CS2 Events to Bet on in 2023

Advice

Only bet on CS2 events with licensed betting sites.
CS2 event betting is perfectly safe, as long as players choose one of the licensed and regulated betting sites that we recommend.

What Are The Different Counter Strike Events?

Counter-Strike 2 tournaments are split into different categories depending on who runs them, what their prize pools are and how teams qualify for them. Anybody can host a professional CS2 event. Below, we’ve detailed all the key C2 events and how they’re categorised.

• Major Tournaments: CS2 Major Championships, otherwise known as ‘Majors’, are esports tournaments sponsored by Valve. They have a minimum prize pool of $1,000,000 and feature 24 of the biggest global CS2 teams. There are two Major tournaments every year.
• Premier Events: BLAST Premier is an esports league primarily based in North America and Europe. Leagues happen twice yearly, and the top teams advance to the season finals and then the global finals at the end of the year.
• Regional Leagues and Tournaments: The Regional Major Rankings serve as a professional qualification system for CS2 Majors. They replaced Counter-Strike Minor Championships and are split into three regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. They usually happen twice a year. The ESL Pro League is the biggest example of a regional league.
• Challenger Leagues: Challenger Leagues serve as a way for CS2 teams to qualify for the Pro Leagues, including the ESL Pro League. They have a smaller prize pool than other tournaments, but provide good opportunities for teams to succeed in the long-run.

There are several different types of CS2 tournament, the biggest of which we’ve broken down into sections below. Tournament organisers submit proposals for the next Major, which Valve uses to decide who will host the event, and where.

PGL Major

PGL Majors are hosted by PGL Esports. PGL Esports was founded in 2002, but hosted its first Major CS:GO event in 2017: PGL Major Kraków. This event had a total prize pool of $1,000,000 and the tournament was won by Gambit Esports.

Since then, PGL has hosted the PGL Major Stockholm in 2021, which had a $2,000,000 prize pool. Na’ Vi won the Stockholm major, with G2 Esports taking second place. The PGL Major Antwerp in 2022 was won by FaZe and saw 24 teams competing for a $1,000,000 prize pool.

PGL will next host the PGL Major Copenhagen in 2024. The event will take place in March and will have a prize pool of $1,250,000. This will be the next opportunity for esports fans to bet on a PGL Major. The PGL Copenhagen Major will also be the first ever CS:GO 2 Major.

Intel Extreme Masters (IEM)

Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is the longest running global pro gaming tour in the world. It was started in 2006 by ESL and helped to catapult CS:GO to the forefront of the industry.

The Intel Extreme Masters runs in seasons, with Season 18 taking place in 2023. IEM has changed significantly since its inception, with Season 1 (2007) involving just the IEM I World Championship. Following seasons included multiple stages,such as Global Challenges, regional Championships and regional Finals, all leading into the World Championship.

The Intel Extreme Masters XIII Katowice Major 2019 was the first IEM Major. It was won by Astralis and boasted a $1,000,000 prize pool. The Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 was the second IEM Major. With a prize pool of $1,250,000, it was won by Outsiders.

For those looking to bet on Intel Extreme Masters in CS:GO, there will be three main events: IEM Rio 2023, IEM Dallas 2023 and IEM Cologne 2023.

BLAST Major

BLAST is a global esports entertainment company that has been hosting CS:GO tournaments for years. Despite holding some of the biggest CS:GO events in the world as part of the BLAST Premier series, BLAST had not overseen a Major event until 2023.

The BLAST Paris Major 2023 is a $1,250,000 tournament set in Paris in May 2023. To bet on the BLAST Major, take a look at some of the best CS:GO betting sites that we’ve reviewed.

ESL Pro League

The CS:GO ESL Pro League is a joint venture between ESL and ESEA. Set up in 2015, the ESL Pro League initially only covered European and North American Teams, but expanded into other regions early on. ESL Pro League events are scheduled around the Valve Majors, with teams competing to qualify for CS:GO’s biggest LAN events.

The ESL Pro League is made up of 32 teams, 11 of which join from the ESL Conference, a qualifying tournament. Teams are split into four groups of six teams, competing in a group stage before continuing onto the final stages of the tournament.

Recent winners of the ESL Pro League include FaZe Clan (Season 15 and Season 17), Team Vitality (Season 16), Natus Vincere (Season 14) and Heroic (Season 13). If you’re interested in betting on upcoming CS:GO tournaments, including the ESL Pro League, the next iteration will take place between August and October 2023.

Did you know?

CS:GO tournament prize pools just keep getting bigger!
Originally, CS:GO Majors came with a prize pool of $250,000. More recently, these tournaments have minimum prize pools of $1,000,000, although sometimes these are even bigger! For example, the PGL Stockholm Major came with a whopping prize of $2,000,000.

CS:GO Esports Events in the UK

There are very few Counter Strike events in the UK. However, there are plenty of events in Europe, and CS:GO has a huge UK-based following. There have also been lots of CS:GO tournaments in the UK in the past, the most recent of which we’ve broken down below.

• GG.Bet Ice Challenge 2020 London – The GG.Bet Ice Challenge London took place in 2020 at the ExCeL Centre. The event ran in February, with eight professional CS:GO teams. The tournament was won by mousesports, who took home $125,000 of the $250,000 prize pool.
• BLAST Premier Spring Series 2020: Regular Season – The BLAST Premier Spring Series in 2020 took place in London at the 3 Mills Studio. 12 CS:GO teams competed for a share of the $300,000 prize pool, although FaZe Clan were ultimately victorious. Na’ Vi and G2 Esports came second and third respectively, and all three teams qualified to the Spring 2020 Finals.
• ECS Season 7 Finals – The Esports Championship Series Season 7 Finals took place in June 2019 at the SSE Arena, Wembley. Eight teams competed in this S-Tier CS:GO event for a $500,000 prize pool. Team Vitality beat FURIA Esports to net themselves $225,000.
• ECS Season 5 Finals – The Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals had a prize pool of $660,000, which six professional teams battled for. The event took place in June 2018 at the SSE Arena, Wembley, with Astralis beating Team Liquid in the final.
• ECS Season 3 Finals – The Esports Championship Series Season 3 Finals were held at the SSE Arena, Wembley, in 2017. The lion share of the $600,000 prize pool was won by SK Gaming, who beat FaZe Clan in the final. Astralis and Cloud9 took third and fourth place respectively.

Fact

CS2 events in the UK are few and far between.
Fans of CS2 in the UK may have to wait a while if they want to watch a Counter-Strike 2 tournament in person. That being said, the UK has had its fair share of events and with the UK’s esports scene growing rapidly, we wouldn’t be surprised to see one head this way soon!

What Are the Most Popular Counter-Strike Tournaments?

As mentioned above, there are plenty of Counter-Strike events taking place every year. Below, we’ll discuss some of the most popular recent CS:GO tournaments that fans should know about.

Popular Major Tournaments

Majors are one of the most highly coveted tournaments for CS:GO players to win. These take place twice a year and are usually huge spectacles. We’ve listed some of the most popular CS:GO Major tournaments in recent history:

• Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 – The IEM Rio Major took place in October and November 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, with a total prize pool of $1,250,000. Outsiders, a Russian tag created by Virtus.pro, won the tournament by defeating Heroic in the final. This earned Outsiders qualification to IEM Katowice 2023 and the BLAST Premier Final 2022.
• PGL Major Antwerp 2022 – The PGL Antwerp Major ran in May 2022 in Antwerp, Belgium. The event took place in the Antwerps Sportpaleis and players were competing for a share of $1,000,000. FaZe Clan were victorious, defeating Na’ Vi in the final, earning them qualification to the BLAST Premier Final.
• PGL Major Stockholm 2021 – The PGL Major took place in Stockholm in October and November 2021. Na’ Vi won the tournament, earning themselves $1,000,000 of the $2,000,000 prize pool. The prize pool was bigger because this was the first post-Covid CS:GO Major. Na’ Vi defeated G2 Esports in the final to qualify for the BLAST Premier Final.
• StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 – The StarLadder Berlin Major was the 15th Valve-sponsored CS:GO Major Championship. It took place in Berlin, Germany in August and September 2019. Astralis defeated AVANGAR in the final to earn half of the $1,000,000 prize pool.
• Intel Extreme Masters XIII Katowice Major 2019 – The IEM Katowice Major in 2019 was the first Major tournament run by ESL since 2016. It was set in Katowice, Poland and offered players a chance to win part of the $1,000,000 prize pool. The CS:GO tournament took place in February and March 2019, and Astralis defeated ENCE in the final to win $500,000 and qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major later that same year.
• FACEIT Major: London 2018 – The FACEIT Major is one of the only times that a major UK CS:GO event has been held. The tournament took place in September 2018 and offered up a $1,000,000 prize pool, which was won by Astralis, who defeated Na’ Vi in the final to qualify for the IEM Katowice Major in 2019.

Popular Minor Tournaments

Although taking place on a much smaller scale than Major tournaments, CS:GO minor tournaments are still hugely popular amongst Counter Strike fans and esports bettors. Before Covid, CS:GO Minor Championships served as qualifiers for the CS:GO Majors. More recently, the Minor Championship system was replaced with the Regional Major Rankings system.

• Intel Extreme Masters Road to Rio 2022 – The IEM Road to Rio was a set of regional qualifiers for the Rio Major in 2022. The results of these tournaments would determine which status each team would qualify with for the Rio Major. 
  • IEM Road to Rio 2022: American RMR – won by Team Liquid
  • IEM Road to Rio 2022: European RMR A – won by FaZe
  • IEM Road to Rio 2022: European RMR B – won by Na’ Vi
  • IEM Road to Rio 2022: Asia-Pacific RMR – won by IHC
• PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Regional Major Rankings – The PGL Major Antwerp RMR in 2022 were minor CS:GO tournaments that qualified teams to the Antwerp Major. They were all held in Bucharest in April 2022, with prize pools between $10,000 and $95,000.
  • PGL Major Antwerp 2022: European RMR A – won by Heroic
  • PGL Major Antwerp 2022: European RMR B – won by CPHF
  • PGL Major Antwerp 2022: Asia-Pacific RMR – won by IHC
  • PGL Major Antwerp 2022: American RMR – won by FURIA
• Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Fall – The IEM Masters XVI Fall qualifiers were held in their respective regions in September and October 2021. The prize pools ranged between $10,000 and $105,000, with the European qualifiers more highly incentivised than the other regions. The best-performing teams would receive additional Regional Major Rankings points.
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: North America – won by FURIA
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: Europe – won by Ninjas in Pyjamas
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: Asia – won by TYLOO
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: CIS – won by Gambit Esports
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: Oceania – won by RNG
  • IEM Extreme Master XVI – Fall: South America – won by Bravos
• CBCS Elite League Season 2 – The CBCS Elite League Season 2 took place in July and August 2021 in Brazil. It was an online minor CS:GO tournament with a total prize pool of almost $20,000. 16 teams competed, but Bravos Gaming were victorious against Sharks Esports in the final.
• StarLadder CIS Regional Major Rankings 2021 – The StarLadder CIS RMR took place in June and July 2021. It was an online CS:GO tournament with a total prize pool of $100,000. It is considered an A-Tier event and was won by Na’ Vi, who defeated Gambit Esports in the final for the lion’s share of the prize pool.
• CS_Summit 8 – The CS_Summit 8 was an online, North American tournament in May 2021. There were only 8 teams competing, with Team Liquid beating FURIA Esports in the final to win $17,000 from the $50,000 prize pool.

Did you know?

CS:GO tournaments are still some of the most-watched esport events.
Despite the game being released years ago, CS:GO continues to break viewership records. The PGL Major Stockholm in 2021 had a peak viewership count of 2,748,434, with the PGL Major Antwerp in 2022 not too far behind with a peak viewership of 2,113,610!

What CS2 Event Formats Are Available?

CS2 events take lots of different formats, depending on the event in question and how teams qualified for it. Below, we’ll break down some of the different formats found in CS2 tournaments.

Single Elimination

Single elimination CS2 tournaments are some of the most easily understood. The teams that qualify for a single elimination bracket will be drawn against another team, depending on their seed. Matches will be played and the winner will advance to the next round of the CS2 tournament, while the losing team will be eliminated.

Single elimination tournaments primarily use a ‘best of three’ or ‘best of five’ format and are most commonly found in the later stages of a tournament. For example, the single elimination format was used in the Champions Stage of the IEM Rio Major in 2022 and the PGL Antwerp Major in 2022.

Double Elimination

A double elimination Counter-Strike 2 events involves two brackets being used to progress teams towards the final. Teams play against one another in the first stage of a tournament. Winners will progress onto the next stage, whereas the losing teams will drop down in the lower bracket, which can still lead to the tournament final. This means that teams have a second chance to continue in the CS2 tournament, although, if they lose a game in the loser bracket, they will be eliminated from the event.

Double elimination CS2 events are rare, although still used occasionally. For example, the IEM Season XVII in Dallas in 2022 used a double elimination group stage format.

Round Robin

In a round robin CS2 tournament, every team will play against every other team once in a league-style format. Teams are awarded points based on the result of the match and whether they won or lost.

The round robin format is more commonly found in the opening stages of a Counter-Strike 2 tournament or in longer-term events. The IEM Season XVI Minor Tournament utilised a round robin format, with each team in the group stage playing against every other team once to see who would proceed to the playoffs.

Swiss Format

The Swiss system in Counter-Strike is designed to be one of the fairest CS2 event formats. Every competitor has an opportunity to progress to the later stages of the tournament, with ‘equally balanced’ matches played throughout the event. Teams are paired with teams that have a similar score within that tournament, with teams not facing an opponent more than once. The winner is the team with the highest number of points earned in all rounds.

The Swiss format is primarily used in tournaments that have a larger number of teams competing, or in the early stages of an event. It was used in the PGL Major in 2021 and in the Challengers and Legends Stages of the IEM Rio Major in 2022. In fact, the Swiss format is used in the opening stages of most CS2 Majors.

GSL Format

The GSL format is influenced by double elimination tournaments. Four teams are put into a group. Winners will proceed to the winners’ bracket, while losers will head to the losers’ bracket. Whoever wins in the winners’ match will advance to the playoffs and the loser from the losers’ bracket will be eliminated. A third match is then played, in which the winner from the losers’ bracket and the loser from the winners’ bracket face each other in a consolidation or tiebreaker match. The winner of this match will proceed to the playoffs.

The GSL format is used in Counter-Strike 2 tournaments as a quicker alternative to the round robin format and is a relatively easy one to follow as a spectator. The CS_Summit 8 in 2021 utilised a GSL format.

What is the most popular CS2 tournament format?
The single elimination tournament format is probably the easiest to understand and arguably the most popular CS2 tournament format. It involves teams being eliminated when they lose a match and progressing when they win – simple!

CS2 Events – Complicated But Entertaining!

CS2 esports events can be difficult to understand. There are lots of tournament organisers, varied prize pools, different formats and plenty of teams to learn about! However, the tournaments themselves are easy to follow along with and incredibly exciting to watch, so if you can learn how they work, you’re in for a treat!

FAQs

Kurt Aquilina