Map veto: how CS2 and Valorant series choose their maps
Before the first round of a series, the two teams take turns removing and choosing maps from a fixed pool. That short process can shape the whole series, and it follows a predictable order.
Published · Updated
Tactical shooters are played on a rotating pool of maps, usually seven. No team is equally strong on all of them, so the order in which maps are removed and chosen is the first contest of every series.
The usual best-of-three order
- Team A bans a map.
- Team B bans a map.
- Team A chooses the first map; Team B chooses which side to start on.
- Team B chooses the second map; Team A chooses the starting side.
- Team A bans a map.
- Team B bans a map.
- The one map left over becomes the decider, if a third map is needed.
Which team counts as Team A is set by the tournament: often the higher seed, sometimes the winner of a coin toss.
Best of one and best of five
In a best of one, teams usually ban alternately until a single map remains. In a best of five, there are fewer bans and more choices, because five of the seven maps will potentially be played.
What it means for a series
Each team normally plays its own choice first. A series that goes 1-1 after two maps is therefore common and not a sign that the teams are evenly matched in general, only that each won on familiar ground. The decider map, chosen by elimination rather than by either team, is often the most neutral test.
How we show maps
On tournament pages, each series lists its maps in the order played, with the round score for each. In CS2 a regulation map ends at thirteen rounds; a map that goes to overtime shows a higher total such as 16-14. Valorant follows the same thirteen-round target with its own overtime rules.
For Dota 2 and League of Legends there is no map pool, so we list each game with its duration and team kill totals instead. Kills are a description of how the game unfolded, not the condition for winning it: the game ends when one side destroys the other's base.