Valve just announced that all future CS:GO majors will have a prize pool of $1 million. The previous purse for a major was $250,000, a figure that many major or unofficial CS:GO events have equaled but never exceeded. The first $1 million tournament will be MLG Columbus 2016, which takes place March 29 through April 3. Although it's the only major on the calendar so far for 2016, there were three each in 2015 and 2014.

According to an MLG official, tournament winnings will be structured thus:

• Winner $500,000 
• Finalist $150,000 
• Semi-Finalist $70,000 
• Quarter Finalist $35,000 
• Group Stage $8,750

With this announcement, posted unceremoniously on the Counter-Strike blog, Valve's financial commitment should further stimulate the scene and encourage existing teams to dedicate themselves to CS:GO even more in the face of upcoming, esports-friendly FPSes like Overwatch. "The professional CS:GO community has been growing at an incredible rate," Valve says in the announcement. CS:GO was the second-most watched game on Twitch during 2015, after League of Legends, and it remains the second-most played game on Steam (in terms of concurrent players) after Dota 2.

We're back! This time we'll go over how to attack on Train. At first this might seem a little tricky but as long as you use smokes before you attack you should be able to pick up a few rounds. There are a few reasons why smokes are so important on Train. The first being the long distances and how easy it is for an AWPer to kill you as you initiate the push. The second is that it helps you get the bomb planted. Unless the CTs climb trains or go through a smoke, they can't really know how many terrorists are there.

One thing to keep in mind is how separate the bomb sites are, and that you need to control ladder room if you want to be able to rotate effectively. Most of the time these rotations will be quite obvious and the counter-terrorists will be able to get to their next stop much earlier than you re comfortable with. Chances are that you will find more success if you execute a pre-planned strategy towards one site after you've gathered information and maybe even picked up a kill.

Smokes on A

Let's dive into the fine art of smoking bombsite A. There are some really useful smokes on the outer trainyard. Because I'm a good guy and I care about your browser's well-being I'll include two smokes per gif (with a hard g).

The first smoke is going to cover the area between connector and bomb train to make it easier for a terrorist to attack from ladder room without getting killed. The second one will smoke between the brown train and the bomb train to make the last part of your journey with the bomb a little more convenient.

You will also want to smoke on either side of the blue train. Here's how to do just that:

If you use all of these smokes you are almost guaranteed to get the bomb down, but there are problems. The defenders will be able to attempt a retake with five players still alive and you won't have any smokes left for the choke points after the plant. Of all these smokes, the one to the left of the blue train is the least important in the sense that it doesn't help you transport the bomb to site. The smoke does however make it less attractive for the CTs to attempt a backstab. If you don't want to use that smoke you can peek that lane with an AWP instead. Or you can leave a gap somewhere else, as long as you have a plan and are ready to challenge your opponents.

After you have planted the bomb it's very important to communicate. Make sure you have ladder room covered. I don't know how many times my team has been sprayed down from there just because we failed to communicate. Especially if the guy who's supposed to take care of ladder died during the push. Make sure you take post plant positions that will make it easy for you to peek towards the bomb.

On the next page: attacking bombsite B.

Attacking bombsite B

Just like on A, smokes are a crucial part of a successful B-take. The first smoke is very straightforward. Simply smoke off lower to deny any snipers far back their much needed target practice. It's also a good idea to pop a flash before you push in case a counter-terrorist is waiting for you on top of low train.

The next smoke will make it easier for you to reach the plant spot. Line up the smoke and time the throw with whoever smokes lower before you attack.

The third smoke is for upper. Just like the one on lower the main purpose is to avoid getting killed by a player far back. Once you have the smoke screen up you can assist by making sure no one tries to sneak up on your teammate while he plants the bomb.

Remember that you don't need to take the site with five terrorists. It doesn't make sense to go ham with the entire team and then have to try to get back through lower for a post-plant position. I recommend that one player stays behind to make sure that you are aware of any counter-terrorists coming in from behind.

Take your time

Because of the nature of Train you will have lots of time to decide what site to attack. Before the final push, you are quite separate from the defending team. This gives you the opportunity to split up and try to secure kills. Pay attention to how your enemies play. Will they rotate a guy from B if you get a kill on ivy? Are they passive and slow to rotate? Use information of this kind to your advantage.

Try to keep track of what they bought in the previous round and how many losses, wins and surviving players they've had to get a sense of whether or not they will be able to buy proper weapons. This may seem a bit confusing, especially if you're new, but it's important. If they are on an eco round they are more prone to go for the risky play, which means you will need to be careful. For instance, if you're up against an eco and you don't gather information before you attack you might run into a five man stack on one site. Because of your smokes you won't be aware of the fact until it's too late.

