🕹 CS2's monthly peak fell by 149,019 players in April — an 8.7% drop, the worst since the summer.

🕹 Steam concurrent player peak, last 6 months (per SteamDB):

- April 2026 - 1,573,122 (−8.7%)
- March 2026 - 1,722,141 (+5.7%)
- February 2026 - 1,629,389 (−1.7%)
- January 2026 - 1,657,189 (Premier Season 4 launched Jan 21)
- December 2025 - 1,630,561
- November 2025 - 1,624,130

🕹 Year-over-year:
- April 2025 peak: 1,862,531
- April 2026 peak: 1,573,122
Drop: 289,409 - about 15.5%

Cache returned on April 28 after seven years away. With only two days left in the month, it didn't have time to reverse the trend — and the early "Last 30 days" reading (−1.1%) suggests the bump hasn't been dramatic either.

🧐 Worth knowing
March 2026 was the only CS2 month above 1.7M peak this year. The peak landed during BLAST Open Rotterdam, which Vitality won at the end of March. Big tournaments and player counts move together.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#SteamDB #Cache

🕹 Maps VRS - Dust 2 standings, May 6, 2026

🇪🇺 Vitality - 2024
🇪🇺 NAVI - 1903
🇷🇺 Spirit - 1811
🇷🇺 PARIVISION - 1712
🇷🇺 Aurora - 1706
🇧🇷 FURIA - 1702
🇪🇺 FUT - 1699
🇪🇺 FaZe - 1602
🇪🇺 G2 - 1544
🇺🇦 Monte - 1543

🙇‍♂️ The shape of the list:

- Vitality lead by 120 points — the largest map-specific gap they hold across the active pool.
- Spirit climb to #3, sliding past PARIVISION. The donk-magixx-sh1ro-tN1R-zont1x five remain Dust 2's third-best lineup despite missing BLAST Rivals.
- Aurora and FURIA both jump 4 ranks - the biggest movers on Dust 2 this update.
- G2 and Monte jump 3 and 8, leaving G2 just 1 point above Monte at the bottom of the Top 10.

🕹 Worth knowing
Vitality's Dust 2 record on LAN since the Austin Major: 17 wins in a row before FUT broke the streak at BLAST Rivals (opener), followed up by two flawless sweeps 13-3 against G2 and NAVI.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#MapsVRS #Dust2

🕹 Premier players still pick the same maps, no matter who's on top of the pro scene.

Most-played maps in Premier — March 2026 (per Leetify, 5.2M matches):

🕌 Mirage - 25.5%
🌅 Dust 2 - 23.1%
⛪️ Inferno - 14.5%
🎇 Nuke - 12.1%
🏞 Ancient - 12.1%
🏜 Anubis - 7.4%
🚅 Overpass - 5.3%

What this tells us:
- Nearly half of all Premier matches (48.6%) are played on just two maps - Mirage and Dust 2.
- Overpass is now the least-picked map in the active pool - chosen 5x less often than Mirage.
- Despite Cache return to CS2 on April 28 it is not on this chart yet, since its not added to official Map Pool.

🧐 Worth knowing:
At the pro level, Mirage was the most-played series at BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 (8 series). At Premier level, it's the most-played map full stop. The community and the pros agree on Mirage.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#Mirage #Dust2

🕹 CS2 Premier match volume just jumped 38% in one quarter - AND IT'S NOT EVEN RELATED TO THE CACHE!

🕹 Premier match count, per Leetify:
- Q3 2025 - 10.82M matches
- Q4 2025 - 11.16M matches (+3.2%)
- Q1 2026 - 15.39M matches (+37.9%)

🇺🇦 Then Cache returned on April 28:
- That's more than Dust 2 and Mirage combined on the same day
- Cache held above Dust 2 and Mirage for about four days after release, then started settling back toward the pack
- By May 3 it was around 20% — still active, but no longer dominating

🧐 Worth knowing:
Premier volume was already climbing hard before April 28. The Q1 surge happened on the existing seven-map pool. Whatever Q2 looks like, the baseline was already set high.

The +37.9% jump came before Cache existed. cache can affect overall online, returning old players to all modes.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#Premier #Cache #Leetify

🔥 flameZ, ropz, w0nderful & makazze got EVP for 🏆 BLAST Rivals Season 1

📺 EVPs:

🇮🇱 flameZ - (Major EVPs 1, Total EVPs 17)
🇪🇪 ropz - (Major EVPs 4, Total EVPs 37)
🇺🇦 w0nderful - (Major EVPs 3, Total EVPs 8)
🇽🇰 makazze - (Major EVPs 1, Total EVPs 4)


🕹 HLTV's All-Star team for BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 is out. Three Vitality, one NAVI, one G2.

