Why Every CS:GO Fan Should Want Cobblestone Back In The Map Pool (2024)

Cobblestone was designed by David Johnston, the godfather ofCS:GOmap designs with his other works including the likes of Dust, Dust II, and Sienna, and was first introduced to the game back in the Winter Offensive in 2013.

Despite being a map that underwent extensive tweaks and changes over the years, Cobblestone is one of the most universally loved maps to have ever been featured in the game’s competitive pool, being fondly remembered by the community as almost a ‘you had to be there’ moment. The map was removed from the competitive pool in 2019 to be replaced by Vertigo (certainly not a universally loved pick), but here is why every CS:GO fan should want Cobblestone back in the competitive pool.

The Beauty Of Cobblestone

During its time in the competitive pool, Cobblestone was one of the most visually distinct maps in CS:GO. Not only was the French castle in the mountains unlike anything else in the pool, but the variety in elevation around Cobblestone made it a truly unique map.

Much like Overpass, the map it joined the competitive pool alongside in 2013, the CS:GO version of Cobblestone feels considerably larger than other maps in the game. The high altitudes and abundance of vantage points made it a sniper’s paradise in its day, as well as various otherscoped weaponry such as AUGs.

A Proud History

Cobblestone might have made a late entrance to CS:GO’s competitive pool, but it certainly played its part in hosting several iconic moments as the game developed into the global Esport it is today.

The map was a firm favorite with several on-the-rise NA stars, with Tarik “tarik” Celik and Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip performing one of the funniest clips in the game’s history on Cobblestone, and was a regular pick for the likes of Cloud9, Counter-Logic, and Team Liquid during its time in the Active Duty pool.

The map was also a regular pick for the two Swedish powerhouses of NiP and Fnatic during their time at the top table of the game, and Cobblestone was one of the played maps in the grand finals at the 2017 PGL Krakow, 2016 and 2014 editions of ESL One: Cologne, as well as the 2015 DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca Major.

Why did Valve remove Cobblestone?

During its time in the pool, Cobblestone was played competitively 5,802 times, but it was always a map that Valve had a hard time ever settling on.

That map went through more iterations than any other in the history of the game, and the Cobblestone that was eventually rotated out was almost an entirely different-looking one than the one that made its first appearance in 2013.

Valve were always concerned about the proficiency of snipers on the map, and a number of the map’s iconic AWPing nests were removed in favor of more connectors across Cobblestone. Retakes were always a bit of a problem on Cobblestone, and the constant tweaks by Valve eventually began to see the map being picked less and less competitively against the far more stable picks of Mirage, Dust II, or Inferno.

Nevertheless, Cobblestone is still fondly remembered by the vast majority of players who were involved with CS:GO during its initial time in the map pool. Plenty were screaming for a Cobblestone remake immediately before Ancient came into the map pool, and there’s certainly no denying that the re-introduction of one of the most influential picks in the game’s history would bring something for both veteran and newcomer fans of the game to enjoy.

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