Valve confirms next map pool change

IEM Cologne 2026 Major has come to a close with karrigan leading Falcons to their ever Major trophy and with it, the first season of 2026. Through a post on X, Valve has announced that the fourth Season of Premier will come to a close on 6th July 2026, after which the active duty map pool undergoes a change.

Cache, which was added to competitive, casual and deathmatch game modes will now ascend to the active duty map pool as Overpass is set to depart. At the recently concluded IEM Cologne Major, Overpass put up reasonable numbers. Ancient (9) and Anubis (10) were two of the least picked maps at the Major while Overpass (13) is tied with Nuke for the fourth spot. Dust2 (24) was the most played map at the IEM Cologne 2026 Major.

At the end of Season four, Premier will likely go offline for a couple of days similar to the end of Season three and players with an active Premier rating and a minimum of 25 Premier wins will receive their Season four badge. With the new season of Premier, the community speculates updates to the Armor pass and other gameplay changes off of Major observation.