Anubis returns to Counter-Strike 2 as Train is dropped from Premier Season Four map pool

Angel Kicevski January 9, 2026

69 1 minute read

Valve has announced the Premier Season Four map pool for Counter-Strike 2, confirming on X that Season Three will end on January 19 and that Anubis is returning to Active Duty while Train is being removed. To earn the Season Three Premier medal players must secure 25 wins during the season and have a visible Counter-Strike Rating (CSR) when the season ends, Valve said in the post.

Season Three of Premier ends on January 19th.

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You must have 25 Season Three Premier wins and a visible CSR when the Season concludes to earn your Premier Season Three medal.

For Season Four:

– Train
+ Anubis

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) January 9, 2026

The full Premier Season Four map pool is:

- Ancient
- Anubis

Dust II
Inferno
Mirage
Nuke
Overpass

Anubis was removed from Active Duty in mid-July at the start of the second 2025 competitive season and spent roughly six months out of the pool. The community had been talking about a potential return for Cache after Valve acquired a remade version of that map from its designer last year, so Anubis’ comeback will surprise some teams. Changes to Valve’s Premier pool usually carry through to tournament map lists, so teams should expect Anubis to appear at top events. Organizers often align their competitive settings with Valve’s choices, and that can force quick shifts in practice schedules and veto strategies.

Esports squads reacted on X, including NAVI asking Valve if it’s “deadass” about the changes and M80 questioning where Cache is. The timing intersects with a busy early January slate. BLAST Bounty begins January 13 and IEM Kraków starts January 28, so teams headed to those events will likely slot Anubis into scrims immediately.

Map rotations remain one of the clearest levers Valve has to shape competitive play. Swapping Train for Anubis changes the pool’s balance and forces roster preparations to adapt on short notice.

Follow CPG on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram for more Counter-Strike 2 coverage.

Counter-Strike 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Released in September 2023, it is the fifth main entry in the Counter-Strike series and serves as a direct replacement for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam. Two teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, compete in objective-based rounds across modes such as bomb defusal and hostage rescue. Built on the Source 2 engine, the game introduced volumetric smoke physics, revised weapon handling, and a new sub-tick server architecture. It inherited all cosmetic items from its predecessor and features both a map-specific Competitive mode and a numerically ranked Premier mode.