Clubhouse was one of the launch maps that came with Rainbow Six Siege. It’s life in Pro League had a shaky start, with it fighting for attention with the then-preferred maps of Oregon, Hereford, and House. In Season 2 we saw Clubhouse gain some traction, with it being picked in every single match of the Season 2 & Season 3 LAN finals.
Clubhouse’s downfall started sometime before the 2017 Invitational. By that point, it was clear to the pro teams that roaming was incredibly difficult, and much like Hereford, the basement housed the far superior site. A new Montagne meta made this issue even more stark. It was clear by this point a rework was needed.
At the 2018 Invitational, that call was answered, with a new Clubhouse rework being announced alongside Hereford. A hall had been added between Cash Room and Master Bedroom, adding more options for players to hold the 2 least played objectives. Also seen was a change to the supply janitor's closet with the stairs leading up to them, and also changes to the pool table, where the room was closed off.
Today at the Season 7 LAN finals, we saw more of the upcoming rework. In the garage, the ladder up to the metal catwalk has been removed and replaced with a staircase, and a window has been added to the room. In the next room over, one of the hardest bomb sites of the map -- Server Room -- has had its roof hatch removed, giving attackers a lot less lines of sites into the objective. The other part of the objective -- Cash Room -- has had the North facing window removed, and the earlier mentioned room now connects Cash Room to the Master Bedroom. Finally, for the hatch above Gym has also been removed, thereby making this objective far more viable.
Moving down to the ground floor of the map, we see it is mostly unchanged save for the pool table and janitor's closet. Behind the pool table we have a new room, where a bathroom has been added to replace the small wall running alongside the table which leads on to the end of the kitchen hallway.
The bottom floor remains mostly unchanged, however as we saw in the teaser at the Invitational, the janitor's closet now includes a set of stairs. These stairs lead down into the blue hallway, which could make roaming a lot more viable.
Map reworks are a new step for Rainbow Six Siege. Clubhouse is just the tip of the Iceberg as Hereford is also being reworked. However, with Hereford we will see a much bigger overhaul with an art and setting style, on top of the balance changes. Jeremy Dowsett a Senior Level Designer at Ubisoft mentioned that Hereford Base has been testing very well and that he is excited to see it launched.
What do you think of these changes to Clubhouse? Should it remain in the ESL map pool, or is it too far gone despite the change?