Worse than Vertigo? CS2 pros sideline Train in the first LAN of 2025

Even though the majority of Counter-Strike pros were unhappy with Vertigo in the map pool, it didn't necessarily translate into more teams picking Train, Vertigo's replacement. In fact, Train was sidelined by the teams who attended the BLAST Bounty Season 1 Finals in Copenhagen, Denmark these past few days.

The only appearances Train made at the BLAST Bounty Season 1 Finals was as the decider for Spirit v. HEROIC in the quarterfinals and Spirit v. Eternal Fire in the grand finals. However, both series concluded before Train was played.

Inferno was the only map worse than Train in this regard as none of the teams playing at the BLAST Bounty Season 1 Finals picked it.

Fans are expecting to see more action on Train after putting up with Vertigo for so long. The map, though, was also the least played during the online phase of BLAST Bounty.

One could argue that this happened because the addition of Train happened mere days before BLAST Bounty kicked off and that we'll see the map rise in popularity in the upcoming tournaments as more teams start practicing it.

However, it does look like Valve needs to make some adjustments to Train as the map has become more T-sided, which isn't good in the current CT-side economy.

If anything, North American teams are the ones most likely to commit to Train as they are among the ones most impacted by Vertigo's removal.