Bonus trick!

This molotov is really strong in one versus one situations to keep the counter-terrorist off the bomb for a few extra seconds. Fire is your friend!

Find our other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map guides here:

• Inferno Counter-Terrorist guide
• Inferno Terrorist guide
• Cache Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cache Terrorist guide
• Overpass Counter-Terrorist guide
• Overpass Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Terrorist guide
• Train Counter-Terrorist guide

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

We're back! This time we'll go over how to attack on Train. At first this might seem a little tricky but as long as you use smokes before you attack you should be able to pick up a few rounds. There are a few reasons why smokes are so important on Train. The first being the long distances and how easy it is for an AWPer to kill you as you initiate the push. The second is that it helps you get the bomb planted. Unless the CTs climb trains or go through a smoke, they can't really know how many terrorists are there.

One thing to keep in mind is how separate the bomb sites are, and that you need to control ladder room if you want to be able to rotate effectively. Most of the time these rotations will be quite obvious and the counter-terrorists will be able to get to their next stop much earlier than you re comfortable with. Chances are that you will find more success if you execute a pre-planned strategy towards one site after you've gathered information and maybe even picked up a kill.

Smokes on A

Let's dive into the fine art of smoking bombsite A. There are some really useful smokes on the outer trainyard. Because I'm a good guy and I care about your browser's well-being I'll include two smokes per gif (with a hard g).

The first smoke is going to cover the area between connector and bomb train to make it easier for a terrorist to attack from ladder room without getting killed. The second one will smoke between the brown train and the bomb train to make the last part of your journey with the bomb a little more convenient.

You will also want to smoke on either side of the blue train. Here's how to do just that:

If you use all of these smokes you are almost guaranteed to get the bomb down, but there are problems. The defenders will be able to attempt a retake with five players still alive and you won't have any smokes left for the choke points after the plant. Of all these smokes, the one to the left of the blue train is the least important in the sense that it doesn't help you transport the bomb to site. The smoke does however make it less attractive for the CTs to attempt a backstab. If you don't want to use that smoke you can peek that lane with an AWP instead. Or you can leave a gap somewhere else, as long as you have a plan and are ready to challenge your opponents.

After you have planted the bomb it's very important to communicate. Make sure you have ladder room covered. I don't know how many times my team has been sprayed down from there just because we failed to communicate. Especially if the guy who's supposed to take care of ladder died during the push. Make sure you take post plant positions that will make it easy for you to peek towards the bomb.

On the next page: attacking bombsite B.

Attacking bombsite B

Just like on A, smokes are a crucial part of a successful B-take. The first smoke is very straightforward. Simply smoke off lower to deny any snipers far back their much needed target practice. It's also a good idea to pop a flash before you push in case a counter-terrorist is waiting for you on top of low train.

The next smoke will make it easier for you to reach the plant spot. Line up the smoke and time the throw with whoever smokes lower before you attack.

The third smoke is for upper. Just like the one on lower the main purpose is to avoid getting killed by a player far back. Once you have the smoke screen up you can assist by making sure no one tries to sneak up on your teammate while he plants the bomb.

Remember that you don't need to take the site with five terrorists. It doesn't make sense to go ham with the entire team and then have to try to get back through lower for a post-plant position. I recommend that one player stays behind to make sure that you are aware of any counter-terrorists coming in from behind.

Take your time

Because of the nature of Train you will have lots of time to decide what site to attack. Before the final push, you are quite separate from the defending team. This gives you the opportunity to split up and try to secure kills. Pay attention to how your enemies play. Will they rotate a guy from B if you get a kill on ivy? Are they passive and slow to rotate? Use information of this kind to your advantage.

Try to keep track of what they bought in the previous round and how many losses, wins and surviving players they've had to get a sense of whether or not they will be able to buy proper weapons. This may seem a bit confusing, especially if you're new, but it's important. If they are on an eco round they are more prone to go for the risky play, which means you will need to be careful. For instance, if you're up against an eco and you don't gather information before you attack you might run into a five man stack on one site. Because of your smokes you won't be aware of the fact until it's too late.

Bonus trick!

This molotov is really strong in one versus one situations to keep the counter-terrorist off the bomb for a few extra seconds. Fire is your friend!

