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Cache Is Back, Overpass Is Out for CS2 Premier Season 5
After seven long years on the sidelines, Cache is finally making its way back into competitive Counter-Strike. Valve officially announced that Cache will replace Overpass in the Active Duty map pool starting with Premier Season 5.
The news came straight from the official Counter-Strike X account, which confirmed that Season 4 of Premier wraps up on July 6. Once Season 5 kicks off, Overpass is out and Cache is in. Simple as that, and the CS2 community had a lot to say about it.
A Return Seven Years in the Making
Cache was originally added to the Active Duty pool back in 2014 through Operation Breakout, making history as the first and only community-created map ever to reach the competitive rotation in CS:GO. It held that spot for nearly five years before Valve pulled it in March 2019 to make room for Vertigo. That decision was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of players.
The road back was long. In May 2025, map creator FMPONE (Shawn Snelling) confirmed that Valve had officially purchased the rights to Cache. The map then went through a full rework under Valve's hands, with optimization fixes and layout adjustments before landing in the April 2026 CS2 update, available in Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch, and Retakes.
But the Premier pool? That was still a blank. Until now.
Overpass Packs Its Bags
Overpass has had its moments. It is a technically demanding map that rewarded smart players and produced some memorable pro matches. The map had already been in and out of the pool in recent seasons, and this time it's stepping aside for a fan favorite the scene has been craving back for years.
The community had been calling for a rotation change, and Valve delivered, though this wasn't the map a lot of the community wanted to be gone.
With Season 4 ending July 6 and the Premier Season 4 medal requiring 25 wins and a visible CSR, players don't have much time left to wrap up their season goals. Once that deadline hits, Cache steps onto the main stage, and it's been a long time coming.
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Featured Image Credit: Valve
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