Popular Map Inferno Returns to Competitive Play in CS:GO
The highly popular map Inferno in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) has made a comeback after being absent from competitive play for around ten months.
Inferno has been a staple map in CS:GO since it was released in 2012. Many top teams from around the world have competed on it for almost four years. However, on April 21, 2020, CS:GO developer Valve replaced Inferno with the newly reworked Nuke in the competitive map pool.
On February 3, Inferno was reintroduced to the competitive map pool and was played during the first day of matches at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas. OpTic, the champions of ELEAGUE Season 2, had a close game against North, with a final score of 16-11 in favor of OpTic. Despite the significant changes made by Valve, it is clear that “Infernew” still plays similarly to its old version. One notable aspect is the strength of the Counter-Terrorist side, as both OpTic and North secured most of their rounds on the defensive side.
However, despite the ten-month period of tinkering by Valve, players seemed rusty at times during the game, and the map itself is not fully optimized. There were instances where grenades bounced off new map assets, and a smoke grenade extinguished a molotov without coming into contact with the fire. Additionally, North’s René “cajunb” Borg showcased a spot near bombsite A where a player can become almost invisible to approaching foes, which should not be possible.
In the end, both teams demonstrated why Inferno was missed in competitive play, and it is likely to be one of the most contested maps at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas.