CS 2 (CS:GO) tournaments
Ongoing events
Upcoming events
Past events
Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) is one of the most popular esports disciplines in the whole world. Broadcasts of large CS:GO tournaments gather millions of viewers and their prize pools amount hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Esports is not just a way of entertainment but also an opportunity to make a career and money. CS:GO tournaments can have different levels, organizers and format, not only esportsmen but regular viewers should get the hang of this because only then they will be able to watch the most spectacular and interesting matches.
Types of CS:GO tournaments
CS:GO tournaments can differ by purpose, a way of organizing, and a level. Someone prefers watching only the top-level tournaments and someone simply follows the favorite team. In any case, each type of tournaments has its features, which might both attract and discourage a viewer.
Online tournaments
Online tournaments are low-level tournaments, they usually have a small prize pool or provide an opportunity to get to some LAN tournament.
The low level of online tournaments is due to the following reasons:
- They provide more opportunities for players to use cheats.
- While playing online, players can’t achieve the same level of synergy and organization as if they were playing in the same place.
On the other hand, while playing online, players don’t waste time on a road and organizational features as it happens at LAN tournaments.
LAN tournaments
LAN tournaments are events, at which players appear in person. Their features include a high level of organization, big prize pools, and an opportunity to watch players not only on a screen.
LAN tournaments exclude an unfair play, allow viewers to see their favorite players personally and have a very different level compared to online tournaments. However, like any large event, they require a solution to a great number of organizational questions, which sometimes leads to delays and unpleasant situations.
All Majors, tournaments with a high prize pool and final qualifiers of large events are hosted offline.
Open and closed qualifiers
Qualifiers are interim events, on the outcome of which teams receive invitations to the main tournament. Usually, qualifiers are divided into regions, it means that each region has its qualification, on the outcome of which the best teams of the region (for example, Europe and CIS) proceed to the main tournament.
Qualifiers are often hosted in two stages: open and closed. The best teams of open qualifiers and teams, which have received a direct invitation, advance to a closed qualification. All interested teams from a region participate in open qualifiers. The number of such teams can reach hundreds or even thousands, so it’s pretty difficult to get into a closed qualification and it’s even more complicated to proceed to a tournament.
Qualifiers are a nice way to find out strong teams and drop out those participants, which can’t show a decent play at a tournament. They also allow little-known teams to come to a large event, which is very important in any sport.
Minors
Minors are middle-level tournaments with prize pools of 50 thousand dollars. They are usually divided into 4 regions: America, Europe, CIS, and Asia.
On average, eight teams participate in Minors, a prize pool is divided between the top three of them and invites to prestigious Major tournaments are given for the first and second places.
Minors are pretty serious events, to which middle and high-level teams are invited, and tournaments are hosted offline.
Majors
Majors are the most prestigious CS:GO tournaments. Their prize pool can reach a million dollars. A victory at a Major is an important achievement for any team and an invitation to a Major is almost a dream for little-known teams.
Majors are sponsored by the development company Valve. They are actively covered on the Internet, have the highest level of organization and attract the strongest teams.
An invitation to a Major can be received in one of the following ways:
- Have the “legend” or “challenger” status, which can be received for high results shown at the past Major (before 2020).
- Receive an invitation for a victory at a relevant Minor tournament.
Now, Valve is going to change the system of invitations to Major tournaments, the rating system is introduced instead of direct invitations. Two extra championships are imposed for this, on the outcome of which the rating of teams will be formed, a status will be given in the following way:
- 8 teams with the biggest rating will receive the “legend” status.
- Teams to place 9th-16th will receive the “challenger” status.
Teams will get in the stage of a Major, according to their status. It’s unknown now how the system will show itself, it’s possible that it will allow to drop out teams, which have passed to a Major only due to “ghostly” luck.
Formats of tournaments
Esports events can be hosted in a different way. A format of a tournament determined how long it lasts, how many times teams will face and what they will have to do to win.
Types of matches
As a rule, a winning team is determined on the outcome of not one but a few games. The following types are used at CS:GO tournaments the most frequently:
- bo1: teams play only one game, on the outcome of which a winner is determined.
- bo3: teams play three games, a winner must win two of them (mostly used).
- bo5: teams play five games, a victory is achieved by a team, which has prevailed in 3 of them (often used in the final).
A group stage
Teams are divided into groups in this stage and they fight for an opportunity to advance to playoffs. The best teams proceed to an upper bracket, the middle ones move to a lower one and the worst ones are eliminated from a tournament.
