Where To Watch Counter-Strike 2 Esports

The professional Counter-Strike scene has dated back to Counter-Strike Source in the late 2000s. However, the game received more popularity when Global Offensive was released, as Valve decided to invest in their own game and began hosting Major tournaments.

Throughout years of success, more players, teams, organizations, and tournament organizers wanted in. In the present day, the Counter-Strike esports scene is extremely healthy and still rapidly growing. 

Professional players are getting five-figure salaries to play the game and represent their organization, flying thousands of miles weekly to compete in large-scale tournaments that distribute up to millions of dollars in prize pools.

Teams and players from around the world are honing their skills and vying for supremacy in global competition. These teams have become so serious that professional coaches and analysts have been hired to keep everyone on the team in check. Additionally, the top organizations are also providing their players with psychologists and even chefs!

Throughout the years, some teams and organizations have crafted monstrous lineups consisting of the best players in the world. These teams have achieved greatness, either forming dynasties of dominance, maintaining consistency throughout the years, or fielding some of the most historical players in the world. 

Astralis

The Astralis organization was responsible for signing the most dominant Counter-Strike roster in the game’s entire history. The team could win four Valve Major tournaments, which has never been done before. Unfortunately, good things come to an end, and the roster split up. Astralis is still actively competing in the Tier 1 scene, but is only a shadow of its former self. Still, the legendary AWPer Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz is still on the team. 

Natus Vincere (Na’Vi)

A Ukrainian organization that has been around from the very beginning. After dozens of roster iterations, the Natus Vincere banner has consistently found top-tier lineups that can compete with the best. Their rosters have always made deep runs in tournaments, and claimed two Valve Major titles after winning the first Major in Counter-Strike 2. This organization is the home of Counter-Strike’s best player, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, though he is now in an inactive position. 

FaZe Clan

One of the most prominent esports organizations in the entire industry. FaZe entered Counter-Strike with the scene’s first international superteam with Finn “karrigan” Andersen taking the helm. The organization could secure the best players in the world, but could only win their first Major tournament in 2022 after the addition of Robin “ropz” Kool. Still, FaZe has won a plethora of premier tournaments and remains as a top competitor in the scene. 

G2 Esports

G2 Esports is a European organization founded by Carlos “ocelote” Santiago, a retired professional League of Legends player. The organization entered Counter-Strike with a bang, signing the best aimer in the world, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, who remains in the roster until today. Unfortunately, G2 Esports is yet to secure a Major title, but the team is on the right track with their young prodigy Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. The team has the resources to become the best in the world, but is still under a rebuilding process . 

Team Liquid

In the Counter-Strike scene, the North American region has always been a laughing stock. However, Team Liquid was the first organization to make a full-North American lineup work. Though Team Liquid is yet to win a Major trophy, their dominant squad in 2019 featuring

Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip won several S-Tier events and claimed an Intel Grand Slam worth $1,000,000. Today, their Counter-Strike division isn’t doing too well, but the organization’s accomplishments cannot be overlooked. 

Team Spirit

The Team Spirit organization is most-known for its success in the Dota 2 scene, Valve’s other video game title. However, the success from their MOBA division has motivated the organization to invest in their Counter-Strike roster. In 2024, Team Spirit secured young prodigy Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and one of the most renowned AWPers in Eastern Europe, Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov. They are on pace to become the best team in the world, already winning Premier events right after the roster was formed. This is the team to watch in 2024.

Now that we’ve gotten an overview of which teams to look out for, let’s actually understand how the Counter-Strike tournament ecosystem actually works. This will help us figure out which tournaments to look out for in the Counter-Strike competitive calendar. 

How Do Counter-Strike Tournaments Work?

In Counter-Strike tournaments, players are competing for hundreds of thousands up to millions of dollars. So, you can bet that these events follow a very structured format to ensure the best teams qualify for the event, giving fans the best show. 

Tournaments usually go through four stages:

Qualification/Invitation Stage

First, tournaments must decide which teams will participate in it. Most of the time, tournament organizers will send direct invitations to teams they want at the event. As organizers, they have the right to do this. 

