Left in the Dust(2)
With Anubis entering the map pool, CS:GO leaves Dust2 behind. As the competitive scene will need to learn the new map, those who made Dust2 their playground will pine for it in the coming tournaments. HLTV did a wonderful analysis on how teams will react to Anubis' addition, but here, let's focus on specific players, not just teams.
First, let's take a look at the players who perform above their average on Dust2, also known as the specialists. We can compare their rating on the map and off the map, then calculate the difference. We do that, and we get the table below.
Dust2 Specialists
For Liquid fans, this is clearly distressing. Nick "nitr0" Cannella and Josh "oSee" Ohm are the two frontrunners on this list, each playing over 11% on Dust2 than on the other six maps in the pool. For a player who struggles to maintain his "fragging IGL" title and an AWPer burdened with carrying Liquid to relevancy, removing their best map will absolutely affect Liquid coming into the 2023 season. In fact, we'll see Liquid play their first games without Dust2 in the map pool before 2023 even begins at BLAST World Finals.
The next two players on the list also spell disaster for NAVI fans. NAVI's strength, apart from Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, comes from their ability to play at a high floor, always putting in a decent performance at worst. With two of their most structural pieces turning up big on Dust2, they'll surely miss Dust2's absence in the map pool.
Of course, it wouldn't be a list about Dust2 without BIG popping up somewhere. One of the few teams to willingly pick into Dust2, the whole team, not only Nils "k1to" Gruhne, has to worry about the future of BIG's performance.
Near the bottom of the list, we have Pavle "Maden" Bošković, s1mple, and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač. With Dust2's reputation as a puggy map where aim matters more than brain, it's not too surprising to see two of the best raw mechanical aimers on this list. They'll have to step it up if they want to have the same impact on their team coming into the new map pool.
We can also take the reverse of this list. We can see who plays disproportionately worse on Dust2 as compared to the other maps. We will get to see those who should be relieved to see Dust2 exit the map pool, or for lack of a better word, the Dust2 haters.
Dust2 Haters
Before we talk about these players, it's important to note that the players who will most be thankful for Dust2's removal are certainly the ones who permaban the map, so Heroic, MOUZ, FURIA, fnatic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas players. But, we can't quantify their skill on a map they don't play, so we work with what we have.
Number one on the list is Petr "fame" Bolyshev, who has been a stand-out player for Outsiders' new Major-winning squad. But, for whatever reason, he is unable to put it together on Dust2, so if he's able to knock it out of the park on Anubis, he will be an absolute force to be reckoned with on the server.
Liquid fans will be happy to see Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski on this list, who has had a recent rut of form. However, with the removal of Dust2, EliGE's prospects become better. This knowledge at least makes nitr0 and oSee's positions on the other chart a little more palatable.
ENCE is the only team with two players on this list, so expect them to perform better come the new season, along with those previously mentioned teams who permaban Dust2.
In conclusion, there's certainly reason for fear from both Liquid and NAVI camps. To keep their rating, some of their players will either need to perform just as admirably on Anubis, or step up their performance on the other six maps. The players in the second chart, the "Dust2 haters", should be relieved to see Anubis enter the map pool, even at the cost of learning a new map.
