FACEIT to remove Vertigo from matchmaking

Vertigo will leave the FACEIT matchmaking map selection on January 13th, the platform announced.

The change comes after Valve's decision to swap Vertigo for Train for the BLAST.tv Austin Major earlier this week, which led to tournament organizers such as BLAST, ESL, and PGL putting Train in the map pool immediately.

This marked the first time that Vertigo ever left the map pool since its inclusion in May 2019, when Valve removed Cache.

Vertigo has been heavily criticized over the years by professional players and casuals. Valve did try to improve it several times through numerous updates, but despite their best efforts, Vertigo was the least-picked map across tournaments in 2024.

Vertigo will likely remain outside of FACEIT matchmaking until Valve completely overhaul the map. Its removal doesn't mean that Train will be added, as the map has already been available on the platform since its rework in November 2024.