One thing that wasn’t mentioned in that big new update (coughs) was a map pool update; unless one counts Italy being added to matchmaking, for some reason.

Overpass was dropped pretty unceremoniously by Valve because nobody played it in the Major playoffs, even though it would have been had VP qualified, and they only didn’t make the playoffs because the game broke at 12-11 up.

With that in mind, it’s worth mentioning that nobody is playing Vertigo right now.

Valve recently changed it to try and make it playable, and it seems to have made things worse. It’s been pointed out that it didn’t get played at Fall Final because 50% of the teams there permaban it, as sort of an explanation, but really, it makes the opposite point.

It only begs the question: why do 50% of the good teams permaban it?

It’s never truly been a popular map, and in pro play it’s often been disliked by both viewers and players at the top level. Recent changes have made it even harder to deal with all the angles on A, and the B site is a miserable experience.

Even those who like Vertigo admit it’s flawed, usually. The main argument in defence of Vertigo is that there are other bad maps that might need to go first, which is something known as not an argument.

It’s not like there aren’t other options. Cache must be nearly done. You can port over Train. Bring back Overpass. Put in Tuscan. Anything. Cobblestone if you really have to.

All of those maps are flawed, but they’re flawed in ways that have rarely impacted the viewer experience, and were all played more often by big teams (bar Tuscan, which might be just as bad as Vertigo in practice, but at least it would be a new kind of rubbish).

The map just fundamentally will never be among the best maps to grace this game, and it’s time Valve faced the music.

In our opinion, anyway. Maybe you disagree, but that would make you wrong.