"Why not Tuscan?" The community reacts to Anubis, M4A1-S nerf and five-bullet AWP

On the night of November 19, Valve released a major CS:GO update, as a result of which the Anubis map replaced Dust2 in the competitive map pool, the M4A1-S was nerfed, while the AWP magazine size was reduced from ten to five bullets. These changes were assessed by players, coaches, analysts and casters. In this article, CSGO.com collected the reaction of the professional community to the update.

Viacheslav "innersh1ne" Britvin, FaZe analyst: "If Dust2 is removed from the map pool, what will BIG pick in BO3? Excellent map pool update. They removed the run-and-shoot map and added a more difficult one. Along with the AWP fix, the map pool update slightly undercuts snipers"

Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, G2 player: "Why would you add Anubis instead of Tuscan or Сache? I'm fine with Cobblestone as well. Can't wait to go through 1 year of reworks/changes on Anubis".

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill, caster: "Damage fall off for the silenced m4 is an interesting change. If the fall off is drastic enough it may see people choosing the A4 on long range maps or positions where you need to take longer range fights".

Petar "⁠peca⁠" Marković, General Manager of G2's CS:GO division: "Dust2 removal doesn’t make a lot of sense now after all of the reworks. Mirage is still in the competitive pool. I was honestly hoping for Tuscan".

Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, G2 player: "Removing Dust2 from the map pool, GG. The AWP fix is understandable, it should have been nerfed a long time ago, but Dust2?"

Abdul "degster" Gasanov, OG player: "I'm testing the spray with the M4A1-S. It's not very cool. Most likely, I will need to switch to the M4A4. In general, the update with the AWP and five bullets looks a little ridiculous. Let's see if it brings some kind of change. Maybe there will be fewer wallbangs. I feel some kind of logic in this, but it's hard to understand what logic exactly. Actually, I want to officially declare that I'm becoming a rifler. It's more pleasant to play with the AK-47. <...> I wonder how it will be with Anubis. Feels like AWPers here can be really strong. On the other hand, we'll have to see what pro teams come up with. I don't understand how to practice Dust2 now when you understand that Anubis will be played after the tournament. The new season will be interesting. Valve is trying to implement new changes to the game, but how good they are, to be honest, I'm not sure yet".

Dzhami "Jame" Ali, Outsiders' IGL: "Well, the era has been spoiled for us. Throw grenades on Anubis urgently! I just recently said in an interview that something needs to be removed from the maps so that the old generation is not arrogant. Those who work hard will be cool. The AWP is great. Doesn't hit hard. At least I won a Major before that. The M4A1-S is also decent. It hits players with weak aim. Now they can't count on the M4A1-S or AUG. They will have to click heads hard".

Richard "shox" Papillon: "Keep Mirage and remove Dust2, cant understand. Thats the "negative part" from my pov as Mirage should be reworked and let place to an other map. That being said, excited to see a totally new map implemented, we needed that for sure! Excited to also check updates on the A1S so its mb more balanced. Not sure about the AWP. AWP is defintly OP but does 5 bullets are gonna change it? Im not sure, good awps are impactful with their first 3 bullets i would say, the rest are bonus i feel like, lets see if it really change smthing".

There is no information at the moment about when the new patch will start to be used at tournaments. Valve in its press release only noted that the updated competitive map pool will for sure be used at BLAST Paris Major 2023.