A group stage can be hosted in the following formats:
- Round-robin.
- The GSL system.
- The Swiss system.
Playoffs
This is a regular tournament bracket, in which teams proceed to the next stage after a victory in a match (quarterfinals, semi-finals, a final).
There are two kinds of playoffs, a team is eliminated after one loss in the first one and after two losses in the second one. Everything is simple in the first option: a winner advances to the next stage and a losing team is eliminated from a tournament. In the second case, two brackets are used: upper and lower. A losing team from an upper bracket steps down to a lower bracket and a losing team from a lower bracket leaves a tournament. In this playoff format, winners of upper and lower brackets make it to a final.
Show matches
Show matches are organized at some tournaments, they have an unusual format and are an entertaining event. For example, players from two teams fight 1 versus 1, using a particular weapon. Such matches are not just interesting for viewers but provide teams with an additional opportunity to prove themselves.
A format of Majors
Major is hosted in the format, which consists of three stages:
- Challengers;
- Legends;
The Challengers stage includes teams with a relevant status also teams, which have passed qualifiers. Matches are carried out in “a bo3” or “bo1” format. The top 8 teams advance to the next stage of a tournament and the rest teams are eliminated from it.
Teams with relevant status and also 8 teams from the previous stage of a tournament are invited to the Legends stage. Like in the Challengers stage, 8 teams advance further (the Swiss system is used in both stages).
The Champions stage is similar to playoffs, 8 teams from the previous stage get in quarterfinals, winners advance further until a final. All matches are played in “a bo3” format.
Series and tournament organizers
The general level, the quality of an organization and the visibility of a tournament directly depend on its organizer.
IEM (Intel Extreme Masters)
This series of tournaments started back in 2007. It has become popular quickly and was one of the main Counter-Strike tournament series in 2008-2012.
This series is famous for its high level of tournaments: prize pools of 250-500 thousand dollars, the strongest participating teams, a good organization and a big number of viewers.
ESL (Electronic Sports League)
ESL is the biggest esports company in the whole world, it was organized in 1997. A few series of tournaments are hosted under its control.
Esl One
A popular series of tournaments, which is headed by the company ESL. In 2020, two events with prize pools of 1 million dollars will be hosted, one of which is a Major, which will provide teams with an opportunity to not make money only but receive a “legend” or “challenger” status.
The series had been founded in 2014 and had its first official Major in 2016.
Starladder
The Ukrainian company, which has been organizing tournaments since 2012. It has three series of tournaments:
- StarSeries
- ProSeries
- AMSeries
StarLadder organizes many large events, their prize pools amount from 200 thousand to 1 million dollars. The bright example of such an event is the Berlin Major 2019, having become one of the main tournaments of the year.
Like ESL, StarLadder is a big company, which organizes not only CS:GO tournaments but tournaments in other esports disciplines.
The series of Blast tournaments
The organizer of the series is the Danish company RFRSH founded in 2016.
Blast Pro Series
This series was founded recently, in 2017. 11 big events with prize pools of 250-500 thousand dollars were hosted in three years. And its existence was over in 2019 and it was replaced by Blast Premier.
Blast Premier
Blast Premier will start with the event Spring 2020 Regular Season on January 31, 2020, the prize pool of which will amount 300 thousand dollars.
DreamHack
DreamHack organizes the biggest computer festival in the world where many people gather to see concerts and cyber art and esports competitions.
The company organizes middle and high-class tournaments. An average prize pool amounts 100 thousand dollars. The level of events is lower than ESL or StarLadder but it is compensated by their number. More than 12 tournaments were hosted only in 2019.
Epicenter
The series started with the tournament with the prize pool of 490 thousand dollars hosted in 2016. Since then, one large tournament in this series has been hosted every year.
Epicenter attracts the strongest teams in the world, has a high level of organization and gathers many both Russian and foreign viewers, however, it can’t compete with such giants as ESL and StarLadder.
WESG
This series of tournaments are especially popular in China. AliSports is its organizer, the subsidiary of the company Alibaba Group. Every year, small tournaments are hosted all over the world, the winners of which advance to the main event World Finals, which has the prize pool in the sum from 500 thousand to 1.5 million dollars.
GG.Bet
GG.Bet is a betting platform for CS:GO tournaments, which periodically sponsors tournaments.
These are usually small tournaments, in which little-known teams participate and a prize pool amounts a few tens of thousands of dollars.