When Vertigo just became part of the Active Duty Map Pool, it was highly criticized. In this article, we will try to figure out what is the problem with Vertigo.

1). Vertigo doesn’t respond to the needs of competitive CS:GO

CS:GO is a tactical shooter game, and strategy plays an important role in this game. It’s a tactical game, primarily because of its well-designed maps. Thus, if a map cannot respond to the needs of the competitive CS:GO scene, it will be excluded from Active Duty Map Pool. Even popular maps such as Aztec, Italy, and Tuscan didn’t find their place in competitive CS:GO because of their poor design, layout, and balance.

That’s why Cobblestone is not in Active Duty Map Pool anymore, and that’s why Dust 2 needed to be reworked. Valve tried to shake things a little bit and added a new map to map pool. They decided to add Vertigo but received countless critics for that. Let’s continue to see why Vertigo, possibly, is not the best choice for the new competitive CS:GO map.

2). There is no fight for map control

Vertigo is a relatively small map and everything is happening very quickly. Players can engage with opponents in just a matter of seconds. This means that there is no ground or area of the map that teams would fight for. CTs usually stay at a bombsite and try to defend it from very passive positions. On the other side, Ts are free to roam around the map until they decide where to strike.

So, there is no real battle until the T-side decides to rush into the site. As a result, the first real battle on the map is usually the last one and that’s what makes this map so hard to play and not very interesting watch.

3). Everyone can hear everything

Another big problem with Vertigo is that the walls are thin, and two levels are too close to each other. So, unless players walk all the time, they will be heard constantly and that’s something you want to avoid in CS:GO. For example, Nuke has a similar problem as it’s also a map with two levels. However, Nuke has an outside area and it’s far more complex than Vertigo, which makes it more competitive.

4). It’s heavily T-sided

The Top 50 teams played about 50 matches so far on Vertigo and 55% of rounds have been won by T-side. In CS:GO, it implies that Vertigo favors the T-side a lot. Truly, when we look at map design, it makes us ask how CTs can win a round at all.

Bombsites are too tight and Ts can smoke off every single position, especially on A site. It makes the bomb plant and post-plant game very easy for them. It’s almost impossible to stop T-side from planting the bomb. As a result, many teams decide to just rush into A site and have an easy game. The exact same thing happened in the Liquid-Astralis matchup where A-site retake was almost impossible. That’s a huge problem with Vertigo, and Valve needs to do something about it.

On top of that, the angles on Vertigo are very awkward, which causes paranoia in lines of CTs. They can be flanked at any moment from any direction.

5). CTs can’t get any information

Information is very important in tactical shooter games. If only one side can gather information, it means that the map is unbalanced. That’s exactly the problem with Vertigo. Whereas Ts can lurk around and get necessary info, CTs are stuck in bombsites. When they get any information about the position of Ts, it’s already too late. This problem is just a byproduct of lack of fight for map control. If teams cannot fight over the map, they cannot see each other. Therefore, they have to blindly stick to certain positions and wait for Ts to attack.

6). What can be done to about this?

From the perspective of the developers, there are so many things that should be done and fixed. To begin with, they can add more options to the CT side by adding more boost spots and more angles and positions to play. Also, CS:GO analyst and former player, SPUNJ, suggested stretching bombsites. It would make the post-plant game harder for Ts and easier for CTs. Also, it would be easier for CTs to deny the bomb plant, especially when they are not completely smoked off.

On the other side, from the perspective of players and teams, there are also many things to be done. There are definitely many things to be found on this map, such as smokes, grenades, boosts and so on. Also, if Valve decides to not make bigger changes for some reason, teams just have to adapt to Vertigo.

wait whose idea was it to make vertigo a comp map? lol? — Buddy ツ (@Buddyiee) June 21, 2019

Maybe they should look up to teams such as FURIA who managed to play well on both CT and T side. Obviously, conventions and rules that apply to other maps don’t apply to Vertigo. Aggression on CT side could be something that would make a game on Vertigo easier for CT side.