New Operations are some of the biggest content drops that Valve has ever done for Counter Strike Global Offensive, but they don't come around often.

Luckily, they've surprised fans with a brand new one called Operation Riptide.

While Steam's servers were down, CSGO sneakily revealed a brand new Operation for players called Operation Riptide. The latest event within CSGO also added a flurry of new skins, cases and more changes to the game that are much appreciated by fans.

The Operation premiered on September 21st, 2021 and will run until February 20th, 2022.

Before we dive into some of the new skins and other notable changes that Valve has implemented with the release of Operation Riptide, there's also been some substantial changes within the core game itself.

The Deagle and M4A1-S received some damage changes, and players will also be able to play CS at their own pace of play. With a new option allowing players to either queue up into a regular best of 30 match, a new best of 18!

All the patch notes can be found down below.

[GAME MODES]
Private Matchmaking Queues
— Generate a Queue Code and share it with your friends to create a private Premier match on Valve servers
— Or, select one of your Steam Groups and play a match exclusively with other members of that group

Short Competitive
— Added the option to select a preference for match duration in competitive Matchmaking: Short (MR 16), Long (MR 30), or No Preference.

Deathmatch
— Added the option to select Classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch (first team to 100 kills wins), and Free-for-all Deathmatch (all players are enemies).

Demolition
— Reduced max rounds to 10 and eliminated half-time team swap.
— Reduced round time
— Adjusted weapon progression

Arms Race
— Adjusted weapon progression
— Players now receive a health-shot after three kills

[GAMEPLAY]
– Grenades can now be dropped just like weapons.
– Vision after death reduced from 3.0s to 2.0s (vision by headshot reduced from 1.0s to 0.5s).
– Deagle
— Reduced body damage
– M4A1-S
— Increased body damage
– Dual Elites
— Reduced price to $300
– Riot Shield
— Added the Riot Shield heavy weapon to the buy menu, currently purchasable by CTs in Casual Hostage map groups.

[MAPS]
– County has been added to official matchmaking in Danger Zone game mode.
– Basalt and Insertion II have been added to official matchmaking in Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch game modes.
– Ravine and Extraction have been added to official matchmaking in Wingman game mode.
– The following maps are no longer available in official matchmaking: Grind, Mocha, Pitstop, Calavera, Frostbite.

Dust2:
– Slight visibility tweak from T spawn through mid
– Improved visibility into B back site from upper tunnels

Inferno:
– Made gate at top of banana solid
– Revised 1v1 layout
– Minor bug fixes

Ancient:
– Increased size of plantable area in both bombsites
– Fixed bullet penetration on plywood surfaces
– Further optimizations
– Added 1v1 arenas

Skins are one of the largest features about CSGO, and any new Operation also implements a ton of new options for players to unbox via cases.

With Operation Riptide, they've added the following cases obtainable via the event pass.

• 2021 Dust 2 Collection
• 2021 Mirage Collection
• 2021 Vertigo Collection
• 2021 Train Collection
• Operation Riptide Case

One of the best skins out of these new packs is the Dessert Hydra AWP and the Gold Arabesque, which are bound to be some of the most lucrative skins in the set.

Now you'll want to purchase the Operation Riptide event pass in order to unlock some of the challenges and gain access to the stars in order to snag some of these new cases.

The pass itself is going to run player's $15 USD, and it'll unlock all of the challenges for the 16 weeks of the Operation.

You'll be able to redeem the Stars you earn through completing these challenges for things such as the following.

• Operator skins
• Cases
• Select skins from Collections
• Stickers

Be sure to redeem these stars wisely, as you'll only be able to earn so many each week.