Counter-Strike 2

At the HLTV Awards we got a chance to sit down with Mohan ‪@launders‬ Govindasamy to talk through 2024, casting, running his own events, content and future.

Cloud9 have announced the departure of coach Konstantin "⁠groove⁠" Pikiner and manager Aleksandr "Sweetypotz" Shcherbakov from the organization.

In a statement on X, the American side commented on its future in Counter-Strike, saying it is "taking a step back" and that it has "no immediate plans to re-enter" the game.

It still left the door open to a potential return under the right circumstances. "We love CS and are always on the lookout for opportunities," the post says....

BLAST has announced that the Major Regional Qualifiers (MRQs) for the Austin Major will be held online across all three regions: Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Scheduled for April 14-17, the MRQ events will feature 16 teams in Europe and the Americas and 12 in Asia. Because these tournaments will be held online, the Americas and the Asia MRQs will be split into sub-regions to eliminate significant ping issues....

Team list

• Eternal Fire
• The MongolZ
• Virtus.pro
• Falcons
• 3DMAX
• BIG
• FlyQuest
• SAW
• FaZe
• MOUZ
• Astralis
• paiN
• MIBR
• Wildcard
• Complexity
• Imperial Valkyries

Opening Matches (Times are EST)

Broadcast team

Desk Hosts:

• Richard "⁠Richard Lewis⁠" Lewis
• Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus

Analysts:

• Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg
• Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche
• Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam
• Dustin "⁠dusT⁠" Mouret

Commentators:

• Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill (On site)
• Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson (On site)
• Mohan "⁠launders⁠" Govindasamy (On site)
• Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan (On site)
• Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole (Remote)
• Adam "⁠Dinko⁠" Hawthorne (Remote)
• Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron (Remote)
• Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell (Remote)

Content/Interviews:

• James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks

Please volvo

Vitality vs Spirit

Map 1 Dust 2

• Vitality - 13

• Spirit - 6

Map 2 Nuke

• Vitality - 13

• Spirit - 5

Map 3 Mirage

• Vitality - 13
• Spirit - 11

Congratulations to Vitality for winning IEM Katowice 2025

Ropz 3k

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/ZanyAthleticChimpanzeeCoolStoryBro-xi7e34wT9c7BgMAx

Magixxx 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/CharmingAnnoyingSamosaChefFrank-UdXAV-MeNWFXc_ik

Vitality vs The MongolZ

Map 1 Mirage

• Vitality - 13

• The MongolZ - 7

Map 2 Mirage

• Vitality - 13

• The MongolZ - 9

Ropz 1v2

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/MagnificentDrabBibimbapOSsloth-ssSaGnvNG22hdwWT

Navi vs Spirit

Map 1 Mirage

• Navi - 8

• Spirit - 13

Map 2 Dust 2

• Navi - 14

• Spirit - 16

Donk 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/HilariousCrispySowSeemsGood-kQrnckwGqx56rjMA

The MongolZ vs Eternal Fire

Map 1 Anubis

• The MongolZ - 13

• Eternal Fire - 7

Map 2 Mirage

• The MongolZ - 22

• Eternal Fire - 18

Techno 4K

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/CreativeGiantElkKappa-kdn0mRtKBt2cbumV

Virtus.pro vs Spirit

Map 1 Train

• Virtus.pro - 2

• Spirit - 13

Map 2 Ancient

• Virtus.pro - 9

• Spirit - 13

Donk pistol ace

https://www.twitch.tv/eslcs/clip/SuperSpikySardineAMPTropPunch-hFCZQlrLgQ-kBmzx#

NiKo and Karrigan as they sit down with YNk to discuss their legendary careers in Counter-Strike, reflecting on the past, present, and future of their journeys.

Widely considered one of the greatest Counter-Strike players in history and one who defined lurking in early CS:GO, GeT_RiGhT is one of four inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame.

There are precious few players with careers long or illustrious enough to be among the conversation for the best of all time, but when Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund announced his retirement in 2021, his name was firmly on the list.

Playing hand-in-hand with fellow Hall of Fame inductee Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg through much of a 13-year career, GeT_RiGhT's excellence transcended two iterations of Counter-Strike and saw him twice named the best player in the world, secure innumerable titles, and establish himself as a figurehead of Counter-Strike across multiple generations....

Link to the interview on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjYRp1RJlmQ

SPUNJ had to walk out afterwards xD

Group A

• G2
• FaZe
• Vitality
• Falcons
• Virtus.pro
• BIG
• Eternal Fire
• 3DMAX

Group B

• Spirit
• The MongolZ
• Natus Vincere
• MOUZ
• Astralis
• Liquid
• FURIA
• GamerLegion

Statement regarding Counter-Strike 2's latest update:

ESL Challenger League and IEM Dallas Qualifiers will be played on the latest update, whilst IEM Katowice Stage 1 will play on the previous update and change over for Stage 2 which starts this Saturday February 1st.

