With a new act for episode seven of VALORANT, a new map rotation is coming along, meaning the polarizing Breeze is finally rejoining the game—but not after a significant rework first.
Not only are the changes making fans excited about the map again, but pro players, coaches, and analysts are surprised by how much the map has changed. From removing the halls near A site to changing mid completely, everyone is theorizing how this map will be played in the near future and whether the Aug. 18 reveal for the upcoming update is good or bad.
Popular VALORANT caster Doug “EsportsDoug” Cortez called it “a whole new map.” It makes sense as to why Breeze was gone for so long, as the changes to a map removed from the competitive pool have never been as significant as this. Even when Split was removed from play for most of 2022, it returned with only some minor changes—microscopic in comparison to these Breeze updates.
As for competitive viability, one notable coach was more worried about the two maps leaving the rotation so that Breeze could return. NAVI’s head coach Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren gave his opinion of the swaps, saying Riot is “removing the two best/most interesting maps where teams had different approaches.”
Related: All changes coming to Breeze in VALORANT Episode 7, Act 2
For context, with Breeze re-entering the competitive map rotation, the two maps leaving are Fracture and Pearl. Even with that tweet, d00mbr0s did end it by admitting he was salty, and maybe this opinion was a bit too personal.
Alas, some players didn’t take the rotation as well as d00mbr0s did. Evil Geniuses’ Kelden “Boostio” Pupello was succinct about how the rotation fits him and his team: “My career is over.”
For the map itself, other analysts have agreed the map keeps its signature openness after the reworks but does remove some aspects that made the map feel too open.
Former Cloud9 coach and current content creator Airen commented on these specific changes, saying the simplification of the map is clearly aiming for less annoying moments in mid especially. He deemed them good overall changes, at least in theory. He followed up that post questioning how B site would change, but also agreed with the sentiment that the map felt “completely different.”
As the VCT 2023 season comes to an end on Aug. 26, we won’t see pro players hop on the map in international tournaments anytime soon. Off-season tournaments will likely be the first time we see the best of the best on a map they recognize, but they will undoubtedly have to re-learn.