⭐️ The All-Star five:
🇫🇮 Aleksib (NAVI) - IGL
🇫🇷 ZywOo (Vitality) - AWPer
🇮🇱 flameZ (Vitality) - Opener
🇪🇪 ropz (Vitality) - Closer
🇮🇱 HeavyGod (G2) - Anchor

🧐 Worth knowing:
🇪🇺 NAVI placed Aleksib in the All-Star, w0nderful and makazze in the EVPs. Three of NAVI's five made HLTV's individual awards from a tournament they lost 0-3 in the final.
🇺🇦 Aleksib's All-Star spot came with a 90.0% Win After Opening Kill rate at the event.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #AllStar #NAVI #Vitality

🇧🇿 BC.Game are bootcamping for 🏆 IEM Atlanta. Their opening match is in 5 days - against the world's #1.

🕹 What's lined up:
- May 11, 18:00 UTC - Vitality vs BC.Game (BO3, IEM Atlanta Group A opener)
- Senzu makes his BC.Game debut on this match
- ScrunK steps in as stand-in IGL for Atlanta and CAC 2026
- BC.Game roster: s1mple, electroNic, krazy, Senzu, ScrunK

🧐 Worth knowing
- For BC.Game, this is the first proper test of the new shape. For Vitality, it's a warm-up before IEM Cologne Major.
- 🇺🇦 s1mple vs 🇫🇷 ZywOo headlines the entire IEM Atlanta opening day. They last met at IEM Kraków in January, where Vitality took the series 2-0 on Dust 2 and Overpass.
- Vitality #1 in VRS, on a five-trophy streak. BC.Game #78. But Vitality is tired and BC Game has been practicing, maybe there are chances

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BCGame #Vitality #IEMAtlanta

🏆 PGL Astana opens with an 18-year age gap between its youngest and oldest players on stage.

👴 The numbers (per Esports Charts, coaches excluded):
- Event average age - 24.1 years old
- Oldest player - 🇩🇰karrigan (🇩🇰Falcons), 36
- Youngest - qw1nk1 (🇷🇺K27), 18

📌 The age stack:
- Oldest team - Aurora at 27.4 average
- Youngest team - K27 sits at 20.6, four more teams under 22(HEROIC, The MongolZ, magic, PARIVISION)
- Monte at 23.9, Fisher College at 24.3 - this is event median

🧐 Worth knowing
1. karrigan is twice as old as qw1nk1. They will meet on opening day -🇩🇰 Falcons vs 🇷🇺K27, May 9.
The 36-year-old player begins his era with Falcons after a record-breaking stay with FaZe. In turn, 18-year-old player qw1nk1 starts his first major event in history.

2. 🇪🇺Vitality, the #1 team in the world that rolled over through every big event in 2026, is skipping PGL Astana. Also, 🇪🇺NaVi, the #2 team in the world, will not be coming - so it's not so obvious who will take the trophy here)

3. Age math reflects the composition of the participants - old squads are mixed with promising academy-level players. This is probably what exactly works - 🇪🇺Vitality is therefore an indicator, Apex drilled young Zaywoo so maybe that work...

📎 Source: Esports Charts - https://x.com/EsportsCharts/status/2052072450851008552

#PGLAstana #karrigan

🕹 Americas Team VRS - May 7, 2026

Teams:

🇧🇷 #1 FURIA (1728 pts) - Global #10
🇧🇷 #2 Legacy (1566 pts) - Global #14
🇧🇷 #3 paiN (1531 pts) - Global #17
🇦🇷 #4 9z (1507 pts) - Global #19
🌎 #5 M80 (1408 pts) - Global #26
🇧🇷 #6 MIBR (1404 pts) - Global #27
🌎 #7 Wildcard (1373 pts) - Global #32
🇺🇸 #8 NRG (1368 pts) - Global #33
🇧🇷 #9 Sharks (1334 pts) - Global #37
🇨🇦 #10 Gaimin Gladiators (1321 pts) - Global #39

🙇‍♂️ The shape of the region:

- FURIA lead by 162 points - a wide margin at the top of the AM region.
- Legacy keep climbing — the arT-led project is the biggest riser, +4 ranks.
- M80 dropped 9 in one update, the steepest fall on the board. NRG followed with −7.
- MIBR sit just 4 points behind M80 — the gap between #5 and #6 is essentially nothing.
- Gaimin Gladiators climb into the top 10 with a refreshed Brazilian core. fer is 34, returning to a Tier-1 LAN after over 2 years away.

