Anubis is back as Train leaves the map pool

Valve have removed Train from the Active Duty map pool and replaced it with Anubis, for some reason.

This is a strange move for a multitude of reasons, but standing tallest among them is that it seemingly admits error on their part for making the decision in the first place, despite the fact that nobody really seemed to be clamouring for the return of Anubis.

Train has had its issues since its reintroduction to the map pool, with the changes largely being unpopular and it being the least picked map at big events in the last six months, but some of that will be down to the fact that it just got introduced. It took a long time for big teams to be comfortable with Ancient and Anubis, and the former turned out to be a wonderful addition to the map pool.

Anubis is similarly flawed and was removed partially due to those issues; it’s very chokepoint-y and CT side is very difficult, with awkward rotations and a seeming need for at least six players to cover everything, so bringing it back for Train just six months after removing it seems pretty short-sighted.

We don’t think many people would have complained if Cache had come back, and very few were really calling for Train’s removal. Inferno or Mirage were much more called for from the community, with both being in the map pool for a long time, and feeling a little stale.

Mirage is still a great map that regularly throws up classics, but it’s been in the map pool for as long as donk has been alive (that might not be true but it SOUNDS true). Inferno still has life in it, but it can also be a tough watch at times and has similarly been a part of the game for a long time.

Cache would fill the same space as Mirage or Inferno as a classic, well-understood map that you can pug on or play a more tactical game, especially in the case of Mirage which is generally undersold as a tactical map. There’s a lot more layers to it at the top level than most people realise.

In the end, this is a bit of a strange decision that just reverts the map pool back to what it was before. It’s a little… uninventive? Boring?

Choose your own adjective - but it’s probably not a positive one.