GotGames CEVO Season 5: de_season

Written By Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill
24 June, 2009 11:19 PM

Here is a very basic overview of the newest map in the GotGames CEVO rotation.

The latest addition to the GotGames CEVO map rotation is de_season. It will be joining dust2, nuke, train, inferno and tuscan in the core maps for the regular season and it is sure to add some variety.

The map was released in 2007 and was immediately considered for competitive play as it was created by Ted "cashed" McIlwain - the man responsible for maps such as de_cpl_strike and the Counter-Strike: Pro Mod versions of dust2, nuke, inferno and train. Soon afterwards it was picked up by the top American & European online leagues and became extremely popular.

The map was then introduced into the American Season of the Championship Gaming Series where some very innovative strategies and playstyles became apparent to the world.

At first glance de_season seems like a heavily based Counter-Terrorist map. It has a lot of choke points where the Terrorists can get bottlenecked and forced into unpleasant situations. Even with these restrictions the map is a strategist's dream; a new map brings new elements in every field.

Season brings all the competitive elements of the big four - dust2, nuke, train and inferno - and rolls them all into one! A basic 2-1-2 formation for Counter-Terrorists and Terrorists alike can be implemented during holds and default pick strategies. Approach times also favour the Counter-Terrorists as they get to the bombsites much quicker than the Terrorists. This allows the Counter-Terrorists to set up and prepare for an initial rush with ease. The clock plays a huge influence in the strategies and holds that teams will choose to use. Once Terrorists take a bomsite the rotation time is long thus giving them more time to setup and prepare for the retake.

Taking a closer look at Bombsite A you can see there are two entrances to the site. Both of these points are bottlenecks which can be defended easily with either riflers or awpers. Some well placed smokes and flashes from Terrorists could rattle some setups and crossfires making it easier to secure the site.

Bombsite B also has two entry points, one upper and one lower. These sites can also be held well with riflers or awpers in aggressive or passive setups. Bombsite B has windows that the Terrorists can flash through that devastate the site and allow for some interesting strategies. If the Counter-Terrorists set up an aggressive hold they can push the enemy back and force them into making mistakes.

The middle section with the vent makes the map open to some splits as it opens up a gate way to both bombsites. It will be awper dominated in the later gun rounds but more passive mid crossfires could be the option for rifle based teams.

Overall the map has some great potential for interesting positional play coupled with some well timed and executed strategies.

Here a few basic references I hustled up:

GotFrag.com demo library of de_season matches
Basic A Smoke
Basic Mid Smoke
Upper A Smoke

Detailed Map Breakdown

de_season is available to play on GotGames bookable servers as well as the GotGames Live Pug system. You can also download the map from this link.

Good luck & have fun!