Find our other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map guides here:

• Inferno Counter-Terrorist guide
• Inferno Terrorist guide
• Cache Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cache Terrorist guide
• Overpass Counter-Terrorist guide
• Overpass Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Terrorist guide
• Train Counter-Terrorist guide

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

Things heat up in the dead of winter as the professional CS:GO circuit heads to beautiful Barcelona and the entire American continent competes for a scant few slots at the Winter Championship in March. There's also Dota 2 league play and the ongoing drama of the League of Legends season if you prefer your esports isometric and wizard-centric.

Hearthstone: Americas Winter Preliminary

Hundreds of the best Hearthstone players in the Americas duke it out across more than dozen locations. The top eight players will advance to the Americas Winter Championship next month, where there's $100,000 and a place at the Hearthstone World Championship on the line. You can find more info here and find the stream on Twitch.

Dota 2: WePlay League Season 3

This is a bit of a quiet weekend for Dota 2, but there are games to be played in the WePlay Dota 2 league nonetheless. On Saturday you can catch games in EU East between Power Rangers and Hellraisers followed by Empire vs. Na'Vi. Those begin at 16:00 GMT/08:00 PST. On Sunday the action shifts to Southeast Asia as First Departure take on first MVP.Phoenix and then Mineski starting at 13:00 GMT/05:00 PST. Find the stream over at JoinDotaRED.

League of Legends: NA LCS Spring/LoL Pro League Spring

Another busy weekend for League, as both the NA LCS and China's LPL see top-level play all weekend. You can find schedules for both, along with the streams, on the official LoLesports site.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: ESL Barcelona Invitational presented by MWC

Some of the best CS:GO teams of the world play for 75,000. Tune in to see Fnatic, EnvyUS, and Astralis take on qualifying teams from Europe and—specifically—Spain. Games are running throughout the weekend from 07:30 GMT/23:30 PST. Catch it all on ESL's CSGO Twitch stream.

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

Valve just released Operation Wildfire, and with it comes a brand new version of the map Nuke. Once immensely popular, Nuke got removed from the competitive map pool due to balance issues. A remake of the map has been requested by the community ever since and now we ve got one. Welcome to the Cedar Creek Nuclear Power Plant!

My first impression of the map is that it looks gorgeous. It's very bright and colorful with amazing textures. The visibility is vastly improved compared to previous iterations. But what did they change? Pretty much everything. The biggest alteration is probably the ladder leading up to silo from T-spawn and the rafters connecting silo with catwalk.

I've played a couple of games on matchmaking and so far I've enjoyed it. The first thing I noticed was how easy it was for the terrorists to take control over yard. There are so many angles for the counter-terrorists to cover even just a few seconds into the round. It's still too early to dive into any sort of strategic analysis, but we found that the good ol Nuke mindset just isn't going to cut it. We had more success when we took a more passive approach and stayed close to the bombsites with one guy trying to spot enemies on yard from far back.

Another big change is the vents. Now there's only one opening both upstairs and downstairs. They have, however, added a new door with a decontamination room to give the defenders more angles to worry about. I think the door will be a key point on the map that both the Ts and the CTs will want to control.

They have also added another door downstairs, just below the ramp. That door allows for some really cool crossfires and gives the counter-terrorists more incentives to play close to the site. It's hard to say how the metagame is going to develop, but overall l I think the changes to the B-site are interesting.

Changes upstairs

The upper bombsite has also seen some major changes. The biggest being the addition of skyboxes to prevent defenders from reaching dogwalk. This means that pushes through squeaky will be a lot more effective as there are fewer angles to check.

Valve also moved the upper canisters further back to give terrorists more cover as they attack through hut, as well as adding a ladder leading up to the rafters. These changes are bound to have a huge impact on the balance of the site. It will both be easier to take the site and to defend it once you have planted the bomb.

On the CT side, they've added a box in front of the window as well as made changes to the small roof outside catwalk. These changes will allow for really dynamic plays with lots of movement and positioning options.

Final thoughts

The map is most definitely more T-sided than it's been in the past, maybe even a bit too T-sided. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Nuke. As I see it, it's not impossible that it'll be added to the competitive map pool. The question then is, what map will it replace? Or will they increase the number of maps? Personally I could see Inferno getting replaced at some point because of the often very slow rounds due to effective smokes. Balanced as Inferno might be, I'd still like to see faster gameplay from a spectators point of view.

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

After the disgruntled reaction to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's winter update, you'd have thought Valve might be taking a more cautious approach to patching. Nonsense. The latest update is a big 'un, demanding two micro-sites of its own and incorporating tweaks, Operation Wildfire and an upgrade for de_nuke.