Most of the time, directly invited teams would be the best in the world, usually teams ranked within the top 10 globally. These invitations ensure fans will tune into the matches to watch the best teams competing. 

After teams have been invited, there are usually qualifiers that are held to decide the remaining teams. Teams that go through qualifiers are usually Tier 2 teams looking to prove themselves, coming into tournaments as underdogs.

Qualifiers are often held in an online and regional format. There would be slots for different regions to have global representatives in the tournament, ensuring a fair playing field for teams around the world. 

Group Stage

All the participants are divided into different groups, where they will battle against each other for spots in the Playoffs stage. Group Stages are used to get a general feeling of how teams are performing, and give fans an idea of what to expect in the later stages of the tournament. 

There are different Group Stage formats used in Counter-Strike tournaments, and it depends on the ruling determined by the tournament organizers.

In Counter-Strike, the Round-Robin format isn’t too popular. Valve loves using the Swiss Stage format in their Major tournaments, while other tournament organizers have a “mini” Playoffs Double-Elimination format within the Group Stages. 

The top teams from each group that have the best records will qualify for the Playoffs, while half of the teams will be eliminated from the Group Stage immediately. This puts pressure on teams to perform well immediately, leaving no room for slow starters unless they want to mount a massive comeback.  

Playoffs

The Playoffs is where all the action begins. All of the weaker teams in the tournament have been weeded out, and only the best teams remain. There could be “flukes” where underdogs go through and find themselves competing against the top teams, but these instances create great storylines and Cinderella runs. 

In Counter-Strike, Playoff matches often follow a Single-Elimination format, meaning teams have less room for error. One series loss will immediately send you out of the tournament, even if you were the best team in the Group Stage. This format makes the scene more competitive, as any team will have the chance to upset and potentially pull off a miraculous run. 

The teams will play in Best-of-3 matches, meaning they must win two of the three maps to take the victory and move onto the next matchup. Playoff games are often played in front of a live crowd, and many fans strictly only tune into Playoff matches and do not watch Group Stage ones. 

Grand Finals

Every tournament needs a winner, which is why there is always a Grand Final to decide. The two best teams of the tournament will face off in the most crucial match of the event – winner takes all. 

Grand Finals are hyped-up, and Counter-Strike events will dedicate a full day for this singular match. Viewership is at a tournament high, as everyone wants to see how the tournament ends. However, a fun showmatch is usually played before the two teams enter the stage, providing warm up entertainment for the viewers. 

Some tournament organizers hold Best-of-5 Grand Finals, testing the tenacity and map pools of the two participants. However, Valve is still using the Best-of-3 format in their tournaments, creating extremely high stakes for the teams and players involved. 

The Involvement Of Third-Party Tournament Organizers

In the Counter-Strike esports scene, third-party organizers are very involved in the tournament ecosystem of the industry. 

To put it in comparison, Counter-Strike’s rival game, Valorant, only features tournaments hosted by Riot Games itself, the developers of the game. Valorant tournaments follow a calendar made by Riot Games, and there are almost zero events hosted by a third-party.

Meanwhile, Valve has allowed several tournament organizers to run their own events without their supervision. This accessibility has allowed Counter-Strike’s competitive scene to have frequent tournaments, which is why you will see one or two S-Tier tournaments every month except when it’s player-break season.

Valve still hosts professional tournaments, which are what we call “Majors”. Valve Majors are the most prestigious events of every calendar year, and there are two iterations held annually. Since the beginning of Global Offensive until Counter-Strike 2, there have been 20 Valve Majors. Winning a Valve Major essentially puts a player on the record books, and is one of the greatest achievements anyone can accomplish in this game. 

Most Notable Tournament Organizers

If you are new to the scene, which you probably are, here are the most noteworthy tournament organizers you should keep on your radar:

ESL

The ESL organization features some of the most relevant Counter-Strike tournaments ever. Their events are usually named after “ESL” or “IEM,” which stands for “Intel Extreme Masters”. ESL also rewards teams who win their events consecutively with the “Intel Grand Slam” award, which rewards the team with an additional $1,000,000 and golden bars. 

