Ancient became the most played map at IEM Beijing 2026, with 17 games. Mirage followed with 15, and Dust2 took third place with 12. Meanwhile, Anubis closed the chart with only five games.
This result is interesting because Ancient did not lead at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026. There, it took sixth place with 11 games. In Beijing, however, teams chose it more often than any other map. Cache also fell sharply, so the Beijing chart looks very different.
How the Map Chart Looked at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
To see the change, it helps to look at the previous event. At PGL Masters Bucharest 2026, Dust2 and Mirage shared first place with 18 games each. Nuke was third with 15, while Inferno and Cache each had 14. Ancient took sixth place with 11, and Anubis finished last with seven.
Full Map Distribution in Beijing
At IEM Beijing 2026, teams played 74 maps in total. Ancient led with 17 games, and Mirage was second with 15. Dust2 had 12, and Inferno had 11. Nuke and Cache both reached seven, while Anubis finished last with five.
As a result, Ancient made up about 23% of all games. Together, Ancient, Mirage and Dust2 accounted for 44 of the 74 games, or about 59%. In contrast, the other four maps shared the remaining 30 games.
How Team Picks Changed Since Bucharest
Ancient showed the biggest rise. It moved from sixth place with 11 games in Bucharest to first place with 17 in Beijing. Mirage lost three games, going from 18 to 15, but it kept second place. Dust2 fell from 18 to 12 and slipped to third.
Cache dropped sharply as well. It went from 14 games in Bucharest to seven in Beijing, so its total was cut in half. Nuke fell even more in raw numbers, from 15 games to seven. Inferno lost three games, going from 14 to 11, and Anubis declined from seven to five.
However, Beijing had fewer games overall, so raw numbers need some care. Even so, the shares tell the same story. Cache went from about 14% of all games in Bucharest to about 9% in Beijing. Nuke dropped from about 15% to about 9%, while Ancient doubled its share from about 11% to about 23%.
Why the Shift in Map Choices Matters
According to the map distribution data from IEM Beijing 2026, Ancient is now the top choice, ahead of Mirage and Dust2. Cache and Nuke, which stayed close to the leaders in Bucharest, lost a lot of ground in Beijing. Anubis, finally, remained among the least played maps again.
Therefore, the map pool picture changed quickly between two big events. For fans and analysts, this means that veto trends can shift from one tournament to the next. Teams may use Ancient much more often, while Cache and Nuke appear less.
