Time again for Valve to unleash CS:GO players upon six newly chosen community maps. Operation Vanguard is the fifth such event, and is now available for purchase. With it, you'll not only get official server access to the community maps, but also a new "Operation Campaigns" system.

"A Campaign is comprised of a series of missions," explains Valve. "Completing a mission results in a Vanguard case drop, or a random drop from an existing weapon collection. Complete a sequence of missions within a Campaign to earn Challenge Stars and upgrade your Operation Vanguard Challenge Coin."

In addition, Arms Race mode has received an update—adding new rules and three new maps. To see a run-down of the how the mode now works, head over to Valve's official guide.

Vanguard is available now. For a full explanation of its changes, charge over to the Operation's micro-site.

CS:GO is, in plenty of ways, a game about playing with your opponent's expectations. How long it takes players to reach a key chokepoint from their spawn is a fixed variable—running at full speed, it's impossible for Terrorists to beat the CTs to bombsite B on Mirage, for example.

Those expectations form the basis for your tactics as a team and the decisions you make. But there are some clever ways to play with them, to use your opponent's expectations and assumptions against them. And what better time to do so than on an eco round, when your team has very little to lose? The highlight above was a lucky eco round we pulled out by playing a little unconventionally. The round was actually a turning point for our team: we started the game down 0-6, and went on to win.

MLG has announced that its first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament will take place at X Games Aspen, which will also mark the first appearance of videogames at the event. The top eight CS:GO teams from North America and Europe, determined through online qualifiers, will compete in the tournament, which will be broadcast online on MLG.tv, with highlights aired during X Games television broadcasts on ESPN and ABC.

"2014 was a breakout year for eSports with the first ever MLG tournament at X Games Austin, millions watching competition on MLG.tv, and more than 71 million people competing in or watching eSports events around the globe," MLG co-founder and CEO Sundance DiGiovanni said in a statement. "Our X Games debut was such a success we knew we had to continue the tradition. The MLG X Games Aspen Invitational will further elevate eSports placing our top competitors amongst the best winter athletes in the world."

MLG's X Games Aspen Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Invitational will begin on January 23 and run through to its gold medal finale on January 25. X Games attendees who want to watch the action live will require a "premium pass," purchasable from the MLG Store for $100, which includes reserved seating, a behind-the-scenes tour, a gift bag of MLG merchandise, and more.

Preceding MLG's event is the Dreamhack Winter 2014 event, which kicks off on November 27.

CS:GO isn't a level playing field. Players accumulate money that persists between rounds, cash that's used to buy guns, grenades, and armor. What does a high-level team do when it's mostly broke, but finds itself in a must-win round? I queued up a match from the recent Starseries XI Finals to show how France's Team LDLC keeps its cool in a tough situation.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is certainly at the more serious end of Valve's multiplayer services—being about guns and terrorism, rather than gravel or wizards. Nevertheless, they're getting in on the Halloween spirit with the temporary addition of masks, ghosts and zombie chickens.

"Each of our hardened operators have decided to have a little Halloween fun by wearing masks," explains the CS:GO blog. Masks are coming across from Payday 2 and Team Fortress 2.

In addition, there's a chance you'll see fallen teammates as ghostly figures haunting the map. And, of course, there's the chickens. "For too long the chickens of CS:GO have idly watched as their brethren were slaughtered by the droves," Valve write, "and on All Hollow s Eve there is no more room in Chicken Hell." Basically, if you kill a chicken, it will resurrect—but green.

The changes come as part of a more general patch—filled with spooky notes like "fixed wallbang inconsistency through closed window in apartments near Bombsite B."