Despite there being seven maps in CS:GO's tournament map pool, pro players have favored two classic maps for a second year running.
When the top 50 HLTV teams have been playing at LAN events so far in 2023, they have most often played on either Inferno or Mirage, according to HLTV. The former is currently sitting in first place with 158 games played, while teams faced off on Mirage 148 times.
This doesn't come as much of a surprise. Both maps were also the most played in 2022, with pro teams competing on Inferno 264 times and 254 times on Mirage, according to HLTV.
Every CS:GO fan is surely familiar with both maps. Inferno and Mirage are two of the few maps that have been in the game since its release in 2012. They have both undergone some changes over the years, but only Inferno was significantly reworked in 2016. Mirage, on the other hand, remains the only map in the pool that has been there from the beginning and hasn't yet seen a major overhaul.
Those who are demanding changes to Mirage should wait patiently for summer when Counter-Strike 2 is expected to launch. The game will update every map. That said, these updates are being divided into three categories depending on the scale of changes. Mirage is in the Touchstone category, which includes maps that will mostly get a graphics update and not much else. Details on Inferno's rework, so far, remain to be seen.
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Players who received access to the CS2 beta have had the opportunity to check it out themselves. Mirage replaced Dust2 as the only playable map in the game's beta with June 6's update.
Nevertheless, it's going to be interesting to see if Inferno and Mirage withstand the test of time and continue being popular in CS2. From our experience, if something isn't broken, there's no point in fixing it. These maps regularly produce spectacular pro matches and are immensely fun to play themselves.