The Operation Wildfire event, which runs through to June 17, gives everyone access to seven new community maps, including Tulip, Cruise, Coast and Empire, in addition to the spruced-up Nuke. However, if you're willing to pay the $6 entry fee, the Operation Wildfire Access Pass comes will a host of new features.

Two new campaigns are available: the Wildfire Campaign, made up of Casual, Deathmatch and Arms Race missions, and the co-op Gemini Campaign which packs three all-new Co-op Strike missions and 23 Guardian missions. Both campaigns reward mission XP with each success, and by completing Challenge Missions you can upgrade your flashy Wildfire Coin, shown off alongside your avatar.

Blitz Missions are like time-limited achievements open to players worldwide. For a couple of hours, you'll earn bonus XP for completing goals like scoring wins in competitive Empire matches.

The usual array of pretty stuff is thrown in too: the Wildfire Case contains 16 community weapon skins and a Bowie knife.

de_nuke, which has existed in a series of incarnations since 1999, has received an extensive face-lift, proving that Source can still get the job done when it has to. To convey the magnitude of the changes, Valve has a series of before-and-after sliders on the dedicated Nuke site, along with a breakdown to supplement our exhaustive analysis appearing later today.

Finally, polish has been applied where needed. The leader s glow in Arms Race no longer shows through walls, which is a little more sporting, detail sprites like grass has been improved so Valve can pack more on the screen, and Cache and Mirage have received special attention. The full patch notes are here for you to contemplate, but as a good early indication, not many of the Steam comments are openly furious. There's a first time for everything.

Last time we went over the terrorist side on Cobblestone. Now we're back on track (choo-choo!) with a counter-terrorist guide for Train.

Train is another map that, like Cobblestone, has seen a lot of iterations throughout the years due to balance issues. The map itself consists of two train yards, an alley and a hallway. Your objective is to prevent the terrorists from blowing up one of two nuclear payloads.

Defending inside

Let's start with the inner bombsite. What usually happens is that the terrorists smoke off lower before they push down the ramp. This means it's a risk to stand far back and peek lower. After the smoke you won't know if they actually pushed site or not unless you have a teammate closer to the bomb train. You can however take an auto-sniper and shoot blindly into the smoke and do some serious damage. In addition, the long distances make the auto-sniper a really powerful weapon for retakes.

My favorite spot is the bomb train. If done properly you can dance around the train all day while you wait for backup. Especially if your team has a sniper nearby that keeps the enemies from pushing you. Peek over the train like this:

If you're lucky (or a sick aimer) you might pick up the first headshot. Then you can use a molotov to delay the push, fall back and call for backup. Most of the time your opponents will use flashes and smokes before they attack from upper, in which case you will know and have time to back off. Another option is to have another player holding upper.

Sometimes you want to let out your inner ninja and go for the unexpected heroic play. One really cool spot is behind the spools between lower and upper. Normally I'd advise against staying close to your enemies on anti-eco rounds because of the risk of providing them with a weapon and a chance to get back into the game. But on round two, if you managed to win the pistol round, you can pick up a submachine gun and go for it. The SMG kill reward of $600 can mean a great deal later on. I've lost track of how many triple kills I've made from this position on the second round.

Other times you want to show off your great communication skills. Tell your teammate to stay close on upper and get ready to peek, then you throw a flashbang just as you get next to the fuse box on the wall. The flash will pop right in the face of any terrorists standing at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as your friend hears the pop, he can go for a quick peek and hopefully score a kill.

On the next page: defending outside.

Defending outside

For the most part you can just hold angles, communicate and take the aim duels as the site has three really tight choke points: namely t-connector, ivy and ladder room. Every now and then you will however want to mix it up and consult that great playbook of yours.

If you have a good spawn towards ivy you can go aggressive. All you need is a flashbang and the heart of a lion. Bounce the flash off the floor and keep running. Now the terrorists have two options. Either they die because they turned around, or they die because they didn't.

It's not that simple, but you get the point. You can gain a lot from pushing ivy every now and then. For instance, if you know their team has an AWP and your team doesn't, going aggressive can result in you acquiring one. At the very least you will gather much-needed information. If you know your opponents have a tendency to take their time you can try to sneak up on them. Otherwise it's probably wisest to back off and help your teammates around the bomb train.

As Train is a pretty straight forward map to defend I will give you some advice for those games when you're on the receiving end. Here s the scenario: you re down by a couple of rounds and your economy is low. Just before all hope is gone, you decide to do something about the situation. You buy a MAG-7 shotgun and flash your way into the ladder room. This is a risky play because if you have to move out in the open and try to retake a bombsite you are most likely screwed. On the other hand it can win you the round if you manage to surprise a terrorist coming down the ladder and pick up his AK-47.