🧐 Worth knowing:
1. 🇧🇷 six of the top 10 are Brazilian organizations.
2. 🇦🇷 Argentinian representation comes through 9z.
3. 🇺🇸 North America holds three slots - M80, Wildcard, NRG.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#AmericasVRS #FURIA #Legacy #paiN

🏆 CS Asia Championships 2026 - Day 1 forecast.

Tournament info:
🗓 May 20–24, 2026
📌 Shanghai, China
👥 16 teams
💰 $1M prize pool
The last Big Event before the Cologne Major. Not taking into account 🏆 IEM Atlanta and 🏆 PGL Astana.

📊 Group A - Day 1 matches (win probability by VRS):
Falcons 97% - 3% BC.Game
MOUZ 80% - 20% TYLOO
Legacy 63% - 37% NRG
paiN 57% - 43% M80

📊 Group B - Day 1 matches:
The MongolZ 92% - 8% Lynn Vision
PARIVISION 89% - 11% Liquid
3DMAX 59% - 41% MIBR
B8 58% - 42% NIP

📌 The shape of Day 1:
- Falcons vs BC.Game is the steepest mismatch on the board - karrigan's second LAN with Falcons against s1mple's BC.Game project. The model gives BC.Game a 3% chance.
- paiN vs M80 (57%-43%) and B8 vs NIP (58%-42%) are the two closest matches of the day.
- PARIVISION at 89% vs Liquid is the surprise - Liquid sit at #49, and PARIVISION at #9 globally have built a Tier-1 case in 2026.

🧐 Worth knowing:
Neither Vitality nor NAVI are in this field. The world's top two are chasing IEM Atlanta instead, which means one more trophy is genuinely open. Falcons can be the winners - thay had the highest raet in VRS (#3).

Win probability by VRS on every match!
👉 cs2analytics.com

#CACShanghai

🏆 ESL just paid out the post-IEM Rio Annual Club Incentive!

ESL's Annual Club Incentive - Top 10 (per ESL Pro Tour, May 7):

🇧🇷#1 FURIA - $420,550 (102 pts, 13.4% share)
🇷🇺 #1 Spirit - $420,550 (102 pts, 13.4% share)
🇪🇺 #3 NAVI - $383,442 (93 pts, 12.2%)
🇪🇺 #4 G2 - $333,966 (81 pts, 10.6%)
🇪🇺 #5 MOUZ - $247,382 (60 pts, 7.9%)
🇺🇦 #6 B8 - $204,090 (49.5 pts, 6.5%)
🇩🇰 #7 Falcons - $148,429 (36 pts, 4.7%)
🇪🇺 #7 Vitality - $148,429 (36 pts, 4.7%)
🇫🇷 #9 3DMAX - $129,876 (31.5 pts, 4.1%)
🇷🇺 #10 PARIVISION - $119,568 (29 pts, 3.8%)

🙇‍♂️ The shape of it:

- 🇧🇷 FURIA tied for first despite zero Big Event trophies in 2026 - pure viewership weight from a Brazilian fanbase that travels everywhere.
- 🇪🇺 Vitality, the world #1 with five trophies in a row, sit at #7. They've only attended 2 of 3 ESL events. 🇩🇰 Falcons in the same boat at the same number.
- 🇺🇦B8 at #6 is the standout - a 🇺🇦 Ukrainian org pulling in more incentive money than the team that just won BLAST Rivals.
- 🇪🇺 NAVI third with $383K - top of the Ukrainian-org leaderboard.

🕹 Worth knowing
IEM Rio average concurrent viewers told the underlying story: 🇩🇰Falcons led the event at 372K, 🇪🇺 Vitality second at 365K, 🇧🇷 FURIA third at 317K. The home crowd factor mattered but didn't flip the top of the chart.

📎 Source: ESL Pro Tour — pro.eslgaming.com/tour/2026/05/annual-club-incentive-update-post-iem-rio

👉 cs2analytics.com

#ESL

🇽🇰 makazze played his 10th map of the year in Big Event finals. He's 19!

🇺🇦 NAVI's Kosovan rifler in 2026:
- 10 maps played in S-Tier grand finals
- 5 Big Event and 3 grand finals attended (BLAST Rivals(finals), IEM Rio, BLAST Open Rotterdam(finals), ESL Pro League Season 23 Finals(finals), PGL Cluj-Napoca, IEM Kraków)
- #4 globally in Player VRS at 1,871 points

For context: makazze played more S-Tier final maps in 4 months than most pros do in a full season. NAVI's projection bet looks better with every event.

🕹 Worth knowing:
Aleksib said in his post-MVP interview that makazze "has Ancient as his wallpaper." He plays the map like it's his apartment.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#NAVI #makazze