Antwerp Major Challengers Stage reveals very CT-sided meta
2022-05-13 13:02:00By the conclusion of PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Challengers Stage, the community noticed a disbalance in the current meta of top-tier CS:GO. It appeared to be heavily CT-sided, especially on some of the maps. This fact was highlighted by Astralis's Xyp9x in one of his interviews.
Although many saw his words as an excuse, the numbers speak for themselves. Traditionally CT-sided Nuke and Overpass aren't even the worst offenders. Almost every map appeared to favor CTs.
This deviation seems quite unnatural for over 51 played maps. The latest big event ESL Pro League S15 wasn't that CT-sided. It had a difference between 52% to 59% with not one map showing over 60%.
Antwerp stats can be only compared to the early days of CS:GO. The 2014 year graph is looking similar and it was the most CT-sided period. By 2016-2017 CS map meta stabilized and became slightly favoring the defense. In 2019, at big events, Train was the only map with a CT win rate over 55% and was considered very CT-sided.
Following discussions sprung on Reddit and the Richard Lewis's No Majors Club stream. Some feel it makes watching matches a bit boring, because of how predictable they become. On the other side, Anders Blume sees some positives, as CT-sided maps allow for long exciting comebacks and help to build a narrative of the game for casters.
A meta shift towards CT happened after Valve allowed players to drop nades. M4A1-s buff and price lowering might've also played a role in this change.
