CS2 - News, Stats, Players, Teams, and More

Train will replace Vertigo at the BLAST.tv Austin CS2 Major. This news sparked a massive reaction from the community on Jan. 6, with fans happy to finally see this change. But the map is coming to competitive sooner than expected.

If you want to see tier-one teams back in action on Train, mark Jan. 14 in your calendars. That’s when BLAST Bounty will begin, and according to a report from HLTV, it will include Train instead of Vertigo in its map pool.

From 2025 onwards, the Counter-Strike Majors will feature 32 teams as opposed to the previous 24, with an extra Swiss Stage to accommodate the expansion. Other changes are also coming into play as we get nearer to the BLAST Austin Major—here’s everything you need to know about it.

New CS2 Major format, summarized

For the first time since 2018, a change is being made to the Counter-Strike Majors, growing the event from 24 teams to 32 and adjusting the way teams can qualify for the showpiece esports event. The basics of the existing Swiss format remain, but an extra stage is tacked on to make room for the eight extra teams involved.

Three maps, 13-11 on the decider. It was as close as it could have been between the two teams that contested the first big final of 2024 to conclude the Counter-Strike year, and in the end, youth triumphed over experience as Spirit barely edged out FaZe in a fantastic series.

The professional Counter-Strike year really truly began with IEM Katowice and the emergence of donk, with the grand final pitting Spirit and FaZe against each other. That time, it was a 3-0 romp in favor of the CIS squad, but the dominance it augured didn’t come to pass. Ten months later, after a topsy-turvy year, both teams defied expectations to make it to the grand final of the Shanghai Major, and they put on an incredible show.

There is no better way to round up a season of professional competition than with the most pivotal tournament. That’s why everyone’s beyond excited about the Perfect World Shanghai Counter-Strike 2 Major, the first Valve-sponsored event in the franchise to take place in Asia.

In the past, Majors usually took place in the late spring and in the middle of fall. Valve decided to give a twist to the calendar by scheduling Perfect World Shanghai CS2 Major right before the winter break, finishing the season with a bang. And it will truly be a blast, since the strongest teams in the world have made it to the tournament by competing in the RMRs.

You can choose from multiple crosshairs in CS2. But to make use of the options, you first need to know how to change your crosshairs.

Though there is more than one method to customize your crosshair in CS2, including through the console, the easiest way to change your crosshair in CS2 is via the settings. This method is way more intuitive than any other now because you can see what your crosshair looks like while you modify it.

With each Counter-Strike Major, players have the chance to select their own Pick’Ems and earn prestigious awards if they’re correct. The case is no different with the Perfect World CS2 Shanghai Major, though it feels like the predictions are tougher than ever this time.

The tournament is divided into two stages: Opening and Elimination, with the latter featuring both a Swiss System competition and single-elimination playoffs. Like always, players may pick their predictions in each stage, and if they get the majority of them right, they can upgrade their Coins. A better Coin means you receive more Souvenir Tokens to exchange for containers with sweet skins—if you purchase the viewer pass, that is.

The entire community of Counter-Strike 2 has been waiting for November. The month marks the beginning of the Perfect World Shanghai CS2 Major (Nov. 30) and will provide players and fans with RMR events.

Due to the latest changes, RMRs as a whole will be gone from CS2 in the future, but they still stand for the Chinese Major. Those regional events serve as final qualifiers for the Major, and this time around take place in the Chinese metropolis itself.

After years of holding the CS:GO and Counter-Strike 2 Majors in Europe or the Americas, Valve is finally bringing the tournament to Asia. Shanghai, one of the biggest cities on the continent, will be the first to host the CS2 tournament.

The Chinese Major will feature 24 teams from all over the world. With the RMRs currently taking place in Shanghai, we have a list of all the squads who have already booked their flights to the event.

Released in September 2023, Counter-Strike 2 is a relatively fresh title on the FPS market. You might think running it on your PC would be challenging, but luckily, it’s not.

CS2 operates on the Source 2 engine, developed by Valve in 2015. Those who enjoyed other games from the Bellevue-based developer should be familiar with it since it’s used in Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx. Similarly to those titles, running Source 2 and CS2 on minimum requirements is far from challenging. But you need a solid PC to have the smoothest possible experience.

If you want to play like the best Counter-Strike 2 pros in the world, you may just take a glimpse at their settings and borrow some. And when it comes to superb CS2 players, there’s hardly anyone better than ZywOo.

In the current professional landscape of CS2, there are only a few individuals that can match ZywOo’s level. The French player is still the main driving force behind Team Vitality, who are arguably the greatest team in the world, constantly challenging others for the most important trophies around the world. Without their dedicated sniper, though, it’s fair to say earning trophies would be far more challenging.