The Counter-Strike franchise has been famous for years now for its awesome and bustling competitive scene. The fast-paced, action-packed gameplay that's been a staple of the series has proven to be a great source of entertainment, and over decades, with a vast eSports network developing over the years.

While many players dream of making big buck from CS2, you don't need to be a pro to enjoy the competitive side of the Counter-Strike franchise. One of the main ways to play competitive mode in CS2 is to queue up for CS2 premier mode.

Just yesterday, CS2 premier mode season 4 launched, bringing in a range of new features, alongside a clean slate for every player. Here's everything you need to know about CS2 premier season 4 start date, as well as what features to expect from premier season 4!

Remember, if you ever want new CS skins to prepare for the next premier season, make sure to head over to SkinsMonkey.com, where you can trade CS2 skins at any time!

Key Takeaways:

  • The new season is expected to launch between January 20–21, 2026, immediately following the conclusion of Season 3 on January 19, though Valve has not yet released an official confirmation based on current release patterns.

  • Players should anticipate a complete Premier Rating reset requiring new placement matches, alongside a refreshed active duty map pool that returns Anubis and removes Train, while retaining Ancient, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, and Overpass; weapon balance tweaks and server optimizations are also likely.

  • Competitors will need to prioritize practicing Anubis to gain an early advantage, and while the launch may bring initial matchmaking instability similar to previous seasons, it presents a prime opportunity for rank climbing that coincides with the hype of IEM Kraków.

What Are CS2 Premier Seasons?

While previously in CS:GO players would receive a single rank, reflecting their performance in ranked matches against players of a similar skill-level. This has changed with the release of CS2, where the ranked system was split between two separate modes: premier and competitive, each with its own separate CS2 rank.

The Premier ranked mode is also separated into seasons, which change on a semi-regular basis. This is meant to keep the competitive gameplay fresh, as each CS2 premier season add balance tweaks, re-works, as well as a new active duty map pool. Players who participated in the CS2 premier season and received their CS2 premier rating reset their ranks, and receive a premier rating medal, showcasing their final ranking, as well as statistically breaking down each player's performance.

CS2 Premier Season 4 Start Date Confirmed January 20–21, 2026

CS2 premier season 3 concluded on January 19th, and January 20-21, 2026 is the official CS2 premier season 4 start date, depending on your individual timezone. If you want to find out the official CS2 premier season 4 start date for your region, consult the table below:

Region

Date

Premier Season 4 start time (Approx)

UTC

Wed, Jan 21

2:00 AM

Europe (CET)

Wed, Jan 21

3:00 AM

UK (GMT)

Wed, Jan 21

2:00 AM

US East (EST)

Tue, Jan 20

9:00 PM

US West (PST)

Tue, Jan 20

6:00 PM

Asia (JST)

Wed, Jan 21

11:00 AM

Australia (AEDT)

Wed, Jan 21

1:00 PM

Brazil (BRT)

Tue, Jan 20

11:00 PM

Season 3 End & Medal Requirements

To claim the exclusive Season 3 Premier Medal, players must have met two strict criteria: a minimum of 25 competitive wins during the season and a visible CS Rating (CSR) at the moment the season ended. Because CS2 ranks expire after periods of inactivity, many players found themselves scrambling to win a “recalibration” match in the final hours to ensure their rating was active and their rewards were secured.

The Season 3 medal serves as a permanent trophy of your performance, with its color reflecting the highest rating tier you achieved throughout the season (e.g., Grey, Light Blue, Blue, Purple, Pink, Red, or Gold). Additionally, the medal features a progressive bar system, allowing for easy visual identification of your final standing; every 25 wins adds a bar to the design, up to a maximum of five bars for 125+ wins. If you met these requirements, your medal should now be visible in your inventory, marking your rank and dedication before the global leaderboard reset for Season 4.

To secure your medal for Season 4, ensure you maintain an active rank by winning placement matches, playing regularly and reach the 25-win milestone well before the next seasonal conclusion.

