An exciting new era of CS:GO competition is set to officially begin on Dec. 14 when the BLAST World Final in Abu Dhabi hosts the first tournament to feature the massive new changes introduced to the game in the Nov. 18 update.
The Nov. 18 update is one of the most significant updates in recent CS:GO history. The classic Dust II map was removed from the Active Duty map pool and replaced with Anubis, which was only added to the game and the competitive queue in 2020. It’s only the second community-created map other than Cache to ever make it into the Active Duty pool.
Two of the game’s most iconic and impactful weapons received big changes as well. The AWP sniper magazine size was reduced from 10 to five, and the M4A1-S rifle’s range modifier has been reduced from 0.99 to 0.94, meaning it deals less damage at longer ranges.
These changes were made less than a week after the conclusion of the IEM Rio Major, one of two yearly Majors that serves as the most prestigious events in CS:GO‘s calendar year. But the timing of the changes came too close to the BLAST Premier Fall Final set to begin on Nov. 23, and BLAST made the decision to not use the newest update for the Fall Final.
BLAST has confirmed to HLTV that the World Final will be played on the latest Nov. 18 update, with the changes to the map pool and the weapons active. FaZe, Natus Vincere, Vitality, and Outsiders have already qualified directly for the World Final via wins at the PGL Antwerp Major, BLAST Spring Finals, ESL Pro League season 16, and the IEM Rio Major, respectively.
The winner of the Fall Finals will directly qualify for the World Final, as will the top three in points on the BLAST Global Leaderboard (not including teams that have already qualified). If either FaZe or NAVI win the Fall Finals after having already qualified, then the top four in Leaderboard points will join the field at the World Final.
Published: Nov 22, 2022 01:13 pm