PGL

PGL is a Romanian organization that is heavily involved in Valve’s titles, Counter-Strike and Dota 2. This tournament organizer has collaborated with Valve to host Major tournaments, such as the PGL Stockholm 2021 and PSL Antwerp 2022 Majors. They also help out with hosting LAN qualifiers for these Major tournaments, the RMRs. 

BLAST Premier

BLAST Premier is a relatively new player based in Denmark. They held individual tournaments, which is their BLAST Premier series, featuring events every season of the year. Fans appreciate BLAST for their incredible production, and the Danish company eventually got to work with Valve to host the final CS:GO Major, the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. 

DreamHack

DreamHack used to be one of the most prominent tournament organizers in the early days of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. They helped host Major tournaments such as DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015. However, they have been out of the scene for several years as they were picked up by ESL.

Now that we’ve gotten a good grasp of how the professional Counter-Strike esports scene functions, let’s actually talk about where you can watch these matches. 

The Best Streaming Platforms

The primary way to enjoy Counter-Strike matches is to watch them live while it is being played out. To do this, you can use some of the most prominent streaming platforms that provide coverage of the tournament. Here are some of the best streaming platforms to look out for:

Twitch

For almost a decade, Twitch has essentially become the home of live esports and gaming. The platform features live streams from official tournament organizers that are broadcasting the tournament matches and production for audiences to witness.

Signing up on Twitch is entirely free, and the best feature of the platform is its live chat. You can see viewers spamming the chat with funny emotes and messages, and you can also send some yourself!

YouTube

In the past few years, most tournament organizers have integrated their live coverage to YouTube. YouTube streams provide viewers in high quality, and most users would have a YouTube Premium subscription over Twitch Prime which would remove ads.

The best thing about watching on YouTube is that you can rewind moments from the live stream and click on the “LIVE” button to return to the action. Unfortunately, YouTube’s chats are always slow, so you might miss out on engaging with other fans. 

Facebook Gaming

If you’re not a fan of YouTube or Twitch, the only other viable option is Facebook Gaming. Only a few tournament organizers stream their matches on Facebook Gaming, as the website isn’t as developed as the other two in terms of appealing to gamers and esports fans. 

Still, if you’re on Facebook all day, it might not be too bad of an option to stumble upon and watch a live match for a little bit. 

Watch Parties

Watching anything alone can be pretty boring. That is why many content creators and influential figures in the Counter-Strike community hold “Watch Parties” where they are pretty much streaming themselves watching the games. 

By spectating matches via Watch Parties, you essentially have a “friend” watching the match with you. As long as you’re watching the correct streamer, they could provide valuable insights on the game or drop occasional jokes to keep you entertained. 

Directly Through Tournament Organizer Websites And Apps

The most prominent tournament organizers also have their own websites and applications where their events are being streamed on. If you appreciate the work of these organizers and want to show you support, you can check some of them out here:

• ESL TV: The official streaming platform for ESL events, including IEM tournaments. You can watch matches live as they are playing out. Additionally, you can see replays and other exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes footage. 
• BLAST Premier: This is the official website for BLAST Premier tournaments. You can watch live broadcasts, see tournament schedules, and also have access to all the VODs from their events.

Stats And Information – News And Aggregator Sites

There are two primary statistics and news websites providing full coverage of the professional Counter-Strike scene. You might have heard these two names before:

• HLTV.org: The most popular news website, providing full match details, schedules, and statistics. You can also find all the live streams for a specific game on their match page. They also release in-depth analysis of matches, teams, and players regularly. 
• Liquipedia: An extensive esports wiki that provides detailed information on Counter-Strike tournaments, as well as the history of teams and players. You can also find live stream links on certain matches, though it’s not as functional as HLTV.org. 

Videos On-Demand (VODs)

We understand that most Counter-Strike players are busy with their education or day jobs, and do not have time to watch full Counter-Strike matches. Tournaments are also held around the world, so time zones will play a large factor into tuning into a live stream. 

If any of these two issues are hindering your ability to watch matches live, you can always watch Videos On-Demand, which are essentially a full replay of the live stream. You can find VODs on the YouTube and Twitch channels of tournament organizers.

There are also Counter-Strike content creators that cut matches into highlights, so you can digest an entire 3-hour series in half an hour.