Be careful!

It may seem easy to win the CT half on Train but you should keep two things in mind: It's just as easy for your opponents and it's really difficult to win eco rounds because of the long distances. What this means is that you should try to hold onto your precious weapons. You want as few eco rounds as possible. This mindset will win you games on Train. Don't chase down that last terrorist unless you think you can do some serious damage to their economy.

Find our other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map guides here:

• Inferno Counter-Terrorist guide
• Inferno Terrorist guide
• Cache Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cache Terrorist guide
• Overpass Counter-Terrorist guide
• Overpass Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Terrorist guide

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

Last time we went over the terrorist side on Cobblestone. Now we're back on track (choo-choo!) with a counter-terrorist guide for Train.

Train is another map that, like Cobblestone, has seen a lot of iterations throughout the years due to balance issues. The map itself consists of two train yards, an alley and a hallway. Your objective is to prevent the terrorists from blowing up one of two nuclear payloads.

Defending inside

Let's start with the inner bombsite. What usually happens is that the terrorists smoke off lower before they push down the ramp. This means it's a risk to stand far back and peek lower. After the smoke you won't know if they actually pushed site or not unless you have a teammate closer to the bomb train. You can however take an auto-sniper and shoot blindly into the smoke and do some serious damage. In addition, the long distances make the auto-sniper a really powerful weapon for retakes.

My favorite spot is the bomb train. If done properly you can dance around the train all day while you wait for backup. Especially if your team has a sniper nearby that keeps the enemies from pushing you. Peek over the train like this:

If you're lucky (or a sick aimer) you might pick up the first headshot. Then you can use a molotov to delay the push, fall back and call for backup. Most of the time your opponents will use flashes and smokes before they attack from upper, in which case you will know and have time to back off. Another option is to have another player holding upper.

Sometimes you want to let out your inner ninja and go for the unexpected heroic play. One really cool spot is behind the spools between lower and upper. Normally I'd advise against staying close to your enemies on anti-eco rounds because of the risk of providing them with a weapon and a chance to get back into the game. But on round two, if you managed to win the pistol round, you can pick up a submachine gun and go for it. The SMG kill reward of $600 can mean a great deal later on. I've lost track of how many triple kills I've made from this position on the second round.

Other times you want to show off your great communication skills. Tell your teammate to stay close on upper and get ready to peek, then you throw a flashbang just as you get next to the fuse box on the wall. The flash will pop right in the face of any terrorists standing at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as your friend hears the pop, he can go for a quick peek and hopefully score a kill.

On the next page: defending outside.

Defending outside

For the most part you can just hold angles, communicate and take the aim duels as the site has three really tight choke points: namely t-connector, ivy and ladder room. Every now and then you will however want to mix it up and consult that great playbook of yours.

If you have a good spawn towards ivy you can go aggressive. All you need is a flashbang and the heart of a lion. Bounce the flash off the floor and keep running. Now the terrorists have two options. Either they die because they turned around, or they die because they didn't.

It's not that simple, but you get the point. You can gain a lot from pushing ivy every now and then. For instance, if you know their team has an AWP and your team doesn't, going aggressive can result in you acquiring one. At the very least you will gather much-needed information. If you know your opponents have a tendency to take their time you can try to sneak up on them. Otherwise it's probably wisest to back off and help your teammates around the bomb train.

As Train is a pretty straight forward map to defend I will give you some advice for those games when you're on the receiving end. Here s the scenario: you re down by a couple of rounds and your economy is low. Just before all hope is gone, you decide to do something about the situation. You buy a MAG-7 shotgun and flash your way into the ladder room. This is a risky play because if you have to move out in the open and try to retake a bombsite you are most likely screwed. On the other hand it can win you the round if you manage to surprise a terrorist coming down the ladder and pick up his AK-47.

Be careful!

It may seem easy to win the CT half on Train but you should keep two things in mind: It's just as easy for your opponents and it's really difficult to win eco rounds because of the long distances. What this means is that you should try to hold onto your precious weapons. You want as few eco rounds as possible. This mindset will win you games on Train. Don't chase down that last terrorist unless you think you can do some serious damage to their economy.

Find our other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map guides here:

• Inferno Counter-Terrorist guide
• Inferno Terrorist guide
• Cache Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cache Terrorist guide
• Overpass Counter-Terrorist guide
• Overpass Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Counter-Terrorist guide
• Cobblestone Terrorist guide

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!