Valve has officially confirmed the much-awaited return of Cache to the competitive map pool with Season 5 of CS2 Premier. The map pool change will come in following the conclusion of Season 4 on July 6, with the map set to replace Overpass in the seven map wide pool. The advance notice allows players to grind out their last few wins to earn their Premier Season 4 medal.
The announcement comes in just a day after the conclusion of the IEM Cologne 2026 Major, where Falcons lifted the Major trophy, earning the first title for Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač. With the Premier pool also being mirrored across the professional circuit, Valve has decided to announce the changes early after the major, giving teams plenty of runway to properly practice Cache ahead of tournament play. This timeline marks a distinct change from previous seasons, with some map changes being announced just a week before the update.
Cache finally joins the CS2 Premier map pool
Ever since Valve’s official version of Cache was added into the game in April, the community has been waiting for its entry into the Premier pool. And this announcement finally confirms the change, much to the joy of the players. Cache, a beloved CS:GO map, had been absent from the pool since 2019 when Vertigo replaced it in the Active Duty map pool. While its creator FMPONE created a number of versions of the map during that hiatus, none of them truly captured the essence of the original. Furthermore, they all lacked the performance optimizations needed for the map.
Related—Cache is finally back in CS2 after seven-year absence
That eventually led to Valve acquiring the map from FMPONE ahead of its CS2 rework, with the game developer bringing a swath of changes and optimizations, truly bringing the map to its original glory. Cache replaces Overpass in the pool, with the latter enjoying a short but successful year-long stint.
Overpass removal points to wider Valve strategy for the Active Duty maps
If the community was asked to pick a map to be removed in favor of Cache, Overpass likely wouldn’t have been the first choice. Instead, many predicted Ancient would be the one to get axed, while others hoped that some of the classic maps like Mirage and Inferno might get a rework.
Instead, Valve has chosen to remove Overpass after just two seasons. Between the removal of Train last season, and Overpass now, the devs seem to be targeting a 5+2 system of map rotations. Such a system, as was first put forth by talent member Jason “moses” O’Toole, would see five core maps remaining in the pool, while two were rotated alternatively in every season.
Related—All CS2 competitive maps and active duty map pool (Updated 2026)
If such a system is indeed implemented, Dust2, Mirage, Inferno, Nuke, and Ancient have seemingly been chosen to be mainstays of the pool. And that decision feels rather apt when you consider that these maps have consistently been the most played across events. In fact four of those maps were in the tournament pool of the very first Major at Dreamhack Winter 2013.
Further updates in coming seasons should make the system more obvious, but players can take solace in the fact that their favorites maps are likely not going anywhere anytime soon.
Season Four of Premier ends on July 6th.
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) June 22, 2026
You must have 25 Season Four Premier wins and a visible CSR when the Season concludes to earn your Premier Season Four medal.
For the Season Five Active Duty map pool:
– Overpass
+ Cache pic.twitter.com/W5NLTHweok
CS2 Premier Season 4 end date revealed
Perhaps the most significant announcement for the casual players is the end of Premier Season 4 on July 6. With two weeks until the end, players have a final chance to get more wins on the board in Premier, and earn themselves a Season 4 medal. For a refresher, players need 25 wins in the current Premier season to earn your medal.
Once the season concludes, Valve will roll out the Season 5 update in a day or two, bringing with it a whole host of changes and updates, as well as a possible release of new skin collections.
