ESL to insert Ancient into map pool for IEM Summer

ESL will introduce Ancient into the map pool for all of its ESL Pro Tour circuit, starting with IEM Summer, the tournament organizer announced today.

ESL took this decision following discussions with the ESL Pro League player council and the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA). Valve has added Ancient to the Active Duty map pool on May 3, replacing Train in the rotation, in what was the first map pool change since Vertigo replaced Cache in March 2019.

So far, there hasn’t been any relevant competitive matches on Ancient as the map isn’t being featured in the current round of Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events, the qualifier circuit for the PGL Stockholm Major, which will take place between Oct. 23 and Nov. 7.

IEM Summer is the next premier event of the ESL Pro Tour and the action is slated to begin on June 3, with $250,000 on the line. The competition will feature 16 teams in total and some of the best teams in the world, such as Gambit, Heroic, Astralis, G2, and Virtus.pro, will be there to maybe test the waters on Ancient for the first time in an official match.

If you haven’t seen what Ancient looks like, you can watch the VOD of the DreamHack Masters Spring’s showmatch, where casters Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill and Alex “Machine” Richardson assembled teams with professional players for a five-vs-five match.