CS2 Austin Major Stage 2 Maps Pickrate and Side Balance

The second stage of BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 offered even more tactical depth and strategic diversity. The tournament continued to test the flexibility of teams at the highest level, showcasing how the meta evolves depending on the maps. Below is an analytical breakdown of the map statistics collected in the second stage, focusing on the number of games, bans, and win rates by side.

Map Pool Overview
Nuke: Played 7 times, banned 12 times. CT win rate: 60%, T win rate: 40%. Nuke remains a map with a strong defensive bias, where CT dominance is confirmed by the high win rate. Frequent bans indicate the risk of being unprepared for defense.
Train: Played 4 times, banned 16 times. CT win rate: 57%, T win rate: 43%. Despite the CT side advantage, the map is extremely unpopular, as evidenced by the fewest matches and the highest number of bans. Teams avoid Train, likely due to the difficulty of adapting to it.
Anubis: Played 6 times, banned 14 times. CT win rate: 54%, T win rate: 46%. The relative balance between sides makes the map strategically flexible.
Inferno: Played 5 times, banned 15 times. CT win rate: 50%, T win rate: 50%. Perfect balance between sides. Despite its popularity in the previous stage, Inferno was banned more often in the second stage—possibly due to teams wanting to avoid a "coin flip" scenario.
Dust II: Played 14 times, banned 9 times. CT win rate: 45%, T win rate: 55%. A unique tilt towards T makes Dust II one of the few T-dominant maps. The low number of bans and a large number of matches highlight the map's popularity and teams' trust in it.
Ancient : Played 8 times, banned 14 times. CT win rate: 43%, T win rate: 57%. Despite its past reputation as a CT-dominant map, current statistics show a clear shift in favor of the attack.
Mirage: Played 7 times, banned 16 times. CT win rate: 41%, T win rate: 59%. The most "T-friendly" map of the stage. Frequent bans are a consequence of its potential explosiveness for defense. Teams clearly fear strong attacking sides from opponents.

Detailed Analysis
In the second stage, there is a shift towards T dominance, especially on Mirage, Ancient , and Dust II, where the win percentage for the attack exceeded 55%. This contrasts with the first stage, where most maps (5/7) had a CT side advantage.

Train once again found itself sidelined—with the fewest games and the highest number of bans (16). This indicates a persistent reluctance from teams to take risks on this map. Meanwhile, Inferno, despite its neutral win rate, saw an increase in bans.

Dust II, on the other hand, was the most popular map of the stage with 14 matches and only 9 bans. Its high effectiveness for the attacking side makes it attractive for confident teams.

Nuke, despite the strong CT advantage (60%), remains a relatively frequently chosen map (7 games), indicating stability and familiarity with this map for many teams.

Conclusion
In the second stage of BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, there was a significant shift towards T wins, especially on maps like Mirage, Ancient , and Dust II. This reflects the adaptation of attacking strategies. At the same time, Train remains the most ignored map. The emergence of balance on Inferno and Anubis makes them a battleground for tactical fights, while the high popularity of Dust II demonstrates teams' trust in their attacks.