What makes Mirage so special in CS:GO

Mirage has been the favorite map among the Forge of Masters. WePlay! League teams so far – it was played in 10 out of 16 matches. It doesn’t come as a surprise, and in this post, we’ll explain why.

Map history

The history of Mirage begins in 2004. At that time, Counter-Strike had already become a popular title transitioning into the esports status. Not every map at that time fitted the “balance and competitive” status, which led to a specific demand. While many old school fans liked to keep playing on maps like cs_assault and it didn’t matter in random 8 vs 8 matches, the professional players noticed, that one of the sides got an unfair advantage there.

Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was among the first prominent tournament organizers who proposed to use an alternative map. In 2004, Michael "BubkeZ" Hull created a map for CPL, which served as the blueprint for Mirage, it was called de_cpl_strike.

This is the A plant on de_cpl_strike. It has many similarities with modern Mirage. The map quickly became popular. After CPL stop operating, BubkeZ refreshed the map and called it de_mirage in 2010. It almost immediately became the go-to competitive map.

In 2012, Valve released Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that contained another iteration of Mirage, almost identical to the one used today.

Mirage design

The buildings on the map were designed in the Middle Eastern architectural style. If Mirage was a real place, it would probably replicate part of a block in Morocco. The initial versions of the map used textures that suggested the action was taking place in Italy, but they were scrapped eventually.

Mirage has a unique graffiti to commemorate a legendary moment in the CS:GO esports history. During MLG Columbus 2016, Brazilian prodigy Marcelo "coldzera" David, who played for Luminosity Gaming at the time, executed four kills with AWP almost standing on one spot. He saved B plant from a four-man assault by Team Liquid.

Throughout the longest time, there have been only a few changes to Mirage, mostly letting people be more creative with the nades. They say that since the map is so old, it might be the next candidate for the chopping block, but players are enjoying it very much.

Why do people love Mirage?

Mirage is a balanced and relatively simple map. It’s not very big and allows players to be flexible, quickly changing the position. There is almost no vertical gameplay, like on Nuke or Train.

According to the numbers provided by HLTV.org, during the LAN-events, the defendants win in 53.5% of rounds. Mirage is suitable for AWP play, making the defence easier. It also offers many spots suitable for long- and short-range crossfire. In combination with multiple opportunities to be creative with grandees, players keep finding new ways to play Mirage.

In our next article about Mirage, we will discuss the most common tactics on the map, and share tricks that will help in your competitive matches. Meanwhile, you can find numerous games by the professional players in the Forge of Masters VODs.