Valve’s switch from map bans to map picks in Counter-Strike 2 Premier has reshaped how often each map is played. According to Leetify, Mirage and Dust II took the biggest hit, while Cache and Anubis gained a lot of ground.
Why does this matter? For months, two maps dominated Premier. Now players see much more variety. As a result, the map pool looks very different from the one players knew just a few weeks ago.
Why Mirage and Dust II Ruled Premier
Before the change, Premier used a ban-based system. Under that format, Mirage and Dust II were played far more than any other map. Leetify’s chart shows Mirage climbing to 25% of all Premier matches before the update. Dust II trailed just behind it.
Meanwhile, other maps struggled to get on the server. Cache fell as low as 6.6% of Premier matches. In other words, many players rarely saw it in their match queue.
What the Leetify Data Shows
Valve introduced the Map Picks Update on September 22, 2026. Leetify then analyzed 12.7 million Premier matches played between July 29 and October 20, 2026. The results show a clear shift right after the update.
Mirage dropped from its peak of about 25% to 20.3% of matches. Dust II fell to 19.8%. However, both maps still remain the two most played in Premier.
At the same time, other maps gained share. Inferno now sits at 13.9%. Nuke and Anubis are tied at 11.9%, and Cache has recovered to 11.2%. According to Leetify, the move from bans to picks doubled the number of Cache and Anubis matches.
Ancient is the odd one out. It slipped slightly to 10.9%, the lowest share among the seven maps in the chart. Therefore, it did not benefit from the new system like its rivals did.
Leetify’s Take on the Change
Leetify said the update had a huge impact on how often Dust II and Mirage are played. The company added that players now have more opportunity to play every map under Valve’s new selection process. Leetify also called the drop in Ancient’s share fascinating, since the change gave most other maps a boost.
What This Means for Premier Players
The update shows that map selection rules can change a game’s habits very quickly. Mirage and Dust II still lead, but the gap between them and the rest of the pool is much smaller. Cache and Anubis, once rare in Premier, now appear far more often.
Finally, Ancient’s decline raises an open question. If more choice helps most maps, why did Ancient go down? The current data does not answer that, so it will be worth watching how the numbers move in the coming weeks.