Welcome to Premier Season Two.

If you haven't heard the news, here's what's new in Season Two. Vertigo is out, Train is in, the M4A4 is more... A4-dable... and we've tweaked the FAMAS.

Season Two runs from now through the Austin Major, at which point players who meet the requirements will be awarded a Premier Season Two Medal. The color will correspond to your highest CS Rating achieved during the season, and the bars will reflect your total wins, with one bar for every 25—up to five bars.

To earn your Premier Season Two Medal, you'll need an account in good standing, 25 Premier match wins, and an active CSR at the end of the season.

Premier matchmaking is now open for business, so hit the queue and start racking up those wins!

[ PREMIER ]

Premier Season Two is here, and Premier matchmaking has resumed Every player who earned a CS Rating during Season One will receive a commemorative Premier Season One Medal which includes detailed Season Statistics Every player will have their CS Rating recalibrated based on their Season One performance, and will need to re-establish their CS Rating by winning 10 matches Train has been added to the Active Duty map pool Vertigo has been removed from the Active Duty map pool

[ GAMEPLAY ]

M4A4 price reduced to $2,900 FAMAS accuracy improved and price reduced to $1,950 Reduced crouching accuracy for the MP9, MP5-SD, and MP7 Adjusted scope dot on AUG/SG to be more useable at range

[ UI ]

Added a new radar dynamic zoom option that will grow or shrink the radar to include your team mates, bomb and other detected elements Adjusted grenade order in spectator UI to match weapon selection order Increased brightness of carried C4 in UI

[ MAPS ]

Train Removed a boost angle from Long Dog to Bombsite A Fixed lighting artifacts on double-sided materials

[ MISC ]

Added fallback logic to allow playing incomplete demo files, either copied from an ongoing live match or recovered after a game server crash Fixed an exploit where users could use secondary fire on R8 Revolver and then sell it back Counter-strafe summaries are now available in game server log data distributed via log address in addition to console logs

[ PREMIER ]

Premier Season One is now over, and Premier matchmaking has been temporarily disabled.

Into the Breach has been left in an "unsustainable position" and will wind down its esports operations after an investigation revealed that "an individual entrusted with all financial and monetary decisions was embezzling funds for personal use," the organization announced in a statement...

https://www.hltv.org/news/40851/into-the-breach-to-wind-down-operations-after-significant-mismanagement-results-in-embezzled-funds

Grand Final Results

Spirit are the winners of Blast Bounty Season 1

Highlights

sh1ro 1v3

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/GorgeousBoredGoblinPrimeMe-n5HjHIJIq4ylBf-U

donk 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/TenuousPoorInternKappa-JKUQllnFpv9DxDfA

Day Three Results

Day Two Highlights

Donk USP 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/StylishManlyDragonBibleThump-VF3JKkZ22JDq5voa

malbs 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/AbstemiousUnsightlyBottleKreygasm-kUBWwNkNsO5-o3OE

Seasons Change

Next week we will say "goodbye" to Premier Season One, and "hello" to Season Two. To celebrate, every player who earned a CS Rating during Season One will receive a commemorative Premier Season One Medal. Your medal includes detailed Season Statistics that you can view by clicking on the medal in your inventory. Review your Season One highs and lows with graphs of your CSR and playtime, or view your map-specific stats to find areas of improvement for Season Two.

As we transition to Season Two, there'll be one day of Premier downtime during which your CS Rating will be recalibrated for the new season based on your Season One performance. At the start of the new Season you will need to re-establish your CS Rating by winning 10 matches.

Season Two comes with some changes. Train is in and Vertigo is out, the M4A4 is a bit less expensive, and the FAMAS has some improvements to its standing and crouching accuracy (along with a price cut).

And when Season Two comes to a close after the Austin Major, players who meet the requirements will be awarded a Premier Season Two Medal. The color will correspond to your highest CS Rating achieved during the season, and the bars will reflect your total wins, with one bar for every 25—up to five bars.

To earn your Premier Season Two Medal, you'll need an account in good standing, 25 Premier match wins, and an active CSR at the end of the season.

So clear out your calendar, because Season Two is about to begin!

Day Two Results

Day Two Highlights

XANTARES 4k for map win

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/ExpensiveCharmingTrufflePermaSmug-PmxV4NbVqyVLZD2e

w0nderful awp 4k

https://www.twitch.tv/blastpremier/clip/AbstemiousTubularGerbilNerfRedBlaster-VBzvGlwzPd8jvibc