Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 will be available next Wednesday, and Riot Games recently shared the full patch notes for the upcoming update, including the announcement of Pearl as a brand new map that will force Split out only to take its place in the Competitive and Unrated map pool two weeks after new episode’s launch.
Split will no longer be a part of the map pool in Competitive and Unrated modes of Valorant as Riot Games announces in the latest patch notes.
Based on the tone of patch notes, it doesn’t sound like there would be any other changes in the Competitive and Unrated map pool in the near future, but if Riot Games decides to set aside one more map from the pool, Ascent could probably be the top candidate as there is almost no love for this map among the community at the moment!
When it launches, Riot Games will add a dedicated game mode for Pearl, allowing players to get to learn the new map before its addition to the official Competitive and Unrated map pool.