Active Map Pool Changes, Anubis Returns

One of the most important changes in each premier season in CS2 are the various active duty map pool tweaks. While there are many different maps available in the game, including some really wacky CS2 community maps, the active map pool is meant to select the best and most balanced maps in CS2 to faciliate fair gameplay.

This time around two important changes came into play: Train has been scrapped by the devs due to numerous player complaints. In premier season 4, CS2 devs decided to replace Train with Anubis, another player favorite.

Here's a quick breakdown of the active map pool past premier season 4:

Map

Status

Ancient

Active

Anubis

Added

Dust II

Active

Inferno

Active

Mirage

Active

Nuke

Active

Overpass

Active

Train

Removed

Harlequin Collection & Achroma Collection Skins

Although the gameplay is why players stick around, trading CS2 skins is an important part of the game. After all, many gamers worldwide make money on CS2 by buying and selling skins, and with CS2 premier season 4 Valve added the Harlequin Collection to the game, with its wild range of visually impressive skins. As well as the second Achroma Collection, featuring oly black and white skins inside. You can unlock these skins by simply playing the game in your weekly care package.

The full list of Harlequin collection skins & Achroma collection feature the following weapon finishes:

Harlequin Collection

Classified

  • M4A1-S | Party Animal

Restricted

  • AWP | Exothermic

  • USP-S | Sleeping Potion

Mil-Spec

  • Five-SeveN | Fraise Crane

  • Galil AR | Sky Mandala

  • UMP-45 | Warm Blooded

  • Zeus x27 | Earth Mandala

Industrial Grade

  • MP5-SD | Picnic

  • MP7 | Coral Paisley

  • SSG 08 | Calligrafaux

  • Tec-9 | Banana Leaf

  • XM1014 | XoooM

Consumer Grade

  • CZ75-Auto | Honey Paisley

  • FAMAS | Byproduct

  • MP9 | Bee-Tron

  • PP-Bizon | Thermal Currents

  • R8 Revolver | Mauve Aside

  • SG 553 | Safari Print

  • Sawed-Off | Crimson Batik

Achroma Collection

Classified

  • AWP | The End

Restricted

  • AK-47 | Breakthrough

  • Glock-18 | Trace Lock

Mil-Spec

  • AUG | Creep

  • Desert Eagle | The Daily Deagle

  • P2000 | Grip Tape

  • P90 | Aeolian Light

Industrial Grade

  • FAMAS | Vendetta

  • M4A4 | Aeolian Dark

  • MAC-10 | Snow Splash

  • MP5-SD | Snow Splash

  • R8 Revolver | Dark Chamber

Consumer Grade

  • Dual Berettas | Silver Pour

  • M249 | Sleet

  • MP9 | Dizzy

  • Nova | Currents

  • P250 | Sleet

  • PP-Bizon | Bizoom

  • SCAR-20 | Zinc

  • SSG 08 | Sans Comic

In addition, premier season 4 introduced a brand new luxurious AK-47 skin, the AK-47 Aphrodite

In order to get this AK-47 skin, you need to score 125 stars in your armory pass, and at the moment there are no other ways to obtain this best AK-47 skin.

Full list of changes

We covered the most important changes and tweaks added in premier season 4, but like many other CS2 patches, this one also included a large number of smaller fixes to the game. Here's the full list of patch notes:

[ PREMIER ]

  • Premier Season Four has begun

  • Added Anubis to the Active Duty Map Pool

  • Removed Train from the Active Duty Map Pool

[ COMPETITIVE ]

  • Adjusted underlying per-map competitive matchmaking rank values. Existing per-map competitive Skill Groups have been expired, and will be displayed again once the player obtains the required number of wins

[ GAMEPLAY ]

  • Minor adjustments to the MP7 and MP5-SD:

    • Slightly increased damage

    • Slightly reduced damage fall-off

    • Reduced price by $100.

  • Reduced price of the PP-Bizon by $100.

