Massive CS2 Spawn Changes Ahead of Americas RMR

Late at night on 28 February, just two days before the Americas RMR for the PGL Copenhagen Major, Valve made massive changes to Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) spawn locations on the competitive maps.

Previously, some spawn locations on certain maps, such as Mirage, provided opportunities for some aggressive tactics, which could greatly impact the meta now that they are removed.

CS2 Spawn Location Changes Are Massive

To put it mildly, such big changes just days ahead of the Americas RMR for the Copenhagen Major can send shockwaves through the pro community. Teams will have to adapt and possibly change their tactics quickly, moving into the all-important event.

First of all, spawn position is no longer randomly determined when a player reconnects to a server during freeze time. The spawn point sequence is now configured at the beginning of the map and is saved/restored from round backup files. Valve also explained the following points:

• In official matchmaking servers, players who disconnect and reconnect during freeze time will respawn in the spawn point they were assigned at the beginning of the round
• On community servers, players who disconnect and reconnect during freeze time will be assigned one of the five spawn positions assigned to the team that round
• When restoring from round backup files (which is recommended in tournament settings after disconnects/reconnects), players will spawn in the positions they were originally assigned at the beginning of that round

What was found, however, was that several spawn locations were removed on many competitive, including those in the Active Duty pool. 

They have removed at least seven spawns on Mirage, for example, and most maps now only have five possible spawn points.

The official patch notes simply reads:

Adjusted spawn location priorities for Premier and Competitive game modes in Anubis, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, and Vertigo.

CS2 Inferno Map Changes

• Fixed community reported gaps in map and Trike model
• Raised plywood at top of Banana to cover head visibility
• Smoothed ground movement in Banana and Bombsite A
• Raised Arch exit towards Mid (or "Raised arch in Arch")
• Removed bench at Arch near Library
• Removed construction cone at Underpass

Other CS2 Changes & Bug Fixes in the 29 Feb Update

Below, you can find the additional fixes and changes in the CS2 update released late on 28 February or early on 29 February depending where you live in the world.

It remains to be seen how the pro players will handle these CS2 spawn changes as the Copenhagen Major Americas RMR and BLAST Premier Spring Showdown looms. Yes, these spawn changes do have the community divided!