Counter-Strike 2 News

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update for 5 December 2020

Ninjas in Pyjamas' new talent program aims to find Sweden's next CS:GO star

Scouting and developing potential young stars is crucial for the longevity of any esports organisation. The latest to double down on this is Ninjas in Pyjamas, with the historic organisation launching a new talent program to help preserve Sweden's status as a top breeding ground for Counter-Strike pros.

Path to Ninja sees NiP partner up with Area Academy, which has hosted regional Svenska Elitserien CS:GO events since 2018. The talent program will see a judging panel pick "two or three" of the top performers from Elitserien events and "provide them with all the tools they need, both inside and outside the game, to lower the gap between grassroots and professional CS:GO." The panel is composed of four former Counter-Strike 1.6 professionals, including Ninjas in Pyjamas' current head CS:GO coach Björn 'THREAT' Pers.

It appears that this is initiative is more about identifying and training the next top fragger in Swedish Counter-Strike, rather than as a way to sign new players for NiP. While players will work closely with the organisation they will still remain with the roster they competed with in the Elitserien.

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CS:GO Operation Broken Fang introduces map pick and bans

You've waited ever so patiently Counter-Strike fans, and now a new Operation has finally landed. Broken Fang is a bit of a monster too, bringing not only buckets of content from weapon skins to maps, but also a brand new game mode, a pick and ban system for maps, and a comprehensive player stats tracker.

Let's start with the stats tracker, as it is a pretty cool addition. Finally, you'll be able to properly quantify your CS:GO experience and stat-shame your fellow fraggers. The new interface will not only show you bread and bitter stats like K/D ratio, matches played, and average kills per game, but also stats for individual maps and weapons. There's also a heatmap that will show you where you get shot the most, which will be handy for over-eager peekers.

A new game mode has also dropped called Retake, a 3v4 experience that sees three Ts defending a planted bomb against four CTs. Well, it's not actually new - it's been around on community servers for a while now, but it's making its Valve-official debut in Broken Fang. An additional twist is that players are presented with a choice of loadout cards at the beginning of a match and can pick the one that suits them best.

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update for 4 December 2020

Read patchnotes on SteamDB...

CS:GO Operation Broken Fang is now live

Valve has smiled upon the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community, as the studio is irregularly wont to do. Operation Broken Fang is now live, with new maps, new modes, and - of course - premium bonuses for those who want to buy the Operation pass. As usual, the devs dropped the update without much buildup - but hey, with CS:GO player counts as they are, who can blame 'em?

Ancient is a brand new competitive map built for Defusal. Set in the ruins of a South American temple, it's got plenty of jungle flavour and locations for close combat and longer-range encounters. There are five new community maps, too, from the space-themed Apollo location to the car dealership on Engage.

The update also introduces a customisable chat wheel that can generate contextual pings, and provide callouts in chat for things like spotting an enemy. There's a new mode, as well, where you choose a loadout card at the start of each round, then use the hand you're dealt to take or defend a bomb site.

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