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Cover art for the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. — The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 will be the first CS2 Major of the year (Image: BLAST).

CS2

4 weeks ago

Kurt "Gosu_Kurt" Lozano

CS2 BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 teams, prize pool, format, schedule, and everything you need to know

The Austin Major will be the biggest Major championship in Counter-Strike's history so far, featuring a total of 32 participating teams.

The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, the first Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Major Championship of the year, is almost upon us. From 3 to 6 June, 32 of the best CS2 teams in the world will gather in Austin, Texas to fight across four grueling stages of competition to claim the third CS2 Major title and the lion's share of the tournament's US$1.25 million prize pool.

From the participating teams, competitive format and schedule, prize pool breakdown, and more, here's everything you need to know about the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025:

Teams

A total of 32 teams will compete in the Austin Major, with 16 highly-ranked teams from the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) receiving direct invites, while 16 others had to earn their spots in the tournament through regional qualifiers. The 16 qualifier teams will also start the Major in Stage 1, eight VRS teams will start in Stage 2, while the eight top-ranked teams from the VRS will start in Stage 3.

Here's the full list of participating teams in the Austin Major, sorted by which stage of the tournament they will start in:

Stage 1 teams

Stage 2 teams

Stage 3 teams

Format and schedule

The Austin Major is split into four distinct phases: Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and the Playoffs. With each successive stage, the number of teams in contention for the Major title will get thinned down, until only eight remain to fight for the championship in the Playoffs, which will be hosted in front of a live audience in Austin's Moody Center.

Stages 1 to 3 will all follow a 16-team Swiss-system format, with all matches being a best-of-one except for the Advancement and Elimination matches starting in round three. In each stage, the eight best-performing teams will advance to the next phase of the tournament while the remaining eight will be eliminated.

Meanwhile, the Playoffs will be an eight-team single-elimination bracket, where all matches including the grand finals will be a best-of-three.

Here's the schedule for all four phases of the Austin Major:

Stage 1: 3 to 6 June
Stage 2: 7 to 10 June
Stage 3: 12 to 15 June
Playoffs: 19 to 22 June

For live and up-to-date results for the Austin Major, keep an eye on GosuGamers' Austin Major tournament tracker.

Prize pool breakdown

The Austin Major will feature a US$1.25 million prize pool, with all teams guaranteed at least US$5,000 in winnings, while the champions will walk away with the grand prize of US$500,000. Here's the full prize pool breakdown for the Austin Major:

Champions: US$500,000
2nd place: US$170,00
3rd-4th place: US$80,000
5th-8th place: US$45,000
9th-16th place: US$15,000
17th-24th place: US$10,000
25th-32nd place: US$5,0000

With that said, the real moneymaker for teams qualified for the Austin Major will be the Major Stickers, an in-game cosmetic featuring the logos of teams and autographs of their players that can be added to a weapon. The teams and players get 50% of all Major Sticker sales, so fans can support their favourite teams and players by getting their Stickers.