Esports
Ever wanted to be able to throw smokes from B to A sites on Mirage? Well with this new patch you can do exactly that, and even make them useful.
Chances are that if you play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with any regularity you know how to play Mirage. The map has long been a favorite of many, and when Dust 2 was out of the active map pool it became the map of choice for a lot of players. It has a simple enough layout, allows for even the most uncoordinated of teams to run a few simple executes, and everyone knows at least a couple of decent smoke strategies to use.
Another reason for its popularity is that the map rarely changes. Whereas the likes of Nuke seem to get some kind of change every few months, Mirage tends to remain mostly the same whenever a new update is released. This time however it was the main focus of many of the latest CS:GO changes.
This isn't a rework, as one player in our opening game assumed, but there are enough changes to make certain areas feel a little different. Oh, and you can forget most of those difficult smokes you learned before – the skyboxes have been changed beyond recognition. You'll have to relearn this map, but handily for you we've jotted down the changes you need to know about.
Getting into apartments looks different
The players in our two opening matches on this new look Mirage certainly offered up some brilliant lines. One team-mate was simply amazed that you no longer have to jump to make it into the Apartments from T spawn. Despite what seemingly every player in our games seem to believe, that wasn't the case even before the change. Jumping was totally unnecessary; you could just walk straight up there.
Of course, a lot of players didn't realise this so sometimes, at least in low level games, you would have to wait a few seconds as the player in front of you tried to perfect a jump they didn't need to make. Valve decided to change it so that now there isn't even a visual reason to jump. All you have to do now is walk up some stairs, which should make rushing B even easier.
On the other side of the balcony up to Apartments, the one closest to Mid, the ladder has been removed and replaced with a few boxes. This is the change that's likely to have more of an impact on actual gameplay. The ladder always felt like an odd choice, because of how small it was so replacing it with a set of boxes seems like a great idea to us. It will change up how you approach this set piece, though.
This corner in Palace is easier to nade around
If you are coming out of Palace playing on the T-side, then you're going to want to put some utility down towards the scaffolding below you, incase a CT is ready and waiting to take you down as you fall to the floor. This was always possible, but now it's even easier, as the corner has been banked, meaning grenades will fly off it in a totally different direction.
With just a couple of practice throws, you'll be able to send a molotov cocktail down the hole and onto any unsuspecting CTs, without putting yourself in any kind of danger. Technically, this was always possible before with a different angle, but this is clearly designed to make it easier and more obvious for players.
Visibility improvements
Have you ever looked from top-mid as a T into the small gap you can see in Connector, only to miss that there was a CT standing there because of the darkness of the whole area? Perhaps not, as it's not that common, but it's certainly possible and any players in that position in connector can be hard to see. So Valve have done us all a favor and made the background much lighter, meaning any CT stood in that position will stick out like a sore thumb.
A similar thing has also happened to A Ramp, where the dark background has been removed so that CTs playing around stairs can easily tell if a T has just positioned themselves in the area. These are small changes, but could be the difference between a win or a lost round.
Nades everywhere
So far this is the biggest change to Mirage, and perhaps the one we expect to be tweaked in some way because the opportunities it creates are amazing. The skybox limitations have been removed, meaning if there's an angle, and you have enough arm strength, you can now throw a smoke grenade from one side of the map to the other.
This has only been live for a day or so and already we've seen players clouding up Palace from Apartments or the back of B. CT on A can be smoked from T spawn, with one of the simplest nade throws we've ever seen, and obviously almost anywhere can be smoked once you have control of mid.
The new idea seems to be that if you know the general position of somewhere, you can probably line up a smoke grenade for it. And after a few practise goes, you should be able to hit it most of the time, which seems a little overpowered. Being able to fake an A execute from all the way over at B seems a little unfair to the CTs.
We're yet to see the pro players get any time with this new map, but once they do, you can bet that they'll come up with a ton of new strats to make use of this change, and perhaps only then will we truly see how the change will impact the overall style of the map. But for the time being, we're going to keep trying to figure out some new smokes from ridiculous positions.
The non-Mirage changes
Mirage was the main focus of this new patch, but there were also a few other changes to CS:GO. The CZ75a is seemingly no longer the only expensive pistol worth running in force buys, as its damage has been reduced significantly. The M4A1-S has been given 20 additional reserve ammo, which might see it be used more by the pros, while the MP7 has been given a price cut from $1,700 to $1,500, which certainly makes it more attractive to economical players.
Canals, which surely must be heading to the active map pool at some point, has also seen some changes, mostly relating to the troublesome B-site that most players seem to hate. There's a change to the layout of Alley, too, but these are minor changes that don't change up the overall gameplay much. Head to Mirage, however, and try out the new changes that have hit the map – you might surprise yourself.
