains valuable tips that will help you understand the game’s nuances better.
Both M4s now cost the same
Another change that was announced a little earlier, and which caused mixed reactions: now the M4A4 costs the same as the M4A1-S, namely $2900.
What’s the ambiguity? Many professional players consider the M4A4 to be a much cooler weapon than the M4A1-S, but this difference was compensated by the weapon’s cost. The $100 difference was just enough for players to think about which weapon to pick in a round. Now, we will likely see a decline in the popularity of the M4A1-S, as well as a large number of players using Fake Howl skins. How to craft it? Read our guide!
FAMAS buff, nerf to CT-side SMGs
The MP9 was the fourth most popular weapon at BLAST Bounty Spring after the AK-47, M4A1-S, and AWP. Its low cost, large kill reward, and lack of catastrophic downsides in shooting made the MP9 a go-to choice whenever there wasn’t enough money.
This situation didn’t sit well with Valve, and they decided to change the meta. The accuracy of the MP9 while crouching has been reduced, along with that of the MP5-SD and MP7. To act with both a stick and a carrot, Valve lowered the cost of the FAMAS by $100 and increased its accuracy.
The developers want players on the CT-side to have more options based on the economy, but the first effects on the pro scene will be seen in Katowice.
And as a cherry on top: the developers slightly altered the crosshair point for the AUG and SG553. Moreover, you can now change its color! Here is the console command to do it (the number represents the color):
cl_ironsight_usecrosshaircolor 1New Premier Medals
To everyone who calibrated in the first season, Valve issued a commemorative medal and detailed season statistics.
Also, Valve revealed the second season Premier medals, which all eligible players will receive. Calibration will take into account the first season’s ranking, so it won’t be easy to dramatically change the numbers in your profile. However, the medals will differ in color depending on the ranking. A small detail, but a nice one.
In conclusion: balance changes — good, map pool update — good, lack of new skins — bad. Perhaps the Armory update will come later when the developers ensure that premier mode is running smoothly.
