Remembering Dust2: The best moments from the classic 'Counter-Strike' map
Whether you love Dust2 or hate it, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map produced quite a few memorable moments while it was in competitive rotation.
CS:GO map Dust2 was pulled out of the "Active Duty Group" map pool Friday, meaning that it won't be playable at professional tournaments or in competitive mode until it returns (if it ever returns). The map was replaced by Inferno, which was recently reworked by developer Valve.
Although Dust2 is still playable in casual and deathmatch game modes, it won't be popping up in any pro tournaments for a while -- Inferno spent nine months out of Active Duty Group before making its triumphant return.
While Dust2 is gone, we've decided to commemorate it with some of the best plays to ever happen on the popular map.
F0rest pushes through mid doors with a knife
The mid doors on Dust2 are equally the best and worst parts of the map. Ninjas in Pyjamas' Patrik "F0rest" Lindberg dove right in anyway with an aggressive offense, taking on three defenders at the mid doors choke point and outplaying them with quick shots and a smart knife kill. This was one of the most impressive terrorist-side pushes through mid in history, and he even ended the round with a final shot on the last member of Team SoloMid.
Guardian goes 1v3 with an AWP in the middle of bomb site B
Na'Vi's Ladislav "Guardian" Kovács is a god with the AWP, exemplified by this 1v3 clutch on bomb site B when Fnatic had him pinned down on all sides. The big box on B provided ample cover for Guardian as he peaked left and right to pick off the defense and win the round against all odds.
Nex gets an amazing ace defending bomb site B
In this round on Dust2, Na'Vi's offense got an early kill on one of Mousesports' bomb site B defenders, prompting Na'Vi to start rotating on the weakened B side. Mousesports' Johannes "Nex" Maget was ready, though, spraying down all five Na'Vi players one by one in an unreal one-man stand.
Fnatic line up with four AWPs
In the grand finals match of the ESL One Cologne 2015 Major, Fnatic and Team EnVyUs were in overtime on Dust2 and Fnatic found themselves with a surplus of money to buy guns with. So they used it. Fnatic bought four AWPs and set their sights on mid doors -- a totally casual move that resulted in one kill but was forever memorialized on the map with a graffiti tag.
Get_Right get an impossible clutch at the last second
Bomb site A can be tricky to push on offense, especially when you find yourself in a 1v3. Ninjas in Pyjamas' Christopher "Get_Right" Alesund found himself in that exact situation with less than 20 seconds to take out all three opponents or else NiP would lose the round. Get_Right pushed quickly and aggressively, taking out two players while the last hid behind some cover. With no other option and the clock down to 2 seconds, he pulled out the AWP and shot through the box with a prayer, hitting the last player and winning the round with less than a second to spare. That gets the heart pumping.
Hiko lands a 180 killshot
In the first pistol round on Dust2, Cloud9's Spencer "Hiko" Martin was all alone against all five Ninjas in Pyjamas players. After Hiko pushed through mid doors, NiP's Get_Right posted up on the other side of the doors, lying in wait in case Hiko came back through. Hiko did just that and Get-Right started shooting, but Hiko reacted with unbelievable speed, whipping around 180 degrees and killing Get-Right so quickly that it took the commentators a couple seconds to even realize what happened.
S1mple throws his gun over the B wall as a distraction
Sometimes, when you're all out of grenades, you have to do a little improvising to catch your opponent off guard. Na'Vi's Oleksandr "S1mple" Kostyliev was in a 1v1 against his former teammate from Team Liquid, Nicholas "Nitr0" Cannella, and S1mple needed to make his way into bomb site B to win the round. Nitr0 knew where he was, so S1mple needed a distraction. He tossed his AWP over the wall to surprise Nitr0 and followed it by leaping over himself and landing a headshot on the confused Nitr0. It was one of the most memorable CS:GO moments of 2016.
In light of all these amazing moments from the most popular casual map in CS:GO, here's to a speedy return for Dust2. Or, if things really change, a speedy debut for Dust3.