There are professional Counter-Strike matches being played everyday, but not all of them have the best teams in the world involved. There are numerous B-Tier matches you can watch everyday, but if you’re a casual Counter-Strike fan, you only want to watch the top dogs play. 

That being said, let’s go over what esports tournaments you should be watching. 

Valve Majors

The developers of Counter-Strike, Valve, hold their annual tournaments which are referred to as “Majors”. These tournaments are directly sponsored by Valve, but they often ask a tournament organizer to help them run the event.

Valve Majors are the most prestigious Counter-Strike event, and two of them are held each year. Majors attract the best teams worldwide, as winning one will etch your name in Counter-Strike history. Winning a Valve Major is every Counter-Strike player’s dream and their reason to play. 

All participants of a Major will be eligible to put their autographs into the game in the form of stickers that can be pasted on weapon skins. Not only are players getting millions of dollars in prize pool, but they also get a significant cut of sticker revenue that can net each player hundreds of thousands. 

ESL Tournaments

ESL is responsible for holding the highest number of S-Tier tournaments each year. There are several types of ESL tournaments:

• ESL One
• Intel Extreme Masters
• ESL Pro League

Compared to the ESL Pro League, ESL One and Intel Extreme Masters tournaments are smaller-scaled events, in ESL standards, of course. These two event types usually distribute prize pools of $200,000 to $500,000, which don’t get us wrong, are still mind-blowing amounts of money.

However, the ESL Pro League is the most prestigious one, as an iteration could fetch teams $850,000 in prize money. ESL Pro League tournaments last almost a month, ensuring teams are in good shape and have enough preparation time.

BLAST Premier Events

As mentioned earlier, BLAST Premier is a newer player in the tournament organizer competition, but they have been doing a fantastic job.

BLAST Premier follows the calendar year to host their seasonal tournaments. There are two events, BLAST Premier Spring and BLAST Premier Fall, which are events that boast over $400,000 in prize pools.

However, these two tournaments are only a stepping stone to the BLAST Premier World Final, which is the end-of-year championship for BLAST events. The top ten teams from the Spring and Fall tournaments will qualify for the championship and play for $1,000,000. 

Tournament organizers work very hard to provide Counter-Strike fans with the best possible viewing experience. There is a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes, and a crew of 50+ people are always required to run a smooth event, typically more for prestigious events such as a Valve Major.  

Production Team

The production team consists of the unsung heroes that give viewers a pleasurable experience. They work behind the scenes in a studio setting, where there are dozens of monitors and audio devices to ensure there are no issues in the broadcast. 

They have dedicated teams for observing (in-game camera work), instant replays, camera angles of the players, and more. There is so much going on and a crew of 10+ people must work together flawlessly to ensure there are no mistakes displayed on the live stream.  

Casters (Commentators)

You have definitely seen highlight reels from professional players, which is why you’re looking to follow the esports scene closely. In these clips, you might have noticed commentators yelling their lungs out and creating iconic Counter-Strike moments.

Every match will have a pair of commentators, which are referred to as casters in the esports space. 

First, there is the play-by-play caster, who is responsible for telling the audience what is happening on the screen, and is also the person who is creating iconic voice lines and building upon hype moments and plays.

The second caster is the analytical caster, also known as the color caster. This commentator is a very experienced player in the field of Counter-Strike, and some retired professionals would also take this role. They are providing viewers with insightful information, such as explaining the current state of the round and breaking down what happened. 

It’s never fun to watch a match only hearing game audio, so casters are an important contribution to the production process to give the game some life. 

Desk Analysts

Finally, we have desk analysts. An analyst desk consists of one desk host and two to three analysts. 

The host will help flow the conversation, asking questions to the analysts who will give their opinions and analysis on the matchup at hand. Sometimes, you will see professional players make guest appearances, and they would often provide fans with a lot of valuable and inside information.

The analyst desk makes an appearance in the pregame before a match begins, and will also fill in during breaks between maps. To be honest, most fans prefer to refill their snacks during these intermissions, but some would stay to listen to what these analysts have to say. 

If you’re learning about the game or the professional scene in general, we recommend listening to their sessions as they can provide some really good information for future reference.