Silent but not so deadly: How the small M4A1-S nerfs have begun warping the CS:GO meta

Over a month ago, Valve dropped a short but huge announcement for an update to CS:GO. While most fans were shocked to see the Active Duty map switch and the exit of Dust II, another huge change to the game was hidden further down in the post. 

After dominating the rifle meta for nearly all of 2022, the M4A1-S received a nerf from Valve. On paper, the nerf seemed very minuscule: a five-percent decrease of the range modifier from 0.99 to 0.94 on the M4A1-S. But now, after a month has passed on the new patch, this small tweak has actually changed so much about CS heading into 2023.