How will the new format of CS2 at EWC 2026 affect the major teams?

I's only the start of 2025. But, the tournaments and dates are already being announced for 2026. Esports are always very organized, and it's no exception this year. Especially with the news that Counter Strike 2 (CS2) is going to be back for the Esports World Cup after its inaugural event showing in 2024. But, there are some differences in the way the game will be formatted. So let's see what this means.

The 2025 format

For 2025, the CS2 tournament at the Esports World Cup (EWC), there will be 16 top tier teams competing. These will be selected based on their Global Valve Regional Standings (VRS). So all the teams ranked from 1st to 16th will be invited. Excitingly, the very best only, will be participating. And this means that viewers will be treated to nothing but the best when it comes to skill and gameplay.

The VRS ranking will be used when the first available rankings are up. This occurs in June 2025. So the full team lineup will not be finalized until after this point. Any team receiving the invite must meet all competitive standards. There will be exceptions if players are banned by the EFG or ESIC too. All of the VRS Invitations will be listed publically to ensure there is complete transparency.

As an overall overhaul, all CS2 Majors are seeing something a little different already in 2025. Instead of the usual 24 teams heading into the qualifying, the number is being boosted to 32 teams. With more teams entering the qualifying stages, there are going to be major differences here as well. And this is mainly where the VRS rankings will take up the slack.

Changes for 2026

Where the major changes come in 2026 are the dates. Already these are listed as being from 10th August to 23rd August. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that this is a significantly longer period of time than the previous EWCs. And this is intentional. With the advanced warning on dates, teams will have more time to prepare and plan for their potential participation.

However, the dates still overlaps with the PGL August which is due to run from August 6 to August 16. These dates were already set before the EWC announced its dates. This means that any teams who previously planned to attend both events will no longer be able to. Unless of course, they get knocked out in the early rounds of the EWC. It should also be noted that while the PGL and EWC are currently overlapping, the dates may change again. With the importance of both events at the forefront of everyone's minds, and the timeframe a long way off, it's worth staying tuned to see whether some distance is given between the two.

Regardless, the EWC has a longer run time in 2026. It's been extended from just five days to 13. This is to allow teams better time to plan. Extra days include team travel, media days, and, of course, the main event. As such, teams will be able to better plan their trips, strategies, and preparation in the run up to the event. Of course, this still assumes that they're going to play. They still will need to qualify for 2026.

CS2 and the viewers

With all these changes, does anything change for the viewers? In short, not really. It does mean that there's more time to prepare and getting excited for these major events at least. And, on another side of things, all the sportsbooks and betting sites have ample time to get their betting game in order. While they won't be able to start setting moneylines or odds, sites like Monkey Tilt will be able to begin tracking team progress early on. This may include the provision of better statistics. And, access to live streams and other interactive options. All of this can help viewers increase their enjoyment of the game and events as a whole.

With a lot coming up, and changes galore, it's essential that both teams and viewers keep an eye on all the dates and events for the next few years.