Emerald Plains first impressions: A bright Theme Park with strong 2F sites.

_{Image via SiegeGG}

There's a need to not be too hasty when we talk about a new map. There's lots of time for changes to be made to the map, and for metas and effective attacks to be determined. 

These are first impressions, which may be accurate, they may not be. They're simply impressions with a very limited amount of playtime, and around two hours running around the map in custom games theorycrafting. 

Buck is going to be a definite factor

There's a need for a lot of hard destruction on this map, or at least a secondary hard breacher. There's also a need for multi-level soft destruction: many hard walls will require players to attack from below. Buck satisfied both of those requirements -- however, a support or flex might have to take this role. 

He can't be your primary hard breacher, but his access to a secondary hard breaching gadget and a from-below primary gadget is solid. On a map where Kaid, Maverick, and Thatcher are likely to be banned a ton, Buck is going to be a solid part of any attack, at least in the early days. 

The top floor sites appear extremely strong

Both top-floor sites remind me of Theme Park, in a good way. They're extremely strong sites with wide floor plans, perfect for extending the site out into a couple more rooms. 

Many top-floor sites on many maps are profoundly strong, and Emerald Plains appears to be no different. Bunker setups reminiscent of Theme Park's extended setups are going to be the name of the game on this map, and pro teams are going to have a field day with all the way we can use the gadgets.

Spawnpeeks aren't going to be as bad as thought, but there are multiple impactable runout walls

Initial impressions don't reveal any creative window-based spawn peeks that aren't going to be immediately pre-fired by anyone actively looking for them, but there are several spots where impact runouts can be devastating to anyone looking to catch an attacker off guard. 

With so many single/double panel and exterior soft walls, expect to see the majority of cheesy plays come through impact grenades and speedy runouts, in addition to punch holes in these walls.