  • Jump changes:

    • Landing time is now calculated with subtick precision

    • Jumping and landing no longer affect stamina. The landing speed penalty is now a simple function of landing time

    • Any jump press within sv_bhop_time_window centered on the landing time that hasn't been penalized by sv_jump_spam_penalty_time will be treated as a successful bunnyhop

    • Legacy jump behavior can be restored on private servers with sv_legacy_jump

  • Map Guides can now be loaded in online games of casual and retakes (via the ESC menu)

[ SOUND ] 

  • Reduced audio output latency

  • Higher fidelity knife draw and inspect sounds

  • Weapon, knife and utility draw sounds no longer overlap when switching quickly between them

  • Knife impact sounds are now unique based on primary fire or alt fire swings as well as front and rear attacks. This reflects the different damage amounts dealt with each attack 

  • Ambient sounds no longer restart from the beginning when transitioning between zone

[ WEEKLY CARE PACKAGE ]

  • Added two all-new weapon collections to the Weekly Care Package drop list: Harlequin, Achroma

  • Removed four weapon collections from the Weekly Care Package drop list: Safehouse, Dust 2, 2018 Nuke Collection, and the 2018 Inferno Collection

[ ARMORY ]

  • Added a new Limited Edition Item: the AK47 | Aphrodite

[ MISC ]

  • Increased material fidelity on some of the base guns:

    • Ak47

    • Aug

    • AWP

    • Berettas

    • Deagle

    • Galil

    • Mac-10

    • MP7

    • P250

    • Tec9

    • USP-S

    • Bizon

    • Cz75a

    • Famas

    • MP9

  • Changed voice status behavior to always show a mic for local player if mic is open 

  • Fixed a bug related to Deathcam intersection

  • Fixed some cases where the player would collide with internal edges while sliding along a ramp in surf mode

  • Improved the resolution of the PVS for some static level geometry

  • Fixed some small interpenetrations in Butterfly Knife animations

  • Fixed a case where blood decals weren't appearing

[ MAP SCRIPTING ]

  • Fixed a bug where activator was sometimes incorrect for func_door outputs OnOpen, OnFullyOpen, OnClose, and OnFullyClosed

    • Added BaseModelEntity.GetModelName

    • Added BaseModelEntity.GetModelScale

    • Added BaseModelEntity.GetColor

    • Added BaseModelEntity.IsGlowing

[ ENGINE ]

  • Updated engine code to the latest version of Source 2.

[ MAPS ]

  • Removed community maps: Golden, Palacio, Agency, and Rooftop from all game modes

  • Added community maps Warden, Stronghold, and Alpine to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch modes

  • Added community maps Sanctum and Poseidon to Wingman mode

Anubis

  • Bridge drop moved near Mid Doors

  • Mid doors orientation reversed

  • Hole added between E-box and Back of B

  • Bombsite A crates moved up steps on to Walkway

  • Scaffolding added to pillar on Bombsite A

In Conclusion

Premier Season 4 was certainly a big change to the game, but the balance changes will hopefully provide an interesting competitive environment. If you want to keep up with the updates introduced in premier season 4, make sure to regularly check out our blog, where we post more CS news, guides, top lists, and even offer free CS skins giveaways!

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you check out some of our other blog posts, including:

FAQ

When did CS2 Season 4 start and what changed?

CS2 Season 4 launched on January 21, 2026, featuring a full Premier Rating reset and a refreshed map pool. The update marked the return of Anubis to Active Duty, the removal of Train, and the introduction of the Harlequin and Achroma skin collections.

What are the requirements for the Season 3 Premier Medal?

To receive the Season 3 medal, players must have secured at least 25 Premier wins and held an active CS Rating on January 19, 2026. The medal's color reflects your highest tier achieved, while extra “bars” are added to the design for every 25 wins (up to 125).

How do you get the Harlequin and Achroma skins in Season 4?

These new skins are obtainable through the Weekly Care Package drop system by leveling up your profile XP on official Valve servers. Additionally, the AK-47 | Aphrodite has been added to the Armory, available for exchange via the Armory Pass.