Major Prep Week: Three Drawers of Readiness — Map Pool Trimming, First-Round Bans, and Player State Ledgers

Introduction

The week before a Major starts, the practice room lights rarely go off. But what gets flipped through over and over isn't the stratbook—it's three things in the coaching staff's drawer: a map pool sheet with its edges trimmed, a first-round ban tree covered in branches, and a state ledger each player writes for themselves. Stack those three layers together, and you get a team's true ceiling at a Major.

Layer One: Trimming the Map Pool — Not Deleting Maps, Deleting Versions

Most people talk about map pools in terms of "do we play Overpass?" But during prep, the trimming logic goes one level deeper: the same map under different versions is actually two different maps.

Take Nuke. Outside plate line—if the opponent defaults to double-stack outside with a yellow smoke, the map's tempo gets pushed until after 55 seconds before first contact. The trimming move isn't "ban Nuke," it's judging: can our default get outside info before 55 seconds? If not, then this map is a "slow version" for us, and we should actively give it up rather than grind it.

In practice, I split the map pool into three columns:

• Fast version: Maps where the first effective firefight can happen in the first 30 seconds—good for lineups with sharp aim and hot opening feel.
• Slow version: Maps that need 50+ seconds of default setup to get info—good for lineups with strong utility discipline and stable clutch judgment.
• Hybrid version: Depends on where the opponent leaves after first-round bans, usually mid-heavy maps like Ancient and Anubis.

The core of trimming isn't deleting maps, it's deleting versions. The same map—playable in fast version, unplayable in slow version—must be counted as two maps during the ban phase.

Layer Two: The First-Round Ban Game Tree — Not Rock-Paper-Scissors

Major bans are public, but public doesn't mean transparent. The real game is in round one: who bans first, who bans second, who leaves a "fake open" map on the second hand.

I like to draw the first-round ban as a tree, not a line. The root is our own three-column map pool; the first branch is the opponent's recent ban habits. Here's a detail often overlooked: opponent ban habits change in the two weeks before a Major because they're trimming too. So when you look at opponent bans, look at the "trend," not the "result"—have they started frequently banning the same map in their last three matches? If so, that map is probably one they haven't figured out either.

The second branch is our own choice. Here I use a simple principle: the goal of the first-round ban isn't to get the strongest map, it's to get the most familiar map. Under Major pressure, familiarity is worth more than strength. A map you've practiced 200 hours on, even if its version rating is only B, is more reliable than an A map you've practiced 40 hours on.

The third branch is "fake open." Sometimes we deliberately leave a map the opponent thinks we won't play, forcing them into a wrong judgment on the second round. This isn't deception, it's information management.

Layer Three: The Player State Ledger — Not KDA

During prep, every player should keep a state ledger. This ledger doesn't record KDA; it records three things:

1. Feel curve: Which game of the day do you start hitting form? My personal curve is most stable from game 3 to game 7; game 1 is usually cold. If the Major's first match is scheduled in the morning, I'll do a short warm-up 40 minutes early to pull the curve forward.
2. Utility confidence: Which utility can you throw accurately with your eyes closed? Which ones need you to run the landing spot through your head first? At a Major, only use the "eyes-closed accurate" tier; leave the ones that need thinking for scrims.
3. Clutch emotion: After losing a 1v2, in the first 10 seconds of the next round, am I more aggressive or more conservative? This ledger must be honest. If you know you're conservative after a clutch, actively ask for an early pressure position in the next round's default, turning emotion into action.

The purpose of the state ledger is to replace the vague judgment of "how do I feel today" with executable adjustments. A Major isn't a scrim—there's no replaying a round—so the ledger must be written before the event starts.

Closing: Stacking the Three Drawers

Map pool trimming decides what version we play. First-round bans decide which map we play. The state ledger decides how we play. Stack the three drawers, and you get a team's true readiness at a Major.

One last reminder: don't add new maps during prep week. The error rate of a new map under pressure is far higher than you expect. Grinding an already-trimmed map until you can run defaults with your eyes closed is worth more than one extra "maybe useful" map. Major wins and losses often hide in the opening and closing of these three drawers.