After months of teases, FMPONE, creator of Cache, will be on ESL One New York to reveal his reworked map for the first time ever. This clearly means a lot for the professional scene, as it can return to the map pool any time now.

However, most important yet is which map will be leaving in order to make space to the new Cache. After all, one map can change everything for a number of teams in the pro scene.

The newest map in the professional map pool, Vertigo, is a favorite to be replaced

When Vertigo entered the professional map pool earlier this year replacing Cache, it didn’t take long to criticisms appear. The map set in a skyscraper punishes players for the lack of space awareness, as they will die if they fall from the building.

This additional layer of danger makes players have another detail to worry about when planning their next move. Another differential detail of Vertigo is how vertical movement is present in the map.

There has been a consensus between players and analysts that pro CSGO still isn’t ready for maps that rely a lot in a vertical movement. The classic Nuke has been criticized forever due to this and Vertigo isn’t being praised by it either.

These two unusual characteristics made Vertigo a tough map to accept in the map pool. During the last six months, Vertigo has been played a total of 102 times in official games between teams in the top 50 teams in the HLTV World Rankings.

For comparison, the second-last map, Nuke, was played a total of 598 times in the same period. You can check the full distribution below:

Our recommended bookie:

Betway – €30 Free Bet

While Vertigo hasn’t been fully accepted by the community, it has been constantly worked on by Valve

It’s clear that while the community don’t think high of Vertigo, the CSGO dev team still wants to make it works. Over the past few months, there has been a number of massive updates taking feedback from the community.

However, even after massive overhauls and minor improvements, most players feel that Vertigo place is within the casual map pool. After all, its foundations are completely different than fan-favourite maps like Cache or Mirage.

Winding it up, it’s clear that Valve has plans for Vertigo in the long-term, but the player base doesn’t. Vertigo is so much of an outlier that it’s impossible to compare it to any map in the map pool. Even Nuke wasn’t avoided like it’s being right now.

Mirage still is one of the favourites maps in the map pool, but its age is showing

Dust 2 is the signature map for casual players in CSGO without any doubts. In the professional scene, though, it’s Mirage fighting against Inferno for this place.

Mirage isn’t a map developed by Valve originally but since 2013, the CSGO developer has been working on their own iteration of the map. This iteration which has seen unprecedented success and after many updates over six years, it’s a trademark of the game.

However, Mirage is the oldest map in the map pool that hasn’t gone through a major overhaul. While the map is considered almost perfect by many, its age is showing up. Mirage definitely could use a new coat of paint and a few changes here and there.

Would Cache be a good replacement for Mirage?

If we can take anything from Valve’s pattern of replacing maps, Mirage is logically the next one. However, Cache, while a popular map, it never enjoyed the level of success that Mirage has.

However, Cache has once been a very popular map within the professional scene. After all, it was only last year that it truly started to be less and less played by professional teams.

Moreover, Mirage and Cache share some similarities in their layouts. This is demonstrated by the fact that most teams that are successful in one of these, also have a good understanding of the other, with few exceptions.

Make no mistake, though. Mirage is irreplaceable and while the Cache remake is a highly-anticipated addition to the map pool, it certainly won’t fill the gap left by Mirage.

Nonetheless, sooner or later Mirage will be temporarily removed from the map pool. Valve will have to decide if it’s the best to do it now or wait until its popularity starts falling down.

Cache isn’t the only map in the queue to return to the map pool

Cache definitely stole the highlights with the announcement that its remake will be revealed in New York this week. However, there’s also one map that was removed and there’s a chance that it was remade in the past months.

Cobblestone, added in CSGO back in 2013, always had a mixed reception. In its last months in the professional map pool, Valve updated it, helping a bit with the map popularity.

The map was then removed from the professional map pool back in 2018 and its place came Dust 2. After its removal, Cobble received a couple of updates that changed its layout to some extent. Since 2019, though, Valve hasn’t publicly updated the map.

Could Cobblestone be making a return?

Back in 2017, Cobblestone was surprisingly successful, being more played than Cache, Overpass and Nuke. Even in 2018, before its removal, it was played quite frequently. The difference between it and Cache, though, it hasn’t been no signals of a remake.

Still, Cobblestone is a popular map for reasons besides it’s gameplay. After all, the Cobblestone skin collection is famous for one of the most desired skins in CSGO, the AWP Dragonlore. Things are different now regarding those specific collections, though.

In spite of that, it’s hard to believe that Valve just gave up on the map. Its latest iteration was meet with a mild response by players, but the legendary map still has a ton of fans that gave enough feedback for future changes.

Plus, there’s one detail that could give Cobble a slight advantage of Cache if they compete to see which one will be returning first.

Cache is an outlier

Added in 2014 to the map pool used in professional tournaments, Cache is an outlier. The map wasn’t mapped by Valve nor is maintained by the Bellevue company. Instead, Cache is entirely maintained by its creator, FMPONE, who acts independently from Valve.

For Valve, this is an extra risk that back in 2014, was worth to take due to the map popularity and their relationship with the map creator.

However, right now, this risk is even bigger. Needing a third-party to update a map played in professional tournaments is a big deal for a game as big as CSGO.

Valve acknowledges this risk and it’s clear that they have been aiming to offer new maps to replace Cache. Back in 2017, Canals was introduced, but it wasn’t successful. In the last months, Vertigo got the highlights and finally broke through the map pool.

So, it’s clear that from Valve’s perspective, having a map pool in which they have full control is the best course of action. Their maps, however, haven’t been the best and FMPone’s takes in map making, in the other hand, have been praised constantly.

Cache, is nonetheless, the most expected map to make a return

While Cache has a couple of things going against it and its return, it’s the favorite to come back to the professional play. The map history goes back to 2012, and many times, it was seen in the big stage by thousands of fans.

Without any doubt, Cache has given fans plenty of unforgettable matches. NiP against EnVyUs in StarSeries S12 and Cloud9 against FNATIC in ESL ESEA Pro League Finals are must-watch games played in Cache.

In the coming ESL One New York, Cache is set to make history in CSGO once again. The much-awaited reveal will also feature the first match to be played in the new Cache iteration.

While Cobblestone certainly has a spot in the heart of many too, Cache is definitely the favorite.

A World of Options

With Cache being remade and Cobble possibly receiving a remake by Valve too, the amount of changes that could be done with the map pool are giant.

For years the idea of having a nine maps pool has been circulating around CSGO discussions. While usually this idea isn’t received very well, if there’s any time to try it out it would be now.

It’s impossible to ignore that Valve has been approaching to map creators more and more. CSGO has seen a number of community maps added to the game officially through updates. Valve might be exploring the option of relying more on community creators.

In any case, CSGO map pool will be explored in many ways going forward and fans can’t wait to see what it’s next. Will it be Vertigo, or Mirage going out? Cache or Cobble returning? Let us know your opinion below!