Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenburg, a CS2 analyst, expressed his displeasure after the announcement that the official competitive map pool will change. Ellenburg argued that professional teams had only recently managed to find an effective approach to Train, and that removing the map now will halt the further development of its meta at the highest level of play.
According to Ellenburg, Train had just begun to grow interesting on the pro scene and even produced a highly memorable contest: a surprising victory by NAVI over FURIA that many viewers still recall. That match demonstrated how impactful the map could be in deciding important series.
At the same time, Ellenburg called the return of Anubis a welcome development. He said he had been eager to see more matches played on Anubis ever since the developer introduced an economy buff aimed at defenders, a change that Ellenburg believes should contribute to better balance on the map.
The specific match Ellenburg referenced took place at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. In that series Train proved decisive in the tie between FURIA and NAVI, finishing with a 3:13 scoreline that allowed the Ukrainian organization NAVI to advance to the semifinals.
Ellenburg also recalled a broader balance change made earlier: in July 2025 the CT-side economy received a buff when the developer added a team-wide bonus of $50 for each eliminated attacker per round. That economic adjustment was intended to help defenders maintain viable buy cycles and influence map dynamics.
Train is scheduled to leave the competitive map pool with the start of the fourth season of the Premier circuit; the third season is set to conclude on January 19. The exact moment when Anubis will begin appearing in official tournaments has not been announced, but two major events with finals shortly after that date are on the calendar: the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 finals begin on January 22, and IEM Krakow 2026 kicks off its final stage on January 28.